Gvardiol Proving His Worth After Early Struggles, Says Guardiola 

Football - Premier League - Fulham v Manchester City - Craven Cottage, London, Britain - May 11, 2024 Manchester City's Josko Gvardiol celebrates scoring their third goal with Phil Foden. (Reuters)
Football - Premier League - Fulham v Manchester City - Craven Cottage, London, Britain - May 11, 2024 Manchester City's Josko Gvardiol celebrates scoring their third goal with Phil Foden. (Reuters)
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Gvardiol Proving His Worth After Early Struggles, Says Guardiola 

Football - Premier League - Fulham v Manchester City - Craven Cottage, London, Britain - May 11, 2024 Manchester City's Josko Gvardiol celebrates scoring their third goal with Phil Foden. (Reuters)
Football - Premier League - Fulham v Manchester City - Craven Cottage, London, Britain - May 11, 2024 Manchester City's Josko Gvardiol celebrates scoring their third goal with Phil Foden. (Reuters)

Manchester City defender Josko Gvardiol struggled to find his feet at the Premier League club but is now growing in confidence after his goal-scoring exploits in the title run-in, manager Pep Guardiola said.

The 22-year-old left back joined the treble winners from German club RB Leipzig in August, signing a five-year deal for a reported fee of 90 million euros ($97 million).

The Croatian international, who had not scored in his previous 32 appearances for City, has now netted five times in his last seven matches to help his side's push towards a record fourth successive title.

"There is an aspect in football and in life and that is confidence, confidence when you do things and it's game time, a lot of games and talking about the not proper things that you do and the good things," Guardiola told reporters after Saturday's 4-0 thrashing of Fulham.

"And you cannot forget it is his first Premier League season... so it is not easy to handle it and he struggled in the beginning a little bit, because he came into a team who had just won the treble and he was a little bit shy.

"He signed for many, many years and he has proved to himself that he can do it and play with us."

Guardiola gave his players three days off after their 5-1 home win over Wolverhampton Wanderers this month.

"On the first day, he (Gvardiol) went into the training center to make a recovery, so his focus is football and he wants to be better and better and when this happens, you have something special on your hands," the Spaniard said.

City, second in the table with 85 points and one behind Arsenal who have played a game more, travel to fifth-placed Tottenham Hotspur on Tuesday.



‘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.