The shame of Luka Jovic, Liverpool helped and 10 things we learned from lockdown

The coronavirus the crisis has swept the world and nothing has remained untouched. This also applies to sports, which were fairly absent all over the world in the past week.

That doesn’t mean we haven’t learned much about teams, governing bodies, and the stars who practice our most popular sports. Heroes and villains emerge in the vacuum.

Sportsmail has reviewed the lessons we have learned in the sports world over the past week …

The decision to move forward with Cheltenham now looks as ludicrous as the dumb late suspension of the Premier League

In Spainthere are concerns that for many of the cases of coronavirus are zero in that country as well as in the base Italy the match between Atalanta and Valencia was in the Champions League.

It was held in the San Siro, while Atalanta is based in Bergamo, one of the hardest hit regions. Valencia had 35 percent of players test positive for the virus last week.

In the UK we have our own folly. It took ages for the Premier League to be suspended and it looked like it would continue a little over a week ago.

That turned out to be untrue, as Mikel Arteta’s positive test, followed shortly by Callum Hudson-Odoi’s, turned out to be too much. Before that, the clash between Manchester City and Arsenal had been postponed.

But even as the Premier League games fell by the wayside, Cheltenham passed through to a huge crowd. At that time, most sporting events across Europe went behind closed doors or were canceled entirely.

This was not the case in the races. A crowd of 60,664 attended the first day, with a total attendance of about 250,000 during the week.

While Charlie Austin has not had a positive test for coronavirus, he suffers from the symptoms – which he described as “serious.”

An enlightening interview last week revealed that he thought he picked it up after attending Cheltenham. Whether he knew it or not, who knows.

Given the exponential growth of coronavirus cases, how many will come from the crowds at the festival? How ridiculous will the decision not to keep it behind closed doors seem like a few weeks, a month or even a year?

Yes, yes, yes … the organizers will tell you they were following the latest government and scientific advice and had enough hand gel stations. But come on …

The gold medal for running a shambolic Olympics goes to … the IOC

US Track and Field and UK Athletics have requested an extension. Canada has said they will not send their athletes.

Meanwhile, athletes around the world still have to train for an event that is unlikely to happen. It is the IOC’s inability to admit defeat in hosting the Summer Olympics that is causing this debris.

Even Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who is dependent on the Games taking place in Tokyo for the political value it has, admitted on Monday that the situation could change. He said to parliament, “In light of the first consideration of athletes, it may become inevitable that we make a decision to postpone.”

The IOC is only now making plans to postpone the Games for a year, to push back to 2021 or to carry out a reduced version this summer.

What is it about an almost global lockdown that suggested it was possible until the beginning of this week? What about the global pandemic – didn’t it make them rethink their current plans?

When it comes to governing bodies, the IOC hasn’t really covered itself in glory with their treatment for coronavirus.

Some sports stars have shown remarkable generosity …

Outside of Manchester United fans, not many supporters had fond memories of Gary Neville, the player. Wilfried Zaha spends his weeks kicking the country up and down and booed by fans of the opposition. Andy Carroll takes a somewhat brutalistic approach to the game, but it doesn’t give him much credit.

Still, all three have worked wonders over the past week, using their privileged position to help society in an incredibly difficult time.

Neville – and Ryan Giggs, his co-owners in his hotel businesses – have opened the doors of two Manchester hotels to NHS employees in a difficult time for them.

Wilfried Zaha has done the same for 50 properties he owns, including some in London. The value of it on the open market must be incredible.

Andy Carroll has left and raised thousands of pounds from his teammates to pay for their kitman’s hip surgery.

At the same time, spurred by Roman Abramovich, Chelsea has opened the doors of the Stamford Bridge hotel to NHS employees.

The gap between the modern footballer and the average man on the street has seemingly grown for years. Most assume they don’t care.

That is not true. They do care about their place in society and know that they can help more than most.

Still, people like Luka Jovic don’t think the rules apply to them

What would you do if you found out that someone you came in contact with has tested positive for coronavirus?

You probably stay indoors, right? Do you isolate from those you care about? Give yourself a week to show any symptoms and then maybe get on with your life?

Not Luka Jovic. After a Real Madrid basketball player tested positive for the virus, they stopped all their training. The players were sent home and had to be quarantined.

Jovic saw that as an opportunity to return to Serbia. That is a journey with a serious risk of coming into contact with others. Even worse, Madrid is a virus hotspot, and Serbia had told people not to return.

It is serious enough that the Serbian Prime Minister hammered him for his decision. Ana Brnabic said, “We have the negative example of our football stars making millions and ignoring the obligation to isolate themselves so they can return home.”

Even his father admitted he made a mistake and said, “Now it looks like he’s a big criminal. If he has to go to prison, he will go. ‘

Just because Jovic can jump on a plane at any time doesn’t mean he should. He must have more social responsibility than that.

In times of real crisis, football rivalry doesn’t mean anything …

There was a serious, justified concern when Karren Brady broke rank and called for the season to be annulled. Fans of Liverpool, Leeds and West Brom feared the worst.

If there are so many vested interests making the decision for the rest of the 2019-20 season, how can they be resolved without cancellation?

Well, it turns out that Brady was an outlier. At every step of this process, teams have shown a remarkable willingness to work together.

Take UEFA, for example. It only took one day before they decided to postpone Euro 2020, which is incredible considering how slow those men in blazers sometimes move.

The EFL, meanwhile, have all directly committed to completing the campaign. Given the rivalry at play in that league, it’s a brilliant step for them to make that decision.

And the Premier League, where money is king, took the sensible step of deciding the same. Of course, those with a Manchester United conviction don’t want Liverpool to take the title, but even they recognize that they have been remarkable this season and deserve it at the end of it.

Even the FA has broken with years and years of tradition and insisted that the season should end even though it takes much longer than the June 1 end date in their rulebook.

This level of agreement is unprecedented in football history. Everyone has put their own interests aside to support the game itself.

… but ALL clubs want to be at the top when all this is over

Liverpool was comfortably the best side of the country this season, but even they recognize the toll this break can take on their players and, by extension, their title challenge.

So the club’s sports psychologist Lee Richardson offers mental health tips to keep the title from getting at the forefront of their minds. They have also been given breathing techniques.

Leeds is at the top of the championship and had a series of five games before the break. They’ve given all of their players bicycles and custom weights and programs to ensure they hit the ground.

Clubs are starting to put together summer transfer plans. Life continues as much as possible in a world without games or training.

Do not mistake the joint efforts as a weakening of the competitive spirit. When football returns, every team wants to be at their best and be able to win again.

Let’s face it, eSports still aren’t a substitute for REAL sports

On Sunday night, instead of a real Grand Prix, Formula 1 held an eSports edition. Leyton Orient’s critically acclaimed Ultimate Quaran team started.

How many are actually tuned? And what percentage of those who would have sat down to watch the Australian Grand Prix last weekend were in the audience for the eSports edition?

Ditto Orient’s laudable attempt to fill the gaps in the football calendar.

There is certainly an audience for eSports. YouTube stars were created from people’s love of Fortnite, League of Legends or Overwatch. However, that’s more of a generation thing.

Last week we learned that they are not an immediate replacement for a cake, pint and program.

We have long been told that eSports is the future. Maybe they still are. More importantly, they are not the present we had hoped for.

Enough with the toilet roll challenges …

There is a lot of good content from football players. Q & As took place, Match of the Day over the weekend was an excellent insight, while the extra space for daily interviews gave us more insight into how these people are typing.

However, at this stage it is worth continuing with the toilet roll kick-ups.

The message – stay home if you can – is important. Players should continue to convey that, given their social media presence.

It may be time to find another way to do it. However, given the reaction when celebrities did, it’s worth ruling out a sing-along.

Television money is still king … even in a crisis

NBC, the largest broadcaster of the Olympics, has sold $ 1 billion in ads for the 2020 games, after paying $ 7.5 billion for the rights to the games through 2032 in 2014.

Premier League TV deals around the world are worth £ 9.2 billion over the three-year period between 2019 and 2022. Sportsmail reported last weekend that they would be at risk of violation if the season didn’t end in July.

Contracts are complicated, yet it must be assumed that no one has put a coronavirus clause in any of these deals.

The need to comply with TV deals continues to play a major role for all sports organizations facing this crisis.

Wembley is NOT used to cook a giant lasagna

As terrible as the situation in the world is, at least there have been moments of humor.

A voting note circulating on WhatsApp last week suggested that the government plans to cook a giant lasagna at Wembley Stadium, using the roof and underfloor heating to create an oven.

The lasagna is then delivered door to door. It’s both a message about how fast fake news can spread and – most importantly – hilarious.

To prove the point, Sportsmail checked and it turns out the FA is not intend to use the national stadium to feed the nation.

The next step – find out if this negates France’s plan to use the Channel Tunnel to cook a giant garlic bread.