The Guardian

Defender’s current deal due to expires this summer ‘There is a big chance I’m here next season’ Ibrahima Konaté has said he is close to agreeing a new contract with Liverpool, having informed the club he wanted to stay during negotiations last year. The France international’s deal expires this summer and, with talks over an extension dragging on for over 12 months, Liverpool have been at risk of …

Updates from final day of the latest round of matches Sign up to The Spin | Email Tanya or comment BTL I had a treat in the post on Friday, a copy of Jon Hotten’s new book Vinciness or The Unbearable Sadness of Batting. Now, Jon is a friend and I worked with him for quite a few years at The Nightwatchman so am very biased but I think he’s a lovely writer and I’ve read the first chapter and it is …

The Lakers star would have been expecting to play a supporting role as he burrows into his 40s. But injuries means he has assumed a familiar role LeBron James must be so sick of this. If he wanted to experience being the best player on an otherwise thin team, he could simply remember the Cleveland Cavaliers’ run to the NBA finals in 2007. Or the 2015 NBA finals when his best teammates, Kyrie Irvi…

Curtis Jones sums up Liverpool’s approach, Eddie Howe’s transfer record under scrutiny and Tammy Abraham shows his worth For Manchester City, Gianluigi Donnarumma has always been a case of risk and reward. Perhaps only Thibaut Courtois is as fine a shot-stopper as Italy’s Euro 2020 hero, though many goalkeepers are better with the ball at their feet. Claudio Bravo, let alone Ederson, would be unl…

The Tigers’ victory, in the week Australia rugby chiefs mull over potential investment, illustrates depth of competition The talks have started and the jockeying for position in the boardrooms has begun. In the coming weeks, we will find just how strong an offer Australia’s National Rugby League is prepared to make to invest in Super League and potentially transform the fortunes of the competitio…

The way a weakened side flattened Scotland brings to mind the Chicago Bulls of the 1990s and Pep Guardiola’s peak Manchester City Is this England side the most dominant sporting team to have existed? That is the question many are now asking after watching the Red Roses demolish Scotland 84-7 in the Women’s Six Nations, despite having a thoroughly depleted squad, to extend their winning run to 35 …

From Dion Dublin to Eric Cantona, the signatures I collected with my dad in the 1990s record a time when the Sky Blues seemed almost invincible John Barnes: got. David Beckham: got. Ruud Gullit: got. Andrei Kanchelskis: got. Matthew Le Tissier: got. Alan Shearer: got. Looking back through the football autographs I collected as a teenager in the early 1990s feels delightful and discomfiting. The M…

England still need to learn how to play to their strengths when handling physical and organised teams such as Iceland The Lionesses’ performance against Spain showed the Euro 2025 final wasn’t a one-off. England have the blueprint for how to beat the world champions: conceding possession, forcing them central and using the threat of Lauren James and Lauren Hemp out wide to punish them on the coun…

English player wins at first playoff hole with birdie Fitzpatrick claims second PGA Tour victory of year England’s Matt Fitzpatrick beat the world No 1, Scottie Scheffler, in a playoff to win the RBC Heritage for the second time. Fitzpatrick took a three-shot into the final round at Hilton Head and still held that advantage standing on the 15th tee. But playing partner Scheffler produced birdies …

New York had 1-0 lead in ninth before losing 2-1 Mets swept for a third series in a row The New York Mets are finding that money doesn’t necessarily bring happiness. The second-most expensive team in MLB – with a payroll of $381m – lost their 11th game in a row on Sunday as they were swept for a third straight series, this time by the Chicago Cubs. “Eleven losses, that’s a lot, whether it’s in Ap…

Deep lying creator is an excellent Manchester City story and confirmed why he is England’s best left-back It’s not over, not over, not over yet. Although, let’s be honest, it kind of is over. Isn’t it, don’t you think, at the end of a day when Manchester City and Arsenal dished up the one thing nobody was expecting at the Etihad Stadium, a thrillingly open game of attacking football? There were t…

British player has been out of action since early March Rybakina wins her second Porsche at Stuttgart Open Emma Raducanu will extend her absence from the WTA Tour because of a viral illness to two months after she withdrew from the coming week’s Madrid Open. Raducanu has not competed since a 6-1, 6-1 loss to Amanda Anisimova in the second round of the Indian Wells Open on 8 March. She briefly tra…

Sale 19-85 Saracens Visitors score 13 tries in rout There was a time when Sale were largely unbeatable at home, their uninviting base on the outskirts of Salford inhospitable to visitors and a fortress to Alex Sanderson’s players. Not any longer. Not for the first time this season, Sale were reduced to Mancunian rubble in front of their own supporters as they slipped to a record Prem defeat while…

Martin O’Neill will face his former captain Neil Lennon in the Scottish Cup final after Celtic booked their spot in the showpiece against Dunfermline with an eventful 6-2 extra-time win over St Mirren. A horror mistake by Saints’ stand-in goalkeeper Ryan Mullen saw Daizen Maeda give the Hoops a first-minute lead at Hampden and to add to their woes the errant No 2 picked up an injury and had to be…

Allen rallies from 5-3 down to win 10-6 in first round ‘I had a few drinks, a bit of bad food, slept really well’ Mark Allen revealed how “bad food” and a few drinks fuelled his surge into the second round of the World Snooker Championship after he swallowed up a two-frame overnight deficit to crush Zhang Anda 10-6 at the Crucible. The 40-year-old was so disillusioned with his display on Saturday…