Slot: ‘No reason to think Salah’s level is dropping’Liverpool manager brushes off social media post Arne Slot has said Mohamed Salah can sustain a world-class level like Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo, and it is more important how the Liverpool striker plays than what he writes on social media. Salah moved into outright eighth on the all-time Premier League goalscorers’ list with a stunning, trademark finish against Brighton on Saturday. It was the 164th goal of Salah’s Premier League career and ninth of the season so far in all competitions. On Sunday the striker, who is out of contract with Liverpool at the end of this season, posted a message on X that said: “No matter what happens, I will never forget what scoring at Anfield feels like.” Continue reading...

The two multiple winners are not on this year’s shortlist, and a new name on the old trophy can only help to restore respect for this historic award The Ballon d’Or, football’s most famous individual prize, was not always the gold-plated standard for tedium it has become during the past 16 years. From 1990, 17 different players won the award over the next 18 years, with victors hailing from not only Brazil, Germany, France and Italy but also Ukraine, Liberia, Bulgaria and even England. But if the names from the 1990s hit like a wave of nostalgia – Van Basten! Baggio! Stoichkov! Weah! Ronaldo! Rivaldo! – the list from 2008 onwards is crushingly repetitive. Cristiano Ronaldo won his first gong that year, Lionel Messi succeeded him, and what was once a fun way to spotlight a great player – or at least an outstanding 12 months – turned into a proxy war for social media’s most overplayed debate. Messi and Ronaldo hoovered up 13 of 15 awards from 2008-2023, a duopoly driven by the players’ relentless brilliance but also powered by the marketing machines of Adidas and Nike, as well as political in-voting. Continue reading...

In an extract from the book How to Win the Premier League, Ian Graham reveals the process behind Liverpool’s capture of the Brazilian in 2015 In the weeks leading up to my first day as director of research at Liverpool [in 2012], I could barely sleep. It was the club I’d supported since I was a child. The new owners had proven in baseball they’d adopt a data-driven approach. I would be working with Eddy [Michael Edwards] again. The combination of his expert opinion on players, honed during his years as a video analyst, and my data analysis would make us unstoppable in the transfer market. Eddy had also recruited Barry Hunter and Dave Fallows, who would soon arrive from Manchester City. They would overhaul Liverpool’s scouting department. But everything immediately went wrong. Before I, and the other new hires, started, Liverpool had to replace their manager, Kenny Dalglish. The choice was between Brendan Rodgers or Roberto Martínez. Brendan was the stronger candidate and was chosen. FSG were concurrently searching for a director of football to replace Damien [Comolli]. The search was unexpectedly cut short when Brendan used a media interview on his first day in the job to say: “I am better when I have control … I wouldn’t directly work with a director of football … If you want to have a sporting director, get him in and then you can pick your manager from there but if you do I won’t be the manager.” Continue reading...

World Cup holders beat Bolivia 6-0 in Buenos AiresMessi now has 112 international goals, second all-time Lionel Messi scored his 10th hat-trick for Argentina to raise his career total for his country to 112 goals in a 6-0 World Cup qualifying win over Bolivia on Tuesday. Messi played the entire match before raucous fans at Estadio Monumental who chanted his name after he opened the scoring in the 19th minute. Messi added goals in the 84th and 86th minutes. Only Cristiano Ronaldo, with 133, has scored more international goals in men’s football than Messi. Continue reading...

‘Huge privilege’: Tuchel succeeds Southgate as managerBarney Ronay on the news | And feel free to mail Michael Confirmed details: Tuchel will be assisted by English coach Anthony Barry, who is currently the assistant manager for the Portugal national team under Roberto Martínez. Tuchel and Barry worked together at Chelsea and Bayern. Tuchel and Barry will begin work on 1 January 2025 before the qualification process for the 2026 World Cup. The decision to recruit Tuchel and Barry was approved by the FA Board early last week, with Tuchel signing his contract on Tuesday 8 October (interestingly two days before the defeat to Greece). The announcement was delayed to minimise distraction around the international camp. Interim head coach Lee Carsley will remain in charge of England through to the conclusion of the Nations League group stage next month, with games away to Greece and at home to Republic of Ireland. Carsley will then return to lead England’s Under-21s. One of Thomas Tuchel’s old bosses calls him a “footballaholic”. The image is of a man who spends every minute of every day poring over the game’s tactical intricacies. No wonder Tuchel quickly made good on his promise to turn Chelsea into a team that nobody would relish playing after inheriting a broken unit from Frank Lampard in January 2021. They were champions of Europe four months later, stunning Pep Guardiola and Manchester City in a tense final in Porto after perfectly carrying out Tuchel’s plan. It was a remarkable achievement. Chelsea were flailing in mid-table when the German who has agreed to be England’s next manager took over. They were shipping goals at an alarming rate. Undeterred, Tuchel immediately ironed out the flaws and introduced a 3-4-2-1 system that turned Chelsea into the stingiest team in Europe. Continue reading...

Manchester City know only too well how tough a nut Inter are to crack. The greatest night of their history, the Champions League final triumph in 2022, was not without its difficulties; the heart-stopping moments have gilded the legend. This was another reminder of the quality of Simone Inzaghi’s Italian champions, albeit without the same levels of drama. The City supporters had come to see Erling Haaland and the striker’s latest assault on the history books. If he could have scored here, he would have become the fastest player to reach 100 goals for a club, narrowly eclipsing Cristiano Ronaldo’s mark for Real Madrid. This was game No 104 for Haaland. Ronaldo took 105. Comments on this report will open later Continue reading...

United coach says criticism of striker has been overblownRussell Martin bemoans Southampton’s missed penalty Erik ten Hag borrowed Cristiano Ronaldo’s ketchup analogy as he predicted Marcus Rashford will go on a goalscoring run after ending his Manchester United drought in a 3-0 victory at Southampton. “Once a striker was talking about a ketchup bottle, once it’s going, it’s coming more,” said the Manchester United manager after Rashford registered his first goal since March. Continue reading...

A stomp towards the delirious crowd followed by an impish grin and the I-remain-the-man pout of celebration: on 88 minutes Cristiano Ronaldo saluted his 901st goal after sliding home and shred the narrative of a point won bravely by Scotland. Until then, Steve Clarke appeared heading to replenish the goodwill he had been draining from the tartan army. Continue reading...

A strong showing at Copa América would have built momentum for World Cup qualifying. But another early tournament exit exposed a team with no cohesion If this isn’t rock bottom for the Seleção, it’s as near as makes no difference. Another early tournament exit. Another Brazil team making unwanted history. Their defeat to Uruguay on penalties in the quarter-finals of Copa América marks the eighth time they’ve been dumped from a tournament held outside Brazil before the semi-finals since 2000. It may not be 1950 or 7-1, but the latest defeat paints as grim a picture as those famous results. Continue reading...

Southgate might be better at the management than the football but an implausible triumph for his team is still possible Club football, at least at the elite level, is meticulously planned. Teams of analysts pore over the data, find the patterns, identify the signings who will fit the style and mitigate areas of weakness, highlight potential flaws in opponents. The richest teams can buy not only the best players but also the best coaches and the best analysts and, as a result, elite club football, in as much as a sport as capricious as football ever can be, is predictable. International football is wild. You can’t buy to fill the gaps. Squads end up so unbalanced and incoherent that coaches may as well be working at Manchester United. Managers can prepare but time is limited. History is always present; cultures even now remain defined. Spain will pass. France will grind. Portugal will defer to Cristiano Ronaldo. England will retreat inexplicably in defence of a lead (and, at times, a draw). Coaches have limited time with players who are being trained week-to-week in a vast range of different styles. Continue reading...

Euro 2024 quarter-final, 8pm BST kick-off in HamburgSpain v Germany goes to extra time – follow it livePlayer guide | Golden Boot standings | And email Scott Portugal and France have met at the Euros on two other occasions. Here’s what happened the last time they locked horns … … and here’s the time before that, the high-water mark in the Seleção Portuguesa de Futebol’s history. Continue reading...

The ageing icon is infinitely watchable, and will start against France in the last eight, but his waxwork target man act is now a hindrance It was the penultimate question of a 15-minute press conference but one that had everybody nodding in agreement, internally at least. At almost 1am local time in a bunker inside the Frankfurt Arena, Roberto Martínez leaned forward into the microphone and reached for a virtual shield to steel himself. “Do you feel your game gets too predictable with all those crosses inside the box towards Ronaldo?” came the question and regardless of what the Portugal manager may say, the answer is a resounding big, fat yes. Or as the Portugal supporters mimicking Ronaldo outside the ground before kick-off might say: “Siuuu!” Continue reading...

In this world of celebrity worship, the winning of football matches is a secondary concern. It’s all about Ronaldo There is a fascination always as legends fade, to watch how they rage against the diminution of their own powers, to see embodied in one shrugging, pouting frame the eternal human battle with mortality. Decay and decrepitude have their allure; what the romantics saw in a ruined abbey, so others will see in the dwindling figure of Cristiano Ronaldo. Some day there will be a Portugal match that is not about Ronaldo – but not here, not yet. It wasn’t just about the penalty he had saved by Jan Oblak in extra time, which left him in tears. He did, at least, make up for it in the shootout. Everything is about Ronaldo; Portuguese football has become the great psychodrama of his ageing. Diogo Costa may have saved three penalties in the shootout, but even then this was about Ronaldo. Continue reading...

Apology accepted. In fairness, Cristiano Ronaldo simply does not shirk responsibility and by taking and scoring the first penalty in a shootout victory over Slovenia, the Portugal captain made amends for failing to score his spot kick in extra time, which was saved magnificently by Jan Oblak. In the end it was the Portugal goalkeeper Diogo Costa who was the hero, making three extraordinary saves, the last of which thwarted Benjamin Verbic down to his right. Even Ronaldo seemed a touch remorseful as Slovenia, whose steely resistance was eventually broken in the cruellest of manners, were undone. The more likely penalties became, the twitchier Portugal grew but they will now play France in Hamburg on Friday. Continue reading...