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Daily Mail
30 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Premier League icon looks unrecognisable as he posts throwback photo from his teenage years in a comparison with Boris Becker
Premier League fans couldn't believe their eyes as a legend of the top flight shared a photo of his teenage self. The German was congratulating compatriot Boris Becker on the 40th anniversary of becoming the youngest player ever to win Wimbledon. Former Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp took to Instagram on Monday morning to post a photo of 17-year-old Becker with his trophy on Centre Court in 1985. The 58-year-old shared it alongside one of himself enjoying a drink at the same age. '@borisbeckerofficial vs me at 17… aged like a fine wine,' he wrote under the images. 'Time flies! 'Congratulations my friend on your 40th anniversary of becoming the youngest player to ever win @ wimbledon until today. What a legend!' Klopp shocked the footballing world when he announced in January of last year that he would be stepping down from his role as Reds manager a the end of the 2023-24 campaign. He admitted that he was 'running out of energy' and wanted to spend more time with his family. The exhaustion, stress and relentlessness of life as Liverpool boss, in addition to becoming a grandfather for the first time, led him to make the decision to leave Anfield after nine successful years. He was rumoured as being among the favourites to replace Carlo Ancelotti at Real Madrid but Mail Sport understands that was never likely. Some thought he might take a dip into international management - most likely the Germany or England job - and it remains to be seen if he would ever consider that. Klopp started as Red Bull's Global Head of Soccer in January and has a contract which runs until 2029. Last year, he said: 'I work, but not what I did before. I'm not just lying around, although sometimes I am. I don't miss anything. 'Other top coaches won't be doing this forever either. The next generation is already out there. At some point, it will be up to them to start developing and changing football. 'There are already a lot of people from back then who are getting a taste of it. And more are coming because they're that age now. I'm really happy to watch them. 'And if I can help them with advice and support, I'm happy to do so. They probably think that after working with me for a while: If he can do it, we can do it too. It can't be that difficult.'


The Guardian
33 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Spain v Belgium: Women's Euro 2025
Update: Date: 2025-07-07T14:40:35.000Z Title: The last two times these two nations Content: played one another it was world champions Spain who came out on top. In February Spain beat them 3-2 and in May they came away with a 5-1 result. Update: Date: 2025-07-07T14:30:10.000Z Title: Preamble Content: Hello and welcome to the Group B match between favourites Spain and Belgium at Euro 2025. Spain put out an impressive performance against Portugal in their opener in a 5-0 win, while Belgium fell to a 1-0 defeat to Italy. It is possible for both Belgium and Portugal to be knocked out today. Belgium will be heading home if they lose this evening and Italy do not lose to Portugal, while Portugal will be out if they lose to Italy and Spain do not lose to Belgium. Spain, though, could book their spot in the knockout stage this evening if they beat Belgium and Portugal do not beat Italy. The permutations can be a bit bewildering at times but as the picture changes we shall update you on all eventulaities. The team news will be dropping soon so stay tuned before kick-off at 5pm BST.


BBC News
35 minutes ago
- BBC News
What do football clubs do in pre-season training?
For football clubs, pre-season is about making the best use of time in order to begin the new campaign in top is up to each individual team to decide how much time they want to dedicate to pre-season and what they want to do during pre-season training begins around a month before the resumption of the league, and that period includes a combination of fitness exercises, training drills and friendly the football calendar expanding at the elite level due to the creation of new tournaments like the revamped Fifa Club World Cup and extended Uefa Champions League, pre-season is valued highly by managers because they have less opportunity to coach tactical plans on the training pitch once the campaign it usually includes the integration of new signings and a chance for squads to spend time building trustful pre-season may predominantly take place at a team's training ground, it can also incorporate camps abroad and lucrative tours. What do teams do first? It has become common for clubs to stagger the return of their first-team players at the beginning of pre-season who have had a longer break - having not participated in any international tournaments, or who did not play as much towards the end of the previous campaign - are brought back before those who require additional returns mean clubs can perform vital individual tests which take place at the beginning of pre-season tests are designed to measure the fitness, health and general physical wellbeing of players so individual training programs for things like gym work can be designed by coaching and analysis staff, with the goal of maximising each player's condition before the start of the tests can include:Heart screening - to check for any abnormalities which could cause health problems further down the lineJump and hop tests - to monitor symmetry between the limbs, concentric strength, explosive strength, and provide data for injury rehab if necessaryMusculoskeletal examination - to check the baseline level of movement in a player's joints, so the club knows the level of movement to aim for when a player is recovering from injuryMuscle strength test - to measure the amount of force a player is able to produce, so that improvements or reductions can be monitored over timeGeneral fitness - usually either a four-minute run or lactate test, both of which are designed to measure how a player's body reacts to physical exertion, including things like heart rate and anaerobic metabolismThe difficulty of these tests, especially after time off without dedicating as much time and energy to fitness, can make pre-season very challenging for players. What happens in training sessions? Pre-season gives managers an opportunity to instil the tactical blueprint they want their team to use during the forthcoming may be a refinement comprising subtle changes to what was used in the last campaign, or could be a complete overhaul of what the team was doing previously, especially if a new boss has taken coaching staff and analysts design a series of training drills designed to teach players how to play in a particular system, and then aim to test it in different example of teaching players a new three-at-the-back system would be to set up small-sided games, in which the three central defenders' job is to be always out-of-possession against a small collection of attackers trying to play through them. The goal is for the three defenders to understand how to move in unison, in order to simultaneously block the path to goal, keep the offside line level, and cover space adequately by shifting side-to-side at the right the tactical system which has been taught to players can include things like asking a team made up of reserve and youth players to behave in a certain way. This could be forming a low-block 5-4-1 shape to mimic a hyper-defensive side the team could potentially come up against at some point during the season, and instructing them to find a way through it using the new exact nature of the drills performed depends on the preferences of the coaching staff, and is combined with seminar-style teaching in meetings which incorporate video and data analysis. What about matches? The scheduling of matches can vary significantly between managers prefer to spend most of their time on the training ground, and may ask their club to schedule only one or two fixtures to help players build up match prefer to play somewhere between five and 10 pre-season fixtures so by the time the campaign starts, players feel as though they've been in a match rhythm for a long time matches are held behind closed doors, with no spectators present. These usually occur early in pre-season and are designed as an introduction to regain match fitness and provide a preliminary test of form part of tours to places such as USA or Asia and are primarily designed to generate revenue for participating clubs, as well as providing a run-out for may also be scheduled against local teams during training camps or at a club's home stadium shortly before the start of the season. This article is the latest from BBC Sport's Ask Me Anything Me Anything is a service dedicated to answering your want to reward your time by telling you things you do not know and reminding you of things you team explores everything you need to know and calls upon a network of contacts including our experts and answer your questions from the heart of the BBC Sport newsroom, and go behind the scenes at some of the world's biggest sporting coverage spans the BBC Sport website, app, social media and YouTube accounts, plus BBC TV and radio. More questions answered... Who are Premier League clubs playing in pre-season?How do add-ons work in football transfers?How does European qualifying work for clubs from UK?How are Premier League fixtures decided?Which players are now free agents?