Manchester United target Julian Ryerson can leave Borussia Dortmund — and more

Following Borussia Dortmund’s elimination from the UEFA Champions League, it could leave the Black-Yellows with a shortfall of up to €27m, according to Bild, who add that Julian Ryerson would be allowed to leave the club for a reported €30m.

The Norwegian has been in excellent form this campaign with 14 assists in 32 games across all competitions, which has attracted interest from Manchester United, Newcastle United and Barcelona.

Only Bayern Munich stars Michael Olise (18) and Luis Diaz (13) have more Bundesliga assists than Ryerson (11) this term. The 28-year-old’s four assists against Mainz in February is only the fourth time a player has done so since detailed data collection began in 2004/05.

Additionally, Bild further report that Nico Schlotterbeck, Serhou Guirassy and Felix Nmecha are also candidates to leave, should they receive a suitable offer, as Sebastian Kehl and Lars Ricken look to overhaul the squad ahead of next season, with Kauã Prates and Justin Lerma, both 17, joining Die Schwarzgelben in the summer.

GGFN | Daniel Pinder

The Australians are setting their sights high after qualifying for the quarterfinals for the first time in their history during the 2023 WBC.

The EuroLeague Women play-ins concluded this week with a pair of deciding games, officially setting the stage for next month’s Final Six.

With Galatasaray Çağdaş Faktoring and Umana Reyer Venezia winning their respective best-of-three play-in series, the bracket for the Final Six is complete, though we’ll have to wait until April 15 for the action to resume.

On Tuesday, we saw a dominant performance from Galatasaray, who crushed Basket Landes on the boards and in the paint in a convincing win. Meanwhile, Venezia defeated fellow Italian club Beretta Famila Schio, earning their first-ever Final Six appearance and eliminating Schio from the competition.

Now that the field for the Final Six is set, let’s recap what happened in the final play-in games and how Galatasaray and Venezia advanced.

Galatasaray Çağdaş Faktoring pounds Basket Landes on the boards to advance to the semifinals 

Landes has made a name for themselves this season by exceeding expectations and making some improbable comebacks, and there was no better example of that than in the first game of their play-in series against Galatasaray. Galatasaray led by 19 points in the fourth quarter, yet Landes stormed back, forcing overtime before eventually falling in the final period. They then handled Galatasaray somewhat easily in the second game, forcing this week’s decider in Istanbul.

Simply put, Galatasaray was not about to suffer another letdown. The Turkish club got out to an early lead and extended it to as many as 25 points in the second half, and this time, Landes had no hope of coming back. Galatasaray took full advantage of its size in the frontcourt, pulling down a whopping 59 rebounds (21 offensive) and outscoring Landes in the paint 36-18. As usual, the play of Awak Kuier (17 points) and Dorka Juhász (nine rebounds and three blocks) stood out, though it was veteran guard Teja Oblak who stood out the most, recording an efficient 16 points, five rebounds and four assists.

Galatasaray’s 67-51 victory will send them to the Final Six semifinals, where they’ll face the winner of Landes and Casademont Zaragoza. While it’s entirely possible Landes comes out on top in that game and we get a rematch of this series, they’ll have to be more consistent offensively; shooting 28.1 percent from the field as they did in this game will obviously not get it done, especially against the tournament hosts.

Umana Reyer Venezia clinches Final Six berth with win over Beretta Famila Schio

Tuesday’s other game between Venezia and Schio was played under a bit more pressure. Being the deciding game of a quarterfinal play-in series, it was quite literally win-or-go-home. Whereas Landes can take solace in the fact that they’ll still be participating in the Final Six, the loser of this game would be eliminated from the competition entirely.

As it turned out, Venezia was the club that met the moment—again. After a strong performance last week to even the series at a game apiece, Venezia once again outplayed their Italian rivals. It was far from an offensive showcase, with both teams shooting under 34 percent from the field, but Venezia won on several margins, making eight 3-pointers to Schio’s four and taking significantly better care of the basketball (13 turnovers) than their opponents (20 turnovers).

No, it wasn’t the prettiest game ever played, but in a do-or-die matchup, only the final result matters. As tepid as the 62-51 final score may seem, Venezia was clearly the better team, leading Schio for over 31 minutes. And while Schio held a slight edge in rebounding (40-36), only Jessica Shepard reached double-figure scoring; the selfless, efficient offense that had made Schio a sleeper pick for a Final Six run went cold at the worst possible time, and it cost them a trip to the playoffs.

Venezia, meanwhile, will advance to the first round (quarterfinals) of the Final Six, where they’ll face Spar Girona. Girona lost their play-in series to Fenerbahçe Opet two games to none, though they’re still a dangerous team, as evidenced by their 8-4 record in group play.