Go Ahead Eagles hold on to stun Aston Villa after Buendía’s spot-kick miss

Aston Villa suffered a Europa League humbling as they were beaten by the Dutch minnows Go Ahead Eagles in Deventer. Unai Emery’s side looked on course to extend their winning streak to six matches in all competitions when they went ahead in the fourth minute through Evann Guessand. They missed a host of chances to finish the game, though, and came unstuck as goals from Mathis Suray and Mats Deijl either side of half-time gave Go Ahead Eagles a famous victory in one of the biggest games in their history.

This was an unexpected blip in Villa’s quest to finish in the top eight of the league phase as Emery plots a fifth Europa League title, and after Emiliano Buendía missed a penalty late on to get his side back on level terms the head coach lamented that his side must be more clinical from the spot. It was also a disappointing night for Jadon Sancho, who failed to make a telling impact on the second start since his loan move from Manchester United and was withdrawn in the second half.

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Lionel Messi, Inter Miami Sign 3-Year Contract Extension

Lionel Messi has signed a contract extension with Inter Miami, the MLS club announced Thursday. It is a three-year agreement through the 2028 season. No financial details were released. Messi, who turned 38 in June, originally joined Inter Miami in 2023 under a two-and-a-half-year contract worth $150 million, or $60 million per year, including a …

Pledged to the Pac-12: What Texas State Promised Its New League

Give the Bobcats this much: They are a confident breed. In its successful bid to the Pac-12 Conference, Texas State University told the league that it projected its athletics budget would grow by 33%, from $58 million to $77 million by the fiscal year 2030, while pledging not to be a “free-rider.” “We intend to …

Lionel Messi signs Inter Miami contract extension to 2028

  • Messi won MLS MVP in 2024, is favored to repeat

  • Deal will keep him in Miami for new stadium opening

Lionel Messi has signed a multi-year contract extension with Inter Miami, sealing a deal that will keep him in South Florida until the end of the 2028 season and is expected to be the last contract of his professional career.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed in Miami’s announcement on Thursday, but Messi has been MLS’s highest-paid player by a distance since joining Inter Miami in the summer of 2023. His first deal paid him over $20m per year in guaranteed compensation – more the total payroll of about two-thirds of the 30-team league in 2025. His deal also includes equity in the club upon his retirement as a player.

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Caluori’s aerial prowess adds intrigue to battle in the sky at Franklin’s Gardens

Prem’s top two meet on Friday night, with Northampton aiming to slow down the Saracens wing’s hype train

Brian Clough famously said that if God had intended football to be played in the sky, he’d have put grass up there. Tactical trends in rugby are moving in the opposite direction though, and with Noah Caluori set to make his second Prem start, Northampton’s high-stakes meeting with Saracens on Friday night promises to be a battle in the skies.

Phil Dowson’s table-topping Saints, champions in 2023-24, are the only unbeaten team remaining after three wins and a draw. Second-placed Saracens are two points back, having scored a league-leading 168 points to Northampton’s second-best 138. Nine players involved in England’s training camp this week will start at Franklin’s Gardens.

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Champions League review: A deluge of goals as youth rules for Barcelona and Bayern

This week’s action saw an astonishing 71 goals over two nights, with the Premier League responsible for many of them

• Barcelona’s youth system. Ahead of Sunday’s edition of El Clásico between Barcelona and Real Madrid, the two clubs won their midweek matches. Real Madrid’s opponents were Juventus, in the type of heavyweight clash the Champions League’s rejig into a 36-team group stage was supposed to throw up on a regular basis. Wednesday’s meeting fell short of classic encounters like 2003’s meeting of Madrid’s Luís Figo and Zinedine Zidane with Juve’s Pavel Nedvěd and Alessandro Del Piero. In 2025, Juventus are not the force of yore, though they made Madrid sweat. The sole goal came from Jude Bellingham, England’s great enigma.

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Tour de France unveils 2026 route with double Alpe d’Huez for men and Ventoux debut for women

  • Men’s race starts in Barcelona on 4 July

  • Women’s race starts in Lausanne on 1 August

The routes of the 2026 men’s and women’s Tours de France, revealed in Paris on Thursday morning, will climax on two of the most famous climbs in world cycling, Alpe d’Huez and Mont Ventoux.

The mountains will host key stages, with the Ventoux featuring in the Tour de France Femmes for the first time and a double stage finish to the ski station at Alpe d’Huez providing the pivotal moment in the 113th running of the men’s race.

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Rookies Cooper Connolly and Matt Short help Australia to tense two-wicket ODI win over India

  • Victory hands hosts unassailable 2-0 series lead

  • Connolly’s unbeaten 61 steers Australia to target of 265

Novice batsmen Cooper Connolly, Matt Short and Mitch Owen have produced career-best ODI knocks to steer Australia to a tense two-wicket win against India.

Australia claimed a series victory after the win at Adelaide Oval on Thursday gave them a 2-0 lead in the three-match series.

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