CNN
 — 

In 2013, a 14-year-old Alex Fitzpatrick caddied his older brother Matt to victory at the US Amateur Championship in Brookline, a win that secured the champion an exemption for the following year’s US Open.

The rest is history: Matt Fizpatrick would return to the same site in 2022 to clinch the major, announcing his arrival as England’s premier golfing talent.

Now, the world No. 8 has the chance to return a favor to his younger sibling.

On Thursday, the Fitzpatrick brothers will pair for the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, a PGA Tour event that will see 80 two-player teams battle it out at TPC Louisiana for a split of the $2,398,000 winner’s purse.

The triumphant pair on Sunday will also receive a two-year exemption on the PGA Tour. Though not a motivation for the field’s elite names like Fitzpatrick, for his 24-year-old younger brother – ranked 705th in the world and forging his path on the Challenge Tour – it could be life-changing.

“That would be incredible for him, there’s no doubt about that,” Fitzpatrick told CNN Sport’s Don Riddell.

“We know what’s at stake and we know what possibilities there are if he does well and, hopefully, we can do that.”

A few months after Fitzpatrick’s dramatic US Open triumph, he found himself pitted in the same field as his younger sibling at the Italian Open in Rome.

After the second round, the junior Fitzpatrick led the major champion in average driving distance by 0.36 yards – a slender gap, yes, but enough to warrant a jab via text. The reply – shared via Fitzpatrick’s Instagram – showed a screenshot of the US Open winner’s name atop the leaderboard, with his brother’s tied-18th position included for good measure.

Yet beneath the cheap shots, it’s all brotherly love, and the pair gel well on the course despite contrasting styles.

“Our games are pretty opposite,” the elder Fitzpatrick said. “I’m a good driver, he’s a good iron player. He’s a good short game and I’m a good putter.

“He wants to do as well as he can, of course he does, but for me his path is probably going to be a little bit different than mine. The golf world is very different from when I started to when he’s playing now so he’s going to focus on the Challenge Tour probably, he’s excited for that.

“Hopefully, he can follow in my footsteps.”

They will be some tough footsteps to follow.

Triumph at the RBC Heritage on Sunday, sealed with a dramatic playoff win over three-time major champion Jordan Spieth, penned the latest glorious chapter in what has been an outstanding few years for Fitzpatrick.

The fact that the victory came at Hilton Head, a long-time holiday destination for the family from Sheffield, made it even more special, as the 28-year-old realized a childhood dream of lifting silverware on the Harbour Town course.

“Moments like that, you wish time travel was real and you could go back and say, ‘This is what’s going happen in a few years,’” he said.

“I would have been amazed, it was always one that I wanted to win and it was very special to do it.”

And as if winning couldn’t have been any sweeter, it arrived in the face of overwhelmingly one-sided crowd support for home hero Spieth, with ‘U-S-A’ chants soundtracking much of the deciding playoff holes.

Spieth gestured to fans for quiet, but Fitzpatrick relished his leading role as a villain.

“It was great … I definitely enjoyed being in it,” he said.

“I wouldn’t say I’ve played in that atmosphere too often, but it’s certainly nice to perform under that pressure and I think that’s what made it mean so much as well.”

Fitzpatrick is looking forward to a role reversal of crowd bias when Italy hosts the Ryder Cup for the first time in September.

Rome’s Marco Simone Golf and Country Club will be the stage for what Team Europe hopes will be a decisive rebound after a bruising defeat at the hands of their American rivals at Whistling Straits in 2021.

Fitzpatrick, a member of that team and the similarly defeated 2016 roster, is yet to win a singles match at the biennial tournament but would touch down in Rome a far more accomplished player should he be selected.

“I’d really like to be one of the top players that week and play really well,” he said.

“I’m just excited for that opportunity and I think that’s what’s really important is to first make the team, and then look forward to it, enjoy it, and go out there and try to win some points for Europe.”

His other main aim for 2023 is to add another major to his trophy cabinet, no easy feat with the caliber of names chasing the same goal.

A tied-10th finish at The Masters signaled a strong start to the major season for the Englishman, who finished eight strokes adrift of dominant winner Jon Rahm.

The Spaniard’s second major title consolidated his reputation alongside Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy in the so-called ‘big-three’ atop the rankings. Yet Fitzpatrick – dubbed the hardest-working golfer on the PGA Tour – has no intention of accepting his place in the food chain.

“I don’t wanna just sit back and be like, ‘They’re all too good for me and I’m just happy with where I am.’ That’s not me as a person,” Fitzpatrick said.

“I’m constantly looking at ways to improve and get better, and that’s what’s really important is to keep pushing myself and try and catch them up.”

CNN
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A Syrian who arrived in Germany as a refugee in 2015 has won a mayoral election in the southwestern German state of Baden-Württemberg.

Ryyan Alshebl, who left his hometown of As Suwayda in Syria eight years ago, ran as an independent in the municipality of Ostelsheim. He won 55.41% of the votes on Sunday, beating two German candidates, Marco Strauss and Mathias Fey.

Locals cheered the 29-year-old when he welcomed his win, a victory he described as “sensational,” German local broadcaster SWR reported Monday.

“Today, Ostelsheim sent an example for broad-mindedness and cosmopolitanism for the whole of Germany,” he said, according to to German public broadcaster ZDF. “That’s not something that can be taken for granted in a conservative, rural area.”

Alshebl’s first call after his victory was to his mother in Syria, who was thrilled with the news, SWR reported.

The Association of Municipalities of Baden-Württemberg said Alshebl is the first man with Syrian roots to run for and win a mayor’s office. He will start his role in June.

Ostelsheim residents have welcomed their incoming mayor. “The fairy tale has come true, and the right man has become our mayor,” Annette Keck, who lives in the village, told SWR.

Strauss, one of his opponents, congratulated Alshebl. “I wish you good luck and at the same time ask for support for Mr. Alshebl, for our shared Ostelsheim,” he said on Facebook.

The state’s Integration Minister Manne Lucha said that Alshebl’s victory showed that diversity is a natural part of Baden-Württemberg. “I would be very pleased if Ryyan Alshebl’s election encourages more people with a migration history to run for political office,” he said.

Not everyone has been so warm to the 29-year-old. ZDF reported the Syrian received hateful comments on the campaign trail.

The young politician went from house to house, promoting his election program, and “the experiences were predominantly positive,” but there was also a minority of far-right fringe voters in Ostelsheim that did not want to accept him due to his Syrian roots, Alshebl told ZDF.

Born to a schoolteacher and agricultural engineer in Syria, Alshebl described his life as carefree until the age of 20, according to his campaign website.

At the time, protests against the Syrian government that began in 2011 soon devolved into chaotic war. The fighting and later rise of ISIS forced 10.6 million people from home by late 2015 – about half of Syria’s pre-war population.

Alshebl faced the dilemma of being drafted for military service with the Syrian army or leaving the country, according to his website.

While many Syrians were displaced internally or fled to countries in the region, others like Alshebl made the dangerous journey to Europe. He was 21 years old at the time, and said he crossed from Turkey to the Greek island of Lesbos in a rubber dinghy.

Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel had implemented a brief open-door policy in 2015 that saw the country take in about 1.2 million asylum seekers in the following years, including Alshebl.

The move sparked a backlash in Germany and the sudden growth of the far-right, anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) in the wake of summer 2015.

Once in Germany, Alshebl lived close to Ostelsheim and said at the time he felt “there is only one thing you can do: get back on your feet quickly and start investing in your own future quickly.”

For the last seven years he worked in the administration of Althengstett town hall, in a neighboring town. He drew from his experience, he said in his campaign, and made digital access to to public administration services one of priorities. Flexible childcare and climate protections are also on his agenda.

Alshebl, who is a member of the Green Party and now has German citizenship, pledged during his campaign that once elected as mayor he would move to Ostelsheim.

CNN
 — 

Lionel Messi celebrated his return to Paris Saint-Germain with a goal in his first game back since lifting the World Cup.

The 35-year-old only returned to training in the new year after taking some time off to celebrate and recuperate after Qatar 2022, where he finally won the trophy that had always eluded him in one of the greatest finals ever.

But the forward didn’t look to be suffering any hangover as he returned to action with a goal from close range in PSG’s 2-0 win against Angers on Wednesday.

Messi also paid tribute to Pelé before the match, joining his teammates in wearing a t-shirt with the Brazilian’s face on it during the warmup.

PSG sits comfortably top of the league despite Christophe Galtier having to switch up his team as he eases players back in after the World Cup.

Kylian Mbappé, a beaten finalist in Qatar, was rested for Wednesday’s match, allowing the likes of youngster Hugo Ekitiké to get some game time.

The 20-year-old forward has impressed when given the chance this season and opened the scoring with a sweeping finish in the first half.

Messi, who dovetailed the attack alongside Neymar Jr., then doubled the lead in the 72nd minute after a well timed run and right foot finish.

The linesman had initially flagged for offside, but the Virtual Assistant Referee (VAR) overruled the call and the goal was given.

The win on Messi’s return is some welcome good news for PSG, who lost in the league for the first time this season last week, 3-1 away to Lens.

“Yes, it was very important to get back to winning ways. We have rivals who are pushing hard,” Galtier told PSGTV after the game.

“We knew that we were going to have a difficult match because Angers is a team that plays good football and poses big problems on a tactical level.

“I also insist on the fact that the situation – post-World Cup – means that we have had a lot of players absent, that the group was very scattered and that, little by little, everyone is coming back and reconnecting.”

PSG, which is six points clear atop the table, plays Rennes in its next game on Sunday.

CNN
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Four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel will remain in Formula One after signing a deal with the Racing Point team, which will rebrand itself as Aston Martin from next season.

There had been some doubt as to whether the German would continue in F1 after Ferrari announced in May that McLaren’s Carlos Sainz would be taking his seat.

However, Sergio Perez announced on Wednesday that he would be leaving Racing Point at the end of the current season, despite having a deal until 2022, opening up a space on the grid.

“I’m extremely proud to say that I will become an Aston Martin driver in 2021,” Vettel said in a statement. “It’s a new adventure for me with a truly legendary car company. I have been impressed with the results the team has achieved this year and I believe the future looks even brighter.

“The energy and commitment of Lawrence [Stroll, Racing Point part-owner] to the sport is inspiring and I believe we can build something very special together.

READ: Ferrari records worst home qualifying performance since 1984

“I still have so much love for Formula 1 and my only motivation is to race at the front of the grid. To do so with Aston Martin will be a huge privilege.”

Vettel won four consecutive world titles with Red Bull between 2010 and 2013, but his driving has been plagued by errors in recent times. In 2018, several mistakes in the second half of the season saw Vettel squander the championship lead and Ferrari’s chance of a first world title since 2007.

The 33-year-old was signed by Ferrari with the aim of ending that championship drought, but the emergence of exciting young driver Charles Leclerc eventually meant Vettel was no longer considered the number one driver.

Vettel is 13th in the drivers’ standings, having recorded just 16 points so far this season, and sits 29 points behind teammate Leclerc.

READ:Ferrari implodes as Leclerc and Vettel collide

However, in terms of victories, Vettel is the third most successful in the sport’s history, behind only Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton,

Racing Point said the Vettel deal “is a clear statement of the team’s ambition to establish itself as one of the most competitive names in the sport.”

“Everybody at Silverstone is hugely excited by this news,” Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer said in a statement. “Sebastian is a proven champion and brings a winning mentality that matches our own ambitions for the future as Aston Martin F1 Team.

“On a Saturday or Sunday afternoon, Sebastian is one of the best in the world, and I can’t think of a better driver to help take us into this new era. He will play a significant role in taking this team to the next level.”

CNN
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Lyon stunned Manchester City on Saturday to qualify for the semifinals of the Champions League, winning 3-1.

The French side made the perfect start, stifling Manchester City’s attacking play and eventually taking the lead after 24 minutes thanks to Maxwel Cornet’s inventive finish from just outside the box.

In the second half, the English side cranked up the pressure, and the pressure eventually told, as Kevin de Bruyne coolly slotted home to level the score before substitute Moussa Dembélé scored two goals to see Lyon through.

Lyon will face Bayern Munich in the semifinal on Wednesday, after the German side advanced to the semifinals on Friday, dispatching Barcelona 8-2.

For the first time since 1990/91, and for the first time in the Champions League era, the semifinal stage will not feature any team from England, Spain or Italy. For the first time in Champions League history, it will feature two teams representing France.

Belgian midfielder de Bruyne said that following another heartbreaking exit from the competition, it is “not good enough.”

“It’s definitely the same stuff. I think the first half wasn’t good enough,” he told BT Sport after the game. “I think we know that.

“We started slow, we had not many options. I think second half, we played really well. We came back 1-1, had a couple of chances and then obviously the 2-1, and then the 3-1 ends the game. It’s a shame for us to go in that way.

“The game was open but they didn’t really create except the two goal chances. Yeah, we need to learn. It’s not good enough.”

READ: ‘The club needs changes’ Changes on the horizon for Barcelona following Champions League humiliation

With its star players and a big name manager, Manchester City were overwhelmingly favored to beat Lyon.

But the French side had showed its resilience in its second leg against Juventus in the previous round, managing to edge past Cristiano Ronaldo and company despite having almost five months without football.

And its sturdiness was put to the test from kickoff. Manchester City dominated possession from the first whistle, but failed to create any golden opportunities.

And eventually Lyon’s ability to counterattack produced the game’s first goal. A ball played behind the City defence for Karl Toko Ekambi to run on to eventually fell to Maxwel Cornet and, with City keeper Ederson out of his goal, Cornet threaded a magnificent curling shot into the near post from about 20 yards.

The rest of the first half played out just as Lyon and manager Rudi Garcia would have planned. Manchester City dominated possession without creating too many clear-cut chances while Pep Guardiola’s team looked susceptible on the break.

After the half-time break, the game opened up and following an attacking substitution by Guardiola, City began to create chances at will.

And eventually the pressure told, as some nice footwork by England international Raheem Sterling freed him up to lay it back for de Bruyne to finish.

It looked like there would only be one winner. However, Lyon’s own super-sub Dembélé thought differently, latching on to a through ball near half-way and finishing under Ederson. A nervy video assistant referee check followed but after a few minutes of waiting, the goal was given.

Although City was behind, it created the better chances and the best of which fell to Sterling. Some clever dribbling and a cross from Gabriel Jesus left Sterling with an open goal from just five yards out, but he sent ball skyward and over the goal.

And the miss proved costly. Just 59 seconds later, Lyon had scored again, Dembélé pouncing on a poor save from Ederson to send the French club into the final four for the first time in nearly 10 years.

The result means that during Guardiola’s time at the club, Manchester City has failed to make it past the quarterfinal stage of the Champions League.

Despite thinking that his side played well for the majority of the game, Guardiola lamented Manchester City’s inability to play without errors in the Champions League.

“One day we will break this gap of the quarterfinals,” he told BT Sport after the game. “Except the first 25 minutes where we struggled to find out spaces to attack them more fluidly, the players, they play free.”

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“And the last 15 minutes of the first half was good. The second half was OK, we were there. I had the feeling we were better, but you have to be perfect in this competition in one game and we weren’t.”

The 2019-20 Champions League semifinals will see two French teams and two German teams compete for a place in the final; the first time since 2012-13 that there are just two different nations represented at this stage.

CNN
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When dreams clash with reality; when life reaches a daunting crossroads; when we must decide whether to be or make history.

Right now Neymar is at the crossroads.

A 21st century football brand fueled by endless promise; a nouveau-riche social, commercial and cultural phenomena; a superstar who’s no stranger to the scrutiny of the public eye.

Yet when it comes to the bright lights of European football’s biggest stage – the Champions League – he’s trapped in a perpetual cycle of repetition.

A one-time winner, yes – but for some ably assisted by his supremely skilled South American counterparts – Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez – in the once famed ‘MSN’ triumvirate at Barcelona.

On two occasions misfortune has conspired to subvert the Brazilian prodigy’s chances of grabbing the competition by the scruff of the neck in the red and blue colors of Paris Saint-Germain.

So here we are in 2020. Is it third time lucky? Is this Neymar’s moment of truth?

Three games now stand between the ‘Red Pill’ of European enlightenment or the ‘Blue Pill’ of another footnote in the 28-year-old’s lengthening Wikipedia page.

“This is the year that he can really redeem himself […] These three games can change everything […] I don’t believe he’s going to have another opportunity like this one,” Brazilian football journalist Fernando Kallás tells CNN Sport.

Since planting their flag in the cobbled Parisians streets in June 2011, PSG’s Qatari investors have made no secret of their ultimate goal – continental supremacy.

Domestically it’s been an era defined by unrelenting dominance. Seven top-flight league titles and five French cups, including four trebles in six seasons.

But if Europe is a combination lock, they’ve been interminably searching for the locksmith with the elusive key. Seven times they’ve tried and failed to crack the complex code – each failure more painful and bitter than the last.

“A specific timeline was set and once you get past that timeline each season it goes on it seems like PSG are getting further and further away so there’s a weight of history that’s bearing down,” explains French football expert Jonathan Johnson.

The world record signing of Neymar from Barcelona in August 2017 – for a still mind-bending $263 million – was intended to deliver that knight in shining armor.

No longer the back-up singer to Messi and Suarez but now the leading performer with a license to thrill and become the best in the world.

For some it was a game-changer; for Kallás it remains “the biggest mistake in the history of sports.”

READ: How billionaire owners changed European football

Reflecting this past week on the three-year anniversary of his move, the striker wrote that “(these) came with a lot of knowledge. I’ve lived times of joy and some complicated ones.”

His bond with supporters in the city of love has undulated its way through the full gamut of Facebook relationship statuses: From ‘Married’ to ‘Separated’ to ‘It’s complicated.’

All with the allure of a former lover in Catalonia lingering in the background.

A long drawn-out, but ultimately unsuccessful, serenade last summer to woo the Brazilian back to the Camp Nou brought simmering tensions in Paris to the boil.

The love-hate dynamic around the polarizing figure was perhaps best encapsulated in the superstar’s first league appearance of the 2019-20 season.

Relentlessly booed for 90 minutes before delivering a sublime match-winning bicycle kick at the very death – half the naysayers enraptured; the other half enraged.

Kallás paints a picture of jury similarly split down the middle along generational lines in Brazil – the young pretenders who adore “the image, the smile, the tattoos” contrasted with the old guard who are “really concerned about him.”

The Cold War in Paris has since thawed, along with the realization that going back to the future is – for now – not an imminent prospect.

“He has shown on the pitch and off it that he’s committed to the project […] He really has to embrace the challenge of being a PSG player and achieving something, notably in the Champions League, in Paris,” says Johnson.

Whilst a new leaf may have been turned on the pitch, questions remain off it.

Neymar’s personal life has – at times – borne the hallmarks of a gripping telenovela – filled with intrigue, and all supported by an ensembled entourage.

Last year he was cleared of wrongdoing after a Brazilian model accused the former Brazil captain of rape and assault.

This year he was forced to miss a league match through injury – two days after hosting a lavish birthday party in a Paris nightclub.

Those willing him on to succeed despair: Will the boy ever become a man?

“In Brazil we have an expression that says that he (Neymar) is an endless promise […] That he is “Menino Neymar” (“Baby Neymar”) – He’s not a boy […] He needs to be in reality […] He has to grow up,” says Kallás, who has followed the Brazilian’s trials and tribulations on and off the pitch.

“When he’s on the pitch he delivers […] I have never, never heard one complaint from a coach or another player about his attitude in training, in the locker-room.”

And for all the goals, assists and silverware to date, history and biology have dealt the twinkle-toed star a cruel hand – starving him of the opportunity to have his say at the business end of European football’s elite club competition.

Curtailed seasons in 2018 and 2019 due to injuries coincided with dramatic exists for PSG from the round of 16 stage at the hands of Real Madrid and Manchester United, respectively.

“That’s what makes the remainder of this campaign so important and why he’ll be under such close scrutiny,” says Johnson.

The Covid-19 pandemic has significantly – and perhaps favorably for PSG – changed the dynamic for the finale of this year’s tournament.

Gone are the two-legged knockout affairs from the quarterfinal stages onwards, replaced instead by single-leg shoot outs – all within the bubble of Lisbon.

Without the departed sharpshooter Edinson Cavani and the recently sidelined Kylian Mbappé, the floor is Neymar’s.

First the surprise package of Atalanta awaits in the quarterfinals; Then a potential clash with the battle hardened Atlético Madrid in the semifinals and, after that, who knows in a winner-takes-all final.

Whilst progress in the competition would – according to Johnson – “really give the (Qatari) project the shot in the arm that it’s needed after a few years of massive disappointment,” for Kallás, this month could be the beginning of a career defining two years for the individual at the heart of the narrative.

With the Brazilian’s contract set to expire in 2022 and a World Cup in Qatar that same year, which is likely to be his last in a Brazil jersey, it’s quite simply “make or break.”

“We always say ‘This is going to be the year. No – This is going to be the year. No – This is going to be the year’ […] He’s 28-years-old, he should be in the peak of his career but he’s not […] It’s his last chance.”

The telenovela has had its unforeseen plot twists, its moments of madness and its bursts of brilliance. Now it’s in the hands of its lead protagonist to script its showpiece ending.