Mauricio Pochettino admits some of Chelsea’s younger players are struggling with the pressure of playing for the club.

The big-spending west London side have floundered in mid-table all season, with their summer overhaul of bringing in young talent from across Europe so far yet to bear fruit.

Chelsea had the chance to claim a trophy last month, but a number of missed opportunities cost them dear as they lost the Carabao Cup final to Liverpool after extra-time.

And Pochettino believes not all of the club’s signings have settled in as well as star man Cole Palmer, who scored his 11th Premier League goal of the season during the Monday’s 3-2 win over Newcastle.

Speaking ahead of Chelsea’s FA Cup quarter-final with Leicester on Sunday, Pochettino said: “One thing we cannot change is to give time to the players to get experience and be more mature.

“In the same time that you ask me about Cole Palmer, not all the players have the same process of settling in at the club or to perform.

“Yes, we are in a process that the main group, the main young players…of course they struggle a little bit to deal with the pressure to play for Chelsea.

“That is the thing we are, of course, aware of and we are focusing on trying to help them in all the areas.

“Because when you have this young squad, it’s not only to help them in training, in the two hours maybe of that. We have spent a lot of time talking with the people that work around these guys, who are important too.”

Chelsea brought in over a dozen new players last summer – as well as coach Pochettino – as they looked to build on a hugely disappointing 2022/23 campaign which saw them finish 12th in the league and suffer early exits from both domestic cup competitions.

One of the newcomers was Nicolas Jackson, who joined the Blues from Villarreal for a reported £29.8 million, and, after a difficult start in England, he took his league tally for the season to nine goals with the opener against Newcastle.

That is one less than former Chelsea star Didier Drogba managed in his first year at Stamford Bridge and Pochettino believes the 22-year-old Senegal international is a player on the rise.

The Chelsea boss said: “You all are now seeing how he is improving. The most difficult thing was to support him when it was tough. I told you I really believe in him.

“I believe he is going to be very successful here.

“He has the quality and the capacity. Now he is doing much better but still needs to improve a lot. The numbers are similar to Drogba in his first season.

“That maybe gives the fans more belief in him and to be a little more patient with him, but always it depends on the circumstances.

“Now I hope people can start to understand he has the condition to be very good.”

Chelsea’s struggles this season sees them down in 11th spot in the table, but with seventh-placed West Ham only four points ahead and having played a game more, there is still a possibility of securing European football for next season.

That may be the Europa Conference League, but Pochettino says Chelsea – Champions League winners in 2012 and 2021 – will respect any competition they are in.

He said: “We need to accept the reality and if we arrive at the end of the season and we qualify for the Conference League, we need to accept and respect the competition and go to try to win the competition.

“We need to accept the reality. I am not going to say nothing, it is an international competition.”

Lois Openda scored twice in the space of five minutes as RB Leipzig turned on the style in the second half to thrash Cologne 5-1 and move up to fourth in the Bundesliga.

Leipzig opened the scoring through Xavi Simons 15 minutes in but Sargis Adamyan equalised almost immediately and the scores were level at the break.

But Openda then struck in the 63rd and 67th minutes before Amadou Haidara and Yussuf Poulsen padded the score for the visitors.

Leipzig move two points above Borussia Dortmund, who take on Eintracht Frankfurt on Sunday.

In LaLiga, goals in either half from Mikel Merino and Arsen Zakharyan saw sixth-placed Real Sociedad ease to a 2-0 win over relegation-threatened Cadiz.

Substitute Giovanni Fabbian struck in the last minute as Bologna snatched a 1-0 win away to Empoli, consolidating their hold on fourth place in Serie A as they opened up a six-point advantage over Roma who host Sassuolo on Sunday.

Late goals from Rayan Cherki and Jake O’Brien saw Lyon come from behind to win 3-2 at Toulouse in Ligue 1.

Lyon led through Alexandre Lacazette’s 34th-minute goal, but Thijs Dallinga equalised early in the second half before Vincent Sierro’s penalty put the hosts in front.

Cherki then tied things back up in the 78th minute before O’Brien won it eight minutes from time.

Galopin Des Champs’ brilliant Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup double left bookmakers licking their wounds at the end of the Cheltenham Festival.

Willie Mullins’ defending champion was sent off the well-backed 10-11 favourite and barely gave his supporters a moment of worry as he stormed to back-to-back triumphs in the blue riband.

It means that three of the four feature-race favourites obliged over the four days and although the layers received temporary relief on day two when El Fabiolo fluffed his lines in the Champion Chase, Galopin Des Champs’ victory only compounded the misery inflicted by State Man and Teahupoo earlier in the week.

“When the Festival’s leading trainer Willie Mullins and jockey Paul Townend team up on the reigning Gold Cup champion and hot favourite in the biggest betting race of the week, victory for the combination is never going to be anything other than bad news for the bookmakers,” said Coral’s David Stevens.

“Overall it’s been a rollercoaster week for us, but Galopin Des Champ’s Gold Cup double means plenty of punters have ended this huge week on a high.”

BoyleSports were another firm losing on the Gold Cup, with spokesperson Lawrence Lyons adding: “It was already a bruising week with so many Mullins winners going in, but he rubbed salt in our wounds on Friday and Galopin Des Champs was the knockout blow as he was the best backed horse of the week.” 

However, it was not all bad news for the old enemy, with BetVictor relieved to escape relatively unscathed after an up and down week.

Sam Boswell of the firm explained: “After a bruising day one and day two – which could have been much worse if El Fabiolo had obliged for the many multiple bets – days three and four proved fruitful for the bookmakers with only Galopin Des Champs being a significant negative result.

“It is safe to say both bookmakers and punters had lots of fun at this year’s Festival and it is more or less honours even, perhaps a small win for the punters, over the last four days.”

Paddy Power’s Paul Binfield echoed those sentiments adding: “El Fabiolo’s unfortunate defeat in the Queen Mother was the turning point of the week.

“It went downhill from there for punters and the books have come out on top after a rather worrying start.”

World number one Scottie Scheffler played through the pain barrier to keep his hopes of an historic title defence alive in the Players Championship.

Scheffler received treatment from a PGA Tour physio during a second round of 69 at Sawgrass which left him six shots behind clubhouse leader Wyndham Clark, the US Open champion carding a second-consecutive 65.

“I hit a shot on my second hole today and I felt a little something in my neck,” Scheffler, who had started from the 10th hole, explained.

“Then I tried to hit my tee shot on 12 and that’s when I could barely get the club back. So I got some treatment, maybe it loosened up a tiny bit, but most of the day I was pretty much labouring to get the club somehow away from me.

“I did what I could to kind of stay in the tournament today and hopefully it’ll loosen up and then I’ll be able to make somewhat normal swings tomorrow.

“The way I was getting around the course, the way my neck was feeling, I didn’t know if I was going to be able to continue playing, so yeah, good fight out there.”

Scheffler, who won the Arnold Palmer Invitational by five shots on Sunday, is bidding to become the first player to successfully defend the Players Championship title in its 50-year history.

Clark made eight birdies – including five in six holes around the turn – to reach 14 under par and enjoy a five-shot lead over the man he succeeded as US Open champion, England’s Matt Fitzpatrick.

“My iron play’s been very solid, I’ve rolled in a handful of putts and then I’ve really been mentally strong so I’d say all of those things are why I’m sitting where I am right now,” Clark said.

Fitzpatrick held the outright lead when he carded his fifth birdie of the day on the third, his 12th hole, to reach 10 under par, only to find the water with his approach from the rough on the next to run up a double bogey.

“I felt the lie was good enough to kind of hack it on to the right side (of the green),” explained Fitzpatrick, who birdied his final hole of the day to add a 69 to his opening 66.

“I was aiming at the right bunker, which if you kind of go back there, you realise how far right it was. It just kind of snagged me and went left.

“Otherwise I felt like I did everything well. Just felt like I played solid overall. Made a couple of putts when I needed to, drove the ball well and my approach play was good as well.”

Asked about trailing Clark by five shots, Fitzpatrick added: “Anything can happen over the weekend, there’s still two days, so you never know.

“Another couple of six-under rounds over the weekend and you never know what can happen. So, for me it’s just about trying to stay patient, just keep doing what I’m doing and go from there.”

An attempt to emulate three-time winners Arkle and Best Mate is uppermost in Willie Mullins’ mind for Galopin Des Champs having watched his stable star smoothly add a second Boodles Gold Cup at Cheltenham.

While last year’s race had its moments of concern before he eventually stamped his class on the contest, this time around it was much more straightforward.

In fact, the biggest worry was when Fastorslow, his nemesis from the Punchestown Festival and the John Durkan Chase earlier in the season, loomed up alongside him – the difference being this time his old foe had unseated earlier in the race and was riderless.

“The loose horse was obviously a worry, I was trying to work out if it was an English or an Irish one! But I could tell by Paul’s body language that he was comfortable throughout,” said Mullins.

For Mullins, the old saying ‘if at first you don’t succeed, try and try again’ certainly rings true where the Gold Cup is concerned.

Before Al Boum Photo won the first of his two Gold Cups in 2019, the master trainer had finished second in the blue riband an incredible six times.

“The two horses don’t really compare, Al Boum Photo was more of a galloper who would stay all day while this fellow has a bit of class but he’s still able to pull it out at the end of three and a quarter miles,” said Mullins, who was winning his fourth Gold Cup in six years.

“We’ve been very lucky that after six seconds we’ve now won four in six, we’re also very lucky to have Paul. He’s level with Pat Taaffe now (on four winners), that’s esteemed company.

“To win the 100th Gold Cup is amazing. The horses have been running so well, the jockeys have been riding so well, it’s like a perfect storm, that’s what it is, just the perfect storm.”

Where Al Boum Photo came up short in his bid for a third Gold Cup, Galopin Des Champs’ biggest test may come from within in the shape of Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase winner Fact To File.

“The aim now has got to be to get him back next year and go for a third and I imagine we’ll run a similar type of programme as we did this year,” said Mullins.

“Looking at the amount of horses he’s beaten, he’s probably run more times than most Gold Cup horses but I’m a believer that if you’ve got a good, sound horse and the prize-money is there, run them.

“I’m sure it’s a big help that we got those runs into him early in the season. He took the runs really well and gave us no reason not to run and that enabled us to come with race fitness rather than hope.

“It’s awesome that it looks like we might have other Gold Cup horses coming through, but we know through bitter experience how hard it is to get three-mile chasers back to the track, it’s a tough game. It would be great to bring him back but if he doesn’t, hopefully we have A, B and C as well.”

For Townend, who you sometimes feel would rather be anywhere else than the centre of attention, he has, as Mullins pointed out, matched the Gold Cup record of Arkle’s legendary rider.

“He’s felt stronger this year so we were able to ride him differently, he’s more grown up, he’s tough,” said Townend.

“It was more straightforward this year, last year we sort of had to fight our way through but this was a different race on a different day.

“You obviously never know what a loose horse is going to do, but he actually behaved himself quite well and my horse was very professional. He was also something for me to race with.”

For Mullins, the Gold Cup was his ninth winner of the week in a year he brought up an incredible 100th Festival success and put the seal on yet another remarkable meeting.

“The other morning before we came, we were all in the office and I said to them all ‘is it me or is everything in place this year’. The horses we were running at home were winning and the ones that were coming here were all in tip-top order and that has proved to be the case,” he said.

“It’s hard to say which is bigger, 100 winners or another Gold Cup, but there’s a Gold Cup every year – not many people will train 100 winners. I never dreamt I would and I didn’t aspire to do it, but you hope to have a Gold Cup winner.

“I obviously tried for a lot of years and couldn’t do it, but a few years later here we are with four out of six. You dream it would happen, but you don’t dream what has happened to Closutton in the last 20 or 25 years.

Townend, who had the misfortunate of being compared to Ruby Walsh when he took the top job, has now established himself as the man for the big occasion.

“It’s been an amazing journey and it’s all down to Willie, he gave me a lot of experiences as a young rider behind Ruby and I’m just grateful to be able to repay him with winners this week and every year,” he said.

“He gives you huge confidence riding the horses because if it’s not going to Plan A, you have the confidence to be able to go and do something else. I don’t remember us ever having a row!”

Comparing Townend to Walsh, Mullins said: “Totally different rider, different style of riding and a different way of viewing a race, but it works. I always admire Paul’s style of riding for different reasons – and he’s really settled into the top job hasn’t he.”

Mullins also had a poignant word for his late parents, Paddy and Maureen, the latter having died last month at the age of 94.

“I would have loved to have had my mother and my father here, for the whole week, not just the Gold Cup, but it’s not to be,” he said.

When asked what was left for him to achieve now, Mullins said: “Paul alluded to it coming in after winning on Absurde when he said ‘what the hell were you doing down in Melbourne with him!’.

“We’d like to go back. In the context of Flat racing, we’re never going to win a Guineas so we target the staying races and the Melbourne Cup is the one I’d really like.”

Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald, considered one of the greatest defensive players in NFL history, has announced his immediate retirement from playing.

Donald, who turns 33 in May, played for 10 seasons in the NFL, all of them with the Rams, and helped the team win the Super Bowl in 2022.

“Cheers to what’s next,” Donald wrote on social media platform X. “Extending a big thank you to the Rams and all of the fans for your support.”

The timing of the announcement from Donald, one of three players to have been named the NFL’s defensive player of the year three times, has come as a surprise.

The Rams took Donald with the 13th overall pick in the 2014 draft and he was named defensive rookie of the year in his first season.

Donald helped the Rams reach the Super Bowl in 2019, only to suffer a 13-3 loss to the New England Patriots, but they returned three years later and beat the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20.

The eight-time All-Pro selection finishes his career with 117 sacks, having become the fastest defensive tackle to reach 100 sacks in NFL history.

“Throughout my career, I have given my everything to football both mentally and physically – 365 days a year was dedicated to becoming the best possible player I could be,” Donald added.

“I respected this game like no other and I’m blessed to be able to conclude my NFL career with the same franchise that drafted me. Not many people get drafted to a team, win a world championship with that team and retire with that team. I do not, and will not, take that for granted.”

Josh Adams says that Wales must not “shy away” from what awaits them in the pressure-filled cauldron of a wooden spoon decider against Italy.

Cardiff’s Principality Stadium has played host to Six Nations title successes and witnessed Grand Slam glory, but the contrast this weekend could hardly be greater.

There is no silverware at stake, just the Guinness Six Nations’ mythical “prize” for finishing bottom of the table. And this season it is a straight shoot-out between Wales and Italy.

Wales, currently four points adrift of their fifth-placed opponents, must win to have any chance of avoiding a first wooden spoon since 2003.

Even victory might not be enough if bonus points come into play, and Wales wing Adams accepts that the heat is on.

“It is a bit of a different pressure,” he said.

“Pressure when you are in a game to win something, it feels a little bit different. There is something at the end of it, whereas this is a situation where we can’t afford to lose.

“We have to have the mindset that international rugby is all about winning, and we haven’t been able to do that yet. We are desperate to win.

“I have been in a relegation battle in the Premiership with Worcester. We lost our first seven games of the season and we were miles adrift at the bottom.

“It came down to a game against London Irish, where it was pretty much whoever won would stay up. This is similar in a way.

“You have to embrace it and not shy away from it. We can’t go in our shells and cover up.

“We have had the mentality of ‘let’s take this head-on, let’s be at our best this weekend and let’s finish with what we feel we deserve, which is a good victory’.

“Sometimes you learn best from your losses, but there are only learnings if you show improvements the following week, otherwise there is no point.

“I won my first Test at home against Scotland, then lost away against England and I didn’t lose for nine Tests after that. I was in a team that didn’t know how to lose.

“That is the sort of journey we are going to have to get to where it becomes second-nature where we understand how to close games out, how to squeeze opposition better and see tough Test matches out.

“International rugby is a cut-throat business, and you need to perform at your best every week if you want to win.”

Wales’ last Six Nations victory was against Italy in Rome 12 months ago, while the Azzuri triumphed 22-21 on their most recent Cardiff visit in 2022 when try-scorer Adams was named player of the match and promptly gave his medal to visiting full-back Ange Capuozzo.

That match was Alun Wyn Jones 150th Wales cap and Dan Biggar’s 100th, while this time around the game is George North’s farewell appearance before retiring from Test rugby.

“I would like to think we can send off George with a win and not have a repeat of the result when Dan and Al reached their incredible milestones,” Adams added.

“It is important we do something for George. He has had so many memorable moments for Wales, and his contribution to Welsh rugby has been incredible.

“There are no real words to sum him up. I would just like to say ‘thank you’ for the way he has helped me.”

England captain Jamie George has given his players a simple message ahead of their Guinness Six Nations clash with France – do not believe the hype.

England travel to Lyon on Saturday with an outside chance of snatching the title from Irish hands having stunned Andy Farrell’s favourites 23-22 in round four through a last-gasp Marcus Smith drop goal.

It was their finest performance since routing New Zealand in the semi-finals of the 2019 World Cup, but that seismic victory was followed by crushing final defeat to South Africa week later.

Seeing the potential parallels for the last two rounds of their Six Nations, George and head coach Steve Borthwick have taken steps to ensure England are not seduced by the acclaim that greeted their statement win against Ireland.

“We believed the hype in 2019, we kept living it for three or four days afterwards,” George said.

“You’re in a World Cup final week and I had every distraction under the sun. People wanting to come over, thousands of people asking you for tickets, people from school coming out the woodwork who I hadn’t spoken to for 10 years.

“It’s great but it can be really distracting and I probably learnt that the hard way. We definitely got it wrong in 2019.

“You could see it in our energy and our life. Often you can see it in your work off the ball.

“It’s a World Cup final so you think you’re going to be absolutely buzzing. I was buzzing mentally, it was almost a situation that I was trying to convince myself that I was buzzing rather than having anything in my legs to be able to go and do it.

“We didn’t reach the highs of the week before and what I learnt is that you need to be able to give yourself the space to get away from things and reflect. Do what you’ve got to do.

“Steve was very conscious about it. It was one of the first things I spoke to him about when we met up again last Sunday and he was already all over it.

“Not many teams come to France and win. We haven’t done that since 2016. We’re very aware of that.

“We achieved something special last weekend, everyone felt that, but being able to back it up is a huge motivation for me. Good teams react well to setbacks, great teams make sure they back it up.”

England’s 2003 World Cup-winning captain Martin Johnson has revealed that ‘Le Crunch’ was his favourite rivalry and the fixture also gets George’s competitive juices flowing.

“I love it. I really respect how they see the game,” the Saracens hooker said.

“For me as a front-row forward going into this fixture I know exactly what is coming – it’s a physical battle, the confrontational element of it.

“There’s a line in the sand, it’s me versus you. What a great opportunity that is. I’ve loved playing French teams throughout my career, not just at international level but at club.

“There’s a consistency with how they judge the game and I’d agree with Martin in that respect – this is a game that is as big a rivalry as there is.”

Los Angeles Rams defensive lineman Aaron Donald announced his retirement from the NFL on Friday, ending one of the most decorated careers in league history for a defensive player.

The three-time AP Defensive Player of the Year announced his decision on social media, thanking the Rams organisation and the Kroenke family.

“I’m thankful for the people I’ve met along the way, the relationships I’ve built and the things I’ve accomplished with my teammates and individually,” Donald said in his post.

Donald was drafted 13th overall in 2014 by the St. Louis Rams and was already one of the team’s best players when the franchise moved to Los Angeles in 2016.

Donald was selected to the Pro Bowl after each of his 10 NFL seasons, all with the Rams, and he was voted an All-Pro eight times. He was also a driving force in Los Angeles’ 2021 play-off run and had two sacks in the Rams’ Super Bowl LVI win over the Cincinnati Bengals.

“I’m blessed to be able to conclude my NFL career with the same franchise that drafted me,” Donald said in his post. “Not many people get drafted to a team, win a World Championship with that team and retire with that team.

“I do not, and will not, take that for granted.”

At 6-foot-1 and 280 pounds, Donald fell in the draft due to his lack of size for an interior lineman, but his rare combination of quickness and strength made him a disruptive force almost immediately.

Donald was voted Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2014 after accumulating nine sacks and 18 tackles for loss in just 12 starts.

Donald was voted the league's top defender after the 2017, 2018 and 2020 seasons, and his 20.5 sacks in 2018 rank among the top 11 seasons ever for a pass-rusher.

In 154 career games, Donald tallied 111 sacks, 176 tackles for loss and 24 forced fumbles.

Carlo Ancelotti says Real Madrid are in “better shape than ever” with a seven-point LaLiga lead and a Champions League tie against Manchester City to look forward to.

Real travel to mid-table Osasuna on Saturday afternoon knowing victory will take them 10 points clear ahead of second-placed Girona kicking off at Getafe.

“It’s a hugely important game that will demand the best of us, especially going into the international break,” Real boss Ancelotti said at a press conference ahead of taking charge of his 900th top-flight match in Europe’s top leagues.

“We want to finish this part of the season strongly. We’ve done pretty well so far and we’re heading into the break in a good position.

“I’m a pretty optimistic guy and we’re in better shape than ever. We have a lead in LaLiga and we’re in the Champions League quarter-finals, with (Eder) Militao and (Thibaut) Courtois on the way back.

“That doesn’t mean we can’t slip up, which we may.

“We have to be excited about the upcoming games. Right now, we should be happy, satisfied and hungry going into our next matches.”

Ancelotti confirmed Brazil defender Militao and Belgium goalkeeper Courtois have resumed training with the first-team group.

Courtois sustained an anterior cruciate ligament injury in training just before the season started, while Militao tore the ACL in his left knee in the opening game of the campaign.

The pair could return for the LaLiga game at home to Athletic Bilbao after the international break on March 31.

Real play Manchester City in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final at theBernabeu on April 9.

Ancelotti said: “We’ll take advantage of the break to give them some minutes in a couple of friendlies with the academy and I think they could be back in contention.

“Our plan is to have them ready for the game against Bilbao without taking any risks – and I think they’ll be there.”

Real were thrashed 4-0 by City at the Etihad Stadium last season in the second leg of their Champions League semi-final, losing 5-1 on aggregate.

But Ancelotti dismissed the idea of next month’s tie being a revenge mission, saying: “We want to beat opposition who are playing in the same competition as us.

“There’s no sense of revenge on our part. Each person has their own thought process.”

Osasuna have won three of their last five league games but were beaten 4-0 at the Bernabeu in October.

Head coach Jagoba Arrasate said: “If you give things away, they won’t forgive you.

“It is one of the keys and the other is for us to be brave and for them to see that they have a rival in front of them who wants to win too.”

Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk takes inspiration from world’s best sportsmen and tries to live by NBA great LeBron James’ ‘strive for greatness’ mantra.

Last week the pair were pictured together in an advertising campaign for the Los Angeles Lakers – and Reds’ minority shareholder – star’s signature clothing collection for the club.

It is the second collaboration from the NBA’s all-time leading points scorer and while Van Dijk has yet to meet or even speak to LeBron, they have exchanged messages and the 32-year-old believes he can learn from someone seven years his senior.

Lebron sent him a video message in which he said: “I know you will lead this club on amazing things. Strive for greatness.”

“We haven’t spoken but we have had messages passed between us. I saw the billboard this week and it is amazing,” said the Netherlands captain.

“That phrase that he uses is perfect and it could be used for a lot of things. For me personally I definitely try and follow that because I want to achieve the most I can in life and get the maximum out of myself, the team and the position we are in. We are in a good place to do that this season – again.

“Funnily enough I look at all the top athletes at the highest level because I feel like they all have a big role, either as a big role model or for their team and community and there are so many things you can learn.

“The way they conduct themselves on the pitch or on court, also what they do in order to be great.

“There is LeBron, (Novak) Djokovic, Roger Federer, Tom Brady – I could name so many. I like to listen to these guys and learn with how they dealt with being at the top and dealing with difficult moments but also good moments.

“We always hear about the negative sides but you also have to deal with the positives.”

Van Dijk’s assertion that Liverpool are in a good place is down, in no small part, to the return of the imperious form which made him the world’s best defender a few years ago before an ACL injury.

He scored the goal which won them the Carabao Cup last month and is the cornerstone of a team which sits second in the table behind Arsenal only on goal difference.

Sunday’s FA Cup quarter-final at Manchester United represents the third leg of a potential quadruple, with Atalanta awaiting in the last eight of the Europa League.

“Every season is always a challenge but this season we are in a special situation,” added the Dutchman.

“There are no guarantees but we feel like it is quite special with the way we have overcome things as a group, situations like the news of the manager (leaving at the end of the season).

“I feel very comfortable this season in every aspect of the game. Obviously confidence is a big driver but in general I think I have made big steps in possession. I think there are a lot of things that just clicked again.

“I feel really good and the responsibility I have has helped that but I feel that I have made steps again in possession, in the way I defend and I really enjoy that, I want to continue enjoying it and see what it leads to.”

After lifting his first trophy as Liverpool captain at Wembley, Van Dijk aimed a barb at his critics by saying ‘They thought I was finished’.

“I shouldn’t have said that. That was part of the emotion coming out of me because there were so many emotions going through my whole body that day,” he explained.

“Last season was disappointing. Not disappointing in a way that I was bad, I didn’t feel like that at all, I was just below my standards and the consistency wasn’t there that I have had and set for myself in every game.

“I fully understand the noise that came with it but I am a human being and not immune to any of that.

“Maybe in one way it was good to say because it gets it out of me – but I don’t like noise around me.”

Scotland co-captain Rory Darge hopes channelling the dejection of a shock defeat to Italy can help topple title-chasing Ireland and clinch an overdue Triple Crown.

Gregor Townsend’s side run out in Dublin on Saturday seeking to salvage silverware from a Guinness Six Nations campaign which disastrously unravelled in Rome.

While Scotland retain an extremely slim chance of snatching the title, the consolation of defeating Ireland, England and Wales in a single championship for the first time since the 1990 Five Nations appears to be the realistic extent of their ambitions.

“Coming here to get a result is going to be a tough ask but we’ve got a lot to play for,” Darge said at the Aviva Stadium on Friday afternoon.

“It’s 30-odd years since the Triple Crown for a Scottish team and obviously after a loss like last weekend, the first thing you want to do is get back out there and put things as right as you can. That’s what we’re looking forward to.

“The fuel is the result (against Italy, a 31-29 defeat). The fuel is how gutted we were after the game. It was a quiet changing room.

“A tough weekend to process what went on but that’s the fuel for me – and the Triple Crown.

“The opportunity to come to Dublin and beat one of the best teams in the world, that’s enough motivation.”

Scotland must beat Ireland with a bonus point and deny their opponents one while overturning a 76-point deficit in points difference to have a chance of finishing top of the table.

That improbable scenario seems even more unlikely given the reigning champions have won 13 of the last 14 meetings between the nations and are chasing a 10th success on the spin.

Glasgow flanker Darge insists the Scots have “full belief” they can cause problems for Andy Farrell’s men.

“Tomorrow, all we can do is focus on ourselves and then hopefully prove something for you,” he told reporters.

“In recent years, it’s not been the case but we’ve got full belief that if we do everything we can we’ll put the pressure on them. Every moment is going to be huge.

“If you aren’t in a moment or you switch off, they’re likely to make you pay for it.

“That’s an area that we have had a lot of growth and there’s still an area of growth for us – staying in every moment and the mental space of it.

“They seem to be able to deal with a lot that’s thrown at them.

“We just need to focus on what we can do better from the Italy game but also what we think might put them under a bit of pressure.

“We’ve had a lot of learnings as you can imagine over this last week and it’s just about putting it out there.”