Latest news with #MoSalah
The Sun
13 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Gary Lineker's bitter feud with BBC worsens as final interview with Mo Salah BLOCKED amid fear pair ‘would discuss Gaza'
BBC chiefs delivered a final snub to Gary Lineker when they axed his last interview without warning — just before his final Match of the Day. He was due to talk to Liverpool goal hero Mo Salah, but there were fears Lineker — involved in an online row over an antisemitic post — would say something controversial about Gaza. 3 3 A source said the plug was pulled by director of sport Alex Kay-Jelski, who got the job last summer. The Sun has revealed there was 'no love lost' between Lineker and Kay-Jelski — with the ex-England hero allegedly giving him the cold shoulder at the FA Cup final. An insider said: 'The plan was for the interview to be shown across the BBC the weekend of Gary's final Match Of The Day. 'That would include on Football Focus the day before as well as online and on social media. 'Out of nowhere, it got cancelled. "Some people think they didn't want Gary and Mo to talk about Gaza. 'Salah has spoken out in his support for Palestinians living in Gaza and Gary has made his feelings clear too. "It felt like it may have come up naturally in conversation. 'It seems they axed it rather than risk possible editorial issues. "They'd only just overcome one storm so to face another would have been a nightmare.' The Sun revealed Gary, 64, was l eaving the BBC after 26 years following his sharing of an Instagram post which criticised Zionism. It included an illustration of a rat — historically used as an antisemitic slur. With the BBC coming under increasingly intense pressure, Lineker issued two apologies, then agreed to step down from his £1.3million-a-year job The ex-Spurs star is understood to be focusing on his Goalhanger Podcasts business, as well as considering rival broadcasters' offers. He had been suspended from Match Of The Day in March 2023 after a post about the small boats controversy, but was reinstated after a boycott by his co-stars. The BBC said: 'The interview was cancelled because it was planned to air after Gary's last Match of the Day. 'It would be wrong to suggest anything else.' However a source insisted: 'A cross-platform interview with the Champions' star player could have aired anytime. "Salah wanted to speak to Gary so to axe it entirely seems short-sighted.' 3
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
🚨 Premier League reveal Goal of the Season winner 🚀
Manchester City striker Omar Marmoush has won the Premier League's Goal of the Season award. His effort came late in the campaign, firing an audacious effort in from range against Bournemouth in the penultimate game of the season. He is the first Manchester City player to win the honour and the second Egyptian after Mo Salah's success in 2022. Advertisement Do you agree with the choice? What would your pick be? Let us know in the comments. 📸 Stu Forster - 2025 Getty Images
Free Malaysia Today
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Free Malaysia Today
Best and worst of a season to savour
Best team: Liverpool. Won the title by a street despite a wobble that cost them two trophies. Best alternative team: Manchester City's lawyers who managed to delay the verdict on those 115 charges and enable City to rebuild. If you were on £10k per hour, you wouldn't rush either. Most predictable team: Arsenal. Would not be swayed by the glaring need to buy a striker so completed a hattrick of runner-up spots. Surprise teams: Nottingham Forest. Almost universally tipped to go down after two relegation battles, they were only denied a Champions League spot on the last day. Crystal Palace. Sold two best players and failed to win any of the first eight games, but ended up winning the FA Cup thus qualifying for Europa League. Best manager: Arne Slot. Little-known and filling giant footsteps, he made it look easy. Honourable mentions: Nuno Espirito Santo (Forest) and Oliver Glasner (Palace). Best player: No contest. With 47 goal involvements, Mo Salah won both players' and writers' awards with 90% of the votes. He's the most popular Egyptian since Cleopatra. Honourable mentions: Cole Palmer, Eberechi Eze, Matz Sels. Biggest flops: Team – Manchester United. We'll spare their blushes with the details, but the boos in KL will sting. As will the sight of 10,000 empty seats tonight in Hong Kong – unless they're sold very quickly. Players: Phil Foden. Player of the Year in the previous season, voted by both players and writers, a write-off in this one. He blames challenges 'off the pitch mentally' and an ankle injury. 'Goals in his veins,' said Pep Guardiola as he amassed a career-high 27 last season. This time, it was only 10. Raheem Sterling. A deadline day loan signing, this was an act of desperation by Arsenal. Now 30, the former Liverpool, City and Chelsea forward is a shadow of his former self, playing for only 523 minutes in the Premier League, failing to find the net. Managers: Ruben Amorim's record has been worse than Erik ten Hag's. He didn't want to come to United until the end of the season. Now we can see why. Southampton stuck with Russell Martin, who had taken them up, too long, but didn't make that mistake with his successor Ivan Juric whom they sacked after one win in 107 days. Now they've appointed Will Still, who began his career on the video game, Football Manager. Do they deserve 30,000 crowds for every home game? Biggest gripe: VAR and crackpot handball rules. Need to change before they make the game a farce. Best signing: Nikola Milenkovic. Captain of Serbia, Europa Conference winner with Fiorentina, Forest snapped him up for £11m. Never meet your heroes? Milenkovic met Nemanja Vidic and then played like him. Worst signing: Antony. Pound for pound, United fans have voted their £80m Brazilian their worst ever signing. Rubbing salt into the wound, he looks pretty useful at Real Betis. Most fitting climax: James Tarkowski's rocket at the death against Liverpool that ensured the Merseyside derby ended level as did the record between the two. It blew the roof off as the Toffees didn't want to lose the last derby at Goodison. It also achieved the considerable feat of getting Arne Slot to lose his rag. Got out of jail: Ange Postecoglou and Spurs. Had the guts to change his style and instilled fight in players. Best owners: Friedkin Group. Everton's new bosses completed the move to their stunning new stadium, saved Goodison for the women's team and brought back David Moyes. Worst owner: Jim Ratcliffe. Plummeting down the table, out of Europe, booed off in Malaysia, upsetting club legends, culling staff, penny-pinching… protesting fans no longer differentiate between the local boy and the Glazers. Should never have left: Scott McTominay. Another stroke of genius from the Ratcliffe regime was to sell one of the few United players who still seemed to care. But because he was homegrown, the whole fee went into the books. His dynamism has been badly missed but Napoli are grateful – he helped them to win the title and became Italy's Player of the Year. Bond villain award: Evangelos Marinakis. Forest's Greek shipping magnate owner bearhugs players after wins, but looked like he wanted to sack Nuno on the field and then banned Gary Neville from the ground. Declan's double take: When Arsenal got a freekick against Real Madrid, their set-piece coach advised Declan Rice to pass. Bukayo Saka said, ''hit it,' so he did. A sumptuous curler that beat even Thibaut Courtois. Soon afterwards, he did it again with more power. They gave The Emirates the best 11 minutes it has ever known. Best other goals: Kaoru Mitoma for Brighton v Chelsea. Cushioning a long punt from his keeper like Dennis Bergkamp, the Japanese winger beat his man, cut inside and provided a similarly exquisite finish. Football from the gods. Omar Marmoush for Man City v Bournemouth. The defence obligingly parted like the Red Sea, and the Egyptian made the most of it. Steaming on before unleashing a heat-seeking missile of a strike into the top corner. Haaland couldn't have done that. Miracle comebacks: Two in the same match. After a 2-2 draw in their Europa League quarter-final at Lyon, Man United had led 2-0 in the second half at Old Trafford against 10 men. Thousands left the ground early but would regret it. Lyon hadn't given up and United suddenly found themselves 4-2 down midway through the second half of extra time. There was even more disbelief when United found another gear to seal a 5-4 (and aggregate 7-6) win for the ages. Bob Marley redemption award: Harry Maguire. Once ridiculed as too slow on the field and too fast off it – he was banned for speeding and convicted for an altercation in Greece – he battled back to be a heroic defender and unlikely attacker. Fleetingly dazzling on the wing and devastating in the air, he scored the winner in the epic win over Lyon. Altitude sickness: For the second season in a row, the three promoted clubs have gone straight back down. Further evidence of the gulf between the top two tiers. None of them were ready. Leicester and Southampton went back up on the rebound, but Ipswich had just come up from League One. The Tractor Boys spent £120m to bridge the gap, but it wasn't enough. Further evidence that parachute payments are more like trampolines. Forgotten man: David de Gea. Safer pair of hands than what United have now as Fiorentina are happy to discover. A man much missed: Rodri. His ACL injury proved pivotal and triggered the City slide. Farewell, Kevin de Bruyne: The flame-haired Belgian is one of the EPL's all-time greats and deserves his statue at The Etihad. A tantrum-free throwback in not having an agent and letting the ball do his talking. Like Mo Salah, he was another one that got away from Chelsea. The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.
The Independent
4 days ago
- Business
- The Independent
Why Liverpool winning the Premier League had nothing to do with luck
Despite being written off at the start of the season, Arne Slot has delivered Liverpool 's 20th Premier League title with relative ease. Wrapping the trophy up with 4 games to spare, and a 5-1 demolition of Tottenham is a huge achievement, but there are still those who'd paint their season as "lucky". Mo Salah and Virgil Van Dijk not succumbing to the sorts of injuries that ruined the chances of some of their rivals. Adam Clery looks at Slot's brand of football, and the work going on behind the scenes, to show you why it wasn't good fortune... but good management.
The Guardian
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
The Football Daily Premier League Awards 2024-25
Welcome to the inaugural Football Daily Premier League Awards, a celebration of a dramatic, eventful 2024-25 season and definitely not an attempt to get half the Football Daily Christmas Awards done early so that we can get lost in eggnog a few days earlier in December. Enjoy! The Fauja Singh Award For Finding A New Interest In Your Dotage Meet Mo Salah 2.0, a once single-minded forward who now loves creating goals almost as much as scoring them. Salah's dual threat made him the best player in the league by a mile, though we're a bit worried about Sadio Mané's cognitive dissonance. The Gus Poyet Award For Giving In To Roy Keane At Old Trafford Sky's Kelly Cates for her deadpan reference to Roy Keane's cardigan during Chelsea's visit to Old Trafford. 'Olivia Rodrigo is watching on from the stands and we've got Cardi B in the studio as well!' Even Keane, whose instinct in such situations is to activate the death stare, saw the funny side. The Arthur Herbert Fonzarelli Award For Jumping The Shark After five years of therapy working exclusively on this issue, Football Daily thought it had made peace with the fact that everyone in the Premier League has a busted moral compass that points exclusively in the direction of their self-interest. Then, on Sunday, Ashley Young gave Anthony Gordon an extended lecture about diving, and we're back on the couch first thing tomorrow morning. The Bukayo Saka Award For Sheer Likability For one season only, Saka will have to share the award with Crystal Palace's Jean-Philippe Mateta. He runs himself into the ground every game, he gives interviews full of personality and playfulness, he hijacks interviews with Eberechi Eze to shout 'HE'S THE MAN' repeatedly; and, like Saka, he scores goal-of-the-season contenders at the Emirates. Mateta and Eze symbolise possibly the most likable team in the league. The 5am Club Award For Finishing Early Brentford, who made history by scoring inside the first minute of three consecutive Premier League games in September. Reality bit thereafter; in their next league game, Nathan Collins didn't give them the lead until the 76th second. The Dennis Bergkamp Award For Wearing Boots Made Of Velvet And Velcro Kaoru Mitoma. His droolicious goal against Chelsea began with a first touch from the heavens as the ball dropped over his shoulder; the other touches were adequate as well. We could write 8,000 words on it but you're better off just watching it. And watching it. And watching it some more until you realise it's 4.49am tomorrow morning and you need to be up in 11 minutes. The Wayne Rooney Remember The Name Award Myles Lewis-Skelly made history at the Etihad in September when he was booked before making his Premier League debut. That came a few minutes later, whereupon a borderline feral Erling Haaland impolitely enquired as to his identity. It's increasingly hard to remember a time when we didn't know all about Lewis-Skelly, who went from benchwarmer to England's first-choice left-back in record time. When he scored in Arsenal's 5-1 win over City in February, he celebrated by copying Haaland's tranquil, cross-legged celebration. We'd imagine there was nothing particularly meditative about Haaland's internal monologue when he clocked Lewis-Skelly's pose. The Steven Gerrard Award For Raising The Roof James Tarkowski, who bulldozed an injury-time equaliser for Everton in the last Merseyside derby at Goodison Park. If there was a louder noise all season, we didn't hear it. The Generic Litter Of Puppies Award For Making The World A Better Place In an omnishambles of a season at Old Trafford, there was one beacon of hope. Amad Diallo plays football with the freedom and joy that most of us leave behind in the playground, and what Premier League highlights United usually had involved him: a 13-minute hat-trick against Southampton, an equaliser at Anfield and a euphoric last-minute winner in the Manchester derby. Merseyside police have said a 53-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, dangerous driving and driving while unfit through drugs, after a car ploughed into a crowd at Liverpool's victory parade in the city on Monday. The vehicle struck pedestrians on Water Street, close to where the parade had finished, with more than 50 people injured – including one child who was seriously hurt. As of Tuesday afternoon, 11 people remained in hospital and were said to be in stable condition. More than 50 people were initially taken to hospital, with others treated at the scene. 'My thoughts and prayers are with everyone affected,' said Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk. 'Praying for a speedy recovery for everyone who suffered injuries. We are all with you.' Football Weekly is here. As is Women's Football Weekly. 'My journey has never been the simplest, and so in true Mary fashion, this isn't a simple goodbye – right before a major tournament. Nonetheless, I know this is the right decision' – England keeper Mary Earps gets her third person on after shocking teammates by calling time on her international career. It was a weekend of finales and farewells across the country. Perhaps the biggest of all came in Lisbon, where Arsenal dethroned Barcelona and won Women's Big Cup. Jonathan Liew watched a club redefine itself, Tom Garry followed the victory party and Suzanne Wrack took in the Katie McCabe celebratory scenes in north London. In the Premier League Newcastle scraped into Bigger Cup despite losing against Everton, Chelsea grabbed fifth, consigning Nottingham Forest to Tin Pot, and Aston Villa raged against the referee. In the EFL playoffs, Sunderland snatched promotion to the top flight, Charlton secured their spot in the Championship and Wimbledon saw off Walsall to bag a return to League One. It's David Squires on … his moments of the Premier League season, with a doff of the cap to Rodgers and Hammerstein. You can get your own copy too. Oh. If you do have any, please send letters to Today's winner of our prizeless letter o' the day is … Rollover. Terms and conditions for our competitions, when we run them, can be viewed here. The latest edition of our sister email is out, out, out, featuring this extract on Wuhan's Asian Big Cup triumph. Newcastle have announced that sporting director Paul Mitchell is leaving the club at the end of June. Chelsea are ramping up their push for new striker – they have held further talks over Ipswich's Liam Delap and are pondering a move for Eintracht Frankfurt's Hugo Ekitike. Erik ten Hag has returned to management at Bayer Leverkusen. 'Bayer are one of the best clubs in Germany and also among the top clubs in Europe,' he cheered. While Ten Hag is in at the BayArena, Florian Wirtz and Jeremie Frimpong may be out – Liverpool are in talks over what would be a record move for Wirtz and are close to a deal for Frimpong. Elsewhere, Xabi Alonso has been confirmed as Real Madrid's new head coach, while Southampton have appointed 32-year-old Will Still as their new manager. And Pope Leo XVI has welcomed newly-crowned Serie A champions Napoli to the Vatican, while joking about his own allegiances. 'The press says I am an AS Roma fan, but you are welcome! This is what the press says. Not everything you read in the press is true,' honked the pope. Time to look back on the Premier League season with our annual review – our writers run the rule over the (deep breath) players, matches, managers, goals, flops, signings, young players, gripes and broadcasters. There's also our writers' bests and worsts – how their predictions fared – and our quiz. Juventus did just enough to reach Bigger Cup but will Antonio Conte join them there? Nicky Bandini on a dramatic Serie A weekend. Rayo Vallecano have secured a place in Europe – a monumental achievement, writes Sid Lowe. Thiago Rabelo was in Rio to attend Carlo Ancelotti's first press conference as Brazil manager. Lego fan Levi Colwill has become a key building block for Maresca's Chelsea project, writes Jacob Steinberg. Scotland captain Rachel Corsie tells Tom Garry about calling time on her career. Aston Villa's Bigger Cup miss wasn't just about one bad call, reckons Jonathan Wilson. Jack Grealish looks out of time at Manchester City now Guardiola has moved the goalposts, laments Jonathan Liew. And Simon Hattenstone bids farewell to Kevin De Bruyne: Manchester City's genius and a law unto himself. Gary Lineker signed off from Match of the Day this weekend after 26 years on the BBC's flagship football programme. Four years earlier he was better known for his crisp commercials than his punditry. Here he is in one of those adverts – in a series where the tagline was 'No more Mr Nice Guy', poking fun at his squeaky-clean image – taking a £10,000 cheque from Des Lynam (Lineker's MOTD predecessor) dressed as a nun.
