Spain playmaker Dani Olmo to join Barcelona from Leipzig

Spain’s Dani Olmo celebrates near the trophy after winning the Euro 2024 final against England at Berlin Olympiastadion, Berlin, on Jul. 14, 2024. (Reuters/File)
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Updated 09 August 2024
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Spain playmaker Dani Olmo to join Barcelona from Leipzig

  • No fee was disclosed by Barcelona when announcing the transfer

BARCELONA: Dani Olmo is headed back to Barcelona, a decade after leaving the Spanish team.
The Spain playmaker is set to sign a six-year contract after Barcelona said Friday they had reached an agreement with Leipzig for his transfer.
No fee was disclosed by Barcelona when announcing the transfer. The club said, however, that his buyout clause was being set at 500 million euros ($550 million).
Olmo joined Barcelona’s famed La Masia academy in 2007 from neighbor Espanyol. He left seven years later to further his career in Croatia by signing for Dinamo Zagreb.
He has played for Leipzig in the Bundesliga since 2020.
The 26-year-old Olmo starred for Spain at the recent European Championship after coming into the team as an injury replacement for Pedri midway through the tournament.


Marmoush, Salah strike as Egypt edge out holders Ivory Coast in quarter-final

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Marmoush, Salah strike as Egypt edge out holders Ivory Coast in quarter-final

  • Egypt wasted little time in taking the lead as Marmoush scored in the fourth minute
  • That set up a siege of the Egyptian goal in the final 15 minutes but they held out to advance

AGADIR, Morocco: Omar Marmoush netted the opener and Mohamed Salah scored the decisive goal as Egypt ended Ivory Coast’s reign with a narrow 3-2 triumph in Saturday’s Africa Cup of Nations quarter-final.
Center back Rami Rabia was the other scorer for the Egyptians, who had little possession at the Grande Stade Agadir but took their chances with clinical precision and held on grimly to book a semifinal meeting with Senegal on Wednesday.
An own goal from Ahmed Fatouh and a late effort by Guela Doue proved insufficient for the Ivory Coast, winners of the tournament on home soil two years ago but now deposed ⁠as African champions.
Egypt, who have won a record seven Cup of Nations titles, wasted little time in taking the lead as Marmoush scored in the fourth minute after Hamdi Fathy pinched the ball from Franck Kessie in the midfield, allowing Emam Ashour to thread a pinpoint ball to the sprinting Marmoush. He still needed to shrug off the attentions of defender Odilon Kossounou before slotting home.
But it quickly became clear ⁠the Ivorians were going to dominate possession, showing much more physical strength on the ball but without setting up clear chances.
Egypt went 2-0 up in the 32nd minute when Rabia rose above the defenders to head his side further ahead from a corner.
The Ivory Coast, who had 70 percent of possession in the first half, reduced the deficit eight minutes later when teenager Yann Diomande’s freekick near the corner took a slight brush off Kossounou’s head and ricocheted off the knee of full back Fatouh and into the net.

SALAH FINISHED OFF CLEVER MOVE
The Ivorians had come from 2-0 down to beat Gabon 3-2 earlier in the tournament but ⁠hopes of turning the scoreline around soon after the re-start were stymied by a simply created, but superbly finished, goal for Salah seven minutes after the break.
Rabia was well inside his own half when he chipped the ball over the top of the Ivorian defensive line, allowing Ashour to run onto it and hit an accurate pass with the outside of his right boot into the path of Salah to score.
An Ivorian comeback was still on when Doue touched home at the end of a goalmouth scramble in the 73rd minute.
That set up a siege of the Egyptian goal in the final 15 minutes but they held out to advance.
Earlier on Saturday, Nigeria overpowered Algeria 2-0 in Marrakech and will take on hosts Morocco in the other semifinal.