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By Toby Sterling AMSTERDAM Uber is seeing an influx of European taxi drivers joining its platform, an executive

Playing its first home game with a section of Mestalla Stadium closed as punishment for the racist abuse against Vinícius Júnior, Valencia moved closer to avoiding relegation from the Spanish league thanks to a stoppage-time equalizer in a 2-2 draw against Espanyol. Valencia had the first of three matches with a small section of Mestalla closed behind one of the goals where the abuse targeting Vinícius took place in a match against Real Madrid a week ago. Valencia was initially ordered to close the section for five matches but the punishment was reduced on appeal. The club’s initial fine of 45,000 euros ($48,200) was also reduced to 27,000 euros ($28,900). The draw was enough to relegate Espanyol for the second time in three seasons. Espanyol was set to take its fight against relegation to the final round but Samuel Lino scored Valencia's equalizer with a shot from inside the area three minutes into stoppage time. Valencia dropped to 15th place but stayed two points from the relegation zone ahead of its match at sixth-place Real Betis next Sunday. Valencia had called the punishment “unfair and disproportionate" because it claimed it acted quickly to cooperate with authorities, which eventually arrested three people. Valencia immediately banned the three fans for life. "Respect for our fans," read a large banner at the closed section. “Together against racism,” were the words on a smaller banner in the same section. Second-to-last-place Espanyol had been relegated in 2020 for the first time in nearly three decades. It returned to the top flight in its first attempt as second-division champion. RELEGATION FIGHT Six teams will enter the final round hoping to avoid the final relegation spot. Last-place Elche has already been relegated. Cadiz, Getafe, Valencia, Almeria, Celta Vigo and Valladolid are the teams still in danger. Valladolid is the first team currently inside the relegation zone, sitting one point behind both 17th-place Celta and 16th-place Almeria. Valencia, 14th-place Getafe and 13th-place Cadiz are two points ahead of Valladolid, which drew 0-0 at Almeria. Getafe boosted its chances with Jaime Mata scoring a 90th-minute winner to lead a 2-1 comeback victory over Osasuna at home. Cadiz needed a 53rd-minute winner in its 1-0 home victory against Celta, which has won only one of its last 11 matches. Celta hosts champion Barcelona in the final round, while Getafe visits Valladolid, Cadiz is at Elche and Espanyol hosts Almeria. BARCELONA WINS AGAIN Barcelona beat 10-man Mallorca 3-0 for its first win after clinching the league title. Ansu Fati scored a pair of first-half goals and Gavi added another after halftime to lead the champions to victory after two consecutive losses. Mallorca, sitting in 12th place, played a man down from the 14th after Amath Ndiaye was sent off for a hard foul on Barcelona left back Alejandro Balde, who was not able to continue. It was Barcelona's last league game at Camp Nou before it moves to the smaller Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium in Montjuic with renovation work at the Camp Nou starting next season. It was also the last game at Camp Nou for veterans Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets, who will not remain with the Catalan club next season. They both received a standing ovation from the home crowd while being substituted late, with Alba leaving the field in tears. ATLETICO THIRD Atletico Madrid clinched a top-three finish for the 11th straight time after a 2-1 home win over fourth-place Real Sociedad. Antoine Griezmann and Nahuel Molina scored a goal in each half for Atletico, which will enter the final round one point behind city rival Madrid. EUROPEAN PLACES Sociedad secured the final Champions League place despite the loss as fifth-place Villarreal stayed five points back after a 2-1 defeat at Rayo Vallecano. Villarreal and Real Betis, which won 2-1 at Girona, secured the Europa League places. Five teams will contend for the lone Conference League spot, which is currently held by seventh-place Osasuna. Eighth-place Athletic Bilbao lost 1-0 to Elche at home thanks to a stoppage-time goal by Lucas Boyé. Read More Disgusted by racism targeting soccer's Vinícius, his Brazilian hometown rallies to defend him Pep Guardiola fears Vinicius Junior racism row won’t make a difference in Spain

Private aviation company Jetex is deploying sustainable aviation fuels, and making its terminals more sustainable.

Singapore Airlines Ltd and Garuda Indonesia plan to enter into a joint venture (JV) to increase passenger capacity

The rain had been and gone but no abundance of showers could stop Max Verstappen topping up that cake with the sweetest of icing. Cruising to victory out in front as the Monaco Grand Prix reached its crescendo on Sunday, the irrepressible Dutchman did not fancy letting up. So much so that, with six laps to go, the ultimate humiliation very much rained down on his team-mate. Verstappen lapped Sergio Perez. For the second time. Powered with an identical car Perez, quite rightly, was being touted as a genuine title contender a month ago. Off the back of two wins – sprint and race – in Baku, the gap was just six points heading into Miami. He didn’t know it at the time but due to the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix’s cancellation, two more street tracks would give the so-called “king of the streets” a perfect opportunity to take the lead. But after failing to hold off Verstappen from ninth on the grid in Florida, Perez had something he can simply not afford this past weekend in Monaco: a nightmare grand prix. A incomprehensible crash early in Q1 into Saint Devote wrecked his chances from the get-go. Slap bang last on the grid, in near-identical circumstances to Australia at the beginning of April. On Sunday, he pitted five times when the majority of the field pitted just once. You can only imagine what was going through Verstappen’s head when he saw Perez for the second time in the distance. Perhaps a wee smile, aware of the boost to his championship hopes. Perez finished 16th and from six, the gap in the standings is now 39 points. Verstappen, for what it’s worth, was mesmeric in the principality, a place he calls home. The 25-year-old won this race on Saturday, after an outlandishly thrilling qualifying concluded with the lap of the season so far. Because Verstappen was in trouble. First, Alpine’s Esteban Ocon shot to the top of the standings with a stunner. Then, Fernando Alonso – “pushing like an animal”, to use his own words – set the new benchmark. Verstappen had one more go. Two-tenths down heading into the final sector, Verstappen pinpointed his RB19 to such perfection that walls had to be kissed. Lighting up the swimming pool complex, seeping every last drop out of the car at Rascasse and a little bump with the barrier through Antony Noghes. Pole was grabbed, by 0.084 seconds, right at the death. And with it Sunday’s win too. Nevertheless, it was a season-best for 41-year-old Alonso, whose highly-craved 33rd grand prix victory does genuinely seem to be just around the corner. After five third-place finishes in six races, he bettered it this time with second spot. So focused, so revitalised, so it seems Alonso may be the only slight obstacle in Verstappen’s title charge. Given a new lease of life at Aston Martin, Formula 1’s elder statesman is relishing the challenge laid down by the Dutchman, 16 years his junior. And while people may jump to state that Verstappen’s third-straight title is nothing more than a formality… who knows? All it takes is a retirement or two for the pendulum to swing. While Mercedes grapple with upgrades – Lewis Hamilton and George Russell did finish a respectable fourth and fifth respectively – and Ferrari continue to be, well, Ferrari, Aston may provide the only credible opposition in the coming races. Alonso’s last victory was a decade ago in Barcelona. If he’s top of the podium again this time next week then, maybe, the wily old fox can launch a season-long attack at Verstappen. An attack which should have – yet seemingly won’t – come from across the garage at Red Bull. Read More Max Verstappen defies rain and Fernando Alonso to win Monaco Grand Prix Fernando Alonso: Aston Martin ‘will not give up’ in push for F1 triumph Max Verstappen fends off Fernando Alonso to take stunning pole in Monaco Lewis Hamilton has shut the door on Ferrari – will he come to regret it?

Erik ten Hag calls for investment in the Manchester United squad during the summer transfer window.

Sean Dyche is nothing if not realistic and within minutes of achieving his sole aim of saving Everton from relegation he delivered his verdict on the state of the club – and it will have made for difficult listening for his bosses. The 51-year-old has built a career on plain speaking and pragmatism but until another season in the top flight – the club’s 70th in succession – was secured he had to keep his own counsel, at least in public, on the state of affairs he inherited from predecessor Frank Lampard. But in the immediate aftermath of the 1-0 win over Bournemouth which safeguarded the Toffees’ future, Dyche laid bare the extent of the problems he feels have riddled the club and outlined what needs to be done to change. Whether owner Farhad Moshiri, whose £600 million-plus spend on players in just over seven years has almost hastened rather than failed to prevent back-to-back relegation scraps, will listen remains to be seen. But Dyche knows throwing money at the problem is not the answer, especially as it has now effectively run out with the club making losses of over £430m over four years and facing sanctions next season for breaching profit and sustainability rules. “The fans have been amazing, they want the club to be in the top end of the market but the club currently is not at the top end of the market,” he said. “We need solid thinking going forwards. We are not ready to be up there yet, that is quite evident. “It is going to be building and progress and I need the Evertonians to understand that. I’ll be very surprised if they (the club’s board) say ‘Here’s another war chest, sign who you like’. “It’s not going to happen so we have to be wise, recruit wisely and recruit players who, if possible, understand this club. “They have to be able to handle what it is to be part of Everton. I’m learning that all the time and we have to be able to get that heartbeat and also talent as well. “I’ve tried to be realistic since I’ve been here but the problem with realism is not many people want it because it sounds boring. “But at the end of the day it is time for that. There was a time when this club went from ‘Let’s just do everything’ but there is a time for realism, that’s what I’ve learned.” Dyche is already starting to sound like his old self during his decade-long stay at Burnley before his sacking last season in a relegation scrap from which they failed to escape. He worked miracles on a small budget at Turf Moor, making the club a Premier League regular against the odds, and believes he can turn things around at Goodison Park. But he needs the people in charge – Moshiri, chairman Bill Kenwright and chief executive Denise Barrett-Baxendale – to accept his version of what the future should look like and abandon lofty but unrealistic ambitions fuelled by influential agents, the owner’s inexperience and a lack of joined-up thinking on a club ethos and recruitment strategy. This is a club which are on their eighth permanent manager and third director of football since the billionaire took over in 2016. Dyche, who admitted managing up was as much a part of his job as leading those below him, said on him being the driving force: “Someone has got to. That’s usually the manager. “Now at least I can bring some of it to the fore and I can say ‘OK, I’ve given you the first step and it’s a big step’ but I need a bit of reality from fans that they don’t think next season we win the first 10 on the trot. “That’s highly unlikely from a club which has been edging downwards. “There’s that beautiful stadium down the road (at Bramley-Moore Dock) which someone has to pay for. “There has to be a reality (about money) because we are trying to build a stadium, they are doing things in the community, and you have to get a team to win.” On transfers, he added: “Fans want development but really they want first-team footballers who can play and win and that usually implies money. “But we know about the financial stuff, that has to be realigned, so not yet, I don’t know but I will know at some point. “Evertonians remember when they had an ‘earthy’ team, a team that gave everything – they are good things even in modern times. Let’s applaud it. “And of course we want to play good, attacking, pleasing football that can win games. Not easy.”

Everton’s escape from relegation will not automatically free them from problems which caused that predicament and proposed new investment will have to inevitably bring changes at boardroom level, according to a leading academic. While Premier League revenue has been secured for another season – extending their top-flight stay into a 70th season – a club which has cumulative losses of more than £430million in the last four years will have to make significant changes. And while American investors MSP Sports Capital are poised to buy into the club, Kieran Maguire – from the University of Liverpool Management School’s Centre for Sports Business – believes that will not come without strings attached. Fans who have been protesting against what they claim is mismanagement by the current board, including chairman Bill Kenwright and CEO Denise Barrett-Baxendale in particular, will welcome that prospect but what impact it has on owner Farhad Moshiri’s approach remains to be seen. “Someone suggested £150million for 25 per cent, which would value the club around £600m. Newcastle went for £300m,” Maguire, speaking about the new investment, told the PA news agency. “If a new person was coming in, they’d be looking for board representation, more concessions from Moshiri and then where does it leave him: owning three-quarters of a football club and he’d walk away with a big loss. “MSP are looking to bring two directors onto the board and for there to be changes on the existing board.” However, a new, albeit partial, boardroom will not sweep away all Everton’s issues. There are deep-rooted problems at the club which the £600m Moshiri has spent on transfers alone have failed to solve. That means it will take some turning around and – after back-to-back seasons of narrowly avoiding relegation – it could be a painful and complicated process with a squad overhaul likely to have to take place on a budget, potentially funded by existing player sales. “It is not Football Manager where you think ‘It’s not going too well, I’ll delete and reset’,” added Maguire. “You have costs in terms of the infrastructure, legacy costs in terms of player recruitment. “There won’t be a lot of money to buy players but you still have the issue of wages at 90 per cent of turnover and this overhang of the Premier League charges. “We don’t know how long that will take to conclude – and the worst-case scenario is a points deduction. “Football is a talent game and the talent follows the money. It could be you do a Brentford or a Brighton and you succeed at a point in the market but there is no evidence to suggest Everton are capable of doing that. “How do you get around that? You pay them more money – and that extra money doesn’t exist.” On the horizon is the new 53,000-capacity stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock but that, too, will be no panacea for finances. “It will start to kick in for 2024, but it is not going to move the dial a huge amount,” said Maguire. “And Everton have a fanbase who are traditional supporters from Liverpool so monetising the corporate element may be more difficult.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Bielsa casts shadow and ownership uncertainty – reasons behind Leeds’ relegation Soccer Saturday’s Jeff Stelling gets surprise phone call from Elton John Wales to host South Korea in September friendly

TAIPEI Artificial intelligence means everyone can now be a computer programmer as all they need to do is

Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni signed into law legislation with harsher penalties for LGBTQ people, including death and life-imprisonment

Lending to Swedish households slowed for a twelfth consecutive month, as fewer homes trade hands at lower values,

A's fans fought each other at the Oakland Coliseum.