Wenger salutes English solidarity over Paris

AFP, LONDON: Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger on Thursday paid tribute to “the English community and English football” for their sympathetic reaction to last week’s attacks in Paris. England fans sang the French national anthem prior to Tuesday’s friendly between the two countries at Wembley, while the stadium’s giant arch was lit up in the red, white and blue of the French flag.
Wenger, who attended the game and was caught on camera singing along to ‘La Marseillaise’, said that despite the attacks, it was correct for the match to go ahead.
“I would like to thank the English community and English football, who have shown great solidarity. It was a huge shock for our country and our football,” the Frenchman told his weekly press conference.
“You always think after this kind of event: do you continue to play, or do you stop your life? For me they made the right decision. “The football world has responded the way you want it to respond in a big union and togetherness.”

Bundesliga security under scrutiny

AFP, BERLIN: Hamburg host second-placed Borussia Dortmund on Friday in the first of the weekend’s Bundesliga fixtures with security under scrutiny after the Paris terror attacks and bomb scare in Hanover. Bundesliga chiefs insist it will be business as usual in Germany’s top two tiers with the weekend’s blue riband game seeing Schalke host Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich in Gelsenkirchen, which will be at 79,000 capacity.
But whether the weekend’s Bundesliga programme should take place at all has been debated after Tuesday’s Germany-Netherlands friendly in Hanover was called off due to a bomb scare, further shaking German football. It came just four days after the Germany team experienced first-hand last Friday’s terrorist attacks in Paris.
Dortmund’s CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke says the show must go on at Hamburg’s Volksparkstadion ground “There is no alternative. We must show the civil courage and must not allow ourselves to capitulate to fear,” he said. “Or else it allows those (terrorists) to celebrate, who should not be doing so.”