Football
Chris Wright, Toe Poke writer 5y

Toe Poke Daily: 6 things you may have missed from Community Shield

The Toe Poke Daily is here every day to bring you all the weirdest stories, quirkiest viral content and top trolling that the internet has to offer, all in one place.

Jump to: Kobe Bryant gets on-pitch meet and greet with USWNT stars | Bristol ready to play on | Clattenburg's Bellamy rivalry

Manchester City edged out Liverpool to claim the first silverware on offer in the 2019-20 campaign by winning the Community Shield (replay the match now in U.S.).

It took a penalty shootout to seal the trophy at Wembley, but Pep Guardiola's side just about managed to retain the narrow superiority they held over their Merseyside rivals last season.

Here are six nuggets you might have missed amid the hustle and bustle of the afternoon's extended action.

- Van Dijk interview: UCL glory, Ballon d'Or, title race
- Reddy: Man City, Liverpool still well ahead of rivals
- ESPN Premier League fantasy: Sign up now!

- All the new 2019-20 kits for Europe's top clubs
- Zaha practices free kicks in Man United shirt
- Neymar pulled into PSG celebrations, pushed out again

Kobe Bryant gets on-pitch meet and greet with USWNT stars

The U.S. Women's National Team returned to the regular grind on Sunday with a friendly against Republic of Ireland -- their first fixture since beating the Netherlands in the 2019 World Cup final back in July.

However, the game still began with a little celebrity razzle dazzle thanks to a VIP visit from Kobe Bryant, who ambled out onto the Rose Bowl pitch to meet the players as they went through their warm-up.

The USWNT went on to win 3-0 in Pasadena thanks to three first-half goals from Tobin Heath, Lindsey Horan and Carli Lloyd.

Bristol ready to play on

Bristol City manager Lee Johnson doesn't care about your injuries. Well, that's the case if you're a Championship rival, anyway.

There were heated exchanges between the Bristol and Leeds United benches on the opening day of the Championship season when Leeds' Mateusz Klich went down, and the hosts played on. Eventually Kasey Palmer put the ball out of play -- by directing it into the Leeds dugout -- and animosity between the two clubs grew.

It led to a decision from Johnson and the club: Unless the opponent has suffered a legitimate head injury, Bristol will continue play. And to make sure their opponents are aware, Bristol emailed their stance to every other Championship club.

"Somebody goes down and sometimes it's tactical, because people try and gain an advantage, and sometimes it's genuine," Johnson told Wales Online. "So we just decided as a club that we're going to make a rule for the 46 games that we're going to let the referee manage the game."

We'll see how that goes, then.

Clattenburg's Bellamy rivalry

Referee Mark Clattenburg has revealed exactly who he found to be the worst player to officiate during his 14-year stint in the Premier League.

The list of contenders is extensive -- Jens Lehmann, Rio Ferdinand and Roy Keane all get a mention -- but Clattenburg singled out Craig Bellamy as the man who gave him the most trouble on the pitch.

"The worst one, and I've thought it for years, was Bellamy," Clattenburg told Pitch Invader magazine. "He was just the most irritating player on the pitch -- and he was irritating off it. He was downright rude and it didn't matter what you said to him."

The 44-year-old ref, who now plies his trade in the Chinese Super League, also admitted that he wrongly sent Bellamy off during a Manchester City game in 2009 just to get rid of him.

"I [gave him a second caution against] Bolton for diving and it was a blatant penalty. He was a guy I just didn't really get on well with."

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