The worst fears were confirmed with Roony Bardghji. Tests have confirmed that the Swedish winger suffers a rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee, which will require surgery and will cause him to miss a large part of the season.
Rafa Jódar will play his first Masters 1,000 semifinal in Montreal after defeating Arthur Fils last night (7-65 and 6-3), a victory that temporarily moves him up to 11th in the world. The 19-year-old from Madrid had fallen in the quarterfinals of Madrid and Rome. His next opponent will be American Brandon Nakashima, ranked number 25, who had also never reached this far in a major.
There are swimmers who keep all the juice inside, whose talent only needs that day to come when someone or something uncorks it automatically. An emotion, a unique setting, an insurmountable challenge, or swimming alongside your idol in a European semifinal. And this last is what has happened to Luca Hoek (18 years old), the torpedo from Sitges, with a French mother and Dutch father, but born and raised by the Mediterranean Sea.
Sensational. Spectacular. In April, she couldn’t even run. A lumbar ailment had sent her to the stretcher and she couldn’t train. Excessive gym workouts had short-circuited her preparation and she was theoretically out of shape. But she is a top competitor. A wonderful athlete who inaugurated the Spanish medal tally at the European Championships in Birmingham. Marta García from León (28 years old), a trained doctor, earned her doctorate again by winning silver in the 5,000 meters final with a time of 15m39s98. Two years ago in Rome, she won bronze and this time she climbed one step higher. As in 2024, at the very top was the untouchable Italian Nadia Battocletti (15m37s84), who defended her title. “You had to believe it like in the Football World Cup and I believed it. Everything went as I wanted, I gave the maximum I could. I was always where I had planned to be during the race,” García said. Behind her, the bronze medal went to the Italian Micol Majori (15m40s65).
Triangular tournaments return to modern football, a nineties format that Barça had not experienced for 24 years and that yesterday allowed them to distribute minutes and continue fine-tuning many of their players. The test, of a higher level this time, consisted of two 45-minute matches against strong opponents. First, they defeated the revived English Nottingham Forest with a penalty caused by Fermín and converted by Raphinha. Both were the best news of the night. Afterwards, against the always competitive and host Udinese, they suffered an inconsequential defeat. The locals took the Friuli Venezia Giulia Cup after having beaten Nottingham 1-0 in the first match.
Jorge Messi, Leo Messi’s father, has passed away in Rosario after a long illness, according to the official X account of Newell’s Old Boys, the Argentine star’s original team. He was 68 years old. Husband of Celia Cuccitini and father of Lionel, Rodrigo, Matías, and María Sol, Jorge has been throughout his son’s football career his agent, advisor, and main support. The death of his father caught the footballer in Miami, where he had returned a couple of weeks ago to resume the season with his team, which has a match this Saturday.
Ferran Torres has already formally informed FC Barcelona that “he is willing to negotiate and reach an agreement” with PSG. The Valencian forward has decided to leave the Barcelona team after scoring the winning goal in the World Cup final, and he has made this known to Hansi Flick and Deco, according to sources from the Barcelona club confirmed to ‘La Vanguardia’ this Saturday morning.
One week after FIFA president Gianni Infantino decided to abort his plan to privatize part of the World Cup rights amid a flood of criticism against the project, the football leadership board remains just as unsettled. If Infantino intended to calm everything with his reversal, he has not succeeded. The expert leader is not alone despite the deafening noise generated around him, but he has lost much support. The federative chancelleries have divided and different positions remain with the horizon of the FIFA presidential elections, scheduled for next March. There are federations openly critical of Infantino, those that explicitly support him, and those that remain silent or hold more lukewarm positions one way or another. What follows is a kind of world map around the FIFA crisis.
Lightning operation by Ronald Araújo. The Uruguayan central defender of FC Barcelona will play one season on loan at Liverpool after an agreement reached between both clubs on Friday night. The pact has been approved by the Barcelona sporting director, Deco, and was revealed by the market specialist journalist Fabrizio Romano. Pending official confirmation, the Anfield team has reached a verbal agreement with Barcelona and the player and will take on the entirety of the Uruguayan central defender’s salary and reserves a purchase option for the end of the season.
Barça wants to close the signing of Rodri as soon as possible. In the offices of Camp Nou, they are aware of the strategic importance of bringing in the MVP of the last World Cup, leader of Manchester City for the past seven years, which is why the Barça sports management, led by Deco, began negotiations with Manchester City yesterday. There is no time to lose in trying to reach an agreement after the player stood up Real Madrid and firmly chose the Barça club.