Category: Sport News

LIVERPOOL: The greatest feud between two English Premier League managers – Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola ended in a draw at Anfield.

Klopp’s Liverpool drew 1-1 with Guardiola’s Manchester City, leaving this season’s title race wide open between three teams – including leaders Arsenal.

Klopp will leave Anfield at the end of the season after almost a decade with Liverpool and won every major tournament and competed fiercely with Guardiola’s men for several titles.

Yesterday’s meeting at Anfield was the 16th Premier League match between the two managers.

Guardiola has now recorded five wins, four losses and seven draws against Klopp in the English Premier League.

The feud between Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho often ends in tension, but the opposite is true for Guardiola and Mourinho when the two managers respect each other and hug at the end of the game.

“He will be back! He loves this job so much. What can I say? He made us a better team, made me a better manager. I hope he will be back soon, because football needs a personality like him.

“Praise to Liverpool. They once again proved that what they did was amazing in this match,” said Guardiola.

Klopp refused to reveal what he said to Guardiola after the final whistle.

“It is personal, even in the football stadium. We respect each other and maybe after this career we will be close friends,” said Klopp.

LONDON: Former referee Mike Dean admitted Paul Tierney made a ‘big mistake’ before Liverpool scored a late victory over Nottingham Forest yesterday.

Darwin Nunez scored the only goal of the game in stoppage time as Liverpool won 1-0 to strengthen their challenge for the Premier League title.

However, much of the post-match analysis focused on Tierney following the incident involving Liverpool goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher.

Play was stopped after Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konate suffered a head injury when Callum Hudson-Odoi tried to cross for Forest.

After Konate recovered quickly, Kelleher resumed play but ended up passing the ball to his friend when he should have given the ball back to Forest.

Liverpool finally managed to find the net with substitute Nunez scoring the winning goal.

Although there was plenty of time between the incident and the goal, Dean felt Tierney should have stopped the game first.

Dean told Sky Sports : “Of course Nottingham Forest are angry, I would be angry too if I was involved with Nottingham Forest, but unfortunately the referee made a big mistake.

“I think he will know this morning that he made a mistake and hopefully he won’t repeat the same thing in the future.

“Unfortunately for Paul it was a mistake and it was a bad mistake, it led to the goal.

“The rules say whoever has the ball when play is stopped, the ball should be given back to them. Hudson-Odoi clearly had the ball and it should have been given to Nottingham Forest on the wing.”

Dean said that a statement should be issued after the match admitting that a mistake had been made.

However Dean said the incident which saw Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis clash with Tierney after the match should not have happened.

LONDON: Chelsea are reportedly drawing up a list of Mauricio Pochettino’s replacements after they lost in the English League Cup final yesterday.

Sporting Lisbon boss Ruben Amorim remains under the watch of Todd Boehly.

The Blues lost 1-0 to Liverpool at Wembley following Virgil van Dijk’s header in the 118th minute.

Jurgen Klopp’s team emerged as champions despite fielding several youth academy players in the squad.

Chelsea remain trophyless under Boehly after spending £1 billion since he took over in 2022.

The American has worked with three managers, first sacking Thomas Tuchel before bringing in Graham Potter and Frank Lampard.

According to The Mail newspaper, Boehly may make it four when he starts looking for Pochettino’s replacement.

Top of the Sporting Lisbon boss’ list was Amorim who was the main candidate for the job last summer.

His club is two points behind the Primeira Liga leaders with one game less to play.

Amorim is among several names on the list to replace Pochettino should Chelsea decide to sack him.

BERLIN: Bayern Munich will end their partnership with Thomas Tuchel at the end of the season despite having a contract until 2025, the club said today.

Bayern have lost their last three games in all competitions and are eight points behind Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga table.

They also lost 0-1 at the hands of Lazio in the first 16th of the Champions League last week.

Tuchel took over in March 2023 from Julian Nagelsmann.

Despite leading his club to the Bundesliga title on the final matchday last season, they failed to repeat the form that saw the squad dominate German football over the past decade.

MANCHESTER, England: The image of Manchester United’s young trio – Rasmus Hojlund, Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo – celebrating their 3-0 win over West Ham United deservedly resonated on social media last night.

Erik ten Hag’s side surged past West Ham in sixth place in the Premier League with their biggest home league win of the season and the manager said seeing the trio in action and celebrating the win validated his hopes for them.

“You don’t believe me,” said Ten Hag, scolding journalists after the match.

“We bought players in the summer for the future. We made the choice to give players who deserve a chance in the squad, Garnacho and Mainoo. Hojlund is improving.

“We have an attack line that is a threat to every opponent and they have fun playing football. Three players celebrate together, it’s not about one player, it’s about the team, 11 defending, 11 attacking, it’s fun to watch that match.”

Garnacho, 19, scored twice, Hojlund scored on his 21st birthday and 18-year-old Mainoo was brilliant in midfield and Hojlund and Mainoo left the pitch to thunderous applause from the Old Trafford crowd.

Despite a difficult season that has raised questions about the stability of Ten Hag’s team, the Dutch manager stressed the team still has a lot of work to do.

They have 38 points after 23 matches, leaving them eight points behind fourth-placed Aston Villa who they visit next Sunday.

“I’m not telling you we’re there, where we want to be, but you see the potential,” Ten Hag said.

“(Young players) definitely need games, they need experience and the only way you can get that is to play in the first team.

“They have the right attitude and if you have the attitude to improve every day, I’m sure they can reach a high level but they need experienced players to help them and put them in the right position.”