WITH his arms outstretched, holding the Europa League aloft, Jose Mourinho took the acclaim of Manchester United’s faithful.
The date was May 24, 2017. The venue was the Friends Arena, Stockholm.
At that moment — more than any other in the turbulent 11 years since Sir Alex Ferguson retired — it really did feel like Manchester United were back.
They had faced a young Ajax team who were tipped to showcase the future with their short passing and high pressing against a man some were beginning to write off.
Mourinho out thought his opposite number Peter Bosz who, after the final whistle, would bemoan the tactics United had employed.
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They were simple. If they want to press high and pass short we’ll whack it over them onto the head of Marouane Fellaini and he’ll lay it off to Marcus Rashford and go from there.
It worked a treat, Paul Pogba and Henrikh Mkhitaryan getting the goals in a 2-0 win.
Not long after, in a conversation with former chairman Martin Edwards, he said that the club really believed they were on to something special with Mourinho.
He had already bagged the League Cup that season in what is still probably the most exciting final the new Wembley has seen as United beat Southampton 3-2.
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Foreign coaches tend to hold a lot more store by the Community Shield, or Super Cups as they are called abroad, so Mourinho was happy to claim a treble as he got his players to hold up three fingers at the final whistle in Stockholm.
At the start of that season Mourinho was being written off as a United boss after a 1-0 away loss to Feyenoord sandwiched between defeats to Manchester City and Watford.
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Yet it had been on the eve of that Feyenoord clash late at night outside a hotel in Rotterdam that Mourinho was returning from dinner with his staff and happened across three of us in the Manchester press pack.
Asked for a chat, he came over and explained, off the record, what he was having to do to unpick the Louis van Gaalfootball to create his own brand.
His football brand that was a step up from the drudgery under Van Gaal although not always popular with the United faithful.
But they liked him, and the fact he won, he gave United standing again, an image, they felt big.
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True that first Premier League season did not go well as they came sixth.
Asked for a chat, he came over and explained, off the record, what he was having to do to unpick the Louis van Gaal football to create his own brand.
But he had worked out late in the campaign the Europa League would provide the easier route back into the Champions League and cleverly rotated his squad accordingly.
The following season he boasted it was one his greatest-ever achievements to lead United to Premier League runners-up spot behind City.
He would deny the neighbours claiming the title on derby day as the Red Devils came back from 2-0 down at the Etihad to win 3-2.
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It was Pogba’s only good game. It is often forgotten that Mourinho also led the Red Devils to an FA Cup final that season going down 1-0 to Chelsea in the final.
So it was all heading in the right direction as the season ended. Then came the summer in LA and we all realised something was not right.
In a building at their training base in UCLA he was asked an innocent question as to whether he thought he had the squad to now go a step further and challenge for the title.
He replied: “I cannot answer that question.” Eyebrows were raised.
Later in the tour he would be seen in the foyer of a stadium snarling down the phone ‘it’s s**t, s**t’. Uh-oh.
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It seems an unsuccessful pursuit of Harry Maguire was part of it but his relationship with executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward was fracturing.
Nobody wanted this all to unravel but the unravelling had started.
He refused to engage in the traditional on-tour relaxed interview with the English media that every United boss has done. And saw criticism and injustice which was not there.
The meltdown continued after a 3-0 home loss to Spurs he demanded ‘respect, respect respect’ from the media because he had won three titles.
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By the club’s Champions League exit to Valencia, he was questioning whether United had a ‘football heritage’ in Europe.
Later in the tour he would be seen in the foyer of a stadium snarling down the phone ‘it’s s**t, s**t’. Uh-oh.
Less than a week later, after a 3-1 defeat at Liverpool he was gone.
“How on earth did it get to that point?” I asked Woodward later. He suggested if I had had to work with Mourinho, I would have known.
Last season’s Premiership was highly competitive between most sides, but Newcastle finished 27 points adrift at the bottom after losing all 18 games.
It was beginning to look like a similar scenario in the new campaign as they opened with four defeats, but victory moved them one point behind Exeter, albeit still in 10th place.
With the demise of London Irish, Worcester Warriors and Wasps still fresh in the memory, Diamond understands that the slimmed-down 10-team competition needs a competitive Newcastle outfit, as they prepare to face Gloucester on Saturday.
“I know we’re not going to win every game, but I need us to be competitive every game,” he said.
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“Sometimes that is more important than some wins. If we don’t win, we still pick up points and pick up respect.
“And opponents start to think, ‘Crikey, we’ve got to go to Newcastle and win’.
“Newcastle have gone up and down a couple of times, but they have never been looked at in the way it was starting to look.”
ABU DHABI – The UFC 308, which takes place at Etihad Arena on Yas Island with a main card that airs on ESPN+ pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN+, goes down Saturday.
Before fight night arrives, though, the main card athletes, including headliners Ilia Topuria and Max Holloway, are scheduled to speak to reporters Wednesday at media day, and MMA Junkie will have a live stream beginning at 4 a.m. ET/1 a.m. PT.
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If you happen to miss any of the individual sessions on the live stream, check below for the archived videos of each media day.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 308.
Be sure to visit the MMA Junkie Instagram page and YouTube channel to discuss this and more content with fans of mixed martial arts.
The 39-year-old superstar and his 20-year-old son played almost 2 1/2 minutes together late in the first half of Bronny’s NBA debut. They are also the first father and son to play in the NBA at the same time, let alone on the same team.
LeBron scored 16 points, while Anthony Davis had 36 points and 16 rebounds in a dominant performance for the Lakers. Rui Hachimura added 18 points.
JJ Redick won his head coaching debut for the Lakers, who hired the 15-year NBA veteran for his first coaching job at any level.
Anthony Edwards scored 27 points for the Timberwolves, who are coming off their best season in 20 years.
Dalton Knecht scored five points in the Lakers’ first-round pick’s debut.
Timberwolves: There will be growing pains in the post-Towns era. Davis ran rampant against Randle and Rudy Gobert, and nobody stepped up to score alongside Edwards.
Lakers: Their largely unchanged roster showed the benefits of continuity, playing disciplined ball on both ends and getting organized defense led by Davis.
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Davis was phenomenal down the stretch, either scoring or assisting on 13 of Los Angeles’ next 15 points after he returned to the game with 7:09 left. LeBron’s 3-pointer put it away.
LeBron officially joined Vince Carter as the only players in NBA history to play in 22 seasons. James is sixth in career games played with 1,493 — not counting his NBA-record 287 playoff games.
A counter-attacking India kept alive the hopes of a miracle turnaround through free-flowing fifties from the troika of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Sarfaraz Khan, reaching 231 for three in their second innings on the third day of the first Test against New Zealand at Bengaluru on Friday.
Kohli (70), who completed 9,000 Test runs during the course of his knock, got out to Glenn Phillips off the last ball of the day, edging him to Tom Blundell, leaving Sarfaraz (70) at the crease at the close. The deficit at the end of an overcast day was a less intimidating 125.
Kohli and Sarfaraz added 136 runs for the third wicket after skipper Rohit did the early running with a fluent 52.
This was after New Zealand posted a total of 402 all out to gain a massive lead of 356 runs thanks to Rachin Ravindra (134) and Tim Southee (63), who added precious 134 runs for a flowing eighth wicket stand.
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The largest deficit India has overturned to win a Test in their cricketing history is 274 during the iconic Kolkata Test against Australia in 2001.
Such an epic is still some distance away, but hopes will be flickering after the day’s effort with the bat.
Amid the more coruscating fifties by Rohit and Sarfaraz, Kohli’s effort still stood out for its personal and situational significance.
It was his first Test half-century of 2024, and he could not have timed his 31st in the longest format better — literally and figuratively.
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Seldom a shot describes the touch of Kohli better than the cover drive, and the moment he executed one off pacer William O’Rourke, the 35-year-old was in full flow. He took 15 balls to get off the mark.
Kohli brought up his fifty with a single off Matt Henry but at the other end, Sarfaraz resembled a race car on the tarmac.
The Mumbai man punished all bowlers with disdain and left-arm spinner Ajaz Patel was shunted off the park for two successive sixes.
Then there was a daring upper cut for maximum off O’Rourke and fortune also blessed him as a couple of edges fell inches short of Ajaz at gully and wide of third slip.
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Before Kohli and Sarfaraz ran roughsho, another old-young combination of Rohit and Yashasvi Jaiswal (35) gave India a solid start.
Jaiswal went through an early uncertain play-and-miss phase but he overcame that to play some sparkling shots.
Rohit had no such issues. The right-hander flicked and drove New Zealand pacers to reach a fifty off just 59 balls, and also thrilled the crowd with that patented swivel pull on one leg.
But his tenure in the middle ended in unfortunate circumstances. Rohit offered a forward defensive shot to Ajaz, but the ball trickled back onto his stumps after taking a deflection from his bat.
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A few minutes before that, Jaiswal’s decision to give a charge to Ajaz resulted in him getting stumped by Tom Blundell, after adding 72 for the opening wicket with Rohit.
The recovery was impressive but it could not overshadow what New Zealand accomplished earlier in the day.
Resuming the day at 180 for three, the Kiwis were halted to an extent by Ravindra Jadeja (3/72) and the other Indian bowlers who took some early wickets to reduce them to 233 for seven.
They lost Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Blundell and Henry in this period.
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Jasprit Bumrah snaffled Blundell while Mohammed Siraj had the number of Mitchell. Phillips and Henry perished to the crafty Jadeja.
The Blackcaps were ahead by 187 runs at that point and it was imperative for them to stretch the lead at least till the 250-mark to maintain their edge.
Ravindra and Southee exceeded the expectations during their partnership to take the lead past the 300-run mark.
Ravindra started cautiously but unfurled his full range once he and the pitch settled down past the first-hour mark.
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The 24-year-old, who has his family roots in Bengaluru, showed the correct method of playing Indian spinners, either staying on the front foot or making a shimmy down to nullify the turn.
A cleanly swept four off Ravichandran Ashwin carried him to his second Test hundred.
Southee, who hammered a couple of his trademark sixes, gave solid company to Ravindra and duly completed his seventh Test fifty immediately after the lunch.
And replaced him with Colombian kid striker Duran who was handed only his second start of the season – one month after his previous one in the Carabao Cup against Wycombe!
It was Emery’s reward for Duran’s stunning winner from the bench against Bayern Munich last time out in Europe.
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The burning question was could big Jhon do it from the start?
There was a return too for Villa skipper McGinn, who made his first start since he damaged his hamstring against Wolves last month.
However, it would have been interesting to discover the Scot’s thoughts about being welcomed by a huge Tifo of three snarling lions draped from the Holte End.
Any thoughts that Villa would be forced to break down a blanket Bologna defence were swiftly dispelled because the visitors were first to go for goal within two minutes.
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Skipper Sam Beukema caught out Ezri Konsa with a raking pass out of defence to release winger Dan Ndoye.
The Swiss international pulled the ball back to Kacper Urbanski but the Pole sliced his shot weakly wide from the edge of the box.
Vincenzo Italiano’s men have only managed one point from their opening two games and probably felt they needed to leave here with three points to avoid becoming also-rans.
And no-one at Villa Park was complaining as the play raged from end to end like a basketball match.
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Villa forced a string of early corners and free-kicks as Youri Tielemans pinned Bologna back around their own penalty area.
Pau Torres was crowded out at the near post and Skorupski frantically fisted clear under pressure from Duran.
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But Bologna were menacing on the break and Martinez beat out a fierce effort from Dallinga after more brilliant build up work from Ndoye.
He then had to get down low to smother a shot on the run from Riccardo Orsolini, who was then snuffed out at the backpost by Ian Maatsen.
The Italian winger was then booked for a foul on Maatsen as this pair fought and scratched for every inch of turf.
McGinn tested Skorupski with a low shot which the Pole in goal, palmed away at full stretch before Dallinga snatched at a chance, firing straight at Martinez.
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It was high-octane stuff and Villa ended the first half by carving out two great chances for Morgan Rogers.
However his first effort flew a fraction wide from 20 yards, before Skorupski defied him with an outstrtched right boot, when the Villa man might have been better off dinking the keeper.
Emery sent on Barkley for Amadou Onana at the break while Orsolini made way for Jens Odgaard for Bologna.
But the pace increased if anything!
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Lykogiannis was booked for leaving one on Leon Bailey before Konsa nodded a Maatsen cross down for Bailey who swept his shot agonisingly wide.
But Bologna hit back and Stefan Posch added even more spice with a sizzler which flew just wide.
Tensions were running high and Remo Freuler was booked for a foul on Konsa, which sent Bologna berserk as they claimed Konsa had fouled Giovanni Fabbian seconds earlier.
Even Emery was getting heated as he fell out with Vincenzo Italiano before making up with a sporting handshake.
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But Italiano was cursing the Spaniard again seconds later as Villa hit his side with a quickfire double.
From the resultant free-kick McGinn swept in a curling delivery, Barkley and Duran failed to connect and the ball curled beyond Skorupski and in at the far post.
Cue a Holte End frenzy as McGinn was swamped by his celebrating team-mates.
VAR checked for a potential handball against Barkley but nothing amiss was found.
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Villa sniffed blood and killed Bologna off nine minutes later.
Rogers delivered a delicious cross and Duran thrust out a leg to beat his Columbian international teammate Jhon Lucumi to divert the ball beyond Skorupski.
It was the 20-year-old’s final touch of the game before he was replaced by Watkins in a triple substitution.
For reasons best known to him he threw his toys out of the pram, punching his seat after he was replaced.
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But Villa will live with the tantrums because the kid is a star!
Prior to Tuesday’s announcement, only athletics and swimming were assured of their place at Glasgow 2026 as ‘mandatory’ Commonwealth Games sports.
The sports dropped have met the decision with understandable disappointment.
Diving has been part of every Games since 1930 but has missed out in Glasgow, with a lack of an existing purpose-built venue being cited as the primary reason.
Scottish Swimming acknowledged the “difficult decisions” facing organisers but Diving Australia said the sport’s Commonwealth heritage made the decision “even more regrettable”.
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Hockey is another long-standing core sport – having been introduced in 1998 – to lose out.
“It is really disappointing and a reflection of where we are as a sport,” said former Great Britain captain Kate Richardson-Walsh, who helped England win women’s hockey silver at Glasgow 2014.
“It is a moment where we should reflect as a sport, for many different reasons, about how we can improve and stay relevant.”
Squash, badminton and table tennis were all culled, meaning there will be no racquet sports in Glasgow.
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Three-time squash gold medallist Nick Matthew was surprised his sport’s “heritage and tradition of providing a world class competition in the Commonwealths” did not save its place.
“It’s a blow. With the UK countries, Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, India, Malaysia, etc, the depth of competition is incredibly high,” said Matthew.
“Hockey missing out stood out to me as well. I think you would be hard pushed to see more world class sports at Commonwealth level than squash or hockey.”
Scottish badminton player Kirsty Gilmour, who won silver at Glasgow 2014, said she felt “sad” for young players who are missing out on a global event.
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“We had to have conversations in training about realigning focuses and future prospects because for the 19, 20, 21-year-olds that was going to be a big multisport doorstep event,” the 31-year-old Glaswegian told BBC Radio 5 Live.
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