The coach of Egypt s national team has decided to play three friendlies, amid the final preparations for the 2019 African Cup of Nations this summer, team manager Ihab Leheta revealed on Wednesday. "The technical staff, headed by [coach Javier] Aguirre, decided to play three friendly matches at most ahead of the tournament. I hope we play one of them at Cairo Stadium," Leheta told MBC Masr TV channel.

Alexandria s Borg El-Arab Stadium will be ready to host the anticipated Egyptian league derby between Cairo rivals Ahly and Zamalek later this month, according to Amer Hussein, the head of competitions committee at the Egyptian Football Association (EFA). "Borg El-Arab Stadium will be ready to host the derby on 30 March," Hussien was quoted as saying by the EFA s official Twitter account on Tuesday.

Liverpool defender Virgil Van Dijk is not worried about Mohamed Salah s goal drought and is confident he will return to his scoring mood. The Egyptian winger, who has scored 20 goals in 41 games across all competitions, has failed to scored over the past 7 games for the Reds.

Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp said on Sunday he is happy with Mohamed Salah s displays despite his goal drought, adding that he is confident the Egyptian forward will regain his sharpness after the international break. Salah has failed to score any goal since finding the net against Bournemouth in a Premier League game on 9 February, extending his drought to seven matches in all competitions.

Egypt and Liverpool winger Mohamed Salah believes the Reds can topple defending champions Manchester City to win their first Premier League title since 1990. Liverpool have thrown away a seven-point lead at the top of the Premier League table and are now one point adrift of Pep Guardiola s men.

Neymar could be hit with a Champions League ban after UEFA opened an investigation on Wednesday into his foul-mouthed social media outburst about the refereeing during Paris Saint-Germain s controversial exit to Manchester United last week. Injured Brazil forward Neymar told match officials to "Go fuck yourselves" on Instagram after watching on incredulous from the sidelines at the Parc des Princes as United were awarded a decisive stoppage-time penalty for a debateable handball via the video assistant referee (VAR) system, allowing Marcus Rashford to fire United into the quarter-finals on away goals.

Egyptian champions Ahly said on Tuesday that security authorities have approved increasing the number of fans who attending Saturday s crucial Champions League home match against JS Saoura of Algeria from 10,000 to 15,000, the Cairo giants announced on Tuesday. "We received official approval to increase the fans at the match at Alexandria s Borg El-Arab Stadium to 15,000 instead of the previously approved number [10,000]," Ahly said in a statement on its official website.

Egypt s Zamalek continued their resurgence in the African Confederation Cup to put themselves in pole position for a place in the last eight, crushing Kenya s Gor Mahia 4-0 at home on Sunday to move top of Group D with one match remaining. Two first-half goals from central defender Mahmoud Alaa, who made his comeback from injury, and deep-lying forward Youssef Ibrahim gave Zamalek a comfortable lead at the interval.

Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp hailed Mohamed Salah s display in a 4-2 Premier League win over Burnley on Sunday, saying the Egyptian was his side s best player despite not scoring. Salah dished out an assist and had a hand in another as Liverpool romped to a convincing victory courtesy of a brace from Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane apiece.

European soccer body UEFA has opened a formal investigation into Premier League champions Manchester City over potential breaches of its break-even rule known as Financial Fair Play, it said on Thursday. "The investigation will focus on several alleged violations of FFP that were recently made public in various media outlets," UEFA said in a statement. "UEFA will make no further comments on the matter while the investigation is ongoing."

Liverpool s Senegalese winger Sadio Mane denied reports suggesting that there is a sort of rivalry between him and teammate Mohamed Salah, stressing that the aim of both players is to help the Reds win trophies. Salah is Liverpool s leading scorer this season with 17 Premier League goals, three ahead Mane. Both players vied f

Nigeria s coach Gernot Rohr announced late on Monday a 23-man squad for the home friendly match against Egypt on 26 March amid both teams preparations for the 2019 African Cup of Nations. Nigeria will be facing Seychelles with the same squad on 22 March as part of the African Cup qualifiers, while Egypt will be hosted by Niger on the same day in the final round of the qualifiers.

Gareth Bale s agent on Monday branded Real Madrid fans treatment of the Welsh international "a disgrace" after he was booed during the defeat by Barcelona. Real boss Santiago Solari has consistently relegated Bale to the bench in recent weeks while offering only tepid support in the face of heavy criticism in the Spanish press.

Liverpool were left a point behind Premier League leaders Manchester City after they were held to a 0-0 draw by Everton in Sunday s Merseyside derby -- the fourth draw in six games for Juergen Klopp s side. City, who won 1-0 at Bournemouth on Saturday, have 71 points while Liverpool are on 70 with both teams having nine games to play.

Egyptian squash stars continued their domination of the men and women s PSA World Championships in Chicago, with a combined $1 million prize on offer, the highest in squash history as four players secured their places in the tournament s semifinals. In the women s draw, world number 3 Nour El-Tayeb of Egypt needed only 25 minutes to beat world number 12 Annie Au of Hong Kong 3-0 (11-5, 11-7 and 11-6).

Egyptian successes continued as eight players reached the quarterfinals of both the men s and women s contests of the PSA World Championships in Chicago, with a combined $1 million prize on offer, the highest in squash history. The Egyptian stars booked their places after shining in the fourth day matches that ended early Wednesday. World number two Ali Farag defeated countryman Mazen Hesham 3-0 in the early hours of Wednesday to follow world number one and title holder Mohamed ElShorbagy, Marwan ElShorbagy (8) and Tarek Momen (4) who already secured their places in the quarterfinals.

Egypt s coach Javier Aguirre has named 10 new faces and has dropped Liverpool s winger Mohamed Salah and West Bromwich Albion s centre-back Ahmed Hegazi from the squad for the Nations Cup qualifier against Niger and the friendly against Nigeria on 22 and 26 March. The Mexican decided to give key figures Salah, Hegazi and Aston Villa s Ahmed Elmohamady a rest due to their busy schedule in England while testing some local-based players who have made an impact on the local scene in the last camp before the final preparation phase starts in June, just two weeks before the AFCON.

Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp admitted that Egyptian winger Mohamed Salah wasn t at his best in Sunday s 0-0 draw with Manchester United, but stopped short of blaming him. "I am not here to be disappointed, I am here to help the players to play their best football," the German tactician said after the game.

Two late goals gave Ahly a precious 2-1 comeback win at resilient Gouna on Sunday as the defending champions closed to within four points of leaders Zamalek in the Egyptian Premier League. Gouna took a surprise lead early in the second half through ex Egypt and Ahly forward Nagi Gedo as they threatened to cause an upset for the second successive game, having secured a shock 2-1 victory over the big-spending Pyramids FC in their previous encounter.

Ahly will not accept the changes made to the Egyptian Premier League schedule that had been set by the Egyptian Football association (EFA) on 8 January, the club announced via their official website on Thursday. The club announced that they are committed to the decision made during the urgent board meeting held on 9 February in response to suggestions brought up by rivals Zamalek and Pyramids FC to make amendments to the schedule.