Liverpool are set to let Adam Lallana leave in the summer when the England midfielder’s contract runs out. There are no talks taking place between the European champions and the 31-year-old over a new deal and he will be available on a free transfer. Lallana, who has been linked with Leicester City, moved to Anfield for £25m in 2014. He was signed from Southampton by then-Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers, who is now in charge of the Foxes.
Borussia Dortmund have signed Emre Can on a four-year deal after activating an option to make the midfielder’s loan from Juventus permanent. Can has made just three appearances since joining the Bundesliga side on January 31, but the Germany international has made a sufficient impression in that time to persuade Dortmund to take up their £21m option to sign him.
Tottenham’s Heung-Min Son is expected to miss the rest of the season after suffering a broken arm at Aston Villa on Sunday. Son will require surgery on the injury, which happened in a first-minute challenge with Villa’s Ezri Konsa, despite going on to complete the match and scoring twice – including a stoppage-time winner in the 3-2 victory. Tottenham’s statement confirming Son’s injury stated he was expected to miss “a number of weeks”, but Jose Mourinho suggested that was optimistic.
American Ryan Newman is in a serious but not life threatening condition in hospital after crashing on the last lap of the Daytona 500 in Florida. The 42-year-old was leading when his car was tapped from behind and it spun into the wall before flipping and being struck by another car. US president Donald Trump gave the starting command on Sunday but the race was postponed until Monday due to rain. “Praying for Ryan Newman, a great and brave NASCAR driver,” Trump tweeted. The Daytona 500 is the biggest race of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) season.
Teenager Reinier Jesus said he was fulfilling “a childhood dream” as he cried during his unveiling as a Real Madrid player. The 18-year-old Brazilian attacking midfielder joined the La Liga club from Flamengo for £26m in January. Reinier, who only made his senior debut on 31 July last year, was unveiled at the Bernabeu by Real Madrid president Florentino Perez on Tuesday. “I want to be a part of the history of this great club,” Reinier said. “Today is a very happy day for me as I get to fulfil a childhood dream.”
Justin Fashanu is to be posthumously inducted into the National Football Museum’s Hall of Fame later this week. Fashanu will be recognised at a ceremony on Wednesday at the museum in central Manchester. The award celebrates those who have made an outstanding contribution to the sport and comes 22 years after the former Norwich City and Nottingham Forest striker took his own life.
Faf du Plessis has stepped down as South Africa Test and Twenty20 captain, saying it is in the teams’ “best interests”. The 35-year-old batsman captained the Proteas in 112 matches across all formats since 2012, scoring 5,101 runs – including 11 centuries – as skipper. Quinton de Kock replaced Du Plessis as one-day captain in January.
Porto forward Moussa Marega walked off midway through his side’s win at Vitoria Guimaraes, saying he was subjected to racist abuse from fans. Marega, 28, started to walk towards the dugouts in the 69th minute, nine minutes after scoring what would prove the winner in Porto’s 2-1 victory. He pointed his thumbs down and also raised his middle fingers to the crowd. Team-mates and opposition players tried to persuade him to stay on, but he was eventually substituted.
Everton have confirmed they are to end their shirt sponsorship agreement with Kenyan betting firm SportPesa at the end of the season. Everton, who had signed a five-year deal with the gaming brand in 2017, said the decision was made after a review of the Premier League club’s commercial strategy in line with their future growth plans. “This has been a difficult decision but one that allows us to best deliver on our commercial plan and to grasp the new opportunities now open to us,” a club spokesperson said.
Pep Guardiola has told friends he intends to stay at Manchester City despite the club’s two-year ban from the Champions League. Unless City overturn the ban imposed by UEFA on Friday, they will not compete in European football until 2022 after this season. Guardiola’s contract is due to expire in 2021. He is expected to speak about the subject for the first time on Wednesday.
The Stephen Keshi Stadium in Asaba, southern Nigeria will host next month’s 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Sierra Leone. There have been suitability talks and concerns raised by some players about whether the venue will meet the Confederation of African Football (CAF) requirements to be able to hold competitive fixtures. But the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has confirmed that the Group L fixture, set for 27 March, will take place at the ground named after the country’s most successful coach, Stephen Keshi.
The NBA All-Star MVP Award has been permanently renamed after LA Lakers legend Kobe Bryant. Bryant, an 18-time All-Star, died with his daughter Gianna and seven others in a helicopter crash last month, aged 41. NBA commissioner Adam Silver said Bryant’s death was “unspeakable” and the league was keen to “honour” him.
History was made in Morocco on Friday when the Video Assistant Referee technology (VAR) was used in a top-flight league game for the first time in Africa. VAR had already made its debut in the Moroccan Cup semi-finals and final, but on Friday it featured in IRT Tangier’s 2-1 win over FUS Rabat in the league. The use of VAR was set to start at the beginning of the league season but was delayed in order to give the Morocco football federation time to train referees and obtain the video refereeing licenses.
American lightweight Ryan Garcia needed just 80 seconds to knock out Nicaragua’s Francisco Fonseca as he secured a brutal win in California. Unbeaten Garcia, 21, caught Fonseca with a left hook to the head to send him to the canvas and secure his first-round victory in Anaheim. “I was planning for it to go longer,” Garcia told DAZN after the fight. Garcia says he is now targeting fights against Jorge Linares, Luke Campbell, Gervonta Davis and Devin Haney.
Armand Duplantis broke his own pole vault world record by clearing 6.18m at the Indoor Grand Prix in Glasgow on Saturday. The USA-born Swede, 20, had only beaten the previous mark of 6.16m a week earlier when he cleared 6.17m in Poland. “I’m excited for the outdoor season,” Duplantis said. “The Olympics is the biggest thing an athlete can compete in and that is when I want to be at my best.” Duplantis cleared 6.18m at the first attempt in Glasgow and received $30,000 for the achievement.
He was born in the United States but chose to represent his mother’s native country of Sweden. Duplantis, who goes by the nickname Mondo, is coached by American father Greg, who was also a pole vaulter, while mother Helena is a former heptathlete and volleyball player.
Double Olympic 800m champion Caster Semenya competed in her first track meeting since June with victory in the 300m in Johannesburg. The South African won her race in a national record of 36.78 seconds. The 29-year-old is currently unable to compete in events between 400m and a mile without taking testosterone-reducing drugs following a rule change by World Athletics. “Track and field, you will still see my face,” said Semenya.
Egypt’s Zamalek outclassed Tunisia’s Esperance 3-1 to win the African Super Cup in Doha on Friday, thanks to a brace from Achraf Bencharki. It was the fourth time in Zamalek’s history that they lifted the trophy as the African Confederation Cup holders overpowered the current African Champions League winners. Youssef Mohamed ‘Obama’ Fayed headed in Zamalek’s second minute opener, to rouse the noisy Egyptian fans who outnumbered their Tunisian counterparts.
Manchester City have been banned from European club competition in 2020/21 and 2021/22 after being found to have committed “serious breaches” of UEFA’s club licensing and financial fair play regulations. The reigning Premier League champions have also been fined 30m euros. The decision is subject to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Manchester City say they are disappointed but not surprised by the prejudicial decision and will appeal. They added in a statement: “The club has always anticipated the ultimate need to seek out an independent body and process to impartially consider the comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence in support of its position.
Mercedes have launched the car on which their hopes of maintaining their unprecedented sequence of Formula 1 success in 2020 rest. The first images of W11, decked out in the revised livery which was first revealed earlier this week, were revealed online ahead of the car’s track debut later on Friday at Silverstone. Six-time world champion Lewis Hamilton and team-mate Valtteri Bottas are each driving the car. Mercedes have won all 12 of F1’s world titles – six drivers’ and six constructors’ crowns – since the current hybrid turbo engines were introduced to F1 in 2014.
Mohamed Salah’s potential involvement at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo will be a decision for the player himself and Liverpool, Egypt’s Olympic coach has confirmed. Salah faces the prospect of missing the start of the next Premier League season if he plays in the tournament in Japan, with the final due to be held on August 8. The coach of Egypt’s U23 side, Shawky Gharib, intends to include Salah as one of the team’s three over-age players but he admits he cannot force him to accept a call-up to the national side.
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