“… Klopp has been mindful to keep his distance since the emotional goodbye of May 2024. He didn’t return to Anfield until 12 months later when he stood in the directors’ box applauding as his successor Arne Slot lifted the Premier League trophy. The mood could hardly have been more different for Klopp’s latest visit back to Merseyside in his role as an honorary ambassador for the foundation. Slot is under pressure and Liverpool’s troubled season is about to enter a defining period. The sight of his popular predecessor back on the Anfield touchline and being serenaded by a capacity crowd as he unleashed fist pumps in front of the Kop certainly didn’t make Slot’s life any easier. …”
NY Times/The Athletic (Video)
Guardian – Five matches, 16 days, a season to save: Slot’s Liverpool vision faces a defining moment
Liverpool insist they back Arne Slot. The next fortnight will put that to the test
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“ITALY is in a state of mourning after the Azzurri crashed out of the World Cup against Bosnia & Herzegovina, a nation that sits 53 places lower in the. FIFA rankings. The subject is so sensitive that the government, via Sports Minister Andrea Abodi, called for the removal of Gabriele Gravina, the head of Federcalcio, the Italian Football Federation. It was, after all, the third successive World Cup failure, with the Bosnia play-off added to similar exits at the hands of Sweden and North Macedonia. Gravina announced his resignation two days after Italy’s embarrassing elimination and most observers of Italian football expect coach Gennaro Gattuso will fall on his sword after just eight games in charge. …”
“Liverpool will face Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City for the 27th time when they meet in the FA Cup this weekend. While we know it will be the last time Mohamed Salah plays in this fixture after announcing he will leave Anfield this summer, it could also be Guardiola’s last dance for City against Liverpool. 
“”Olé! Olé! Olé! Congooo Congooo!’ In the bowels of the Guadalajara stadium, Congolese and Mexican fans sang as one to celebrate the Leopards’ historic victory over Jamaica on Tuesday. Fifty-two years after their first appearance as Zaire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s men’s national team is back in the World Cup. Among the roughly 1,000 Congolese fans, most of whom had come dressed in blue, some left the stadium with Mexico’s green jersey draped over their shoulders. Meanwhile, others continued to jump arm in arm to the beat of ‘Vamos al Mundial!’ …”
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