Normal view

There are new articles available, click to refresh the page.
Yesterday — 1 June 2024Main stream

Borussia Dortmund v Real Madrid: Champions League final 2024 – live

1 June 2024 at 16:46

You’ll Never Walk Alone. It’s an anthem for Borussia Dortmund as well, and Rodgers and Hammerstein’s most terrace-friendly ditty is currently ringing around Wembley. Up in the posh seats, the aforementioned Kloppo sings and sways in the emotional style. A pfenning for all of the conflicting thoughts running through the head of the former Liverpool boss right now. He looks healthy and happy and about ten years younger. Premier League management is a job of work all right.

Dortmund have Jurgen Klopp, so Real need a celebrity fan of their own in attendance. Step forward Jay-Z, who is at Wembley to support his Roc Nation Sports client Vinicius Júnior. In other news, the Wembley turf is looking lush, so while Jay-Z has 99 problems … no, you deserve better than that. I’m sorry for even thinking about it.

Continue reading...

💾

© Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Observer

💾

© Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Observer

Before yesterdayMain stream

Olympiakos v Fiorentina: Europa Conference League final – live

29 May 2024 at 15:46

5 min: Olympiakos take the corner quickly, Fortounis rolling in from the right for Rodinei, who is in space but can’t get a shot away. His low cross is cleared and Fiorentina counter, Kouamé bombing down the left and finding Gonzalez on the right. Gonzalez dribbles in and tees up Belotti, who slices wide left. More of this and we’ll be well entertained this evening!

4 min: Chiquinho feeds Podence down the left. Podence cuts infield and takes a whack from the left-hand edge of the D. Terracciano sees it late but manages to tip around the right-hand post.

Continue reading...

💾

© Photograph: Michael Steele/Getty Images

💾

© Photograph: Michael Steele/Getty Images

Celtic v Rangers: 2024 Scottish Cup final – live

25 May 2024 at 11:51
  • Live updates from the 3pm BST kick-off at Hampden
  • Any comments? Feel free to email Scott with your thoughts

Celtic get the ball rolling. Hampden is rocking.

The teams are out! Celtic are nominally the home side, but for the first time this season, both sets of fans have been let into the stadium. So the Scottish Gas Men’s Scottish Cup final atmosphere, fuelled by 22 years of pent-up anticipation plus over a season gone without the opportunity to shout at each other, is pretty much as you’d imagine. It’s hotter than the Cookability Roadshow! It is warm in Mount Florida, to be fair.

Continue reading...

💾

© Photograph: Jane Barlow/PA

💾

© Photograph: Jane Barlow/PA

Atalanta v Bayer Leverkusen: Europa League final – live

22 May 2024 at 14:43

Our pre-match postbag is positively teeming with an email. Just as well it’s a good one. “Genuinely excited by this one,” begins Russell Yong. “One often sees people expressing disdain by wishing both teams could lose; this, for a change, is a game I dearly wish both could win. I don’t want to see Leverkusen’s unbeaten run end, but Bergamo, beautiful, lovely Bergamo, so dearly deserves a win. Dare I say it, I think Atalanta will edge it. They will be hungrier for their cup loss and their bench seems to have marginally more depth: Pasalic, de Roon, Hateboer, Toure and Miranchuk are all extremely handy players. A word too for their backup goalkeeper Carnesecchi which, I take it, translates to ‘dried meat’, which I like to think means he’s descended from a long line of jerky makers.”

Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso speaks to TNT Sports: “In the Bundesliga we didn’t want to talk to early but we made it great … it’s for the history books now … now we want to keep going, keep doing history … we have a great chance … it’s going to be great but tough also … we have been focused … the supporters had to celebrate … but we had this final and another in Germany … this is the big one … the guys are ready and looking forward to it … the way we stick together as a team will be fundamental … it’s a final, but it’s a game … we have played so many games this year … it’s been a dream season for all of us … especially for our fans … we try to enjoy it with them, but our job is to perform on the pitch.”

Continue reading...

💾

© Photograph: Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP

💾

© Photograph: Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP

US PGA Championship 2024: final round – live

19 May 2024 at 16:45

Looking back, it should have been pretty obvious that Scottie Scheffler wasn’t going to win after the surreal incident with the peelers on Friday morning. He got back to Valhalla in time to card a jaw-droppingly dogged 66, but the mental cost must have been immense, and yesterday’s 73 was a bit of a low-energy fiasco that could have been a whole lot worse. He’s not really shifting the needle today; bogey at 1, birdie at 5, and he remains where he started at -7 through seven underwhelming holes. Time to recharge the batteries by spending some time at home with the new arrival … and OK, I’ve not quite thought that through, but you get the general gist. He’ll be back and firing on all cylinders again soon enough. Watch out Pinehurst!

It wasn’t to be for poor old Rory this week (pt XXXVIII in an ongoing series). McIlroy takes a shy at the short par-four 4th from the tee, but ends up on a grassy knoll to the side of the green. He whips out, his ball sailing through the green and over the other side, into more thick stuff, where he finds himself shortsided. But then he stabs delightfully out to three feet, such a fine mixture of power and delicacy, and scrambles his par. He remains at -7, and thoughts will already be turning to Pinehurst next month.

Continue reading...

💾

© Photograph: Adam Cairns/USA Today Sports

💾

© Photograph: Adam Cairns/USA Today Sports

US PGA Championship 2024: third round – live

18 May 2024 at 15:50

“This could be the lowest scoring day in major-championship history,” opines Sky commentator Paul McGinley. No wind, soft greens, warm sunshine, all that. This being the case, you don’t want to be going backwards too much at any given point. So it’s a big putt for Bob MacIntyre on 3. Having dropped a shot at 2, he’s facing another bogey at 3. Unless he makes a 15-footer, he’ll effectively be making his fourth in his last five holes of play. But in it goes, and Scotland’s only representative here remains at -6.

Shane Lowry is this close to holding out from a greenside bunker at 6. That’s an end to his run of birdies, though. Tom Hoge drains a monster from downtown on 17, his fourth birdie of the day, and he’s -6. And there are opening birdies for Bryson DeChambeau and Austin Eckroat. A lot of players throwing darts, with the course there for the taking.

Continue reading...

💾

© Photograph: Michael Reaves/Getty Images

💾

© Photograph: Michael Reaves/Getty Images

❌
❌