After a transfer more than a decade in the making, the France forward was unveiled following his dream move “Good afternoon everyone. I’m going to try to speak Spanish.” Unsurprisingly for a transfer that has been more than a decade in the making, Kylian Mbappé came prepared. It was at Monaco – not long after he had been charmed by Zinedine Zidane on a visit to Real Madrid’s training ground just before his 14th birthday – that the talented teenager had started taking Spanish lessons in anticipation of this moment. And now, finally, it had arrived. “It’s such an incredible feeling to be here, just incredible,” said Mbappé after he was eventually introduced at a packed Santiago Bernabéu stadium on Tuesday by Florentino Pérez. “I spent endless nights dreaming about one day playing for Real Madrid, and today I’m one happy guy.” Continue reading...

Travel disruption threatened to ruin the chance to watch Euro 2024 decider but nothing would stand in the way Lightning does strike twice. In February, a combination of a Sydney storm and Wellington airport’s curfew delayed our arrival in New Zealand by 24 hours, complicating a holiday of a lifetime. On Friday night, similar weather, with the airport affected this time being Munich’s, threatened to ruin the journey of a lifetime – or at least one that had been going on for well over 30 years. My first England game: March 1985, a friendly win at Wembley over the Republic of Ireland, with Leicester’s Gary Lineker scoring his first international goal. My first away game: November 1991 in Poland, Tottenham’s Gary Lineker scoring his last competitive goal. Now, at my 12th tournament following the men’s team, I had a ticket to watch them play in their first final on foreign soil. Continue reading...

He may have cut a more relatable figure at Euro 2024, but the Netherlands manager remains obsessed with winning Van links naar rechts (From left to right) is the song favoured by the Netherlands fans this Euros. It has nothing to do with the current political climate in the Netherlands, which is shifting more and more to the far right, but is simply a party hit which has a massive orange crowd jumping from left to right. It has been seen on the streets of Berlin, Hamburg, Leipzig and Munich and is sure to be seen again in Dortmund before the semi-final against England. After the Oranje beat Turkey 2-1 on Saturday night to reach the last four, the players and coaching staff joined in on the pitch at the Olympiastadion. The coach, Ronald Koeman, did too, although the 61-year-old looked a bit awkward as he stumbled around, his hair flopping up and down. Continue reading...

Togetherness and confidence inspired by Red Bull empire is having a lasting effect on surprise contenders Just outside the centre circle of Austria’s training pitch, Ralf Rangnick stood deep in discussion with his assistant Lars Kornetka. Nothing could interrupt such focused conversation, but for an interested observer it was hard for attention not to drift. No more than 200 metres beyond the far side, the multicoloured flags that fly atop Berlin’s Olympiastadion’s stands fluttered over a row of trees. At the right-hand corner stood the columns that guard its west entrance, and the perfunctory row of terracing, as Rangnick’s squad emerged to go through their paces. Austria may have a last-16 tie on Tuesday with Turkey to grapple with, but they can see the Euro 2024 finishing line every day. They are based at the amateur stadium, used by Hertha Berlin’s under-23 team, that adjoins the arena where dreams will come true in just under a fortnight. It is a languid Sunday morning in the surrounding complex, the bustle of match day replaced by a vintage car exhibition, along with a mixture of joggers, curious tourists and perambulating families, but Austria have their eyes on glory. Continue reading...

Sagnol aggrieved by offside not given for Rodri goalCompared it to Dutch goal chalked off in group stage Willy Sagnol said it might be time to ditch VAR until it can be used properly after Spain scored an equaliser which he thought should have been ruled out for offside en route to knocking his Georgia side out of Euro 2024. Georgia, ranked 74 in the world and playing at their first major tournament, took the lead after 18 minutes but a Rodri equaliser six minutes before half-time set Spain up for a 4-1 victory in Cologne, thanks to three second-half goals which see them progress to the quarter-finals. Continue reading...

Man Utd open talks with Matthijs de Ligt, PSG consider world-record fee for Lamine Yamal & Man City are interested in Joshua Kimmich and Dani Olmo.

Dutch coach joins from Leverkusen on three-year dealHe won league and cup double with FC Twente in 2022 Aston Villa have appointed the Dutch coach Robert de Pauw as their manager on a three-year contract, with the option of a further year. The 42-year-old has made the switch from Bayer Leverkusen, where he was in charge for two seasons, and his arrival ends the Women’s Super League side’s lengthy search to find a replacement for Carla Ward. She announced on 3 May that she was leaving to spend more time with her loved ones, after three years at the helm. Continue reading...

22-year-old is currently at Euro 2024 with NetherlandsMaatsen spent second half of last season at Dortmund Aston Villa have announced the signing of left-back Ian Maatsen from Premier League rivals Chelsea for a reported £37.5 million. The Netherlands international was part of the Borussia Dortmund team beaten by Real Madrid in last season’s Champions League final during a season-long loan move from Stamford Bridge. Continue reading...

Virgil van Dijk and the Netherlands faced flak after defeat to Austria, and the captain says "harsh words" have been spoken among the squad.

Authenticity in Germany is a breath of fresh air in comparison to the behemoths dominating their domestic leagues Over breakfast at a cafe in Berlin’s Prenzlauer Berg district, three English visitors could be heard discussing the next Premier League season. It felt like a yellow card offence to anyone fully absorbed in this summer’s spectacle, but some things are best let slide. The question: who would be relegated? Ipswich, Southampton and Leicester, came the consensus. Nobody could quibble with the rationale that new arrivals to the division have the odds stacked more firmly against them than ever. Perhaps they hopped west on the U-Bahn that afternoon to see Austria, hitherto underwhelming on the big stage, leave Olympiastadion breathless with an exhilarating win over the Netherlands that propels them into genuine contention for a return on 14 July. Hopefully they were sitting somewhere comfortable, or downing shots of chacha in appropriate company, the following night when Georgia ripped up the rulebook with a daring, emotional victory against Portugal. Continue reading...

An incoherent national team always seem a surprise but why? There is no English coaching school, no coaching culture, nothing to pass down Here’s a phrase you might not have heard since 1934. Hey, Austria look good. This is a new thing in many ways. What do we think of, traditionally, when it comes to Austria and international football? Indeterminate makeweights. The pre-war Wunderteam. A prosperous strudel repository. The Surrey of greater Germania. The 1990s pomp-rock target-man stylings of Toni Polster. And now? Modernity. Energy. Grooved patterns. Austria finished top of a group that includes the teams ranked second and seventh in the world. They have been coherent, joined-up, even vibrant in a mannered kind of way, the only team in the final round of group games to score three goals, en route to a first victory against the Netherlands in 34 years. Continue reading...

The intent of greening up its tournament, while undoubtedly sincere in corners of the organisation, is being undermined Didier Deschamps wasn’t amused. Les Bleus had fought hard to see off an excellent Austria side in the evening game and needed to rest. Yet it was well past 3am when the coach ferrying them back from the Düsseldorf Arena finally came to a halt at the entrance of their hotel in Bad Lippspringe. The 180km trip had taken three hours, when a 30-40-minute flight from Düsseldorf to Paderborn would have allowed the players to be in their beds considerably earlier. Deschamps kept his thoughts to himself, however. It was not his role to question the commitment made by the French federation to minimise its carbon footprint, in accordance with the principles of “climate action and advocacy” outlined in the Football Sustainability Strategy that Uefa unveiled in December 2021. The same principles have been applied to adapt the schedule in Germany to “maximise sustainability without compromising fairness”, to quote Uefa’s head of men’s national team competitions, Marcello Alleca. The folly of Euro 2020’s revolving carousel of venues – 11 stadiums in 11 countries, for goodness sake – would never be repeated. A more compact, greener tournament? Yes please, and thank God for that, everyone said, from fans and media to players and environmentalists. Unlike Fifa’s ludicrous – and thoroughly debunked – claim that Qatar 2022 would achieve net zero, Euro 2024 would at least be a step in the right direction. Uefa meant business. Continue reading...

Reaction to England 0-0 Slovenia and much more besidesMatch centre | Player guide | And contact David on email The lopsided draw explains away the general bafflement about why England are favourites with the bookies. There are better teams on what we’ve seen so far but the odds on England’s main rivals are kept higher due to their more complicated paths to the final. England’s are artificially lower as they avoid most of the big guns and have less to beat. Euro 2024 odds: 4/1 England, 9/2 Germany, Spain, 5/1 France, 6/1 Portugal, 14/1 Netherlands, 18/1 Belgium, Italy, 25/1 Austria, 40/1 Switzerland, 66/1 Denmark. The rest 100/1 or more. Continue reading...

France only scored two goals in their three group matches – a penalty against Poland and an own goal against Austria By Eric Devin for Get French Football News France showed more signs of life in their 1-1 draw with Poland, in no small part due to the return of Kylian Mbappé. The captain played the full match and coolly slotted home a penalty but the team has not lived up to its billing as near-unanimous pre-tournament favourites. There were bright spots in Dortmund and they are through to the last-16, but there are as many questions as answers for France after they drew two of their three group games and only scored two goals – a penalty and an own goal. Continue reading...