Category: Sport

BeIN Sports presenter Richard Keys aimed a dig at Marcus Rashford after the Man Utd forward scored in their 1-1 draw against Ipswich Town on Sunday.

The Red Devils were held to a draw at Portman Road after Omari Hutchinson’s long-range deflected strike cancelled out Rashford’s early opener.

That point moved Man Utd up one place to 12th in the Premier League table with only Everton, Southampton and Crystal Palace scoring fewer goals this season.

Rashford, as well as Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee have been criticised over their performances with four goals between the three players in the Premier League this term.

England international Rashford has struggled over the last year or two with many feeling that he’s lost some of his enthusiasm for playing football.

And Keys sarcastically praised the Man Utd forward for “smiling” and temporarily rediscovering his “appetite” for playing the game.

Keys wrote in his blog: “It’s not often that Manchester United fans have a better matchweek their City rivals – but they did yesterday.

“What a start the new coach got off to – a goal up after only 80 seconds or so, but don’t mention the shanked cross that turned into a really good ball!

“And just for a moment it looked as though Marcus Rashford had re-discovered his appetite for the game. He was even smiling.

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“I loved the way Amorim reacted to the goal. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. He was motionless. Class.

“But – the freshness, the optimism, the joy all faded too quickly and it was clear that despite the system – and there’s nothing wrong with it – this United team is in terminal decline and Amorim has got a hell of a job on his hands.

“But we knew that didn’t we? There’s no short term fix. He simply doesn’t have enough players who are good enough to wear the jersey.

“Look at the starting line-up. How many of them would you keep? Three? Certainly no more. And where do you get rid of the rest? Who’s going to take Rashford and pay him £350,000 a week? Casemiro? Eriksen? Evans? De Light? Ugarte? Fernandes? Mount? Zirkzee? It’s scary.

“Only surgery is going to sort the mess out and that will require Ratcliffe to find someone money – big money. Factor in wages, I reckon it’s going to need a billion – £500m on players at least – the rest in wages and agents fees.

“Is Ratcliffe going to spend that kind of money? Is he hell. Don’t bet on United re-joining everybody else at the top table any time soon. I genuinely wish Amorim all the luck in the world. He seems like a really nice guy, but that won’t be enough.”

Suspended Premier League referee David Coote has “refuted false and defamatory allegations” after it was revealed he’s ‘at the centre of a betting probe’.

Earlier this month, the Premier League official was suspended by the PGMOL after his sweary rant on Liverpool and Jurgen Klopp leaked online.

He said: “Liverpool were s**t.

“C**t, absolute c**t. Aside from having a right pop at me when I was reffing against Burnley in lockdown, he accused me of lying and then just had a right f***ing pop at me.

“I’ve got no interest in speaking to somebody as f***ing arrogant. I do my best not to speak to him…my god, German c***t. F*** me.”

Coote‘s situation later worsened as it emerged that he organised a Travelodge ‘drugs party’ while officiating a Carabao Cup clash between Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City.

READ: Don’t be surprised if referees think you and your manager are c***s

On Tuesday night, a report from The Sun revealed ‘Coote is at the centre of betting probe after discussing booking player before a game’.

The game in question was between Leeds United and West Brom in October 2019 as Ezgjan Alioski was booked after 17 minutes for a foul on Darnell Furlong.

Coote’s post-match ‘message to a pal’ read: “I hope you backed as discussed”.

It is also noted that ‘Coote accepts a discussion took place, but claims it was only banter and nothing improper took place.’

MORE DAVID COOTE COVERAGE ON F365…
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The Sun has broken down how the reported exchange with Coote unfolded.

‘In the new exchange unearthed by The Sun, Coote appears keen to impress a Leeds fan he met online. He bragged that he was set to officiate in the upcoming Leeds- West Brom Championship clash.

‘The pal says he jokingly told Coote to give a yellow card to Leeds left-back Ezgjan Alioski so he could put a bet on it at the bookies beforehand.

‘The day before the game, Coote tells him: “Yeah really good I’ve got Leeds tomorrow.” The friend replied: “Ooh big game. We still on for what we ­discussed (Alioski). Maybe I could join you if so.”

‘Coote replies: “Haha don’t know what you mean.” His friend then posts: “Haha well I’m off to back it in the morning so don’t let me down.” Coote answered: “Haha will see.”

‘The following evening, Alioski is booked in the 18th minute of the game for a sliding challenge on Darnell Furlong.

‘Last night football experts said the booking was fully justified given the nature of the tackle. Leeds eventually won the game 1-0 with a goal from Alioski.

‘The following day, Coote messaged his friend again to say: “What a day yesterday. I hope you backed as discussed.”

‘The pal tells him that he did not put money on it but he believes another friend “backed it though”. Coote then replies: “Haha he will have to share with you then.”’

In a statement, Coote has “strongly refuted” these “defamatory allegations”.

“I strongly refute these false and defamatory allegations. Whatever issues I may have had in my personal life they have never affected my decision-making on the field.

“I have always held the integrity of the game in the highest regard, refereeing matches impartially and to the best of my ability.”

Artem Stepanov became the youngest Ukrainian to make his debut in the Champions League. In other matches of the Tour, Arsenal defeated Sporting, and Lewandowski reached the 100-goal mark.

Alexander Zinchenko's Arsenal defeat Sporting Lisbon, Daniil Ignatenko's Slovan Bratislava is minimally inferior to Milan, the 17-year – old Ukrainian striker makes his debut for Bayer Leverkusen and sets a new achievement, Pep Guardiola's Manchester City continues to be feverish-this is how the 5th round of the Champions League went, writes UNN.

Details

The 5th round of the Champions League was opened by Slovan Bratislava, for which our compatriot Daniil Ignatenko plays, and Milan of Italy.

In the middle of the first half, AC Milan opened the scoring with Christian Pulisic's goal from Tammy Abraham's pass. In three minutes, Slovan managed to equalize the score. Tigran Barseghyan scored a goal for the Slovak club.

In the 68th minute, Rafael Leao, who came on as a substitute at the beginning of the second half, put Milan ahead with a pass from Yusuf Fofan – 2:1. in the 71st minute, Abraham scored the third goal of Milan after a mistake by defenders. Slovan managed to close the gap in the 88th minute thanks to a goal from Nino Marcella. The final whistle recorded the victory of "Milan" – 3:2.

Daniil Ignatenko entered the field in the 66th minute with the score 1:1. during this time, he made three ball selections and received a score of 6.5.

In another match, Sporting Lisbon and Arsenal London met, for which Ukrainian Alexander Zinchenko plays, who started the match on the bench.

Arsenal made the game already in the first half – in the 7th minute Gabriel Martinelli opened the scoring with a pass from Jurien timber, in the 22nd minute Kai Havertz with a pass from Bakayo Saka doubled the advantage of his team, and at the end of the half, defender Gabriel, scoring with a header from the corner, brought the score to a crushing 3:0.

At the beginning of the second half, Sporting managed to do it – Inaciu did it with Trinkau's feed. In the 65th minute, Bakayo Saka scored 4 goals for his team from the penalty spot, and Leandro Trossard put an end to the match, scoring 5 goals from a pass from Mikel Merino.

Arsenal Ukrainian defender Alexander Zinchenko appeared on the field in the 78th minute instead of Ricardo Calafiori. For 13 minutes, the Ukrainian did not distinguish himself with effective actions. The player scored 8 touches on the ball, 7 accurate passes out of 8 (88%) and 1 loss of the ball. Zinchenko received a score of 6.1 points.

Pep Guardiola's Manchester City, who have not won 5 consecutive matches, and Feyenoord of the Netherlands met in a parallel match.

"Mancity" thanks to a goal from the penalty spot in the 44th minute took the lead-the penalty was executed by Erling Goland. In the 50th minute, Erkay Gundogan doubled the advantage of his team, and 3 minutes later Holland brought the score to a crushing 3:0. The curtain of the match was a real disaster for ManCity.

First, Anis Musa scored the first goal for his team in the 75th minute, 7 minutes later Santiago Jimenez closed the gap, and in the 89th minute Feyenoord equalized-a goal on the account of David Gantzko.

Manchester City have not won in 6 consecutive games, which has already become an anti-record for Pep Guardiola. The last time the" Citizens "won was at the end of October, beating" Southampton " – 1:0. During the match, the broadcast directors recorded Guardiola with a scratched face.

Yes, I did it with my finger, with my fingernail. I want to hurt myself, right

– Pep said at a press conferenceexplaining the episode.

Bayer Leverkusen and Salzburg of Austria met in another match, knocking Dynamo Kyiv out of the Champions League. By the 30th minute, Bayer Leverkusen was already leading 3-0. Florian Wirtz scored from the penalty spot in the 8th minute, Alejandro Grimaldo doubled the lead in 3 minutes, and Wirtz scored a double in the 30th minute. Patrick Schick scored 4 goals in the 61st minute, and 10 minutes later Aleix Garcia set up the final score-5:0.

In the 73rd minute, Shik was replaced by Ukrainian Artem Stepanov, who became the youngest Ukrainian (17 years, 3 months) to make his debut in the Champions League – surpassing the record of Dmitry Chygrinsky (18 years, 1 month). During his time on the pitch, the 17-year-old striker touched the ball twice, made 2 accurate passes out of 2 (100%) and fouled once.

Stepanov's game was rated by two statistical portals: WhoScored – at 6.0, – at 6.5.the native of Lutsk is a graduate of the Shakhtar Donetsk Academy. In the summer of 2022, he moved to Bayer Leverkusen, where he played for the U-17 team. in January of this year, he signed a contract with the club, which runs until June 30, 2027.

They will remember this game in the future. Today they got their chance, and it's important to give them a good feeling when they first enter the field

head coach Xabi Alonso commented on the debut of Stepanov and Oneka.

In another match on Tuesday, Catalan "Barcelona" and French "Brest"met.

Barcelona managed to score in the 10th minute of the match-Robert Lewandowski converted a penalty. In the 66th minute, Dani Olmo doubled the Catalans ' lead, and at the end of the match, Lewandowski scored a double, scoring his 100th and 101st goals in the Champions League.

The Polish striker took the 3rd place of the top scorers of the Champions League. Only Lionel Messi is ahead with 129 goals and Cristiano Ronaldo with 140 goals.

I am very happy, I never believed that I would achieve such indicators in the Champions League. I am currently in the company of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Our goal is to win every game. At times we played too slowly, but thanks to patience we managed to score

Lewandowski said after the match.

We started to collate the astonishing stats that made Erling Haaland’s start to life in the Premier League utterly extraordinary a long time ago.

The concern is that his numbers are, if anything, getting more ridiculous.

* Haaland has become the first Premier League player in history about whom formerly-good football website Football365.com has started doing a Ridiculous Stats piece and then realised to their horror is going to have to be updated enormously often.

* Haaland’s goal in the 2-2 draw against Arsenal was his 100th for Manchester City in just his 105th appearance.

* Haaland was the quickest player ever to reach 50 Premier League goals, taking just 48 matches to hit the half-century and beat Andy Cole (65 games, Alan Shearer (66), Ruud van Nistelrooy (68), Mo Salah and Fernando Torres (both 72).

* Haaland was the quickest player ever to reach 75 Premier League goals, taking just 77 matches to beat Alan Shearer (93), Harry Kane (115), Ruud van Nistelrooy (116), Mo Salah (117) and Sergio Aguero (118).

* No player had ever scored the first two goals of a Premier League season before Haaland managed it against Burnley in 2023/24.

* Haaland has scored against all 23 opponents he has faced in the Premier League, the most recent newcomer to that wildly unexclusive club being Ipswich.

* Haaland has scored in 19 of the 21 stadiums he’s played at in the Premier League, missing only Anfield and the Gtech Community Stadium from his collection.

* Haaland broke the record for most goals in a single Premier League season in his debut campaign for Manchester City, scoring 36 goals in his 35 appearances, to beat Andy Cole and Alan Shearer (who both set the 34-goal record in 42-game campaigns).

* No player has scored more goals in an English top-flight league season than Haaland’s 36 in 2022/23 since Ron Davies netted 37 times for Southampton in 1966/67.

* Haaland also broke the record for most goals in one season in all competitions by a Premier League player (52), comfortably surpassing Mo Salah in 2017/18 and Ruud van Nistelrooy in 2002/03 (both 44).

* The only player in the history of top-flight English football to score more goals in all competitions in a single season than Haaland’s 52 in 2022/23 is Dixie Dean (63 for Everton in 1927/28).

* Haaland has scored 75 Premier League goals – more than the career totals of Gabriel Agbonlahor, Gabriel Jesus, Danny Ings, Brian Deane, Chris Armstrong, Eric Cantona, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Kevin De Bruyne, Luis Suarez, Danny Welbeck, Duncan Ferguson, Wilfried Zaha, Michail Antonio, Anthony Martial, Alexis Sanchez, David Beckham, Yaya Toure, Robert Pires, Stan Collymore, David Silva, Gianfranco Zola, Clint Dempsey, Tim Cahill, Eidur Gudjohnsen, John Hartson, James Milner, James Ward-Prowse, Andy Carroll, Damien Duff, Christian Eriksen, Kanu, Gus Poyet, Gareth Bale, Diego Costa, Javier Hernandez, Juan Mata, Darius Vassell, Dele Alli, Dirk Kuyt, Edin Dzeko, Cesc Fabregas, Paulo Wanchope, Nolberto Solano, Freddie Ljungberg, Bruno Fernandes, Philippe Coutinho, Paul Merson, Gary McAllister, Nobby Solano, Ashley Young, Ilkay Gundogan, Willian, Juan Pablo Angel, Shola Ameobi, Demba Ba, Willian, Freddie Kanoute, Ashley Barnes, Kelechi Iheanacho, Steve McManaman, Steffen Iversen, Raul Jimenez, Kenwyne Jones, John Carew, Tore Andre Flo, Darren Huckerby, Aleksandar Mitrovic, Dean Sturridge, Darren Anderton, Papiss Cisse, Benni McCarthy, Kevin Doyle, Peter Odemwingie, Salomon Kalou, Paul Dickov, Florent Malouda, Jordan Henderson, Adam Lallana, Mesut Ozil, Jurgen Klinsmann, Nicky Butt, Juninho, Jesse Lingard, Savo Milosevic, Paul Rideout, Paul Pogba, Tammy Abraham, Nani, Victor Anichebe, Benjani, Roque Santa Cruz, Marcus Stewart, Mick Quinn, Stephane Sessegnon, Lomano Lua Lua, Tony Yeboah, Andrey Arshavin, Xherdan Shaqiri, Divock Origi, Mario Balotelli, Patrick Bamford, David Ginola, Michael Ricketts, Gianluca Vialli, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Michael Ballack, Erik Lamela, Alvaro Morata, Jose Antonio Reyes, Michy Batshuayi, Arjen Robben, Joe Allen, Fabio Borini, Demarai Gray, Odion Ighalo, Alex Iwobi, Robinho, Kai Havertz, Andre Schurrle, Luka Modric, David Platt, Gareth Southgate, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Edinson Cavani, Mousa Dembele, Samuel Eto’o, Dimitri Payet, Ademola Lookman, Harry Maguire, Emmanuel Petit, Granit Xhaka, Daniel Amokachi, Diego Forlan, Serhiy Rebrov, Andriy Shevchenko, Ronnie Rosenthal, Peter Beagrie, Gavin Peacock, Timo Werner, Jack Grealish, Luis Garcia and Alf-Inge Haaland.

* Haaland has also scored more Premier League goals than seven Premier League clubs: Bradford (68), Cardiff (66), Blackpool (55), Huddersfield Town (50), Luton (49), Swindon (47) and Barnsley (37).

* Haaland has more Premier League goals (75) than Premier League starts (72).

* Haaland scored more Premier League goals than Everton and Wolves in his debut season. So far this season, Newcastle, Manchester United, Everton, Crystal Palace, Ipswich and Southampton all lag behind his 12-goal tally.

* By scoring nine goals in his first five Premier League games in 2022/23, Haaland finally knocked Micky Quinn’s name out of the record books. The former Coventry forward jointly held the previous record for most goals in his first five Premier League games with eight in the year football was invented. Sergio Aguero matched that in 2011/12.

* In 2024/25, Haaland set a new record for the most goals scored in the first three games of a Premier League season (seven, beating Edin Dzeko in 2011/12), the first four games of a Premier League season (nine, beating Wayne Rooney in 2011/12), and the first five games of a Premier League season (10, beating… himself from two years ago).

* Haaland was already one of only six players to score back-to-back Premier League hat-tricks and has now done it twice. But he hasn’t yet matched Harry Kane in this particular field of excellence. Kane has not only done it twice, but did so in the same year (if not the same season) after scoring seven goals across the final two games of 2016/17 against Leicester and Hull before netting hat-tricks in successive games against Burnley and Southampton either side of Christmas Day seven months later. Hard as it is to credit, incidentally, that Boxing Day treble against Southampton in 2017 is Kane’s most recent Premier League hat-trick and will now remain so for quite some time.

* Haaland has scored eight Premier League hat-tricks – the same number as Harry Kane, Thierry Henry and Michael Owen and more than absolutely everyone else bar Sergio Aguero (12), Alan Shearer (11) and Robbie Fowler (9).

* Four Premier League hat-tricks in a single season (2022/23) is more than any player has managed bar Alan Shearer, who scored five for Blackburn in 1995/96.

* Haaland has surpassed Dion Dublin’s three Premier League hat-tricks. But how many episodes of Homes Under the Hammer has Haaland presented? Exactly.

* Haaland’s eight hat-tricks have taken Norway fifth above Spain on the list of countries to have produced the most Premier League trebles with 18, Haaland standing on the shoulders of such giants as Solskjaer, Steffen Iversen and Joshua King (two each), John Carew, Tore Andre Flo and Jan Age Fjortoft (one each). Argentina, France and Netherlands are joint-second with 19, which frankly shouldn’t take too long to topple, but even Haaland will have to hang around a few years to knock England’s 171 hat-tricks off top spot.

* Haaland is the first player in the Premier League to score hat-tricks in three successive home games, and was the first Manchester City player to score a Manchester derby hat-trick since 1970 before Phil Foden almost immediately joined him.

* Haaland is unsurprisingly the quickest player ever to reach three Premier League hat-tricks after getting there in eight(!) games. The previous record holder was Michael Owen, who managed it in a sluggish 48 games. Next best are Ruud van Nistelrooy (59 games), Fernando Torres (64) and Andy Cole (65).

* Haaland is also by definition the quickest player ever to reach four Premier League hat-tricks after getting there in 19(!) games. The previous record holder was Ruud van Nistelrooy, who managed it in a laborious 65 games. Next best are Luis Suarez (81), Alan Shearer (86) and Robbie Fowler (89).

* Haaland was the fastest player to ever score 25 goals under Pep Guardiola, doing so in 20 games to beat Lionel Messi (28), Samuel Eto’o (30), Sergio Aguero (35) and Thierry Henry (41).

* No player has ever scored more goals in a season for Manchester City than Haaland. Tommy Johnson’s mark of 38 goals stood since 1929 before Haaland broke it by mid-March of his debut campaign.

* Haaland was both the fastest and youngest player to reach 20 Champions League goals, obliterating Harry Kane’s really quite impressive previous benchmark of 24 games by 10 when reaching the landmark in just 14 games for Salzburg and Dortmund. At 20 years and 231 days old, Haaland was over a year younger than previous record-holder Kylian Mbappe as the youngest player to reach 20 Champions League goals.

* Haaland was also the fastest and youngest player to reach 30 Champions League goals, reaching the mark in 25 games and thus shattering Ruud van Nistelrooy’s previous 34-match haul, while beating Kylian Mbappe by 116 days.

* Haaland was indeed also both the fastest and youngest player to reach 40 Champions League goals.

* Only Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo (both 8), Robert Lewandowski (6), Karim Benzema (4), Mario Gomez, Filippo Inzaghi, Luiz Adriano and Neymar (3) have scored more career Champions League hat-tricks than Haaland’s two.

* Only 12 players have ever scored more European Cup goals than Haaland. In the Champions League, that number is reduced to just 11.

* Haaland has more European Cup goals than Mo Salah, Didier Drogba, Neymar, Sergio Aguero, Ferenc Puskas, Edinson Cavani, Gerd Muller, Fernando Morientes, Arjen Robben, Samuel Eto’o, Paco Gento, Antoine Griezmann, Kaka, Wayne Rooney, Patrick Kluivert, David Trezeguet, Ryan Giggs, Sadio Mane, Rivaldo, Luis Suarez and a couple of others.

* Haaland scored 12 goals in Manchester City’s 2022/23 Champions League campaign to claim the competition’s Golden Boot for the second time. Only 12 players have ever finished multiple European Cup seasons as top scorer – and just Ronaldo, Messi, Van Nistelrooy, Raul and Andriy Shevchenko have done it in the Champions League era.

* Haaland has only played 17 games in the Champions League knockout stages but just 11 players have more goals in such matches.

* Haaland has more Champions League knockout stage goals (14) than Neymar (13) managed in 32 games.

* Haaland has more Champions League knockout stage goals than Neymar, Luis Suarez, Thierry Henry, Kaka, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Fernando Torres, Samuel Eto’o and Mo Salah.

* Haaland and Lionel Messi are the only players to score a first-half hat-trick in a Champions League knockout game.

* Haaland, Messi and Luiz Adriano are the only players to score five goals in a Champions League game.

* At the age of just 24 and winning only his 36th cap for Norway, Haaland’s brace in a 3-0 Nations League win over Slovenia took him to 34 goals and beyond Jorgen Juve’s national record of 33 which had stood since before World War Two.

* Haaland is the first player to score five goals in a single Champions League match and a single FA Cup match.

* With his five-goal FA Cup haul against Luton, Haaland also became the first player to score five or more goals in a single game for Manchester City twice, the first Manchester City player to score five or more goals in an FA Cup match since Frank Roberts did so in 1926, the first Manchester City player to score seven goals in their first five FA Cup appearances, and the first player to score five or more goals in an FA Cup game against a top-flight club since George Best’s six against Northampton in 1970.

Erling Haaland honours
Austrian Bundesliga: 2018/19, 2019/20
DFB-Pokal: 2020/21
Bundesliga Player of the Season: 2020/21
Bundesliga Player of the Month: January 2020, November 2020, April 2021, August 2021
Bundesliga Team of the Season: 2020/21, 2021/22
UEFA Champions League Squad of the Season: 2020/21
UEFA Champions League Forward of the Season: 2020/21
UEFA Champions League Top Goalscorer: 2020/21
UEFA Nations League Top Goalscorer: 2020/21
FIFA FIFPro World 11: 2021
Premier League Player of the Month: August 2022, April 2023
Premier League: 2022/23, 2023/24
FA Cup: 2022/23
Champions League: 2022/23
Super Cup: 2023
Community Shield: 2024
European Golden Shot: 2022/23
Premier League Golden Boot: 2022/23
Premier League Player of the Year: 2022/23
Premier League Young Player of the Year: 2022/23
Gerd Muller Trophy (Striker of the Year award, or the ‘sorry you didn’t win the Ballon d’Or’ trophy): 2023

Erling Haaland top-flight league goals record
Molde (Eliteserien) 2017-2018: 39 games, 14 goals

Red Bull Salzburg (Austrian Bundesliga) 2018-2020: 16 games, 17 goals

Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) 2020-22: 67 games, 62 goals

Manchester City (Premier League) 2022-24: 77 games, 75 goals

Total: 194 games, 166 goals

Erling Haaland Champions League record
Red Bull Salzburg 2019-20: 6 games, 8 goals

Borussia Dortmund 2019-22: 13 games, 15 goals

Manchester City 2022-24: 25 games, 23 goals

Total: 44 games, 46 goals

Erling Haaland international record
Norway 2019-24: 37 caps, 34 goals

Liverpool will be giddy after Josko Gvardiol and Ederson’s latest disasterclass. Not even Pep Guardiola can save this sh*t and Sunday will be ugly.

Manchester City were the beneficiaries of a desperately needed gift from the footballing gods shortly before half-time against Feyenoord; a rash swipe from Quinten Timber on Erling Haaland saw referee Radu Petrescu point to the penalty spot.

Like Pep Guardiola, Haaland had cut a frustrated figure for much of the opening half, though he made no mistake with his penalty.

He ignored the Emi Martinez-esque mind games played by Timon Wellenreuther to send the Feyenoord goalkeeper the wrong way and score a goal everyone associated with Man City had been crying out for in the 43 minutes that came prior.

City’s latest Champions League group match started similarly to the harrowing weekend defeat against Tottenham. They dominated possession and created a couple of openings with an inferior opponent penned in their defensive half.

Haaland had an early sight of goal as his header struck the post, but this was not an early sign of things to come as Man City swiftly ran out of ideas and reverted to their new flat type.

The increasingly common sound of groans reverberated around the Etihad once more as Man City’s discouraged supporters became more vocal in airing their grievances as the opening half wore on.

Jamie Carragher pointed out following that 4-0 defeat that Man City’s “legs had gone” and the first half reinforced the view that Guardioala’s weary players need a mini-retirement or 20.

READ: Man City are officially rubbish: Rodri, Spurs, FIFA and old lags to blame

Devoid of anything resembling confidence, Guardiola’s once-robotic winning machine looked alarmingly human as there was no intensity or flow to their play.

This was particularly worrying considering opponents Feyenoord did not have the same level of quality possessed by City’s recent conquerors and were often sloppy in possession when working an opportunity on the counter-attack.

Even then, a misfunctioning City made the opening to the game needlessly comfortable for their opponents, who gradually grew in confidence and made home supporters wince at a couple of nervy moments.

Before this game, Feyenoord were earmarked as the ideal opponent to be the victim in a confidence-building Man City result/performance and the hosts (for a little bit) looked far more assured after Haaland’s penalty saved them from being booed off at the break.

Their vibes were boosted by another fortunate moment shortly after the restart: Ilkay Gundogan’s deflected volley – which would have normally been saved – ricocheted into the net for their second of the night.

Moments later, Haaland – whose penalty saw him become the youngest player to score 45 Champions League goals – added his second and City’s third, converting from close range following a cross from Matheus Nunes on the right flank.

MAN CITY CRISIS COVERAGE ON F365…
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A 3-0 scoreline would have flattered Man City and a visibly dismayed Guardiola had an awful poker face when his side needlessly threw away a simple enough opportunity at a clean sheet.

Following the Spurs shambles, it was somewhat surprising that Guardiola *only* made three changes, though this is largely down to his lack of options in central midfield and defence.

For all his brilliance in attack, Josko Gvardiol was fortunate to keep his place after his errors contributed to two of Tottenham’s goals. His loose pass allowed Anis Hadj-Moussa in on goal before he rounded Ederson to make it 3-1.

Guardiola had his head in his hands for an awkwardly long time after this setback and his mood worsened when more careless play from his side allowed Feyenoord their second, which was comically bad from Man City’s perspective.

Another misplaced pass by Gvardiol prevented Man City from clearing to safety and Ederson made a mess of Jordan Lotomba’s pullback, which substitute Santiago Gimenez tapped home from a couple of yards out.

Man City are usually known for their immense ability to ride out pressure and see out matches, but their dire game management gave Feyenoord hope that they didn’t deserve after they very much looked their distinctly average fourth-best team in the Eredivisie selves.

READ: Is Pep Guardiola a fraud? Man City boss has glaring ‘inability’ to get results without Rodri

It would have been embarrassing enough for Man City had it finished 3-2, but any remaining confidence they had built earlier in the game evaporated instantly as Feyenoord miraculously scored an equaliser with a minute of normal time to spare.

A simple lofted ball over the top of Man City’s defence was all that was required to leave the home players in no man’s land; a panicked Ederson sprinted out of his goal to meet Igor Paixao only to have the ball nipped away and the winger’s cross was expertly converted at the back post by David Hancko.

It was bedlam at the Etihad. As mentioned, their uninspiring performance did not warrant a 3-0 win and the home team was deservedly punished for criminal play in the latter stages as they insisted on shooting themselves in the foot time and time again.

It was not a sixth consecutive defeat for Man City and Guardiola, but they will be feeling worse after this draw than they would have had it been a narrow loss.

Guardiola, his players and Man City’s supporters are on the floor, so it’s a good job for them that there is only the small matter of a trip to Anfield in a vital Premier League title six-pointer against Liverpool on Sunday. Gulp.

Arne Slot’s side – especially Mohamed Salah braced with the prospect of facing a wounded Gvardiol – will be licking their lips ahead of playing this broken Man City, who are at serious risk of being eaten alive by their rivals in the dragons’ den at Anfield.

If Man City supporters thought this was bad, they better get ready for what’s to come at the weekend if Guardiola doesn’t suddenly magic up a formula for their current ineptitude. It could get very, very ugly.

Former Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy expects new Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim to snub England international Kobbie Mainoo.

The 19-year-old was sensational for his boyhood club during the 2023/24 campaign as he was one of the breakout starts in the Premier League.

Mainoo made a huge impact as he broke onto the scene, shining for Man Utd and England in difficult situations.

The teenager has not played for Man Utd since last month’s goalless draw against Aston Villa as he’s picked up a muscle injury. He was an unused substitute on Sunday afternoon as his side were held to a 1-1 statemate at Ipswich Town in Amorim’s first game in charge.

Circumstances meant Amorim had to select Casemiro and Christian Eriksen in centre-midfield, but they are likely to be replaced by Mainoo and Manuel Ugarte in the coming weeks.

A recent report from Fabrizio Romano revealed Amorim “loves” Mainoo, but Murphy has indicated that he cannot see the head coach playing him alongside Ugarte.

“To play that role well, United’s midfielders will need to be more than just mobile, too,” Murphy told BBC Sport.

READ: Eight Man Utd kneejerk predictions on player exits after Amorim’s first game include Rashford leaving

“They will both have to love the defensive side of the game and be able to spot danger and then be fast enough to stop it. In the long run, I think Manuel Ugarte will be one of them.

“He needs a run of games to get his sharpness back, but we have seen glimpses of how good he is, for example, in the Europa League against Fenerbahce last month, and he has flourished under Amorim at Sporting before.

“As for who Ugarte will have alongside him, well, it will probably be someone who is not at the club at the moment.

“There is going to have to be activity in the next couple of transfer windows for them to get the type of player Amorim requires.”

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Murphy has also explained why he would be “amazed” if Man Utd are “still playing 3-4-3 in a year’s time”.

“I would be amazed if they are still playing a 3-4-3 in a year’s time,” Murphy added.

“This league is very, very different than continental leagues. We have only had Chelsea in recent years win playing that system. And, let’s be honest, they had Kante and Matic – two wonderful midfielders in the middle of the pitch, plus Costa up top with Hazard supporting him and helping them as well.

“They [Manchester United] don’t have those players yet and how do you find them? It costs hundreds of millions to get the best players in the world.

“When you play three at the back against the majority of good teams in our league who play three high, you end up being a five and that is really difficult.

“If Manchester United are going to become much better and be competitive, I think that 3-4-3 will evolve into something else.”

Liverpool head coach Arne Slot has responded to Jamie Carragher’s criticism of Mohamed Salah and insisted the forward is “not distracted”.

Salah has entered the final year of his Liverpool contract and it remains to be seen whether he will sign a new deal.

The 32-year-old is showing no sign of slowing down as he’s been in fine form for Liverpool this season. He has 12 goals and ten assists in his 18 appearances across all competitions this term.

After scoring a brace in Liverpool’s 3-2 win against Southampton, Salah revealed he is “more out than in” and is “disappointed” not to have been offered a new contract.

Following this outburst, club legend Carragher said Salah was “selfish” and insisted Liverpool “will move on”.

Slot was asked about Salah during his press conference on Tuesday afternoon. He was adamant that he did not have a contract update to share but insisted that his star player is “not distracted at all”.

“We don’t share this over here, at least I don’t. The only thing I can say is, if I look at my line-ups, Mo is more in than out,” Slot said.

READ: Liverpool fans clash on Mo Salah contract; one year or THREE on table?

He added: “I don’t think he’s distracted at all. I haven’t seen that after the United game where he had some comments, I haven’t seen it after a post you told me about, he just kept on scoring. I haven’t seen anything today, he is just fully focused on the game tomorrow.

“If you would have been at the Axa today, I don’t think any player spoke about it, at least not when I was there.

“Players are focused on the short-term and that is Madrid and that is City. By the time Mo’s contract is extended, players don’t look at it that way. There is no distraction for him, the players and definitely not for me.”

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Carragher also claimed Salah is one of Liverpool’s “five best-ever players” and Slot decided to focus on this comment when asked for his response to the “selfish” dig.

“I focus a bit more on what else he said. He said he was one of the five best players Liverpool have ever had and I completely agree with him which is not an easy thing because we have had so many great players at this club,” Slot continued.

“I don’t think it distracts Mo at all – maybe even brings the best out of him. Like I have said already a few times, my main focus is the next game. I talked to Mo about what I expect from him like I do all the other players. He is in a good place at the moment.

“I am not distracted at all by his comments and I don’t feel his teammates are. It’s nice that we have a story in the media because you guys have some work now as well.”

CAS rejected Evgeny Ustyugov's appeal and stripped him of his gold and bronze medals at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. The athlete was disqualified for 4 years due to anti-doping rule violations.

The court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) rejected the appeal of Russian biathlete Yevgeny Ustyugov in the case of anti-doping rule violation. The athlete was stripped of the gold and bronze medals at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

This is stated in the message of the International Biathlon Union, reports UNN.

Details

According to the International Biathlon Union, the court of appeal of the court of Arbitration for Sport confirmed the conclusions of the Anti-Doping Department, which found that Ustyugov committed an anti-doping rule violation based on anomalies found in his biological passport of the athlete.

Ustyugov was sentenced to a four-year suspension, and the court annulled all results between January 24, 2010 and his retirement at the end of the 2013/2014 season, including being stripped of the gold and bronze medals he won at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

In February, the CAS annulled all the athlete's results from 2010 to 2014, including the Sochi 2014 gold medal.Ustyugov can appeal this decision to the Swiss Federal Court (SFT), but such appeals are allowed only on narrow procedural grounds.

addition

Ustyugov-two-time world junior champion, 2010 Olympic champion in the mass start and bronze medalist in the 4×7.5 km relay,Honored Master of sports of Russia (2010), winner of 3 World Cup stages, winner of the Small World Cup in the mass start (2009-2010), two-time silver medalist of the 2011 World Championship, two-time vice-champion of Europe.Ustyugov won a gold medal at the 2014 Olympics, but was found guilty of doping (oxandrolone), so all his results from August 27, 2013 to the end of the 2013-2014 Cup were annulled.

recall

Former football player of the Ukrainian national team Anatoly Tymoshchuk, who claimed that he sees no difference between the Ukrainian and Russian peoples and called the war of the Russian Federation against Ukraine a "special military operation", won a court in Lausanne against the Ukrainian Football Association. The court ordered the UAF to lift sanctions against Tymoshchuk, which were imposed after a full-scale invasion for supporting the war.

President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree that put into effect the decision of the national security and Defense Council to deprive 34 people of state awards, including Tymoshchuk.

Don’t know if you’ve heard, but Manchester City are having a bit of a time of it. They’ve now lost five games in a row and internet law requires us to come up with five reasons – no more, no less – for why that is so.

And these are they.

Rodri’s injury
Obvious starting point is obvious, but the numbers are entirely insane. It’s barely an exaggeration or simplification to note that City never lose when Rodri plays but very frequently lose when he doesn’t, and he’s been out since September and is almost certainly gone for the rest of the season.

Which all means that while we can just shrug and go “Yeah, he’s real good at the football, isn’t he?” that option doesn’t exist for Guardiola and his team. They’ve got to come up with an actual real-world solution to minimise the impact of that loss or their season is going to circle the drain real fast.

It now seems safe to say that deploying Ilkay Gundogan and his ageing legs (about which more later) in an innovative deep-lying pointing role as he frantically indicates to assorted befuddled team-mates the precise location of whichever threat has just jogged past him doesn’t seem to be working, so it might need some fresh thinking.

There are few teams who could effortlessly cope without the one player, whatever their position happens to be, who knits the whole thing together – look at Arsenal without and with Martin Odegaard over the last few weeks, for instance – but however well-known the phenomenon has become it really is jarring that any one player can make such a monumental difference to the fortunes of a club as hefty and successful as City.

Rodri out for the season: Seven times injuries made the Premier League title race more interesting

Ruben Dias and the Other Injuries
As well as playing a legendary set at Reading in 92, Ruben Dias and the Other Injuries represent a further obvious point of concern for City.

There is a solid case to be made that – and we are most specifically talking about that absolute atrocity of a performance against Spurs at the weekend – Rodri isn’t even the most damaging missing piece of the puzzle.

Even without Rodri they managed to roll on a bit after that Arsenal game and churn out a few results here and there – often unconvincingly, sure – before the wheels fell off. The loss of wheels has arrived simultaneously with the loss of easily their best defender in Ruben Dias.

City have never once conceded four goals in any of his 169 Premier League and Champions League appearances for the club. In his current absence, they’ve done it twice in four games. And hardly covered themselves in defensive glory in the other two either.

Throw in awkward absences at various points for Kevin De Bruyne and Nathan Ake and Phil Foden and Jack Grealish, and a squad Guardiola likes to keep small by design has been stretched beyond its elastic limit.

Everyone has injuries, but Dias, Rodri, De Bruyne is proper ‘spine of the team’ stuff.

Old lags and young bucks
And you wonder how much those first two issues are down to the make-up of City’s squad. An average age of 27.8 doesn’t seem so bad, but it’s a deceptive mean that one. Because City’s squad simply has too few players in that 24-29 sweet-spot peak. Especially when you take out Rodri and Dias from that already under-represented group. Sure, you’ve still got Erling Haaland and Phil Foden at 24, but they’re both having their own struggles at the moment – relative to the absurd top level both possess.

Too many of the remaining key players in this squad are younglings or old heads. And it skews too far towards old head. De Bruyne is 33. Gundogan and Kyle Walker 34. Bernardo Silva, John Stones and Mateo Kovacic all 30.

At the other end of the scale you have huge demands and responsibility being placed on the shoulders of your Josko Gvardiols, your Rico Lewises and the Savinhos of this world. They’re all high-quality young players, but a lot is being asked of them.

The problem of having lots of youngsters and lots of old warhorses but nothing much in between will be a familiar one to anyone who has ever tried to captain a village cricket team. It seems a careless situation for the most successful football club in the country to find themselves in.

READ: Premier League winners and losers: Postecoglou, O’Neil, Amorim, Leicester, Man City, Everton and more

Overwork
If you’ll allow us further opportunity to slap on the ol’ hindsight goggles… maybe this was always going to happen. Maybe this was always going to be a weird unpredictable season – something that wouldn’t ever play into City’s hands given the metronomic nature of their success. Maybe all the international football that’s been crammed into the schedule over the last few years via the combination of Covid-delayed 2020 tournaments and the winter World Cup in 2022 had to catch up with people sooner or later.

And City would always be vulnerable to it given a) the sheer number of their players who would obviously be involved in all that football and b) that slimline squad Guardiola likes to maintain.

Nine members of City’s squad have already racked up 1000 minutes of club football alone this season, with Ruben Dias picking up his injury four minutes shy of that mark and Gundogan only a handful of minutes adrift. They really might just be a team that has, for now at least, simply run out of puff.

Playing Tottenham twice
Let’s not make it more complicated than it need be. There’s simply no escaping the fact that 40% of Manchester City’s five-match losing run has come against Tottenham, who we know to be the stupidest football team on earth.

And one of the very best and also stupidest things about Tottenham is the fact they are absolute Kryptonite to Manchester City. They have a far better record against them in the Guardiola Era than makes any kind of sense.

In Guardiola’s time, he has faced Spurs 22 times. Spurs have won nine of those games and drawn a further three and lost only 10. Given the relative success of the teams over that period, with City winning approximately all of the trophies and Spurs none of the trophies, it’s absurdly even. Especially when you throw in the fact that one of City’s 10 ‘wins’ was the 4-3 Champions League quarter-final second leg that definitely didn’t feel like much of a win.

The great irony, of course, is that to every other team pretty much ever, there’s no more invigorating and encouraging sight when in the midst of a terrible run of form than that of Dr Tottenham rolling into town. For City, the best and most successful team of the age, the exact opposite is true. They would rather have faced literally anyone else on Saturday night. We don’t have to explain it – we can’t – we just have to acknowledge its truth.

READ: 16 Conclusions on Man City 0-4 Spurs: atrocious Walker and Gundogan, brilliant Kulusevski and Maddison

Gary Neville has picked out Luke Shaw and three other Man Utd players as the big “winners” of the new system under Ruben Amorim.

The Red Devils have not had very long at all on the training pitch as they look to learn Amorim’s new style of play and 3-4-3 formation.

Amorim took charge of his first training session eight days ago with many of his players not joining in until the end of last week because of international duty.

Man Utd drew their first match under Amorim 1-1 against Ipswich Town on Sunday as they moved up once place to 12th in the Premier League as the new manager realised the size of the job on his hands.

And former Man Utd defender Neville has picked out four players that he thinks will emerge as “winners” from the new system under Amorim.

Neville said on Sky Sports: “Luke Shaw, if he can keep fit. As I think that left centre-back needs to eventually be able to play out as a left-back, so he is well suited to do both. The same must be said of the right centre-back.

“We saw Mazraoui do it against Ipswich. I think Ugarte will be a winner, just because I think in midfield, not just because he’s played for him before.

“I think it’s how you fit in the likes of Rashford, Garnacho, Bruno Fernandes. Because one thing you know with that system, you’ve got two wing-backs, you’ve got a back three and you’ve got a two in front.

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“It’s then that three, which obviously the two that he likes to play sort of come inside a little bit. So, you’re wondering about sort of Amad… Amad played obviously wide yesterday, but Garnacho, Rashford, Hojlund, Zirkzee, Fernandes. That’s the conundrum of those attacking positions where I can’t quite see what’s going to happen.

“I think Mainoo and Ugarte for me, playing midfield, I think they’re absolute certs. I think Luke Shaw’s a certainty to play. I think he would be anyway in a back four or a back three.

“I think ultimately you’ll end up with Yoro as the right-centre-back, I think just because of that energy and that pace. So, I think the winners will be the ones who I think are adaptable.

“When we played with a back five with Terry Venables or a back three with Glenn Hoddle, the outer centre-backs do have to be able to go out wide. So, I think the ones who are more flexible and agile are going to be the winners.”

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