Tyler Johnson and MacKenzie Entwistle scored in the second period, and the Chicago Blackhawks topped the Seattle Kraken 4-3

Dutch team DSM-Firmenich earned a surprise victory in the first stage of the Vuelta a Espana on Saturday, as the third Grand Tour of the season started with a team...

Four people accused of hanging an effigy of Real Madrid player Vinícius Júnior off a highway bridge have been released from custody while still under investigation for perpetrating a hate crime

Adam Wainwright promised his children he would get a family dog when he retired from baseball

Frequent Women’s World Cup title contenders like the United States, Germany and Brazil are used to win-or-go-home scenarios — but rarely this early in the tournament

Rudi Garcia is on the verge of being sacked by Napoli after the Italian champions fell to a shock 1-0 home defeat to Empoli on Sunday, while Lazio and...

Wyndham Clark is among the contenders going into the weekend of the U.S. Open

Fulham are serious contenders in the race for Southampton skipper James Ward-Prowse. The Cottagers are targeting the midfielder, who is interested in a move to Craven Cottage, the PA news agency understands. Southampton are likely to ask for close to £30million for their captain – who has three years left on his contract – after relegation from the Premier League last season. West Ham want Fulham’s Joao Palhinha to replace Declan Rice, which would then see the Cottagers line up Ward-Prowse. Arsenal have had two bids rejected for Hammers skipper Rice this week, although champions Manchester City are reportedly preparing their own offer. The Hammers are also interested in England international Ward-Prowse but he would prefer a switch to west London. The 28-year-old sees Marco Silva’s style as the best fit for him as he looks for a route back to the top flight. A move to Fulham would also see him link up with former Saints team-mate Harrison Reed, with the pair having come through the academy at St Mary’s. Brentford, given their threat from set pieces, also held an interest in Ward-Prowse but they were quickly rebuffed by the Saints star. He will leave the club this summer having been unable to keep Southampton in the Premier League after they finished bottom. They had three managers as Nathan Jones replaced Ralph Hasenhuttl in November – but lasted just 14 games before being sacked – and Ruben Selles was unable to save the Saints. Southampton appointed Russell Martin on a three-year deal from Swansea on Wednesday, with the Swans looking to bring Michael Duff in from Barnsley. Martin will have to mount a promotion charge in the Championship without Ward-Prowse, who has made 409 appearances and scored 55 goals for the Saints and is one goal short of David Beckham’s Premier League free-kick record of 18. Saints could also lose Romeo Lavia, with the midfielder wanted by Liverpool and Arsenal. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Tottenham in talks to sign Empoli goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario England remove Australia’s openers before lunch on opening day of Women’s Ashes Man City linked with Declan Rice bid as treble winners look set for busy summer

The Chiefs are riding high on a Super Bowl win. What can they expect from the 2023 season? What does a worst-case scenario season prediction look like?The Kansas City Chiefs are coming off a Super Bowl victory, their second in four seasons. Everyone and their mother knows what a best-case scenar...

Rickie Fowler and Wyndham Clark shared the lead as the final round of the US Open promised suspense worthy of a Hollywood thriller at Los...

After another bad loss to a far superior rival in conference play, Penn State head coach James Franklin has parted ways with his former offensive coordinator in Mike Yurcich. Yeah, that is going to solve everything.

In the days before Manchester City’s most important match of the season, Pep Guardiola has been trying to strike a difficult balance. Surprisingly, his focus is not on how to play against Vinicius Junior, despite the way the forward scorched the Catalan’s side last season. Instead, Guardiola wants to make sure his players do not dwell on how last season’s semi-final ended, for fear of it inhibiting their performance, but he also doesn’t want to suppress their desire for revenge either. With the Premier League champions in unprecedented form, some within the team want to subject Real Madrid to the heartbreak that City endured last May. Madrid, meanwhile, are intent on reasserting why they are the greatest. Carlo Ancelotti has been seeking to nurture their talent in that understated way of his. It’s just about the only thing with this Champions League semi-final rematch that’s understated. All around the Bernabeu, there is the sense of the game building up to the be-all and end-all of the season. It is little wonder it is being described as the “real final”. After all, this is by far the more difficult side of the draw, with arguably the two best sides in Europe. It has the high stakes that lend it the grandeur of previous “real finals”: Internazionale-Barcelona 2010, Barcelona-Bayern Munich 2015, Liverpool-Barcelona 2019 and perhaps Bayern Munich-Madrid 2001. It’s also what many think, and psychology is a key part of this. Those within Madrid firmly believe City are the best team in Europe – other than them – and overtures are already being made to try and bring Erling Haaland to the Bernabeu at some point in the future. Some of the Real hierarchy have been left gobsmacked by Haaland. Ancelotti has been discussing with his staff how to limit the striker’s impact. But Haaland still doesn’t dominate their mindset as much as state-owned clubs like City influence the thinking of Florentino Perez. The driving force for the Madrid president in the last half-decade has been ensuring his club can compete with such political projects. On the flip side, Madrid are the kind of grand football institution City feel they must overcome. To win the Champions League by beating three of the competition’s most historically successful clubs – Bayern Munich, Madrid and AC Milan – would be a highly symbolic moment. But there is still something deeper to the Spanish giants, though. Madrid were Guardiola’s great rivals at Barcelona. They so often won the top European competition that eluded the Catalans, and are the club that subjected Guardiola to some of his worst evenings. What happened last season between City and Real Madrid was, for Guardiola, an extension of his history at the Camp Nou. In addition, there was the semi-final in 2014 when Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale eviscerated Pep’s Bayern. All of this is firing up everyone involved. And yet it is that very shared history which means we are long past the point where we can cast this as the football establishment against new money, a grand old institution against a modern state project. Both, after all, came together for the Super League project two years ago. There’s a familiarity on a few levels. This is the third time City and Madrid have met in four seasons. Two have been in the semi-finals. It’s what happens when the pool of teams at the continent’s top end shrinks, as both of these clubs have played their part in ensuring. It is another reason this is seen as “the real final”. This season has made it feel like the only potential champions are English sides, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain (at a stretch) and Madrid. As these names have fallen, it has looked more and more like it will be City’s year. Such is their strength in depth that they are always in contention – this year, last year, next year – in a way rarely seen in football history. Haaland’s goals epitomise this. They also point to how some new elements will decide a tie with increasingly familiar themes – or, at least, new spins on familiar themes. In seeking to maximise the force of Haaland, while marrying the player’s singular goalscoring brilliance with his own obsession with collective control, Guardiola has gone back to his roots. He has reconfigured Johan Cruyff’s “box” from Barcelona’s 1992 season, which also happened to be the first Champions League the club had ever won. It has at once released Haaland while keeping him a key part of a coherent collective. That is going to be very hard for Madrid to undo in the way they managed last season, although Bayern showed one vulnerability is pace on the flanks that Ancelotti has in abundance. This is where Vinicius is so dangerous, and would require more compromises within Guardiola’s system. City may have to double up on the Brazilian. Vinicius has gone up another level after winning last season’s Champions League. Many within the game believe he is the most effective footballer in Europe right now. Others, of course, believe it is Haaland. And Madrid certainly can’t afford to forget about him. It wasn’t like City struggled to create chances against Madrid last season, they just didn’t have anyone to finish them. It let Madrid back in, for the mother of all of those comebacks. There is little surer than Haaland, though. There is little surer than the idea these are the two best teams in Europe right now. It is why this is being cast as the true final. Since both are so much better than the Milan clubs, the showpiece will feel a fait accompli. That is often the danger with such games, though. You forget what is to come, and put so much into the grand showdown before. This semi-final is after all built on countless recent memories, that could play a part in deciding it. Read More Pep Guardiola ready to stare down his managerial nemesis once again Is Real Madrid vs Manchester City on TV? Kick-off time, channel and how to watch Champions League semi-final Ex-England boss Fabio Capello labels Manchester City ‘the best team in world’ Man City not motivated by revenge against Real Madrid says Guardiola The sporting weekend in pictures