Bayern Munich boss Thomas Tuchel would not rule out the possibility of playing England captain Harry Kane when the Bavarians travel to Saarbrucken for their DFB-Pokal clash on Wednesday night.
Heavy rains have threatened the second-round contest but for now it is business as usual for Tuchel’s side, coming off Saturday’s 8-0 rout of Darmstadt that saw three red cards handed out in the first half and every goal scored in the second.
Three of those came from Kane, who scored his second hat-trick of the Bundesliga season to make it 12 goals from nine league contests, with some suggesting Wednesday’s meeting with third-division Die Molschder could be a good opportunity to give the 30-year-old a rest.
Tuchel on :
We have an extremely important game com…
Chelsea are now six points behind Premier League leaders Manchester City after they could only draw 0-0 at Wolves on Sunday.
A foggy contest at Molineux was short on quality and genuine chances, and was the third time the Blues have dropped points in their last four league games.
Thomas Tuchel had expressed his exasperation at the Premier League prior to kick-off after they refused Chelsea s request to postpone the game earlier in the day despite a spate of absentees due to coronavirus and injuries.
The German made two changes to the team that drew with Everton on Thursday, with N Golo Kante returning, and named just six players on the bench, including two goalkeepers.
The points are shared at Molineux.
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC)
Wolves…
The first legs of the Champions League round-of-16 conclude on Wednesday, with Shakhtar Donetsk hosting Roma and Manchester United taking on Sevilla.
Vincenzo Montella s side do not have the best record in the knockout phase and wins were hard to come by in the group stage, although United themselves have had a pretty torrid run of results in the latter stages.
Roma came top of a tough group but have not gone beyond the last 16 for a decade, and they have made a habit of struggling against Shakhtar in this competition.
Here are some of the best Opta numbers ahead of two more crunch clashes
Shakhtar Donetsk v Roma
3 Shakhtar Donetsk have won three of their four competitive games against Roma (L1), all in the Champions Leagu…
Jurgen Klopp simply was not having it, no matter how gently the question was pushed his way, no matter how carefully phrased the follow-up.
Liverpool s manager would not be drawn to explain why Roberto Firmino is so important to his set-up, because to Klopp it felt like an insult for that to be necessary in the first place.
After five years with Liverpool, the Brazilian forward has, in Klopp s eyes, delivered so much that anybody still needing briefing about his qualities has not been paying attention.
He might still bench Firmino on Sunday, when Liverpool travel to likely title rivals Manchester City, but Klopp was scornful of the need to go over the former Hoffenheim player s history.
Friday s response from Klopp was to be expected.
Back in D…
Gustavo Bou s 95th-minute winner settled a thrilling MLS play-off clash as New England Revolution prevailed 2-1 against Thierry Henry s Montreal Impact on Friday.
Bou struck at the death in the play-in match at Gillette Stadium, where the Revolution earned a date with Philadelphia Union in the opening round of the MLS Cup play-offs.
The Argentine forward s goal came on his eighth shot of the match, the most by a Revolution player in a play-off match in club history, per Opta.
Bou s match-winning effort – officially timed at 94 minutes, 37 seconds – is New England s latest winning goal since Kelyn Rowe at 95:47 in 2017.
GUSTAVO BOU AT THE DEATH! ADVANCE in the
— Major League Soccer (@MLS)
The tie was level after Montreal s Romell…
Bernardo Silva is close to agreeing a new deal with Manchester City, according to Sky Sports.
Having started his career with Benfica in 2013/14, the Portuguese moved to Monaco on an initial loan deal which later became permanent. He arrived to the Etihad in the summer of 2017 as a quad option, not looking likely to displace anyone in Pep Guardiola s team which went on to win the Premier League in a convincing manner.
However, injuries to Kevin De Bruyne and occasional dips in form by Leroy Sane gave the attacking midfielder a chance to stake his claim this season. It s fair to say his performances have been fantastic. City hardly felt the long absence of one of their key players in 2017/18 in De Bruyne at all.
It is only fitting that a player who has proven his …
Bruno Fernandes guided Manchester United to a 1-0 victory over Southampton at St Mary s as they claimed back-to-back wins for the first time in the Erik ten Hag era to build on Monday s victory over Liverpool.
Fernandes, retaining the captain s armband as both Harry Maguire and Cristiano Ronaldo started on the bench, produced a classy 55th-minute finish to hand United the win.
Joe Aribo went closest to a leveller for Southampton with a close-range header, but United produced one of their most composed defensive performances of recent months to secure a first away league win in eight attempts.
After making a dire start to the new campaign, United have now strung together consecutive league wins for the first time since February, giving lift-off to Ten Hag s te…
Premier League rivals Liverpool and Manchester United will face off in a pre-season friendly in Bangkok.
The game will be played at the Rajamangala Stadium on July 12, where Jurgen Klopp s men will battle the Red Devils for the Bangkok Century Cup.
It is the only pre-season fixture confirmed by Liverpool so far, but United announced they will also play Melbourne Victory at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on July 15, before facing more familiar opposition again in Crystal Palace at the same venue four days later.
The last time Liverpool and United played in a friendly was in 2018 and saw the Reds win 4-1 in front of more than 100,000 fans in Michigan as part of the International Champions Cup.
United will be hoping to have a new permanent manager installed…
Andres Iniesta is adamant his former Barcelona team-mate Ivan Rakitic wants to stay at Camp Nou despite links with Paris Saint-Germain, Inter and Manchester United.
Croatia international Rakitic has spent five seasons at Barca following a move from Sevilla in 2014 and has been a key part of the side ever since, making at least 32 LaLiga appearances in each campaign.
Although his coaches have valued Rakitic s input, some supporters have questioned whether the 31-year-old merits inclusion in the Barca team.
But in spite of United, Inter and PSG apparently holding an interest in Rakitic, Iniesta is convinced his former colleague has no plans to leave.
Que alegría verte hermano
— Ivan Rakitic (@ivanrakitic)
I don t know if he is u…
Vitaly Janelt scored a classy double and Christian Eriksen opened his Brentford account in a sensational 4-1 derby win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
The Bees were the better side in the first half, but it was the Blues who took the lead just after the break through an Antonio Rudiger thunderbolt from long range.
Magnificent Brentford responded to that blow by scoring three times in the space of 10 minutes, Janelt on target with two brilliant strikes either side of Eriksen s clinical finish at the end of a devastating counter-attack.
Yoane Wissa added a late fourth goal as the Bees ran riot in a first victory over Chelsea since 1939, ending their London rivals six-match winning run to move 11 points clear of the Premier League relegation zone.
3 Ch…