Prediction: Maccabi Haifa vs Hamrun Spartans

Virgil van Dijk has been on the receiving end of Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp s ire plenty of times .

The Reds defender made the admission when speaking to Gary Neville on The Overlap about Klopp s demeanour in the Anfield dressing room.

Van Dijk and Liverpool have had a difficult start to the season, which included a shock 1-0 loss at Nottingham Forest on Saturday to leave them eighth in the Premier League.

But Van Dijk has been one of Liverpool s top performers since joining from Southampton in January 2018, winning Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup and EFL Cup honours under Klopp.

The Netherlands centre-back does not always avoid his manager s dressing downs, though.

Oh yeah plenty of times, Van Dijk replied when asked if he had been sho…

Karim Benzema remains hopeful of one day linking up with France team-mate Kylian Mbappe at Real Madrid.

Madrid are reported to have had three bids for Mbappe rejected by Paris Saint-Germain during the most recent transfer window, the biggest of which was said to be worth €200million.

The 22-year-old, whose current contract expires at the end of the season, revealed last week he asked to leave the Parc des Princes when Madrid s interest became apparent.

PSG publicly remain confident of convincing him to stay, though Madrid president Florentino Perez has hinted the Spanish giants may look to strike a deal with Mbappe in January when the prolific striker is free to open talks with foreign clubs.

Benzema has previously stated he has no doubt Mbappe will one…

Michail Antonio has recommitted to West Ham United, signing a new contract set to keep him in east London for the next two and a half years, it has been officially confirmed.

https://twitter.com/WestHam/status/1340024031530024960

Since joining the Hammers in 2015 from Nottingham Forest for a reported fee of around £9 million, the 30-year-old forward has made a total of 161 appearances in all competitions for them, scoring 41 goals and assisting his teammates on 22 occasions. This season, he has scored three in seven games, all in the Premier League and all as a part of the starting XI, having missed out on six matches through injury.

At the moment, Antonio mostly plays as the central striker, but he is a true embodiment of versatility. He can play on either att…

Thomas Tuchel fell in love with Bayern Munich in a damaging 3-0 defeat to Manchester City he described as a lot of fun on Tuesday.

Bayern s hopes of advancing to the Champions League semi-finals look to be in tatters following a one-sided scoreline in their last-eight first leg in Manchester.

City were undoubtedly deserving winners, with Opta counting four big chances to Bayern s one.

But the Bundesliga giants bossed 56 per cent of the possession as City were forced to play without the ball; only on four occasions under Pep Guardiola have they seen less of the play.

That might have been the source of Tuchel s optimism then, as the man who led Chelsea to a 2021 final victory over City revelled in a loss that will likely cost his new side.

I don t …

In a showdown between two of Italy s most iconic clubs on Saturday evening, Inter Milan put on a stunning first-half display as they cruised their way to a 3-0 win against Roma.

Laying down a real marker to their bitter local rivals, the Nerazzurri now find themselves in the midst of a stellar purple patch as they managed to leapfrog Napoli to second spot.

Underlying why many across Italy have tipped them as a leading pick to make it back-to-back Serie A titles this season, Inter also pilled more pressure onto Jose Mourinho s shoulders.

Breezing past their former boss on what will be remembered as a famous victory in Rome, we have taken a look at the major talking points from Saturday s meeting.

Inter s first-half masterclass

Making the trip to the Stad…

Prediction: Draw

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We re rattling through the 2022 FIFA World Cup and thus far, things have been pretty unpredictable and that s us putting it kindly. Many big teams have struggled to get going whereas plenty of underdogs have positioned themselves nicely to reach the last 16. Ahead of the final set of fixtures, we had to an important sophomore fixture for both Brazil and Switzerland later this afternoon.

Brazil

The Brazilian national team often walks into the World Cup as favourites to win the whole thing and we expect a similar response from the masses here. They have plenty of star power in their ranks but it s all about putting that together into a cohesive unit on the pitch which, if they can get a big result here, may give…

Luis Enrique is confident that Paris Saint-Germain s 3-1 win against Lille will stand them in good stead ahead of their quest for Champions League glory.

The Spaniard watched on as his side took their scoring to 13 from their first three Ligue 1 games and maintaining PSG s perfect start to the campaign.

Vitinha s penalty and Bradley Barcola s strike gave the visitors an advantage at the break, with Randal Kolo Muani scoring in second-half injury time to confirm the win after Edon Zhegrova had halved the deficit.

The Parisiens enter the international break two points clear of Marseille at the summit, but their attention will quickly to the Champions League later this month.

Enrique s side have been handed a difficult draw for the competition, squaring o…

Andre Onana will link up with the Cameroon squad for the Africa Cup of Nations after Manchester United play Tottenham on January 14, the PA news agency understands.

It had been reported that United were in talks with Onana’s national team over the goalkeeper’s release date for the tournament in Ivory Coast that gets under way a week on Saturday.

The 27-year-old is now set stay with the club for their Premier League match against Spurs at Old Trafford the following day before joining up with Cameroon – whose campaign then starts on January 15 with a match against Guinea.

United also have one fixture before the Tottenham game, playing at Wigan in the FA Cup third round next Monday.

The Cameroonian football association is understood to have agreed to b…

Brendan Rodgers could be set for an unlikely return to Celtic four years and four months after his sudden exit for Leicester.

The former Liverpool manager is reportedly set for further talks after majority shareholder Dermot Desmond made him made the number one target to replace Ange Postecoglou.

Rodgers won all seven major Scottish trophies he competed for during his first spell as Celtic boss and completed an unbeaten campaign in his debut season of 2016-17.

Here, we look at how two other managers fared when they returned to Celtic for a second time.

Billy McNeill

Billy McNeill

…

In what was a heavyweight Premier League affair on Sunday afternoon, Manchester United and Tottenham played out a thrilling 2-2 stalemate at Old Trafford.

With Erik ten Hag’s side opening the scoring after just three minutes as Rasmus Hojlund powered home his second Premier League strike of the season, United knew the importance of claiming maximum points on home soil.

However, pegged back midway through the first half as Brazilian ace Richarlison glanced home, both sides had an abidance of early chances.

While England international Marcus Rashford might have handed United a slender 2-1 lead heading into the interval,  Rodrigo Bentancur wiped out their advantage a minute after the restart with a blistering effort.

While Ange Postecoglou’s side might…