Cole Palmer said he was happy to ruin his old friends' day as the Chelsea forward's stoppage-time penalty rescued a thrilling 4-4 draw against his...

Germany manager Hansi Flick’s position looks uncertain after an embarrassing 4-1 home friendly defeat to Japan on Saturday. The former Bayern Munich boss has now overseen four defeats in the last five games, which comes on the back of a group-stage exit at last year’s World Cup. The pressure is increasing on the 58-year-old, with director of the Germany national team Rudi Voller noticeably evasive when asked about his manager’s future. Voller said in a television interview, reported by German newspaper De Bild: “We should collect ourselves first. There will be a bit of training tomorrow. Then we play against France. Afterwards, we should first reflect and think about what happens next. Let’s see.” Japan, whose 2-1 victory in Qatar sent Germany home from the World Cup, went ahead through Junya Ito before Leroy Sane levelled. But second-half goals from Ayase Ueda, Takuma Asano and Ao Tanaka saw Japan coast to victory in Wolfsburg, where the crowd turned on their side at full-time. Flick replaced long-time boss Joachim Low in August 2021 but has won less than half of his 25 games in charge. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live

Former Pittsburgh Steelers and New York Jets running back Le’Veon Bell says he smoked marijuana before playing some NFL games during his career

Nick Saban questions the lack of parity in college football, particularly when it comes to NIL.Leave it up to Alabama head coach Nick Saban to question the lack of parity across major college football.The Crimson Tide have been nothing short of dynastic since Saban took over in Tuscaloosa in...

Harry Kane’s move to Bayern Munich has got the entire football world talking – including Premier League legend Alan Shearer. After Tottenham Hotspur and Bayern agreed terms on an £86.4m transfer to the German champions, Kane was set to fly out to Munich to undergo a medical and sign a four-year deal where he is set to earn £480,000-a-week. But Friday morning brought a fresh twist in the saga, after it emerged that Spurs had revoked Kane’s permission to fly out to Germany. Sky Sports reported that Kane was on his way to Stansted Airport when he heard the news, and had to turn back to his home until his current employers give him the green light Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter The news outlet said Spurs want to make changes to the deal at the last minute, with chairman Daniel Levy currently in the United States. However, Shearer seems particularly keen for the transfer to go ahead. The Newcastle United legend-turned-broadcaster’s Premier League scoring record of 260 goals is firmly in Kane’s sights, and if the England captain stays too much longer he could end up breaking it. Shearer jokingly tweeted a photoshopped image of him dressed as a pilot, captioned: “Come on Harry it’s time to go!” Kane is 47 goals away from matching Shearer’s record, and has openly spoken about his desire to break it. Shearer, too, has predicted that if Kane remains in the Premier League he could break the record. But Kane, who only has 12 months left on his Spurs contract, also seems keen on moving to Germany and finally get the chance to compete for silverware. Spurs stress that Kane is on course to fly over to Munich, despite suggestions the deal could be in limbo. The 30-year-old is set to take the Bayern Munich No.9 shirt, and speculation is mounting that he could even make his debut against RB Leipzig on Saturday should the deal go through in time. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Basketball has united the South Sudanese

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Captain James Ward-Prowse has “full confidence” Southampton can make a swift return to the Premier League following the pain of relegation. Saints’ fate was sealed by Saturday’s listless 2-0 defeat to Fulham – a club-record 24th league loss in a single season. England midfielder Ward-Prowse has been with Southampton since the age of eight but is already being linked with a summer move away from St Mary’s. The 28-year-old, who insists he is “not thinking too far ahead” regarding his own future, is optimistic Saints will bounce back from surrendering the top-flight status they have held since 2012. “(I’ve) full confidence, I think the club’s been there and done it,” he told Southampton’s website. “The squad that we’ve got now is incredibly young and they’ve got a lot to learn. “They will have learnt a lot from this year and next year I’m sure the club will be doing everything they can to be back in the Premier League.” Southampton were precariously placed for much of a miserable campaign, having continually occupied the bottom three since early November. Second-half goals from Fulham pair Carlos Vinicius and Aleksandar Mitrovic condemned Ruben Selles’ side to the drop with two games to spare. Spaniard Selles was the team’s third manager this term following the sackings of Ralph Hasenhuttl and Nathan Jones. Ward-Prowse concedes warning signs were present for a long time and admits Saints ultimately went down to the Sky Bet Championship with a whimper. “It’s something, in all honesty, we’ve been fearing for a little while,” he said. “Over the last couple of years we’ve not been performing at the level I believe we should be and I think this season’s caught up with us. “There’s a way to lose games, there’s a way to maybe fail in sport and I think the way we’ve done it this year, that’s the disappointing way. “I don’t feel we’ve really gone down with a fight and given everything we can. “I feel for the fans because they don’t deserve to see what we’ve produced this season and that’s the sad thing.” Victory for Fulham was a club-record 15th in a Premier League season to tighten their grip on a top-half spot. Winger Harry Wilson, who was involved in each of the Cottagers’ goals on the south coast, hopes to increase the impressive points haul of 51 going into a home game against Crystal Palace and a trip to Manchester United. “It’s not something I was aware of but it’s something we’ve earned throughout the season,” he said of the record. “We’ve shown that we can win different ways, so to get 15 wins and the record is great. “We’ll definitely enjoy them (the final two games) but we also know there’s a lot to play for and we want to make sure we get two wins.” Substitute Mitrovic returned from his eight-match ban with a bang by heading home seven minutes after replacing fellow goalscorer Vinicius. The Serbia striker was punished for grabbing referee Chris Kavanagh during his side’s 3-1 FA Cup loss at Old Trafford in March. Wilson is already eyeing revenge against United on the final weekend following the heated cup exit in which Mitrovic, Willian and manager Marco Silva were sent off. “We were really good for 70 minutes and we all know what happened,” he said of that game. “We feel like we kind of owe them one in a way because we felt on that day we maybe should have left with something.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Jurgen Klopp ready to revive Liverpool title rivalry with Man City next season On This Day in 2016: Max Verstappen makes Formula One history On this day in 2016: Saracens beat Racing 92 to win European Champions Cup

Mohamed Salah could leave Liverpool in the closing stages of the transfer window, according to former Premier League midfielder Jan Aage Fjortoft. The club have repeatedly made it clear they do not have the 31-year-old up for sale however with interest coming from the Saudi Pro League, and club Al-Ittihad in particular, a high bid may tempt Liverpool’s ownership into reconsidering their position. Elsewhere, Wolves are closing in on signing Paraguayan winger Enso Gonzalez on a £5m deal as they look to continue their rebuild under Gary O'Neil and Nottingham Forest are in talks over a deal for Fenerbahce striker Michy Batshuayi after the former Chelsea man missed out on a move to the midlands club late on deadline day last year. Meanwhile, Manchester United hope to solve their left-back issue after both Luke Shaw and Tyrell Malacia sustained injuries. With three days left in the window Erik ten Hag is hoping to bring in a short-term replacement. Follow all the latest transfer news, rumours and done deals ahead of Friday’s deadline below. Read More Football rumours: Chelsea eye late move for Ivan Toney in transfer window Gary O’Neil expects Matheus Nunes to remain at Wolves with no fresh Man City bid Romelu Lukaku, a chessboard and the Jose Mourinho phone call that lured him to Roma

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It’s not quite hell any more, and Manchester United no longer look so tormented, but they do need salvation on Wednesday. Galasataray’s relatively new Rams Park stadium will be the stage for a definitive point in a season of hinge moments – at least, if Erik ten Hag’s side get through it, until the next one. United need victory to have any chance of getting through to the Champions League, but really know they need two in a row. The reason that has an importance for stakes beyond staying in the most prestigious competition is that such a key step can have an effect on everything that follows because of its significance. It is either confirmation that the team is on course or more serious cause for doubt. Ten Hag has endured a constant back-and-forth this season where the team has occasionally been convincing but results have never been consistent. Even some of the better victories have had that sense of only momentarily disguising the problems. The 3-0 win over Everton was a case in point because of how Sean Dyche’s side got at them before Marcus Rashford’s penalty. It has all left them in a situation that most clubs don’t get out of – but which isn’t quite impossible for United. They will be looking to become just the 10th club in Champions League history to get through the group stages having accumulated three points or fewer with just two games left. That’s just over two per cent of all 424 qualifiers since the group stage became the first round in 1994-95. It’s an awful lot to do, but there is at least some encouragement it’s possible. Four of the sides to have managed this have been in even worse positions. Three have been English, and two among their greatest rivals. Champions League miracle workers The nine teams that got through with three points or fewer with two games left Rosenborg 1996-97, three points Lyon 2000-01, three points Newcastle United 2002-03, three points Lokomotiv Moscow 2002-03, one point FC Porto 2004-05, two points Stuttgart 2009-10, three points Manchester City 2014-15, two points Arsenal 2015-16, three points Atalanta 2019-20, one point The question of whether they can do it in these games is of course connected to the far greater puzzle over whether it’s coming together for the season. This is another discussion that feels like it’s being repeated again and again – particularly when United go through a brief sequence of wins. The feeling from the outside has been that they’re just getting through it until the next disappointment, which Champions League elimination obviously would be; that the recent wins have been an illusory positive. The talk within, as has long been relayed, is that almost all of this is down to injuries and constant changes in personnel. There have nevertheless been misgivings about Ten Hag’s hardline approach with certain players, an overemphasis on fitness work and the fact that there is no real sense of the manager’s tactical idea. This is why doubts have persisted even around wins, and an otherwise admirable sense of defiance. Ten Hag, for his own part, would insist that a run of results will restore confidence which will make the team look more like what they’re supposed to. “It is good progress,” he said on the eve of the Galatasaray game. “You see we are stepping up, more stable, winning games so definitely there is progress from the first game.“ The Dutch coach believes that Kobbie Mainoo greatly helps that. There’s even a suspicion that his impact can end up being even more impressive and important than what it has been seen so far. Ten Hag is hopeful that Mainoo can be the Frenkie de Jong-style midfielder that he has been lacking since joining the club, and wants to see how a pairing with Mason Mount works. That could be crucial, although it is obviously a lot of pressure to put on a mere 18-year-old. It’s easy to forget now but one of the reasons that Ten Hag so pursued De Jong was because he feels the Dutch international is close to unique as a midfielder. Liverpool’s Ryan Gravenberch was actually one of very few who looked like he could have the qualities to be developed into a similar sort of player. Since Ten Hag couldn’t get either, though, the club went a completely different route with Casemiro. The Brazilian did offer a fine solution, but one that increasingly looks like it was a stop-gap. Ten Hag has been imagining his team going in another direction. Mainoo aids that. He has many of the same qualities as De Jong. He offers balance and that understanding of the way Ten Hag wants the team to move. Mainoo is certainly making good on the way coaches and scouts spoke about him when he was as young as 11. Youth cup opponents commented on how they’d never seen players so developed technically and mentally at Mainoo’s age. “Kobbie is so mature,” Ten Hag says now. It says even more that there is absolutely no concern about exposing him to Galatasaray’s infamous ferocious atmosphere. “No, we don’t have fear,” Ten Hag said. “If players are good enough then they are old enough.” The manner in which Mainoo immediately makes the formation fit should at least theoretically mean that Galatasaray won’t just cut through United in the way they did in the 3-2 win at Old Trafford. Reality can go another way, though, and involve a lot of unpredictables. It isn’t to question Mainoo’s superb ability to say it is maybe a reflection of where United are right now that there is so much responsibility on a teenager. A problem with United that precedes Ten Hag has also been the number of players or situations which look like a fix-all solution… but only for a brief period, because the issues are naturally much greater. Casemiro was one of them. Those with knowledge of the squad have commented on how “nothing seems to stick long-term”. Rashford looks elite “for a while”. Anthony Martial threatens a comeback “for a while”. A while might be all that is required right now, though, since United just need to get through this group to keep the season on track. That’s two weeks, set up by this one huge game. It is also a fixture loaded with all sorts of history and menace. United enlisted some of the players involved in that notorious 3-3 draw 30 years ago to speak about their experience before this game. The Champions League is a very different competition than it was then, though. This isn’t the Ali Sami Yen Stadium and this isn’t 1993. There is a familiarity from modern exposure which means very few venues carry that same level of intimidation. The main anxiety United might feel is the prospect of again failing, something that has been seen a few times this season. It is something else Ten Hag has been working on. He said: “You have to stay calm in your head and don’t get too emotional and control emotion, don’t give them anything, the referee as well, don’t give them a moment they can take, so you have to stay away from such moments. You have to make it your game. It is not that important how the opponent is playing, it is how you are playing. We will make a good plan and the players, they have to decide.” They could go some way in deciding how this entire season goes. Galatasaray vs Manchester United kicks off at 5.45pm on Wednesday. Coverage begins on TNT Sports 1 at 5pm Read More Deloitte predicts global revenues for women’s elite sport will top £1bn in 2024 Why Bruno Fernandes is the only choice as Man Utd captain Erik Ten Hag outlines how ‘calm’ Man Utd can negotiate Istanbul atmosphere Is Galatasaray vs Man United on TV? Kick-off time, channel and how to watch Champions League: What do Newcastle, Man Utd and Arsenal need to reach last 16? Bruno Fernandes excited for ‘amazing’ atmosphere at Galatasaray