Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

FOOTBALL

‘Missing’ Liverpool fan found in police custody after punching a cop and breaking his glasses

The family of the 23-year-old have made a public appeal in a desperate attempt to find a Liverpool fan who had not been seen since the game ended on Saturday night.

Published: 3 June 2019 09:38 CEST
Updated: 3 June 2019 12:38 CEST
'Missing' Liverpool fan found in police custody after punching a cop and breaking his glasses
Macaulay Negus was last seen on Saturday night. Appeal photo released by family.

Macauley Negus, from Plymouth had travelled to the game by car with his father but the pair got separated during post-match celebrations near the Liverpool fanzone in Madrid and Macauley had been missing ever since.

But on Monday morning police confirmed that he was in their custody after being arrested for being publically inebriated and attacking a police officer.

His family has become worried after losing sight of him in the Goya area of Madrid around 10.30pm on Saturday.

His sister-in-law, Carla, made an appeal on Instagram: 

Other family members, including Macualey’s brother flew out to Madrid on Sunday and spent the day visiting hospitals to search for him.

“Just to put everyone in the picture, I flew out this morning to meet my dad we have contacted the hospitals and police and have walked 30 miles today just looking for him!!” said brother Ashley on social media posts on Sunday.

Later he added: 

Macauley, who did not have money or ID on him, was officially reported missing to police late Sunday evening after the required 24 hours had lapsed.

The British Embassy in Madrid said they were also offering assistance.

The family said on Monday morning that they had located Macauley Negus and he was safe and well.

 

Spanish media reported that he had been arrested after attacking a police officer. He reportedly broke the glasses of the officer while the police tried to detain him because he was drunk and making a public distrubance, 

He reportedly was not carrying identification and was unable to give his name correctly to police officers.

“We are supporting the family of a British man who has been arrested in Madrid, and our consular staff are in contact with the Spanish police.”

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

FOOTBALL

Putellas becomes second Spanish footballer in history to win Ballon d’Or

Alexia Putellas of Barcelona and Spain won the women's Ballon d'Or prize on Monday, becoming only the second Spanish-born footballer in history to be considered the best in the world, and claiming a win for Spain after a 61-year wait.

Published: 30 November 2021 09:55 CET
FC Barcelona's Spanish midfielder Alexia Putellas poses after being awarded thewomen's Ballon d'Or award.
FC Barcelona's Spanish midfielder Alexia Putellas poses after being awarded thewomen's Ballon d'Or award. Photo: FRANCK FIFE / AFP

Putellas is the third winner of the prize, following in the footsteps of Ada Hegerberg, who won the inaugural women’s Ballon d’Or in 2018, and United States World Cup star Megan Rapinoe, winner in 2019.

Putellas captained Barcelona to victory in this year’s Champions League, scoring a penalty in the final as her side hammered Chelsea 4-0 in Gothenburg.

She also won a Spanish league and cup double with Barca, the club she joined as a teenager in 2012, and helped her country qualify for the upcoming Women’s Euro in England.

Her Barcelona and Spain teammate Jennifer Hermoso finished second in the voting, with Sam Kerr of Chelsea and Australia coming in third.

It completes an awards double for Putellas, who in August was named player of the year by European football’s governing body UEFA.

But it’s also a huge win for Spain as it’s the first time in 61 years that a Spanish footballer – male or female – is crowned the world’s best footballer of the year, and only the second time in history a Spaniard wins the Ballon d’Or. 

Former Spanish midfielder Luis Suárez (not the ex Liverpool and Barça player now at Atlético) was the only Spanish-born footballer to win the award in 1960 while at Inter Milan. Argentinian-born Alfredo Di Stefano, the Real Madrid star who took up Spanish citizenship, also won it in 1959.

Who is Alexia Putellas?

Alexia Putellas grew up dreaming of playing for Barcelona and after clinching the treble of league, cup and Champions League last season, her status as a women’s footballing icon was underlined as she claimed the Ballon d’Or on Monday.

Unlike the men’s side, Barca’s women swept the board last term with the 27-year-old, who wears “Alexia” on the back of her shirt, at the forefront, months before Lionel Messi’s emotional departure.

Attacker Putellas, who turns 28 in February, spent her childhood less than an hour’s car journey from the Camp Nou and she made her first trip to the ground from her hometown of Mollet del Valles, for the Barcelona derby on January 6, 2000.

Barcelona's Spanish midfielder Alexia Putellas (R) vies with VfL Wolfsburg's German defender Kathrin Hendrich
Putellas plays as a striker for Barça and Spain. GABRIEL BOUYS / POOL / AFP

Exactly 21 years later she became the first woman in the modern era to score in the stadium, against Espanyol. Her name was engraved in the club’s history from that day forward, but her story started much earlier.

She started playing the sport in school, against boys.

“My mum had enough of me coming home with bruises on my legs, so she signed me up at a club so that I stopped playing during break-time,” Putellas said last year.

So, with her parent’s insistence, she joined Sabadell before being signed by Barca’s academy.

“That’s where things got serious… But you couldn’t envisage, with all one’s power, to make a living from football,” she said.

After less than a year with “her” outfit, she moved across town to Espanyol and made her first-team debut in 2010 before losing to Barca in the final of the Copa de la Reina.

She then headed south for a season at Valencia-based club Levante before returning “home” in July 2012, signing for Barcelona just two months after her father’s death.

In her first term there she helped Barca win the league and cup double, winning the award for player of the match in the final of the latter competition.

SHOW COMMENTS