Soccer

Euro Zone: Retired Spanish boxer deals French fans a bitter blow

Jero Garcia says Mbappé's recovery from a broken nose is going to be ‘complicated’

France's forward Kylian Mbappe after breaking his nose in the Euro 2024 match against Austria in Duesseldorf. Photograph: Franck Fife/AFP

Mary Hannigan
Wed Jun 19 2024 - 06:00

Retired Spanish boxer Jero Garcia hadn’t the best of news for French folk clinging to the hope that Kylian Mbappé’s broken nose won’t result in him missing any Euro 2024 games. According to the Daily Express, Garcia said that breathing complications mean that boxers avoid risking any form of contact with a broken nose for at least three weeks. If Mbappé stuck to that schedule he wouldn’t be back until the semi-finals.

France, of course, are hoping that by wearing a mask their captain will be back much sooner than that, although Garcia insists that “the recovery is going to be complicated”. And to be fair, he should know. How many times did he break his nose through his career? Just the 15.

Podolski making plenty of dough from kebabs

Kebab-loving fans visiting Germany could well find themselves dropping in to one of the Mangal Doner chain’s 34 branches around the country, and by doing so they will be adding to the already sizeable wealth of a former German World Cup winner: Lukas Podolski.

Now 39, but still playing (he’s with Górnik Zabrze in Poland, the land of his birth), Podolski opened his first outlet back in 2018 and the chain is now worth around the €200 million mark.

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So he doesn’t need to be doing punditry work to pay the bills. That might be just as well. Who did he fancy to win Euro 2024, the Daily Mail asked him. “France or England...maybe Spain, Germany or Belgium.” Mercifully he’s more decisive in business.

Quote of the day

“With Jack Hendry in the team you are always going to have a hard time at this level. Even at my advanced age I could still turn faster than that guy.” – Dutch pundit Johan Boskamp – who is, eh, 75 – being a touch rude about the Scottish defender.

Number: 5

That’s how many Italian managers there are at Euro 2024: Luciano Spalletti (Italy), Domenico Tedesco (Belgium), Marco Rossi (Hungary), Vincenzo Montella (Turkey) and Francesco Calzona (Slovakia), three more than any other nation.

Word of mouth

“I knew he was captain of Celtic, a good little football player. I just couldn’t remember his name.” – Poor Callum McGregor, he’s yet to make a lasting impression on Graeme Souness

“My tip for the game is we will teach Switzerland a footballing lesson.” – Rod Stewart. Maybe he was only joking?

“Bobby Robson used to say to me, ‘we want you to play for England the way you play for Liverpool’. I said, ‘if England played the way Liverpool do then I would’. It’s the same for Foden.” – John Barnes has a sense of deja vu.

“We gave it our heart. We didn’t win it by being better, but by being happier.” – A decidedly cheerful Dávid Hancko after Slovakia’s victory over Belgium.

Mary Hannigan

Mary Hannigan

Mary Hannigan is a sports writer with The Irish Times

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