ALL eyes will be on the Allianz Arena TONIGHT as Portugal and Spain battle it out in a thrilling Nations League final – and who wins it could be down to two brilliant individuals.
Cristiano Ronaldo continued to do what he has been doing for decades last Wednesday – scoring goals – and his 68th-minute strike fired Portugal to a 2-1 win over Germany in the semis.
However, teen sensation Lamine Yamal stole the plaudits once again a day later as his double for La Roja earned Spain a thrilling 5-4 semi-final victory against France.
Now the master Ronaldo meets the student Yamal for the first time ever, and both players will be desperate to secure a second Nations League triumph for their respective countries.
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LIDL is offering a sizzling summer deal – the Grillmeister Foldable Barbecue is now just £14.99 with the Lidl Plus app, down from its regular price of £19.99.
The budget-friendly grill is available nationwide from 12 to 18 June and is ideal for those looking to fire up the barbecue without spending a fortune.
The compact and clever design makes it perfect for park picnics, beach days, or small garden gatherings.
It’s ready to use in seconds, thanks to a tool-free folding mechanism, and the funnel-shaped charcoal tray with air vents helps charcoal ignite quickly.
Made from chrome-plated steel, the barbecue grate is easy to clean, and the robust, heat-resistant case includes a handy carrying handle.
When assembled, it measures 39.5cm wide, 25cm high and 28cm deep, and it folds down to a slimline 8.5cm for easy storage and travel.
It weighs just 2kg, so it won’t weigh you down.
Lidl said: “Get £5 off the regular price with the Lidl Plus app 12.06 – 18.06.”
This portable BBQ joins a wave of wallet-friendly summer deals as retailers gear up for barbecue season.
Recently, shoppers were seen racing to B&Q to snap up a “bargain” gas BBQ – slashed from £120 to just £60.
The two-burner gas barbecue is perfect for feeding up to six people and is small enough to fit even in modest outdoor spaces.
B&Q has also launched a huge summer sale, with up to 50 per cent off garden and homeware essentials, making it easy to prep your space for sunny weekends and al fresco dining.
Aldi has also joined the summer savings rush, with its Gardenline Dual Fuel BBQ back in stock for £199.99 – a popular hybrid model that uses both charcoal and gas for flexible grilling.
It’s been described by fans as “the best of both worlds” and usually sells out fast.
Meanwhile, Argos is offering a 3-in-1 smoker, grill and BBQ for just £75, down from £100 – ideal for those who like to slow-cook ribs or experiment with flavours.
Wilko recently relaunched its summer range too, including a compact kettle-style charcoal barbecue for just £25, plus budget garden furniture and accessories to complete your outdoor setup.
Also hitting the shelves are essential items to get you barbecue-ready this summer.
Grillmeister Fire Pit- £24.99
Grillmeister Foldable Barbecue- £14.99
Grillmeister Charcoal Chimney Starter- £5.99
Grillmeister Round Pizza Stone- £7.99
Grillmeister Rectangular Pizza Stone- £7.99
Grillmeister Burger Kit- 3 Piece Set
Grillmeister Pulled Pork Kit- 4 Piece set- £6.99
Grillmeister Gas Pizza Oven- £79.99
Grilmeister Barbecue Chicken Roaster £3.99
Grillmeister Ceramic Barbecue-£79.99
A WOMAN has revealed that she always lies when she goes on dates, as she’s so embarrassed by her family tree.
Ellie Blythe claims that every time she mean a new potential beau, she tells them she simply has two brothers and a sister.
However, this is far from the truth.
“I’ve actually got 18,” she claimed in a viral TikTok video, posted under the username @ellieblythe.
Shocking her viewers even further, she added: “Not only do I have 18, some of them are also my cousins.”
Ellie said that she does not want to have to explain this on dates, as it is too complicated.
The TikToker gave no further information on how this is possible, and didn’t give any evidence to back up her claims.
However, the post quickly garnered the attention of TikTok users, racking up 200,000 views on the video sharing platform.
TikTok users raced to the video’s comments section to share their thoughts.
One person said: “18 siblings?! what’s your mum? was she a cat?”
A second person said: “have two cousins who are also my stepbrother and stepsister.”
A third person said: “I would happily go on a date with you just so I could hear this story.”
And Ellie isn’t the only person to have an unusual family tree.
Celina, 37, revealed that she had three kids with her husband, before realising he was her cousin.
The secret came out, after her husband Joseph, 44 did a DNA test to find out more about his heritage.
“When I realised that we were cousins, I was a little sick to my stomach”, Celina told Love Don’t Judge.
The Vassilyev family
This family currently holds the record for the most children a couple has parented, after the matriarch gave birth to 69 children, including 16 pairs of twins and seven sets of triplets.
Mrs. Vassilyev has given birth to a total of 69 children, including 16 pairs of twins and 7 sets of triplets. 67 of the 69 children survived infancy.
The Radfords
Sue and Noel are parents to 22 children, and their hectic family life is documented in reality show 22 Kids and Counting.
The pair have remained adamant that they won’t be having any more kids, but the amount of grandchildren they have is ever expanding, with daughters Sophie and Millie both mums of three.
The Duggars
Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar have 19 children – 10 sons and nine daughters.
All of their children’s names begin with the letter J.
They also had their own reality show in the United States, and became household names because of it.
The Bates family
Kelly also has 19 children, with her husband Gil Bates.
Of 19 deliveries, 14 of them were natural.
The couple also have 28 grandchildren, with four more on the way.
The Dougherty Dozen
Mum Alicia frequently shares videos and pictures of her family.
She and husband Josh have four biological children together, as well as adopting or fostering the rest of their brood.
The Rosario family
Yalancia and husband Michael are parents of 11.
They had their first daughter together earlier this year, and are also parents to Jamel, 15, Michael Jr, 11, Angelo, 10, Gimani, seven, Armani, six, Sincere, three and Khaza, two.
Their fourth son, also named Armani, was stillborn.
Joseph was in complete denial at first, but after looking closely at the data, realised the truth.
The DNA test confirmed that the duo are third to fifth cousins, and the revelation left them questioning their relationship.
“I thought we were supposed to get divorced, but then I started thinking that for out children we need to stay together”, Celina said.
Celina described the revelation as a “pivotal moment” as “you’re not supposed to be with your cousin, but it happened that way”.
Joseph added that he meant it in his wedding vows when he said: “Till death to us part”, so he decided not to leave his wife due to the discovery.
TWO children found dead in their rural home were allegedly drugged before being smothered, an autopsy has revealed.
Aussie brothers Max, 6, and Sam Johnson, 7, were found dead on May 5 – with their grandma arrested at the scene.
A post-mortem examination has found traces of prescription drugs in the boys’ systems, according to Aussie outlet The Daily Telegraph.
Police allege that the children’s grandma, 66-year-old Kathleen Heggs, gave them medication before suffocating them with a pillow.
Heggs allegedly sent a text to authorities saying the two boys were dead and that she planned to take her own life.
When cops arrived at the scene, they found the boys dead in separate rooms and Heggs with self-inflicted injuries.
The siblings were reportedly sleeping when the alleged murders occurred.
Heggs was arrested and taken to the mental health unit at Orange Hospital before being transferred into custody.
On May 21, she was charged with two counts of domestic violence murder.
As the sole carer for the boys, she moved with them over a year ago to a home on the outskirts of Coonabarabran in rural New South Wales.
According to The Sydney Morning Herald, the move was prompted after the woman “witnessed an incident involving her family too graphic to publish details of, and became known to police as a victim of crime”.
The boys’ dad told the Daily Telegraph that he and his partner had trusted Heggs to care for the children, as they were both struggling with mental health issues.
The couple had not seen the children for five years before their deaths.
“This is not how we were meant to get them back,” he said.
“We are completely broken… but those boys deserve a good send off, and that’s what we are going to give them.”
The boys will be buried wearing their karate uniforms, each with a yellow belt they were due to earn the same week their lives were tragically cut short.
A family friend, who has a son the same age as the boys, said he would see them at karate lessons, football matches and school.
He said there were no clear signs the family was struggling, describing Heggs as a “beautiful lady” and the boys as “cute little kids, full of energy”.
He said locals have been really hard-hit by the news.
“This is a tragedy, and it’s affecting so many. Petty crime happens and that, but it’s a very safe community, we don’t have problems like the cities.”
It comes as investigators found human remains on Friday in the search for Aussie teen Pheobe Bishop, who vanished three weeks ago.
Pheobe’s two housemates James Wood and Tanika Bromley were charged with murder on Thursday, along with two counts of interfering with a corpse.
THE ex-FBI agent who exposed the mafia family that inspired The Sopranos diced with death for three years as a highly dangerous investigation sent one of the world’s most violent criminal organizations crashing down.
New Jersey cop Giovanni Rocco was pulled deep into a brutal, violent undercover world by the FBI — one he admits was nearly impossible to walk away from, thanks to the constant adrenaline rush.
Rocco’s descent into the underworld was set in motion at just nine years old.
His father, a no-nonsense beat cop from Elizabeth, New Jersey, used to bring home graphic autopsy photos from murder cases.
“My old man was a hard guy who raised us hard,” Rocco said. “He always reminded us he was raising men.”
He’s grateful now. “It kept me alive later on. I knew what a dead body looked like.”
In 2015, Operation Charlie Horse was complete, and it was game over for the powerful DeCavalcante crime family — the real-life inspiration for The Sopranos.
At the center of the probe was Charles “Charlie the Hat” Stango, a notorious mob capo.
Rocco had gone deep undercover, wearing a wire daily and risking his life to bring the family down.
“The Sopranos was so true to life,” Rocco told The U.S. Sun, speaking under a false name while in witness protection.
“What people were watching on TV, I was actually living.”
Growing up around mob-tied families and hardened criminals gave Rocco a front-row seat to the streets.
It wasn’t surprising, then, that Chuck Wepner—the real-life Rocky Balboa—hailed from his neighborhood.
“The place was a mix of hard-working families and gangsters. That shaped me,” Rocco said.
At just 14, he was loading trucks with his Uncle Pete, working alongside ex-cons on parole for murder. Meanwhile, mob presence loomed large on every block.
“We were surrounded. It touched everything — politics, law, businesses, families,” he said.
Rocco went to school with kids whose parents were in prison for murder. Some were hitmen. Some had simply vanished.
One Christmas, his dad missed dinner — he was chasing a mob suspect on a murder charge.
While working at a local restaurant, Rocco once watched a man’s face get slashed open with a filet knife.
“There was no shock,” he admitted, “I was already immersed in that life.”
These early experiences primed him for life undercover.
According to Rocco, the FBI believes its best operatives come from the street — people with troubled pasts who chose to do right.
“The common denominator is we all had dark childhoods,” he said.
Rocco started out as a street cop, spinning a nightstick on patrol.
But one night in 2012 , he rode his motorcycle to work—his mother had ties to biker gangs — and got a furious dressing-down from his boss.
Weeks later, he was reassigned to undercover work targeting local bike gangs and a coke dealer named Jimmy Smalls.
Operating under the alias Giovanni Gatto, a fictitious biker-turned-gangster, he wormed his way into the DeCavalcante’s inner circle — and reinvented himself as a rising wiseguy.
He gained the trust of made men, including Stango himself.
“That was my drug. Adrenaline. From the first time I went undercover, I was hooked,” Rocco said.
He had multiple identities, fake Social Security numbers, and phony birth dates, which helped work concurrent operations targeting other drug cartels, including the Triads.
He wore a wire every day. To this day, he shakes his head in disbelief that he survived.
Back in 2014, Rocco had a close call that nearly blew his cover.
While attending his daughter’s soccer match, he was recognized by Danny “Gooms” Bertelli , a mobster tied to the Gambino mafia family.
Dressed casually in shorts and a T-shirt, Rocco looked nothing like the hardened gangster persona of Giovanni Gatto he’d spent years cultivating.
“They invite you into their homes.They show you love. But at the end of the day, I was a cop. I did my job.”
Giovanni Rocco on his life undercover in the New Jersey mafia
Thinking fast, he spun a lie about helping out an ex-girlfriend whose kid’s father was locked up.
“I’d let my guard down,” Rocco later admitted. “In that moment, I put the whole operation—and my family—in jeopardy.”
His marriage, meanwhile, crumbled under the pressure.
“You change without the right training, without psychological support,” he said.
The mobsters welcomed him into their homes and treated him like family. But as the months passed, the evidence stacked up — and Rocco could feel tension mounting.
He was earning a regular salary while risking his life, while agents in the office were salivating over what could be a career-making bust.
Toward the end of his assignment, things nearly fell apart.
Unbeknownst to him, the FBI had put a tail on Rocco — who was then followed into a federal building.
The mob grew suspicious.
“They didn’t think I was undercover. They thought I was a rat,” Rocco said. “And if they think you’re a rat, you’re dead. You kill a rat, right?”
Mobsters confronted him. Accused of wearing a wire, he had to de-escalate the situation on the spot.
“I took a step and watched his body reaction. At the end of the day, it’s all about money and greed,” he said.
Stango, fresh out of prison on a previous murder charge, re-entered the picture. Rocco feared that if word got to him, he’d shoot first, ask questions later.
Luckily for him, it never got to that. He expertly diffused the situation.
The close shaves kept on coming, though.
One night at a gas station, Stango’s son approached Rocco while he was fumbling with wires.
Rocco barely managed to stash the recording gear beneath a car seat before being seen.
“I exhaled so hard. I thought that was it,” he admitted.
The investigation was ballooning — and so were the danger levels.
Rocco felt abandoned and exposed. He began to fear for his family’s safety.
“I could’ve pulled the plug at any time,” he said. “But my addiction to the work wouldn’t let me.”
Everything came to a head when Rocco was on the verge of making Mafia history: he was about to become the first undercover agent to become a made man.
But there was a catch — he had to kill another made member to earn his stripes.
He stalled for months.
“What are you waiting for?” they kept asking.
Eventually, the feds feared Stango would handle it himself—potentially blowing everything up. Meanwhile, a leak inside law enforcement added urgency.
Rocco was flown to Las Vegas and sat poolside as the FBI executed coordinated arrests.
He never saw Stango again.
But as the authorities closed in, he heard his colleagues start to round up Stango’s men. More than one mobster asked that Rocco be kept in the loop as they were cuffed and taken away.
They still thought he was one of them and wanted to protect him — even as he helped bring them down.
Stango was arrested at his home in Henderson, Nevada, and charged with conspiracy to commit murder, among other crimes.
Rocco’s undercover recordings were the nail in the coffin.
In 2016, Stango took a plea deal, admitting to the murder plot.
He was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison in Jesup, Georgia, with a release date set for March 21, 2024. All nine of his co-conspirators also pleaded guilty.
After the bust, Rocco’s world fell apart.
For nine months, he couldn’t work or leave the house. Stango’s girlfriend Patricia lived near his house — far too close for comfort for him, his wife and three children.
The FBI had no relocation plan. Then came the call: he had four hours to pack and disappear.
He trained his six-year-old in basic operational security. The government built a safe room in their new home. He felt isolated and alone.
“We left toys on the floor,” he said. “My family didn’t sign up for this. It was a nightmare.”
Despite celebrating “some of the best times” with the mob, Rocco feels no guilt.
“They invite you into their homes,” he revealed. “They show you love. But at the end of the day, I was a cop. I did my job.”
Rocco says the iconic The Sopranos captured it well.
“Mafia guys can be good dads. Some are loyal to their wives. Some have ten girlfriends. So do cops,” he said with a rye smile. “That’s real life. I had some funny moments inside this though. It wasn’t all murder and mayhem.”
Today, Rocco tells his story through a new podcast, launched in conjunction with The Mob Museum in Las Vegas, and his memoir, Giovanni’s Ring: My Life Inside the Real Sopranos (2021).
He and co-host Dutch McAlpin interview former mobsters, FBI agents, and others from the world of organized crime.
He moves freely and isn’t afraid of retribution — even though he “still looks the same.”
“I don’t sing their praises,” he said. “But I think they respect that I told the truth.”
Rocco will never forget the life he lived — and he’ll never forget what happened the day Sopranos legend James Gandolfini died in 2013.
“I turned on the TV, and all I saw was The Sopranos and people mourning his death,” he said.
“Everyone was grieving a fake character. But for us, it was real.
“This wasn’t just an HBO show—it was my life.”
