Van Gaal tips Giggs as his successor

Cardiff City have announced that chief executive Simon Lim has resigned from his post.

Lim, who replaced Alan Whiteley as chief executive in 2012 and briefly took over as acting chairman from Dato Chan Tien Ghee the following year, oversaw Cardiff s promotion to the Premier League.

However, following an immediate return to the Championship, Lim has ended his association with the club, with chairman Mehmet Dalman assuming his responsibilities.

Cardiff also have appointed Ken Choo to the role of general manager.

Lim said in a statement on the club s official website: It s with great pride that I held the office at Cardiff City, but feel now is the right time to move on, allowing the club time to make adjustments over the summer before another important season.

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Brereton finished the match with 18 successful passes out of 20 attempted (90 per cent), three shots on target, one chance created and having scored the winner.

Vargas, who laid off the pass for Brereton s goal, added: We get along well with Ben. We don t know his language, he doesn t know how to speak Spanish either, but we understand each other very well on the pitch.

Brereton posted on Instagram in Spanish after the game, writing: Great job everyone. I m very happy for today s game. We will continue working hard!

The adoration has been widespread, with former Chile international Mauricio Pinilla tweeting: My next son will be called Ben!

90% Ben Brereton finished the match with 18 successful passes out of 20 attempted (90%), three shots on target, on…

Manchester United showed it will take much more than one pre-season to become a force again as Erik ten Hag s era as manager began with a chastening 2-1 home defeat by Brighton and Hove Albion.

The atmosphere at United seemed to improve over pre-season, but their performance on Sunday was little better than the underwhelming football regularly served up under Ralf Rangnick.

United struggled to cope with Brighton s fluidity and the visitors deservedly found themselves two up at half-time as Pascal Gross – twice the scorer of winning goals against the Red Devils – netted a brace.

Cristiano Ronaldo – benched due to a lack of fitness – made a difference in the second half and a scrappy Alexis Mac Allister own goal halved the deficit, but Brighton held on for …

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers is not embarrassed by suffering a 1-0 defeat to Lincoln Red Imps in his first competitive game in charge of the club.

The start of Rodgers reign was marked by immediate disappointment with Celtic beaten in the first leg of their Champions League second qualifying round tie by the part-time side from Gibraltar.

Leigh Griffiths rattled the crossbar twice after Lee Casciaro put Lincoln ahead early in the second half, but the Scottish champions were unable to find an equaliser on Tuesday.

Rodgers lamented Celtic s lacklustre finishing but insisted there was no humiliation in the defeat, looking to the second leg in Glasgow next week as a chance to put it right.

We ve given ourselves a bit of work to do. I saw enough from the g…

Real Madrid lifted the European Cup for the 11th time on Saturday as Cristiano Ronaldo s penalty earned a shoot-out win over a heartbroken Atletico Madrid following a thrilling 1-1 draw.

Here, we look back at the day leading up to a memorable Champions League final at San Siro.

CLARENCE CLAMS UP

A four-time Champions League winner, and the only man to lift the famous trophy with three different teams, Clarence Seedorf has been there, seen it, and won it.

In an exclusive interview with Omnisport on the morning of the final, Seedorf waxed lyrical over Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldo.

But he was less forthcoming on other subjects – potential Euro 2016 winners: I don t have a clue , Louis van Gaal: I can t really comment on that , and Carlo …

Borussia Dortmund midfielder Ilkay Guendogan wants to move to the English Premier League or La Liga in future.

The Germany international has been in fine form this season and was linked with Barcelona and other clubs earlier this year.

But he had earlier told Sport Bild that he was 100 per cent sure he would remain with the club next season.

The 22-year-old is keen to negotiate a new contract with the incredible Bundesliga outfit, but said it was his dream to make a switch to England or Spain further into his career.

My objective is to play in Spain or England, Guendogan told AS.

Without a doubt I am happy here, but I have a plan for my career. I don t know what will happen in the future, but what I do know is I desire to play in one of these …

FC Seoul maintained the pressure on K-League leaders Jeonbuk Motors with an emphatic 6-0 win over Busan I Park.

Seoul, the 2010 champions, are pushing to secure automatic qualification for next season s AFC Champions League and remain in second place following their impressive display against seventh-placed Busan.

Jeju United were also 6-0 winners over the weekend, outplaying mid-table Chunnam at home.

Jeonbuk accounted for Gangwon 2-1, while Ulsan moved into third after defeating Gwangju by the same score.

Ulsan s victory saw Suwon drop down to fourth after the Bluewings could only draw 0-0 away to Daegu.

In other matches, Pohang Steelers defeated Incheon United 2-1 and Daejeon Citizen played out a 2-2 draw with Sangju Sangmu in a battle betw…

Paris Saint-Germain expect Neymar to recover in four weeks after the Brazil star suffered an ankle injury on international duty.

Neymar was ruled out of the Copa America with a ligament rupture in his right ankle sustained during Wednesday s 2-0 friendly win over Qatar.

The 27-year-old left the ground in tears as he was carried down the tunnel in the first half before the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) confirmed the PSG forward s absence from the Copa America, which gets underway on June 14.

PSG reassessed Neymar and the Ligue 1 champions said he will not require surgery after being diagnosed by the club s doctors.

Medical update

— Paris Saint-Germain (@PSG_English)

On Saturday 8 June, Paris Saint-Germain s first team doctor,…

Inter managed to keep the pressure on Serie A pacesetters Milan with a sixth successive league win in their 2-1 victory over Spezia on Sunday.

Antonio Conte s men were by no means impressive at San Siro as they initially struggled to break down the away side, but in the end goals from Achraf Hakimi and Romelu Lukaku were enough to keep them a point behind city rivals Milan.

Inter had scored 30 goals in their first 12 Serie A matches of the season for only the ninth time in their history, but there was no sign of such potency during a drab first half that saw the Nerazzurri fail to exert any real control over their promoted visitors.

They briefly clicked into gear early in the second period and that brought Hakimi s opener before Lukaku doubled the lead from the s…

Crystal Palace boss Alan Pardew wants to manage England, but does not believe now is the right time to take the role as he has penned a new deal at Selhurst Park. 

After Roy Hodgson resigned following the Euro 2016 exit at the hands of Iceland, Pardew was initially considered as one of the primary English candidates for the position.

The 54-year-old guided Palace to their best finish of 10th in the 2014-15 Premier League and, although they came 15th last season, the London club were runners-up in the FA Cup in May.

Pardew wants to manage England in the future, but his immediate ambition is to help Palace improve next season.

I want to be the England manager. It is a job I aspire to and it is an ambition of mine. But not now, he wrote in the Daily Mail.<…