After learning of his father’s death on the morning of the clásico , the manager watched his players respond with devotion that underlined the culture he has built Early on Sunday morning Hansi Flick got a call from his mum telling him that his father had died overnight. Hansi Sr was 82 and he had been ill for some time. The day that Barcelona were going to win the league again, the first clásico back at Camp Nou , had just begun and their coach was not sure what to do, yet he also knew. “I [thought]: ‘should I hide it or should I speak with my team, because for me it is like a family?’,” he said. “I said ‘OK, I want to get the information to my players, and what they did is unbelievable. I will never forget this moment.” None of them would. Barcelona’s players had arrived at the Torre Melina hotel on the Diagonal at midday, where the man many of them consider a father told them about his. Now it was close to midnight and together they celebrated a title that was his too. For the firs...
Critics question former German chancellor’s suitability, while others think Europe should seize every chance for peace. What we know on day 1,538 German officials have reacted cautiously to Vladimir Putin’s surprise suggestion that former German chancellor Gerhard Schröder could act as a mediator in Ukraine war peace talks , saying they had “taken note” of Putin’s comments but viewed them as part of “a series of bogus offers” from Russia, government sources told Agency-France Presse. One source said a real test of Moscow’s intentions would be to extend the current three-day truce . Schröder, 82, has remained close to Putin long after leaving office , standing apart from most western leaders since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 . He previously held key roles in Russian energy projects, including work on the Nord Stream gas pipelines and a seat on the board of Russian oil firm Rosneft, which he gave up in 2022. Putin on Saturday said he thinks the Ukraine war is winding down and he nom...