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Simba SC coach Sven Vandenbroeck has admitted he was scared they could lose their Mainland Premier League match against KMC on Wednesday.

The champions went into the match seeking to win and close the gap between them and table-toppers Young Africans (Yanga SC), but they were forced to toil and use every trick in the book before winning 1-0 courtesy of a controversial penalty converted by striker Meddie Kagere.

Kagere, who had come on as a second-half substitute, stood up to take the penalty which was awarded after a KMC defender was adjudged to have handled the ball inside the box, and sent keeper Juma Kaseja the wrong way for his 50th goal since joining the club.

The Belgian coach has now complimented his players after the hard-fought win, saying he knew KMC will trouble his side because they are among the few teams in the league who play technical football.

“Actually, I am very happy because, before the game, I knew that it would be a tricky one,” Vandenbroeck told Daily News. “For me, KMC is one of the better teams in the league which plays technical football.

“I think 90 minutes showed us we really had to give everything to get that victory and sometimes, victories in these tough games make you champions. If you can win a game that is 50- 50, it makes you go far.

“The three changes I did were because of injuries but the technical bench and all the players did everything they could today [Wednesday].”

Vandenbroeck also admitted some of his players are already exhausted because of playing matches week in, week out.

Meanwhile, KMC tactician Habib Kondo said they put up a strong fight to snatch something from the game but in the end they lost because of the penalty.

His keeper Kaseja, who protested at the decision to award the penalty, maintained it was not a penalty and that Simba were gifted the win.

“From what I saw, there was no handball in the box but because the referee is too a human being, such mistakes are likely to happen since we are all prone to mistakes,” said Kaseja.

Simba will now shift their focus to the Caf Champions League where they are scheduled to face FC Platinum of Zimbabwe on Tuesday.

Marcel Desailly fears Olivier Giroud will struggle to maintain his position as Chelsea's leading striker over the course of the season but has praised Frank Lampard for his handling of the France international.

Having almost left Chelsea last January last year , Giroud was again considering leaving Stamford Bridge until his four-goal spree against Sevilla in the Champions League earlier in December saw him regain his starting spot.

The 34-year-old was growing concerned that he would lose his spot in the France team ahead of next summer's European Championship as he chases down Thierry Henry's all-time goalscoring record for Les Bleus.

But Desailly, who captained both Chelsea and France, has explained why he feels that Giroud finds himself in and out of the team in west London.

"He is not the future of Chelsea and he can never be the main man," Desailly told  Goal , as part of the  Nissan UEFA Champions League Trophy Tour.

"He can only be important at moments for the club because Lampard can be clever to study the opponents and use him in specific games against teams who don’t like facing a player with his strengths.

"I believe that Lampard has helped Giroud shine often by getting a lot out of him but he can’t be the first choice for Lampard. He has Tammy Abraham and Timo Werner to compete with, so he can’t maintain his first-choice status from the start until the end.

"It is just down to Lampard to use him at the right time, get runners around him to allow him to shine. He is 34 years old now so don’t ask him to be the main man but make sure that he is important when he is needed. With his age, and status as a world champion, then I think this is about how and when you use him."

Still, when it comes to his status in France, Giroud is well on his way to establishing himself as a legendary player. Having won the World Cup in 2018 as the main striker, Giroud is now targeting individual records after winning 105 caps and scoring 44 goals.

Seven more goals are needed to match Henry's all-time scoring record, while he also ranks in the top 10 most-capped players for his country. France coach Didier Deschamps has kept his faith in Giroud even amid difficult spells for his club and Desailly sees him differently in the shirt of Les Bleus.

"He is indispensable for the national team," he continued. "Giroud is the perfect team-mate and player for the France national team. He is the first choice in the national team. [Anthony] Martial doesn’t combine as well in the national team as Giroud.

"[Kylian] Mbappe can play down the middle but he is the world champion from being out wide. You have to pick Giroud, who is the second top scorer in France’s history, even if at club level he is on and off."

Desailly was a hero for the France national team himself after winning a host of club honours with Marseille, AC Milan and Chelsea during an illustrious career. He excelled in France's defence and won the World Cup in 1998 and the European Championship in 2000.

Now the next generation are hoping to emulate Desailly and he picked out his favourite defenders from the impressive talent pool at Deschamps' disposal.

"Probably the best combination is [Clement] Lenglet and [Rafael] Varane," Desailly said about France's options at centre-half. "I love [Samuel] Umtiti but he is often injured and it depends on the moment.

"We know [Dayot] Upamecano at Leipzig is amazing. It looks like in the national team that he needs to acclimatise to the level, different team-mates and system. He has to get used to the stress of the new level."

Desailly won back-to-back tournaments with France but also saw his side finish bottom of their group in the 2002 World Cup. He offered his advice to the next generation on what it takes to keep at the top at the international level: "The adrenaline, the stress levels, the capacity to maintain your intensity makes it difficult.

"For us, we did it back to back but then we were almost the same players that failed badly in 2002. I hope for them that they can manage all their elements to perform again like we did the first time around."

Chennaiyin FC have scored just a single goal in their last four Indian Super League (ISL) outings and coach Csaba László has urged his players to start scoring more often in training as that would eventually translate to on field as well.

The Marina Machans have just a single win under their belt which came on matchday one against Jamshedpur FC. Of the three goals they have scored, one was a penalty.

“We want to use our strengths. We need to score goals. We must be more focused. We should not be aggressive but focused when we get chances to score. We also have to stay compact , organised and stop Goa and we can lead the team to a win. 

“If you don't score, you don't win .I think I don't want to push the responsibility on the players. This is also a little bit to do with your own confidence and may be because our preparation was not long. If you are out of football for six months and then come back and hit the ground running, it is not easy. So, I don't want to blame my players. But we must be focused and take confidence. I want us to start scoring more goals even in training. We need to do that more and that confidence will come,” explained László.

He however, hopes that his team will be amongst goals soon as it’s just a matter of time before they begin to convert their chances.

“In the game, of course, there is more pressure and responsibility. It is not easy to just come in after six months and start scoring. We have tried to resolve this and we are working on it. But sometimes, it takes time. Maybe sometimes, we will win with a lot of goals and the ice will be broken,” he said.

Chennaiyin FC have been without the services of Enes Sipovic as the centre-back picked up an injury during the game against Mumbai City FC. The good news is that Anirudh Thapa, who made a cameo appearance against NorthEast United, has recovered completely and is ready for a start on Saturday.

“Enes (Sipovic) is ready but I don't know if he will play from the beginning. Esma’s (Esmael Goncalves) injury is not serious. He should be back soon. Thapa is okay now and he is fully fit. We have some small, small injuries. We need players on the pitch and not in the doctor's room,” he shared an update on the status of the injured players.

They will face FC Goa, who suffered a 1-0 defeat to ATK Mohun Bagan in their last game on Wednesday. László believes that playing Goa, who play an expansive brand of football, will make a good viewing for the neutrals.

“(We must) Stay compact and focus on ourselves. It's true that we have to concentrate on the opponent. But we also have to concentrate on ourselves. Goa, after losing, will want to comeback. They play good football, we also play football. It should be an interesting game for both sides,” he opined.

He also stressed that his team have to focus on their strengths and look to capitalise on it rather than turn their attention solely on how to stop Goa from building an attack.

“Goa have also their own style. Against Mumbai (City), we had to do that (press and stop them playing out). But we can't prepare a team to play against one particular opponent. We are building on our style. We have to be organised and be responsible for our own style than play according to them.

“It is not possible to stop the opponents always but we can be responsible for our game. We have to take our own responsibility. If we win the ball, we should know what we have to do. It is very different in each game. You need to have confidence to go forward and know what to do when you lose the ball. These are small puzzles I have to put together to form a picture,” said the former Dundee United coach.

“We can complain about the bubble, short time in pre-season and many other things. But we have to get results. I don't want to think about things that we can't change. Important thing is that my team should affect the game. No one should bring us out of a winning mentality,” he added.

The former Uganda national team coach elaborated that a style of play is formed on the basis of the players available. He also went on mention that the most important factor for his side is to be consistent and play to their strengths.

“You have a team, then players and their individual styles. We can talk about ball possession. To create a style of play, I don't think my team should play a tiki-taka style and I don't wish for it too. But we have our style. We have a lot of fast players and are aggressive on 1v1s. You have to think about tactics. Tactics is not like you see some style of play and think you need to copy it. Most important thing is to find out what fits your team and its strengths. We should've won against Mumbai, who play a possession game, 1-0 but two errors meant we lost 2-1. But a team can't just copy football style of another team, like tiki-taka. What we need is consistency and I'm starting to see it from my side.”

AFC Leopards will welcome Western Stima at the Moi International Sports Complex on Friday, looking to extend the best start to a campaign they have enjoyed in 12 seasons.

Ingwe have registered three consecutive wins in the Football Kenya Federation Premier League which is a stark contrast to how they performed in the opening games from 2009 to 2020.

In the 2009 season, the local giants lost the two opening games before they drew in the third one while in the 2010 campaign, they lost the opener and won the next two, and the same sequence was recorded in the 2011 campaign.

In the 2012 season, AFC Leopards opened the campaign with a draw before winning the subsequent ties while in 2013 and in 2014 season, which were conquered by their great rivals Gor Mahia, they drew in the two opening ties before they lost the third games.

In the 2015 season, Ingwe drew the opener before winning the following two games and the same script was repeated in the 2016 season as Tusker went on to win the title.

AFC Leopards had a good run in the opening stage of the 2017 season where they recorded two consecutive wins before they dropped points with a draw in the third game.

There were mixed results in the 2018 campaign as a draw was registered in the opener before a win and a loss were subsequently registered in the following two games.

In 2019, Ingwe had what was described as one of the worst season starts as they drew in the opener, lost in the second game and drew in the third game, ending up with just two points from the three games.

Another loss marked the beginning of the 2019/20 season as a draw and a win followed in the second and third matches, respectively.

Tomas Trucha led them to a 2-1 win against Tusker in the opening game of the current campaign before other victories were registered against Bidco United (2-0) and Sofapaka (3-0).

In each of the three matches, Elvis Rupia has played key roles as he scored against all three rivals and is on top of the scorers’ charts with six goals.

Western Stima remain winless given that they drew 0-0 with Bidco United, lost to Sofapaka 3-1 before they were humbled 5-2 at home by Tusker in the last game.

New signing Taddeo Lwanga is among three players left behind by Simba SC as they travelled for their Caf Champions League match against FC Platinum on December 22.

The Ugandan winger signed for the Wekundu wa Msimbazi on December 2 for an undisclosed fee after leaving Egyptian club Tanta SC but he is yet to feature for the team.

While many felt his arrival was to have him play in the Champions League, Goal can now reveal Lwanga is among the players left behind for the trip to Zimbabwe, others being Charles Ilanfya, who is Simba’s number four striker, and Larry Bwalya, who is attending to family matters in Zambia.

“We are leaving for Zimbabwe on Friday but three players [Lwanga, Ilanfya, and Bwalya] have already been left out of the travelling squad,” a source, who did not want to be named, told Goal on Friday.

On signing Lwanga, Simba said in a statement: “He has been signed to replace Gerson Fraga who recently underwent knee surgery due to an injury he picked earlier this season. Fraga will be out of action for more than six months so he was allowed to return to Brazil to oversee his treatment.”

In a recent interview, Simba coach Sven Vandenbroeck explained why he signed Lwanga.

“As you know, Gerson [Fraga] was ruled out for six to eight months meaning we had only one holding midfielder Jonas [Mkude],” Vandenbroeck explained as quoted by Daily News.

“This means Fraga will be missed for the whole season hence, we had to get another player to fill his void.

"I would have loved to have him [Fraga] for the whole season but unfortunately, he will not be able to play any game this season. It is unlucky for Fraga to be out of action for eight months and his contract expires at the end of the season.”

Simba eliminated Nigerian side Plateau United on a 1-0 aggregate scoreline while Platinum made it to the next round on a 4-1 aggregate win after knocking out Costa De Sol of Mozambique.

The first leg of the Simba vs Platinum game will be played on December 22 in Zimbabwe with the return leg planned for Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar es Salaam on January 5 or 6, 2021.

Kaizer Chiefs football club have managed to buy the land upon which the club was originally founded, chairman Kaizer Motaung has announced.

The 1.3ha ground is in Phefeni, Soweto, across the road from the Motaung family home and where the club was founded 50-years ago.

On the land at the moment is a church as well as a football pitch. The football pitch is used by a nearby school as well as by members of the local community.

The community has for some time been battling to stop the land from being taken over by developers, which is why Chiefs' acquisition was so important.

“We are grateful about the acquisition of this important piece of land,” Motaung said in a statement, as quoted by the Daily Sun.

“It's our way of making a contribution in the community from which we come. It is a historic and proud moment for us to announce this milestone,” the Chiefs boss stated.

“This did not come easy, it took a long haul of observing the on-goings with the other attempted transactions to acquire this land. At the end of the day, we are happy to eventually secure this land as our way of giving back to the community of Phefeni.”

Motaung's daughter Jessica, the Amakhosi marketing director, underlined the efforts it took to acquire the land, and the importance of doing so in a historic year for the club.

“It has gone back and forth with exchanges of propositions,” she said.

“We are glad we never gave up and, eventually, after many attempts, we succeeded to reach finality.

“This is history in the making, above all because this is happening in the 50th anniversary of our club.

“We are looking forward to making further announcements about the plans we have to develop this into a community sports facility. We will announce all that in due course.”

Kaizer Chiefs were founded in January 1970 after Kaizer Motaung returned from the United States, where he had been playing for Atlanta Chiefs.

It wasn’t what Arsenal completely wanted but there’s a feeling that’s where we are at with Mikel Arteta’s side; looking for positives like a needle in a haystack.

The Gunners played out a 1-1 draw with an in-form Southampton side, which ended a wretched run of four straight defeats on the spin. Losing five on the trot will have seen this current crop set the undesired record of suffering a quartet of losses on home turf for the first time in the club’s history (they’d initially lost four in succession 61 years ago).

Given the context of Wednesday, against Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side that rocked up at the Emirates Stadium on a five-game unbeaten run away from home while averaging 2.2 goals per game in that time, many observers felt the North London side were there for the taking.

In truth, the opening half-hour seemed to validate their pre-match thoughts. The visitors utterly dominated their illustrious hosts who seemed to play with fear, according to old boy Theo Walcott, scorer of the away side’s 18th-minute goal on his old stomping ground.

The mere fact that Arsenal responded after starting slowly was a step in the right direction and not letting the game get away from them was equally important.

Be that as it may, the biggest cheer — from supporters watching at home — likely came when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang finally ended his and the club’s miserable run in front of goal. For the Gunners, the skipper’s well-dispatched effort after 52 minutes was the side’s first from open play in 13 hours and 17 minutes, a truly remarkable statistic given the club’s stature.

It was Auba’s first strike since that penalty away at Manchester United and it ended an extended run without scoring from open play since September 12 at Fulham. Going three months without an open-play strike was astonishing for someone with the Gabon star’s quality, but the London giants will hope Wednesday’s effort opens the floodgates.

As cliche as the aforementioned may seem, it certainly is reasonable particularly knowing how much his teammates lean on his final-third output.

“Hopefully it's going to change everything dramatically and he's going to score every game because this is what we need at the moment,” Mikel Arteta reflected afterwards. “We need the points and in order to do that, we need to score many more goals and be more efficient when we have the chances. I think it's going to make him really good.

“I don't have to see it, I'm sure that it's going to take a lot of pressure off him and it's going to release him as well.”

Auba, looking more relieved than elated, appeared more concerned about the collective rather than focus on himself post-match.

“Tonight is not about my goal or me, it's about the team,” the 31-year-old forward said after the stalemate. “As I said, we need points so it doesn't matter if I scored. For the moment, the most important thing to do is win games and get points.”

The captain and talisman had the highest xG on the night and was involved in two Shot-Creating Actions (joint second). Crucially, he helped to progress the ball in possession and was integral to the home side’s pressing on the night.

As for the returning Nicolas Pepe; while the first half showed what the Ivory Coast winger brings to the side, the performance after half time demonstrated another side to the wide attacker’s game.

In that opening 45, the ex-Lille superstar could have netted his first league goal since October but had one goal-bound effort blocked by Jannik Vestergaard and the second saved by Alex McCarthy.

The desire exhibited for that 28th-minute attempt to break his neck to match Aubameyang’s run and recognise the space to run into to meet the talisman’s cut-back (admittedly intended for Bukayo Saka) highlighted his motivation and intelligence respectively.

He was also involved in the move that saw Dani Ceballos apparently brought down 10 minutes later. Pepe’s gentle one-time touch had played in the Spaniard and, on another day, he may have had the rub of the green as that Jan Bednarek clip on the Real Madrid loanee falls into the ‘seen them given’ category.

Gabriel’s exasperating second-half red card meant the hosts — for the second home game in a row — had the stuffing knocked out of them after bright starts following the interval, and the upshot of another sending off meant Arsenal had to retreat despite being on the front foot beforehand.

The remainder of Pepe’s game saw him more prominent in his own half and largely to good effect, with the principal error coming when he was caught ball-watching but Moussa Djenepo’s careless touch meant Southampton couldn’t capitalise.

The Ivorian made a stunning eight recoveries — only Rob Holding with nine had more — won eight of nine total duels on the night and drew a couple of fouls in the game. Furthermore, only Eddie Nketiah and Auba pressed the opponent in possession more times (16) than the returning 25-year-old (12).

It may not have been the most-accomplished showing for the Gunners, but baby steps need to be taken as the club looks to halt the tide of depressing results in what’s been their worst start to a top flight campaign since 1974.

Up next for Arteta’s troops are Everton away on Saturday, followed by Chelsea in the repeat of the FA Cup final on Boxing Day.

With the monkey now off Aubameyang’s back, who’s to say he won’t repeat last season’s heroics against the seemingly wobbling Blues in Arsenal’s next game at the Emirates?

After a troubled season, the North Londoners could do with some festive cheer and nobody will say they are not due a break after a torrent of poor performances and results.

Wakiso Giants will have to navigate their Ugandan Premier League (UPL) match against Bright Stars without defender Hassan Wasswa on Friday.

According to the club’s head coach Douglas Bamweyana, Wasswa will miss the league match owing to suspension.

“The defender has now accumulated three yellow cards [after another booking on Tuesday against Onduparaka FC] which has automatically suspended him for one game as per rules,” Bamweyana told the club’s official website.

“We have Dazo out after accumulating three yellow cards but we believe in the available lads in his position to do the job.”

Wasswa will join a list of absentees for the league match as Fahad Kawooya and Karim Ndugwa have been ruled out because of sickness.

On the team’s start to the season where they have only managed to secure four points, Bamweyana said: “It might look bad that we only have draws but the big picture is that everyone is going to drop points at some time.

“Probably we have had our bad patch at the beginning and we just need to get on the right side of winning.

“If we start posting good results, these four games could be easily forgotten and we will be back in the right places but we need to shape up first and tomorrow is the occasion on which we want to do that.”

Wakiso will be facing Bright Stars for the third time in history with the first two matches ending in draws.

During their last match against Onduparaka, it was Wasswa who scored for the Purple Sharks at the Green Light Stadium, Arua. The defender cancelled out Kabon Living’s goal in a game Wakiso goalkeeper Derrick Emukule saved a penalty.

In an interview after the game, Bamweyana explained his charges are growing in confidence and soon they will start winning matches.

“You saw how they fought to get a draw, that shows you the boys are gaining more confidence as they play in every match,” Bamweyana told reporters after the match.

“It is just a matter of time before you start seeing as winning matches and our next match against Bright Stars might be the turning point.”

Since 2013 when HRH Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim (TMJ) embarked on the Johor Darul Ta'zim FC (JDT) project, there has been many players that have come and gone for the club that has won seven straight Malaysia Super League title.

The biggest name of all during this short period was undoubtedly Argentine Pablo Aimar who left such an indelible mark on the club and propelled their name onto the world football stage but after the former Valencia man left in 2014, there hasn't been anyone signed that was close to his stature as a player.

Once their appetite has been whetted, the fans of JDT have continually looked to TMJ to bring in the next big name with the likes of Fernando Torres and Lukas Podolski among those suggested. In an interview on Bola @ Mamak on Thursday, TMJ explained why that won't be possible although he went on to reveal that he was close to getting Alexandre Pato for the 2021 season.

"Yes, many players including Mesut Ozil. After investment in China, UAE, Japan and Korea, it is hard for us to sign any big players.There are no big name players who will sign for anything less than USD2.2 million. For just one player, that doesn’t make sense for the club. We don’t want to use the majority of our financial power for just one player and neglect the others.

"Yesterday (Wednesday) we had a chance with Pato who was available and I found out that it would take around USD1.8 million for his salary but in the end an UAE (United Arab Emirates) team offered USD 2.2 million and we could not compete with that," said TMJ during the interview.

What that explained is the structure of how JDT work when looking at player transfer and it would suggest that if an opportunity arise for the right price that TMJ would not hesitate to once again have a world renowned player adorning the JDT kit.

But that does not mean JDT will not look to do big things in other departments, just like the new partnership deal signed with United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) earlier yesterday that will see the club raising funds for the betterment of children on top of displaying the UNICEF logo on their kit for the coming season.

After a 2-1 win against Odisha, Bengaluru are slowly and steadily becoming the team that they have come to be known for under Carles Cuadrat in the last two years. 

With each passing game, the Blues are becoming better and better at managing games that they don't even have to be at their very best in each game to secure all three points. That is the quality of a top team. 

It wasn't a brilliant display from Bengaluru against Odisha. But they did enough to remain unbeaten in the 2020-21 Indian Super League and at the end of the day, a solid display that wins points is what counts, above everything else. 

However, it cannot be said that they came against top-quality opposition. The players and the coach at Odisha have some thinking to do following Thursday's defeat. 

The ISL has seen coaches getting sacked a few games into the start of the season - December- January seems to be that time every season. Stuart Baxter does not have a lot of time in his hands to turn things around having gone six matches without a win. It is a run that includes five straight defeats. It must also be remembered he has a two-year-contract at Odisha. 

Odisha have been absolutely terrible this season. They have often look clueless in the final third, ineffective in midfield and puzzled at the back.

A fantastic Harmanjot Khabra cross from the right flank unlocked the Odisha defence for Bengaluru's opening goal. Sunil Chhetri rose above an out-of-form right back Shubham Sarangi to head in his 50th goal contribution in the ISL (42 goals and eight assists). Sarangi continued to be poor at his role and still has started every single game under Baxter which shows that they do not have depth or quality in their squad. 

Even after the restart, Odisha had no clue how to break a solid Bengaluru defence led by Juanan. Based on the first six games, Diego Mauricio and Manuel Onwu can neither play together nor can play alone without enough support behind them.

Marcelinho, who was given five minutes to make an impact off the bench in their last game, came on earlier against the Blues but the tightly-knit opposition easily rendered the Brazilian ineffective. It still doesn't explain one of ISL's best-ever goal contributor (49 goal and assists) not being a key player in the team, especially when the team is struggling in the final third. 

Steven Taylor equalised for Odisha and the joy lasted all of eight minutes. The Odisha defence once again switched off as Odisha controlled a long ball down the right flank and found Deshorn Brown inside the box who laid it off for Cleiton Silva to slot home. An easy goal was scored and more importantly, a valuable three points were registered. 

Cuadrat has drilled his side well and they are slowly coming into their own. 

Liverpool loanee Taiwo Awoniyi has revealed his desire to represent the Nigeria national team and hopes his chance will come soon.

The forward has previously starred for the West Africans’ youth teams and was part of the side that won the 2013 U17 World Cup.

Leicester City forward Kelechi Iheanacho and Watford attacker Isaac Success are two of his former teammates at the U17 level who have gotten their chances to play for the Super Eagles.

The 23-year-old has also played for Nigeria at the U20 and U23 levels where he has impressed and played a key role as the West Africans qualified for 2015 All African Games.

Awoniyi has been with Premier League side Liverpool since 2015 but he is yet to feature for the side and had made do with temporary deals away from Anfield. 

The forward is currently on his seventh loan spell with Bundesliga club Union Berlin and has been delivering fine performances for his club.

Awoniyi has registered three goals and provided one assist in 10 Bundesliga appearances in the 2020-21 season.

The forward has promised to continue his eye-catching displays at club level while hoping to get a chance to feature for Gernot Rohr’s side.

“The national team question for me is a big thing. I remember in the U17 and U20 days, the pride to wear the national colours is massive,” Awoniyi told Brila FM.

“I understand that the Country has talents in abundance, But I also have to stick to my principle of time and season and continue to work hard. When it’s my time I’ll take the opportunity and understand it for what it is.”

Besides playing for Union Berlin, the forward has also previously featured for FSV Frankfurt, NEC, Mouscron, Gent, Mouscron and Mainz 05.

During his time with the 05ers, the 23-year-old suffered a severe concussion and was hospitalized after hitting his head with Felix Uduokhai.

Awoniyi will be expected to play a part for Union Berlin when they take on Borussia Dortmund in a Bundesliga game on Friday night.

The Iron Ones are currently sixth on the league table after gathering 18 points from 12 games.

Jurgen Klopp insisted there was no plan for Liverpool to dominate the world for years to come, insisting it was tough just to be successful in England.

After leading Liverpool to the Premier League title last season, Klopp was named The Best FIFA Men's Coach on Thursday, with four Reds also part of the FIFA FIFPro Men's World11.

After Wednesday's 2-1 win over Tottenham, Klopp's men are also three points clear atop the Premier League table this season.

But the German dismissed any talk about world domination, highlighting just how difficult it was to win in England.

"I don't think anybody will dominate English football – it's too difficult, 100 per cent. The league is too challenging, the calendar is too challenging," Klopp told reporters.

"We all have to make sure we get through these crazy times at the moment and all the other times as well. We had four players in the best team of the world in the last year – one we had to sign from Bayern [Munich], which was smart business, I would say. We obviously have a good team.

"All the other players could have been in that team, as well, because of their ability, so you see we have a really good team here. What you always need in life is a little bit of luck, so you can win football games.

"The more football games you win, the closer you come to winning trophies. If you are in the final or whatever, then you have to make the final touch, that's it.

"But we don't plan world dominance for the next years. We just plan for the next game, which is in 40-something hours at Crystal Palace."

As well as the breakthrough Premier League title, Klopp has led Liverpool to a Champions League title, Club World Cup and UEFA Super Cup since taking charge in October 2015.

But the former Borussia Dortmund coach said there was no chance he would become complacent.

"Oh, I'm 53 years old. I'm too old for flying, so it's easy for me to stay humble. The thing is I have just a world-class team, I work at a world-class club. With the players and people around me, it's our responsibility to be as successful as possible. That's it," Klopp said.

"Nobody has to worry that I could get satisfied – I don't really know how that works. There are no guarantees of success; the only chance you have is to work as hard as you can. If we do that, still no guarantee. But you can get at least a little bit. That's why we try absolutely everything every single day."

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was delighted with Paul Pogba's performance in Manchester United's 3-2 win over Sheffield United on Thursday.

Pogba set up Anthony Martial's goal at Bramall Lane as United became the fourth side in English top-flight history to record 10 consecutive away league wins.

Only Alex Telles (96) had more touches than Pogba (91), while the France international won three of his six aerial duels and gained possession eight times.

United manager Solskjaer praised Pogba, who has been linked with a move away from the Premier League giants.

"We made a decision. Of course, we know [Pogba's] strength in the air. We knew he was going to be important for us. He won almost every single header," he told a news conference.

"His vision, creativity. Paul's responded really well to the work he's been doing. He's fit now. Excellent performance."

Marcus Rashford scored a brace, either side of Martial's goal, while Mason Greenwood was the only other United player to have multiple shots.

Solskjaer hopes the trio can build on their performances, with Rashford having netted five goals in six away games in the Premier League this season.

"I don't think it's a key to get them on the pitch, it's key to get them performing. We need them to kick on, to start scoring goals," he said.

"We've done okay without them really firing. They showed their capabilities, now we need their consistency. Very happy with all three of them."

United, who climbed into sixth in the table, made another slow start as a Dean Henderson error allowed David McGoldrick to open the scoring, with the Sheffield forward also netting a second late on.

Solskjaer was happy to come away with three points, with United only five points behind leaders Liverpool and holding a game in hand.

"I don't have any frustrations. We got three points from a difficult game, a difficult place. You don't expect it to be comfortable," he said.

"The goals we scored were excellent. You have to accept the opposition have weapons, armoury that can hurt you."

Solskjaer's men host Leeds United in the Premier League on Sunday.

Lionel Messi snubbed Cristiano Ronaldo in The Best FIFA Men's Player voting, while only naming eventual winner Robert Lewandowski as his third choice pick for the award.

Lewandowski picked up the annual individual prize in Zurich after being recognised by the majority of fans, journalists, national team coaches and captains for his outstanding 2019-20 season at Bayern Munich.

The Polish striker scored a staggering 55 goals in 47 appearances across all competitions last term, firing Hansi Flick's side to an unprecedented Bundesliga, DFB Cup and Champions League treble in the process.

He beat off competition from Messi and Ronaldo in the final three-man shortlist, with the former denied his second FIFA gong and the latter missing out on a record-extending third win.

Football's main international governing body has now made the final votes public, giving supporters the chance to find out who their favourite players picked before the ceremony on Thursday.

Juventus talisman Ronaldo, who helped the club win a ninth successive Serie A crown last season, included Lewandowski, Messi and Kylian Mbappe in his final three, but was surprisingly not among his long-time rival's final choices.

Messi backed former Barca team-mate Neymar to win the accolade and put Mbappe in at second before giving a nod to Lewandowski, having seen both men inspire Paris Saint-Germain to their first-ever Champions League final.

The Argentine's decision to include two PSG stars is likely to raise a few eyebrows though, given the fact he has been heavily linked with a move to Parc des Princes next year.

Neymar expressed a desire to reunite with Messi in France at the start of the month, telling ESPN: "What I want the most is to enjoy playing with him again. He can play in my role, it wouldn't be a problem with me! For sure, next year we have to do it."

The 33-year-old pushed for a transfer away from Camp Nou in the summer only to perform a U-turn over his future amid the threat of a legal dispute, but his current contract is still set to expire at the end of the season.

Manchester City and Inter have been tipped to compete with PSG for Messi in the transfer market, having heard the six-time Ballon d'Or winner openly express his desire to leave Camp Nou during an exclusive interview with Goal back in September.

Manchester United are good enough to challenge for the Premier League title this season, according to veteran midfielder Nemanja Matic.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side moved up to sixth in the table with another comeback win on Thursday, bouncing back from an early setback to beat rock-bottom Sheffield United 3-2 at Bramall Lane.

Around a third of the way through the season, United are now six points behind leaders Liverpool with a game in hand.

Coming from behind has been a specialty of the Red Devils this season but Matic wasn’t concerned by the early Dean Henderson error which allowed David McGoldrick to give the Blades the lead.

"I don't think we started slowly,” Matic told BBC Radio 5 Live. “We knew what to expect, that they would fight for their life. Unluckily we conceded a goal with a small mistake but we were capable of turning the game around and scoring three goals.

"It's a very important three points for us, it takes us closer to the top teams. They don't deserve to only have one point this season, but that's football.

"If we continue this way...it's going to be tight sometimes but we have to show our quality every single game. I believe we have the quality to fight for the title; if we are going to win, I don't know."

While Thursday night saw another three points head to Manchester, it also meant Sheffield United have now made the worst start to a top-flight season in the history of English football.

Solskjaer and his players are aiming considerably higher. Before the game, Matic’s fellow midfielder Fred outlined his ambition to see his side at the top of the table by the turn of the year.

United have tricky fixtures against Leeds United, Leicester City and Wolves to come before the end of December, as well as a Carabao Cup quarter-final away to Everton.

“If we can win all of them, we’ll be very close to the leaders at the top of the league or we could even take first place,” Fred told the club’s official website.

“So we’ll look to win every game and I’m certain our team will do everything to reach the top of the table and stay there.”

If United have confirmed their title aspirations by the end of that run, a potentially season-defining clash with champions Liverpool is just over the horizon – at Anfield, on January 17.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has admitted that Dean Henderson is still "learning" after the Manchester United goalkeeper's gaffe against Sheffield United.

Henderson has found regular minutes hard to come by since returning to United from a two-year loan spell at Bramall Lane in the summer.

The 23-year-old was tipped to replace David de Gea between the sticks after the Spaniard's dismal 2019-20 campaign, but Solskjaer has kept faith with the Red Devils No.1 at the start of the new campaign.

Henderson has been restricted to just six appearances for the Red Devils as a result, but he was handed a rare start against his former loan club on Thursday night.

Unfortunately, the England international was unable to take full advantage of his chance to shine, with his inexplicable error in the fifth minute gifting Sheffield United the opening goal of the game.

The young shot-stopper was dispossessed by Oliver Burke after failing to clear his lines, and the Blades winger was able to knock the ball back into the path of the onrushing David McGoldrick, who made no mistake from close range.

Henderson's blushes were ultimately spared as the visitors staged another thrilling comeback, with a Marcus Rashford brace and an Anthony Martial strike giving Solskjaer's side a sixth successive victory on the road.

The Blades set up a frantic finale when McGoldrick grabbed his second of the night in the 87th minute though, and United's back-up 'keeper produced a brilliant save in stoppage time to prevent the hosts from grabbing a dramatic equaliser.

Solskjaer offered an honest assessment of Henderson's overall display after the final whistle, conceding that the net-minder is still developing his all-round game before praising him for his reaction to an early setback.

"The good, bad and the ugly, maybe in a different order. He is always learning," the Norwegian told reporters of the ex-Sheffield United star's performance. "He has probably been looking forward to coming back here and to get from that start shows his character for the rest of the game."

Asked if he was pleased with his team's 3-2 triumph at Bramall Lane, Solskjaer responded: "It could have been more comfortable. We were a little sloppy at 3-1 up. The corner that led to the second goal wasn't a corner but when it goes in it was really difficult because they are a handful.

"I thought all three goals were excellent. I wanted to test them here today, we knew it was going to be a physical test. The fight, we are going to get kicked. It is one of these games the boys will learn from."

The Red Devils head coach added on the prospect of a crucial home fixture against Leeds United at the weekend: "We need to sort the home form. It is not like it is home and away with these conditions without fans.

"We should be more used to the Old Trafford pitches than these pitches. Sunday is a massive game, we have been waiting for years and we will be ready for it."

Sheffield United’s disastrous start to the Premier League season is officially the worst in the history of English top-flight football.

Their battling 3-2 home defeat against Manchester United on Thursday means they have taken just one point from their first 13 games.

No other team has ever endured such a poor start to an English top-flight season. The Blades' only point came in a 1-1 draw against Fulham in mid-October.

Remarkably, nine of their 12 defeats so far have come by only one goal - including Thursday's game, as well as narrow losses to Liverpool, Manchester City, Arsenal and Leicester City.

Chris Wilder’s side did take the lead early on against the Red Devils, with David McGoldrick profiting from an error from former loanee Dean Henderson in goal.

Marcus Rashford levelled the scores before Anthony Martial finished from Paul Pogba’s sublime pass in behind to see the visitors ahead at the break. Rashford scored a second after half-time before McGoldrick struck a late consolation goal for the home side.

Sheffield United are now nine points off safety and dead last in the Premier League. Burnley, the team currently occupying 17th place, also have a game in hand.

The contrast from last season, when their surprise European charge only fell away at the end of the term, could hardly be clearer. Wilder’s side’s 12 league defeats so far this season is as many as they suffered throughout the whole of 2019/20.

Meanwhile, McGoldrick’s opener was their first goal from open play since the Irishman’s effort against Arsenal on October 4, which ended a run of 59 open-play shots in the league without scoring.

"At this level you get punished if you don't take your chances,” McGoldrick reflected after the game. “We were in the game for the whole 90 minutes.

"We had a big talk after the Southampton game as players. We knew we were not performing and we set some things straight with a long chat in the dressing. If fans were here, I think we might have had a bit more momentum at the end.

"Every game until the end of the season. We are not giving up. We still believe once that first wins comes, we can build something."