Julian Alvarez is revelling in his partnership with Erling Haaland in Manchester City’s attack. The Argentinian World Cup winner continued his strong start to the season with two goals as the holders began their Champions League title defence with a comfortable 3-1 win over Red Star Belgrade on Tuesday. An injury for Kevin De Bruyne has seen Alvarez handed a run of games in support of prolific centre forward Haaland and it is a role he is relishing. “I am very happy with the goals, to help the team,” the 23-year-old said. “We are doing well, we are winning – which is the most important thing – and playing good games. “I am trying to adapt and I continue growing in this position, where I am moving freely, to give the team another option and add to the attack.” Alavarez was the dominant figure in City’s forward line as they threatened to overwhelm Red Star in their opening Group G game at the Etihad Stadium. Yet despite creating a plethora of chances – with Haaland hitting the bar and goalkeeper Omri Glazer making several saves – City fell behind to an Osman Bukari strike just before half-time. Alvarez began the fightback with a fine dinked finish after the restart and then put Pep Guardiola’s side ahead when his free-kick was inadvertently punched into the goal by Glazer. Rodri wrapped up a thoroughly deserved victory with a typically composed finish 17 minutes from time but, again, City could have had several more. Haaland went the closest when he hit the goal frame for a second time. “We played a good game,” said Alvarez. “It was important to start with a win and three points at home in this difficult competition. We are very happy. “We had many chances we could not convert but Pep told us to keep doing what we were doing and the goals would come. “It was the same in the previous game where we were losing and came back, so it was fine. We always try to stay calm, play well in the second half and win.” Alvarez was not a regular starter last season, despite his starring role in his country’s World Cup triumph, but Guardiola believes he can do an important job in easing the goalscoring burden on Haaland. Guardiola said: “It’s the same player as last season but being a World Cup winner doesn’t mean you have to play all the time. “Last season we had Kevin and (Ilkay) Gundogan in that position. Kevin was in top form and Gundo was incredible. “In that moment sometimes it was difficult to find spaces but I never had a doubt. “Now Gundo has gone and Kevin unfortunately is injured. We need players to be close to Erling, don’t put all the responsibilities just on the shoulders of Erling to score all the goals. “That’s why when Phil (Foden) has played there, when Julian plays there, we have the feeling that we create a lot of chances.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Eddie Howe backs Newcastle to keep improving after Milan stalemate Football rumours: Ivan Toney targeted for £60m January move by London trio On this day in 2005: Neil Lennon banned after barging referee in Old Firm derby

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League One club Reading have been docked three points after failing to comply with an order designed to protect payments to staff. An independent disciplinary commission had ordered the Royals’ ownership to deposit a sum equal to 125 per cent of the club’s forecast monthly wage bill into a designated account by Tuesday. The commission had imposed the order after determining last month that the club had failed to pay player wages on time and in full on or around October 31 and November 30 last year, and on April 28 this year. As a result of those missed payments, the commission docked Reading one point, with a further three suspended, a sanction which has now been triggered by the failure to deposit the funds requested. An EFL statement said: “The EFL continues to acknowledge the negative impact sporting sanctions are having on the football club and remain extremely disappointed and frustrated at the club’s ownership to meet its ongoing obligations under EFL regulations. The League will continue to apply its rules in all circumstances deemed appropriate.” The club released their own statement confirming the activation of the three-point penalty, which concluded: “As communicated to our supporters previously, Mr Dai (Yongge, the club’s Chinese owner) is currently undertaking an ongoing process of seeking sources of stable external investment for the football club, with the aim of mitigating the risk of cashflow complications arising in future.” The latest points penalty means that the Royals fall to 21st position in the League One table. They have won two of their opening six matches but have now lost four points in total which leaves them in the relegation zone. Disillusioned Royals supporters have set up a fan group to protest the running of the club called Sell Before We Dai. And they issued a statement in response to the latest points deduction. The group’s spokesperson Nick Houlton said: “The hard work by the team and others at the club is being undermined by Dai Yongge’s continued failure to resolve the club’s affairs. Today’s announcement is a kick in the teeth for the team, staff and fans alike. “To breach these conditions immediately indicates serious liquidity issues going forward. We urge Dai to step up his search for a new owner and listen to offers. Only last month, the EFL specifically called out Dai Yongge, saying it was extremely frustrated at the consistent failures under his ownership. “Points deductions and transfer embargoes punish fans, not owners. We urge the EFL to concentrate on personally holding Dai Yongge to account for his continued mismanagement of the club. “As for the new season, we now find ourselves in the relegation zone as a result of one person’s repeated failure to manage the club’s affairs properly.” Read More The ex-Premier League player who has set his sights on conquering Mount Everest Reading fail to pay staff and players full salary due to ‘delay in regular funding’ Reading to go part-time after Women’s Super League relegation Harry Maguire’s mother hits out at ‘disgraceful’ criticism of England defender Man Utd punish Jadon Sancho over Erik ten Hag comments Jenni Hermoso among three Spain World Cup winners shortlisted for top FIFA award

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Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola doubts Sunday’s visit to Arsenal will have a significant impact on who wins the Premier League this season. Arsenal flourished under former City assistant Mikel Arteta last season but settled up for a runners-up spot as Guardiola’s side claimed a third successive top-flight triumph en route to a historic treble. The Gunners are unbeaten after seven matches of this campaign and lie one point behind City, who are bidding to bounce back from last weekend’s surprise 2-1 defeat at Wolves. Guardiola, though, insisted this showdown being so early in the season places less of an emphasis on the title race, even if he regards Arsenal as one of their main rivals. He said: “This will not define a lot. It will be different when they come here at the Etihad (at the end of March) – then it will depend on the situations we are in.” Instead Guardiola’s main focus in the weeks ahead is on guaranteeing progression from their Champions League group, having started the defence of their crown with wins over Red Star Belgrade and Leipzig. He said: “We know where we came from with the treble. After that the tendency is to go down. We can play better or worse but in general in the training sessions the focus is there. “We made an incredible step forward in the Champions League. In this month, the Champions League is the most important thing by far, until February when it starts again. “What I want is to arrive here in February when we start the Champions League to be in the competitions and that it’s close. To be close to the top of the league and keep the distance short and make the last 10 games in our competition ‘let’s do it again’. “(If you qualify for the Champions League knockout stages) you can focus on the Premier League until it is back again. We made a big step on Wednesday (by beating Leipzig), now we have Arsenal.” Guardiola will be without Rodri this weekend as the midfielder serves the final game of a three-match domestic suspension while John Stones and Kevin de Bruyne remain on the sidelines. De Bruyne is a long-term absentee after undergoing hamstring surgery but his absence has not unduly troubled City, who have found the back of the net at least once in every league game this season. Guardiola said: “Since I arrived we scored a lot of goals, a lot. We have this ability with proper strikers, false nines, wingers, different pressing, different build ups. I am delighted with everyone.” If City lose at the Emirates Stadium, it would mark the first time they have been beaten in successive league games since December 2018. Asked to pinpoint why they have been so successful in bouncing straight back from a defeat, Guardiola added: “It shows what we have done. It is the exception – what we have done is incredible.” Read More Erling Haaland says Premier League goal record ‘something you can’t think of’ Mikel Arteta urges Arsenal to bring City losing streak to an end On this day in 2010: Rebecca Adlington wins Commonwealth Games 800m gold Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou would eradicate VAR in its current form Brennan Johnson’s ‘safety and health’ a priority for Wales boss Rob Page Erik Ten Hag insists managing Manchester United is not an impossible job

Neil deGrasse Tyson is one of the biggest fountains of knowledge on the internet, but it turns out he’s not right about everything. One YouTuber has gone to extreme lengths to prove a point to him about helicopters, after the astrophysicist and science guru posted on Twitter about them. You might think that if an engine fails in a helicopter mid-air, then it’s naturally going to plummet to the Earth, right? That’s the sentiment Tyson posted on social media in 2015, writing: “FYI: An airplane whose engine fails is a glider. A helicopter whose engine fails is a brick.” Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter From then on, Destin Sandlin from the SmarterEveryDay YouTube channel worked to prove this “misconception” wrong. “I’m going to get into the back of that helicopter and power down the engine to really see what happens. How do we get back down to Earth?” he said in a video which has been viewed more than eight million times. STRAPPED INTO A FALLING HELICOPTER - Smarter Every Day 154 www.youtube.com Sandlin was joined by helicopter pilot Gerry Friesen, who stated that he believes landing a helicopter with an engine issue is far safer than landing an airplane with a failing motor. The idea revolves around the concept of “autorotation”, with Sandlin saying: "If the rotor blade quits turning you are going to fall like a brick – but helicopter pilots have a physics trick to keep that from happening." According to the Federal Aviation Administration, autorotation is “the state of flight where the main rotor system is being turned by the force of the relative wind rather than engine power… In this case, the potential energy of altitude is converted to kinetic energy during the descent and touchdown." As Sandlin explains in the video, there’s a biting point where the helicopter blades act like a fan on descent in “pinwheel mode”, allowing safe descent to the ground. So, there is a safe way of landing a helicopter when the engine fails – and Neil deGrasse Tyson isn’t always 100 per cent right about everything, it seems. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

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