UK News
European football: Olise fires Bayern’s winner against Wolfsburg after Kane misses penalty | European club football
Harry Kane missed a penalty as Bayern Munich failed to hit top form but the Bundesliga champions still edged struggling Wolfsburg 1-0 to bounce back after their midweek Champions League semi-final exit to Paris Saint-Germain.
Bayern, who won with a Michael Olise goal, had suffered a 6-5 aggregate loss to PSG after their 1-1 draw in Munich on Wednesday, narrowly missing out on what would have been their first Champions League final in six years. The frustration was evident at the start as the Bavarian side, with six changes in the lineup, lacked their usual attacking spark despite having Kane, the top scorer, in the starting XI.
Kane then squandered a 36th-minute penalty, slipping slightly before missing the target, for his first missed Bundesliga spot-kick after 24 successful ones.
The visitors needed more than one half to find their footing and they finally broke the deadlock with Olise’s superbly curled shot into the top corner in the 56th.
Wolfsburg missed their biggest chance in the 89th when Mattias Svanberg hit a post with only the goalkeeper Jonas Urbig to beat.
Bayern can still win the domestic double when they face Stuttgart in the German Cup final on 23 May. Second-placed Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig in third are already guaranteed Champions League spots.
Stuttgart are in fourth, level on 61 points with fifth-placed Hoffenheim. The top four teams automatically qualify for next season’s Champions League.
In the Czech Republic, the derby between Slavia Prague and Sparta Prague was abandoned after hundreds of home fans stormed the pitch in the closing minutes, when Slavia were leading 3-2 at their Fortuna Stadium and seconds away from clinching the league title.
Slavia supporters breached security barriers during stoppage time and flooded the field, with some carrying lit flares and running toward the visiting section. Pyrotechnics were thrown into the stands as players from both teams attempted to leave the pitch. Czech police intervened to restore order and said they have launched criminal proceedings on suspicion of rioting.
Authorities confirmed that the Sparta goalkeeper, Jakub Surovcik, was among those targeted by home fans and was struck by a flare.
Lautaro Martínez inspired Inter to a dominant 3-0 win at Lazio, dealing the hosts a psychological blow days before the sides meet again in the Coppa Italia final.
With Inter already crowned Serie A champions and Lazio sitting eighth and out of qualifying for Europe via the league, the match served largely as a dress rehearsal for Wednesday’s decider at the Stadio Olimpico.
Martínez, back in the starting lineup after an injury layoff, underlined his status as the league’s leading scorer by opening the scoring in the sixth minute. Marcus Thuram flicked on a long throw and the Argentina striker volleyed past the goalkeeper for his 17th league goal of the season.
Inter doubled their advantage six minutes before half-time when Martínez combined neatly with Andy Diouf on the left before teeing up Petar Sucic, who curled a first-time effort into the top corner from the edge of the area.
Lazio’s task became harder just before the hour mark as Alessio Romagnoli was sent off for a dangerous challenge on Ange-Yoan Bonny, leaving the home side to finish the match with 10 men. The visitors wrapped up the win in the 75th minute after a flowing move through midfield ended with Henrikh Mkhitaryan firing into the roof of the net.
Juventus took a step towards Europe’s top club competition with a 1-0 win at Lecce. Dusan Vlahovic’s second goal in two games seconds after kick-off was enough for Juve to move up to third, a point ahead of Milan, who host Atalanta on Sunday night. But more important, Juve are four points in front of resurgent Roma, who sit in fifth, three points behind Milan.
The Serbia striker Vlahovic has missed a huge chunk of this season with a variety of injuries which have and last week broke a scoring duck which stretched back to November. Vlahovic’s contract runs out at the end of the season and his future with the Turin giants is in the balance.
Lecce are one place and four points ahead of Cremonese who sit just inside the bottom three and face relegated Pisa on Sunday.
On Friday, the 16-year-old Mezian Mesloub scored seconds into his debut as a substitite to give Lens a 1-0 win over Nantes in Ligue 1 and clinch his side’s qualification for next season’s Champions League, while relegating Nantes to the second tier. The result also keeps the Ligue 1 title race alive, with second-placed Lens the only team that can still pip PSG to the trophy.
Mesloub picked up a loose ball in the box with his first touch in the 79th minute and fired home with his second to break the deadlock on his Ligue 1 debut. Lens are now guaranteed a top-three finish in Ligue 1 after moving nine points clear of fourth-placed Lille, with both teams having two matches remaining.
PSG can move six points clear with a greatly superior goal difference and two games to play when they host Brest on Sunday, all but securing the title, but the Champions League finalists cannot do so formally until they travel to Lens on Wednesday night.
Galatasaray secured their fourth consecutive Turkish league title with a 4-2 home win over Antalyaspor. The Istanbul club are four points ahead of their arch-rivals, Fenerbahce, whom they beat 3-0 last month, with one match remaining.
UK News
Driver killed in Bedford train crash named
The family of Shaun Burton, say they are “devastated” by the loss.
Source link
UK News
Spain v Saudi Arabia: World Cup 2026 – live | World Cup 2026
Key events
In the opening half an hour against Cape Verde, Mikel Oyarzabal, the centre-forward, did not get a single touch.
Kyle Green gets in touch: “Your highlighting of Lalas and his absurdity is something that has prevented me from wanting to watch the coverage on Fox. While every channel has its pros and cons I just can’t.
“I’m 45 and probably the youngest of anyone who remembers him as a player instead of an opinionated insert insult here. As for the match this could be more competitive than it looks on paper Spain need a win the pressure is on them. Saudi Arabia could hold out for a draw and see what happens in their last match. “
News from the England camp, and it seems to be good news on Declan Rice.
“I’m ready and fit, raring to go. I was feeling a little bit of neural pain in my hamstring, which I was managing from after Christmas with Arsenal for a very long time. Obviously, not a lot of people would have known that. It was all behind-the-scenes stuff but it was a smart decision.
“In the end, that last 20 minutes is probably where you pick up the most, and it’s where you play a 70-minute match. But that last 20 is where you really feel your body going for it. And I think it was a smart decision because the last few days I felt really, really good.”
Alex Reid has penned today’s weekend special Football Daily.
Portugal v Uzbekistan on Tuesday enticingly pits the incredibly nice, incredibly 41-year-old-superstar-tolerant Roberto Martínez against Fabio Cannavaro, who’s won a Ballon d’Or as a player and the Chinese Super League as a coach. While the fixture following that game really does see the dream of Thomas Tuchel – in his first international job with England – taking on Queiroz, who is in charge of his ninth national side with Ghana.
The expected formations are 4-2-3-1 for Spain, and 5-3-2 for the Saudi Arabians.
The Saudi team features two Donis changes: Ali Lajami, a defender, and Nasser Al Dawsari, a midfielder, are preferred to Mohammed Abu Al Shamat and Mohamed Kanno. You may recall Salem Al Dawsari, the Saudi captain, as the man who scored the winner against Argentina.
An entertaining read, even for those of us who have just seen the clips.
In a conversation where his co-panelist is casually reminiscing about his days playing alongside Messi or exchanging shirts with Ronaldo Nazário at the World Cup, what exactly is Lalas going to talk about – coming on as a second-half substitute for Earnie Stewart in a friendly against Scotland in 1998? Helping the Kansas City Wizards finish last in the 1999 MLS Western Conference? Did Lalas enjoy an elite playing career? No. But does he do the background reading that could compensate for his relative lack of standing in a conversation with titans like Henry and Zlatan? Also no. But is he charming or funny or charismatic or otherwise magnetic on screen? Eh, no.
For the record, I once interviewed Alexi Lalas on the challenge of playing against Romario in the 1994 World Cup. He had this to say:
“He could kill you in so many different ways. If you remember from that World Cup, he scored so many types of goals. That ranged from solo adventures to an outside-of-the-right-foot half-volley off a corner kick. Romario was both the most difficult to play against and the best that I have faced.
“Roberto Baggio was doing his thing, but in terms of consistency and living up to the hype, he [Romario] was the best. As with all stars, there was a moment when the fans sit up in their seats, and that was a feeling I got with Romario. When it got close to him and the potential for his involvement in a play was there, everybody sat up in their seat. They knew that something spectacular would be happening.”
Saturday’s match reports here.
The Saudi Arabia coach, and Blackburn legend, Georgios Donis, spoke about the challenges facing his team: “Spain is not the same team when Yamal or Williams are on the bench.
“While they still have plenty of possession, they lack the individual one-on-one penetration when these two are missing. I’m not saying it’s a problem for Spain, but when those players are missing, they play in a different way. We saw this very clearly against Cape Verde.
“We are playing against one of the best teams in the world, and it’s very important that when you play against these kinds of teams, you should enjoy the experience and respect the opponent, but not too much.
“It is very hard for any team playing against Spain to have any time in possession. So what we must do is to be more in control of our movement and compact, and when the ball goes through the lines, be able to defend dynamically.
“It’s nice to see miracles in football, and we’ve seen favourites losing against underdogs. Of course, it’s great for Saudi football to have a great memory of the result against Argentina, but we aren’t drawing anything from that.
“I think we’ll feel more pressure in that [Cape Verde] game than we will against Spain.”
The Spain coach, Luis De La Fuente had this to say in his Saturday press conference: “This generation of footballers is highly competitive and really fired up… It’s going to be a completely different story,” he said at his pre-match press conference on Saturday. There is no drama or crisis. The bottom line is simply that we need to win tomorrow.”
Four changes for Spain: Lamine Yamal, Pedro Porro, Dani Olmo and Alex Baena also come into the side with Marcos Llorente, Fabian Ruiz, Ferran Torres and Gavi dropping out.
The teams – Lamine Yamal starts
Spain: Simon, Porro, Cubarsi, Laporte, Cucurella, Gonzalez, Rodri, Yamal, Olmo, Baena, Oyarzabal. Subs: Raya, Joan Garcia, Pubill, Grimaldo, Eric Garcia, Llorente, Merino, Torres, Fabian, Gavi, Pino, Williams, Zubimendi, Munoz, Iglesias.
Saudi Arabia: Al Owais, Abdulhamid, Tambakti, Lajami, Al Amri, Al Harbi, Nasser Al Dawsari, Al Khaibari, Al Juwayr, Al Buraikan, Salem Al Dawsari. Subs: Al Aqidi, Al Kassar, Majrashi, Yahya, Al Shehri, Al Boushal, Kadesh, Al Johani, Al Ghannam, Al Hajji, Al Hamdan, Mandash, Kanno, Thakri, Abu Al Shamat.
Referee: Raphael Claus (Brazil)
Perhaps one of the Saudi -players can write themselves into this high-grade selection?
Perhaps it can be their goalkeeper.
Madrid screening of Spain v Saudi Arabia cancelled due to heat
The public screening of Spain’s World Cup match against Saudi Arabia in Madrid on Sunday has been cancelled because of extreme heat forecast for the Spanish capital, officials said.
The match, due to kick off at 6pm local time on Sunday, had been scheduled to be shown on a giant screen installed by the Spanish football federation (RFEF) at a fan zone in Plaza de Colón in central Madrid.
Madrid city council and the federation decided to cancel the screening after national weather agency AEMET issued an orange heat warning – the second-highest level – for the Madrid region, with temperatures forecast to reach 40C.
“The decision has been taken with the aim of protecting the health of attendees, event staff and support services involved in the event,” Madrid city hall said in a statement, apologising for any inconvenience.
Officials urged supporters to watch the match indoors in air-conditioned spaces and avoid prolonged exposure to the heat.
Large parts of Spain are experiencing unusually high temperatures for June as a mass of hot air from North Africa moves across the Iberian Peninsula.
A total of 13 of Spain’s 17 regions are on orange alert for heat on Sunday, while the northern Basque Country bordering France is on red alert, the highest level.
Authorities advised residents and visitors to take precautions during the heatwave, including drinking water regularly, staying in cool environments, limiting outdoor physical activity during the hottest hours of the day and taking extra care of vulnerable people. AFP
Can Saudi Arabia repeat the magic of 2022?
Argentina arrived in Qatar on a 36-game unbeaten run. When Lionel Messi opened the scoring from the penalty spot after 10 minutes, a comfortable afternoon seemed in the offing. Saleh al-Shehri and Salem al-Dawsari had other ideas, Argentina had three goals disallowed for offside in the space of 13 minutes and the greatest comeback in Saudi Arabia football history was made. Argentina went on to lift the trophy, while defeats to Poland and Mexico meant the Saudis did not reach the knock-out stage.
Unai Simon over David Raya is a controversial choice for De la Fuentes. The Arsenal keeper could lay claim to being Europe’s best this season.
“Those at the Champions League final had a few more days, so I got there on the Wednesday night,” Raya says. “I arrived a bit before Fabián [Ruiz]. I was saying hello to some of the others in reception when he arrived. I went to say congratulations; that was almost the first thing I did. I couldn’t really talk [to him] after the final; I just didn’t have it in me. The next day we talked about the game properly. Just two mates chatting … I was happy for him that he could lift the trophy for a second time.”
A high pressure game for the European champions, as Sid Lowe reports.
“If we had scored one, the game would have changed,” Martín Zubimendi said. Immediately after the game, De la Fuente had offered a simple analysis: when the ball doesn’t want to go in it doesn’t want to go in, he insisted. Spain had racked up 27 shots, after all. Ferran Torres had hit the bar and seen another clear opportunity saved. Vozinha, the 40-year-old goalkeeper who stopped that, saved six more and was named the man of the match. “There’s nothing to reproach the team for,” Rodri said. “We generated chances but couldn’t put it away; the good thing is they created almost nothing.”
We wait to see what role Lamine Yamal will play today. His coach would surely like to be able to use him.
The worst mistake we could make would be to compare him to anyone. He is the midst of a process. He has exceptional footballing maturity and lives it all with total naturalness. He has great serenity and strength. We have to let him follow his path but those players who have something different are ready for that. They’re geniuses, like Dalí [who] can paint a picture, or Michelangelo. They’re different. What is exceptional to us, isn’t to them. In those extremes, they feel comfortable. Why? Because they are different. What we think is exceptional, they consider normal.
Preamble
Spain’s campaign did not get off to a flying start, and Luis de la Fuentes may wake up in the night to visions of Cape Verde’s Vozinha. He will have Georgia on his mind ever since Monday. Saudi Arabia are no pushovers and gave Uruguay a scare in their opening match. Memories of downing Argentina four years ago still abound, and so Spain might beware. They can ill afford to go into the final game with Uruguay at a disadvantage. All eyes on Lamine Yamal, whose fitness situation remains opaque, though Spain need their other forwards to come to the party.
Kick-off 5pm UK, 1pm ET, 2am AEST. Join me.
UK News
CCTV shows moments leading up to arrest in anti-Muslim attacks probe
A topless man can be seen driving erratically in Edinburgh before abandoning his car and attacking a black man and a delivery rider.
Source link
-
Oxford News4 weeks agoJeremy Clarkson hits back with sweary response over BGT backlash
-
Crime & Safety4 weeks agoPhotos as 1979 Pontiac Firebird ‘bursts in flames’ at Tesco
-
Oxford News4 weeks agoJeremy Clarkson reveals new Clarkson’s Farm surprise guest stars
-
UK News3 weeks agoTwo arrests and three police officers injured in protest at asylum hotel
-
Oxford News3 weeks agoOxford sports bar brawl with bottle and pool balls thrown
-
Student Life2 weeks agoHome Office proposes doubling of Campsfield capacity
-
UK News3 weeks agoJohn Healey resigns as defence secretary in disagreement with Starmer over spending – UK politics live | Politics
-
Crime & Safety4 weeks agoEmma Watson opens up in emotional admission- ‘It broke me’
