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Soccer

Ronaldo left off Real Madrid's 19-man squad for penultimate La Liga tie

Real Madrid will be without Cristiano Ronaldo for the penultimate match of the season after the Portuguese star was left off manager Zinedine Zidane’s 19-man squad for Saturday’s clash with Celta Vigo.

Ronaldo, who was also absent for Real Madrid’s loss to Sevilla on Wednesday, suffered an ankle injury during El Clasico with Barcelona last week.

It’s unclear if the knock is preventing him from being available for Saturday’s fixture or if Zidane is resting the 32-year-old to ensure he’s fully fit for the Champions League final against Liverpool on May 26.

Despite Ronaldo’s absence in the team sheet, Real Madrid fans will be encouraged by his prospects of featuring in the final in Kyiv, Ukraine, after he participated in Friday’s training session without any signs of being bothered by the injury.

Real Madrid is expected to field a strong team, as Zidane pledged that he wants to “treat” supporters to a victory to cap off the final league match of the season at the Santiago Bernabeu.

“It’s the last game of the season at our stadium and we want to give our fans one last treat by winning the match,” Zidane said Friday. “They deserve it and that’s what we are going to try to do tomorrow. We will give everything to make those who come to watch the last home game leave happy.”

A victory Saturday could result in Real Madrid – which sits 18 points back of Liga champion Barcelona – moving into second place if Atletico Madrid falters during its match Saturday against Getafe.

NFL

Chargers' Lynn finishes degree, to walk at UNLV

COSTA MESA, Calif. — Los Angeles Chargers coach Anthony Lynn will finish something he started nearly three decades earlier — his college education.

Lynn finished just six hours short of achieving that goal at Texas Tech in 1992 as an exercise sports science major. On Saturday in Las Vegas, he will walk down the aisle to receive his bachelor of arts in interdisciplinary studies from UNLV.

In attendance to witness the event will be Lynn’s mother, Betty Jackson; his daughter, Danielle Lynn; Chargers chairman Dean Spanos; and Spanos’ wife, Susie. The Spanos family provided its private jet so Lynn could make the graduation ceremony this weekend.

Lynn will miss the final two days of rookie minicamp to attend.

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“I just wanted my papers,” Lynn said. “Mail me my damn diploma, I give it to my mom and I’m done.

“When I told my counselor, when I told her what my plans were, she’d just assumed that I was walking the whole time. I never assumed I was walking. The disappointment on her face when I told her I wasn’t coming, it was tough. I thought about it. She made me rethink it. I decided to walk, because if it could inspire one person, then it’s worth it.”

Lynn said the seed of his plan to finish school was planted in 2014 while he served as a running backs coach for the New York Jets. Good friend and Jets team chaplain Dave Szott told Lynn how he went back to earn his college degree 15 years after he had first attended college. He convinced Lynn to do the same.

Lynn said he did his research to find the right school and the right time, ultimately starting his coursework soon after the Chargers hired him as coach in January 2017. He completed his studies online a year later.

Now that he has completed his studies, Lynn said he won’t have to receive any more ribbing from his kids. Lynn’s daughter, Danielle, graduated from the University of Oklahoma and will receive her master’s in business administration from the University of North Texas next week.

Lynn’s son, D’Anton, an assistant defensive backs coach for the Houston Texans, graduated from Penn State.

Lynn earned a job out of college as an undrafted rookie. He spent six seasons in the NFL with the Denver Broncos and the San Francisco 49ers, winning back-to-back Super Bowls with the Broncos.

After his playing career was over in 1999, Lynn immediately went into coaching and has been working in some capacity as a coach in the NFL ever since.

“Football has always been my No. 1 priority,” Lynn said. “Sometimes that’s good, sometimes that’s bad. But I chose football over education, and I kind of did that a few years later when I had a chance to go back; I chose football again over education.

“And so at this time, I thought at some point, no more excuses — just go back and get it done.”

Soccer

Gianluigi Buffon charged by UEFA over comments about Michael Oliver

Paris – Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon was charged by UEFA on Friday over his comments about referee Michael Oliver after the Italian side’s dramatic Champions League quarter-final loss to Real Madrid last month.

The 40-year-old has been charged both with breaching UEFA’s “general principles of conduct” over his outburst and also for his red card for dissent.

European football’s governing body said the case will be dealt with on May 31.

The last-eight clash between holders Real and Juventus was decided by a last-gasp Cristiano Ronaldo penalty after the Serie A champions had staged a remarkable comeback to wipe out a 3-0 first-leg deficit at the Santiago Bernabeu.

But Buffon, who was sent off in the aftermath of the penalty decision, lashed out at Oliver’s decision to award the spot-kick, saying the English official had a “rubbish bin for a heart”.

“You have to be a murderer to make the last two decisions the referee made,” Juve captain Buffon said.

“You cannot ruin the dreams of a team. I could’ve told the referee anything at that moment, but he had to understand the degree of the disaster he was creating.

“If you can’t handle the pressure and have the courage to make a decision, then you should just sit in the stands and eat your crisps.”

The 2006 World Cup-winner is set to retire at the end of the current season, so any potential ban from European football may not affect his future.

Buffon later defended his comments, saying the drama made him “feel alive”.

Although the goalkeeper was widely criticised for his comments, referee Oliver and his wife Lucy were both targeted on social media in the days after the game and were offered police support.

Buffon has never won the Champions League in his illustrious 23-year career.

He could win a fourth straight Serie A and Italian Cup double this weekend as his Juventus side look to clinch the league title when they play Roma on Sunday, having thrashed AC Milan 4-0 in Wednesday’s Cup final.

NFL

Fantasy Football Summit PPR rankings for 2018

Each year after the NFL draft is complete, more than 20 men and women, including fantasy writers and editors, NFL writers, researchers and other members of the football operation here at ESPN, spend two full days talking about the game and what to expect in the season ahead. Many topics are discussed from various angles, including the utilization of metrics, film study, fantasy strategy, intel gathered from team sources and much more.

When all is said and done, we emerge with a set of rankings from the group in the room. These are those rankings, and they are for PPR (point-per-reception) scoring formats.

To be clear, they are not to be confused with our ESPN Fantasy staff rankings — a composite of our five season-long PPR analysts, Matthew Berry, Mike Clay, Tristan H. Cockcroft, Eric Karabell and Field Yates — which are also available on ESPN.com and updated all the way up to kickoff of the opener in September.

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Soccer