The charity Women’s Aid has welcomed the news Manchester United forward Mason Greenwood will no longer play for the club.
United announced on Monday that an agreement had been reached for the 21-year-old England international to continue his career away from Old Trafford.
Greenwood has been suspended by the Premier League club since January 2022 over allegations relating to a young woman after images and videos were posted online.
He was facing charges including attempted rape and assault until the Crown Prosecution Service announced in February this year the case had been discontinued, which led to United conducting their own investigation.
A spokeswoman for Women’s Aid, which works to end domestic abuse against women and children, said: “We know that today’s news from Manchester United that Greenwood will be moving on from the club will be a relief for many survivors of domestic and sexual abuse.
“Football is loved by so many people worldwide, and players are often idolised by fans, so the way that alleged domestic abuse cases are treated in clubs has a huge impact on public understanding about what is accepted and tolerated in society.
“We have heard first-hand the impact this case and the related materials shared on social media have had on survivors of abuse, and while next steps are established following the outcome of Manchester United’s internal investigation, this will happen away from centre stage of Old Trafford.
“With many survivors never contacting the police to report abuse in the first place, and the majority of domestic and sexual abuse cases not resulting in a criminal conviction, it is vital that clubs – like all employers – have an approach that is wider than the criminal justice system, and which deals with the reality of the scale of the issue.
“This needs to involve addressing the attitudes that underpin domestic and sexual abuse, and working with players from a young age to make it clear that clubs stand against sexism and misogyny. This is an issue that reaches far wider than football, with misogynistic content widely available on social media, so it is important to recognise how widespread harmful attitudes are and address this.”
The Manchester United Supporters Trust criticised the club’s handling of the case but said the right decision had been made.
A MUST statement read: “Since the deeply distressing initial allegations surfaced, this episode has been allowed to drag out for far too long as the club has carried out an investigative process.
“Moreover, the complete lack of consultation with fans even with respect to process added fuel to the fire. Whilst the speculation and discussion in the last couple of weeks has been profoundly unhelpful and reflected very poorly on the club, it is clear that they have in the end reached the right decision.
“We are relieved that this matter can now be put behind us and will be working with the club to ensure lessons have been learned from this very troubling episode.”
Inter 2-0 Torino: Nerazzurri ease to win in party atmosphere
Hakan Calhanoglu scored twice to give newly-crowned Serie A champions Inter a comfortable 2-0 win over 10-man Torino on Sunday, extending their unbeaten league run to 28 games.
It was a party atmosphere at the San Siro with confetti and fireworks before kick-off as the Inter fans continued to celebrate the Scudetto title they secured on Monday with a 2-1 derby win over Milan.
Inter's win over Torino moves them onto 89 points, 19 clear of Milan with four games remaining.
The Torino players gave Inter a guard of honour as they entered the pitch and Inter coach Simone Inzaghi answered the crowd's call for him to celebrate with them.
In the first Serie A game to be officiated by an all-female refereeing team, four minutes after half-time Maria Sole Ferrieri Caputi sent off Torino's Adrien Tameze for a foul on Henrikh Mkhitaryan.
Inter made the breakthrough seven minutes later when Mkhitaryan passed to Calhanoglu in the area who drove a shot into the bottom corner.
Calhanoglu converted a penalty four minutes later after a foul on Marcus Thuram and the party will continue into the evening as the Inter players parade through the streets of Milan on open-top buses.
Torino remain 10th in the standings on 46 points.
St. Mirren 1-2 Rangers: Dessers nets winner as Gers keep touch on Celtic
Rangers boosted their Scottish Premiership title hopes as Cyriel Dessers' strike earned a narrow 2-1 win over St. Mirren at the SMISA Stadium on Sunday.
Rangers were ahead with 32 minutes played as Zach Hemming failed to deal with a cross before James Bolton inadvertently put through his own net under pressure from Dessers.
But St. Mirren hit back just five minutes later as Mikael Mandron nodded goalwards, with the ball flying just past the fingertips of Jack Butland before going in off the post to send the teams into the break level.
Rangers needed a response in the second half, and they got exactly that with 18 minutes left to play as Dessers was left with far too much space in the middle to head James Tavernier's cross into the back of the net.
The hosts huffed and puffed for another equaliser but ultimately could not find one as Rangers held on for three much-needed points that move them level with leaders Celtic but with an inferior goal difference, leaving them second ahead of Celtic's visit to Dundee later on Sunday.
St. Mirren, meanwhile, remain fifth in the Scottish Premiership table.
Pochettino says VAR 'damaging' English football as Chelsea denied Villa win
Mauricio Pochettino claimed VAR is "damaging" English football after Chelsea saw a potential winning goal chalked off at the end of their 2-2 Premier League draw with Aston Villa.
Despite a bright performance, Chelsea found themselves 2-0 down at half-time on Saturday with Marc Cucurella putting through his own net before Morgan Rogers added Villa's second.
Goals from Noni Madueke and Conor Gallagher dragged Chelsea level as they penned Villa back after the break, but the Blues were enraged in stoppage time when Axel Disasi saw a potential winner ruled out.
Disasi headed home in the fifth minute of stoppage time to spark wild celebrations among the visiting Chelsea fans, only for referee Craig Pawson to disallow the goal following a pitchside VAR review, ruling Benoit Badiashile pushed Diego Carlos in the build-up.
With that incident coming just one week after Chelsea were denied a penalty in their FA Cup semi-final loss to Manchester City despite Jack Grealish appearing to handle Cole Palmer's free-kick, Pochettino has had enough.
"Everyone that was watching the game will feel disappointed. The referee said it was a foul and disallowed the goal after going to the VAR to confirm," he told TNT Sports.
"The referee is unbelievable and it's ridiculous. It is difficult to accept these types of things. In the semi-final it was handball and it was no penalty, the referee didn't check it.
"It is painful as it has damaged English football and I think Villa players and their fans didn't understand why the goal was disallowed.
"They said it was a foul and if you see the challenge… if we go into every single challenge like this and it is going to be a foul, we wouldn't finish the game with 11 players.
"We can talk about the performance or the decision – it is damaging the game."
Pochettino had no complaints about Chelsea's performance, though, as they avoided defeat for just the fourth time in 51 Premier League games when trailing by two or more goals at half-time.
The Blues previously achieved that feat in a 3-3 draw with Sheffield Wednesday in 1992, a memorable 2-2 draw with Tottenham in 2016 and another 3-3 draw with West Brom in 2020.
Chelsea racked up 21 shots to Villa's nine and put up 1.57 expected goals (xG) to the hosts' 1.1, with Nicolas Jackson and Palmer spurning glorious chances in either half.
"The performance was very good," Pochettino said. "We played really well and it is true in the first half we conceded too easily.
"To play Villa, who are fighting for the top four, I am pleased with the team. Now, we have to move on and the headlines will be about the disallowed goal."
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
