Ruben Amorim has admitted his first few months at Manchester United have been the most intense of his career but also "the most special."

The Portuguese manager took over at United in November after Erik ten Hag was sacked with the team 14th in the Premier League.

Amorim suffered six defeats in his first 11 league games at United, the worst start from anyone in charge at Old Trafford since 1932.

Asked if the last few months at United had been the most intense of his career, Amorim, who had guided Sporting to two league titles in four years, told TNT Brasil: "Yes but also the most special ones.

"The two sides of one coin. I knew it, I knew that it would be an exciting adventure. I knew it was going to be very difficult because everyone knew the calendar that we had and the lack of time [we had to prepare].

"We also had the notion of the challenges that we would find and obviously, with a few defeats everything becomes a little more complicated."

After their last defeat, 3-1 at home to Brighton & Hove Albion on Jan. 19., an alarmed Amorim called the team "the worst, maybe, in the history of Manchester United."

Amorim would later regret making that comment. United have won their last two games since Amorim's outburst and are 12th in the Premier League.

"There's no point in looking at the [Premier League] standings right now because we are not top or in the top positions," Amorim said. "We need to be aware of the context. I don't look at the standings, I look at what the team is doing, what we have to improve on.

"The important thing is that we have a clear idea and a clear path of what we want to do. Even in challenging times we are not lost.

"Perhaps we are more frustrated and angry but we know where to go.

"To feel the support of the fans despite the bad results is a sign that we are doing something well."

Amorim made headlines earlier this week when he blasted out-of-favour Marcus Rashford for not giving his best.

Rashford was left out of the team for the 11th successive game by Amorim during United's 1-0 Premier League win at Fulham on Sunday.

"I will put [63-year-old goalkeeper coach Jorge] Vital on before I put a player that doesn't give the maximum every day", he said of the England forward.

Asked if that was a message not just to Rashford but to all of his players, Amorim told TNT Brasil: "I don't want to send messages to anyone.

"I'm demanding when it comes to certain things ... I think in order for a group to win games and win titles you have to follow a criteria and if that criteria wasn't there, everything would be subjective. There are certain things that have to be very clear with the players."

Amorim, meanwhile, explained the reasons behind Casemiro's lack of playing time under him.

The veteran Brazil midfielder, who is in his third season at United, last played on Dec. 30.

"We realised that Casemiro nowadays has other things [to offer], such as intelligence, his understanding of the game," Amorim said of the former Real Madrid star.

"But we are in a domestic and European league where the difference in intensity and physical demand is great and hence, I feel that this team needs high intensity players that at times we don't have.

"We all know Casemiro's quality, what he has won. It's simply a selection [issue]."

LaLiga president Javier Tebas has said the league is still fighting to have Barcelona forward Dani Olmo unregistered for the second half of the season.

Olmo was unregistered by LaLiga and the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) on Jan. 1 after Barça failed to prove their were compliant with the league's financial fair play rules (FFP) in time for a Dec. 31 deadline.

However, Spain's sports ministry (CSD) reinstated Olmo's registration -- as well as forward Pau Víctor's -- a week later as they agreed to analyse an appeal from Barça.

"We are against the registration and are taking the necessary action with the relevant bodies, requesting that he is unregistered," Tebas said on Tuesday.

The CSD ruling sparked outrage among other LaLiga clubs, with Atlético Madrid, Espanyol and Valencia among several teams to release statements criticising the decision.

"They are right," Tebas added of the reaction from other clubs. "If we, as LaLiga, are taking the action we are taking, it's because we feel that the decision that has been made is not in accordance with the regulations."

Olmo has featured three times for Barça since the CSD's ruling, in the Supercopa win over Real Madrid, the Copa del Rey victory against Real Betis and LaLiga draw with Getafe.

However, he has missed the last two games injured, while Pau Víctor has played just 39 minutes of football in total since the decision, coming off the bench against Betis and again in Sunday's 7-1 win over Valencia.

It had been suggested that teams could report Barça for fielding an ineligible lineup in games in which Olmo and/or Víctor have featured, but Tebas says that is not possible.

"Per the regulations, when a player is registered and has a licence, as Dani Olmo does at the moment, for example, there is no room to challenge the result of a match he's involved in," he clarified.

"Even if we are later proven to be right, that's the case."

Olmo joined Barça from RB Leipzig for 60 million ($62.4m) last summer, while Víctor signed on a permanent deal from Girona after impressing with Barça's reserve team last season.

The duo were initially registered temporarily until Dec. 31 via a rule which allows clubs to allocate up to 80% of the salary due to an injured player -- in this case Andreas Christensen -- on replacements.

Olmo and Víctor were then unregistered by LaLiga on Jan. 1 after Barça missed the deadline to prove they were compliant with the league's FFP rules.

LaLiga eventually confirmed Barça had shown they were able to fulfil certain FFP requirements on Jan. 3 and, therefore, had had their "spending cap extended."

However, in a joint statement with the RFEF, LaLiga added that players who have had their registrations cancelled cannot be re-registered with a club for a second time in the same season.

Barça appealed that decision to the CSD, arguing against the interpretation of the rule, and submitted a 52-page report with their reasoning.

The CSD agreed Barça may have a case, resulting in the temporary re-registration of Olmo and Víctor, but a final ruling from the CSD could take as long as three months.

Spanish football federation [RFEF] president Rafael Louzán has claimed Florentino Pérez told him he'd like to bring English referees to Spain, to improve the quality of LaLiga's refereeing.

Real Madrid president Pérez has frequently criticised the quality of Spanish officials, saying in 2023 that "urgent" reforms were necessary, while the club's TV channel, Real Madrid TV, has regularly highlighted refereeing errors before and after games.

In an interview for the podcast 'El Cafelito' with journalist Josep Pedrerol, Louzán -- who was elected as RFEF president last month for a four-year term -- said Pérez had repeatedly raised the subject in conversations with him.

"My relationship [with Florentino] is good," Louzán said. "But what happens with Florentino is that he says, in strong terms, that he feels aggrieved by referees.

"I said to him, 'I've just arrived. Let's try to get along.' But he's persistent on the subject. He reminds me from time to time, he says, 'sort out the Negreira case.' And I say, it's before the courts."

Responsibility for refereeing in Spain lies with the Technical Committee of Referees, which is regulated by the RFEF, while a designating committee -- which includes both RFEF and LaLiga representation -- assigns officials for specific matches.

"Florentino said to me once that he would bring English referees to referee," Louzán said.

"And I said, 'let's see how we do that!' ... It's not just now, he's said to me various times. In Saudi Arabia a year ago [at the Spanish Supercopa], he said to me, 'you have to sort out the referees issue, because they're damaging us, and we've lost a lot of trophies because of referees.' But I [Louzán] believe in the work of referees."

Speaking to Real Madrid's AGM in 2023, Pérez called for the Spanish Government to intervene on the issue of refereeing.

"It's essential for the wellbeing of Spanish football that things like the quality of refereeing and the use of VAR are dealt with," Pérez said.

"I believe the Spanish Government will take steps to improve refereeing bodies in this country. This is urgent, more urgent than ever. The credibility of our competition has been damaged."

Louzán was elected as RFEF president on Dec. 16, having previously represented the Galician Football Federation.

He was allowed to take part in the election despite being subject to a seven-year ban on holding public office -- handed out by a provincial court for misconduct -- which he has appealed to Spain's supreme court.

Liverpool head coach Arne Slot has said the club are already working on strengthening in the summer transfer window but insists he is happy with his squad.

Slot signed just two players after arriving at Anfield from Feyenoord Rotterdam last summer; forward Federico Chiesa and goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili, who is spending this season on loan with La Liga side Valencia.

Despite the club's lack of transfer activity, Liverpool have excelled under Slot this season and are top of both the Premier League and Champions League tables.

Liverpool have yet to bring in any reinforcements in the January transfer window, however Slot has revealed it is likely to be a different story in the summer.

"Liverpool should always be competing for a league title, we should always be competing for the Champions League," he said in an interview for the BBC'S Football Focus. "I'm hoping I will be able to keep the club at that level.

"I know people sometimes question this because they haven't seen us doing a lot in the transfer market in the summer and now in the winter as well. There's a reason for that -- because we're happy with the squad.

"But I do know we're definitely working on strengthening in the summer."

Slot also heaped praise on captain Virgil van Dijk, who is out of contract at Liverpool in the summer, and admitted his team have defied even his own expectations with their success this season.

"Everybody here in England would tell you that Virgil van Dijk is the best defender in the world," he said. "In Holland, he got a bit more criticism than he gets over here in England. I was, in a very positive way, surprised how good he was on the ball and how he could play football through the lines.

"From the first day I was like 'wow, this is definitely another level than I'm used to.' But people in England were used to this."

Slot added: "You don't think after 20 games we will have that many points and I wasn't expecting us to be top with the margin we have.

"It's always nice to be up there, but nobody would have expected this. I'm the last person who would have expected [Manchester] City to have such a bad run."

At least 10 commercials to air during Super Bowl LIX on Fox have sold for $8 million, according to multiple reports Wednesday.

Fox reported in November that it had sold out of ad spots, at what it said it believed to be "record pricing," Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch said at the time. As spots were dwindling, the price increased, according to reports. Super Bowl ads normally increase by about $100,000 each year, but this year, the increase was reportedly closer to $500,000.

"What was unique to this Super Bowl, or this marketplace, was we had a lot more people that weren't in the game at all, all of a sudden be like, no, no, I have to get in the game," Fox Sports EVP/ad sales Mark Evans said.

Around 123.7 million people watched the Super Bowl last year, according to Nielsen, and more than 115 million viewers watched in 2023, the last time the Super Bowl aired on Fox.

Anheuser-Busch, Meta, PepsiCo, Frito-Lay, Taco Bell, Uber Eats and others will vie to win over the more than 120 million viewers expected to tune in for the broadcast on Fox and via the free livestream on Tubi.

"If I learned anything, it's that we're in a period now where the live sporting event, where people and families come together to watch, is that much more coveted," Evans said. "There's an escalation in price and interest in the demand for live sports, but we're not at its peak. We've still got runway for growth."

Fox declined to comment on the specific price tag for 30 seconds. Last year, a 30-second spot went for around a reported $7 million.

Evans said the mix of ad categories for the most part includes the usual suspects: beverages, snacks, tech companies and telcos. There will be a focus on AI in more commercials, he said, and slightly more pharmaceutical companies advertising this year.

One category that's down is movie promos and streamers. Another traditionally big category for the Super Bowl, automakers, are mainly sitting it out after a tough year in the sector, with only Stellantis' Jeep and Ram brands having announced an appearance.

The California wildfires in January made the lead-up to the game less predictable than usual. State Farm pulled out of its planned advertising to focus on the fires. And some other advertisers faced production delays. But Evans said accommodations were made wherever possible.

Super Bowl LIX will be played at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans on Feb. 9, when the Philadelphia Eagles will face the Kansas City Chiefs.

Information from The Associated Press was included in this report.

An 18-year-old Temple University student has died after falling from a light pole while celebrating the Philadelphia Eagles' NFC championship win.

Tyler Sabapathy was among the fans celebrating on the streets of Philadelphia after the Eagles beat the Washington Commanders 55-23 on Sunday. Video shows Sabapathy holding onto a street pole then slipping and falling flat on his back, hitting his head on the concrete sidewalk. He was hospitalized with a brain injury and pronounced dead two days later.

Temple president John Fry and vice president for student affairs Jodi Bailey issued a statement Tuesday.

"The loss of a promising 18-year-old man like Tyler is both tragic and traumatic," the statement read in part. "There are no words that can make sense of it, and the entire Temple community mourns his passing. Our hearts go out to Tyler's family, friends, classmates and all who knew and loved him."

Sabapathy, a Toronto native, was an exercise and sport science major at Temple's College of Public Health, according to school officials. He was also an accomplished gymnast with more than 120 medals.

"As a member of the university's club gymnastics team, Tyler displayed exceptional self-discipline and work ethic, spending countless hours a week training and honing his craft. He was loved by his teammates, friends and coaches here in Philadelphia," school administrators said.

Philadelphia officials did not say whether they greased city utility poles on Sunday to discourage fans from climbing them. According to a local news report, police held an internal briefing to discuss how to handle the next possible celebration, which could be in two weeks after the Super Bowl.