Juergen Klopp will not be surprised if Christian Benteke comes back to haunt Liverpool today.
Liverpool paid £32.5 million to sign the striker from Aston Villa in the summer of 2015 but then sold him a year later to Crystal Palace.
The Reds boss said of Benteke’s positive form: “It’s no surprise. When you have a player like Christian in your squad, of course we knew about his quality.
“But every player needs the space to perform, to develop and to show things. For different reasons we couldn’t give him all the time (he needed), you lose a little bit of confidence, you feel pressure.”
Thieves break into dressing room
FC Midtjylland’s joy at beating Fremad Amager 3-1 in a cup tie on Thursday was short-lived as the players returned to their dressing room to discover it had been broken into.
“A lot of things of value have been stolen – phones, car keys and so on,” Midtjylland’s sporting director Claus Steinlein told sports website tipsbladet.dk, whose reporter at the match said that players were “furious” at the security lapse.
Steinlein added that police had been called to investigate the thefts.
Puel urges patience with striker Boufal
Southampton manager Claude Puel has urged fans to be patient with record signing Sofiane Boufal as he bids to regain full fitness following a long-term injury.
Boufal, who joined from French side Lille during the close season, ensured Southampton reached the quarter-finals of the League Cup in his first start for the club by scoring with a stunning long-range strike to knock out Sunderland on Wednesday.
“I am not surprised by the goal because he has the technical ability to do that sort of thing but it’s fantastic for him,” Frenchman Puel told British media.
“It’s important to stay patient with him because he is young and he cannot for the moment (show) everything he has got.”
Leekens appointed coach of Algeria
Former Belgium boss Georges Leekens was named Algeria coach on Thursday, two days after losing his job at Belgian club Lokeren.
The Algerian Football Federation said that Leekens, 67, had been chosen to replace Serbian Milovan Rajevac, who was sacked following Algeria’s home draw with Cameroon in the opening round of African World Cup group qualifiers earlier this month.
Leekens, who twice coached Belgium and was in charge of Tunisia at the 2015 African Nations Cup finals, returns to the post he held for six months in 2003 before quitting for “family reasons”.
Pulis pens new West Brom deal
West Brom boss Tony Pulis has signed a one-year extension at the club, the Baggies have announced.
The 58-year-old has committed his future to The Hawthorns until 2018 as his previous deal was due to expire in the summer.
Pulis has been at the club since January 2015 and Albion’s new Chinese owners, led by businessman Guochuan Lai, have kept faith in the former Stoke manager.
Pulis said: “This is a time of great change at Albion and when that happens you need continuity.
“As I have said from the outset, I want to build things here and play my part in improving the club.”
Bilic ‘hurt’ after crowd trouble mars win
Slaven Bilic admits it hurts to see West Ham’s name dragged through the gutter.
The Hammers’ 2-1 win over Chelsea in the EFL Cup was overshadowed by shocking scenes of crowd trouble between home and away fans.
Coins, seats and plastic bottles were thrown between rival supporters, leading to seven arrests and leaving 200 fans facing banning orders.
“It does hurt, of course it does,” Bilic said before the Hammers’ next game at Everton tomorrow.
“The club didn’t deserve it, the players don’t deserve it definitely, the fans didn’t deserve it – the majority of them of course. The big majority, the vast majority.”
Luis Enrique defends Barcelona values
Barcelona coach Luis Enrique defended his team’s integrity yesterday after a week in which his players were criticised by the highest powers in Spanish football following the 3-2 win at Valencia.
La Liga chief Javier Tebas said he would be “ashamed to pretend” the way some players went down “like a game of skittles” when a bottle was thrown in from the stands.
Luis Enrique stopped short of hitting back at Tebas.
“Pouring more fuel on the fire doesn’t interest anyone but the facts speak for themselves. We have won the fair play award for many years and that speaks of our sportsmanship,” he said.
“We don’t kick others, we don’t injure opponents. Those are the values we try to transmit.”