Szoboszlai’s low blow and Salah’s return in Marseille put Liverpool on a high

Liverpool and Arne Slot continue to find their release on European soil. What had been billed as an intimidating, intense examination of the faltering Premier League champions by Roberto De Zerbi’s Marseille proved nothing of the sort as Slot’s side moved confidently towards automatic qualification for the last 16 of the Champions League.

Dominik Szoboszlai, an own goal forced by Jeremie Frimpong and the substitute Cody Gakpo brought Liverpool a merited victory in the south of France plus a ninth win in 11 European away fixtures under Slot. The margin of victory could have been even greater but, having struggled to turn possession into chances and chances into wins of late, the Liverpool head coach will take satisfaction from a comprehensive triumph all the same.

Published: January 21, 2026, 10:04 pm

The World Cup is out of reach for many. The hope lies outside the stadiums | Leander Schaerlaeckens

The opportunity for this tournament’s legacy is in the fan fests, camps and tune-ups accessible to more than the lucky few

In Germany, fans watched the games on screens in crowded town squares, their roars careening off ancient buildings, or from the banks of rivers, peering at floating, double-sided big screens on barges. At the next World Cup, in South Africa in 2010, people gathered in parks and open-air markets and hotel lobbies and unlicensed, makeshift bars in people’s garages. In Brazil, four years later, fans spilled from the bars on the Copacabana or watched in restaurants or in streets closed for the occasion – not as if anybody was driving during the Seleção’s games anyway.

During the 2018 World Cup, Russia surprised visitors – and its own citizens – with its friendliness as spontaneous parties broke out all over the country. The reason the 2022 World Cup in Qatar didn’t entirely feel like a real World Cup is that those sorts of spontaneous soccer gatherings just didn’t seem to be happening, or not at the same scale, at any rate. The absence of hordes of supporters just milling about everywhere contributed to the feeling of being at a Potemkin World Cup.

Published: January 21, 2026, 5:40 pm

Storm brews over new F1 rules loopholes as Mercedes and Red Bull gain advantage | Giles Richards

Compression ratios will be at the top of the FIA’s agenda in a meeting with F1 teams to head off growing fears before the 2026 season gets under way

Unveiling their new engine in Tokyo should have been a significant moment for Honda to celebrate, but behind the scenes the storied marque – as well as plenty of their Formula One rivals – are worried that a looming row over new engine regulations is threatening to overshadow the opening of the 2026 season.

So significant is the concern that it will be the key topic of discussion at a meeting between the FIA and the engine manufacturers set for Thursday before the first day of pre-season testing at Barcelona.

Published: January 21, 2026, 3:25 pm

Olympics chief admits she has not spoken to US president Trump about LA 2028 Games

• Kirsty Coventry steers clear of global politics in buildup

• Organisers will meet with vice-president JD Vance

The International Olympic Committee has yet to establish formal communications with the US president Donald Trump on preparations for the Los Angeles Games in 2028, the IOC president, Kirsty Coventry, has confirmed.

Trump has been speaking in Davos in Switzerland after a turbulent start to 2026 during which he has suggested he will invade Greenland, threatened a trade war with Europe and ousted the Venezuela president Nicolás Maduro.

Published: January 21, 2026, 4:21 pm

Mayfield claps back at former coach Stefanski and says Browns treated him like ‘garbage’

• Pair will face off in NFC South next season

• Stefanski reportedly said QB ‘failed’ with Browns

Tampa Bay quarterback Baker Mayfield has vented his frustrations over the treatment he received from his former head coach Kevin Stefanski, who he will now face twice a year as an opponent.

Mayfield played for Stefanski at the Cleveland Browns before he was traded to the Carolina Panthers in 2022. The two are now major figures in the NFC South after Atlanta hired Stefanski as head coach on Saturday.

Mayfield appeared to be angered after an Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter posted that Stefanski said Mayfield and another Browns quarterback, Deshaun Watson, had “failed” in Cleveland.

Published: January 21, 2026, 12:42 pm

Cody Bellinger stays with New York Yankees on five-year deal worth $162.5m

• Yankees lock up Bellinger for $32.5m annually

• Lefty slugger hit .302 at Yankee Stadium in 2025

• Deal includes no-trade provision and opt-outs

Cody Bellinger became the last of the top free-agent hitters to reach a deal, agreeing Wednesday to stay with the New York Yankees for a $162.5m, five-year contract, a person familiar with the negotiations told the Associated Press.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the agreement was subject to a successful physical.

Published: January 21, 2026, 7:10 pm

‘Pay up’: Rory McIlroy delivers Ryder Cup warning to LIV pair Hatton and Rahm

• LIV rebels are appealing against DP World Tour sanctions

• Forthright McIlroy wants duo to show their commitment

Rory McIlroy has challenged Tyrrell Hatton and Jon Rahm to demonstrate their commitment to the Ryder Cup cause by settling fines for their LIV Golf participation.

McIlroy pointed towards motivation used by Europe during the ­victory at Bethpage last September after it emerged that the US players were paid to play in the Ryder Cup.

Published: January 21, 2026, 10:51 am

As their midwinter slump goes on, what exactly is going wrong at Manchester City? | Jamie Jackson

Manchester City have issues with injury and form, and need their big players to step up and turn the ship around

At Bodø/Glimt, in a first Champions League outing since 1 October, the 29-year-old appeared what he is: a player still recovering after 18 months out with a serious knee injury and several related setbacks. This was only a third start since his latest return began with the second 45 minutes of the goalless draw at Sunderland on New Year’s Day. Last week Rodri declared he was “ready to go” and said: “I’m really happy to be on the pitch every single day.” Yet in Saturday’s 2-0 loss at Manchester United he was a one-paced, non-factor unable to do what he did with ease pre‑anterior cruciate ligament rupture: run midfield and so the contest. In Tuesday’s 3-1 humbling in Norway the Spaniard was the same, and two moments tell the tale of his form. First Jens Petter Hauge left him a statue before registering a memorable long-range strike for Bodø’s third goal; then came the two yellow cards in two minutes that had Rodri sent off.

Published: January 21, 2026, 1:54 pm

Welcome to Duncanville: why the road to the NBA runs through Dallas

As lottery picks and MVP candidates pile up, North Texas is emerging as one of the NBA’s most fertile talent pipelines

Another season, another name, another kid from Dallas. At street level, the city appears to be like any other – yet it continues to produce league-shaping NBA players. The main highway through Dallas cleaves down the middle of Texas. Taking it south brings you closer to the center of the state’s basketball talent pool. The road slopes downward as the city’s cosmopolitan polish thins out, neighborhoods split cleanly from downtown by sun-baked concrete and beige. Pink, green, and blue houses sit behind chain link fences, where yards are scoured down to dirt. Auto mechanic shops line the frontage roads with open bays and hand-painted signs peeling in the sun. Farther south, the road dips again, and space opens up to the heart of the story.

Welcome to Duncanville.

Published: January 21, 2026, 11:00 am

Barnes seals easy win against PSV but Newcastle face wait over Guimarães

There are many ways to self-destruct on a football pitch but PSV Eindhoven chose one of the more obvious methods.

In opting to play out slowly from the back against high-pressing opponents possessing forwards blessed with the speed and skill of Yoane Wissa and Anthony Gordon, Peter Bosz’s team were always likely to come undone.

Published: January 21, 2026, 9:59 pm

Moisés Caicedo salvages win for wasteful Chelsea against battling Pafos

Liam Rosenior’s first taste of managing in the Champions League will not live long in the memory. Chelsea toiled against determined underdogs and were at risk of a humiliating result before a late header from Moisés Caicedo kept alive their hopes of direct qualification into the last 16.

Victory lifted Chelsea to eighth in the standings. Yet they will have to be much better when they visit Napoli in their final game next week. FC Pafos were comfortable for long spells and Rosenior’s fourth game in charge had threatened to become an ordeal before Caicedo broke the Cypriot champions.

Published: January 21, 2026, 9:57 pm

Kaptein sinks Manchester City to send Chelsea into Women’s League Cup final

• Manchester City 0-1 Chelsea (Kaptein 41)

• Chelsea will meet Manchester United in the final

Chelsea reached a seventh consecutive Women’s League Cup final as they edged past their rivals ­Manchester City with an away victory that could also give them a psychological boost in the title fight, booking a meeting with Manchester United.

Wieke Kaptein’s header ultimately won the contest for the holders. She was allowed to get in front of the City centre-back Jade Rose and jump unchallenged at the far post to nod in Sandy Baltimore’s hanging cross. Chelsea had the better of the first half, but the stars of the show were the two goalkeepers – Ayaka Yamashita and Hannah Hampton’s acrobatics in the second half provided great entertainment and somehow kept the scoreline down to a single goal.

Published: January 21, 2026, 9:28 pm

Aston Villa consider move for Loftus-Cheek with fears over Kamara knee injury

• Villa thought to favour loan for Milan midfielder

• Club also in market for striker, with Mateta among targets

Aston Villa are exploring a move for Milan’s Ruben Loftus-Cheek, as they seek to absorb the absence of Boubacar Kamara amid fears he will miss the rest of the season with a knee injury.

Villa are poised to step up interest in the former Chelsea midfielder, who in September was recalled to the England squad after a six-year absence but was omitted from Thomas Tuchel’s most recent camp in November.

Published: January 21, 2026, 5:54 pm

French government not in favour of World Cup 2026 boycott over Greenland threats

• Minister says there is ‘no desire’ to boycott tournament

• But Coquerel says US should be stripped of World Cup

The French government is not in favour of boycotting the World Cup being co-hosted this year by the US over Donald Trump’s Greenland threats, France’s sports minister has said.

Trump has targeted France among the eight European countries threatened with tariffs for their opposition to his drive to annex Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark.

Published: January 21, 2026, 12:40 pm

Frank earns breathing space after rolling Tottenham dice – could Europe shield him from sack?

Manager showed tactical bravery in darkest hour and like Postecoglou may find respite outside Premier League

Thomas Frank was backed into a corner on every level, including team selection. The Tottenham manager had next-to-no options, only 11 established outfield players for the Champions League home game against Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday night.

The expectation was for an either/or choice between Djed Spence and Destiny Udogie at left-back. But when the teamsheets dropped, it turned out Frank had picked them both and left Randal Kolo Muani on the bench. It was the latest low point for Kolo Muani, who has to be regretting his decision to join on a season-long loan from Paris Saint-Germain.

Published: January 21, 2026, 4:56 pm

Football Daily | Let’s hear it for the kacktors! Celebrating crap goals in football

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Sure, volleying a can of Tin from the bath straight into the bin feels good, but have you ever felt the rush of successfully slipping a foreign word in a sentence? Whether Football Daily is subtly and frivolously deploying a “merci” at Pret a Manger or winning hearts and minds at Football Daily Towers by describing an overcome hangover as the greatest remontada since Barcelona’s 6-1 win over PSG in 2017, there is simply nothing like the smugness one feels after borrowing a word or two from our European brethren.

Published: January 21, 2026, 1:56 pm

Marseille 0-3 Liverpool: Champions League – as it happened

Goals from Dominik Szoboszlai, Cody Gakpo and an own goal helped Liverpool to a dominant win in France

Arne Slot speaks to the TNT cameras pitchside:

It’s not the first time we play in a hostile stadium. We played at Galatasaray. It’s a great stadium [here], great atmosphere.

The moments where I didn’t play him, we were struggling and I tried something else. We have steadied the ship now but we miss goals from all the ball possession and chances that we have. Salah is one of the players that can score a goal.

First of all, it’s really sad that Ibrahima can’t be here. But Joe is a good replacement but he has not played a lot since I have been here. But he has shown he can be a really good player for us.

Published: January 21, 2026, 10:39 pm

Chelsea v Pafos, Newcastle v PSV, Juventus v Benfica, and more: Champions League – live

⚽ Champions League updates from the 8pm GMT kick-offs
⚽ Live scoreboard | Table | Follow us on Bluesky | Mail Luke

“Just a heads up that, while I would love it to be true, a win tonight for Newcastle doesn’t put us in the last 16,” writes David. “It puts us in the first round of 16, which is really the last 24 (playoffs), to then get into the actual last 16. Two extra matches just what everyone wants right now …”

Silly me. Thanks David.

Published: January 21, 2026, 10:34 pm

Arsenal 0-1 Manchester United, Manchester City 0-1 Chelsea: Women’s League Cup semi-finals – as it happened

Chelsea will face Manchester United in the Women’s League Cup final after they beat Manchester City and Arsenal by single goals

City launch their first significant attack as Hemp looks for Clinton down the right. Baltimore gets back for Chelsea and wins a throw-in. 4 mins gone, 0-0.

Big chance for Arsenal! Straight from kick-off, the Gunners go for the jugular. Russo crosses from the right for Maanum and her header is well saved by Tullis-Joyce in the United goal. 2 mins gone, 0-0.

Published: January 21, 2026, 9:29 pm

Offshore gambling operators using Australian Open to promote illegal services

One offshore e-casino posted Instagram promotion featuring AO logo despite no affiliation with tournament

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Offshore gambling operators are using the Australian Open to promote their illegal services, sparking calls for sweeping bans on the unlicensed websites.

Australian regulators and sporting professionals have expressed rising concern at the growth of offshore sites, where gamblers are not protected by Australian consumer law and have no guarantee they can withdraw their winnings.

Published: January 21, 2026, 8:59 pm

Fans and Welsh rugby chiefs at odds over plan to cut one of four professional sides

• WRU chair says ‘system was essentially broken’ in Wales

• Fan group insists there is ‘no appetite for a merger’

Richard Collier-Keywood, the embattled chair of the Welsh Rugby Union, has insisted he has the support of fans and players in Wales as the WRU attempts to drive through radical plans to cut one of the four professional sides.

Giving evidence before the House of Commons Welsh affairs select committee, Collier-Keywood – who is facing the threat of a vote of no confidence in his leadership – said he believed “the rugby system was essentially broken” in Wales before he took over and there was widespread acknowledgment that it needed to change.

Published: January 21, 2026, 6:23 pm

Carlos Alcaraz marches on at Australian Open after golfing with Roger Federer

• World No 1 eases to 7-6 (4), 6-3, 6-2 win over Hanfmann

• Britain’s Cameron Norrie holds nerve against Nava

Carlos Alcaraz’s preparations for his second-round victory at the Australian Open included a round of golf in Melbourne with Roger Federer, whose abilities off the tee he praised following a 7-6 (4), 6-3, 6-2 win against Yannick Hanfmann.

“It’s as beautiful as his tennis,” Alcaraz said of Federer’s golf swing. “I’m not surprised. It’s unbelievable. Everything he does, he does in style, really beautiful. On the golf course, it’s a really beautiful swing.”

Published: January 21, 2026, 2:38 pm

De Minaur weathers storm to outlast Medjedovic and reach third round

• Big-serving Serbian takes Australian hope to four sets

• ‘I’m super happy to battle my way through’

Alex de Minaur maintained his perfect record at the Australian Open against lower-ranked opponents by outlasting the big-hitting Hamad Medjedovic over four sets and advancing to the third round.

After being stunned by the world No 90 in the first set, the Australian’s superior fitness and class came to the fore as he prevailed 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-2, 6-1 in three hours and four minutes on Rod Laver Arena.

Published: January 21, 2026, 1:26 pm

Australian Open 2026: De Minaur, Zverev, Tiafoe and Andreeva win, Raducanu out – as it happened

Emma Raducanu is out but US prodigy Iva Jovic will face Paolini in the third round, with Zverev and De Minaur also through

Raducanu out but ‘head held high’

Norrie is doing his thing again, upping it when he needs to for another mini-break and 6-2. I wonder if it’s a cognitive thing, because it’s not like he wasn’t trying his best when struggling earlier in the set, so it’s not an effort thing, but I guess focusing for hours at a time is hard if not impossible and there’s a kind of locked-in version that intensifies as the match does … and, as I type, he serves out to lead Nava 6-1 7-6(3) having saved two set points not that long ago.

Obviously Zverev finds an ace to restore deuce – he may be resigned to his fate of never winning a slam, but his serve remains one of the best shots in the game, and from there, he ends a long hold. And back with the breaker, Norrie has a mini-break and a 3-2 lead.

Published: January 21, 2026, 1:30 pm

‘London is a second home to me’: Steve Nash on the NBA, punditry and non-league football

We sat down with the basketball legend at the O2 to discuss his ties to Tottenham, Vancouver, Majorca and Macclesfield

By No Helmets Required

Does your background, growing up outside basketball’s mainstream on Vancouver Island with English parents, help you to appreciate how people in places such as London or Berlin feel when a big NBA game comes to town? Yeah. That’s true. I didn’t watch much basketball on TV until I started playing at 13, so can relate to coming upon something new and exciting. At the same time, the world’s so small now with social media access. But it is interesting to go to parts of the world where basketball is smaller and see how can we make the game accessible to them.

Dirk Nowitzki, Tony Parker and John Amaechi were guests at the O2. But every team had a foreign player on opening night this season, with 135 players from 43 countries across the league; up from 7% in 1992 to 24% now. Are the current Europeans different to that generation, or have they just had more opportunities? Europeans have always been quite good. It’s not like Serbia wasn’t always great at basketball but, as the game has grown, the possibilities grow. The world gets smaller with the internet and social media. There’s not as much difference; everyone has access to all the pertinent information. The NBA is more accessible nowadays to people from Europe, Africa and every corner of the world. It’s only natural that more Europeans have success in the NBA.

Published: January 21, 2026, 11:30 am

Concerned European football chiefs discuss response to Trump over Greenland

• Annex attempt could bring about Uefa-led boycott

• Implications for World Cup alarming heads of FAs

European football leaders are increasingly concerned about Donald Trump’s wish to annex Greenland, and they have held initial discussions about how the sport could respond.

The Guardian understands the implications for the World Cup this summer were among the topics raised among about 20 football association heads in Budapest on Monday. Talks about the Greenland crisis were held informally on the sidelines of an event organised to celebrate the Hungarian football federation’s 125th anniversary, in the knowledge that a unified European response may be required should Trump seek to escalate the situation.

Published: January 20, 2026, 7:34 pm