​Image source, Getty Images. By. Umir Irfan. Football tactics correspondent. 28 minutes ago. 46 Comments. Vincent Kompany achieved so much as a player at Manchester City that he has a statue outside Etihad Stadium. With Bayern Munich, he is striving for greatness all over again.. His appointment as Bayern boss in May 2024 raised eyebrows. He had, after all, just taken Burnley down to the Championship.. But the move appears to have been a masterstroke. Under his guidance, Bayern won the Bundesliga last season. They are on course to retain their title, sitting 12 points clear at the top. And they hold a 2-1 lead over Real Madrid going into the home leg of their Champions League quarter-final on Wednesday.. As speculation continues over Pep Guardiola’s future, Kompany’s ties to Manchester City make him a potential future option for that job.. In the meantime, he is imposing his own style at Bayern, on and off the pitch.. Image source, Getty Images. There have been concerns among fans this season that the game’s top teams, faced with stubborn man-to-man defensive set-ups, are taking a less risky approach in attack.. But Kompany’s Bayern lean into that risk, playing freely both in and out of possession. They often dominate, and are exciting to watch – an approach that involves all 11 players and starts right from the back.. In the Champions League last 16, Bayern faced an Atalanta side who opted to man-mark across the pitch. So Kompany rotated his players around, dragging opposition defenders out of position.. For instance, attacking midfielder Serge Gnabry frequently dropped into centre-back positions to get on the ball. His Atalanta marker followed him. That opened up space for Gnabry’s team-mates. As a result, Atalanta ended up with attackers in defence and defenders in attack. Bayern Munich won 10-2 on aggregate.. Juventus head coach Luciano Spalletti was particularly impressed, noting Bayern’s fluidity. In his words: “They showed us a whole encyclopedia of movement and positioning in football.”. If there is one idea that epitomises Kompany’s Bayern, it is arguably movement off the ball.. As Bayern got into settled possession against Real Madrid in the first leg of their quarter-final, the back four in their 4-2-3-1 formation changed positions in a way that troubled their opponents.. Against Madrid’s front two of Vinicius Jr and Kylian Mbappe, midfielder Joshua Kimmich dropped deep, forming a back three with the two centre-backs. This gave Munich a three-against-two overload.. Full-backs Josip Stanisic and Konrad Laimer then moved into narrower positions high up the pitch. Madrid defended in a narrow 4-4-2 and their wide midfielders, Arda Guler and Federico Valverde, were dragged to the centre of the pitch when marking Bayern’s full-backs.. This opened up a direct passing lane for Bayern from the centre-backs to the wingers. Michael Olise often burst towards the ball, receiving it under minimal pressure, able to turn and drive at the heart of the d  

 Ukraine’s military to get biggest-ever shipment of UK drones. 32 minutes ago. Ottilie Mitchell. EPA. The UK is providing 120,000 drones to Ukraine in what the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has said is the largest delivery of its kind.. Drones have increasingly come to dominate both sides of the war in Ukraine, which entered its fifth year in February.. UK Defence Secretary John Healey said “with eyes on the Middle East in recent weeks, [Russian President Vladimir] Putin wants us to be distracted”, as he announced the “big boost” before co-chairing a meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group in Berlin later on Wednesday.. On Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine had captured a Russian position using ground-based and aerial drones alone for the first time.. The UK drones announcement follows Zelensky’s suggestion that US peace negotiators “have no time for Ukraine” because of the war with Iran, AFP reports.. The package will include long-range strike drones, reconnaissance drones, logistics drones and those with maritime capabilities, with many produced by UK-based companies.. Delivery of the “cutting-edge battlefield technology” started this month, the MoD said.. “Ukrainians continue to fight with huge courage and nothing will distract us from continuing to stand with them for as long as it takes to secure peace,” Healey said in a statement.. He is set to co-chair a meeting of the 50-nation Ukraine Defence Contact Group in Berlin later alongside Nato Secretary General Rutte and the Ukrainian and German defence ministers.. Chancellor Rachel Reeves is also expected to announce further support measures for Ukraine later at a meeting of international finance ministers in Washington DC.. This will consist of a £752m payment to Kyiv, which is part of a wider £3.36bn loan.. “This funding will help deliver the military equipment Ukraine needs as it defends itself against Russia’s unprovoked war,” Reeves said.. State Emergency Service of Ukraine/Reuters. There have been further Russian attacks on Ukraine, after the expiry at the end of Sunday of a supposed ceasefire to mark Orthodox Easter.. Overnight, Ukraine’s northern Sumy region saw three separate strikes on an industrial zone of the city including while rescuers worked there, the country’s emergency services said.. Russian strikes also hit the south of Odesa, causing fires in the vicinity of its port.. There have been several rounds of peace talks, with the US acting as a mediator, but the process has been on hold since Donald Trump shifted his focus to the Middle East.. What Kyiv wants – and has proposed, repeatedly – is a full, stable ceasefire as a first step towards negotiating a lasting end to Russia’s invasion.. But Moscow insists on agreeing the peace deal first, prompting accusations from Kyiv that Russia is not serious about ending the fighting.. In Ukraine’s ‘kill-zone’, robots are a lifeline to troops trapped on perilous eastern front. From florist to drone maker: 

​Image source, Getty Images. ByElizabeth Conway. Spanish football reporter. 1 hour ago. Real Madrid visit Bayern Munich on Wednesday knowing they must produce something special to overturn a 2-1 first-leg deficit and keep their Champions League dream alive.. They were second best for long periods at the Bernabeu, with the German champions in control before a late push from the Spanish giants shifted the momentum.. Much of that improvement – and Kylian Mbappe’s goal – followed the introduction of Jude Bellingham in the 62nd minute.. For the remainder of the encounter, the England midfielder drove Los Blancos with his trademark surging runs, and played a central role in their resurgence after going two goals down.. So can Bellingham prove the catalyst to carry Real into a 17th Champions League semi-final and lift Alvaro Arbeloa’s side in La Liga, where they are nine points behind leaders Barcelona with seven games left.. Finding his rhythm after injury frustration. Bellingham has made 32 appearances for Real Madrid in all competitions this season with six goals and four assists.. Since recovering from a left hamstring injury sustained in February that sidelined him for 10 games, he has featured four times, only returning to Real’s starting line-up on Friday in the La Liga draw against Girona.. “I feel good,” said Bellingham before the return tie in Munich. “It’s frustrating to be injured.. “I missed the start of the season because of my shoulder, and these last two months have been frustrating.. “The hardest part is coming back from an injury and preparing mentally for matches. The more minutes you play, the better, and that increases your confidence and helps you improve little by little.”. Arbeloa has been pleased with the 22-year-old following his return.. “It was very good for him to regain his rhythm and feel for the game. Understandably, he’s quite tired after being sidelined for so long. We have to be very happy with his performance.”. Bellingham has remained involved in Real’s set-up during his recovery, valued as much for his influence off the pitch as for his contribution on it.. That included travelling to Manchester for their last-16 second-leg tie against Pep Guardiola’s City.. “Bellingham wanted to come with his team-mates. I’m very happy to see him getting closer to the team,” added Arbeloa on why Bellingham was part of that squad.. “It’s important for him to be around his team-mates. In the team talk and at half-time, he’ll be one of the leaders, as he always is.”. Bellingham was also included in Thomas Tuchel’s England squad for March’s international friendlies, although he did not play any minutes.. Tuchel, however, has also stressed the value of his presence in camp, saying: “We have all gained from him being part of it. He was excellent in training.”. Bellingham will also come up against his Three Lions captain and team-mate Harry Kane, who will lead the Bayern attack in Munich and scored the second of his side’s goals in the fir  

 Chris Mason: Iran war means government’s vicious circles tighten and darken. 2 hours ago. Chris MasonPolitical editor. Reuters. The government is simultaneously confronting the economic consequences of the war in Iran, as spelt out starkly by the International Monetary Fund and the sharpening of arguments from some, including former Nato secretary general Lord Robertson, that the war is evidence defence spending needs to go up more and more quickly.. The thing is, spending more on defence is harder when the economy is continuing to struggle – as it has done for years and years already.. The chancellor’s exasperation is palpable in an interview with The Mirror.. “This is a war that we did not start. It was a war that we did not want. I feel very frustrated and angry that the US went into this war without a clear exit plan, without a clear idea of what they were trying to achieve,” Rachel Reeves said.. Little wonder she is angry. Reeves was already confronted by towering challenges and now this. And just at the moment she and other senior ministers, from Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer down, were beginning to tentatively make the case that things were slowly improving.. At the turn of the year, the prime minister said “we are turning a corner”. Ministers privately and publicly would point to at least some economic indicators that were looking more promising.. Then the missiles and fighter jets took to the skies and everything changed.. It means the vicious circle tightens and darkens. A subdued economy leads to a subdued, restless, perhaps cantankerous electorate. A subdued economy makes the trade-offs and choices over public spending more difficult. And the wars – as well as Iran there is Ukraine – led Lord Robertson to lash out at the chancellor, accusing “non military experts in the Treasury”, as he put it, of “vandalism”.. But the Treasury’s job is to keep a keen eye on public spending and you don’t have to talk to many folk in Westminster before accusations are made of wastage by the Ministry of Defence over the years.. Lord Robertson also chose to punch a Labour bruise when he claimed that the “cold reality of today’s dangerous world is that we can’t defend Britain with our ever-expanding welfare Budget”.. Last summer, the prime minister lost a battle with his own backbenchers to slow the rate of increase in the benefits bill. There is talk from people in government that they will, in time, have another go at shaking up the system. But it is politically very difficult, for the Labour Party in particular.. The long promised Defence Investment Plan, which is meant to spell out how the Ministry of Defence will pay for what it needs, was due in the autumn of last year.. Winter has since come and gone and the clocks have changed again, and there is still no sign of it.. Perhaps little wonder with all the political, fiscal and international strains the government is attempting to absorb.. As and when the plan does see the light of day, the de 

​Image source, Getty Images. ByMolly Stephens. Football reporter. 2 hours ago. Wrexham’s Championship play-off hopes have been dented after suffering back-to-back defeats for the first time since the opening two games of the 2025-26 campaign.. Phil Parkinson’s side sit four points adrift of sixth place, with four games to play. It’s still possible to finish in the top six, though their play-off destiny is no longer in their own hands.. But has the record-breaking nature of Wrexham’s rise through the English Football League – with three successive promotions taking them from the fifth to the second tier – set unrealistic expectations?. BBC Sport examines whether it matters if Wrexham don’t seal promotion to the Premier League this season at the first time of asking.. Pre-season ambitions. Image source, Getty Images. Hollywood duo Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac (who recently changed his name from Rob McElhenney) have made their ambitions clear ever since their first interview as owners in 2021.. A member of the media asked the actors what their perfect ending would be. Reynolds responded: “We’d be lying if it wasn’t the Premier League.”. So far, so good. They’re one promotion away from the top flight and their latest accounts reveal a record turnover of £33.3m in the process. But was it ever really the aim to make it four promotions in a row?. At the start of their first season back in the second tier of English football since 1982, Wrexham chief executive Michael Williamson told the Telegraph, external that his aims for the season were Championship survival, a mid-table finish and to be competitive.. He proposed this to Reynolds and Mac, who immediately responded by asking what it would take to reach the top two.. Williamson went on to say that after discussions between the club’s hierarchy, they landed on: “Let’s be competitive and see where we end up.”. “If we can find ourselves in that position towards the back end of the season, I give us a very good shot of being in the play-offs,” Williamson explained.. “And then, ultimately, if we’re in the play-offs, I give us a very good shot of getting promoted just because of who we are and what we are and the DNA, the resilience and what it means to this town and for the squad.”. The CEO also said that should promotion not be achieved this time, then that was OK too.. Shaun Harvey – How Wrexham Blew Past Expectations. Kop Stand upgrade will be ‘iconic’ for Wrexham. 19 January. Birmingham end losing run to dent Wrexham’s top six hopes. Stadium development. Image source, Getty Images. Modernising the historic Stok Racecourse, notably the Kop end, has been an ongoing project.. The Red Dragons have been getting themselves ‘Premier League ready’ for some time.. They are future-proofing the club in all aspects, from the infrastructure to the number of people employed by the club.. Before their Championship debut, Wrexham added new TV gantries, moved the dugouts and spent £2m on adding under-soil heating to the