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Napheesa Collier signs supermax contract to return to the Lynx

Vincent Kompany has led Bayern Munich to the Champions League semi-finals, showcasing his coaching prowess after transitioning from Burnley. The team is now focused on their upcoming matches against Paris Saint-Germain.
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If you thought that was good, wait until you have done it at Ewood Park. While everyone else struggled to compose themselves after watching a modern classic unfold between Bayern Munich and Real Madrid, it was Vincent Kompany who supplied the cooling balm. He had just taken Bayern back to the Champions League semi-finals in scintillating fashion, another feat to justify the decision to take him from Burnley two years ago. Not many managers have breathed such rarefied air within days of turning 40. For Kompany, though, it sat snugly alongside the snappy Lancashire climate.
âI remember we beat Blackburn twice with Burnley,â he said, having been asked whether Wednesday night marked a crowning achievement in his coaching career. âNobody in this room will want to compare it with the game today, but it was amazing. I experienced so much as a player and that was incredible. For Bayern this game is an amazing feeling, but I donât think you wait for Real Madrid to say âThis is the bestâ. You have to get it from other things as well.â
In fairness the second of those victories against Blackburn, 1-0 on their rivalsâ turf, gave Burnley the Championship title in 2022-23. Nobody needs a nuanced understanding of internecine disputes in the north-west to grasp the emotion associated with that. Kompany also referenced defeating Standard LiĂšge while in charge of Anderlecht and the point was simple enough: everything, no matter what, means the most when you are immersed in it.
It is an attitude that should help ground Bayern, free-scoring and fizzing with confidence, when they approach their tantalising double header with Paris Saint-Germain. There had been signs Real were flagging in the 20 minutes before Luis DĂaz and Michael Olise, with stunning displays of initiative, left the visitors rueing Eduardo Camavingaâs needless red card. Perhaps Bayern, with their added depth and physicality, would have seen the task through in extra time regardless. But ultimately they won because, in the style of their manager, they were capable of blocking out distractions and operating with a clarity Real could not match.
âWe didnât get frustrated with some of the decisions we were not happy about in the first half,â Kompany said, presumably referring to the free-kick from which Arda Guler scored Realâs second goal, and an alleged foul on Josip Stanisic in the buildup to Kylian MbappĂ©âs third. He was booked for his own protests about the latter but Bayern gathered themselves. âWe stayed focused on our game. That was a good part of the game management in the second half from us.â
Compare that with the speed at which Real, for whom there is never a failing too intrinsic to lay at someone elseâs door, fell apart. Even before Camavingaâs dismissal, they had begun to fray. Antonio RĂŒdiger resembled a coiled spring from the moment he engaged in an unseemly confrontation with Stanisic before half-time, appearing to shout in his face and prompting the Bayern player to suggest he had been insulted. âMaybe heâs man enough to admit everything,â Stanisic said. Realâs post-match hounding of the referee, Slavko Vincic, culminating in a red card for Guler, did a gross disservice to the best footballing spectacle Europe has seen all season.
Vincent Kompany successfully guided Bayern Munich to the Champions League semi-finals, demonstrating his effective management skills.
Bayern Munich is set to face Paris Saint-Germain in a crucial double header in the Champions League.
Before joining Bayern Munich, Kompany led Burnley to a Championship title and had notable successes with Anderlecht.
Bayern's recent victory over Real Madrid in the Champions League quarter-finals marked a significant achievement for the team and Kompany's coaching career.

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Michael Olise and Luis DĂaz made the difference with late goals to edge Bayern Munich past Real Madrid in a classic. Photograph: Christina Pahnke/sampics/Getty Images
After the match there was some sympathy, even on Bayernâs side, for Camavinga. The visitorsâ unconfirmed suspicion, with which Stanisic concurred, was that Vincic was temporarily unaware he had already booked the substitute. Perhaps he would otherwise have looked more leniently on Camavingaâs daft delaying of a Bayern free-kick. But Camavinga had, unlike Bayern, wandered from the job: he had let silliness interfere with the simple act of playing football, placing his own destiny and that of his team in a third partyâs hands.
By contrast Bayernâs relentlessness, embodied by the dizzying shifts put in by DĂaz and Olise on the wings, spoke of steely focus. It is no fluke that they have already broken the record for Bundesliga goals scored in a season. Kompany has bred a side that refuses to call time once the scoreline begins to widen and it has equipped them to persist when the going is tougher. DĂazâs shooting boots had been absent before his slightly deflected goal but he ran Realâs right side into the ground; the brilliant Olise had been coming closer and closer from his perch on Bayernâs right, each near miss simply breeding resolve to go again.
Kompany would expect nothing else whether in Blackburn, Brussels or Bremen. It will be the competitionâs showpiece occasion of the year when Bayern and PSG face off; a de facto final unless Arsenal or AtlĂ©tico Madrid discover hitherto uncharted dimensions.
On the face of things, a sodden skirmish in Englandâs second tier may hold less appeal than the chance to salute Oliseâs rare blend of grace and power. It was a less celebrated winger, Manuel Benson, who scored the decider in that confirmation of Burnleyâs first place. Three years later Kompany stands on the verge of continental supremacy but, for him and this edition of Bayern, all successes are created equally.