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FOOTBALL

Basel and Young Boys draw tough opponents

FC Basel will face one of Portugal’s top teams, FC Porto, as the draw for the final 16 in the Champions League football playoffs was unveiled on Monday.

Basel and Young Boys draw tough opponents
Basel coach Paulo Sousa faces an adversary from his home country. Photo: AFP

pbSwiss champions Basel, who advanced after coming second in Group B to Real Madrid, will play the Portuguese side at home on February 18th before the return match at Porto on March 10.

Swiss media have noted with irony that Basel’s coach Paulo Sousa is Portuguese and a former player for Benfica and Portugal’s national team, although he never played for or managed Porto.

The playoffs will lead to the final game set for Berlin’s Olympiastadion on June 6th 2015.

Here’s the full draw for the last 16, announced by Swiss-based European governing football body UEFA:

Paris Saint-Germain — Chelsea


Manchester City — Bareclona

Bayer Levrkusen — Atletico Madrid

Juventus — Borussia Dortmund

Shalke — Real Madrid

Shakhtar Donetsk — Bayern Munich

Arsenal — Monaco

Basel — Porto

Meanwhile, in the lower-tier Europa League, Switzerland’s BSC Young Boys team from Bern will tackle England’s Everton on February 19th and 26th under the draw for that league’s final 32 announced by UEFA at its headquarters in Nyon in the canton of Vaud.

The playoffs lead up to the Europa Cup final game set for May 27th at Warsaw’s National Stadium in Poland.

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RACISM

VIDEO: Spain’s La Liga reviews video of boy racially abusing Vinicius

Spain's La Liga on Monday said it was reviewing a video of a child making racist insults towards Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior during the 2-2 draw with Valencia at the weekend.

VIDEO: Spain's La Liga reviews video of boy racially abusing Vinicius

“We’re in the process of studying and analysing the facts from a legal standpoint to see what we can and should do,” La Liga sources said.

In a video published by a journalist for ESPN Brasil, and picked up by Spanish media, a boy sitting in a woman’s lap can be heard calling Vinicius a “monkey”.

The Brazilian scored twice for Madrid as his team recovered from two goals down at Mestalla on Saturday.

Vinicius raised his fist in a “Black Power” salute after the first of his two goals at a ground where he was racially abused last season. Valencia subsequently banned three people from the stadium for life.

The 23-year-old has become a symbol of the fight against discrimination in Spanish football after suffering racist abuse on many occasions, and he was jeered repeatedly by home supporters on Saturday.

Jude Bellingham was sent off after the final whistle against Valencia for protesting after the referee blew the final whistle right before the England midfielder headed home what he thought was the winning goal.

READ ALSO: Football star Vinicius highlights racist behaviour from Spanish fans

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