Author: David Great

Liverpool will consider a move for Bayern Munich’s 19-year-old Germany midfielder Jamal Musiala next summer should they fail to land Borussia Dortmund’s England midfielder Jude Bellingham, 19. (Mirror) Liverpool and Guinea midfielder Naby Keita, 27, will not discuss a new deal with the Reds until January. His current contract expires next summer. (Bild) Barcelona have agreed to permanently sell Antoine Griezmann, 31, to Atletico Madrid for half his 40m euros asking price. The France forward is currently on loan at Atletico. (Marca – in Spanish) West Ham and England midfielder Declan Rice, 23, will be Chelsea’s top transfer target in 2023. (90min) Southampton are set to sack manager Ralph Hasenhuttl after the club’s poor start to…

A superb Lionel Messi goal was cancelled out as Paris St-Germain and Benfica maintained their unbeaten Champions League records in an entertaining game in Portugal. Messi opened the scoring with a curling shot after superb interplay with Neymar and Kylian Mbappe. However Benfica earned a draw when Danilo Pereira turned an Enzo Fernandez cross into his own net. The result means both sides have seven points from three games in Group H. On this basis, Benfica and PSG both deserve a spot in the round of 16 as they played out a very entertaining encounter where only strong performances by…

Chelsea’s Champions League campaign kicked into gear with an emphatic and fully deserved win over AC Milan at Stamford Bridge. New manager Graham Potter knew victory was essential after a poor start to their group phase with defeat away by Dinamo Zagreb finishing Thomas Tuchel’s reign before a draw at home to Red Bull Salzburg. And Chelsea delivered in style, with England right-back Reece James the star man as they eventually overpowered Milan. Wesley Fofana scored his first goal for the club after 24 minutes when Milan failed to clear a corner, although the £70m defender’s night was soon ended…

Erling Haaland continued his incredible scoring form with two more goals as Manchester City swept Copenhagen aside to make it three wins out of three in Champions League Group G. Haaland was unable to finish off what would have been a fourth hat-trick for City after being taken off at half-time but his first-half double means he now has 19 goals in his first 12 games for Pep Guardiola’s side. With or without him, City were far too quick and clever for their Danish opponents and would have ended up with more than five goals from a totally one-sided match…

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) has discovered an illegal connection line from one of its major oil export terminals into the sea that had been operating undetected for nine years. The four-kilometre (2.5-mile) connection from the Forcados export terminal, which typically exports around 250,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil, into the sea was found during a clamp-down on theft in the past six weeks, NNPC chief executive Mele Kyari told a parliamentary committee late on Tuesday. “Oil theft in the country has been going on for over 22 years but the dimension and rate it assumed in…

Diego Maradona is never far from the minds of Napoli and after their 6-1 drubbing of Ajax Amsterdam away in the Champions League on Tuesday, coach Luciano Spalletti was quick to invoke the memory of the club icon. “We played a great game. We have shown what we are capable of. Even Maradona would have been proud of us,” said the Napoli coach after the runaway win that ensured a 100% record in Group A at the halfway stage of the group phase campaign. Napoli now have an opportunity to clinch a berth in next year’s knockout phase when they…

Former Liverpool, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich midfielder Xabi Alonso has been appointed manager of Bayer Leverkusen, replacing Gerardo Seoane. Seoane has been sacked with the club second from bottom in the Bundesliga, having won just one game this season. Xabi Alonso, previously head coach of Real Sociedad’s B team, has signed a deal until June 2024. “I know Leverkusen from my time in Germany as an excellent club,” said the 40-year-old. “Bayer 04 have always had great players, and I see a lot of quality in the current squad too. Tax Fraud: Xabi Alonso facing five-year jail term “In…

The Nigerian government has announced the release of the remaining Abuja-Kaduna train hostages that were held by the terrorist group, Boko Haram. The passengers who were abducted in March 2022, have been in captivity for 191 days and efforts by the government to secure their release proved abortive. In a statement signed by Prof. Usman Yusuf, Secretary, Chief of Defense Staff Action Committee (CDSAC), the hostages were received by the Chief of Defense Staff, General Lucky Irabor. “I am pleased to announce to the nation and the world that at 1600Hrs. (4:00pm) today, Wednesday 5 October 2022, the seven-man Presidential…

Former Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has turned down the chance to manage struggling Bayer Leverkusen in his native Germany. (Sport1) Arsenal have reached an agreement in principle on a new contract for England winger Bukayo Saka, 21. (Football Insider) Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis is considering sacking manager Steve Cooper and some of the club’s recruitment staff after five successive Premier League defeats. (Mail) Forest are considering former Liverpool, Chelsea and Newcastle United boss Rafael Benitez as Cooper’s potential replacement, while ex-Burnley manager Sean Dyche is also an option. (Guardian) Manchester United are reluctant to let Portugal forward Cristiano Ronaldo…

Liverpool cruised to a confidence-building victory in the Champions League as Rangers were comfortably dismissed at Anfield. Jurgen Klopp’s side have struggled for form this season but a disappointing the Scottish team represented the perfect opposition to return to winning ways as Liverpool moved closer to a place in the knockout phase. Rangers fans travelled to Merseyside in their thousands and backed their side noisily throughout an embarrassingly one-sided encounter which Liverpool should have won far more emphatically. Trent Alexander-Arnold put Liverpool ahead after only seven minutes when he clipped a perfect 25-yard free-kick into the top corner and only…