Erik ten Hag believes Sir Bobby Charlton will always remain an inspiration to Manchester United as they prepare for their first home game since the World Cup-winner died on Saturday.

Tributes to Charlton, who was 86, will take place before Tuesday’s Champions League fixture against Copenhagen, in the form of a minute’s silence, a wreath being placed on Charlton’s seat in the directors’ box and players and club staff wearing black armbands.

Charlton will also be remembered in the official programme for both the Copenhagen match and Sunday’s derby against Manchester City. There will be a minute’s applause prior to the City match as well as expressions of remembrance via flags and banners in the stadium.

Fans have already been flocking to Old Trafford to leave flowers, scarves and messages around the statue of Charlton, Denis Law and George Best – the ‘United Trinity’ – which is located outside the ground.

And when asked if Charlton would be an inspiration for his side not only on Tuesday but beyond, Ten Hag pointed to the statue.

“He is in front of Old Trafford,” Ten Hag said. “With Denis Law and George Best. He is always with us. They are always a huge inspiration for us, every day, and in every game.”

Ten Hag cited Charlton as an inspiration for his players in Saturday’s 2-1 win away to Sheffield United, secured by Diogo Dalot’s winner, but a match at Old Trafford will be an opportunity for the entire club to pay tribute on and off the pitch.

Ten Hag wants to mark the occasion with a victory, something United badly need in the Champions League after opening their Group A campaign with defeats against Bayern Munich and Galatasaray, while they have stuttered in the Premier League too.

“First we want to win as a tribute to Sir Bobby Charlton, but also you want always to do that in a certain way and that is what we are aiming for,” Ten Hag added. “It is not always possible in football, sometimes you don’t play that well but you have to find a way to win.

“I was happy on Saturday that we could show tribute with a win but also with the way we scored that second goal.”

Although they ground out the victory, United were again far from their best in Saturday’s win over the Blades, with social media full of grumbling from fans amid a pedestrian start to the campaign.

But Ten Hag said he continues to feel the firm backing of the supporters inside Old Trafford, and expects a special atmosphere on Tuesday night.

“It’s always special every night at Old Trafford, the fans are always so behind us,” the Dutchman said.

“I remember the last game, the home game against Brentford, even when the game is not going in our direction they stayed behind us in difficult moments and moments of adversity around Manchester United the fans are still with us and we are with the fans, we are fighting together.

“Definitely tomorrow after the passing away of Sir Bobby Charlton, their hero, their legend, their giant, I’m sure there will be an even more emotional evening tomorrow.”

Merrill Kelly and four relievers shut down the Philadelphia Phillies' powerful lineup as the Arizona Diamondbacks forced a deciding Game 7 of the National League Championship Series with Monday's 5-1 win.

With the Diamondbacks facing elimination at a hostile Citizens Bank Park, Kelly rose to the occasion by striking out eight over five innings and holding the potent Phillies to one run on three hits. The veteran right-hander ended his stellar Game 6 performance by retiring Philadelphia sluggers Kyle Schwarber, Trea Turner and Bryce Harper in order, with two of the outs via strikeout.

Ryan Thompson, Andrew Saalfrank, Kevin Ginkel and Paul Sewald limited the Phillies to three singles the rest of the way to send the series to Tuesday's winner-take-all game in Philadelphia, where the defending NL champion Phillies outscored Arizona by a 15-3 margin in winning the first two matchups.

The underdog Diamondbacks, the NL's sixth and final playoff seed, will send rookie Brandon Pfaadt to the mound opposite Ranger Suarez in a rematch of Game 3 starters. Arizona won that contest, 2-1, with Pfaadt throwing 5 2/3 scoreless innings.

Tommy Pham and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. hit back-to-back solo homers in the second inning to back Kelly's strong outing, while Ketel Marte had two hits and two RBIs.

Pham and Gurriel's consecutive blasts of Aaron Nola gave Arizona a 2-0 lead, and the Diamondbacks tacked on another run in the second when Alek Thomas followed with a walk and scored on Evan Longoria's double.

The Phillies got a run back in their half of the second when J.T. Realmuto doubled and scored on Brandon Marsh's single, but provided few offensive threats the rest of the way to lose for the first time in seven home games this post-season.

Philadelphia has homered three times in each of its three wins in this series, but has just one combined in the three losses.

Nola didn't make it out of the fifth inning, as Marte ended his night with a one-out RBI triple that extended Arizona's advantage to 4-1. The right-hander, who went 3-0 with a 0.96 ERA over his first three starts of this year's playoffs, was tagged for four runs in 4 1/3 innings.

Marte also drove in the Diamondbacks' final run with a seventh-innng single that brought in Geraldo Perdomo, who reached on a single and stole second.

Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou credited his side’s 2-0 win over Fulham to their “outstanding” pressing after they returned to the top of the Premier League.

Goals from Son Heung-min and James Maddison confirmed the three points for the hosts at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Postecoglou also praised the contribution of Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, who started in place of the suspended Yves Bissouma.

“I thought our pressing was outstanding the whole game and maybe in the first half we could have got one or two more to put the game to bed,” Postecoglou said.

“I thought Pierre was good and he’s been good in every game he’s played for us and he’s been put in some difficult situations and handled them well, he’s very experienced.

“I thought in the first half in particular we stayed calm on the ball and had some good tempo. Like I said I thought our pressing was outstanding all game and I thought he was a big part of that.

“He made interceptions for both goals and yeah it was important to have him in there, his experience coming in because Bissouma has been very important for us and in such a crucial role but I thought he was excellent.”

Spurs took their foot off the gas after their second goal, which invited pressure from Fulham, who had their chances to score late on.

And the former Australia manager was “disappointed” with his side’s second-half efforts.

He added: “I’m really disappointed with the second half, we were nowhere near the levels we have been all year and we have got to make sure we stay disciplined in our approach because the keeper made a couple of great saves to keep the clean sheet and within the context we should have had a much better control of the game.

“I’m not trying to make a point, it’s just what I saw. I thought we were really wasteful with the ball in the second half. We took some liberties with taking extra touches.

“I’ve been around long enough to know if you try to take liberties, you’ll get dragged down pretty quickly.

“I’m not going to let the fact that we’ve won the game disguise the opportunity there for us to improve.

“In the second half, with the ball we weren’t anywhere near the levels we’ve already shown this year and there was no real reason for it. It wasn’t as if the opposition did anything different. It was more self-inflicted.

“My role in that was to give feedback to the players. That’s what they want. They want to get better, they want to improve, I’ve got some stuff there to show them.”

Centre-back Calvin Bassey gave the ball away in the 54th minute and Tottenham punished the mistake through Maddison, doubling his side’s lead.

And Marco Silva admitted he was disappointed with the manner in which Fulham conceded the second goal.

He said: “We were punished by the mistakes that we made.

“What disappointed me was the second goal. At half-time we spoke and we conceded a similar goal in the second half. We were punished again with the same type of goal.”

The reigning NFC champions may have just gotten even better.

The Philadelphia Eagles agreed to a trade Monday, acquiring two-time All-Pro safety Kevin Byard from the Tennessee Titans for safety Terrell Edmunds.

The Eagles are also sending a 2024 fifth- and a sixth-round round draft pick to the Titans in the deal.

Byard, who was selected to the AP All-Pro team after the 2017 and 2021 seasons, joins a top-10 Eagles defense that allows 290.3 yards per game.

Born in Philadelphia, Byard has 27 career interceptions in 120 games since being drafted in the third round by the Titans in 2016.

Reports of the trade surfaced during coach Nick Sirianni’s press conference, but he was unwilling to comment on the deal yet.

“I obviously want to get with everybody and talk before I say anything here,” Sirianni said.

Philadelphia is tied with the Kansas City Chiefs for the best record in the league at 6-1 after the Eagles’ 31-17 win over the Miami Dolphins on Sunday night.

Despite another fast start to the season, the Eagles felt they needed help in their secondary after the offseason departure of C.J. Gardner-Johnson in free agency.

Edmunds was a late first-round pick by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2018 and has five career interceptions. He joined Eagles on a one-year deal last offseason after the Steelers opted not to re-sign him.

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers wants his team to show they can take on the best in the world when they host Atletico Madrid on Wednesday.

The Hoops are looking for their first points of the Champions League campaign after going down against Feyenoord with nine men and losing to a last-gasp goal against Lazio after being denied the lead for a second time by a marginal offside decision.

Rodgers said: “We are playing one of the top clubs in the world and one of the best teams.

“We want to be able to take on the best teams in the world. We don’t have to be the best in the world but we certainly want to be able to take them on.”

Celtic warmed up with a dominant display in Sunday’s 4-1 win over Hearts.

“The players will go into it with great confidence,” Rodgers said.

“It will be an amazing atmosphere, we will try to start with energy and quality and devise a plan.

“The players have been unfortunate they haven’t picked up something. In the two games the performance level has been good, considering we had nine men against Feyenoord and the last game was hugely frustrating.

“But a great chance to play against a really good team and see if we can get our first points on the board.”

In-form midfielder Matt O’Riley will go into the game with a positive mindset after hitting his sixth goal of the season in style at Tynecastle.

The 22-year-old said: “If we play well and take our chances, and we believe we can do it, then anything is possible.

“We have seen that before in previous Champions League games in the past, I think performance is definitely there, it’s just a matter of being ruthless in both boxes to be honest.”

Goals from key duo Son Heung-min and James Maddison sent Tottenham back to the Premier League summit with a professional 2-0 win over Fulham.

Spurs had claimed top spot before the international break, but watched rivals Arsenal, Manchester City and Liverpool all leapfrog them across the weekend to raise the stakes of Monday’s London derby.

Fulham proved no match for Ange Postecoglou’s resurgent team and after Son grabbed his seventh goal of an impressive season in the 36th minute, he turned provider after half-time with an assist for partner in crime Maddison.

It was the latest example of the pair combining and a further nod to the present with Son’s once-famed partnership with Harry Kane, now of Bayern Munich, fast becoming a distant memory.

Next up for Postecoglou’s pace-setters is a trip to Crystal Palace on Friday where they could extend their lead at the top to five points with another win.

This was Spurs’ first home match since the Israel-Hamas conflict started and a moment’s silence occurred before kick-off for the innocent civilians killed, during which several Israeli flags were held up by supporters in different areas of the stadium.

Tottenham were without the suspended Yves Bissouma, which meant Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg earned his second start of the season.

Hojbjerg’s other start was the Carabao Cup shoot-out defeat to Fulham in August, but the hosts quickly set about correcting the only blot on Postecoglou’s near-perfect copybook in N17.

Visiting goalkeeper Bernd Leno was alert in the second minute to deny Son after a trademark Maddison through ball before Micky van de Ven hooked over from a free-kick soon after.

While Spurs’ ascent to first had seen them score 18 times in eight matches, they had also tightened up defensively and summer recruit Guglielmo Vicario demonstrated his class with a crucial stop in the 11th minute.

A corner from Andreas Pereira picked out Joao Palhinha, but his towering header was brilliantly tipped away by Vicario’s left glove.

One-time Tottenham loanee Carlos Vinicius sent a header wide not long after before Postecoglou’s men started to turn the screw.

Richarlison curled wide from 20 yards following a lightning-quick counter-attack, but the breakthrough did arrive in the 36th minute through Son’s seventh goal of the season.

Van de Ven was first to the loose ball after a poor Calvin Bassey pass and touched into Richarlison, who recycled into Son’s path and Spurs’ number seven turned away from Tim Ream before he produced a sumptuous finish into the top corner.

It was a deserved opener and it could have been 2-0 moments later with Bassey first heading away with Son ready to pounce before the Tottenham captain back-heeled to Destiny Udogie, but his shot was blocked.

There was still time for another opening when Cristian Romero played in Dejan Kulusevski, although the Swedish attacker tried to tee up Richarlison when the goal was at his mercy and Fulham survived.

Fulham boss Marco Silva made a double substitution at the break with Raul Jimenez and Alex Iwobi introduced, but the second for Spurs arrived in the 54th minute.

It was a carbon copy of the opener with Bassey’s pass out from the back intercepted by the excellent Hojbjerg and Son played through to Maddison, who coolly angled beyond Leno for his third goal of the term.

With the result almost already assured, Udogie and Pape Sarr did limp off in a concern for Postecoglou before Maddison almost made it 3-0.

Maddison led the press brilliantly and forced another error from Bassey by winning back possession, but Ream came across to block his effort.

And another strong stop by Vicario from Jimenez late on secured a fourth clean sheet this season for the early leaders.

Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti insists he does not have “freedom of expression” to talk about referees as he prepares his side for their Champions League Group C trip to Sporting Braga.

Ancelotti appeared to back referee Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea after the weekend draw in Sevilla but later conceded on his club’s official media channels that he used “irony” when questioned about officials.

In a pre-match press conference dominated by questions about the state of refereeing, Ancelotti refused the opportunity to echo Spanish referees’ chief Pedro Rocha and call officials from the country the best in the world.

Ancelotti said: “If you ask me who the best players in the world are, I say Real Madrid players. There are some very good referees with a lot of experience and there are others who need to improve.

“You know that I don’t have freedom of expression when it comes to talking about referees. If I say what I think, I get suspended and I want to work and make the most of the matches, which excite me. I can’t answer these kinds of questions.”

Ancelotti says his players will not be distracted by next week’s El Clasico against Barcelona as they look to make a statement by winning their second straight game in the group.

“We’ve never talked about the next game we have in the league, we’re focused and dedicated to the one we’re playing right now,” added Ancelotti.

“The players are making the most of it and recovering well to get to full strength for tomorrow’s game, which is the most important one at the moment.”

Real are once again without Thibaut Courtois and Eder Militao but David Alaba is expected to feature after coming through against Sevilla, while Nacho is in the squad despite currently serving a domestic suspension.

Braga, bidding for a fifth straight win in all competitions, fought back from 2-0 down to beat Union Berlin 3-2 in Germany in their previous Group C match earlier this month.

Artur Jorge’s side finished third in the Portuguese top flight last season to secure Champions League football for the first time in 11 years and beat Serbia’s Backa Topla and Panathinaikos to reach the group stage.

Former Braga defender Jorge is relishing Braga’s first-ever meeting with the Spanish giants.

He told a press conference: “This game will be very special and will go down in Braga’s history.

“We are playing against one of the best teams in the world, but we always seek to be competitive and fight in every match. We will have our opportunities and must try to be effective in the big moments.”

Jaden McDaniels played a big role in the success of the Minnesota Timberwolves last season and is being rewarded.

A day before the start of the NBA season, McDaniels and the Timberwolves agreed to a five-year, $136million extension.

The deal was first reported by Shams Charania of The Athletic on Monday.

McDaniels averaged a career-high 12.1 points on 51.7 per cent shooting to go with 3.9 rebounds and 1.9 assists in starting all 79 games he played for Minnesota in 2022-23. Though he doesn't shoot a high volume of 3-pointers, he is a reliable shooter from beyond the arc, connecting on 39.8 per cent from 3-point range.

With averages of 0.96 blocks per game and 0.94 steals, McDaniels is also considered one of the NBA's top wing defenders.

Minnesota went 42-40 in 2022-23, and much of the team's success came down to McDaniels' scoring output.

When McDaniels scored at least 12 points, the Timberwolves went 26-13, but when he scored 11 or fewer, the team went 15-25.

A first-round draft pick by the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020, McDaniels is entering his fourth pro season - all with Minnesota.

With McDaniels firmly in the fold, the Timberwolves boast a talented core of Anthony Edwards, Karl-Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert.

Minnesota has made the playoffs each of the last two seasons and opens this year Wednesday against the Toronto Raptors.

Mikel Arteta is hoping he will be left talking about football after his Arsenal side take on Sevilla in Spain on Tuesday.

Real Madrid forward Vinicius Jr was allegedly racially abused during Saturday’s LaLiga clash at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium.

Vinicius later took to social media to praise staff in the ground for ejecting a fan and reporting him to the authorities.

The Brazilian then said he had also seen footage of abuse being aimed at him from a child, posting on X, formerly known as Twitter: “Congratulations to Sevilla for their quick positioning and punishment in yet another sad episode for Spanish football.

“Unfortunately, I had access to a video of another racist act in this Saturday’s match, this time carried out by a child.

“I am very sorry that there is no one to educate you. I invest, and I invest a lot, in education in Brazil to form citizens with attitudes different from these.”

Just three days later and Arsenal will be the visitors for their Champions League Group C clash.

Arteta echoed Vinicius’ sentiment and is hoping he is left discussing the result when he addresses the media after Tuesday’s game.

“What I can say is Sevilla reacted in a really strong and quick way,” he said.

“Great. Let’s enjoy a beautiful football atmosphere. It doesn’t get much better than the atmosphere here and I hope that we can just talk about the football and enjoy that atmosphere tomorrow.”

Arteta is once again expected to prefer David Raya over Aaron Ramsdale in goal, although the latter has travelled despite reports he would stay in England following the birth of his child on Saturday.

The goalkeeping position at the Emirates Stadium has dominated discussion in recent weeks, especially following a nervy performance from Raya in the 2-2 draw at Chelsea on Saturday.

Asked if Raya was suffering from the intensity of the attention at the moment, Arteta replied: “I haven’t seen that. If I am fair, I haven’t seen that at all.

“That’s the pressure of playing in big clubs where you have to win and you have to be at your best, and you have someone next to you who is pushing you every single day.

“If we go player by player, position by position, you will tell me what’s happening at left-back, what happens with the holding midfielder.

“That’s the debate. That’s the beauty of the game as well. The fact that you have other options as well is going to make those talks more frequent.”

Boss Rudi Garcia admits Napoli must beat Union Berlin to ensure they maintain a strong position in the Champions League.

Garcia’s men sit second in Group C, three points behind leaders Real Madrid, who won 3-2 in Naples earlier this month.

Napoli opened their campaign with a 2-1 win over Braga in Portugal and now go to Union Berlin on Tuesday.

“We know all about Union Berlin’s recent history, they reached the Champions League after an excellent season last year,” said Garcia.

“They have strong players like (Leonardo) Bonucci and (Lucas) Tousart. The Champions League is a great competition to play for both players and coaches.

“We started well, but then we didn’t take any points against Real Madrid and we have to win tomorrow.”

The Serie A champions ended a run of successive home defeats by Real in Europe and Fiorentina in the league with a 3-1 win at Verona on Saturday in which Khvicha Kvaratskhelia scored twice.

However, they will once again be without star striker Victor Osimhen as he continues his recovery from a hamstring injury.

Berlin coach Urs Fischer has told his Champions League debutants to have “fun” as they attempt to end a dreadful run of eight successive defeats in all competitions.

Fischer told a press conference: “We have a difficult opponent ahead of us, the Italian champions, but we must remain optimistic and remember that football is fun.

“We will face Napoli in the right manner to try to take away points.”

That is something the Germans, who finished fourth in the Bundesliga last season, have failed to do in either of their games to date after losing 1-0 at Bernabeu Stadium courtesy of Jude Bellingham’s stoppage-time strike before going down 3-2 to Braga at the Olympiastadion in a game in which they had led 2-0.

They have suffered on the domestic front too after going into the international break on the back of a 4-2 defeat at Borussia Dortmund and emerging from it to lose 3-0 at home to Stuttgart on Saturday.

However, midfielder Rani Khedira, who made his first league start of the season at the weekend after injury, insisted he and his team-mates had to remain optimistic.

Khedira said: “The key is to continue to have confidence and optimism. Tomorrow we will have to play with humility, and it will not be easy, but we must not get down about it and we must try to win.”

Germany international Robin Gosens is a doubt for the game, while much-decorated Italy defender Leonardo Bonucci will hope for a return after failing to make it off the bench at the weekend.

Former Ireland international Jean Kleyn acknowledges being on the verge of becoming a world champion with his native South Africa was “outside the realm of thinking” just months ago.

Munster lock Kleyn represented Ireland under Joe Schmidt at the 2019 World Cup in Japan after qualifying on residency grounds.

But, having been repeatedly overlooked by Schmidt’s successor Andy Farrell, the 30-year-old was in June cleared to switch allegiance back to the Springboks before being included in Jacques Nienaber’s squad for France.

Reigning champions South Africa are on course to retain their crown going into Saturday’s final against fellow three-time winners New Zealand in Paris.

“I think I’ve caught myself thinking about it probably too often,” Kleyn said of his curious Test career.

“It’s a strange one because if you’d asked me six months ago if I at all thought I had any chance of being here at the World Cup final playing for the Springboks, I would have told you you are absolutely insane.

“I’ll probably wake up when it’s all said and done and think, ‘was that a dream or did it actually happen?’. It was outside the realm of thinking.

“It’s been a fantastic journey for me. It’s been an absolute pleasure being part of it.”

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Kleyn, who joined Munster from the Stormers in 2016, played five times under Schmidt in 2019, with his final cap coming in Ireland’s 47-5 pool-stage win over Samoa in Fukuoka.

His lengthy spell in the international wilderness allowed him to revert to the Springboks, a decision he feared may be met with a backlash.

But the response in his adopted nation has been overwhelmingly positive and grown since Ireland’s quarter-final exit at the hands of the All Blacks.

“I’ve been absolutely inundated with messages from Munster supporters – obviously only after Ireland fell out,” said Kleyn.

“Then they really came after us and said, ‘listen, you’re our second team now, guys’.

“The support was really heartfelt from a lot of Munster fans and it made it a lot easier for me because I thought it would be quite a negative reaction when I declared for the Springboks.

“From my history with Irish media, I figured there would be a few negative articles but it was resoundingly positive, so I was really happy about that.”

Kleyn may have to settle for a watching brief at Stade de France this weekend as he has been restricted to just one start during the tournament – South Africa’s 76–0 success over Romania.

His only other appearance was off the bench in his country’s 13-8 Pool B loss to Ireland.

While the Springboks lost that epic battle, they could still win the war.

“Obviously it was a pity for us the result didn’t go our way but here we are in the end still,” said Kleyn.

“No-one really looks back and says ‘you’ve lost a pool game’. They’re going to look if you win the World Cup.

“We were disappointed with the result back then but happy with where we are now. It was a fantastic game to be a part of. I enjoyed every minute.”