Coronavirus: With the sporting world in turmoil, Klopp delivers a dose of perspective
Football, F1, cricket and the London Marathon are among major sporting events affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
Friday 13 March 2020 23:06, UK
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp, as is becoming increasingly common, was a voice of calm as coronavirus laid waste to sporting fixtures across the world.聽
His side are 25 points clear at the top of the Premier League table and were cantering towards their first league title in 30 years.
The decision of the league, in unison with the FA and the English Football League, to postpone football until at least the weekend of 3/4 April, could very well derail Liverpool's season and rob the title they seemed destined to claim.
But the German has delivered a dose of perspective.
In a statement on Friday, he wrote: "Today, football and football matches don't seem very important at all."
Alongside millions more, he watched on as the Premier League was forced into an extraordinary U-turn over the course of 45 minutes on Thursday evening.
They had hoped to continue the season as normal, as per government advice encapsulated by the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, who said earlier this week that there was no epidemiological or medical reason why large scale sporting events could not proceed as usual.
But the news that Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta and Chelsea and England's teenage star Callum Hudson-Odoi had tested positive for COVID-19, forced their hand.
With seven clubs in full or part self-isolation, the idea of business as usual became fanciful.
The situation regarding the spread of the coronavirus will be reassessed closer to the planned resumption date.
But with a football calendar already incredibly crowded, it is hard to see how a delay of longer than three weeks could be accommodated.
Euro 2020 - a continent wide tournament in 12 different countries - is scheduled to begin in Rome on 12 June.
UEFA, European football's governing body, has called a crisis meeting on Tuesday with its 55 member associations, to discuss the future of the event and also the Champions League and Europa League.
Sky News understands that the possibility of delaying the tournament by one year is likely to be voted upon.
That would free up the European leagues to have a lengthy break in the hope the spread of the virus abates.
It is not just football though.
In motor racing, a further two Grand Prix's were called off in the past 24 hours.
England's cricket tour of Sri Lanka suffered the same fate, and the London Marathon, like other mass participation events around the world, has been postponed.
Before government plans to ban mass gatherings were announced on Friday evening, the Cheltenham festival continued as normal this week, climaxing with Al Boum's second consecutive victory in the Gold Cup.
Only slightly fewer fans attended than last year, with the public there seemingly immune to the growing fear of the virus.
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For the first time in 35 years, the lighting of the Olympic flame in Ancient Olympia took place without a crowd this week, and the Greek leg of the torch relay was abandoned.
The International Olympic Committee, headed by its President Thomas Bach, insisted two weeks ago that they had not even considered the possibility of postponement or cancellation, but much has changed since then.
The Olympics is due to begin in Tokyo on 24 July.
Its cancellation is unthinkable for Japan, which has spent more than £9bn on its staging, but we are in unprecedented times.