Chelsea’s head coach admits first season ‘not perfect’ while Manchester United’s Marc Skinner wants ‘something special’ from defending champions

After 465 matches and 2,445 goals, a record 514 clubs have been whittled down to two. On Sunday Manchester United and Chelsea will face each other in the Women’s FA Cup final for a second time.

Chelsea won 1-0 in 2023 to deny United in what was their maiden FA Cup final appearance, something Marc Skinner’s side avenged last season by beating the Blues in the semi-finals to limit Emma Hayes’ final season trophy haul to one. United went on to beat Tottenham 4-0 in the final to secure their first major trophy following promotion from the Championship. Now they have a chance to demonstrate exactly how far they have come, as they bid to retain their crown against a domestically unbeaten Chelsea looking to land a treble.

Opinionated football journalist, who has died aged 93, loved the sport but detested much about the modern game

Brian Glanville, who has died aged 93 , was what Groucho Marx might have been had the old master of the one-liner shown any interest in football. I doubt if the greatest soccer scribbler of them all – the London-born son of a Dublin dentist and an Old Carthusian expensively educated in literature and song – met Groucho (Brian knew a host of famous people), but their exchanges would surely have blistered the paint off the walls.

Nobody swore so elegantly as Glanville, who hovered in the press box like Banquo’s ghost, the gathering’s invisible conscience, ready to deliver a scathing observation, relayed, sotto voce , to a nearby colleague like a chorus baritone in one of his favourite operas.

• McLaren’s Oscar Piastri pips Max Verstappen by 0.034sec
• Yuki Tsunoda walks away after Red Bull flips in crash

Oscar Piastri claimed pole position for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix with a superb lap for McLaren at Imola during a session marked by two huge accidents involving Yuki Tsunoda and Franco Colapinto and by a shock early exit for both the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton at their home race.

Piastri beat Red Bull’s Max Verstappen into second place by just 0.034sec in what was a closely-fought qualifying session at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari. Mercedes’ George Russell was in third, Piastri’s McLaren teammate Lando Norris was fourth and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso fifth.

• Australian escapes for remarkable solo win
• Diego Ulissi ousts Primoz Roglic from maglia rosa

Luke Plapp of Jayco Alula won stage eight of the Giro d’Italia on Saturday with a formidable solo effort to clinch victory on the 197km ride from Giulianova to Castelraimondo.

After nearly 20 riders formed a breakaway group with 100km to go, Plapp attacked the Montelago climb and did not look back as he rode to victory with no chaser in sight.

Full report to follow shortly

• Dortmund pip Freiburg by beating Holstein Kiel 3-0
• Mainz reach Conference League ahead of Leipzig

Borussia Dortmund cruised past relegated Holstein Kiel 3-0 to finish fourth and snatch the last Champions League spot for next season, in the best comeback of the last seven matchdays in Bundesliga history. Niko Kovac’s Dortmund won six of their last seven matches to climb from 10th to fourth in the standings and finish on 57 points, two ahead of Freiburg , who lost 3-1 at home to third-placed Eintracht Frankfurt and drop into the Europa League.

Dortmund, needing a three-goal win to be guaranteed a top-four finish irrespective of results in the other games, got off to a dream start when Serhou Guirassy converted a third-minute penalty for the lead. Kiel were then left with 10 players when Carl Johansson was sent off with a straight red card but the hosts could not make the extra man count until the break.

This story will be updated

Libertarian far-right Sławomir Mentzen and hard-left Adrian Zandberg among challengers as country prepares to vote in presidential election

Hidden off a charming market square in central Poland, a bar offers the closest physical experience to walking into the internet.

Stretching incongruously through medieval basements, Pub Mentzen in Toruń feels like it was designed by someone on a full-fat diet of online politics. As you enter, a gallery wall displays mugshots of “customers we don’t serve”, but instead of rowdy patrons, it features Polish political leaders, including at least five prime ministers.

Interview by special counsel shows then president having problems remembering key dates and life events

A newly released recording appears to confirm that Joe Biden suffered some memory lapses while US president, struggling to recall the year his son died or when Donald Trump was first elected.

While being interviewed by a special counsel over his handling of classified records, the audio shows Biden’s response is marked by long pauses, a faint whispered voice and confusion over key dates, such as when his son Beau died (2015) or when Trump won his first presidency (2016).

Rate-setters would fuel growth by clarifying policy and bringing rates low enough to boost growth

How can the Bank of England avoid being a loyal and trusted friend to Nigel Farage? That’s easy. It could say the cost of borrowing will tumble over the next year, step by certain step, until it settles at a level that is low enough to boost growth.

Each cut in interest rates from today’s 4.25% to 3%, or even better 2.5%, would be used by businesses to boost production, make crucial investments or pay down debts, making them more financially secure.