Malmo’s win, which ensured they topped Europa League Group B ahead of the more seasoned European contenders FC Copenhagen, was a story of journeys.
The Independent has a long and excellent article about the FCK Copenhagen vs Malmö FF derby fight for the win of the Europa League group in the final game of the groupstage last Thursday.
By the time the final whistle went in Copenhagen’s Parken stadium on Thursday night the Malmö fans hidden throughout the home section had long since given the game away. Their 1-0 away win was a victory seen as proof they can now fight for the title of best team in Scandinavia, and was celebrated raucously. “We’ll play you again, we’ll beat you again, bloody easy three points,” the refrain rang.
Malmö’s win, which ensured they topped Europa League Group B ahead of the more seasoned European contenders FC Copenhagen, was a story of journeys. Forty minutes is all it took for the Malmö fans to travel across the Øresund bridge to the fixture, the shortest away trip in European competition, and closer than any of Malmö’s domestic rivals in Allsvenskan.
By contrast, for their captain, Markus Rosenberg, his last game as a professional footballer brings to an end a journey started 32 years ago when he first joined the club. Though in England he is associated with a brief spell at West Bromwich Albion, to Malmö he is the home boy who did good. A man who went out and scored goals in the Bundesliga, LaLiga and Eredivisie before coming back to his boyhood club in 2014, elevating them to regular European competitors.
Since Rosenberg returned Malmö have seen their most successful period in Europe since their European Cup final appearance in 1979, making it through to European competition proper five times. And now, after Thursday’s win, they have reached the knockout stage of the Europa League twice in the last two years.
“When the final whistle went, chants of “Markus Rosenberg, Markus Rosenberg” rang out”
Zlatan Ibrahimovic may be the name associated with the Swedish club abroad, but in the eyes of the fans there is no doubt over who is king. Hammering that message home, in the late hours of Wednesday night, an attempt was made to saw down the huge statue of Ibrahimovic outside Malmö’s stadium.
That same night a statue paying tribute to Rosenberg’s career was placed outside Malmö Central Station ahead of his last game by his club.
You can read the entire article here: An inspirational captain, furtive fans and sawn down statues: When Malmo met Copenhagen
Source: TheIndependent
“We will get Brexit done on time by the 31st of January, no ifs, no buts, no maybes,” a triumphant Johnson told supporters at a rally in London.
Photograph of the moment when the exit poll was presented.
“Leaving the European Union as one United Kingdom, taking back control of our laws, borders, money, our trade, immigration system, delivering on the democratic mandate of the people,” he said, reprising the refrains of his successful Brexit referendum campaign of 2016.
Sterling soared, on course for one of its biggest one-day gains in the past two decades
Nearly half a century after Britain joined the EU, Johnson must now strike new international trade deals, preserving London’s position as a top global financial capital and keeping the United Kingdom together.
Source: Reuters
Minister says transitional arrangements will definitely stop on 31 December next year.
Michael Gove has categorically promised the UK will have a trade deal with the EU by the end of next year, despite deep reservations in Brussels about whether this is possible.
The senior minister became the first in Boris Johnson’s cabinet to repeat that pledge after the election, saying transitional arrangements would definitely stop at the end of December 2020.
He said discussions on the UK’s future relationship with the EU “will be concluded next year”.
Despite his confidence, EU leaders are considering a move to take the initiative and request an extension to the transition period, keeping the UK under Brussels regulations beyond 2020.
The move is being mooted by EU officials as a way out of the problem posed by the short time available to negotiate a new relationship and the prime minister’s insistence that he will not seek an extension beyond 11 months.
During the election campaign, Johnson and his ministers repeatedly insisted that there would be no extension to transitional arrangements, raising the prospect of an exit on World Trade Organisation terms if no trade deal can be struck by then.
However, Gove, who has been tipped for a bigger trade talks role under Johnson, dismissed the idea that it will take longer, insisting that it was almost ready to go.
Speaking to Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday, he said: “Quite a lot of the details that we need to negotiate is already laid out in the political declaration, so a lot of work has been done.
“And as a number of people have pointed out, there are areas where the European Union’s interests and the United Kingdom’s interests are already closely aligned, so I’m confident that we will be able not just to leave the EU on January 31 but also to conclude all the details of a new relationship in short order.”
Asked whether this would be yet another broken promise, like Johnson’s pledge to take the UK out of the EU “do or die”, Gove simply said: “Nope.”
You can read the article here: Brexit: Michael Gove promises Brexit trade
Source: Guardian
You must be logged in to post a comment.