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Soccer News of Saturday, 21 March 2020

Source: www.mynigeria.com

COVID-19: Mikel Obi responds as president of Trabzonspor says divorce rates will increase if league is stopped

Mikel Obi Mikel Obi

Mikel Obi has responded to claims by the president of his former club Trabzonspor who said that divorce rates in Turkey would increase if the league in the country is stopped due to coronavirus pandemic.

Recall that Mikel Obi left the club after his contract was terminated on grounds that he refused to withdraw a statement calling for the suspension of football in Turkey due to coronavirus.

He was quoted by Guardian responding to the claims by Trabzonspor president Ahmet Agaglou: "It just shows you how the thinking there is.

"I just have to be honest and be brutal with what I’m saying. It just shows that they don’t really care about human life.

"They don’t care about what is going on in the world. All they care about is how to win the league. The reason why I signed for Trabzonspor last summer was to win the league.

"I gave 100% in every game. But in this situation, where the world is facing such a difficult time, I didn’t feel that football should continue."

“He was telling me if I didn’t take the post down, I was not going to play until the end of the season,” Mikel says. “I said: ‘OK, if that’s what you guys think, then I am ready to stand by what I’ve said and take the hit for it.’”

The game against Istanbul Basaksehir saw Mikel seated on the bench after the team selection was done by the club president.

“The president told me: ‘I will tell the coach not to play you,’” Mikel says. “I said: ‘OK.’”

“It was still a risk in terms of passing the virus on, with a lot of accredited people there, and I saw what was going on, I was on the bench,” Mikel says.

“There was no motivation, the players were all scared. There was no handshaking. It didn’t feel right. I just thought: ‘I don’t want to be part of this.’”