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SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (AP) — Two people were rescued when a California pier under construction partially collapsed and fell into the ocean Monday as the state’s central coast was pounded by heavy surf from a major storm expected to bring hurricane-force winds to the seas off the Pacific Northwest, authorities said. Residents were warned to stay away from low-lying areas near the beaches around the Santa Cruz Wharf, about 70 miles (112 kilometers) south of San Francisco, as the storm rapidly gained strength. “You are risking your life, and those of the people that would need to try and save you by getting in or too close to the water,” the National Weather Service’s Bay Area office said on the social platform X. Lifeguards rescued two people from the water and a third person was able to swim to safety, officials with Santa Cruz Fire Department said. No one had serious injuries, Mayor Fred Keeley said. The mayor said the section of the wharf that collapsed had been damaged over time. The structure was in the middle of a $4 million renovation following destructive storms last winter. Tony Elliot, the head of the Santa Cruz Parks & Recreation Department, estimated that about 150 feet (45 meters) of the end of the wharf fell into the water around 12:45 p.m. It was immediately evacuated and will remain closed indefinitely. RELATED COVERAGE Elaborate holiday light displays are making spirits bright in a big way No. 23 San Diego State wins its fifth straight game by beating California 71-50 Canyon de Chelly in Arizona will become latest national park unit to ban commercial air tours Some of the wharf’s pilings are still in the ocean and remain “serious, serious hazards,” the mayor said. Each piling weighs hundreds of pounds and is being pushed by powerful waves. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s has been briefed and the state’s Office of Emergency Services is coordinating with local officials, his office said. Ocean swells along California’s central coast could reach 26 feet (8 meters) as the Pacific storm gains strength through Monday, the weather service said. “A rapidly developing storm will bring hurricane force winds to the areas well offshore of the Pacific Northwest tonight,” the weather service’s Ocean Prediction Center said on X. Winds off Oregon and Washington could peak near 80 mph (130 kph) and seas will build over 30 feet (9.1 meters), forecasters said. The end of the pier that broke off had been shut down during renovations. The portion, which included the closed Dolphin Restaurant, floated about half a mile (0.8 kilometers) down the coast and wedged itself at the bottom of the San Lorenzo River. Those who fell into the water were two engineers and a project manager who were inspecting the end of the wharf, officials said. No members of the public were in the area. Building inspectors were now looking at the rest of the Santa Cruz Wharf’s structural integrity. Monday’s collapse came about a year after the Seacliff State Beach pier just down the coast was battered beyond repair by a heavy winter storm. ___ Dazio reported from Los Angeles.It’s doubtful anyone in Liverpool ever walked into a dressing room saying: ‘We wanted Winston Churchill.’ No matter, they may have their own Dutch version of him anyway. Among his many qualities, Arne Slot evidently knows how to deliver a half-time rally cry. While securing victory in Girona to guarantee qualification to the Champions League round of 16, Liverpool continued their happy knack of improving with time. Twenty of the past 24 Liverpool goals have arrived in the second half – most after the 60th minute – which depending on your point of view means they are worryingly slow starters or love a big finish. Slot is unimpressed by this contradiction and issued rousing messages post-match too, criticising his players for their lack of application in a first half in which they were grateful goalkeeper Alisson marked his comeback with the kind of performance that underlined his status as the world’s number one. “If you ask me about all the six [Champions League] games, I’m really pleased with all the results,” said Slot. “I’m really pleased with the first five games, but I’m far from pleased about the performance tonight. “If you play against a team that has such a good idea about football and knows how to bring the ball out from the back like some of the teams we’ve played recently, such as Real Madrid and Manchester City, you need to be so intense if you want to make it difficult for them. “But if you are waiting a few seconds to press them then this team can cause you a lot of problems. Every time we lost the ball, we were not aggressive enough and they could go almost all the way to our goal and have a shot.” This is not the first public dressing down from Slot to remind his players of standards. There are occasions – albeit rare – when this extraordinarily talented group of players looks like it wants to win in second gear. They are at their most thrillingly effective at their famed ‘full throttle’ without the ball as much as with it, and Slot does not want them to slack off. He must be tired of giving the same speech during the break. Whatever messages he and his coaching team are dispatching during the intervals, his team keeps re-emerging re-energised with tactical problems solved, the momentum of games more often than not irreversibly shifting towards the Champions League and Premier League leaders. Such attention to detail is becoming a feature of Slot’s debut campaign, like a grandmaster making the necessary adjustment having rapidly assessed where his opponent is trying to strike. After Alisson’s first-half brilliance, Mohamed Salah was the inevitable attacking catalyst for victory here, his 63rd-minute penalty ending Girona’s resistance to preserve Liverpool’s 100 per cent Champions League record. That followed a prolonged period of Liverpool possession which, while also a feature of the first half, had included several lapses where the home side could have benefited from counter-attacks. Such frequent surges were snuffed out as the game progressed. This still wasn’t as straightforward as previous European victories, the evening putting one in mind of a tight away fixture at an unfashionable English stadium more than an intimidating Uefa tie. That is not surprising given how many players familiar to Premier League football were in the home line-up. Slot’s decision to pick his strongest available XI and leave out the unlucky Caoimhin Kelleher was vindicated. Alisson was called upon five times in the first 50 minutes, his capacity to make the difficult look straightforward asserting his class. This excellence laid the foundation so when former Manchester United midfielder Donny van de Beek fouled Luis Díaz, Mohamed Salah could take the points. Salah strikes again from the penalty spot! 💥 📺 & — Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) “We have an incredible goalkeeper. Alisson has been so important for so many years and showed why he is, in my opinion, one of the best or the best in the world,” said Slot. Liverpool could have led sooner but squandered numerous first-half chances. Darwin Núñez remains the great Liverpool enigma, the arguments still raging as to whether Slot’s side can maintain their dominance at home and in Europe without a free-scoring number nine. No Anfield striker has embraced the phrase ‘hit and miss’ so eagerly as Núñez, his moments of quality so often caveated because of his tendency to squander routine chances, albeit while converting the spectacular. In any normal season, a central striker scoring just three goals heading to Christmas would be a cause for concern. The issue has been camouflaged by the reliability of others, especially Salah who continues to press home his case for that new deal. Diogo Jota has more goals than Nunez in this campaign and he has not played for six weeks. Nothing has happened in Jota’s absence to suggest he will not assume senior status when he returns in the coming weeks. Núñez’s defenders will point out he is working harder than ever and still making the runs beyond defenders in the hope of a decisive pass. For much of the season, he has cut a frustrated figure when not receiving the necessary assists. This was more of the Núñez of last season as opportunities came and went, the Uruguayan embracing the hit-and-hope theory to shoot directly at keeper Paulo Gazzaniga after perfect through-balls from Ryan Gravenberch and Salah. Rather than pay the penalty for wastefulness and carelessness, Liverpool won with one. The fixer Slot is recognising and correcting flaws as Liverpool march on. 07:50 PM GMT Liverpool have won six out of six And top the group by five points from Inter. 07:40 PM GMT Mo’s half-century Mo Salah is the first player in Liverpool's history to score 5️⃣0️⃣ goals in European competitions 👑 — Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) 07:36 PM GMT Full time: Girona 0 Liverpool 1 Salah plays a neat one-two with Szoboszlai, the latter’s contribution a cute flick, and then bends a left foot shot into a defender and behind for a corner, that comes to naught and prompts the ref to blow for time. 07:34 PM GMT 90+3 min: Girona 0 Liverpool 1 Stuani is penalised for grabbing Gomez round the neck as they fought to head Asprilla’s cross. 07:33 PM GMT 90+2 min: Girona 0 Liverpool 1 Frances jumps into the back of Gakpo with no hope of winning the ball. Having just been yellow-carded that was stupid. But the referee lets him off. 07:31 PM GMT 90 min: Girona 0 Liverpool 1 Liverpool have hardly been mesmerising but they have been efficient, Alisson showed his class and they exploited a daft mistake form Van de Beek. We will have four minutes of stoppage time. 07:29 PM GMT 88 min: Girona 0 Liverpool 1 Booking for Frances for wrestling Gakpo over as he tried to power past him. 07:28 PM GMT 86 min: Girona 0 Liverpool 1 Alexander-Arnold bends the free-kick over the wall and Gazzaniga moves a yard to his right to tip it over. Then Gazzaniga starts going mad because there are now two balls on the pitch and makes out that Liverpool are timewasting by ignoring it and refusing to boot the interloper off. Girona defend the corner solidly. 07:26 PM GMT 84 min: Girona 0 Liverpool 1 Elliott shimmies and gulls Juanpe who brings him down rather than let him go past. Free-kick 25 yards out, dead centre. Gazzaniga protested swearily that he couldn’t line up his wall because Alexander-Arnold would not place the ball. He was holding it in his arms. 07:24 PM GMT 82 min: Girona 0 Liverpool 1 Shot from Martin after a cute lay-off from Stuani is blocked on the 18-yard line and then Van Dijk heads Asprilla’s resulting cross out. 07:22 PM GMT 80 min: Girona 0 Liverpool 1 Liverpool are doing a fine containment job now. Taking off Gil and Danjuma has robbed Girona of pace. 07:21 PM GMT 78 min: Girona 0 Liverpool 1 Salah floats a deep cross out. Booking for Gomez for standing on the veteran Stuani’s heel. His screams would make the dead shiver. 07:19 PM GMT 76 min: Girona 0 Liverpool 1 Gakpo is playing down the left and Diaz in the middle. Elliott as a kind of inside-right. 07:18 PM GMT 74 min: Girona 0 Liverpool 1 Van de Beek is penalised for a foul on his former Ajax team-mate Gravenberch. That’s the last contribution of Van de Beek who is hooked off along with another former Ajax man. More subs: Elliott → Jones and Solis → Van de Beek Martin → Blind 07:16 PM GMT 72 min: Girona 0 Liverpool 1 Szoboszlai ‘wins’ a corner that should have been a goal-kick but the referee did not see the double rebound. Girona head it out to the right where Van de Beek is knocked off the ball much to his disgust and he protests when the referee waves play on. But Girona see off the second phase of Liverpool’s attack. 07:13 PM GMT 70 min: Girona 0 Liverpool 1 Stuani → Gil Portu → Danjuma. Slot, who had Elliott and Gakpo stripped before the goal, opts for only the one change: Gakpo → Nunez. 07:09 PM GMT 67 min: Girona 0 Liverpool 1 Diaz is fouled by Frances as he ran down the Liverpool left but the ref, inexplicably to these eyes, waves play on. Twenty of the last 23 Liverpool goals have come in the second half. Slot’s half-time team talks must be Churchillian. He certainly goes to the same barber, Chris. 07:08 PM GMT 65 min: Girona 0 Liverpool 1 Girona rally well from their disappointment twice to get in shooting distance without finding the guile or luck to beat Alisson. 07:03 PM GMT GOAL! Left corner about halfway up the post, having sent Gazzaniga the other way. Salah strikes again from the penalty spot! 💥 📺 & — Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) Not saying they took ages to review that penalty decision, but Salah could have signed two more contract extensions before the VAR finally advised the referee to take a look. 07:03 PM GMT Liverpool penalty Van de Beek throws up his arms. It was a daft decision to try to tackle him from that position. 07:02 PM GMT 59 min: Girona 0 Liverpool 0 Diaz wants a penalty and there is a VAR check when he seems to slip in the box when shaping to shoot and Van de Beek steps on his heel with one foot and hooks the second around him. Lengthy delay. The ref is sent to the screen. 06:59 PM GMT 57 min: Girona 0 Liverpool 0 Alexander-Arnold pings over a dipping cross from the right that seems to be arrowing towards Nunez but Krejci gets there first. Slot sends his subs out to warm up, Gakpo at their head. Can only be a matter of time before Cody Gakpo comes on. Reckon Nunez has ten minutes to make sure he isn’t the one hooked. 06:57 PM GMT 55 min: Girona 0 Liverpool 0 Diaz is booked unjustly for slipping, his momentum taking him into Frances as he fell and clipping him at most. 06:55 PM GMT 53 min: Girona 0 Liverpool 0 Nunez receives the ball, back-to-goal, on the right of the box after Diaz wriggles through on a diagonal run and hits a pass that Szoboszlai dummies. Nunez receives it and then tries to dink it over the centre-halves for Diaz, who had continued his run, but wafts it out for a goal-kick. 06:52 PM GMT 51 min: Girona 0 Liverpool 0 Brilliant from Danjuma with his dribble down the left, bursting past Szoboszlai and then nutmegging Alexander-Arnold but when he goes one-on-one with Alisson, albeit at an angle, he pokes his foot too far under the ball and scoops it miles over the bar. From the sublime... 06:50 PM GMT 48 min: Girona 0 Liverpool 0 Danjuma sprays a left-foot shot wide after Van de Beek won the ball off Jones, made 35 yarsd and then laid it off to Asprilla to tee up the former Everton loanee. 06:48 PM GMT 46 min: Girona 0 Liverpool 0 No half-time changes and Girona pile forward from the kick-off down the left after a Liverpool error and Danjuma thunders a shot that Alisson bats away with his raised forearms. Liverpool break from the rebound and fly up the right but Szoboszlai, who has not had much impact, shanks a cross/shot that falls between both stools. 06:43 PM GMT Inspired Girona Raring to go 🔥 A look inside the Girona's changing room moments before kick off 👀 📺 & — Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) 06:34 PM GMT Half-time verdict Plenty of chances in a game which has shaped up how one might have anticipated last weekend’s Mersey derby had it gone ahead, Girona sitting back and waiting for counter-attacks while Liverpool try to break a low block defence. Nunez should have had a couple, but Alisson has been the visitors’ best player. 06:33 PM GMT Half-time: Girona 0 Liverpool 0 Very enjoyable first half in terms of competitive balance, much better than a lot of the unbalanced dreck we have seen in some games in this bloated phase. Liverpool are crying out for Jota’s return given the erratic nature of Nunez’s finishing. he could have had a couple of goals but then again So could Girona but for Alisson’s sharpness. 06:31 PM GMT 45 min: Girona 0 Liverpool 0 Chance for Liverpool at the death when the left-wing cross from Robertson is back-headed by Nunez but it won’t come down quick enough for Salah who has to have a swing at it instead. The block ends the half, bang on 45 minutes. 06:29 PM GMT 44 min: Girona 0 Liverpool 0 Danjuma breaks into a broad smile when Romeu wins the ball in midfield and triggers a counter and he uses Blind’s decoy run down the left to come infield and shoot... towards the corner flag. 06:28 PM GMT 42 min: Girona 0 Liverpool 0 Gil hits the deck when brushed off by Diaz and earns a free-kick. May have been a foul but he hammed that dive up disgracefully. 06:26 PM GMT 40 min: Girona 0 Liverpool 0 Alisson catches the corner. He’s had a proper workout on his comeback. 06:24 PM GMT 38 min: Girona 0 Liverpool 0 Fine save from Alisson, diving to his left to stop Asprilla’s pile-driver with his left from the left of the D. Liverpool are not managing the space between defence and midfield well, Jones at fault that time for losing the ball. 06:23 PM GMT 36 min: Girona 0 Liverpool 0 Alisson backpedals to catch the cross and then bowls the ball out to Salah who storms up the right and feeds Nunez with the kind of cross that John Toshack would have devoured. Nunez looks to lay it off instead and it goes away. Back come Liverpool and they work it back to the No9 who smashes his shot into a pair of white-socked shins. If Liverpool had a No9 with a killer instinct, they might win the quadruple. Nunez remains hit and miss and miss and miss... 06:20 PM GMT 34 min: Girona 0 Liverpool 0 Girona corner on the left after Miguel’s whippy cross hit the first defender. Alisson swat the corner out but Girona win the second ball and push forward. Diaz goes to sleep and lets Frances lurk alone at the edge of the box and when the ball falls to him Gravenberch has to put it behind for another corner. 06:18 PM GMT 32 min: Girona 0 Liverpool 0 Nunez’s very high and quick press puts Krejici under a bit of pressure and his clearance loops up off Nunez’s leg and swirls across the six-yard box. Gazzaniga catches it at full stretch. 06:16 PM GMT 30 min: Girona 0 Liverpool 0 Girona are giving Liverpool a proper battle now. I feared for them after 10 minutes. 06:15 PM GMT 28 min: Girona 0 Liverpool 0 Alisson comes out of the area to the edge of the D to stop Alexander-Arnold’s softish header being stolen by Danjuma. Earlier Gazzaniga diddled Nunez in his own six-yard box with a drag-back and pass. Had it not come off, Nunez would have had an open goal. Cojones. 06:13 PM GMT 26 min: Girona 0 Liverpool 0 Diaz scoots up the byline from the left with dazzling feet. He is pursued by Frances who cannot catch him but Juanpe gets over to effect a jammy double rebound that stops it going for a corner and gives Girona a goal-kick instead. After a submissive start, Girona are growing in confidence, although suspect a couple of their chances would have been ruled out for offside had they taken them. Left back Miguel Gutiérrez looks decent. One to watch. 06:10 PM GMT 24 min: Girona 0 Liverpool 0 Good defending at the subsequent corner should have triggered another raiding party from Girona but Asprilla messes up the release pass, Liverpool intercept and send Salah down the line to whip a cross in that Nunez cannot turn in under heavy pressure from Juanpe. 06:08 PM GMT 22 min: Girona 0 Liverpool 0 Liverpool with a short one-two at the corner to change the angle for Alexander-Arnold who whips a cross through the six-yard box from a spot about parallel with the 18-yard line. Miguel heads it behind for a corner. 06:06 PM GMT 20 min: Girona 0 Liverpool 0 Liverpool corner earned by the underlapping Robertson. Impressive how Girona have managed their tempo and clicked into rapid counters when given the chance. 06:05 PM GMT 18 min: Girona 0 Liverpool 0 Girona have been troubling Liverpool in the inside-left channel and Miguel is flourishing there, striding between Gomez and Alexander-Arnold to blast a shot on goal. Alisoon slaps it away with one hand and Gil blazes over having trapped the ball nicely to set up a left-foot shot from 18 yards. 06:02 PM GMT 16 min: Girona 0 Liverpool 0 Gil’s tenacity after running on to a pass from Asprilla gets him up off the floor having slipped 18 yards out to stab a shot into teh scrambling and horizontal Alisson’s chest. 06:00 PM GMT 14 min: Girona 0 Liverpool 0 Liverpool break like lightning themselves from Alisson’s throw and Salah bombs down the right, two v two but opts for the shot rather than playing in Nunez who was peeling towards the far post, but slices it wide. 05:59 PM GMT 12 min: Girona 0 Liverpool 0 But now Girona do break and fly into the counter-attack with Miguel down the left after exchanging passes with Danjuma and beating Alexander-Arnold’s attempt to catch him offside. He fizzes a left-foot cross that Blind swings and misses at in the centre and then Gil mis-hits his shot, scuffing it and Alisson grabs it at the second attempt. 05:57 PM GMT 10 min: Girona 0 Liverpool 0 It’s all Liverpool who are encamped 40 yards out and Girona simply can’t hold on to the ball when they win it back, so snappy is Liverpool’s press. Joe Gomez’s shot to goal ratio in his Liverpool career is probably 100 to 0. He’s getting closer though... 05:54 PM GMT 8 min: Girona 0 Liverpool 0 Darwin Nunez has a very good opportunity down the inside left of the box when played in by Gravenberch but he puts his laces through it, opting for sheer power rather than placement, and fires it straight at Gazzaniga. 05:52 PM GMT 7 min: Girona 0 Liverpool 0 Blind hooks a pass up the left for Miguel to chase but he loses control by the touchline and though he claims a throw-in, he had the last touch. 05:50 PM GMT 5 min: Girona 0 Liverpool 0 A delay while Blind is told not to manhandle Gravenberch and/or block Van Dijk. Then Robertson whips the corner to the near post. Gomez gets on his pogo stick to meet it with a towering header that Gazzaniga bats over. From the second corner Gazzaniga runs through the six-yard box to slap it away, not entirely convincingly. 05:48 PM GMT 3 min: Girona 0 Liverpool 0 Miguel Gutierrez makes a mess of his attempt to play out from the back and concedes a corner on the right to Liverpool. 05:48 PM GMT 2 min: Girona 0 Liverpool 0 Gravenberch looks for Nunez with a long, aerial pass down the inside-left that floats down Gazzaniga’s throat. 05:47 PM GMT 1 min: Girona 0 Liverpool 0 Apologies – it’s not checks. It’s some kind of pattern I cannot name. Liverpool kick off and give Alisson an immediate touch and the returning keeper chips it long up the left. Girona give it straight back and Liverpool sweep the ball across defence then across midfield, Alexander-Arnold joining both lines. 05:44 PM GMT Out come the teams Girona are wearing their home kit of red and white checks, Liverpool in what the club, I kid you not, says is ‘Night Forest green and Anthracite with flashes of Washed Teal and Sail’ 05:35 PM GMT Arne Slot speaks to TNT Sports It feels really good to have Alisson back, firstly for him but also for us. We didn’t want to take any risk with him but we believe he’s absolutely ready. They have all these flags here so it’s a special occasion for Girona. It’s always a special occasion when Liverpool come. Our players are so experienced, they’ve played in so many different environments, so many stadiums. They know what it’s like to play Champions League. Some of them have won it, some have been in finals, some have been at the club when they haven’t qualified. The stadium is not so big but the style of play of Girona is something to be aware of. 05:20 PM GMT Small ground, big wages Girona’s owners have clearly invested more on players’ salaries than the infrastructure of their stadium. This is comfortably the smallest Champions League venue I can remember watching Liverpool play in. Around 10,000 fans expected this evening as some of the temporary stands are closed. Liverpool were allocated about 500 tickets. 05:12 PM GMT Girona’s tactic Michel generally prefers 4-2-3-1 so I presume Miguel will play alongside Romeu in the central two with Van de Beek in the 10 role and the three ostensibly wide forwards, Gil, Asprilla and Danjuma rotating or leaving Danjuma to play through the middle mainly. Danjuma scored two goals in the opening two games of the season starting as a central striker for Villarreal this season before being sent out on loan for the third season in succession. 04:58 PM GMT Looks familiar Girona resemble an ex-Premier League journeyman XI. Donny van de Beek probably has the most to prove as you can be sure many viewers will be watching the coverage tonight and asking: ‘Didn’t he used to play for Manchester United?’ To which the right answers will, of course, be ‘yes’ and ‘well, sort of’. 04:56 PM GMT And now for those of you watching in black and white... Gazzaniga; Frances, Juanpe, Krejci, Blind, Miguel; Van de Beek, Romeu; Asprilla, Gil, Danjuma. Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, Van Dijk, Robertson; Gravenberch, Jones; Salah, Szoboszlai, Diaz; Nunez. Benoit Bastien (France). 04:46 PM GMT Girona’s team news LINE-UP! ❤️🤍 — Girona FC (@GironaFC_Engl) 04:43 PM GMT Kelleher’s misfortune Is Caoimhin Kelleher the unluckiest keeper in the world? The Irish No 1 has been outstanding since deputising for Allison – the late equaliser for Newcastle in his last match his only blemish. But it’s back to deputising for the Brazilian. It speaks volumes for Kelleher that Arne Slot has had no need to rush Alisson back. Slot has picked a strong line-up, which is no doubt a response to last weekend’s derby cancellation. Win tonight and Liverpool are sure of being in the knockout stages. 04:37 PM GMT Liverpool team news Alisson returns: How we line up to take on Girona 💫🟢 — Liverpool FC (@LFC) 03:29 PM GMT Betting on the match today? Take a look at for free bets and betting offers 03:26 PM GMT Preview: Liverpool eye six in a row Good afternoon and welcome to live coverage of the Champions League match between Girona and Liverpool from Estadi Montilivi. This match is the sixth round of bloated group-stage fixtures and features the teams who were third in their national leagues last season but their fortunes so far could scarcely be more contrasting: Liverpool, who have won five out of five, sit top of the 36-team group and have already qualified for the knockout stage following victories over Milan, Bologna, RB Leipzig, Bayer Leverkusen and Real Madrid; Girona are 30th with one won – over Slovan Bratislava – and defeats by Paris Saint-Germain, Feyenoord, PSV and Sturm Graz. The Catalans are ninth in La Liga and it’s not hard to see why they have struggled compared with last year. One should note that historically, they are punching well above their weight even if their profile and clout have been transformed since the City Football Group’s takeover in 2017. But the driving forces of last year’s standout season – Artem Dovbyk, who scored 24 goals, Savinho, who bagged 11 and Aleix García, their ‘Rodri’ – have all been sold and their replacements, the returning Oriol Romeu, Bryan Gil and Abel Ruiz, are yet to click. Their squad is rammed with familiar names from England’s top two tiers – Daley Blind, Donny van de Beek, Paulo Gazzaniga, Arnaut Danjuna, Christhian Stuani, Romeu, Gil and Yáser Asprilla – and Michel is such a terrific coach it is not inconceivable that he could succeed Pep Guardiola if they are willing to hire on reputation rather than name. Victory for Liverpool, who play Lille and PSV in their final two matches after Christmas, would put them one point away from an automatic bye into the last 16 which will save them two matches as they plot their charge for a Premier League and European double. Alisson is available again after 66 days out but the loss of Ibrahima Konaté‘s aerial power is not easily covered and ought to be something to consider in the January window. Yes, they are flying but the squad still looks thin to me with Konstantinos Tsimikas, Conor Bradley, Diogo Jota and Federico Chiesa – as cursed as Arthur a couple of years ago – continuing to recover from injuries and Alexis Mac Allister suspended.
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Lisa Simpson once said during an episode of “The Simpsons:” What could be more exciting than the savage ballet that is pro football? On Monday night, the entire Simpsons universe gets to experience it in a way not many could have imagined. The prime-time matchup between the Cincinnati Bengals and Dallas Cowboys will also take place at Springfield’s Atoms Stadium as part of “The Simpsons Funday Football” alternate broadcast. The altcast will be streamed on ESPN+, Disney+, and NFL+ (on mobile devices). ESPN and ABC have the main broadcast, while ESPN2 will carry the final “ManningCast” of the regular season. The replay will be available on Disney+ for 30 days. Globally, more than 145 countries will have access to either live or on replay. “We’re such huge football fans, and the Simpsons audience and the football audience, I feel, are like the same audience of just American families and football. And the Simpsons are so much a part of the DNA of the American family and culture that for us to, like, mush them together in this crazy video game, it’s so fun,” said Matt Selman, executive producer of “The Simpsons.” While the game is the focal point, the alternate broadcast, in some ways, will resemble a three-hour episode of “The Simpsons.” It starts with Homer eating too many hot dogs and having a dream while watching football. Homer joins the Cowboys in the dream while Bart teams up with the Bengals. Lisa and Marge will be sideline reporters. “That’s the beginning of the story, and the story continues through the entire game until Homer wakes up from his dream at the end of the game. It is like a complete story, and the NFL game will happen in between. It’s just going to be an amazing presentation with tons of surprises,” said Michael “Spike” Szykowny, ESPN’s VP of edit and animation. This is the second year ESPN has done an alternate broadcast for an NFL game. It used the characters from “Toy Story” for last year’s Sunday morning game from London between the Atlanta Falcons and Jacksonville Jaguars. “The Simpsons” has featured many sports-themed episodes during its 35 seasons. Even though “Homer at the Bat” remains the consensus favorite sports episode for many Simpsons fans, there have been football ones such as “Bart Star” and “Lisa The Greek.” There also was a Super Bowl-themed one after Fox’s broadcast of Super Bowl 33 between Denver and Atlanta in 1999. Even though “The Simpsons” remains a staple on Fox’s prime-time schedule, it is part of the Disney family after their acquisition of 20th Century Fox in 2019. All 35 seasons are on Disney+. The show’s creators have worked with ESPN and the NFL to make sure the look and sound is definitely Simpsonsesque. The theme song is a mash-up of “The Simpsons” opening and “Monday Night Football’s” iconic “Heavy Action.” There have also been pre-recorded skits and bits to use during the broadcast featuring Simpson’s legendary voices Hank Azaria, Nancy Cartwright, Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, and Yeardley Smith. The telecast will be entirely animated, with the players’ movements in sync with what is happening in real-time on the field. That is done through player-tracking data enabled by the NFL’s Next Gen Stats system and Sony’s Beyond Sports Technology. While Next Gen Stats tracks where players are on the field with a tracking chip in the shoulder pads, there is skeletal data tracking and limb tracking data — which uses 29 points per player — to get closer to the player’s movements. The other data tracking will allow Beyond Sports and Disney to add special characters to the game. For example, there might be a play where Lisa catches the ball and goes 30 yards instead of Cincinnati’s Tee Higgins. “Lisa is much smaller than the rest of the players. So, in real life, the ball would go over her head, but now, with data processing, we can take the ball and make it go exactly into her hands. So for the viewer, it still looks believable, and it all makes sense,” said Beyond Sports co-founder Nicolaas Westerhof. The other major challenge is making “The Simpsons” two-dimensional cartoon characters into 3-D simulations. Szykowny and his team worked to make that a reality over the past couple of months. “That’s a big leap of faith for them to say, hey, we trust you to make our characters 3-D and work with it. Our ESPN creative studio team has done a wonderful job,” Szykowny said. Lisa, Krusty, Nelson, Milhouse and Ralph will be with Bart and the Bengals; while Carl, Barney, Lenny and Moe join up with with Homer and the Cowboys. The broadcast will also feature ESPN personalities Stephen A. Smith, Peyton Manning and Eli Manning. ESPN’s Drew Carter, Mina Kimes and Dan Orlovsky will call the game from Bristol, Connecticut, and also be animated. They will wear Meta Quest Pro headsets to experience the game from Springfield using VR technology. For Kimes, being part of the broadcast and being an animated Simpsons character is a dream come true. She is a massive fan of the show and has a framed photo of Lisa Simpson — who she said is a personal hero and icon — as part of her backdrop when she makes appearances on ESPN NFL shows from her home in Los Angeles. “I didn’t have any input, and I didn’t see anything beforehand, so I wasn’t sure if it would look like me, but it kind of does, which is very funny,” said Kimes, who drew Simpsons characters when she was a kid. “To see the actual staff turn me into one was a dream.” Even though the Bengals (4-8) and Cowboys (5-7) have struggled this season, Selman thinks both teams have personalities that appeal to “The Simpsons” universe. “We were just so lucky also that the Cowboys are sort of like a Homer Simpson-type team, American team, and Mike McCarthy might be a Homer-type guy, one might imagine,” he said. ”And then you have Joe Burrow on the other side who is a cool young, spiky-haired, blonde bad boy -- he’s like Bart. And that fits our character archetypes so perfectly. “If Homer is mad at Bart and has a hot dog dream while watching ’Monday Night Football’, and then it’s basically McCarthy versus Burrow, Homer versus Bart, and that’s the simple father versus son strangling — Homer strangling Bart dynamic that has been part of the show for 35 years. I don’t know if that would have worked as well if it was like Titans versus Jacksonville. We would have found something. We would have made it work.” AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nflFederal appeals court upholds law requiring sale or ban of TikTok in the US A federal appeals court panel on Friday unanimously upheld a law that could lead to a ban on TikTok as soon as next month, handing a resounding defeat to the popular social media platform as it fights for its survival in the U.S. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that the law - which requires TikTok to break ties with its China-based parent company ByteDance or be banned by mid-January — is constitutional, rebuffing TikTok’s challenge that the statute ran afoul of the First Amendment and unfairly targeted the platform. TikTok and ByteDance — another plaintiff in the lawsuit — are expected to appeal to the Supreme Court. Executive of Tyler Perry Studios dies when plane he was piloting crashes in Florida ATLANTA (AP) — The president of Atlanta-based Tyler Perry Studios has died when the small plane he was piloting crashed on Florida’s Gulf Coast. The studio confirmed on Saturday that Steve Mensch, its 62-year-old president and general manager, had died Friday. The crash happened in Homosassa, about 60 miles north of Tampa. Photos from the scene show the plane having come to rest upside down on a road. Mensch helped advocate for Georgia’s film tax credit of more than $1 billion a year. Perry hired Mensch to run his namesake studio in 2016. Mensch died as Perry released his war drama, “The Six Triple Eight." The film was shot at the Atlanta studio. US added a strong 227,000 jobs in November in bounce-back from October slowdown WASHINGTON (AP) — America’s job market rebounded in November, adding 227,000 workers in a solid recovery from the previous month, when the effects of strikes and hurricanes had sharply diminished employers’ payrolls. Last month’s hiring growth was up considerably from a meager gain of 36,000 jobs in October. The government also revised up its estimate of job growth in September and October by a combined 56,000. Friday’s report also showed that the unemployment rate ticked up from 4.1% in October to a still-low 4.2%. The November data provided the latest evidence that the U.S. job market remains durable even though it has lost significant momentum from the 2021-2023 hiring boom, when the economy was rebounding from the pandemic recession. Stock market today: Wall Street hits more records following a just-right jobs report NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks rose to records after data suggested the job market remains solid enough to keep the economy going, but not so strong that it raises immediate worries about inflation. The S&P 500 climbed 0.2%, just enough top the all-time high set on Wednesday, as it closed a third straight winning week in what looks to be one of its best years since the 2000 dot-com bust. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.3%, while the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.8% to set its own record. Treasury yields eased after the jobs report showed stronger hiring than expected but also an uptick in the unemployment rate. Killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO spotlights complex challenge companies face in protecting top brass NEW YORK (AP) — In an era when online anger and social tensions are increasingly directed at the businesses consumers count on, Meta last year spent $24.4 million to surround CEO Mark Zuckerberg with security. But the fatal shooting this week of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson while walking alone on a New York City sidewalk has put a spotlight on the widely varied approaches companies take to protect their leaders against threats. And experts say the task of evaluating threats against executives and taking action to protect them is getting more difficult. One of the primary worries are loners whose rantings online are fed by others who are like-minded. It’s up to corporate security analysts to decide what represents a real threat. Days after gunman killed UnitedHealthcare's CEO, police push to ID him and FBI offers reward NEW YORK (AP) — Nearly four days after the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, police still do not know the gunman’s name or whereabouts or have a motive for the killing. But they have made some progress in their investigation into Wednesday's killing of the leader of the largest U.S. health insurer, including that the gunman likely left New York City on a bus soon after fleeing the scene. The also found that the gunman left something behind: a backpack that was discovered in Central Park. Police are working with the FBI, which on Friday night announced a $50,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction. USDA orders nationwide testing of milk for bird flu to halt the virus The U.S. government has ordered testing of the nation’s milk supply for bird flu to better monitor the spread of the virus in dairy cows. The Agriculture Department on Friday said raw or unpasteurized milk from dairy farms and processors nationwide must be tested on request starting Dec. 16. Testing will begin in six states — California, Colorado, Michigan, Mississippi, Oregon and Pennsylvania. The move is aimed at eliminating the virus, which has infected more than 700 dairy herds in 15 states. Words on ammo in CEO shooting echo common phrase on insurer tactics: Delay, deny, defend A message left at the scene of an insurance executive’s fatal shooting echoes a phrase commonly used to describe insurer tactics to avoid paying claims. The words “deny,” “defend” and “depose” were written on the ammunition used to kill UnitedHealthcare's CEO. That's according to two officials who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Thursday. The words are similar to the phrase “delay, deny, defend.” That's how attorneys describe insurers denying services and payment, and the title of a 2010 book critical of the industry. Police haven’t officially commented on the words. But Thompson’s shooting and the messages on the ammunition have sparked outrage on social media and elsewhere, reflecting frustration Americans have over the cost and complexity of getting care. Michigan Democrats move to protect reproductive health data before GOP takes control of House LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Democrats in Michigan are pressing to pass reproductive health care legislation before the party loses its majority with the new legislative session next year. A bill to protect digital reproductive health data including data logged on menstrual cycle tracking apps is a Democratic priority as lawmakers meet this month. Democratic women and supporters of the legislation say they are acting with new urgency before President-elect Donald Trump takes office because they don't believe his campaign promise to leave abortion to the states. The rush is also a reaction to Republicans taking control of the state House in January. Democrats kept control of the state Senate in the November election. Japan's Nippon Steel sets sights on a growing overseas market in its bid to acquire US Steel KASHIMA, Japan (AP) — The signs at Nippon Steel read: “The world through steel,” underlining why Japan’s top steelmaker is pursuing its $15 billion bid to acquire U.S. Steel. Japan's domestic market isn't growing, so Nippon Steel has its eyes on India, Southeast Asia and the United States, where populations are still growing. Nippon Steel gave reporters a tour of one of its plants in Japan on Friday. The bid for U.S. Steet is opposed by President-elect Donald Trump, President Joe Biden and American steelworkers. If the deal goes through, U.S. Steel will keep its name and its headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but become subsidiary of Nippon Steel.Katie Miller will join the Trump administration ’s much-watched non-governmental Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative, the president-elect announced on Sunday, where she will join Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy in attempting to cut hundreds of millions of dollars from the federal budget. “She has been a loyal supporter of mine for many years, and will bring her professional experience to Government Efficiency,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Katie is a deeply experienced communications professional respected by all. Congratulations to Stephen and Katie!” Miller is married to immigration hardliner Stephen Miller , one of the architects of the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” family separation policies, who will serve as Trump’s deputy chief of staff for policy. She previously served as press secretary for Vice President Mike Pence. Musk and Trump have variously described DOGE’s plans as seeking between $500 million and $2 trillion in annual cuts to the federal budget. The DOGE is not an actual department of the federal government, and its spending recommendations would need congressional approval to take effect. The president-elect has compared the effort to the Manhattan Project to build the atomic bomb, claiming it will “dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies — Essential to the ‘Save America; Movement.” The DOGE team, which duplicates existing government anti-waste and fraud efforts within the Government Accountability Office and Office of Management and Budget, has singled out the Internal Revenue Service , Planned Parenthood, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and federal employees who work from home as targets for its planned cuts . The effort puts Musk in particular in a complicated and unprecedented position , as both the richest man in the world, a central presidential adviser, and a businessman with an estimated $15.4 billion in federal government contracts over the last decade across companies like Tesla and SpaceX. Musk has clashed with a variety of federal agencies he might now slash, ranging from highway regulators investigating Tesla after crashes, to accusing the Federal Communications Commission of “contemptible political lawfare,” after it determined SpaceX wasn’t eligible for $900 million in government subsidies for its Starlink internet program. Despite talks of a corresponding DOGE caucus and House subcommittee forming in caucus, observers have raised alarms over the Trump-Musk coalition’s ineffectual governance, after Congress twice rejected Trump- or Musk-backed spending proposals before reaching a last-minute deal to avert a government shutdown before Congress. The conservative stalwarts at the Wall Street Journal editorial board claimed the recent “budget fiasco” sent “bad omens” for the year ahead.