Substitute Jordon Ibe’s first-half strike gave Liverpool the advantage in their League Cup semi-final, first leg at Stoke on Tuesday (Jan 5).

Ibe drilled a shot past Jack Butland to give Jurgen Klopp’s side a 1-0 victory on a night when their injury jinx struck again.

Playmaker Philippe Coutinho and central defender Dejan Lovren both limped off in the first 35 minutes with what appeared to be hamstring injuries. Coutinho was injured while attempting to deliver a cross, while Lovren was hurt while sliding into a challenge on Xherdan Shaqiri.

It remains to be seen how long they will be out for, but both players look set to be added to a long casualty list that includes captain Jordan Henderson, strikers Daniel Sturridge and Divock Origi, and centre-back Martin Skrtel.

Despite yet more injury setbacks, Klopp will have been pleased with the resilience his side showed after their disappointing display in losing 2-0 at West Ham in the Premier League on Saturday.

Klopp’s response to that defeat was to drop his only available out-and-out striker Christian Benteke, and go with a false nine, giving Roberto Firmino the task of unsettling the home back line.

Liverpool’s defence had been unsettled by an injury to Mamadou Sakho, with Kolo Toure coming in alongside Lovren for only his sixth start of the season.

Yet Klopp’s side had more of the play in the early stages as they attempted to impose themselves, managing a couple of long-range efforts from Firmino and Adam Lallana, with Butland fumbling and then gathering the first, then beating away the second.

Liverpool also caused a couple of nervous moments from Alberto Moreno corners, albeit without managing to trouble Butland further.

After coming on for Coutinho, Ibe wafted an ambitious shot over the bar from 25 yards, before shooting straight at Butland when Lallana’s cross found him unattended in the penalty area.

GAINING TRACTION

Stoke were gaining traction, though, and should have gone in front themselves when Bojan Krkic found himself free 12 yards out following Shaqiri’s clever low corner, only to produce an air shot.

Then Liverpool suffered a further injury setback as Lovren appeared to pull a hamstring when sliding in to challenge Shaqiri, forcing Klopp to move Lucas Leiva to centre-back and bring on James Milner, only just fit again after four matches out with a calf strain.

Despite their injury problems, though, Liverpool were soon in front, as Lallana broke down the right on to a through pass, and delivered a cross that Joe Allen helped on for Ibe to blast beyond Butland.

The lead could have been extended within moments, as Firmino was denied by a Ryan Shawcross challenge as he sprinted towards goal, and Ibe bent a shot just wide, although Marko Arnautovic glanced weakly wide with a clear header at the other end after being found by Glen Johnson’s cross.

Stoke boss Mark Hughes’s decision to bring on Jonathan Walters at half-time made for a tough second 45 minutes for Klopp’s side. There were hairy moments, not least when Moreno appeared to catch Glenn Whelan as they challenged for a loose ball as a free-kick was cleared.

But Liverpool might have built up a greater advantage to take back to Anfield for the second leg in three weeks’ time, as Allen had a penalty appeal rejected after receiving a shove from Whelan.

Firmino almost scored one of the most bizarre goals of the season, as Butland’s clearance hit the Brazil international and looped back towards the net, with the Stoke keeper reacting just in time to catch. Liverpool, though, saw out the victory, and will now be confident of reaching Wembley.

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World Player of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo has claimed he will “live like a king” once his playing career comes to an end, but has ruled out a move into coaching when he hangs up his boots.

Ronaldo is the world’s third highest paid athlete according to American business magazine Forbes with an annual income just shy of US$80 million dollars.

Real Madrid’s all-time leading scorer is in action on Sunday as Los Blancos look to move level with eternal rivals Barcelona in the La Liga title race at Valencia. However, in a wide-ranging interview with Spanish newspaper El Mundo, he admitted football doesn’t always captivate his interest.

“I have a top life, but I think I am going to enjoy it more when I finish my career, when I have time to do what I like,” he said. “This Saturday there is a boxing bout in Las Vegas and I would like to take my friends and family to see it, and I can’t because I don’t have time.

“I am not going to cry about it now because I am making a sacrifice in inverted commas, but after I want to live like a king.”

Ronaldo is the world’s third highest paid athlete according to American business magazine Forbes with an annual income just shy of US$80 million dollars.

And the 30-year-old believes he will continue to work on his brand once he retires from playing rather than a more traditional move into coaching.

“If you ask me now if I want to be a coach, I would say no. Nor a sporting director or president of a club,” he added. “Since I was 27 I have had my own line of clothes and I want my brand to keep growing because football will finish in five, six, seven or 10 years.”

The Portuguese captain’s success has also attracted critics of his at times egotistical nature. His decision to go ahead with a lavish 30th birthday hours after Madrid had lost 4-0 to Atletico Madrid in the capital derby in February dominated headlines in Spain for weeks afterwards.

Yet, despite admitting to making mistakes, Ronaldo believes it is his confidence that has moulded his talents into a three-time World Player of the Year.

“Many people say they don’t regret anything. That is a lie,” he added. “I at least regret things a lot, but that also explains the kind of person you are.

“I am like this. If all I have achieved in football is by being like this then you can’t ask me to change. If people ask me to improve, I accept it, but to change is very difficult.”

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Rafael Benitez’s unhappy reign in charge of Real Madrid came to an end after just seven months and 25 games when he was sacked and replaced by club legend Zinedine Zidane on Monday (Jan 4).

Here, AFP Sports looks at what went wrong for the former Liverpool and Chelsea manager on his return to the club where he started his playing and coaching career.

Dressing room revolts

Benitez was brought in to add discipline to the Madrid dressing room after club president Florentino Perez believed his popular predecessor Carlo Ancelotti’s soft touch was to blame for a trophyless 2015. However, his combative style failed to win over some of Madrid’s biggest stars such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Sergio Ramos, who routinely continued to praise Ancelotti long after his departure.

Big game failures

To be sacked on a return of 17 wins and just three defeats from 25 games seems harsh on Benitez, but nowhere are the demands higher than at Madrid and Benitez paid for his inability to produce the results in the big games. Even aside from the 4-0 humiliation at home to Barcelona in November, Real failed to beat Atletico Madrid, Villarreal, Sevilla and Valencia to fall four points behind Atletico in the title race.

Off-field distractions

Quite apart from Madrid’s problems on the field, Benitez had to front up at press conferences for a number of his stars’ misdemeanours off it. Benitez offered his full backing to Karim Benzema despite the Frenchman facing blackmail charges over a sex-tape involving international teammate Mathieu Valbuena.

Meanwhile, Colombian playmaker James Rodriguez was left out of Benitez’s final game in a 2-2 draw at Valencia on Sunday days after being pursued to the club’s training ground by an unmarked police car and accused of speeding at up to 200kph

Cup farce

It is a problem routinely faced by cash-strapped non-league sides, but the richest club in the world managed to get thrown out of the Copa del Rey due to an administrative error as Benitez fielded an ineligible player in the first leg of their tie at Cadiz last month.

Denis Cheryshev was suspended after an accumulation of yellow cards whilst on loan at Villarreal last season, but started and scored the opening goal. It was the second time a Benitez side had been eliminated from the cup in embarrassing circumstances as Valencia were also thrown out when he was in charge in 2001 for fielding too many players from outside the European Union.

Defensive tactics

Even when the results were favourable for Benitez early in his Madrid reign, he came under fire from the local media and the club’s fans for his perceived negative tactics. Creative players like Rodriguez and Isco were marginalised, and Benitez could never find the right balance as when the goals did begin to flow after the return of Benzema and Gareth Bale from injury, they conceded 18 goals in his last 11 games in charge.

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Guus Hiddink has challenged his Chelsea flops to rediscover the winning formula as they start the new year with a tricky trip to Crystal Palace on Sunday (Jan 3).

Hiddink’s side have drawn against Watford and Manchester United since the Dutchman returned for his second spell as Chelsea interim manager following Jose Mourinho’s sacking.

That those two workmanlike performances were regarded as cause for encouragement shows just how far the champions had fallen during the miserable final days of Mourinho’s troubled reign.

In a reversal of fortune that would have seemed remarkable at the end of last season when Chelsea were hoisting the Premier League trophy after beating Palace, Alan Pardew’s fifth placed Eagles are now 11 points above the 14th-placed Blues.

Chelsea are only three points above the relegation zone and their struggles have been so prolonged that the club’s hierarchy are reportedly concerned about the lack of wage-reducing relegation clauses in their highly-paid players’ contracts.

Hiddink knows Chelsea need to improve quickly to avoid a nerve-wracking fight against relegation, while a winning run to start 2016 would also lay a strong foundation for salvaging the season with success in the Champions League and FA Cup.

“We have started gathering some points. It (the draw with United) was the third consecutive game we didn’t lose but that’s not enough,” Hiddink said.

“You see how it is, all the big teams are losing points as well.

We must come now in to a winning period of games, that’s important.”

LESSER LIGHTS

In contrast to Chelsea’s woes, Palace, so long one of London’s lesser lights, now harbour genuine hopes of securing one of the few European berths in their history.

Pardew’s men are unbeaten in their last six matches and are unlikely to have any inferiority complex against Chelsea, having defeated them twice in their last four meetings, including a 2-1 success at Stamford Bridge earlier this season.

Hiddink has been back in English football for a few weeks, but the 69-year-old is already well aware of the threat posed by tenacious Palace.

“Crystal Palace are doing well. Alan Pardew has done a marvellous job in the period he has been working there,” Hiddink said.

“If you look at the statistics you have a team that has scored 23 goals in 19 games and just conceded 16 which means he is well organised with his team.

“Nowadays it’s very difficult and if you see where our next opponent is in the table they are close to the Champions League positions.

“So it’s not that easy now to have a long-term winning sequence.”

Chelsea striker Diego Costa is back from suspension and England defender Gary Cahill should be available after an ankle problem.

Significantly, Palace will be without suspended France midfielder Yohan Cabaye, while striker Connor Wickham and winger Yannick Bolasie are sidelined with calf and thigh injuries respectively.

Palace will also be missing Patrick Bamford, the young Chelsea forward who earlier this week called a halt to what he described a “terrible” loan spell with Pardew’s team.

Bamford, who hopes to find a new loan deal elsewhere, made only nine appearances for Palace and his petulant actions, for which he has since apologised, drew a rebuke from Pardew.

“He needs to harden as a professional. This experience will harden him,” Pardew said.

“He was a little bit emotional and maybe he said some things that he regrets.

“When you take a young player, you’re always hoping it’s going to go well. It just didn’t work out.”

Source AFP