Real Madrid is going through one of the most intense election days in its recent history. The presidential candidates have brought out the heavy artillery in a war of headline-making signings that promises to change the club’s course. While the institutional scene is boiling, the ball does not stop rolling for the Spanish national team.

The national side faces a key test as part of its World Cup preparations. Amid boardroom promises, unexpected returns, and international awards, football offers no respite on a day when strategy and emotion are playing out as much on TV sets as on the pitch.

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Florentino Pérez secures Konaté and lines up Mourinho’s return

In an exclusive interview with the newspaper AS, Florentino Pérez made a major statement by confirming that, if re-elected president, Ibrahima Konaté and José Mourinho will join Los Blancos. The president is looking to ensure defensive solidity and strong leadership on the bench for his next sporting project.

Florentino’s masterstroke to upstage the opposition

The Minnesota Vikings finally have a rookie class that’s bigger than just a handful of players. This year, nine rookies arrived via the draft and many more right after the three-day event. While the expectations are high for those who cost draft capital, the undrafted free agent class doesn’t have any of that.

Though they are always long shots to make the 53-man roster, let alone contribute, the goal is to find a couple of undrafted rookies with the potential to provide value down the road. For this year’s Vikings, wideout Dillon Bell and punter Brett Thorson have already gotten some buzz.

Josh Edwards, CBS Sports, thinks offensive tackle Tristan Leigh could be the one to provide a spark in the Twin Cities.

He wrote this week, “Leigh started 33 games over the course of his time with the Tigers. Although he most recently played left tackle, Leigh has also played guard, so he offers positional versatility in his bid to make the roster. Leigh received the second-largest practical guarantee ($262,500) from the team, behind only Georgia wide receiver Dillon Bell ($272,500).”

The Clemson product received a nice paycheck in exchange for his signature in April. That guaranteed money doesn’t guarantee a roster spot, but it certainly shows he had interest from other suitors and that the Vikings were willing to open the checkbook to lure the rookie to Minnesota.

Undrafted rookies have a storied history with the franchise. Mick Tingelhoff and John Randle made it all the way to Canton, while Minnesota’s own, Adam Thielen and C.J. Ham, are recent examples of long careers.

Leigh wants to be the next in line, but the competition at tackle is simply brutal. The Vikings, of course, will continue to rely on veterans Brian O’Neill and Christian Darrisaw. Injuries slowed down the duo over the last couple of years, but when healthy, they are certainly among the best in the business.

Furthermore, the Vikings bolstered the depth this offseason, adding Ryan Van Demark in free agency, a player the Buffalo Bills didn’t want to let go. In the draft, interim GM Rob Brzezinski used a third-rounder to onboard Northwestern’s Caleb Tiernan. Usually, teams keep four tackles on the roster, but the practice squad is a decent goal for undrafted first-year athletes.

Leigh’s competition will be for the fifth spot on the depth chart, competing against 2024 draftee Walter Rouse and Caleb Etienne, a practice-squad player from last year.

NFL.com’s draft scout, Lance Zierlein, opined months ago about the rookie, “Former five-star recruit with good length and athletic ability but inconsistencies that could hurt his chances on the next level. Leigh has the footwork and hand-timing for protection success in the early stages of the rep but struggles anchoring against power. He gets into trouble with excessive lunging. He’s quick out of his stance and is able to hit lateral/second-level landmarks but his lack of sustain strength will be hard for him to overcome as a run blocker.”

That former five-star pedigree won’t help him in the NFL, but it shows some athletic tools and raw talent that the new OL coach, Keith Carter, can work with.

He’ll have a couple of months to get comfortable against NFL competition, and then he’ll need a flawless preseason to maximize his staying power.

Making the 53-man roster would be a significant upset given Minnesota’s depth at tackle, but that doesn’t mean Leigh’s first NFL season would be a failure if he falls short. The practice squad often serves as the first step for developmental linemen, and the Vikings have shown patience with young offensive line prospects in recent years. Last year, undrafted rookie guard Joe Huber stuck around and even got some playing time.

For now, simply earning national recognition is a reminder that Leigh is more than just another undrafted rookie. The path to playing time may be crowded, but the Vikings clearly saw enough potential to invest in him, and the coming months will determine whether that investment starts to pay off.

Editor’s Note: Information from PFF, Over The Cap, and Sports Reference helped with this article.

Janik Eckardt is a German sports nerd, who likes numbers and stats. He chose the Vikings to be his … More about Janik Eckardt

Coming off two wins in a row for the first time since 2019, Deontay Wilder is in the market for another big fight.

Wilder scored a rare points victory over Derek Chisora in Manchester last month, keeping a career alive that many felt had ended following back-to-back losses to Joseph Parker and Zhilei Zhang.

With the confidence boost, ‘The Bronze Bomber’, 40, has said he will make a push to become a two-time world champion before he hangs up the gloves for good.

A shot against unified champion Oleksandr Usyk, though it was discussed, is unlikely due to the Ukrainian’s list of mandatory challengers. Wilder is instead best placed to get himself a good ranking and look to pick up a vacant belt should the opportunity present itself in the next 18 months.

One man who is willing to risk his number 2 ranking with the WBA is fellow American Jarrell Miller. The controversial heavyweight known as ‘Big Baby’ told Play UK he is still chasing the fight after years of trying.

“Anybody that’s willing to get in there and throw hands has something in the tank. He’s still dangerous regardless. But I’ve been asking him to fight for years, so if he’s got old overnight, that’s his problem. I’m still going to punch him in the face.”

Miller went on to say that he was not overly impressed by Wilder’s recent showing in the UK, but says the win keeps their potential rivalry alive.

“I don’t think Chisora was the same Chisora that fought Joe Joyce and Otto Wallin. Sometimes fighters get old overnight. Maybe he wasn’t as motivated for this one like he usually was. I don’t know.

“I did expect a little more from Chisora in that fight, but it is what it is. Wilder got the win, so it’s better for me now. I’m going to try to make a big American clash and we duke it out.”

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Miller, 37, failed to impress in his January comeback fight against Kingsley Ibeh. He won, but his hairpiece coming off mid-fight made the headlines rather than the performance. The Brooklyn native returned against undefeated Lenier Pero in April and looked better, winning a unanimous decision over 12 rounds.

Having become infamous for failing doping tests before a cancelled fight with Joshua, ‘Big Baby’ represents a big name in the division. With Wilder’s highlight reel of knockouts and both men’s ability to sell a fight, the clash would indeed be big in America.

Archetype of the modern T20 revolution and former Indian Premier League (IPL) Chairman Lalit Modi has issued a stark ultimatum regarding the survival of cricket’s longest format. He warned that traditional, bilateral red-ball series are on an absolute path to extinction unless radical commercial interventions are introduced to recapture global audiences. Speaking to ANI in London, the 62-year-old sports administrator argued that franchise-driven models are no longer just an alternative, but the necessary lifeline needed to subsidise and sustain Test cricket’s heritage.

“I am saying that Test matches on bilateral will die,” Lalit Modi stated bluntly. “The next prediction of mine is that now they should allow IPL-type (T20-type) Test matches. The next thing that they should be doing is for Test matches to come in.”

Lalit Modi’s blueprint for the future of international cricket requires a ruthless pruning of the calendar, specifically identifying One-Day Internationals (ODIs) as obsolete dead weight.

“One-Day (ODI) should die. The test should survive. Test is a very important part,” he insisted.

Lalit Modi acknowledged that red-ball cricket cannot compete financially with short-form leagues, but argued that sustainability lies in franchise corporate backing rather than government boards.

“Unfortunately, (Test cricket) will die if it’s not taken over by club cricket because of no viewership on a global level. So it will be a loss leader. I’m not saying everything has to make money… You don’t have to have profit in everything. You’ve got to do something for the game too.”

Lalit Modi’s warning lands at a time when the traditional cricket calendar is facing unprecedented squeeze from franchise leagues and ICC events.

The structural vulnerabilities of the five-day game were fully exposed earlier this year when a massive 124-day lull separated the fifth Ashes Test in Sydney from the subsequent Pakistan-Bangladesh series, a competitive gap almost mirroring the historic shutdowns seen during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This prolonged red-ball drought was primarily driven by scheduling conflicts with the IPL 2026 season and the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026, underscoring franchise cricket’s absolute dominance over prime broadcast windows.

To bridge the generational gap, Lalit Modi reiterated his highly debated proposal, previously floated on The Overlap Podcast alongside former England captain Michael Vaughan, to merge IPL fan loyalty with the red-ball game.

“Let the IPL teams own Test cricket teams,” Lalit Modi explained. “You got the youngsters, you got the loyalty factors… At least play one [exhibition] in a season between each other just to get their youngsters back into the game. That’s going to be like club cricket. You have club cricket in everything, but the primary has to be country versus country.”

For the World Championship format, he proposed a strict, premier country-vs-country format played globally every year to preserve national pride and elite athletic standards. For IPL owners, he proposed field-independent Test squads for limited windows to engage younger, digital-first audiences by leveraging T20 club loyalties.

Lalit Modi also proposed shifting five-day Tests to four-day, day-night matches to counter declining stadium attendance and align with modern media consumption habits.

“The only way Test cricket will work, somebody’s going to shoot me for saying this. First time I’m saying this. Let the IPL teams own Test cricket teams. You got the youngsters, you got the loyalty factors. You play your country versus country, without doubt, that’s premier. I’m saying you have it as a world championship that goes around the world every year, you play those without doubt, but also so that it doesn’t disappear, you have exhibition matches starting off with it–teams playing test cricket. At least play one in a season against each other just to get their youngsters back into the game. That’s going to be like club cricket. You have club cricket in everything. But the primary has to be country versus country,” Lalit Modi had said.

He reminded administrators that modern audiences simply lack the luxury or patience to watch five days of cricket under the sun when global sport is available on demand, emphasising that the “hook” of the game must change if it intends to survive.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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Delhi vs Mumbai IPL 2026: Fans Flood Arun Jaitley Stadium for High-Voltage Clash

Shreyas Iyer in action for Indian cricket team© AFP

The New York Knicks began their pursuit of their first title since 1973 on Wednesday night in a matchup against Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs.

The Spurs clung to a seven-point lead at halftime, setting up a back-and-forth second half and a tight fourth quarter. But amid the tension of a tightly contested fourth quarter, an overexcited fan briefly stole the spotlight in pursuit of what he hoped would be a once-in-a-lifetime photo.

The unidentified fan ran onto the court midway through the game’s final quarter, appearing to try to take a selfie next to Wembanyama.

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A fan is detained by security after running onto the court during the fourth quarter of Game One of the 2026 NBA Finals between the San Antonio Spurs and the New York Knicks at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Texas, on June 3, 2026. (Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

The fan came from the sideline opposite the team benches, starting from behind the play and running into San Antonio’s offensive end. The person was quickly pulled from the court by two security guards, and it did not appear the person made any contact with Wembanyama or any New York players.

A fan runs onto the court and takes a photo with Victor Wembanyama of the San Antonio Spurs during the fourth quarter of Game One in the 2026 NBA Finals against the New York Knicks at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Texas, on June 3, 2026. (Ronald Cortes/Getty Images)

Play was stopped for about a minute before the game resumed with a jump ball. The fan was taken out of the court area through a baseline tunnel.

KNICKS FANS WOULD SAVE MONEY FLYING TO SAN ANTONIO FOR NBA FINALS GAMES INSTEAD OF BUYING MSG TICKETS

Earlier in the game, Knicks guard Jalen Brunson limped to the locker room after Spurs forward Harrison Barnes was pushed into his right knee. Brunson returned in the second quarter with his knee heavily wrapped, then appeared to tweak his left ankle later in the game after a Spurs player stepped on him while he contested a shot. He stayed in the game after the second scare.

Jalen Brunson attacks the basket during the Knicks’ 105-95 Game 1 victory over the Spurs in the NBA Finals (Photo by Juan Ocampo/NBAE via Getty Images) ((Photo by Juan Ocampo/NBAE via Getty Images))

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Brunson finished with 30 points, leading the Knicks in scoring.

The Knicks ultimately secured a 105-95 win over the Spurs in Game 1, marking New York’s 12th consecutive playoff victory.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Jalen Brunson scored 30 points as the New York Knicks erased a 14-point second-half deficit to stun the San Antonio Spurs 105-95 and take a 1-0 lead in the NBA Finals on Wednesday.

Knicks talisman Brunson shrugged off an early injury scare to inspire a magnificent fightback and give New York a precious early advantage in the best-of-seven series, with game two set for Friday.

Brunson upstaged Spurs superstar Victor Wembanyama with a masterful clutch fourth quarter display, scoring 13 points in the final frame as the Knicks closed out a win to silence an expectant home crowd in Texas.

The game was tied with just over two minutes to go, but Brunson marshalled the Knicks brilliantly and a late burst of scoring put the game out of the Spurs’ reach.

“Just sticking together — it wasn’t really our night and wasn’t really my night most of the night but we kept finding a way, kept chipping away,” Brunson said afterwards.

The Knicks playmaker said the team’s “chemistry” had helped them climb out of their 14-point hole in the third quarter.

“Just knowing we have each other’s back — there’s a lot of things we could have done better, but I think our togetherness was really the biggest difference,” added Brunson, who left the court in the first quarter with a knee injury before returning.

Brunson was one of four Knicks to finish in double figures, with Karl-Anthony Towns adding 18 points, OG Anunoby 17 and Landry Shamet 13.

Wembanyama led San Antonio’s scoring with 26 points but had a poor shooting night, making just 6-of-21 from the field while pulling down 12 rebounds with three blocks.

“I was bad tonight, it’s not more complicated than that,” said Wembanyama, who denied nerves had been a factor in the Spurs defeat.

“It definitely felt special for sure, but nothing close that could be an excuse,” Wembanyama said. “It was not a factor in our performance.”

Stephon Castle had 17 points and Dylan Harper and Julian Champagnie added 16 points apiece.

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