Kylian Mbappe has signed a contract extension with Paris St Germain that will keep the France forward tied with the Ligue 1 side until 2025, the French champions said on Saturday.

“I wanted to announce that I have chosen to extend my contract at Paris St Germain, and I am of course very happy. I am convinced that here I can continue to grow within a club that gives itself all the means to perform at the highest level,” the 23-year-old said in a club statement.

“I am also very happy to be able to continue playing in France, the country where I was born, grew up and flourished.”

Mbappe and club president Nasser Al Khelaifi posed holding a “Mbappe 2025” PSG shirt before the last game of the Ligue 1 season against Metz as the crowd erupted when Al Khelaifi broke the news at the Parc des Princes.

The France forward, whose current contract expires on June 30, had been widely tipped to join Real Madrid.

The 23-year-old, one of the game’s finest talents who burst onto the scene as a teenager and helped France win the World Cup in 2018, was set to leave on a free transfer when his contract expired at the end of the season.

PSG signed Mbappe from AS Monaco in 2017 in a deal reported to be about 180 million euros, making him the world’s second-most expensive signing after Neymar, who joined PSG from Barcelona for 222 million euros.

Real’s bid to sign Mbappe last year was rejected by the Parisian club, who appeared prepared to lose him on a free transfer this year.

Reports last year claimed the Spanish champions had offered PSG as much as 200 million euros for the Frenchman.

PSG had no intention of selling their young talisman in their quest for Champions League glory, but the French club fell well short this season when Real staged a dramatic second-leg comeback in the last-16 to knock them out of the competition.

PSG had been reinforced last year with the signing of Lionel Messi from Barcelona to add firepower to a star-studded squad. But apart from reclaiming the Ligue 1 title, the French club failed to win any other trophies.

Mbappe, however, excelled individually, scoring 36 goals and providing 26 assists for PSG in all competitions this season.

Source: Reuters

Carlo Ancelotti said on Thursday that Gareth Bale deserves a good send-off in Real Madrid’s last home game of the season against Real Betis.

Bale will leave Real Madrid when his contract expires at the end of June, after nine years at the Spanish giants, during which he has won three La Liga titles and the Champions League four times.

But after an impressive first few years in Spain, Bale’s popularity with the Madrid fans has plummeted while the Spanish press have regularly criticised him for a perceived lack of commitment.

Real Madrid traditionally stage tributes when significant players depart, with the team playing their final La Liga game at the Santiago Bernabeu against Betis on Friday.

Bale may not be able to play in the match as he is struggling with a back problem.

“Everyone knows that Bale’s contract is ending and that he says goodbye to Real Madrid this year,” said Ancelotti in a press conference.

“Whether he plays tomorrow or not, it’s not that important, the important thing is that Bale has been part of the history of this club. He will remain in the memories of all Real Madrid fans.

“He was very important to the Decima (when Real Madrid won their 10th Champions League), in the 2018 Champions League final in Kiev, in the Copa del Rey final (in 2014).

“He has written some great chapters for this club. It is important that everyone recognizes that.”

Real Madrid won La Liga last month with four games to spare, allowing Ancelotti to rest and rotate players ahead of the Champions League final against Liverpool in Paris next Saturday.

“Liverpool have had more difficulties than us, they are preparing very important matches,| Ancelotti said. “But we are not just thinking about the final, we will think about just the final from Monday.”

Ancelotti was also asked four times about Kylian Mbappe, who is still to announce whether he will extend his contract at Paris Saint-Germain or join Real Madrid next season.

Asked whether fans are talking to him about Mbappe in the street, Ancelotti said: “No, because I don’t go in the street. I spend my time at the training ground, in the car or at home.

“Sometimes in Madrid’s good restaurants, but they don’t ask me there. They ask me about the Champions League final.”

Source: AFP

Real Madrid fought back from the brink of elimination to beat Manchester City 3-1 after extra time and 6-5 on aggregate in an enthralling and dramatic Champions League semi-final on Wednesday.

City led 1-0 on the night and 5-3 on aggregate when Riyad Mahrez scored after 73 minutes but Real substitute Rodrygo equalised in the last minute of normal time and headed home one minute later to level the tie at 5-5.

Five minutes into extra time Karim Benzema converted a penalty awarded for a foul on him by Ruben Dias and Real, the record 13-times European champions, held the shell-shocked English side at bay to reach the final.

Real will play Liverpool on May 28 in Paris, a repeat of the 2018 final in Kyiv which the Spanish team won 3-1.

Source: AFP

Liverpool qualified for the Champions League final with a 3-2 win over Villarreal on Tuesday that secured a 5-2 aggregate victory.

The Premier League side had won 2-0 in England last week and followed it up with another victory on a rain-soaked pitch in Spain, despite falling 2-0 behind.

They will meet either Real Madrid or Manchester City, who contest the second leg of their semi-final on Wednesday, in the showpiece in Paris on May 28. City lead 4-3 from the first leg.

Source: REUTERS

Thomas Mueller has extended his contract with Bayern Munich until 2024, it was announced on Tuesday, with the Germany international set to spend his entire professional career at the Bundesliga champions, who he joined as a 10-year-old.

“The journey we have taken together since I joined the youth team in 2000 has been a fantastic success story so far,” said Mueller, 32, who won a record 11th league title with the Bavarians this season.

“So let’s continue it together,” added the 2014 World Cup winner, who has made 112 appearances for Germany since his international debut in 2010.

Mueller as well as top-scorer Robert Lewandowski, Bayern captain Manuel Neuer and winger Serge Gnabry, were due to be out of contract in 2023.

He is the first of the quartet to extend their deals amid speculation Lewandowski could leave at the end of the season with Barcelona reportedly a possible destination.

Bayern chief executive Oliver Kahn describes Mueller as “an identification figure who carries the emblem of our club in his heart.

“He’s someone who takes leadership, plus he’s an important character with his manner in the dressing room,” Kahn added.

Since turning pro with Bayern in 2008, Mueller has made 624 appearances, scoring 226 goals and creating 242 more.

He was also part of Bayern squads which won the Champions League title in both 2013 and 2020.

Source: AFP

Former tennis star Boris Becker was on Friday jailed for two and a half years after being found guilty by a British court of charges relating to his 2017 bankruptcy.

The six-time Grand Slam champion, 54, will serve half of the term having been convicted at Southwark Crown Court in London over his transfer of huge amounts of money from his business account.

He also failed to declare a property in Germany and concealed 825,000 euros ($866,500) of debt and shares in a tech firm.

He was acquitted earlier this month of a further 20 charges, including nine counts of failing to hand over trophies and medals he won during his glittering tennis career.

Becker told jurors he did not know the whereabouts of the memorabilia, including two of his three Wimbledon men’s singles trophies.

Judge Deborah Taylor had released Becker – who won Wimbledon as an unseeded teenager – on conditional bail ahead of her sentencing decision on Friday.

He arrived early for the hearing, wearing a striped purple and green tie in the Wimbledon colours, a white shirt and a charcoal grey suit.

He held hands with his partner Lilian de Carvalho Monteiro as he walked into court past a bank of waiting reporters and cameras.

The former world number one told the jury how his $50 million (£40 million) career earnings were swallowed up by a costly divorce from his first wife Barbara Becker, child maintenance payments and “expensive lifestyle commitments”.

Becker said he was “shocked” and “embarrassed” when he was declared bankrupt in June 2017 over an unpaid loan of more than £3 million on his estate in Mallorca, Spain.

The German, who has lived in Britain since 2012, said he had cooperated with trustees trying to secure his assets, even offering his wedding ring, and relied on the advisers who managed his life away from tennis.

But the former player, who was supported in court by his partner and eldest son Noah, was found guilty of four charges under the Insolvency Act.

‘Vast amount’

Giving evidence, Becker said he earned a “vast amount” of money during his career, paying cash for several properties.

But the German, who went on to coach current world number one tennis player Novak Djokovic, work as a TV sports commentator and act as a brand ambassador for firms including Puma, said his income “reduced dramatically” following his retirement in 1999.

Becker, who was resident in Monte Carlo and Switzerland before moving to the UK, said his financial commitments included his £22,000-a-month rented house in Wimbledon, south-west London.

He also owed the Swiss authorities five million francs (about $5.1 million) and separately just under one million euros in liabilities over a conviction for tax evasion and attempted tax evasion in Germany in 2002.

He said bad publicity had damaged “brand Becker”, meaning he struggled to make enough money to pay off his debts.

His lawyer Jonathan Laidlaw said at the time of his bankruptcy that Becker was too “trusting and reliant” on his advisers.

Becker, with a shock of strawberry-blond hair, shook up the tennis world in 1985 when he became Wimbledon’s youngest men’s singles champion at 17 and repeated the feat the following year.

Nicknamed “Boom Boom” Becker for his ferocious serve, he won Wimbledon for a third time in 1989.

He also won the Australian Open twice and the US Open during his glittering career, becoming the top-ranked player in the world in 1991.

Becker turned to commentary after his retirement, landing a high-profile role on the BBC, but he returned to the court in 2013 to guide Djokovic, helping the Serb win six more Grand Slam trophies before the pair parted ways in 2016.

Source: AFP

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp says he does not believe his new deal will be the deciding factor in whether star forwards Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane commit their long-term futures to the club.

Salah and Mane, along with fellow attacker Roberto Firmino and midfielder Naby Keita, have contracts that expire next year.

With Klopp now staying until 2026, there is a greater degree of security at the club, but the German is not convinced that will make a huge difference to individual players’ decisions.

“If it is a positive sign for the boys, great, but I don’t think this will be the one decisive thing for whatever decision they want to make,” he said on Friday.

“It is their own life but we just wanted to guarantee that everyone who wants to be here knows what he can expect.”

Egypt international Salah, whose negotiations have dragged on for several months, admitted last week it was not certain he would remain at Anfield, stressing the decision was not just about the money.

But Klopp said he did not make judgements about players’ loyalty based on whether they wanted to go elsewhere.

“If a player tells you early enough he wants to go then you have to deal with it,” Klopp said.

“I don’t judge people if they are loyal or not if they say during a contract ‘I want to go somewhere else and see what the weather is like or how the grass is there’.

“That’s not the case. I think you see loyalty in other areas.”

Salah was named the Football Writers’ Association player of the year on Friday.

Klopp takes his side to Newcastle for the early kick-off on Saturday, looking to put pressure on Premier League leaders Manchester City, who are playing later at Leeds, by opening up a two-point gap at the top.

With one foot in the Champions League final after a 2-0 win over Villarreal in the first leg of their semi-final and an FA Cup final against Chelsea next month, an unprecedented quadruple remains a possibility.

Klopp, whose side have already won the League Cup this season, said his new contract was the start of a new era at the club.

“We don’t think about changing the team in the next two or three years or whatever, but you have to prepare the little things so that you are ready for the future as well,” he said.

“That’s why I really think it’s a really good place to be or a good place to join, if not the perfect place.

“We cannot wait 10 years. We have to do it now. It’s no threat. This is only the start, to be honest. That’s the plan that we really, really go for it.”

Source: AFP

An own goal and a Sadio Mane strike earned Liverpool a 2-0 victory in their Champions League semi-final first-leg against Villarreal on Wednesday, putting Juergen Klopp’s side on course for their third European Cup final in five seasons.

Villarreal defended in numbers in the first half to frustrate the six-times European Cup winners, with Thiago Alcantara going closest to breaking the deadlock with a thunderous strike from distance that hit the post.

Liverpool turned it up a notch after the break and moments after Brazilian midfielder Fabinho had seen one effort ruled out for offside, Jordan Henderson’s cross was deflected into his own net by Pervis Estupinan to break Villarreal’s resistance.

Able to express themselves with the deadlock broken, Mohamed Salah threaded a sublime pass through for Mane to put the game beyond the visitors 133 seconds later.

Liverpool had chances to make the result more comprehensive, but will be firm favourites to finish the job in next week’s second leg in Spain.

Source: REUTERS

Mohamed Salah conceded playing against Manchester United this season has been “easy” after scoring twice in a 4-0 thrashing of the Red Devils at Anfield on Tuesday which sent Liverpool top of the Premier League.

Salah also scored a hat-trick as Liverpool ran riot to win 5-0 at Old Trafford when the sides last met in October.

“They make our life easier in the midfield and in the back,” said Salah. “They always try to give us the ball in a one-against-one situation so it makes our life much easier.

“When we defend, we had a clean sheet here and a clean sheet there.”

Salah had not scored for Liverpool from open play since February, but clicked back into form with the space offered by United’s disjointed defence to take his tally for the season to 30.

“I scored many goals for this club, it’s going to keep coming,” Salah added. “The most important thing is the team are winning.”

Victory took Liverpool two points ahead of Manchester City, but the English champions can regain top spot when they host Brighton on Wednesday.

Source: AFP

Manchester City produced a disciplined performance to secure a fractious 0-0 draw at Atletico Madrid on Wednesday and reach the Champions League semi-finals 1-0 on aggregate.

Tensions boiled over in the closing stages and Atletico defender Felipe was sent off after receiving a second yellow card before the teams played out 12 minutes of added time.

The English champions dominated the first half and Ilkay Gundogan struck the post with their best chance after a flowing move down the right.

Atletico enjoyed more possession after the interval and threatened to score the goal that would have taken the game into extra time but were unable to break down the visitors’ defence.

City, bidding to win European club football’s most prestigious trophy for the first time, will play record 13-times champions Real Madrid in the semi-finals.

Liverpool beat Benfica

Liverpool booked a semi-final showdown against Villarreal as the quadruple chasers survived a late collapse in Wednesday’s 3-3 draw against Benfica.

Jurgen Klopp’s side already had one foot in the last four after winning 3-1 in the quarter-final first leg in Lisbon.

Despite two late goals from Benfica at Anfield in the second leg, Liverpool advanced 6-4 on aggregate thanks to Roberto Firmino’s double and Ibrahima Konate’s opener.

Source:  REUTERS