World Sports News in Brief

Bournemouth take narrow lead over Brentford in playoff semi-final

Arnaut Danjuma’s second-half goal earned Bournemouth a narrow 1-0 advantage over Brentford in the first leg of their Championship promotion playoff semi-final on Monday (May 17).

Soccer Football - Championship - Play-Off Semi Final First Leg - AFC Bournemouth v Brentford - Vitality Stadium, Bournemouth, Britain - May 17, 2021 AFC Bournemouth's Arnaut Danjuma scores their first goal. (Photo: Action Images via Reuters)
Soccer Football - Championship - Play-Off Semi Final First Leg - AFC Bournemouth v Brentford - Vitality Stadium, Bournemouth, Britain - May 17, 2021 AFC Bournemouth's Arnaut Danjuma scores their first goal. (Photo: Action Images via Reuters)

A curling strike from Andre Ayew late in the first half sealed a 1-0 win for Swansea City at Barnsley as fourth met fifth in the other semi-final first leg tie.

* Italy manager Roberto Mancini has named uncapped 21-year-old Sassuolo striker Giacomo Raspadori in a 33-man preliminary squad for Euro 2020. The Azzurri squad will have to be cut down to 26 players before June 1 but before then they have a friendly match against San Marino in Cagliari on May 28.

* Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane has informed the Premier League club of his desire to leave this summer, with the England international looking to resolve his future before next month's European Championship, Sky Sports reported on Monday.

* The Italian Football Federation has approved a request from Italy’s top-flight soccer league Serie A to push back the deadline for the payment of March salaries by a month due to the financial consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.

* Julian Draxler has signed a three-year contract extension with Paris St Germain, the French club announced on Monday. The 27-year-old joined PSG from Wolfsburg in January 2017 and was approaching the final month of his deal before reaching a new agreement until June 30 2024.

* Portugal's football league has scrapped plans to welcome fans back into stadiums for the final round of fixtures on Wednesday.

* Title-chasing Real Madrid will be without midfielder Toni Kroos for their must-win match against Villarreal on the final day of the Liga season after the German tested positive for COVID-19. The club announced that Kroos returned a positive test on Monday, having missed Sunday's win at Athletic Club after coming into direct contact with someone who contracted the virus.

* Slovakia's Peter Sagan finished off the job done by his Bora-Hansgrohe team as he claimed victory in the 10th stage of the Giro d'Italia on Monday. The triple world champion outsprinted Colombian Fernando Gaviria at the end of a 139-km ride from L'Aquila to Foligno after his team's acceleration on a climb had shaken off some of the top contenders for the final sprint.

* Italy manager Roberto Mancini has signed a contract extension that will keep him in charge until June 2026, the country's football federation president Gabriele Gravina said on Monday. Mancini's original contract was set to expire after the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and the new deal will see him stay on until the 2026 edition.

* Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne has returned to training for the Premier League champions after recovering from a muscle injury that sidelined the Belgian for their last two games, manager Pep Guardiola said on Monday. De Bruyne did not feature in City's league defeat by Chelsea and Friday's 4-3 win at Newcastle United but he is available for selection as Guardiola looks to assess his match fitness ahead of the May 29 Champions League final against Chelsea.

* Germany's Marc-Andre ter Stegen will miss next month's European Championship after the Barcelona goalkeeper said on Monday he needed to undergo a procedure on his knee. The 29-year-old played the full 90 minutes in Sunday's 2-1 home defeat by Celta Vigo which ended Barcelona's La Liga title challenge with one game left in the season.

* Leicester City defender Jonny Evans will miss Tuesday's Premier League trip to Chelsea due to foot injury, manager Brendan Rodgers has said. Evans was forced off in the first half of Leicester's 1-0 victory over Chelsea in the FA Cup final on Saturday, and Rodgers is hoping to have the experienced centre half back for the final day of the Premier League season on Sunday.

Reuters