The Late Lunge: Diouf lays the boot into Gerrard – not literally- and a bizarre injury for York City

Training ground mannequin causes an injury, El-Hadji Diouf lays the boot into Gerrard and Chile are the World Cup champions.

By Declan Whooley

Diouf lays the boot in Gerrard

El-Hadji Diouf is nothing if not divisive. The footballer took to the French newspaper L’Equipe to voice stinging criticism of the Liverpool skipper. Our French is pretty limited, but luckily a number of British newspapers have translated the interview.

Both Gerrard and Jamie Carragher have been critical of the player for his time at Anfield where both questioned his commitment and professionalism. Now it seems the Leeds United player gets his own back and believes the skipper is not all that popular at Anfield.

“He does not care about others. I spoke to the major figures at Liverpool and nobody can stand him,” he is quoted as saying in The Independent.

He also believes he is rather hard done by in the press.

“I have hurt people and I regret that. But I have never been to prison, I have never injured anyone on the pitch,” he added.

We can’t say we feel much sympathy for the Senegalese international. Nor Craig Burley. Have a look at this clip after the forward signed for Rangers. Not a fence sitter is our Craig.

York City player injured by training ground dummy

Pride is a great thing, but for York City midfielder Matty Blair it may be in short supply. He has been ruled out of the club’s match against Dagenham & Redbridge this Saturday after being hurt in a clash with a mannequin on the training ground.

Boss Gary Mills told BBC Radio that the 22 year-old ‘had a bit of a bump’ with the dummy and looked like he required stitches. Mills added that his team-mates are getting a great of satisfaction from the fact that he is the first known player to be tackled by a mannequin.

It seems as though that bizarre injuries must be something in the blood. In March his father Andy, who was part of the Aston Villa squad that conquered Europe in 1982, broke his metatarsal when he fell down some stairs celebrating a goal by Matty in the FA Trophy semi-final.

They are either unlucky or particularly clumsy depending on your viewpoint. We are veering towards the latter.

Chile homeless World Cup champions

Chile beat the hosts Mexico to claim an 8-5 victory in the homeless World Cup final. It brought to an end the 59-team tournament played in a 4 v 4 format. While home supporters will have been disappointed with the result, the women’s team did give them something to cheer about.

The female side defeated South American rivals Brazil 6-2.

Click here to see more action from Mexico