Liverpool brought Manchester United crashing down to earth in a stunning 7-0 rout at Anfield on Sunday. Only a week after winning the League Cup, United experienced their heaviest defeat in the Premier League and the club’s joint worst loss in all competitions. Cody Gakpo, Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah all struck twice and Roberto Firmino scored the other, with six of the goals coming in an explosive second-half performance. It also delivered a major blow to Erik ten Hag’s four-pronged pursuit of trophies, with a league title challenge now looking increasingly unlikely. Liverpool, meanwhile, took advantage of losses for top-four rivals Newcastle and Tottenham on Saturday to strengthen their bid to qualify for the Champions League. Salah became the Merseyside club’s all-time leading Premier League scorer with 129 goals. Liverpool may have endured a frustrating campaign so far as Jurgen Klopp’s side have struggled for consistency but Anfield was in raptures at the sight of fierce rival United being humbled on Merseyside. To add to that, the gap to fourth-place Tottenham is down to three points, with Liverpool still having a game in hand. While Liverpool eyed the top four, United knew anything other than a win would be a huge blow to its challenge for the title after Arsenal’s late 3-2 victory against Bournemouth on Saturday. History, however, was not on the visitors’ side, having failed to win at Anfield since 2016. United lost 4-0 in the same fixture last season. For all of United’s progress under Ten Hag, this was the latest test of his team’s nerve on the big occasion, having already seen losses at Manchester City and Arsenal this season. And seven days after the Dutch manager won his first trophy at United came this humiliating setback. Gakpo put Liverpool ahead in the 43rd minute when collecting Andrew Robertson’s pass. He immediately charged into the box, sidestepped Raphael Varane and then swept a shot past David de Gea and into the bottom corner. United’s players had been guilty of wasting chances of their own before that goal with Bruno Fernandes missing the target with a far post header and Marcus Rashford firing tamely at Alisson with only the goalkeeper to beat. If United fans expected a response after the break, they were instead left stunned by Liverpool’s explosive start to the second half. Nunez extended Liverpool’s lead when heading in Harvey Elliott’s cross after Luke Shaw failed to clear the ball. It was 3-0 in the 50th after Salah’s clever footwork beat Lisandro Martinez and he then clipped a pass for Gakpo to lift over De Gea. From there it went from bad to worse for Ten Hag as his team still tried to get back into the match. Liverpool ruthlessly exploited United’s ragged defence, with Salah making it 4-0 in the 66th and Nunez scoring again in the 75th. It was 6-0 when Salah scored in the 83rd and substitute Firmino stepped off the bench to score in the 88th. Liverpool’s seven goals came from just eight shots on target. Also read: Real Madrid routs Liverpool 5-2 in CL stunner at Anfield  

Australia won the Women’s T20 World Cup on Sunday, beating host South Africa by a comfortable 19 runs to underline their status as the best team in the world with a third straight title. Australia have now won six of the eight T20 World Cups played. The latest victory at Newlands came through a disciplined bowling and fielding effort from the Australians, who batted first and scored 156-6, then shut down South Africa’s batters, who never came close. South Africa finished well short on 137-6. “We felt like it was a good score but we had to bowl well,” Australia captain Meg Lanning said. “We had to put pressure on South Africa. It was about enjoying the process and doing what we were doing, about keeping things simple when the pressure is on.” Lanning has now led Australia to four T20 World Cup titles and one ODI World Cup title, more ICC tournament wins than any other captain in men’s or women’s cricket. Megan Schutt, Ashleigh Gardner, Darcie Brown and Jess Jonassen all took a wicket each for Australia, but it was a team effort in the field as the Aussies’ big-match temperament shone through. Read more: Tamim brushes off reports of 'rift' in Bangladesh dressing room Australia were playing in their seventh straight final. “You guys are very annoying,” South Africa captain Sune Luus said, jokingly, of Australia’s all-conquering squad. “But congratulations to Meg and the team. You are setting the benchmark for other teams to live up to.” Australia’s total was built on opener Beth Mooney’s 74 from 53 balls and 29 off 21 from Gardner, who was promoted to No. 3. No one else got to the 20 mark for Australia but it was enough. Opener Laura Wolvaardt top-scored for South Africa with 61 from 48 but Australia’s bowling was tight and disciplined throughout and the South Africans couldn’t ever break free. The hosts only had a glimpse of a chance when they needed 59 off the last five overs with Wolvaardt still there. Her partnership of 55 with Chloe Tryon (25) threatened to lead to a late challenge from South Africa, but Schutt trapped Wolvaardt lbw in the 17th over to break that stand and South Africa’s hopes of a first title in their first appearance in a final went with her. Tryon was out in the next over, two balls after cracking a six over long-on, and Australia closed it out, conceding just 39 runs off those last five overs.

Rangpur Riders beat Chattogram Challengers by seven wickets in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) on Wednesday in Mirpur. It was the last match of Chattogram in the league. They lost nine of the 12 matches they played. However, with today's win, Rangpur still have the chance to top the table. Chattogram won the toss and elected to bat first, but they were able to score only 132 runs for eight wickets in the allotted 20 overs. Rangpur Riders chased down the target in just 16 overs, scoring 135 runs for the loss of three wickets. Opener Max O'Dowd was dismissed for 11 off 9 balls while Usman Khan scored only two runs. Mehedi Maruf was caught by Hasan Mahmud off Haris Rauf after scoring four runs. Afif Hossain scored 15 runs with three boundaries. Tawfique Khan top scored 28 runs off 26 deliveries for Chattogram with three boundaries and a six. For Rangpur Riders, Haris took two wickets for just 14 runs in his four overs. Chasing 136 runs, Rangpur Riders started well as Mohammad Naim and Rony Talukdar put on a good partnership. Naim was the first wicket to fall, scoring 20 runs off 12 deliveries. Talukdar scored 28 runs off 27 deliveries. Rahmanullah Gurbaz top scored 46 runs off just 30 deliveries for Rangpur Riders. After his dismissal, Nurul Hasan and Tom Kohler-Cadmore played responsible innings to take their team over the line. Nurul scored 15 not out and Kohler-Cadmore 20 not out. In their last league phase match, Rangpur will take on Comilla Victorians on February 10. Read more: BPL observes one-minute silence for earthquake victims in Turkey, Syria

East End Club earned a 3-0 win over Victoria Sporting Club in the Bashundhara Group Metropolis Senior (First)  Division Football League at the Kamalapur Stadium here on Saturday. Nur Nabi Samrat, Hasan Chowdhury and Laxman Chandra Barman scored one each for the winners, which dominated the first half by 1-0 goal. Emon Barua of East End Club got marching orders after receiving 2nd yellow card in the match. In the day's another match, Mugda Samaj Kallyan and Krira Sangsad beat Friends Social Welfare Organization by 3-2 goals at the same venue. Read: Football League: BG Press beat Little Friends Club 2-0 Munna Biswas, Al Amin and Atikur Rahman scored one each for Mugda team while Mohammad Shawon and Badhan Kanti Shil netted for Friends SWO.The day's other league match between Jatrabari KC and PWD Sporting Club ended in a goalless draw at the same venue Jahidul Hasan Dalim of Jatrabari KC received a red card in the match.

Dániel Gazdag scored on a penalty kick in the 79th minute to lift the Philadelphia Union to a 2-1 victory over the New England Revolution on Saturday. Gazdag's ninth goal of the season for Eastern Conference-leading Philadelphia (10-2-9) came four minutes after Mikael Uhre pulled the Union even with his seventh netter. Gustavo Bou's seventh goal of the campaign — all in the last eight matches — gave New England (6-7-7) a 1-0 lead in the 61st minute. The Union had a 20-18 advantage in shots, but the Revolution had a 7-6 edge in shots on goal. Read: BPL Football: Police FC beat Muktijoddha SKC by 4-1 goal Andre Blake had five saves for Philadelphia. Djordje Petrovic saved four for New England. Gazdag opened the scoring last time out with a PK goal in the 26th minute in the Union's 2-1 win over Inter Miami.

Left-arm spinner Nasum Ahmed won the player of the match award in his second ODI match, as Bangladesh beat the West Indies by nine wickets to win the ODI series Wednesday at the Providence Stadium in Guyana. Bangladesh won the first ODI at the same venue by six wickets. "The dressing room wasn't the happiest (after the Tests and T20Is), but everyone was eager to win. It feels great to win, but there is still room for improvement. And we need to tick more boxes," Bangladesh captain Tamim Iqbal told the media. Nasum bagged three wickets after Bangladesh chose to bowl first. The Tigers managed to restrict their hosts to 108/10 in 35 overs. Nicholas Pooran, West Indian captain, made a golden duck. Keemo Paul, the number eight batter, scored the most runs (25) for the hosts. Read: Shakib to skip West Indies ODIs, Zimbabwe tour In the absence of Shakib Al Hasan, right-arm all-rounder Mehidy Hasan Miraz bowled superbly, picking up four wickets and conceding only 29 runs in eight overs. In reply to the West Indies' 108, Bangladesh won the match in just 20.4 overs, with Tamim scoring an unbeaten 50, and Liton Das 32. The visitors did not include Anamul Haque in the team. The right-handed batter did well in the 50-over format at the domestic level but failed to bring his form to the international format. He played five innings in the ongoing tour and managed to pass the 20-run mark only once. Also read: ENG vs IND 2nd ODI 2022: India eye series win at Lord’s The last ODI of this series will be played on July 16 at the same venue.   Ahead of the ODI series, Bangladesh lost both the Test and T20I series against the hosts.

Hosts Rajshahi and Mymensingh District earned convincing victories in the final round of the Bangamata National Women’s Football Championship at the Shaheed Muktijoddha Smriti Stadium in Rajshahi on Monday. In the day’s first match, hosts Rajshahi District, riding on a hat-trick by Shornali, earned an easy 8-0 goals victory over Nilphamari District. Rajshahi led the first half by 3-0 goals. Also read: Bangamata Football: Ansar & VDP crush Satkhira 12-0 Shornali scored four goals for the home team in the 6th, 12th, 48th and 88th minutes respectively to complete a hat-trick. Sita netted twice in the 28th and 80th minutes while Shampa and Afroza added one more goal each in the 67th and 71st minutes. In the day’s other match, a brilliant hat-trick by Selina guided Mymensingh to crush Magura District by 10-0 goals. Also read: Fed Cup Football: Dhaka Abahani clinch season’s 2nd consecutive trophy Selina scorrd four goals in the 2nd, 43rd, 81st and 89th minutes, Shikha and Amena netted two goals each while Ronnie and Salam scored one each for Mymensingh.

Touring Bangladesh National Cricket Team are looking for a consolation win against Pakistan when they lock horns in the 3rd and last game of the three-match T20 series at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on Monday.