■ITALY
Kaka tips Ronaldo for award
Brazilian superstar Kaka believes Manchester United winger Cristiano Ronaldo will succeed him as the world’s best player. The AC Milan midfielder cleaned up last year, winning both the FIFA World Player of the Year award and the European Golden Ball, following a year in which he guided the San Siro side to the Champions League, scoring 10 goals on the way to victory. Now he feels the Portuguese winger’s exploits in helping the English side to succeed Milan as European champions warrants him lifting the various trophies. “I believe that the No. 1 candidate is still Cristiano Ronaldo, above all for what he did and won in the Champions League with Manchester United,” Kaka told Italy’s La Gazzetta dello Sport’s Sportweek magazine.
■FRANCE
Tragedy overshadows game
Zinedine Zidane pulled on the blue shirt of France one more time on Saturday to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the country’s 1998 World Cup triumph. But the occasion at the Stade de France was overshadowed by the death of a young fan who was killed in a road accident on his way to the ground. Zidane, who scored twice in the 3-0 win over Brazil in the World Cup final 10 years ago, scored the first goal of the night for the French side on the hour mark against a Rest of the World team. Emilio Butragueno had given the international select the lead in the 25th minute before Zidane’s leveller. Pedro Pauleta made it 2-1 to the world team before Ludovic Giuly equalized for France. Croatia’s Davor Suker and Bernard Diomede both scored in the last minute to ensure a 3-3 draw in front of a 75,000 crowd. Aime Jacquet, who coached the 1998 World Cup winners, admitted that the evening had been overshadowed by the death of the 10-year-old fan. A minute’s silence was held in the youngster’s honor.
■BRAZIL
Star set to defy Barca: report
Ronaldinho will reportedly break his contract with FC Barcelona if need be to go to the Beijing Olympics. Newspaper O Globo reported on Saturday that the two-time FIFA player of the year will next week tell the Spanish club of his plans to help Brazil win its first Olympic gold medal. “On Tuesday, Ronaldinho will announce that nothing will keep him away from the Beijing Olympics,” the newspaper said. “And if Barcelona insists on not allowing him to play, he will break his contract with the Spanish club. The first demonstration of his determination will take place on Monday when he will not report to [Barcelona coach] Josep Guardiola for training.” Earlier this week, Barcelona said Ronaldinho “will have to report for training on Monday, the first session of the 2008-2009 season. The Olympics do not form part of the official FIFA calendar, and no official decision has ever been made in that respect, so the club is under no obligation to allow its player to travel,” the club said in a statement.
■ITALY
Ball in Lampard’s court
Inter Milan president Massimo Moratti said on Saturday the decision whether Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard joins the San Siro outfit is ultimately down to the player. Moratti said that the time has arrived for the 30-year-old to make his intentions clear. “We’ve made our offer to Chelsea and now it depends on the player. He is someone we like, but we can’t do any more than this,” the Inter chief told Corriere dello Sport. Lampard has been a summer-long transfer target for the Italian champions.
SSC Napoli’s Italian Serie A title hopes suffered a late setback on Sunday when they were held to a 2-2 draw at home against Genoa, setting up a thrilling season finale with closest rivals Inter just one point behind. The hosts remain top with 78 points, holding a slim lead over Inter, who won 2-0 at Torino earlier on Sunday, with two rounds remaining. To make matters worse for Napoli, midfielder Stanislav Lobotka, struggling with an ankle injury, was forced off just minutes after the match began. Scott McTominay delivered a perfect pass into the box where Romelu Lukaku got
Harry Kane opened the scoring ahead of lifting his first career silverware as Bayern Munich beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 2-0, with veteran Thomas Mueller playing his last home game for the club. Bayern officially won the title on May 4 when defending champions Bayer Leverkusen were held to a 2-2 draw at Freiburg, but were presented with the Bundesliga shield in front of their home fans at full-time. Dripping wet after being showered with beer by teammates, Kane said the title win was “an incredible feeling,” and hoped it would be “the first of many.” “It’s been lot of hard work, a lot of
A stunning Lamine Yamal strike on Thursday helped crown Barcelona La Liga champions with a 2-0 win over local rivals RCD Espanyol, with victory ensuring Real Madrid cannot catch them at the top of the table. Yamal’s effort and Fermin Lopez’s goal took Hansi Flick’s side seven points clear of Los Blancos with two matches remaining, to clinch Barcelona’s 28th title and complete a superb domestic treble. Only the UEFA Champions League title escaped an exciting young Barca side this season, as they won the league for the second time in six years, at Espanyol’s ground again just as in 2022-2023. Back then,
Jannik Sinner on Thursday marched into the semi-finals of the Italian Open after destroying Casper Ruud in straight sets 6-0, 6-1, while Coco Gauff won a marathon three-set battle with China’s Zheng Qinwen to advance to the women’s singles final. American Gauff is to face Italy’s Jasmine Paolini in today’s title match after pulling through 7-6 (7/3), 4-6, 7-6 (7/4) in a match that lasted over three-and-a-half hours. Ruud was supposed to be Sinner’s toughest test in Rome since he came back from his three-month doping ban, as the Norwegian came into the match in hot form on clay after winning in
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