Erling Haaland should follow the example of Robert Lewandowski and stay at Borussia Dortmund until he is "world class", according to Hans-Joachim Watzke.
Striker Haaland has been a revelation since joining the Bundesliga club, scoring 16 goals in the second half of the 2019-20 season following his January arrival from Salzburg.
The Norway international has continued to be prolific during the current campaign – he has 17 goals in 15 appearances in all competitions – and, unsurprisingly, that has led to speculation he could leave in the near future.
Josep Maria Minguella, advisor to Barcelona presidential candidate Emili Rousaud, had claimed a deal was lined up to take the 20-year-old to Camp Nou if they triumph in the upcoming election.
However, Mino Raiola – Haaland's agent – rejected the claim, and Dortmund CEO Watzke has urged the player to remain at his current club until ready for the next step.
"Erling and Mino Raiola know what they have in us. I can only advise him to do it like Robert Lewandowski," Watzke told Kicker.
Lewandowski had four successful seasons with BVB – including winning the Bundesliga title twice – before moving on to Bayern Munich in 2014, by which time he had established himself as one of the leading strikers in the game.
Watzke believes Haaland can "mature into an absolute world-class player in Dortmund", with the club aware that – eventually – the talented forward will likely want to move on elsewhere.
He added: "It is clear that if Erling should leave us at some point, he will only go to an even bigger club, so many are not considered.
"If you go to a club like - just to name an example - Real Madrid, you have to be world class."
Haaland was injured prior to the mid-season break in Germany but was back in action on Saturday, playing 81 minutes of Dortmund's 2-0 win over Wolfsburg.
He is averaging an impressive 1.23 goals per 90 minutes in the Bundesliga this term, though that is still behind Lewandowski (1.57), who has scored 19 in 13 appearances for the reigning champions.
That works out as a goal every 57 minutes for the Poland international, whose shot conversion rate (66 per cent) is also slightly better than Haaland's mark of 59 per cent. They are the only duo to reach double figures for goals in the competition so far this season, Andre Silva and Wout Weghorst next on the list with nine.
Kyrie Irving is in it for the long haul with the Brooklyn Nets and will not be getting frustrated despite them slipping to a 3-4 record with a 123-122 loss to the Washington Wizards.
The Nets dropped their fourth game in their past five, with Irving missing a three-pointer with 5.9 seconds remaining and Kevin Durant unable to make the most of a second chance after Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot grabbed the rebound.
There were numerous on-court discussions between Brooklyn team-mates throughout the game, with the new-look line-up trying to work through the kinks during their early season struggles.
Irving had a game-high 30 points and 10 assists but his five turnovers in addition to Durant's six accounted for more than half of the team's entire total (20).
Head coach Steve Nash highlighted "simple defensive lapses, offensive rebounding, and turnovers" as the primary issues, though his starting point guard is confident they will eventually be ironed out.
"It's just basketball. I've been doing it for a long time at a high level and the greatest gift is teaching the game to others, to be able to match their level or raise their level to yours to be a great functioning team," said Irving.
"It's just taking time. It's not going to be put together overnight, nor am I expecting it to, nor am I going to get frustrated over six games or however many games we've played.
"The object of this regular season is to continue to get better and to prepare for the 16 wins in the playoffs, so we're just gonna enjoy this.
"We just have to manage realistic expectations of what we want out of this group right now … [when] we put together a few great months of consistent work and consistent progress, consistent craft, consistent communication, then we'll be okay.
"We're committed to it. I know the guys in the locker room and everyone in the organisation is committed to that. We want to change this whole thing and that's not an overnight process.
"I didn't just come here for two years or three years or anything like that. I'm excited for the journey ahead and to continue to get better. It is as simple as basketball, but the team effort takes a while to get together."
Asked about what was labelled a "disconnect" between the bench and the players on the floor when Nash was slow to call a timeout during the third quarter, Irving responded: "I don't know what you're talking about. Disconnect? It's basketball. It's pretty simple, just go out there and try to out-score the other team."
Durant missed the entirety of last season with an Achilles injury and acknowledged he needs to "tone it down" to help the team flourish.
"I think we're just trying to be aggressive to make plays and sometimes we look overzealous to make a pass," he said of the turnovers committed by himself and Irving.
"I can live with two or three but six of them is too much for me and I've got to just tone it down if our team wants to be successful."
Stephen Curry called on a Michael Jordan meme to explain his attitude towards the criticism he received prior to scoring a career-high 62 points as the Golden State Warriors beat the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday.
Two-time NBA MVP Curry averaged 26.4 points and 6.6 assists through the first five games of the season, but with the Warriors 2-3 and his shooting percentages down, his ability to lead the team back to the playoffs without a supporting cast of fellow superstars was brought into question.
Of the Golden State team that reached the 2019 NBA Finals, Kevin Durant and DeMarcus Cousins have left, Klay Thompson is expected to miss the entire season with a knee injury and Draymond Green only made his first appearances of 2020-21 in the double-header against the Trail Blazers.
Curry issued an emphatic response, scoring 62 points on 18-of-31 shooting (58.1 per cent) in a 137-122 victory for Golden State, making eight three-pointers in a single game for the 49th time in his career.
The 31-year-old posted career-highs in free throws made (18) and attempted (19) as he became the first Warrior since Thompson in 2016 to drop at least 60 points in a single game.
Speaking after the game, he referenced the mindset Jordan described possessing during the 1997-98 season with the Chicago Bulls on 'The Last Dance'.
Curry said: "Cue the Jordan meme, right? 'I take all that personally.' I sensed the opportunity to kind of assert my will on the game early and try to create some energy and get off on the right foot.
"As crazy as it sounds after the game, all we really wanted to do was win the first quarter and take it from there. Obviously, that's what we did, and we continued the momentum.
"We have a winning spirit, we've just got to figure out how to do it consistently, and against the good teams in the league, it's gonna test us."
Warriors head coach Steve Kerr was surprised to hear that Curry had been coming under fire early in the season, claiming it is tougher for him to dominate games than the likes of LeBron James, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Anthony Davis.
"I'm honestly not playing dumb. Does he really take criticism? I hope they're saying something good about him tonight," said Kerr.
"If you think about most of the guys who are considered the best in the league, they're physical freaks of nature: LeBron, Giannis, Anthony Davis. Steph is 6-3, 180 pounds, so he has to carry a game with skill, he can't carry a game with physicality and athleticism.
"That would be the only thing I could think of that would make people criticise him. It's much harder to carry a team single-handedly by making 35-footers all day – the same thing with Damian [Lillard] and CJ [McCollum], those guys are incredible shot-makers.
"But if you're not 6-8 and 250, you can't really dominate a game in other ways. That's probably my best guess as to the criticism."
Green added: "I think that was right up there with the best of them, just because of all the talk that's been going around.
"Steph has the tendency at times to f*** around with the basketball. There was no f****** around. He came out and everything was a shot or attack."
Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry just wanted to "stay in the moment" as he approached his career-high of 62 points against the Portland Trail Blazers.
Curry exploded for 62 points to lead the Warriors past the Trail Blazers 137-122 in the NBA on Sunday.
The two-time NBA MVP was 18-of-31 from the field and eight-of-16 from three-point range to set a personal best.
"You try to just continue to stay humble and stay in the moment. That's the best way to approach it," Curry told NBC Sports after the game.
"It doesn't help when your team-mates are yelling at you every dead ball how many points you've got, but other than that it's just don't do anything differently, just keep being aggressive, being decisive and good things happen."
Curry was also 18-of-19 from the free-throw line as he became the first Warriors player to score 62-plus points since Rick Barry in March 1974.
Damian Lillard (32) and CJ McCollum (28) combined for 60 points for the Trail Blazers.
Curry said he enjoyed coming up against the likes of Lillard, who is a five-time NBA All-Star.
"It's always the best guys in the league, especially the point guard position, bring the best out of you," he said.
"If you're around this league long enough you kind of get to see every kind of scenario and situation and we have a lot to fight for and a huge challenge in front of us.
"They're the established team now so for a guy like him, it always brings the best out of you and I love the competition and that's kind of what it is."
The Warriors are 3-3 to begin the NBA season and Golden State face the Sacramento Kings on Monday.
Kane Williamson continued his impressive form to give New Zealand control of the second Test against Pakistan on Monday.
Williamson scored his 24th Test century and second in as many Tests on a strong day two for the Black Caps at Hagley Oval in Christchurch.
The right-hander finished the day unbeaten on 112 as New Zealand reached 286-3, trailing Pakistan by just 11 runs, with Henry Nicholls (89) also not out.
Williamson, who moved top of the ICC rankings for Test batsmen last week, was scratchy early before accelerating.
He needed 105 balls to reach his half-century but just another 35 to bring up his ton.
It came after Pakistan put themselves in a promising position by reducing the hosts, who lead the two-Test series 1-0, to 71-3.
The wickets of Tom Latham (33), Tom Blundell (16) and Ross Taylor (12) had Pakistan on a high, and they should have had Nicholls cheaply.
The left-hander was caught by Mohammad Rizwan on three, but Shaheen Afridi (1-45) overstepped.
Williamson and Nicholls attacked as the day went on and Pakistan had their troubles in the field, the former edging through Shan Masood and Haris Sohail in the slips on 82.
Masood dropped Williamson after the star New Zealander passed his century before Rizwan put down an easy chance off Nicholls – then on 86 – off Shaheen.
Nicholls hurt his calf late in the day but managed to get to stumps alongside Williamson on an excellent day for the Black Caps.
Stephen Curry exploded to lift the Golden State Warriors to victory in the NBA on Sunday, while the Los Angeles Lakers won again.
Curry produced a career-high 62 points as the Warriors beat the Portland Trail Blazers 137-122.
The two-time NBA MVP was in spectacular form, shooting 18-of-31 from the field and eight-of-16 from three-point range.
Damian Lillard (32) and CJ McCollum (28) combined for 60 points for the Trail Blazers.
The Lakers made it three straight wins by beating the Memphis Grizzlies 108-94.
LeBron James' 22 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists led the Lakers, who had six players in double-digits for points.
Durant dominance not enough for Nets, George shines
Kevin Durant had 28 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists, but the Brooklyn Nets fell to the Washington Wizards 123-122.
Bradley Beal led the Wizards with 27 points and 10 rebounds.
Paul George posted 39 points to guide the Los Angeles Clippers past the Phoenix Suns 112-107.
Jayson Tatum's double-double of 24 points and 12 assists helped the Boston Celtics edge the Detroit Pistons 122-120.
Bad Brooks
Dillon Brooks had a difficult outing for the Grizzlies. The guard went three-of-15 from the field for just nine points in 29 minutes.
Amazing Curry
Curry hit a brilliant eighth three-pointer to reach 62 points in the Warriors' win.
Sunday's results
Boston Celtics 122-120 Detroit Pistons
Los Angeles Lakers 108-94 Memphis Grizzlies
Washington Wizards 123-122 Brooklyn Nets
Denver Nuggets 124-109 Minnesota Timberwolves
Utah Jazz 130-109 San Antonio Spurs
Chicago Bulls 118-108 Dallas Mavericks
Los Angeles Clippers 112-107 Phoenix Suns
Golden State Warriors 137-122 Portland Trail Blazers
Pistons at Bucks
The Milwaukee Bucks (3-3) take on the Detroit Pistons (1-5) on Monday. Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo is averaging 23.5 points, 11.7 rebounds and 5.8 assists per game this season.
Crowd capacity for the Sydney Test between Australia and India starting on Thursday has been reduced to 25 per cent.
Questions were raised over the venue of the third Test after a coronavirus outbreak in New South Wales.
The clash will go ahead at the SCG, but on Monday it was announced the crowd capacity had been cut from 50 per cent to 25.
"In response to the public health situation in NSW, we are working closely with Venues NSW and NSW Health to put appropriate biosecurity measures in place for our staff, players, match officials, broadcasters and fans to ensure we play the third Test at the SCG safely," Cricket Australia (CA) interim chief executive Nick Hockley said.
"Reducing the capacity of the venue is crucial in achieving social distancing requirements, and we sincerely thank ticketholders for their patience, as we process refunds today, reconfigure the SCG seating plan to deliver these social distancing measures and go back on sale."
The four-Test series is locked at 1-1, with some doubts now over the venue for the final match – due to be held in Brisbane.
Meanwhile, Australia paceman James Pattinson has been ruled out of the Sydney Test due to bruised ribs suffered in a fall at home.
Athletic Bilbao have reached an agreement in principle to appoint Marcelino as coach until 2022 after sacking Gaizka Garitano.
The LaLiga club sacked Garitano, who took charge in December 2018, just hours after recording a 1-0 win over Elche on Sunday.
That result sees Athletic sitting ninth in the table, seven points adrift of fifth-placed Barcelona.
Former Valencia boss Marcelino was announced as Garitano's replacement later on Sunday.
Athletic announced they had reached an agreement in principle with Marcelino until 2022.
After more than two years in charge, Marcelino was sacked by Valencia in September 2019.
He helped the LaLiga club win the Copa del Rey in 2018-19.
Ronald Koeman said Barcelona were missing a number nine as they scored just once from 20 shots on goal in a 1-0 victory over Huesca, and called for the club to sign a new striker.
Lionel Messi returned to the Barcelona side after recovering from an ankle injury and Koeman opted to play him in attack alongside Martin Braithwaite and Ousmane Dembele.
The trio attempted 15 shots between them but it was Frenkie de Jong who scored the decisive goal, volleying Messi's chipped pass into the net after 27 minutes.
Koeman, who sent on Antoine Griezmann for Braithwaite nine minutes from time, admitted that he lacks a natural striker to lead the line in between the creative talents of Messi and Dembele.
"I trust each player in our squad," Koeman told reporters. "But if we choose to have three midfielders there is room for three forwards.
"With Leo we bet on someone with great depth like Dembele, and we have to choose between Martin or Antoine at the top and Martin has done it.
"It's a nine that we're missing in these games but it doesn't mean anything in regards to Antoine's substitution. We have a lot of games and we need all the players.
"We have said several times, at the beginning of the season, that we need someone at the top to have more competition and more goals, more effectiveness, but this depends on many things."
Koeman indicated that he believes improving his striking options will help reduce the pressure on Barcelona's defence, which absorbed waves of Huesca attacks as the hosts sought an equaliser late on at El Alcoraz.
Barcelona were on target with just seven of their 20 shots at goal and Koeman said they must close games out earlier to avoid nervous late spells.
"The second half was not so brilliant," admitted Koeman.
"In the end we suffer a little because they have tried to create and there have been crosses where we have defended well. If you don't close out the game earlier, you always suffer."
Looking ahead to LaLiga clashes with Athletic Bilbao and Granada, and a Supercopa de Espana semi-final against Real Sociedad, Koeman added: "This month is very important for our aspirations because we have many away games and if we win them I think we can fight.
"We have come out strong, very focused, and that is the main base we need. If we have those two things we will improve with the ball and if we can also improve in front of goal we can have a very important and good year."
Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen called upon his team-mates to raise the quality of their performances late in games after they earned a narrow victory over LaLiga strugglers Huesca.
Frenkie de Jong scored a first-half volley that proved decisive at El Alcoraz but Ter Stegen had to be alert to keep Rafa Mir from equalising as the division's bottom club were allowed to attack in the second half.
Ter Stegen acknowledged that Barcelona's display improved on their showing in a 1-1 draw with Eibar last time out in LaLiga, but called for more hard work to put the Blaugrana back in contention for a place in the top three.
"For 35 minutes we did very well, we played very good," Ter Stegen told the club's official website.
"We had a lot of possession, we pressed them high, when we lost the ball we were directly right in front of them to keep on going. We made it very difficult for them to come out from the back.
"We have to improve, that's what I think, overall in the last minutes so that we don't suffer as much. I think it's not needed.
"But we won the game which is very important and we move forwards."
Ter Stegen paid tribute to De Jong, who scored his second LaLiga goal of the season to equal the number he scored in the whole of 2019-20.
"I'm super happy for him, it's not that often that he scores. I hope he continues like this, and for me and the whole team it's nice to have a clean sheet for the restart and I'm really happy for us as a team," he said.
De Jong, who arrived at Camp Nou in a €75million transfer from Ajax in mid-2019, credited the fine chipped pass from Lionel Messi for giving him the opportunity to net his fourth goal for the club.
He said: "Especially in games like this when they close a lot and they are going backwards, all of their team almost, it's important to make these runs into the box as a midfielder.
"Leo gave me a great pass and I could score."
Asked whether scoring the club's first goal of 2021 holds significance for him, De Jong said: "I try to score a bit more but I don't think it means something, no."
Andrea Pirlo revealed Juventus were "feeling the fear" from their heavy defeat to Fiorentina before the mid-season break in the early stages of their 4-1 win over Udinese on Sunday.
Juve suffered a humiliating 3-0 home loss to La Viola in December – their first in the league this season – but the champions bounced back to winning ways in style at the Allianz Stadium.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored either side of Federico Chiesa's cool finish – the 15th consecutive season the Portugal star has scored 20 goals for club and country – before Udinese's Marvin Zeegelaar and Paulo Dybala exchanged goals in the closing stages.
The result ensured Juve avoided going three consecutive home games without a win for the first time since 2015-16, and Pirlo conceded the defeat to Fiorentina last time out was on his players' minds early on.
"It wasn't the best Juventus, as we were coming off a bad defeat to Fiorentina, so started quite timid and nervous, especially when their forwards ran towards us. We gained more confidence as it went on," Pirlo told DAZN.
"I was not satisfied with the initial approach to the game, as we were still feeling the fear of our last defeat to Fiorentina. The timing of the movements weren't right, especially on the wings.
"We knew that Udinese would try to sit back, counter and wait for our mistakes, but we did well with the preventative marking to ensure they couldn't do that."
Dybala's late goal was just his second in Serie A this season and came after a game in which he lost possession 21 times – seven more than any other Juve player.
Despite his wastefulness with the ball, Pirlo was pleased with the Argentina international's contribution and believes his goal was the result of the forward's improved fitness.
"We need Dybala, he needs us," the Juve boss added. "He worked very well during the week in training. We could tell during the match that he was in better physical condition and we kept him on to the end because we hoped he would score that goal."
The result could have been different had Rodrigo De Paul's 10th-minute strike not been ruled out following a VAR check for a handball earlier in the move.
And Rodrigo Bentancur, who laid on Ronaldo's second, acknowledged Juve need to start games with more of a spring in their step, starting with their visit to leaders Milan on Wednesday.
"We didn't start with the right mentality and conceded that goal, which fortunately was disallowed for handball," Bentancur said.
"We did better after the break, deserved the victory, but again the mentality dropped at the end to concede that goal.
"I think we need to keep that concentration throughout the 90 minutes. We allowed Udinese too many chances and that should not happen.
"I don't mind if I score goals or not. I provided an assist tonight and that's as good as a goal, because I am helping the team.
"This was a victory we wanted and fought hard for. Now we have a couple of days to rest and prepare for Milan."
Barcelona moved into LaLiga's top five after Frenkie de Jong's goal clinched a 1-0 victory over bottom club Huesca in Lionel Messi's 500th league appearance for the club.
Blaugrana boss Ronald Koeman, who warned before the game that defeat would all but end his side's title challenge, saw a much-improved Barcelona performance as he earned back-to-back LaLiga away wins for the first time in his tenure.
Messi came back into the side after missing Barca's disappointing 1-1 draw with Eibar due to an ankle injury and was at his talismanic best, deftly assisting De Jong's volleyed goal after just before the half-hour mark.
Huesca did open the visitors up on occasion and it remains to be seen whether Koeman can restore some consistency and style to this team, but they did enough here to climb above Sevilla in the table.
Barcelona's early pressure paid off after 27 minutes when Messi played an exquisite chipped pass into the box, where De Jong evaded two defenders and guided the ball into the corner of the net from six yards on the volley.
Messi would have capped a fine first-half performance with a superb goal five minutes from the interval had Alvaro Fernandez not pulled off a spectacular save, palming his dipping 20-yard free-kick over the crossbar.
The six-time Ballon d'Or winner flashed a fierce effort narrowly wide from the edge of the box early in the second period, before Marc-Andre ter Stegen got down well to prevent Rafa Mir's close-range shot from becoming the equaliser.
Ousmane Dembele should have put the game beyond doubt when he went one-on-one with Fernandez 13 minutes from time, but the Huesca goalkeeper saved at his feet and then denied Messi again before full-time.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice as Juventus bounced back from their Fiorentina fiasco with a 4-1 win over Udinese at the Allianz Stadium on Sunday.
Andrea Pirlo's side suffered a humiliating 3-0 home defeat to La Viola before the mid-season break, but they kicked off 2021 with a win that ensured the gap to Serie A leaders Milan remained at 10 points.
Ronaldo put Juve ahead in the 31st minute with a fine strike after Udinese's Rodrigo de Paul had seen an effort ruled out by VAR.
Federico Chiesa and Ronaldo then made sure Juve avoided going three consecutive home games without a win for the first time since 2015-16.
Marvin Zeegelaar snatched a consolation for Udinese, but Paulo Dybala had the final say in stoppage time.
Stefano Pioli lauded Milan's "heart, intensity, passion and belief" after they beat Benevento 2-0 to return to the Serie A summit despite playing for nearly an hour with 10 men.
Franck Kessie's penalty gave the visitors a first-half lead at Stadio Ciro Vigorito but Sandro Tonali's dismissal before the break left the Rossoneri up against it.
An inventive finish from Rafael Leao gave Milan a much-needed two-goal cushion early in the second half, with Gianluca Caprari missing a spot-kick at the other end for the wasteful hosts.
The win marked a fine response to Inter's 6-2 thrashing of Crotone earlier on Sunday, which had temporarily dislodged Milan from top spot.
But with his side now leading the way by a point, Pioli was full of praise.
"We showed heart, intensity, passion and belief. It's another very big victory," he told Sky Sport Italia.
"We don't let the results of our opponents put pressure on us. We put pressure on ourselves by demanding the best.
"There were a few errors, but we showed such unity to bring the result home.
"Every result is important to boost the self-belief."
Tonali was shown a red card after a careless lunge on Artur Ionita, with referee Fabrizio Pasqua upgrading his punishment from a yellow after reviewing the incident on the pitch-side monitor.
"I hugged Sandro in the locker room, he was sad about leaving the team down to 10 men," said Pioli.
"The issue with VAR is that things look much worse when slowed down compared to the dynamics of the movement, but Sandro will learn from this."
Next up for Milan is the visit of champions Juventus, though Pioli insists the result will not be pivotal in the title race.
"I think it'll be a great game between two teams in excellent shape," he said.
"I continue to say Juventus, Inter and Napoli are the strongest sides in Serie A, we just have to keep going along our path.
"It's not decisive or the passing on of any baton. Juve won the last nine titles and aren't far behind us at the moment.
"I continue to maintain we can talk about other things when we look at the table in April and if we are still in this position. Our strength has been to take it one game at a time, so we don't want to change that attitude.
"We are missing some important players, Tonali will be suspended, so it's going to be tough against Juventus. Whatever happens, it won't be decisive."
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