Baby joy consolation for Skrtels

THE celebrations didn’t all belong to the Russians in Zilina last night — just the football ones as the Skrtels prepare for a big family gathering on Merseyside.

As Arsenal striker Andrei Arshavin and his team-mates left for Moscow to finish the Euro 2012 job against Andorra, Liverpool defender Martin Skrtel was packing his bags for home.

Skrtel woke yesterday morning to the news his wife Barbora had given birth to their son Matthew, news which suggests perhaps that football isn’t always more important than life and death.