‘They Come for the Club’: Man City’s Guardiola Downplays Influence in Haaland Signing

Football - Bundesliga - Borussia Dortmund vs. Hertha BSC - Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund, Germany - May 14, 2022 Borussia Dortmund's Erling Braut Haaland says goodbye to the fans before playing his last match. (Reuters)
Football - Bundesliga - Borussia Dortmund vs. Hertha BSC - Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund, Germany - May 14, 2022 Borussia Dortmund's Erling Braut Haaland says goodbye to the fans before playing his last match. (Reuters)
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‘They Come for the Club’: Man City’s Guardiola Downplays Influence in Haaland Signing

Football - Bundesliga - Borussia Dortmund vs. Hertha BSC - Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund, Germany - May 14, 2022 Borussia Dortmund's Erling Braut Haaland says goodbye to the fans before playing his last match. (Reuters)
Football - Bundesliga - Borussia Dortmund vs. Hertha BSC - Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund, Germany - May 14, 2022 Borussia Dortmund's Erling Braut Haaland says goodbye to the fans before playing his last match. (Reuters)

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola played down his influence in bringing Norwegian striker Erling Haaland to the club and said the team's project was attractive enough to lure top players to the Premier League champions.

City struck a deal with Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund for Haaland earlier this week, with the 21-year-old set to move to the Etihad Stadium at the end of the season.

Guardiola, who coached Barcelona and Bayern Munich to multiple trophies before switching to City, has been cited as a key figure in helping these clubs sign marquee players in the past.

"The players who come here don't come to play for me, they come to play in this league and for this club," Guardiola told reporters ahead of Sunday's league game at West Ham United.

"It's so important the people, the way we play, the team we are, the city, where we are in the league, how we are expected to play in the Champions League the next seasons. Many things are involved."

Guardiola pointed to the examples of former players Sergio Aguero, David Silva and Vincent Kompany, who stayed for a decade and enjoyed great success under different managers.

"People come not just for a month or a year ... what we do is make them feel happy in the city, in the locker room, playing in the Premier League and many things. After that, who knows what will happen. But this is the idea," he said.

With four points required off their last two games, City are within touching distance of a fourth league title in five years but Guardiola added that they were taking it one game at a time.

"We mathematically need four points but we are going to play to win the first one ... it's West Ham, West Ham and West Ham. Not the future, not anything else. The present is the most important."



‘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.