Category Sports News

If the casual football fan wasn’t already familiar with the name Rayan Cherki, they certainly are now.

On Thursday night, videos of his incredible goal during France’s 5-4 defeat by Spain in the Uefa Nations League semi-final went viral.

After controlling a bobbling pass and setting himself up in one touch, the 21-year-old rifled a hip-height volley on the swivel past Spanish goalkeeper Unai Simon at full stretch.

You just don’t see instinctive goals like that very often, certainly not from a player 15 minutes into his senior international debut.

Cherki is one of the most sought after talents in world football right now and could soon be heading to the Premier League as Manchester City want the Lyon midfielder as part of their summer squad overhaul.

The player will soon enter the final year of his contract, but Lyon have reportedly rejected City’s opening offer of 30m euros (£25.3m).

Cherki is only the latest talent fresh off the Lyon production line, but may be the best yet.

He joined Lyon at the age of seven from AS Saint-Priest and, aged 16 years and 140 days, Cherki became the youngest goalscorer in the Ligue 1 side’s history in a French Cup tie back in January 2020.

Before that in November 2019, a Champions League debut came against Zenit, while he also helped France reach the quarter-finals of the European Under-21 Championships in 2023.

Previously linked with Real Madrid, Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea, in 2020 he admitted to Lyon TV “my dream is to play for Real Madrid”.

His footballing idol is Cristiano Ronaldo, can play as a winger but his preference is a more central number 10 role.

Cherki has just enjoyed a break-out campaign in Ligue 1, providing 11 assists, 22 big chances – the most in the league – 13 through-balls and 48 successful dribbles.

A return of 12 goals in all competitions is by far the best of his short career, but it is his work and understanding of the game off the ball that has arguably improved the most this term.

French football expert Julien Laurens, speaking on the Euro Leagues podcast, said: “He has been incredible this season. Since he was 16 – even before that – the talent is there, left foot or right foot.

“A player at this level who takes corners with each foot depending on which side of the corner it is, to be an inswinger every time is just incredible.

“He is one of the greatest technicians in Europe right now.”

The stats support Cherki’s ambipedal qualities. Of the 44 shots he took with his feet in Ligue 1 last season, 22 came with the left and 22 with the right.

Cherki’s growing reputation was only enhanced by Thursday’s stunning international debut on Thursday against Spain, where he sparked France’s comeback from 5-1 down.

Three days later he made his full international debut as Les Bleus beat Germany 2-0 in the Nations League third-place play-off.

Laurens certainly isn’t Cherki’s only admirer.

France legend Thierry Henry has previously said he has “never seen a player in history who dribbles as quickly as him”, while Lyon’s captain Alexandre Lacazette described him as “special”.

The former Arsenal striker added: “This season, he has managed to raise his level. I would put [Mesut] Ozil in a different category but, with time, Rayan can get close to him.”

Cherki, also part of the France squad that finished runners-up at the 2024 Olympics, scored in both legs for Lyon against Manchester United in a Europa League quarter-final defeat last season.

Speaking to BBC Sport in April about him, Lyon’s former Arsenal player Ainsley Maitland-Niles said: “He is the best natural talent I’ve ever seen. An absolute master, a wizard with the ball.

Pep Guardiola wants to have Cherki in his squad next season, but how would he fit in at Manchester City?

The Premier League club have wasted no time in strengthening after enduring their worst campaign since Guardiola took charge nine years ago.

A £46.3m deal has been agreed with AC Milan for Netherlands midfielder Tijjani Reijnders, while a £31m move for Wolves left-back Rayan Ait-Nouri will be completed imminently.

With Reijnders capable of playing anywhere in midfield, Cherki would likely play in an advanced role just behind Erling Haaland.

Guardiola traditionally prefers his midfielders to keep the ball and be patient rather than play in a direct, transitional style. However, he now has a Kevin de Bruyne-shaped hole to fill following the Belgian’s departure.

Cherki could also be deployed on the right wing, with wide players Jeremy Doku and Savinho struggling for consistency last season and Jack Grealish open to leaving the club.

It’s an exciting time for a player who may, in the space of seven days, go from making his international debut to joining one of the world’s best clubs.

That said, he clearly isn’t getting ahead of himself.

London Pulse produced a determined display to move back to the top of the Netball Super League with a 58-48 win at Manchester Thunder.

Pulse were 17-10 in front after the first quarter but the hosts reduced the deficit to three points as the visitors led 27-24 at half-time.

However, Pulse stepped up their game and were 44-37 up at the end of the third quarter before going on to secure victory.

Olivia Tchine scored a game-high 27 goals for Pulse, while Elmere van der Berg scored 23 for the Thunder, who remain third with one round of fixtures to go before the play-offs.

“The second quarter, in particular, was a bit disappointing,” said London Pulse head coach Sam Bird.

“We just took our foot off the pedal a little bit. We just lost a little bit of focus. That is certainly something I want to be improving on.

“When they got their brains back together and they came out really hard I thought they did really well.

“It’s a difficult place to come. It’s really good for the players to play that well away.”

The three points meant Pulse are two points clear of second-placed Loughborough Lightning.

Both teams are guaranteed a top two finish and will contest the major semi-final in the play-offs with the winner going through to the final.

Loughborough Lightning had briefly gone top of the table with a dominant 79-58 win against London Mavericks on Friday.

Lightning, who have won three of the previous four Grand Finals, were in control throughout and opened a 23-12 lead at the end of the first quarter.

That set the tone for the contest, with Samantha Wallace-Joseph finishing with 24 goals for the victors, and Ella Clark and Berri Neil also impressing with 14 and 13 goals respectively.

Emily Andrew contributed 24 goals for the fourth-placed Mavericks.

Birmingham Panthers won 75-69 in the opening match of the round on Thursday.

Second T20, Bristol

West Indies 196-6 (20 overs): Hope 49 (38); Wood 2-25

England 199-6 (18.3 overs): Buttler 47 (36); Joseph 2-45

England won by four wickets; lead series 2-0

England sealed a series win over West Indies with a game to spare after a superb chase of 197 in the second T20 at Bristol.

Former captain Jos Buttler struck 47 and his successor Harry Brook made 34 as England reached 112-2 in 12.2 overs, before they fell in consecutive overs with 85 still required to swing the game back in the tourists’ favour.

But Jacob Bethell’s stunning cameo of 26 from 10 balls, including three huge sixes, and Tom Banton’s unbeaten 30 off 11 set up a four-wicket win with nine balls remaining.

England had earlier been eyeing a much smaller target as they had restricted West Indies to 121-4 at the start of the 17th over, only for an onslaught of 75 runs from the final four overs to follow.

Luke Wood had given England the perfect start by pinning Evin Lewis lbw with a swinging yorker from the first ball of the match, before captain Shai Hope’s elegant 49 led the recovery in a stand of 90 with Johnson Charles, who made 47.

Their innings had been in danger of floundering with just 32 runs scored in 5.1 overs after Hope’s dismissal in the 11th, but Rovman Powell clubbed 34 from 15 balls and former skipper Jason Holder whacked an unbeaten 29 off nine.

Leg-spinner Adil Rashid bowled the penultimate over as England again only selected two seamers, and conceded 31 runs to finish with 1-59 – the most expensive figures of his T20 career.

The series concludes at Southampton on Tuesday.

It was a fluctuating innings from West Indies, as England’s bright start with the ball saw them concede just 12 from the first three overs of the powerplay and 43 from the next.

Wood accounted for Lewis with his extravagant swing, and the batter’s review one of pure desperation as the ball was crashing into middle stump.

Charles’ scratchy innings of 47 off 39 balls led to some suggestions it was a tricky pitch but considering the fluency of the rest of the line-up – and eventually England’s – his sluggishness in the middle overs led to his side posting a below-par total.

In contrast, Hope enjoyed pace on the ball, as he whacked Brydon Carse for two stunning sixes over long-off and looked in such sparkling form that only a piece of magic from Rashid could dismiss him.

England’s leg-spinner tempted Hope into coming down the pitch, turned the ball past the off stump and Buttler whipped off the bails.

Brook rotated his bowlers efficiently through the middle as the runs dried up, with Sherfane Rutherford caught on the boundary off Bethell for six and Charles was bizarrely bowled by nutmegging himself to give Wood a second wicket.

But that kickstarted the chaos as Powell struck three sixes to take West Indies to 149-5 at the end of the 18th, before Brook had no choice but to bowl Rashid at the death with such short straight boundaries for the batters to target.

Holder capitalised, pulling a drag down over square leg first ball before slamming two more sixes down the ground in simple but brutal fashion.

Borussia Dortmund have agreed a deal with Sunderland to sign Jobe Bellingham for an initial 32m euros (£26.96m) plus 5m euros (£4.2m) in add-ons.

The 19-year-old midfielder had garnered interest from across Europe but it is Dortmund, former home of elder brother Jude, who are set to secure his signature.

Bellingham has played for Sunderland since 2023 and helped them secure Premier League promotion this past season, making 43 appearances for the Black Cats and scoring four goals across all competitions.

Borussia Dortmund experienced an inconsistent season in 2024-25 but had a strong finish to the campaign winning their final five matches to finish fourth and secure Champions League football for next season.

If the deal is completed by 10 June, Bellingham would be able to play in the upcoming Club World Cup.

That tournament takes place in the United States from 14 June to 13 July.

It is thought Bellingham is keen to follow in his brother’s footsteps.

Jude, two years Jobe’s senior, also came through Birmingham City’s academy before moving to Dortmund in 2020 and then Real Madrid in 2023.

Bellingham is already mirroring his brother’s career with the move to Dortmund and he was also named the Championship’s Young Player of the Year in May, five years after Jude won the same award.

Another connection between brothers may have helped facilitate Bellingham’s move to Dortmund.

The German club’s UK scout is Daniel Dodds, brother of Wycombe Wanderers boss Mike, who worked with both brothers in the Birmingham academy.

Mike Dodds was also part of the coaching staff at Sunderland when Jobe Bellingham made the move from St Andrew’s to the Stadium of Light.

“I think he can go to the very top,” Mike Dodds told the Northern Echo in 2023.

Surrey continue to set the pace in the women’s T20 Blast as punishing batting by England’s Danni Wyatt-Hodge ushered them to a comfortable nine-wicket win over Durham at The Oval.

After restricting the visitors to 141-5, they made it four wins out of four by reaching 143-1 with 43 balls to spare, Wyatt-Hodge hitting the winning boundary to finish with 74 not out from just 36 balls.

In Sunday’s other game, Lancashire Thunder picked up only their second win in five matches as Tara Norris made an unbeaten 33 and took 3-25 to help them beat Bears by five runs.

Chasing a target of 163, the home side needed 14 off the final over at Edgbaston, but could only muster eight, with Natasha Wraith finishing on 57 not out from 36 deliveries, the highest score of the match.

The game against Surrey began badly for Durham, who had both openers bowled inside the first five overs – Suzie Bates and Mady Villiers dismissed by Ryana MacDonald-Gay.

From 29-3, Hollie Armitage led a revival, adding 40 with Bess Heath (27) and 38 with Mia Rogers, and although she went to 50 off 49 balls in the last over and Katherine Fraser hit the final ball of the innings for six, their score did not look enough.

So it proved as Wyatt-Hodge and Bryony Smith matched each other shot for shot in bringing up a 50 partnership in the fourth over.

Wyatt-Hodge launched Katie Levick over mid-wicket for a maximum, the first of two sixes in her innings to go with 11 fours, but the stand came to an end on 94 when Smith was caught in the deep off Phoebe Turner for 44 from 28 balls.

Replacement Kira Chathli opened her account with a six and made an unbeaten 19 from 13 before Wyatt-Hodge ended the game by cutting Bates to the point boundary.

“It definitely is a big win. We bowled and fielded really well as a team and then Danni and Bry smashed it and got us over the line,” said MacDonald-Gay.

Emma Lamb was back in the Lancashire side against the Bears following England duty but it was not a happy return as she was bowled through the gate for five by Issy Wong in the first over.

They struggled to 31-4, batting in a steady drizzle, before a 69-run partnership between Ailsa Lister and Australian Alana King which ended when the former was lbw for 36 as she tried to sweep Hannah Baker.

King made 21 before hitting Millie Taylor (2-25) to deep mid-wicket but Norris lofted a six over mid-off as she steered Thunder to 162-7.

Bears made a positive start in reply as Davina Perrin made a rapid 34 before being bowled by one from Grace Johnson which kept low.

Charis Pavely contributed 27 but they were losing momentum at 101-6 in the 14th over when Wong was bowled by Norris as she tried to make room to force the ball through the off side.

Wraith, though, kept them in the game, clearing the ropes and hitting four fours as she reached 50 from just 29 balls, but wickets continued to fall at the other end and she lost the strike midway through the last over as Thunder squeezed home.

Riverside: Durham v Bears (14:30 BST)

The Oval: Surrey v The Blaze (18:30 BST)

Jai Opetaia produced a fifth-round stoppage to beat Claudio Squeo and retain his IBF and Ring Magazine cruiserweight world titles.

The Australian dominated the bout on the Gold Coast and landed a firm uppercut in the third round before connecting with some damaging combinations.

Opetaia, 29, then floored Italian Squeo in the fourth round with a punishing shot to the body.

Victory was delivered in the next round after a fierce right hook to the jaw forced Squeo to hunch over and take a knee as the home favourite extended his unbeaten run to 28 fights.

Following the bout, Opetaia once again voiced his desire for a unification bout with Mexico’s WBO and WBA cruiserweight champion Gilberto Ramirez.

“We did what we had to do,” said Opetaia.

“I’m chasing this unification fight and it’s frustrating.

“Gilberto Ramirez – next fight, let’s get it on. I’m chasing the belts. The fight is easy to be made. Let’s do it.”

Meanwhile, Japan’s Junto Nakatani overcame compatriot Ryosuke Nishida, who retired with an eye injury in Tokyo, to add the IBF bantamweight title to his WBC belt.

Nakatani remains the number one fighter in the division after firing several punches towards the right eye of Nishida, which prompted an inspection from the ringside doctor after the sixth round.

Victory for the three-weight world champion extends his unbeaten record to 31 wins, including 24 knockouts.

Another Japanese rival, Naoya Inoue, was watching on from the stands and could be in line for a highly anticipated meeting with the 27-year-old next year.