Ander Herrera’s most recent competitive game was in front of a raucous La Bombonera crowd playing for Boca Juniors in the Copa Libertadores.

His next will be in the Spanish third division in front of roughly 6,500 fans against a regional side, Gimnastic de Tarragona.

But Herrera says his return to Real Zaragoza on a free transfer from Boca is just as important as any move he has made in his career.

“This is probably the last dream that I wanted to make come true,” the Spaniard tells BBC Sport.

“To come back home, to the place where I grew up, that gave me the opportunity to be professional – not only in football, also as a human being.

“And I still have the passion, I still have the desire. I still have that love for football and to do it at home is the best way to end up in my career.

“In Spain, we say closing the circle.”

The midfielder has returned to his boyhood club after 15 years away – including two spells at Athletic Club and stints at Manchester United, Paris St-Germain and Boca.

The 37-year-old has won the Europa League, FA Cup and multiple league titles, played under Jose Mourinho, Thomas Tuchel and Marcelo Bielsa, and shared dressing rooms with Lionel Messi, Neymar and Wayne Rooney.

However, success has been in short supply in recent years for Zaragoza, who beat Arsenal in the 1995 Cup Winners’ Cup final.

They were relegated from La Liga in 2012-13 – two years after Herrera had left for Bilbao – and after 13 seasons of declining finishes in the second division, fell into the notoriously difficult third tier of Spanish football.

“It has been so sad, of course, for all us Zaragozistas,” says Herrera, who watched the club’s decline from afar.

“Real Zaragoza belong to Europe, they belong to compete for trophies, to be fighting with the biggest clubs in Spain and in Europe.

“I want to put my quality, my experience and my passion to try to help my team to come back where I think we belong.

“But since the first day I came, I don’t want to talk too much about the past. We have been talking too much about what we have done wrong.

“It’s always killing our minds why that happened, always thinking about negative things. Let’s stop crying about what happened in the past.

“Let’s build on the future. Let’s come every day to training with a smile.”

The winner of Mikaela Mayer and Chantelle Cameron’s world title unification fight will cement their position as one of the top five female fighters in boxing history, according to Nakisa Bidarian.

The WBO, WBA and WBC titles are on the line when Mayer and Cameron headline MVPW-06 at Birmingham’s BP Pulse LIVE Arena this Saturday, live on Sky Sports.

Bidarian, CEO of Most Valuable Promotions, believes Cameron is already in the conversation to be one of the greatest women’s boxers by virtue of beating Katie Taylor in their epic two-fight rivalry in 2023.

“The winner cements themselves as one of the top five fighters in history,” Bidarian told Sky Sports.

“Chantelle Cameron has to be considered one of the GOATs because she beat Katie Taylor, and she almost beat Katie Taylor a second time, and Katie Taylor undoubtedly is one of the GOATs of women’s boxing.

“If Mikaela Mayer can go in there and beat Chantelle Cameron decisively, she’ll be one of the GOATs.

“But Cameron is already one of the greatest of all time and whatever time she has left in her career, she’s going to be one of the faces of the sport alongside Mikaela as well.”

Mayer vs Cameron – fighter records

A new era of women’s boxing

With Taylor one farewell fight away from bringing the curtain down on her illustrious boxing career, and rival Amanda Serrano chasing the women’s knockout record and a 50th career victory before hanging up her gloves, a vacancy as the face of women’s boxing could soon emerge.

But, aged 36 and 35 respectively, Bidarian believes the baton will be passed to someone else featuring on Saturday’s fight card.

“When I think about the future, when Amanda and Katie transition into the next phase of their personal lives and professional careers,” Bidarian added.

“We have other fighters on this card that are going to represent that movement, starting with Caroline Dubois.”

Britain’s Dubois looks to retain her WBC and WBO lightweight titles against unbeaten former US Olympian Amelia Moore in the co-main event of MVPW-06 in Birmingham.

Alycia Baumgardner, a long-time rival and potential future opponent of Dubois, is set to be in attendance at ringside, but Bidarian has urged the 25-year-old to focus on matters inside the ring.

“It’s going to be a very exciting fight week and fight night,” Bidarian said.

“Alycia Baumgardner will be there, but Caroline has a very formidable opponent ahead of her. You cannot discount Amelia Moore just because she’s 4-0.

“She has a rich amateur pedigree. She’s also competed in Team Combat League, which is a different boxing product in the US, and she’s a strong athlete.

“I’m focused on what happens on fight night. I think it’s an absolute challenge for Caroline. It’ll be interesting to see what version of Caroline Dubois we get.”

Watch Mikaela Mayer vs Chantelle Cameron this Saturday with Caroline Dubois also in action, live on Sky Sports. Get Sky Sports or stream boxing with no contract.

This year’s US Open men’s singles tournament appears to be up for grabs with Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic joined by a whole host of players in the mix.

While world No 1 Jannik Sinner is injured, Alcaraz returns to competitive tennis at ‌Flushing Meadows, ending a more than four-month absence caused ‌by a wrist injury.

Although, some say 39-year-old Djokovic has a golden opportunity to finally land a record 25th Grand Slam singles title.

The Serb continues his attempts to break a tie with Margaret Court atop the all-time list and with Sinner’s absence and Alcaraz’s lingering injury concerns, this could be Djokovic’s record-breaking major moment.

The issue for Djokovic is that he struggled physically during his second-round defeat to Thiago Agustin Tirante at the Cincinnati Open earlier this month, so there are fears that his condition could come back to haunt him in the heat of New York.

In the 11 Grand Slams since his last trophy, Djokovic has lost nine completed matches and withdrawn or retired twice. All but two of those defeats came to Sinner [four] or Alcaraz [three].

What does being fourth seed mean for Djokovic?

Speaking to Sky Sports Tennis, former player turned coach Ryan Harrison said: “Being fourth seed is really, really important because if he gets in that five through eight range in the seedings, he could potentially have to play three players in the top four in the world all the way through.

“If you’re five through eight and you end up drawing in the same quarter as a player who is ranked ahead of you, you have to play somebody in the quarter-finals who is ranked ahead of you, in the semi-finals ranked ahead of you, and in the final ranked ahead of you and that’s a really tough task.

“If you get to that stage at 39 years of age, you’re playing four matches even before you get there and then you’re getting to the point where you’re facing the stiffest competition – so getting that fourth seed means he is going to control his own fate, as in playing players only ranked behind him at least until the semi-finals.

“We’re not quite sure the form Alcaraz is going to be in coming off that long lay-off, while Alexander Zverev has been tough to predict at times, so we’ll never know what happens with Novak but he will have that fourth seed.”

‘Very exciting’ to have Alcaraz back in the Big Apple

All eyes will be pointed towards Alcaraz but the omens are against the 23-year-old Spaniard, as no man since 2008 has defended the US Open and no man has ever won it without playing in the Canada or Cincinnati Opens.

Alcaraz now incredibly heads into the US Open as No 3 in the ATP Race to Turin despite being unable to compete in a number of top events.

“Great news that Alcaraz is coming back,” former British No 1 Annabel Croft said. “Very exciting. He’s been so successful at the US Open before and he’s been so missed out there with his brand of tennis.

“I’ve never seen a player light up audiences and draw gasps while they’re watching him play with the shot-making that he has. He is a very special tennis player.

“I think if he can get through the early rounds – watch this space!”

Can Zverev handle the pressure of being top seed?

That leaves French Open champion Zverev as the top seed for the US Open. The German, who also reached his first Wimbledon final before losing to Sinner, heads into Flushing Meadows with just two wins since Wimbledon.

He suffered early loss in Canada and a fourth-round defeat to Tommy Paul in Cincinnati but Sinner’s absence will give Zverev, who becomes the first player in ATP ranking history to be the top seed at a major without previously reaching the top of the ATP throne, the incentive to rediscover his best hard-court tennis in a nick of time.

“It will be really interesting to see how Zverev handles that kind of pressure,” said Croft. “There was enormous pressure on him to win the French Open but he managed to handle it and get the job done.”

Zverev, Alcaraz and Djokovic will be joined by several American contenders as the leading beneficiaries of the Italian’s withdrawal including Ben Shelton, Taylor Fritz, Brandon Nakashima, Learner Tien and Cincinnati finalist Frances Tiafoe.

And then there’s the youngsters: Rafael Jodar and Jakub Mensik.

Spaniard Jodar, who only turned pro at the start of 2026, is already up to 11th in the ATP ranking with his relentless hard-hitting, booming forehand, heavy, high-speed shots loaded with topspin from the baseline.

He became the first player born in 2006 or later to make a Masters 1000 semi-final at the Canadian Open but even more impressive is the fact at the beginning of August last year, Jodar was ranked outside the world’s top 500. Twelve months later, he is closing in on breaking into the top 10.

Then there is Arthur Fils…

The Frenchman is arguably the form player after reaching the quarter-finals of the Canadian Open and then marching into his first Masters 1000 final at the Cincinnati Open.

Fils, who was unable to play during the latter part of the 2025 season because of a back problem, returned to the tour in February, and he is performing better with his huge serve, forehand and backhand vital to his success.

Can Fils become the first Frenchman to win a Grand Slam singles title since Yannick Noah in 1983 at the French Open?

“Fils has been so consistent in all of the Masters Series events,” said Croft. “He’s done so well leading into the US Open and I just love his tennis. I love his brand, his character, his personality, he brings so much to the court.”

Watch the ATP and WTA Tours live on Sky Sports. The US Open is also live on Sky Sports from August 30. Stream tennis with no contract on NOW and the Sky Sports App.