No time to Lews
FORMULA ONE
LEWIS HAMILTON will not waste time worrying about Mercedes’ pre-season troubles.
A gearbox failure saw them miss almost all of the opening morning of testing in Bahrain on Friday before Hamilton spun off on day two.
He said: “I don’t waste time worrying because that deters you from finding a solution.”
NAT PHILLIPS will get round to hanging the shirt from his Champions League debut on his wall.
But the Liverpool defender hopes it won’t be the last one he’s putting up.
Phillips, 23, played a pivotal role in the win over RB Leipzig last week as Liverpool booked their place in the quarter-finals.
It was a game which, after coming through the youth set-up at the club and having two loan spells at Stuttgart, finally felt like the moment he belonged in this Liverpool team.
“It was a massive night for me and my family,” said the defender, who is the son of former Bolton defender Jimmy.
“I never thought at the start of this year that I would be playing Champions League football.
“I have kept the shirts that I wore and, when we are allowed to go out and about again, I will be getting them framed, like I did with my promotion one [Stuttgart] and debut for Liverpool.”
Phillips is expected to keep his place alongside Ozan Kabak and form a partnership to finish a season that has been wrecked by injuries to first-choice centre-backs.
“It is important to me that it does not become the biggest occasion or best game that I have ever played in,” added Phillips of his Champions League bow.
His performance last week coupled with Liverpool’s injury crisis, which has left Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Joel Matip out for the rest of the season, has given him a chance to fight for a future at the club.
“I still have plenty more to do to earn that right,” added Phillips. “In terms of me and my ambitions, they are always changing.
“If you had asked me at the start of the season if I thought I was capable of playing in the Premier League, I would have said, ‘Yeah.’ But whether it was for Liverpool, I wasn’t sure.
“At a club like Liverpool you can’t ever rest on your laurels.”
Boss Jurgen Klopp is expected to keep Fabinho in midfield tonight against Wolves and so Phillips should retain his place in defence.