??? 18 year old Trent Alexander-Arnold on his Champions League debutpic.twitter.com/FSw8Ora8uh
— ?? (@H_Yazdi786) August 15, 2017
A star is born.
On Tuesday, in the first leg of Liverpool’s tie against TSG 1899 Hoffenheim in the Champions League’s play-offs, Jurgen Klopp gave the youth a chance and was rewarded in the 35th minute.
Making his Champions League debut, Trent Alexander-Arnold – who is only 18 years old – stepped up to take a free-kick and curled a wonderful shot over the wall and past Oliver Baumann. The goal was the highlight of a first half in which the teenage right-back joined a number of attacks and threatened to open the scoring after charging down an attempted clearance by Andrej Kramaric.
1 – No @LFC player made more passes (24), interceptions (4) or had more touches (41) than Trent Alexander-Arnold in the 1st half. Involved. pic.twitter.com/NYvBRfNV6b
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) August 15, 2017
The game marked Alexander-Arnold’s ninth start in all competitions.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht says his decision to release kicker Roberto Aguayo on Saturday was his way of owning up to the mistake he made in drafting Aguayo, but that won’t stop him from making bold moves in the future.
In a few games he was all they had, but other times kicker Roberto Aguayo made it harder for the Bucs to win and mount a run at the playoffs.
Roberto Aguayo will once again compete with Connor Barth for kicking duties — only this time in Chicago.
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“I’m owning up to it,” he told The MMQB.com. “I’m owning up to it by releasing him. It was a bold move, and it didn’t work out. I don’t know what else to say. I know I have the support of my coach and my ownership.
“At the time, I was bound and determined to get the best kicker we possibly could. I thought Roberto had the chance to be a special kicker in the league for a long time. That’s a position that had been a rough spot for us.
“What did I learn from this? I’ve said this before, but when we took him, we essentially anointed him. If I could do it again, I would have gone back and brought in competition to challenge him. I look back on that a lot. Roberto is a great kid, but the magnitude of that position, and the pressure on a 21-year-old — his performance is affecting the lives of men who have families to support. That got tough.”
Roberto Aguayo was under pressure to succeed with the Buccaneers from the start after the team traded up in the second round of the 2016 draft to select him. Mark LoMoglio/ Icon Sportswire
The Buccaneers’ move to trade into the second round of the 2016 draft to select Aguayo drew scrutiny from the start. Aguayo then scuffled in his rookie year, making just 71 percent (22-for-31) of his field goal attempts. He continued to struggle in training camp. The final straw came Friday night, when he missed an extra point and then missed wide right on a 47-yard field goal attempt against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Licht vowed in his interview with The MMQB.com that the experience with Aguayo would not make him “afraid of making bold moves” in the future.
“You can’t make decisions, or not make them, based on fear. I will say that you have to learn from things that didn’t work out. Whatever that is in this case, we’ll figure it out,” he told the website.
The Chicago Bears claimed Aguayo off waivers on Sunday, and he will compete with veteran Connor Barth for the team’s starting job. Barth was released by the Buccaneers after they selected Aguayo in 2016.
Aguayo on Monday called his struggles with the Buccaneers “unfortunate.”
“What we both wanted, it just never flourished. I’m excited to be here with the Bears, and I’m excited for this fresh opportunity and a new start,” he said.
London – Barcelona target Philippe Coutinho has been left out of Liverpool’s squad for their Champions League play-off first-leg match away to Hoffenheim on Tuesday.
The Brazil playmaker, 25, missed Liverpool’s 3-3 draw at Watford on Saturday due to a back problem.
But he submitted a transfer request the day before the game and is reported to have been the subject of an unsuccessful £90 million ($116.7 million, 99 million euros) bid from Barcelona.
Barcelona have targeted Coutinho, as well as Borussia Dortmund’s French winger Ousmane Dembele, after selling Neymar to Paris Saint-Germain in a world-record 222 million euros ($261.7 million) deal.
Liverpool’s American owners Fenway Sports Group issued a statement last Friday saying Coutinho would not be sold at any price.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has said he has no control over the situation.
“As a manager of a football club I have bosses, and if the bosses decide, for example, we sell a player or we don’t sell him, then I have to accept it,” he said after the game at Watford.
“The only thing is I work with the players I have. That is what I’m always doing.”
Liverpool play Hoffenheim at Rhein-Neckar-Arena on Tuesday and welcome the German side to Anfield next Wednesday, with a place in the Champions League group phase at stake.
Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge will also miss the trip to Germany due to a thigh injury.
PITTSFORD, N.Y. — Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly urged Buffalo Bills fans to keep their faith in the team after Friday’s unexpected trades that sent wide receiver Sammy Watkins to the Los Angeles Rams and cornerback Ronald Darby to the Philadelphia Eagles.
“I’m a former player,” he said during a visit to Sunday’s training camp practice at St. John Fisher College. “You want to win. You want to win now. I get it. I understand that. It’s not always that way with all fans. But the ones who really do get it, understand it, that know the game of football — [they know] that sometimes these things take a little longer. Never would anyone of us expect 17 years not being able to see a January football game.
“You want to win now. I get it,” Jim Kelly says of Bills fans. “… But the ones who really do get it, understand it, that know the game of football — [they know] that sometimes these things take a little longer.” Bernstein Associates/Getty Images
“Just got to keep your hope, stay on the wagon, hopefully it’s sooner rather than later.”
Kelly lauded Bills owners Terry and Kim Pegula for allowing general manager Brandon Beane and coach Sean McDermott to reshape their roster with the trades, which included the Bills acquiring the Rams’ second-round pick and the Eagles’ third-round pick in 2018.
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“It would be like me losing Andre Reed, as far as me, that was my No. 1 receiver and [Watkins] was his No. 1 receiver,” Kelly said Sunday. “It’s not easy but you got to live with it, understand why they did and you have to go with it. That’s your job. You have to lead the team down the field no matter who’s in the huddle.
“Hopefully Matthews comes in and does what we all hope he will do and hopefully what they gave up will be enough to build something with what we got the next 3-5 years.”
