Liverpool boss Arne Slot does not believe Mohamed Salah has been distracted by his lack of a contract offer, after the Egyptian declared he was likely to leave the club.
After scoring twice to fire Liverpool to a 3-2 Premier League victory over Southampton on Sunday, Salah made headlines with comments about his future in the mixed zone.
Salah, who is out of contract at the end of the season, said he was "more out than in" due to Liverpool's failure to offer him new terms.
Salah's comments come at a key time for Liverpool, who face Real Madrid in the Champions League on Wednesday before taking on Manchester City in the league on Sunday – a win in that latter match would take them 11 points clear of Pep Guardiola's stuttering champions.
Speaking at Tuesday's pre-match press conference, however, Slot insisted Salah maintains the same laser focus as always.
"The only thing I can say is, when I look at my lineups, Mo is more in than out. That quote I can give you," Slot said.
"He is not distracted at all. I haven't seen it after the Manchester United game when he made comments. I didn't see anything today, he is fully focused on the game tomorrow.
"If you had been at the training ground today, no one spoke about it at least when I was there. Players are also focused on the short term. That is Real Madrid and City.
"I don't think there is any distraction for him, the players and definitely not for me."
Salah has scored 12 goals and provided 10 assists in 18 games across all competitions this season. Both of those are team-high figures, while he also leads all his Liverpool team-mates for chances created (32), shots (55) and shots on target (32).
Former Reds defender Jamie Carragher responded to Salah's comments on his contract by describing the winger as "selfish" on Sky Sports' Monday Night Football, but Slot preferred to focus on Salah's ability rather than be drawn into that debate.
"I focus a bit more on what else Jamie said," said Slot when asked about Carragher's comments.
"He said Mo is one of the five best players we ever had at this club. I agree with him. I don't think it distracts Mo. My main focus is the next game. We have another big game coming up after that.
"I talked to Mo about what I expect from him, like I do with all the other players. I am not distracted at all by his comments and I do not feel his team-mates are as well."
Mascherano reunited with Messi following Miami appointment
Lionel Messi has been reunited with his former Barcelona and Argentina team-mate Javier Mascherano, who has been appointed as Inter Miami's new head coach.
Miami were searching for a new boss after they parted company with Gerardo Martino in the wake of a surprise MLS Cup playoff exit versus Atlanta United.
Martino cited "personal reasons" after leaving the David Beckham-owned team, who he led to Leagues Cup glory shortly after his arrival last year.
The Herons set a new single-season MLS points record of 74 as they clinched the 2024 Supporters' Shield, but they were beaten 2-1 by Atlanta in their best-of-three round one playoff tie.
They have now turned to former midfielder Mascherano, who played alongside Messi for eight years for Barcelona and over a decade with his national team.
"To be able to lead a club like Inter Miami is an honour for me, and a privilege I will strive to make the most of," Mascherano said after penning a contract to run through 2027.
"I was drawn to the organization's undeniable ambition and the infrastructure it has to support it.
"I'm looking forward to working with the people at Inter Miami to help the club reach new heights, and to give the fans more unforgettable moments."
Mascherano has spent the last three years in charge of Argentina's Under-20 side, leading them to the quarter-finals of this year's Olympic football tournament in Paris, only to lose to hosts and eventual silver medallists France.
Miami co-owner Jorge Mas revealed Messi had been consulted on Mascherano's appointment, telling the club's media channels: "I spoke to Leo on Saturday after he and Tata spoke.
"I asked him, 'what is important to you and what is important to get the best of our roster?'
"How do we improve? Leo shared his thoughts with me. Experience in MLS would be good, but I don't think it's the principal criteria. I think it's more about how you manage a roster with unlimited potential."
Emery counting on Conference League experience as schedule bites at Villa
Aston Villa may be winless in six games ahead of their Champions League meeting with Juventus, but Unai Emery refuses to blame their drop-off on a congested fixture list.
Villa's winless streak has seen them crash out of the EFL Cup and drop to eighth in the Premier League table, with only a late Ross Barkley header salvaging a 2-2 draw against Crystal Palace on Saturday.
Emery's men also saw their perfect Champions League start halted by a shock 1-0 defeat to Club Brugge on matchday four, leaving them eighth in the 36-team table.
Villa have nine more matches to play before the turn of the year, with the first of those at home to a Juve side sat one point behind them in the standings.
Emery, however, says they cannot blame a fixture pile-up for their loss of form, particularly after they juggled domestic and Europa Conference League commitments last season.
"Last year we had experience with the Conference League, we juggled a lot. We want to play a lot of matches and hopefully, we will play until the last month of the season," Emery said.
"The Champions League is the best competition in the world. We are managing each match and more or less being consistent in the preparation and being consistent in the idea of building a team.
"Tomorrow is a very important three points but even if we don't win, taking one point is good because in the table we are in the top eight positions.
"We want to be in the next round and tomorrow if we win, maybe we can be a contender to get it."
Villa have beaten Bayern Munich and Bologna in their first two Champions League home games, and they could now become just the third English club to win their first three at home in the competition, after Tottenham in 2010 and Leicester City in 2016.
They kept clean sheets in both of those matches, with AC Milan in 1992-93 the only team to ever win their first three home games in the Champions League without conceding.
Juve have also been tough to break down under Thiago Motta, though, boasting Serie A's best defensive record, and Emery knows Villa will have to make the most of their chances.
"He was very competitive as a player, he was very intelligent, he was a top player. Physically he was strong, mentally he was strong and now as a coach he has started being successful," Emery, who coached Motta when he was a midfielder at Paris Saint-Germain, added.
"I appreciate him as a person, I appreciated him as a player and now I appreciate him as a manager.
"They are very strong defensively, not only with the ball but without the ball... They are building a team, trying to keep consistency and dominating matches with the ball but defensively trying to be strong positionally."
Villa are also dealing with injury concerns but Emery said Ezri Konsa and Boubacar Kamara will be available as Amadou Onana and Jacob Ramsey miss out.
Onana sat out the weekend's draw with Palace due to injury, while Ramsey is still nursing a knock sustained in a 2-0 defeat by Liverpool before the international break.
PSV's Bosz expecting stern Shakhtar test amid De Jong, Lang concerns
PSV coach Peter Bosz expects a difficult test as his team host Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League on Wednesday, when they could be without Luuk de Jong and Noah Lang.
Captain De Jong and Netherlands international Lang both missed Saturday's 5-0 Eredivisie win over Groningen, though former Barcelona striker De Jong returned to training on Monday.
Both players are considered doubtful for their upcoming clash with Ukrainian champions Shakhtar, as PSV bid to improve on their record of five points from four league-phase games.
They sit one point above Shakhtar, who are just outside the play-off places in 28th. While the Opta supercomputer gives PSV an 80% chance of sealing a top-24 finish, Shakhtar's hopes are rated at a mere 11%.
"We have to win at home, but that doesn't just happen. You don't just grab the points," Bosz said.
"They have very good footballers in the team and, for example, lost very unluckily and narrowly at Arsenal.
"It is a team that wants to play football and wants to build up, with a goalkeeper (Dmytro Riznyk) who plays along. They want to play with short combinations from the back.
"They dared to do that in London, with a rather daring build-up. With that they also pushed Arsenal back at times, which was impressive. They have players with individual qualities up front. We will have to work hard."
After hosting Shakhtar, PSV go to surprise package Brest on matchday six and round out their group-phase campaign against Red Star Belgrade and Liverpool in the new year.
A run of winnable fixtures before they face Arne Slot's Reds has amplified talk of PSV reaching the playoffs, but Bosz was uninterested in making any predictions.
"I'm not really calculating, I try to keep it as simple as possible," he said. "If you look at the points, you see how close it is and therefore how important tomorrow's match is.
"We do not yet know how many points we will need. We will see that afterwards."
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