Lennon offered full-time Celtic job after treble-treble

It was the darkest of nights for Barcelona in Lisbon s Stadium of Light.

How wonderfully merciless Bayern Munich were, as indulgent in their fondness for goals and insatiable in their will to humiliate the opposition as that great Germany side that humbled Brazil 7-1 at the 2014 World Cup.

But for Barcelona, the shame, the recklessness of it, the lack of spine. These footballing invertebrates will return to Catalonia not to fanfare but in disgrace.

They were possibly due a comeuppance, and here it was writ large.

A humiliation for history said the Spanish newspaper Marca on its website at full-time. The Barcelona-based Mundo Deportivo said it was an historic debacle .

That scoreline. 8-2. Eight-two. Barcelona shipped eight goals. Everywhere you …

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Only days removed from their Premier League meeting at Anfield earlier in the week, Liverpool and Arsenal will turn their attention to EFL Cup duties on Thursday night.

Liverpool

Starting with the hosts, capitalising on Manchester City’s early slip-up and with Jurgen Klopp praising his side’s display on Monday night, Liverpool have certainly laid down an early marker since opening the 2020/2021 campaign. Coming from behind and landing what was a thoroughly deserved 3-1 win over the Gunners at Anfield earlier in the week, the defending champions have opened the New Year with a 100% start and are one of just three teams who can boast such a record heading into October. While the former Borussia Dortmund boss might have a mild headach…

The pressure on Ronald Koeman intensified after his 10-man Barcelona side were held to a dire 0-0 draw by Cadiz at Estadio Nuevo Mirandilla on Thursday.

Speculation about the Dutchman s future has been rife following a slow start to the LaLiga campaign that had seen Barca drop points to Athletic Bilbao and Granada in their opening four games, while also losing 3-0 to Bayern Munich in the Champions League.

Things did not get much better for the Catalan giants in Andalusia as Cadiz comfortably kept them at bay, with their misery compounded midway through the second half when Frenkie de Jong saw red for two bookable offences.

Koeman was also dismissed in the closing seconds for his protests during a frantic finish.

A point did at least move Barcelona up …

Liverpool were denied victory by VAR as Andrew Robertson was penalised late on to allow Brighton and Hove Albion to rescue a 1-1 Premier League draw at the AMEX Stadium.

Diogo Jota s ninth Liverpool goal looked set to prove enough for the Reds to move three points clear of Tottenham at the top of the table, but the Reds  work was undone in stoppage time.

Robertson swung out a foot and clipped Danny Welbeck and, though referee Stuart Attwell spotted no infringement, he changed his decision once he checked the pitch-side monitor.

Unlike Neal Maupay, who drilled wide from 12 yards to let Liverpool off the hook in the first half, Pascal Gross made no mistake.

It was a third VAR call of the game that went against Liverpool, with Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane…

Although Atletico Madrid might not have been able to end the weekend at the top of the La Liga table, Diego Simeone s men certainly laid down a real marker in the capital.

Picking up a 1-0 win against , some across Spain have billed them as an early-season contender and few would argue that Los Colchoneros don t have a golden opportunity ahead of them.

Priced at 2/1 with to clinch their first domestic crown since 2014, how have Atletico played themselves into a real title hunt?

Finding a clinical edge

While Atletico Madrid might have built their reputation under for their rugged displays at the back, they have gained a string of plaudits this season for what has been a new-found clinical edge in the final third.

Shocking many and managing to bring the…

Inter secured Champions League qualification in their penultimate game of the Serie A season, dealing a fatal blow to Atalanta s own top-four hopes with a 3-2 win at San Siro.

The Nerazzurri – finalists in Europe s premier club competition this term – stormed into a two-goal lead within just two minutes and 49 seconds after Romelu Lukaku and Nicolo Barella were on target.

Atalanta needed a result to keep their slim hopes of a top-four finish alive, and they were handed a lifeline by Mario Pasalic before the interval on Saturday.

Yet Inter added a deserved third through Lautaro Martinez after the break, making Andre Onana s late own goal a mere Atalanta consolation, as the Nerazzurri moved eight points clear of their fifth-placed visitors.

Lu-La photo…

Napoli s relentless charge to the Scudetto continued with a straightforward 2-0 win at Sassuolo on Friday, their key men at the fore yet again.

Victory at Mapei Stadium made it seven Serie A wins in a row since a 1-0 defeat to Inter in their first game back after the World Cup, extending the Partenopei s lead at the summit to 18 points.

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia put Napoli in front early on with a wonderful solo effort, before their other talisman, Victor Osimhen, made it 2-0 just after the half-hour mark to become the club s first player to net in seven successive top-flight games in the three-points-for-a-win era.

Sassuolo somewhat contentiously had a goal chalked off late in the first half, but thereafter Napoli s game management was exceptional, with the only sha…

Chelsea have announced that club legend John Terry is to return to Stamford Bridge to take up a coaching consultancy role at the Academy.

Terry has been out of work since leaving his role as assistant head coach of Aston Villa under then boss Dean Smith in July.

The 41-year-old played for the Blues for almost 19 years before leaving for Villa Park in 2017 and will now begin a part-time role at Chelsea s Cobham training ground, which according to an announcement on the club s official website will include delivering on-field coaching, contributing to coaching discussions with colleagues, mentoring Academy players and supporting parent dialogue.

Terry will begin his new position at the start of January, and head of youth development at Chelsea, Neil Bath, said of…

According to Italian outlet , a swap deal between Chelsea and Juventus, involving strikers Dusan Vlahovic and Romelu Lukaku, could take place in 2024.

Chelsea have been struggling to score goals this season. Obviously lacking satisfactory input from summer signing Nicolas Jackson, their lack of another option in the centre-forward position has become notoriously clear. Lukaku is still on their books, but he simply hasn t been able to play at his best at Stamford Bridge and is currently on loan at AS Roma, with the Serie A clearly better suited for his qualities. This term, he has scored 13 goals in 20 matches across all competitions.

On the other hand, Vlahovic is Juventus top goalscorer this season, with six goals in 15 appearances in the Italian top flight. At the age…

Drey Wright and Chris Kane were both on target as St Johnstone signed off on their cinch Premiership season with a 2-0 win over Livingston to end the visitors’ hopes of a seventh-placed finish.

Saints, who confirmed on Saturday that Steven MacLean will continue as manager on a permanent basis after a successful interim spell, had little to play for with safety guaranteed, but put in a stellar performance on the day Steve Brown emotionally stepped down as chairman after 11 years at the helm.

Wright opened the scoring after 17 minutes when he capitalised on some slack Livingston defending to score, before fit-again forward Kane climbed off the St Johnstone bench to net his first goal since December 26, 2021 from the penalty spot.

Boss MacLean made just one change…