Man United Starts League Cup Defense. Barcelona Visits Mallorca 

Football - Premier League - Burnley v Manchester United - Turf Moor, Burnley, Britain - September 23, 2023 Manchester United's Bruno Fernandes reacts. (Reuters)
Football - Premier League - Burnley v Manchester United - Turf Moor, Burnley, Britain - September 23, 2023 Manchester United's Bruno Fernandes reacts. (Reuters)
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Man United Starts League Cup Defense. Barcelona Visits Mallorca 

Football - Premier League - Burnley v Manchester United - Turf Moor, Burnley, Britain - September 23, 2023 Manchester United's Bruno Fernandes reacts. (Reuters)
Football - Premier League - Burnley v Manchester United - Turf Moor, Burnley, Britain - September 23, 2023 Manchester United's Bruno Fernandes reacts. (Reuters)

A look at what’s happening in European football on Tuesday:

ENGLAND

Defending champion Manchester United looks to avoid another early-season setback when it hosts Crystal Palace in the third round of the League Cup. It’s the only all-Premier League clash among Tuesday’s games, with Wolverhampton visiting Ipswich and Burnley traveling to League Two side Salford City.

United also faces Palace at home in the league on Saturday, and manager Erik ten Hag will have to decide how heavily to rotate for a competition that provided him with his first title at the club last season. United is already nine points behind Premier League leader Manchester City, and the League Cup may be Ten Hag’s best chance for silverware again.

SPAIN

Barcelona visits Mallorca looking to extend its winning streak in the Spanish league to six matches. The defending champion sits at the top of the standings with 16 points, tied with fellow Catalan club Girona, which visits Villarreal on Wednesday. Mallorca has only one win and sits near the relegation zone. Sevilla, behind Mallorca in the table and also with only one win, hosts last-place Almeria, the only team yet to win a league game this season.

ITALY

Juventus aims to bounce back from its first defeat of the season with a win over visiting Lecce, which is the only side still undefeated after five games of the Italian league along with Inter Milan. Three glaring errors ensured Juventus slumped to a 4-2 defeat at struggling Sassuolo on Saturday, while Lecce moved a point ahead of the “Old Lady” in Serie A with a 1-0 win at home over Genoa the day before.

GERMANY

After hammering Bochum 7-0 in the Bundesliga at the weekend, Bayern Munich begins its German Cup campaign with a visit to third-division team Preussen Münster. Bayern is bidding to reach the final for the first time since 2020. “It’s clear that we’re the favorite, we’ve nothing to gain,” Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel said Monday. “The opponent has nothing to lose and it’s the typical cup constellation. Still, we’re obligated to win. We want to get to Berlin, we want to be in the final.”

Dutch defender Matthijs de Ligt is out after taking a blow to his knee, but Raphaël Guerreiro could make his first Bayern appearance since switching from Borussia Dortmund in the offseason. Israeli goalkeeper Daniel Peretz is also set to make his Bayern debut.



Paris 2024 Opening Ceremony: Saudi Team Highlights Cultural Heritage

Saudi athletes wave their country’s flag during the opening parade. (Saudi Olympic Committee)
Saudi athletes wave their country’s flag during the opening parade. (Saudi Olympic Committee)
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Paris 2024 Opening Ceremony: Saudi Team Highlights Cultural Heritage

Saudi athletes wave their country’s flag during the opening parade. (Saudi Olympic Committee)
Saudi athletes wave their country’s flag during the opening parade. (Saudi Olympic Committee)

Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal, Chairman of the Saudi Olympic and Paralympic Committee, and his deputy, Prince Fahd bin Jalawi bin Abdulaziz, attended the opening ceremony of the 33rd Olympic Games in Paris.

Held outside the traditional stadiums for the first time in history, the ceremony featured a parade of the 206 participating countries on 100 boats traveling approximately 6 kilometers along the Seine River.

The Saudi show jumping team player, Ramzy Al-Duhami, and his colleague, the Saudi Taekwondo champion Dunya Aboutaleb, raised the Saudi flag at the opening of the world’s largest sporting event.

Al-Duhami expressed his pride in raising the Kingdom’s flag alongside his teammate, noting that it was a dream for any Saudi citizen. He wished success for the Saudi athletes in representing Saudi sports with distinction.

Aboutaleb, in turn, said he was honored to carry the Kingdom’s flag at the Olympic Games, stating: “I aspire to perform at a level that reflects the support and attention given to sports in the Kingdom.”

The Saudi athletes’ uniform was admired by the international media and the audience, who applauded the players the moment their boat appeared on the Seine River.

The designs for the opening ceremony were chosen through a national competition organized by the Saudi Arabian Olympic and Paralympic Committee, with the participation of designers from across the Kingdom.

Out of 128 competing designers, the chosen uniform by Saudi designer Alia Al-Salmi featured traditional men’s thobes and bishts and brightly patterned thobe al-nashal for women, symbolizing the athletes’ pride in their homeland and cultural roots.

Mashael Al-Ayed, 17, will be the first Saudi athlete to compete, taking to the pool for the 200 meters freestyle swimming event on July 28. Al-Ayed is the first female swimmer to represent Saudi Arabia at the Olympics.