Archive June 30, 2025

One rising star appears to be a key player for Xabi Alonso as Real Madrid prepares to face Juventus in the Club World Cup on Tuesday (20:00 BST).

Arda Guler, known as “the Turkish Messi,” struggled to live up to the hype last season under Carlo Ancelotti, but with the arrival of the Italian’s replacement, she is now thriving.

Guler appeared to be ready to play a key role in Real’s midfield this year.

The former Fenerbahce starlet had a strong first season in Spain, contributing to his team’s title win by scoring six goals in just 10 La Liga appearances.

Guler continued his impressive performance at Euro 2024 with a goal for the tournament winner by curling home a delicious 25-yard strike against Georgia.

When he first arrived, he appeared eager to follow in the footsteps of his Real team-mates, who were international recruits who had been given a lot of potential and quickly developed into key performers.

But it didn’t occur. Instead, 2024-25 turned into a lost season.

Guler’s lack of significance was highlighted when he was a unused substitute for Real’s Champions League quarter-final defeat to Arsenal, which Ancelotti had rarely trusted.

Guler’s second-lowest tally (aside from long-term injury absences) came at the end of the season, giving him less than 1,800 minutes of total time in all competitions, giving rise to the possibility that he might attempt to rekindle his career by relocating to Madrid.

Uncertainty over his best position was a part of Guler’s struggle to establish himself under Ancelotti.

The youngster flitted between playing a central role and playing a right-wing position during his early years, which also led to his comparisons to Lionel Messi because of his ability to shoot or create with his cultured left foot and cut inside.

Guler has stated that he prefers to play inside because he has more opportunities to influence play and touch the ball.

Luka Modric, Dani Ceballos, and Brahim Diaz were left on the bench in Real’s final two group games against Pachuca and RB Salzburg, and Alonso agrees, saying the player “needs to be close to the ball.”

Guler gave himself the freedom to make two excellent performances in return. He helped the Austrians defeat them by scoring the second goal against Pachuca, passing more passes than any other player while playing the field.

In both of those games, Modric took Guler’s place in the second half. The old master was given the task of guarding the man’s energy reserves, and it seemed symbolic.

Vitor Pereira, the manager of Wolves, is one of those who is confident Guler will become a world champion, and he is one of them.

Guler, who was 16 at the time, made his Fenerbahce debut in 2021, and the Portuguese recalls that he was aware of the youngster’s unique ability right away.

Pereira told the Spanish newspaper Marca last week, “He reminded me of James Rodriguez when I coached him at the age of 19 and recently arrived at Porto.” They are two players who are exceptional talent.

Although “he]Guler] was a boy among men, he always found the winning pass every time he received the ball. And if he messed up, he asked for the ball to be returned so that he could try again.

Pereira disagrees with Messi’s comparison to him, saying that he should be given the central midfield position that Modric did before in the past. He instead agrees with the player and, presumably, Alonso.

Because of his ability to unbalance opposition between the lines, he continued, “I always saw him more as an eight or a 10.

He can play long or short, make the final pass or shoot from long range, and is intelligent. He also can look for solutions before receiving the ball.

He is aware of the rules and is always curious. He definitely looks better than Modric in the future.

And Pereira’s expectations of his former player’s potential have not been slowed by the difficulties that Guler faced last season.

He came to the conclusion that Real Madrid’s arrival with so many top-notch players was difficult. He will find a new home, though. I have no doubts about his plans for the future. He has the mentality and quality to play the main role.

That process is already taking shape less than a month into Alonso’s rule.

On Sunday evening, the Lions swapped the pleasant climate of Western Australia and headed east, into the rain of Brisbane.

Outdoor training was binned and instead they had a walk-through indoors at their base in the grounds of an Anglican church grammar school in the city suburbs, nicknamed Churchie.

Saturday’s worst fears were confirmed with Tomos Williams ruled out of the tour, cut down in his prime with a hamstring injury in the act of scoring a terrific try in an exciting performance against the Western Force.

“He’s going to be medium-to-long-termish, so unfortunately he’s got some sad news this morning and he’ll be leaving camp later on this evening,” said Farrell.

Ben White is now on his way. One in, one out. Just like that. Despair and joy. Williams will be 34 when the next Lions trip comes around. It’s horrible, but his time has come and gone in a blur.

With Scotland in Whangarei, the northernmost city in New Zealand, White is at the other end of the emotional spectrum. He would have been devastated to miss out on selection in the first place, especially after such a fine Six Nations. Now he’s elated.

He scored against Italy, England and Ireland. His understanding with Finn Russell has been telepathic for a number of years now, so he’s an interesting customer, full of energy and ambition. He should fit in well with the game the Lions are trying to play.

Jamison Gibson-Park is the clear favourite for the nine Test jersey, but White’s understanding with Russell will make him a very real threat to Alex Mitchell for a bench spot.

In his coaching with Ireland, Farrell has always put large store in cohesion, hence why so many Leinster partnerships move up into the green jersey, almost as a bloc.

He’s not doing that in Australia, particularly not in what is becoming a really fascinating area – the midfield. There are two ready-made combinations with years worth of cohesion – Ireland’s Bundee Aki and Garry Ringrose and Scotland’s Sione Tuipulotu and Huw Jones – but Farrell is not putting these guys together. Not yet anyway.

Against the Pumas he had Aki and Tuipulotu, against the Force it was Tuipulotu and Ringrose and now it’s Aki and Jones. Ringrose is on the bench on Wednesday, so maybe we’ll finally get to see a familiar duo at some point – Ringrose and Aki. Or maybe there’s a Ringrose-Jones axis coming. He’s keeping us guessing.

Farrell knows what the Scots and the Irish can do in their usual partnerships. He’s now exploring what might happen if you break them up and look for another way.

It means we’re no nearer in determining which one of these partnerships is going to begin the first Test. It’s intriguing. This will be Jones’ first game from the start on tour, having had some minutes off the bench on Saturday in Perth.

As a Scot, he’s won two of his three Tests against the Wallabies, scoring three tries in the process. Through injury, he’s only played two and a bit games since the end of the Six Nations, which featured a hat-trick against Italy and a try against England.

The Queensland Reds will have 11 Test players, including nine Wallabies and two All Blacks, in their squad to face the Lions.

Coach Les Kiss named his team on Monday and there’s some star quality in it. Wallaby hooker Matt Faessler is in as is his fellow Test player, Hunter Paisami, the centre. Lachie Anderson, the exciting wing, is part of a backline that could pose plenty of threat to the Lions.

“Excitement is high, that’s for sure,” said Kiss. “It’s a one-off match but we’ve had a line of sight with their games against Argentina and the Western Force. They are an incredibly good and talented team. They have taken on some of the DNA of the Irish team.

Fair play to Elliot Daly. He’s had a tremendous beginning to his tour and he’s piled the pressure on Hugo Keenan and Blair Kinghorn for the 15 jersey. It was supposed to be a straight shootout between the Irishman and the Scot, but Daly has given his coaches plenty to think about. He’s been class in both of his appearances so far.

Leinster’s Keenan starts at 15 against the Reds. He’s not played since the United Rugby Championship quarter-final in late May, missing the semi-final and final. A sore one for him.

He can’t really afford to be rusty and Kinghorn – who was pictured in Toulouse-branded pants in the mixed zone on Saturday night after winning a second Top 14 in two years – needs to hit the ground running, too.

A few eyebrows were raised when the captain didn’t feature in the first game on Australian soil last weekend, but there was a reason to rest him. Two reasons, actually.

Farrell needed to see his other locks, for one, and, for another, Itoje looked as if he needed a rest when putting in a pretty low-key performance in the defeat against Argentina. It wouldn’t have been a huge shock had Farrell given him another rest day on Wednesday, but he hasn’t.

Itoje has played a huge number of minutes – almost 2,200 – this season for club and country. That’s 1,000 minutes more than Ollie Chessum and Scott Cummings and between 700-800 more than Joe McCarthy and James Ryan.

The captain is among the most-played Lions this season, but in Brisbane he declared himself fresh and ready to roll again.

“Often when you talk about game minutes and load, part of it is the physical load, but a lot of it is the mental load,” he said.

“Coming into this new environment, spending time with new players, new systems, new coaches, everything, has been really refreshing for me. In my career, I’ve had a lot of consistency with club and country, so just to have a different stimulus has been great.”

In some banter at the top table, Farrell said that Itoje, 30, looked good despite all those minutes played. “Looks great, look at the smile,” said the coach. “No wrinkles, skin is fresh,” replied the lock. “Botox?” asked Farrell. “No botox,” laughed Itoje.

Formula 1 is celebrating its 75th anniversary this season and this weekend’s British Grand Prix is another landmark for the sport.

Silverstone hosted the first F1 World Championship grand prix in May 1950 and will stage the British round for the 59th time on Sunday, 6 July.