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Former Athletic Bilbao manager Ernesto Valverde has been appointed as manager at FC Barcelona for a period of two seasons. He had spent two seasons as a player at the Catalan club under the coaching reign of Johan Cruyff.

FC Barcelona have appointed former Athletic Bilbao manager Ernesto Valverde as the next boss for the club. He replaces Luis Enrique who opted to not continue at the Catalan club. He will be officially unveiled to the fans and to the media on Thursday, June 1.

The club had announced at the end of the league season, where they finished second to Real Madrid, that the new boss would be announced on January 29. In a press conference, club president Josep Bartomeu said, “Valverde has the ability, the judgement, the knowledge and the experience. He promotes the youth players and he has a Barça way. He is a hard worker and he is a fan of using technology in training and in managing matches.”

“He’s very happy very excited, he has the ability, experience and knowledge for the job. He loves youth football and he has the right style to coach this club and knows how the club works. He has a high work rate, he is passionate about football and interested in working with the latest technology,” he added.

In a statement, the club said, “Ernesto Valverde is the new FC Barcelona coach for the next two seasons. The 53 year old former Barça player was previously Athletic Club Bilbao coach and he will take over for the 2017/18 season.”

“This will be Ernesto Valverde’s second spell at the Club, his first coming as a player between 1988 and 1990. The new Barça coach won the European Cup Winners’ Cup and the Copa del Rey in his two seasons as part of Johan Cruyff’s squad, playing 29 games and scoring 10 goals in official competition.”

“As a coach Valverde has a wealth of experience in Spain and abroad. He has had two spells as coach at both Athletic Club Bilbao and Greek team Olympicacos as well as having coached at Espanyol, Villarreal and Valencia. In his career he has helped his teams to no less than six trophies, five with Olympiacos and one with Athletic Club.”

Valverde brings two members of his coaching staff at Athletic to Barcelona, his assistant of 15 years Jon Aspiazu and fitness coach Jose Antonio Pozanco.

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The game finished 0-0 after extra time and German defender Christopher Schindler struck the winning penalty for Huddersfield after Reading failed to convert their last two spot-kicks. Huddersfield Town return to top-flight after a gap of 45 years.

Huddersfield Town returned to the top flight of English football for the first time in 45 years after a nail-biting 4-3 penalty shootout win over Reading in the Championship promotion playoff final at Wembley on Monday.

The game finished 0-0 after extra time and German defender Christopher Schindler struck the winning penalty for Huddersfield after Reading failed to convert their last two spot-kicks.

The win ensured at least 170 million pounds ($218 million) in guaranteed revenue for Huddersfield as a Premier League club next season.

“The prize is so big, I feel for (Reading)….but it is our turn and I think we deserve it because of the way we have done it. We give a lot of hope to smaller clubs,” Huddersfield chairman Dean Hoyle said.

Huddersfield were relegated from the old first division in 1972 and have struggled in recent years in the Championship with 16th place their best finish since returning to the second tier five years ago.

While few predicted their promotion, the Yorkshire club have a rich history and were champions of England three times during the 1920s.

“This has nothing to do with a dream. This is a reality,” defender Michael Hefele told Sky Sports.

“These guys have achieved such a big thing – such a small club to be in the best league in the world. Just crazy,” he said.

Huddersfield, coached by German David Wagner, also won their playoff semi-final, against Sheffield Wednesday, on penalties but they will feel they deserved the victory having restricted Reading to long-range efforts.

Huddersfield had missed two great chances in the opening 10 minutes when Hefele headed wide and Izzy Brown stabbed wide from point-blank range after Elias Kachunga had slipped the ball across the face of the goal.

But the quality of what had promised to be an exciting game gradually declined as nerves and tiredness began to dominate and the game remained goalless after extra-time.

Reading got ahead in the shootout when Hefele’s soft effort was saved by Ali Al-Habsi but that advantage was lost when Liam Moore blasted over the bar to allowing Aaron Mooy to level at 3-3.

Huddersfield keeper Danny Ward got down well to keep out Jordan Obita’s kick and leave Schindler with the chance to start the celebrations.

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In Cardiff, where important matches such as -England vs New Zealand and the first semi-final, will be held chances of rain continue to remain above 70 percent throughout the next two weeks.

As Great Britain braces itself to torrential downpours and occasional thunderstorms, grey clouds continue to loom over the future of the upcoming Champions Trophy in England. Already two of the warm-up matches have been affected by rain. The one between India and New Zealand was curtailed while the other between Australia and Pakistan saw only 10 overs being bowled before being abandoned. Even the series between hosts – England and South Africa saw interruptions due to rain.

Things continue to look gloomy as alerts for a super storm has also been issued in Great Britain. This leads to the basic question as to why ICC chose this period for holding such a crucial tournament. Even the previous edition saw a rain-curtailed final and yet the ICC doesn’t seem to have learned the lesson.

The venues for the tournament features three venues – Cardiff, Birmingham and London and all the three are known for their inclement weather. Birmingham has already witnessed torrential rain throughout Monday. As a result in the match between Australia and Pakistan, the coin toss was delayed by more than two hours in the morning and the Match was reduced to 34 overs per side as persistent but light drizzle plagued the Birmingham venue. One of the most anticipated matches between India and Pakistan is also scheduled to held in this venue.

With the tournament scheduled to begin from June 1, London is scheduled to receive 5-10 mm of rain on four days over the next fortnight. (as per weathernetwork.com). chances of rain up to 15-20mm are also predicted.

In Cardiff, where important matches such as -England vs New Zealand and the first semi-final, will be held chances of rain continue to remain above 70 percent throughout the next two weeks. With tickets for most of the matches being sold out, spectators will hope the rain doesn’t play a spoilsport. The players, on the other hand, will hope that the dreaded – Duckworth/Lewis method doesn’t come into play.

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Novak Djokovic, under new coach Andre Agassi's watchful eye, needed just one match point to beat Marcel Graneollers. Rafa Nadal, chasing his tenth French Open title, fought off a tricky opponent in Frenchman Benoit Paire also in straight sets.

Top guns in the men’s draw Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal made winning start at the French Open on Monday and moved into the second round of the second Grand Slam of the year in comfortable fashion. World No 2 Djokovic, playing on Philippe-Chatrier Court, beat Spain’s Marcel Granollers 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 while Nadal took out Frenchman and battling Benoit Paire 6-1, 6-4, 6-1 on Suzanne-Lenglen Court. (Men’s Singles Results | Women’s Singles Results)

Under watchful eye of new coach Andre Agassi, Djokovic looked his comfortable self as he begins quest to defend the title he won last year in fourth attempt. The Serb had parted company with his entire coaching staff in the weeks coming into the tournament and amid multiple changes in his life, most things remained the same for The Djoker. He looked in good control on both sides of the court and the celebrations – surrounding the ballkids and appreciating the crowd – remained the same.

Djokovic grabbed two breaks early on in the first set and Granollers – who had been the lucky recepient of Nadal’s retirement last year – had no answer to Nole’s dominant game. Djokovic went up 4-1 in the second set but failed to convert eight set points when at 5-3. Eventually, though, he got himself out of the cage to hold on and win the second set.

With Granollers’ mistakes accumulating, Djokovic needed just one match point to close out the match. He will next take on Joao Sousa of Portugal in the second round.

Over on the other court, on at the same time, Nadal – chasing his tenth French Open title – fought off the resistance provided by Paire in the second set while producing solid court coverage to bag the win. The Spaniard had answers to almost everything that Paire threw at him – including the deft drop shots. Rafa, though, was left short on plenty of instances on Paire’s big forehands down the line which moved the Spaniard sideways on the forehand side.

Paire led the second set 4-3 while breaking Nadal’s serve twice in a row and banking on a largely local crowd who voiced their support for the temperamental World No 45.

In the opening and deciding sets, Paire had no reply for Nadal’s groundstrokes and overall strong game. Nadal will now face Robin Haase in the second round after he beat Alex De Minaur on Sunday.

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Pakistan vs Australia Live Cricket Score, Champions Trophy warm-up: Catch Live Scores of Champions Trophy warm-up game PAK vs AUS here.

Australia take on Pakistan in the second of their warm-up matches prior to the start of the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 at London’s Kennington Oval. Both teams come on the back of victorious first warm-up matches. While Australia defeated Sri Lanka by two wickets in the same venue in their first warm-up, Pakistan defeated Bangladesh in what was a thrilling game of cricket played between the two sides. It will be the final warm-up match for both sides before their tournament openers. Catch live scores and updates of the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 warm-up match between Pakistan and Australia here.

Live Cricket Score, Pakistan vs Australia, ICC Champions Trophy warm up match live updates:

Toss delayed due to rain

Australia  

vs 

Pakistan 

Benfica won the double for the eleventh time after they beat Vitoria Guimaraes 2-1.

Benfica overcame dogged resistance from Vitoria Guimaraes to beat the underdogs 2-1 in the Portuguese Cup final on Sunday and complete a league and cup double.

Raul Jimenez and Eduardo Salvio scored early in the second half in a match featuring the use of video assistant referees as Benfica won the double for the eleventh time.

Jimenez cheekily dinked the ball into the net three minutes into the second half after Vitoria goalkeeper Miguel Silva had failed to hold Jonas’s long-range drive.

Salvio headed the second goal five minutes later from Nelson Semedo’s cross.

South African Bongani Zungu pulled one back following a corner with 12 minutes left but Benfica came closer to a third than Vitoria did to an equaliser.

The referee twice consulted the video official over possible handball incidents involving a Vitoria defender but on both occasions kept by his original decision not to award a penalty.

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