United ‘Not Favorites’ for Top Four Spot, Says Rangnick

Football - Premier League - Manchester United v Leicester City - Old Trafford, Manchester, Britain - April 2, 2022 Manchester United interim manager Ralf Rangnick. (Reuters)
Football - Premier League - Manchester United v Leicester City - Old Trafford, Manchester, Britain - April 2, 2022 Manchester United interim manager Ralf Rangnick. (Reuters)
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United ‘Not Favorites’ for Top Four Spot, Says Rangnick

Football - Premier League - Manchester United v Leicester City - Old Trafford, Manchester, Britain - April 2, 2022 Manchester United interim manager Ralf Rangnick. (Reuters)
Football - Premier League - Manchester United v Leicester City - Old Trafford, Manchester, Britain - April 2, 2022 Manchester United interim manager Ralf Rangnick. (Reuters)

Manchester United interim manager Ralf Rangnick said they are "not favorites" to finish in the Premier League's top four after slipping to seventh with a 1-1 draw against Leicester City.

The Old Trafford club are three points outside the top four with eight games left.

"It doesn't help at all to look at the table every weekend and speculate and anticipate what might happen, how many points might we need," Rangnick told reporters. "Right now we are not the favorites, for sure, for number four.

"I'm not a fortune teller, so I don't know where Manchester United will be next season. For us, it's my job, our job ... to finish the season on the highest and best possible note."

United play at Everton on Saturday and Rangnick said getting the three points was their only focus.

"The season is not over. We still have another eight games to play and I think then it's time to draw the right conclusions and take the right decisions for next season," he added.

"Right now, it's about how can we possibly get three points against Everton."



‘Flooding Rains’ Threaten to Dampen Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony

Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)
Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)
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‘Flooding Rains’ Threaten to Dampen Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony

Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)
Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)

The Paris Olympics look likely to get off to a soggy start.

Meteo-France, the French weather service, is predicting “flooding rains” Friday evening when the opening ceremony is set to unroll along the Seine River. But the show is set to go on as planned, starting at 1:30 p.m. EDT/7:30 p.m. CEST and should last more than three hours.

Already in the late afternoon, skies were gray with intermittent drizzle. There was a silver lining, though, with temperatures expected to stay relatively warm throughout the evening.

Instead of a traditional march into a stadium, about 6,800 athletes will parade on more than 90 boats on the Seine River for 6 kilometers (3.7 miles). Though 10,700 athletes are expected to compete at these Olympics, hundreds of soccer players are based outside Paris, surfers are in Tahiti and many have yet to arrive for their events in the second week, organizers said Thursday.

Hundreds of thousands of people, including 320,000 paying and invited ticket-holders, are expected to line the Seine’s banks as athletes are paraded along the river on boats.