Reliable journalist Scott Burns has handed Brendan Rodgers a significant injury boost ahead of Celtic’s return to domestic action this weekend.

Celtic prepare for huge Aberdeen clash

When the new Scottish Premiership season got underway, the vast majority of fans and experts thought that the Hoops would once again be vying with Rangers for title glory this season, as has been the norm throughout most of history. Instead, it is Aberdeen who have set the pace alongside Celtic, winning all seven of their matches and only trailing Rodgers’ men on goal difference, impressing hugely in the process.

On Saturday afternoon, Parkhead hosts a top-of-the-table meeting between the Hoops and the Dons, with Celtic hoping to show their superiority and proving that they are still very much the team to beat in 2024/25. They will also know that Rangers are still only five points behind them, so a slip-up this weekend would give them the chance to close the gap.

It is a highly-anticipated game that will tell us a lot more about where Celtic and Aberdeen are at currently, and with kickoff approaching, the reigning Scottish Premiership champions have been given a big boost.

Celtic handed massive injury boost

According to a fresh update from The Daily Record‘s Burns, Cameron Carter-Vickers is back in training for Celtic, ahead of the weekend clash with Aberdeen. It is rightly described as a “major lift to Brendan Rodgers and his squad to have the key defender back out on the grass”, with the manager now having to “decide how much game exposure to give him”, with a crucial Champions League meeting away to Atalanta looming on Wednesday evening.

Having Carter-Vickers back in contention feels so significant for Celtic, considering what an influential performer he has been at the heart of the defence ever since joining from Tottenham in 2022, having previously spent a season on loan at Parkhead.

The American hasn’t featured since the middle of September because of injury, but Rodgers will be desperate to get him back into the team as soon as possible, with Jackie McNamanra summing up his influence: “Carter-Vickers is strong and has a lot of attributes.

“He’s been a terrific signing. Yeah, he’s up there with some of the best – although he’s not quite the same kind of player as Bobo! I played with some cracking centre-backs over the years – Johan Mjallby, Mark Rieper, and so on. Carter-Vickers has definitely been one who has been an excellent signing. He’s very steady and consistent.”

It would arguably be a surprise if Carter-Vickers started this weekend, with Rodgers needing to handle him with an element of care, but that said, if he looks sharp enough in training, few would complain if they saw his name back in the starting lineup for such an important occasion.

Rodgers can repeat Liam Scales success with Celtic's "great athlete"

Celtic could replicate the rise of Liam Scales in 2025

ByRobbie Walls Oct 18, 2024

Easing the £24,000-a-week USA international back in seems the most sensible approach, however, especially as Celtic continued to win without him, showing that others can be trusted.

MatériaMais Notícias

A espera está acabando. John Textor desembarca no Brasil nesta sexta-feira e vai assinar uma oferta vinculante para comprar 90% da SAF (Sociedade Anônima do Futebol) do Botafogo nos próximos dias, assumindo o controle do departamento de futebol do Alvinegro.

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+ Botafogo anuncia dois reforços: saiba as contratações, saídas e sondagens do clube

Entre CT e questões que envolvem o investimento a curto, médio e longo que serão feitos no Botafogo – como essa matéria explica melhor – Textor chega em terras tupiniquins para finalizar o acordo.

Atualmente, a negociação tem um pré-contrato não-vinculante em vigor. Essa é a ‘primeira ligação oficial’ entre Textor e Botafogo, mas sem firmar nada de forma concreta, apenas dando um ‘sinal’. André Chame, porta-voz das negociações da SAF, afirmou que o americano é o único investidor que o clube conversa. A tendência é que tudo seja resolvido em 60 dias.

Por transformar o contrato em vinculante, a coisa muda de patamar. Textor vai, de fato, firmar um acordo com o Botafogo e se comprometer na compra da SAF. Para isso, o investidor ainda precisa esperar a votação do Conselho Deliberativo, que vai acontecer na semana que vem. Se aprovado, a transição para o novo modelo se iniciará.

O americano vai se encontrar com diretores do Botafogo, pessoas envolvidas no projeto da S/A e a diretoria da SAF nos próximos dias. A expectativa, claro, é que ele retorne aos Estados Unidos deixando um contrato firmado para comprar o Botafogo. A expectativa no Glorioso para isso é alta.

MOTIVO DA VINDA
John Textor vem conversando com os responsáveis do Botafogo por meio de videoconferências desde o ano passado. O empresário, contudo, quer que o ato da “assinatura final” ocorra pessoalmente, além de também ter o desejo de discutir ajustes finais do contrato cara a cara.

+ Sem resposta em negociação com o Botafogo, Barreto vai se reapresentar ao Criciúma à espera de definição

O principal ponto passa pelo CT do Botafogo, o Espaço Lonier. Isso porque John Textor é um defensor no investimento nas categorias de base e, claro, se interessou no local. O centro tem sido custeado pelos irmãos Moreira Salles, que cuidam as obras. O time profissional do Alvinegro, inclusive, fez o primeiro treino lá na última quinta-feira.

Textor quer ver o Espaço Lonier, conhecer as instalações e ver o projeto de perto, além de entender qual é o projeto dos irmãos Moreira Salles/Botafogo para o local. O investidor entende que o investimento em jovens jogadores, assim como fez no Crystal Palace, é algo primordial.

Existem pequenos ajustes ainda a serem resolvidos, o que diz respeito ao investimento a curto prazo para o clube – o LANCE! trouxe detalhes mais cedo. Internamente, espera-se que a coisa seja resolvida facilmente e os pedidos de John Textor sejam atendidos. A tendência é por um final feliz.

Arne Slot’s Liverpool made it four wins on the bounce in all competitions since their loss to Nottingham Forest, beating Wolves 2-1 at Molineux.

Liverpool took the lead through Ibrahima Konate just before half-time, going in 1-0 up at the break. However, Wolves equalised in the 56th minute through Rayan Aitn-Nouri, forcing Mohamed Salah to save the day, converting from the spot in the 61st minute to give Liverpool a 2-1 lead and secure the three points.

Slot’s side now sit on top of the Premier League, winning five of their opening six games, the only loss coming to Nottingham Forest a few weeks ago, when they lost 1-0 at Anfield.

Mohamed Salah's performance in numbers

Liverpool’s key man, Mohamed Salah, stepped up with another goal from the spot to win them the game, as he often does. But it wasn’t just his goal, he also made two key passes, completed two out of three dribbles, and won five of ten ground duels.

Salah has started the season strong under his new manager, scoring five goals and providing four assists in his eight games played.

Slot looks to Salah to be the difference maker in the final third, often holding width on that right side, making runs in behind, and being the main outlet for the Reds.

But Liverpool has never had an issue in this area of the pitch, often creating a lot of chances, and scoring many goals with their attacking contingent.

However, an area of concern recently has been the midfield, and Slot may have found his man who is just as important as Salah to this team.

The importance of Ryan Gravenberch

In September 2023, Liverpool signed Ryan Gravenberch from Bayern Munich, for a fee of around £34.2m. His debut season at the club was underwhelming, playing 1,839 minutes for Liverpool in all competitions.

However, this season, under Slot, Gravenberch has been heavily relied upon early in the season, starting seven of their eight games so far, and playing 90 minutes in each of them.

The only game he missed was in the EFL Cup against West Ham, where he was left out of the squad, probably for rest purposes.

In yesterday’s performance against Wolves, Gravenberch was given an 8/10 match rating by GOAL, being praised for barely losing possession in midfield. This shows in the metrics, as the 22-year-old midfielder completed an impressive 92% of his passes, and even won seven out of seven ground duels, and his one and only aerial duel for his side.

The 6 foot 3 midfielder has a powerful frame and long legs, allowing him to win many duels in the middle of the park, often eating up ground to beat opposition players to the ball, and lunging in to win challenges.

Minutes

90

Touches

73

Accurate Passes

57/62

Pass Completion

92%

Long Balls

1/1

Ground Duels

7/7

Aerial Duels

1/1

Tackles

3

Gravenberch has softened the blow of Liverpool not signing a midfielder this summer, and an area they tried to address by signing Real Sociedad midfielder, Martin Zubimendi.

However, if it wasn’t for the Spanish midfielder snubbing Liverpool, they may not have seen this version of Gravenberch, who has now become one of the first names on the team sheet for Slot’s side.

Lost the ball 23x: 5/10 Liverpool star was as bad as Szoboszlai vs Wolves

The Reds found a way to win at Molineux…

ByAngus Sinclair Sep 29, 2024

The Ligue 1 outfit came from nowhere to be the talk of European football on their way to the semi-finals, led by their uber-talented teenage forward

Monaco have a strange relationship with the Champions League. Far from perennial qualifiers, they have still enjoyed plenty of memorable runs through Europe's premier club competition, most notably when they reached the final in 2004 before losing out to Jose Mourinho's Porto. They have also made it to the semi-finals on three occasions since the tournament rebranded in the early 1990s, but none of their continental campaigns have captured the imagination quite like their journey to the final four in 2017.

Led by manager Leonardo Jardim, Monaco bewitched fans around the globe with their high-octane style of football, as a number of previously little-known players became household names almost overnight, leading to inevitable transfer interest from the world's richest clubs. Though they eventually missed out on the final, losing to Juventus in the semis, Monaco – who also won Ligue 1 at Paris Saint-Germain's expense – were the talk of the European game after knocking out Pep Guardiola's Manchester City and Thomas Tuchel's Borussia Dortmund.

Of course, the star of that team was then-teenager Kylian Mbappe, who emerged as a fully-formed attacking superstar and set about tearing defences apart with his blistering pace and unerring finishing ability. He scored six goals in nine Champions League appearances that season before joining PSG at the end of the campaign, with the French superstar's exit the first domino to fall in what would be a dramatic fall from grace for Les Monegasques.

Monaco would fail to win any of their subsequent 12 matches in the Champions League over the course of the next two seasons before enduring a six-year absence from the competition proper until securing a place in the 2024-25 league phase, where they are in a strong position to qualify for the knockout rounds ahead of their penultimate game against Aston Villa on Tuesday.

Mbappe, meanwhile, has gone from strength to strength, and while he is still waiting to lift his first European Cup as he begins to round into form after a shaky start for new club Real Madrid, many of his team-mates from that memorable Monaco side of 2017 have not enjoyed the same levels of success. But where are they now? GOAL has everything you need to know:

AFPDanijel Subasic

Veteran goalkeeper Subasic surpassed 200 appearances for Monaco over the course of the 2016-17 campaign, during which he was voted Ligue 1 Goalkeeper of the Year. He did, however, only keep one clean sheet during the club's Champions League run, though that was in part due to the front-foot style Jardim opted to play in front of him.

Subasic remained Monaco's No.1 through the following season and starred for Croatia during their run to the 2018 World Cup final, but that proved to be the beginning of the end of the shot-stopper's career at the highest level. He began to pick up injuries through the 2018-19 campaign and eventually fell out of favour, which led to him departing the Stade Louis II in the summer of 2020.

Subasic spent a year out of the game before re-joining former club Hajduk Split, where he served as a back-up for two seasons prior to announcing his retirement in 2023. He is now working as the goalkeeping coach for the Croatia national team.

AdvertisementAFPDjibril Sidibe

Sidibe had arrived at Monaco as a €15 million signing from Lille in the summer of 2016 and soon began to catch the eye as a marauding right-back who was capable of creating chances with regularity. His form both in Ligue 1 and the Champions League led to interest from Arsenal, while he also forced his way into the France national team.

The defender was part of Didier Deschamps' squad as they triumphed at the 2018 World Cup, but his form for Monaco began to slide, and he eventually departed in the summer of 2019 on loan to Everton. Sidibe struggled to establish himself in the Premier League, however, and the Toffees did not take up the option to buy him on a permanent basis.

After six years at Stade Louis II, Sidibe was released by Monaco in the summer of 2022 and joined AEK Athens on a free transfer. Over the course of two campaigns, he struggled to hold down a regular starting role, and left the club last summer. Now 32, he is back in Ligue 1 having joined Toulouse ahead of the 2024-25 campaign.

AFPJemerson

One of the less heralded members of Monaco's 2016-17 squad, centre-back Jemerson made a number of key contributions over the course of the campaign having arrived in January 2016 from Atletico Mineiro, and the principality club even rejected an offer from Roma for the Brazilian at the end of his first full campaign in Europe.

However, that was as good as it got for Jemerson, who made his Brazil debut off the back of Monaco's Champions League run, as he soon began to fall down the pecking order over the seasons that followed and eventually had his contract terminated in November 2020. He has since spent time with Corinthians, Metz, back at Atletico Mineiro and is now plying his trade for Gremio in his homeland.

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AFPAndrea Raggi

At 32, Raggi was one of Monaco's veteran leaders during their memorable European run. Previously a journeyman in Italian football, he found a home at Stade Louis II having joined the club while they were in the second division in 2012, and while he was rarely a starter in Ligue 1 for the eventual champions in 2016-17, he was named in the line up on 12 occasions in Europe over the course of the campaign.

Raggi remained a rotational option until he was released by 2019, with that proving to be his final act in the professional game as he failed to find another club before announcing his retirement.

كشفت تقارير صحفية، عن قرار الجهاز الفني للمنتخب المغربي، بقيادة وليد الركراكي، باستبعاد لاعب الأهلي من قائمة “أسود الأطلس” خلال معسكر مارس الجاري، وذلك بسبب عدم جاهزيته الفنية والبدنية بعد غيابه الطويل عن الملاعب.

ويستعد المنتخب المغربي لخوض مواجهتين وديتين أمام النيجر وتنزانيا يومي 19 و22 مارس، ضمن تحضيراته لخوض التصفيات المؤهلة لكأس العالم 2026.

طالع أيضًا | وليد الركراكي: مصر والمغرب مرشحان للقب كأس أمم إفريقيا.. ونحن محظوظون

ووفقًا لما ذكره موقع “البطولة” المغربي، فإن استبعاد اللاعب يحيى عطية الله ظهير فريق الأهلي، جاء نتيجة ابتعاده عن المنافسة لمدة تقارب الشهرين، بعد خضوعه لعملية جراحية على مستوى الوجه، مما حال دون ضمه لقائمة المنتخب خلال المرحلة الحالية.

وأشار الموقع إلى أنه في ظل غياب يحيى عطية الله، تتجه أنظار الجهاز الفني إلى عدد من الأسماء لتعويضه في مركز الظهير الأيسر، ومن بينهم آدم أزنو لاعب بايرن ميونيخ المُعار إلى بلد الوليد، ونصير مزراوي، بالإضافة إلى إمكانية الاستعانة بـآدم ماسينا لشغل هذا المركز.

There is now greater incentive for teams to top the regular-season table

Andrew McGlashan07-Sep-2021

A new finals series has been introduced for the WBBL, which will reward the team finishing top of the group stage with direct entry into the final while the teams in second to fourth will battle to join them in two play-off matches.The new conclusion to the competition is a trimmed-down version of the five-match finals series that was introduced into the BBL two years ago with the tight time frame between the end of the group matches and the final on November 27 not allowing for such a long run of play-off matches.The first-placed team will earn hosting rights for the final – providing the Covid-19 situation and border restrictions allow – with third and fourth playing the Eliminator on November 24 followed by the second-placed team facing the winner of the Eliminator in the Challenger final on November 25.Both play-off matches will be hosted at the home ground of the team that finishes second in the regular season if restrictions permit.The tournament will also have a new title sponsor with Weber Barbecues taking over from sports brand Rebel.The previous structure saw two traditional semi-finals with first playing fourth and second taking on third to decide the finalists. Last season, Melbourne Stars topped the group stage and won their semi-final before being toppled by Sydney Thunder, who finished third in the table, in the final.”The new Weber WBBL|07 Finals format adds more incentive than ever to finishing on top of the table after the 56-game regular season,” Alistair Dobson, Cricket Australia’s general manager of Big Bash Leagues said.Cricket Australia

“Not only will teams have a guaranteed path to the Final, they’ll also have the backing of a strong home crowd, with fans given more time to secure their ticket to the Final. The league views the Final as a marquee moment in the summer of Big Bash and we look forward to creating an unmissable event to cap the season.”There remains uncertainty around the start of the tournament which is currently scheduled for October 14 in Sydney. The ongoing lockdown in New South Wales and related border closures means that it will likely be moved.”We are committed to ensuring cricket remains a leading sport for women and girls by holding a full, safe and successful Weber WBBL|07 season,” Dobson said. “We learnt many lessons from staging full WBBL and BBL seasons last summer and are confident of another safe and successful summer ahead.”We’ll continue to work with our clubs, state and territory governments, health authorities and broadcasters in the lead up to the season, which remains on track to begin on October 14.”The international series between Australia and India which precedes the WBBL has been relocated entirely to Queensland with matches to be played on the Gold Coast and in Mackay. The state may now be the favoured starting point for the WBBL given some players will already be located there.Wherever the competition starts, it is likely that players from New South Wales and Victoria will need to quarantine before it begins. Last season, the tournament was played entirely in a Sydney-based hub.

A visibly tired Rassie van der Dussen pushed his limits and pulled off a stunning last-over win for South Africa in their warm-up game against Pakistan. South Africa needed 19 to win in the last over, bowled by Hasan Ali, and van der Dussen started the over off with a six, before returning to strike and hitting the last two balls for four to seal a win as well as complete a 51-ball century. At the other end was David Miller, who also hit a six in the last over as Hasan conceded 22.van der Dussen was in as early as the third over, when Imad Wasim dismissed both openers and the chase looked tall. But on a good batting surface, he kept South Africa’s scoring rate healthy as he put together a 107-run stand for the third wicket with captain Temba Bavuma, who struggled for rhythm during a 42-ball 46. But that partnership came only off 12 overs, despite Pakistan managing to bowl plenty of dot balls in the middle overs. That was down to van der Dussen’s ability to find and clear the boundaries at regular intervals – in all, he hit ten fours and four sixes – and that eventually left South Africa enough wickets to go big at the end. They needed 74 from the last six overs, and Heinrich Klaasen played a part with an eight-ball 14 from No. 5.Pakistan had the upper hand, with South Africa needing 47 off the last three, but 18 and 22-run overs on either side of Shaheen Afridi’s ten-run 19th over proved costly.Earlier in the evening, after winning the toss, South Africa opened the bowling with Keshav Maharaj and Kagiso Rabada, who kept the scoring down in the powerplay. Rabada managed to get Babar Azam cheaply with a yorker, while Anrich Nortje closed the powerplay off with Mohammad Rizwan’s wicket.But that was the only phase of the bowling innings that South Africa would manage to control, as Fakhar Zaman showed off the six-hitting ability that lifted him from the reserves into the main squad last week. Fakhar hit five sixes and two fours on his way to 52 off 28 balls before retiring out as Pakistan managed to score 120 off their last ten overs.Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik batted at Nos. 4 and 5 respectively, with the former scrapping through a 14-ball 13, while the latter got deep in the innings before falling for 28 off 28 balls. It was Asif Ali, however, who turned the course at the end of the innings with a belligerent 32 off 18 from No. 6.In all, Pakistan managed to hit 11 sixes as South Africa produced an average bowling display with the exception of Maharaj, Rabada and Lungi Ngidi. Tabraiz Shamsi bowled only four balls before sitting out the remainder of the match as a precaution due to a tight groin. South Africa’s medical staff said he would be assessed overnight and steps will be taken as required.

Despite early season optimism, with Sheffield Wednesday starting the campaign with a comfortable 4-0 Championship win over Plymouth Argyle, Danny Rohl’s Owls have found their recent batch of fixtures in the challenging league bumpy, to say the least.

Only two more wins have come since this opening day demolition job of the Pilgrims, with the South Yorkshire outfit just three points off the dreaded relegation spaces in the division after succumbing to a 2-0 defeat to Scott Parker’s Burnley last weekend.

There will have been plenty for the German in the Hillsborough dug-out to chew over when assessing this flat loss to the Clarets, with a number of his key players struggling to get going against their promotion-chasing opponents.

Sheffield Wednesday's main underperformers v Burnley

Ike Ugbo continuing to look lacklustre up top for the Owls is a major concern, considering the second-tier side went all out this summer to ensure the former Chelsea youngster made a dramatic return to the club.

The Canada international is still goalless during his second stint, with no strikes coming his way now from nine unmemorable appearances, with the low-on-confidence 26-year-old only managing a meagre 22 touches and five accurate passes up against Parker’s visitors.

Only registering one off-target effort too, Rohl will want to see some major improvements from the summer recruit moving forward, or his place up top in the Wednesday lineup could soon be up for grabs.

It was also a poor day at the office for the defenders at Hillsborough, with the likes of Akin Famewo only winning two of his five duels all afternoon long, alongside also giving away possession a costly 14 times to boost the away side.

But, the worst culprit at the back for Rohl’s men was Yan Valery, with the ex-Southampton defender at fault for Jaidon Anthony’s opener on the day, after wildly misjudging a clearance that saw the AFC Bournemouth loanee then fire home.

Valery's performance in numbers

The brand new Wednesday number 27 has had a part to play in every single Championship game so far this season for his new employers, but he could find he’s axed for the game against Swansea City this coming Tuesday night based on this showing.

Away from the sobering error that gifted Burnley the one goal advantage, Valery was shaky in other aspects of his game, with possession squandered 11 times to fit in with Famewo’s equally shoddy play out from the back.

Minutes played

90

Goals scored

0

Assists

0

Touches

42

Accurate passes

18/22 (82%)

Clearances

2

Interceptions

2

Tackles

1

Errors leading to a goal

1

Total duels won

4/4

It wasn’t all doom and gloom from Valery’s perspective during the loss, however, with the Frenchman successfully winning 100% of his duels, but the ex-Saints man will have already played over that error in his head countless times that allowed Anthony to calmly score to make it 1-0.

Upon reflection, Wednesday were not completely dominated nor turned over by the visitors from Lancashire – with 13 shots in the home side’s favour to Burnley’s 14 – but costly mistakes like Valery’s can change games and allowed Burnley to gain some much-needed momentum to go on to collect a 2-0 victory.

Sheffield Star journalist Alex Miller handed out a low 5/10 rating to Valery after the defeat, with the mistake labelled as a “horror moment” amidst a poor showing from the Wednesday defender.

This could see Rohl shuffle his pack for the game against the Swans this mid-week, therefore, with Dominic Iorfa capable of coming in and displacing Valery, who is yet to experience being dropped for his new team in league action.

But, after this Burnley defeat, it could be a necessary alteration, as Rohl attempts to put together the best possible XI to overcome Swansea.

Sheffield Wednesday summer signing likely to miss next 7 games with injury

Nathaniel Chalobah has played just one game for Sheffield Wednesday since moving to the club in the summer.

ByBarney Lane Oct 19, 2024

نجح الفريق الأول لكرة السلة بنادي الزمالك، في الفوز على نظيره سبورتنج بنتيجة 96-63، في المباراة التي جمعتهما اليوم الجمعة، في دوري السوبر.

الزمالك واجه سبورتنج على الصالة المغطاة بالقلعة البيضاء، ضمن منافسات الجولة التاسعة من الدور الأول الترتيبي لبطولة دوري السوبر.

وجاءت نتائج الفترات كالتالي:-

19/22

49/31

73/52

96/63

طالع أيضاً.. الأهلي يهزم سبورتنج ويتوج بطلاً لـ سوبر كرة اليد

وشهدت المباراة مشاركة المحترف الأمريكي أنطوان سكوت لأول مرة مع “سلة الزمالك” بعد انضمامه لصفوف الأبيض.

وحرص علي حضور المباراة الكابتن هشام نصر نائب رئيس مجلس إدارة نادي الزمالك، ومحمد طارق ورامي نصوحي عضوي المجلس، وذلك لدعم وموازرة الجهاز الفني واللاعبين.

من المقرر، أن يواجه فريق كرة سلة الزمالك نظيره هليوبوليس، يوم الاثنين المقبل، على الصالة المغطاة بالقلعة البيضاء، ضمن مواجهات الجولة العاشرة للدور الأول الترتيبي لبطولة دوري السوبر.

ويتكون الجهاز الفني لسلة الزمالك من: “كورو سيجورا مديراً فنياً، جونزالو هيرمو سو مدرباً مساعداً، محمد السحرتي مدرباً مساعداً، إسلام جمعة طبيباً، ومحمد سعيد مخططاً للأحمال، ومصطفى محسن مديراً إدارياً”.

Knight Riders head coach also heaped praised on Morgan’s captaincy despite his disappointing returns with the bat

Saurabh Somani16-Oct-20215:20

McCullum: ‘Break came at the good time’

Andre Russell, one of the most devastating T20 players in the world, was deemed too much of a risk to play in the IPL 2021 final due to a hamstring injury that he picked up early into the UAE leg of the tournament. Kolkata Knight Riders coach Brendon McCullum said that given the occasion of a final, and the injury Russell had, the team “couldn’t afford” to take the risk of playing Russell.Watch the IPL on ESPN+

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Knight Riders missed Russell’s explosiveness with bat and ball, as Chennai Super Kings won by 27 runs to lift their fourth IPL trophy. Super Kings faced little trouble from the bowlers in piling up 192 for 3, and Knight Riders then found boundaries hard to come by, especially in the second half of their chase.”Look, Andre, he obviously had a hamstring tear earlier on in the competition. He worked unbelievably hard to try and get himself available. There was still a risk there, and it was a risk that I felt in a final, we just couldn’t afford to take,” McCullum said at the post-match press conference.”Such is the nature of hamstrings, you’re just never really sure whether they’re going to be fully healed or not. It was just such a big risk. Look, in the end, we decided to go for the guys who had done so well for us to get us into the final. I’m really proud of all their achievements. It’s a shame we fell short, but we were outplayed by a very good CSK side today.”Russell had played only three of ten games for Knight Riders in the UAE leg, with his last one on September 26, nearly three weeks before the October 15 final. In the lead up to the playoffs, chief mentor David Hussey had said Russell was “pushing hard” to be fit in time while captain Eoin Morgan pointed to Russell’s quick recovery from injuries in the past.Kolkata Knight Riders missed Andre Russell’s explosiveness, as he was sidelined due to a hamstring injury•BCCI/IPLIn Russell’s absence, the overseas players that Knight Riders went with were Sunil Narine, Shakib Al Hasan, Lockie Ferguson and Morgan. While the others had several crucial performances, Morgan’s already bad form in the India leg of the IPL, nosedived further in the UAE. Overall, he made only 133 runs in 16 innings, scoring at less than a run a ball, with a strike rate of 95.68. In the UAE though, he had just 41 runs in nine innings, at an average of 6.83 and a strike rate of 71.92.Related

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Morgan’s form meant Knight Riders had to wrestle with a question several franchises have faced over the years: How to deal with an overseas player who’s completely out of sorts but is also the captain, and thus cannot be dropped from the XI easily. Knight Riders chose to stick with Morgan, with McCullum saying that he had backed Morgan to come good in the later stages of the tournament.”It’s a really unique situation, isn’t it? He was captaining out of his skin. He’s captained as well as what I’ve ever seen him captain, as well as I’ve seen anyone really captain in a T20 competition,” McCullum said of Morgan. “I thought he was driving the team forward with his captaincy. Unfortunately, the runs weren’t there for him, no matter how hard he tried. We tried to put him in that position where he’s been so successful, in those last five overs in T20 cricket right throughout his career. But unfortunately, it wasn’t to be.”You know, there’s many examples over the years of guys who have struggled for form leading into big games who have then been able to find something in that situation to be able to get a performance. That was what I was clinging on to tonight, with both the captain and also the vice-captain [Dinesh Karthik, who had 100 runs in eight innings in UAE ]. But it wasn’t to be. Those guys, they played their hearts out, they did their absolute best, and they just weren’t quite able to get the performances they would have liked. In the end, I’m still really proud of everyone who bought into the vision that we had for the group, invested in what we’re trying to achieve, and ultimately, took us on this journey which allowed us to have some great memories, but just fell short.”