Sports

Jurgen Klopp s 1,000th match in management; the English top flight s 50,000th fixture – Chelsea s trip to Liverpool on Saturday wasn t short of milestones, intrigue or importance.

But there was certainly no surplus of quality at Anfield as two teams who ve been feeling sorry for themselves for most of the season failed to produce the spark that could reignite their thoroughly underwhelming campaigns.

Graham Potter s men left with a 0-0 draw that Chelsea might ultimately be relatively happy with, but generally speaking it was a match devoid of brilliance, and by extension an indictment of two teams who should be faring far, far better.

It bears remembering that, in fairness, Liverpool and Chelsea played out draws in seven of their previous 17 Premier League meet…

It s never easy for any team in any competition to lose a final. The feeling of coming so close only to be left so far away in the end is surely frustrating, even for those who had won the previous edition of the competition. The bigger stage the bigger the pain of it, and there s no bigger stage than the World Cup.

France were very impressive throughout the tournament in Qatar, despite missing some key players. Paul Pogba, who played a major part in France s World Cup triumph in 2018, is yet to play at all this season, and Karim Benzema picked up an injury before the start, having just won the Ballon d Or. Left-back Lucas Hernandez was forced to drop out after only 12 minutes of the opening match.

Didier Deschamps made the right mixture and set the right combination ag…

Life comes at you fast. So, too, does the Champions League this season, as a rearranged fixture list sees three matchdays in the group stage take place in as many weeks. 

The opening round of fixtures did not disappoint, providing plenty of goals and also the odd surprise. 

Perhaps the most shocking result of all was Real Madrid losing at home to Shakhtar Donetsk, and both clubs are back in action on Tuesday. 

Bayern Munich are also on duty as they head to Moscow, while Midtjylland will be hoping they can pull off the mother of all upsets when they visit Merseyside to play Liverpool. 

Another week of football awaits

Who ll be celebrating on Matchday 2? |

— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague)

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New Tottenham head coach Ange Postecoglou has not asked for any assurances over Harry Kane’s future, but will use this week’s meeting with the forward to lay out his vision to make the club successful.

Postecoglou faced the media for the first time on Monday and the discussion quickly turned to Kane, who is attracting interest from Bayern Munich amid reports the Bundesliga champions have bid for the England captain.

Kane will return to training on Wednesday and ex-Celtic boss Postecoglou revealed how he expects the conversation with the 29-year-old to go.

“I haven’t had any assurances and I wouldn’t expect any assurances,” Postecoglou explained. “That’s just my nature. I just kind of go along and try to concentrate on the things I know right now.<…

Zlatan Ibrahimovic has promised a change of tone at Milan as he nears a return to action.

Ibrahimovic has not featured this season, having undergone surgery on an anterior cruciate ligament injury shortly after Milan ended an 11-year wait to win the Serie A title in May.

While Milan started respectfully in his absence, they have slipped to sixth in Serie A – 18 points adrift of leaders Napoli – after going five league games without a win.

Milan failed to record a single shot on target in a meek derby defeat to Inter last time out, and their winless run is their worst in Serie A since April 2018.

However, Ibrahimovic believes Milan have overcome more challenging times since he returned for a second spell at the club in 2020, and foresees a return to fo…

Former Chelsea captain Gary Cahill has signed a one-year deal with Championship club Bournemouth.

The ex-England international, 35, was a free agent after his contract with Crystal Palace expired in June.

Cahill spent two seasons with Palace but was unable to agree new terms with the Eagles.

Last season Cahill played 20 games for Palace, helping them keep four clean sheets. He made 13 tackles with a success of 69.23 per cent and won 61.87 per cent of his 139 duels.

The veteran defender links up with former Chelsea team-mate Scott Parker, who is head coach at Bournemouth.

Cahill made 290 appearances in all competitions at Stamford Bridge between 2012 and 2019 and won the Premier League and FA Cup twice and the Champions League.

I am i…

Paris Saint-Germain are interested in signing Youssouf Fofana from Ligue 1 rivals AS Monaco in the January transfer window, according to . The report has claimed that PSG are among three clubs who are keen on the 24-year-old. However, Monaco do not want to sell the France international midfielder in the January transfer window and will keep him until the end of the season at least.

Fofana has been on the books of Monaco since 2020 when he joined from Strasbourg. The defender has established himself as one of the best players in his position in Ligue 1 and has also played 15 times for France. Fofana has scored one goal and given three assists in 15 Ligue 1 matches for Monaco so far this season.

Monaco currently find themselves third in the Ligue 1 table with 33 points fr…

Gareth Southgate admitted all England’s focus was on this summer’s European Championship as the Nations League draw pitted his team against the Republic of Ireland.

The two sides will meet competitively for the first time since March 1991 and are also up against Euro 2004 winners Greece plus Finland in Group B2.

The Nations League ties will be played in the autumn when Southgate could, depending on how the summer tournament in Germany goes, be out of the job, and he admitted it was difficult to see past the Euros at the moment.

“Our entire focus is on (the Euros),” he told Sky Sports.

“I know we’re here for a draw for a different competition but all we’re thinking about is our preparation for Germany and we’re really looking forward to the…

Ben Chilwell hopes Chelsea can build on their 4-0 win over Crystal Palace after becoming just the third player to both score and assist on their Premier League debut for the club.

After a low-key first half at Stamford Bridge, left-back Chilwell opened the scoring five minutes after the break.

The England international, not fit to feature in Chelsea s first three leagues in the new campaign following his move from Leicester City, then turned provider to help the hosts double their lead.

It was the defender s cross that allowed Kurt Zouma to head in a second, with a pair of Jorginho penalties helping Frank Lampard s team run out comfortable winners.

With his unlikely double, Chilwell who created a total of three chances during proceedings matches the achie…

Hoeness said Zahavi is seeking a substantial fee for negotiating a deal, claiming he wanted something in the double-digit million range to secure Alaba s signature.

That is not possible at all, Hoeness said.

The world s top agents can often earn huge sums, but Hoeness, who has stepped back from his previous role to become an honorary Bayern president, says Alaba should focus on what he wants from the rest of his career.

Austrian Alaba joined Bayern s academy in 2008 and has since gone on to win nine Bundesliga titles. He is reportedly admired by the likes of Manchester City and Barcelona.

It s really all about money, Hoeness said. He s already with the best club in the world, where else should he go? I think he shouldn t let himself be influenced fro…