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Guardiola: Salah, Mane, Firmino 'almost unstoppable'

Ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League quarter-final first-leg clash, Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has described Liverpool’s front-three as “almost unstoppable.”

The only venue where City has tasted defeat in the Premier League this season, Anfield plays host to a tilt between England’s two remaining clubs in Europe’s marquee contest, and Guardiola is full of praise for Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino, and Sadio Mane.

“Not just (Salah), Mane and Firmino, all three, they are almost unstoppable. They are fantastic, fantastic players,” Guardiola said following Saturday’s 3-1 victory over Everton, per ESPN FC’s Jonathan Smith.

“The way Liverpool plays is so complicated for us. We know that. They are so quick, they are so good and it is tough, but it is (the) quarterfinal of Champions League so we cannot expect, in that level, something is going to be easy.”

The triumvirate was at its best during the January win over the runaway league leader, exchanging goals during a nine-minute second-half spell of relentless pressure and probing attacks.

The three players have combined for 73 goals and 28 assists in all competitions, but Guardiola insists the high-scoring trio isn’t the only obstacle his team faces in reaching a second Champions League semi-final in three years.

“We play against ourselves and say ‘that is the target, we have to overcome.’ We will be able or not able to overcome that. If we are able, okay, semi-finals,” Guardiola added. “If we are not able, congratulations Liverpool and next season we will be back stronger but we are going to try.”

NFL

Gronk 'pretty certain' he'll return, sources say

As New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski weighs his future, sources close to him say he has recently expressed that he is more likely to continue his football career than retire at 28 years old.

Gronkowski still hasn’t made a decision, but despite serious considerations since the end of the season of retiring because of physical and mental fatigue, sources say he is “pretty certain” he’ll come back as long as Tom Brady remains with the team.

However, this dose of good news for Patriots fans comes with some dilution: Lingering frustrations remain between Gronkowski and head coach Bill Belichick, along with others in the Patriots organization, according to sources close to each side. Whether those frustrations on either side will impact Gronkowski’s return to the team remains the final piece to this unfinished puzzle.

For Gronkowski, the physical anguish of the 2017 season, which led him late in the regular season to tell people that he was likely to retire, was paired with some mental fatigue from the high-strung culture within the Patriots organization, sources said. Nothing has occurred since the end of the season to convince him that is going to change — and Gronkowski knows he’ll need to be ready for a similar toll on his mind and body if he returns in 2018.

Although Rob Gronkowski is “pretty certain” he’ll be back with the Patriots as long as Tom Brady stays, lingering frustrations remain between Gronkowski and coach Bill Belichick, along with others in the organization, according to sources. AP Photo/Chris O’Meara

For Belichick, since the season’s end, sources say he has expressed frustration with those close to him about Gronkowski, specifically questioning whether he remains “all-in,” a critical aspect of Belichick’s blueprint for success.

Examples of Belichick’s frustrations are as nuanced as his discontent with Gronkowski’s message in a recent Instagram post regarding former Patriots wide receiver Danny Amendola, who left New England to sign a contract with the Miami Dolphins. Beneath a video of him hugging Amendola that Gronkowski posted on March 14, he wrote, in part, “Be FREE, Be HAPPY (sic).”

Should the offseason continue to create a sense within Gronkowski that he is fully committed to football, many close to Gronkowski and Belichick say they believe the friction between the two will ease. Although the discord should not be discounted, as one source explained, it should not be viewed as irreconcilable.

For now, the situation surrounding Gronkowski continues to percolate behind the scenes while all sides remain generally vague in public forums. With the NFL draft still more than three weeks away, there is time for the situation to rectify itself.

Should the silence linger deeper into April, however, all possibilities remain on the table.

Soccer

Messi available for Barcelona's clash with Sevilla

Sevilla’s hopes that Lionel Messi would sit out Saturday’s match were dealt a blow after the Argentine superstar was named to Barcelona’s matchday squad for the important La Liga encounter.

Sevilla manager Vincenzo Montella admitted he’d prefer Messi sit out the match, but his counterpart, Ernesto Valverde, included the star in his 18-man squad despite his injury-enforced absence during a pair of Argentina’s friendlies.

However, Valverde may elect to rest Messi, who was dealing with a hamstring problem, with an eye on ensuring he is fit for Barcelona’s Champions League clash with Roma on Wednesday.

News of the 30-year-old’s inclusion won’t sit well with Montella, who, according to Adriana Garcia of ESPN FC, said: “We hope Messi rests for (Wednesday’s) game but it wouldn’t surprise me if he played.”

Meanwhile, Nelson Semedo and Denis Suarez will also be available after overcoming their respective injuries.

NFL

Horse named for Gronk to run Kentucky Derby

A horse named after New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski is set to race at the Kentucky Derby.

The thoroughbred, aptly named Gronkowski, won the Burradon Stakes in England on Friday, qualifying the Kentucky-bred colt for the venerable May 5 race at Churchill Downs.

For the first time, the race is allotting one spot in the 20-horse field to a European-based horse. Trained by Jeremy Noseda and ridden by Jamie Spencer, Gronkowski moved ahead of Mendelssohn on the European Derby leaderboard.

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“We’ve had this dream, and now the dream is alive,” Noseda told At The Races after the horse’s victory.

Gronkowski (the football player) has attended The Run for the Roses in the past, taking in the sites and sounds of Millionaires Row alongside teammate Tom Brady and others.

Kerri Radcliffe of Phoenix Thoroughbreds, which owns the horse, said his height — the same as the Patriots star (6-foot-5) — and size of the horse made it an appropriate name.

“I love the New England Patriots, and as Rob Gronkowski is 6-5 and about the same wide, I thought it would be an appropriate name for the horse, as he’s built much the same,” Radcliffe told the Racing Post last month.

Gronkowski (the horse) has finished first in his last four races, with two victories coming in March.

“It sounds strange, but I haven’t yet seen on the racetrack what I believe this horse is capable of. I’m sure there’s more to come,” Noseda said.

Mendelssohn will try to qualify for the Kentucky Derby through the main Derby leaderboard with a victory Saturday in the UAE Derby. Another spot in the Kentucky Derby field is being allotted to a Japan-based colt.

ESPN’s Darren Rovell and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Soccer