The U.S. men’s national team preparations for this summer’s FIFA World Cup are now firmly underway. After players reported to training camp this week, Mauricio Pochettino’s side took on Senegal in a pre-tournament friendly on Sunday in Charlotte, which the Americans won 3-2.

Sergiño Dest opened the scoring, with Christian Pulisic doubling the World Cup hosts’ advantage, before a Sadio Mané brace leveled the score. Folarin Balogun, though, came off the bench to score and earn the U.S. an entertaining and deserved victory.

Relive all the action with ESPN.

Atlético Madrid‘s Julián Álvarez still has his heart set on joining Barcelona, who could also still make an attempt to sign Marcus Rashford from Manchester United. Join us for the latest transfer news and rumors from around the globe.

Transfers home page | Men’s winter grades | Women’s grades

TRENDING RUMORS

– Barcelona have devised a plan to try and sign winger Marcus Rashford this summer despite already recruiting Anthony Gordon, according to the Daily Mail. England international Rashford is set to return to Manchester United this summer following a successful loan spell at Barça. With Gordon’s recent arrival from Newcastle United, it was thought that the Spanish club might not have the resources to sign Rashford permanently as well. However, Barcelona will seemingly attempt to recruit Rashford at the end of the transfer window, once some of their financial restrictions have been lifted.

– José Mourinho “won’t ask for star signings” at Real Madrid, Diario AS reports, saying the incoming coach wants players who are “hungry” and “with no ego” as part of his new team. Mourinho would like to sign “one or two centre-backs, a right-back, a left-back and two midfielders.” Meanwhile, Cadena COPE reports that sources in Rodri‘s camp admit they’ve held conversations with Enrique Riquelme in recent days, with the Madrid presidential candidate telling them he’d like to sign the midfielder, although no negotiations took place.

– Inter Milan are weighing up a surprise move for Manchester City defender Rúben Dias if defender Yann Bisseck leaves the Serie A club this summer, according to Corriere dello Sport. Inter view Portugal international Dias, who is under contract at the Etihad until 2029, as a potential marquee replacement and believe a deal could be structured as an initial loan with an obligation to sign him permanently. Christian Falk reports that Bayern Munich are monitoring Germany international Bisseck, who could be made available by Inter for around €40 million, opening the way for Dias to arrive.

– Manchester United and Aston Villa are both monitoring Borussia Dortmund defender Waldemar Anton ahead of a potential swoop, BILD reports. The 29-year-old has impressed at Dortmund since joining the club in 2024 from Stuttgart. While the Bundesliga giants are not actively looking to move Anton on, they may consider offers in the region of €35-40 million this summer.

ESPN SOURCES

– Andoni Iraola is the leading candidate to succeed Arne Slot as Liverpool head coach, sources have told ESPN. Iraola, 43, is a free agent after leaving Premier League rivals AFC Bournemouth at the end of the season following the club’s most successful league season that ended with the Cherries qualifying for the UEFA Europa League for the first time in its history. Read

OTHER RUMORS

– Liverpool, Manchester City and Bayern Munich are in the race to sign German wunderkind Kennet Eichhorn from Hertha Berlin. (Christian Falk)

– Manchester United defender Harry Maguire has been offered to Serie A champions Inter Milan this summer. (La Gazzetta dello Sport)

– Bayern Munich are targeting Bournemouth’s 19-year-old forward Junior Kroupi as back-up to Colombia winger Luis Díaz. (Merkur)

– Chelsea aren’t expected to enter the race for the soon-to-be out-of-contract Ibrahima Konaté, with the Saudi Pro League instead emerging as a possible option. (TEAMtalk)

– Germany international Deniz Undav has agreed terms on a contract extension with Stuttgart, which will keep him at the Bundesliga club until 2029. (Sky Germany)

– Galatasaray midfielder Gabriel Sara is “waiting on a response” from Aston Villa, after the Premier League side’s interest in him was communicated. The former Norwich City player has a valuation around the €35 million mark. (Sabah)

– Sporting CP are considering loaning out full-back Georgios Vagiannidis, who is a long-term Everton target. (A Bola)

– Championship side Preston North End have activated their option to sign Alfie Devine permanently from Tottenham Hotspur. (Lancashire Post)

– AC Milan are set to meet with former Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner regarding the vacant head coach position at the club. (Daily Mail)

This debate is nothing new – but nothing has changed.

In each of the past three years, questions have been raised about whether the French Open should do more to showcase the women’s game.

“I don’t think they have daughters, because I don’t think they want to treat their daughters like this,” said Jabeur.

The lack of action prompted recently pointed WTA chief executive Valerie Camillo to seek answers from French Open tournament director Amelie Mauresmo – a former women’s world number one – when they met at Roland Garros this week.

In what the WTA describes as an open and productive conversation, Camillo underlined her belief that women’s players have delivered some of the “most exciting and dynamic competition in global sport” over recent months and years.

It remains to be seen whether Camillo’s call for action is listened to.

Mauresmo has consistently argued that the danger of women’s matches going “really fast” is the justification behind the choices.

With tickets ranging from €60 to €280 (£50 to £240), tournament organisers think the possibility of a short two-set women’s match does not represent value for money.

Mauresmo has insisted the night sessions will not be extended to two matches – like the Australian Open and US Open – in fear of creating late finishes.

Will the French Open be swayed? It refused to waver last year, despite pressure from players, the women’s governing body and – according to reports, external – broadcasters.

Former world number one Osaka will meet Aryna Sabalenka – the current top women’s player – in the last 16 on Monday.

The Janese player said she did not know if that blockbuster match would be under consideration for the night session, but added she felt the slot was reserved for “popcorn matches”.

If Osaka against Sabalenka does not fulfil the French Open’s criteria, it feels like nothing will.

“I hope it will change,” added Ostenko.

“Even if it’s not me playing, I would like to see some women’s matches there. But I don’t know that we will.”

BUDEST, Hungary — Paris Saint-Germain sealed back-to-back Champions League glory in a penalty shootout win against Arsenal after Eberechi Eze and Gabriel Magalhães both missed the target following a 1-1 draw after 120 minutes at the Puskas Arena.

After defeating Internazionale 5-0 in Munich last year to win their first Champions League title, PSG became only the second team (after Real Madrid) since the competition was restructured in 1992 to defend their crown.

Arsenal had taken the lead in the sixth minute with a Kai Havertz goal, but PSG equalized via a second-half Ousmane Dembélé penalty. The Ligue 1 champions dominated the game but were unable to finish off Mikel Arteta’s side until the penalty shootout.

Eze sent his penalty wide before David Raya saved from Nuno Mendes, but Gabriel’s effort flew over the crossbar to hand PSG a 4-3 shootout win, securing coach Luis Enrique’s third Champions League title as a coach. — Mark Ogden

This was the right outcome…

We can go and parse it down to incidents: Nuno Mendes colliding with Noni Madueke, Bukayo Saka being beaten by millimeters to the ball by Matvey Safonov, the drama of the spot kicks when anything can hpen and sometimes does. Each of those could have gone Arsenal’s way — none of them did, and in a low-scoring sport, that can make all the difference.

But the eye test and the numbers tell a different story. It’s football, and Paris Saint-Germain played football, as in “played with the ball and did things with it,” which is kind of the essence of the sport. No 4-year-old in the back garden leaves it lying on the ground and practices his defensive movements.

merciless. Seventy-four percent possession. Twenty-one shots on goal (to 7). An expected goals count of 1.77 (to 0.44). Safonov, the PSG keeper, made zero saves because he only faced one shot — Havertz’s sixth-minute strike — on target. If there were figure skating, with gold medals awarded on points, there would be only one winner.

It’s not that PSG were flawless, because they weren’t. The early Arsenal goal and clogged middle saw them struggle for ideas and chances in the first half.

But … they adjusted.

Desire Doue moved inside, a centerforward sui generis and Ousmane Dembele moved wide, finding space and creativity until the muscular injury that forced him to limp off late in the second half. Joao Neves dropped more often alongside Vitinha when Arsenal opted for the low block, nullifying the press and offering up another passing outlet. And the introduction of a fresh-as-a-daisy Bradley ” speedy”=”” barcola=”” led=”” to=”” two=”” gilt-edged=”” transition=”” chances=”” against=”” an=”” exhausted=”” william=”” saliba.

Beyond the substitutions, PSG simply looked more confident, more grown-up and more been there, done that. Because, well, they had just a year ago, in fact, when they beat Inter.

They weren’t going to lose this game in terms of football, and they weren’t going to lose it mentally. Only randomness and misfortune was going to beat them. And on Saturday night, at the Puskas Arena, those things took a night off. — Gab Marcotti

… but Arsenal had the right idea

If we’re being honest, Arsenal played this one about right. Once they got the lucky break and brilliant early goal from Havertz, the plan was clearly to eat up as much of the clock as possible and force PSG to burn as much energy as possible to even the match. The more open the match was, the worse it was likely to work out for them.

Considering it took until midway through the second half, and considering Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Ousmane Dembele were both subbed out at the end of regulation — when the match went to penalties, and Arsenal had the only keeper who made a save — you could say it worked out well.

PSG still came closer to a winner before penalties, however, in part because they had Vitinha and Arsenal did not. Despite coming out after 105 minutes, he finished the game with the most touches (162), pass completions (141), passes received (127), carries (133), carry distance (671 meters) and progressive carries (22). He also had the most shot attempts (four), though none were on goal.

It felt like Vitinha was always on the ball. He was the primary reason why PSG kept the field tilted properly and were almost never in danger in transition. To Arsenal’s credit, the Gunners limited the quality of PSG’s opportunities, and David Raya’s excellence in goal helped to send the game to a shootout. But Vitinha was a maestro. — Bill Connelly

Arsenal’s squad depth comes up fractionally short

The whole point of Arsenal’s £250 million investment on eight new players last summer was to give Arteta the tools to compete on four fronts. Saturday’s final was the 63rd game of a mammoth season that has tested it to the limit, so much so that Arteta made six changes here — including completely altering the starting forward line — and yet they still had Piero Hincié struggling through extra time, palpably injured, with no more changes left to make.

In the end, they fell agonizingly short of becoming European champions by the smallest of margins.

Once this squad was assembled, the question was whether Arteta would handle it effectively. After winning the Premier League title and reaching their first Champions League final in 20 years, he can feel thoroughly vindicated on that front. It is only with hindsight that he may regret not having more first-choice penalty takers on the field at the end.

By substituting Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka, Leandro Trossard and Kai Havertz, Arsenal were denied the chance to turn to four probable takers. Gabriel Magalhaes may never have taken the fifth penalty otherwise. Regardless, when the dust settles, Arsenal can go into the summer reflecting on the ground they have made up in Europe and safe in the knowledge the hard work has been done in squad-building terms — improvements are necessary, but marginal.

Maybe, you might suggest, focusing on more quality in the final third. — James Olley

PSG looked more prepared for penalties too

Once a game gets to spot kicks, we’re told it’s all in the head. And the sports psychology/body language types come out of the woodwork.

How much this impacts a guy striking a ball from 12 yards out against a keeper rooted behind the line until the last possible moment is still part of the old school vs. new school debate, but it certainly looked as if David Raya was full-on new school, and the contrasting reactions of the two keepers was striking. Matvey Safonov picked himself up and trotted off to the two sides. Raya made it his business to collect the ball and meet the next Arsenal penalty taker, handing it to him along with words of encouragement. It’s presumably part of the whole marginal gains thing.

Maybe, if Arsenal had won the shootout, we’d be talking about that. Instead, we have little choice but to talk about the fact that, of the five players who have taken penalties in games for Arsenal over the past two seasons, just one, Viktor Gyökeres, was still out there. The others (Bukayo Saka, Kai Havertz, Martin Odegaard and Leandro Trossard) had all started, and all come off, by the time extra time began.

There’s no doubt Arteta had plenty of faith in the guys he had left, and to be fair, Declan Rice, Gabriel Martinelli and Gyokeres took fine penalties. Eberechi Eze and Gabriel however, not so much. The former, who was an accomplished taker at Crystal Palace, opted for the baby step/stutter/deception routine and did everything right except for the shot, which rolled wide of Safonov’s post. The latter smashed his spot kick over the bar.

By contrast, PSG looked relaxed and confident in each of their kicks and each was well-taken, even the Nuno Mendes one that David Raya prodigiously saved. It’s fine margins. But if you live by the fine margins, the set pieces and the details, you have to get them right. — Marcotti

Luis Enrique joins the greats with third win

Luis Enrique joined an elite club of coaches with three or more European Cups/Champions League titles by guiding PSG to their second success in the competition.

Only Carlo Ancelotti, who has won five with AC Milan and Real Madrid, now stands ahead of the former Barcelona coach in the Champions League Hall of Fame. Pep Guardiola (Barcelona 2, Man City 1), Zinedine Zidane (Real Madrid) and Bob Paisley (Liverpool) are the coaches who now sit level with Luis Enrique, who won the first of his Champions Leagues with Barça in 2015.

The challenge for the Spaniard now is whether he can move ahead of the pack by winning a fourth, and then catching Ancelotti with a fifth.

Guardiola is now out of the game after leaving City at the end of the season, while Zidane is expected to join Brazil coach Ancelotti in the international arena by taking the France job after the World Cup. Luis Enrique could have the field to himself with his outstanding PSG team in the years ahead. — Ogden

History-making goes to the winners

One of Arteta’s most familiar refrains this season has been calling on his team to “write a new chter” in its history. It did so domestically in 2025-26, but its wait for a maiden Champions League crown goes on.

Twenty years after their only previous pearance in a final, this iteration of Arsenal went closer than Arsene Wenger’s side by taking the game to penalties and, in a cruel irony, technically remain unbeaten in normal time all season in Europe. They only conceded seven goals.

The question becomes whether this is the way forward for Arsenal.

Havertz’s early goal may have contributed to the pattern of this game, but it has been the Gunners’ way all season to play fine-margin football, relying on their resilient defending to make the difference. Gabriel and William Saliba have been stalwarts in that regard, and so it is particularly harsh that the former missed the decisive kick.

But what now? If Arsenal are to kick on from here, dominate at home and win the Champions League, they may consider whether shifting to a more attacking proach could be the way forward. PSG dominated here — as they usually do — and the temptation in the immediate aftermath is to suggest Arsenal have the talent and now experience to be more expansive, particularly now they are unburdened from the 22-year wait for a Premier League title.

It will be a fascinating element of where Arteta takes this team next to see which way they go. Having come so close to grinding it out, Arteta may choose to double down. — Olley

A word on João Neves

The only thing that Joao Neves didn’t do in Saturday’s attritional final was taking a penalty. For the rest, he did it all. Some say he is still running somewhere in the streets of Budest. Running after the ball, running to close a g, to mark an Arsenal player.

At 21, he has added a second Champions League trophy to his cabinet at home, and he was at the heart of it all, even more than last season. This final was cagey, tense and tight, because PSG had to find a different way to be victorious; lucky for Luis Enrique, the young Portuguese was perfect. He is the player you need in a game like this because you play with 12 men when Neves is in this kind of form.

His stats are mind blowing: 111 touches, 88% passing completion, six recoveries, 77% of ground duels won, 60% of aerial duels won, seven passes in the final third, 11 touches in the Arsenal box. He was everywhere and did everything. He is the emphasis of a team player with an intelligence way above average.

Of all the players recruited in the last few years by Paris, he is one of the most important. Let’s rename him Jewel Neves, shall we? — Julien Laurens

Chronic time-wasting dents Arsenal’s image

Arsenal are a great team, as proven by their Premier League title, but they are not helping their reputation with the way that they play — specifically their time-wasting. Mikel Arteta’s team aren’t easy on the eye — we all know that — but there is an art to defending and they have certainly mastered that this season.

The issue with the Gunners, and they showed it time and again in Budest, is their readiness to kill the game either by time-wasting or attempting to deceive the officials to win free kicks. PSG coach Luis Enrique repeatedly pointed to the watch on his wrist as Arsenal wasted time with throw-ins and goal kicks during the initial 90 minutes. Arteta’s side then held up the start of the second half by sauntering out of the tunnel and onto the pitch two minutes after PSG.

Within the first minute of the second half, defender Cristhian Mosquera was booked for delaying a throw-in, but the time-wasting continued. Meanwhile, Kai Havertz and Leandro Trossard were repeat offenders when it came to falling down a little too easily in an effort to win a free kick.

Throughout the first 90 minutes, Arsenal delayed play for a total 25 minutes and 56 seconds, and that number was no surprise. So come on, Arsenal: leave out the time-wasting and histrionics. Nobody wants to see it. — Ogden

That much was clear as the season went on with Liverpool repeatedly delivering dull displays. Hughes was present when Liverpool went off to a chorus of boos against Chelsea earlier this month – a clear sign that the fanbase was turning.

When the departing Salah called out Slot’s style of play indirectly in a social media post two weeks ago that was liked by other Liverpool players, it was a clear attack on his manager’s leadership.

There were also question marks over whether the players truly believed in Slot’s methods.

One club source, who was also at Liverpool during Jurgen Klopp’s tenure said: “Arne’s a great person but you always felt he lacked that authority Jurgen had and that became more evident when things weren’t going well on the pitch.”

The departure of veterans Salah, Andy Robertson and now Ibrahima Konate is telling too.

Slot was never going to be Klopp but he won the Premier League title at the first time of asking and deserves immense credit for that

For that alone, he will be a part of Liverpool‘s illustrious history.

Questions must also be asked about Liverpool‘s hierarchy because, if they had made this decision a few weeks earlier, then one of their own in Xabi Alonso would have been available and such a decision would have had the blessing of plenty of Liverpool supporters.

Alonso, who shares the same agent as Andoni Iraola, joined Chelsea as manager on a four-year deal.

Both Hughes and Edwards are contracted until next summer.

The understanding is that FSG initially backed Slot next season to rebuild the supporter faith that has waned considerably during last season’s struggles.

But, as the season concluded, they believed that delaying the decision which looked increasingly inevitable would be unfair on the squad and damaging to preparations for next season.

It was a decision made with enormous reluctance with Slot becoming the first Liverpool manager to be sacked despite winning the league – Kenny Dalglish was sacked in 2011-12 but that was his second stint as Liverpool.

Iraola – who was pointed by Hughes at Bournemouth – is the leading candidate and contact has already been made, with his immediate availability also playing a part in severing ties with Slot.

For Slot, there is no bad blood with Liverpool but he is of the belief that he has been dealt a tough hand with the situation this past season. With perspective, if you were to switch his two seasons around – one where Liverpool win the title and one where they qualify for the Champions League – then he would be hailed as a genius.

But the reality is that Liverpool‘s points tally fell from 84 in 2024-25 to 60 in 2025-26; with the swing of minus 24 the biggest drop by any ever-present Premier League side across the past two campaigns.

There was no sign of Liverpool reversing that shift in the last few months of the season.

The way it has panned out, Slot has not been able to say goodbye to the fans.

He finished his first campaign lifting the Premier League trophy in front of the Kop, where his head is on an iconic banner of Reds bosses to have won either a league title or a European Cup, alongside the likes of Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley.

By the end of the second season, Slot was sat alone in the dugout watching Salah and Robertson say their own goodbyes. That was six days ago, when it seemed like Liverpool were sticking with him and Slot had no reason to believe otherwise.

But modern day football is brutal and Liverpool have acted in a manner that is certainly not usual with their tradition. This is a club firmly in transition and sadly for Slot, Liverpool want a new man to manage that change.