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Liverpool star Virgil van Dijk is desperate for Naby Keita to avoid another injury-interrupted season in 2020-21 and prove to the Premier League he is “world class”.
Keita, 25, joined the Reds from RB Leipzig in 2018 after earning rave reviews for the German side and their sister club Salzburg, where he spent two years until 2016.
In Germany, Keita marked himself out as one of the most promising midfielders in Europe – his ability on the ball and knack for scoring or creating goals seeing him attract interest from many of the world’s biggest clubs.
Liverpool stole a march by securing his transfer – reportedly worth up to £54million – almost a year early, so sure were they in his abilities, but his first two seasons in the Premier League have been impacted by injuries.
His form since the season’s resumption after the coronavirus hiatus has given cause for optimism, however, with the Guinea international setting up goals against Aston Villa and Brighton and Hove Albion, and scoring in the 5-3 win over Chelsea.
Van Dijk is thrilled to see Keita shining on the pitch and hopes the midfielder’s fitness issues vanish next term.
“I’m just very happy for Naby,” Van Dijk told Liverpool’s official website. “Naby is a fantastic guy, he works so hard and he is an outstanding football player.
“We see it week in and week out. He has unfortunately been unlucky with some injuries, but hopefully he can stay fully fit for the next season.
“I think he is world class, if I’m absolutely honest. I see all the moments when he has the ball, the smart moves, the smart intelligence.
“It’s just incredible to see and I’m very happy for him.”
Keita featured 18 times in Liverpool’s successful 2019-20 Premier League campaign, seven fewer than he managed the season before.
Whatever else Rory McIlroy gets to take away from the 102nd USPGA Championship there is no doubt that his reputation will only be enhanced among the golfing purists. You can say what you like about the Northern Irishman’s competitive attitude — and many do and will — but there surely cannot be any questioning his approach to what he regards as proper sportsmanship in the game he adores. McIlroy is in the Bobby Jones school of thought when it comes to the rulebook. The greatest amateur of all time famously declared at the 1925 US Open “you may as well praise me for not robbing a bank” after he was hailed for calling a penalty on himself that only he knew about. It cost Jones the title to Scotland’s Willie Macfarlane. Round two report: Fleetwood’s 64 takes him to touching distance of lead When quizzed about his own moment of honour during Friday’s second round at Harding Park, San Francisco, McIlroy seemed similarly nonplussed. Except, his actions could even be classed as more principled than those of Jones. Because here was a golfer who deliberately gave himself a worse lie to the one chosen by a referee. The incident occurred on the par-three third, after the world No 3 had sliced his tee shot into the thick rough. A search ensued, during which an on-course ESPN reporter unwittingly stepped on McIlroy’s ball. Under the recently introduced Rule 7.4, McIlroy was allowed to re-place it, without penalty, based on an “estimate” of where it was initially. The rules official pointed to an appropriate area where McIlroy duly placed his ball. McIlroy was free to go and try to save par. Except he was not comfortable and said to the referee: “It would not have been as visible as that.” So he bent down and buried it a little further in the cabbage. The best he could manage from that lie was a pitch to within 22 feet, from where he two-putted for a bogey. Suddenly, the clapping emoji appeared all over social media and four hours later, when he could eventually explain his thought process, he was still being congratulated. “I just wouldn’t have felt comfortable,” McIlroy said after signing for a 69. “I placed it, and the rule is try to replicate the lie. No one really knew what the lie was, but if everyone is going around looking for it, it obviously wasn’t too good. So I placed it, I was like, that just doesn’t look right to me. So I just placed it down a little bit. “You know, at the end of the day, golf is a game of integrity and I never try to get away with anything out there. I’d rather be on the wrong end of the rules rather than on the right end.” The proceedings were reminiscent of Darren Clarke at the 2006 Irish Open. Leading by two when play was called for bad weather on the Sunday evening, Clarke returned the next morning to the spot on the ninth where his ball had finished after a wayward drive moments before the hooter had sounded. Lo and behold, the leprechauns had been at work overnight and what was a poor lie was now so decent that the crowd favourite could reach the green. But Clarke refused to accept his good fortune electing to chip it out into the fairway instead. “That’s part and parcel of the game,” he later said after finishing third being his great friend Thomas Bjorn. “It was a much better lie than when I left it. I had the opportunity to hit it on to the green, but my conscience wouldn’t allow that.” Of course, Clarke was something of a mentor to McIlroy and the protege will certainly recall the episode. Like now, the sanctity of the rulebook was under the spotlight at the time with a few high-profile affairs, including Colin Montgomerie’s notorious drop in Jakarta the previous year. McIlroy’s rectitude occurred a week after Bryson DeChambeau shamelessly tried to bend the rulebook in his favour by claiming that his ball was near an anthill and as they were red ants, it was a “dangerous situation” and he was entitled to relief under Rule 16: “Relief from Abnormal Course Conditions (Including Immovable Obstructions), Dangerous Animal Condition, Embedded Ball.” Two weeks before that, at The Memorial, DeChambeau was heard criticising “another garbage ruling” when insisting to a referee — who, as, fate would have it was the same official as in the fire-ant farce — that he was entitled to play a shot that was resting against an out-of-bounds fence. He obviously was not and annoyed the locker room, by calling for a second ruling. The next referee summarily dismissed DeChambeau’s argument. There have also been mutterings on the range concerning DeChambeau’s dropping “technique” on his way to that almost comical 10 at Muirfield Village. In the new rules, designed in part to quicken up the pace of play, golfers are required to come as close as possible to the original spot within a club length. That can be up to four feet and advantages can inevitably be found in such an area, if the player is willing to exploit this loophole. Was all this on McIlroy’s mind? We might never know, for sure, but we can hazard an accurate guess. As it was, McIlroy goes out in the third round on Saturday on one-under, seven behind the leader China’s Haotong Li, with England’s Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Rose in a group in second, two off the pace. DeChambeau was on two-under.
Cueto’s first hit was a fly ball caught literally 99 percent of the time, per Statcast.
Pol Espargaro says Johann Zarco could have avoided the contact which took him out of the MotoGP Czech Grand Prix, but says the Avintia rider “didn’t want” to.
The likelihood college football is played this fall appears to be slim.
Rory did some simple math.
“I was waiting to hit off of him, one of the hitters there was like, ‘Dude, you know he throws like 100, right?’ I was like ‘What?'”
Orioles fans and broadcasters had some fun at the Nationals’ tarp situation.
A play-in series for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference will kick off on Saturday.
Derek Stepan gave some words of advice to his Arizona Coyotes teammates not used to the bright lights of playoff hockey. The time of year is different than usual, but the NHL’s Stanley Cup playoffs haven’t lost any of their luster or penchant for surprises. After a qualifying round full of upsets, overtime heroics and comebacks, the traditional first round that starts Tuesday with 16 teams left is primed to feature even more entertainment and unpredictability.
Paul Westphal was inducted into the basketball Hall of Fame in 2019.
Former 49ers first-round draft pick Josh Garnett was among the players released for the Lions to get down to 80 players on the roster. The 49ers traded up to select Garnett with the 28th overall pick in the 2016 first round. Although he was given a starting job as a rookie, he barely played and [more]
The Bucks’ have one of the best defenses in NBA history.
Derrick Lewis took his next step toward another heavyweight title shot with a record-setting knockout of Aleksei Oleinik at UFC Vegas 6 (aka UFC on ESPN+ 32) on Saturday night at the Apex in Las Vegas.Lewis came out firing, landing a few big punches before clinching and pressing Oleinik against the cage. He then powered Oleinik to the ground and unloaded with several hard left hands.Oleinik tried to clinch form the bottom, but Lewis spun into half guard.Oleinik again held tight, trying to force a stalemate and a stand-up. He eventually slipped out and regained his footing, immediately taking Lewis to the canvas and landing in side control with a scarf hold.Lewis scrambled back to top position, but Oleinik easily reversed him and again took side control with a scarf hold. Lewis remained calm and kept pressing on Oleinik’s face, eventually forcing the Ukrainian fighter to give up on the scarf hold and move to side control, where he applied an Americana lock, but it wasn’t enough to finish the fight before the horn.The former UFC heavyweight title contender Lewis opened the second round with a jumping knee to the chest and floored Oleinik with a right hand. He then dropped to the canvas, unloading with a brutal onslaught of right hands that put Oleinik in another time zone, forcing referee Herb Dean to call the fight just 21 seconds into the round.The finish earned Lewis the record, at 11, for most heavyweight knockouts in UFC history. By knocking out Oleinik, Lewis surpassed Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos.“It feels good. He had that British Bulldog, whatever the hell submission he had on me, I couldn’t breathe at all,” Lewis said after the fight.Coming into the fight, Lewis marveled at how much better he felt after really focusing on his conditioning. He took things a step further on Saturday, declaring he didn’t want to return to the cage until he could shed a few more pounds.“I’m not gonna take any more fights until I can get down into that 250, 245 (pound) range,” said Lewis, who weighed 265 pounds for UFC Vegas 6.“Hopefully (I will return) in December. Some time in December. Right now, that’s all I’m focused on, trying to get my weight down.” Chris Weidman victorious in return to middleweightFormer middleweight champion Chris Weidman likely staved off the demise of his UFC tenure with a dominant decision victory over Omari Akhmedov in the UFC Vegas 6 co-main event.Having gone 1-5 in his last six fights, Weidman desperately needed to win this fight, his return to middleweight following a losing effort at light heavyweight.It wasn’t the most exciting performance of Weidman’s career, but he out-wrestled Akhmedov to get a much need victory after going the full three rounds. “It was huge,” said Weidman. “(There was) a lot of pressure on (me) and I’m happy to get my hand raised. I’m not too happy with that performance but I needed a win.“I’m back, All the top tier guys, I’m coming for you.”* * *TRENDING > Michael Chandler knocks out Benson Henderson in Bellator 243 main event* * * UFC Vegas 6: Lewis vs. Oleinik resultsMain Card * Derrick Lewis def. Aleksei Oleinik by TKO (punches) at 0:21, R2 * Chris Weidman def. Omari Akhmedov by unanimous decision (29-27, 29-27, 29-28) * Darren Stewart def. Maki Pitolo by submission at 3:41, R1 * Yana Kunitskaya def. Julija Stoliarenko by unanimous decision (30-26, 30-27, 30-27) * Beneil Dariush def. Scott Holtzman by TKO (spinning backfist) at 4:38, R1Prelims * Tim Means def. Laureano Staropoli by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28) * Kevin Holland def. Joaquin Buckley by TKO (punch) at 0:32, R3 * Nasrat Haqparast def. Alex Munoz by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) * Andrew Sanchez def. Wellington Turman by KO (punch) at 4:14, R1 * Gavin Tucker def. Justin Jaynes by submission (rear-naked choke) at 1:43, R3 * Youssef Zalal def. Peter Barrett by unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-27) * Irwin Rivera def. Ali Al Qaisi by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
The Houston Astros were involved in another benches-clearing scene Sunday afternoon, this time with the Oakland Athletics.
Danielle Kang completed back-to-back LPGA Tour triumphs with a one-shot victory at the Marathon Classic on Sunday after former world number one Lydia Ko suffered a dramatic late collapse. Ko, who had started the final round four shots clear, looked to be cruising to victory after opening up a five-shot lead with six holes to play at Highland Meadows in Sylvania, Ohio. Ko’s stumble allowed Kang to sneak in and claim victory by one shot only a week after her win at last week’s Drive On Championship in Toledo, the first LPGA event after a five-month COVID-19 hiatus.
Patrick Mahomes and Russell Wilson are PFF’s top quarterbacks entering the 2020 season.
Here are the details for the second half of NASCAR’s weekend doubleheader at Michigan International Speedway.
Richard Petty Motorsports driver Bubba Wallace confirmed to NBC Sports that Chip Ganassi Racing has made him an offer to drive the No. 42 Chevrolet in 2021. The report came from NBC Sports’ Marty Snider during Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Consumers Energy 400 at Michigan International Speedway (NBCSN/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). McDonald’s, […]
Team Penske teammates Brad Keselowski and Ryan Blaney crash while racing for the lead in Sundays NASCAR Cup race at Michigan
The St. Louis Cardinals have had their fourth straight series postponed following coronavirus outbreak.