■SPAIN
Eto’o receives huge offer
Barcelona have received a “stratospheric” offer for their Cameroon striker Samuel Eto’o, but they want him to stay, club chairman Joan Laporta said on Sunday. “He has a stratospheric offer which would make him the world’s best-paid player,” Laporta told Spanish radio in comments published on the club’s Web site. However, Laporta has said all along he wants to keep the forward, while sports daily AS reported last week that there was a dearth of offers for the star, who bagged 30 goals in La Liga last season and also hit the opener in the 2-0 Champions League final win over Manchester United. “I think Eto’o would like to stay and I would like him to,” Laporta said. Eto’o’s current contract only runs for another year and AS indicated wage demands of some 10 million euros (US$14 million) a year were frightening off top clubs, although big-spending English Premier League club Manchester City, French side Lyon and Italy’s Inter are all said to be interested.
■SPAIN
Real make Benzema offer
Real Madrid have offered 32 million euros (US$45 million) for Lyon striker Karim Benzema after switching their attention to the France international from Valencia forward David Villa, sports daily Marca reported on Sunday. Marca said the French have yet to respond to Real’s offer, but last week Bernard Lacombe, adviser to Lyon chairman Jean-Michel Aulas, told Marca that “nothing is impossible and if we receive a good offer, we will not close the door to anyone.” Lyon’s director of communications Olivier Blanc said merely that “the only news is Real Madrid contacted Olympique Lyon a few days ago to discuss Karim Benzema. Benzema and Olympique Lyon confirmed his initial desire is to stay another year with Lyon.” Manchester United are also admirers of Benzema, but Real have decided to swoop now given the reluctance of Valencia’s new chairman Manuel Llorente to sell them Spain striker Villa.
■ITALY
Wolfsburg deny Dzeko move
German champions VfL Wolfsburg are refusing to sell Edin Dzeko to AC Milan, the Bosnian striker said on Sunday. “Wolfsburg won’t let me go. Everyone knows that Milan are the team of my dreams, but I can not do anything,” the 23-year-old told Italy’s Sky television. Milan chief executive Adriano Galliani, looking for a new attacker after selling playmaker Kaka to Real Madrid, is not giving up despite Wolfsburg’s stance. “We will wait until the end of next week,” he told reporters. The Rossoneri chief also reiterated that striker Alexandre Pato will not be leaving the San Siro despite media reports saying former Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti had bid 60 million euros (US$84 million) to take the Brazilian to Chelsea.
■AUSTRALIA
Wolves, Fulham sales flop
A plan to showcase two English Premier League teams in Australia next month is threatening to be a flop because of a lack of early interest from local fans. Wolverhampton Wanderers and Fulham have been booked to play double-headers against Australian A-League clubs Perth and North Queensland. However, with less than two weeks to go before the first match, local officials said they had only sold about 9,000 tickets for the two double-headers. “I am staggered actually — I thought that the games would have been sold out within a week or two,” Perth owner Tony Sage told local radio. “It’s just disappointing to me that we haven’t even gone half way to selling out.”
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
The Minnesota Timberwolves, with so many promising performances spoiled by late mistakes fresh in their memory bank, sure timed this strong finish well. Jaden McDaniels scored a career playoff-high 30 points and spearheaded Minnesota’s stifling defense on an ailing Luka Doncic, and the Timberwolves beat the Los Angeles Lakers 116-104 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Friday night. “Jaden never looks tired. He looks like he could play 48 minutes,” said teammate Anthony Edwards, who had 29 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Julius Randle added 22 points for the Wolves, who outscored
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
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