Sir Jim Ratcliffe has become part owner of Manchester United as one of the UK’s richest men has bought a 25 per cent stake in the club he supported as a boy.

The billionaire has bought a share in the Old Trafford club, worth a reported £1.25billion, after Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani withdrew his interest to end a lengthy process where he tried to buy the club outright.

The 71-year-old has a reported net worth £12.5billion thanks to the success of global chemical company Ineos, which has enjoyed exponential growth since he founded it in 1998, and will assume delegated responsibility for the club’s football operations. He will also invest an additional 300 million US dollars (£236.7million) into the club’s infrastructure.

Manchester United reaches agr…

Tottenham Hotspur are interested in signing Brahim Diaz from Real Madrid in the summer transfer window, according to . The report in the French news outlet has claimed that AS Roma are also keen on Diaz, who can operate as an attacking midfielder or as a winger.

FootMercato has claimed that both Tottenham and AS Roma have made offers to Madrid for Diaz. Madrid, who won La Liga and the UEFA Champions League last season, have turned down those offers and do not plan to offload the Morocco international this summer.

Diaz has been on the books of Madrid since 2019 when he joined after leaving Manchester City. The Morocco international had a loan spell at AC Milan from 2020 until 2023 and was part of Carlo Ancelotti’s side at Madrid last season. Diaz scored eight goals and…

Real Madrid always feel respected by every team in the Champions League, so says coach Carlo Ancelotti.

Madrid overcame holders Manchester City on penalties in the quarter-finals to tee up a last-four clash with Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich.

City dominated much of the second leg in Manchester, yet after a 4-4 draw on aggregate, it was Ancelotti s team who got over the line.

Fourteen-time European champions Madrid, who allowed Karim Benzema to leave for Saudi Arabia at the end of last season, were not fancied to get past City, but Ancelotti does not think his team have been undervalued in this year s competition.

Madrid is never undervalued in this competition, because everyone knows what we can do, he said.

We feel respect from everyone.

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John Hackworth has challenged St. Louis City to do better against Houston Dynamo after a disappointing loss to LA Galaxy last time out in MLS.

St. Louis had won back-to-back games before losing 1-0 to the Galaxy last time out in a game where they did not register a single shot on target.

They cannot make the playoffs, sitting 12th in the Western Conference on 34 points with just two games left, and Hackworth is looking to learn from their mistakes in the last game to end their final home match of the season on a positive note.

We didn t play as well as we re capable of [against LA Galaxy], but I think that can be a good thing for us going forward, he said.

I don t want anybody to accept that it was anything other than a loss. We can look at ourselves kn…

Defence is seemingly the best form of attack, so says Columbus Crew head coach Wilfried Nancy after his side kept an 11th clean sheet of the season in their 2-0 win over Toronto FC.

After securing their spot in the playoffs, the Crew will be looking to continue their momentum for the final games of the campaign, starting with the visit of Orlando City FC this weekend.

Nancy’s squad have been impressive at both ends of the pitch, keeping the most shutouts in the division along with scoring 54 goals, a total only bettered by Eastern Conference leaders Inter Miami (67), while also conceding the fewest goals in the MLS this term (28).

The Columbus head coach lauded his players for their showings in attack and defence, saying their success this season has been down …

Hazard drops Premier League hint

Lille highly rated forward Eden Hazard admits that he is likely to move to English Premier League in the summer.

The 21-year-old has a long list of suitors from top European leagues, but the player is not interested in January exit.

No, it s impossible, Hazard told Canal+ regarding rumours he could leave les Dogues this month.

I still have lots of things to do with Lille, we could win one or two trophies.

I want to concentrate on my game and enjoy life with my public and my team. I am not leaving.

However, the player recently revealed he is set to quit the Ligue 1 champions at the end of the season and now reveals that English Premier League is his preferred destination.

I think I m heading to…

Bayer Leverkusen will need a perfect performance if they are to earn a result against Bundesliga title rivals Bayern Munich on Saturday, according to Xabi Alonso.

Leverkusen became the first team to go unbeaten through a Bundesliga campaign as they clinched their first title last season, ending Bayern s 11-year reign in the German top flight.

Bayern are determined to bounce back under new boss Vincent Kompany, though, and they sit three points clear of Leverkusen ahead of the teams huge meeting at the Allianz Arena.

With four wins from four games and a goal difference of +13 (16 scored, three conceded), they have made the joint-best start to a season in Bundesliga history – only Bayern themselves in 2016-17 and Stuttgart in 1996-97 have matched that record.

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Olivier Giroud has made history by winning 100 caps for France while playing under coach Didier Deschamps.

No other player for Les Bleus has ever recorded a century of senior international appearances with the same man in charge.

The Chelsea striker, who made his France debut back in November 2011, won his first eight caps under Laurent Blanc, who resigned following the Euro 2012 finals.

Deschamps took over in July 2012 and has since made Giroud a mainstay of his plans. The 34-year-old s 100th game under the former midfielder came in Saturday s Euro 2020 clash with Hungary.

The closest players to Giroud s tally under Deschamps are Antoine Griezmann (93 appearances), Hugo Lloris (90), Paul Pogba (82) and Blaise Matuidi (80).

Giroud scored 45 goal…

Brazil goalkeeper Barbara leapt to the defence of Sweden following Hope Solo s cowards comments, despite the host nation s defeat in the semi-finals.

United States shot-stopper Solo labelled Sweden s approach as cowardly after they knocked the defending Olympic champions out of the women s football tournament on penalties in Rio last week. 

Sweden then managed to eliminate Brazil in the semi-finals of the competition on Tuesday, sending the hosts out after another tense shoot-out. 

While Brazil had the better of the opportunities throughout, they were unable to break down a resolute Sweden defence, and Barbara had no issues with the way the Scandinavians set out to play. 

She said:  Sweden stayed back and played defence with all 11 players in the …

Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo is the hottest player at this year s European football championship and not just because of his dribbling skills, according to a Europe-wide women s survey.

The Manchester United striker was voted most beautiful player of the tournament, in a poll of 12,000 women carried out by electronics company LG.

French forward Thierry Henry came in second, ahead of injured Italian skipper Fabio Cannavaro and Freddie Ljungberg of Sweden who drew for third place.

Talent and his Latin good looks won Ronaldo the title, according to the survey.

His biggest fans were apparently Italian, German and Swedish women.

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