EXCLUSIVE: Philipp Lahm is one of the greatest players in German football history. In a glittering career with Germany and Bayern Munich, he has won 18 major honours and captained his country to success at the 2014 World Cup. Over breakfast at Bayern's training base, he spoke to Sportsmail's JAMIE CARRAGHER about his burning desire to give incoming Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola a perfect send-off in Saturday night's German Cup final against Borussia Dortmund. DOMINIC KING listened in...

EXCLISOVE INTERVIEW by SAMI MOKBEL: Jason Puncheon was born little more than a mile from Selhurst Park in Croydon's Mayday Hospital and spent his childhood living directly opposite Crystal Palace's ground. The house where he lived with his grandmother and mother was so close the young Puncheon would be sent out with two cones on a matchday to stop fans parking outside the door. In the FA Cup final against Manchester United at Wembley, the 29-year-old has the chance to complete the ultimate fairytale of the local boy done good.

MATT LAWTON: It was only a few weeks ago that Harry Kane and Jamie Vardy were taunting one another on social media with photographs of lions, Tottenham's striker igniting the exchange by suggesting his side would hunt down Leicester's supposedly inferior foxes. In the end Vardy had the last word, marking Tottenham's capitulation at Chelsea - and with it Leicester's title victory - with a picture of the Lion King's Mufasa falling down a cliff. Seemingly a master of understatement, Vardy added a simple ellipsis.

Muhammad Ali returned to London to successfully defend his heavyweight title against home favourite Henry Cooper fifty years ago. At 24 and entering his prime, Ali saw off Cooper, eight years his senior, in the sixth after opening up a deep cut above his left eye. With blood pouring relentlessly down Cooper's face, it left the referee little choice but to end the fight.

Bucket lists tend to be longingly stared at rather than immediately acted on, but Jonny Bairstow is a doer, not a dreamer. Only three days after he told Sportsmail that a Test century on his home ground was goal No 1, he ticked it off as if keen to make a headstart on the rest. Next up, he says, is a hundred at Lord's, followed by running a marathon, riding a horse, and visiting the Far East and Victoria Falls. But, honestly: a Yorkshireman reaching three figures for England in front of his adoring brethren? It'll be all downhill from here.

MILLWALL 1-1 BRADFORD (agg 4-2)- MARK SHAPLAND AT THE DEN: Millwall's red-hot strike partnership of Lee Gregory and Steve Morison proved too much to handle for Bradford as the two strikers booked the Lions place in the League One play-off final at Wembley next Sunday. Boss Neil Harris said the two were unplayable over the two semi-final legs and have been one of the best strike partnerships in League One this year. He said: 'I've got a combination of strikers in Lee and Steve that have really achieved this year and have really produced for this club.'

Thibaut Courtois is proof that the system can work, but beyond Chelsea's No 1 there have been few examples where a player has made the leap to first-team football at Stamford Bridge via a successful loan move. Roma have already triggered their option to sign Mohamed Salah while former loanees Romelu Lukaku and Kevin de Bruyne were sold for healthy profits but have since gone to prove their worth. From first-team cast-offs to the club's own academy produce to those merely used as financial enterprises, Sportsmail runs the rule over all 34 of Chelsea's loanees this term and assesses their chances of breaking into the first-team squad in the next couple of seasons.

Liverpool duo Christian Benteke and Divock Origi have put their Europa League heartbreak behind them as they joined up with the Belgium squad on Friday morning. The pair linked up with the 24-man squad for the European Championships in France next month following the disappointing 3-1 defeat to Sevilla in the Europa League final on Wednesday. Jurgen Klopp brought on both men in the latter stages of the clash at St Jakob-Park but neither were able to halt the Reds' second half collapse.

Usain Bolt used his strong finish to win the 100 meters in 9.98 seconds at the Golden Spike meet on Friday. Bolt recovered from a slow start but pulled ahead in the second half of the race to breeze unchallenged to the victory. With the time, Bolt improved on his season's best of 10.05s recorded in the Cayman Islands last Saturday.

For the first time since 2009, East Germany has a club in the Bundesliga. It should be cause for celebration. A sign that, after two decades of awful management, East German football is on the up. Very few people are celebrating. Why? No club in Europe is more divisive than RB. Backed by energy drink producer Red Bull, they have clambered from the fifth division to the first in the space of just seven seasons.