Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has dismissed Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola’s allegation that Sadio Mane is a diver ahead of next weekend’s clash between the Premier League title rivals.

Mane was booked after failing to win a penalty and then provided an assist before scoring the winner in a last-gasp 2-1 victory at Aston Villa on Saturday.

Guardiola, whose side also scored late to beat Southampton, said of the Senegal international: “Sometimes he’s diving, sometimes he has this talent to score incredible goals in the last minute.”

Klopp, preparing the European champions for their Champions League clash against Genk on Tuesday, brushed it off, saying on Monday: “I am not 100 percent sure if he spoke about Sadio or us in general.

“I didn’t hear Sadio’s name or know how we could have known so quick about any incident in the game.

“I can say Sadio is not a diver. There was a situation in the Aston Villa game where he got contact and went down. Maybe it was not a penalty but there was contact, it’s not as if he jumped over a leg and went down.”

Klopp also refused to countenance talk about next Sunday’s top-of-the-table clash with City, currently six points behind his side in second place, with the tie at home to Genk to negotiate.

Liverpool are second in Group E on six points after three matches, one behind Napoli.

“I am absolutely not in the mood today to talk about Man City,” said Klopp.

Asked if he was banning the words Manchester City until after Tuesday’s match, Klopp said: “You can say the words Man City, you just cannot think about it.

“I don’t have to tell them that City is on Sunday, tomorrow is Genk.

“I don’t doubt my players at all. I would feel a bit embarrassed if I had to tell them ‘Don’t think about Man City already’.”

Everton midfielder Andre Gomes on Monday underwent ankle surgery, with the club saying the procedure to repair a fracture dislocation went “extremely well”.

The Portugal international suffered the shocking injury when he fell awkwardly following a challenge from Tottenham’s Son Heung-min in Sunday’s 1-1 draw at Goodison Park.

“Everton Football Club can confirm Andre Gomes underwent surgery to repair a fracture dislocation to his right ankle earlier today and the procedure went extremely well,” a club statement said.

It added: “The 26-year-old is expected to make a full recovery.”

Spurs are expected to lodge an appeal against the red card shown to Son by referee Martin Atkinson.

Senegal finish first after three games at 2019 Copa Lagos.

Five-time African Beach Soccer champions Senegal finished top after three games to go home with the 2019 Copa Lagos title. 

The 2019 edition of globally acclaimed and prestigious beach soccer event held at the Eko Atlantic, Victoria Island, Lagos between Friday, November 1 to Sunday, November 3.

Senegal and Brazil kicked off the competition on Friday with a game that ended 5-4 in favour of the African side. Nigeria and England followed with a 7-3 win to the host. 

On Saturday, reigning world beach soccer champions Brazil beat England 6-2 while Senegal got a 5-2

Chelsea boss Frank Lampard has called for an “open conversation” on VAR after another weekend of controversy in the Premier League as he prepares his team to face Ajax in the Champions League.

Chelsea, who are fourth in the Premier League, endured a nervy end to their match against Watford on Saturday after their 2-0 lead was halved by a VAR-awarded penalty converted by Gerard Deulofeu.

VAR also confirmed an offside decision against Liverpool’s Roberto Firmino during their 2-1 win at Aston Villa. The forward was flagged because his armpit “was marginally ahead of the last Villa defender”.

Lampard, speaking ahead of his side’s game against the Dutch champions at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday, said tweaks needed to be made over the use of the technology.

“I think the use of the screen on the side of the pitch can be a help because we’ve seen this weekend in the Premier League decisions that firstly they’ve taken a long time to get to, which seems to bring in the fact that there’s an element of doubt,” he said.

The lack of use of pitchside monitors by referees has been criticised after numerous controversial decisions in the first few months of the season.

“It just feels at the minute in the Premier League, obviously there are things that aren’t right with it. I think that’s pretty much universally agreed at this point,” said Lampard.

“I don’t think it’s for the want of trying or anyone having the wrong aims. We all want a better game and better decisions and the right decisions but at the moment we’re not quite getting that.”

The Chelsea boss called for input from all sides on VAR.

“I would work with it at the moment and see how we can improve,” he said. “And I think it needs to be a really open conversation — referees, managers, fans.”

Lampard said the system had been positive when it came to “clinical decisions” such as off-side calls but other calls were leading to controversy.

“It’s the subjective in-between ones that we really need to decide where we’re coming from with this idea of ‘clear and obvious’ because at the weekend there were lots of not clear and obvious and some were overturned and some were not,” he said.

Chelsea are second in Group H of the Champions League, level on six points with Ajax after three games.

Neymar escapes with warning over Cup final fan slap Neymar will escape prosecution for an altercation with an opposition supporter after Paris Saint-Germain’s surprise defeat in the French Cup final in April, sources told AFP on Monday.

Prosecutors have decided the Brazilian star will receive a written warning and no further action will be taken.

A 29-year-old Rennes fan who had been filming Neymar as he climbed the stairs to collect his loser’s medal at the Stade de France appeared to cajole the disconsolate player after the French league champions were defeated in a penalty shootout.

Neymar stopped, used his hand to lower the phone and then tapped the fan on the chin.

“I shouldn’t have done it but sometimes it’s hard to remain calm,” Neymar said on Instagram at the time.

A lawyer for the fan who filed a complaint against Neymar for violent behaviour said the warning was unacceptable.

“It’s a justification of violence,” said lawyer Philippe Ohayon. “If that had been a fan hitting a player he would have been brought to justice and maybe even received a custodial sentence.”

Neymar was given a three-match ban for the gesture at the time of the incident.

Coutinho Gets Baptized In his Bathtub

On-loan winger Phillipe Coutinho followed the example of fellow Brazilian teammate Willian as he recently got baptised, but not in the usual fashion. While many Christians opt to conduct the religious rite in divine settings, the former Liverpool man had his baptism take place in his bathtub.

Coutinho, took to social media to thank Brunet and his wife as he expressed excitement at his admission to the church. “Thank you very much Pastor Brunet and Jeanine Brunet.. It was two more than special days that were marked in our lives. Let’s live a new era,”

Willian visited the popular River Jordan in Israel in June 2019 and he made the most of the occasion by immersing himself in the river for divine purposes. The Chelsea attacker endorsed Coutinho’s baptism by commenting using two praying hands emoji on his post.

Reports in Brazil even suggest a housekeeper of the former Liverpool star’s joined in in the event.

Pastor Brunet wrote online: “These days here in Germany were amazing. Welcome to our new brothers and friends!”

On Thursday, the church posted the baptism event on their Instagram handle with the caption: “We preach, baptise, and continue discipleship. God is doing great things in Germany these days with Tiago Brunet. Pray for our ministry.

“An entire family surrendered to Jesus today!”

Chelsea To Spend £150m On New Players

Chelsea are making plans to sign three big players by January if the transfer embargo is lifted. According to reports by The Sun, Wilfried Zaha of Crystal Palace, Leicester left-back Ben Chilwell and RB Leipzig striker Timo Werner are in the list of recruits Frank Lampard plans to recruit.

The Blues were banned from transfers for two windows for breaching rules regarding the registration of young players. They were only allowed to sign Mateo Kovacic from Real Madrid as he was already on loan to Chelsea.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport have announced that Chelsea’s appeal against their two-window Fifa transfer ban will be heard on November 20. With one window already served, it means Chelsea could be allowed to sign players in time for the January transfer window if CAS cut their punishment.

Lampard has over £150million at his disposal to sign players when the transfer window reopens, being the cash they were able to accumulate for the past 6-12 months.

Speaking at a press conference on Mondy, the manager said: ‘At Chelsea, we will always look to improve in windows if we’re allowed to, and if the players we might look at are better or we feel are adding to the squad.

‘Of course, I’m interested because it’s obviously going to affect potentially what we can do in January or not.’

Zaha has been pushing for a move out of Crystal palace and would welcome the idea of playing for Chelsea. His proposed move to Arsenal and Everton in the past were not successful. His club (Crystal palace) are demanding for over £70m while Chilwell is worth £50m.

Werner currently signed a new long term contract with Leipzig during the summer but his club would want to let him go at £25m.

Chelsea currently sit fourth on the Premier League winning seven of their last Premier League matches.