Rubiales row overshadows Champions League draw as mother is hospitalised

Rubiales’s mother was taken to hospital, according to the the parish priest of the church where Ángeles Béjar has been undertaking a hunger strike in protest at what she sees as the unjust treatment of her son.

OVERSHADOWS CHAMPIONS LEAGUE DRAW: Uefa was struggling to keep the football world’s focus on one of its showpiece occasions, the Champions League draw, on Wednesday night as the scandal surrounding its vice-president Luis Rubiales showed no sign of letting up. Pic: AP Photo/Manu Fernandez

Uefa was struggling to keep the football world’s focus on one of its showpiece occasions, the Champions League draw, on Wednesday night as the scandal surrounding its vice-president Luis Rubiales showed no sign of letting up.

European football royalty will converge on Monte Carlo for an event that traditionally sets the scene for the new campaign, tying in the draw and an awards ceremony for least season’s best players and coaches, but any intrigue over group-stage ties has been superseded by the row around Rubiales.