The big news: Liverpool go down in first leg

Southampton beat Liverpool 1-0 at Southampton to secure a slender lead in their first-leg semi-final of the League Cup on Thursday. A wonder strike by Saints’ Nathan Redmond gave his side an advantage heading into the second leg at Anfield.

Southampton were clearly the better team with defender Virgil van Dijk playing a major role in the win. He displayed a classy, strong and composed performance to dent Jurgen Klopp’s hope of landing a silverware this season. Liverpool face Manchester United this weekend and Klopp will not be a happy man given the performance the team displayed against Southampton. Liverpool goalkeeper Loris Karius was one of the bright spots in the game along with Philippe Coutinho also coming off the bench after a two-month injury layoff.

Football:

  • Barcelona beat Athletic Bilbao 3-1 to progress to the semi-finals of the Copa Del Rey on Thursday. Goals from Luis Suarez, Lionel Messi and Neymar ensured that Barcelona progressed on a 4-3 aggregate.
  • Manchester United have triggered a clause in Marouane Fellaini’s contract that will keep him at Old Trafford until 2018, reported BBC. Fellaini signed a four-year deal with the option of a further year when he joined from Everton for £27.5 million in 2013. 
  • Everton have almost made their singing of the January transfer window after agreeing to pay £10.5 million for Standard Liege’s Algeria forward Ishak Belfodil. 
  • Chelsea Football Club have been given permission by the local council to build a new £500 million 60,000-seat stadium. The council’s planning committee have backed plans to demolish the current 41,600-capacity Stamford Bridge stadium. However, the final approval must come from London mayor Sadiq Khan. 

Cricket:

  • Chris Lynn and Billy Stanlake will make their One-Day International debuts for Australia against Pakistan in the first ODI on Friday. Usman Khawaja and Adam Zampa have been left out of the squad, with all-rounder Glenn Maxwell also making a return after missing Australia’s past 13 ODIs.
  • Gujarat reached 291/6 against Mumbai at the end of day two of the Ranji Trophy final in Indore with a slender lead of 63. Mumbai’s bowlers were frustrated by captain Parthiv Patel (90) and Manprit Juneja’s (77) timely knocks.
  • Yuvraj Singh’s father, former cricketer Yograj Singh, once again lashed out at Dhoni, stating that his son made a comeback in the Indian team because of the latter stepping down as captain.
  • Dhoni continued to earn rich praise from his teammates with swashbuckling batsman Rohit Sharma observing that the former captain’s call to switch Sharma’s batting position from the middle-order to an opener was a career-changing one.       
  • After being appointed as the Indian skipper in all three formats of the game, Virat Kohli called the experience “surreal” and said that he never thought that he could be captain.      

Boxing:

  • Boxing world champion Floyd Mayweather has offered the Ultimate Fighting Championship champion Conor McGregor £15 million to face him in the ring, reported BBC. Mayweather retired unbeaten in 2015 but told ESPN a bout with Irishman McGregor was the only thing that could tempt him back.      

Formula One:

  • Renault’s Frederic Vasseur has left his position as boss of its Formula 1 team after a single season. A Renault statement said the decision to part ways was “agreed by mutual consent” and was effective immediately.