DUBAI: It was an open-and-shut case for many, including his manager.
Mohamed Salah was, it was declared on an almost weekly basis, the best soccer player in the world for the first half of this season, demonstrating the kind of elite-level scoring form only Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and more recently Robert Lewandowski have been able to produce this century.
It wasn’t just the volume of goals — 22 in his first 23 matches — that he was putting away for Liverpool. It was the sheer quality of them that took one’s breath away.
None more so than the weaving solo effort he conjured up against Manchester City at Anfield in October, midway through a run of 10 straight games when he scored, that surely will go down as the Premier League’s goal of the season.
“Come on,” Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp asked out loud, “who is better than him?”
Fast forward six months and Salah is, in relative terms, in a rut. Indeed, heading into a seismic return match against City on Sunday that could yet determine the destination of the title, there’s an argument to say he might not even be Klopp’s go-to striker.
There are potentially a whole host of reasons why Salah is going through his worst scoring run this season, with no goals in five games in all competitions and no open-play goals in six weeks.
Is he tired? He’s already played 47 games this season, after all.
Are painful losses for Egypt lingering? First there was the penalty-shootout loss to Liverpool teammate Sadio Mane’s Senegal in the African Cup of Nations final in February, then a loss — also via a shootout — to the same opponent in a World Cup playoff last month.
Does it have anything to do with his current contract standoff with Liverpool? That would be unlikely.
Maybe it’s simply the vagaries of form and happenstance. Because he’s still piling up the chances, just not converting them.
Whatever it is, this is not the Salah of six months ago. He was substituted midway through the second half in each of Liverpool’s last two games after, by his high standards, fairly underwhelming performances.
“Sometimes he could decide in a better way, no doubt about that, pass the ball quicker and all these things,” Klopp said this week. “But it’s a tough period for Sadio (Mane) and Mo, with the Africa Cup and coming back being immediately available for us again with all the games.
“It’s completely normal in a season that you have these little (ups and downs).”
Will Klopp drop Salah against City on Sunday? He’d be a brave man to do that to the Premier League’s top scorer. But it’s not that he doesn’t have options.
And in Diogo Jota, Klopp has a forward who has helped to take on Liverpool’s scoring burden firstly while Salah was away at the African Cup and then amid the Egyptian’s recent struggles.
Jota appears to be Liverpool’s first-choice center forward now, displacing Roberto Firmino by doing all the dirty work like the Brazilian — the tracking back, the pressing, the harrying of defenders — but scoring a lot more goals at the same time.
Jota has scored four goals in his last six games, including the winner against Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup quarterfinals and crucial openers against Arsenal and Watford in the league. He is tied for second in the league’s scoring chart with 14 goals.
Rested against Benfica in the Champions League in midweek, Jota is highly likely to start against City. It’s which two players are alongside him in the three-pronged forward line that’s the big question.
And this is where Liverpool hold the edge over City, which will start the game at Etihad Stadium one point clear of Klopp’s team with eight games left. Liverpool’s firepower simply is greater, with Klopp able to call upon Salah, Jota, Firmino, Mane and January signing Luis Diaz, who has settled in seamlessly since joining from Porto.
City have a slew of classy attacking midfielders and forward but none have the cutting edge of the likes of Salah — when he’s in form — or Jota.
City manager Pep Guardiola knows a draw is enough to leave the destiny of the title solely in his team’s hands. If that happens, City will win the league by winning its next seven games.
The onus is on Liverpool to go on the attack, which makes the game all the more enticing for fans.
And Klopp, who boldly played a front four of Mane, Salah, Jota and Firmino at the Etihad two seasons ago, knows he has the offensive players to overwhelm City.
Whether Salah is playing or not.
As Salah toils, Jota stepping up as Liverpool’s go-to scorer
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As Salah toils, Jota stepping up as Liverpool’s go-to scorer
- “Come on,” Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp asked out loud, “who is better than him?”
- Jota appears to be Liverpool’s first-choice center forward now
New Rangers boss Martin aims to win over fans as he targets Celtic crown
Martin guided Saints to promotion to the Premier League last year
LONDON: Rangers head coach Russell Martin said Thursday his “whole career has been based on proving people wrong” after he was unveiled as the new man in the Ibrox hot seat.
The 39-year-old former Southampton manager, who has signed a three-year contract with Rangers, has the daunting task of toppling champions Celtic, who have a stranglehold on the Scottish game.
Martin guided Saints to promotion to the Premier League last year but was sacked in December following one win from their first 16 games. The club were subsequently relegated.
Rangers finished last season second in the Scottish Premiership under the caretaker management of former captain Barry Ferguson, having dismissed Philippe Clement in February.
Ex-Scotland defender Martin, who had a short loan spell as a player at Rangers in 2018 and has also managed MK Dons and Swansea, was asked at a press conference about negative reaction from fans to his appointment.
“To the fans, I have to win. I don’t think I’ve been the number one choice at any club I’ve been at,” he said.
“By the time we’ve left every team I’ve been at, we’ve formed a real connection with the supporters. I hope this will be the same.
“My whole playing career was based on hard work and resilience. It was not done on talent.”
Martin said success at Ibrox would be measured in trophies, admitting he had “a lot to prove.”
Celtic have an iron grip on Scottish football, recently wrapping up a 13th title in 14 seasons.
But Martin is confident he can eventually knock Rangers’ bitter Glasgow rivals from their perch.
“My whole career has been based on proving people wrong,” he said. “I got to the Premier
League as a player, played international football. It’s the same as a manager.
“I feel after five and a half years of being a coach and a leader, I love doing it. I will be all-in here with my energy and my love for it. Hopefully it will reflect on the pitch.”
Martin was criticized for sticking to an attacking approach at Southampton even as his team was losing consistently but he defended his methods.
“We are here to win and we’ll do that in the best way we possibly can within a similar concept of the game,” he said.
“That is to be dominant with the ball, which I think is what Rangers fans expect, but to be really aggressive, really intense, really passionate, really hard-working first and foremost.”
Martin’s arrival is the latest in a series of major changes at Rangers.
An American consortium led by Andrew Cavenagh and 49ers Enterprises secured a majority shareholding on Friday, while new sporting director Kevin Thelwell officially began work on Monday.
Australia on brink of World Cup after dramatic late winner
- In front of a sell-out crowd of 57,226 at Optus Stadium, the Socceroos were outplayed for long periods by an experimental Japan side
- After beating Japan for the first time since 2009, Australia are on the cusp of next year’s World Cup in North America
PERTH: Australia moved to the brink of the World Cup after beating already qualified Japan 1-0 in Perth on Thursday thanks to Aziz Behich’s 90th-minute winner.
In front of a sell-out crowd of 57,226 at Optus Stadium, the Socceroos were outplayed for long periods by an experimental Japan side.
But then substitute Riley McGree cut the ball back to defender Behich, who rifled a bullet into the corner for his first international goal in 13 years and trigger scenes of jubilation.
After beating Japan for the first time since 2009, Australia are on the cusp of next year’s World Cup in North America.
“We know there’s room to grow and room to improve, but we’ve done something special tonight,” coach Tony Popovic said.
Before the game the Socceroos had a three-point lead and a significantly better goal difference over Saudi Arabia with two matches left.
The win does not totally guarantee Australia’s passage, with Saudi Arabia at Bahrain later on Thursday.
Australia then face the Saudis in Jeddah on June 10 in their final Group C match in the battle for second behind Japan.
Teams that finish in the top two of the six-team group guarantee their automatic spot at the World Cup.
After what had been a lacklustre performance for much of the game, Australia’s last-gasp victory continued their turnaround since Popovic arrived in September.
“We’ve all played a part in getting us to this point,” he said.
“We want to go to Saudi Arabia and really finish the job off.”
After becoming the first team to punch their ticket to the World Cup, Japan coach Hajjime
Moriyasu used the trip to Australia as an opportunity to experiment.
“I wanted to see what they (the inexperienced players) could do against a strong opponent in very difficult circumstances,” Moriyasu said.
“We have to improve and expand our squad.”
Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo and Real Sociedad’s Takefusa Kubo started on the bench as Japan fielded three debutants in the starting line-up.
Crystal Palace’s Daichi Kamada, playing his 41st international, was considerably their most experienced starter.
Japan completely dominated the first half with 21-year-old midfielder Kota Tawaratsumida impressing on his debut.
It was only a matter of time before Japan had a clear-cut chance, with Yuito Suzuki having an attempt from long range on the half-hour mark.
Japan continued to attack with debutant Yu Hirakawa firing just wide of the left post after beating outstretched goalkeeper Mathew Ryan.
The break arrived at a good time for Australia.
After being brought on in the 64th minute, Kubo curled past the right post, before Behich stepped up late with his priceless goal.
Kohli ‘lost for words’ after 11 die celebrating Bengaluru IPL win
- Stampede near Bengaluru’s M. Chinnaswamy cricket stadium killed 11 on Wednesday as players paraded trophy
- Royal Challengers Bengaluru, led by Kohli, delighted thousands of fans after maiden IPL trophy win in 18 years this week
BENGALURU: Virat Kohli said he was lost for words after celebrations of a dream IPL title turned to tragedy when 11 mainly young cricket fans were crushed to death in Bengaluru.
Hundreds of thousands had packed the streets Wednesday to welcome home their hero Kohli and the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) after they had beaten Punjab Kings a day earlier in a thrilling Indian Premier League final.
But the euphoria of the vast crowds in the southern tech city of Bengaluru ended in disaster, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling it “absolutely heartrending.”
Karnataka state Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said most of the 11 dead were young people and there were 47 others injured in the crush after a stampede near the city’s M. Chinnaswamy cricket stadium, where the players were parading the trophy for fans.
Kohli, who top scored in the final, said earlier it had been “as much for the fans” after the 36-year-old finally celebrated winning the IPL at his 18th attempt.
Later, Kohli wrote on social media: “At a loss for words.
“Absolutely gutted,” he added, alongside a statement from the RCB team saying they were “deeply anguished” at what had unfolded.
One of the people injured described to AFP how a “huge crowd” had crushed her.
“They stamped on me,” said the woman, who did not give her name, from a wheelchair.
“I was not able to breathe. I fell unconscious.”
Most of the dead were young fans who had gone out just to catch a glimpse of their sporting heroes.
Street food vendor Manoj Kumar mourned the death of his 18-year-old son, killed in the stampede, who he said he had stopped from working on his stall so he could study.
“I wanted him to go to college,” Kumar told the Indian Express newspaper.
“I brought him up with a lot of care. Now, he is gone.”
A grieving mother outside a city mortuary said her 22-year-old engineering student son had also died in the crush.
“He was crazy about RCB,” she was quoted as saying by the Indian Express on Thursday.
“He died in an RCB shirt. They danced when RCB won and now he is gone. Can RCB give him back to us?”
Authorities had already called off RCB’s proposed open-top bus victory parade through the streets after anticipating vast crowds.
But organizers pressed ahead with the welcome ceremony and celebrations inside the stadium.
RCB’s social media account posted a video of cheering crowds lining the streets as the players waved back from their team bus on their way to the stadium.
The team said they cut short the celebrations “immediately upon being made aware of the situation.”
Siddaramaiah said that the stadium had a capacity of “only 35,000 people, but 200,000-300,000 people came.”
Bengaluru offer cash help after deadly India cricket stampede
- The euphoria of the vast crowds ended in disaster when 11 fans died in a stampede near the city’s M. Chinnaswamy Stadium
- Most of the dead were young fans aged between 14 and 29 who had gone out just to catch a glimpse of their heroes
BENGALURU: Royal Challengers Bengaluru said Thursday they stood “united” with fans as the Indian Premier League champions announced financial aid to families of those crushed to death during their title celebrations.
Hundreds of thousands had packed the streets in the southern Indian city of Bengaluru on Wednesday to welcome home their hero Virat Kohli and his RCB team-mates after they beat Punjab Kings in a thrilling IPL final.
But the euphoria of the vast crowds ended in disaster when 11 fans died in a stampede near the city’s M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, where the players were parading the trophy.
Most of the dead were young fans aged between 14 and 29 who had gone out just to catch a glimpse of their heroes.
Dozens of abandoned shoes and flip-flops littered the site in the aftermath.
RCB offered financial aid of $11,655 to each family of those killed.
Indian media have widely reported the team earned $2.3 million in prize money alone for taking the title on Wednesday.
“Our fans will always remain at the heart of everything that we do,” RCB said. “We remain united in grief.”
Kohli, who top-scored in the final, said he was “at a loss for words” after celebrations of a dream IPL crown turned to tragedy.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the accident “absolutely heartrending.”
Police used mild force to disperse people outside the stadium, an eyewitness told AFP, but the crowd was “extremely difficult” to control.
Lakshminarayan, who lost his 14-year-old granddaughter in the crush, said his family carried the child in a motor rickshaw to hospital.
He said celebrations should have been delayed to prepare for the widely expected mass crowds.
“There was no need to conduct celebrations the very next day, they should have postponed it to a week and organized it a better way,” he said.
“You should take all precautionary measures, they should have police protection and follow the queue system.”
One of the people injured described to AFP how a “huge crowd” had crushed her.
“They stamped on me,” said the woman, who did not give her name, from a wheelchair.
“I was not able to breathe. I fell unconscious.”
Street food vendor Manoj Kumar mourned the death of his 18-year-old son.
“I wanted him to go to college,” Kumar told the Indian Express newspaper.
“I brought him up with a lot of care. Now he is gone.”
A grieving mother outside a city mortuary said her 22-year-old engineering student son had also died.
“He was crazy about RCB,” she was quoted as saying by the Indian Express.
“He died in an RCB shirt. They danced when RCB won and now he is gone. Can RCB give him back to us?“
Authorities had already called off RCB’s proposed open-top bus victory parade through the streets after anticipating vast crowds.
But organizers pressed ahead with the welcome ceremony and celebrations inside the stadium.
RCB’s social media account posted a video of cheering crowds lining the streets as the players waved back from their team bus on their way to the stadium.
The team said they cut short the celebrations “immediately upon being made aware of the situation.”
Karnataka state chief minister Siddaramaiah said that the stadium had a capacity of “only 35,000 people, but 200,000-300,000 people came.”
Swiatek faces Sabalenka as Boisson eyes ‘dream’ French Open final
- The biggest rivalry in the current women’s game will get its first instalment since last August in Cincinnati
- Swiatek holds an 8-4 winning record against Sabalenka, but came into the tournament under a cloud after a disappointing clay-court season
PARIS: Iga Swiatek puts her bid for a fourth straight French Open title on the line against world number one Aryna Sabalenka on Thursday, before surprise French hero Lois Boisson aims to continue her fairytale run against Coco Gauff in the second semifinal.
The biggest rivalry in the current women’s game will get its first instalment since last August in Cincinnati when the reigning Roland Garros champion goes up against the top seed.
It will be only their second ever meeting at a Grand Slam tournament and their first since a three-set win for Swiatek in the 2022 US Open semifinals en route to the title.
Swiatek holds an 8-4 winning record against Sabalenka, but came into the tournament under a cloud after a disappointing clay-court season and without even a final appearance since lifting the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen 12 months ago.
But the Pole is on a remarkable 26-match winning streak in the French Open and could become the first woman to win four straight titles at Roland Garros since Suzanne Lenglen 102 years ago.
“I don’t know if she elevates my game,” she said of Sabalenka.
“But for sure our rivalry is pushing both of us, I think, but it’s not only about the level of tennis. It’s about like everything, how we work, and how professional we are.”
The pair practiced together in the build-up to the tournament, and Sabalenka credits their improving relationship off-court to a dance video they did for TikTok at last year’s WTA Finals.
Sabalenka has only beaten Swiatek once on clay, in the 2023 Madrid Open final.
Their most memorable clash was the 2024 final in the Spanish capital when Swiatek saved three championship points and won in a deciding-set tie-break.
“We’ve had a lot of great battles in the past,” Sabalenka said after her quarter-final win over Zheng Qinwen.
“I’m super excited to go out there and to fight and to do everything I need to get the win.”
Sabalenka has powered through the draw so far without dropping a set.
Swiatek has also been in dominant form, with the exception a battling comeback victory over Elena Rybakina in the fourth round, a performance she said she “needed.”
World number 361 Boisson is still dreaming of an improbable title on her Grand Slam debut after a memorable quarter-final triumph over rising Russian star Mirra Andreeva.
The 22-year-old Boisson missed out on making her first Roland Garros appearance last year after suffering a knee injury shortly before the tournament, but has more than made up for lost time with a stunning run through the draw.
She had never played a top-50 opponent before this week, but has now beaten two in the top 10 in third-ranked Jessica Pegula and world number six Andreeva to set up her last-four clash with Gauff.
“I think every kid who plays tennis has the dream to win a Slam. More for French players to win Roland Garros, for sure,” said Boisson.
“So, yeah, it’s a dream. For sure I will go for the dream, because my dream is to win it, not to be in the semifinal.”
Andreeva was overwhelmed by the atmosphere on Court Philippe Chatrier as she lost the last six games of her quarter-final against Boisson.
But Gauff has a plan to try and block out the noise from the partisan home crowd.
“I think there are two ways I have done it in the past. Either, A: just pretend they’re cheering for you, and B: just using it and not letting that get to you,” she said after defeating Australian Open champion Madison Keys in the last eight.
The American is bidding to reach her second French Open final after a demoralizing defeat by Swiatek in the 2022 showpiece.
Gauff has since won the US Open, in 2023, and climbed to second in the world.
The 21-year-old will be hoping her added experience can help her finally clinch the title at a tournament in which she has reached at least the quarter-finals in five successive years.
