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Max Verstappen has admitted it is beyond his childhood dreams to draw level with Ayrton Senna’s victory tally ahead of this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix. Verstappen heads into Sunday’s race at Montreal’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve just one victory shy of the great Brazilian’s haul of 41 after winning five of the opening seven rounds in his dominant Red Bull machine. Verstappen was not even born when Senna was killed at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, but a victory here would take the 25-year-old into joint fifth in the pantheon of F1 winners. “When I was a little kid, I would never have imagined being on that list,” said the two-time world champion. “But you cannot compare it. People have different careers and some drivers get into a race-winning car sooner than others and nowadays we have more races than back in the day. “I never look at the numbers, but it is an amazing achievement, that’s for sure.” A sixth victory of a one-sided campaign would leave only Hamilton (103 wins), Michael Schumacher (91), Sebastian Vettel (53) and Alain Prost (51) ahead of Verstappen. Hamilton reached 41 wins to draw level with his boyhood hero Senna at the Japanese Grand Prix in 2015 before going on to surpass Schumacher’s haul five years later and stand on his own as the driver to have won the most races in the history of the sport. However, the seven-time world champion, who has not won a race since his contentious championship defeat to Verstappen at the 2021 season finale in Abu Dhabi, admitted that his rival could “absolutely” eclipse his record. But when asked if Hamilton’s record is on the horizon, Verstappen said: “It is very hard to beat. “You need to be in the right car for a long time and we don’t know if we have that. I am just going with the flow and enjoying the moment.” Verstappen has already established a 53-point lead over team-mate Sergio Perez on his seemingly unstoppable march towards a hat-trick of world titles. Lewis Hamilton - 103 Michael Schumacher - 91 Sebastian Vettel - 53 Alain Prost - 51 Ayrton Senna - 41 Max Verstappen - 40 The world champions are undefeated in the opening seven fixtures, winning 17 of the past 18 races, and could become the first team to win every round in a single season. A victory here on Sunday would also be the team’s 100th in F1. “For the sport, I understand people get bored if one team is dominating,” added Verstappen. “But we have seen it at Mercedes, we have seen it at Ferrari, and we have seen it at Red Bull in the past. “For me, it provides me with even more motivation because I know I have a car that can win. “If you look at how we are performing, yes we can win every race, but it is not realistic. As long as I win the championship, that’s the most important thing.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Lewis Hamilton plays down talk of imminent new Mercedes deal On this day in 2007: Lewis Hamilton claims first Formula One victory Susie Wolff urges F1 teams to back initiatives to help develop female drivers

Endrick has revealed that Vinicius Junior gave him the 'strength' to sign for Real Madrid despite interest from elsewhere.

It transpires there are different kinds of problems involving the Liverpool midfield. Last season was a tale of the aged, the injured, the inconsistent and the incoherent, the malfunctioning midfield that meant a champion team suddenly looked disjointed and disappointing. If it was an exaggeration to say Liverpool didn’t have a midfield last season, in a sense they don’t have one now. Or not their old midfield, anyway. An exodus was partly planned, partly thrust upon Jurgen Klopp by Saudi Arabia’s injection of money and unexpected wish to acquire defensive midfielders. Perhaps Jordan Henderson and Fabinho will not be able to gegenpress in 45-degree heat, but it is not Klopp’s immediate concern; if the plan was for two new faces to feature in his first-choice midfield, a complete overhaul has become necessary. He wanted change and got a revolution instead. Of the six midfield departures, Arthur Melo – he of the solitary, 13-minute appearance – is still more of an afterthought now. Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain are cases of what might have been, some of their potential left unrealised amid spells on the treatment table. But James Milner, Henderson and Fabinho were three of the quintessential Klopp midfielders: the fourth, Gini Wijnaldum, left in 2021. Between them, they played 1063 times for Klopp; they rank second, fourth, 17th and 11th respectively for most appearances in the German’s managerial career and, even including his days at Mainz and Borussia Dortmund, no central midfielders have lined up as often for him. They were the men who made his teams work, the rhythm section of his heavy-metal football, leaving the glamorous jobs to others. There were always other midfielders, but they were usually those trusted for the big occasions. In the 2018 Champions League final, Milner and Wijnaldum flanked Henderson. Come the 2019 final, when Fabinho had joined, he had the anchor role, with Henderson and Wijnaldum either side and Milner deployed as a specialist finisher, using his experience to see out the victory. The Dutchman was a different sort of finisher on Klopp’s greatest night: initially benched for the second leg against Barcelona, Wijnaldum came on at half-time, as Milner switched to left back, to score twice in a 4-0 triumph. All of which was uncharacteristic. Those 1063 appearances produced just 71 goals, a total that would have been smaller still but for Milner’s excellent penalty-taking. There were 99 assists, too, but to put that in context, Kevin De Bruyne got 149 on his own for Manchester City since Klopp’s appointment at Anfield, plus 92 goals. It illustrates it is a comparison of opposites. The definitive Klopp midfielders were the selfless support acts, defined by what they did not do – score, for instance – and where they did not go: the penalty area, or not often anyway. The full backs usurped them as creators; the goals came largely from the front three; if most great teams have at least one goalscoring midfielder, and Klopp’s Dortmund protégé Ilkay Gundogan developed a potent streak for Pep Guardiola and alongside De Bruyne, his Liverpool were the exception. His core four at Liverpool were the masters of the unspectacular: workhorses who ran many a mile, though often in relatively short distances, experienced figures who were experts at positional discipline. They were a reason why, at their best, Liverpool were rarely caught on the counter-attack, even when Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold were in the final third. Liverpool were never a pure possession team but Wijnaldum, in particular, tended to have very high pass-completion statistics. It was in part because they were rarely charged with playing the most ambitious balls but Wijnaldum, especially, made playing in a Klopp midfield look deceptively simple: as his far greater goalscoring return for the Netherlands showed, his was a self-sacrificial role, playing within himself with the intelligence to make the tactics of a narrow 4-3-3 work. In one respect, Fabinho is the anomaly. He was the specialist defensive midfielder. The other three were all multifunctional grafters, their broader skillsets equipping them for many a task (often playing full back in Milner’s case). None was an out-and-out playmaker, but they brought combativity and understated chemistry. It amounted to a triumph of all-rounders: whereas some midfields were combinations of players with contrasting attributes, Liverpool prospered with those with similar strengths. Maybe an ethos has changed now. Klopp’s first two summer midfield additions, Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai, offer the prospect of more goals than his quintessential quartet ever provided: after the shift in formation towards the end of last season, when Alexander-Arnold came to join Fabinho at the base of the midfield, Klopp referred to his more advanced pair as “two [No] 10s”. And if Wijnaldum could play as a genuine No 10 elsewhere, Milner and Henderson rarely did. Mac Allister and Szoboszlai, however, can meet the description. But maybe the newcomers will discover they are charged with copying their predecessors. Perhaps the beginning of the end for Klopp’s original midfield can be traced to the signing of Thiago Alcantara, to the sign he wanted something more stylish. But suddenly, an era has ended. Klopp’s four favourite workhorses are all gone. There may not be an all-conquering midfield quite like them again. Read More Jurgen Klopp responds after Kylian Mbappe to Liverpool rumours Liverpool name Virgil van Dijk as new captain after Jordan Henderson exit Liverpool confirm Fabinho transfer in latest Saudi Arabia move Lauren James on song as England thrash China – Tuesday’s sporting social Sadio Mane’s swift decline reaches new low Liverpool make second Romeo Lavia bid as Southampton set transfer price

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