Sports
Manchester United pull surprise 2-1 win over Liverpool
Despite Mohamed Salah’s late strike, Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford had given Manchester United their first win of the season with a 2-1 victory over Liverpool at Old Trafford on Monday.
Though Manchester United had started the weekend bottom of the Premier League, they have moved above Liverpool after the monday Night win for their new Dutch manager.
Jurgen Klopp’s men are yet to win three games into the new season, which has dimmed the hope of Liverpool’s expected title challenge
United fans began the evening with a protest march on Old Trafford against the Glazer family’s ownership of the club ahead of the match against Liverpool.
Supporters’ group ‘The 1958′ had urged fans to join a march from the Tollgate pub to the Trinity statue outside the stadium. The group said the protest was against “an ownership that is systematically starving and killing the greatest football institution in world football, for greed.”
The Glazers have regularly taken sums of money out of the football club, and with United’ s debts having risen to nearly £500m in recent financial accounts, an increase of 11.8 per cent from last year. Dividend payments have been made to shareholders in recent months, despite last season’s poor performance, and fans have been dispirited by what appears to have been a shambolic summer transfer window.
A social media movement encouraging supporters to boycott the game in the wake of an embarrassing 4-0 defeat at Brentford last weekend failed to materialise.
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Despite victory jubilation of a first league win over Liverpool since 2018, chants of “we want Glazers out” dominated most part of the march
Ten Hag responded to the concession of four goals inside 35 minutes at Brentford by dropping Cristiano Ronaldo and captain Harry Maguire among four changes.
Having earned the negative accolade of being first United manager in more than a century to lose his first two games, the former Ajax manager got the rythm he desired in an explosive opening half hour that marred Liverpool dream
Anthony Elanga should have opened the scoring when he curled off the base of the post after two passes from Scott McTominay and Bruno Fernandes carved Liverpool wide open.
Defensive miscalculation had been a re-occuring decimal of Liverpool’s winless start to the season as they failed to learn their lesson for the opening goal on 16 minutes.
A neat one-two between Elanga and Christian Eriksen opened up the Liverpool defence once more and when the ball was cut back to Sancho, he left James Milner on the floor before coolly tucking in.
Milner bounced back up to confront Virgil Van Dijk for his role in the goal as the Dutch defender sat off Sancho.
Alisson Becker was then forced to tip Eriksen’s dipping free-kick over before the visitors were able to restore some order in the closing stages of the first half.
United nearly gifted them an equaliser when Fernandes blasted Milner’s header towards his own goal and was fortunate to see the ball rebound back off Lisandro Martinez on the line.
Liverpool’s reluctance to refresh Klopp’s midfield options will face more scrutiny in the final days of the transfer window.
With Thiago Alcantara and Naby Keita out injured, the 36-year-old Milner showed his age and Klopp had precious few options to turn to on the bench with new 75 million euro (£64 million, $77 million) striker Darwin Nunez serving the first of a three-match ban for being sent off on his home debut.
Liverpool’s lack of energy in midfield paved the way for United’s second goal as Jordan Henderson’s poor touch presented possession to Anthony Martial and his perfect through ball set Rashford free to score his first goal since January.
Sports
AC Milan Pull Off Thrilling Injury-Time Comeback To Beat Parma 3-2
AC Milan staged a remarkable comeback at the San Siro on Sunday, defeating Parma 3-2 in a thrilling Serie A encounter that kept fans on the edge of their seats until the final whistle.
Trailing twice in the match, the Rossoneri produced two injury-time goals from Tijjani Reijnders and Samuel Chukwueze, sealing a historic win and further strengthening their position as title contenders.
Parma took the lead in the 24th minute, with Matteo Cancellieri finishing off a precise assist from Valeri to stun the home crowd.
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Milan struggled to break down Parma’s defense but found their equalizer in the 38th minute after a foul on Pavlović in the box resulted in a penalty.
Christian Pulisic stepped up and calmly converted, leveling the score at 1-1.
The visitors regained the lead in the 80th minute when Enrico Delprato capitalized on a swift counterattack to put Parma 2-1 ahead.
With time running out, it seemed as though Milan might fall short, but the team refused to back down.
In the 90+2 minute, Reijnders scored a vital equalizer, driving home a well-placed pass from Musah.
Just three minutes later, Chukwueze completed the turnaround, striking a clinical winner from Pavlović’s assist in the 90+5th minute, sending the San Siro into raptures.
“This match was a testament to the character of this team,” said AC Milan coach Conceição. “We kept pushing, kept believing, and in the end, we were rewarded.”
The victory not only moved AC Milan to 34 points, consolidating their spot among Serie A’s top teams, but also highlighted their potential as serious title contenders.
Reijnders, the league’s leading central midfield goalscorer, now has six goals this season.
Chukwueze’s decisive goal marked his first of the season, while Pulisic ended a nine-game goal drought with his successful penalty.
The match also featured a milestone for Tammy Abraham, who made his 100th Serie A appearance.
Sports
Belgium Appoints Rudi Garcia As National Team Coach
The Belgian Football Federation has named Frenchman Rudi Garcia as the new head coach of the national team, following the sacking of Domenico Tedesco after a disappointing Euro 2024 campaign.
In a statement released on Friday, the federation confirmed the appointment of the Underworld former Napoli, Lyon, and Roma manager, who will be formally introduced to the press later in the day.
READ MORE: Nuri Sahin Fired As Borussia Dortmund Head Coach
Garcia’s task will be to rejuvenate the Red Devils after their early exit from the European Championship and underwhelming performances in the Nations League.
Belgium recently parted ways with Tedesco, who had been in charge since February 2023.
The Italian-German coach was brought in to rebuild the squad following the departure of the country’s celebrated “golden generation” under Roberto Martinez but failed to deliver the expected results.
The team now faces a critical relegation play-off against Ukraine in March, before beginning their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign with a trip to North Macedonia in June.
Garcia brings a wealth of experience, having coached top European clubs such as Marseille and Lyon.
He also made his mark at Lille between 2008 and 2013, leading the French side to a Ligue 1 and Coupe de France double in 2011.
However, his most recent role at Napoli in 2023 ended in disappointment after just five months.
Sports
Nuri Sahin Fired As Borussia Dortmund Head Coach
Borussia Dortmund have sacked head coach Nuri Sahin after a disappointing 2-1 loss to Bologna in Tuesday’s Champions League match, marking the club’s fourth consecutive defeat in all competitions.
The decision follows a string of poor performances that have left the club in 10th place in the Bundesliga, 20 points adrift of league leaders Bayern Munich.
Sporting CEO Lars Ricken expressed that the club had “lost faith” in Sahin, explaining that the decision was painful but necessary.
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“We have unfortunately lost faith that we will achieve our sporting goals,” Ricken said. “We value Nuri Sahin and his work very much, we hoped for a long collaboration, but after the game in Bologna, this was unavoidable.”
Sahin, who had been promoted to head coach in the summer following his role as assistant to Edin Terzic during Dortmund’s surprise Champions League final run last season, acknowledged the disappointment.
“Unfortunately, I was not able to live up to Dortmund’s sporting ambitions at this point in time. I wish this special club all the best.”
The defeat against Bologna caps a difficult season for the club under Sahin’s stewardship.
Despite their strong showing in last season’s Champions League, where they lost to Real Madrid in the final, Dortmund have struggled in the Bundesliga and were eliminated from the German Cup by Wolfsburg.
Their away form, in particular, has been disastrous, with only four wins and nine losses in 15 matches away from the Westfalenstadion.
Dortmund’s leadership, which has historically favored former players in managerial roles, now faces the task of finding a suitable replacement for Sahin.
German media reports suggest potential successors could include Erik Ten Hag, the former Manchester United boss who has been spotted attending Dortmund games recently, or Roger Schmidt, formerly of Benfica and Bayer Leverkusen.
In the interim, U19 coach Mike Tullberg has been appointed to take charge of the first team, starting with Saturday’s home match against Werder Bremen.
The sacking of Sahin is the latest chapter in a turbulent managerial history for Dortmund since the departure of Jurgen Klopp in 2015, with the club having cycled through eight different head coaches in that time. Only Lucien Favre managed to stay longer than two years.
Sahin’s tenure as manager was a significant moment for Dortmund, as he was one of the club’s own, having come through the ranks and played over 270 games for the team, including being part of the squad that won the 2011 Bundesliga title.
However, his time at the helm of the senior team has proven to be short-lived as Dortmund now seek a new direction.