Europa League draw, Højlund sidelined and more: football news – live | Football

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Højlund out for up to three weeks

Manchester United: Erik ten Hag’s side face Fulham at Old Trafford tomorrow and will be without their in-form striker Rasmus Højlund.

The 21-year-old Dane has scored in six consecutive games for Manchester United but has been ruled out for up to three weeks with an as yet unspecified muscle injury. We’ll hear more about that from Erik ten Hag when he faces the press later this afternoon. Hojlund joins Lisandro Martinez and Luke Shaw on the sidelines; three big absentees for United.

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Chelsea: Mauricio Pochettino has just begun his pre-Carabao Cup final press conference and kicks off by saying that Thiago Silva might be fit for the final despite missing Chelsea’s draw with Manchester City last weekend with a groin injury.

The 39-year-old Brazilian has played in three Wembley Cup finals with Chelsea and lost them all: FA Cup finals against Leicester City and Liverpool, as well as a Carbao Cup final against Liverpool. With his contract due to expire this season and his employers unlikely to renew it, this could be Silva’s last chance to taste victory under the Wembley arch as a Chelsea player. “He has the chance to play,” says Pochettino. “Tomorrow, we will see if he’s ready to play in the game.”

Asked about the prospect of breaking his trophy duck in England, Pochettino said: “It is good you say in England because I have won other titles as a coach. I think it means a lot for us, the coaching staff to have the opportunity to arrive in the final and to challenge a team like Liverpool to win our first title here.

“I think it’s a dream for us, the coaching staff. Of course it’s a possibility. We have 90 minutes to achieve that and the team are going to fight. The team is ready. We are going to be very competitive. It’s an amazing chance for us.”

Thiago Silva has lost three Wembley finals as a Chelsea player and could make it a fourth if he’s passed fit enough to play against Liverpool on Sunday. Photograph: Ian Walton/Reuters
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Europa Conference League R16 draw

  • Servette v Viktoria Plzn

  • Ajax v Aston Villa

  • Molde v Club Brugge

  • Union SG v Fenerbahce

  • Dinamo Zagreb v PAOK

  • Sturm Graz v Lille

  • Maccabi Haifa v Fiorentina

  • Olympiacos v Maccabi Tel Aviv

  • Ties take place on the 7 March and 14 March.

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Europa Conference League draw …

Round of 16 draw: Aston Villa have been drawn against Ajax.

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Europa Conference League draw …

We go back to Uefa HQ in Nyon, where the draw for the Europa Conference League Round of 16 is about to take place. Aston Villa are the British representatives hoping to make this year’s final in Athens and become the third team after Roma and West Ham to win Uefa’s third tier competition. We’ll bring you news of who they get as soon as the draw is made …

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That Europa League Round of 16 draw in full. Photograph: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images
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Liverpool v Sparta Prague: Liverpool will play the first leg of their Round of 16 tie in the Czech capital just three days before what will almost certainly be a crunch Premier League match against Manchester City.

The game against Sparta Prague could be an occasion for Jurgen Klopp to rest several key first-team players, although given his mounting injury list, that might be an option for the German.

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Europa League: An already exciting maiden season in Europe gets better for Brighton. Having already qualified for the last 16 by finishing top of a group containing AEK Athens, Marseille and Ajax, they get to play another storied European club in the form of Roma, who scraped past Feyenoord on penalties last night. Pack your bags, Brighton fans – you’re off to the City of the Seven Hills! And if you haven’t been lucky enough to visit Rome before, you’re in for an absolute treat.

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Europa League Round of 16 draw

  • Sparta Prague v Liverpool

  • Marseille v Villarreal

  • Roma v Brighton

  • Benfica v Rangers

  • Freiburg v West Ham

  • Sporting v Atalanta

  • Milan v Slavia Prague

  • Qarabag v Bayer Leverkusen

  • Legs to be played 7 and 14th March

Former Irish football international John O’Shea helped conduct the draw for the Europa League Round of 16. Photograph: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images
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Breaking: Freiburg v West Ham

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Breaking: Benfica v Rangers

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Breaking: Liverpool will face Sparta Prague and Brighton have been drawn against Roma in the Europa League last 16.

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Liverpool: Here’s more from Pep Lijnders as the audience in Nyon listen to a very, very longwinded explanation of how the Europa League draw will work.

“Is that a compliment from United?” he asks, upon being told Sir Jim Ratcliffe said Manchester United could learn a thing or two from how things are done at Liverpool. “That says everything, no? No-one can replace Jurgen Klopp but the past showed already a few difficult transitions. What was the most difficult transition inside this club? Bill Shankly saying ‘That’s me [done]’. Who stepped up? Bob Paisley. He was different from Shanks.

“It showed that we as a club we have to search for someone who wants to grow who, has the mindset to develop but it is not for us but the owners, they can make the decision. We made the right decision to announce this early, to give the club time to get this transition smooth.

“The past has shown it is possible. Barcelona … Pep Guardiola announced he was done and then Tito Vilanova took over and got them the most points ratio over. That was probably the hardest transition in the past 15 years. I was at Porto when Andre Villas-Boas won so much at Porto, then Vítor Pereira took over and was completely different to Andre and was champion the year off. They don’t have to replace Jurgen, but find a new manager.”

Liverpool have just been drawn against Sparta Prgaue in the Europa League.

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Europa League draw: With the final of this season’s competition being staged in Dublin’s Aviva Stadium, former Republic of Ireland international John O’Shea is the tournament ambassador.

He has been invited to Nyon to assist Uefa Deputy Secretary General Giorgio Marchetti and the governing body’s debonair frontman Pedro Pinto with the draw.

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Europa League draw: The little footballs will be plucked from the Uefa tombola imminently, to decide who plays who in the Europa League Round of 16. Liverpool, Brighton, West Ham and Rangers are the British representatives in the draw.

All four clubs are seeded, which means they will be away from home for the first leg on Thursday 7 March and at home for the second leg on 14 March. Teams from the same league cannot be paired with each other at this stage of the competition.

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Liverpool: On the back of the news that Alisson is expected to be out until some time after the next international break, Pep Lijnders has been talking up the Brazilian’s Irish deputy, Caoimhin Kelleher. (For anyone who is still unsure, it’s the Irish for ‘Kevin’ and is pronounced ‘Key-veen’.)

“I still know his first game: Derby away, no-one watching,” says Lijnders. “Not on a main pitch, the sixth pitch! He saved a penalty and you saw a boy who was 15. At the time it was not an easy situation and with his feet already impressed in a trial game. I think he played for many years outfield before he became a goalkeeper.

“I am really pleased for him. At Liverpool you need two good goalkeepers and we have that. It is a huge compliment to John [Achterberg], [Claudio] Taffarel and all the guys at the academy because we produce some good goalkeepers but Caoimhin is probably the most outstanding one, and the most complete.

“He can make match-winning saves, has this, and he sees the game, knows how to act as the free player with direction and he is calm, has serenity. It creates calmness for the others. Especially the way we want to play. It’s important to have a goalkeeper like that. Again, it is the culture with our own players. It’s cool.”

Caoimhin Kelleher has made 16 appearances for Liverpool this season and will deputise for Alisson until after the international break, fitness permitting. Photograph: Robbie Jay Barratt/AMA/Getty Images
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Not football: Joe Root hits 100 in Ranchi

Cricket: Joe Root seems to have hit a welcome return to form and has just completed a splendid century in very trying circumstances during England’s opening innings against India in the fourth Test. He’s 103 not out, England are 282-7 and you can follow the last of the day’s action from Ranchi with Tim de Lisle …

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Newcastle United: A number of Newcastle players were spotted at the Premier League of Darts in Newcastle last night and their presence was raised by some tell-tale at Eddie Howe’s press conference.

Howe said he was unaware that Dan Burn and chums were planning a night out at the arrars and said he hoped they weren’t out too late and suggested they probably should have gone in fancy dress to avoid detection. At the very least, he’ll be pleased to know they weren’t drinking anything stronger than water, as the footage below proves.

If Newcastle’s players stayed for the final of last night’s round of the competition, they’ll have seen Michael van Gerwen beat Nathan Aspinall 6-4 in the final.

Eddie Howe on #NUFC players going to the darts 🎯 last night:

“I wasn’t aware of that so, erm… you’ll need to give me a list of names please. Hopefully it wasn’t a late night?
Maybe they should’ve been in fancy dress…” #NUFC 🎯 @SkySportsDarts https://t.co/zaCydSa3eS

— Keith Downie (@SkySports_Keith) February 23, 2024

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Arteta: Partey is very close to return

Arsenal: The Arsenal manager appears to have calmed down from his obvious fury at his team’s performance in defeat against Porto on Wednesday and has been offering an assessment on the players among his squad’s lame and halt. He says Thomas Partey is “very close” to a return after nearly five months out.

“Same with Gaby [Gabriel Jesus] and the same with Ollie [Oleksandr Zinchenko],” he says. Asked about Takehiro Tomiyasu, who hasn’t played since returning from the Asian Cup at the beginning of February, he says: “Tomiyasu is a little bit more, I think.”

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Liverpool: Jürgen Klopp’s assistant Pep Lijnders is taking today’s press conference and is asked about the fitness of Dominik Szoboszlai, Curtis Jones, Darwin Nunez and Mo Salah, who are all rated doubtful for the Carabao Cup final on Sunday.

“Dominik, Darwin and Mo we really have to see,” he says. “We have two more days. We have today’s session, tomorrow’s session and then we will check if they can be there. It would be great [if they are fit] to be honest.”

Lijnders adds that Curtis Jones will miss the Carabao Cup final with a sprained ankle and will be out until “around the” international break, which begins on 17 March. The Dutch coach reveals that Trent Alexander-Arnold will be sidelined for a similar time-frame, while Diogo Jota and Alisson will almost certainly be out for longer.

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Eddie Howe on Ashworth

Newcastle: Following the news that Newcastle’s Director of Football has been placed on gardening leave, while Newcastle seek £20m compensation from Manchester United, who want to recruit him, Howe is asked to assess Ashworth’s contribution to affairs at St James’ Park since the Saudi takeover.

“I don’t think I should be going there,” says Howe. “That’s something for other people to reflect on. As a football club we need to reflect and move forward strongly. I don’t think it’s right to comment on. The events this week have given us certainty. We needed that as a football club. We move forward and look to the future.”

Howe goes on to say that Alexander Isak and long-term absentee Joe Willock are back in training, and that Fabian Schar has been passed fit to play against Arsenal despite finishing last weekend’s match against Bournemouth with a suspected broken wrist.

On Willock: “You go through lots of emotions with the players,” says Howe. “He’s been battling so hard to come back and he’s had setbacks along the way. He just wants to play and be able to express himself. He’s had a limitation placed on him because of his body.

“He’s handled it well and we’ve seen him mature the last few months. As long as he comes back in full health, we’ll see a better Joe Willock for that experience.”

Joe Willock has only made six appearances for Newcastle this season, during a three-week window between the end of October and mid-November. Photograph: Michelle Mercer/Newcastle United/Getty Images
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Newcastle United: As is customary, Early Bird Eddie Howe is first out of the traps when it comes to weekend press conferences and is currently fielding interrogatroy projectiles ahead of his side’s match against Arsenal at the Emirates tomorrow night.

Bruno Guimaraes has been just one yellow card away from a two-match ban since picking up his ninth Premier League booking of the season ( his 15th in all competitions for club and country) against Manchester City five games ago. His manager was asked how his spiky midfielder is dealing with life on the disciplinary tightrope.

“He’s managed it well so far,” says Howe. “He’s been his normal self. He hasn’t looked as though it’s conscious in his mind. He’s played with discipline. You need your creative players to fire and your defensive players to fire in a different way. He was very competitive in the home game but also very good technically. We need all our players to fire.”

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Philipp Lahm on Euro 2024: “As the tournament director, I see the Euros’ potential to enhance the best of our way of life and to set aside ugly resentments,” writes the former Germany international. “We are now experiencing an era when Europe must live its values and sport can be a piece of the mosaic.”

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Europa League: Pierre Emerick Aubameyang became the competition’s all time top scorer with 31 goals as Marseille booked their place in the last 16 at Shakhtar Donetsk’s expense. Roma, Benfica, Qarabag, Freiberg, Sporting, AC Milan and Sparta Prague also advanced last night.

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Carabao Cup final: A five-times winner of the League Cup with Manchester City, Chelsea winger Raheem Sterling will face another of his former teams, Liverpool, in Sunday’s final. The dynamic is intriguing, writes Jacob Steinberg.

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Preamble

The weekend is upon us, with all it entails: Premier League action, Sunday’s Carabao Cup final at Wembley and a whole lot more besides.

Join us as we check in on the press conferences of football managers the length and breadth of the country and diligently report their every utterance, however inspiring or banal they might be. Except no knock to go unreported as the day unfolds.

And with five British teams left in the Europa League and Europa Conference League, we’ll bring you news of who they’ll face in the last 16 when the draws are conducted later this morning.

Liverpool, West Ham, Brighton and Rangers are in the Europa League draw, which takes place from 11am (GMT). The favourites for the competition, Aston Villa will discover their Europa Conference League opponents at noon.

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