CHRIS Kirkland has revealed he never received a Champions League winners medal – despite appearing in Liverpool’s iconic 2005 run.

The former Three Lions goalkeeper will be a guest of honour at this week’s Nations League clash with Greece.

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Kirkland hung up his gloves in 2016 following a near two-decade career.

The 43-year-old won a single cap for England in 2006 and played for 10 clubs including Wigan, Sheffield Wednesday, and Coventry.

Kirkland moved from the Sky Blues to Liverpool in 2001, initially as an understudy to Jerzy Dudek.

He took the starting role three years later, before being sidelined by a lingering back injury.

Kirkland played four times in Liverpool’s iconic 2004-05 Champions League campaign.

But he was unable to play in the final, with Dudek getting the start and Scott Carson taking his place on the bench.

Liverpool went on to beat AC Milan on penalties in Istanbul following a dramatic fightback from 3-0 down.

Carson has since revealed he tried to give Kirkland his winners medal, as he had “played more games in the group stages”.

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He told The Guardian: “When we got the medals, I tried to give mine to Chris.

“He played more games in the group stages than me. So I felt that he deserved it more.

“But Chris, as anyone who knows him will say, is a really nice lad and he said: ‘No. You were on the bench, you played your part as well.’”

Kirkland will receive an honorary cap from the FA on Thursday as England take on Greece.

According to The Athletic, the goalkeeper “never received the traditional cap to commemorate his international debut” in 2006.

He had also turned down the Champions League medal because he “didn’t feel part of it, sidelined by a back operation and unable to see a future under Rafael Benitez.”

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Kirkland’s dad famously landed a 100/1 bet he’d placed while his son was a teenager on him playing for England.

Speaking to the outlet, Kirkland laughed: “If I’d gone into the bookies’ with my dad, and they’d seen me, I’m sure he would have got a lot better odds than 100/1.

“I was very gangly. I wasn’t in the best shape.”

Alex Pereira and Artem Vakhitov may be fierce rivals when it comes to combat sports, but there’s nothing but respect between them outside the ring.

On Tuesday night, Vakhitov scored a first-round knockout on Contender Series but UFC CEO Dana White was on the fence about whether or not to sign him to a contract. After attending the UFC APEX show to watch Vakhitov’s performance, Pereira actually put in a good word for the former GLORY Kickboxing champion and he was signed to a contract.

Following the event, Pereira and Vakhitov ran into each other backstage and chatted through translators.

“To be honest, I’m very happy see you winning,” Vakhitov told Pereira. “I love what’s happening with you right now over here. So just keep doing it, keep winning, I’ll be watching this. I’ll be focused on myself. Hopefully after a few more defenses, it will happen so that we’ll meet each other again.”

(Video courtesy of Vakhitov’s manager Andrey Busygin)

While both fighters were competing in GLORY, Pereira defeated Vakhitov by split decision in their first encounter before the Russian got his revenge with a majority decision in the rematch. That fight served as Pereira’s final appearance in GLORY before signing with the UFC where he’s gone on to become a two-division champion in short order.

After Vakhitov decided to make a full-time transition to MMA, he exchanged more than a few messages with Pereira through interviews and over social media.

No matter what was said, Vakhitov promised it was never anything personal but just about business.

“Nothing but respect,” Vakhitov said. “All love and it’s just sports. That’s all it is.”

The fighters shook hands and shared a hug, with Pereira giving Vakhitov a few parting words with a laugh between everybody involved after he gave his former opponent the extra nod he needed to get into the UFC.

“You owe me one,” Pereira said.

Vakhitov joins the UFC with a 3-1 record in his MMA career with all of his wins coming by first-round knockout.

With captain Seamus Coleman sidelined, Nathan Collins will continue to stand in as skipper.

The Brentford defender took the armband for the closing stages of the England game after Coleman limped off before and retained captaincy duties against Greece.

“I probably didn’t take in the moment as much as I should have, but that’s just the way I am,” Collins, 23, said of deputising for Coleman last month.

“My family did – I think they were crying in the stand. Honestly, it means a lot to me and my family.”

Collins, who has started all seven of Brentford’s Premier League games this season, added: “I think in this camp, it’s really easy being a captain of this team as there are so many leaders. I could go through this team and you could name six or seven boys who would help me out, chip in, talk, motivate, and it makes my job easier.

“We’re missing a few of the older boys, past leaders, and it is time for boys to step up and time for us to start showing our leadership.”

South Africa batters Laura Wolvaardt, Tazmin Brits and Marizanne Kapp guide their side to the highest score of the tournament so far to eliminate Scotland from the Women’s T20 World Cup.

READ MORE: Scotland eliminated by South Africa at T20 World Cup

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LAS VEGAS – Dana White likes the idea of a four-man BMF title tournament that’s been proposed by Dustin Poirier.

Poirier (30-8 MMA, 22-7 UFC), who lost to Justin Gaethje by knockout in their BMF title fight at UFC 291, would love to enter that title picture again. The BMF title has since changed hands when Max Holloway scored an iconic knockout of Gaethje at UFC 300 in April.

Poirier knows he doesn’t have too many fights left in him but would be all in for a four-man BMF tournament between him, Gaethje (25-5 MMA, 8-5 UFC), Holloway (26-7 MMA, 22-7 UFC), and Dan Hooker (24-12 MMA, 14-8 UFC). Poirier has history with all three fighters, going 1-1 with Gaethje, and defeating both Holloway and Hooker.

“That excites me because that kind of stuff is for the dogs, man,” Poirier told MMA Today. “That’s like the old PRIDE days or grand prixs, you know? That’s a real BMF. If you can fight in a tournament in one night, multiple opponents, I mean, dude, that’s kind of the definition of a BMF.”

White, who’s instantly shot down other tournaments before, had a positive reaction when asked about Poirier’s idea.

“Sounds fun,” White said during a Dana White’s Contender Series 75 post-fight news conference at the UFC Apex. “Never thought about it, but yeah, I love it.”

A tournament would also excite Hooker, who responded on “X.”

“Don’t threaten me with a good time. .”

Don’t threaten me with a good time. 😂 https://t.co/ag45arvez4

— Dan Hangman Hooker (@danthehangman) October 9, 2024

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Since losing his BMF title fight against Gaethje, Poirier rebounded with a knockout of Benoit Saint Denis at UFC 299. He then challenged lightweight champion Islam Makhachev at UFC 302 but fell short by fourth-round submission.

As for BMF champion Holloway, he will look to add another belt when he challenges featherweight champion Ilia Topuria in the UFC 308 main event Oct. 26 in Abu Dhabi.

JURGEN Klopp stunned football when he announced a return to the game just months after leaving Liverpool.

Less than a year since Anfield hero Klopp said he was “running out of energy” when he confirmed his departure from the Merseysiders, he was appointed as “head of global football” at the Red Bull group.

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Red Bull have six clubs in their stable including Leipzig, Salzburg and now Leeds.

But while Klopp copped a social media backlash from some Borussia Dortmund fans – with suggestions he might be targeted by a banner at the club’s next home game – the reaction across much of Germany was stunned disbelief.

Dortmund, like Liverpool, are very much a fans’ club, part of the heartbeat of their city.

RB Leipzig, the flagship of the Red Bull stable, were only founded in 2009 when the drinks company purchased the playing rights of a fifth-tier side in the East German city.

Yet in unveiling Klopp as their new figurehead, with a role to help with the group’s “strategic vision” and global scouting operation as well as training and developing coaches, Red Bull have potentially risked compromising their star signing’s reputation.

The shock announcement of a five-year deal – with conflicting reports over whether there was a get-out clause if the German national team came calling – came out of the blue.

While Klopp, who will start his new role on January 1, said the opportunity “could not excite me more”, as far as many fans, especially in Dortmund were concerned, the news could not have angered them less.

Some denounced Klopp as a “traitor” and a “hypocrite”, with consternation among Liverpool supporters who had expected he would be out of football for at least a year.

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And the scale of the reaction saw the German, 57, break his holiday to post a video message in which he tried to explain: “A few months ago I said that I don’t see myself on the sidelines anymore and that is still the case.

“But I still love football and I still love working. Red Bull gives me the perfect platform for that.

“I want to share my experience which I collected over the years and we all know there are much more successful managers out there.

“In my career, I fought for promotion, I fought against relegation, I’ve fought for titles, I’ve fought for trophies.

“Sometimes we failed, sometimes we succeeded and dealing with that is not easy. But it’s possible.

“Now I have time and I have the opportunity. I want to see and feel and figure out what is useful in football.

“So developing football a little bit as well. Really looking forward to it but now I go back on holiday. See you in January.”

Klopp has botched his Liverpool exit… and it’s cost him his legacy, says Dave Kidd

By Dave Kidd

NOW we know Jurgen Klopp’s final major trophy haul at Liverpool — one Champions League, one Premier League, one FA Cup, two League Cups and (if you must) a World Club Cup.

But where does his reign stand among the greatest of the Premier League era?

In black-and-white terms, Klopp is way behind Sir Alex Ferguson and Pep Guardiola, the only two men to have won multiple Premier Leagues and a Champions League at the same club.

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Those two sit alongside Brian Clough, Bob Paisley and Sir Matt Busby as the undoubted all-time managerial greats of the English game.

But Klopp ranks in the next tier down — with Arsene Wenger, Jose Mourinho (the Chelsea version), Bill Shankly and Don Revie.

These were all men with the strength of character to transform their clubs in their own image and enjoy success but who did not win as much as they might have done.

Had Klopp managed to keep his intentions under wraps and ended up with another title, perhaps even a treble or quadruple, he’d have edged himself up into that highest echelon with Ferguson, Guardiola, Clough, Paisley and Busby.

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But deciding the timing and the manner of your exit is one of the toughest calls for any manager or sportsman.

Klopp got it wrong.

Read Dave Kidd’s take on Klopp’s demise in full here.

Or click here to check out all of Dave Kidd’s articles.

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Klopp’s move was evidently no shock to Dortmund chief executive Hans-Joachim Watzke, who said: “It’s not a surprise to me because I talked about it with him personally. I wish Jurgen luck in his new job.”

And it was unquestionably a coup for Red Bull, whose boss Oliver Mintzlaff said: “We are very proud of this outstanding and certainly the strongest signing in Red Bull’s football history.

“Jurgen Klopp is one of the greatest and most influential figures in world football, with extraordinary skills and charisma.

“He will be a game changer for our involvement in international football and its continued development.”