IDF aiming to seize strategic areas as part of expansion of war against Hamas in attempt to force release of hostages
Israel has announced a major new offensive in Gaza after launching a wave of airstrikes on the territory that killed more than 100 people, in what it said was a fresh effort to force Hamas to release hostages.
In a statement late on Friday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said they had “launched extensive attacks and mobilized forces to seize strategic areas in the Gaza Strip, as part of the opening moves of Operation Gideon’s Chariots and the expansion of the campaign in Gaza, to achieve all the goals of the war in Gaza”.
Imogen Poots takes the lead in Stewart’s choppy but compelling adaptation of Lidia Yuknavitch’s memoir of abuse and sexual uncertainty
Kristen Stewart’s directorial debut, adapted by her from the 2011 abuse memoir by Lidia Yuknavitch, is running a very high temperature, though never exactly collapsing into outright feverishness or torpor. It’s a poetry-slam of pain and autobiographical outrage, recounting a writer’s journey towards recovering the raw material of experience to be sifted and recycled into literary success.
The present day catastrophes of failed relationships, drink and drugs are counterpointed with Super-8 memories and epiphanies of childhood with extreme closeups on remembered details and wry, murmuring voiceovers. It borders on cliche a little, but there is compassion and storytelling ambition here.
Lidia herself, well played by Imogen Poots, is a young woman who was abused in her teenage years by her clenched and furious architect father (Michael Epp) – along with her sister (Thora Birch) who often sacrificed herself to their father’s loathsome attentions to divert him away from Lidia – and their mother went into depressive denial throughout.
Lidia throws herself into being a fanatically focused swim team champ which gets her a college scholarship that she messes up through booze and coke. The film shows how in the water she feels free; swimming laps against the clock gives her a purpose and an escape – a cancellation of identity.
But now Lidia has a terrible secret: it is not merely that she is an abuse survivor – she masturbates incessantly thinking about it, and utterly despises her weak-beta male boyfriend (Earl Cave) for being nice and gentle. (That, and being spanked by her swim coach, is also a complicating factor for her interest in BDSM.)
So when her artistic opportunity arrives, so does a toxic crisis of daddy issues. Her attempts at writing get her the chance to participate in an experimental collaborative novel being masterminded by the counterculture legend Ken Kesey (Jim Belushi) whose interest in her appears unsettlingly like her father’s. Is history repeating itself? Is degradation the price you pay for success in writing – or swimming – or anything? Her own writerly evolution is shown by the books she reads herself – Vita Sackville-West’s biography of Joan of Arc as a kid, William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury as a student, and then, as a young writer, Kathy Acker’s Empire of the Senseless.
These personal stories and their movie versions have been undermined recently by notorious fake memoirist JT LeRoy – whose alter ego Savannah Knoop was actually played by Kristen Stewart in a screen version of her troubled life.
But for all that, and some callow indie indulgences, this is an earnest and heartfelt piece of work, and Stewart has guided strong, intelligent performances.
Quarterback re-ups for $265m over five years, ESPN says
Purdy led 49ers to Super Bowl appearance in 2023
The San Francisco 49ers and quarterback Brock Purdy have agreed to a five-year, $265m contract extension, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Friday. The deal includes $181m in guaranteed money, solidifying Purdy’s role as the franchise quarterback moving forward.
Purdy, 25, was the final pick of the 2022 NFL draft – familiarly known as ‘Mr Irrelevant’ – but quickly defied expectations. After stepping in as the starter midway through his rookie season, Purdy led the 49ers to back-to-back playoff appearances, including a trip to the Super Bowl in February 2024. He was also named to the Pro Bowl and finished fourth in MVP voting that season.
Cannes film festival The U2 singer’s solo stage appearance sees him reflect on his anguished family past and have a decent go at being an ordinary Joe
The stadium-conquering rock superstar Bono finds a smaller arena than usual for this more intimate and much acclaimed “quarter-man” show, performed solo without his U2 bandmates Adam Clayton, David “The Edge” Evans and Larry Mullen Jr and filmed live on stage at New York’s Beacon theatre in 2023 by Andrew Dominik. It’s a confident, often engaging mix of music and no-frills theatrical performance, with Bono often coming across like some forgotten character that Samuel Beckett created but then suppressed due to undue levels of rock’n’roll pizzazz.
Bono delivers anecdotes from his autobiography Surrender, starting with his recent heart scare and going back to his Dublin childhood, his musical breakthrough to global fame, his post-Live Aid charity work on poverty and famine relief (though no discourse on the question of whether Live Aid was a good thing), and his religious faith which evidently morphed from a radical Christianity in his teen years to a more wide-embracing spirituality; it is all interspersed with “unplugged” versions of U2 standards accompanied by harp and cello.
In a cacophony of jubilant celebration, the sense of relief inside Stamford Bridge was overwhelming.
Just as Chelsea feared their Champions League dreams fading away, Marc Cucurella nodded the biggest goal of their season and a firecracker in west London ignited. So infectious was the joy that one home supporter even charged on to the pitch before the match was done. Call his solo pitch invasion passion or stupidity; it was just that kind of feeling.
Local, state and federal officials launch ‘full-scale’ search and warn people who escaped are ‘armed and dangerous’
Ten people in custody at the New Orleans jail, including a man convicted of four killings, escaped early on Friday morning.
The escapes prompted local, state and federal officials to launch a “full-scale search operation” for nine who remained at large early on Friday evening – and to warn community members to be on the lookout for “armed and dangerous” individuals.
Ange Postecoglou surely felt like crying but at the final whistle emotions appeared to be running highest for Emiliano Martínez. The Aston Villa goalkeeper was visibly moved as he waved to supporters upon leaving the pitch and was in tears as he headed down the tunnel. Afterwards Unai Emery, mindful of the power of those profitability and sustainability calculations, did not exactly extinguish suggestions this could have been Martínez’s final game at Villa Park.
Martínez played his part in a huge win for Villa in their attempt to qualify again for the Champions League, though they may still require favours. Emery checked his phone as he entered his post-match press conference to see confirmation of Chelsea’s win over Manchester United.
‘Big, gay’ mobile performance unit used for LGBTQ+ events was stolen last month from the Bearded Ladies Cabaret
Philadelphia’s LGBTQ+ community is rallying around an unusual cause: the search for the missing Beardmobile, described as a “big, gay mobile performance unit, glitterfully outfitted for socially distanced performances and political actions”.
The Beardmobile, a 14,000lb, custom-built performance truck decked out with a stage, sound system and pink eyelashes, was stolen from the parking lot of the Allens Lane Art Center in Mount Airy last month, Axios Philadelphia reported.
María Del Rosario Navarro, 39, accused of conspiring to provide material support to Jalisco New Generation cartel
A 39-year-old woman has become the first Mexican national to be indicted in the United States on charges of providing material support to a cartel designated as a foreign terrorist organization, according to the US Department of Justice.
Celebration of 250th anniversary, falling on Trump’s birthday, to also feature tanks and hundreds of vehicles
A major military parade to celebrate the US army’s 250th anniversary – which will also coincide with Donald Trump’s 79th birthday – could cost up to $45m and involve thousands of soldiers, hundreds of army vehicles and dozens of warplanes and battle tanks.
The 14 June parade in Washington DC will feature 6,600 soldiers, as well as 50 military aircraft and 150 vehicles, multiple US outlets reported, citing US army spokespeople.
Cannes film festival Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, Emma Stone and Austin Butler have little to work with in this disappointing dud from the Hereditary and Midsommar director
Ari Aster now worryingly creates a losing streak with this bafflingly dull movie, a laborious and weirdly self-important satire which makes a heavy, flavourless meal of some uninteresting and unoriginal thoughts – on the Covid lockdown, online conspiracy theories, social polarisation, Black Lives Matter, liberal-white privilege and guns.
The movie looks good, courtesy of Darius Khondji’s cinematography, but has nothing new or dramatically vital to say, and moreover manages the extraordinary achievement of making Emma Stone, Pedro Pascal and Joaquin Phoenix look like boring actors. This is by virtue of its moderate script and by the unvarying stolid pace over its hefty running time which might have suited a 12-episode streamer.
Eddington is a fictional small town in New Mexico in the US, bordering Native American territory; we join the story as the Covid lockdown begins (though Trump is oddly unmentioned in all the news programmes and viral TikToks everyone’s watching) and Mayor Ted Garcia (Pedro Pascal) and Sheriff Joe Cross (Joaquin Phoenix) are at loggerheads – interestingly taking opposite sides to their counterparts in Spielberg’s Jaws on the personal liberty issue.
Here, the mayor insists on restrictive mask-wearing and Sheriff Cross refuses to wear his and is resentful of the mayor supporting construction plans for a giant new “online server farm” – gobbling up resources and symbolically sowing discord via the internet – and this complicates existing tensions.
The mayor once had emotional history with Cross’s wife Louise (Emma Stone) who now suffers from hysteria and depression and whose mother Dawn (Deirdre O’Connell), now uncomfortably “bubbled up” with them in the family home, is a querulous conspiracy theorist and social media addict – although the problem of how to make these particular things funny or interesting is one the film never solves.
Garcia’s insufferable teen son Eric (Matt Gomez Hidaka) is dating social justice warrior Sarah (Amélie Hoeferle) who is cartoonishly convulsed with guilt at her white privilege and at having dumped Michael (Micheal Ward) because he is now a cop, working for Sheriff Cross, and a gun enthusiast – though he is a person of colour.
The atmosphere of feverish resentment and wholesale offence-taking worsens with the George Floyd outrage and Louise and her mom take an interest in charismatic cult leader Vernon Jefferson Peak (Austin Butler) who has recovered memories of child abuse and encourages his followers to do the same.
So Sheriff Cross fights back against everything by running for mayor himself and winds up encouraging the townsfolk to get their guns ready for the coming showdown.
“‘We will retain Amorim even if we do not win the Big Vase’ (more alarming when they play Spurs) is not a statement that boosts someone’s confidence, does it?” says Krishnamoorthy V. “What must one old Scot be thinking these days? Should he come back for an encore?”
He’s probably thinking: ‘You think this lot are bad, you should have seen my team in 1989-90.’ I can’t get away from the fact that, had modern values prevailed in the late 1980s, Alex Ferguson would have won precisely no trophies at Manchester United, and he’d probably still be plain old Alex Ferguson. We’ve all gone mad. I went mad in 2006 so I can’t really criticise anyone.
Jim on what the Spurs line-up tells us about next week’s final:
The front line for Spurs today is interesting. I think Tel may be playing as the striker with Son as a number 10. With Kulusevski out it’s not clear who will fill in for Madison on Wednesday, and any of Tel, Son, or Odobert could be auditioning for that role this evening.
Rashford will not be playing any part in Villa’s last two games this season, just like last season at VeryOld Trafford, but he remains a constant source of fascination for fans and neutrals, an enigma wrapped in clouds of doubt and uncertainty. If only he could deliver on the pitch as he has on the social level, let’s not forget, he shamed a government and became an overnight people-person. We all think of him as a 22-year-old with chin fuzz and great attitude, he’s nearly 28 and should be in the prime of his life, but here he is, struggling for identity, form and a club. We all want him to be brilliant/the new Harry Kane for England, but time may run out on the lad before he gets to realise his potential. Whatever, 3-0 Villa, despite their protests about the game brought forward …
UTV. Hear that Yara? Listen carefully …. Squeaky bum time. In a season of massive games for us this is yet another. Enjoy the match.
Rightwing lawmakers say president’s bill – centered on tax cuts and funding deportations – doesn’t make enough cuts
Rightwing lawmakers derailed Donald Trump’s signature legislation in the House of Representatives on Friday, preventing its passage through a key committee and throwing into question whether Republicans can coalesce around the massive bill.
The party has spent weeks negotiating a measure dubbed the “one big, beautiful bill” that would extend tax cuts enacted during Trump’s first term, fund mass deportations of undocumented immigrants, and temporarily make good on his campaign promise to end the taxation of tips and overtime. To offset its costs, Republicans have proposed cuts to the federal safety net, including Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Fifa president accompanied US president in Middle East
Human Rights Watch wants ‘meaningful accountability’
Gianni Infantino should account for his trip alongside Donald Trump to the Gulf this week and “detail precisely what it achieved for football and human rights”, according to a leading critic of Fifa’s governance.
Human Rights Watch says that Infantino’s trip, in which he accompanied the US president to Qatar and Saudi Arabia and missed a series of key meetings at Fifa’s annual congress, was indicative of the lack of “meaningful accountability” at the top of football’s global authority.
Europe and Kyiv are showing increasing deftness and coordination, but Mr Trump is an unfriendly audience
The first direct talks between Russia and Ukraine for three years should have been a momentous occasion. Since 2022, Russian war crimes have only deepened the chasm between them. Yet Donald Trump, who demanded this meeting, underlined that it was largely a charade when he told reporters: “Nothing’s going to happen until Putin and I get together.” It made plain that Russia felt no pressure to cooperate.
While difficult negotiations often begin on easier terrain, the agreement of a mass prisoner swap looked like a discrete achievement. The real significance of the Istanbul talks lay less in their substance than the messages sent by their existence and attendance list.
Commercial law firm was founded in Liverpool in 1810
Moyes says club must not leave community behind
Everton’s new home at Bramley-Moore dock will be known as Hill Dickinson Stadium, the club has announced, after a naming rights deal with the commercial law firm.
Everton have been seeking a naming rights partner for their £800m stadium for some time and had hoped to attract a blue-chip company to their impressive development on the banks of the Mersey. They have signed a long-term deal with Hill Dickinson, which was founded in Liverpool in 1810 and has expanded into Europe and Asia in recent years.
Tove Jansson’s magical stories provide a message of tolerance, inclusivity and hope amid today’s refugee crisis
All Moomin fans will recognise the turreted blue house that is home to the family of gentle, upright‑hippo‑like creatures. The stove-shaped tower is a symbol of comfort and welcome throughout the nine Moomin novels by the celebrated Nordic writer and artist Tove Jansson. Now the house is the inspiration for a series of art installations in UK cities, in collaboration with Refugee Week, to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the creation of the Moomins.
Taking the motto “The door is always open”, building will begin next week on a 12ft blue house outside London’s Southbank Centre, just a stone’s throw from Westminster. All of the installations, by artists from countries including Afghanistan, Syria and Romania, deal with displacement: in Bradford, the Palestinian artist Basel Zaraa has created a refugee tent in which to imagine life after occupation and war; in Gateshead, natural materials are being foraged to build To Own Both Nothing and the Whole World (a quote from Jansson’s philosophical character Snufkin); and a Moomin raft will launch from Gloucester Docks.
Latest twist in a contest between iPhone maker and Epic Games over payments for hit game on Apple devices
Epic Games says Fortnite is now unavailable on iPhones and iPads globally because Apple blocked a bid to release the popular video game in the App Store in the US and Europe.
“Apple has blocked our Fortnite submission so we cannot release to the US App Store or to the Epic Games Store for iOS in the European Union,” the X account for Fortnite posted early Friday – claiming that Apple’s move would now prevent the game’s iOS availability around the world.
Team principal Fred Vasseur talks of ‘extra pressure’ for Hamilton’s first grand prix in Italy for the Scuderia
On the short walk from the railway station in Imola to the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, the tree-lined streets, scattering dappled spring sunshine, throng with the faithful. They come adorned in the rosso corsa of the Scuderia, heading towards their first home race of the season and the long-awaited chance to see the seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton take to the track for the team they feel are their own.
The anticipation, building for more than a year, is palpable and the passion that comes with it all too striking – as Hamilton is more than aware.
Lawyers hired by Venezuela have been unable to confirm ‘proof of life’ for 252 migrants imprisoned in El Salvador
Lawyers for 252 Venezuelans deported by the Trump administration and imprisoned in El Salvador for two months have alleged that the migrants are victims of physical and emotional “torture”.
This week began with four European leaders, standing defiantly in Kyiv alongside Volodymyr Zelenskyy, issuing an ultimatum to Vladimir Putin: sign a ceasefire now, or together with Donald Trump we will force you to do so, with sanctions and other tough measures.
Over the subsequent days, there followed a series of offers, counter-offers, ultimatums and deflections, in a dizzying week of high-stakes diplomacy that often seemed to resemble a geopolitical poker game.
Hogg, a Florida activist, presses on importance of strong fighters in face of Trump for ‘isolated’ Democratic base
David Hogg believes the Democratic party not only needs better messengers – it needs stronger fighters.
“The base of the party, they just want us to do anything,” the 25-year-old Florida activist and Democratic National Committee (DNC) vice-chair said in an interview last week. “They feel alone, they feel isolated, they feel unheard, and they feel like they’re not being fought for.”
Objections raised to Rantzen’s accusation of ‘undeclared religious beliefs’ in five-hour Commons debate
MPs opposed to assisted dying have criticised “distasteful” claims from the prominent campaigner Esther Rantzen, who argued many are fighting against the changes to the law because of secret religious views.
Rantzen made the remarks in a letter urging MPs to back the “strong, safe, carefully considered bill” to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales.
Apart from agreeing to swap 1,000 prisoners each, Moscow sticks to maximalist demands in Istanbul
Russia and Ukraine have agreed to a large-scale prisoner exchange but failed to reach a breakthrough during their first direct peace talks since 2022, held in Istanbul without either Vladimir Putin or Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Sitting down under pressure from the US president, Donald Trump, Ukraine had pushed for a 30-day ceasefire before the talks. Moscow rejected this, appearing to stick to its maximalist demands, including sweeping restrictions on Ukrainian sovereignty.
Rebekah Shaman, of Protect Brockwell Park, took action against Lambeth council over number of large-scale events
A campaigner who argued that music festivals held in a south London park unfairly cut off large sections of the space and made it a “mud bath” has won a court case that could result in events being banned there this summer.
The Protect Brockwell Park (PBP) group, which includes the actor Mark Rylance, complained about walls being erected in the park, and noise and environmental damage, leading to a tense debate about the use of public space, nimbyism and the importance of summer cultural events.
The UK-EU summit on Monday is a “step towards” a deeper and ongoing partnership with Europe, the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has said, saying any deal struck next week will not be a “one off.”
In an interview with the Guardian, Reeves suggested the government was looking for closer ties with Europe beyond what was on the table this coming Monday, adding: “There will be future areas in which we can do more.”
No 3 seed masters windy conditions to win 6-3, 7-6
Alcaraz will face Jannik Sinner or Tommy Paul in final
Carlos Alcaraz will attempt to complete his set of clay-court Masters 1000 titles on Sunday after reaching the Italian Open final for the first time in his career with a demonstration of his improving discipline and consistency in windy conditions to defeat the home favourite and eighth seed Lorenzo Musetti 6-3, 7-6 (4).
Alcaraz is the fourth active player to reach the finals of all clay-court Masters 1000 tournaments, after Novak Djokovic, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Stan Wawrinka. Alcaraz, the reigning Roland Garros and Monte Carlo champion alongside his two previous Madrid Open titles, will contest his 25th career ATP final in Rome. He will either renew his rivalry with Jannik Sinner, the No 1, or face the 11th seed Tommy Paul in the final.
Trump’s justice department is considering a non-prosecution agreement, through which Boeing would not need to plead guilty
Boeing is set to avoid prosecution in a fraud case sparked by two fatal crashes of its bestselling 737 Max jet that killed 346 people, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The US Department of Justice is considering a non-prosecution agreement, relatives of the victims were told on Friday, through which the US aerospace giant would not be required to plead guilty.
As education secretary unveils £49m for school-based support and calls for ‘grit’, charity says many children have significant treatment needs
Ministers’ efforts to promote “grit” among children are no substitute for better funded mental health support in England’s schools, according to school leaders and experts.
Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, and Wes Streeting, the health secretary, claimed in an article for the Daily Telegraph that more mental health support teams (MHSTs) for schools would “not only halt the spiral towards crisis but cultivate much-needed grit among the next generation – essential for academic success and life beyond school, with all its ups and downs”.
Forward surprised and saddened by boos for teammate
‘He didn’t deserve that because he gave it all to the fans’
Mohamed Salah has criticised the “harsh” reception Trent Alexander-Arnold received at Anfield last Sunday and called for Liverpool fans to give the departing defender the sendoff 20 years of service deserves.
Salah admitted he was surprised and saddened by the boos Alexander-Arnold received from a large section of the Liverpool crowd before, during and after his substitute appearance against Arsenal. It was the 26-year-old’s first outing since announcing he would be leaving his boyhood club when his contract expires at the end of the season, with a free transfer to Real Madrid lined up.
Spanish rider wins stage seven after first summit finish
Roglic has pink jersey after late charge to take fourth spot
Primoz Roglic pulled on the pink jersey after stage seven of the Giro d’Italia but Juan Ayuso underlined his credentials as his main challenger by snatching victory in Tagliacozzo, in central Italy.
Ayuso (UAE-Team Emirates) had the power to break clear from a select group of favourites in the final few hundred metres of the 12km climb to the finish. His Mexican teammate Isaac Del Toro came second.
In this week’s newsletter: In retiring his messianic action hero schtick, a return to challenging, messy roles could lead to a late-era flowering of his career
Is Tom Cruise finally free? That’s what I asked myself, watching Hollywood’s last movie star cling to the undercarriage of a biplane like a sloth in the climactic scene of Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. Even by the standards of the long-running action franchise, this stunt – which sees Cruise’s character Ethan Hunt shimmy into the cockpit of one moving plane before wing-walking on to another, mid-flight – seems particularly masochistic: the crew were worried that he had passed out during its filming. What’s more, Cruise doesn’t even look particularly cool performing it: at one point the wind resistance plasters his hair into a Dumb and Dumber bowl-cut, jowls flapping about like a basset hound. You would have never caught Paul Newman committing such clownery. Surely Tom Cruise doesn’t have to do this sort of thing any more?
Cruise, who turns 63 in July, has been making Mission: Impossible films since Bill Clinton’s first presidential term. But The Final Reckoning, which arrives in UK cinemas on Wednesday, does seem to signal the end of something. Director Christopher McQuarrie has been at pains to frame it as the closing of an 18-hour, eight-movie chapter, a point bludgeoned home by the film itself via a plot that inelegantly tries to retrofit storylines from past instalments into some grand, planet-enveloping culmination. And while McQuarrie has been talking up the future of the franchise as a whole, and Cruise has been making optimistic noises about being AI ported, Harrison Ford-style, into future instalments, you have to assume that it won’t continue in its current form. It’s surely too big an operation, too taxing on its star, for business to continue as usual. Which is great news for anyone who would like to see Tom Cruise do something other than motorcycle off a cliff again and again; to see him, you know, act.
International criminal court confirms move after latest news reports about details of alleged sexual misconduct
The chief prosecutor of the international criminal court, Karim Khan, will take a leave of absence until an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct reaches a conclusion, the court has confirmed.
Staff in the ICC’s prosecution division were told on Friday that Khan would temporarily step aside until an external investigation examining the allegations against him was completed and court authorities could consider its findings.
Donald Trump accused the former FBI director James Comey on Friday of calling for his assassination in a coded social media post written in seashells.
Comey’s Instagram post – a photograph of seashells on a beach arranged to spell the numbers 8647, which he captioned “Cool shell formation on my beach walk” – was used by rightwing supporters of Trump to claim that it was a call to assassinate the US president. The Secret Service said it has launched an investigation.
The president’s Middle East tour made one thing clear – he will betray his one-time ally in a heartbeat. He is already doing it
It’s come to something when the Palestinians’ best hope for relief rests on a man who dreams of emptying Gaza of its people and turning the place into a beach resort. And yet the clearest, and perhaps only, way out of the current agony lies with Donald Trump – and his growing impatience with an ever-more isolated Israel.
If this were any of Trump’s predecessors, you would be hailing the past week as confirmation of a radical, even epochal shift in US foreign policy. But because it’s Trump, you can’t be sure it’s not a passing whim that will be undone in another equally drastic shift a matter of weeks, or even hours, from now.
Change of culture came under fire amid mid-season slump but blend of youth and experience proved unstoppable
Way after midnight and visiting hours had long since finished but they had only just got started and they weren’t going to leave the patient with appendicitis lying there alone, not at a time like this. So Pedri González, Dani Olmo, Iñigo Martínez and Eric García rented four city bikes and cycled up Avinguda Diagonal in the dark. They had been out to Cornella and come back with the league, double done. They had gone to the training ground at Sant Joan Despí, belting through Bad Moon Rising from the balcony with the fans below. Now they were heading to the hospital to share the moment with Ferran Torres, recently out of emergency surgery and watching from the ward as he became a champion like them.
At the end of the game that finally won the title, a campaign concluded with victories over Real Madrid first and Espanyol four days later, just about as good as it gets, the first thing Hansi Flick was asked was what he was most proud of. “Pfff,” the coach replied. “I don’t think we have time for this …” There was so much, which is why there was a long pause before he finally said: “The most important thing is you feel like a family. The atmosphere in the dressing room is so great; I’ve never seen this before. They really take care of each other.” And which was why when he was asked whose league this was – Lamine Yamal’s? His – he replied: “Barcelona’s. This is not about one guy.”
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