Real Madrid's Vinicius Junior has underlined his partnership with Karim Benzema as an important part of his team's success last season.
The two were vital to Los Blancos as they won LaLiga and became European champions once again, with Vinicius scoring the winner to beat Liverpool to earn the club's 14th Champions League.
Benzema scored 44 goals in the 2021-22 campaign, second only to Bayern Munich's Robert Lewandowski (50), who has now joined Real Madrid's fierce rivals Barcelona.
Vinicius was keen to emphasise the importance of his relationship with the France international, telling UEFA Media: "It's always important to have influence in games and Karim always tells me to be brave.
"You have to shoot to score or pass to assist. If not, keep the ball.
"Our connection has been very good and we have been able to win many games together."
In LaLiga last season Benzema and Vinicius combined for 66 goal involvements, with the latter contributing to 21 more goals than he had in the previous campaign.
Benzema's goal involvements in the league won his team 29 points, more than any other player in Europe's top five leagues while he scored 0.98 goals per game, better than any other season in his career.
Since he made his top-flight debut, Benzema's goal tally has been bettered by only five other players, with some calling for him to win his first ever Ballon d'Or after only Kylian Mbappe (60) had more goal involvements than him (59) in Europe's top five leagues last season.
Benzema and Vinicius were part of some remarkable Champions League comebacks in their run to lifting the trophy, namely against Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City.
And the 22-year-old believes the determination and never-say-die attitude is inherent to Real Madrid.
"It's the DNA of this club and of this shirt and it always shows up in big games," he added.
"Some games become an emotional roller coaster. We have players who know how to approach Champions League games."
Third seed Elise Mertens suffered a first-round exit at the Prague Open, while Caroline Garcia dispatched of Misaki Doi in the Poland Open.
Mertens, who reached the fourth round at Wimbledon at the start of July, succumbed to a 6-3 2-6 6-2 defeat to Magda Linette – her first loss to the Pole after three straight-set victories in their previous encounters.
The Belgian got just 52 per cent of her first serves in and won 38.5 per cent of points behind her second serve while only converting one of the five break points she earned.
Sixth seed Alison Van Uytvanck retired in the first set of her match against Dalila Jakupovic, while eighth seed Marie Bouzkova overcame Sinja Kraus 6-2 7-6 (7-2).
In Warsaw, fifth seed Garcia by no means had it easy in a 7-5 6-4 success over Doi.
The Frenchwoman committed eight double faults and only got 55 per cent of her first serves in, but by saving six of the eight break points she faced she was able to get the job done in straight sets.
Polish wildcard Maja Chwalinska was a 7-5 6-2 victor over qualifier Rebeka Masarova in only her second Tour-level tournament.
Lewis Hamilton has backed Max Verstappen to ease towards another Formula One world championship after the Red Bull driver extended his advantage with victory in France.
The defending champion came in ahead of Hamilton and his Mercedes team-mate George Russell, capitalising on Charles Leclerc's error that saw him crash out while holding the lead in the race.
That marked the third time in 2022 that Leclerc's Ferrari has retired from the lead and leaves the Monegasque driver 63 points adrift with just one race remaining before F1's mid-season break.
Leclerc took responsibility for his latest setback and Hamilton offered his condolences to the 24-year-old by admitting he was "gutted" by his departure at the Circuit Paul Ricard.
Though he's urging Ferrari to keep up the fight, he admitted that he does not see any alternative outcome to Verstappen successfully defending his crown.
"It's been great to see the pace of Ferrari this year. I'm gutted for Charles, who's been doing a great job, as has Carlos [Sainz]," he told reporters.
"It's not easy though, having that pace and that performance and maintaining it.
"It's a tough job and I feel for the whole team because I know what that can feel like. But they're a great team, and they'll continue to keep their heads down.
"[There's] massive gaps, obviously pretty huge so that's pretty smooth sailing in that space [for Verstappen] generally.
"But a lot can still go wrong up ahead so I would just advise them to just continue to push."
Cristiano Ronaldo is travelling back to England to hold talks with Manchester United over his future, according to a report.
Ronaldo missed United's tour of Thailand and Australia and has yet to take part in any pre-season training sessions, with that being put down to family reasons.
The 37-year-old, who is said to have asked for a move away from Old Trafford, has instead been training in Portugal.
With United back at their Carrington training base this week after returning from Australia, The Athletic has reported that Ronaldo is due to fly into England on Monday.
It is not known if the five-time Ballon d'Or winner will take part in training on Tuesday, but United are said to consider the latest development a positive one.
The ongoing speculation over Ronaldo's future comes less than a year after he returned to the club from Juventus.
Ronaldo scored 18 Premier League goals last season – only Mohamed Salah and Son Heung-min (both 23) netted more – but United still finished in sixth with their lowest ever points tally in the competition.
He scored 24 goals in all competitions in 2021-22, which is 14 more than next-best Bruno Fernandes. No other United player reached double figures in a dire season.
Ronaldo has yet to link up with Erik ten Hag, but United's new head coach reiterated this week that the former Real Madrid star is part of his plans for this season and possibly beyond.
"It is clear – he is not for sale," Ten Hag told reporters on United's pre-season tour of Australia. "I planned with having him and I am looking forward to working with him.
"I am well-informed he also has an option [for a further season]."
United have just two more friendlies to go, against Atletico Madrid and Rayo Vallecano next weekend, before kicking off their Premier League campaign on August 7.
New West Ham signing Nayef Aguerd has undergone surgery after sustaining an ankle injury in a pre-season friendly.
The Hammers spent a reported £30million to sign Aguerd from Rennes in June but he is now a doubt for the start of the new season after being forced off in the first half of last Tuesday's 3-1 loss to Rangers at Ibrox.
West Ham did not give a time frame for the Morocco defender's return to action, with David Moyes' side entertaining Premier League champions Manchester City in their opening game of the season on August 7.
Aguerd was signed after playing a role in 19 clean sheets in Ligue 1 over the previous two seasons with Rennes. The only defenders with more were Wout Faes (20), Marquinhos (26), Sven Botman (28) and Jose Fonte (29).
Across the 2020-21 and 2021-22 Premier League campaigns, Aaron Creswell (18) was the West Ham defender with the most clean sheets.
At the other end of the pitch, the Hammers could well be boosted by the arrival of Gianluca Scamacca from Sassuolo.
Sassuolo chief executive Giovanni Carnevali confirmed at the weekend that a deal was in place, with the transfer believed to be worth £35.5m.
Italy international Scamacca was reported to be set for a medical in London on Monday.
Sekou Mara is hoping to make an instant impact at Southampton after completing his move from Bordeaux.
The France Under-21 international has signed a four-year deal at St Mary's and is rumoured to have cost £11million (€12.9m) when including add-ons.
Mara made 34 appearances for Bordeaux in Ligue 1 – just 10 of those being starts – and scored five of his seven goals in his final seven outings for the French side.
He is Southampton's sixth signing of the window and the Paris Saint-Germain youth product, who turns 20 on Sunday, believes the club will provide the perfect place for him to further his career.
"I'm really happy to sign for Southampton and to be a Saint for the next years," he told the club's official website. "Southampton have given me a good opportunity to progress.
"I'm a young player and I have to work. I think Southampton is the best club for me to develop myself and progress to be one of the best. I'm impatient to begin and score goals."
Mara, who had previously been linked with a return to PSG, could make his Southampton debut in Wednesday's friendly with Monaco.
Raheem Mostert has confirmed he is fit to feature in the Miami Dolphins' training camp.
Mostert has been out of action since Week 1 of last season due to a knee injury.
The running back and his team-mates are scheduled to report for training camp on Tuesday, and on Monday Mostert used his official Twitter account to declare his fitness.
"Wanted to give you all an update," he wrote on Monday. "Yah Boy is CLEARED!!! It's go time!!"
Mostert has been rehabbing his knee since chipping cartilage in the San Francisco 49ers' 2021 season opener.
He underwent surgery in October and signed a one-year contract with Miami this offseason, reuniting him with first-year coach Mike McDaniel, who served as the 49ers' run game coordinator as well as offensive coordinator in San Francisco from 2017 to 2021.
"Being told you may never step on the field again isn't easy to hear," Mostert went on to write. "But when you bet on yourself, your faith, your determination, and modern medicine, good things happen. Hard work pays off! Beyond thankful!!"
The 30-year-old enjoyed his best season with the 49ers in 2019, when he rushed for 772 yards and eight touchdowns with an average of 5.6 yards per carry – the best by a running back with a minimum of 100 attempts – but injuries have limited him to just nine games these past two seasons.
Now entering his eighth season, Mostert is one of three new running backs signed by the Dolphins this offseason, along with Sony Michel, who led the Super Bowl-winning Los Angeles Rams with 845 rushing yards last year, and Chase Edmonds, who rushed for 592 yards and averaged 5.1 yards per carry last season for the Arizona Cardinals.
The Dolphins, who brought back Myles Gaskin and Salvon Ahmed from last year's backfield, struggled mightily to move the ball on the ground last season as only the Houston Texans averaged fewer yards per carry than Miami's average of 3.55 and had fewer plays of 10+ rushing yards than Miami's 34.
Known for his speed, Mostert led all running backs with a minimum of 100 rushes in 2019 in percentage of carries gaining at least 10 yards at 16.8 per cent.
The recently concluded 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene saw the Caribbean region grab the opportunity to represent themselves well on a global stage with both hands.
The region took home 17 medals in total including five golds, nine silvers and three bronzes with Jamaica leading the Caribbean medal count with 10 ahead of Grenada and the Dominican Republic who got two each while the Bahamas, Barbados and Puerto Rico all took home one apiece.
There were a number of standout performances throughout the 10 days starting with Jamaicans Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Shericka Jackson.
Fraser-Pryce produced a championship record 10.67 to defend her 100m title and win her fifth in total. Fraser-Pryce also won her second 200m medal in her World Championships career, a silver in a season’s best 22.81.
Jackson ran a personal best 10.73 for silver in the 100m behind Fraser-Pryce and followed that up with one of the performances of the championships in the 200m. She produced a time of 21.45 to win her first global title and become the fastest woman alive over the distance.
Double Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah came third in the 100m in 10.81 to complete Jamaica's second consecutive 100m clean sweep at a major championship.
Fraser-Pryce, Jackson and Thompson-Herah then teamed up with Kemba Nelson to win silver in the 4x100m in 41.18 behind the USA (41.14).
We now move to the 400m where the Caribbean women swept the medals. Bahamian Shaunae Miller-Uibo became the first female to complete the world event cycle (gold medals at the World Youth Championships, World Junior Championships, World Indoor Championships, World Championships and Olympics) by finally winning her maiden world title with a world-leading 49.11.
The Dominican Republic’s Marileidy Paulino, the world leader coming into the Championships, followed up her silver medal in Tokyo last year with 49.60 to claim silver once more.
Barbados’ Sada Williams produced a brilliant personal best and national record 49.75 to take home bronze, becoming the first Barbadian woman to win a World Championship medal.
In the men’s equivalent, Grenadian superstar Kirani James ran 44.48 for silver behind American Michael Norman (44.30). This was James’ third World Championships medal and first since 2015 when he won bronze.
Paulino was also part of the brilliant quartet that took the Dominican Republic to gold in the Mixed Relay. Paulino combined with Fiordaliza Cofil, Lidio Andres Feliz and Alexander Ogando to run 3:09.82 for gold.
Staying on the track, Jamaica’s Britany Anderson followed up on the promise she’s shown all season to secure a silver medal in the 100m hurdles.
Anderson ran a new national record 12.31 in the semi-finals before running a wind-aided 12.23 to secure the silver medal behind Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan who clocked an astounding 12.06 for victory after running a legal world record 12.12 earlier in the semis.
Puerto Rican Olympic champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn ran the same time as Anderson to take home bronze.
Jamaica picked up silver medals in both the men's and women's 4x400m relays. The men comprising of Ackeem Bloomfield, Nathon Allen, Jevaughn Powell and Christopher Taylor registered 2:58.58 to finish behind the USA (2:56.17) while the women with Candice McLeod, Janieve Russell, Stephenie Ann McPherson and Charokee Young produced 3:20.74 to finish behind the Americans (3:17.79).
In the field, Grenada’s Anderson Peters became only the second man to defend his javelin world title.
The 2022 world leader produced a best throw of 90.54m to successfully defend his title from Doha three years ago, replicating a feat only matched by Czech world record holder Jan Zelezny who won consecutive world titles in 1993 and 1995 before returning to top spot in 2001.
Peters produced an amazing series, registering 90.21m, 90.46m, 87.21m, 88.11m, 85.83m and 90.54m in his six rounds.
Jamaica’s Shanieka Ricketts produced a season’s best 14.89m to take silver in the women’s triple jump behind Venezuelan world record holder and Olympic champion Yulimar Rojas (15.47m).
Ricketts produced jumps of 14.89m, 14.86m, 14.37m, 14.40m, 14.62m and 14.80m for one of her best series of her career.
The region will be hoping for an even better showing at the 2023 World Championships scheduled for August 19-27 in Budapest, Hungary.
Tottenham youngster Troy Parrott has extended his contract with Antonio Conte's team until 2025 before heading to Preston North End on a season-long loan.
Promising 20-year-old forward Parrott scored nine goals as he helped League One side MK Dons to a third-place finish as a loanee last season, and will now make the step up to the Championship with Preston.
Parrott already has 15 senior caps for the Republic of Ireland, and scored the most recent of his four international goals against Scotland in June.
Having come through the ranks at Tottenham, Parrott has made just four senior appearances for the club – two in the Premier League – as he struggles to break into a star-studded frontline, which has been boosted by the arrivals of Ivan Perisic and Richarlison this transfer window.
Manor Solomon has reached an agreement to sign for Fulham until the end of the 2022-23 season, after a FIFA ruling on Ukraine-based players.
The ruling stipulates that Ukraine-based players, who aren't Ukrainian nationals, can suspend their contract with their club.
The 22-year-old scored four goals in 16 league appearances for Shakhtar Donetsk last season before the competition was cancelled due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Another FIFA regulation means that players who cancelled contracts with their Ukrainian clubs cannot be registered before the start of August, but Fulham have stated that they will be applying for an international transfer certificate on the first day of the month.
Manchester United may be scouring the market for a striker as speculation persists around Cristiano Ronaldo's future, but Salzburg's Benjamin Sesko would come at a heavy price – at least as far as the Austrians' Twitter admin is concerned.
United's tally of just 57 Premier League goals last season was their lowest since they netted 54 times in 2016-17, and Ronaldo's apparent desire to leave for a Champions League club has intensified rumours the Red Devils may seek a new forward.
Salzburg's Sesko is the latest to be linked with a move to Old Trafford, with the 19-year-old having scored 11 goals for the Austrian champions in all competitions last season.
But Salzburg appear to be driving a hard bargain, according to their English-language Twitter account, which addressed the rumours with the demand: "We want 300million and Bruno [Fernandes]", alongside a thumbs-up emoji.
United are not the only side credited with an interest in the striker, with Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund also linked.
Needless to say, if Sesko did command such a fee, United supporters would be justified in expecting him to deliver more than Europa League qualification next season.
After seemingly implying that Derek Carr is a Hall of Fame quarterback, Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Davante Adams pumped the breaks on writing his presentation speech for his new team-mate's induction into the NFL Hall of Fame.
During an interview on CBS Sports on Friday, Adams was asked about moving on from Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers to his new quarterback in Carr.
"Anytime you change quarterbacks from Hall of Famer to Hall of Famer… it's going to be a little bit of an adjustment," he replied.
It certainly sounded like he was saying that the four-time league MVP and a Super Bowl MVP Rodgers – who had 37 touchdown passes to only four interceptions in 2021 for his eighth season of 30 or more TD passes – and Carr – who had 23 TD passes to 14 interceptions in 2021 and has not thrown more than 30 TD passes in a season since 2015 – both belong in the Hall of Fame.
Adams clarified that initial comparison and acknowledged he meant it is going to be an adjustment whenever you change quarterbacks.
"What I meant to say was even if you go Hall of Famer to Hall of Famer it's an adjustment," he said.
"Even if it is Hall of Famer to Hall of Famer, there's going to be an adjustment. I wasn't saying Hall of Famer Aaron to Hall of Famer Derek."
While he was quick to see how his original remarks could have been misinterpreted, he still believes his new quarterback could one day join Rodgers in the Hall of Fame.
"What I'm not going to do is take away from that statement because, why is Derek not a Hall of Famer? What I meant, I left one key word out of there because that's not exactly what I meant," he said.
"But I do think that Derek's career is Hall of Fame-worthy, and why not? Does he have the MVPs right now? No. Has he won a Super Bowl? Not yet. That's obviously what we're chasing."
Entering his ninth season in the NFL – all with the Raiders – Carr appeared in his first playoff game this past January – a 26-19 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals in which he threw an interception near the goal line in the final seconds.
Carr is a three-time Pro Bowler and the Raiders’ all-time leader in passing yards and passing touchdowns, but he has not had a receiver as dynamic as Adams in recent years.
A five-time Pro Bowler, Adams had career highs of 123 receptions for 1,553 yards last season while also catching 11 touchdowns after hauling in 18 in 2021.
The 29-year-old receiver signed a five-year, $141.25million contract extension after being traded to the Raiders this offseason and is now reunited with his former Fresno State team-mate in Carr as they look to help the franchise to its first postseason win since reaching the Super Bowl in the 2002 season.
"But what I'm not going to do is say Derek is not going to be a Hall of Famer because at the end of the day I believe, and this is not putting any expectations or any added pressure on him because he puts that type of pressure on himself because of what he expects every time he touches the field," Adams said.
"But yeah, I did not mean to say exactly that. I'm going to reiterate, even if you go from Hall of Famer to even another Hall of Famer, it's going to be an adjustment. Any time you change quarterbacks, is what I was getting at. So, take that and run with it and do whatever you want to do with it."
Gary Neville believes that Frenkie de Jong should "consider legal action" against Barcelona.
The Netherlands international is a target for Manchester United, who have reportedly agreed a fee with Barca for the former Ajax midfielder.
However, De Jong is supposedly keen to remain at Barca, while it has also been claimed the Spanish club owe the 25-year-old €20million in wages.
That is after De Jong deferred his wages in order to help Barca deal with their financial difficulties during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Yet in spite of their financial issues, Barca have brought in a number of big-money signings this transfer window, including Robert Lewandowski from Bayern Munich and Raphinha from Leeds United.
And United great Neville believes that De Jong should consider taking Barcelona to court over their failure to pay him the wages he deferred to help out the club.
He tweeted: "De Jong should consider legal action v Barcelona and all players should be behind him!
"A club spending fortunes on new players whilst not paying the ones they have under contract their full money is immoral and a breach."
He also called upon FIFPRO, the representative organisation for professional footballers, to take action against what Neville calls "bullying."
Juventus goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny is hoping that summer arrivals Paul Pogba and Angel Di Maria will have a beneficial impact on the squad's younger players.
Pogba and Di Maria both arrived on free transfers after their contracts ran out at Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain respectively.
France international Pogba is returning to the club where he previously played between 2012 and 2016, winning Serie A titles in all four of his seasons with the Turin outfit.
In 2016, he became the world's most expensive player after United paid a fee of £89million (€105m) to bring him to Manchester, but he is now back with the Italian side after a disappointing six-year spell in England.
Di Maria also had an unsuccessful period with United before signing for PSG, where he spent seven years until making the move to the Bianconeri earlier this month.
Speaking to Sky Sport on the new arrivals' potential influence, Szczesny said: "Two highly experienced players have joined us and many young players can only learn from them.
"In addition to this, they have an incredible quality and their contribution on the pitch will be important. I really hope they can give us a hand."
The Poland international was speaking from Juventus' pre-season training camp in the United States off the back of a 2-0 friendly win over Chivas Guadalajara.
Szczesny's side will take on Spanish giants Barcelona and Real Madrid next as they prepare for the new campaign, where they will look to win their first Serie A title since the 2019-20 season.
The 32-year-old has been enthused by his team's pre-season so far, adding: "I'm having a lot of fun, we have been missing this experience in the last two-three years due to the pandemic.
"It's a great time to reunite with the group, work hard and have fun together.
"It will be a friendly match against Barcelona but it is always exciting to play against the best in the world.
"We have already played the first friendly in Las Vegas, now we have two games against Barcelona and Real Madrid and at this point it is nice to compete against the best teams."
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