Jurgen Klopp has apologised for his outburst on Antonio Conte's tactics following the draw between Liverpool and Tottenham on Saturday, suggesting it was a "backhanded" compliment.
Liverpool dropped ground in the Premier League title race as they were held to a frustrating 1-1 draw at Anfield, Luis Diaz's deflected second-half strike salvaging a point for the Reds.
Spurs managed just 35 per cent of possession against the Reds, who outshot their opponents 22 to three – though the visitors registered as many shots on target (three each).
Having defended deep and relied on the counter-attacking prowess of scorer Son Heung-min and Harry Kane, Tottenham became the first team to stop Liverpool from winning at Anfield in the Premier League since Brighton and Hove Albion last October.
Klopp took aim at Spurs' approach after the game, stating he "could not coach" Conte's defensive style as he implored Tottenham to do more with their talented "world-class players".
However, the German manager has since retracted his remarks as he hailed the work that Conte and Atletico Madrid's Diego Simeone do in setting their teams up to defend.
"No. It's what I think, it's just not what I should say because it's not appropriate," Klopp told reporters when asked if he would contact Conte to apologise. "We didn't lose and it felt like a loss.
"One of you guys asked how they defended and that was the moment it clicked. I mean it when I say I couldn't coach it – it was a backhanded compliment.
"I couldn't. What they do is incredible and so difficult for the opponent – they make it hard to score.
"When you don't score and then Harry Kane gets on the ball, it's not a brain f***, but what can you do in these moments? My main message is I can't coach it.
"Diego Simeone and Atletico Madrid, I can't wait to face them again. That’s what I mean, it's unnecessary I say these kinds of things. It came out before I was thinking."
Liverpool also attempted 46 crosses to Tottenham's 17, but Klopp refuted suggestions his side should not have relied on sending the ball in from the flanks, even if he bemoaned the Reds' build-up play.
"The crosses you can read easily are not right with the way they defend," he added. "They need to go back in the centre, get to the touchline and square it.
"It's just that the main challenge of a game like this is that you are in a creative mood, but every missed pass is a massive problem, it is hard to stay calm.
"If we chip the ball in behind the wing-back that’s great football, but we didn't anticipate it. If we had won 3-1 you wouldn't have asked me about all these crosses and that's the problem, not a perfect game but great things.
"The counter-press was amazing. I don't forget but we keep going. If we win 1-0 and there's no counter-press, we have only a few games left and I have to say 'Boys, what happened?'.
"Nothing is broken, that's how I see it so let's keep going from there. It doesn't always work out and that's the nature of it.
"We had the situations where we could have scored. Virgil [van Dijk's late header], he could have scored and it would have been perfect."
Liverpool will look to cut Manchester City's three-point lead at the Premier League summit when the Reds visit Aston Villa on Tuesday.
Former world number ones Simona Halep and Victoria Azarenka advanced to the second round of the Internazionali d'Italia on Monday, while Coco Gauff scored an impressive win over Angelique Kerber.
Halep was a 6-4 6-4 winner against Alize Cornet, who defeated her in the fourth round of the Australian Open in January, and will face seventh seed Danielle Collins next.
It was only the Romanian's second win in her six matches against Cornet, though she needed two chances to serve out both sets.
Azarenka needed just 68 minutes to see of Viktorija Golubic, dropping just five points behind her first serve and winning 12 out of 14 from the final three games to complete a 6-3 6-0 triumph.
It only took Gauff two minutes more to see off the challenge of Kerber, who has now won just two of her eight matches on the WTA Tour this year.
Leylah Fernandez came from behind to claim an impressive 1-6 6-2 6-2 victory over 16th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, while Madison Keys went down 6-4 6-4 to Anhelina Kalinina.
Aliaksandra Sasnovich's 3-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-1 win over Veronika Kudermetova secured her a second-round match against second seed Paula Badosa.
Belinda Bencic overcame Elisabetta Cocciaretto 6-4 6-2, Shuai Zhang set up a match with Aryna Sabalenka by beating Martina Trevisan 6-4 6-2, and Petra Martic will face Anett Kontaveit after besting Karolina Muchova 6-2 3-6 6-1.
There were also wins for Daria Kasatkina and Yulia Putintseva before rain interrupted Ajla Tomljanovic's match against Camila Giorgi when the Australian was 6-3 4-2 up.
Mercedes principal Toto Wolff has refused to rule out the team reverting to an older car concept as they continue to trail Red Bull and Ferrari after enduring a poor start to the season.
George Russell and Lewis Hamilton finished fifth and sixth respectively at the inaugural Miami Grand Prix on Sunday as the team's difficult start to the 2022 campaign continued, leading Wolff to declare Mercedes were "in no man's land" as the third-fastest outfit on the grid.
Both drivers have criticised the feel of the team's W13 car after managing just one podium finish apiece this term, with seven-time drivers' champion Hamilton asserting the team were yet to take a "step forward" after a troubled start to the season.
Mercedes' eight-year run of constructors' championships now looks destined to come to an end, with Ferrari possessing a slender lead over Red Bull in the team standings after five races.
Speaking after reigning world champion Max Verstappen claimed victory in Florida, Wolff said a return to the car concept used during pre-season testing at Barcelona could not be ruled out, despite it being "clearly much slower on paper".
However, Wolff said the team's focus had to be on making the current iteration of the car work.
"We need to find out how we can make the current car work predictably for the drivers," he said.
"I wouldn't discount anything. But we need to give all of our people that have produced great race cars in the past the benefit of the doubt and we believe this is the route to go.
"We are faithful to the current concept. We're not looking at the lady next door [to see] if we like it more or not, because it's still good.
"We need to understand, before we make a decision on another concept – where did this one go wrong? And what is the goodness of the concept and what is the badness of the concept?"
Carlos Alcaraz is the best player on the ATP Tour at the moment, according to world number one Novak Djokovic.
Spanish 19-year-old Alcaraz claimed his fourth title of the season at the Madrid Open on Sunday, defeating world number three Alexander Zverev in the final after overcoming Djokovic and Rafael Nadal in his two previous matches.
The teenager has surged up to a career-high sixth in the world rankings as a result, though he opted against competing at this week's Internazionali d'Italia with the French Open rapidly approaching.
"He definitely is special," said Djokovic, who will begin his campaign in Rome against Aslan Karatsev on Tuesday.
"Already he's breaking a lot of records as a teenager, winning two Masters events this year, a couple of 500s. So far, he's the best player in the world, no question, this year with the results that he's been doing.
"The way he was dealing with the pressure... In our match few days ago, how calm he was all the way until the [end] was impressive.
"He deserved to win the trophy. Everything about his game is really impressive. He's a really complete player, can play equally well offensively and defensively. He's the talk of the sport."
Djokovic is yet to win any silverware this season and possesses a 7-4 record, but feels as though he has turned a corner ahead of Roland Garros, where he beat Stefanos Tsitsipas to win his second French Open title last year.
"I think it's closer to [my] desired level every week," he explained. "Madrid, even though I lost in the semi-finals, I still think I played really good tennis, felt physically 100 per cent, even after an almost three-and-a-half-hour battle against Alcaraz.
"I recovered well the next day, was ready to go. That's a positive and encouraging factor prior to Rome and also, of course, the big goal, which is Paris.
"I think I'm [going] in the right direction. I know I can always play better, and I know that I'm very self-critical on the court. At the same time, realistically looking, I think the tennis, quality of tennis, level of tennis, is really high now.
"Hopefully I can maintain that level throughout this week and build, go deep in this tournament hopefully — that's the goal — and come to Paris well-prepared."
Tiger Woods has been included in the final field for the US PGA Championship next week, with Phil Mickelson returning from his self-enforced break to defend his title.
After contesting his first event in 17 months at the Masters in April, 15-time major winner Woods will take part in the tournament at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa.
The 46-year-old finished 47th at Augusta, an impressive feat having almost lost his leg following a car accident Los Angeles in February 2021.
Woods two weeks ago played a practise round at Southern Hills, which was the site of his 2007 US PGA Championship success.
Reigning champion Mickelson will also be in the field when the second major of the year gets under way on May 19.
Mickelson has not played since February after opting to take a break from the sport following the backlash to his controversial comments over the Saudi Arabia-backed Super Golf League – now officially called the LIV Golf Invitational Series.
The 51-year-old said Saudi Arabia has "a horrible record on human rights", but added he was willing to commit to the league as it was "a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reshape how the PGA Tour operates". Mickelson later apologised for his "reckless" comments.
Stan Wawrinka said he was "feeling great" after securing his first win in 15 months by downing 14th seed Reilly Opelka at the Internazionali d'Italia.
The three-time grand slam winner made his tour return last month after requiring two surgeries on a left foot injury, but rallied after losing his first set against Opelka to secure a memorable 3-6 7-5 6-2 first-round victory.
Speaking after booking a second-round meeting with Laslo Djere, who beat Borna Coric 6-2 6-7 (3-7) 6-2, Wawrinka said his desire to play at the top level never left him, despite his injury woes.
"I think in general I was feeling good on the court, physically I was feeling great," he said. "For sure, when you don't win a match in more than a year, you start to think about it more than you should and not focus on the right things.
"In general, I think it was a great match, a great battle. I stayed positive. I started to feel much better with my tennis by the end of the second set, and in the third set. I'm really happy with this victory.
"After two surgeries, at my age I could easily have stopped playing because my career is way better than what I expected when I was young.
"But I still have this fire in me. I still believe that I can play great tennis. I still believe that I make some big results, maybe not now, but in a few months."
Fellow former grand slam champion Dominic Thiem, who also returned from a long injury-enforced absence last month, fared less well, going down in straight sets to Fabio Fognini.
Having lost to Andy Murray at the Madrid Open last time out, 2020 US Open winner Thiem is still chasing his first victory of the year after losing 6-4 7-6 (7-5) to the 34-year-old Italian.
Elsewhere, 13th seed Denis Shapovalov edged an epic three-hour contest against Italy's Lorenzo Sonego 7-6 (7-5) 3-6 6-3, responding after being handed a game penalty for shouting expletives at a partisan crowd in Rome during the second set.
The frustrated Canadian was heard to tell spectators: "Shut the f*** up" when being booed after complaining about a second serve being called out by the umpire, but eventually regained his composure to claim a three-set win.
Shapovalov will face Georgia's world number 25 Nikoloz Basilashvili in the second round after he overcame Daniel Evans 7-6 (7-2) 6-2, while the only other seed to play on Monday, Spain's Pablo Carreno Busta, cruised to a 6-3 6-2 victory over Federico Delbonis.
London will host MLB regular-season games in three of the next four years, it was announced on Monday.
The New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox contested the first two MLB games played in Europe at the London Stadium in June 2019 as part of a two-year agreement, though the 2020 edition was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, baseball will return to the capital of the United Kingdom next year, with further matches planned to take place in 2024 and 2026.
"All aspects of the inaugural MLB games in London were an overwhelming success," said league commissioner Rob Manfred.
"It was clear that sports fans in London had a great appetite for baseball and that passion was shared by mayor [Sadiq] Khan as well as the business and media community.
"We are confident in making a long-term commitment to London and are looking forward to returning to the city with more MLB games, special fan events, and other opportunities to play and watch the game."
Khan added: "Today is an historic day for London and baseball. I want to continue attracting world-class sport to our city as part of my mission to make London the sporting capital of the world.
"This long-term partnership with Major League Baseball is ambitious and includes regular-season games as well as a legacy programme, designed to grow the number of Londoners watching and playing baseball at a grassroots level.
"These games will be a fantastic opportunity to once again showcase the London Stadium as a multi-use venue and a fantastic asset for the capital."
The New York Giants have released cornerback James Bradberry.
Bradberry's departure has long been viewed as an inevitability, with the Giants unable to afford to keep his contract, which would have seen him paid just shy of $22million in 2022, on the books.
New York had been attempting to trade Bradberry, who was named to the Pro Bowl in 2020, with the Kansas City Chiefs reported to be the primary team involved in such discussions.
Bradberry is now free to sign with the Chiefs or any other team in the NFL after the Giants cut ties with the former Carolina Panther, having failed to come to terms on a trade.
The 28-year-old should have no shortage of suitors given his consistent on-ball production.
His 2020 season with the Giants saw him record 18 pass breakups and three interceptions, and he followed that up with 17 breakups and four picks in 2021, despite the Giants finishing bottom of the NFC East with a 4-13 record.
Only J.C. Jackson (37) and Xavien Howard (36) have registered more breakups than Bradberry's tally of 35 over the past two seasons.
Lionel Messi deserves more respect from football fans in France, according to Christian Karembeu.
Paris Saint-Germain supporters jeered Messi and Neymar during a Ligue 1 match against Bordeaux that followed their Champions League elimination at the hands of Real Madrid.
The Argentina superstar has scored nine goals and supplied 13 assists in 32 appearances in all competitions for PSG – an underwhelming return following his blockbuster arrival from Barcelona.
A total of 22 goal involvements is his worst output since the 2006-07 season, which was just his second full campaign at the highest level.
Messi's numbers could have been higher, with the 34-year-old having been denied by the woodwork a record 10 times in Ligue 1 alone.
Karembeu, a World Cup and European Championship winner with France during his playing days, thinks Messi should be given an undisputed leadership role at PSG to help him flourish.
"When Messi plays and wherever he goes, everything is always full on. It's like this in France," he told the Super Deportivo Radio show.
"He is a sensational player, but he is also an attraction for the French league. Messi is more than a player. We have to respect this guy more in France, because he attracts people. It's very important.
"You can't whistle Messi because he's a star. It is a mistake by the fans, because if the crowd offers him affection he will end up standing out.
"It wasn't easy for him to leave Barcelona. What I'm going to say depends on the coach, but for me Messi has to be appointed the leader of the group at PSG.
"If PSG let him lead, guide and take care of the group, they will always win. But they have to let him be the leader.
"Messi has to be the leader to show his football. We saw it for 20 years at Barcelona, so it won't change. He has to go down that path, where he is the technical and group leader.
"He has to be the captain because he knows his role perfectly. Messi is a magician and we have to stop judging him because we know that when he touches the ball, something will always happen."
Manchester City's reportedly imminent capture of Borussia Dortmund striker Erling Haaland will "set new levels", according to Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp.
Pep Guardiola's City and Klopp's Reds have emerged as the dominant forces in the Premier League since the 2018-19 season, when they finished on 98 and 97 points respectively in an enthralling battle for top spot, with each team winning one league title apiece since City's triumph that year.
Their rivalry has been stepped up again this season, with City currently three points clear at the top of the league with just three games remaining.
Meanwhile, Liverpool remain in the hunt for a remarkable quadruple after winning the EFL Cup, reaching the Champions League final, and eliminating City in the FA Cup's last four to reach the showpiece.
However, City look set to bolster their ranks with the incredible signing of Haaland, who has scored 21 goals and provided seven assists in just 23 Bundesliga appearances this season, averaging a goal every 86.9 minutes.
With reports suggesting City could announce the signing of the Norway international before the end of this season, Klopp says Haaland's arrival could push City to new heights.
"I signed a new contract knowing City will not stop developing, so it's not about City to define if we can be happy or not, it's about us and what we can make of it," Klopp told Sky Sports.
"You have so many opportunities and so many different ways to win a football game, we have to find just one.
"It's possible, and you can do that, we can face City in two or three cup competitions, in the Champions League or whatever, in five or six finals a year maybe, all the rest we play against the other teams.
"Yes, if Erling Haaland goes there it will not weaken them, definitely not. I think it's been spoken about enough, this transfer. I know at the moment there's a lot of talk, and people talk about money.
"But this transfer will set new levels, let me say it like this."
Despite often playing without a recognised striker, Guardiola's team have netted more goals (89) than any other Premier League side this season (Liverpool are second with 87), and the 21-year-old forward will undoubtedly be thrilled by the prospect of featuring in a City team that has created 112 big chances in 35 league outings this term.
Since Haaland arrived in Germany from RB Salzburg at the start of 2020, only Bayern Munich's Robert Lewandowski (122) and Paris Saint-Germain's Kylian Mbappe (89) have scored more than his 85 goals in all competitions, among players in Europe's top five leagues.
Norwich City full-back Brandon Williams has claimed he was followed and subjected to taunts and abuse by Canaries supporters in the aftermath of the defeat to West Ham.
A Said Benrahma double and strikes from Michail Antonio and Manuel Lanzini condemned the already relegated Norwich to a 4-0 hammering at Carrow Road on Sunday.
Manchester United loanee Williams started at left-back for Dean Smith's side after Norwich fans gathered outside the stadium prior to kick-off to protest against owners Delia Smith and Michael Wynn Jones.
Williams suggested he had been followed after the game, posting on Instagram: "For the people that followed me, he's always awake", and a stream of laughing face emojis.
The 21-year-old has since released a statement, claiming he was followed by some Norwich supporters, who only stopped once they realised he had noticed them.
"Yesterday after leaving the stadium I was taunted and abused by fans surrounding the stadium whilst I was in my car," Williams posted on Twitter.
"After the abuse I was followed by individuals who only stopped following me once they became aware I had noticed them.
"However passionate fans are it is not right that a small minority abuse players or, in this case, follow them.
"Since arriving at Norwich I have played for the club as if I were a permanent member of the team. It is unfortunate that a small number of fans behave like this."
Williams posted a photo of a raised middle finger with the caption "What a beautiful day. Easy up Norwich City", with a location marker for "Suffolk" after the loss. Both Instagram posts were subsequently deleted.
Reports suggested Norwich had opened an investigation into Williams' social media activity, but the defender assured that is not the case.
"There is no club investigation into my conduct as incorrectly reported in the media," he added.
"I would like to thank those fans who have sent me messages of support at this unsettling time.
"I would also like to thank Norwich City and their staff for the support they have given me in the past two days and for their concern."
Jasprit Bumrah's stunning five-for proved in vain as Kolkata Knight Riders kept their hopes of a place in the Indian Premier League play-offs alive with a 52-run win over Mumbai Indians.
Already out of contention for the top four having won just two of their first 10 games, Mumbai confirmed before the match that batter Suryakumar Yadav would miss the rest of the season with a left forearm injury.
However, Bumrah gave their fans something to cheer with a remarkable display of pace bowling, taking figures of 5-10 as KKR were restricted to 165-9.
Yet that total proved well beyond Mumbai as Pat Cummins and Andre Russell thrived with ball in hand to help KKR to their fifth win of the campaign.
A positive start from KKR that saw Ajinkya Rahane (25) and Venkatesh Iyer (43) put on 60 for the opening wicket eventually gave way to a Bumrah masterclass.
The turning point in their innings came in the 15th over as Bumrah removed Russell (9) and Nitish Rana (43) to reduce KKR to 139-5.
KKR never recovered from there and were helpless in the 18th as Bumrah produced a triple-wicket maiden.
Mumbai failed to deliver a batting effort to match his performance with the ball, the tone set when Rohit Sharma (2) was given out caught behind on review from the sixth ball of the reply.
Ishan Kishan (51) was the only Mumbai batter to score more than 15, Cummins displacing him in the 15th over, which also saw Daniel Sams (1) and Murugan Ashwin (0) caught to turn the tide firmly in KKR's favour.
The final three dismissals all came via run-outs as Mumbai's increasingly desperate chase ended with them bowled out for 113.
Bumrah blitz
India fast bowler Bumrah's figures marked the best of his IPL career, beating the 4-14 he took against Delhi Capitals in 2020.
The highlight was unquestionably the 18th over, in which Sheldon Jackson and Cummins both fell before Bumrah had Sunil Narine caught and bowled. Tim Southee denied him a sixth wicket and a hat-trick.
KKR still in the hunt
Defeat for KKR would have ended their top-four hopes. As it is, they still have an outside chance of making the play-offs. They are one of four teams on 10 points, four points behind fourth-placed Royal Challengers Bangalore.
However, three of those teams have a game more to play, meaning KKR's fate is therefore not in their own hands.
FIFA has confirmed Brazil and Argentina will have to replay last September's abandoned World Cup qualifier after rejecting appeals from both countries' football federations.
The original fixture in Sao Paolo was abandoned after just five minutes when Brazilian health officials entered the pitch, with players Emiliano Martinez, Emiliano Buendia, Cristian Romero and Giovani Lo Celso accused by the Brazilian government of providing false information on their immigration forms and breaking the nation's Covid-19 laws.
FIFA's original ruling on the matter was announced in February, ordering the fixture to be replayed with all four of those players suspended and handing fines to both sides.
Both countries' federations subsequently lodged appeals against those measures, but FIFA has now confirmed the fixture will be replayed at an as-yet unspecified date and venue.
A statement from world football's governing body on Monday said: "The FIFA Appeal Committee has taken decisions on the appeals lodged by the Brazilian Football Association (CBF) and the Argentinian Football Association (AFA).
"After analysing the submissions of both parties and considering all circumstances of the case, the Appeal Committee confirmed that the match would be replayed and also upheld the fine of CHF 50,000 that was imposed on both associations as a result of the abandonment."
Brazil and Argentina have both qualified for the tournament in Qatar in comfortable fashion, with Brazil sitting top of the CONMEBOL qualification group with 45 points after an as-yet unbeaten campaign, and Argentina second with 39 points, meaning the replayed fixture will have no impact on the final standings.
United States centre-back Miles Robinson is a major doubt for the World Cup after rupturing the Achilles tendon in his left leg.
The 25-year-old sustained the non-contact injury in the 14th minute of Atlanta United's 4-1 MLS win over Chicago Fire on Saturday.
Robinson, who has been capped 21 times by USA, slammed the turf in frustration and was stretchered off.
Atlanta confirmed on Monday that the defender will undergo surgery to rectify the damage.
While no timeframe has been given for Robinson's return, he is not likely to play again before Qatar 2022, which runs from November 21 until December 18.
He had become a regular for USA alongside Walker Zimmerman in their World Cup qualifying campaign, but coach Gregg Berhalter may now be forced to rethink his plans.
Berhalter's side have been drawn in a group alongside England, Iran and one of Scotland, Ukraine or Wales.
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