Man Utd Not Afraid of City’s Dominance, Says Dalot 

Football - Premier League - Brighton & Hove Albion v Manchester United - The American Express Community Stadium, Brighton, Britain - May 19, 2024 Manchester United's Diogo Dalot celebrates after the match. (Reuters)
Football - Premier League - Brighton & Hove Albion v Manchester United - The American Express Community Stadium, Brighton, Britain - May 19, 2024 Manchester United's Diogo Dalot celebrates after the match. (Reuters)
TT

Man Utd Not Afraid of City’s Dominance, Says Dalot 

Football - Premier League - Brighton & Hove Albion v Manchester United - The American Express Community Stadium, Brighton, Britain - May 19, 2024 Manchester United's Diogo Dalot celebrates after the match. (Reuters)
Football - Premier League - Brighton & Hove Albion v Manchester United - The American Express Community Stadium, Brighton, Britain - May 19, 2024 Manchester United's Diogo Dalot celebrates after the match. (Reuters)

Manchester United are not afraid of Manchester City's dominance and will leverage their underdog status in their bid to lift the FA Cup, defender Diogo Dalot said ahead of Saturday's final at Wembley.

Local rivals City and United have had contrasting seasons, with City being crowned Premier League champions for the fourth time in a row and United ending their campaign in eighth place, their worst-ever finish of the Premier League era.

"City dominated so much the last few years, they created this fear factor," Dalot told the Mirror in an interview published on Thursday.

"But when you're playing United against City, I don't believe they come in with the idea that we fear them. They know that we're going to want to win that game, so they're going to be at their best level - and we have to be at our best level."

United have one victory in their last five FA Cup final appearances, a 2-1 win over Crystal Palace in extra time in 2016. They were beaten 2-1 by City in last year's final.

Asked about City being the favorites in the final, Dalot said: "For me personally, it gives me more energy. You shouldn't be the underdog when you're at Manchester United.

"We want to be the team in the future that everyone thinks is going to win automatically."



‘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)
TT

‘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.