Bria Fleming wanted to continue a long-distance relationship with Simon Marco but fans wonder if they are together after the Bravo show

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday accused Ukraine and its Western allies of wanting Russians to "kill each other" during a revolt by mercenaries of the Wagner group, which stunned the country with an...

I got you a gift! It's niche TikTok drama. Two TikTok creators who create maximalist

Chelsea moved to within a point of Women’s Super League leaders Manchester United with a 6-0 thrashing of Leicester before boss Emma Hayes ramped up the pressure by revelling in the fun of the chase. Pernille Harder struck twice for the defending champions to help them warm up for Sunday’s FA Cup final against title rivals Man United at Wembley with another emphatic victory. After thumping Everton 7-0 last weekend, Chelsea picked up where they left off at Kingsmeadow with Guro Reiten, Erin Cuthbert, Lauren James and Jelena Cankovic on target alongside Harder’s second consecutive brace. It kept the five-time WSL winners in the driving seat for another championship as they have a game in hand on United, who have 50 points from 20 fixtures. Both teams now have a goal difference of 42 but Chelsea have scored more overall in the division which could be decisive if they end up level on points later this month. “I like this position, I like putting pressure on others. I don’t mind being there (top) but this is fun for me,” Hayes said. “We have always been chasing this whole year, always been a game or two behind. It’s nice to finally close the gap and now it’s about putting Man United under pressure because we’re not in the driving seat, we’re still in second. “We have had to find ways to win without being scintillating, but I think our confidence is really high right now. We’re in the best place we’ve probably been in all season. “I know what I want to do for Sunday. I know exactly how we want to play, I’m happy with the whole team, the team are playing well.” Reiten’s eighth-minute finish got Chelsea on their way before Cuthbert hit her 50th goal for the club with 18 minutes played. Harder stole the show with a first-half double and James stretched the lead early in the second period with a stunning solo goal. Cankovic completed the scoring in added time with another spectacular strike to help the second-placed Blues make it four league wins in a row. Relegation-threatened Leicester – thumped 8-0 at home by the Blues in December – remain two points above bottom club Reading with two games to go following their 15th defeat of a difficult campaign. Arsenal boosted their hopes of Champions League qualification by climbing to third after Stina Blackstenius’ early brace helped them record a 4-0 success over Brighton. Sweden forward Blackstenius struck in the sixth and eighth minutes to set the visitors on course for a comfortable victory. Frida Maanum and Victoria Pelova also claimed first-half goals for the Gunners, who climbed above Manchester City on goal difference with a game in hand. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Scottie Scheffler hopes putting improvement will take him back to number one Burnley announce Jordan Beyer deal in style – Wednesday’s sporting social Tiger Woods officially out of US PGA Championship

We really should have seen this one coming.

China's government has accused Taiwan’s ruling party of seeking independence, a day after the self-governing island’s president lobbied for Australia’s support in joining a regional trade pact

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 14, 2023--

Oil prices fell 1% in early trading on Thursday, extending losses from the previous session, after OPEC+ postponed

The Yankees' 2023 season has been a disaster, and to make matters worse, they now have to contend with the burdensome contract of Carlos Rodón, which will haunt them for the next six seasons.

In one of Europe’s biggest three-horse races, an unexpected fourth leads the way. Where usually Barcelona, Real Madrid and, on sporadic occasions, Atletico Madrid reside, there’s an altogether less-expected club sitting top of LaLiga after a third of the campaign – a free-scoring, attack-minded team who spent a net of barely £4m in the summer, have a stadium capacity of under 15,000 and whose best-ever season in LaLiga to date saw them finish 10th. Welcome to Girona FC. The story of their rise is a tale in itself, but their opening 12 games of this campaign might yet make for the stuff of local legend. As recently as 1999 the club was playing in the Catalan regional leagues, the fifth tier of Spanish football, but after achieving their first-ever top-flight campaign in 2017-18 and surviving for a second, they returned to LaLiga for 2022-23 and ended 10th last year – just as they did five years earlier, in fact. There appears to be no danger of season four emulating season two, though. Where then they were relegated, this term they top the table, two points ahead of Real Madrid, four clear of champions Barcelona and a full six ahead of Atletico. Between Girona and fifth is a massive 10 points, after just a dozen matches. Masterminding this unexpected rise is head coach Michel Sanchez Munoz, better known just as Michel, a former Rayo Vallecano and Real Murcia player who has been in the dugout at Estadi Montilivi since 2021. Michel has the team playing offensive football – they’ve not only won more games than anyone this term, they’ve also outscored everyone in LaLiga– and the manner of it is even more impressive given the turnover of the squad: 10 in, three out, another half a dozen loaned away. That new group has been quickly moulded into a cohesive unit with a very identifiable approach to matches, as one of those new arrivals, former Manchester United and Ajax defender Daley Blind, told The Independent. “It’s always difficult to compare managers, each one has his own ID and way of playing. But what stands out is the manager is really clear in how he wants to play football, he has a really clear idea about every game we play and having a real tactical plan,” Blind says on a call. “He tries to give that to the team and make sure we understand the gameplan. “The story he told me before I came to Girona was really intriguing and I can’t say anything other than he did not lie – I got excited and wanted to play here after speaking to him. “You can’t know it for sure beforehand but we’re really happy with how it’s going and it’s always important for a coach to be clear about that.” Blind is happily effusive about Michel’s man management as well as his tactical acumen. Having spent most of his career under the likes of Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho, father Danny Blind and others, he’s well placed to talk about who is impressive or otherwise on the coaching ground. And while he won’t directly look at matching up Michel’s attributes to anyone else’s, he makes the point that there’s a real connection between coach and squad. “I don’t want to compare [to others] but, for me, he’s a manager who is human, who connects on a personal level as well. He joins in the rondo [training game of keep-ball] and is part of the guys; at the moment training really starts he’s then really on top of it and not holding back,” the centre-back explains. “He expects every training [session] to be the best but there’s always time for a joke here and there. He has a good connection with every player – that’s very special.” Blind freely admits that his spell in Spain came at the second time of asking. He got the call from Girona last year after leaving Ajax; while considering his next move, Bayern Munich swooped in and he felt he needed to go. This summer, though, he was confident Girona was the right move. While the Dutchman has been a mainstay at the back this term, central midfielder Aleix Garcia has caught the eye, while in attack young winger Savio has been impressive and new centre-forward Artem Dovbyk has not so much hit the ground running as thundering through defences, scoring six in eight starts or one every 109 minutes. Among LaLiga’s best goal-getters, only Gerard Moreno (105), Alvaro Morata (105) and top scorer Jude Bellingham (95) can beat the Ukrainian’s strike rate. So has the fast start by Girona altered their season aims, made them aim higher than might have been the objective at the start of the campaign? Not for Blind, who maintains the “one game at a time” mantra. “For me, it hasn’t changed, you want to finish as high as possible in the league and that’s what we aim for. We’ll see where that is at the end of the season,” he says. “You always be ambitious and have an aim but in the end, you look game by game because the next one is most important and you want the three points. But you see which games are in the next couple of weeks and be ambitious about it. It’s not for me to reveal what we say about [those runs] but it always comes back to the next game.” For Girona, the next game is away on Saturday to Rayo Vallecano, Michel’s oldest and most closely linked club. Beat them and the Catalan club will remain top across the international break, the envy of not just smaller clubs around Europe hoping to improve their own fortunes and challenge higher in the league but of every club in Spain – including the very biggest and the supposed best. Perhaps, just perhaps, they won’t be this year. Watch LaLiga on Viaplay, available in the UK on Sky, Virgin TV, Amazon Prime Video and via streaming Read More Jeremy Doku’s brilliance shows Man City’s edge and Chelsea’s key problem Ange Postecoglu gives injury update for Tottenham star James Maddison Football stadium plunged into darkness after rivals turn off lights during title win Jeremy Doku’s brilliance shows Man City’s edge and Chelsea’s key problem Ange Postecoglu gives injury update for Tottenham star James Maddison Football stadium plunged into darkness after rivals turn off lights during title win

By Rae Wee SINGAPORE Bitcoin stabilised above $25,000 on Tuesday after a steep dive overnight, as investors grappled

SHENZHEN, China--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct 29, 2023--