Former Manchester City defender Aleksandar Kolarov has announced his retirement after leaving Inter.

Kolarov's contract at San Siro officially expires at the end of June, bringing an end to his two-season stay with the Italian giants.

The 36-year-old made just 15 appearances for Inter in all competitions, seven of those being starts, after joining from Serie A rivals Roma in September 2020.

He previously enjoyed a spell with Lazio in the Italian top flight prior to joining City in 2010 for a seven-year stint.

The 94-cap Serbia international won two Premier League titles, an FA Cup and two EFL Cups with City.

In a statement released to ANSA on Sunday announcing his retirement, left-back Kolarov said: "I always knew that sooner or later this moment will come.

"Although I am sorry that I am closing one chapter of my life, I am grateful that I managed to achieve what has always been my dream.

"I thank all the people who followed me in this first part of my career."

"First of all, to every team-mate in the clubs in which I played as well as in the football team of Serbia, my homeland, which I have always represented with great pride. 

"I thank the clubs, presidents, managers, coaches, technical staff, doctors, economists, physios and all those who helped in my career, and worked hard from the background."

Kolarov, who started his career with Serbian sides Cukaricki and OFK Beograd, intends to remain in football by taking up a new role.

"I am coming to the end of this phase in my life, feeling great satisfaction with what I have achieved," he said.

"Now I am already focused on my 'other' life in the world of football. I will soon start training as a sporting director and scout at the national football centre of the Italian Football Federation in Coverciano."

Matt Fitzpatrick heads into the final round of the U.S. Open with a share of the lead and the confidence of a previous win in Brookline.

The 27-year-old, who recorded the best major result of his career last time out with a tie for fifth at the US PGA Championship, shot a 68 on Saturday to join Will Zalatoris on four under for the tournament.

Saturday's third round was a tricky one for most of the rest of the field, with only nine players now under par.

But Fitzpatrick knows exactly how to succeed at this course, having won the U.S. Amateur in Massachusetts in 2013.

He could now follow in the footsteps of the great Jack Nicklaus, who repeated his U.S. Amateur triumph at Pebble Beach in 1961 by winning the U.S. Open at the same course 11 years later.

"I certainly think it gives me an edge over the others," Fitzpatrick said, looking forward to Sunday's action. "I genuinely do believe that.

"It's a real, obviously positive moment in my career. It kind of kick-started me.

"To come back here and play so well again, it just gives me growing confidence round by round."

But Fitzpatrick knows he will not have it easy, with his experience of a tough final day at the US PGA – which he entered in second place – fresh in his mind.

"I think up until Southern Hills, I didn't really appreciate how hard it is actually to win a major," he said. "I've not challenged really up until then.

"I think, myself included, people on the outside maybe think it's easier than it is.

"You just have to look at Tiger [Woods]. He knocked off so many in such a quick span. That's why I think people think, 'oh, it's a piece of cake; it's like a regular Tour event'. But it's not.

"It brings a lot more to the mental aspect of the game than other regular events, and for me, I think it's been a big change from US PGA to come here to a golf course I know so well, and it's given me extra confidence."

Fitzpatrick might not get a better chance to land his first major win, and he accepts: "Would my career be incomplete if I didn't have one? Sure, yeah.

"I would be disappointed if I didn't, yeah. I genuinely would be disappointed if I didn't.

"I feel like certainly now these last two majors, I feel so much more comfortable out here. My game has changed for the better. I've given myself more chances.

"I definitely feel like I have much more of a chance now to win a major than I ever have done in my career, obviously."

Zinedine Zidane says he still has the "flame" to continue his managerial career, despite a year out of the game after his departure from Real Madrid last year.

The Frenchman departed Santiago Bernabeu for a second time at the end of the 2020-21 season, having guided the club to a hat-trick of Champions League triumphs during his first term in charge and won 11 trophies in all during his time there.

Zidane has since been linked with a number of jobs, including in his home country where he was touted as the frontrunner to succeed Mauricio Pochettino at Paris Saint-Germain, as well as Didier Deschamps' possible successor as France head coach beyond Qatar 2022.

With Nice boss Christoph Galtier now in the driving seat to take the reins at Parc des Princes, Zidane's time in the wilderness looks set to continue.

But the former World Cup winner, who turns 50 this month, hopes to return to the dugout, while admitting he remains satisfied without having to leap straight into any job that becomes available.

"I want to continue," he told Telefoot. "I still have this flame. Football is my passion.

"But I am [almost] 50 years old and fulfilled. I am happy, and that's the most important thing."

Zidane also addressed his infamous World Cup final headbutt on Marco Materazzi at Germany 2006, which saw him sent off for France as they went on to lose to Italy on penalties.

"I'm not proud of what I've done, but it's part of my journey," he reflected. "Even in a person's life, not everything is done perfectly."

Liverpool have confirmed the signing of Aberdeen right-back Calvin Ramsay, with the Scotland youth international heading to Anfield on a long-term deal.

Jurgen Klopp's side have brought in the teenage defender as their latest recruit of the transfer window, following the arrivals of Fabio Carvalho and Darwin Nunez.

Ramsay, 18, arrives fresh from being named the 2021-22 Scottish Football Writers’ Association’s Young Player of the Year after a string of superb performances in the Scottish Premiership this season.

"I'm just buzzing, and it's a dream come true really to be here," the defender told the club's official website.

"It was a dream come true to play for Aberdeen, and now to be at one of the biggest, if not the biggest club in the world, it’s a massive achievement, and I’m looking forward to trying to show the fans what I've got.

"Hopefully I can come in in pre-season, show everyone at the club, the staff, players what I've got, and then we’ll see what happens from there."

Richard Arnold sought to explain Manchester United's plans as he met supporters who intended to protest outside his house on Saturday.

Arnold, who was named United's chief executive in February, was filmed discussing a number of topics relating to the club with fans in a pub. The videos were posted to Twitter.

Those present had been planning a protest, but Arnold instead went to meet them and bought drinks, United confirmed.

A club spokesperson told Sky Sports News: "Richard Arnold heard that a group of fans had gathered in a pub near his house.

"He went to meet them, bought them all a drink, listened to their views and explained what the club is doing to deliver success on the pitch, improve the stadium and strengthen engagement with fans."

The video footage appeared to show Arnold being quizzed on a wide range of topics, including United's pursuit of Frenkie de Jong.

He said the club had "burned through cash", but "the money the manager and director of football want is there".

Erik ten Hag, De Jong's former Ajax coach, is now the man in charge, having replaced Ralf Rangnick at the end of a season Arnold would seemingly rather forget.

"It was a nightmare," the CEO told fans. "I was hating every game."

Andrew Wiggins hopes to keep playing for the Golden State Warriors and keep "proving the doubters wrong".

Wiggins had a vital role in the Warriors' NBA Finals victory over the Boston Celtics.

It was the Warriors' fourth title in eight years but a first for Wiggins, who arrived from the Minnesota Timberwolves in a February 2020 trade.

The former first overall pick has faced plenty of questions in his NBA career so far, but he answered plenty of them against the Celtics.

Wiggins played more minutes than any other Warrior (235) and also led the way in rebounds (53) and blocks (nine) as he had a huge impact on the defensive end.

On offense, he trailed only Finals MVP Stephen Curry in points (18.3 per game) and made field goals (45), shooting 44.6 per cent.

"There was a lot of talk, people have something to say about every little thing, but now I'm happy that I made it here," Wiggins said.

"People didn't think I could ever be in this position or even be helpful on a championship team. But I'm proving the doubters wrong, and I'm going to keep it going."

And he plans to keep going on the Warriors, having been linked with trades almost since he arrived two years ago.

"I would love to stay here," said Wiggins, who will earn $33.6million next year before becoming an unrestricted free agent.

"Being here, this is top-notch. The way they treat the players... we're all one big family. I feel like a lot of places may say that, but [the Warriors] show it through their actions."

Tampa Bay Lightning captain Steven Stamkos was still coming to terms with a franchise record loss after the two-time defending champions were drubbed 7-0 in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals against the Colorado Avalanche.

Three days on from a close-fought Game 1 loss, the Florida outfit were soundly smashed at Ball Arena as they capitulated to leave an arduous path back to a third consecutive title.

After an overtime clash before that indicated a tight postseason battle for hockey's biggest prize, the Lightning were no match for the Avs, suffering their largest ever playoff defeat.

"Am I shocked that we lost seven-zip?" Stamkos stated. "I mean, I don't think we saw that coming.

"We have a game plan, and it's trying to neutralise their speed and their forecheck. And we've gotten away from it a little bit at times, and it cost us."

Stamkos in particular said the team owed an apology to goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, who suffered a torrid night as the Avs ran rampant.

"We left him out to dry tonight," he added. "He's been our backbone for years and years and years. We owe it to him to have a better game next game. By no means is this on him tonight."

This was just the fifth instance of the defending Stanley Cup champions falling 2-0 behind in a Finals series, with only the 1966 Detroit Red Wings recovering to take the title again.

Meanwhile, the 1980 New York Islanders are the sole team to have allowed 11 or more goals through two games and still won the Finals.

But with two games back home to restore parity, the Lightning are adamant that they are not out of the picture yet.

"It takes a great team to realise the mistakes that we've made," Stamkos added. "And I have full confidence in this group that we'll have a much better effort.

"Listen, people are going to be watching this game tonight and probably think the series is over. But we're a very resilient group. We were in this position last round.

"So, whether it's 1-0 or 7-0 or 10-0, it's a loss in the playoffs. We've got to man up as a team. Let's get back home in front of our fans, and let's see what we're made of."

Defenseman Victor Hedman added: "At the end of day, we lost the game, not the series."

Mookie Betts is headed for the injured list with a cracked rib, Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts has revealed.

Outfielder Betts sustained the injury when he collided with Cody Bellinger in the first inning of Wednesday's 4-1 win over the Los Angeles Angels.

The five-time All-Star subsequently missed the first two games of the Dodgers' series against the Cleveland Guardians.

And after the second game, a 7-1 victory on Saturday, Roberts announced the results of an MRI, confirming Betts would be moved to the IL on Sunday with no return date specified.

"You're taking one of the best players in baseball out of the lineup," Roberts said.

"It's a big blow, but at least we know what we're dealing with, and we're going to get him back sooner rather than later."

Betts, the 2018 American League MVP while on the Boston Red Sox, is batting .273 this season with 17 home runs and 40 RBIs.

The Colorado Avalanche took complete control of the Stanley Cup Finals with a sensational 7-0 win in Game 2 that coach Jared Bednar considered almost flawless.

The Avs had beaten the two-time defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning 4-3 in overtime in the series opener, but there were no such fine margins on Saturday.

Colorado put seven past Andrei Vasilevskiy, marking the fourth time this postseason they have scored seven in a game. Only the Edmonton Oilers (six games in both 1984 and 1985) have topped that feat.

This was also just the third instance in Finals history of a team winning by seven or more goals while registering a shutout, following the 1919 Seattle Metropolitans' 7-0 Game 1 win over the Montreal Canadiens and the 1991 Pittsburgh Penguins' clinching 8-0 Game 6 win over the Minnesota North Stars.

It was little surprise then that Bednar was left struggling to identify ways in which his dominant Avs team could improve.

"It was certainly as close to perfect of a game as you can get from your players," he said.

"Coming out of Game 1, we were dangerous offensively, but I thought there was another step for our group. We evaluated that, we showed them some things, and they did a nice job.

"And on the defensive side, we were way better tonight. It wasn't even close.

"I thought we made some big mistakes that led to goals against in Game 1. We got better in those areas, amongst others."

Goaltender Darcy Kuemper joined his team-mates in impressing, but he faced only 16 shots – the fewest the Lightning have generated in a playoff game this year.

"[We are] hungry on the defensive side of things, trying to win as many races as we can, as many battles as we can, getting above pucks and making it difficult," Bednar added.

"It's part of our identity and who we are. Our guys have been doing it all year, and they're continuing to do it. Tonight, they did it better than we usually do."

The New York Yankees extended their winning streak to nine games on Saturday, shutting the Toronto Blue Jays out 4-0 on the road.

Jameson Taillon was in impressive form on the mound for the Pinstripes against their divisional rivals, allowing only four hits and striking out eight and managing 14 first-pitch strikes out of 22 batters faced over 88 pitches.

Allowing all four runs and six hits in just over five innings for the Blue Jays, walking one and striking out five, Alek Manoah lost for the first time in 16 career home starts.

Aaron Hicks gave the Yankees important early momentum with a three-run drive off Manoah in the second inning, in an otherwise off night for the top of the batting order.

Improving to 49-16 for the season – leading the Blue Jays by 12 games in the American League East - the Yankees will next face Blue Jays left-hander Yusei Kikuchi, who also ended their 11-game win streak in May.

Willson wins in Contreras match-up

Willson Contreras led the way for the Chicago Cubs against younger brother William and the Atlanta Braves, with the Cubs winning 6-3.

Both starting at catcher on Saturday, the two brothers embraced at home plate before Willson's first at-bat, in what was their first meeting in the major leagues. The older Contreras went on to claim three hits and a stolen base in the win.

Kyle Wright gave up a career-high 11 hits, a day after the Cubs snapped the Braves' 14-game winning streak, which broke their own sequence of 10 consecutive losses.

Freeman the fuel as Dodgers hit 40

Freddie Freeman had three hits and Trea Turner homered for the Los Angeles Dodgers, who secured a 7-1 victory over the Cleveland Guardians.

Julio Urias pitched solidly for the Dodgers, giving up only two hits and two walks while striking out six over 87 pitches in six innings to secure his first win since May.

The Dodgers became the fifth team to reach 40 wins for the year, taking a lead of half a game in the National League West over the San Diego Padres.

Red Bull's Sergio Perez conceded it was driver error that forced his crash in qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix, which will see him start from a lowly 13th on Sunday's race in Montreal.

Perez, who sits second in the driver's standings behind team-mate Max Verstappen, put his Red Bull into the wall at turn three during Q2 on Saturday, forcing out the red flag and ending his hopes of a front-row finish.

Verstappen handled the wet conditions best, meanwhile, finishing almost seven tenths of a second quicker than Fernando Alonso, who qualified second in his Alpine.

After a disappointing qualifying finish, Perez claimed Sunday's race will be about damage limitation from his standpoint.

"I did a mistake from my side, so I'm very sorry for my team," Perez told Sky Sports F1 post-qualifying. "I let them down unfortunately, but I'm going to already be thinking on tomorrow, and hopefully I'm able to recover and get into strong points.

"I wasn't struggling with the brakes, I think they were on the cold side. I had a lock-up into turn 10 the lap before. I flat-spotted them, and it probably meant that I was a bit out of shape and going into turn three I just became a passenger. As soon as I touched the brake, it was a bit too much.

"It can be tricky and difficult, but it was just a mistake from my side. Tomorrow I will just try to minimise the damage and just attack from lap one onwards, and see where we end up."

On the other hand, Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer cited driver quality as the reason Alonso was able to qualify in second amid tricky conditions.

Both Alpine cars progressed to Q3, with Esteban Ocon also finishing in seventh but he was out-qualified by nearly two seconds by Alonso, who was without fear in the wet.

"We've had good pace here all weekend," Szafnauer told Sky Sports F1. "We had decent pace in Baku too, so we keep working on the car, but Fernando's experience and skill shone through today, and put it on the front row.

"He's always been really, really good at adapting very quickly, so he's always on the pace very quickly. When you have changeable conditions, that ability to adapt quickly shines through."

Scottie Scheffler is enjoying the tricky conditions at this year's U.S. Open, sitting two strokes from co-leaders Will Zalatoris and Matthew Fitzpatrick heading into Sunday's final round.

Despite a strong start, the world number one could only manage a one-over 71 at The Country Club on Saturday, finishing on two-under after 54 holes.

In windy and overcast conditions, only seven players posted scores under par on moving day in Brookline, with nine under par for the tournament after three rounds.

After his round on Saturday, Scheffler was far from bemoaning the difficulties he or the field has faced, insisting it is why he is playing the tournament.

"I think the U.S. Open is very taxing, mentally and physically," he said. "I think that's all part of what this makes this tournament so fun. You're going to get tested all different kinds of ways, whether it be physically, mentally, whatever it is. This golf tournament is going to test you.

"That's why I show up here. I think that's kind of the fun of it. If every golf tournament was like this, it would be in for a long season for all of us. A few times a year I think it's a ton of fun."

After a spectacular eagle on the par-five eighth to go three-under over the front nine, the conditions bit Scheffler hard, posting a double bogey and then three consecutive bogeys between 11 and 14.

A birdie on the 17th was followed up with a massive par save on the final hole after finding the bunker, and the usually stoic 25-year-old let out a rare show of emotion, triumphantly pumping his fist after a tough one-putt.

"It was good because I hit my second shot, and I hit it exactly where I wanted to," Scheffler said. "It got gusted, and it came up short. Where we thought the ball was going to end up was right on top of the bunker where I had no stance.

"So, a hole in which I really thought after a good shot on the second round I was going to walk away with five, to get out of there with four was definitely a big boost.

"I knew how hard the putt was, and that's why I was so frustrated because I had a chance to get it somewhat close, and I didn't hit a great shot."

While seven of the top 12 players heading into Saturday’s third round at the U.S. Open made at least one double bogey in strong wind and cool temperatures, Rory McIlroy was not among them.

The 2011 U.S. Open champion and four-time major winner made just one birdie in his score of three-over 73 on moving day at Brookline, but his putter provided salvation late. 

He was able to keep himself within striking distance with a string of par saves, to sit three shots back from co-leaders Will Zalatoris and Matthew Fitzpatrick heading into the final round on Sunday at The Country Club.

"It was one of the toughest days on a golf course I’ve had in a long time,” McIlroy said afterwards.

"I just needed to grind it out, and I did on the back nine. To play that back nine at even par today was a really good effort, I thought. Just kept myself in the tournament. That's all I was trying to do. Just keep hanging around.

"I had some really good putts for pars coming in, 13, 15, great up-and-down on 16, good putt on 17. Then was really fortunate at the last to get that drop from the grandstand and be able to hit it on the green from there."

With only nine players under par for the tournament, blustery and overcast conditions provided palpable difficulty on Saturday.

"I know guys aren’t going to go out there and shoot the lights out," McIlroy said. "I mean, 67 from Will out there today is unbelievable. Such a good score. 68 from Fitz as well.

"I certainly thought I was going to be a few shots further back than I was at the end of the day, but Jon [Rahm] struggled there coming in.

"Even though it was such a tough day and feel like I battled well and whatever, to still only be three back going into tomorrow is a good thing for me."