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Liverpool On Brink Of Europa League Exit After Atalanta Thrashing

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Atalanta stunned Anfield as Gianluca Scamacca scored twice in a 3-0 win on Thursday to leave Liverpool with a mountain to climb to reach the Europa League semi-finals.

Mario Pasalic added a third seven minutes from time to condemn Liverpool to a first home defeat in all competitions for 14 months.

The Reds had been favourites to end the Jurgen Klopp era by completing the German’s set of trophies won as Liverpool boss in his last game in charge in the Dublin final.

With Liverpool locked in a tight three-way battle for the Premier League title alongside Arsenal and Manchester City, Klopp showed that remains his priority as he made six changes to the side that were held 2-2 by Manchester United on Sunday.

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Mohamed Salah was one of those left on the bench but he was unable to inspire a response despite being thrust into action right at the start of the second half after a lacklustre first 45 minutes from the home side.

Atalanta had won just two of their previous nine games in all competitions.

But the side sitting sixth in Serie A were a threat from the first whistle.

Pasalic missed a glorious chance to open the scoring after just three minutes when he fired into Caoimhin Kelleher’s face as the Irish international spread himself.

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Harvey Elliott hit the crossbar and Darwin Nunez sliced wide when clean through on goal but those promising Liverpool attacks were few and far between.

Scamacca failed to shine during his one season in the Premier League with West Ham, but he has now scored three times in England for club and country this season.

Atalanta made the breakthrough on 38 minutes when the Italian international fired low through Kelleher’s grasp from Davide Zappacosta’s cross.

Teun Koopmeiners should have made it 2-0 before the break when he failed to beat Kelleher one-on-one.

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Klopp reacted at half-time as Salah, Dominik Szoboszlai and Andy Robertson were sent on in a rescue mission.

However, even the changes failed to muster a response from a jaded looking side in their 50th game of the season.

Scamacca was offered an acre of space to slot home Charles De Ketelaere’s cross on the hour mark.

Luis Diaz and Diogo Jota were then introduced by Klopp but Liverpool continued to create little despite their abundance of attacking talent on the field and left themselves open to the counter-attack.

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Atalanta took full advantage to close to within the brink of just their second ever European final.

Scamacca turned provider for the third after Szoboszlai gifted possession away inside his own half.

Ederson’s first effort was saved by Kelleher, but Pasalic thumped home the rebound to the delight of the travelling fans.

Liverpool have a history of thrilling comebacks in the European competition, most notably from 3-0 down at half-time in the 2005 Champions League final against AC Milan.

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But they will need a fightback of that magnitude to keep alive the dream of sending Klopp out with a European trophy.

AFP

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Liverpool Legend, Mo Salah Joins Tranzonspor On Two-Year Deal

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MOHAMED SALAH has agreed to join Turkish side Tranzonspor on a free transfer.

The Liverpool legend had been a free agent since his contract at Anfield expired at the end of the 2025/26 campaign.

Salah, 34, has agreed to move to Turkey on a two-year contract.

Tranzonsport confirmed that they were in negotiations with the attacker on social media.

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The club then revealed that Salah would be arriving in Istanbul on Wednesday ahead of finalising the transfer.

A statement read: “Professional footballer Mohamed Salah, with whom we have begun transfer negotiations, will be at Istanbul Atatürk Airport General Aviation Terminal at 12:00 on Wednesday, August 5 (tomorrow).

“The player is scheduled to arrive in Trabzon on the same day in the evening hours.

“The time and other details regarding the welcome program in Trabzon will be shared with the public through our club’s official communication channels during the day.”

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It read: “Professional footballer Mohamed Salah, with whom we have begun transfer negotiations, will be at Istanbul Atatürk Airport General Aviation Terminal at 12:00 on Wednesday, August 5 (tomorrow).

“The player is scheduled to arrive in Trabzon on the same day in the evening hours.

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Infantino Could Have Earned £47m Annually From Abandoned World Cup Proposal

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FIFA president Gianni Infantino could have earned nearly £47 million ($63 million) annually if his controversial proposal to sell a stake in the FIFA World Cup had gone ahead, according to reports.

The proposed deal was abandoned following widespread opposition from football governing bodies and member associations, with reports suggesting it could have increased Infantino’s annual earnings by about £42 million from his current salary of approximately £4.5 million.

That would have taken his total annual compensation to almost £1 million per week.

The plan involved raising about £3.1 billion in private investment for FIFA’s Football Future Enterprise (FFE) project. Investment bank JP Morgan was reportedly advising on the initiative, while Thrive Capital, backed by Jared Kushner, was among the investors expected to acquire a 20 per cent stake.

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Infantino had repeatedly insisted that “nobody is selling football” as criticism of the proposal mounted.

UEFA reportedly spearheaded the opposition, with its member associations threatening to boycott FIFA competitions, including the World Cup. Concacaf and the Asian Football Confederation also voiced their opposition, while England’s Football Association backed UEFA’s position.

The FA called for a comprehensive review of FIFA’s leadership and governance, stressing the need for greater transparency and long-term protection of the global game.

Facing mounting pressure, Infantino eventually announced that the proposal would not proceed, saying the project had created divisions that were no longer in the interest of its intended objectives.

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“Having listened carefully to all the views, it has become clear that the project has created divisions of a nature that, regardless of the level of support, are no longer in the interest of the objective set out in the first place,” he said.

Infantino added that FIFA’s purpose remained to unite and improve the sport, while pledging to bring football stakeholders together and rebuild unity.

Despite the collapse of the proposal and the criticism surrounding his leadership, reports indicate that Infantino intends to seek another term as FIFA president at the organisation’s 2027 election.

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Oshoala Scores As 10-Woman Super Falcons Defeat Zambia In WAFON 2026 Cracker

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After loosing to Malawi in there Opening match of 2026 WAFCON cracker, The Super Falcons dig deep to secure a vital victory over Zambia in Rabat, despite playing the entire second half with 10 players.

The Super Falcons stumbled to a catastrophic loss in their July 28 opener against Malawi but put up a disciplined display against Zambia, a tournament favourite, to earn their first three points of the tournament on Saturday night.

Head Coach Justin Madugu made five changes to the side, bringing in six-time CAF Women’s Player of the Year winner Asisat Oshoala in place of Toronto-based Esther Okoronkwo, and Rofiat Imuran for Shukurat Oladipo.

The Copper Queens of Zambia came into the side with a lot of confidence after thrashing Egypt 6–0 in their opener, and it showed from the first blast of the whistle.

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A misplaced possession move led to a turnover, with Super Falcons captain Rasheedat Ajibade sending a long ball toward Oshoala, whose speed helped her beat the Zambian defence and allowed her to get to the ball before the Zambian goalkeeper, who saved the initial attempt but was unable to stop the ball from ricocheting off Oshoala for the only goal of the encounter.

It was Oshoala’s 15th WAFCON goal in a storied career.

The Super Falcons went a woman down when Oluwatosin Demehin got sent off for bringing down the Copper Queens’ captain, Barbara Banda.

The game plan changed from then, as the Super Falcons maintained a strong defensive shape and only attempted forays into the opponent’s half on the counter.

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In the end, their defensive grit, captain Ajibade’s disciplined play, and good goalkeeping from Chiamaka Nnadozie helped the Super Falcons to secure their first three points of WAFCON 2026.

Attention will now turn to the Cleopatras of Egypt, whom they face on Wednesday for a chance to progress to the next round.

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