■ Soccer
Kaka may join Real Madrid
Champions League winner Kaka may be about to join Real Madrid. "He very much likes Real Madrid," his Brazil teammate Robinho told Radio Marca on Thursday. "He speaks highly of the team and he told me he'd like to play here. But it would be very difficult for AC Milan to let him leave." Kaka set up Filippo Inzaghi for AC Milan's second goal in Wednesday's 2-1 win over Liverpool in the Champions League final. The victory made Milan European champion for the seventh time, just two fewer than Madrid's record nine. "Real Madrid would win a lot with Kaka," Robinho said. "I'm sure he will win the Golden Ball this season and he is an excellent person on and off the field. Very religious and always quiet."
■ Soccer
Gaillard slams Scousers
William Gaillard, adviser to UEFA president Michel Platini, clearly laid the fault of incidents before the European Champions League final on Liverpool fans, describing the Milan spectators as "exemplary." Many Liverpool fans arrived in Athens for Wednesday night's match, won 2-1 by the Italians, with forged tickets or without any tickets at all. "Before the match certain Liverpool fans did not have tickets, or false tickets, and tried to get past the barriers and into the stadium," Gaillard said. "To avoid more serious incidents, Greek police decided, correctly, to let some of them in ... Now is a good time for Liverpool supporters to use some self-criticism. They must understand that seats are not unlimited. You have to compare the behavior of the two sets of supporters."
■ Hockey
Leetch hangs up skates
Ten-time all-star defenseman Brian Leetch, unable to sign a National Hockey League deal for this past season, announced his retirement from the sport, hanging up his skates at 39. Leetch helped the New York Rangers end a 54-year Stanley Cup drought in 1994 and was named the Most Valuable Player of the club's playoff run. He also won the Norris Trophy as the NHL's best defenseman in 1992 and 1997. Leetch played his last season with the Boston Bruins in 2005-06 on a one-year deal. He scored five goals in 61 games. Leetch scored 247 goals and added 781 assists in 1,205 games, spending 16 seasons with the Rangers before being traded to Toronto in 2004. He also played for the US squad in the 1988, 1998 and 2002 Winter Olympics.
■ Boxing
Michael Carbajal arrested
Hall of Fame boxer Michael Carbajal was arrested on Thursday for allegedly threatening a police officer, authorities said. The 39-year-old Carbajal was booked into jail on suspicion of threatening and intimidating a police officer and a liquor violation, police said. He was later released on bond. Sergeant Joel Tranter, a Phoenix police spokesman, said Carbajal was "agitated, argumentative and belligerent" with officers who found him walking in a vacant lot with an open bottle of rum early on Thursday. Carbajal ``threatened to kill one of the officers'' and was taken into custody, Tranter said. Carbajal, a US Olympian who won a silver medal in 1988, is a former IBF and WBO junior flyweight champion. He retired in 1999 with a record of 49-4 with 33 KOs and was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame last June.
Robinson Cano spent 17 seasons playing in the MLB in front of all kinds of baseball fans, but he said there is something special about his stint with the Mexican Baseball League’s Diablos Rojos. He is not alone. The league last week opened its 100th season, aiming to keep an impressive growth in attendance that began after the national team’s surprise run at the 2023 World Baseball Classic, and is already surpassing some first-division soccer clubs. After finishing third in the 2023 tournament, many casual fans, some of them soccer enthusiasts disappointed after Mexico were eliminated in the first round in the 2022
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
Arne Slot has denied that Darwin Nunez was dropped from Liverpool’s win against West Ham because of a training-ground row with a member of his coaching staff. The Liverpool head coach on Sunday last week said that Nunez was absent from the 2-1 victory at Anfield, having felt unwell during training the day before, although the striker sat behind the substitutes throughout the game. Speculation has been rife that the Uruguay international, whom Slot criticized for his work rate against Wolves and Aston Villa in February, was left out for disciplinary reasons. Asked on Friday to clarify the situation, Slot said: “He
CUNNINGHAM CONNECTS: In the Eastern Conference, the Pistons snapped their record 15-game playoff losing streak by beating the Knicks to level their series at 1-1 Kawhi Leonard on Monday scored 39 points on 15-of-19 shooting as the Los Angeles Clippers evened their first-round NBA Playoffs series against the Nuggets with a 105-102 win in Denver. “It feels like he didn’t miss a shot,” James Harden said. “His shot-making ability is elite.” Good thing, too, because his teammates were a combined 26 of 66 for a 39 percent clip. “I made shots tonight,” Leonard said. “I just keep playing, try to stay in the zone no matter if I’m making or missing shots.” The fifth-seeded Clippers needed every bit of his brilliance to snatch the homecourt advantage in the series
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