Atletico Madrid's Alvaro Morata left the field in tears before half-time after an awkward fall as the Rojiblancos lost 1-0 to Sevilla.
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Chelsea talks are ongoing to sign Brighton star Moises Caicedo this summer and the player is "ready to agree" personal terms, according to reliable journalist Nizaar Kinsella.
Who will join Chelsea this summer?
Mauricio Pochettino, after Chelsea's lacklustre and regrettable 2022/23 Premier League campaign, is aiming to transform the west Londoners back into a major force.
The Blues couldn't even muster a top-half finish last season and ended the campaign without any silverware, coming just two years after they were crowned champions of Europe.
Despite owner Todd Boehly and co spending north of £520 million on transfers since the summer of 2022, it appears Chelsea have work to do if they wish to reach the heights of Man City or Arsenal.
Pochettino's arrival also marks the beginning of a new era, though, and Chelsea are apparently working to back the Argentine this summer.
Villarreal forward Nicolas Jackson, after drawn-out negotiations, is now reportedly set to become a Chelsea player with reliable transfer journalist Fabrizio Romano even giving his famous "here we go".
Meanwhile, it has been reported that Caicedo of Brighton is another firm transfer target.
Chelsea are apparently favourites for the Ecuador international and reliable reporter Kinsella of The Evening Standard has shared a promising update.
Writing for the outlet, Kinsella claims that the Stamford Bridge side are "making good progress in negotiations" and Caicedo is "keen" to join Pochettino.
The 21-year-old is also "ready to agree personal terms", with the player side proving to be no issue, though club-to-club talks over a transfer fee are proving more complicated.
After already rejecting a £60 million bid from Chelsea, it is claimed that Brighton are holding out for a fee closer to £100 million for their prized asset.
Caicedo, though, has a verbal agreement with Roberto De Zerbi for his manager to stand aside and green-light an exit – if a suitable offer arrives that is.
What's been said about Moises Caicedo?
Averaging more tackles per 90 than any Brighton player last season, the South American star has proven to be a capable midfield enforcer and rock solid in the middle of the park (WhoScored).
Enrico Castro-Montes, a vying football historian of Ecuador, has also detailed just how highly-rated Caicedo is in his homeland. Indeed, the midfielder is apparently seen as a cross between N'Golo Kante and Paul Pogba.
"Caicedo covers the whole field. He is much more eye-catching," said Castro-Montes (Het Niuewsblad via Sport Witness).
"There will be a lot of pressure on Caicedo’s shoulders. His nickname in Ecuador is ‘La Joya’, the jewel. In his own country, he is really seen as the crown jewel of a new generation.
"That’s also how they describe him in Ecuador: a cross between Kanté and Pogba."
Tottenham Hotspur could be set to keep hold of Harry Kane as Manchester United are "prepared to explore other options" in the summer, per transfer expert Fabrizio Romano.
Tottenham Hotspur transfer news – Harry Kane
Tottenham's all-time leading goalscorer has been linked with moves away from N17 before, but the recent links to United, coupled with his contract running down, felt different.
As dubbed by fellow striker Chris Wood (via Eurosport), the 'monster' has scored a ridiculous 280 goals in his 435 career appearances for Spurs, with 64 assists to boot.
This consistent output from the 6 foot 2 forward has led other clubs to monitor his situation, notably European royalty, Real Madrid.
The Spanish side have been reportedly interested in Kane since the departure of their own legendary striker, Karim Benzema.
The vacant number nine shirt at Los Blancos looked like the perfect opportunity for both Kane to move onto bigger things and for Spurs to avoid selling to a rival.
However, it appears like the Spanish club have pulled out of a potential deal because of the costs involved.
According to the Daily Mail, Spurs are looking for a fee of close to £100m for their number nine in the summer.
What has Fabrizio Romano said about Harry Kane to Manchester United?
Romano gave the update that United fans were dreading, and Spurs fans were hoping for this morning, the news that the Red Devils were prepared to cool their interest in Harry Kane.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, he said: "Harry Kane is considered the perfect striker by Erik ten Hag. He is a big fan of Harry Kane. He considers Harry Kane as the perfect kind of number nine for the idea of football that he has, but we always said it's not going to be easy to negotiate with Tottenham.
"And today [Wednesday], we can confirm that Manchester United, after internal meetings, are prepared to explore other options for a new striker because they believe that Harry Kane is a really difficult target."
Romano goes on to explain the two major roadblocks that United see with this deal: "They believe that Tottenham have no intention of negotiating with Man United, they don't want to sell the player to Manchester United, and so the feeling at the club is that it's better to maybe look at some other option."
The second issue is price, with Romano adding: "The price, because they feel in any case, even if Tottenham would open the door for the exit of Harry Kane, it's too expensive."
How good has Harry Kane been for Tottenham this year?
England's captain and all-time leading goalscorer has had a frankly ridiculous individual season this year.
It has been massively overshadowed by the inhuman exploits of Erling Haaland at Manchester City and by the generally poor showing by Spurs as a whole, but as an individual, he has been unreal.
According to WhoScored, the Walthamstow-born striker has averaged a seriously impressive rating of 7.51 across his 38 appearances in the league this year.
His underlying statistics are fantastic as well.
According to FBref, who compare players in a similar position across Europe's top five leagues, Kane ranks in the top 4% for progressive passes, the top 10% for shot-creating actions and the top 14% for expected goals, all per 90.
It's easy to understand why the club don't want to lose him this year, even if it means he leaves for free next summer.
Sarfraz Ahmed had dropped Steven Smith on 53. Then when he did catch the Australian captain on 97, no one appealed
Brydon Coverdale in Brisbane15-Dec-2016Pakistan were left to rue two missed opportunities on the first day against Australia at the Gabba. They let Steven Smith off on 53 and 97 and he went to stumps unbeaten on 110It was very much Australia’s day after Smith won the toss – his first win in seven Tests – chose to bat and finished on 3 for 288. But Smith was fortunate to survive on 53 when he played back to the part-timer Azhar Ali and edged behind, only to be put down by Sarfraz Ahmed. Pakistan’s catching has let them down in recent series and missing a key chance so early in this campaign was hardly the start they wanted.”It would have been a wonderful wicket for us, Steve Smith we all know is a very good batsman and he was quite well set,” Azhar Ali said at the press conference. “It could have changed, a little bit, the course of the game but these things happen and you just have to go on and look forward. He batted brilliantly today.”Sarfraz did pouch an edge off Smith later in the day, but Pakistan failed to hear any noise and did not appeal. Smith was on 97 at the time, when he followed an excellent delivery from Mohammad Amir that swung away. Television replays revealed a small HotSpot mark on Smith’s outside edge, and a noise on Snicko.”Obviously we got information from outside that that had happened,” Azhar said. “No one really noticed anything, not even a sniff. None of our guys went up slightly, even. It was just one of those situations where no one realised what had happened.”Sometimes it does happen. It has happened in the past also, that we don’t get any noise or anything, any idea of having an edge. I think it’s just a bit of luck for the batsman.”
As Real Madrid and Manchester City meet in the Champions League semi-finals, where do their coaches rank among the best since the year 2000?
Carlo Ancelotti and Pep Guardiola are very different personalities, but one thing they share is a knack for winning football matches, and the biggest ones at that. Between them, the Catalan and the Italian have won four Champions Leagues, 15 league titles and 13 domestic cups.
They will square up against each other again in Tuesday's Champions League semi-final first leg between Real Madrid and Manchester City. Ancelotti is three matches away from becoming only the second manager to retain the trophy in the Champions League era, while Guardiola is desperate to get his hands on Europe's biggest prize for the first time in 12 years.
But where do these two titans of modern coaching rank among the best managers in the 21st century? GOAL decides…
Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag will be looking for the club to move on Eric Bailly over the coming summer transfer window.
What's happened to Eric Bailly?
The Red Devils were dumped out of Europe on Thursday night with a humiliating 3-0 defeat away to Sevilla crushing their dreams of getting their hands on the Europa League.
Ten Hag and his men still have one more shot at adding to their Carabao Cup with their FA Cup semi-final coming up on the weekend at Wembley Stadium.
It has been a season of progress at Old Trafford with the Red Devils sitting in a great position to secure themselves a spot in the Champions League for next season.
But it seems there could also be a clear out on the horizon in Manchester with Ten Hag looking to sell a number of players who are currently out on loan.
One of them being Bailly who has spent the 2022/23 campaign on loan with Marseille, but it has not been a straightforward season for the Ivorian.
The 29-year-old has only made four starts in Ligue 1 this season with injury and suspension hindering his game time for the French side (via Transfermarkt).
And speaking on his Here We Go podcast, Fabrizio Romano has claimed the £91k-per-week ace is a player who is not wanted at Old Trafford ahead of next season:
(11:35) "So Bailly will be back to Manchester United and from what I understand, he will be on the market. So he's not going to be part of Manchester United project next season unless something new happens, so the idea is to sell Bailly."
Should United sell Bailly in the summer?
The Ivorian has previously been slammed as "dreadful" by journalist Josh Bunting for some of his defending during his time at Old Trafford.
And it is apparent his recent spell in France is leaving a lot to be desired with the 29-year-old clearly not in the manager's thinking have only racked up four league starts.
Perhaps a lot of his failings at Marseille could be accredited to his horror challenge which saw him hit with a stunning seven-game suspension.
But his time on the pitch has seen him provide some fairly impressive defensive returns as he ranks inside the top percentile for interceptions and the top second percentile for blocks made (via FBref).
However, United have made some significant additions to their side over recent years with Raphael Varane and Lisandro Martinez.
But with their backup options failing to provide much relief amid the duo's injury issues, is Bailly really the man to provide them with deeper squad depth next season?
Former India captain Anil Kumble and former cricketers Pravin Amre and Lalchand Rajput are among some of the applicants who will make presentations to the BCCI’s three-member cricket advisory panel that will pick India’s head coach
Nagraj Gollapudi and Gaurav Kalra 20-Jun-2016Former India captain Anil Kumble and former cricketers Pravin Amre and Lalchand Rajput are among some of the applicants who will make presentations to the BCCI’s three-member cricket advisory panel that will pick India’s head coach. The presentations and interviews will be conducted in Kolkata from Tuesday.It is understood that Kumble and Amre will meet the panel, comprising Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman, on Tuesday afternoon. It is not yet known whether Ravi Shastri, who was India’s team director until the end of the World Twenty20, will also make a presentation. Shastri, who confirmed his application in early June, did not respond to the query sent by ESPNcricinfo.Sandeep Patil, the chairman of selectors, has reportedly not yet received any communication from the BCCI. Patil had stated earlier this month that he had applied for the job.Last week, the BCCI had trimmed the list of 57 names to 21 but clarified that the advisory committee could be given the entire list if required. The committee is expected to submit its choice by June 22. If it does so, the BCCI could announce the appointment at the working committee meeting in Dharamsala on June 24. In an interview with , Ganguly did not divulge the names of the shortlisted candidates but said that the committee was hopeful of finalising a coach by June 24.”The interviews will start from tomorrow. We know the candidates, we’ve shortlisted the candidates but unfortunately I cannot tell that to you. So please pardon me from doing that. Yes, as you said, the interview is tomorrow and hopefully by June 24 you will get to know the name of the Indian coach,” he said.According to a BCCI official, the advisory panel – which was appointed in June last year – has already met a few times to discuss procedures before it meets shortlisted candidates. It is also understood that the panel, including coordinator Sanjay Jagdale, has done “thorough homework” on the applicants who will travel to Kolkata on Tuesday. When asked whether the interview process will extend to Wednesday, the official said that a decision on that would be taken on the basis of what happens tomorrow.The BCCI is seeking a coach for the India team after Shastri’s contract expired at the end of the World T20 earlier this year. The board opened the process on June 1, with an advertisement on its website, and had set June 10 as a deadline for candidates to apply for the role.Apart from Shastri, Patil and Kumble, current selector Vikram Rathour, Venkatesh Prasad, Balwinder Singh Sandhu and former Bangladesh coach Stuart Law also applied for the job.Among the key qualifications stipulated by the BCCI was that candidates should have coached at the international or first-class level. It was also mentioned that “it is preferred that the candidate should be qualified through a certification/assessment program conducted by any of the Full Member countries, and currently possess such a valid certification.”
ScorecardFile photo: Shabnim Ismail picked up three wickets to bowl South Africa to their first T20I win against West Indies•Getty Images
Shabnim Ismail’s three wickets in seven balls and Dane van Niekerk’s two in an over helped South Africa Women defend 125, which seemed a sub-par total, and claim their first-ever Twenty20 win over West Indies Women. South Africa’s victory, which comes two weeks after they achieved the same feat over England, bodes well ahead of the World T20.On a slow, spin-friendly surface in Durban, West Indies restricted South Africa and would have fancied their chances of taking the early honours, but the hosts’ attack was up to the task. Ismail was instrumental in reducing West Indies to 16 for 4, before Deandra Dottin and Stacy-Ann King put them back on track. They shared a fifth-wicket stand of 72 but van Niekerk removed them both to take South Africa to a historic win.Ismail set the tone with an early strangle. She gave away just two runs in her first over against a watchful West Indies opening pair. Moseline Daniels, her opening partner, was more generous and pitched the ball up, but Ismail showed the way with the short balls. She had Stafanie Taylor caught at midwicket, attemping a pull, and followed it up with a fuller one, inducing an edge from Hayley Matthews, who was caught behind. Ismail stuck to the fuller length for the hat-trick ball, but it was defended.Ismail could not stay out of action. She took a catch at mid-on off debutant Odine Kirsten to send Kyshona Knight on her way before returning to dismiss Kycia Knight. South Africa would have already sensed an improbable victory at that stage, but had Dottin to deal with.Dottin took a liking to Kirsten and was strong down the ground as she started to claw West Indies back. She found an able partner in King, who was circumspect up front, and then began to pierce the gaps and threatened to take the game away.The pair took West Indies to within 38 runs of victory before van Niekerk struck. She broke through King’s defence to give South Africa some hope. Dottin holed out at the end of the over, and then all South Africa had to do was contain.Shemaine Campbelle and Shaquana Quintyne kept West Indies in the hunt by finding the fence in each of the last three overs, but left themselves too much to do. They needed 20 off the last over, but Ismail conceded just eight runs to seal the win.West Indies were disappointed after they dragged South Africa back from 39 without loss in the first five overs. Van Niekerk and Trisha Chetty took advantage of some loose bowling early on, but Anisa Mohammed ended their charge. She removed the openers in her first over, forcing them to rebuild.Three boundary-less overs followed and South Africa lost their captain Mignon du Preez to reach the halfway stage at 59 for 3.Lizelle Lee sensed the urgency to accelerate and opted to take on the spinners. She shared a stand of 48 runs, the highest of the innings, for the fourth wicket with Marizanne Kapp and set South Africa up for a strong finish. But she did not stick around to do it herself and was dismissed in the 16th over. South Africa lost three wickets for 24 at the death to finish with a total they may not have been confident of defending, but eventually did.
As he prepares for his third Test in Cape Town, Nathan Lyon cannot have more conflicting memories of any other venue in the game.In 2011, he was playing the fourth match of his career when he top-scored at No. 11, amid Australia’s razing for 47 on an incomprehensible second day. In 2014, he had a ringside seat to Michael Clarke’s battering by Morne Morkel, David Warner’s twin centuries and Ryan Harris’ heroics in the final half-hour to secure the match and series for Australia.This time around, the Australians are seeking to forge ahead in another seesaw encounter with South Africa, and Lyon is hopeful Steven Smith’s team will be able to emulate the feats of four years ago, rather than the ignominy of three years prior.”It was one of the most exciting Test series, especially coming off the Ashes and the way we played at Centurion and then them bouncing back at PE,” Lyon said. “To come here and the way it planned out with Ryan Harris basically bowling with one leg and bowling Morne with about two overs to go was exceptional.”They are the type of moments that you sit here and look back on your career and weigh them up as some of the best games you’ve been part of. They’re the ones you want to play, they’re the ones you do pre-season for, where you win on the last day, last hour and to see Ryno (Harris) do that after Pup (Clarke) scored his brilliant 100 and I think Davey (Warner) scored one [in each innings] as well, they’re the type of games and series you want to be a part of and games you want to put your hand up and be a part of.”From the vantage point of 2018, it is difficult to picture exactly how young in the game Lyon truly was in 2011, for he was not only in his second Test series but less than a year into his first-class career, having been plucked from the Adelaide Oval ground staff to be part of South Australia’s Twenty20 squad, and from there playing in the Sheffield Shield and then with Australia A.The whirlwind was rather reflected in the tumble of 23 wickets on day two of the Test, including the eye-popping scoreline of 21 for 9 in Australia’s second innings when Lyon walked to the middle. “You’ve got to be pretty good to top-score for your country,” he quipped. “I’ve been on both ends of the spectrum, obviously when you get bowled out for 47 it is not the best feeling, but we came back a couple of years later to win the way we did was exceptional.”It happened pretty quick to be honest, I think I walked out to bat when we were 9 for 21 in the 11th over, I’m not usually padded up in the 11th over or trying to pad up in the ninth. It was a little bit different. It’s another story in my career, some days you have your day out and big Vernon Philander did that day.”Nathan Lyon top-scored with 14 as Australia collapsed for 47•AFP
Usman Khawaja, another member of that squad, recalled the panic of the moment, even as it related to fetching batting gloves for members of the playing XI. “I remember that when we got South Africa out in that first innings and went to bat in that second innings, it was Pat Cummins and Trent Copeland who were doing 12th with me,” he told . “And I just said ‘boys, I did my gym session earlier in the day, go do your gym session now, I’ll take care of this, we’re batting. This’ll be easy.'”At Cape Town, the Twelfthy sits right down the bottom and there are about 70 stairs to climb. Every time there was a wicket I would run up those stairs. A couple of times I ran up the stairs to get someone’s gloves and by the time that I got up there they were out so I had to put the stuff back down and grab the other kit. It really was unbelievable.”It is always a good reminder to myself and I think to anyone that the game is never won and you can never get too far ahead of yourself. Even in my head I thought that we had a lead of about 200 and even if we got 150 that is game over; it is very hard to chase 350 in the last innings. And we were obviously 9 for 21. You never get ahead of yourself in this game and that very much reminded me of that.”This week, Lyon will be hoping to play a part in generating a similar tumble of South Africa wickets, in a series where he has oscillated between rapid breakthroughs – Dean Elgar and Hashim Amla in his first over of the series, Elgar and AB de Villiers in the second innings at Port Elizabeth – and longer, more barren spells.”I don’t know what he’s trying to do hitting me through square leg twice,” Lyon joked about his two caught-and-bowled dismissals of Elgar. “But it’s another good challenge you always have with different cricketers around the world. I bowled five balls and got him out twice but I also bowled 20 overs in the first innings and couldn’t get him out once, so it’s a challenging one but it’s a good challenge, it’s Test cricket.”You’re bowling to the best batters in the world so it’s a great challenge whether left-hander or right-hander. I’ve enjoyed it because it’s different conditions to what we’re used to at home, we know they play some really good cricket, they beat us at home last time, their unit’s a strong side. I’ve enjoyed the challenge, if I challenge myself against the best players in the world I’m doing my job and pretty happy with it. So to come up against the likes of AB and Faf [du Plessis] and these guys and Hashim it’s the challenge you want.”Undistracted by the Kagiso Rabada saga, Lyon said the Australian bowlers had taken some heart from the way they troubled the South Africa top order in their chase for a meagre 101 to win at St George’s Park. “If I’m being honest, if you give us another 100 runs it’s game on,” he said. “I know the bowling unit took a little bit out of that last innings. I know I took a little bit out of it.”There are a couple of little things that we can hopefully put into play for a certain number of their top-order batsmen. PE was pretty disappointing but I think we played about 40%, if I’m being honest, and we got pretty close to them. The way I’m looking at it, if we play to our full strength, it should be a good result.”More 2014 than 2011.
Argentina boss Lionel Scaloni used Inter Miami star Lionel Messi as an example to prove his claim that modern football tactics are damaging the game.
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Scaloni slams modern tacticsUses Messi as an exampleTells young players to enjoy the gameWHAT HAPPENED?
Scaloni, 45, has claimed we are losing the "essence of football" as tactics and analysis begin to play a larger role throughout the modern game. Using the example of Argentina captain Lionel Messi, Scaloni explained tactics can become robotic in their ways, when in some cases it is best to let players thrive on their own.
Watch Inter Miami with the MLS Season PassStream nowAdvertisementGettyWHAT SCALONI SAID
Speaking to , he slammed the overuse of modern day football tactics. "Of course, there are no dribblers. There are no dribblers because as soon as they receive the ball you say 'Pass it!'. Imagine if Messi when he was eight years old had been told all the time 'Pass it!' by his coaches, we wouldn't have him today. It's impressive. Because football has become such a big thing, everyone reads, studies, and thinks that with that they can manage. You tell a child of 7 or 8 years old to make the diagonal, to cover…. He's seven years old! Let him play ball, let him make mistakes, and when he's 14 or 15 we'll start correcting him. It's a message for the future. This is a sport and the beauty of football should not be lost."
THE BIGGER PICTURE
Scaloni went on to explain that for younger players, having fun and enjoying the game is more important than tactics such as tracking runners. He added: "The clear example is with the kids. When they are 12 or 13 years old they have to play ball and have fun, and not be so much on top of them correcting them, because you take away their essence and so we will see less and less players with that carefree attitude that we used to see before."
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GettyWHAT NEXT FOR SCALONI?
Argentina have not been in action since their 1-0 win against Brazil back in November. Their next game will arrive in the upcoming Copa America tournament this summer, as they face Chile in the first game of Group A. Messi and his international team-mates will be eager to defend their title, after securing the trophy back in 2021.