Thomas Mueller has extended his contract with Bayern Munich until 2024, it was announced on Tuesday, with the Germany international set to spend his entire professional career at the Bundesliga champions, who he joined as a 10-year-old.

“The journey we have taken together since I joined the youth team in 2000 has been a fantastic success story so far,” said Mueller, 32, who won a record 11th league title with the Bavarians this season.

“So let’s continue it together,” added the 2014 World Cup winner, who has made 112 appearances for Germany since his international debut in 2010.

Mueller as well as top-scorer Robert Lewandowski, Bayern captain Manuel Neuer and winger Serge Gnabry, were due to be out of contract in 2023.

He is the first of the quartet to extend their deals amid speculation Lewandowski could leave at the end of the season with Barcelona reportedly a possible destination.

Bayern chief executive Oliver Kahn describes Mueller as “an identification figure who carries the emblem of our club in his heart.

“He’s someone who takes leadership, plus he’s an important character with his manner in the dressing room,” Kahn added.

Since turning pro with Bayern in 2008, Mueller has made 624 appearances, scoring 226 goals and creating 242 more.

He was also part of Bayern squads which won the Champions League title in both 2013 and 2020.

Source: AFP

Former tennis star Boris Becker was on Friday jailed for two and a half years after being found guilty by a British court of charges relating to his 2017 bankruptcy.

The six-time Grand Slam champion, 54, will serve half of the term having been convicted at Southwark Crown Court in London over his transfer of huge amounts of money from his business account.

He also failed to declare a property in Germany and concealed 825,000 euros ($866,500) of debt and shares in a tech firm.

He was acquitted earlier this month of a further 20 charges, including nine counts of failing to hand over trophies and medals he won during his glittering tennis career.

Becker told jurors he did not know the whereabouts of the memorabilia, including two of his three Wimbledon men’s singles trophies.

Judge Deborah Taylor had released Becker – who won Wimbledon as an unseeded teenager – on conditional bail ahead of her sentencing decision on Friday.

He arrived early for the hearing, wearing a striped purple and green tie in the Wimbledon colours, a white shirt and a charcoal grey suit.

He held hands with his partner Lilian de Carvalho Monteiro as he walked into court past a bank of waiting reporters and cameras.

The former world number one told the jury how his $50 million (£40 million) career earnings were swallowed up by a costly divorce from his first wife Barbara Becker, child maintenance payments and “expensive lifestyle commitments”.

Becker said he was “shocked” and “embarrassed” when he was declared bankrupt in June 2017 over an unpaid loan of more than £3 million on his estate in Mallorca, Spain.

The German, who has lived in Britain since 2012, said he had cooperated with trustees trying to secure his assets, even offering his wedding ring, and relied on the advisers who managed his life away from tennis.

But the former player, who was supported in court by his partner and eldest son Noah, was found guilty of four charges under the Insolvency Act.

‘Vast amount’

Giving evidence, Becker said he earned a “vast amount” of money during his career, paying cash for several properties.

But the German, who went on to coach current world number one tennis player Novak Djokovic, work as a TV sports commentator and act as a brand ambassador for firms including Puma, said his income “reduced dramatically” following his retirement in 1999.

Becker, who was resident in Monte Carlo and Switzerland before moving to the UK, said his financial commitments included his £22,000-a-month rented house in Wimbledon, south-west London.

He also owed the Swiss authorities five million francs (about $5.1 million) and separately just under one million euros in liabilities over a conviction for tax evasion and attempted tax evasion in Germany in 2002.

He said bad publicity had damaged “brand Becker”, meaning he struggled to make enough money to pay off his debts.

His lawyer Jonathan Laidlaw said at the time of his bankruptcy that Becker was too “trusting and reliant” on his advisers.

Becker, with a shock of strawberry-blond hair, shook up the tennis world in 1985 when he became Wimbledon’s youngest men’s singles champion at 17 and repeated the feat the following year.

Nicknamed “Boom Boom” Becker for his ferocious serve, he won Wimbledon for a third time in 1989.

He also won the Australian Open twice and the US Open during his glittering career, becoming the top-ranked player in the world in 1991.

Becker turned to commentary after his retirement, landing a high-profile role on the BBC, but he returned to the court in 2013 to guide Djokovic, helping the Serb win six more Grand Slam trophies before the pair parted ways in 2016.

Source: AFP

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp says he does not believe his new deal will be the deciding factor in whether star forwards Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane commit their long-term futures to the club.

Salah and Mane, along with fellow attacker Roberto Firmino and midfielder Naby Keita, have contracts that expire next year.

With Klopp now staying until 2026, there is a greater degree of security at the club, but the German is not convinced that will make a huge difference to individual players’ decisions.

“If it is a positive sign for the boys, great, but I don’t think this will be the one decisive thing for whatever decision they want to make,” he said on Friday.

“It is their own life but we just wanted to guarantee that everyone who wants to be here knows what he can expect.”

Egypt international Salah, whose negotiations have dragged on for several months, admitted last week it was not certain he would remain at Anfield, stressing the decision was not just about the money.

But Klopp said he did not make judgements about players’ loyalty based on whether they wanted to go elsewhere.

“If a player tells you early enough he wants to go then you have to deal with it,” Klopp said.

“I don’t judge people if they are loyal or not if they say during a contract ‘I want to go somewhere else and see what the weather is like or how the grass is there’.

“That’s not the case. I think you see loyalty in other areas.”

Salah was named the Football Writers’ Association player of the year on Friday.

Klopp takes his side to Newcastle for the early kick-off on Saturday, looking to put pressure on Premier League leaders Manchester City, who are playing later at Leeds, by opening up a two-point gap at the top.

With one foot in the Champions League final after a 2-0 win over Villarreal in the first leg of their semi-final and an FA Cup final against Chelsea next month, an unprecedented quadruple remains a possibility.

Klopp, whose side have already won the League Cup this season, said his new contract was the start of a new era at the club.

“We don’t think about changing the team in the next two or three years or whatever, but you have to prepare the little things so that you are ready for the future as well,” he said.

“That’s why I really think it’s a really good place to be or a good place to join, if not the perfect place.

“We cannot wait 10 years. We have to do it now. It’s no threat. This is only the start, to be honest. That’s the plan that we really, really go for it.”

Source: AFP

An own goal and a Sadio Mane strike earned Liverpool a 2-0 victory in their Champions League semi-final first-leg against Villarreal on Wednesday, putting Juergen Klopp’s side on course for their third European Cup final in five seasons.

Villarreal defended in numbers in the first half to frustrate the six-times European Cup winners, with Thiago Alcantara going closest to breaking the deadlock with a thunderous strike from distance that hit the post.

Liverpool turned it up a notch after the break and moments after Brazilian midfielder Fabinho had seen one effort ruled out for offside, Jordan Henderson’s cross was deflected into his own net by Pervis Estupinan to break Villarreal’s resistance.

Able to express themselves with the deadlock broken, Mohamed Salah threaded a sublime pass through for Mane to put the game beyond the visitors 133 seconds later.

Liverpool had chances to make the result more comprehensive, but will be firm favourites to finish the job in next week’s second leg in Spain.

Source: REUTERS

Mohamed Salah conceded playing against Manchester United this season has been “easy” after scoring twice in a 4-0 thrashing of the Red Devils at Anfield on Tuesday which sent Liverpool top of the Premier League.

Salah also scored a hat-trick as Liverpool ran riot to win 5-0 at Old Trafford when the sides last met in October.

“They make our life easier in the midfield and in the back,” said Salah. “They always try to give us the ball in a one-against-one situation so it makes our life much easier.

“When we defend, we had a clean sheet here and a clean sheet there.”

Salah had not scored for Liverpool from open play since February, but clicked back into form with the space offered by United’s disjointed defence to take his tally for the season to 30.

“I scored many goals for this club, it’s going to keep coming,” Salah added. “The most important thing is the team are winning.”

Victory took Liverpool two points ahead of Manchester City, but the English champions can regain top spot when they host Brighton on Wednesday.

Source: AFP