Jurgen Klopp acknowledges Liverpool cannot compete with Premier League rivals Manchester City and Newcastle United financially, declaring "some clubs have a ceiling".
Liverpool go into Sunday's encounter with City trailing the champions by 13 points, having made their worst start to a league campaign since 2012 – when they took nine points from their first eight games.
Pep Guardiola's side beat Liverpool to the Premier League title by just one point last season, and have gone from strength to strength since the arrival of Erling Haaland from Borussia Dortmund.
Meanwhile, with Newcastle enjoying a strong start to their first full season under their hugely wealthy Saudi owners, boss Eddie Howe declared there was "no ceiling" for the Magpies on Friday.
Asked how Liverpool could keep pace with City, Klopp said they were one of three clubs in world football operating without any economic restraints.
"You will not like the answer, and you all have the answer already," Klopp said. "Nobody can compete with City. You have the best team in the world, and you put in the best striker on the market.
"No matter what it costs, they just do it. I know City will not like it, nobody will like it. Liverpool can not act like them. It's not possible.
"It's just clear. There are three clubs in world football that can do what they want, financially. It's legal and everything, fine. But it's a fact.
"It's not a problem at all for me, it is what it is. But don't ask me that question. You all should know it, it's not possible to deal with that, and it will be like this.
"I hear now at Newcastle they said, 'there's no ceiling for this club'. He's absolutely right, there's no ceiling for Newcastle. Congratulations, some other clubs have ceilings."
Haaland has played a massive role in City's unbeaten start to the season since his big-money move, scoring 20 goals in 13 appearances for the club.
Pre-season saw comparisons drawn between Haaland and Liverpool's new frontman Darwin Nunez, who has only scored two Premier League goals, but Klopp wants the Uruguayan to focus on his own game.
"I'll say it like this: I think Darwin Nunez would have scored a couple more goals if he could play in the centre for Man City this season," Klopp said.
"He would be a good striker for them too, finishing the situations off. We have to improve our game to bring more situations.
"I don't know. I hope he's not in a process where he compares himself with Erling Haaland, but I think he's really making steps here. You could really see in his face and everything, his goal [in a 7-1 thrashing of Rangers on Wednesday] was really important to him.
"You need these moments, I hope he's not doing that or thinking about that. I don't see that. We are in our situation and want to solve our situation, that's all we are concerned about."
Andy Murray's run at the Gijon Open came to an end with a three-set loss to Sebastian Korda on Friday, dashing his hopes of a semi-final appearance in Spain.
Murray earned his fourth Tour-level quarter-final spot of 2022 by beating Pedro Cachin, but American Korda defeated the former world number one 6-4 1-6 6-1.
Korda will face Arthur Rinderknech in the last four after he upset second seed Pablo Carreno Busta, taking an epic final-set tie-break to triumph 4-6 6-3 7-6 (18-16).
The other side of the draw will play host to an enticing semi-final meeting between Dominic Thiem and top seed Andrey Rublev after they secured straight-sets wins over Francisco Cerundolo and Tommy Paul respectively.
Thiem said after his 6-4 6-3 triumph over Cerundolo: "From the first match on, I have felt great on this court.
"It is very important for me as I am trying to climb up the rankings. The semi-finals at an ATP event is helping a lot."
Meanwhile, top seed Felix Auger-Aliassime beat Brandon Nakashima 6-3 6-4 to reach the Firenze Open semi-finals, where he will face home favourite Lorenzo Musetti.
The third seed from Italy downed Mackenzie McDonald 6-3 6-2, but fellow seed Alexander Bublik went down 3-6 7-5 6-1 to J. J. Wolf.
Transylvania Open favourite Anhelina Kalinina squandered a lead as she went down 6-7 (9-7) 6-1 6-3 to Anna Blinkova in the quarter-finals.
Kalinina, the second seed, looked well placed to go on and reach the last four in Cluj when she battled into the lead against Blinkova on Friday.
But the Ukrainian could not stop the world number 138 rallying back to reach her second WTA Tour-level semi-final of the season.
Blinkova went on to reach the final on her previous last-four appearance at a WTA tournament this year – at L'Open 35 de Saint Malo – but missed out on the title when she lost to Beatriz Haddad Maia.
Kalinina's exit leaves Anastasia Potapova as the highest seed left in the tournament, and she will face fellow Russian Blinkova for a place in the final.
Potapova defeated Hungary's Anna Bondar 7-5 3-6 6-1 to reach the last four.
Jasmine Paolini beat Jule Niemeier 7-5 7-5 to tee up a meeting with Nuria Parrizas Diaz or Xiyu Wang.
The outoome of Liverpool's clash with Manchester City is likely to hinge on how Virgil van Dijk copes with "absolute phenomenon" Erling Haaland, according to Gary Neville.
City trail Premier League leaders Arsenal by a point ahead of their trip to Anfield on Sunday, while Liverpool are 13 points further back, seemingly out of title contention already.
Pep Guardiola's men are the only unbeaten side in the Premier League, thanks in no small part to the extraordinary exploits of Haaland.
Having only played nine games in the top flight, Haaland has already broken the records for most goals (15) and goal involvements (18) in a player's first 10 appearances in the competition.
A trip to Merseyside will see Norway striker face arguably his toughest opponent yet in Van Dijk, and Neville is excited by the prospect of their duel.
"I still think, no matter what form Liverpool are in and where they are, Sunday will still feel like the toughest game they [City] are going to face," Neville told Sky Sports.
"Look, at the end of the day you know what I feel about those two clubs, but on Sunday you can't help but think of Haaland against Van Dijk.
"You just can't stop thinking about how that's going to play out. The best centre-back in the world for the last three or four years, who has struggled a little bit more this season.
"But he's against this absolute phenomenon. That Liverpool back line, which pushes up with space in behind… I'm fascinated by that, I can't wait for it, to be honest."
Liverpool are winless in their last five Premier League meetings with the champions (D3 L2) – they have never previously gone six without a victory against City in the league.
Manchester City already have one of the best players in the world in Erling Haaland. Having tied Phil Foden to a new contract, they believe they will soon have another.
Foden's long-awaited five-year deal was announced by City on Friday ahead of a big trip to Anfield this weekend.
This fixture, away at Liverpool, has seen Foden deliver two of his most complete performances in a City shirt in the previous two seasons, scoring and assisting in a 4-1 win in the 2020-21 campaign before grabbing another goal in last term's 2-2 draw.
Now, those sorts of displays are arriving with even greater consistency, prompting an even more prominent role for arguably England's brightest prospect.
When Pep Guardiola shuffled his pack at Copenhagen in midweek to rest key men for the Liverpool match, it was Haaland and Foden who dropped to the bench.
Haaland's 20 goals in 13 matches this season have stolen the show, but Foden, who matched the Norway forward in netting a Manchester derby hat-trick at the start of the month, has seven in 13 from a wide position.
With three assists, too, Foden is contributing a goal involvement every 81 minutes – more than justifying the faith City have shown in him by agreeing new terms.
"We are all so proud of Phil and what he has achieved already," said City director of football Txiki Begiristain. "But we know there is so much more to come.
"His natural talent and ability are obvious, but his hard work, professionalism and dedication make him really special. He loves football more than anything, and his desire to improve is really incredible.
"We feel he can progress further and become even better than he is today.
"By signing this contract, he now has stability and can focus absolutely everything on becoming one of the best players in the world, which we feel he can be."
Foden is still only 22 but has four Premier League titles to his name. Ryan Giggs, who won a record 13, had only three by the time he turned 23.
Although Foden has already tallied over 10,000 minutes across 182 first-team appearances, he initially had to bide his time under Guardiola.
Foden started only three matches in all competitions in the 2017-18 season and 11 the following campaign. Even in the season after that, 2019-20, when he had 17 goal involvements, just 18 of his 38 appearances were starts.
Now, however, the boyhood City fan is one of the first names on the team sheets in the biggest games – this Sunday's fixture undoubtedly included.
"He's not a young talent any more," Kevin De Bruyne said late last season of a team-mate then still just 21. "He's one of the guys."
Foden had 16 goals and 10 assists in 50 matches in 2020-21, then 14 goals and 11 assists in 45 matches last time out.
He appears certain to scale new heights this season alongside Haaland, who has assisted two of his seven goals, with De Bruyne teeing up three.
In the Premier League, Foden has six goals through City's first nine matches, doubling his output at this stage of last season – then a career high.
Guardiola's patient approach has clearly paid off, as Foden himself added on Friday: "I think he has made me 10 times the player I was."
There never appeared any doubt Foden would be staying at City, but that does not make Friday's news and the prospect of five more years in this side any less daunting to their title rivals.
Joan Laporta has told Barcelona fans to "keep believing" as they head into El Clasico on Sunday looking to hit back from a midweek Champions League disappointment.
A 3-3 draw with Inter on Wednesday was a blow to Barca's hopes of reaching the round of 16, but a win against Real Madrid in one of the most anticipated fixtures in world football would be a perfect response.
The fierce rivals head into the match level on points, with the Catalan giants top of LaLiga by virtue of their superior goal difference.
Barca president Laporta urged supporters to maintain their faith in Xavi and his players, telling BarcaTV: "Keep believing. We have a very competitive team, with very good players who are going to bring you a lot of joy.
"Stick behind Xavi, he needs your warmth and confidence. That's what we will give him and we hope the fans do too.
"I have my full faith in Xavi and his staff, and also with the players. We have a great squad and I'm sure they'll bring us a lot of joy. We have a team to compete against anyone in Europe.
"We'll get through this. We won't ever stop working for what we want. This club has had all kinds of ups and downs over the years, but we have always bounced back. And we can still do that, from every part of the club."
Laporta acknowledged just how important Sunday's fixture could be in the title race, adding: "We're top of the league and there's a big game on the way at the Bernabeu.
"El Clasico is very important, whoever wins get a huge injection of morale and the loser takes a mighty blow. It's the kind of game you want to see. We'll go there with our heads held high. We have a team to do things there.
"I hope the players will defend the Barca shirt with the right spirit, because whenever you get knocked down, you have to pick yourself up again. We want to show how good we are and that we can win the league."
Laporta spoke of his frustration at not securing a win over Inter that would have put their chances of progressing in their own hands.
"It was a big game for us and I am sad and angry that we didn't win despite scoring three goals," Laporta said.
"It was always going to be a difficult group. We should have got a better result in Munich because we were the better team.
"And the refereeing in Milan was scandalous. We shouldn't play the victims card, but we were very unhappy with the match officials, and I spoke to UEFA about it afterwards.
"Financially, missing out on the latter stages of the Champions League is a big blow."
Jamie Carragher has told Liverpool to focus on stopping Kevin De Bruyne in Sunday's clash against Manchester City, which he believes would cut the supply to Erling Haaland.
Jurgen Klopp's side welcome City to Anfield after a disappointing start to their Premier League campaign, sitting 13 points behind their opponents following a defeat to Arsenal last week.
Stopping City from extending that gap will be tough, particularly with Haaland in such incredible goalscoring form. The former Borussia Dortmund has already scored 15 league goals, only eight fewer than the 23 managed by Golden Boot winners Son Heung-min and Mohamed Salah last season.
While that may encourage Liverpool to pay special attention to the 22-year-old, former Reds defender Carragher believes the key factor will be limiting De Bruyne's influence on the game.
"I'd almost be more focused on De Bruyne rather than Haaland in this game," he told Sky Sports' Essential Football podcast.
"If you stop De Bruyne, you take 50 per cent away from Haaland as well as the connection the two have got is there already. And for me, De Bruyne is the best midfielder in the world.
Phil Foden has signed a new five-year contract with Manchester City, committing his future to the Premier League champions until June 2027.
The England international reportedly began negotiations over fresh terms more than 12 months ago, with a change in the creator's management delaying the finalisation of his new deal.
However, the Stockport-born playmaker has now reached an agreement over his future, having emerged as a key part of Pep Guardiola's team since his November 2017 debut.
"It's hard to put into words how happy I am to have signed this contract. It's a dream come true," he told the club's official website.
"I have been a City fan all my life. I've trained here for so many years and I've even been a ballboy. I love this club so much, so to know I am going to be a part of it until 2027 feels amazing.
"I've improved a lot in recent years and so much of that is down to Pep and his staff, who guide me every single day on the training field. Working with them gives me the best chance of improving even more and becoming the best player I can be.
"With the squad we have here, I feel I can keep learning and winning trophies. Those are the two most important things to me."
Foden has won four league titles and five domestic cups with City, as well as being named the Premier League's Young Player of the Season in each of the last two campaigns.
The 22-year-old has also started the new season in excellent form, scoring seven goals across 13 appearances in all competitions.
That includes a hat-trick in City's recent 6-3 drubbing of rivals Manchester United, a game where Erling Haaland also secured the match ball with a trio of goals himself.
Kieran Tierney was “gutted” to be overlooked for Arsenal’s win over Liverpool last weekend but says “I’m not going to be angry.”
Takehiro Tomiyasu got the nod at left-back over Tierney in the absence of Oleksandr Zinchenko, who has made an impressive start to his Gunners career after his move from Manchester City.
Japan international Tomiyasu kept Reds forward Mohamed Salah quiet in a 3-2 win at the Emirates Stadium that put Mikel Arteta’s side back on top of the Premier League.
Scotland international Tierney has vowed to try and earn his place back rather than feel sorry for himself.
"I'm gutted, that's all it is," he told Sky Sports. "I'm not going to be angry, I'm not going to try hard, I'm gutted because I want to play every opportunity I can.
"Especially in the big games, you want to play and soak in the atmosphere. There's nothing I can say. We went out and won and Tomiyasu played amazing and the game plan worked.
"I'm learning, I’m dealing with it, but it is tough, football is what I want to play. Unfortunately, I’ve not played too many but every time I get a chance to play, I'm so grateful. I work as hard as I possibly can for the team.
"I'll just try and get my head down, work hard. I can't change anything other than how I approach training, how I work. So I'm just trying as hard as I possibly trying to work my way back in."
Arsenal travel to Leeds United on Sunday looking for a seventh consecutive win.
Brooks Koepka holds a two-stroke lead of LIV Golf Jeddah after finishing the opening round eight under par in Saudi Arabia.
The four-time major champion made eight birdies in his round of 62 and did not go over par on any hole to head into the weekend ahead of second-placed Charl Schwartzel, while Patrick Reed is tied for third with Hideto Tanihara and Peter Uihlein at three shots off the lead.
The inaugural individual LIV Golf champion Dustin Johnson is T16 on two under par, alongside Open champion and world number two Cameron Smith.
Johnson, who has collected 121 points across the season, struck five birdies, but a double-bogey on the par-three eighth set him back.
Phil Mickelson and Lee Westwood fared slightly better at three under, the latter not carding any bogies in his round.
LIV Golf Bangkok winner Eugenio Lopez-Chacarra struggled to back up his performance in Thailand and is T28 at one under par, seven shots back from Koepka. Bryson DeChambeau, meanwhile, only managed a par 70.
After withdrawing from LIV Golf Bangkok with injury, Branden Grace carded a one-over-par round on his return to action.
The Buffalo Bills will have revenge on their mind against the Chiefs, having seen their past two seasons reach a disappointing climax in Kansas City – including a 42-36 overtime defeat in the divisional round this year.
Widely tipped as the favourites to go all the way this season, the Bills enter the Week 6 contest on the back of a 38-3 drubbing of the Pittsburgh Steelers last week.
That was their second win by at least 34 points this season – having had multiple such wins in just two previous seasons (1992 and 2021).
Against the Steelers, Gabe Davis had two touchdown receptions of at least 60 yards and finished with 171 yards, taking his yardage for the season to 309. An in-form Davis is a frightening prospect, particularly when paired with Josh Allen – who leads the NFL for passing yards this season (1651).
The Chiefs have a devastating weapon of their own to lead the offense though, with Patrick Mahomes fresh from guiding his side to a 30-29 victory against the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 5 – the 40th occasion the Chiefs have scored at least 30 points since Mahomes took over as the full-time starter in 2018.
Ranking fifth for passing yards this season (1398), Mahomes has thrown more TD passes than anyone else in 2022 (15) and has a TD with 7.9 per cent of his passes, behind only Lamar Jackson (8.1 per cent).
In Travis Kelce, the Chiefs also boast the player with the most receiving touchdowns in 2022, with four of his seven coming last week – despite totalling just 25 receiving yards over the course of the game.
With elite quarterbacks and receivers on both sides, the defenses could decide the outcome of the game and the Bills have been relentless with their ability to keep opposing offenses at bay, allowing 61 total points across five games – only the San Francisco 49ers (61) having less.
On top of that, the Bills defense has allowed only three passing TDs this season, again behind only the 49ers (two), and rank second for the least yards allowed per game on average (260.4), meaning it could be a frustrating game for Mahomes and company come Sunday.
Pedri says it is "not possible" to emulate Barcelona legend's Lionel Messi's achievements as he prepares to face fierce rivals Real Madrid in El Clasico.
Barca teenager Pedri has emerged as one of world football's most talented prospects, showing maturity way beyond his years with majestic performances in the middle of the park.
The 19-year-old Spain midfielder looks set for a long, successful career and Xavi will be expecting him to step up on the big stage again when the Blaugrana face LaLiga champions Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu on Sunday.
Pedri has high hopes for what he can achieve, but believes it is too much to ask that he will emulate the feats of the mercurial seven-time Ballon d'Or winner Messi.
"I hope so," Pedri replied when asked if he would like to be named the best player in the world as many times as Messi has. "I know how hard I need to work to try to do something like that.
"There is only one Messi, however, and I think to repeat what he did is not possible."
Pedri is relishing the challenge of facing Madrid, with Barca above Carlo Ancelotti's side on goal difference at the top of the table.
"It’s a match where a lot of people watch from around the world," he said. "It's a match that I always try to enjoy and hope all the people watching enjoy too. This is why we play football – to entertain everyone and to have fun.
"I used to go to watch the games [against Madrid] with my parents and a lot of Barcelona fans. We used to be very lucky in that we won a lot of times. That's why we enjoyed it even more with each other."
- Pedri was speaking as a global brand ambassador for TCL.
Special Olympics Jamaica (SOJ) team members and staff will be presented with recognition plaques for their exceptional performances at the recent 2022 USA Games and Unified Cup in the United States.
The ceremony will take place on Friday, October 14 at 11:00 am at the SOJ’s Multipurpose Court at Independence Park in Kingston.
Jamaica’s team returned with 12 medals from the games held in Orlando, Florida from June 5 – 12.
Meanwhile, the SOJ football team went on to win the Unified Cup after beating Paraguay 2-0 in the division-one final at Keyworth Stadium in Michigan on Saturday, August 6.
The unified sports programme at the Special Olympics combines people with and without intellectual disabilities in training and competition. Special Olympics provides year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children and adults.
The presentation of the plaques to the teams solidifies Digicel Foundation’s continuous support of SOJ. Since its inception, Digicel Foundation has provided donations in cash and kind, infrastructural support, help with fundraising activities and more to the Special Needs community.
The handover of the plaques will take place on October 14 at 11:00 am at the SOJ’s Multipurpose Court at Independence Park in Kingston.
Aston Villa midfielder Douglas Luiz has signed a new long-term contract with the Premier League club.
Arsenal were said to have made two bids for the Brazil international during the last transfer window, with reports suggesting the Gunners' second offer of £23million fell some way short of Villa's £40m valuation.
Luiz's previous contract with Steven Gerrard's side was set to expire at the end of this season, and the 24-year-old was also linked with Serie A champions Milan.
However, Luiz has agreed a new deal to remain Villa Park, where he arrived in 2019 following a two-year spell at Manchester City.
He told the club's official website: "I love this club. This club opened the door for me when I came to England to play in the Premier League. I'm so happy because I’m staying here and my choice is here."
Luiz is set to face Chelsea in the Premier League on Sunday, with boss Gerrard under pressure following a poor start to the season.
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