Gavi would be happiest staying at Barca — Xavi

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Updated 15 April 2023
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Gavi would be happiest staying at Barca — Xavi

  • Gavi signed a contract renewal with Barcelona until 2026 in September
  • Chelsea and Bayern Munich have been linked to Gavi in recent weeks

GETAFE, Spain: Xavi Hernandez believes young Barcelona midfielder Gavi would be happiest staying at the club, amid speculation he could leave in the summer, the Catalan coach said Saturday.
Gavi signed a contract renewal with Barcelona until 2026 in September but because of the club’s financial difficulties, they have not been able to register it with La Liga.
That means Gavi remains on his previous deal, which is set to expire in June, allowing him to sign for free for any other side.
Chelsea and Bayern Munich have been linked to Gavi in recent weeks, but Xavi said the 18-year-old should stay at Barcelona.
“I don’t know what other people are thinking, but I think that Gavi would not be as happy at any other team than he is at Barca,” Xavi told a news conference.
“He has everything here, we value him, he’s a starter at 18, he’s decisive for the team.
“He’s a very important player and he’s a player that excites me. He’s a marvellous footballer, and I think his future lies at Barca — he would not be as happy elsewhere.”
Gavi has established himself as an important figure both for Barcelona and the Spanish national team over the past two years, after coming through his club’s La Masia youth academy.
Barcelona are 13 points clear at the top of La Liga and visit Getafe on Sunday, aiming to take a step closer to their first title since 2019.
The team will travel by high-speed train to Madrid for the match instead of flying, which Xavi said was an effort to reduce pollution.
“We hadn’t done it before because it’s a bit longer,” added the coach.
“It’s about pollution and we think it’s the ideal time to do it because the game is at four in the afternoon.
“It won’t affect us, it’s something we’re open to.”
Earlier this season French side Paris Saint-Germain faced a backlash after coach Christophe Galtier and striker Kylian Mbappe mocked a suggestion that they should take the train to nearby games instead of flying.


Poland end Euro 2025 on high note with historic Padilla-Bidas goal, win over Denmark

Updated 13 July 2025
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Poland end Euro 2025 on high note with historic Padilla-Bidas goal, win over Denmark

LUCERNE, Switzerland: Poland’s Natalia Padilla-Bidas scored her country’s first goal at a major women’s tournament in a 3-2 victory over Denmark on Saturday that sends Poland home from their European championship debut on a high note.
Both teams had already been eliminated from quarter-final contention so Saturday’s match was about final group placings with Poland finishing third and Denmark fourth.
Bayern Munich’s Padilla-Bidas brought the Polish fans to their feet at Allmend Stadion with her historic strike in the 12th minute when a loose ball fell at her feet and she fired home.
Ewa Pajor, Poland’s all-time leading goalscorer, doubled their lead eight minutes later when she intercepted the ball in the midfield, laid it out to Padilla-Bidas then charged to the back post to head it in.
Janni Thomsen pulled one back in the 59th minute but Poland restored their two-goal lead when substitute Martyna Wiankowska struck from the edge of the box, firing the ball in off the bar.
Denmark, runners-up at Euro 2017, replied in the 83rd minute when Signe Bruun headed in Katrine Veje’s pinpoint cross.


PSG-Chelsea final ‘is not going to be simple formality’

Updated 13 July 2025
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PSG-Chelsea final ‘is not going to be simple formality’

EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey: Paris Saint-Germain coach Luis Enrique has urged his team to round off the best season in the club’s history by winning the Club World Cup, but warned not to expect Sunday’s final against Chelsea to be a “simple formality.”
“This is absolutely not going to be a simple formality,” the Spanish coach insisted, refusing to accept that PSG are necessarily overwhelming favorites to lift the trophy at MetLife Stadium despite their fearsome form.
“I have analyzed Chelsea. They have a great squad. Enzo Maresca is doing a great job and I really like what he is doing,” Enrique said. “They are a very complete team.”
PSG can complete a remarkable clean sweep of trophies with victory, having won a French league and cup double before claiming the UEFA Champions League for the first time in their history at the end of May.
“We want to finish this historic season in the best possible way,” said the former Barcelona coach.
“Now we must open the next chapter, win more major trophies. We want to make more history by winning on Sunday.”
PSG were spellbinding at times in their 4-0 victory against Real Madrid in the semifinals and also put four goals past Atletico Madrid and Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami during the
competition.
“But we have to win this game to round things off. However, in a final, there is always a winner and a loser, and that doesn’t mean the loser has necessarily done anything wrong,” Enrique added.
“We will lose again at some point, because that is what happens in top-level football, but I think the path is clear for everyone.”

HIGHLIGHT

PSG can complete a remarkable clean sweep of trophies with victory, having won a French league and cup double before claiming the UEFA Champions League for the first time in their history at the end of May.

This is the first edition of the 32-team Club World Cup, and whoever wins on Sunday will be world champions for four years, with the next tournament scheduled to take place in 2029.
“We are aware of the importance of this match, that it is a golden opportunity to be in a World Cup final,” said captain Marquinhos.
“This only happens every four years, and we don’t know where we will be in four years.”
Meanwhile, Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernandez said the scorching heat at the event in the US left him feeling dizzy and described the high temperatures as “dangerous” to play in.
Tuesday’s semifinal between Chelsea and Fluminense which took place at 3 p.m. local time in New Jersey saw temperatures soar past 35 degrees Celsius with over 54 percent humidity, prompting a National Weather Service warning.
Soaring temperatures in several cities hosting the contest have been a focal point in the tournament, which is seen as a dry run for next year’s men’s World Cup.
“Honestly, the heat is incredible. The other day, I had to lie down on the ground because I was really dizzy,” Fernandez told reporters on Friday.
“Playing in this temperature is very dangerous, it’s very dangerous. Moreover, for the spectacle, for the people who come to enjoy the stadium, for the people who watch it at home.
“The game, the speed of the game is not the same, everything becomes very slow.
“Let’s hope that next year they change the schedule, at least so that it remains a beautiful and attractive football spectacle, right?” the 2022 World Cup winner with Argentina added.
Chelsea’s manager has also previously complained about the heat, saying it was “impossible” to organize regular training sessions in the afternoons in Philadelphia.
“Some places have been really hot, the last round was hot and I was stuck watching it and I was thinking: ‘wow, this is so tough.’ I felt bad for them but they managed it really well,” Chelsea center back Levi 
Colwill said.


Sweden storm to group victory with 4-1 win over Germany

Updated 13 July 2025
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Sweden storm to group victory with 4-1 win over Germany

ZURICH: Sweden made the most of the sending-off of Germany defender Carlotta Wamser to sweep to a 4-1 win and secure top spot in their Group C clash on Saturday, with the Germans also going through to the quarter-finals as runners-up
The Swedes finished top of the group with a perfect nine points from their three games and will take on the runners-up in Group D — which features France, England, Netherlands and Wales — with the Germans taking on the winners of that group.
Germany defender Wamser set up Jule Brand for her side’s opener in the seventh minute, but the Swedes hit back through Stina Blackstenius five minutes later and they took the lead through a fortuitous goal from fullback Smilla Holmberg in the 25th minute.
Wamser’s red card for a deliberate handball in the box in the 32nd minute allowed Fridolina Rolfo to confidently slot home the resulting penalty, and substitute Lina Hurtig rubbed salt in Germany’s wounds with an 80th-minute goal to seal an emphatic win.


AC Milan’s Theo Hernandez joins Saudi side Al-Hilal

Updated 11 July 2025
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AC Milan’s Theo Hernandez joins Saudi side Al-Hilal

  • The 27-year-old French defender joins Al-Hilal on a three-year deal

Paris: Saudi club Al-Hilal on Thursday signed AC Milan’s French full-back Theo Hernandez on a three-year contract.
The 27-year-old leaves the Serie A side in a deal worth 25 million euros ($29.2 million), Italian media report.
Hernandez has played 38 times for France with two goals, and figured in the last World Cup, including the defeat by Argentina on penalties in the 2022 final in Qatar.
Moving to the Saudi Pro League a year before the next World Cup could be considered a risk for his chances of getting called up again by coach Didier Deschamps.
But he can take encouragement that Deschamps selected N’Golo Kante for Euro 2024 whilst he was playing for another Saudi club, Al-Ittihad.
Theo is the younger brother of Paris Saint-Germain and France defender Lucas Hernandez.


Swiss move through to Euro 2025 quarterfinals with late Xhemaili goal

Updated 11 July 2025
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Swiss move through to Euro 2025 quarterfinals with late Xhemaili goal

  • Switzerland, who needed only a draw to advance based on goal difference, finished second in Group A behind Norway to go through to the knockout round for the first time
  • The desolate Finland players collapsed to the pitch in tears at the final whistle, while the Swiss lingered after the game’s end to pose for pictures

GENEVA: Switzerland’s Riola Xhemaili scored a last-gasp goal to salvage a dramatic 1-1 draw with Finland on Thursday that sent the joyous hosts through to the quarterfinals at Euro 2025, and heartbroken Finland home.

Switzerland, who needed only a draw to advance based on goal difference, finished second in Group A behind Norway to go through to the knockout round for the first time, and will face the winners of Group B, which would be world champions Spain as things stand now.

“I think we set ourselves a goal on the pitch, to write history, to go into the knockout stages, which we’ve never done before,” Swiss captain Lia Walti said.

Finland looked to be heading for the knockout round after Natalia Kuikka scored a penalty in the 79th minute, awarded after Viola Calligaris’s foul on Emma Koivisto. Center-back Kuikka calmly slotted home a low shot as Swiss goalkeeper Livia Peng dived the wrong way.

But, roared on by the home crowd, the Swiss kept up the attack in the breathless dying moments and Xhemaili, a second-half substitute, scored in the 92nd minute when Geraldine Reuteler mis-hit her shot on goal and Xhemaili was there to tap it in, blowing the roof off at Stade de Geneve.

“I really have to say that I didn’t think that we’re going home because I really believed in this team, until the last second, and I knew we were going to score,” Xhemaili said.

“I knew that Geraldine Reuteler, she will hit the target, of course, because she’s one of our best players, so I was like, just stay on the right spot in the right moment and wait until the ball is coming and it did.”

The desolate Finland players collapsed to the pitch in tears at the final whistle, while the Swiss lingered after the game’s end to pose for pictures and their famed manager Pia Sundhage wrapped her assistants in huge hugs.

But for most of the nervy night, the game was far from a classic, with desperation showing in both sides with the stakes sky high.

Switzerland started brightly and put Finnish goalkeeper Anna Koivunen to work early with a couple of chances. But momentum shifted midway through the half to quiet the nervous crowd and Peng made a huge save on the goal-line seconds before the break to preserve the draw.

Intensity picked up over the second half and Sundhage threw virtually every attacker on her bench into the game in search of the equalizer, with the Swiss ending the night with 15 shots to Finland’s six.

“I am going to dance tonight,” a smiling Sundhage told SRF.

Kuikka said Switzerland were the better team on the night.

“They came to the game like they wanted to win and it kind of showed,” she said.