12/12/2025

SPORTS FRIDAY | DEC 12, 2025

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Mo sympathy from Gerrard ‘No one is perfect, we have all had head-losses as players’ L IVERPOOL legend Steven Gerrard main tains Mohamed Salah will regret his “emo tional” rant against the club and manager Arne Slot. ate that because that wasn’t good for anyone. “This is not good for anyone and I have been there myself from a personal point of view. I done mine in a different way where I had major head loss, dropped against Manchester United, being round to Brendan’s house for a meal, Brendan but tered me up – ‘you’ve been great in training, you’ve been part of my staff’ blah blah. “So, who is gaining from all of this? My opinion is, if this goes on, this is bigger than what we all know and what we see.” the best scorer, and he will help them get out of this “crisis” in my opinion.

SIDENETTING Superb Simon keeps PSG out

SPAIN goalkeeper Unai Simon put in a superb performance to help Athletic Bilbao to a 0-0 draw with Champions League holders Paris Saint-Germain yes terday. Simon, 28, made a string of saves in the Basque Country to keep the hosts’ hopes of a play-off spot alive. The Parisians were frustrated by Athletic and Simon but move up to third in the table with two rounds of the league phase to play, including January 20’s trip to Sporting Lisbon and hosting Newcastle eight days later, and are in line to reach the last 16. Paris Saint-Germain boss Luis Enrique was disappointed in his post match press conference, but claimed the levels were what he expected with such a thin squad at the moment. He said: “The match was close, very difficult, especially in the first half. We deserved the victory, we could have won this match. I think we started well, we saw their high press, we had chances in the second half. The team’s level is normal for a European champion, with this very unusual start to the season, without all our players. I am confident. This result is a shame, but the group is calm. We have to win one more match. Marquinhos? I don’t know, we’ll have to wait and see, he asked to be substituted at halftime, we’ll see tomorrow.” Things looking up for Juve JUVENTUS strengthened their chances of advancing in the Champions League as two second half goals ended the resistance of Cypriot side Pafos. The visi tors had the best of the opportunities in the opening 45 minutes, with Juventus lucky not to concede when Andrea Cambiaso diverted the ball towards his own goal, only for goalkeeper Michele di Gregorio to make a vital save. Juventus have been struggling domestically and are only seventh in Serie A, eight points behind leaders AC Milan and reigning champions Napoli. However, boss Luciano Spalletti would have been hap pier with his side’s second half perform ance. Francisco Conceicao had an effort saved at the near post by Neofytos Michael, before Weston McKennie fired Juventus ahead in the 67th minute fol lowing an excellent reverse pass from Cambiaso. A second goal followed six minutes later with Jonathan David on the end of a quick counter-attack to fin ish well after being set up by Kenan Yildiz. Huge blow for Dortmund BORUSSIA DORTMUND’S hopes of reaching the Champions League knock outs automatically suffered a blow as Bodo/Glimt twice fought back to claim a draw. The result leaves Dortmund on 11 points, two places and a point outside the top eight, while the Norwegian side sit in 32nd after failing to win any of their opening six matches. When Julian Brandt opened the scoring for the hosts from Fabio Silva’s pass it looked like being a comfortable evening for Niko Kovac’s side, who thrashed Villarreal in their last home outing. However, vet eran defender Haitam Aleesami headed in an equaliser for the visitors from a well-worked corner. In the second half former AC Milan striker Jens Petter Hauge again pegged the home side back with a close-range finish after Brandt had re-established Dortmund’s lead. While the Bundesliga side were largely dominant, having 22 efforts on goal to Bodo/Glimt’s seven, Kjetil Knutsen’s side deservedly took the acclaim of a large section of travelling supporters at the final whistle.

Salah’s extraordinary outburst has ignited an already volatile situation at Anfield following a tor rid run of form, but the Reds responded with a 1-0 victory at Inter Milan after banishing the Egypt international from the squad this week. While Gerrard also sympathised with Salah and what he described as a “head-loss,” which has attracted widespread criticism from fans and fellow legend Jamie Carragher to label his behaviour “a disgrace”. “I think they are closer to (a crisis),” Gerrard admitted on TNT Sports’ The Breakdown . “I don’t like using the word. Is it a lot worse than what we know, what we have seen? I have seen this, and I have lived this when Suarez fell out with Brendan (Rodgers) – face to face, seen it all, I tried to medi

gish beginning to his Anfield journey. Although it’s been just eight months since Salah penned a fresh two-year con tract extending his Liverpool stay until 2027, questions remain over whether the club legend has donned the red shirt for the final time. Liverpool’s massive £450 million (RM2.6b) summer spending spree appeared designed to help Salah main tain his longevity by providing additional attacking support to the club’s record Premier League goalscorer. Nevertheless, the disappointing per formances of Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak following their hefty transfers to Merseyside has resulted in Liverpool losing much of the attacking fluidity that powered them to a com manding league triumph just months earlier. During Jamie Carragher’s eight-min ute tirade on Monday Night Football about Salah’s post-Leeds remarks, the Sky Sports pundit claimed Salah “let him self down” when he chose not to set up Wirtz for what would have been a simple tap-in during the 22-year-old’s struggle in the 5-1 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt in October. Carragher stated: “Where he really let himself down, in my eyes, was this sea son in Frankfurt and in another game. There’s a guy who signed for Liverpool who needs a goal more than anyone, Florian Wirtz. “Be a great player for the club, be a great ambassador for the club and roll that ball to him for an easy tap-in and go over and give him a hug and say, ‘You’re the guy that’s going to take this Liverpool team forward. I don’t need any more goals’.” – Express Newspapers old, he got paid a boatload (at Liverpool) … and has underperformed massively since then.” Salah, the Premier League’s top scorer last season, has only five goals and three assists in all competitions this campaign, with champions Liverpool languishing in 10th in the standings. “I’m sure some people like his star power, he’s from the region, but my sentiment is that he is not a fit for our league. If it were between him and Vinicius, I’d take Vinicius,” Harburg added. “I think Vinicius should come here and thrive. “I actually think it might end up being a better environment for someone like him. But I’m hoping we go after those 25-year-old next wave players rather than guys like Salah, who definitely this would be the last stop of his career.” – Reuters Salah is likely to miss this weekend’s match against Brighton before departing for international duty with Egypt, with Gerrard suggesting that the 33-year-old needs extra support due to his first major struggle on the pitch in eight years, having scored just four goals in all competitions this term. “In Mo’s shoes, as the player, he is thinking this is the first time he has had a difficult period, this is the time when I need where I need the manager,” Gerrard concluded. “This is the time where I need the club, this is the time where I need more support. Maybe he feels like he has not got that. This is his first dip in form in eight years which is remarkable.” – The Independent

“I did the same as the Salah statement in 30 sec onds against United and got sent off. So no one is perfect, we have all had head-losses as players, we have all done emotional things as players. I know in time when this all calms down that Mo will think that I shouldn’t have said that, I was a bit emotional, I was a bit hasty.” Gerrard also urged the Reds to reintegrate Salah into the squad following the African Cup of Nations. “At the end of the day, Liverpool Football Club needs Mo Salah back playing well,” Gerrard added. “Back scoring goals because he is the best player,

Wirtz is enemy No. 1 for Salah FLORIAN WIRTZ has been pin pointed as the catalyst for Mohamed Salah’s fury, according to reports.

scapegoat for their lacklustre Premier League title defence and claimed his once strong relationship with Slot has diminished. As a result of his comments, the winger was left out of Liverpool’s squad for their 1-0 Champions League victory over Inter Milan on Wednesday. Seen as one of the role models and leaders in the Liverpool dressing room, a sensational report from Bild suggests that Wirtz’s status as the future of the team is at the heart of Salah’s ani mosity. The report also labelled the forward as the enemy within the Reds’ dressing room. Salah’s relegation to the bench in the last three League games, with the German starting in all of them, has reportedly not gone down well with the competitive Egyptian. Liverpool are said to have long known that Salah possesses the biggest ego at the club but given his extraordi nary record of goals and assists, it was accepted.

The Egyptian legend sent shockwaves through the football world when he criticised Liverpool and manager Arne Slot following last Saturday’s 3-3 draw with Leeds United. Salah, 33, accused the Reds of making him a

However, the report adds that should the winger’s level of end product decline, the sup port he enjoys from the club will no longer be there. The report goes on to suggest that his harsh remarks about the club demonstrate a lack of consideration for his teammates, high lighted by his silence during the criticism Wirtz has faced in what has been a slug

Salah (left) and Writz.

Saudi club chief says Liverpool forward a poor fit LIVERPOOL’S Mohamed Salah is not a good fit for the Saudi Pro League and clubs should target younger players like Real Madrid’s Vinicius Jr, Al Kholood chairman Ben Harburg said yesterday. Salah’s future at Anfield is in doubt after he publicly accused the club of throwing him “under the bus” during an interview when he was benched by manager Arne Slot. 2023, according to media reports at the time. Salah previously said he had “serious” negotiations with Saudi Pro League officials before extending his contract at Liverpool and Harburg, whose Al-Kholood side are 11th in the 18-team Pro League table, said Saudi clubs should be wary of approaching the Egyptian again.

“There’s a narrative around him that they asked him to come before and he rejected us. These are not people that like to be spurned and are going to come back around the second time,” Harburg said at the World Football Summit in Riyadh. “So I do think that there’s already, even amongst the public, much more apprehension around his coming into the league. He’s 33 years

The 33-year-old was then dropped from the squad that travelled to play Inter Milan in the Champions League on Wednesday, fuelling speculation of a potential transfer to the lucrative Saudi Pro League. Salah has previously been a target for Saudi Arabia’s glamour clubs with Liverpool rejecting a £150 million (RM870m) offer for the winger in