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Following the second weekend of Copa Gianni, Fifa were eager to flag up a number of fraternal firsts. In scoring for Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid, Jude and Jobe Bellingham became the first brothers in history to score in the same tournament – “We’re 1-1 now,” honked Jude after his goal – while Francesco Pio Esposito became the first player to replace his brother when he came on for his Inter debut in place of elder sibling Sebastiano in the win over Urawa Red Diamonds. Meanwhile in Atlanta, the United Arab Emirates vice president and Manchester City chief suit, Sheikh Mansour, emerged with family bragging rights after his club’s reserve team trampled Al Ain, who are presided over by his older brother Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, into the dirt.
Somewhat bizarrely, the weekend also marked the first occasion a team’s substitutes elected to stay in the dressing-room for the first half of one of their games after the players named on the Dortmund bench for their win over Mamelodi Sundowns proved they are no match for mad dogs or Englishmen by opting to leave their uncovered touchline seats vacant in favour of kicking back in the comparative cool of the stadium bowels to stave off the unpleasant sound and smell of their own skin slowly cooking in the midday Ohio heat. “Our subs watched the first half [on TV] from inside the locker room to avoid the blazing sun at TQL Stadium – never seen that before, but in this heat, it absolutely makes sense,” wrote the Dortmund comms team on some Social Media Disgrace or other. Given their laissez-faire attitude to player welfare that practically borders on the downright negligent, we can almost certainly expect a diktat ordering substitutes from all teams to sit in their official Fifa-designated pitchside seats or risk incurring a hefty fine and the tournament’s organiser’s not inconsiderable wrath.
