Champions League

LIVERPOOL face a fresh defensive crisis after makeshift centre-back Fabinho limped off injured against Midtjylland.
Reds boss Jurgen Klopp later lamented the injury as the “last thing we needed” with star man Virgil van Dijk already out for the season.

Liverpool face a new defensive crisis after makeshift centre-back Fabinho limped off injured against MidtjyllandCredit: Reuters

The Brazilian pulled up with what appeared to be a hamstring problem in the first halfCredit: AP:Associated Press

The Brazilian midfielder, filling in for crocked Van Dijk, pulled up while running during the first half of the Champions League group stage clash.
Fabinho, 27, appeared to suggest he had hurt his hamstring.
And the Liverpool ace was forced to limp off the field to be replaced by youngster Rhys Williams.
Williams, 19, was playing for Kidderminster Harriers in the National League North last season – five tiers below the Premier League.

Jurgen Klopp now faces an anxious wait to determine how badly injured Fabinho is.
The German boss said: “[It was] the last thing we needed. I don’t know, he felt his hamstring so that’s not good.
“He didn’t feel it that much he said he could’ve played on but not sprinting so that doesn’t help.
“We will see, we will have to do a scan and see but clearly it’s not good.”

Klopp is already without Van Dijk, who sustained a potential season-ending ACL injury in the Merseyside derby against Everton.
And Joel Matip is also currently sidelined for the Premier League champions.
Should Fabinho be ruled out for any length of time, that would leave just Joe Gomez as Liverpool’s only recognised senior centre-back.
And the decision to sell Dejan Lovren to Zenit St Petersburg without replacing him looks to be coming back to haunt Klopp early in the new season.
Indeed, reports claim Liverpool are already lining up a January swoop for Schalke star Ozan Kabak.

Fabinho has been filling in for crocked Virgil van Dijk, with Joel Matip also injuredCredit: AFP or licensors

Fabinho’s potential injury leaves Liverpool with just one recognised senior centre-back in Joe GomezCredit: PA:Press Association

The Turkey international, 20, was valued at £40million before the coronavirus pandemic.
And Schalke are willing to accept a bid of £30m for him.
However, Liverpool believe they can snare Kabak for an initial £20m, despite his Schalke contract running until 2024.

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REAL MADRID remain rock-bottom of their Champions League group despite late goals from Karim Benzema and Casemiro salvaging a point against Borussia Monchengladbach.
The 13-time winners are in a precarious position with just two games played after coming within seconds of defeat in Germany.

A 93rd-minute equaliser from Casemiro salvaged a point for Real Madrid against Borussia MonchengladbachCredit: Getty Images – Getty

Real were 2-0 down when Karim Benzema fired them back in the game in the 87th minuteCredit: Getty Images – Getty

Marcus Thuram put Gladbach ahead after 33 minutes before doubling his side’s lead in the 58th minute.
But an 87th minute strike from Benzema sparked a stunning comeback from Real, who bagged a second goal in added time through Brazilian midfielder Casemiro.
The result saw Zinedine Zidane’s side pick up their first point of the European campaign after losing 3-2 to Shakhtar Donetsk at the Bernabeu last week.
But Real remain planted to the foot of Group B with just one point following the Ukrainian side’s 0-0 draw at home to Inter Milan this evening.

Shakhtar are top of the group with four points, with Gladbach and Inter both on two after their stalemate a week ago.
Real’s next Champions League game sees them take on Antonio Conte’s no-nonsense Italian side in the Spanish capital.
And anything less than a win will leave a huge question mark over Real’s progression to the knockout stages next year.
The result against Gladbach is sure to sting even more after a hard-earned 3-1 win in El Clasico on Saturday.

Marcus Thuram’s double had put Gladbach in controlCredit: AFP or licensors

Gladbach were left stunned as they let their two-goal lead slipCredit: Getty Images – Getty

Real beat fierce rivals Barcelona at the Nou Camp thanks to goals from Federico Valverde, Luka Modric and Sergio Ramos.
But reports claim the veteran captain was not happy in the dressing room afterwards and blasted Isco – as well as Marcelo – for recent poor performances.
Indeed, Isco was caught on camera during the Barcelona game complaining about boss Zidane’s tactics.
And he made it two games warming the bench after also remaining an unused sub against Gladbach.

Real remain bottom of their group after an opening day defeat to Shakhtar DonetskCredit: Reuters

Los Blancos face Inter Milan at home next weekCredit: EPA

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THE four words you never expected to hear from Liverpool fans: Bring back Dejan Lovren.
As Liverpool’s medical centre prepare for yet another patient this morning, the decision to sell the much-derided Croatian to Zenit for £10.9million is looking an unbelievably bad decision.

Diogo Jota celebrates his Liverpool opener in his own style as the ex-Wolves winger continues to impress since his summer arrivalCredit: Getty Images – Getty

Versatile Liverpool star Fabinho steps off the field after injuring his hamstring in another defensive blow for Jurgen KloppCredit: EPA

While Lovren was in Germany preparing for tonight’s Champions League trip to Dortmund, his former club were left in total disbelief as Fabinho pulled up with a hamstring injury within half hour.
The defender got plenty of stick in his six years on Merseyside and his ability did not match the remarkably high opinion he has of himself — but  how Jurgen Klopp needs him now.
The Liverpool manager has become angry when asked about the dangers of having just three senior centre-backs but now the naive decision has bitten him on the backside.

Klopp replaced Jordan Henderson, who has played at the back before. It shows the problems when they wrap emergency centre-halves in cotton wool.

At least Diogo Jota continued to prove what a good signing he will be.

The former Wolves forward finished off a stunning move to score the 10,000th goal of Liverpool’s history against a stubborn Midtjylland.
Liverpool, who face Atalanta in Italy on Tuesday, already look certain to qualify for the knockout stage but the immediate problem is that Joe Gomez is the only fit senior centre-back at the club.
Previously, the Reds have been  fortunate with injuries which is why they managed such super-human consistency. As a result, there is not much sympathy for them now.
Virgil van Dijk looks out for the season, while Joel Matip is sidelined.

And the list goes on. Thiago  Alcantara, Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. Even Kostas Tsimikas, signed as back-up for Andy Robertson, is currently crocked.
In their latest defensive reshuffle, Klopp called on  Rhys Williams.

Diogo Jota breaks the deadlock for Liverpool on 59 minutes against their Danish visitorsCredit: AFP or licensors

Striker Mo Salah tucks home a stoppage-time penalty for injury-hit LiverpoolCredit: PA:Press Association
With the club since he was nine, Williams, 19, had started two of the Carabao Cup games while also was handed a minute in the 1-0 win in Ajax.
Unexpectedly, he was handed an hour of football he will remember for the rest of his career.
At half-time, Klopp replaced Jordan Henderson, who has played at the back before. It shows the problems when it seems they are having to wrap emergency centre-halves in cotton wool.
The champions had looked more solid in their previous two games against Ajax and Sheffield United after a difficult couple of weeks but they were caught cold by an early long ball and lucky to still be level.
Anders Dryer lost Robertson, ran behind the two centre-backs and found himself clean through. He should have scored but Alisson blocked the effort.

Sub Mo Salah salutes his spot-kick after Liverpool left out the Egyptian plus fellow famed strikers Mane and Firmino from the starting line-upCredit: PA:Press Association

Liverpool keeper Alisson Becker foils Anders Dreyer as Midtjylland threatenCredit: Getty Images – Getty
Gini Wijnaldum replaced skipper Henderson at the break and played a part in the build-up play to the opening goal which  was brilliant.
Trent Alexander-Arnold played a one-two with Xherdan Shaqiri and Liverpool’s king of the assist squared for Jota who could not miss from a couple of yards.
It was Jota’s first Champions League goal since he scored for Porto against Leicester in 2016 and he will get a few more this season.
Bobby Firmino missed a terrific chance, then Liverpool got away with one. In the 90th minute, Dreyer eased past Gomez, looked certain to score but then flicked the ball into the side-netting.

Liverpool charged up the other end, Paulinho stood on Mo Salah’s foot and the hosts got a penalty. The Egyptian buried the ball into the net and the most grateful man on the pitch would have been Gomez.
At his press conference ahead of the Ajax game in Amsterdam a week ago, Klopp lobbed a grenade at Jamie Carragher, claiming he was being unfairly critical while speaking about the team’s defensive crisis.
But Klopp could do with Carragher in central defence against West Ham on Saturday teatime.

Fabinho injury leaves Liverpool in defensive crisis as Brazilian limps off against Midtjylland with Van Dijk out too More

EVERY cloud has a Silva lining.
Manchester City fans were devastated when their iconic former midfielder David Silva left in the summer after ten glorious years.

Manchester City are on six points from six and remain top of Group C after an impressive 3-0 win over MarseilleCredit: Getty Images – Getty

Raheem Sterling capped off the victory with a classic Manchester City goal, tapping in at the back postCredit: Getty Images – Getty

But the man who took over his famous No21 shirt, Ferran Torres, is doing a decent job of filling his magical boots.
The £20.8million summer signing grew up idolising the Spanish World Cup winner at Valencia so knew exactly what he was taking on.
And already Torres is making a real impact in the Champions League – the one competition missing from Silva’s CV.
His opener here – after a calamitous mistake by Valentin Rongier – was his second goal in successive European games.

And how ironic it would be if the 20-year-old proved to be the man who finally helped City crack it after all those of trying for Silva.
With both Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus out injured, Pep Guardiola was again left with no central strikers for this one.
So Torres got the nod to play down the middle – and his early goal set the tone for City’s best performance of the season so far.
Ilkay Gundogan and Raheem Sterling both got on the scoresheet late on as they ended up winning at a canter and continued their perfect start to their tenth successive UCL campaign.

Ferran Torres opened the scoring for Manchester City away at MarseilleCredit: Getty Images – Getty

Ilkay Gundogan and Torres continued their goalscoring form after strikes against Porto last weekCredit: Getty Images – Getty
Importantly for City, Kevin De Bruyne was fit enough to captain the side and Phil Foden was also back in the starting XI after his impressive cameo at West Ham.
At the other end, he was able to pair another new boy, Ruben Dias, alongside fit-again Aymeric Laporte.
Costing just under £120m between them, you would imagine they will be the first-choice centre-back pairing for the foreseeable future.
While City have yet to get past the quarter-final in four years under Pep, they have generally made light work of the group stage and were unbeaten in their last 12 going into this one.
Even on the road, they have rarely come unstuck – losing just one of their last ten.
By contrast Marseille, for all their European pedigree, had lost their last ten matches in this competition.
And they were on the back foot right from the start here with City looking in the mood.
De Bruyne saw a volley deflected over before he crossed for Dias – who planted a free header high over the bar.

Marseille were pinned back in their own half as Foden fired a volley straight at Steve Mandanda.
In this kind of mood, City do not need a helping hand but they got one from Rongier who inexplicably passed straight to De Bruyne on the right-hand side of the box.
He rolled the ball across for Torres who had the simple task of slotting in his second Champions League goal of the season.
It was a landmark for Guardiola too – the 600th goal City have scored under him in just over four years.
At an average of 2.5 per game it has rarely been dull for their fans.
Former Tottenham and Chelsea coach Andre Villas-Boas must have feared it would be a long night for his team at that time.
They struggled to create anything to trouble Ederson but at least they kept the score down to one.
They did very nearly present City with a second as Torres won a tackle on the edge of the box and Oleks Zinchenko nipped in but his low shot clipped the outside of the post.

Ilkay Gundogan made no mistake to seal the victory with a routine finishCredit: Reuters

Gundogan missed the start of the season due to coronavirus but has now hit the ground runningCredit: AFP or Licensors
Marseille finished as runners-up in the shortened last French season but did not seem equipped to trouble Guardiola’s men.
Mind you, that was five places above Lyon – the team who famously dumped City out of this competition last season.
And they went out to Monaco in the last 16 in 2017 – so Guardiola would not have taken anything for granted here.
He spoke ahead of the game about the importance of clinching qualification early with such a punishing schedule ahead – and his team looked in the mood to do that.
The home side almost got a surprise leveller early in the second half.
Former Newcastle forward Florian Thauvin let fly from 20 yards and Ederson seemed to mis-judge it – as it evaded him and smacked the outside of the post.

They had to take more chances which meant things were opening up a bit for City but Sterling and Foden could not capitalise on promising opportunities.
The England Under-21 ace was involved as City did put the game to bed as he crossed for the back post where Sterling headed back across goal.
It fell perfectly for Gundogan – who like Torres also scored against Porto last week – to slide home and give City some breathing space.
And inside the last ten minutes a classic Pep goal wrapped it up as De Bruyne found space down the right and squared for Sterling to tap home his fifth of the season.
It’s only one game – and whisper it quietly – but after a testing few weeks this was much more like the City of old.

Ruben Dias, right, was impressive at the back while John Stones, middle, got more minutes under his beltCredit: PA:Press Association

Guardiola had Kevin De Bruyne back fit and handed the Belgium star the captain’s armbandCredit: AP:Associated Press

Kyle Walker got one over his former Tottenham boss Andre Villas-BoasCredit: Getty Images – Getty

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OLE GUNNAR SOLSKJAER insists Donny van de Beek will be a big player for Manchester United this season.
Having spent £40million on the 22-year-old Ajax star and lauded his midfield versatility, fans and pundits have been scratching their heads as to why Solskjaer has used him so sparingly.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer insists Donny van de Beek will get his chance this seasonCredit: Getty Images – Getty

The new £40m signing from Ajax is yet to start in the Premier LeagueCredit: Getty Images – Getty

Van de Beek has played only 61 minutes of United’s five Premier League games and came on for only the final two minutes of their Champions League opener away to PSG last week.
Solskjaer says he is handling the player and his squad in the right way as he plots his way through a congested calendar.
But the Norwegian said: “The pressure is on getting results and picking a team that we think is going to win the next game and even planning the next two, three, four games because we need to win more than one game.

“But it’s a nice challenge and a nice problem to have. I’d rather have that one than having to play players that are not ready and not really ready for the Premier League.

“When players come into a new league, a new team, it’s always going to take time to adapt.
“When Donny has played, he’s played really well. I think it says a lot about our depth of quality in the squad that we don’t have to use him every single game because we have other players as well.
“I also think it says everything about our ambitions, we want to push on, we want to challenge for trophies this season. Donny is going to play a big, big part this year.”
Ahead of United’s second Group H Champions League game against RB Leipzig at old Trafford tonight, Solskjaer opened up about the difficulties of leaving big names out.

Solskjaer wants depth in his squad and competition for every spotCredit: Getty Images – Getty

Van de Beek is not the only one who has been left disappointed with his lack of starts
Paul Pogba has also found himself on the bench for the last three games and Nemanja Matic has started just two league games this season.
Solskjaer said: “To leave players out like the last game in Donny, Nemanja and Paul, all experienced international footballers, it’s not easy.
“But we have so many games this season and they are all going to play a massive part in different parts of the season .
“I don’t think any of them will be able to play all of them.”
After the short break between seasons, a number of clubs are already suffering an injury crisis not least across town at Manchester City.

Harry Maguire is set to captain United against RB LeipzigCredit: Getty Images – Getty

Paul Pogba is in line to return to the starting XICredit: Getty Images – Getty
This is something Solskjaer says he is trying to ward against aiming to spread the workload through his squad.
Solskjaer said: “We’re in a special situation. We play a game every three days, sometimes it’s two days in between, sometimes you are lucky and you have three days in between but you are going to do it relentlessly until the end of the season, then there’s the Euros and then there’s a new season so of course any chance to give players a breather and a break would be very welcome.
“Another reason not to take any chances when the games come thick and fast, is that if you push players too much there is a risk of injury and that human side of it is going to be a big thing this season.
“You will look on telly and think yeah they’re ready but we need to look after the boys, that’s our job as a club and medical staff and as managers.”
Having chosen the right team to beat the best in France last week, the mission for Solskjaer now is to pick an eleven that can beat the best in Germany.
RB Leipzig’s progression continues apace having been founded only 11 years ago.

Marcus Rashford was all smiles in training after his drive to fight child food povertyCredit: Getty Images – Getty

David De Gea is likely to keep Dean Henderson waiting on the benchCredit: Getty Images – Getty
They reached last season’s Champions League semi-finals and top this season’s early Bundesliga standings with four wins and a draw from their opening fives games.
Their 33-year-old coach Julian Nagelsmann is the talk of many a board room across Europe
Solskjaer said “We have followed Leipzig the last few years, especially in Europe, and their top games, big games in the Bundesliga.
“I know Julian is very adaptable, he’s capable of putting teams together in different formations.
“But the style is always there, the style is he always wants to dominant, it’s high tempo, it’s high pressure so we are preparing for a difficult game against a difficult team that can play in many different ways..
“He’s one of those coaches, and teams, that you don’t really know what’s going to happen until it’s live.
“Our focus is on ourselves, that we have to give them problems, and make sure we can solve whatever problems they give us
“It’s a game I’m really looking forward to.”
MANCHESTER UNITED (3-4-1-2) : De Gea – Tuanzebe, Maguire, Shaw – Wan-Bissaka, Pogba, McTominay, Telles – Fernandes – Rashford, Martial.
RB LEIPZIG (3-4-3): Gulácsi – Orban, Upamecano, Halstenberg – Sabitzer, Nkunku, Heinrichs, Angeliño – Olmo, Forsberg, Poulsen.

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