Sports
Liverpool strike late to win emotional PL opener
Liverpool launched the Premier League with a dramatic 4-2 win over Bournemouth at Anfield on Friday in an emotionally charged match featuring tributes to Diogo Jota and Bournemouth’s Antoine Semenyo reporting racial abuse.
The winger responded brilliantly with both of the Cherries’ goals as they came from down two as Andoni Iraola’s side exposed the same defensive weaknesses Crystal Palace did in Sunday’s Community Shield victory.
– Prem opener paused over report of racist abuse
– Liverpool pay emotional tribute to Jota at opener
– Liverpool summon inner strength for dramatic win
But forgotten man Federico Chiesa, Liverpool’s solitary signee last summer who has barely been featured and has been linked with a move elsewhere, volleyed home his first league goal in the 88th minute before Mohamed Salah scored for the eighth time in nine opening-day fixtures.
Summer signee Hugo Ekitike and Cody Gakpo had earlier put the Reds up 2-0.
In between those goals, the game was briefly paused after Semenyo reported to referee Anthony Taylor in the 28th minute that he was targeted with racist language by a member of the crowd.
Semenyo, who is Black, needed to be consoled by teammates after the incident but played on and scored in the 64th and 76th minutes to draw Bournemouth level.
“I don’t know how Ant’s played on, to be honest, and come up with those goals,” said Bournemouth captain Adam Smith, who added that Semenyo was “a little bit down.”
Liverpool manager Arne Slot said the incident “takes the shine off” his team’s victory.
It was the first competitive match at Anfield since Jota — a popular player for Liverpool — and his brother, André Silva, were killed in a car crash in Spain on July 3.
Ahead of kickoff, fans held up placards to spell out “DJ20” and “AS30” in two of the stands during a period of silence in honor of the Portuguese players.
Players from the Liverpool team stood arm in arm around the center circle, and staff and players from both clubs wore black armbands.
“The main emotion should be how impressive and powerful the tribute for Diogo was,” Slot told a news conference. “The banner the Kop showed, the way they sang ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone,’ the way they sung for Diogo throughout the game.
“It was all so impressive and so powerful.”
Liverpool had announced the £23 million ($31m) signing of 18-year-old Parma center back Giovanni Leoni before kickoff, but it would be no surprise for this result to hasten the pursuit of Crystal Palace’s Marc Guéhi with Ibrahima Konaté, in particular, looking shaky.
It had begun so well with another Premier Leaguer debutant, Ekitike, starting to pay back his £69 million ($94m) transfer fee with a first-half goal, having also scored last weekend.
Ekitike thought he had been denied by the season’s first VAR controversy after just 14 minutes when Marcos Senesi appeared to flick the ball away on the halfway line, but VAR ruled it was not a clear handball or the denial of a goal-scoring opportunity.
The France under-21 international then benefited from a more fortuitous touch off the defender, latching onto a mistake after his own miscontrol of Alexis Mac Allister’s pass to run through and comfortably send Djordje Petrovic the wrong way.
He then headed over before halftime, but his assimilation into the role vacated by Jota and Darwin Núñez, transferred to Al Hilal, was evident as Ekitike laid on the return pass for Gakpo to glide past a couple of defenders and stroke past Petrovic.
But when Slot replaced fullbacks Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez, two of the four new signees making their debuts, Bournemouth clinically exploited the unfamiliarity of midfielder Wataru Endo playing at right back.
David Brooks raced down the left, and Konaté could not prevent him sending over a teasing, low cross that Semenyo cleverly finished.
Slot made immediate changes, bringing on defender Joe Gomez despite just two days’ training after three weeks out with injury, to allow Endo to move into midfield and club-record signee Florian Wirtz to move to a false nine for Ekitike.
But when Salah, of all people, gave away possession on the edge of the opposition penalty area, a fast 4-on-2 counterattack saw Semenyo fire home, only for Chiesa, already a cult hero despite his lack of action, to be the savior.
Salah completed the scoring in added time and was last to leave the pitch, with tears in his eyes, having stood applauding the Kop singing Jota’s song.
Salah also repeated Jota’s two-armed celebration after his goal, and Ekitike and Gakpo also dedicated their goals to Jota.
“Normally at 2-2, everyone knows which player I look to at that moment in time. I would have loved to bring in Diogo Jota, but I could not, for terrible reasons,” Slot said.
“But tonight, the fans and the players did what he did for us many times in the past.”
Information from ESPN’s Beth Lindop, PA and The Associated Press was used in this report.
Star LAFC recruit Son Heung-Min is settling into life in Los Angeles brilliantly.
After netting his debut goal for the club last Saturday — a stunning 30-yard free kick against FC Dallas no less — the South Korea captain capped a fine week by throwing the ceremonial first pitch at Dodger Stadium on Wednesday.
Ahead of the Dodgers hosting Cincinnati Reds, the former Premier League star stepped up to the plate and launched a finely arced right-handed strike, much to the delight of the fans at the stadium.
Son’s pitch comes just days after BTS star V also threw the ceremonial first pitch in LA. We’ll leave it up to you to decide which Korean superstars’ throw was best.
Sports
Travis Kelce calls for Shedeur Sanders to start for Browns amid controversy: ‘Give the people what they want’
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Travis Kelce has spoken out about the ongoing controversy over Shedeur Sanders‘ role with the Cleveland Browns.
During his “New Heights” podcast this week, the Kansas City Chiefs star said he believes the Browns should start Sanders, who is third on the team’s depth chart behind veteran Joe Flacco and fellow rookie Dillon Gabriel.Â
Travis Kelce spoke about Shedeur Sanders’ role with the Browns on the latest episode of the “New Heights” podcast, which aired before the official start of the NFL season. (Imagn)
“Give the people what they want, in terms of the Browns fans. Start Shedeur. … Put him in coach,” Kelce said. “Give the people what they want. The world wants to see him go out there, and not only play, but have success. At this point, guys are rooting for him. This isn’t anything against Dillon. This isn’t anything against Joe. I’m just saying the excitement is there for [Sanders] to go out there. He’s going to put eyes on the screen. He’s going to bring people to the game.Â
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“I would love to f—ing see it, man.”Â
On the contrary, Kelce’s brother and co-host, Jason Kelce, defended the team naming Joe Flacco as the starter.Â
“[Browns head coach Kevin] Stefanski and the Browns are trying to do the thing that they feel gives them the best chance to win football games,” Jason said. “If the Browns and Kevin Stefanski felt their best option and the most confident option they had to win games was Shedeur Sanders, they would be playing him.”Â
Still, Jason conceded that he “wants” to see Sanders play.Â
“What do I want? I want to see Shedeur Sanders,” Jason said.Â
Jason also rejected the “conspiracies” surrounding the situation as to why Sanders is as low on the depth chart as he is.Â
Criticism and conspiracy theories directed at the Browns reemerged after the team’s preseason finale on Saturday.Â
Sanders entered the game in the third quarter and completed three of six passes for 14 yards, while taking five sacks for a combined loss of 41 yards against the Los Angeles Rams. He netted minus-27 yards for Cleveland before being pulled from the game on the final drive and replaced by veteran Tyler Huntley.Â
Huntley led the Browns’ offense on a game-winning field goal drive, and the Browns won 19-17.
It was a far cry from Sanders’ first preseason game against the Carolina Panthers Aug. 8, when he threw for two touchdowns and was praised by fans and sports stars, including LeBron James and Dawn Staley.Â
However, many fans and pundits were quick to defend Sanders for his rough outing on Saturday and blamed the Browns’ coaching for putting Sanders in a position where he had to rely on backup teammates while also calling questionable plays.Â
EX-NBA PLAYER MAKES SHEDEUR SANDERS-LEBRON JAMES COMPARISON AFTER QB’S PRESEASON DEBUT
Jason Kelce on the ESPN postseason countdown set during the 2025 Pro Bowl Games at Camping World Stadium Feb. 2, 2025. (Kirby Lee/Imagn Images)
Former NFL quarterback Derek Carr questioned why Sanders wasn’t left in the game to finish the final drive.Â
“I need to understand why we don’t get to see Shedeur Sanders run this 2-minute drill? Wouldn’t you want to see your young QB operate in this situation? Get him more reps for the future? I didn’t see the whole game so maybe he already showed enough? Help me understand this…” Carr wrote on X.Â
Sports talk show host Skip Bayless posted a 16-minute rant in defense of Sanders on X, while condemning the Browns for their handling of the quarterback.Â
“They sabotaged it. They rigged it against him today, putting him in with third- and fourth-stringers, fifth-stringers. You got no shot at quarterback,” Bayless said.Â
Other users on social media leveled similar criticisms at the Browns, with some speculating that the obstacles being put in front of the quarterback are intentional.Â
Prior to that game, NFL Hall of Famer Eric Dickerson stoked conspiracy theories related to Sanders in a recent interview, claiming that NFL teams were “told not to” draft Sanders to “make an example” of the quarterback when he fell to the fifth round of the NFL Draft in April.Â
“I tell you this much, what I heard from someone that’s in the NFL [is] that the NFL told [teams], ‘Don’t draft him, do not draft him,'” Dickerson said in a recent interview on the “Roggin and Rodney” show on AM 570 LA Sports.Â
“‘We’re going to make an example out of him.’ And this came from a very good source, a very good source. They were going to have him not get drafted to basically show you, ‘This is what happens when you do this.’ I mean, look, the NFL’s got all kinds of power. They do all kinds of stuff.”Â
Sanders’ slide out of the first round shocked many, including President Donald Trump, who condemned the league’s owners for passing on the quarterback in a Truth Social post.
ESPN host Stephen A. Smith revealed a text message from an associate who compared the situation to Colin Kaepernick being out of the NFL since 2016, suggesting “collusion.”Â
“‘This is a bad look for the NFL. This feels like Kaepernick-level collusion,'” Smith said of the content of the text, adding the situation goes beyond “talent evaluation.”Â
“All the hard work the NFL League Office puts in to eradicate these kinds of perceptions, only to turn around and watch as the OWNERS look like they’re colluding, messing up everything. What has been done to Shedeur will outshine everything else in this draft. We’ll never believe this is about just talent evaluation again.”Â
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Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders against the Philadelphia Eagles during a game at Lincoln Financial Field. (Kyle Ross/Imagn Images)
Sanders was eventually taken by the Browns on the third and final day of the draft with the 144th pick. The quarterback was initially considered a possible contender for the first overall pick early in the draft process after finishing his final season at Colorado.Â
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