Poland end Euro 2025 on high note with historic Padilla-Bidas goal, win over Denmark
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Arab News
an hour ago
- Arab News
Merlier doubles up as Van der Poel denied epic win at Tour de France
CHATEAU, France: Tim Merlier won stage nine of the Tour de France at Chateauroux on Sunday after a heroic long-range escape from Mathieu van der Poel was caught in the final kilometer. There was no change atop the overall standings with Tadej Pogacar now holding a 54sec advantage over Remco Evenepoel in second with French starlet Kevin Vauquelin third. This was a second Tour win for Soudal Quick-Step sprinter Merlier this year, who was first across the line on stage three at Dunkirk. Merlier was led in by team leader Evenepoel. 'It's mad, we are supposed to be helping him (Evenepoel) but he's helping us,' Merlier said. 'I need to make it through the mountains now, I won't be any use to Remco there, but I want to help him in the other ones,' said the 32-year-old. On a sun drenched slog from the Chinon vineyards, Van der Poel and a teammate broke early and built up a lead of 5min 30sec on the flat roads to Chateauroux. Jonas Rickaert won the combativity award for accompanying Van der Poel to within 10km of the line before slumping over his handlebars. 'I'm really happy. That was one of his (Rickaert) dreams, to win the combativity award and that's why we went,' Van der Poel explained. 'In the end we nearly made it but we hadn't expected to get that far,' he said of his 173km breakaway at an average speed on 49.9kph. As with many heroic exploits, their epic escape was ultimately doomed to a gut wrenching narrow failure. But with his gung-ho all-in style Van der Poel grew his Tour de France legend here despite being caught with 700m to go, the plaudits will be both his and Merlier's. 'It's hard to not be able to finish it off, but we put on a good show,' said the Dutch rider. As Van der Poel was reeled in, it looked as though Jonathan Milan would win a second consecutive stage but Merlier got ahead with 30m remaining as Milan finished second with Arnaud De Lie completing the podium. Road signs in honor of British cycling great Mark Cavendish had been placed at entry points to Chateauroux — reading Cavendish City — in homage to the now-retired 40-year-old, after he won three stages there in 2008, 2011 and 2021. Pogacar's Tour de France defense took a hit Sunday as his key teammate Joao Almeida threw in the towel two days after his nasty fall at the Mur de Bretagne, where he fractured a rib. 'It's a big loss he was in good shape. He's our hero. I was suffering today so I understand how he must have felt. Every respect to him,' the Slovenian said. Stage 10 should shake up the race with eight classified climbs in the Massif Central on the July 14 French national holiday. After finishing in the peloton on Sunday, Pogacar was already looking ahead to Monday's mountainous 165.3km slog. 'Visma have a strong team for tomorrow and I think Jonas (Vingegaard) will be ready,' Pogacar said of his great Danish rival. 'There will be attacks from the main contenders, it's up and down all day. 'I'm pretty confident in my team though. I'm looking forward to the hard stages,' added the 26-year-old three-time champion.
Al Arabiya
6 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Chelsea's Cole Palmer surprised to share Club World Cup podium spotlight with Donald Trump
Cole Palmer was jumping up and down behind Reece James as the Chelsea captain received the trophy for the Club World Cup. US President Donald Trump stood to his left, between the midfielder and goalkeeper Robert Sánchez. 'I knew it was going to be here. I didn't know he was going to be on the stand when we lifted the trophy, so I was a bit confused,' Palmer said. Palmer received the Golden Ball as top player of the tournament after scoring the first two goals in Chelsea's 3-0 smothering of Paris Saint-Germain on Sunday night. Trump appeared to leave the award stand with a medal of his own, handed to him by FIFA President Gianni Infantino, right after the medallion presented to James. At 23, Palmer was selected player of the match for Chelsea's second straight final. He assisted twice in a 5-2 win over Real Betis on May 28 that won the Europa Conference League. He also scored the Blues' first goal in the 2-1 quarterfinal Club World Cup win over Palmeiras. He had his name up in the bright lights this weekend, posing for a photo in front of a huge video board of his image in a Nike ad emblazoned with the words: 'Scary Good,' part of a campaign that also features Kylian Mbappé, Erling Haaland, and Vinícius Júnior. 'I've seen the billboards in Times Square and outside of Madison Square Garden,' Palmer said. 'It's a nice feeling to be obviously alongside.' Palmer had almost identical left-footed goals from just inside the penalty area in the 22nd and 30th minutes, then sent a through pass that enabled João Pedro to chip goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma in the 43rd for his third goal in two starts with the Blues. Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca, who wanted to exploit space on PSG's left flank, told his players he wanted them to attack from the opening whistle to set the tone. 'I think that we won the game in the first 10 minutes because we came out on the pitch to show that we were here to give it our all,' Maresca said. Chelsea went ahead after Sánchez kicked the ball downfield and Nuno Mendes mis-hit his header 15 yards past the midfield stripe toward his own goal. Malo Gusto's shot was blocked by Lucas Beraldo and rebounded to Palmer, who ended PSG's streak of 436 minutes without conceding. Palmer doubled the lead in the 30th when he ran onto a long ball from Levi Colwill and cut inside before shooting for his 18th goal of the season. 'It's a great feeling. Even better because obviously everyone doubted us before the game,' Palmer said. 'The gaffer put a great gameplan out and obviously he knew where the space was going to be.'
Arab News
6 hours ago
- Arab News
Chelsea boss Maresca hails ‘great triumph' in winning Club World Cup
EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey: Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca insisted winning the Club World Cup meant as much as winning the Champions League after his side beat Paris Saint-Germain 3-0 in the final of the first edition of FIFA's new competition on Sunday. For the latest updates, follow us @ArabNewsSport 'I have the feeling that this competition is going to be as important, if not more important than, the Champions League,' said Maresca after adding the trophy to the UEFA Conference League title his team won in May. Maresca only took over at Chelsea a year ago but was previously on the coaching staff under Pep Guardiola at Manchester City when they won the Champions League in 2023. 'I was lucky to be on the coaching staff of a team that won the Champions League a few years ago, but this competition features the best teams in the world and I think we can value it on the same level,' said the Italian. 'It is a great triumph for us and it will allow the Chelsea fans to have that on our shirt for the next four years, so it is a source of pride.' Maresca said he instructed his players to go out and take the game to PSG from the off — they went on to net all three goals in the first half with Cole Palmer netting a brace before Joao Pedro added his name to the scoresheet. 'The message was to let them understand that we were here to win the game and I think in the first 10 minutes we showed them that,' Maresca said. 'That set the tone of the game, and then the quality of the players was also important.' England international Palmer was named player of the match after bagging a brace and setting up Joao Pedro's goal. The 23-year-old therefore lived up to his superstar billing — his face has appeared on billboards around New York advertising the tournament, alongside the likes of Real Madrid duo Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior. 'To score the goals was a great feeling, as was the way the team showed fire out there — the gaffer's game plan was spot on,' he said. 'I just try to do my job every time I go onto the pitch and hopefully I will continue. 'I have seen the billboards in Times Square and outside Madison Square Garden and it is obviously a nice feeling to be alongside those players,' he added.
