BARCELONA: Barcelona striker Lamine Yamal has made the Champions League trophy his main target this season after admitting that success on the European stage is the only trophy he still lacks in his collection.

The 19-year-old said Barcelona will give everything to make this dream come true, especially after the Catalan club strengthened the squad with several new players.

“There is no greater motivation than the Champions League because that is the trophy I still have to win. We will give everything to win it.

“Good players have arrived like Anthony Gordon, Karim Adeyemi and Rodri,” he said at a media conference today.

Yamal’s desire comes as Barcelona tries to end an 11-year wait to lift the prestigious European trophy again.

Barcelona came close to ending that drought in 2025, but were eliminated in the semi-finals after losing to Inter Milan in extra time.

More interestingly, Yamal was also given leadership responsibilities at a young age when he was chosen by his teammates as one of three vice-captains, along with Eric Garcia and Frenkie de Jong.

Manager Hansi Flick previously selected Raphinha and Pedri to complete the team’s five captains.

Yamal admitted that the appointment was quite meaningful to him, but he was aware that greater responsibility awaited him even though he was only 19 years old.

“It’s something to be proud of at the age of 19. I’m very grateful to my teammates.

“It’s a position that comes with responsibility, even though I’m only 19 years old, but I’m very happy,” he said.

The youngest record for wearing the Barcelona captain’s armband was previously held by Bojan Krkic who did it in 2010 at the age of 20 years and 56 days.

Meanwhile, Flick stressed that Barcelona is always ready to adapt its playing approach according to the opponent, although the team’s aggressive identity remains fundamental.

“We always adapt our playing style according to the opponent. Maybe not too much, but when needed.

“We have our own style and it has been very successful over the last two seasons,” said the German coach.

Barcelona will begin this season’s Champions League campaign by facing Feyenoord at Camp Nou, early this Thursday morning.

MANCHESTER: Erling Haaland continued Manchester City’s clean sheet at the start of the English Premier League (EPL) campaign, but Enzo Maresca’s squad had to work hard before securing a 1-0 victory over newly promoted Coventry at the Etihad earlier today.

Maresca dropped Enzo Fernandez and Iliman Ndiaye after their transfers completed a club-record £460 million spend to overhaul City’s squad following Pep Guardiola’s decade-long reign.

The Maresca era began with three consecutive Premier League wins but the performances were far from perfect as the hosts needed two late saves from Gianluigi Donnarumma to deny Coventry their first top-flight point in 25 years.

Haaland’s header midway through the first half proved to be the game-changer, recording his third goal in three games this season.

Fernandez was expected to start on the bench after completing a £125 million move from Chelsea that equalled the Premier League transfer record.

However, Nico O’Reilly’s injury during the warm-up session forced the Argentine player to continue to be included in the starting lineup.

Ndiaye was also given his City debut by Maresca, playing in a potent attacking machine alongside Haaland, Antoine Semenyo and Rayan Cherki.

Coventry had previously failed to score a goal in three consecutive defeats, marking their return to top-flight competition after more than two decades.

However, Frank Lampard’s men almost took the lead early on following a mistake by Donnarumma.

The tall Italian goalkeeper mishandled a pass back before rising to clear the ball just above his goal line.

Taiwo Awoniyi and Jack Rudoni also squandered golden opportunities to put the visitors ahead before City began to find their rhythm.

Cherki’s attempt hit the post before Fernandez got involved in the opening goal of the match.

His pass found Semenyo who sprinted down the right before throwing a neat cross for Haaland to head in at the far post.

Coventry goalkeeper Carl Rushworth denied the Norwegian’s second goal before the break, but City failed to extend their lead and were forced to hold on until the final whistle.

Donnarumma was once again the savior when he made two crucial saves to deny attempts by Loum Tchaouna and Ellis Simms who were chasing an equaliser and a historic moment for Coventry.

Despite suffering another defeat, the performance was shown to give Lampard many positive signs that Coventry are capable of competing at the highest level.

Maresca is aware that City need to improve their performance when they travel to local rivals Manchester United next weekend.

The victory, however, allowed City to overtake defending champions Arsenal, who are scheduled to play Chelsea on Sunday, at the top of the league.

LONDON: Arsenal has been named the most valuable football club brand in the English Premier League (EPL), according to a report by London-based agency Brand Finance.

The Gunners jumped from eighth to third place in this year’s report, just behind Barcelona in second place and Real Madrid at the top.

Arsenal’s brand value increased 28 percent from 1.001 billion pounds to 1.352 billion pounds, overtaking Bayern Munich in fourth place, Liverpool (seventh), Manchester City (sixth), Manchester United (eighth) and Paris Saint-Germain (fifth).

Arsenal are also among seven clubs in the top 10 to receive an AAA+ rating, in contrast to Borussia Dortmund in 10th place, Manchester City and PSG. Chelsea in eighth place are the only other London club in the top 20.

Brand Finance’s head of sports services, Scott Moore, said the report illustrated the widening gap between football’s elite clubs and the rest.

“This Football 50 Report shows just how wide the gap is between football’s elite and the rest of the world.

“The combined brand value of 23.9 billion euros, with the strongest growth we have recorded over the 15 years of this assessment, shows that success on the pitch translates directly into commercial strength off the pitch.

“Real Madrid’s position at the top for the third year in a row reflects continued excellence, but what is most interesting is the depth of the competition from clubs like Arsenal and Aston Villa showing that sporting success, when combined with smart brand building, can change positions quickly.”

“The hierarchy of European football is not static.

“The biggest brands continue to widen the gap, but ambitious clubs are proving that continued sporting success can accelerate their journey to global influence.”

“The biggest football clubs are not just competing with each other, they are competing for attention, loyalty and commercial growth on a global scale, and this year’s figures show they are outperforming entire leagues in other sports,” he said.

Arsenal, owned by Stan Kroenke, is considered one of the biggest success stories of the year after reaching the highest position in the club’s history.

The success of winning the EPL and reaching the Champions League (UCL) final is said to have contributed to commercial momentum at record levels.

MANCHESTER: The handball rule was once again the subject of debate when Harry Maguire helped Manchester United take a 2-1 lead in a 5-2 win over Ipswich in the Premier League.

The centre-back surged forward after winning the ball before firing a shot across the penalty area that was hit by Jacob Greaves and bounced in as an own goal.

The ball appeared to hit Maguire’s hand as he won it, but the goal stood as he was not the actual scorer of the goal.

Only if Maguire directly benefited from the handball and scored an own goal would a free kick be awarded and the goal disallowed.

Many certainly think Maguire benefited from the handball incident.

The Premier League match centre explained: “The referee’s decision to award a goal to Manchester United was reviewed and confirmed by VAR – with Maguire not being the immediate scorer following an accidental handball incident.”

VAR then said: “It was an own goal and accidental handball cannot be penalised, so we recommend the goal be awarded.”

But was it really an accidental handball incident? Maguire probably wouldn’t have won the ball if it hadn’t been in his hands.

However, that’s another debatable point.

The match was intense until the incident when Ipswich opened the scoring through their left-back, Leif Davis.

However, Bruno Fernandes took advantage of the opponent’s mistake to rush in and equalize before the break.

After Bryan Mbeumo missed a golden opportunity to put United ahead, Maguire’s shot, which was deflected by an Ipswich player, ensured the home side took the lead.

Fernandes then completed a hat-trick to make it 4-1 with 20 minutes remaining.

Mbeumo made amends for his mistake by scoring United’s fifth goal before Chuba Akpom scored a consolation goal in injury time to close the match out 5-2.

LONDON: Liverpool are closing in on a big summer signing after reaching a deal worth 120 million pounds to sign Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) winger Bradley Barcola.

The Reds have made positive progress in talks with the European champions after weeks of trying to lower PSG’s valuation, which was initially set at 145 million pounds.

Liverpool are now understood to be paying a basic fee of 100 million pounds, with another 20 million pounds in additional payments, the same structure as Florian Wirtz’s move to England last year.

Barcola, 23, has been a top target for Liverpool in recent months as the club look to replace Mohamed Salah after the Egyptian star moved to Trabzonspor.

Liverpool had previously also targeted Yan Diomande and had made an offer for the player, but it was rejected before he eventually joined Real Madrid.

Negotiations to acquire Barcola were led by sporting director Richard Hughes along with Fenway Sports Group president Mike Gordon.

This week, Liverpool also received information regarding Crystal Palace striker Ismaila Sarr, as well as holding talks with Brighton regarding Yankuba Minteh.

Liverpool are keen to bring in two strikers if conditions allow, so Barcola’s arrival does not necessarily mean they are done with Sarr or Minteh. They also made enquiries about PSG striker Ibrahim Mbaye earlier this month.

If completed, the move would be the most expensive signing of this summer’s transfer window, surpassing the record 117 million pounds Chelsea paid to sign Morgan Rogers from Aston Villa.

Barcola was a product of Lyon’s academy before spending the last three seasons with PSG, helping the club win two Champions League titles and three Ligue 1 titles.

The winger played for France at this summer’s World Cup and scored against England in the third-place play-off. He has scored 39 goals in 152 appearances for PSG.

Liverpool will hope that their big spending this summer will yield better results than last season.

After spending more than 450 million pounds on new players including Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike last summer, the 2024-25 English Premier League champions failed to repeat their excellent performance under Arne Slot.

The Reds only qualified for the Champions League after finishing fifth last season, but a ticket to Europe’s elite competition has helped them remain in the race for high-profile players.

Liverpool, who let Salah, Andrew Robertson and Ibrahima Konate leave earlier this summer, have so far signed central defenders Jeremy Jacquet and Ronald Araujo and winger Victor Munoz.

Curtis Jones also left Anfield after joining Inter Milan for a fee of 30 million pounds, thus leaving Liverpool no longer with a home-born player in the first team.

Jayden Danns could potentially take on that role in the future.

The six-capped England player joined Liverpool’s academy at the age of nine and has long dreamed of a move to Serie A after failing to consistently find a place in the starting line-up at Anfield.

Liverpool opened the season with a 2-2 draw at Newcastle United on Sunday, but escaped defeat through a late Dominik Szoboszlai penalty.

The Reds fell behind after just five minutes when Anthony Elanga finished off a quick Newcastle counterattack, but equalised early in the second half through a stunning goal from Cody Gakpo.

Joe Willock put Newcastle back in front two minutes later, but Szoboszlai saved Liverpool when he converted a penalty late in the game after Lewis Hall brought down Munoz in the box.

Iraola said: “It’s a strange feeling. It wasn’t the result we wanted but the way we scored at the end of the game made it feel better. However, we definitely wanted the win more.

“We started in the worst way we could have imagined. Away to Newcastle, the first game of the season, the atmosphere in the stadium, they had very fast players and we conceded a goal.

“They punished us and we had to chase the results. But we never gave up.”