Ahly s returning winger Ramadan Sobhi says he is ready and motivated to start playing immediately with the Cairo giants, insisting that the Reds have a chance at the domestic league and African Champions titles this season. "I am totally fit to play with Ahly as I have been training hard recently," Sobhi said in an interview with Ahly s official website published on Monday evening.

Egypt winger Mohamed Salah has made the final shortlist for the African Player of the Year award, released by the Confederation of African Football on Tuesday. In a repeat of last years final three, Liverpools star winger is competing for the most prestigious individual accolade in African football alongside club-mate Sadio Mane and 2015 winner, Arsenal forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has defended his team s talisman Mohamed Salah over simulation charges. “Do we need blood for a proper penalty? I think no,” Klopp said after his side s match against Arsenal on Saturday. Salah has won penalties in Liverpool s last two Premier League games, against Newcastle and Arsenal.

Mohamed Salah was on target again and Roberto Firmino struck a hat-trick as rampant Liverpool opened up a nine point lead at the top of the Premier League after crushing Arsenal 5-1 at Anfield on Saturday. Arsenal stunned the home crowd by taking the lead in the 11th minute - Ainsley Maitland-Niles scoring his first league goal for the club as he connected at the back post with an Alex Iwobi cross.

Liverpool s talisman Mohamed Salah will be available to the team in the upcoming season-defining games against Arsenal and Manchester City after he was cleared of diving charges in the game against Newcastle. Salah fell to the ground after minimal contact with Newcastle defender Paul Dummett, winning a penalty from which he scored the second in Liverpool s 4-0 victory at Anfield on Wednesday.

Liverpool treated their fans to some Christmas cheer with a 4-0 thrashing of Newcastle United at Anfield on Wednesday, extending their lead at the top of the table. The win put Liverpool on 51 points at the halfway point in the season, six ahead of Tottenham Hotspur, who hammered Bournemouth 5-0, and seven ahead of champions Manchester City who lost 2-1 at Leicester City.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer can t wait to lead Manchester United out at Old Trafford for the first time on Wednesday against relegation-threatened Huddersfield. Having been parachuted in as caretaker manager for the rest of the season, the fan favorite got the post-Jose Mourinho era off to a dream start.

Liverpool will be open to signing players in the January transfer window should they need reinforcements to aid their Premier League title challenge, manager Juergen Klopp said on Monday. Klopp s side has suffered a number of casualties in recent weeks, with defenders Joel Matip and Joe Gomez ruled out until mid-January with injuries.

Egyptian giants Ahly suffered their first-ever defeat in Ethiopia after slumping to a 1-0 loss to Jimma Aba Jifar but still qualified for the African Champions League group stage with a 2-1 aggregate victory on Saturday. Ahly were reminded of the nightmarish night they had in Tunis last month when Aba Jifar narrowed the aggregate deficit just before halftime, with Didier Lebri firing home on the turn from inside the area.

Speculation linking defender Lucas Hernandez with a move to Bayern Munich is false, Atletico Madrid said Thursday. Atletico said the France defender denies the existence of an agreement with the German club and his supposed intention of leaving Atletico Madrid.

Egypt s national football team has held its position at number 56 in the FIFA global football rankings, published on 20 December. The Pharaohs climbed two positions in FIFA s ranking last month after beating Tunisia 3-2 in the 2019 African Cup of Nations qualifiers to claim second place in Group J as well as securing a place in the tournament s finals.

Following is reaction to the sacking of Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho, who was dismissed by the Premier League club on Tuesday. FORMER UNITED CAPTAIN GARY NEVILLE "I ve been fortunate to spend time at Tottenham s training ground, and for me he (Mauricio Pochettino) feels like the ideal candidate. United have tried managers who have won European cups, they ve tried managers who have won multiple leagues.

Ahly s newly appointed Uruguayan coach Martin Lasarte has welcomed his warm reception by the Cairo giants management, explaining that he came to Ahly to win trophies. The Red Devils management held a press conference early on Monday at the club s headquarters to introduce the new coach to the media.

Two second-half goals from substitute Xherdan Shaqiri gave Liverpool a 3-1 Premier League win over Manchester United at Anfield on Sunday as Juergen Klopp s side regained top spot with a pulsating performance in the North West derby. Unbeaten Liverpool have 45 points from 17 games with champions Manchester City, who beat Everton 3-1 on Saturday, a point behind.

Egypt has officially made a bid to host next year s African Cup of Nations, the Egyptian Football Association announced on Thursday. The Confederation of African Football stripped Cameroon of the rights to host the Nations Cup last month due to delays in its preparations for the expanded 24-team tournament. Reports suggested that Morocco was the favourite to replace Cameroon, but the Moroccan sports minister denied on Wednesday that the North African country had any intention to bid for the tournament s hosting rights. Later on Wednesday, Egypt s Sports Minister Ashraf Sobhi announced that Egypt was considering making a bid to host AFCON. The 2019 African Cup of Nations is scheduled from 15 June to 13 July. Egypt has already hosted four editions of the ACN in 1959, 1974, 1986 and 2006. Interested parties have until 22:00 GMT on Friday to make an official bid for the 2019 finals, which will be the first to feature 24 teams, rather than 16. The African football governing body will choose the host country in January.

Mohamed Salah continued his prolific form to fire Liverpool into the last 16 of the Champions League on Tuesday but coach Juergen Klopp was just as thankful for his “lifesaver” of a goalkeeper after the 1-0 win over Napoli. The slender victory was enough for Liverpool to progress at the expense of Napoli, who started the day top of Group C but crashed out on goals scored after the clubs finished tied on nine points with the same head-to-head record.

Liverpool will host Italian football club Napoli on Tuesday, and needs to win 1-0 to qualify for round 16 of the Champions League. The game is set to start at 10 pm Tuesday and will be aired on the ‘BeIN Sport HD 1’ channel.

Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp was never worried about Mohamed Salah being able to follow up his stellar first season at Anfield but conceded both the player and club must learn to cope with a raised level of expectations. The Egyptian forward, who scored 44 goals for the Merseyside club in all competitions during his debut campaign, fired a brilliant hat-trick in Saturday s 4-0 victory over Bournemouth to send unbeaten Liverpool top of the Premier League.

Egypt international footballer and Liverpool striker Mohamed Salah ceded his Man Of The Match award (MOTM) for the game against Bournemouth to his teammate James Milner, who marked 500 appearances in the Premier League with Saturday s game. Salah netted a hat-trick in the match against Bournemouth, which Liverpool won 4-0. Sky Sports named him as the man of the match.

Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp has reiterated that he is not interested in the debate raging about the form of his star Mohamed Salah, insisting that now is not the time to judge the Egyptian winger. Salah has scored nine goals in 20 appearances so far this season, six fewer goals than at the same stage last season. The Pharaohs star was substituted in Sunday s 1-0 derby victory over Everton, a step that raised doubts about Klopp s satisfaction with Salah s current form.