Alexis Mac Allister has revealed that Liverpool told him the club were not in a position to renew his contract and that he had options to leave in the summer.
Mac Allister's current contract at Liverpool is set to expire in 2028 and discussions over a renewal have failed to reach an agreement.
The failed talks leave the Argentine in an uncertain situation, after teammates Dominik Szoboszlai and Ryan Gravenberch signed new long-term deals.
Mac Allister has revealed that Liverpool told his agents that the club were 'not in a position to renew' and has expressed his disappointment at the outcome of the talks.
Speaking to the media ahead of Liverpool'sChampions League clash with Atletico Madrid, Mac Allister said it was 'sad' that renewal talks did not lead to fresh terms.

#allister

Alexis Mac Allister has admitted he was left "very, very sad" after being told Liverpool were not in a position to offer him a new contract.
The midfielder ultimately decided to remain at Anfield this summer despite having opportunities to leave, and insists he will continue to give everything for the club.
But he says seeing team-mates Dominik Szoboszlai and Ryan Gravenberch sign new deals has made his own situation more difficult.
"There was a chance [I could have left the club in the summer]," Mac Allister said.
"As everyone knows, I received the news that the club was not in a position to offer me a new contract, which makes me very, very sad.

#allister #offer #contract #alexis

Liverpool have a superstar who is worth £30m and more.
One area Liverpool will need to address over the coming months and potentially years is midfield, with the position largely overlooked during the latest transfer window.
The emergence of Trey Nyoni certainly played a part in that decision. Even after Curtis Jones' departure, Liverpool chose against bringing in another midfielder because of their belief that Nyoni can develop into a top-level player.
His recent cameos have certainly suggested he is ready to take that next step, but there are still plenty of questions surrounding the midfield long-term.
Ryan Gravenberch and Dominik Szoboszlai remain uncertain options in a double pivot, while Alexis Mac Allister's future is far from guaranteed. Liverpool may therefore need to revisit midfield sooner rather than later.

#midfield

Merlin Polzin led his new-look Hamburg side out for their first home league fixture at the Volksparkstadion on Sunday afternoon, hosting a Mainz team with a familiar feel to them.
As Nicolai Remberg and Nadiem Amiri led their teams onto the pitch, Hamburg's Nordtribüne paid a touching tribute to the late Kevin Keegan with a wonderful choreo before kick-off. The Englishman, revered in the Hanseatic City after his exploits in the late 70s, sadly passed away in July.
Hamburg suffered a 2-0 defeat away to Borussia Dortmund on the opening day, and Polzin saw fit to make four changes to the starting XI that turned out in the Ruhrgebiet. A busy deadline day saw three new arrivals at the Volksparkstadion, with David Møller Wolfe and Zakaria El Ouahdi thrown straight in for their debuts; Fabio Vieira, meanwhile, began on the bench.
The visitors made two changes themselves to their starting XI that drew 0-0 at home to newly promoted Paderborn last weekend, with Kacper Potulski and Stefan Posch replacing Dominik Kohr and Danny Da Costa in defence.
Urs Fischer's side made the stronger start to the game, with a mistake from Jordan Torunarigha allowing Sheraldo Becker to force a good save from Daniel Heuer Fernandes within the first ten minutes. Moments later, Mainz worked a good opportunity from a corner for Amiri to strike at goal, though the German international sliced his effort wide.

#hamburg #amiri #home #away

The next Barcelona match is upon us! The Blaugrana travel to Mestalla for a La Liga game against Valencia, and Hansi Flick has called up the following 24 players for Sunday's clash:
Goalkeepers: 1. Joan Garcia, 13. Wojciech Szczesny, 25. Dominik Livakovic
Defenders: 2. João Cancelo, 3. Alejandro Balde, 5. Pau Cubarsí, 12. Xavi Espart, 15. Andreas Christensen, 18. Gerard Martín, 23. Jules Kounde, 24. Eric Garcia
Midfielders: 4. Brian Fariñas, 6. Gavi, 7. Fermín López, 8. Pedri, 16. Rodri, 20. Dani Olmo, 22. Marc Bernal
Forwards: 9. Gabriel Jesus, 10. Lamine Yamal, 11. Raphinha, 14. Karim Adeyemi, 17. Anthony Gordon, 29. Hamza Abdelkarim

#garcia #mestalla #valencia

Parma and Monza go head-to-head at Stadio Ennio Tardini this Sunday in the Serie A.
Parma have 0 points to their name this season and occupy 16th position in the table. In their last encounter, Carlos Cuesta's team were beaten 0-2 by Cremonese (Coppa Italia 2026/27).
Monza currently have 0 points and lie in 18th position. In their last match, Ivan Juric's team prevailed 0-1 against Torino (Coppa Italia 2026/27).
The last meeting between the two teams ended in a 1-1 draw.
Parma: Edoardo Corvi, Enrico Del Prato, Dominik Drobnic, Mariano Troilo, Sascha Britschgi, Adrián Bernabé, Christian Ordonez, Emanuele Valeri, Mandela Keita, El Bilal Touré, Simone Lontani

#points

Dominik Livakovic is one of many signings Barcelona have made this summer and at least on paper, it is the one which has generated the least amount of buzz as the goalkeeper will merely be serving as a backup for Joan Garcia.
That being said, Livakovic has had to sacrifice a great deal in his bid to join Barcelona this summer, notably declining a lucrative offer from Dinamo Zagreb, a club he was playing for on loan last season.
According to Croatian newspaper Jutarnji List (h/t SPORT), the option of rejoining Dinamo Zagreb was seriously considered by Livakovic if Barcelona had truly struggled to give him a registration guarantee.
Livakovic brings a wealth of experience to the table. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
The Croatian outfit were supremely impressed by Livakovic's performances last season and wanted to sign him permanently from Fenerbahce this summer.

#summer #least #last #season

Ever since the great Claude Rains first uttered the immortal line "Round up the usual suspects!" in Casablanca, the phrase has been ingrained in the popular lexicon — so much so that it inspired the ****** le of an entirely different movie nearly 50 years later. You hear it everywhere, in any context where you can expect to see a predictable set of participants.
On Saturday, a struggling Juventus were buoyed by a pair of very unusual suspects — guys most fans figured would be gone, or at least on their way out the door, by this point in the transfer window. Unable to penetrate a deep-lying Parma defense, it was Nico González who gave a moribund attack an instant shot in the arm, forcing a magical save before scoring a deflected goal off his own rebound to open the scoring. Then, with two minutes left, the game was sealed by another unlikely goalscorer: Teun Koopmeiners, who had just come on after an injury to Andrea Cambiaso and finished off a quick attack with a beautiful finish.
The unlikely redemption arcs from players most ****** umed were out of the team's plans, or at least on the very fringes, were welcome developments for a team that learned this week that their talisman, Kenan Yildiz, would miss two to three months once he undergoes surgery on a broken metatarsal. After a first half that seemed to be crying out for his creativity, it was the transfer-listed González who gave the Bianconeri the necessary spark to take Parma down 2-0 as they began to look forward to next week's big match against AC Milan.
Apart from Yildiz, Luciano Spalletti was also missing Weston McKennie (muscle fatigue), Edon Zhegrova, and Khéphren Thuram, who suffered a setback in his knee recovery and could now require surgery. Jeff Ekhator came back to make his first Juve squad in a competitive game. Spalletti's 4-2-3-1 was therefore shuffled a bit. Guglielmo Vicario started in goal after getting over the cramp that forced him off late against Frosinone. Pierre Kalulu and Zeki Çelik played on the defensive flanks, while Bremer was partnered with new signing Jhon Lucumí in the middle of defense. Manuel Locatelli and Douglas Luiz played in the midfield, while Francisco Conceição, Jonathan David, and Jérémie Boga supported Randal Kolo Muani in attack.
Carlos Cuesta lost his first Parma match last week against Cagliari, and were looking for something better here. His only missing player was former Juve prospect Hans Nicolussi Caviglia, who had to have a surgery of his own this week. Edoardo Corvi started behind a 4-4-2. Enrico Delprato, Mariano Troilo, Dominik Drobnic, and Emanuele Valeri arrayed themselves in front of him. Sascha Britschgi and Mandela Keita bookended Christian Ordóñez and Adrían Bernabé in midfield. El Bilal Touré and Simone Lontani started up front. Drobnic and Lontani were both teenagers, and the former was making his debut.

#juve #drobnic

Wingers come in different guises and at different prices. On the day Liverpool agreed to pay up to £123m for Bradley Barcola, the man signed for rather less, and with rather less fanfare, again spared Andoni Iraola a first defeat of his reign. On Sunday at Newcastle, Victor Munoz won the penalty that produced Dominik Szoboszlai's 99th-minute equaliser. On his Anfield bow, the £34m Spaniard delivered a devastating equaliser.
That both contributions came from the right flank, though he had started on the left against Nottingham Forest, may be pertinent. The presumption is that Barcola will be used on the left. While Liverpool are yet to replace Mohamed Salah, they got two equalisers from the men stationed in his old spot here, with Cody Gakpo affording Alexander Isak a tap-in. The Dutchman is scarcely a right winger and faces an uncertain future at the end of the window. If Munoz had a fine introduction, this could prove Gakpo's goodbye, and his was a valiant effort.
An encouraging element for Liverpool is that Iraola has exerted an impact with his changes in each of his first two games. Munoz, who came on at St James' Park, swapped flanks at Anfield, took Florian Wirtz's pass, span and unleashed a vicious shot, even if a deflection off Murillo helped. It may not have been the first example of fine decision-making by Iraola: he pushed for Munoz's signing when Newcastle were closing in on his signature. "Victor has been very good both games," said Iraola. "Everything hasn't been perfect but he tries again and again and again and I like this from the wingers."
And so his tenure has begun with twin 2-2 draws. If it promises to be fun, at times his Liverpool can be both fast and flawed. Yet this underlined the size of his task if Iraola is to succeed his way. Liverpool had more defensive difficulties, with a susceptibility to the counter-attack again apparent, but with variations on a theme. Newcastle had scored twice by running straight through the heart of Iraola's team. Forest struck twice courtesy of ******* in behind, the first punted 80 yards by goalkeeper Matz Sels; both involved throw-ins, too, the second a quick one by the debutant Liam Delap.
After the Forest striker added to the family tradition of Delap throw-ins, Alisson upended Neco Williams and Morgan Gibbs-White, an increasingly regular scourge of Liverpool, converted the resulting penalty. "It could and probably should have been a win," said Oliver Glasner. "Very proud of the performance but frustrated and disappointed about the result." So both new managers remain winless.

#first #munoz #anfield

Aside from Liverpool's attack, their defensive midfielders are one of their biggest problems.
Andoni Iraola tried playing Ryan Gravenberch and Dominik Szoboszlai in a double pivot against Newcastle on Sunday and, during every single one of the Reds' forward charges, they were left open to counter-attacks.
This is exactly how the Magpies' first goal came about and, there were also many other moments during the clash when Matthias Jaissle's men could've got another one or two goals from their counter attacks.
However, fortunately for the Reds, that didn't happen and they ended up drawing 2-2 with them.
But, again, this was only because of a 99th-minute penalty from Szoboszlai.

#szoboszlai

Liverpool's midfield is one of their main problem areas at the moment.
Sunday's 2-2 draw against Newcastle proved that Dominik Szoboszlai and Ryan Gravenberch can't be relied upon to play a double pivot all season.
The midfield duo were one of the main reasons why Liverpool conceded their first goal against the Magpies as both of them decided it was a good idea to push forward rather than have one of them stay back.
This led to Liverpool's defence being left open which allowed Anthony Elanga to counter-attack the Anfield outfit and bag Newcastle's first goal.
Not only did this outing prove that Liverpool need a new defensive midfielder but, it also outlined why a new number six should be one of their main priorities this summer.

#Liverpool #midfield #goal #szoboszlai

Barcelona have completed the signing of Dominik Livakovic, but the Croatian goalkeeper's future for the coming season remains unresolved as the club's preferred loan arrangement has hit an unexpected obstacle.
The 31-year-old has joined Barcelona from Fenerbahce in a deal worth €2 million plus a possible €500,000 in variables.
After arriving in Barcelona on Tuesday, Livakovic is scheduled to undergo his medical examination on Wednesday before putting pen to paper on a contract running until 2030.
The signing itself is not the issue. The question Barcelona must now answer is where their new goalkeeper will spend the season.
According to SPORT, Barcelona initially planned to send Livakovic out on a one-year loan before integrating him into the first-team setup in 2027, when Wojciech Szczesny's spell at the club comes to an end.

#Barcelona #signing #dominik

[Getty Images]
Premier League history was made before a ball was even kicked this season as a record nine clubs started the campaign with new managers.
Former Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola got his first taste of action as Liverpool manager after succeeding sacked Arne Slot.
So how did he fare on an eventful first weekend of the 2026-27 campaign?
Iraola was spared the ignominy of defeat in his first Premier League game since succeeding Slot by Dominik Szoboszlai's 99th-minute penalty - but this was a sobering fact-finding mission for the new man in charge at Anfield.

#images

A little over four minutes had passed at St James' Park on Sunday and Liverpool had started encouragingly, keeping the ball well and with urgency in their play.
Ryan Gravenberch created ***** e with a brilliant touch to get past Lewis Miley but instead of shooting from the edge of the box or playing Dominik Szoboszlai through, the Netherlands international lost possession.
Just 11 seconds later, Newcastle were ahead through Anthony Elanga after a devastating counter that required one pass after Amar Dedic's initial clearance.
Liverpool simply had no structure when out of possession. It was schoolboy stuff and a nightmare start for Andoni Iraola.
It was a similar story in the second half when Gravenberch was dispossessed after trying a back heel on the edge of the Newcastle box.

#edge #park

Dominik Livaković is set to sign for FC Barcelona, although it's still not clear whether he'll play for the Catalans this season or join Dinamo Zagreb on loan.
Barcelona already have Wojciech Szczęsny and Joan Garcia as goalkeepers, and there are rumors that they wanted to loan Livaković for a season while Szczęsny remains as backup to Garcia. However, competing whispers say that he could stay with Barça as Garcia's backup without going on loan first.
"I'm very happy to be here," the keeper said, having landed in Barcelona. When asked whether he would stay or go out on loan, he simply said, "we'll see."
The main deciding factor is reportedly whether Barça will have enough **** e within the FIFA Fair Play salary limit. If there's room, he'll stay, if not, he'll go out on loan and re-join in a year.
The keeper comes from Fenerbahçe, it's understood Barcelona will pay four million euro to sign him from the Turkish giants.

#he 'll #szcz

Barcelona's plan with their goalkeeping department is moving quickly, with Dominik Livakovic set to arrive in the city today to complete the final stages of his move to the club.
According to SPORT, the Croatian international is expected to land in Barcelona this afternoon, with the club ready to begin the formal process of bringing their new goalkeeper into the squad.
His medical is scheduled for tomorrow at the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper, after which the remaining details of his Barcelona transfer can be completed.
It must be remembered that despite the signing, Livakovic's arrival raises more questions than answers.
In fact, it opens the most intriguing one: where will he spend the 2026/27 season?

#sport

Liverpool left St James' Park with a point, courtesy of a stoppage-time penalty from Dominik Szoboszlai, but ******* ody should pretend this was a polished opening-day performance. It was dramatic, it was frantic and it underlined both the strengths and flaws of Andoni Iraola's side in a 2-2 draw with Newcastle.
There was character, certainly. There was pressure, plenty of it. There was also sloppiness in key moments, especially in transition, and that remains the obvious concern after a game in which Liverpool spent long spells on top yet still needed a 99th-minute spot-kick to avoid defeat.
Iraola's verdict was direct enough. "I think because you score at the end you probably have a better taste. Before the game, we wouldn't have signed this result probably." That sums it up. Liverpool did enough to feel mildly frustrated, but not enough to complain too loudly.
Photo: IMAGO
Newcastle struck early through Anthony Elanga and immediately gave Liverpool the sort of problem they had expected all week, pace in open ******* e. The visitors responded after the break through Cody Gakpo, then fell behind again when Joe Willock restored the home side's lead. At that point, Liverpool were staring at an opening-weekend defeat.

#game

When Liverpool came to Newcastle last August, there was utter jubilation as Rio Ngumoha scored a remarkable 100th-minute winner.
They scored late again this time around, through Dominik Szoboszlai's 99th-minute penalty, but it felt more like a sense of relief than joy as they rescued a point.
Andoni Iraola said afterwards that his side did not deserve to lose and, to their credit, they never gave up as they earned a 2-2 draw.
A defeat would have been Liverpool's first on the opening weekend since 2012-13. A draw will do wonders for their spirit, but it will certainly not mask their concerns.
"It is probably not the result you want when you come in before the game, but we definitely deserve this point and even more," Iraola told BBC Radio 5 Live.

#iraola #draw

Liverpool left St James' Park with a 2-2 draw, a point rescued late by Dominik Szoboszlai from the penalty spot, and that probably tells you two things. First, there was character. Second, there were still too many familiar flaws.
Andoni Iraola's first competitive game as Liverpool head coach did not provide a clean statement of intent. Newcastle found ***** e too easily, moved through midfield too cleanly and exposed a defensive shape that still looks like a work in progress. That will concern supporters more than the result itself, because structural problems tend to linger if they are not fixed quickly.
One player, however, emerged with genuine credit. Ronald Araujo's debut off the bench gave Liverpool some badly needed authority at the back. As Pat Nevin on BBC Radio put it: "There wasn't a great deal in it but you can see the weaknesses that Liverpool had last season have not gone away. The defence doesn't look quite there." He then added: "I would say Ronald Araujo came on and looked quite impressive. very, very powerful and very, very strong. He might be a massive part of the answer."
Photo: liverpoolfc.com
That ***** sment is fair. Araujo did not arrive and transform the contest, but he did something almost as useful, he looked reliable immediately. For a defender making his first official Liverpool appearance, that matters. There was no fuss, no rashness, no obvious panic. He competed physically, handled duels well and looked comfortable with the intensity.

#quite

Liverpool need a new midfielder. Badly. The perfect signing is a former Barcelona graduate who could fix everything.
Liverpool drew 2-2 with Newcastle United on Sunday in what was a very, very poor performance. In fact, it was the same performance we saw across last season - struggling for any control before a late goal changed the way the points were going.
This time, Liverpool got that goal thanks to a late Dominik Szoboszlai penalty. But it merely papers over the cracks.
The Reds were far, far too open and Newcastle twice took advantage of a weak midfield to get a free run at Liverpool's defence. Both goals came that way for the home side.
And this was the case last season, too. Liverpool's defensive numbers in midfield were horrendous last season - they've essentially built a midfield out of attacking midfielders, with none of them able to stop attacks.

#Liverpool #goal #Barcelona

Steve Nicol took umbrage with one post-match comment on the stoppage-time penalty decision in Liverpool's 2-2 draw against Newcastle on Sunday.
The Reds were awarded a spot kick deep into added time when Lewis Hall clashed into Victor Munoz inside the box, and Dominik Szoboszlai duly converted to ensure a share of the spoils at St James' Park.
Gary Neville said on co-commentary for Sky Sports that it was the right decision, insisting that the Magpies left-back fouled the Spanish winger and didn't get any of the ball, but the home side's head coach Matthias Jaissle argued that the awarding of the penalty was 'really soft'.
That comment from the 38-year-old annoyed Nicol, who retorted that there's no grey area when it comes to such penalty decisions.
The ex-Liverpool defender said on ESPN FC: "What does that mean? It's either a foul or it's not a foul. If it's a foul, it's a penalty and it's not soft. You can't have this 'soft' nonsense. If you're gonna come out with that…I'm sorry, I don't get it.

#soft #foul #nicol #sunday

Liverpool left St James' Park with a point, and a fresh question. Who is the club's first-choice penalty taker now?
The late spot-kick was the defining moment of a tense afternoon against Newcastle. For most of the game, the home crowd had focused on Alexander Isak, booing him relentlessly. That made the final seconds particularly intriguing. If Liverpool were going to get one chance to save the match, many expected the £125m striker might take it.
He did not.
Instead, Dominik Szoboszlai stepped forward and smashed the penalty past Lukas Hornicek. Clean strike, no drama, no argument once the ball hit the net. Liverpool had their draw, and Newcastle had escaped the scenario they had feared all afternoon.
This is where the discussion starts. Mohamed Salah had been Liverpool's regular penalty taker until his summer exit, and that role is now open. Isak has the profile and status to claim it. Szoboszlai has the technique and, after this, the evidence.

#Liverpool #newcastle #szoboszlai #taker

By José Nuñez
When Antoine Griezmann scores, Orlando City win.
At least that's been the case during the Frenchman's first two months as a Lion, this time scoring his first MLS brace to fuel Orlando City's 2-1 comeback victory over Real Salt Lake on Saturday night at Inter.co Stadium.
With the three points, Griezmann successfully led the Lions into an Audi MLS Cup Playoffs spot for the first time this season.
After falling behind in the first half to a tidy finish by Dominik Marczuk, Orlando found an equalizer in the 53rd minute. Cleaning up a saved attempt from recent returnee Daryl Dike, Griezmann capitalized at the back post for a tap-in.

#city

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Antoine Griezmann scored two second-half goals Saturday night to help Orlando City beat Real Salt Lake 2-1 to extend their winless streak to seven games.
Maxime Crépeau had three saves for Orlando City (7-11-3), which snapped a three-game winless skid.
Griezmann back-heeled a shot that was deflected and then tapped in the loose ball to give Orlando City a 2-1 lead in the 81st. The 35-year-old, who signed with the club in July, had his first career multi-goal game in MLS and his five goal contributions (three goals, two ****** ists) in six games.
Dominik Marczuk scored his first goal this season to give Real Salt Lake (8-8-4) a 1-0 lead in the 36th. Sam Junqua played an arcing first-touch cross from 35 yards out on the left side to the back post and Marczuk gently rolled in the volley.
Griezmann made it 1-1 in the 53rd minute. On the counter-attack, Daryl Dike's shot from the top of the 6-yard box was knocked away by goalkeeper Mason Stajduhar but Griezmann tapped the putback into a wide-open net.

#griezmann #marczuk

FC Barcelona have made a major splash in the transfer market after reaching a full agreement with Turkish side Fenerbahçe for the signing of goalkeeper Dominik Livaković. This was reported by Carlos Monfort in Sport.
The Blaugrana sporting department, led by Deco, has accelerated talks in recent hours. The Turkish club has given the final green light to Barça's financial offer.
Both clubs are currently exchanging the required documentation to finalize the transfer in the coming days. The deal has been set at a fixed fee of two million euros, plus another two million in add-ons.
With this move, Deco secures the generational transition between the posts for Barça. The Croatia international is shaping up as the chosen man to take over as first-choice goalkeeper once the Wojciech Szczęsny era comes to an end.
The goalkeeper will bring international experience and reliability to the squad after standing out both for his club and for the Croatia national team. His arrival strengthens the medium- and long-term planning of the sporting project.

#turkish #croatia #transfer #Barcelona

There's real uncertainty over Liverpool's next move as it's confirmed that they're not in talks with a World Cup star.
Liverpool have not planned their midfield correctly, I think that's fair to say. There's massive uncertainty over what it'll look like going forward, made worse by the fact it's not particularly balanced.
They have, of course, locked down Ryan Gravenberch and Dominik Szoboszlai to long-term deals. The pair of them will play the foreseeable future at Anfield. Trey Nyoni looks like a long-term fixture, too, even if he'll need a better contract before confirming that.
Curtis Jones, though? Who knows what's happening there. His deal expires in under a year and there's next to no impression that he'll be signing a new one. We fully expect him to depart either in the coming weeks or in 2027.
And then there's Alexis Mac Allister. Talk around Mac Allister's contract has been conspicuously absent in light of the other 2023 arrivals getting deals. It's created a lot of speculation that he could be on his way, either now or in 2027.

#uncertainty #next #term

Andoni Iraola and his training staff were all present on the touchline which was wonderful to see knowing that the main event at Anfield was soon approaching. There were even a handful of senior players watching from the balcony and I'll note that only Milos Kerkez and Dominik Szoboszlai stayed until the end.
I'm going to start by mentioning new signing Victor Munoz, this kid has pace to burn and is almost brutally direct. There are no Rio Ngumoha step overs but raw power and determination as well some nice switches of direction to throw the shadowing defenders off balance. Munoz also showed his ability with both feet in delivering good crosses and was Liverpool's best attacking outlet.
The other starting winger was Harvey Elliott, a term that should be loosely used in describing his wide play because despite Iraola's vocal instructions for Elliott to stay out wide he ignored him and continued to drift infield seeking the ball. This caused center forward Chiesa to have to go out wide on the right and leaving us with no focal point of attack. I really feel for Elliott after the way his past two seasons have gone but he needed to shake that all off yet it seems he is either vastly shot of confidence or he is trying too hard to be involved to the point he lacks discipline and broke the structure Iraola wanted.
The only other player I really feel is worth mentioning is Trey Nyoni who played the full 70 minutes and was vocally commanding at times during the second half as well positionally disciplined with good breaking up of play and forward passing. Very impressive for a young player who seems to have decided this is going to be his season to prove his worth and has given everything.
Beyond these observations Alexis Mac Allister played around sixty minutes and Wataru Endo played the full match as a center back with none of the senior center backs involved so we should see both new signings Jeremy Jacquet and Ronald Araujo get some playing time in the real friendly later.

#iraola #senior

An ACL tear is devastating enough for a basketball player. Suffering the same season-ending injury in back-to-back years, and still finding the resolve to climb that mountain twice, is almost unimaginable.
For Kentucky women's basketball guard Dominika Paurová, the last two years have been an agonizing test of mental and physical fortitude that she will never forget. Ruled out for both her sophomore (2024-25) and redshirt sophomore (2025-26) seasons due to torn ACL's, Paurová is finally gearing up to make her long-awaited debut in Wildcat blue.
And if you aren't a fan of this young lady already, I have a sneaky suspicion you will be soon enough.
To truly appreciate Paurová's comeback, you have to understand the brutal, unglamorous reality of recovering from an ACL tear. It isn't simply waiting for a ligament to heal. Recovery is a daily, grueling grind, and setbacks will happen; just ask Jayden Quaintance.
It means watching your leg muscles atrophy, relearning how to walk, enduring agonizing physical therapy sessions where simply bending your knee feels impossible, and coping with the emotional isolation of watching teammates compete without you, being unable to do the one thing you have loved doing since you were a child, but having to be around it every single day.

#years

Curtis Jones was a standout omission from the Liverpool squad which faced Monaco in a friendly at Anfield on Sunday afternoon.
Andoni Iraola handed game-time to 22 players as, for the second weekend in a row, the Reds let a 2-0 lead slip to end up tasting defeat, having been beaten 4-2 from a similar position against Leeds seven days ago.
The 25-year-old – who was involved in a seemingly tetchy exchange with Dominik Szoboszlai over the captaincy during the pre-season win over Wrexham in late July – has been the subject of rumoured transfer interest from Inter Milan, and his absence from the team sheet today was notable.
Just over an hour prior to kick-off on Sunday, Fabrizio Romano took to X with an explanation as to why Jones didn't feature for Liverpool this afternoon.
The Italian posted: 'Curtis Jones, out of Liverpool squad today as he's not even on the bench. #LFC informs it's precaution for the midfielder still wanted by Inter (priority target) and more clubs this summer.'

#curtis #monaco #anfield

The Liverpool players return to training from Wednesday before taking on Monaco in a friendly at Anfield on Sunday (14:30 BST).
Dominik Szoboszlai was full of praise for 19-year-old Trey Nyoni, who has been one of the standouts of pre-season so far. The midfielder only managed 229 minutes under former boss Arne Slot last season but has put himself in line to play a more prominent role under Iraola.
"I always knew that he's a good player. In training, he showed his quality many times," said Szoboszlai. "Also when he had the chance to play in some cup games or even in the Premier League. He's a very good player. The squad is short, so we need everybody."
And Szoboszlai agreed it is a clean slate for everyone in the squad before Liverpool begin their Premier League season at Newcastle United on 23 August.
"It's a new manager. Everyone is motivated. I think I see in everybody's eyes that he wants to play - and if you want to play, you have to give your best," he said.

#training