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تحدث نيكو أوريلي لاعب مانشستر سيتي بعد مساهمته في فوز فريقه على ريال مدريد بهدفين لهدف واحد ضمن منافسات مرحلة الدوري بدوري أبطال أوروبا.

وقال نيكو أوريلي في تصريحات نشرتها “سيتي إكسترا”: “شعور رائع، ياله من جو رائع، ياله من ملعب، من الصعب اللعب هنا لكننا حصدنا الثلاث نقاط وهذا هو الأهم”.

وأضاف حول هدفه الأول في دوري أبطال أوروبا على ملعب سانتياجو برنابيو: “هدف مميز للغاية، أنا في غاية السعادة وسيبقى هدفًا محفورًا في ذاكرتي ولكن كما قلت الأهم هو النقاط الثلاث وهذا ما حققناه”.

اقرأ أيضاً.. فرص مانشستر سيتي في التأهل لدور الـ16 من دوري أبطال أوروبا بعد الفوز على ريال مدريد

وواصل عن دوره مع مانشستر سيتي هذا الموسم: “أستمتع بذلك، أتعامل مع كل شيء بهدوء، كل مباراة على حدة وأعمل بجد في كل جلسة تدريبية وأنا أستمتع بذلك وأحبه”.

واختتم: “اللعب ضد ريال مدريد والفوز عليهم يظهر مدى جودة أدائنا حالياً ومستوانا المميز”.

When the Los Angeles Dodgers pitched Roki Sasaki on joining their franchise, they had an ace up their collective sleeve: toilets.

On Wednesday, Dodgers president and CEO Stan Kasten recalled how the franchise lured Sasaki, partly because of fancy new toilets installed in the team's clubhouse.

Kasten recalled that when the Dodgers were recruiting Sasaki, they were also deep into planning for modernizing their clubhouse. The plan had begun the year before when they were attempting to recruit Shohei Ohtani. Near the end of recruitment, Sasaki asked if the team planned to have fancy Japanese toilets installed.

"I said, 'Well, why do you ask? Is that important?' And he said, 'Oh, yeah, that's really important,'" Kasten said. "And I said, 'Oh yeah, then we're having them in there.' And so overnight we changed our plans, and now the entire locker room has these fancy Japanese toilets."

If only the Padres and Blue Jays had known about Sasaki's love of fancy toilets.

When the Dodgers landed the 23-year-old righty, he was almost universally considered the best pitching prospect in the world. Unfortunately for L.A., he has missed most of the season due to shoulder issues. When he has been on the mound, Sasaki has disappointed, going 1-1 with a 4.72 ERA, a 1.49 WHIP, and 24 strikeouts against 22 walks in 34 1/3 innings.

But hey, at least the whole team gets to use those fancy toilets.

Mookie Betts just can't get right, even when fans try to boost him.

For months, Betts has been mired in the worst slump of his career, one in which the numbers he's posting are inexplicable. The Los Angeles Dodgers star can't find his way out of it.

On Monday night, as he stepped into the box for his first at-bat against the St. Louis Cardinals, Dodgers fans gave the eight-time All-Star a sustained ovation in an attempt to give him a boost.

It didn't work.

Betts went 0-for-4 as the Cardinals beat the Dodgers 3-2. The 32-year-old flew out twice, grounded out, and struck out looking as part of the feeble offensive showing from the Dodgers.

The hitless night dropped Betts's batting average to .231, and his on-base percentage fell to .302, he's slugging .355, and his OPS is a woeful .657. All of those numbers are career lows.

We're 103 games into the season, and Betts hasn't looked anything like himself. An ovation from fans didn't help him. We'll see if he can figure it out himself.

Liverpool manager Arne Slot quipped after Sunday's 3-0 loss at Manchester City that the very best time to judge a team is at the end of the season. "The next best time," the Dutchman argued, "is after 19 games, because then you've all faced the same opponents." However, we don't really need to wait until the halfway point of the Premier League campaign to determine whether Liverpool are capable of retaining their title. The Reds' race is already run after five dreadful defeats in 11 games.

"It feels like too many," as even Slot conceded in his post-match press conference at the Etihad. "The last thing I should speak about is the title race, as the reality is that we are eighth."

Indeed, the only real question now is whether Liverpool can salvage their season by finishing in the top four while at same time building up enough momentum in the coming months to mount a serious Champions League challenge.

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  VAR farce no excuse

  Slot was rightly bemused by the decision to disallow Virgil van Dijk's equaliser at the Etihad. However, he didn't even attempt to argue that the Reds had deserved to go in level at the break. "In the first half," Slot said, "they were better than us in every aspect of football."

  The stats certainly supported that assessment. As well as registering just one short on target during the entire game, Liverpool also lost more than 60 percent of their duels. Plenty of attention was obviously given to the way in which Conor Bradley struggled to contain Player of the Match Jeremy Doku (not least because he was given so little help by Ibrahima Konate and Mohamed Salah), but the truth was that Liverpool lost head-to-heads all over the pitch. Not a single member of Slot's side had a good game – or played with anything like the requisite intensity for such an important and demanding Premier League fixture.

  "You can't be considering Liverpool for the title. The decision [on the disallowed goal] might have gone against them, but overall, City looked technically and physically better than Liverpool," ex-Manchester United captain Roy Keane told . "They have still got that attacking quality and, at times, they'll cause teams problems, but defensively, the goals they've given away, the decision-making, lack of intensity and energy, chopping and changing by bringing subs on – they still looked really flat."

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  Refusing to blame players

  Slot insisted that Liverpool didn't want for effort at the Etihad and that he had no concerns over his players' attitude or application.

  "It's easy to win duels if the game plan and the tactics are working and I think that’s what happened against [Aston] Villa and [Real] Madrid," the former Feyenoord coach said, alluding to last week's morale-boosting wins at Anfield. "But we struggled a lot with them bringing so many players into the centre of the pitch and it was difficult then for some of our players to make the right decisions. So I think it wasn't about my players not wanting to make the duel, they had to run a lot because they [City] were so much better on the ball than us.

  "I would first and foremost, then, always look at the game plan of us and them and not blame my players at all because, in the second half, when we were doing better, I think you could also see that they were able to win much more duels. In that period of time, I think we definitely deserved a goal."

  Keane ridiculed Slot's assessment of the second half by arguing that, "the game was over! It's easy to play well when you're not playing for anything." That's not strictly true, though. Had Cody Gakpo taken a glorious chance to halve Liverpool's deficit shortly after coming on, the visitors would have been right back in the game. 

  However, there is simply no denying that the Reds are not the relentless force they were last season.

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  £400m spent to look weaker

  Too often this season Liverpool have started games in second gear, thus resulting in the concession of a succession of costly early goals. We're also still awaiting an adequate explanation as to why Slot's side look like a "weak team", as Keane put it, after spending more than £400 million ($525m) strengthening their squad during the summer. 

  Slot has a point when he says that Liverpool have been hindered by fitness problems. Bradley and Alexis Mac Allister are only now getting back up to speed after missing pre-season and their issues have undoubtedly affected the overall balance of the team, while new signings Jeremie Frimpong and Alexander Isak have endured injury-interrupted starts to their respective Anfield careers.

  However, Florian Wirtz has yet to make any kind of impact on the Premier League, and while Hugo Ekitike has shown off his Kop icon credentials, former Bournemouth ace Milos Kerkez has been so poor that he's lost his place in the starting line-up to an Andy Robertson in decline.  The net result is a complete absence of cohesion in a once-settled side, as underlined by their Premier League record of six wins and five defeats.

  "I think last season they had a lot more consistency, and Slot's job was easier, because he was inheriting a squad from Jurgen Klopp," former Liverpool striker Dean Sturridge argued on . "But this season, they have made new signings, some players have hit the ground running, but other players haven't got there yet.

  "It's an unforgiving league. This expectation is for the players, just because of the price tag, to come here and be world-class footballers straight away. But it's rare that happens in the Premier League because the demands are high and the intensity of each team they're facing is better than around the world. I think some of the players are surprised by the intensity of the league – Florian Wirtz is one of them – so the chemistry the team had last season has clearly disappeared." The question is, what is Slot going to do about it?

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  Existing issues and new problems

  Liverpool obviously haven't become a bad team overnight. For starters, their struggles actually pre-date – and unquestionably drove – their summer spending spree.

  The Reds have played 47 times in all competitions since the turn of the year and won only 21 of those games, losing 16 in total. There are, of course, mitigating circumstances, with two of their Premier League defeats coming after they'd wrapped up their record-equalling 20th English title. But fatigue was undoubtedly a factor during a somewhat shaky second half of last season – and played a pivotal role in a trying week in March during which they were knocked out of the Champions League by Paris Saint-Germain before being upset by Newcastle in the final of the Carabao Cup.

  There was, then, an acceptance that Liverpool required greater strength in depth in defence ahead of the 2025-26 campaign, as well as more creativity in midfield and a more clinical finisher up front. For all the money spent, though, Liverpool still have issues in every department.

  Because of his issues adjusting the pace and physicality of the Premier League, Wirtz has been moved onto the left, where the inconsistent and often one-dimensional Gakpo has failed to fill the void left by Luis Diaz, whose incisive dribbling skills are being badly missed.

  For all Trent Alexander-Arnold's defensive deficiencies, the right-back's absence is being keenly felt from an offensive perspective (and most keenly by Salah). Bradley is simply not capable of the same line-splitting passes from deep nor can he serve as an auxiliary midfielder – or at least not as effectively as Alexander-Arnold.

  A fully-fit Isak should obviously end up providing the kind of cutting edge that Slot has repeatedly claimed has cost Liverpool points this season (despite Ekitike's promising start), but Konate's calamitous form is making the failure to get a deadline-day deal for Marc Guehi over the line looking like a potentially ruinous mistake. 

  Basically, the new signings have failed to solve existing problems – and actually created new ones.

With the Phillies' 2025 season wrapping up after a loss to the Dodgers in the National League Division Series last week, the seventh season of Bryce Harper's tenure in Philadelphia also came to a close.

Though Harper, who turns 33 on Thursday, has been among the top players in MLB for much of his career, this past not season was not one of his best. Phillies president Dave Dombrowski acknowledged this during his end of season press conference, even admitting he's not sure whether Harper will become an "elite" player again.

"In Bryce's case, of course he's still a quality player. He's still an All-Star caliber player. He didn't have an elite season like he has had in the past," Dombrowski said Thursday. "I guess we only find out if he becomes elite [again] or he continues to be good. You look around the league, you try to think Freddie Freeman. He's a really good player, he still is a good player. Is he elite like he was before? Probably not to the same extent so that's nothing negative. Freddie's still a tremendous player. That to me is Bryce."

"Can he rise to the next level again? I don't really know that answer. He's the one that will dictate that more than anything else," Dombrowski continued. "… I don't think he's content with the year that he had. Again, it wasn't a bad year. But when I think of Bryce Harper, you think an elite, you think one of the top 10 players in baseball and I don't think it fit into that category. Again, very good player. I have no idea. I have seen guys at his age—he's not old— that level off. I've seen guys rise again. We'll see what happens."

Phillies manager Rob Thompson said of Harper, “I think he is highly motivated to have the best season of his career next year. That's what the plan's gonna be for him. He played in 132 games and hit 27 home runs, that's pretty good. … It was down a little bit, but still, over an .840 OPS, that's pretty good."

Over the 2025 season, Harper slashed .261/.357/.487 with 27 home runs, 75 RBIs and a .844 OPS across 132 games. Harper's batting average marked his lowest since '19, his first season in Philly, and his OPS was his worst since '16, when he was still part of the Nationals.

Though Harper is a Gold Glove finalist and was an All-Star last year, Dombrowski questions whether he can return to being an elite player going forward. Either way, the Phillies remain tied to Harper for the long-term, as Harper still has six years remaining on the 13-year, $330 million deal he signed with the team in 2019.

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Adson saiu de São Januário mancando após a vitória no Brasileirão e pode se tornar uma ausência para o clássico contr ao Flamengo. Nesta segunda-feira (13), o atacante do Vasco passará por exames e será reavaliado.

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➡️ Tudo sobre o Gigante agora no WhatsApp. Siga o nosso canal Lance! Vasco

Segundo informações apuradas pelo Lance!, a princípio a lesão é parecida com a que Adson já teve no Corinthians. Ou seja, uma entorse no joelho esquerdo.

Adson entrou na partida contra o Vitória ainda no intervalo, no lugar de Rossi. O atacante ajudou a qualificar o ataque do Vasco e estava fazendo uma boa partida. No entanto, foi substituído no final do segundo tempo.

continua após a publicidade

O Vasco volta a entrar em campo no sábado (18). O Cruz-Maltino fará o seu segundo clássico no Brasileirão e o rival será o Flamengo. A bola rola às 21h, no Maracanã.

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AdsonFutebol NacionalVasco

تحدث الألماني توني كروس، لاعب ريال مدريد السابق عن مستوى الفريق الحالي تحت قيادة تشابي ألونسو، الموسم الحالي 2025/2026.

وخسر ريال مدريد صدارة جدول ترتيب الدوري الإسباني في المباراة الماضية بعد التعادل أمام جيرونا بهدف لكل منهما.

وقال كروس، في تصريحات عبر صحيفة “ماركا” الإسبانية: “لا يجب أن نتحدث دائمًا عن اللاعبين السابقين، فهذا لا يفيد أحدًا، لا أريد أن أسمع أن الناس يفتقدونني، يجب أن يكون التركيز على الحاضر لا على الماضي”.

وأضاف حول أمنية يتمنى حدوثها عن هذا الحديث: “أنا أول من يُفضل فوز ريال مدريد حتى يتوقف هذا الوضع”.

وأكد كروس: “مغادرتي لريال مدريد؟ لقد غادرت بابتسامة ولقب رائع لا يُنسى”.

وأوضح: “ريال مدريد قادر على شق طريقه الخاص بتشكيلته الحالية، عليهم إيجاد طريقة للفوز بتشكيلة متنوعة من اللاعبين”.

اقرأ أيضًا | برشلونة يعلن سبب غياب دي يونج عن مباراة برشلونة وأتلتيكو مدريد

واستطرد: “توتر داخل الفريق؟ ربما تسير بعض الأمور على ما يُرام والبعض الآخر لا، لكنني لم أرَ أحدًا متوترًا بشكل خاص، لديهم لاعبون قادرون على الفوز بكل شيء، الأمر يتعلق بإيجاد طريقة”.

وتابع كروس أيضًا عن عمله كمدرب والاختلافات بين كرة القدم للناشئين والنخبة بالنسبة له، قائلًا: “يلعب الأطفال بشكل أفضل عندما يلعبون بحرية دون خوف من ارتكاب الأخطاء”.

وأردف: “أصبح مدربًا؟ أنا سعيد بمكاني الحالي، ليس لديّ خطة لأقول إنني سأستمر في هذا المجال بعد عشر سنوات، الأمر الأكثر واقعية هو أنني ما زلت هنا”.

وعن فينيسيوس جونيور أتم: “لقد كان من الرائع مشاهدة تطوره، نعم لا يزال يمكنه تحسين بعض الأمور لكن يجب أن نأخذ في الاعتبار الضغط القادم من الخصوم والجماهير، كلاعب هو من الطراز الرفيع، كشخص فهو رائع لقد كان من دواعي سروري أن أتواجد معه داخل الملعب وخارجه”.

The Los Angeles Dodgers were swept by the Milwaukee Brewers to open the second half of the season. Los Angeles stopped the three-game slide with a win over the Minnesota Twins on Monday night but it was back to the bad habits in a 10-7 loss on Tuesday, the club's seventh defeat in its last 10 games. The suddenly mistake-prone Dodgers made two more errors, each of which cost the team a run—and the latter of which resembled something you'd see from a little league team, and not one of the best teams in the majors.

But it hasn't just been poor fielding that has sunk these Dodgers lately. It's been nearly every facet of the game. Since July 4, a 14 game stretch, the Dodgers have averaged just 3.4 runs per game and its injury-ravaged pitching staff has yielded an average of 5.9 per contest. That's far from a winning recipe.

And manager Dave Roberts sincerely hopes that things don't get much worse.

"It better be rock bottom," Roberts told reporters after Tuesday's loss. "As far as how we've been pitching, how we've been playing defense. I think the offense is kind of starting to tick up, which is good. There's certainly more in there. But I think as far as quality of baseball, it's been a tough watch. It really has."

Perhaps the only fortunate part of this slump for the Dodgers is its timing: a week before MLB's trade deadline, which will give Dodgers brass a chance to perhaps jolt the roster with some imports, ideally in the form of some late-inning relievers to ease the club's overtaxed bullpen.

Other than that, it's on Los Angeles to pull itself out of this free fall. As the Dodgers look to maintain a 3.5-game lead in the National League West, the club's next five series will come against teams above .500.

Chris Sutton took aim at one Leeds United star after spotting an “odd” moment in the Whites’ dramatic 3-2 defeat at the hands of Manchester City.

Leeds lose late on at Man City

It was very nearly an unforgettable afternoon for Leeds, who came from behind to level things up at 2-2 in the second-half, courtesy of Lukas Nmecha’s reactions to rebound from his own penalty.

As so many have experienced at the Etihad over the years, however, it simply wasn’t to be for Daniel Farke’s men. The Citizens’ simply had too much quality and, for a split second, Phil Foden had too much time. The England international fired home his second goal of the day in the 91st minute to break Leeds’ hearts.

Upon reflection, Farke will be wishing that he started with Dominic Calvert-Lewin rather than setting up to frustrate Man City. It took just 59 seconds for Foden to give the hosts the lead, before Josko Gvardiol’s goal looked to be the beginning of a thrashing.

Farke soon changed things at the break, though, and Calvert-Lewin’s effort from the bench set the tone for Nmecha to then go and convert the rebound of his own spotkick.

The Yorkshire side certainly deserved at least a point, but simply felt the harsh reality of the Premier League in its full extent instead. From here, they must pick themselves up and go again against Chelsea at Elland Road.

Things won’t be getting any easier for a Leeds side who could be three points adrift of safety if other results go against them this weekend.

Chris Sutton, covering the game for BBC Sport, was particularly critical of Pascal Struijk in the first-half after spotting an “odd” moment from the Leeds defender.

Sutton slams "odd" Pascal Struijk moment

Taking aim, Sutton slammed Struijk for how he was “content” with entering the break at 2-0 down, wasting time at the end of the first-half. The defender’s aim was damage control and, to his credit, it worked in his favour as Leeds soon came from behind.

The moment, which sparked Sutton’s frustration, may well have helped Leeds stay in the game. It was an absolute onslaught from Man City in the first period and Farke desperately needed to get his side back into the game without letting the hosts out of sight. And the £50,000-a-week defender was well aware of that.

The visitors can take a lot of positives, despite their defeat. It’s very rare that sides come to the Etihad, find themselves 2-0 down and don’t find themselves on the end of a battering. Leeds, however, showed plenty of fight.

Leeds eyeing move for 4-3-3 Farke successor who has admirers at Elland Road

West Ham United sent one of their top scouts to watch Josh Sargent in action for Norwich City against Birmingham City in the Championship this weekend.

The Hammers have commenced their search for a striker amid rumours that Niclas Fullkrug is likely to leave the club in the January transfer window. The towering German arrived fresh from an impressive Euro 2024 not so long ago, but has since scored just three goals for West Ham in what has been an incredibly disappointing move.

The forward’s agent recently added fuel to the fire by saying when asked about a potential exit for his client: “This always has to happen in cooperation with the club, but I believe it can make sense to change something there.”

As much as he’s struggled, however, West Ham will still need to replace Fullkrug if he departs in January. His exit would leave them with just one out-and-out striker in Callum Wilson and it’s no secret that he’s had his injury struggles throughout his career.

If Nuno Espirito Santo is to stand any chance of keeping the Hammers afloat in the Premier League, then the club must simply back him in the January transfer window. To that end, the likes of Adama Traore have already been mentioned as early winter targets and his arrival would certainly be a good start this winter.

West Ham dealt Jarrod Bowen blow as Nuno faces fresh concern about star winger

The England international is their most crucial man by some distance.

ByEmilio Galantini Nov 21, 2025

Meanwhile, alongside Traore, West Ham have also set their sights on a key upgrade on Fullkrug, with their scouts sent to watch Norwich star Sargent this weekend.

West Ham send scouts to watch Josh Sargent

As reported by Football Insider, West Ham sent officials to watch Sargent against Birmingham City this weekend. The American has been the only bright spark in a disastrous few months for Norwich, scoring six goals in all competitions ahead of this weekend’s fixtures, and has more than done enough to earn a Premier League move.

Former Norwich boss Liam Manning was full of praise for the forward even as his short spell turned into a nightmare. He told reporters: “He’s a constant handful. I think he’s so intelligent with the positions he takes up, and he’s so sharp over the first metres. He’s the best nine at the level for me. We’re delighted to have him here, long may that continue.”

It’s hard to argue with Manning’s verdict, either. When fit, there’s not many better than sargent in England’s second tier and questions are gradually beginning to be asked about his potential ability to take that form into the Premier League.

West Ham need a consistent striker, Sargent has earned a big move in the face of Norwich’s struggles, and the January transfer window could now present an interesting saga as a result.

Ex-club chief shares why West Ham must avoid Adama Traore after working with him