ARNE SLOT has opened up on the remarkable story of the time he played against Virgil van Dijk back in 2013.
Liverpool boss Slot incredibly lined up against his now-club captain during a Dutch league game some 11 years ago.
Slot, 46, has impressed massively since taking over at Anfield this summer, with the Reds top of the table having conceded just two league goals in seven games.
No small part of his success is thanks to the imperious Van Dijk who has long been one of the best centre-halves in the Premier League – if not the world.
But Slot once faced off against Van Dijk when the Netherlands international was rising through the ranks in his home country.
The pair came face-to-face in 2013 during a match between Slot’s FC Zwolle and Van Dijk’s Groningen in the Eredivisie – a clash that ended with Groningen winning 1-0.
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Discussing that day with Men in Blazers, Slot joked: “Virgil was lucky that I only came on 10 minutes before the end. That’s why he could keep a clean sheet.”
Slot – who was a midfielder during his playing days – hung up his boots at the end of that season, while Van Dijk was just starting out his career and was only 22 at the time.
Even with his wealth of experience under his belt, Slot couldn’t have predicted that a young Van Dijk would one day be one of the best centre-backs around.
He added: “Everybody thought that Virgil was a very talented and good centre-back, but it was a bit strange that no top clubs came in for him.
“He had to go to Celtic first and then to the Premier League to become such a star player for Liverpool.
“If you would have asked me back then ‘would you expect him to be the new centre-back at Liverpool?’, I probably would have said no.
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“If you would have asked him ‘did you expect to play against your new manager?’, he would probably have said no as well”.
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Slot will be hoping his star defender is on top form when his side welcome Chelsea to Anfield on Sunday.
The league leaders will need to be on top form to stop Enzo Maresca‘s transformed Blues.
Only Manchester City have scored more goals than Chelsea in the league this season with the Stamford Bridge outfit bouncing back from a lacklustre campaign last term.
Charles Johnson and Su Mudaerji meet Saturday on the main card of UFC Fight Night 245 at UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Check out this quick breakdown of the matchup from MMA Junkie analyst Dan Tom.
Last event: 3-3 UFC main cards, 2024: 87-77-3
Charles Johnson vs. Su Mudaerji UFC Fight Night 245 preview
Johnson (16-6 MMA, 5-4 UFC) has seemed to figure things out since a three-fight skid nearly ended his UFC tenure. He enters as a winner of his last three fights, all of which have come in a very busy 2024 campaign. Johnson’s decision win over Azat Maksum in February was a Fight of the Night affair, and his third round finish of Joshua Van in July earned a Performance of the Night bonus. … Mudaerji (16-6 MMA, 3-3 UFC) will look to stay above .500, and return to the win column after being finished in back-to-back outings. Mudaerji’s last victory was a unanimous decision nod over Zarrukh Adashev in January 2021.
Charles Johnson vs. Su Mudaerji UFC Fight Night 245 expert pick, prediction
Filling out the main card is a flyweight attraction between Johnson and Mudaerji.
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Considering that these two fighters were strangely booked with opposite momentum as far as their winning and losing streaks are concerned, I can see why the betting public is getting behind Johnson.
Many, including myself, have seen solid glimpses of Johnson’s skills and potential and have wanted to see him do well since stepping onto the UFC stage. And though the wins and losses have come down to the wire, Johnson appears to be hitting his stride as a fighter.
Mudaerji, on the other hand, has dealt with everything from injuries and inactivity to continual tough matchmaking.
Mudaerji appears to have been spending the last two fight camps at Team Alpha Male alongside Song Yadong, so I’m curious if we finally start to see the 28-year-old Tibetan turn a corner in his career as well.
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Although this should be an easy pick to make for Johnson, I find myself semi-reluctantly wanting to take a flier on the other side.
Aside from the fact that it would be hilarious to see an Asian fighter ice “Inner G” after the borderline racist tweet he sent out this week (which, according to Johnson’s logic, is okay since “he likes anime”), Johnson has traditionally struggled with southpaws, officially standing at a shaky 1-2 opposite UFC-level lefties.
Even though my personal bias is admittedly at play, considering how fed up I am over repeated incidents like this involving Asian athletes in this sport/sports culture, in general, I’ll stand by my pick here.
All personal gripes aside, Johnson is one of the least trustworthy fighters from a gambling perspective, so I stay away from his fights – particularly when he’s the one who is favored.
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The official pick is for Mudaerji to serve Johnson some much-needed humble pie with a surprising first-round knockout.
Charles Johnson vs. Su Mudaerji UFC Fight Night 245 odds
The oddsmakers and the public are favoring the American fighter, listing Johnson -225 and Su +180 via FanDuel.
Charles Johnson vs. Su Mudaerji UFC Fight Night 245 start time, how to watch
Johnson and Mudaerji are expected to walk to the cage at approximately 8:05 p.m. ET (5:05 p.m. PT). The fight will stream on ESPN+.
It’s been nearly 10 years since the 2015 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix. But if I close my eyes, I can still see it.
It was Saturday — qualifying day — and my 20th birthday. I was a college student in the garage at Circuit of The Americas, with a media credential and a few professors angry I’d skipped their classes to work in the field I was studying to join. I wore rain boots up to my knees and clutched an umbrella so close to my head that I could barely see in front of me. When I did look up, I saw a smattering of fans in the stands, all peering through ponchos. The F1 cars splashed by so violently that it felt more like I was watching a water-park ride than a racetrack.
Fans in the mud
Photo by: XPB Images
Spectators waded through mud, rain, and flooding for a dreary weekend of racing, followed by an even drearier set of headlines:
That rainy day, and those headlines, feel like a lifetime ago. Yet it’s merely a blip in America’s long and rocky history with F1 riddled with safety concerns, crumbling track surfaces, entire races falling to pieces right in front of spectators’ eyes, and more. These catastrophic events happened at tracks all over the country, and they led F1 to leave the US market again, and again, and again. That rainy day in 2015 was a pivotal moment for F1 in America, and I thought it would end like all the rest: with F1 leaving us behind to try again later.
But somehow, F1 in America didn’t just survive that 2015 flood — it crawled from obscurity into the limelight, all with Circuit of The Americas at the center of it. Heading into this 2024 race weekend, F1 at COTA isn’t the same event I worried we’d lose all those years ago.
F1 at Circuit of The Americas: The Early Years
Circuit of The Americas sits just outside of Austin, Texas. Famous F1 track designer Hermann Tilke created the track, and it opened to the public in October 2012, when F1 champion Mario Andretti ripped the first few laps. The inaugural F1 race happened a month later and broke a five-year absence from the American market, all spurred by the series’ infamous tire disaster at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
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Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: XPB Images
When COTA opened in 2012, it was America’s big, shiny, purpose-built F1 track, with new facilities, a giant watchtower looking over the course, and vast star-spangled runoff areas to meet modern F1 safety standards. It’s a 20-turn, 3.41-mile circuit with a mix of high-speed straightaways, harsh braking zones, and momentum-based turns like the esses and carousel, and it’s my personal favorite track to drive.
For the most part, COTA is still America’s premiere F1 facility. The series’ new US tracks in Miami and Las Vegas are street circuits, and while they are glamorous, they don’t have that same permanent footprint. (The biggest mistake the builders made at COTA was not planting trees, because it’s been 12 years and there’s still not a square inch of natural shade.)
But there were hesitations about COTA from the start. When the circuit opened, the local Austin Chronicle wrote about resident hesitation, funding and subsidization concerns, and F1’s rocky history in America—all things that would soon plague the race and venue.
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Pestilence, Destruction, and (Avoidance of) Death
The first US Grand Prix at COTA in 2012 had a three-day attendance of 265,000 and a race-day attendance of 117,429, but the numbers fell from there.
The 2013 race had 250,000 weekend spectators, 2014 had 237,000, and the rainy 2015 race had 224,000. My mom went to the track and co-headlining Elton John concert in 2015, and she called the race “dismal and muddy.” When she got surprise tickets to the ultra-expensive indoor Paddock Club with me, she said that she felt like “Cinderella in her dirty cleaning clothes.”
The COTA attendance numbers didn’t get drastically worse from year to year, but they did get worse, adding up to a weekend drop of about 41,000 in four years. Austin residents also tend to get invested in their local events — University of Texas football games, the Austin City Limits music festival, and the like. But my Italian professor made me ask permission (in Italian) to skip class for a ride-along with F1 legend Sebastian Vettel, and my audio-journalism professor acted like me working the race was an inconvenience. This lack of enthusiasm came because they — and others — didn’t consider F1 to be a true Austin event yet. True Austin events are always worth attending.
The opportunity for it to become a true Austin event nearly escaped, quite prematurely. Just after the 2015 race, storms bashed COTA. Rains flooded the (very tall) traffic tunnels leading into the infield, and the storm knocked over trams, flattened temporary buildings, and ripped seats out of the main grandstands. A rock wall got hit so hard it fell apart, and an awning got ripped off of a nearby gas station.
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While the storm raged, so did discussions about whether the state would or should keep funding the race. When F1 released its 2016 calendar, the US Grand Prix had an asterisk by its listing: *subject to agreement with the promoter and the National Sporting Authorities. The U.S. Grand Prix was, once again, in doubt.
The USGP needed a boost, so in 2016, the event organizers brought in the big act: Taylor Swift. It was advertised as her first and only concert of the year, and it brought in an estimated 80,000 attendees.
Taylor Swift in concert
Photo by: Jerry Andre / Motorsport Images
All of this made sense in 2016, when F1 in the U.S. needed an attendance boost and beacon of hope. But in 2024, it’s unthinkable. It’s hard to imagine Swift, whose extensive Eras Tour averaged 72,000 attendees per show according to reports in 2023, being an add-on to a sporting event instead of her own show, and it’s hard to imagine that F1 would even need her help in America.
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I remember sitting in the media center in 2016, looking at live traffic maps to see when to leave the track. (This is necessary at COTA, since a couple of two-lane roads lead into a venue with a six-figure capacity.) The map leading into COTA after the on-track activities ceased was solid red, because the concert-goers opted for music only. Forget the race cars.
Things were bad. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit and canceled the 2020 USGP, it could’ve been worse.
But then, the “Drive to Survive” effect happened.
Staying Unique in a Saturated U.S. Market
Netflix’s F1 docuseries, “Drive to Survive,” exploded in popularity as Americans sat at home during pandemic lockdowns. So did F1.
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Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, and Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri, in the drivers parade, flanked by the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
The return to COTA for the 2021 US Grand Prix saw a weekend attendance of 400,000, setting a new record for F1 while the series scrambled to capitalize on its American boom. The Miami Grand Prix joined the calendar for 2022, and the Las Vegas Grand Prix — a race down Vegas’ famous Strip, with casinos on either side of the track — debuted in 2023. America became an F1 hotbed, hosting three of the series’ 24 global races this year.
Now, after deep lows and record highs, COTA faces a new challenge: defining itself in an era where it’s the US Grand Prix in name only, since there are now three US Grands Prix. When F1 returned to the US after its pandemic cancellation and “Drive to Survive” boom, COTA was the main option for new American F1 fans. It was like the one diner in a small town: It didn’t have to stand out, because everyone had to go there anyway.
But now, that town has a Cheesecake Factory and a Chili’s. There’s competition, with freshly polished dining tables and multi-page menus with coil bindings. The local diner is still a staple, but there are tempting distractions.
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The way forward for the US Grand Prix at COTA, I think, is to lean into Texas culture. Miami is the club and beach hotspot, Vegas is the glitzy night race, and Austin should be the Wild West race. The appeal of F1 races around America shouldn’t just be their geographic proximity to spectators, but also what kind of culture they offer. In Austin, that culture is modern cowboys and live music.
Sir Jackie Stewart meets a Texas Longhorn
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
It might feel like an elaborate cosplay for locals, but all of this is cosplay in some form. The Miami race is a giant parking lot, and Vegas is a city of overpriced knockoffs, yet both feel glamorous because that’s what they’re advertised to be. These events are what we—and the race promoters—make of them.
I’ve experienced every era of F1 in Austin, from the torrential floods of 2015 to the bright, sunny days post-”Drive to Survive.” Each of them feels like a lifetime ago, and hopefully, F1 in the US has many lifetimes to go.
Renan Ferreira and Francis Ngannou are two of the most ferocious knockout artists in the heavyweight division today, but they know MMA isn’t only about face punching.
The former PFL and UFC champions will headline Saturday’s PFL Battle of the Giants in Saudi Arabia for the Superfight championship, and the Brazilian admits he won’t stay in the pocket and trade with Ngannou wildly if he sees a different path for victory once they are inside the cage.
“The important thing for us is the win,” Ferreira said in an interview with MMA Fighting. “It’s a big show and a big event, of course, a big promotion, but this is my career and my fight, and I’m going after a victory. I’ll do whatever it takes to come out with the win, and I know he’ll do the same thing. I’ll always go for the win wherever the fight goes, always bringing my best, where I feel the most comfortable at.”
Ngannou has also shown a different side of his fighting abilities in the past, wrestling his way to the victory on his final UFC appearance in January of 2022 to defeat Cyril Gane via unanimous decision.
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“He was smart,” Ferreira said of Ngannou’s strategy at UFC 270. “MMA is about that, the mix. MMA isn’t just striking and knockouts, it’s everything. As long as you don’t use illegal blows, everything goes.”
Ferreira knows that knocking out a man like Ngannou would boost his name in the history books. Yet, winning is all that matters when it’s all said and done.
“We fight a fight a million times inside our heads, every shape and form of it, so it’s easier when we’re in there, but this is a five-round fight,” Ferreira said. “I’m being cautious there. Francis hits hard and walks forward, and he’s very strong, so I’ll use my movement and quick strikes, always hunting for the opportunity to land my jabs and go for the knockout. But, sure, the fight can go to the fence, go to the ground. I’ve trained all aspects of it so I’m not surprised by anything.”
“This is the biggest fight of my life,” he continued. “Everybody’s waiting for this moment. Two guys who have done a lot for their legacies and have done great fights and delivered great results. This is a wonderful moment for my life. I’m happy, well-prepared, and ready for war.”
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Ferreira joined the PFL in May of 2021 and knocked out ex-UFC champion Fabricio Werdum in a bout that was later overturned to a no contest because Ferreira allegedly tapped to a triangle choke moments before the finish. His career has had ups and downs for two years before a major twist in 2023, winning the PFL heavyweight championship.
Ferreira battled Bellator heavyweight champion Ryan Bader for the ticket to face Ngannou next, and obliterated the UFC and Bellator veteran in just 21 seconds. “The Predator” was sitting cageside in Saudi Arabia that night in February, and “Problema” fells he had the MMA star in shock.
“After that knockout, he was looking like, ‘I really have a problem in front of me, a tough man to face,’” Ferreira said. “I’m super well-prepared to welcome him [to PFL] and put on a show for the fans. I’m happy with this opportunity and this gigantic moment, an event built for us. This is a historic moment.”
West Ham manager Julen Lopetegui says his side “lost any possibility” of getting back into the game after conceding three goals in eight minutes in their 4-1 defeat to Tottenham in the Premier League at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The Red Devils’ win will ease pressure on beleaguered boss Erik ten Hag, who this week defiantly blasted reports that he is on the verge of the sack.
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On a crucial afternoon for Ten Hag and Co, here’s how SunSport rated each United performer.
ANDRE ONANA – 6
Did not have much to do for a lot of the game but pulled out a good first half save to deny Christian Norgaard.
DIOGO DALOT – 6
Good display from right back and almost capped it with a goal when he stormed forward only to have his effort beaten away by Mark Flekken.
MATTHIJS DE LIGT – 6
At the centre of the controversy in first-half injury time as he had to leave the field with a bleeding head wound and from a corner Brentford scored. He was already looking suspect as was the bandage that was put on his head early in the game in the first place.
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JONNY EVANS – 7
Continuing an amazing end to his career at Old Trafford. Man of the match last time out in the goalless draw at Aston Villa and looked solid again. Great ovation when he came off towards the end.
LISANDRO MARTINEZ – 7
Shifted to an unaccustomed left-back spot but without problems and was particularly good getting forward down the flank.
CHRISTIAN ERIKSEN – 6
Chosen alongside Casemiro instead of new buy Manuel Ugarte who was on the bench again, but struggled to get into this game although he was involved for Hojlund’s goal. Thankful for the referee’s whistle in the first period calling play back for a foul after missing a sitter.
Looked like he was off in the summer but back in the team although looking to be missing a yard and often beaten to the ball.
MARCUS RASHFORD – 7
Does not operate as well on the right but Garnacho was so good down the left. Highlight of his first half was an incredible crossfield ball from right to left to set up Garnacho. Then in the second he provided the assist for Garnacho’s leveller.
Darren Bent claims Thomas Frank is ready to take over from Erik ten Hag at Man Utd
BRUNO FERNANDES – 7
Tried to orchestrate something from midfield but looked a frustrated figure in the first period. Then he showed his class after the break with that great little flick to set up Hojlund for his goal.
ALEJANDRO GARNACHO – 8
Had an all action first half after switching from the right to the left but wasted too many chances. Made up for it in the second with a fine finish from Rashford’s cross in a man of the match performance.
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RASMUS HOJLUND – 7
After getting one in Porto to open his season’s account he is now off and running with his first league goal of the campaign. A cool, clever chipped little finish it was too. The hope will be that starts a much needed run of goals but he needs to see more of the ball.
SUBSTITUTES
Joshua Zirkzee (for Hojlund, 74) – 5
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Strange change to make after Hojlund had just scored. His replacement fluffed the one half chance he had.
Victor Lindelof (for Evans, 89) – 6
A change that largely gave the fans a chance to acclaim Evans performances.
Manuel Ugarte (for Casemiro, 88) – 6
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A change that probably should have come earlier.
Noussair Mazraoui (for Garnacho, 90+1) – 6
Back after a heart procedure for a few late minutes.
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