
Real Betis leads Chelsea 1-0 at halftime of Conference League final
WROCLAW, Poland — Real Betis was on course to win its first European title after taking a 1-0 lead into halftime of the Conference League final against Chelsea on Wednesday thanks to Abdessamad Ezzalzouli's goal.
The Morocco forward drove home a ninth-minute finish from Francisco 'Isco' Alarcon's pass after Chelsea defender Malo Gusto gave away possession outside his area.
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Associated Press
28 minutes ago
- Associated Press
French Open: Elina Svitolina saves match points and beats 2024 runner-up Jasmine Paolini
PARIS (AP) — Elina Svitolina saved three match points and came back to eliminate 2024 runner-up Jasmine Paolini 4-6, 7-6 (6), 6-1 on Sunday, earning her fifth French Open quarterfinal appearance. The 13th-seeded Svitolina, who is from Ukraine, is a three-time Grand Slam semifinalist — getting that far twice at Wimbledon and once at the U.S. Open — but is 0-4 so far in the quarterfinals at Roland-Garros. She'll try to go a step further on Tuesday, when she will face either three-time defending champion Iga Swiatek or 2022 Wimbledon champion Elina Rybakina. They were scheduled to play each other next at Court Philippe-Chatrier. The No. 4-seeded Paolini entered Sunday on a career-best nine-match winning streak, including a run to the title on red clay at the Italian Open. A year ago, she reached her first major final at the French Open, losing to Swiatek, then also made it to the championship match at Wimbledon, where she lost to Barbora Krejcikova. Against Svitolina, Paolini served for the victory while leading by a set and a break at 5-3 in the second. But the Italian got broken at 15 there. She then held her first two match points while ahead 5-4, 15-40 as Svitolina served. Paolini missed a forehand on the initial chance to end things, and a backhand on the next. In the ensuing tiebreaker, Paolini once again was a single point from winning — and once again failed to come through, this time when Svitolina ended a 14-stroke exchange with a volley winner. From there, Svitolina was in control, racing to a 4-0 lead in the third set. She is quite comfortable on clay, where she has earned a tour-leading 16 of her 27 wins this season. Svitolina also defeated Paolini at the Australian Open in January. What else happened at the French Open on Sunday? In the day's first men's match, Tommy Paul beat No. 25 Alexei Popyrin 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 to become the first American man in the quarterfinals at Roland-Garros since Andre Agassi in 2003. The 28-year-old Paul, who is seeded 12th, was coming off consecutive five-setters but breezed to this victory. Who is playing Monday at Roland-Garros? The fourth round is scheduled to conclude on Day 9, with No. 1 Jannik Sinner, 24-time major champion Novak Djokovic and four American women in action: No. 2 Coco Gauff, No. 3 Jessica Pegula and No. 7 Madison Keys vs. Hailey Baptiste. ___ More AP tennis:
Yahoo
32 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Report: Chelsea monitoring situation surrounding £40m rated Premier League star
Manchester United winger Alejandro Garnacho is expected to cost around £40m, with Chelsea monitoring his situation according to The Guardian. The Blues have already secured their first summer signing after agreeing a deal worth £30m with Ipswich for Liam Delap. Advertisement Chelsea face a critical window, and whilst they could still move for another striker they are looking for a centre back and right footed winger. Chelsea still monitoring Alejandro Garnacho situation There's set to be movement in the wide areas this summer and Chelsea have yet to take a final decision on Jadon Sancho's future. The Blues are said to be in discussions with Sancho's agents over a deal, whilst Estevao Willian will join after the Club World Cup. It's unclear if or when Mykhailo Mudryk will play for the club again following a positive doping test, and Chelsea have been linked with a host of names. Garnacho could be available for around £40m this summer. (Photo by) The Blues were strongly linked with a move for Garancho in January, but opted against signing the Argentine winger. Advertisement Garnacho has now been told he must find a new club this summer, and The Guardian have reported he could be available for around £40m. The report adds Napoli are thought to be the early front runners in the race, but Chelsea are still monitoring his situation. In what is almost certainly his final season at United Garnacho scored 11 goals and registered ten assists in 58 appearances in all competitions. Nico Williams and Jamie Gittens targets Chelsea have other names on their list and have been linked with both Nico Williams and Borussia Dortmund's Jamie Gittens. More Stories / Latest News Report: Chelsea monitoring situation surrounding £40m rated Premier League star Advertisement 1st Jun 2025, 01:00pm Chelsea could get involved in race for top Arsenal target under one circumstance 1st Jun 2025, 12:30pm Report: Chelsea considering approach to resign star they sold for just £18m 1st Jun 2025, 12:00pm Williams has been described as a 'dream' target and the Spain international has a €58m release clause in his current deal. Chelsea are said to 'love' Gittens and he's thought to be open to a switch to the Premier League, with the England under-21 international scoring 12 goals for Dortmund as they once again qualified for the Champions League.


The Verge
40 minutes ago
- The Verge
Dotemu's CEO on how it makes new games that feel retro
Dotemu is on a pretty good run. The video game studio and publisher has been around since 2007, and much of its history is largely working on remakes and remasters of older games. But it's also been involved with major hits in the form of sequels and new games that are in the spirit of older classics, including Streets of Rage 4 and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge. All of that work is culminating in what looks to be a promising 2025, with three new but classics-inspired games: Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound, a new side-scroller for the series; Marvel Cosmic Invasion, an arcade-y beat-'em-up; and Absolum, an original beat-'em-up with roguelike elements. 'We're open to everything,' CEO Cyrille Imbert tells The Verge. Despite his title, Imbert says his job involves acting like an executive producer to bring together concepts that answer specific needs for franchises. Before Shredder's Revenge 's 2022 release, for example, there hadn't been a good side-scrolling TMNT game for 'a while,' he says. (Turtles in Time, which helped inspire the game, came out in 1991.) 'We were convinced that there was a need for that.' There was: the game sold 1 million copies in its first week, developer Tribute Games said at the time. Dotemu takes on 'most of the risk' of a project based on an existing franchise, Imbert says, meaning that while the company needs to convince a franchise owner to get on board, Dotemu typically finances everything and is responsible for finding a studio to execute a concept. 'From A to Z, we are in control of the project, but we take the risk from A to Z as well,' explains Imbert. 'Sometimes the studio will also participate financially, but it's fairly rare, or it's usually a minority of the total spending.' With the new Ninja Gaiden game, for example, Imbert says he was familiar with the 3D iterations of the franchise on Xbox, and he also saw the success of recent action-platformers like The Messenger. So, he started conversations with Koei Tecmo, and then worked with The Game Kitchen, the developer of Blasphemous, on a pitch. 'That's the story, basically,' Imbert says. For Marvel Cosmic Invasion, Imbert says that following Streets of Rage 4, 'lots of people' had been asking for a new X-Men game that was like what you used to find in arcades. 'We knew there was a need and that people would really like it,' he says, especially if it got a similar treatment as Streets of Rage 4 or Shredder's Revenge. The idea was 'very obvious' to the Tribute Games team as well, so Dotemu and Tribute made a pitch to Marvel Games. Absolum, as a fully original game, is different from its other titles. From a pure business perspective, it's a way for Dotemu to diversify its lineup so that the company doesn't rely entirely on licensed games. Internally, the Dotemu team felt like they could do their own thing, and by making it inspired by classics, it would still fit in Dotemu's lineup, Imbert says. They also wanted to work with Guard Crush, which worked on Streets of Rage 4, on another beat-'em-up. It all adds up to what's going to be a busy year for the company. It has three games that show the different approaches it has to making these kinds of experiences, and all of them were chosen for a specific reason. 'That's how we're going to be proud of what we do.'