Jonah Heim drove in four runs, Josh Jung homered and the Texas Rangers beat the Detroit Tigers 10-6 on Tuesday night to improve to 35-19, the best record in franchise history at the one-third mark

Napoli striker Victor Osimhen has named the two Premier League shirts he owned growing up.

Yankees getting back on track vs. the Mariners this week

Ecuador was able to take down Uruguay on Tuesday afternoon, with center back Felix Torres scoring both goals in his country's 2-1 win.

The Braves called up one of their top prospects, Jared Shuster, for a pseudo-audition for a spot in the rotation. Was his outing enough to earn the job?Injuries to Max Fried, Kyle Wright and Ian Anderson have left the Atlanta Braves, despite being comfortably at the top of the NL East early in t...

Kendall Jenner sparks Bad Bunny breakup rumors, Peter Seidler died at 63, "Welcome to Wrexham" renewed for Season 3 and more in the Roundup.

In one of Europe’s biggest three-horse races, an unexpected fourth leads the way. Where usually Barcelona, Real Madrid and, on sporadic occasions, Atletico Madrid reside, there’s an altogether less-expected club sitting top of LaLiga after a third of the campaign – a free-scoring, attack-minded team who spent a net of barely £4m in the summer, have a stadium capacity of under 15,000 and whose best-ever season in LaLiga to date saw them finish 10th. Welcome to Girona FC. The story of their rise is a tale in itself, but their opening 12 games of this campaign might yet make for the stuff of local legend. As recently as 1999 the club was playing in the Catalan regional leagues, the fifth tier of Spanish football, but after achieving their first-ever top-flight campaign in 2017-18 and surviving for a second, they returned to LaLiga for 2022-23 and ended 10th last year – just as they did five years earlier, in fact. There appears to be no danger of season four emulating season two, though. Where then they were relegated, this term they top the table, two points ahead of Real Madrid, four clear of champions Barcelona and a full six ahead of Atletico. Between Girona and fifth is a massive 10 points, after just a dozen matches. Masterminding this unexpected rise is head coach Michel Sanchez Munoz, better known just as Michel, a former Rayo Vallecano and Real Murcia player who has been in the dugout at Estadi Montilivi since 2021. Michel has the team playing offensive football – they’ve not only won more games than anyone this term, they’ve also outscored everyone in LaLiga– and the manner of it is even more impressive given the turnover of the squad: 10 in, three out, another half a dozen loaned away. That new group has been quickly moulded into a cohesive unit with a very identifiable approach to matches, as one of those new arrivals, former Manchester United and Ajax defender Daley Blind, told The Independent. “It’s always difficult to compare managers, each one has his own ID and way of playing. But what stands out is the manager is really clear in how he wants to play football, he has a really clear idea about every game we play and having a real tactical plan,” Blind says on a call. “He tries to give that to the team and make sure we understand the gameplan. “The story he told me before I came to Girona was really intriguing and I can’t say anything other than he did not lie – I got excited and wanted to play here after speaking to him. “You can’t know it for sure beforehand but we’re really happy with how it’s going and it’s always important for a coach to be clear about that.” Blind is happily effusive about Michel’s man management as well as his tactical acumen. Having spent most of his career under the likes of Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho, father Danny Blind and others, he’s well placed to talk about who is impressive or otherwise on the coaching ground. And while he won’t directly look at matching up Michel’s attributes to anyone else’s, he makes the point that there’s a real connection between coach and squad. “I don’t want to compare [to others] but, for me, he’s a manager who is human, who connects on a personal level as well. He joins in the rondo [training game of keep-ball] and is part of the guys; at the moment training really starts he’s then really on top of it and not holding back,” the centre-back explains. “He expects every training [session] to be the best but there’s always time for a joke here and there. He has a good connection with every player – that’s very special.” Blind freely admits that his spell in Spain came at the second time of asking. He got the call from Girona last year after leaving Ajax; while considering his next move, Bayern Munich swooped in and he felt he needed to go. This summer, though, he was confident Girona was the right move. While the Dutchman has been a mainstay at the back this term, central midfielder Aleix Garcia has caught the eye, while in attack young winger Savio has been impressive and new centre-forward Artem Dovbyk has not so much hit the ground running as thundering through defences, scoring six in eight starts or one every 109 minutes. Among LaLiga’s best goal-getters, only Gerard Moreno (105), Alvaro Morata (105) and top scorer Jude Bellingham (95) can beat the Ukrainian’s strike rate. So has the fast start by Girona altered their season aims, made them aim higher than might have been the objective at the start of the campaign? Not for Blind, who maintains the “one game at a time” mantra. “For me, it hasn’t changed, you want to finish as high as possible in the league and that’s what we aim for. We’ll see where that is at the end of the season,” he says. “You always be ambitious and have an aim but in the end, you look game by game because the next one is most important and you want the three points. But you see which games are in the next couple of weeks and be ambitious about it. It’s not for me to reveal what we say about [those runs] but it always comes back to the next game.” For Girona, the next game is away on Saturday to Rayo Vallecano, Michel’s oldest and most closely linked club. Beat them and the Catalan club will remain top across the international break, the envy of not just smaller clubs around Europe hoping to improve their own fortunes and challenge higher in the league but of every club in Spain – including the very biggest and the supposed best. Perhaps, just perhaps, they won’t be this year. Watch LaLiga on Viaplay, available in the UK on Sky, Virgin TV, Amazon Prime Video and via streaming Read More Jeremy Doku’s brilliance shows Man City’s edge and Chelsea’s key problem Ange Postecoglu gives injury update for Tottenham star James Maddison Football stadium plunged into darkness after rivals turn off lights during title win Jeremy Doku’s brilliance shows Man City’s edge and Chelsea’s key problem Ange Postecoglu gives injury update for Tottenham star James Maddison Football stadium plunged into darkness after rivals turn off lights during title win

Chelsea have announced the sale of Kalidou Koulibaly to Saudi Arabian side Al-Hilal, having spent just one year at the club. The Senegalese centre-back was much sought-after during his time at Napoli in Serie A but it was the Stamford Bridge club who eventually landed him last summer for an estimated £34 million. However, a chaotic campaign saw the 32-year-old play under four different managers as the Todd Boehly and Clearlake era got off to a tumultuous start and, ultimately, a desperately poor 2022/23 season. A large turnover of transfers was expected this summer at Chelsea after well over half a billion pounds was spent across the course of the past year, and Koulibaly thus becomes the latest exit - and the latest star playing in Europe who has decided to join the Saudi Pro League and the vast sums suddenly on offer there. Following Cristiano Ronaldo’s move to Al-Nassr midway through last term, Karim Benzema followed his former teammate with a switch from Real Madrid to Al-Ittihad earlier this month. And Koulibaly isn’t even the first Chelsea player to tread this path either, with N’Golo Kante moving from west London to the same team as Benzema last week. Meanwhile, Mateo Kovacic is soon to complete a move to Manchester City as the overhaul continues under new head coach Mauricio Pochettino. Even so, the departure of Koulibaly is a notable one. Koulibaly was initially a starter under Thomas Tuchel last autumn and was seen as a big coup for the club, but he fell out of favour under Graham Potter. The one match under Bruno Sartor saw Koulibaly play in the middle of a three-man defence, before Frank Lampard’s terrible run as interim boss saw a return to a four-man system, with Koulibaly in and out during that period. In total he played 23 times in the Premier League and made 32 appearances in all competitions, scoring twice. During the middle of his sole season with the Blues he also captained Senegal at the World Cup, scoring once before defeat to England in the knockouts. A short statement on the Chelsea website read: “We would like to thank Kalidou for his contributions on and off the pitch during his time at Stamford Bridge and wish him well for the next stage of his career.” As for Koulibaly’s new team, Al-Hilal finished third in the table this past season and their key players for the campaign included former Porto forward Moussa Marega and Saudi national team skipper Salem Al-Dawsari, who scored twice at the Qatar World Cup including the winner against Argentina. Former Manchester United striker Odion Ighalo was also at the club last season but has now departed. Read More Football rumours: Man United end pursuit of Harry Kane over ‘unrealistic’ fee Football rumours: Wilfried Zaha eyes move to Paris St Germain Arteta hypes up Arsenal progress despite pain of losing title race Arteta hypes up Arsenal progress despite pain of losing title race On this day in 2012: Joey Barton stripped of captaincy by QPR Brendan Rodgers regrets ‘hurt’ he caused Celtic fans when he left for Leicester

Replacements for Doc Rivers in Philly.

Julian Nagelsmann will lead hosts Germany into Euro 2024 next summer. The German football federation (DFB) confirmed on Friday that the 36-year-old had been appointed to succeed Hansi Flick in charge of the Nationalmannschaft, with the contract running through to the end of the tournament next July. Nagelsmann was most recently at German champions Bayern Munich, who sacked him in March and replaced him with former Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel. Nagelsmann’s playing career was cut short at the age of 20 by injury and he moved into coaching, with his big break coming at Hoffenheim in 2015. He moved on to RB Leipzig before joining Bayern in 2021. The DFB said Nagelsmann had been its “unanimous choice” to replace Flick, who was sacked earlier this month with the national team having lost four of their last five matches, including a 4-1 defeat to Japan. Nagelsmann said: “We have a European Championship in our own country and that’s something special – something that happens every few decades. “I have a great desire to to take on this challenge. We will be a close-knit group next year.” His first matches in charge will be against two of the 2026 World Cup co-hosts, the United States and Mexico, next month. They are also due to take on Austria in November. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live

Saquon Barkley was limited at practice for the second straight day and the star running back’s status for Monday night’s game against the Seattle Seahawks remains uncertain because of a sprained right ankle

Nebraska fans are still reeling over losing out on No. 1 prospect Dylan Raiola this summer. Who wouldn't be?Dylan Raiola broke every Nebraska fan's heart earlier this month when he committed to Georgia. The No. 1 prospect in the 2024 recruiting class snubbed his father's alma mate...