Erik ten Hag admitted he was concerned about the eye-watering number of injuries Manchester United are picking up ahead of their Champions League opener at Bayern Munich. This has been a challenging start to the season for the Old Trafford giants, with off-field issues compounded by a run of three defeats in their last four Premier League matches. United’s 3-1 meek home loss to Brighton is hardly the best preparation to face Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich on Wednesday, nor are the injury problems that continue to pile up. The Red Devils have lost Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Harry Maguire since the weekend, joining the likes of Raphael Varane, Mason Mount, Luke Shaw and Tyrell Malacia on the sidelines. “Yes, of course it’s a concern,” Ten Hag said of the spate of injuries that leaves him with a 21-man squad in Germany featuring four goalkeepers. “But we knew that before and that’s why we constructed the squad with depth, so we can deal with it, the squad can deal with it.” Asked whether he can speak to the medical staff about the injury situation, the United boss said: “I don’t know if we have to go to the doctors or physios because they are dealing with the problems. “First of all, injuries always come in top football because we’re living on the edge. “Of course we analyse why things happen, but we also have to deal with the facts and it’s always about the players available. “That’s a strong side we can line up and we have to get the best out of it and we’re focusing on that. “To bring up tomorrow again, a good team, make the next step, integrate Rasmus Hojlund, (Sergio) Reguilon), two new players and we are here to get a result.” Sofyan Amrabat, Kobbie Mainoo and Amad Diallo are others out of the Group A opener through injury, while Donny van de Beek is unavailable having been left out of United’s Champions League squad. Beyond that, Jadon Sancho remains absent “pending resolution of a squad discipline issue” and Antony has been given a leave of absence following assault allegations against him. “One thing is true, I think from the start last season I think I almost never started with the best starting XI – there was always something like injury,” Ten Hag said. “But you have to deal with it and I think we always got the results in apart from the period where we are in now. “That is football and I have the experience in the past, I managed it in the past. It’s not always going up and you have to deal with it. “I like these situations because now we have to handle it and we have to manage this. You have to know what to do and that is focusing on the process.” Ten Hag’s belief about their path is why he is not getting thrown off kilter by the negativity heading into United’s first Champions League match in 18 months. “No, we don’t feel that we need a reset,” the former Bayern Munich reserve boss said. “Absolutely not. “We are in a process and what you see is that in parts of games we play very good but then also in parts of games we played below our levels. “What we have to demand is be consistent, so we have to step up in certain levels all the time for 90-plus minutes. That is the demand on us.” Wednesday certainly looks a tough ask for United, who will face England captain Harry Kane after he joined Bayern following a summer of speculation. United were strongly linked with the 30-year-old but plumped for promise rather than a proven goalscorer by signing Hojlund, 10 years his junior, from Atalanta. “I think we discussed (Kane and Hojlund during pre-season), so I don’t think we have to repeat this debate,” Ten Hag said. “We are happy with Rasmus. Obviously first games he was injured, he played now Arsenal, he’s now started. “Now of course we have to integrate him in a team but you can see he’s a big talent and he will contribute to our game. We are quite confident of that.” Asked if he had regrets about not signing Kane, Ten Hag simply responded: “No.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live England’s Rachel Daly believes calendar in women’s game needs a re-think Rafael Leao guilty of bad miss as Newcastle earn point in UCL opener at AC Milan Adam Rossington century rescues Essex against Hampshire

Rachel Daly feels the calendar in the women’s game needs to be looked at, describing the amount of games as “excessive”. England boss Sarina Wiegman last week said the matter was something she was “very worried” about as she named her squad for matches against Scotland at home on Friday and the Netherlands away four days later in the inaugural Women’s Nations League. The Lionesses’ World Cup campaign concluded with the final on August 20, and there have been Champions League qualifying fixtures since then. Daly told a press conference: “I do think the calendar is something that does need to be addressed moving forward. “You’ve seen a significant amount of injuries in the past year or so, which you can only think may be a part of the calendar and the excessive amount of games we have during the season, especially the girls playing in the Champions League as well. “I do think it needs to be looked at and addressed in the future. But as of right now, we’re not in a position to minimise game time we’ve got, so we just have to tackle it head on right now and put ourselves in the best position physically and mentally to play. “We’ve got to get straight back into it, with our clubs, internationally, and we’re all just ready to go again and focus on the upcoming Nations League.” On the process of trying to get back to normality after what was the Lionesses’ first World Cup final, and saw Wiegman’s European champions beaten 1-0 by Spain, Daly said: “Probably the fact it wasn’t in our home country deterred a little bit of the emotion. “I’ve bumped into people in the street who say how proud they are, it’s a nice feeling. Everyone knows we’re disappointed with how it turned out but we made the nation proud once again and that’s what we want to do. “Everyone deals with it a little bit different. But here we are back at it again!” England open their Group A1 matches in the new competition – via which they can secure Paris 2024 Olympics qualification for Great Britain – with a trip to Sunderland’s Stadium of Light to play a Scotland outfit whose dispute with their national association was resolved last week. The team, captained by Daly’s Aston Villa team-mate Rachel Corsie, withdrew legal action against the Scottish Football Association over equal pay and treatment claims having secured what the centre-back described as “parity”. Asked about that – as well as the saga involving the Spain team since their World Cup triumph – Daly said: “I think trust and open, honest conversations with federations is something that is massive in terms of growing the women’s game. “For us as players and people we are always trying to strive for better and what’s right, not just for the players involved right now, but for the next generation and future for years to come. “To have that platform is something I think probably gets overlooked, but it’s a place that you need to get to in order to petition for more, and what’s right and what we deserve.” England’s players themselves are involved in an ongoing bonus payments dispute with the Football Association, and Daly said: “We parked that for the World Cup. “I think people concerned of distractions – there were absolutely no distractions for us at the World Cup, and those conversations were parked. “We have a great team in place to take those discussions further and I think we’re in a really positive place to achieve an outcome. “We all want the same thing, the federation and the players want to come to the same agreement. The leadership group and the players that put themselves in front of those meetings are fantastic and do a great job, so I think we’re in a great place.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Rafael Leao guilty of bad miss as Newcastle earn point in UCL opener at AC Milan Adam Rossington century rescues Essex against Hampshire Ant and Dec relish Newcastle’s European adventure – Tuesday’s sporting social

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Rafael Leao was guilty of an incredible miss which let Newcastle off the hook as their Champions League opener at AC Milan finished goalless. The Portugal international, who was Newcastle star Sandro Tonali’s team-mate at San Siro until his £53million summer switch to Tyneside, completely fluffed his lines with only goalkeeper Nick Pope to beat after attempting an audacious flick at the end of a stunning 34th-minute run and only succeeded in tripping himself. Pope will feel he had already earned his slice of good fortune after making five first-half saves in the space of six minutes to pave the way for a 0-0 draw which banked a priceless first point for the Magpies’ Group F account on their return to European football’s top table after an absence of 20 years. For the seven-time winners, who were thrashed 5-1 by derby rivals Inter Milan on Saturday, there was no salvation on a night when they created enough chances, but were unable to take any of them, much to the annoyance of the locals among a crowd of 65,695. Pope had to come to Newcastle’s rescue five times in quick succession after Dan Burn, one of two Geordies in Eddie Howe’s starting line-up, allowed the ball to run across him, forcing Sven Botman to make a hurried clearance. Midfielder Tommaso Pobega pounced on the loose ball to test the keeper from distance and Pope had to react swiftly to repel Samuel Chukwueze’s header as the ball was recycled before denying Olivier Giroud from point-blank range with his defenders unable to keep the red and black shirts at bay. The England international then tipped away Rade Krunic’s raking drive and turned Giroud’s 19th-minute header over the bar after he had been left criminally unmarked from the resulting corner. Ruben Loftus-Cheek blazed over from long range after once again bursting through the black and white cover with Howe’s men under sustained pressure with Tonali, Bruno Guimaraes and Sean Longstaff struggling to exert any control in midfield. Longstaff was appealing in vain for a 31st-minute penalty after going down under Leao’s challenge and as Spanish referee Jose Sanchez waved play on, Theo Hernandez broke down the left and crossed for Giroud a the near post, only to see him fire wastefully wide. Leao should have put Milan ahead 11 minutes before the break when he carved his way into the penalty area and past three lunging tackles to go one-on-one with Pope, but inexplicably tried to back-heel the ball home from six yards and simply fell over with Jacob Murphy hacking Pobega’s follow-up off the line. Murphy mustered the Magpies’ first attempt with a curling 41st-minute shot which flew well wide after Kieran Tripper, Longstaff and Alexander Isak had combined well, but there was a measure of relief when the half-time whistle sounded with the score still at 0-0. Tonali blasted a shot straight at defender Malick Thiaw and Murphy blazed high and wide as Newcastle returned determined to make an impression as an attacking force. Milan’s build-up play was patient, but the holes which had appeared in the visitors’ defence at regular intervals before the break remained stubbornly closed after it. Howe made his move with 27 minutes remaining when he sent on Callum Wilson and Miguel Almiron for Anthony Gordon and Murphy, although Pope had to field a stabbed shot from substitute Tijjani Reijnders within seconds. Frustration grew among the Rossoneri ranks with Hernandez chancing his arm from all of 35 yards only for Botman to thump his attempt away, although Tonali was applauded warmly by the home fans when he was replaced by Elliot Anderson with 18 minutes remaining. Leao might have atoned for his first-half blunder when he dived to meet Alessandro Florenzi’s 74th-minute cross, but he sent his header over Pope’s crossbar, and a late flurry by Milan was met with stern resistance as the game ended goalless, but only after substitute keeper Marco Sportiello had tipped Longstaff’s stoppage-time pile-driver over. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Adam Rossington century rescues Essex against Hampshire Ant and Dec relish Newcastle’s European adventure – Tuesday’s sporting social Jos Buttler felt a sense of duty to inform Jason Roy of World Cup omission

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