All posts by n8rngtd.top

It seems like Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim has settled on his first-choice midfield pivot. His infamous 3-4-2-1 system has sparked plenty of debate, but with United now five games unbeaten, perhaps it is a sign of things improving.

Indeed, one of those reasons could be continuity in team selection. The midfield is one of those areas, with Amorim choosing captain Bruno Fernandes and the experienced Casemiro as the two pivot players. It has meant the likes of Kobbie Mainoo and Manuel Ugarte cannot get a look in, with the United boss sticking to that pair.

However, the Red Devils might well dip into the transfer market in January to add to the depth in the centre of the park.

Man United's new midfield target

There are reportedly a few names on United’s list for a new midfielder. One of those is Wolverhampton Wanderers star Joao Gomes, who could cost upwards of £44m, with a deal said to be in advanced stages.

However, the Brazilian is not the only midfielder United are looking at this winter with the likes of Elliot Anderson and Carlos Baleba high-profile targets from within the Premier League.

Alongside those players, Atletico Madrid and England midfielder Conor Gallagher has once again emerged as a target for Amorim’s side, according to journalist Ben Jacobs.

Indeed, talking to The United Stand, via TEAMtalk, he claims the former Chelsea man is a “definitive” target ahead of the transfer window opening in just over a month. The player is thought to be keen on returning to England in 2026.

This isn’t a deal that would come cheap, though. Atleti could demand a fee of up to £52.4m, as reported back in September, with Premier League rivals Tottenham Hotspur and Crystal Palace also interested.

How Gallagher compares to Gomes

It has certainly not been the easiest season for Gallagher in La Liga. He has struggled to break into Atleti’s starting lineup, playing 17 times in all competitions, but featuring for just 566 minutes in total. That is an average of just 6.2 full 90-minute games.

The 22-cap England star was more important under legendary Atleti boss Diego Simeone last season. He made 50 appearances across all competitions, chipping in with four goals and six assists and earning himself the nickname “Pitbull” for his energetic performances.

Of course, the Chelsea academy graduate has plenty of Premier League experience. He’s played 136 times in the top flight, becoming an established player for the Blues after a couple of loan spells. Gallagher certainly knows where the back of the net is and has 18 Premier League goals and 13 assists to his name.

If United were to bring Gallagher to the club, he might prove to be a better option than Gomes, the other top target in midfield. Of course, the Brazilian is currently plying his trade in the Midlands for rock-bottom Wolves, for whom he has played 15 times this season.

The Rio de Janeiro-born midfielder has played 104 times for the Old Gold, in a similar system to the one United play under Amorim. He’s even been known to chip in with a goal, bagging seven times in a Wolves shirt.

Yet, despite the familiarity the 24-year-old has with United’s system, Gallagher may well prove to be the better option. His on-the-ball quality exceeds that of Gomes, whilst he still offers plenty without the ball, to succeed in Amorim’s pivot.

Described as an “intensity monster” and as “one of the best midfielders in the sport when it comes to running long distances” by one notable analyst on social media, a look at the stats paints a more vivid picture of what to expect from Gallagher.

Analysing the data from the Englishman’s last season in the Premier League, compared to Gomes’ from last term, highlights the differences. For example, Gallagher created 1.5 chances on average and won 50.68% of his ground duels. In comparison, the Wolves man created 0.7 chances and had a ground duel win rate of 48.01%.

Described as a “relentless” midfielder by Statman Dave, 25-year-old Gallagher would provide tenacity off the ball and progression and final third quality with it.

That is certainly something he has over Gomes, and, thinking ahead, could be important for United as they hopefully start dominating games and have the ball more.

A fee of £52.4m is sizeable given it is the January window, but the Cobham graduate could help add quality to the United midfield, as they look to push up the Premier League table.

Man Utd now "leading the chase" to sign "special" Casemiro replacement

He has a massive future ahead of him.

By
Henry Jackson

Nov 22, 2025

Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta has revealed that the intense protests and backlash over the summer signing of Noni Madueke from Chelsea sparked a fierce determination in the 23-year-old. Having only just returned from an extended injury layoff, Madueke is beginning to win over the Arsenal faithful, with Arteta admitting he made it his personal mission to support the winger through the challenging period.

• Arsenal supporters disapproved Madueke's transfer from Chelsea

  Arsenal had a blockbuster summer transfer window, signing the likes of Viktor Gyokeres, Eberechi Eze, Martin Zubimendi, Cristhian Mosquera, and Piero Hincapie. However, one particular signing received severe backlash from a large section of Arsenal fans online. 

  In July, reports surfaced that Arsenal – who were also linked to Real Madrid star Rodrygo – were interested in signing Madueke from their London rivals Chelsea. The news didn't go down well with Gooners, who voiced their disapproval of the move. A fierce campaign was launched on X (formerly Twitter), with the hashtag "#NoToMadueke" quickly trending. In fact, a petition to protest against the signing of the ex-PSV Eindhoven winger was signed over 4,000 times, too.

  Eventually, Madueke switched the Stamford Bridge for the Emirates Stadium in a £52 million (€60m/$70m) move. He made a good first impression in his first couple of appearances for Arsenal, but his momentum was halted after suffering a knee injury against Manchester City in September. 

Advertisement

• Getty Images Sport
  

  Arteta's determination to help Madueke

  The cruel social media campaign against Madueke saw several former Premier League stars leap to the player's defence. Anders Limpar, a part of Arsenal's title-winning squad of 1990-91, posted a lengthy message on X in the aftermath of the backlash directed towards Madueke, claiming that it was "sad when fans are making a player's life difficult."

  Rio Ferdinand, one of Premier League's all-time greats, echoed the sentiments of Limpar, labelling the section of the Arsenal fan base as an "utter disgrace" for their "vulgar behaviour" on social media.

  On Friday, Arteta addressed the hate Madueke was subjected to ahead of his move and claimed that he used the reaction of the fans to fuel his own desire to win them over.

  "If anything, it gave me more conviction and more will to help him and do everything we possibly could to make this relationship work and to prepare everything around him in the best possible way," he told reporters.

  "I think that [campaign] lasted a short period of time and immediately we had the complete opposite reaction which I think he valued, respected and it was like fuel to him. It did not affect him."

• Madueke not worried about criticism from Arsenal fans

  Madueke spent nine weeks on the sidelines following his untimely injury against City two months ago. He marked his return to the pitch after coming on as a 78th minute substitute in the 4-1 win in the north London derby against Tottenham Hotspur. 

  This week, he reflected on the strong wave of criticism that came his way ahead of his move to Arsenal. The 23-year-old explained that he doesn't pay attention to external noise, but admitted that he was buoyed by the reception he received from the Arsenal faithful inside the Emirates Stadium last weekend.

  "You are in the public eye, people can say whatever they want about you," he said. "But being in the stadium, and how the fans have taken to me in the stadium, is unbelievable. I am not really worried about all of that. It is in the distant past. The last game versus Tottenham was incredible and that gives me such a boost. I play on the side of the pitch, I can feel [the fans], I can hear them. When they are that positive about me it gives me a massive boost. Honestly, I am made up about it."

ENJOYED THIS STORY?

Add GOAL.com as a preferred source on Google to see more of our reporting

• Getty Images Sport
  

  Madueke in line for a start against ex-employers Chelsea

  Arsenal will visit the Stamford Bridge on Sunday afternoon to take on Enzo Maresca's high-flying Chelsea team. The Blues are currently second on the Premier League table, six points adrift of Arteta's troops. It promises to be a mouth-watering encounter, given what's at stake. 

  After scoring his first Arsenal goal in the 3-1 defeat of Bayern Munich earlier this week, Madueke could be in line for a start against his former side, with Arteta sweating over the fitness of Leandro Trossard after he limped off the field against Bayern. 

  Asked if any love will be lost between him and the Chelsea fans when he returns to the Stamford Bridge, Madueke said: "It might be a little bit hostile, it might not be, but I am a professional footballer. I have played in loads of atmospheres. I don't know if anything will faze me. I will just be focused on the task."

George Springer probably wants this moment from Sunday's game against the A's back, because boy did he get called out on a move you'd see in a Little League game, not at the professional level.

In case you missed it, the Blue Jays veteran seemed to get to third base well before a throw got there. But instead of standing on the bag, he decided to hop up and down. A's third baseman Max Schuemann smartly noticed what was going on and applied a tag on Springer while he was in mid-air.

The umpire initially ruled Springer safe because he would have been if he hadn't decided to jump. The A's challenged the call and it was quickly overturned to an out, which ended the fifth inning.

Check this out:

Not great!

MLB fans roasted him:

The Blue Jays ended up winning the game, 8-4, but that mistake by Springer won't be forgotten for some time.

And so, another European run is effectively over as far as Rangers are concerned, with the Ibrox side left languishing on just a solitary point in the Europa League, following Thursday’s defeat to Ferencvaros.

After the positivity of a comfortable 3-0 win over Kilmarnock at the weekend, things had initially started brightly away in Budapest, with the resurgent Bojan Miovski steering the away side into the lead.

Even while ahead, however, the Light Blues were sloppy in possession and lacking defensively, having been pegged back with almost the last action of the first-half following a well-worked Bence Otvos goal.

The comeback was then completed with less than 20 minutes to play, as the hosts’ Hungarian talisman, Barnabas Varga, nodded home at the backpost, after capitalising on some calamitous defending from Emmanuel Fernandez.

That lapse in concentration from Danny Rohl’s left-sided centre-back seemingly epitomised this season as a whole for the Gers, with the squad assembled by Kevin Thelwell and co over the summer simply not up to scratch.

Emmanuel Fernandez's horror moment vs Ferencvaros

Rohl has been dealt a dismal hand, following a head-scratching summer of recruitment, with the 36-year-old no doubt particularly hampered by the lack of depth – and quality – at the heart of the defence.

In Nasser Djiga – a man too often at the scene of the crime – the new Gers boss has inherited an increasingly error-prone figure, even while showcasing signs of life against Kilmarnock.

The man alongside him, Fernandez, had initially looked like a class above following his reintroduction amid the change in the dugout, notably netting a bullet header against Livingston to mark a fine start to life under Rohl.

Frustratingly, like many of those around him, the 24-year-old has regressed since then, culpable for the opener in last week’s 2-2 draw with Dundee United, while enduring another horror moment on Thursday evening.

In a piece of defending that almost left TNT Sports commentator Ally McCoist speechless with incredulity, Fernandez bizarrely went AWOL as the lethal Varga converted for what proved to be the winner, with the towering centre-back facing in the wrong direction while attempting to deal with the cross into the box.

Quite why the summer arrival – who lost ten duels in total on the night, as per Sofascore – did not try and engage with either the ball or the man, well, only he knows, with that moment of madness proving so costly on what proved to be another miserable European night for the Glasgow side.

Of course, in Fernandez’s defence, he wasn’t the only villain against Robbie Keane’s side – far from it.

​Rangers' worst performer vs Ferencvaros

It was all going so well, with Miovski – the man who had netted a brace at the weekend – defying the offside flag to convert in acrobatic fashion, sending the Gers into the lead just before the hour mark.

And yet, old habits die hard, with a well-worked effort from the home side seeing things levelled up on the stroke of half-time, with Djeidi Gassama notably culpable for failing to track his man in the build-up.

Rumours were rife on Thursday that the ex-Sheffield Wednesday winger is the subject of interest from LaLiga high-flyers Villarreal, although there was little in his performance to suggest why, having again been off the pace prior to his second-half withdrawal.

Previously the star of Rangers’ Champions League qualifying run, the 22-year-old’s form has deserted him of late, notably registering just 17 touches this time around.

That lack of impact was evident as the promising winger failed to register a single key pass, successful dribble or even attempt a single cross on the night, left looking like something of a bystander to proceedings on the left flank.

While he did register a solid 89% pass accuracy, alongside winning all three of his total duels, there was little else to shout about, with there having been few surprises when he was withdrawn for teenage sensation, Mikey Moore.

As already alluded to, Gassama’s early-season form – which yielded four goals in Europe in July and August – has long since deserted him, with even his prior relationship with Rohl surely not enough to spare him from the axe.

Indeed, with the younger pairing of Moore and Findlay Curtis waiting in the wings, the German coach has plenty of alternatives on the flanks, with the former Owls star simply not cutting it right now.

Aasgaard upgrade: Rangers "could" re-sign £70k-per-week star in 2026

Rangers have been tipped to sign an attacking midfielder who would be a big upgrade on Thelo Aasgaard.

By
Dan Emery

4 days ago

Pep Guardiola compared his Manchester City star playmaker Rayan Cherki to Lionel Messi after the Frenchman pulled off an audacious rabona in his side's 3-0 win over Sunderland. Cherki produced his second assist of the game to set up Phil Foden with an outrageous piece of skill and Guardiola, who coached Messi for four years at Barcelona, claimed the Argentine had never produced a moment like it.

• Classy Cherki assist crowns big City win

  Cherki helped City open the scoring against a stubborn Sunderland by laying the ball off to Ruben Dias to score a thumping goal from long range. Josko Gvardiol's header doubled the Cityzens' advantage but Cherki stole the show with his cheeky cross for Foden. Cherki now leads the assists chart in the Premier League, setting up five goals in his debut campaign following his £30m ($40m) move from Lyon last summer.

  Guardiola praised his player and brought up Messi's name although he also urged Cherki to follow one key lesson from the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner.

Advertisement

• Guardiola: Cherki 'an exceptional player'

  Guardiola told a press conference: "Rayan is an exceptional player, he is so young, he has a huge personality, he proved it against Fulham in the toughest moments. He had the ball at 5-4 and every time gave us an extra pass, he is not scared and has self-confidence. In the final third he had something special. What I admire the most about Rayan is not the skills. 

  "I never saw Messi play a cross like he has done. Messi is the best player to play the game but I never saw these kind of crosses. Crosses are fine, right or left or which part of your feet, it doesn't matter. If it is effective it is fine but I like the simplicity because I learned from Messi that I never make a mistake with the simple things. 

  "The simple things he does perfectly then he dribbles past four or five players. I want players to do the simple things well and after that you have special talent and he can do whatever he wants but if he doesn't work now it will be a problem. He will be in trouble."

• Cherki 'so proud' after helping City beat Black Cats

  Cherki told: "Really proud. We worked many weeks for that, we played very well. Defended and attacked really well. Very proud. I worked for that, I know my quality, my quality is my technique, when I play with Phil [Foden], Erling [Haaland], Omar [Marmoush], it's very important to give the good balls for them. Phil is a great player, he works for the team, runs for the team."

  "It's difficult when the team come to defend with 10 players in the box, it's complicated. For Ruben [Dias] it's a first time and a last because the goal was unbelievable. We want to win all the games. We don't want to concede goals. Important for us to defend well because then we attack better. We are very proud to give the pleasure to the fans. We will work all week for the next game."

ENJOYED THIS STORY?

Add GOAL.com as a preferred source on Google to see more of our reporting

• Goal AR
  

  City have Arsenal in their sights

  City are just two points behind Premier League leaders Arsenal, having trailed the Gunners by five points just two weeks ago following their defeat at Newcastle. City can put Mikel Arteta's side under more pressure when they visit Crystal Palace on Sunday although first they will play Real Madrid in the Champions League on Wednesday, looking to respond after their 2-0 loss at home to Bayer Leverkusen in their last European fixture.

  "It is better to be closer to the top of the league but from my experience it is consistency," Guardiola said on the title race. "Consistency comes from the way you play, not from the results or being two points in front or four behind. it is how you perform and how much you grow. Today has been one of the best performances of the year. We had good momentum for the second half. 

  "Wolves [on the opening day of the season] the first half was good and the second half we suffered. We were not consistent and we talked a lot about the reason why. We did really good things against Fulham in the first half and stopped doing it in the second half. It's not about specific movement defensively or offensively. 

  "Today against a team who had have top results so far we gave away one chance but apart from that it was a good performance. With the Premier League I have the feeling that Arsenal are going to drop few points and if we want to be there we have to win games and games and games come from the way you perform, not just a lucky action."

The Chicago White Sox welcomed the Arizona Diamondbacks to the South Side's Rate Field on Wednesday afternoon as they trudge through their disappointing 2025 season, and in the middle of the second inning pinch-hit Austin Slater for one of their best bats in Luis Robert Jr.

Was a trade on the horizon? It would certainly make sense given not only Robert's value on the market, but also MLB insider Bob Nightengale's recent report that the chances of him being shipped out are "just about 100%."

While it was ultimately relayed by the team that Robert was removed from the game due to hamstring tightness, that didn't stop fans from speculating about his departure from Chicago. Here's a look at some of the top reactions from White Sox faithful across X (formerly Twitter):

While Robert is batting just .185 this year, he's second on the White Sox with 31 RBI and has hit eight home runs. The 2025 MLB trade deadline is set for July 31 at 6:00 p.m. EST.

Leeds United have now made contact over signing a midfield star who’s been likened to Arsenal’s Martin Odegaard, according to recent reports.

Daniel Farke Leeds "preparing" for January window

There’s no rest for the wicked and Leeds’ clash against Liverpool at Elland Road represents another tough test for Daniel Farke’s side, who have already squared off against Manchester City and Chelsea this week.

On paper, the visit of the reigning champions should be a daunting task, but Liverpool’s crown has been snatched this season and the Reds find themselves in the middle of a disastrous defence. Leeds, meanwhile, just ran Man City close and swept past Chelsea in shocking fashion. Those at Elland Road couldn’t be facing Liverpool at a better time.

Victory over Slot’s side could take the Whites five points clear of the dropzone if results go their way in a crucial step towards survival as the festive fixtures arrive thick and fast.

Meanwhile, as things progress on the pitch, the 49ers are already “planning” ahead for the January transfer window, according to Farke. The Leeds boss told reporters earlier this week: “I have not one second to think about what could happen, it also depends on injuries and how the players deliver in these upcoming games.

“I spoke in the summer about what he might have liked to sign and this has not gone away, in the background we are preparing but now is not the time to speak about it.”

Leeds now prioritising £35m move to sign South American defender ahead of Juventus

He’d be one of their most expensive arrivals.

By
Tom Cunningham

Dec 5, 2025

On that front, names such as Nilson Angulo have emerged as reported targets. The impressive winger has been dubbed one of Europe’s standout wingers this season and would certainly inject some added spark to Farke’s frontline.

The same can be said for Jens Hjerto-Dahl. The midfielder has been likened to fellow Norway star Odegaard and now finds himself on the radar of those at Elland Road.

Leeds make contact over signing Jens Hjerto-Dahl

As reported by TeamTalk, Leeds have now made contact to sign Hjerto-Dahl in 2026, but face competition from Rangers, Brighton & Hove Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers.

The Tromso midfielder has built up an impressive reputation in Norway for his ability as a goalscoring box-crasher – scoring five goals in 35 games in all competitions this season – and could now get the chance to do that in the Premier League.

Described as “powerful” by scout Kai Watson, Hjerto-Dahl was likened to Odegaard when he was linked with a move to Brighton earlier this month and Leeds should go all out to land his signature.

The towering star certainly fits the physical profile of what’s needed in the Premier League these days, but it remains to be seen if clubs act as early as January.

Farke must unleash "wonderkid" who'd be perfect for Nmecha's new Leeds role

Bayern Munich have agreed to splash the cash to buy a new stadium as part of the club's commitment to their women's team. The Bayern women's side currently play in the stadium at their training ground, which only has 2,000 seats. The women's team have won the German top-flight league for the past three seasons, which has prompted the management to make significant investment on the side.

• Bayern's new stadium

  According to , the reigning Bundesliga champions have agreed to spend a whopping £6.5 million (€7.3m) on the Sportpark Unterhaching, which is located in the southern outskirts of Munich. The arena, which has a capacity to hold 15,000 people, will be used by the club as the new home for their women's team. It is a significant infrastructure improvement for the women's side, who earlier played their matches at Bayern's training ground stadium, which only has 2,000 seats.

  The Sportpark Unterhaching is also the home ground for German fourth-tier club SpVgg Unterhaching, who once played in the Bundesliga between 1999 to 2001. Sportpark Unterhaching had the opportunity to buy the stadium permanently last summer, but they pulled out of the deal due to finances. The venue has hosted several Bundesliga, women’s national team, youth team and German Cup matches in the past. 

Advertisement

• Getty Images Sport
  

  Club chief confirm new stadium

  Speaking to the press recently, Bayern's honorary president Uli Hoeness confirmed: "In Spain or England, top games are packed. “Here, you must bang the drum to get 20,000 spectators. And when they do come, we hug each other with joy. (Increasing attendance) is not so simple. (I’m a) friend of women’s football. Today they really can play well."

  On passing up on buying the venue earlier this year, SpVGG Unterhaching president Manni Schwabl said: "Floodlights, lighting parameters, safety issues, pitch heating. All of that requires investment. We weren’t sure we could manage it."

• How is it going for Bayern's women's team?

  The Bayern women's side, who, like the male counterpart, dominate the German top-flight, are off to a flying start in the 2025-26 campaign. They have remained unbeaten in the league thus far, winning 11 out of their first 12 matches and are six points clear at the top of the table. 

  In the Women's Champions League, they have won three out of their first four matches and will be back in action on Wednesday against Atletico Madrid in a home fixture.

ENJOYED THIS STORY?

Add GOAL.com as a preferred source on Google to see more of our reporting

• Getty Images Sport
  

  Bayern out of Salah race

  Meanwhile, following Liverpool star Mohamed Salah's infamous public outburst, the Egyptian winger has been tipped to move away from Anfield next month and several top clubs in Europe, including Bayern Munich, and the Saudi Pro League, have been linked with the winger. 

  Amid links to Munich, Bayern chief Max Eberl has ruled out the possibility of the Reds forward joining them, as he told : "We have an outstanding talent in Lennart Karl. Putting someone ahead of him now makes absolutely no sense. We've talked about the squad before – we have players coming back [from injury]. The transfers are coming from within. There are no plans to bring in any new players right now; the squad is homogeneous and balanced. A new player could also cause unrest because roles would shift."

Kuldeep, Jadeja, Axar and Varun don’t so much spin a web as represent a 4D threat to India’s opponents

Andrew Fidel Fernando09-Mar-20251:31

Kumble: ‘Kuldeep doesn’t look for the surface to help him’

There is no relent. With two you could maybe manage. With three it was already a minefield (ask Bangladesh, or Pakistan). Four? Hah! On this worn square? Yah, good luck.Eke out your little singles here, squeeze out an edged four there, you can hit out and maybe nail one to the boundary, but you know you’ve taken a risk, and how long are you really going to be that brave for? And anyway, there are bowling changes that can be rung, new fields that can be employed, a whole new set of problems for you to solve next over.Two of India’s spinners have stock balls that turn away from the right-hand batter. Two of them are difficult to pick. Two of them can bowl in the powerplay. Two are effective at the death. In each of those four considerations, a different combination is represented.Related

• Why Axar Patel at No. 5 has been a good idea for India

• Rohit, Rahul, spinners lead India to third Champions Trophy title

• KL Rahul: 'I was s****ing myself at the end'

• Kohli: India ready to take on the world for the next eight years

• Stats – Four drops, a spin strangle, and 15 tosses lost in a row

Try to graphically represent the cricketing skills of Ravindra Jadeja (turns ball away from right-hand batter), Axar Patel (can bowl in powerplay/turns the ball away from right-hand batter), Kuldeep Yadav (difficult to pick/effective at the death), and Varun Chakravarthy (difficult to pick/can bowl in powerplay/effective at the death), try to chart their synergies, permutations, and versatility, and what you end up with is less Venn diagram, more three-dimensional quadruple-helix. Like intertwined DNA strands as imagined by a surrealist (MC Escher more than Picasso).It’s often said of spinners that they string up batting orders in their webs. This is like a web, intersecting with another web, layered on to two more webs.Against New Zealand, Jadeja, the most conventional of India’s spinners, delivered the most conventional overs, almost by rote – a factory worker on a production line. He punched in at the start of the 19th, bowled nine unchanged through the middle period, trapped a batter sweeping, rushed through his deliveries to get India’s over rate up, fired in some rocket throws from the outfield in between that New Zealand’s batters dared not take on, and finished with figures of 1 for 30. In the break room of this factory, beneath rows of framed photographs of Jadeja, the little metal straps read “Employee of the Month”. It was he who hit the winning runs, his presence all the way down at No. 8 empowering the batters above him to play more aggressively right through the tournament.ESPNcricinfo LtdBut others had laid the groundwork for Jadeja’s middle-overs shift. Kuldeep, a bamboozler at the top of the innings, a pragmatist at the tail, had ripped a googly first ball to end Rachin Ravindra’s little rampage. Next over, he beat Kane Williamson in the air, which few spinners can ever claim to have done, and took a simple return catch – the ball also perhaps having stopped on the pitch. In his first seven balls, Kuldeep had removed New Zealand’s semi-final centurions. There is arguably no more definitive phase of the match than this.That India have barely missed Jasprit Bumrah in this tournament at the death is also partly down to Kuldeep. In this match, he bowled four overs between the 39th and 47th of the innings. Those cost him only 15 runs – one boundary conceded across 24 balls.Varun was once an aspiring architect, but now in his own telling, bowls one delivery that “goes left” one that “goes right” and another that “goes straight”. The difficulty for a batter is figuring out which is which. Like a Bangalore tech start-up that has devised a hugely profitable algorithm, Varun guards his USP hawkishly, Rohit Sharma stating at the start of this tournament that he rarely ever bowls his variations to the India batters in the nets (there’s an IPL to think about). In this match, Rohit used him in bursts, three overs in the powerplay, four overs in the middle, three overs in the late middle/early death.A legbreak in the powerplay got Will Young, but the crucial strike was against Glenn Phillips in the 38th over, when Phillips was threatening to give serious energy to New Zealand’s final burst. That googly was 92kph. Phillips rolled the dice on which direction it would turn, and picked wrong. It turned in to him, and took out his stumps.Varun Chakravarthy kept New Zealand guessing with his variations•Associated PressAxar, long-legged, wingspan of an albatross, has sniped around the edges of the other three this tournament, picking up five wickets. Crucially, he has also presented the challenge of extra bounce to batters, given his high release point. He and Jadeja were the co-squeezers, his economy rate of 3.62 in the final substantially better even than his tournament economy rate of 4.35 on a track which, in the first innings, took only mild turn. For Axar alone of the quartet, bowling is increasingly secondary. Against New Zealand, India’s only worthy opposition, he produced a 42 in the group match, and an important 29 off 40 in the final.No portion of India’s campaign has wriggled with as much life as Varun’s nine wickets, from just three matches. Of India’s 47 total Champions Trophy wickets, 26 have belonged to their spinners. In the final, they took five of the seven to go down, and had a combined economy rate of 3.79 across their 38 overs. Their total effect has been extraordinary.There is an obvious comparison to make here, to that legendary 1960s and 1970s quartet of Bishan Bedi, Erapalli Prasanna, BS Chandrasekar and S Venkataraghavan. As with most legends, some of the history is imagined – those four spinners only played a single Test together.These four now have three entries on the ODI ledger, and have written their names across a major tournament, imbuing India’s knockouts performances with dynamism, high skill, consistency, and barely relenting control. Virat Kohli may have led chases, Shreyas Iyer might have brought heft to the middle order, and Rohit’s scintillating start was vital in the title match. But if you’re looking for India’s Champions Trophy engine room, it is their two left-arm spinners, their left-arm wristspinner, and their mystery bowler. Cricket has never seen anything like them.

The San Francisco Giants will never forget their 51st victory of the 2025 MLB season as it came in the most dramatic of ways courtesy of Patrick Bailey's three-run inside-the-park walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning at Oracle Park.

With one out and runners at first and third, Bailey pouned a ball to right field that hit the brick wall and then bounced right past Phillies center fielder Brandon Marsh. Bailey was able to circle the bases and made it home with ease to score the winning run and send the home crowd and his teammates into hysterics.

Giants announcer Duane Kuiper had an excellent call of the thrilling play, yelling "Bailey's on the move!" a few times as it became clear that was happening. His voice seemed to give out as Bailey crossed the plate, leading to a great quip from Kuiper as he said his voice didn't see this wild play coming.

Here's his call:

What a way to win a game.