Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk has not been one to shy away from his media duties this season, notably embracing his war of words with Wayne Rooney after that famous win over Real Madrid a few weeks ago.

That, however, has been the only thing they’ve really had to cheer about in the last few months. The pressure is intensifying on Arne Slot’s shoulders and just how long he remains in the Anfield dugout remains to be seen.

The Dutchman, who steered Liverpool to a remarkable Premier League title win during his debut campaign in England has made some bold calls of late, notably the decision to omit Mohamed Salah from the last two starting lineups.

The Egypt international was an unused substitute for Sunday’s win at West Ham and was on the bench again for the 1-1 draw at home to Sunderland, the first time in his Anfield career he had not started in back-to-back league matches.

It’s a shocking turn of events for the league’s player of the season back in 2024/25. Skipper van Dijk was asked for his thoughts after the draw with Sunderland.

Van Dijk speaks out on the Salah situation

“It’s not like you have unlimited credit, everyone has to perform,” said Van Dijk when asked whether Salah’s omission had sent a message to the dressing room.

“Mo has been doing that but the manager made that decision in the last two games. We all want the best for the club. I am pretty sure Mo will still be a big part of what we are trying to achieve because he is an amazing player and he has shown it consistently.

“But we are all trying to find consistency and he needs us to be in our best shape and we need him and that’s what we are all trying to find. He is still a fantastic player and we still have to remember there is a reason why he has been so successful at the club and we have to respect that.”

“I need him around as one of the leaders. I’m not worried. He’s disappointed but that’s absolutely normal as if you’re not disappointed when you’re not playing two games in a row then there is an issue as well.”

Van Dijk praises Florian Wirtz

Signed for a colossal £116m fee from Bayer Leverkusen over the summer, this has been an abject campaign to say the least for the German.

In the words of Gary Neville a few weeks ago, he’s been “really bad” and that hasn’t looked like improving. That said, he did make a big impact this week.

It looked like Wirtz had scored his first Premier League goal only to see it go down as an own goal after his effort took a huge deflection off Black Cats defender Nordi Mukiele.

Despite that, Van Dijk was full of praise for the attacking midfielder.

“There’s a very good reason why a club like us bought him – he’s an outstanding, world-class player in my eyes who can only become even better but it will take a bit of time,” said Van Dijk.

“For him he has to stay level-headed. Don’t get dragged into the outside world of when it’s very good or very bad and don’t get dragged into the numbers game. Nowadays there are a lot of eyes on if you score goals or have an assist or keep clean sheets but it is also about what you see and the contribution you have for the team, that’s not just shown in the numbers but in what you see and that should sometimes be the focus.”

Fewer touches than Alisson & only 2 passes: Liverpool flop must be dropped

Arne Slot has a huge call to make about one player after his showing for Liverpool last night.

2 ByEthan Lamb Dec 4, 2025

Fast bowler Blessing Muzarabani has been ruled out of Zimbabwe’s upcoming T20I tri-series against Pakistan and Sri Lanka due to a back injury. Left-arm seamer Newman Nyamhuri, yet to be capped in T20Is, has been named his replacement.There are no other changes to the squad that recently played Afghanistan at home, which Zimbabwe lost 0-3. Muzarabani, who had missed the last two T20Is of that series, picked up 2 for 41 in the first T20I.Nyamhuri, 19, has played four Tests and four ODIs, having made his international debut in December 2024. He was named in the T20I squad for the tri-series against South Africa and New Zealand in July but did not feature in any of the games.Led by Sikandar Raza, Zimbabwe will open their campaign against hosts Pakistan in Rawalpindi on November 17, before facing Sri Lanka at the same venue on November 19. Zimbabwe will then travel to Lahore, where they will meet Pakistan again on November 23 and Sri Lanka on November 25. The top two teams on the points table will contest the final on 29 November in Lahore.Zimbabwe squad for T20I tri-series: Sikandar Raza (captain), Brian Bennett, Ryan Burl, Graeme Cremer, Bradley Evans, Clive Madande, Tinotenda Maposa, Wellington Masakadza, Tadiwanashe Marumani, Tony Munyonga, Tashinga Musekiwa, Dion Myers, Richard Ngarava, Newman Nyamhuri, Brendan Taylor

One of the main criticisms of Aaron Judge’s career has been his inability to perform in the postseason––at least by his otherworldly standards. For all the greatness he displays throughout the regular season, putting up video game-like numbers and mashing home runs with relative ease, he simply hasn’t replicated that success in the playoffs.

This postseason, though still without a home run, Judge has looked more like his usual self. But with the Yankees staring down the barrel of a potential early playoff exit, will he have done enough to override the narrative about his vanishing act in October? 

 Aaron Judge’s past playoff struggles

Judge's postseason performances have been far from bad, but his curse is being the Yankees' best player, their captain (a role highly associated with postseason excellence in the 21st century) and a transcendental producer in the regular season. 

His career regular-season OPS is 1.028. In the postseason, that drops all the way to 0.778 (excluding '25). Again, not bad, but Judge has set a standard for himself that is hard to keep up in general, much less in the postseason when the pressure is on and opposing pitchers are bringing their best stuff. 

Frustratingly, Judge has also had some postseason runs where he's gone cold, especially for his standards. In the first three games of the 4 World Series, he mustered just one hit. He got no bases (meaning no hits walks) in the final two games of the '22 ALCS. 

His fielding has generally been good, but in the fifth inning of Game 5 of the World Series, he dropped a catchable fly ball for what would have been a third out, allowing the Dodgers offense to stay on the field. Despite the two outs, Judge’s error was followed by further mistakes, handing the Dodgers an opportunity to erase a five-run deficit that inning in what became L.A.’s closeout game.  

How Judge has performed this postseason

So far this fall, Judge has appeared back to his normal self, for the most part. His OPS in five games this year 1.024, almost perfectly in-line with his career regular season average. The only thing missing is the home run. He has yet to hit one out of the park, a substantial part of his typical offensive repertoire. 

Sometimes in big spots, Judge doesn’t get the to deliver on offense because opposing pitchers won’t give him hittable balls. That’s not been the case overall this postseason, with Judge failing to work a single walk in the first four games before finally registering two in their Game 2 loss to the Blue Jays in the ALDS. 

While he has no glaring offensive struggles to point to, it’s still clear that Judge has not necessarily been his normal, dominant self at the plate. 

Given the fact that he has only struck out twice, that means pitchers are getting him out on batted balls. His exit velocity is down about five miles per hour compared to the ‘25 regular season, his average launch angle down six degrees. His hard hit percentage has dropped from nearly 60% to 38% in this postseason. 

Down 2–0, Judge and Yankees have every opportunity to show up big

The Yankees’ offense fell flat in the first two games of the ALDS, failing to get much of anything going against the Blue Jays. But their chance to grab some momentum in the series is coming, as they return to the Bronx for Game 3 (and potentially Game 4) at Yankee Stadium. 

Historically, in the postseason, Judge has hit substantially better at home than he has on the road. In New York in October, Judge’s OPS (.861) is 140 points higher than it is on the road. He’ll be back in front of a raucous home crowd on Tuesday night, and he’ll know that the team is depending on him to deal some damage.

He could further swing the momentum back in the Yankees’ favor with his first home run of the playoffs, but he’ll be facing a pitcher he’s never recorded a hit against, let alone a homer, in Toronto’s starter Shane Bieber. If Judge truly wants to change the narrative about his postseason performances, and the Yankees want to live to see another day of October baseball, he, along with the rest of the team, has to deliver on Tuesday night.

MatériaMais Notícias

O São Paulo venceu o Águia de Marabá no segundo jogo da terceira fase da Copa do Brasil. Os gols da noite desta quinta-feira (23), no Morumbis, foram marcados por Lucas Moura e Erick. Confira o Lance! Final no player acima.

continua após a publicidadeRelacionadasFora de CampoTorcedores do São Paulo criticam André Silva: ‘Perdendo 200 gols’Fora de Campo23/05/2024NotíciasCom R$50, você garante R$337 se ambos marcarem em São Paulo x Águia de Marabá e Botafogo-SP x Palmeiras na Copa do BrasilNotícias23/05/2024NotíciasSoberano! Saiba qual é o retrospecto recente do São Paulo como mandante na Copa do BrasilNotícias23/05/2024

➡️ Siga o Lance! São Paulo no WhatsApp e acompanhe todas as notícias do Tricolor

✅ FICHA TÉCNICA
SÃO PAULO 2 X 0 ÁGUIA DE MARABÁ
COPA DO BRASIL – 3ª FASE – JOGO DE VOLTA
🗓️ Data e horário: quinta-feira, 23 de maio de 2024, às 21h30 (de Brasília)
📍 Local: Morumbis, em São Paulo (SP)
🟨 Árbitro: Marcelo de Lima Henrique
🚩 Assistentes: Nailton Oliveira e Fernanda Kruger
🖥️ VAR: Paulo da Silva Coelho

⚽ PROVÁVEIS ESCALAÇÕES:

SÃO PAULO (Técnico: Luis Zubeldía)
Jandrei; João Moreira, Diego Costa, Ferraresi e Patryck; Luiz Gustavo, Erick (Ferreira), Galoppo (Alisson), Lucas Moura (Luciano) e Rodrigo Nestor (Rodriguinho); André Silva (Juan).

continua após a publicidade

ÁGUIA DE MARABÁ (Técnico: Glauber Ramos)
Axel; Bruno Limão, David Cruz, Caíque Baiano e Wender; Júnior Dindê (Mariano), Patrick Maranhão (Kaique), Braga, Hitalo (Pablo) e Alan Maia (Daelson); João Guilherme (Soares).

Tudo sobre

Copa do BrasilFutebol NacionalSão Paulo

The Mariners and Tigers provided an absolute classic of a winner-take-all Game 5 Friday in Seattle.

Mariners fans eventually got to go home happy as the home squad finally fought off the Tigers in 15 innings thanks to a walk-off hit from Jorge Polanco with the bases loaded to bring in J.P. Crawford. Both sides had to go deep in their bullpens and even back into the starting rotation due to the everlasting decider.

Cal Raleigh, Julio Rodríguez, Randy Arozarena and Eugenio Suárez were a combined 1-for-21 from the plate in the pitcher's duel. Although each extra innings at-bat from one of Mariners' powerful hitters felt like they were due for a walk-off homer, it was a base hit through the infield from Polanco that finally ended the game and sent Seattle into pandemonium.

A full nine innings took place after Tigers ace and Cy Young Award frontrunner Tarik Skubal was pulled after six innings and 99 pitches. With close to 500 total pitches thrown, numerous jams avoided and records broken, here are five of the craziest stats coming out of the instant classic Game 5 at T-Mobile Park:

1. This was the longest winner-take-all postseason game in MLB history

Where else can we start? Friday's Game 5 went into early Saturday morning on the East Coast. The 15-inning classic became the longest winner-take-all playoff game by innings in MLB history, per MLB's Sarah Langs.

In general, Friday's Tigers-Mariners bout is tied for the sixth-longest playoff game in league history. They needed to go four more innings to own the longest playoff game record outright, although I doubt either side wanted to. The Blue Jays would have been even more thrilled, though.

Seattle hosted what's tied for the longest postseason game in MLB history in a 1-0 loss to the Astros in 18 innings during Game 3 of the 2022 ALDS. That was the first playoff game played in Seattle in 21 years. Now, the home fans get another classic, but this time they come out on the right side.

2. Each team used three of their four starting pitchers from the series in Game 5

The Tigers used eight pitchers over the 15-inning marathon compared to seven for Seattle. Both sides brought in two starters in relief once the winner-take-all game began to pour deep into extras.

In total, 472 pitches were thrown over the seemingly never-ending game. Detroit pitchers threw 263 of those, compared to 209 for Seattle hurlers who had an easier time with the Tigers' offense. Well, everyone besides Kerry Carpenter. As the Mariners survived the marathon, they have Saturday off before they meet the Blue Jays for Game 1 of the ALCS. Although they had to use their pitching depth, they hope their ace Bryan Woo can return for the series with Toronto after he missed the ALDS while dealing with a pec injury.

3. Seattle's victory gives the Mariners their first ALCS appearance since '01

This obviously would have happened with a Mariners win if the game went 15 innings or not, but the big night in Seattle stands out amongst the chaos of Game 5. Polanco was the hero, driving in Crawford in the 15th inning to advance the Mariners to their first ALCS in nearly a quarter century. Polanco had an unbelievable series, hitting two home runs off Skubal in Game 2 to help Seattle eventually earn their first win of the series.

He comes up big once more when Seattle needed it most and gave the city a night they'll never forget.

4. Kerry Carpenter reached a feat not seen since Babe Ruth

تم الكشف بشكل رسمي عن مجموعة منتخب البرازيل في بطولة كأس العالم، والتي سوف تقام العام المقبل في كندا والمكسيك والولايات المتحدة الأمريكية.

وتم إجراء قرعة دور المجموعات من بطولة كأس العالم، أمس الجمعة في عاصمة الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية، واشنطن، وسط حضور الرئيس دونالد ترامب.

وأسفرت القرعة عن وقوع منتخب البرازيل في المجموعة الثالثة إلى جانب كل من المغرب وهايتي واسكتلندا، العائدة للمشاركة في المونديال بعد غياب لسنوات عديدة.

اقرأ أيضًا .. مواعيد مباريات مصر في كأس العالم 2026

وكشف الاتحاد الدولي لكرة القدم ”فيفا”، عن مواعيد منتخب البرازيل في دور المجموعات بكأس العالم، حيث يفتتح السيليساو مشوارهم في المنافسة بقمة مرتقبة أمام المغرب، يوم 13 يونيو من العام المقبل.

البرازيل تعتبر ملكة كأس العالم، حيث يعتبر السيليساو هو أكثر منتخب فاز بالمسابقة الأغلى برصيد خمسة ألقاب.

ويدخل البرازيل بطولة كأس العالم بطموحات كبيرة، خصوصًا مع تواجد كارلو أنشيلوتي كمدير فني للسيليساو منذ شهر مايو الماضي.

وستكون مهمة البرازيل صعبة حقًا ضد المغرب، والتي أنهت كأس العالم في النسخة الماضية عام 2022 محتلة المركز الرابع. مواعيد مباريات البرازيل في كأس العالم 2026

الجولة الأولى:

البرازيل والمغرب.. الساعة 1 بعد منتصف الليل (فجر يوم 14 يونيو بتوقيت مصر) في ولاية نيويورك بالولايات المتحدة الأمريكية.

هايتي واسكتلندا.. الساعة 4 فجرًا (صباح يوم 14 يونيو بتوقيت مصر) في ولاية بوسطن.

الجولة الثانية:

البرازيل وهايتي.. الساعة 4 فجرًا (صباح يوم 20 يونيو بتوقيت مصر) في ولاية فلاديلفيا بالولايات المتحدة الأمريكية.

اسكتلندا والمغرب.. الساعة 1 بعد منتصف الليل (فجر يوم 20 يونيو بتوقيت مصر) في ولاية بوسطن.

الجولة الثالثة:

البرازيل واسكتلندا.. الساعة 1 بعد منتصف الليل (فجر يوم 25 يونيو بتوقيت مصر) في ولاية ميامي بالولايات المتحدة الأمريكية.

هايتي والمغرب.. الساعة 1 بعد منتصف الليل (فجر يوم 25 يونيو بتوقيت مصر) في ولاية أتالانتا.

Chelsea have been tipped to ‘easily’ sign a ‘top player’ who could become a ‘superstar’ away from his current club.

Chelsea suffer Atalanta blow as Maresca crashes down to Earth

Chelsea’s aspirations of securing automatic Champions League knockout round qualification took a significant hit as they surrendered a half-time advantage to lose 2-1 against Atalanta in Bergamo on Tuesday evening.

Enzo Maresca’s side appeared on course for a crucial victory when Joao Pedro slid home his maiden Champions League goal in the 25th minute, capitalizing on Reece James’s delivery after a VAR review confirmed the captain had timed his run perfectly.

The Blues controlled proceedings during the opening period, with their man-to-man pressing disrupting Atalanta’s rhythm and limiting the Serie A outfit’s opportunities.

However, Josh Acheampong did have to produce a stunning goal-line block to deny Ademola Lookman what appeared a certain opener.

.

Maresca’s decision to withdraw the booked Trevoh Chalobah at half-time appeared to kickstart a dramatic shift in momentum.

Related Chelsea weigh up January move amid Delap injury with £22m deal already agreed

The Blues are short up front.

Posts ByEmilio Galantini 3 days ago

James spurned an excellent opportunity to extend Chelsea’s lead early in the second period, firing wide from a promising position on the edge of the penalty area.

Atalanta immediately made Chelsea pay, with Charles De Ketelaere delivering an exceptional cross from the right flank, allowing former West Ham striker Gianluca Scamacca to rise completely unmarked inside the six-yard box and nod past Robert Sanchez.

The Belgian forward then completed the turnaround with seven minutes remaining, his deflected strike looping over Sanchez after taking a wicked deflection off Marc Cucurella’s retreating leg.

Despite late opportunities for Alejandro Garnacho, James and Pedro, Marco Carnesecchi’s goalkeeping ensured Atalanta claimed all three points.

It was a humbling night for Chelsea, merely a fortnight after they were being talked about as genuine Premier League title contenders.

There is clearly still work to do before the west Londoners can be discussed in that manner, with Maresca lamenting Chelsea’s defending in a post-match press conference.

With holes still ever present and Maresca constantly rotating his first-team due to injuries, there may still be more work to do in the transfer market next year.

Chelsea spent nearly £300 million in the summer, but they remain pretty light in midfield with the constantly-injured Roméo Lavia sidelined for yet another extended period.

As a result, the west Londoners have been tipped to move for a new midfielder in 2026, and Man United’s Kobbie Mainoo could be available.

Chelsea tipped to 'easily' sign Kobbie Mainoo from Man United

Chelsea have been repeatedly linked with the Red Devils sensation these last 12 months, with Mainoo on the fringes of Ruben Amorim’s first team and potentially poised for the exit door.

Speaking on The Good, The Bad and The Football podcast, ex-United midfielder Nicky Butt has tipped Chelsea to sign Mainoo amid his current club’s ‘mind-boggling’ stance when it comes to young stars.

The 20-year-old, who burst on to the scene at Old Trafford in 2023/2024, was once a revelation under Erik ten Hag and one of England’s rising stars.

Mainoo’s excellent form that year, including an FA Cup final goal against Man City, earned him a spot in Gareth Southgate’s England squad for Euro 2024.

He played in all but one of the Three Lions’ games that tournament, including a start in the final against Spain, so finding Mainoo in this situation at United is truly bizarre.

The talented and versatile midfielder seemingly doesn’t fit into Amorim’s tactical blueprint, with Chelsea believed to still be keen on Mainoo amid their search for world football’s most elite young talents.

This could be a match made in heaven.

Samson, who was traded in, is understood to open the innings for the team

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Nov-20256:53

Samson-Mhatre CSK’s new opening pair?

Ruturaj Gaikwad will continue to be Chennai Super Kings’ (CSK) captain for IPL 2026. In a social-media post, the franchise wrote, “Lead the way, captain Ruturaj Gaikwad,” ending the speculations that Sanju Samson could be the captain.CSK had traded in Samson from Rajasthan Royals in exchange for Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran. He comes with plenty of captaincy experience in the IPL but will not lead the franchise. It is understood, though, that he will open the innings.

LEAD THE WAY, CAPTAIN RUTURAJ GAIKWAD!#WhistlePodu pic.twitter.com/EawvX5k2yI

— Chennai Super Kings (@ChennaiIPL) November 15, 2025