Sport News

It is the single most lucrative game in sport. Aston Villa and Derby County head to Wembley Stadium for the Championship play-off final full of hope but also fear of missing the £170million carrot available to the victor.  Forget the Superbowl (£4.9m) or the Champions League final (£16.7m), the Championship finale is 90 minutes that can transform the fortunes of a side in an instant.   

Manchester United fans could not stop gushing with praise for former star David Beckham, as the club legend made his Old Trafford return against Bayern Munich legends. Beckham was one of several returning big names for the showpiece event, which saw a reunion of the historic Treble winning side of 1999. The game itself was a re-run of the famous Champions League final which United won in Barcelona, and Beckham put it a performance which led many fans to suggest he could still get in the team today.

JEFF POWELL (inset, left) recalls the time he took legendary manager Bill Shankly (inset, right) to see Liverpool win the European Cup final for the first time. Shankly had not been invited to the game against Borussia Monchengladbach by his former side after falling out with the board. But Sportsmail's reporter Jeff Powell invited him along and was with him at the Stadio Olimpico as Liverpool lifted the trophy.

Sergio Perez revealed that he nearly killed two marshals at the Monaco Grand Prix. The Mexican emerged from his pit stop during the early safety car phase and was accelerating towards the first corner, Sainte Devote, when the track officials ran in front of his Racing Point car. One marshal scurried inside the barriers in the nick of time while the second stopped and Perez thankfully managed to go between the pair without injuries.

ATALANTA 3-1 SASSUOLO: Atalanta will be playing in the Champions League next season after securing a top four finish on the final day of the season. After a strong finish to the campaign, which included a recent draw away to leage champions Juventus, Atalanta came from behind to defeat Sassuolo and take a European spot at the expense of giants AC Milan. Domenico Berardi scored early for the visitors, but Atalanta kept focused and were handed the advantage after Berardi went from hero to villain and got himself sent off.

SAMPDORIA 2-0 JUVENTUS: Late goals from Gregoire Defrel and Gianluca Caprari gave mid-table Sampdoria a 2-0 win over Serie A champions Juventus on Sunday as coach Massimiliano Allegri's five-year reign with the Turin side ended in defeat. Defrel collected a pass from Manolo Gabbiandini and, despite being surrounded by three defenders, scored with a scuffed shot in the 81st minute before Caprari curled in an exquisite free kick in stoppage time.

The stars of Bayern Munich took to the centre of their historic city on Sunday afternoon to parade the silverware amassed over yet another successful season. Bayern finished the campaign by pulling off a domestic double with the Bundesliga title and the German DFB Pokal cup. After a season-long battle against rivals Borussia Dortmund the Bavarians emerged on top, and the afternoon was spent both relishing the season while also saying farewell to two teary club legends.

MATTHEW LAMBERT AT ROLAND GARROS: After three years away, the Roger Federer show is back in town, and if the Swiss is pleased to be back in Paris, Paris is ecstatic to have him back. The 37-year-old walked out to a standing ovation and chants of 'Roger…Roger…Roger'. As he warmed up, every stroke was greeted with 'allez'.. His won the first point of the match with a lucky net cord, which was greeted with the rich applause that would normally accompany a winner.

Lewis Hamilton claimed his third victory at the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday, battling hard to hold off fierce competition and extend his championship lead. Hamilton finished ahead of Sebastian Vettel in second and Valtteri Bottas in third, while Max Verstappen came fourth after receiving a costly five-second penalty on the Monte Carlo track. If you didn't manage to follow the action from a jam-packed Grand Prix, then don't fear as Sportsmail are on hand to let you know of the big incidents you may have missed.

Neymar and his Brazilian team-mates were pictured being put through their paces as they enjoyed the best of the weather at their Granja Comary training base on the weekend. Tite's star-studded squad, which consists of the likes of Gabriel Jesus and Fernandinho as well as Neymar, appeared in high spirits during the intense session in the sunny conditions.

Arsenal have undergone their first training session in Baku after arriving in the city five days prior to their Europa League final with London rivals Chelsea.   Unai Emery's side take on the Blues in Azerbaijan at the Baku Olympic Stadium on Wednesday, needing victory to secure Champions League football next season. And his men looked focused on the task at hand as they got to work at the Bakcell Arena on Sunday morning.

Kawhi Leonard had 27 points and 17 rebounds to lead the Toronto Raptors into the NBA Finals for the first time with a 100-94 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday night. The Raptors overcame a 15-point deficit to win the series in six games and will host the Golden State Warriors in Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday night. Pascal Siakam scored 18 points, Kyle Lowry had 17 and Fred VanVleet 14 for the Raptors, who used a 26-3 run late in the third quarter and early in the fourth to turn the game in their favor.

JOE BERNSTEIN: Sir Alex Ferguson will wave and smile as he makes an emotional return to the Old Trafford dug-out on Sunday afternoon for a match to mark the 20th anniversary of his finest hour as Manchester United manager — the 1999 Champions League final victory against Bayern Munich which completed a historic Treble. But behind the backslaps and bonhomie, those closest to arguably the greatest figure ever seen in British football will know the 77-year-old's appearance will be tinged with sadness and a sense of hurt that the club he helped to establish no longer calls on his counsel. The general perception is that after six years of decline since Ferguson's retirement in 2013, Manchester United's decision to appoint '99 hero Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as manager had the hand of Fergie all over it, and that the knight of the realm is once again a strategic player at Old Trafford.