Luciano Spalletti says Italy will be true to their identity but will not make the "huge mistake" of underestimating Spain in their heavyweight Group B clash.

Italy opened Euro 2024 with a 2-1 win over Albania on Saturday, coming from behind after conceding the fastest goal ever scored in the tournament's history after 23 seconds.

Spain, meanwhile, cruised to a 3-0 victory over Croatia, leaving both sides joint-top of the group going into their meeting in Gelsenkirchen on Thursday.

The winner of the tie will take a big step towards qualifying top of the group, earning the theoretically easier pathway through the knockout stages.

Asked how Italy were planning to deal with the threat Spain posed, Spalletti instead chose to praise their opponents for their style of play.

"We have the utmost respect for Spain's history and prestige and the quality of this current crop of players," the head coach said. "But we mustn't think that you're better than you actually are. That would be a huge mistake.

"We are dressed in Giorgio Armani and Giorgio Armani is world-famous. So, we go there with the same suit, try and be true to our identity and play the same way.

"But, of course, we need to show the same desire as our opposition to test ourselves against one of the best footballing philosophies in world football.

"Once we are off the pitch, we need to make sure we have no regrets. We need to try and play our own game in our best clothes, but we are willing to scuff up our suit if required."

Spalletti was able to use Nicolo Barella in their opening game, with the midfielder starting and scoring after emerging as a major doubt through injury in the build-up to the tournament.

The 65-year-old was keeping his cards close to his chest about his team selection for Thursday's game.

"I've not had any news on who's starting for Spain," Spalletti added.

"It is one of the most important matches of my career. I've already been through some important games, but this is certainly one of those that's right up there.

"We all have a story to tell. And when the players get to my age, they will know that they need to have stories to tell, and this is one of those matches which could give them a tale to tell in the future."

The Detroit Pistons fired head coach Monty Williams on Wednesday after going an NBA-worst 14-68 in his first season on the sidelines.

Detroit gave Williams a six-year, $78.5million contract last June after he was fired by the Phoenix Suns following the 2022-23 season.

At the time, the deal was the richest ever for an NBA head coach.

Detroit, though, finished with the worst record in franchise history and set an NBA single-season record along the way when it lost 28 straight games after opening 2-1.

It’s been an eventful off-season for the Pistons, who hired New Orleans Pelicans general manager Trajan Langdon as president of basketball operations and fired general manager Troy Weaver.

Detroit also had no luck in the NBA Draft lottery after being tied with the Washington Wizards for the best odds to secure the No. 1 overall pick at 14 per cent.

The Atlanta Hawks won the lottery despite having just a three per cent chance to win, and the Pistons fell back to the No. 5 selection.

The up-and-coming Indiana Pacers have retained a core member for next season and beyond, as ESPN reported Wednesday the team has agreed to a four-year, $189.5 million maximum extension with forward Pascal Siakam.

Siakam, a major contributor to Indiana's surprise run to this year's Eastern Conference finals, will officially sign the new deal when the NBA's moratorium on free agents expires on July 6.

The Pacers acquired Siakam on Jan. 17 in a blockbuster trade with the Toronto Raptors in which Indiana gave up three players, including valued guard Bruce Brown, and three first-round picks. The two-time All-Star proved to be an excellent fit, as he averaged 21.3 points, 7.8 rebounds and 3.7 assists in 41 games following the trade and shot 38.6 per cent from 3-point range.

Siakam then averaged 21.6 points, 7.5 rebounds and 3.8 assists in 17 play-off games to help the sixth-seeded Pacers eliminate two higher-ranked teams, the Milwaukee Bucks and New York Knicks, and advance to the conference finals for the first time since 2014. 

The 30-year native of Cameroon was also an integral part of the Raptors' 2018-19 NBA championship team and was named the league's Most Improved Player that season.

Siakam has averaged at least 21 points and seven rebounds per game in five consecutive seasons and has received All-NBA honours twice during that period.

In 551 regular-season games over eight NBA seasons, Siakam has averaged 17.7 points, 6.6 rebounds and 3.6 assists. He entered the league as a first-round pick (27th overall) of the Raptors in 2016.

With Siakam's new deal now agreed to, the Pacers will have their top five scorers from last season currently under contract. Indiana re-signed All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton to a five-year, $260 million max contract last summer and reached a two-year extension with standout center Myles Turner in January 2023.

Klaus Gjasula went from villain to hero for Albania after cancelling out his own goal with an equaliser in stoppage time to salvage a point in a 2-2 draw with Croatia.

It looked like Ante Budimir had inspired Croatia to a comeback win, playing a part in two goals in two minutes after Qazim Laci's early strike, but they could not hold on.

Albania led after just 11 minutes as Jasir Asani curled a delightful cross into the near post for Laci, who glanced his header past Dominik Livakovic at his near post.

They should have been 3-0 up at the break; Croatia were cut open by Asani's throughball, but Kristjan Asllani's drilled effort was straight at the goalkeeper, who later held onto Rey Manaj's flicked header.

Zlatko Dalic's side came out determined for the second half, but it was not until Budimir's introduction in the 69th minute that it all came together.

Five minutes later, he deftly flicked the ball to Kramaric, who wrong-footed Thomas Strakosha to slot an equaliser into the bottom corner to mark his 33rd birthday.

Just like against Italy on Saturday, Albania struggled to regain their composure. Moments later, Budimir's cutback was struck by Luka Susic, but Berat Djimsiti's block bounced off the unfortunate Gjasula and into the back of the net.

Deep into stoppage time, Gjasula atoned for that incident, latching onto Mario Mitaj's cross to sweep a low shot past Livakovic and into the bottom-left corner.

Data Debrief: Substitutes light up the game

Gjasula is just the second player to score a goal and an own goal in a single game at the Euros, after Anton Ondrus for Czechoslovakia against the Netherlands in 1976.

Despite only playing for 21 minutes, Budimir's introduction also proved an inspired choice by Dalic. Only Andrej Kramaric (three in 90 minutes) created more chances for Croatia than the substitute (two).

Kane Williamson has stepped down as New Zealand's captain in both ODIs and T20Is, while also declining a central contract.

New Zealand endured a disappointing T20 World Cup campaign, exiting at the end of the group stage after losing their opening two games against Afghanistan and Papua New Guinea.

Williamson played his 100th Test earlier this year, leading New Zealand in 40 of those, and has 165 ODI caps and 93 T20I caps.

As captain, he led them to the World Test Championship title in 2021, and two finals in the ODI World Cup in 2019, and the T20 World Cup in 2021, both of which they lost.

With the hopes of prolonging his international career, the 33-year-old explained his decision to decline the contract for 2024-25.

"Helping push the team forward across the formats is something I'm very passionate about and something I want to keep contributing towards," Williamson said in a New Zealand Cricket (NZC) release.

"However, pursuing an overseas opportunity during the New Zealand summer means I'm unable to accept a central contract offer."

Ahead of last season, Williamson had given up his Test captaincy, with Tim Southee appointed as his successor.

Despite not taking the offer of a central contract, he has not written off signing one in the future if the timing is right.

"Playing for New Zealand is something I treasure, and my desire to give back to the team remains undiminished.

"My life outside cricket has changed, however. Spending more time with my family and enjoying experiences with them at home or abroad is something that's even more important to me."

Xander Schauffele believes Rory McIlroy is under tougher scrutiny when he loses and empathises with his need to take time off from the sport.

McIlroy came within touching distance of winning the US Open on Sunday but disappointingly fell short as Bryson DeChambeau claimed the title by a single shot in North Carolina.

The Northern Irishman bogeyed three of the last four holes in the last round at Pinehurst, including a woeful miss from a short putting distance on the 18th allowing DeChambeau to take the win.

McIlroy, a four-time major winner, has not won one of golf's top events since 2014 at the PGA Championship and announced on Sunday in a post on social media that he would be taking a few weeks away from the game following the event.

Schauffele, who was grouped with McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler for the US Open, understands why the 35-year-old has chosen to take a break.

"As a competitor, all of us have had our highs and lows to a certain degree. It's a tough spot.

"I'm sure him and his team are discussing what happened, and sometimes you just need to step away from it all and really try and be as objective as possible, because you're very much in the moment there and it obviously didn't go his way.

"He needs some time away to figure out what's going on."

The American won his first major in May, beating DeChambeau to the PGA Championship title at Valhalla, finally ending his reputation for struggling to close on final-round leads.

"It's different for everyone. It's hard for me to compare my losses to his losses," Schauffele added. "I would say his, he's under a bit more of a microscope.

"When things are going really well, people are all over him, and unfortunately, when things don't go your way, people are all over him.

"So, there's a microscope on him on why he didn't win and things of that nature, and he's going to have to answer those questions at some point, and he will, because he always does.

"I wear them pretty hard, but sometimes it's nice to just get back on the horse and compete."

McIlroy will return in time for The Open Championship in July, where he will look to end his decade-long major drought.

Phil Foden is confident his combination play with Jude Bellingham will improve after the Manchester City star's performance in England's Euro 2024 opener came in for criticism.

While Real Madrid talisman Bellingham scored the winning goal against Serbia with a powerful early header and produced an inspirational display, the impact of Foden was more limited.

Foden scored 27 goals and added 13 assists in a stunning club season for Premier League winners Man City, but he created just one chance in Sunday's 1-0 victory.

The 24-year-old moved out to the left flank, making way to accommodate Bellingham playing centrally behind captain Harry Kane, with Bukayo Saka out on the right.

As well as not making a creative impact, Foden also failed to register a single shot in an unusually quiet outing.

But Foden is confident he and Bellingham will get the best out of each other despite calls for him to be dropped from Gareth Southgate's starting XI ahead of Wednesday’s second match against Denmark.

"Jude is obviously an exceptional talent, he carries himself really well and I think he is turning into a leader," said Foden.

"Our link up play is good at times. I think it is improving as well and can keep getting better.

"He is an exciting talent and I enjoy playing with him."

Foden acknowledged the Serbia match had provided an early test for England, but that was something he welcomed.

He added: "The first game of a major tournament is always the most difficult – it is important to get off to a win and we did that.

"It was difficult at times. Obviously, we had to defend at times and dig deep.

"But I think that shows a different side to us and if we are going to win something I think that we have to do that."

England, who were pre-tournament favourites, will be hoping to top Group C in order to avoid a potential last-16 tie against hosts Germany, who lead Group A. The winners of Group A will face the runners-up of Group C in Dortmund on June 29.

After facing Denmark, England's group-stage campaign will conclude with a match against Slovenia on Tuesday.

Novak Djokovic is set to compete in the Olympic Games after being named in Serbia's squad for the tennis tournament.

The 24-time grand slam champion will target a gold medal for the first time, with his appearance in Paris set to be his fifth at the Olympics.

Djokovic won a 2008 bronze medal in Beijing after losing to eventual winner Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals before beating James Blake for third place.

He came fourth at London 2012 after suffering defeats to Andy Murray and Juan Martin del Porto in the final stages and lost early at Rio 2016 before narrowly missing out on a medal in Tokyo three years ago, with Alexander Zverev and Pablo Carreno Busta getting the better of him to end a historic bid for a Golden Slam.

Djokovic, 37, said in April that winning an elusive gold medal was a priority for him this year, but there was some uncertainty over his participation after he withdrew from the French Open before his quarter-final match this month through injury.

The Serbian suffered a torn meniscus in his right knee and underwent surgery but now looks to be on track to return to Roland-Garros for the Games, with Dusan Lajovic also selected for Serbia.

"Team Serbia for Paris 2024 got new representatives," the Serbian Olympic Committee announced. 

"Tennis players Novak Djokovic and Dusan Lajovic fulfilled the requirements, according to the ATP ranking, and confirmed their performance at the Olympic Games."

Djokovic's involvement in the men's tournament comes as a boost for the Paris Games after some high-profile female players like Aryna Sabalenka, Ons Jabeur and Emma Raducanu announced they would not be participating.

The Olympic tennis tournaments are scheduled to run from July 27 until August 4.

It is not yet known whether Djokovic will be able to participate at Wimbledon, which takes place before the Olympics.

Wimbledon begins on July 1 and Djokovic is a seven-time champion at the event, just one title behind the men's singles record held by Roger Federer. 

Djokovic lost an epic final to Carlos Alcaraz at last year's Wimbledon.

David Warner believes he is the only one who has taken "a lot of flak" over Australia’s ball-tampering scandal in 2018.

Warner and then-captain Steve Smith were banned from cricket for a year after being found guilty of using sandpaper to damage the ball during a Test match against South Africa.

Cameron Bancroft, who carried out the act, was also suspended for nine months.

Warner was ruled out of any leadership positions for Australia throughout the rest of his career after it was found that he orchestrated the plan, while Smith knew about it but failed to prevent it.

The 37-year-old is set to retire from international cricket at the end of the T20 World Cup and admitted he was looking forward to not being reminded of the scandal when he does.

"One can only absorb so much," Warner told Cricket Australia. "Coming back since 2018, I've probably been the only one that's ever copped a lot of flak.

"I've always been that person who has copped it. It's great to go out knowing I'm not going to cop it anymore."

Australia are currently competing for their second T20 World Cup title, previously winning the tournament in 2021, with Warner remaining a key part of the team after returning from his ban.

While Warner admits he will probably always be associated with the ball-tampering scandal, he is hopeful his career will be viewed in a different light when he retires.

"If they're real cricket tragics, and they love cricket, they will always see me as that cricketer - someone who tried to change the game," he added.

"Someone who tried to follow in the footsteps of the openers before me, and try and score runs at a great tempo and change Test cricket."

Australia face Bangladesh in the Super 8s of the T20 World Cup on Friday.

Nestor Cortes pitched six scoreless innings and the New York Yankees overcame the loss of Aaron Judge in a 4-2 win over the Baltimore Orioles in the opener of a three-game series between the top teams in the American League East on Tuesday night.

Judge, the major league leader with 26 home runs and 64 RBIs, left one inning after he was hit on the left pinkie by a 94.1 mph fastball from Albert Suarez.

Judge remained in the game and scored on Giancarlo Stanton’s single. He played center field in the top of the fourth but was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the bottom half.

Judge said X-rays and a CT scan were negative. He said there is some swelling, and he hopes not to miss any games.

Cortes allowed five hits with six strikeouts and no walks to improve to 4-2 with a 1.57 ERA at home this season.

Anthony Volpe, Gleyber Torres and DJ LeMahieu each drove in a run for the Yankees, who extended their lead in the East over Baltimore to 2 ½ games.

Anthony Santander hit a two-run homer in the ninth off closer Clay Holmes for all the Orioles’ offence. Santander has a major league-best nine home runs this month.

Orioles third baseman Jordan Westburg left in the middle of the second inning with left hip discomfort after colliding with baserunner Juan Soto.

Mets rally for 7th straight win

Pete Alonso delivered a tiebreaking double in the ninth inning and the New York Mets rallied for their season-high seventh straight victory, 7-6 over the slumping Texas Rangers.

The Mets trailed 6-2 after the Rangers put up a five-run fifth, but they scored once in the sixth, once in the seventh and tied it in the eighth on Francisco Alvarez’s two-run double.

Rangers closer Kirby Yates walked Brandon Nimmo with one out in the eighth and J.D. Martinez reached on a catcher’s interference call and Alonso’s double into the left-field corner put New York on top.

Mark Vientos and Nimmo homered for the Mets (35-37), who have won 11 of 13 to get within two games of .500 for the first time since mid-May.

Defending World Series champion Texas (33-40) has lost five in a row to fall a season-worst seven games under .500.

Dodgers stun Rockies with 7-run 9th

Jason Heyward hit a pinch-hit grand slam and Teoscar Hernandez added a go-ahead, three-run homer as part of a seven-run ninth inning as the Los Angeles Dodgers rallied for a shocking 11-9 win over the Colorado Rockies.

Heyward’s blast came off Tyler Kinney and followed walks by Andy Pages and Miguel Vargas around a single by Miguel Rojas. That drew the Dodgers within 9-8 with one out in the ninth after they trailed 7-2 in the fifth inning.

Shohei Ohtani singled off Victor Vodnik before Will Smith struck out. After a wild pitch, Freddie Freeman was walked intentionally to bring up Hernandez. He checked his swing at a 1-2 fastball and first base umpire Lance Barksdale ruled it wasn’t a swing, as Colorado manager Bud Black argued and was ejected.

On the next pitch, Hernandez hit his 18th home run to make it 11-9. After the ball cleared the wall, Rockies right fielder Jake Cave immediately took a few steps toward Barksdale and began yelling.

Alex Vesia got the first two outs in the ninth and Evan Phillips retired the only batter he faced for his 11th save.

Connor McDavid scored two goals and set up two others and Evan Bouchard had three assists as the Edmonton Oilers held on for a 5-3 victory over the Florida Panthers on Tuesday night to force Game 6 in the Stanley Cup Final.

Connor Brown, Zach Hyman and Corey Perry also scored for the Oilers, who staved off elimination again to send the series back to Edmonton for Game 6 on Friday.

The Oilers scored the game’s first three goals but had to hold off the Panthers down the stretch and could finally breathe when McDavid scored into an empty net with 19 seconds remaining.

Matthew Tkachuk and Evan Rodrigues had a goal and an assist apiece for Florida, which will see its 30-years-and-counting wait for the franchise’s first Stanley Cup title last at least three more days.

Four more points increased McDavid’s playoff total to 42, the fourth-most in a single postseason in NHL history. The only players ahead of him are Wayne Gretzky (47 in 1985), Mario Lemieux (44 in 1991) and Gretzky (43 in 1988).

This game started just as Game 4 did, with the Oilers scoring short-handed for a 1-0 lead. Brown tallied this time after assisting on Nike Mikkola’s tally on Saturday night.

Hyman doubled the advantage on the power play at 1:58 of the middle period and McDavid made it 3-0 just over three minutes later.

Tkachuk got Florida on the board 1:53 later, but Perry restored the three-goal cushion on a power play with 8:06 left in the second. Rodrigues cut the deficit to 4-2 14 seconds later.

The Panthers were unable to get the equaliser as Stuart Skinner finished with 29 saves.