Reports press in Spain revealed that Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong prefers to move to play in the European Champions League, in the event of his departure from the ranks of the Catalan team, during the upcoming summer transfer market. Reports in Spain claimed the Dutchman was close to completing a move to Old Trafford, with a deal described as ‘95% likely’. De Jong is close to leaving Barcelona during the next summer Mercato, in the event that a large financial offer arrives, due to the economic crisis that the club is suffering from. The Spanish newspaper, “Sport”, said that the Dutch midfielder prioritizes sports projects and would only be willing to go to a club that plays in the Champions League, so he prefers to join Manchester City than his neighbor Manchester United, although the latter will give him a large salary.

UK press reports revealed that Erik ten Hag has put Chelsea midfielder N'Golo Kante on a shortlist of Man Utd targets during the upcoming summer transfer market, especially as the player will enter his last season with the Blues. According to the "Mirror" newspaper, Manchester United coach Erik ten Hag targets Chelsea midfielder N'Golo Kante as his first marquee signing in a summer overhaul at Old Trafford, especially after the departure of French duo Paul Pogba and Serbian Nemanja Matic. Chelsea will learn if Real Madrid star Casemiro will be available this summer soon after the Champions League final. The newspaper added that the United coach believes that Kante still has the ability and experience to help his young team next season, and the Blues can benefit financially from the French midfielder to avoid his free departure, such as German defender Antonio Rudiger. The 31-year-old joined the Blues in the summer of 2016, coming from Leicester City in a deal worth 32 Million GBP32 Million GBP. Kante succeeded in crowning the team with many titles, most notably the English Premier League and the European Champions League.

Liverpool crowned the FA Cup for the eighth time in its history, at the expense of Chelsea with penalty kicks; press covers English issued on Sunday morning. Liverpool won their first FA Cup in over 15 years, needing a penalty kick shootout to get past Chelsea for the 2022 title. The Reds now have eight FA Cups in their trophy case, good for third-most all

The Young Norwegian star Erling Haaland scores in a farewell appearance for Borussia Dortmund ahead of Man City's move, as they beat Hertha Berlin 2-1 on Saturday in the season finale, forcing their opponents into a relegation playoff. Haaland scored with a penalty to level the score at 1-1 with his 86th

Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez revealed the list he will play against his host, Getafe, on Sunday evening, in the 37th round of the Spanish League for the current season 2021-2022. Barca's final squad list witnessed various absences, especially at the defense and midfield lines, which witness the absence of the Uruguayan defender Ronald Araujo, after suffering a head injury during the last Celta Vigo match, in addition to the absence of Frenkie de Jong and Jordi Alba due to suspension. Barcelona occupies second place in the Spanish league standings with 72 points, behind Real Madrid, the champion of the competition and the leader with 84 points, while Getafe comes in fifteenth place with 38 points.

Egyptian champions Al-Ahly qualified for the CAF Champions League final after drawing 2-2 with hosts ES Setif of Algeria in the second leg of the semi-finals on Saturday at the July 5 Stadium in the Algerian capital. Ahmed Abdelkader gave Al-Ahly an early lead after two minutes, but the Algerian team equalized through Ahmed Kandoussi at the end of the first half. Riad Ben Ayyad hit a powerful ball from outside the penalty area to give ES Setif the lead in the 61st minute. Substitute Mohamed Sherif equalized for Al-Ahly, the defending champion in the last two editions, in the second minute of stoppage time. The visitors, who held a four-goal lead from a blowout first-leg victory, seldom looked troubled by the chance of an almighty upset in Algiers and progressed to make it three finals on the trot with a 6-2 aggregate win. The result sets up a final clash with Morocco outfit Wydad AC, who will have the advantage of home turf after their ground Stade Mohammed V was selected to host the final on May 30.

Al-Ahly and Egypt legend Mohamed Aboutrika urge his former club to withdraw from the African Champions League, after reaching the final, in order to preserve its position and prestige against the injustice of CAF, as he described it. Al-Ahly got past ES Sétif 6-2 despite drawing the second leg of their semi-final in Algeria. South Africa’s Percy Tau had a hand in all six of Al Ahly’s goals over the two legs, scoring two of them himself. Al Ahly will meet Morocco’s Wydad Casablanca in the final of the CAF Champions League in Morocco.Following the end of the match, Aboutrika wrote on his Twitter account: "Congratulations to Al-Ahly for reaching the final and good luck to ES Setif." Aboutrika added: "Sometimes withdrawing from a decisive match is considered winning- championship in itself. I wish Al-Ahly club's officials to withdraw from the tournament in order to maintain its leadership and prestige against the injustice of the CAF.” In turn, the Egyptian Al-Ahly FC announced that an emergency meeting will be held on Sunday afternoon, headed by Mahmoud Al-Khatib, and in the presence of the Board of Directors of Al-Ahly Football Company. The Council will discuss all matters related to the crisis of the final match of the Champions League, after the decision- described as unfair- which was issued late by the Confederation of African Football, assigning the organization of the final match to a particular stadium for the second year in a row.

In a statement, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) announced that their Chinese counterparts had told them they “would not be able to host the tournament”. A new host country would be confirmed soon, it added. China has pulled out of hosting next year’s AFC Asian Cup due to the Covid-19 situation in the country. "Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Chinese Organizing Committee cannot pledge at this moment to hold next year's Asian Cup competition under a fully open model. After negotiations between the AFC, the Chinese Football Association (CFA) and the Local Organizing Committee, a joint decision has been made to remove the 2023 Asian Cup from China to a new host which is to be confirmed soon," read a statement published by the Chinese Organizing Committee. The AFC said in a separate statement that it appreciates that China, the CFA and the Local Organizing Committee have made "this very difficult but necessary decision in the collective interests of the AFC Asian Cup 2023, which has also provided the AFC the required time to assess the situation regarding the hosting of the AFC Asian Cup 2023." National teams including (China being the former host), Japan, Syria, Qatar, South Korea, Australia, Iran, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman, Vietnam, and Lebanon, have qualified for the tournament, in which 24 teams participate, while the third round qualifiers are scheduled to be completed between 8 and 14 June next in the pool system. Japan holds the record number of times to win the title (4) against each of Saudi Arabia and Iran (3), while Qatar won the first title in its history in 2019 in the UAE.

Officials of Wydad of Casablanca (WAC) received a shock during the past hours, for the conduct of their supporters in the stands match against its Angolan counterpart Petro Atletico, in the second leg of the semi-finals of the African Champions League. According to the Moroccan "Al-Botula" website, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) decided to impose sanctions on Wydad by reducing the crowd attendance for its next match against Petro Atlético to 30,000 instead of 65,000. The Moroccan website confirmed that Wydad will receive this punishment due to fan riots in the Algerian youth match Belouizdad, in the second leg of the CAF Champions League quarter-final. The Moroccan website stressed that the African Union threatened Wydad to increase the penalty in the future if any riots were repeated.