Ryan Gravenberch benefited from an error by Union Saint-Gilloise goalkeeper Anthony Moris to score his first goal for the club as Liverpool laboured to a 2-0 Europa League victory to maintain their 100 per cent record in Group E.

For all the attacking firepower at their disposal – and it was considerable with Mohamed Salah, Darwin Nunez and Diogo Jota boasting 248 goals between them – it was a 21-year-old former Ajax and Bayern Munich midfielder who had scored just nine in five years who popped up with the breakthrough at a crucial moment a minute before half-time.

That two of the front three were replaced at the interval was more down to a prepared plan rather than a reflection of their first-half contributions but if either had been anywhere close to their sharpest…

Needing an immediate response on Wednesday night, Tottenham put on a real second-half clinic as they breezed their way to a 4-0 romp against Crystal Palace.

Claiming London bragging right at Selhurst Park and picking up their first Premier League victory of 2023, Antonio Conte s men now have a platform to build on during their stacked January schedule.

With Matt Doherty, Son Heung-min and a Harry Kane brace guiding Tottenham to just their third top-flight victory in their last eight attempts, Conte also eased some of the pressure on his shoulders.

Bagging all four of their goals in the second-half, Wednesday s guests also inflected Crystal Palace with their third Premier League defeat from their previous four showdowns on either side of the World Cup break.

…

Sylvinho says his side are dreaming of knockout football in Euro 2024, with everything still to play for in their final group game against Spain on Monday.

Albania have impressed during their previous two games in the so-called group of death , having scored early goals to trouble both Italy and Croatia, including netting the quickest goal ever scored at the tournament against the former after just 23 seconds.

Though they went on to lose that match 2-1, the Eagles salvaged a point deep in stoppage time to draw 2-2 with Croatia to give themselves a chance of making the knockout stages of the competition for the first time.

Sylvinho s side are aiming to pull off a shock win when they face Spain, who have already qualified as Group B winners, but the Brazilian belie…

Xabi Alonso is set to leave Real Sociedad after a three-year spell in charge of the club s B team.

Alonso has built a reputation as a highly rated young coach since returning to his first club.

He took La Real s youngsters – often known as Sanse – to a fifth-placed finish in Segunda B2 in his debut campaign, before surpassing expectations the following year.

Alonso secured Sanse s first ever promotion to the second tier in the 2020-21 season as they finished top of Subgroup 2A and Promotion Group 2C in the reformatted Segunda B.

Their relegation back to the third tier has already been confirmed despite having one match left, but Alonso s spell in charge has largely been considered a success.

According to local reports, La Real wanted Alonso t…

Carlo Ancelotti saluted the performance of Vinicius Junior in Wednesday s Club World Cup win over Al Ahly as the Real Madrid forward managed to ignore the recent furore around him.

Vinicius has been become a regular target for racist abuse from fans this season, with footage on social media appearing to show discriminatory remarks being directed at him during Madrid s 1-0 defeat to Real Mallorca on Sunday.

LaLiga launched an investigation into that incident the following day, though it was by no means the first example of Vinicius being abused this term.

The 22-year-old was subjected to racist chanting in both of Madrid s matches with city rivals Atletico Madrid, while LaLiga filed hate crime charges to Spanish courts after similar incidents in December s game wi…

Manchester City director of football Txiki Begiristain is confident that Erling Haaland can get even better  working with Pep Guardiola following confirmation of his transfer to the Premier League champions. 

The 21-year-old has established himself among the best strikers in the world following exceptional displays at Salzburg and Borussia Dortmund, boasting a remarkable record of 86 goals in 89 appearances for the Bundesliga side. 

That provides a daunting task for opposition defenders in the Premier League, and Begiristain has issued a further warning by backing Norway international Haaland to continue to improve and develop under the guidance of Guardiola. 

We have been monitoring Erling for several years now, so we are delighted to bring him here to Manc…

Market: Colorado Rapids win

Odds: 4/6 @

Looking to make an immediate return to winning ways in the early hours of Friday, Colorado will welcome Sporting KC to Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.

Starting with the hosts, left frustrated last weekend as they eventually slumped to a routine 3-0 drumming away at Los Angeles, the Rapids will be seeking an immediate response here. Nevertheless, still mustering nine points from their previous four MLS appearances, Chris Armas’ men are still battling it out at the top of the Western Conference table. Appearing to cruise their way to a play-off ticket and making a string of improvements since opening up the 2024 campaign, the former New York Red Bulls boss will be smelling a golden opportunity here. Pencilled in as a standou…

Julian Nagelsmann was frustrated to see Germany s chances of winning a home tournament slip away with defeat to Spain, although retiring midfielder Toni Kroos found cause for optimism for the years ahead.

Despite Florian Wirtz s late strike to cancel out Dani Olmo s opener on Friday, an even later goal from Mikel Merino, in the 119th minute, sent Spain through at the hosts expense.

The 2-1 defeat was tough for Germany to take having worked so hard to get back into the match against perhaps the tournament s standout side in Spain.

Indeed, coach Nagelsmann felt his team deserved more, explaining: It s difficult to hold back the tears. They did not deserve to lose today.

We reacted well after the break. Spain had only two chances in the second half, and we …

A prospective Saudi Arabia World Cup is taking football back to a “dark time”, according to Human Rights Watch.

FIFA confirmed on Tuesday that Saudi Arabia is the sole bidder for the 2034 tournament after a process lasting less than a month and with only interest from Asian and Oceanian federations permitted.

While it still needs to be rubber-stamped, probably at FIFA’s Congress late next year, this appears little more than a formality.

FIFA receives declarations of interest in hosting FIFA World Cup editions in 2030 and 2034

— FIFA Media (@fifamedia)

In a statement to the PA news agency, Minky Worden, director of Global Initiatives at Human Rights Watch, said: “FIFA awarding the World Cup without any competition or transpare…

BUFFON ON… SQUAD NUMBERS

I chose 88 because it reminds me of four balls and in Italy we all know what it means to have balls: strength and determination. And this season I will have to have balls to get back my place in the Italy team.

BUFFON ON… VAR

You told us that VAR would be used in clear-cut incidents where there were mistakes, but now you are even checking the replays for a trodden toe or a finger in an ear. It s no longer football… it s turning into water polo. It takes too long. I didn t celebrate when we were awarded a penalty because six minutes had passed.

Six clean sheets in a row for the first time in our history.

— JuventusFC (@juventusfcen)

BUFFON ON… HIS GOAL

More than 25 years ago I made my v…