Leicester wins FA Cup for 1st time
Youri Tielemans was preparing for the FA Cup final on Saturday when he received a text message with a clear instruction: Aim for the top corner. When the ball landed at the Leicester midfielder’s feet, 63 minutes into the 140th final, a powerful shot from 30 meters was aimed just where he had been advised. It was a sensational way to win the FA Cup for the first time in Leicester’s 137-year history, 1-0, against Champions League finalist Chelsea. Even sweeter than the strike was Leicester being able to celebrate in front of its own fans as Wembley Stadium hosted England’s biggest crowd — more than 20,000 who tested negative for the coronavirus — in 14 months. “Wow, what a finish,” Leicester goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel said. “I didn’t dare to celebrate because there’s always VAR.” After losing four finals — the first in 1949 at the old Wembley — Leicester’s name is finally etched onto the cup of world football’s oldest competition. The team from central England is a champion again, five years after Morgan collected the Premier League trophy.
Djokovic, Nadal to meet once again
Maybe the new generation of tennis players isn’t quite so ready to end the eras of Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal. Titles for Stefanos Tsitsipas and Alexander Zverev in the Monte Carlo Masters and Madrid Open, respectively, raised speculation again that the Big Three — including 39-yearold Roger Federer — was expiring. Well, again, not yet. Djokovic, who turns 34 in a week, and Nadal, who turns 35 next month, won a total of three matches over younger players on Saturday and will renew their record-setting rivalry in the Italian Open final on Sunday — exactly two weeks before Roland Garros starts. “Rafa and I had a little laugh today in the locker room after I won against Tsitsipas,” Djokovic said. “We kind of joked around about, you know, that the old guys are still not giving up.” (Nadal) said somewhere a few days ago that Roger, him and I are old. But I disagree with him. We’re showing some different, fresh energy.” Nadal has captured the Italian Open a record nine times, while Djokovic has won five titles at the Foro Italico.
Dodgers, Pujols reach an agreement
The Dodgers are signing veteran first baseman Albert Pujols to a major league deal. The 41-year-old Pujols left the Angels earlier this month after nearly 10 seasons with the Dodgers’ Orange County rivals. The oldest player in the majors batted .198 this season with five homers and 12 RBIs for the Angels. Pujols was in the final season of a 10-year, $240 million contract with the Angels, who didn’t win a playoff game during his tenure. The slugger is making $30 million this season, and the Dodgers will pay him only the pro-rated portion of the major league minimum salary for the rest of the season, roughly $420,000. The rest will be paid by the Angels. Pujols is fifth in major league history with 667 career homers and 13th with 3,253 hits, but he has been a low-impact contributor to the Angels for the past half-decade. The Angels said Pujols requested his departure from Anaheim because he didn’t want to be a backup, instead intending to play every day for another team. Yet there’s almost no chance of the three-time NL MVP Pujols playing every day for the Dodgers