Harry Kane is proud of how he handled a “difficult” time settling into his new life in Germany.
The England captain swapped London for Munich last summer as he left boyhood club Tottenham to join Bayern.
He spent the first few months of his stay in Germany in a hotel as his wife Kate and their children stayed behind before they all made the move into a new house after Christmas and a new chapter in their lives is now in full swing.
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You would never have known Kane was finding it tough given his performances on the pitch, scoring 28 goals in his first 27 games for Bayern.
“It wasn’t easy, the first four or five months being in the hotel and being away from the family,” he told the PA news agency.
“That was for sure difficult so I was proud of the way I was still able to perform on the pitch in those circumstances.
“We’ve had a good winter break and everyone came back with me, the kids are in school, we have got the house.
“Month by month it starts to feel more like home, you meet parents at school, my wife is meeting new friends and you just start to meet new people and see new things.
“Everyone has been fantastic, all the fans here, the club have been great and trying to make me welcome and so far it is nothing but praise for everyone here.”
Now that things are settling down, he cannot wait for the German golf courses to reopen.
The winter weather means he has been unable to play much of his beloved golf lately – though he has still been busy, investing in sportswear brand Reflo, whose mission is to become the most sustainable apparel brand in the world by using materials derived from single-use plastic waste.
Kane, who will wear the Reflo brand when playing pro-am and exhibition competitions, said: “The weather, since the snow hit us we have been struggling, I don’t think the courses open here until March so I have been hitting the golf simulator a little bit and trying to stay in a decent shape for now.
“That is one thing I am looking forward to, I am starting to feel at home with the family, the kids are in school so the next step is to start finding the golf courses when I get some alone time with friends.”
Kane has been determined to immerse himself in the culture of Munich and that includes learning the language.
So how is he getting on?
“I’ve started German lessons and have these at least once or twice a week,” he said.
“I want to fit in as much as possible and learning the language is important and I’m willing to try.
“The Bayern fans are great, I hear them chanting lots of songs throughout the matches.”
:: Harry Kane is a golf ambassador for sustainable performancewear brand Reflo. To find out more about the apparel, visit Reflo.com
Fabio Silva wants Rangers to keep the winning bandwagon rolling after closing in on cinch Premiership leaders Celtic with a comprehensive 3-0 home win over bottom side Livingston on Saturday.
The Portuguese striker, who arrived in Glasgow from Wolves on loan last month, opened his Gers account after 40 minutes when he pounced on a loose ball inside the box to slam the ball past Livi keeper Shamal George.
Winger Rabbi Matondo added a second before the break with a deflected strike from distance and midfielder Todd Cantwell knocked in a Ross McCausland cut-back on 56 minutes to take Rangers to within three points of Celtic with a game in hand.
The Viaplay Cup winners also have the Scottish Gas Scottish Cup in their sights and welcome Ayr United to Ibrox next Saturday.
Rangers have won five in a row since the turn of the year and ahead of the visit of Aberdeen on Tuesday night, Silva told RangersTV: “It was amazing, the most important thing was the victory.
“We have had good results and it is important we continue with these with good moments.
“Everyone is involved in this and doing everything for Rangers to win titles in the final part of the season.
“The most important thing was the victory and the clean sheet and of course I am very happy to score my first goal because it is important.
“It was a little bit different for me because I played against three big centre-backs and it was a bit difficult to move.
“I like to move so they held me, but it was nice to be aware in the box, to feel when the ball comes and after I scored, I was very happy.
“Starting with me and finishing on Jack Butland we did a brilliant job in defensive and offensive, so the most important thing is the winning and now we have to prepare for the next game.”
Livingston have now gone 16 league games without a win and boss David Martindale, who saw his side come back twice at home to second bottom Ross County last Tuesday night to draw 2-2, looked for context after failing to trouble Gers keeper Butland.
He said: “There is a big difference between Ross County at Livingston and Rangers at Ibrox. You could probably go back 20 games and there would be about three shots on target.
“You are going there and you are trying to pose an attacking threat, but you’d need to be expansive and open up to create chances.
“But we have lost sloppy goals recently and I felt the last thing we needed was to go there and focus on posing more of an attacking threat.
“The game plan was to get in 0-0 at half-time, see out the next 15 minutes and then change the shape and personnel.
“But it’s difficult to make sure your defensive shape is bang on while also posing an attacking threat.”
Harry Kane is confident he will win silverware with Bayern Munich this season before trying to lead England to Euro 2024 glory in Germany.
The 30-year-old is blazing a trail in the Bundesliga following his summer move from Tottenham, scoring 28 goals in 27 games as Bayern are locked in a title race with Bayer Leverkusen and also in the knockout stages of the Champions League.
He hopes his goals continue Bayern’s domination of German football before aiming for more glory in his new homeland with England in the European Championship.
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“I’m feeling confident,” he told the PA news agency. “Bayern Munich have been winning their league for the last 11 years or so and also won the Champions League a few years ago, there’s an expectation to be winning every trophy that we’re in.
“The focus is to win both tournaments.”
Asked whether the summer tournament was England’s best chance of ending their trophy drought, he said: “I would probably say ‘yes’, if you look how close we got in the last Euros and getting knocked out in the quarter-final to a great team in France.
“I am just looking at it from a point of view where our experiences as a team, our different ages in terms of having good younger players, good experienced players, young exciting players.
“When you look around the European nations now, we will be looked at as one of the favourites.
“There won’t be too many teams wanting to play us but games in tournaments are hard to win, they’re not easy, that’s why we haven’t won one in 60 years.
“We have to go there and try and achieve it. A great opportunity for us. We’re in a great moment as a team, but as always, we have to go there and make it happen so it is an exciting challenge to do that but a tough one as well.”
As he enters the second phase of his career, Kane has already shown his sustainability in the game, but is also tackling the matter off the pitch.
He has invested in golf sportswear brand Reflo, whose mission is to become the most sustainable apparel brand in the world by using materials derived from single-use plastic waste.
Kane, who will wear the Reflo brand when playing pro-am and exhibition competitions, has tackled social issues such as children’s mental health through his Harry Kane Foundation and now wants to learn more about sustainability.
“It’s more me as a father looking into the future and looking at my kids and thinking, ‘What can I do to help their future’,” he said.
“Sustainability is something that I know not too much about, I am still learning and getting to know more about it but when I am looking to partner or invest in brands, I want to see what they are doing for the future as well.
“Reflo are definitely hitting that market and trying to help a lot of other people understand about being sustainable and the impact that can have on the world itself. I am hoping to learn more as the relationship grows.”
Reflo have pledged to plant 500 trees for every goal that Kane scores in the 2023/24 season so they are going to be busy, with the England captain hitting the ground running in Germany.
Kane became a record breaker twice in the space of two months last season as he broke Jimmy Greaves’ all-time scoring for Tottenham and then became England’s greatest ever scorer the following month.
He has another achievement in his sights with Bayern as he chases down Robert Lewandowski’s seasonal record of 41 goals in the Bundesliga.
Kane, with 24 goals in 20 games so far, admitted he did not expect to be as prolific as he has been but was not focusing on eclipsing Lewandowski’s tally just yet.
“I didn’t know what to expect. I always believed in myself and I had scored goals every year in the Premier League and that’s what I wanted to go and do in the Bundesliga,” he added.
“I probably didn’t picture scoring as many goals as I have now at this stage of the season. But you know me, I don’t like to put a limit on anything.
“I don’t like to think about records in particular, they are a consequence of hard work and doing all the little stuff off the pitch that put you to where you are on it.
“My focus is on the short term and then as we get closer and we get towards the end of the season and I am in touching distance, then for sure it will be something I would love to achieve.”
England will need to spring the biggest upset of the Bazball era as Shubman Gill’s century left them facing a huge fourth-innings chase in the second Test at Visakhapatnam.
The odds were already stacked against the tourists at the start of day three, 171 behind with 10 wickets still to take, but Gill’s knock of 104 gave India an iron grip.
England fought hard for everything they got, with two early wickets for the outstanding James Anderson and a pair of excellent catches from Ben Stokes and Ben Foakes, but a tea score of 227 for six looked emphatic for the hosts.
That left England 370 behind – already close to their record chase of 378 against the same opponents at Edgbaston in 2022.
To make matter worse, Joe Root was absent for the entirety of the afternoon session after injuring his finger stopping a ball at slip.
Anderson picked up exactly where he had left off 24 hours earlier in India’s first innings, producing a sterling spell from the pavilion end. At 41, and with no other seam bowlers in the side, he would have preferred a longer break between shifts but he showed no signs of weariness as he blew away the Indian openers.
More than half of a sold-out Sunday crowd were still queuing outside when he struck with his fourth ball of the morning, a beauty that stood up off the seam and hit the top of Rohit Sharma’s off stump as he looked ruefully over his shoulder.
Yashavi Jaiswal, following up his stunning double century, was next to succumb to Anderson’s unforgiving line and length as he flashed a drive to slip. For a brief moment, England were calling the shots but Gill survived two close calls on four and went on to turn the game.
First he was given lbw to Tom Hartley and seemed more surprised than anyone when DRS suggested a tiny inside edge. Technology would not have saved him when Anderson went up with another big appeal, but this time the on-field umpire said no to one that could have gone either way.
When Anderson left the attack, the control went with him, leaving England’s inexperienced spinners unable to keep a lid on the run-rate. Gill took the lead past 200 by launching Shoaib Bashir for six and dashed to 50 with back-to-back fours off Rehan Ahmed.
A stand of 81 with Shreyas Iyer (29) did real damage but Hartley ended it thanks to a moment of inspiration from Stokes. He chased down what looked to be a lost cause to brilliantly catch Iyer at full length.
Foakes followed suit, reacting instinctively to gather Rajat Patidar’s bottom edge off Rehan Ahmed, but 102 runs in the session still hurt.
There was another 97 between lunch and tea as Hartley, Ahmed and Bashir picked up the strain. Gill moved the lead beyond 300 as he powered Ahmed for a six and two fours in one over and brought up his hundred in 132 balls.
He was gone soon after, gloving a sweep off Bashir to the waiting Foakes, and Hartley had Axar Patel lbw for 45. It was a morale-boosting end to the session but the task already seemed extreme.
Stephen Curry scored 60 points for the second-most in his career and made 10 3-pointers, but the Atlanta Hawks started fast in overtime in a 141-134 victory over the Golden State Warriors on Saturday.
Curry had eight points in overtime to notch the second 60-point game of his career, falling two points shy of matching his career high set against Portland on Jan. 3, 2021. He was 22 of 38 from the field, 10 of 23 from long range, and made all six free throws.
Dejounte Murray scored the last seven points in an 11-0 run to open overtime for the Hawks and finished with 19 points.
Curry’s second 3 of overtime drew Golden State within 136-131 with 67 seconds to play but Trae Young hit a floater and Jalen Johnson’s layup with 20 seconds left sealed the win.
Young scored 35 points with seven 3-pointers, and Onyeka Okongwu added a career-high 22 points and a season-best 16 rebounds for Atlanta, which has won a season high-tying four straight.
Lakers snap Knicks’ 9-game streak
LeBron James scored 24 points and the Los Angeles Lakers pulled away down the stretch for a 113-105 victory to end the New York Knicks’ nine-game winning streak.
Austin Reaves had 22 points, D’Angelo Russell and Taurean Prince each scored 16 and Anthony Davis added 12 with 18 rebounds.
It was the second straight impressive road win for the Lakers after their 114-105 victory at NBA-leading Boston on Thursday.
Jalen Brunson poured in 36 points and Donte DiVincenzo added 26 before fouling out. The Knicks were done in by a nearly seven-minute scoreless stretch in the fourth quarter, as the Lakers turned a 96-94 deficit into a 105-96 lead.
Antetokounmpo outduels Doncic in Bucks’ win
Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 48 points and the Milwaukee Bucks rallied from a 25-point deficit for their first win under coach Doc Rivers, 129-117 over the Dallas Mavericks.
Antetokounmpo shot 20 of 28 from the field to go with 10 assists and six rebounds as Milwaukee avoided a season-high third straight loss.
The Bucks, who lost their first two games under Rivers, started the rally with a 15-0 run in the final two minutes of the first half to get within five.
Damian Lillard added 30 points on 10-of-11 shooting and hit all five 3-point attempts.
Luka Dončić had 40 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists to fall just shy of his 10th triple-double of the season.
Maxi Kleber scored 21 points and Josh Green had 20 with nine rebounds for Dallas, which had its biggest blown lead in a loss this season and dropped to 2-6 in its last eight games.
Conor Benn saw off the challenge of American Peter Dobson in Las Vegas with a unanimous decision victory to keep his unbeaten record.
The 27-year-old from London, who is unable to fight in the UK due to failed drug tests, won his second straight fight in the US as he went 12 rounds for the first time in his career.
The judges scored the welterweight fight 119-109, 118-110 and 118-110 in Benn’s favour to extend his record to 23-0.
After the fight, Benn said he would fight anyone promoter Eddie Hearn puts in front of him.
Leading in to the fight, Benn said he had fallen out of love with boxing after the failed drugs tests but was willing to “spend every last penny” to prove his innocence in the appeal.
His career was thrown into turmoil in October 2022 after he twice tested positive for the banned drug clomifene in the lead-up to a bout against Chris Eubank Jr that was called off in fight week.
His provisional suspension was lifted by the independent National Anti-Doping Panel, although the British Boxing Board of Control and UK Anti-Doping have lodged an appeal against that decision.
Hearn said on Friday that Benn must be allowed to fight again in Britain to fill the void left by Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury.
American Wyndham Clark shot a course record 60 to take the lead heading into the final round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am.
The US Open champion made five putts of at least 25 feet in his 12-under-par round with two eagles, nine birdies and one bogey, eclipsing the previous record of 62.
Clark, who had a lengthy eagle putt at the last to break 60, said he had a “really good feel on the greens”.
He said: “I was just, ‘See ball, hit ball, try to hit it where I wanted to’.
“So in my mind I was like, ‘All right, let’s just get us to where we’re putting,’ because the hole seemed like a bucket today.”
Clark’s round does count as a course record on the PGA Tour, despite the players being able to clean and place balls on the fairways.
Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg continued his strong tournament with a five-under-par 67 to sit one shot off the lead with France’s Matthieu Pavon a further shot behind as he chases a second successive victory on tour.
Justin Rose shot a 66 to move to 11-under par – six off the lead – but Rory McIlroy is a further none strokes adrift after a 69.
The final day’s play could be determined by weather with strong winds and rain threatening to delay or cut short play.
With another display of his tremendous riding prowess, Jamaican-born United States-based jockey Shaun Bridgmohan registered his first ever win on Jamaican soil, with a come-from-behind effort aboard Phillip Feanny’s Fearless Soul, in Division One of the George HoSang Trophy at Caymanas Park on Saturday.
Bridgmohan’s 4-1/2 lengths triumph with the four-year-old chestnut colt, in the Restricted Allowance IV contest for native-bred four-year-olds and upward (non-winners of three) and imported four-year-olds and upward (non-winners of two), over five and a half furlongs (1,100m), marked another milestone in a decorated career –his 3,400th career win –and where better to have secured it that in the land of his birth.
The 44-year-old jockey, a Spanish Town native, who migrated to the United States at age of 13, dedicated the win to his father Gerald, who was unable to make the trip.
“It is nice to come down here and win a race. I want to thank my trainer Mr. Feanny for giving me the opportunity to ride a nice little horse today. Obviously, I couldn’t mess it up because he had him in great shape, so all I had to do was just keep him out of trouble,” Bridgmohan told SportsMax in a post-race interview.
“I watched him (Fearless Soul) race the last time he won, and he seemed like he was a much better horse on the outside, so my strategy going in was just to keep him wide and give him a clear path. When I pushed the trigger, he accelerated so fast and I thought I asked him a little too soon, but I just followed through. Dad this one is for you, and I love you,” he added.
Breaking from the number two draw, Bridgmohan and Fearless Soul, the 4-5 favourite, were slow from the gate and their trouble was compounded as they were crowded for space in the early exchanges.
With Strike Smart (Phillip Parchment) and Loyal Action (Tevin Foster) setting some decent early fractions of 23.2 and 47.2 seconds, it wasn’t until they left the half-mile (800m) point, that Bridgmohan and Fearless Soul found some racing room, and launched their attack from there.
After Strike Smart turned for home first, Bridgmohan and Fearless Soul entered the stretch run three wide with Royal Ash (Raddesh Roman) for company. However, with just a few more shake of the hands, followed by a flash of the whip by Bridgmohan, Fearless Soul easily rounded rivals and sprinted away in the final furlong to win in a final time of 1:07.2.
Strike Smart, Royal Ash and She’s Myhedgefund (Trevor Simpson), completed the frame behind the Balkrishen Sagan-Maraj-owned charge.
Meanwhile, Tevin Foster, who starred on the day with a dazzling four-timer, won Division Two of the George HoSang Trophy aboard Paul Swaby’s Kem in a time of 1:08.2.
His other winners on the nine-race programme were Howard Jaghai;s Speed On Wheels in the Eight Thirty Sprint; She’s A Godgift for trainer Leroy Tomlinson, and the Rohan Crichton-conditioned Bern Notice.
Andy Farrell insists he had no concerns about Ireland suffering a World Cup hangover during Friday’s thumping Guinness Six Nations win over France.
Both sides went into a blockbuster championship opener in Marseille on the back of having their dreams of lifting the Webb Ellis Cup shattered by narrow quarter-finals exits.
Reigning Grand Slam champions Ireland emphatically responded with a 38-17 bonus-point success at Stade Velodrome to begin their title defence with a bang and help ease memories of a painful last-eight loss to New Zealand in October.
“There are no hangovers with us,” said head coach Farrell.
“There’s a realisation of where we’re at and where we need to go to next and what we need to learn and that’s it.
“Hangovers are for tomorrow; we’re three months down the line – that’s a big hangover, if you can’t get over it in that time.
“We talk about our past performances all the time, sometimes we go back three years to say we learnt this or whatever.
“Of course we’ll learn big things from the All Blacks defeat but it’s not a hangover, it’s just the next step in how we progress going forward as a team and that’s how it should be in my opinion.”
Tries from Jamison Gibson-Park, Tadhg Beirne, Calvin Nash, Dan Sheehan and Ronan Kelleher stunned France to silence the majority of a capacity crowd at Stade Velodrome.
Les Bleus had little answer to their dominant visitors and played around 60 minutes of the match with 14 men after Paul Willemse was sin-binned and then sent off following high tackles on Andrew Porter and Caelan Doris.
Despite Ireland registering their biggest victory away to France, new captain Peter O’Mahony, who succeeded Johnny Sexton following the World Cup, believes there is significant room for improvement moving towards a round-two clash with Italy.
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“We’ve been on a journey for a long time and we’ve had lots of great experiences and banked them and we’ve had some tough ones and banked them as well,” said O’Mahony.
“It’s always about getting better and it was another step for the group.
“We spoke about it being a huge occasion for us but, at the same time, it’s just another game for us and how calm and composed we could really be in an environment like that out there.
“It was a great test for the group. We’ve plenty to work on but there were parts of the game that felt like a good performance.”
Ronwen Williams made four saves as South Africa beat Cape Verde 2-1 on penalties to reach the Africa Cup of Nations semi-finals on Saturday.
The Bafana Bafana goalkeeper also made a stunning stop at the end of normal time as the last-eight clash in Yamoussoukro ended goalless.
It was his fourth successive clean sheet in the tournament.
Cape Verde created the most chances throughout the game but were unable to make the most of their opportunities and South Africa, the 1996 champions, will now play Nigeria for a place in the final.
The first half was a cagey affair with neither goalkeeper seriously tested.
Kevin Pina had an opportunity for Cape Verde but headed well wide at the back post before South Africa’s Teboho Mokoena lashed a long-range shot straight at Vozinha.
A chance opened up for Themba Zwane after South Africa snatched possession and broke forward but he scuffed his shot wide.
Pina again missed the target at the other end after skipping around two challenges and Ryan Mendes also had an effort blocked after weaving through the area.
Cape Verde had the first chance of the second half when Joao Paulo volleyed wide but South Africa had an opportunity when Khuliso Mudau shot at Vozinha.
Garry Rodrigues could have given Cape Verde the lead when he got behind the defence just before the hour but he failed to get any power on his attempt to curl a shot around Williams.
Cape Verde stepped up the pressure and Rodrigues had an effort deflected for a corner and a Rocha shot was blocked before Jovane Cobral fired over.
Gilson Benchimol almost won it for Cape Verde in the second minute of stoppage time after racing onto a Logan Costa ball but Williams did brilliantly to palm his powerful effort onto the bar.
Extra time began with South Africa in the ascendancy but Vozinha came to Cape Verde’s rescue with two superb saves in quick succession from substitute Mihlali Mayambela and Mokoena.
Benchimol spurned another chance but neither side looked threatening in the second additional period and penalties became inevitable.
South Africa seized the early initiative in the shoot-out as Williams saved the first two spot-kicks from former Manchester United forward Bebe and Willy Semedo.
Zakhele Lepasa’s failure to hit the target gave Cape Verde hope but Williams then kept out Laros Duarte’s effort.
Vozinha saved from Aubrey Modiba in response and Bryan Teixeira finally registered for Cape Verde but Mothobi Mvala put South Africa on the brink and Williams completed the job by saving from Patrick Andrade.
Things remain evenly poised between Jamaica and Barbados at 1-1 in their World Group II Davis Cup playoff tie, as Darian King bettered Jamaican counterpart Rowland Phillips in an entertaining second rubber at the Eric Bell Tennis Centre in Kingston on Saturday.
After Jamaica’s Blaise Bicknell recovered from a second set slump to beat Kaipo Marshall 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 in the first contest, King outlasted Phillips 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 in a tough encounter that took two hours and 54 minutes to decide a winner.
The contest, as expected, was characterized by long grinding rallies given the style of play of both King and Phillips.
In the end, it was the 31-year-old Barbadian ranked at 547 in the world that took top honours over his 30-year-old opponent, who played with a heavily bandaged right knee.
Action concludes on Sunday with the doubles rubber and reverse singles.
Former Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson made his Ajax debut as the Amsterdam outfit held Eredivisie leaders PSV Eindhoven to a 1-1 draw on Saturday.
The England international, who moved to the Netherlands last month after cutting short his controversial stint in Saudi Arabia, played the full 90 minutes for John van ‘t Schip’s side.
Ajax, who trail the runaway leaders by 21 points, struck first through Steven Berghuis but were pegged back by a Luuk de Jong equaliser.
Girona missed the chance to reclaim top spot in LaLiga as they were held to a goalless draw by Real Sociedad.
Victory over sixth-placed Sociedad would have taken the Catalan surprise package back above Real Madrid at the summit but they were unable to break down their visitors in a stalemate at the Estadi Montilivi.
The result gives Madrid the chance to move four points clear when they take on city rivals Atletico at the Bernabeu on Sunday.
Third-placed Barcelona gained ground as they won 3-1 at Alaves despite the sending off of Vitor Roque.
Goals from Robert Lewandowski and Ilkay Gundogan put Barca in control. Samu Omorodion pulled one back but Roque settled the contest just after the hour before he was later dismissed for two bookable offences.
Bottom side Almeria remain 11 points adrift of safety after losing 2-1 at Valencia but fellow strugglers Granada claimed a point with a 1-1 draw against Las Palmas.
Bayer Leverkusen maintained top spot in the Bundesliga with a 2-0 win at bottom side Darmstadt but Bayern Munich, with Harry Kane again on the scoresheet, came from behind to keep up the pressure.
Nigeria international Nathan Tella scored in each half for Xabi Alonso’s unbeaten leaders Leverkusen but Bayern stayed within two points as they recovered from a slow start to beat Borussia Monchengladbach 3-1.
Nico Elvedi put Monchengladbach ahead at the Allianz Arena but Aleksandar Pavlovic levelled and Kane headed Bayern in front with his 24th league goal of the season before Matthijs de Ligt wrapped up the points.
Third-placed Stuttgart scored twice in the first seven minutes, through Deniz Undav and Chris Fuhrich, on their way to a 3-1 win at 10-man Freiburg. Maximilian Mittelstadt claimed their third after the sending off of Merlin Rohl.
AC Milan scored twice in the final 18 minutes to cut the gap to second-placed Juventus in Serie A to four points with a 3-2 win at Frosinone.
Luca Mazzitelli had given the home side a 2-1 lead after the hour but Matteo Gabbia levelled and Luka Jovic won it for Milan nine minutes from time.
Olivier Giroud opened the scoring for Milan in the first half but Matias Soule replied from the penalty spot.
Struggling Empoli claimed a point with a 0-0 draw at home to Genoa while the clash between Udinese and Monza also ended in a goalless stalemate. Bologna beat Sassuolo 4-2 in the day’s late game.
In Ligue 1, Rennes won 2-1 at Montpellier and Lens claimed a 1-0 win at Nantes.
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta revealed he has taken “a lot of things” from Jurgen Klopp’s reign at Liverpool but admits the next step has to be emulating his trophy success.
Klopp and Arteta will come head to head at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday with the table-topping visitors able to move eight points clear of their hosts with a win.
The German has already announced he will leave Liverpool at the end of the season having taken over in 2015.
During that time he has guided the Reds to a Premier League title, Champions League glory and both the FA Cup and League Cup.
Arsenal sat top of the table for 248 days last season before being usurped by Manchester City but realistically they need to beat Liverpool on Sunday to maintain a chance of pipping both clubs to the trophy this season.
As he prepares for what could be their final meeting in the dugout, Arteta – who has form for rowing with Klopp on the touchline – explained what he has taken from his success in England.
“A lot of things. Especially the identity that his team has, the identity that the club has,” he said.
“It is very clear. He is someone who is so determined to make sure that stamp is put in across the club.
“The team has very clear intentions and behaviours, regardless of where (each player) plays. I love that about what he has done at Liverpool.”
Arteta also believes the next step for the team he is building at Arsenal is to win major trophies on a regular basis – like Klopp’s Liverpool – having already achieved his first aims in north London.
“The first intention was to make our people proud. Proud of the club, proud of the team and how we represent our club – and to be with our ambitions, and enjoy,” added the Spaniard.
“I think we have given them these two things in the last few years, probably more than was expected.
“But the demands are bigger – and have to be bigger. Now that has to be to win big trophies – and win major trophies consistently and be at the very top.
“In order to do that, everyone has to have the same intention. It just doesn’t happen if you don’t demand of each other in this way.
“That’s the next step. Liverpool have done it, we haven’t.”
Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes has pledged to keep the memory of the Busby Babes alive.
Sunday’s visit of West Ham is the closest fixture to the 66th anniversary of the Munich air disaster on February 6, which claimed 23 lives, including eight players.
It is also the first time without Sir Bobby Charlton, who was injured in the crash, following his death last year.
Fernandes said: “We know the demands of playing for Manchester United. It’s a legacy which is in the club.
“It’s a responsibility for everyone: managers, players, everyone involved in the staff to play in a certain way. But also to pay the most respect possible to those who have been at the club in the past.
“We want to pay our respects to those involved. They built the story of the club and, after that, even more. When bad things happen in your life you get tighter to those close to you.
“It’s going to be 66 years since the disaster and everyone is aware what was built after that and the whole situation around the club before and after.
“We’ve been educated since we arrived at the club to be aware of what happened. I’ve been to the museum with family and friends so we can know more about the history of the club.
“When you go you see everything, I have family and friends who are passionate about the club and when they come here they like to come to the museum. Most people in Portugal are aware of how it was at that time with the Busby Babes.
“Everyone is aware when they come to the club – because every year we pay our respects to those lost in the disaster – what happened. It’s a big part of the story of Manchester United.”
Erik ten Hag and women’s boss Marc Skinner will lead tributes at their fixtures, laying commemorative wreaths. Players will also wear black armbands, while families of the victims will be at Old Trafford on Sunday.
Ten Hag said: “Munich was a disaster for the club and how the club recovered from it, how individuals recovered from it. It was great from such a disaster to survive it and a couple of years later you’re lifting the biggest trophy in European football, that is immense.
“We should always remember this, this is the legacy why Manchester United exist and what we should match as a club, as a team, as an individual.”
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