Footybite

LONDON: Mohamed Salah offered yet another suggestion his future might end up outside Liverpool when the Egyptian star said he was happy “wherever I end my career” after shining in a 6-3 drubbing of Tottenham earlier this morning.

Salah scored twice and set up two more in a goal-fest in north London to help Liverpool move four points clear at the top of the Premier League.

The 32-year-old player became the first EPL player to score at least 10 goals and 10 assists before Christmas, while his two goals also moved him to fourth place on Liverpool’s all-time top goalscorer list with 229 goals in all competitions.

Salah’s immense value to Arne Slot’s side is clear, but Liverpool have failed to persuade the forward to sign a new contract as speculation mounts over his future.

With Salah’s current contract expiring at the end of this season, he is free to sign a pre-contract agreement with a foreign club starting this January.

Having made several comments earlier this season regarding the possibility of this being his last campaign with Liverpool, Salah has once again made vague references to his future.

“It’s great to win at a big club, but the most important thing is that we win the game. Wherever I go to finish my career, I’m happy about it,” Salah told Sky Sports.

Salah added there was no “update” on his contract situation, but Slot will be desperate to continue his seven-year spell on Merseyside after he racked up 18 goals in all competitions this season.

With Salah acting brilliantly, Liverpool have won 21 of their 25 matches in all competitions since Slot replaced Jurgen Klopp as manager.

“I didn’t think about it before the match but I’m proud I did it, something I’m proud of, I’ll keep working hard,” said Salah after reaching double figures in goals and assists this season.

MANCHESTER: Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford has once again been left out of Ruben Amorim’s squad, this time for the Carabao Cup quarter-final against Tottenham Hotspur on Tuesday night.

After being dropped during the 2-1 win over Manchester City in the Premier League at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday, the highest-paid player at Old Trafford was also not listed for the trip to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Rashford announced on Monday that he was ready for a new challenge outside United after two decades with the club, a day after being sidelined for the Manchester derby.

Alejandro Garnacho, who was also left out of Amorim’s squad for the visit to the Etihad, returned with the team for the League Cup action to fight for the final place in the semi-finals.

Garnacho just won the Puskas award for his acrobatic goal against Everton at Goodison Park last season.

Amad Diallo, who scored the winner on Sunday, will be joined by Casemiro, Harry Maguire, Manuel Ugarte and Antony for the Carabao Cup meeting at Tottenham.

The 22-year-old winger sparked United’s comeback at the Etihad by winning a penalty converted by Bruno Fernandes in the 88th minute before scoring two minutes later.

Amorim has not yet closed the door on Rashford and wants to keep him at Old Trafford, but the club are ready to let him go for around 40 million pounds.

Spurs await United after recording a 5-0 victory over Southampton in the Premier League.

Ange Postecoglou’s side ended a five-match winless streak with a positive result at St Mary’s.

LONDON: Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford is ready for a new challenge, he told football writer Henry Winter, as he was linked with a move away from the Premier League giants.

Last Sunday, United beat Manchester City 2-1, but Rashford, along with Alejanro Garnacho, were left out of the trip to the Etihad, with new manager Ruben Amorim stating his decision was to keep his players at the highest level.

It follows media reports that United are eyeing the opportunity to sell the England striker, who has been at United since the age of seven, and the 27-year-old spoke on the subject while visiting his old school to deliver Christmas presents.

“For me, personally, I think I’m ready for a new challenge and the next step,” Rashford told Winter when asked if he would stay or leave United.

“When I left there was no anger. You won’t get any negative comments from me about Manchester United. That’s me personally.

“If I knew things were bad, I wouldn’t make it worse. I’ve seen how other players have gone in the past and I don’t want to be like them.

“When I leave, I will make a statement and it will come from me.”

Rashford has scored three goals since Amorim took over last month, but was taken off in the 56th minute of last week’s 2-1 win over Viktoria Plzen in the Europa League, when fans jeered and jeered him as he left the pitch.

The player has yet to recapture the form that saw him score 30 goals in all competitions in the 2022-23 season, but he still believes his best is yet to come.

“I’m only halfway through my career. I didn’t expect to be at my peak right now,” Rashford said.

“I’ve played in the EPL for nine years and it’s taught me a lot, it’s helped me develop as a player and an individual.

“So I don’t have any regrets from the last nine years. I don’t regret facing the future because I deal with it day by day and sometimes bad things happen, sometimes good things happen.”

BARCELONA: La Liga leaders Barcelona lost 1-0 to Leganes with Sergio Gonzalez’s header early in the game handing the hosts their second consecutive defeat in the league in front of their own fans.

Despite excelling in the Champions League with five wins in six matches, Barcelona has struggled in La Liga with only one win in the last six matches.

Barca remain top of the league on 38 points, level with Atletico Madrid who visit the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys on Saturday, and one point ahead of third-placed Real Madrid. Both Barca rivals have played a game less.

It was Leganes’ first win at Barcelona and put them in 15th place on 18 points.

Leganes took the lead in the fourth minute through their captain, Gonzalez, who headed in a corner kick to beat goalkeeper Inaki Pena.

Barca tried to chase an equalizer, controlling 80 percent of the game and creating 20 attempts, 16 of which were on target, but failed to break through the Leganes goal, which was closely guarded by Marko Dmitrovic.

The 32-year-old Serbian goalkeeper saved Robert Lewandowski’s attempt in the 10th minute, Raphinha (33rd minute) and again denied Lewandowski’s shot at the end of the first half.

In the second half, the hosts missed several chances through Dani Olmo, Lamine Yamal, Raphinha, Lewandowski and Jules Kounde.

“It’s hard to go home happy after what happened today,” said Barcelona player Pedri.

MANCHESTER: Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said an extra day in preparation for their Champions League clash at Juventus allowed his squad to recover from their defeat to Crystal Palace.

City were held to a 2-2 draw at Selhurst Park on Saturday – a result that further dented their Premier League title defence – with Guardiola’s side missing several key players to injury including Rodri, Mateo Kovacic, John Stones and Phil Foden.

Manuel Akanji and Nathan Ake are among the latest to join City’s injury list after the 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest last week.

“We have started studying (the Juventus game) and are very lucky not to play on Tuesday, we play on Wednesday so we have more than a day for the players to recover,” said Guardiola.

According to Guardiola, the medical team is working hard to prepare the players.

“No need for sympathy, accept the challenge and maybe in the end we will be satisfied with the way we handled it compared to other seasons when we won the championship,” he said.

City lost 4-1 to Sporting and drew 3-3 with Feyenoord in their last two Champions League games.

GIRONA, Spain: Real Madrid closed the gap on La Liga leaders Barcelona to two points with a stylish 3-0 win at Girona early this morning thanks to goals from Jude Bellingham, Arda Guler and Kylian Mbappe.

Second-placed Real have 36 points and have played one game less than Barca, who drew 2-2 at Real Betis.

Girona, meanwhile, suffered their sixth defeat in 16 league matches and remain in eighth place with 22 points, two points shy of a European spot.

Bellingham opened the scoring in the 36th minute when he grabbed a rebound and shot from the middle of the penalty box before passing to Guler with a beautiful pass to double the lead 10 minutes after the break.

The England midfielder, who scored for the fifth consecutive La Liga game, was brilliant but had to be sent off after being tackled shortly before Mbappe made it 3-0 with a shot from a difficult angle in the 62nd minute to complete the victory.

Real boss Carlo Ancelotti told reporters Bellingham was fine but they were also missing defender Ferland Mendy with a muscle problem ahead of the Champions League clash at Atalanta early on Wednesday morning.

“Bellingham is fine, he can play. We have a muscle problem with Mendy but the rest are just tackles, nothing more,” said the Italian manager.

Girona are struggling without key players due to injuries and now face a tough match at home against Liverpool in the Champions League early Wednesday morning and away against Mallorca next Saturday in La Liga.

“Our team is suffering from a lot of injuries. It’s affecting our performance. We still have a few months to improve,” Girona defender Miguel Gutierrez told Movistar.

Girona are 30th in the Champions League table, three points behind Real who are 24th and the last place to qualify for the play-offs.

MANCHESTER: Ruben Amorim challenged his Manchester United squad to perform better after their 4-0 win over Everton.

After Marcus Rashford and Joshua Zirkzee scored two goals each, Amorim, who is unbeaten in his first three games since replacing Erik ten Hag, believes his men can put in a better performance.

“The result was good but we were more pragmatic. It wasn’t pretty but we got the result we wanted. We did the job – to win.

“Then we got a goal at the right time and it changed the game. You can’t just focus on the result, but how it was achieved.

“Like before the game, there are many things we want to do. But it’s better to work based on winning. Need to focus on performance rather than results.

“You could feel it during the game. It wasn’t the best performance, there were ups and downs. There were times when we were good and then there were times when we were pressured. We have to improve,” said Amorim.

Amad Diallo was man of the match when he assisted two goals at Old Trafford.

United have now climbed to ninth in the league, just four points behind the top four.

MANCHESTER, England: The new head coach of Manchester United, Ruben Amorim was happy and excited with the fans’ response to his presence at the English Premier League (EPL) giant club when his team won 3-2 over Bodo/Glimt in the Europa League action early this morning.

Amorim’s first action in charge was a 1-1 draw with Ipswich Town in an EPL away match last Sunday.

“Half of the stadium doesn’t know me, I came from Portugal and haven’t done anything for this club yet. But the way they welcomed me made me feel at home and it’s something special,” he said.

“I will keep these wonderful memories for the rest of my career.”

However, Amorim, who accepted United’s offer after previous manager Erik ten Hag was sacked due to poor performance, considered his men’s performance to be a roller-coaster ride.

Striker Rasmus Hojlund scored twice to secure their second win of the Europa League campaign after Alejandro Garnacho opened the scoring within a minute.

“Of course, I see what everyone sees, good moments, difficult moments,” Amorim told TNT Sports.

“There was confusion at the end of the match trying to defend the advantage but the players did a good job. They ran, they pressed, they tried to do what we tried to implement in the last three days and we won.

“Yes, it’s like you’re riding a roller-coaster. We started well, but then we were punished with two goals in two moves. I like the way the players tried to play our style of play,” he said.

“Sometimes we win the ball and we had problems before because we gave the ball away too much to the opposition – in the mind of having to control the ball. They really tried and I think we deserved to win.”

MANCHESTER, England: Angel Gomes remains Manchester United’s main target under new boss Ruben Amorim.

Red Devils transfer experts Dan Ashworth and Jason Wilcox believe the four-capped England star could be a key pillar in Amorim’s plan to achieve success.

The Portuguese coach is fully supportive of bringing the player home as he has long admired the 24-year-old midfielder.

Gomes left United to join Lille on a free transfer in 2020 and his five-year contract expires next summer.

The French club could lose Gomes, who is valued at £25 million with Tottenham also interested in signing the London-born player.

Gomes can negotiate with several clubs this January to tie a pre-contract agreement.

But United believe the star player, who grew up at Salford, could be brought back to Manchester as a long-term replacement for Casemiro.

Gomes said of the chance to return to Old Trafford last month: “There’s always going to be that sentimental soft spot, so of course it’s hard to say no.”

He joined United at the age of six and broke into the Under-18 squad at 14.

Gomes became the club’s youngest player since Duncan Edwards in 1953 to make his top-flight debut at the age of 16 years and 263 days, coming on for the final two minutes of a 2-0 win over Crystal Palace in May 2017.

LIVERPOOL: Liverpool reportedly want to sign Lyon star to replace Mohamed Salah, with the French club desperate to sell players due to financial problems.

Salah is a Reds legend after scoring 221 goals, and assisting a further 99 in 366 appearances since joining the English club in 2017.

The Egyptian winger, who lifted the Premier League and Champions League trophies with Liverpool, continued his excellent run of form this season – netting 10 goals in 17 appearances in all competitions under Arne Slot.

The English Premier League leaders are now running out of time to keep the star whose contract will expire in the summer.

Liverpool are said to be preparing to face the challenge without Salah and have shown interest in French star Rayan Cherki.

French giants Paris Saint-Germain are also interested in the services of the Lyon winger.

“My future will be known at the end of the season. Lyon is my priority. When the time comes to ask that question, ask it, but now is not the time,” said Cherki when asked about the future at Lyon.

Cherki’s contract expires in 2026 but it will be extended by another year should he remain at the club until next summer.

The club’s management wants to keep the young star, who was recently listed for France’s under-21 squad.

Lyon, the seven-time Ligue 1 champions, will lose their French top-flight status at the end of the season if they fail to resolve the club’s financial problems.