The Argentine came off the bench and scored with the final touch of the game in stoppage time
Lionel Messi made a dramatic return Thursday evening in the CONCACAF Champions Cup, scoring Inter Miami's second goal with the final touch of the match as the Herons defeated Jamaican Premier League side Cavalier SC 2-0 (4-0 on aggregate) to advance to the quarterfinals. The Argentine had missed three straight matches due to "load management" but came off the bench in the second half to help secure the win.
Luis Suarez opened the scoring with a 37th-minute penalty, converting clinically to give Miami a three-goal aggregate lead. The penalty was earned after Tadeo Allende showed slick dribbling on the edge of the box before being taken down by a defender.
Messi padded Inter Miami's aggregate advantage in the 92nd minute, poking home from close range after a Santiago Morales assist set him up on his left foot – a chance he wasn’t going to miss.
Miami controlled the match comfortably, with few clear chances for either side as play largely unfolded in midfield or Cavalier's defensive third. The result was never in doubt.
A sold-out national stadium in Kingston saw 35,000 fans turn out to watch Messi and support their local club. The match was moved from Cavalier’s 3,000-seat home stadium to Independence Park to accommodate the crowd. It was Cavalier's most high-profile match since 1971, when they hosted Brazilian legend Pelé and Santos at the same venue.
With the aggregate win, Miami advances to the quarterfinals to face MLS rivals LAFC and France’s all-time leading scorer, Olivier Giroud, in a two-legged series for a spot in the semifinals.
GOAL rates Inter Miami's players from their Leg 2 win in Jamaica…
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Goalkeeper & Defense
Oscar Ustari (6/10):
Made one big save in the 74th minute to keep a clean sheet. Job well done.
Ian Fray (6/10):
Playing at right back, Fray adapted well and communicated well next to Falcon and Redondo. However, he was rarely tested.
Maxi Falcon (8/10):
Impressive on set pieces and rock-solid defensively. One of their best performers on the day.
Noah Allen (7/10):
Overshadowed by Falcon, but Allen was fantastic in playing out of the back. Crucial in maintaining possession, he was everywhere across the back line in transition.
Jordi Alba (7/10):
Inverted when asked, and navigated his flank to a precision. Locked up Cavalier defensively, and influenced the attack in transition.
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Midfield
Sergio Busquets (7/10):
Ran the midfield show to a precision. Classy as always, the veteran held his own in the pivot, and allowed Redondo to push forward in transition.
Federico Redondo (6/10):
Didn't particularly impress, but didn't put in a foot wrong either. From a midfield perspective, that's a solid performance.
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Attack
David Ruiz (N/A):
Subbed off early in the first half after pulling up with what appeared to be a hamstring injury.
Telasco Segovia 7/10):
Impressive set piece delivery throughout the match, and a really solid performance in an attacking midfield role.
Tadeo Allende (7/10):
Earned the first half penalty, and was a menace in and around the box for Cavalier. Great performance.
Luis Suarez (7/10):
Clinical with his penalty kick, and navigated the final third of the pitch rather well.
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Subs & Manager
Benjamin Cremaschi (6/10):
Replaced Ruiz and did his job well. Had a great 1v1 chance in the second half, but squandered it looking a bit nervous in a tight angle.
Lionel Messi (7/10):
Scored with the final kick of the game in the 92nd minute after a lively cameo off the bench. A welcomed return.
Yannick Bright (6/10):
Replaced Busquets and locked down the midfield in a roughly 40-minute cameo.
Tomas Aviles (N/A):
Subbed on with 15 minutes to spare to close out the game.
Santiago Morales (7/10):
Introduced in 75th minute as the 18-year-old gained important senior minutes, and capitalized on the opportunity with a late assist to Messi.
Javier Mascherano (7/10):
Tactically, he emphasized putting pressure on their defense, and it worked early as Cavalier were forced into committing a foul in the box to hand Miami its spot kick. Perhaps he could have rotated more without using Messi due to the state of the pitch – the grass in the stadium was torn to shreds, with clumps and holes scattered everywhere. However, the club did what was asked of them, and Mascherano has them onto the quarterfinals. Job well done.
2019 is a poignant year for Tottenham. It’s the year they reached the Champions League final and rather shockingly, the same year Mauricio Pochettino was given the boot.
For all of the outstanding work Pochettino did in north London, turning the likes of Dele Alli and Harry Kane into genuine stars, he left the Lilywhites behind having not won a trophy.
So, what did Levy do? He went and hired one of the most successful managers of the 21st century; Jose Mourinho.
The self-proclaimed Special One has been there and got the t-shirt as far as English football is concerned. He’s a multiple Premier League winner, and a multiple FA Cup winner. He’s even won the Champions League.
Surely he was going to help Spurs earn the trophy they were craving? Think again. It all ended in tears.
Mourinho lasted just 86 games with a points-per-match record of 1.77, the third worst of his career. That rather said it all.
Mourinho's first transfers at Spurs
Entering in November of 2019, it wasn’t until January 2020 that the great Portuguese coach got the chance to welcome his own players to the capital.
It wasn’t the most rip-roaring start to proceedings, bringing Giovani Lo Celso and Steven Bergwijn to the club. The duo only just left Spurs in the summer but did so having not played very much football.
Tottenham Hotspur's Steven Bergwijn celebrates
The summer of 2020 was a tad more promising though. Despite a world ravaged by the global pandemic, he welcomed two faces to the club from Real Madrid.
Mourinho was the one to entice Gareth Bale back to English football, welcoming the Welshman back on a loan deal. Bale was rather forced out of Madrid despite several years of wonderful service, scoring in a Champions League final and winning three LaLiga crowns.
He wasn’t the only player arriving from the Spanish capital, however. Left-back Sergio Reguilon joined and initially started very well in Spurs colours.
Indeed, analyst Raj Chohan admitted that the Spaniard was “unstoppable” at points, notably after a first-class assist for Bale’s goal against Brighton in a 2-1 win.
Remarkably, via loan spells at Atletico Madrid, Manchester United and Brentford, he is still on the books at Tottenham.
First Impressions
What did pundits and fans alike think about their new star signing when they arrived? Football FanCast's 'First Impressions' series has everything you need.
Why it's time for Reguilon to go
It’s now been four years, some might say arduous years since Reguilon first arrived under the tutelage of Mourinho.
In that first campaign, he proved to be an excellent acquisition, supplying five assists in all competitions from the left-hand side of defence.
Reguilon’s Spurs career by season
Season
Games
Goals
Assists
2020/21
27
0
3
2021/22
31
2
3
2022/23
0
0
0
2023/24
0
0
0
2024/25
0
0
0
Stats via Transfermarkt.
In 2021/22, he still impressed in the final third, scoring twice and assisting three goals but he ultimately wasn’t fancied by a ruthless and no-nonsense Antonio Conte who shipped out on loan in 2022/23. Since then, the 27-year-old has struggled to ever really catch the eye.
United only signed him on loan because of a lack of fit left-backs and that deal was cancelled in January 2024. Brentford did come calling and he featured regularly but it wasn’t enough to force himself into Ange Postecoglou’s plans.
Serge Reguilon in action for Tottenham.
Reguilon – who earns £53k-per-week – is still on the books at Spurs but is simply stealing a living at this point.
He’s not played a single minute all season and for the good of everyone, he surely has to leave in the January transfer window. Although he is named in the club’s 25-man Premier League squad, he was omitted from their Europa League squad list.
The Spaniard has gone from being an unstoppable asset during the days of Mourinho to someone with no chance of ever earning minutes again at Spurs. The only good thing for the Londoners is that he is actually out of contract next summer. An end, it would seem, is finally in sight.
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Chris Silverwood, the sacked England head coach, is a “good guy” who looked after his players’ best interests, Moeen Ali says.Speaking after Silverwood, his assistant Graham Thorpe, and head of men’s cricket Ashley Giles were removed from their posts in the aftermath of England’s 4-0 Ashes series defeat, Moeen acknowledged that changes were inevitable within the national team set-up following such a disappointing campaign in Australia.”One thing with Silverwood, he tries to look after the players and he’s a brilliant person, he’s a very good coach,” Moeen said. “It’s a shame he’s obviously not there anymore but he’s made lots of friends and he can go with a lot of respect because he was such a good guy.”It’s always sad when people leave, the guys are good guys and they’ve all done a great job, but at the end of the day everything is about results and we had a poor Ashes and these things happen. It’s not a job forever. They tried to do the best for the players but these things happen when you have a bad tour like Australia, which is big for England, people then always after that get sacked, so it’s very sad.”Related
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Silverwood and Thorpe followed Giles in paying the price last week for England’s dismal tour of Australia, which was beset not only by poor results on the field, but reports of an off-field drinking culture and poor fitness levels.Among the contenders to step in as interim coach for England’s three-Test tour of West Indies, which gets underway on February 24 with the first Test starting on March 8, are current assistant Paul Collingwood, who oversaw the recent white-ball tour there, and Richard Dawson, who guided the Young Lions to the Under-19 World Cup final, also in the Caribbean. Alec Stewart, Surrey’s director of cricket, has expressed an interest in the post, while Justin Langer – who led Australia’s T20 World Cup and Ashes victories – has firmed as a contender for a permanent coaching position with England after his split from Cricket Australia.Moeen was absent from the Ashes tour, having announced his retirement from Test cricket in September. He continues to play white-ball cricket at the highest level, however, captaining England in the absence of an injured Eoin Morgan during their 3-2 T20I series defeat to West Indies which included two Player-of-the-Match performances. He is also active in franchise competitions around the world, playing in the Abu Dhabi T10 at the end of last year, and now with table-topping BPL side Comilla Victorians, who have won four of their six matches so far.Speaking in Sylhet, where his wife is originally from, Moeen said he was relishing the chance to hone his batting against spin as well as capitalise on the conditions with the ball.”Bangladesh is one of the hardest places to come, especially for batsmen, but you can learn so much,” Moeen said. “If you play well here, I feel you can play anywhere. That’s one of the reasons I came to Bangladesh, to try and improve and get used to conditions, so when I come with England, hopefully in the future, I know the conditions better and things like that.”It’s good for me because obviously I bowl spin. Batting, I want to still improve. I’m 34, still always trying to improve and we’re doing well as a team. We want to win, obviously I want to win trophies. [I have] maybe five, six years left and I want to win as many trophies all over the world as I can, so that’s my aim with Comilla Victorians, to win the competition.”Of the field, Moeen also revealed he was keen to learn more Sylheti.”It’s my first time in Sylhet,” he said. “My family’s from here. I know a few Sylheti words and that’s about it. I wish I could learn more actually, I will try and learn more now that I’m here because the guys in the hotel are speaking, Sylheti to me so I need to try and learn.”
Bernardo Silva is expecting Manchester City to make "some changes" this summer amid a "frustrating" season.
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Man City out of Champions League
Silva reflects on "frustrating" season
Wants to bring club back to the top level
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WHAT HAPPENED?
City suffered their earliest Champions League exit since 2012-13 when they lost 3-1 to Real Madrid in the play-offs on Wednesday. Following their 6-3 aggregate defeat to Los Blancos, Portuguese star Silva is already looking to next season and trying to bring City "back to the level it should be at".
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WHAT BERNARDO SILVA SAID
He told : "Of course, this season so far has been very frustrating. There are things that we can no longer recover: the Champions League, winning the Premier League. We're out of the two most important competitions so we're very, very sad. I'm sure that with some changes that the club will probably make at the end of the season because that's how it is when you don't win in football, we will try to bring this club back to the level it should be at."
THE BIGGER PICTURE
City won four straight Premier League titles but now they are in a real fight to qualify for next season's Champions League and could have a trophyless season for the first time since 2017. And they have the 115 charges hanging over them, too.
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WHAT NEXT?
Silva's City will hope to bounce back from their Madrid heartache when they host Liverpool in the Premier League on Sunday.
Eden Hazard might not have forged the career for himself over in Spain that all across the footballing landscape envisaged when he left Chelsea, but the west London club will forever remember their magician for his brilliance in the Premier League.
That’s how his football should be remembered. Awe-inspiring and ethereal, gliding through opponents with a balletic grace that few, such a scant few, have ever been able to produce. Lionel Messi is one of them, Diego Maradona another.
Hazard painted the Premier League with tricks and skills, goals and assists. His was a skillset that will forever imbue the Stamford Bridge pitch with his presence.
Chelsea needed to replace him after his £130m transfer to Real Madrid. An unenviable task. Luckily, they had a transfer ban and, thus, couldn’t.
When Chelsea sold Eden Hazard
That’s facetious, of course, but perhaps Chelsea’s inability to replace Hazard prevented them from splurging on any old player and instead allowed for a more calculated approach.
Maybe not, but say what you want, the likes of Timo Werner and Kai Havertz played vital roles in winning the Champions League, which is no small feat to be sure.
Hazard scored 110 goals and supplied 85 assists across 352 appearances for Chelsea, winning two Premier League and Europa League titles, the FA Cup and the League Cup, as well as being crowned the PFA Premier League Player of the Year for the 2014/15 campaign.
Chelsea might not have been able to replace their Belgian wizard externally, but they did have an internal option in Callum Hudson-Odoi who had been proclaimed Hazard’s second coming.
Callum Hudson-Odoi was supposed to be the next Hazard
In May 2019, former Chelsea defender David Luiz stated that Hudson-Odoi “has the talent one day to be like Eden”.
What praise, what confidence. It’s the kind of double-edged effusion that can hamper an up-and-coming prospect. Hudson-Odoi was indeed an electrifying talent when bursting onto the scene with Chelsea but he shouldered quite the burden, his rise coinciding with Hazard’s exit.
The English winger featured 126 times for Chelsea, scoring 16 goals and adding 21 assists, in an impressive start to life as a senior, his fleet-footed, dynamic ability translating seamlessly from the youth stage.
Callum Hudson-Odoi: Premier League Career by Season
Season
Club
Apps (starts)
Goals
Assists
2024/25
Nott’m Forest
7 (5)
1
0
2023/24
Nott’m Forest
29 (20)
8
1
2022/23
Chelsea
–
–
–
2021/22
Chelsea
15 (11)
1
2
2020/21
Chelsea
23 (10)
2
3
2019/20
Chelsea
22 (7)
1
5
2018/19
Chelsea
10 (4)
0
1
2017/18
Chelsea
2 (0)
0
0
Stats via Transfermarkt
The bleak truth is that the 23-year-old suffered a knee injury toward the end of the 2018/19 season that severely disrupted his progress. It’s an unfortunate tale of setbacks that ultimately proved his undoing at Stamford Bridge, with his petered-out finish to life in London leading to a £3.5m sale to Nottingham Forest in 2023.
First Impressions
What did pundits and fans alike think about their new star signing when they arrived? Football FanCast's 'First Impressions' series has everything you need.
It’s all the more poignant when considering Bayern Munich once wanted his signature and had even seen a £70m bid rejected by the Blues for his signing in 2020, which seems remarkable in hindsight.
Few Blues fans (even considering that celebration) will be unhappy to see him doing well after a testing start to life as a professional, but the fact that he was cashed in for a paltry return merely emphasises what might have been, the perfect homegrown Hazard successor to fire Chelsea back to the top.
Nottingham Forest player Callum Hudson-Odoi
Hudson-Odoi was clearly one of the finest young talents that English football had to offer, but despite being the jewel of Cobham’s packed academy, fell heavily by the wayside.
He’s resurrected his Premier League career with Forest, but, frankly, it doesn’t look likely that he will capture and sustain the form that would put him back into conversations concerning Hazard-esque quality.
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Celtic moved back to the top of the Scottish Premiership table on Sunday with a convincing 3-0 win over Motherwell away from Parkhead at Fir Park.
The Hoops had temporarily dropped down to second in the division after Aberdeen had won their eighth match of the season on Sunday, but they have returned to the top on goal difference.
Goals from Luke McCowan, Alistair Johnston, and Adam Idah were enough to secure all three points for the Scottish giants against Motherwell, as they kept yet another clean sheet.
Kasper Schmeichel has now kept seven clean sheets in nine Premiership games for the Hoops since his move to the club on a free transfer from Anderlecht in the summer transfer window.
He was relatively untroubled against Motherwell, making just two saves in total to keep a clean sheet, and did not have to do all that much to preserve the shut-out.
Kasper Schmeichel
This meant that the Denmark international was not one of the top performers on the day for Brendan Rodgers, as a number of other players took centre stage for the Bhoys.
Celtic's top performers against Motherwell
McCowan was handed a big opportunity to shine from the start after an injury to Callum McGregor opened up a space for him in the middle of the park.
The Scottish dynamo, signed from Dundee in the summer, certainly grasped his chance – scoring a brilliant goal to open the scoring for Celtic, weaving inside and out of challenges before finding the bottom corner.
He also completed 100% (2/2) of his attempted dribbles and created one chance for his teammates in the rest of his 75 minutes on the pitch.
The other star of the show for Celtic was the captain for the day – Johnston. The Canada international did score, with a header, in the second half but it was his defensive showing that really caught the eye.
Sofascore rating
9.0
Duels won
8/10
Tackles won
4
Interceptions
1
Dribbled past
1x
As you can see in the table above, the right-back was dominant in his defensive duels, winning 80% of his physical contests, and was only dribbled past once.
The former MLS star also created one ‘big chance’ for his teammates, that they failed to take, and could have come away from the match with an assist to go along with his goal.
Whilst Johnston and McCowan were the stars of the show for Rodgers, there was at least one Celtic player who did not show the best of his abilities – Kyogo Furuhashi.
Kyogo Furuhashi's performance against Motherwell in numbers
The Japan international was selected to lead the line on Sunday and struggled to make an impact at the top end of the pitch, whilst also offering very little in the build-up.
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Football FanCast's Chalkboard series presents a tactical discussion from around the global game.
It is no secret that Kyogo is not a traditional centre-forward who is going to hold the ball up and win flick-ons, or battle defenders to link play for his teammates.
This means that his final actions at the top end of the pitch need to be telling when he does get involved to make up for that. Unfortunately, that was not the case against Motherwell.
Minutes played
75
Passes made
1/3
Shots
4
Assists
0
Big chances created
0
As you can see in the table above, Kyogo only completed one pass in 75 minutes on the pitch, failing with his other two attempts, and took four shots without scoring.
The Japanese attacker managed one shot on target and saw the other three blocked, whilst he also had fewer touches (ten) than goalkeeper Schmeichel (37), which illustrates his lack of impact.
These statistics show that the 29-year-old striker had a difficult day at the office, as his decision-making and quality in the final third left a bit to be desired and he failed to get involved in the build-up, with his one pass.
The experienced forward was then upstaged by the man who replaced him for the final 15 minutes of the match, as Adam Idah caught the eye off the bench.
Signed from Norwich in the summer, the Irish marksman scored, with a composed close-range finish, completed all four of his attempted passes and created a ‘big chance’ in those 15 minutes.
Rodgers must now consider brutally ditching Kyogo from the starting XI after a few underwhelming displays from the attacker in recent weeks.
Why Celtic should drop Kyogo Furuhashi
The right-footed striker should be taken out of the line-up when the Hoops face Dundee at Parkhead in the Premiership on Wednesday night.
He has produced one goal and one assist, both of which came in the first half against Aberdeen, in his last five appearances in all competitions for the Hoops.
Kyogo Furuhashi
Kyogo completed 12 passes in those five outings and this shows that the attacker has not offered much outside of his work in the final third, which has also been lacking aside from the opening 45 against the Dons at Parkhead.
Therefore, Rodgers must ruthlessly ditch the striker from the starting XI and offer an opportunity to Idah to lead the line in the Premiership on Wednesday night, hopefully motivating Kyogo to fight hard to win his place back for the game against Dundee United at the weekend.
Appearances
7
Starts
2
Goals
2
Big chances created
1
Passes made per game
4.7
Aerial duels won
60%
As you can see in the table above, Idah has shown promise in his limited minutes on the pitch this season, with two goals in two starts in the Premiership.
He has also averaged more passes completed per game (4.7) than Kyogo (4.4) has managed in seven starts out of nine games, which suggests that the Irishman offers more to the team in build-play play.
His aerial duel success rate also shows that Idah is a valuable asset to Celtic when they need to play longer passes under pressure, as he has the physical qualities to win headers and hold the ball up.
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Therefore, Rodgers must now ditch Kyogo from the starting XI to give his number nine a chance to stake a claim for his place in the team moving forward against Dundee.
Brathwaite: Capitals have the best bowling attack in IPL
What appeared at the innings break like a small mountain to climb soon looked like Everest to a struggling Rajasthan Royals batting lineup as Delhi Capitals turned in a disciplined team bowling effort led by Anrich Nortje to comfortably defend 154, winning by 33 runs in Abu Dhabi on Saturday afternoon.Royals were always behind in the chase after losing three wickets in the powerplay as the overseas pair of Liam Livingstone and David Miller fell cheaply to dent Royals chances. Sanju Samson could have been the fourth to fall in the sequence but was reprieved by DRS. He waged a lone battle through the rest of the innings, ending unbeaten on 70 off 53 balls but receiving little support at the opposite end. Mahipal Lomror’s 19 served as the only other score to get into double-digits as the Capitals strangled the scoring rate from start to finish to seal a victory that puts them two points clear of Chennai Super Kings into sole possession of first place in the IPL points table.Watch the IPL on ESPN+
Sign up for ESPN+ and catch all the action from the IPL live in the US. Match highlights of Delhi Capitals vs Rajasthan Royals is available here in English, and here in Hindi (US only).
Tyagi picks up where he left offRoyals were buoyant early in the match after Samson chose to field at the toss when Kartik Tyagi, the final over hero from Royals win over Punjab Kings in the middle of the week, struck with his very first ball of the match in Abu Dhabi after entering in the fourth over. Boundaries were hard to come by early on and Shikhar Dhawan tried to play with soft hands looking for a single in the ring but only managed to drag the ball back onto his stumps for 8.The lack of boundaries created enough pressure for Prithvi Shaw to throw away his wicket soon after as well, beginning the fourth over shoveling a catch off Chetan Sakariya to Livingstone at mid-off to make it 21 for 2.Shrey-yesIn what proved to be the most important partnership of the match, Shreyas Iyer was joined by Rishabh Pant for a 62-run third-wicket stand. The pair spent most of the sequence knocking around ones and twos. But Iyer delivered a pair of crunching blows in the 10th and 11th over taking on Rajasthan’s spinners.Rahul Tewatia was the first victim as Iyer punched him back over his head for six. Tabraiz Shamsi, who came into the lineup in place of the unavailable Chris Morris, was the next to feel Iyer’s wrath, clubbing him over extra cover for an elegant six. On a day where boundaries were few and far between, these were a pair of hammer blows delivered straight to the gut of the Royals bowling unit. Iyer wound up top-scoring with 43 off 32 and when he and Pant departed, Shimron Hetmyer provided a flurry of boundaries in his 28 off 16 to propel Capitals toward and eventually past 150.Rajasthan Royals fined for slow over-rate
Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson has been fined for a slow over-rate for the second time since the IPL has resumed. For the second offence, he will be fined INR 24 lakh, while his team-mates who played against Delhi Capitals will be fined the lesser of INR 6 lakh or 25 percent of their individual match fees.
Royals power outageRoyals never got any momentum in their reply after a disappointing first six overs. Livingstone, who was sent up to open with Evin Lewis out injured, was dismissed in the first over by Avesh Khan, getting a toe edge to an attempted swat over the leg side. Yashasvi Jaiswal fended at the next ball to start the second over and sent a healthy edge through for Pant’s second catch as DRS had to be used to overturn a not out decision from Nortje’s appeal. A bigger blow was struck in the fifth when Miller’s charge to R Ashwin went completely awry resulting in a simple stumping for 7. At 17 for 3, Royals looked miles behind.Samson continued to lose partners and was scoring at well under a run a ball by the time Riyan Parag’s missed slog to Axar Patel in the 12th made the score 55 for 5, leaving the required run rate at well above 10 per over with half the team gone. Samson eventually started to get unstuck by using finesse over power to find the boundary and get his innings going, eventually reaching a half-century off 39 balls. But by that stage the match was well gone. With 56 needed off the last three overs, Royals could only manage two boundaries off the final three overs as Capitals never let up their relentless discipline with the ball to seal their eighth win in 10 games.
Steven Gerrard has received a massive blow as Al-Ettifaq lost a key player to Rennes after his loan spell was terminated by Saudi rivals Al-Nassr.
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Gerrard undergoing a rough patch
Sit 11th in the league table
Key defender moves to Rennes
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WHAT HAPPENED?
Gerrard, appointed in 2023, faced difficulties in his debut season, leading the team to a disappointing sixth-place finish. The struggles have since compounded, with Al-Ettifaq currently languishing in 11th place in the Saudi Pro League, just six points above the relegation zone.
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THE BIGGER PICTURE
The latest blow came with the departure of Seko Fofana, a pivotal figure in the midfield since joining Al-Ettifaq on loan from Al-Nassr midway through the previous season. Fofana, who quickly established himself as a key first-team player, has now left to join French side Rennes in a permanent move, following the mutual termination of his loan agreement.
WHAT AL-ETTIFAQ SAID
A statement from Al-Ettifaq read: "Ettifaq announces the termination of the loan agreement of the player Seko Fofana, who was loaned from Al-Nassr FC during the last summer transfer window, by mutual consent between both parties. The club extends its sincere thanks to the player for his time with the team, wishing him the best of luck in his next challenge. Ettifaq also expresses its gratitude and appreciation of the board of directors and the executives of Al-Nassr FC for their continued and professional cooperation."
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WHAT SEKO FOFANA SAID?
Fofana expressed his enthusiasm about his return to France and his prospects with Rennes. Reflecting on his new opportunity, he said: "I'm very happy to be joining Stade Rennais and starting 2025 with this new challenge. I've always kept a close eye on Stade Rennais, and it's a club that I've met many times. Discussions with Arnaud Pouille and Frederic Massara made all the difference. They told me about the project and the expectations of the shareholders. The message was strong and the decision was very simple after that.
“I'm very excited at the idea of starting out, there are some talented players at Rennes and I don't think the club is where it should be. We're going to get the chance to play a series of games and show that the start of the season was below the club's potential. I hope we can turn things around very quickly.”
Dani Olmo has been included in Barcelona’s Supercopa squad despite seeing a registration debacle leave him ineligible to play at present.
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Euro 2024 winner ruled out for BlaugranaLa Liga giants hoping to resolve issueYamal in travelling party heading to Saudi ArabiaFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?
Pau Victor has also been named in the travelling party heading to Saudi Arabia despite finding himself in a similar situation to Euro 2024 winner Olmo. Both men had to sit out Barca’s Copa del Rey win over Barbastro as they do not possess the relevant paperwork required to line up in Hansi Flick’s team.
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Barca remain hopeful that the unfortunate episode can be resolved in a matter of days, as they plan to take an appeal against La Liga’s registration ruling to court. If a green light is given, then Olmo and Victor will be cleared to play once more.
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It remains to be seen whether clearance is received in time to face Athletic Club on Wednesday. A big decision also needs to be made on Lamine Yamal’s involvement in that contest, with the teenage wonderkid another of those to have been included in Flick’s plans.
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Yamal has not figured for Barca since picking up an injury against Leganes on December 15. He is, however, in the trophy hunt for 2025 and will be hoping to help line up a Supercopa final showdown with either Clasico rivals Real Madrid or in-form Real Mallorca.
It would be fair to say that Tottenham Hotspur's start to the Premier League season hasn't been ideal.
Ange Postecoglou's men have played some entertaining and attacking football, but a lack of cutting-edge has cost them.
Granted, summer signing Dominic Solanke has missed the last two games and is set to return for the North London Derby. However, it still feels like they haven't fully replaced Harry Kane, which could well be an impossible task.
Harry Kane for Tottenham
The Englishman was outrageously effective in his final season with the club and has taken to life in the Bundesliga like a duck to water.
Interestingly, one of his new teammates previously had a trial with Spurs, and in another universe, he would be tearing it up under Postecoglou.
Kane's last two seasons
The thing about players like Kane is that once they break onto the scene, they are generally impressive every season, but among the mess that was Antonio Conte's final year at Spurs, it felt like the England captain once again stepped up to another level.
Former Tottenham captain Harry Kane
Perhaps it was because he knew he would be leaving in the summer, or maybe it was a desire to salvage what was a disappointing campaign for the club. However, whatever the reason was, the Walthamstow-born poacher was immense.
In just 49 games, he scored 32 goals, provided five assists and, had it not been for the inhuman Erling Haaland, he would have finished as the league's top scorer.
Harry Kane celebrates after giving Tottenham Hotspur the lead in the Premier League against Burnley.
Unsurprisingly, the England centurion's incredible form carried on in Germany, and if anything, he took yet another step forward – even if his title curse remains as strong as ever.
In just 45 matches for Bayern Munich, he scored 44 goals and provided 12 assists, meaning he maintained an average goal involvement every 0.80 games; in other words, he produced 1.24 per game.
The former Spurs captain looks ready to go again this season and has a new exciting teammate to play alongside him, a teammate who was once on trial with his former club.
Spurs missed out on Michale Olise
Yes, while it might surprise some, the player in question is French international Michael Olise.
Crystal Palace's Michael Olise
In an interview with BerkshireLive, former Spurs youth coach Mehmet Ali revealed that as a teenager, the talented winger had trials with the North Londoners and Manchester City before joining Reading, where he impressed enough to earn an £8m move to Crystal Palace in 2021.
In South London, the "world-class" dynamo, as dubbed by Micah Richards, had his fair share of injury problems, but when he was on the pitch, his quality was undeniable, and in his final season for the Eagles he racked up an impressive haul of ten goals and six assists in 19 games.
Appearances
40
19
Goals
2
10
Assists
11
6
Goal Involvements per Match
0.32
0.84
That means he maintained an average of a goal involvement every 1.18 games, which was enough to tempt Bayern into splashing £50m on him during the summer, and it's not hard to see him thriving alongside a player like Kane in the years to come.
Ultimately, spotting talent in young players is one of the hardest things to do in football, and while Olise is undoubtedly one who got away for Spurs, they are well-placed with Postecoglou at the helm to attract plenty of talented youngsters in the years to come – you only have to look at the signing of Archie Gray this summer to see that.
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