Jamie Carragher believes Liverpool can deliver Mohammed Salah a “perfect send off” and a Champions League winners’ medal but worries that English football may struggle to replace his star quality.

News of Salah’s exit at the end of the season broke out of the blue on Tuesday evening, signalling the end of an illustrious nine-year partnership between the Egyptian and the Anfield club.

With 255 goals in 435 appearances, the 33-year-old will depart as the club’s third highest goalscorer behind only Ian Rush and Roger Hunt.

Former Reds stalwart Carragher ranks him among the very best to have worn the shirt and tipped the possibility of a fairytale final chapter on the European stage.

“The timing of Tuesday’s announcement strikes me as both perfect and clever. Confirming his intentions now guarantees the kind of emotional, grand farewell that a player of his standing deserves,” Carragher wrote in the Daily Telegraph.

“While I will celebrate his career, I have no wish to be part of a grand Anfield farewell after the club’s final Premier League fixture in May. Every Liverpool fan has something far better and more dramatic in mind.

“Knowing Salah’s mindset and competitive spirit, he will be setting his sights on the greatest of all possible goodbyes a week later: inspiring his team to victory in the Champions League final in Budapest. Do not bet against the perfect send off.”

The former England defender also feels that Salah will leave a huge void well beyond Merseyside.

“Liverpool’s loss is English football’s loss. It means the Premier League will soon be deprived of another world-class, generational talent.

“Following Kevin De Bruyne’s exit from Manchester City just last season, Salah’s Anfield farewell brings down the curtain on another career in this country which has illuminated our stadiums. Until others step up to fill the huge void, we may risk suffering a ‘superstar famine’.”

Salah’s team-mate Andy Robertson, who signed for the club in the same transfer window in 2017, led the dressing room tributes.

Posting on Instagram, the Scotland international wrote: “Mohamed, thank you.

“Nine of the best years of our lives with amazing memories on and off the pitch. Watching you become the best at what you do and become one of the best to ever have worn the Liverpool shirt has been a joy to watch and be part of.

“Your mentality is second to none and a lot of people could take note. You have pushed yourself every single day and always demanded more from yourself and others. A pleasure sharing the pitch with you for so long but even more so being able to call you a friend.

“You deserve a send-off that reflects your status at LFC – the greatest. Second to none.”

The exact circumstances behind the decision have yet to be revealed, with the role of manager Arne Slot unclear, but former Liverpool player Stephen Warnock has suggested the Dutchman could find himself following Salah out of the club if results go badly in the coming weeks.

“Do they have a replacement now in the squad? No they don’t, absolutely not,” he told BBC Radio Five Live.

“Whether it’s Arne Slot or a new manager (who has to find one), we’ll have to wait and see. That’s another thing that’s up for debate.

“If Liverpool crash out of the Champions League to Paris St Germain in the next few weeks and they don’t win against Manchester City in the FA Cup, suddenly things look a lot bleaker.

“It won’t just be Mohamed Salah they’re looking for a replacement for, it will be the manager.”

Many in the sport believe Shakur Stevenson could retire undefeated, following in the footsteps of his friend Terence Crawford. Stevenson himself is certainly convinced that will be the case.

A four-division world champion at 28 years old, Stevenson’s most recent triumph came against Teofimo Lopez in the super-lightweight ranks. After some questioned whether the move up in weight would cost the Newark southpaw his trademark elusiveness, he instead put on a clinic, winning almost every round against Lopez, who has previously beaten great champions in Vasiliy Lomachenko and Josh Taylor.

He now holds the WBO belt at 140lbs, and has options there, up and down. Though stripped of the WBC belt at lightweight, Stevenson has not ruled out a drop back down. There are intriguing defences or unifications for him to make where he is, and it’s likely he will ultimately move up to welterweight, though he has pumped the brakes on talk of doing that too soon.

With names like Gervonta Davis, Devin Haney and Ryan Garcia all in the mix, the debate now centres on not who can beat Stevenson, but who can even test him.

In his mind, nobody can – and he told Cigar Talk recently that his toughest fight has already happened.

“It ain’t going to happen [somebody having a close fight against me]. The most y’all ever going to get is Zepeda – that was y’all’s best hope and chance at getting resistance.

“His style, styles make fights. The style that would give me the most resistance would be the guy who throws a million punches a round, and doesn’t stop punching.”

Shakur successfully defended his lightweight strap against Mexico’s Zepeda in July of 2025. Motivated by criticism of his defensive style, he took a different approach and fought much of the fight in the pocket. It proved to be entertaining, but was a risky strategy against one of the sport’s highest volume punchers who boasts 27 knockouts in 33 wins.

Despite being caught on the ropes on a couple of occasions, Stevenson still came away winning clearly on all three judges’ scorecards and, in his mind, bulletproof from any future challenge.

Bompastor was visibly upset on the touchline as she approached the fourth official to question the decision.

Chelsea’s players looked bemused and their frustrations grew, including Bompastor kicking a bottle, when Kadeisha Buchanan’s late effort was ruled out for a foul on goalkeeper Anneke Borbe, although replays showed that was the correct decision.

Asked what feedback she received from the officials on their decisions, Bompastor said: “Nothing. It’s always the same. You go to them and ask them to check they made the right decision, they always say ‘yeah, we are checking.’

“But they made the wrong decision. Nothing changes. When a human makes a mistake, you can understand a little more but when there is the VAR, it’s really difficult.

“I don’t think it’s been the first time for us this season in the Champions League. When we played Barcelona, Catarina Macario’s goal was not offside. That changes a lot. I just think they need to be better.”

Bompastor insisted she believes VAR is good for the women’s game but that the officials using it must be the “right people to check the situations”.

Asked how the women’s game could be respected more, Bompastor said the solution would be to bring the “best” referees to the biggest games.

“If that has to be coming from the men’s game, then maybe,” she said. “If it is coming from the women’s game, then [use] the best ones,” she added.

“We need to make those decisions. It’s really frustrating. We need to bring competence which is the most important thing.”

Pesu, 36, has officiated throughout this year’s Women’s Champions League and oversaw two games at last summer’s European Championship, including the opening match between hosts Switzerland and Norway.

Man Utd are planning to build a new Old Trafford and they have issued an update on the work going on behind the scenes over the next 12 months.

Manchester United stadium development boss Collette Roche insists progress has been made on plans to build a new £2bn Old Trafford, with talks with investors going well and land-acquisition deals set to be announced soon.

Since announcing last year plans to build a new 100,000-seater Old Trafford on land adjacent to the current stadium, there has been no concrete progress made public, but Roche insists the project has moved forward behind the scenes.

United have been working on securing land needed to deliver the new stadium and the wider regeneration project, with the aim of securing a large patch of land currently owned by Freightliner proving to be a particular challenge.

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But Roche revealed progress had been made on that front and suggested an announcement confirming a deal could be made in the next couple of months.

“We’ve made a lot of progress in the last 12 months,” said Roche, who was handed the title of chief executive, new stadium development, earlier this year.

“But to be fair, a lot of it has been behind the scenes. So people might not have seen that, but some of the examples of progress we’ve made are first and foremost in land assembly.

“We want to make sure we get the best possible position for this stadium, one which has got plenty of land around it to put the right facilities in place, one that’s connected and offers a great match day experience.

“So I’ve been spending a lot of time talking to all the local landowners to understand where that needs to be, and we’re progressing that really, really well, and I’m hoping to be able to share some positive news on that front in the next few months.”

United have also been working to try and line up investment for the project. Sir Jim Ratcliffe confirmed last year that they would fund the stadium with private finance, and Roche revealed United had spoken to “people and organisations” keen to be involved.

There have also been talks with public bodies around taxpayer investment in infrastructure around the stadium. Ratcliffe said last year that public cash would be needed to complete the wider regeneration aims around the stadium, with both sets of plans going hand-in-hand.

“I think the second area that we’ve done a lot in is around investment, and I’m delighted to say we’ve had a lot of interest,” said Roche. “There’s a lot of people and organisations that want to invest, not just in the stadium, but also in the wider stadium district. And so those conversations are naturally going to be behind closed doors.

“And I think the third part, but arguably the most important work we’ve been doing is really laying the foundations and relationships with the people that are going to make this happen.

“So primarily, it’s the local authorities. It’s working with the newly established Mayoral Development Corporation. Bit of a mouthful, but we call it the MDC. So that’s chaired by Lord Seb Coe. And as we know, he’s got tremendous experience in sports-led regeneration projects with the work he did in London 2012.

“It’s supported by Andy Burnham, our mayor, who thinks it’s going to bring amazing benefits for the city region and also by Tom Ross, who’s obviously our leader here in Trafford. And so they’re a really important group of people.

“They’re the ones that are going to help us with the planning, make sure we’ve got the infrastructure around the stadium to be able to get in and out efficiently and effectively, but also the ones that will remove any obstacles that we come up against as we go through this build, and to make sure that we can deliver the benefits. As we’ve all said, we want to for the greater good.”

The mare Machine Gun Gracie, successful in last year’s WA Oaks–WA Derby pairing, showcased elite form again via a stunning run in the Group 3 $250,000 Epona Stakes (1900m) on Saturday at Rosehill Gardens.

As a fresh addition to brothers JD, Ben and Will Hayes’ Lindsay Park yard, Machine Gun Gracie broke through for her maiden win in almost 12 months since the Perth feats – with expectations of more elite targets looming.

“She’s got plenty of X-Factor,” Jd Hayes said.

“We’ll have a good chat and debrief with the team and the connections here, have a few cold ones and enjoy today. Then work out where we’re going, because I think a mare of her calibre, we will have plenty of options.”

Market drifter at $17, Machine Gun Gracie demolished her field, securing the Epona Stakes by two lengths from Polymnia ($5.50), Placid Pearl ($101) grabbing third narrowly.

Godolphin-owned Pinito, the $2.60 top pick, raced outwards on the turn and dropped to a poor ninth. This victory represented Machine Gun Gracie’s second for the Hayes team after spells with Perth handler Justine Erkelens.

Erkelens keeps a stake in the mare’s ownership syndicate and watched from the stands as she cruised to Epona Stakes glory.

“They saw our facilities (Lindsay Park) and thought it would really suit ‘Gracie’, so we’re just very lucky in that regard that she got sent our way,” Hayes said,”She’s gone from strength to strength and she’s got plenty of upside. We’ve always had a high opinion of her and it’s good to see her convert here today.”

Jockey Luke Currie settled Machine Gun Gracie smoothly before unleashing her devastating sprint to the wire.

“In Perth she raced on speed and was really strong but last time she was a bit sticky out first-up and I just rode her quietly from there,” Currie said.

“But she had the barrier extension on today because she’s so big she doesn’t fit in the gates so well. She gets very uncomfortable and I thought that’s what happened last time.

“She still didn’t begin the fastest, so I had to just give her a little nudge, but she got there and switched straight off and pricked her ears. She always travelled nice and kind, off a nice tempo, and was always going to be hard to beat.”

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