Author: INDEPENDENT

Sign up to Miguel Delaney’s Reading the Game newsletter sent straight to your inbox for freeSign up to Miguel’s Delaney’s free weekly newsletter Former Liverpool midfielder Thiago Alcantara says he feels “grateful” after announcing his retirement from football.The 33-year-old became a free agent following the expiration of his Anfield contract after the 2023-24 Premier League season and has decided to hang up his boots rather than seek out a new employer.The ex-Spain international, who won 46 caps, took to X to announce the decision he came to after four injury-plagued years with the Reds.He wrote: “I will always be willing…

The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekdayYour briefing on the latest headlines from across the USThree senior officials at Columbia University have been removed from their posts for sending text messages earlier this year that “disturbingly touched on ancient antisemitic tropes,” the university told community members in a letter, The New York Times reports.The officials—Cristen Kromm, former dean of undergrad student life; Matthew Patashnick, former associate dean for student and family support; and Susan Chang-Kim, former vice dean and chief administrative officer—will remain at the university, but are on indefinite leave,…

Sign up to Miguel Delaney’s Reading the Game newsletter sent straight to your inbox for freeSign up to Miguel’s Delaney’s free weekly newsletter Luke Shaw says he is fit to start England’s Euro 2024 semi-final against the Netherlands having revealed a recent setback in training meant he feared his tournament was over before it had even started.The 28-year-old endured his “most frustrating season” to date having dealt with “injury after injury”, restricting him to just 15 appearances for Manchester United.Shaw suffered a hamstring injury in mid-February that he hoped to return from before May’s FA Cup final, only to suffer…

Zelensky says China trying to undermine Ukraine peace summitFor free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsMoscow has been accused of a war crime after a major children’s hospital was hit with a missile amid a large-scale attack on Ukraine.Italian foreign minister Antonio Tajani said “war crimes” must be condemned by the “entire international community” following the strike on a hopsital which left 16 people, seven of them children, injured.The hospital was hit amid a Russian barrage that targeted five Ukrainian cities and…

Sign up to Miguel Delaney’s Reading the Game newsletter sent straight to your inbox for freeSign up to Miguel’s Delaney’s free weekly newsletter The generation gap on Spain’s right flank has just grown bigger. Lamine Yamal has spent the tournament passing his school exams and footballing tests, operating in front of a man twice his age, in Dani Carvajal. Yet the six-time Champions League winner was suspended for the Euro 2024 semi-final even before he brought his quarter-final to a slightly premature end, rugby-tackling Jamal Musiala to collect his second yellow card deep into extra time.And so the reserve right-back,…

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsFor France’s latest left-wing coalition it was mission accomplished – stopping Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally party from taking power in the second and final round of voting of this parliamentary election.To a lesser extent, president Emmanuel Macron will likely also say he was vindicated in calling a snap election in the wake of the large gains made by Le Pen’s party in European elections in June. Le Pen has been dealt a blow.…

Sign up to Miguel Delaney’s Reading the Game newsletter sent straight to your inbox for freeSign up to Miguel’s Delaney’s free weekly newsletter England take on the Netherlands on Wednesday looking to reach a second successive European Championship final.It will be the sixth time England have played in the semi-finals of a major tournament, not including the 1968 European Championship when only four teams qualified for the finals.Here, the PA news agency takes a look at how England got on in their previous last-four encounters.England 2 Portugal 1 – 1966 World CupEngland came through against a Portugal side including Eusebio…

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsThe Chinese military has begun joint drills in Belarus that are being held over the next 11 days in Brest, close to the border with Nato state Poland.The joint military exercises by two of Russia’s most important allies come after Belarus became the 10th member of the China-led Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) during its 24th meeting of heads of council in Astana, Kazakhstan.Belarus’s government said the drills “will allow… the laying of a foundation for…

Sign up to Miguel Delaney’s Reading the Game newsletter sent straight to your inbox for freeSign up to Miguel’s Delaney’s free weekly newsletter Ronald Koeman and the European Championship have history. Thirty-six years after he scored in a semi-final in Germany, he will manage in one. The Koeman double is on.Koeman and England have history, too, and not merely the group-stage game in 1988 when Marco van Basten scored a hat-trick. A certain brand of infamy came five years later, in a World Cup qualifier that condemned Graham Taylor’s reign to failure. Koeman’s last-man foul on David Platt brought only…

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emails Xavier Pallàs plants his feet on the belfry floor, grips the rope, and with one tug fills the lush Spanish valley below with the reverberating peal of a church bell.Clang-clong! Clang-clong! Clang-CLONG! The swinging bronze bell resonates with each strike of the clapper, filling the small stone tower with an undulating hum. Once Pallàs finishes his peals, the metallic melody fades to stillness. Silence returns to the tower, giving the valley’s soundscape back to…