Sports
Pereira fulfils Premier League dream at Wolves
New Wolves boss Vitor Pereira says he has been chasing his Premier League dream for 14 years.
The Portuguese moved to Molineux on an 18-month deal on Thursday to end his wait to work in England.
Pereira, who has been close to joining Everton several times since 2010, achieved his goal to manage in the Premier League this week when he replaced Gary O’Neil at Wolves, his 10th club in the last 11 years.
“The last 14 years of my career, my focus was to come to England,” he said, after leaving Saudi side Al-Shabab. “To compete with the best coaches, this is the seat I want to be in. I want to be in this league to compete, challenge myself and I’m ready.
“I remember the first step outside the country [Portugal] was to Saudi Arabia [Al-Ahli] 14 years ago. When I left Porto, my target was a club in England.
“I had a meeting at that time to come to England but after a prince knocked on the door and convinced me, I did not go to England. I never imagined I’d go to Saudi.
“I had some approaches from clubs in England [in the past] but Wolves did the step forward to finish.”
Pereira takes over with Wolves second bottom and five points behind 17th-placed Leicester, who they face at the King Power Stadium on Sunday (14:00 GMT).
The side have have lost 11 of their 16 games this season and have conceded 40 goals, the highest in the league, yet Pereira will not rush into any business in the January transfer window.
He said: “The club is open to doing it but in this moment it’s important to understand the players on the pitch.
“It’s important I have one week to understand what I can do with the players, to study their personality and what we need. After this we’ll decide.”
But the 56-year-old wants to shape his side quickly and will look to guide them with his methods.
“It’s a responsibility but a good one. In my opinion it’s to give confidence to them, to guide them, like a tactical GPS, to point them in the same direction,” added the ex-Olympiakos manager.
“It’s very important to connect the tactical quality, technical quality because I like my teams to play good football but with tactical organisation and courage to play our game.”
The club also expects Matheus Cunha to be available on Saturday after he was charged by the Football Association with misconduct with any final judgement not expected until next week.
Sports
Havertz online abuse has terrible consequences – Arteta
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta says the online abuse of striker Kai Havertz and his wife has “terrible consequences” and needs to be “eradicated from the game”.
Havertz was criticised for his performance in Sunday’s FA Cup defeat by Manchester United, after he missed a glorious chance to win the game in normal time and then had his penalty saved in the shootout as United won 5-3 on penalties following the 1-1 draw.
The German’s wife Sophia shared screenshots of the “shocking” abuse she received on social media amid the game, including threats to the couple’s unborn child.
Arsenal have reported the abuse to the police and are working with a specialist data firm to identify the culprits, but Arteta says more must be done as he spoke before Wednesday’s north London derby against Tottenham.
“It’s incredible, honestly,” he said. “We really have to do something about it, because accepting that and hiding this has terrible consequences.
“It’s something we have to eradicate from the game because it’s so cynical and dependent to a result of an action.
“There is no other industry like this. When we played Ipswich on December 27, we won 1-0 and Kai Havertz scored. The whole stadium after that is singing the ‘Waka, Waka’ (his chant). That was 20 days ago. Where is the perspective?
“We are all responsible. That’s a really serious matter. It affects me. It affects him and everybody that is in the industry.
“We can accept it and say ‘that’s our job’, but there are certain limits and the line has to be drawn. We put a lot of attention on technology and what is next in football.
“What is next in football is that this should be prohibited. It cannot happen. That’s it.”
Meta, who own Instagram, removed the content for violating its policies.
Sports
I will not be the coach of a Red Bull team – Klopp
Jurgen Klopp says he has made a “clear commitment” that he will not become manager at one of the Red Bull clubs after starting his role as the organisation’s head of global soccer.
The former Liverpool manager was named in the role last year before officially starting at the beginning of 2025.
He has not had a managerial role since leaving Anfield last summer following a highly-successful nine year spell.
Klopp’s new role sees him take more of an oversight role across a number of clubs including RB Leipzig, Red Bull Salzburg and New York Red Bulls.
But when asked at a media conference on Tuesday whether he might be tempted back into day-to-day management if a role at one of the clubs becomes available, Klopp said emphatically said “no”.
“I will not be the coach of a Red Bull team,” he said. “That is a clear commitment. As much as you can give a guarantee, I will not be a coach at all.
“I am probably the only person in this room who will be asked where are you in five years, I don’t have a clue.
“But I will not be a replacement of one of the Red Bull coaches.
Sports
Rising star Fonseca knocks out ninth seed Rublev
Joao Fonseca had a Grand Slam debut to remember as he knocked out ninth seed Andrey Rublev in the first round of the Australian Open.
The 18-year-old Brazilian thrilled the crowd as he caused the biggest upset of the tournament so far with a 7-6 (7-1) 6-3 7-6 (7-5) victory against Rublev.
Fonseca was playing in his first main-draw match at a major, having come through three rounds of qualifying without dropping a set in Melbourne last week.
The victory extends his winning streak to 14 matches – but who is tennis’ latest rising star?
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