Erik ten Hag send message to Man Utd fans after final game of Premier League season
Erik ten Hag promised that Manchester United would do "everything they can" to win the FA Cup against Manchester City next weekend
1970-01-01 08:00
Fernando Alonso: Aston Martin ‘will not give up’ in push for F1 triumph
Fernando Alonso has not given up hope of defying the odds and beating Max Verstappen to the Formula One world championship after he finished second at Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix. Alonso took the chequered flag 27.9 seconds behind Verstappen and has now secured five podiums in six races following his transfer from Alpine to Aston Martin. The 41-year-old Spaniard will head to his home race at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya next weekend 51 points adrift of Verstappen and a dozen behind Sergio Perez in the other Red Bull. “The championship is long and we will not give up,” said Alonso after he finished runner-up for the first time in nine years. “Red Bull and Max are dominating every race. The Red Bull is untouchable and even with great results, we are behind them. We are relying on weekends where they have issues. “If Max has one or two of those, then we will be a little bit closer in the championship. On true pace we are not there yet, but we won't give up Fernando Alonso “This is motorsport and anything can happen. On true pace we are not there yet, but we won’t give up.” Alonso kept Verstappen honest throughout Sunday’s race and was holding out on old rubber in the hope that rain would arrive. But when it did, Alonso stopped for drys believing the track would not be wet enough for intermediate tyres. However, the downpour continued and the Spaniard was forced to come back into the pits on the next lap, scuppering any chance of claiming his first victory in a decade. “Maybe it was extra safe but in that minute-and-a-half it took to go through Turns five, six and eight again, the track changed completely,” added Alonso. “The lap we stopped was completely dry but on my out-lap from the pits, it was wet. “There was a huge margin behind me to do two stops and we thought it was the right thing to do. It was a complex race to read and execute.”
1970-01-01 08:00
How Leicester and Leeds were relegated on the final day of the Premier League season
The final day of the 2022/23 Premier League delivered plenty of entertainment as teams scrapped for the last few available placings in England's top flight. It
1970-01-01 08:00
Boeing Works to Win Another Saudi Deal, This Time for 737 Max
Boeing Co. is working to land its second major deal in Saudi Arabia this year, with the US
1970-01-01 08:00
Pete Alonso hit a home run on No. 1 pitch because he had to go No. 2
Pete Alonso got the poops at the worst possible time. Luckily, it motivated him to hit a home run and end his at-bat as early as possible."This athlete had an ill-timed urge to poop while playing in a professional sports game," might have had Jeopardy! contestants saying, "Who is ...
1970-01-01 08:00
Brentford 1-0 Man City: Player ratings as Premier League champions beaten on final day
Player ratings from Brentford's 1-0 win at home to Manchester City on the final day of the Premier League season.
1970-01-01 08:00
Leicester’s unexpected twist provides reminder of football’s new reality
One of the most remarkable stories in football now has another twist. Leicester City are relegated a mere seven years after winning this competition’s greatest title of all, their fate sealed by Abdoulaye Doucoure’s 57th-minute release at Everton. Dean Smith’s side had already done their job by going 2-0 up against West Ham United, which ensured this drastic fall for the club became one long wait. The pained anxiety of that manifested in three separate celebrations for Bournemouth goals at Goodison Park that hadn’t actually happened, their cheers quickly disrupted by frenzied checks of the phone. There was then the way the Everton game went on 10 minutes longer after a lengthy period of stoppage time. It just prolonged that hope, and made it even worse when confirmation finally came. As defeated-looking Leicester players checked their phones and then saluted the fans, West Ham United supporters celebrated that and their own forthcoming trip to Prague. It laid bare the cruelty of days like this, as memories of better days surrounded the whole stadium. Andrea Bocelli had famously sung “time to say goodbye” on that glorious evening back in May 2016, and while it presents a fitting line here, the goading West Ham fans were in no mood to be so poetic. “Going down” was the obvious one regularly sung, before the doubly cutting: “Say hello to Millwall! Say hello to Millwall!” It was in itself a reminder of the rarefied and glossy world that Leicester are leaving, so quickly going from the Premier League’s “model club” to an ultimate example of how quickly it can all fall apart in the game’s current economic landscape. The global economic landscape has played its part in that, with the Covid pandemic greatly affecting the owners’ duty-free business. That fed into a wider frustration within the club, that Brendan Rodgers made clear he was feeling from the very start of the season. It never really picked up. But none of that obscures the fact that Leicester have so many players that really shouldn’t have been in this situation at all. The line-up that has ultimately gone down - club legend Jamie Vardy symbolically starting on the bench - is one that should easily have been mid-table, and will now boost the squads of other Premier League teams. That, brutally, is no longer what Leicester are. And that despite having a better team than the one David Moyes started here to keep fresh for their Europa Conference final. It shouldn’t have gone this wrong. That was reflected in how there were a few boos when the final whistle went, even if they were drowned out by proud applause. It’s also more history in its own way. Leicester are the club to have the fifth-fastest relegation after winning a title since the second world war. In the Premier League, only Blackburn Rovers had it worse, at four years. It is quite a turn, that will now get more focus, but one of the issues was that there weren’t enough twists on this day itself. Leicester left themselves in too perilous a situation. The only real moment of drama was on 34 minutes, duly supplied by one of the players who is already most in demand. Harvey Barnes ran straight at the box to play a one-two with Kelechi Iheanacho, and then slide the ball past Lukasz Fabianski. It was a brilliant goal, and naturally produced a roar reminiscent of the day the Premier League trophy was presented here. It did put Leicester in a welcome if slightly strange position, though. They’d done their job, and just needed to hold firm, with all onus now on Everton. Even Leicester fans were watching the wrong game. There was a danger there as they lost urgency, until Wout Faes headed in a Youri Tielemans’s free-kick. By then, however, Everton had already scored. All of this was immaterial, including Pablo Fornals’s late goal. It was all dependent on one sudden twist. That is instead what this season has represented for Leicester. Nobody would have imagined it when they won the FA Cup just two years ago. They can still look to their dreams being fulfilled in 2016. They have had quite a run, beyond what many supporters get in a club’s entire history. It’s just that nobody expected it to be as brief as this. Leicester make history in another way. Their sensational story has a twist, albeit after no drama. Read More Why is BT Sport being rebranded to TNT Sports? Eurosport merger explained James Ward-Prowse, James Maddison and 16 Premier League transfer targets after relegation ‘It is theatre’: Inside the emotional chaos of a final-day Premier League relegation battle How the final day played out with Everton surviving relegation fight Relegation chances: What do Leeds, Everton and Leicester need to survive? Premier League relegation battle LIVE: Results and reaction as Everton survive
1970-01-01 08:00
Ukraine war: Zelenksy praises air force after Russia's largest drone attack yet
The Ukrainian president thanks his air force, after most of the Russian drones were shot down.
1970-01-01 08:00
Leeds 1-4 Tottenham: Player ratings as United go down with whimper
Player ratings from the Premier League clash between Leeds and Tottenham at Elland Road on Sunday. United were relegated following a 4-1 defeat.
1970-01-01 08:00
Concerns Monaco GP could be ‘left behind’ as Max Verstappen wins ‘boring race’
Christian Horner fears the Monaco Grand Prix will be “left behind” unless drastic changes are made to Formula One’s most famous track – as rain saved another procession in the principality on Sunday. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen led every lap to win for a second time in Monte Carlo, extending his championship lead to 39 points after six rounds. Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso took second place, with Alpine’s Esteban Ocon third. Lewis Hamilton and George Russell finished fourth and fifth respectively for Mercedes. Sergio Perez, Verstappen’s closest title challenger, endured a horror show. He started last and finished 16th after five pit stops, and multiple collisions with different competitors, and the walls that wind their way round the two-mile course. For 51 laps, the race was a dud. Verstappen saw off Alonso on the short run to Sainte Devote and the major players followed round one by one. The rain enlivened the predictable spectacle. Carlos Sainz slid off and kissed the wall at Mirabeau in his Ferrari, while Russell and Perez made contact after the Mercedes man rejoined the track following an error, also at the rain-soaked Mirabeau corner. Lance Stroll hit the barriers twice and Haas’ calamitous decision to keep Kevin Magnussen on slick tyres backfired as the Dane crunched the wall at Rascasse. But take away the sodden race track, and the top dozen were on course to take the chequered flag in the order they started. And even with the downpour, Verstappen, Alonso and Ocon, who started first, second and third, finished first, second and third. “It was an exceptionally boring race until the rain came down,” was Russell’s damning verdict. Red Bull team principal Horner, fresh from celebrating his team’s sixth win from as many races, picked up the debate. “It’s Monaco and it’s here for its history and its uniqueness,” he said. “But the problem is that the cars are so big now. “All venues have to evolve a little and if there was just one area where you could create space for an overtake it would just give that chance, because so much weight is placed on qualifying. The race is won or lost on Saturday. “I am sure that with the creativeness there is and the amount of land they are reclaiming here, there’s got to be the opportunity to introduce a bigger braking zone. “Maybe make Turn 1 a little sharper or slower, or extend the circuit if there is the opportunity to add in another kilometre that included a hairpin – that would be phenomenal. “It’s something to contemplate because when you think of the next 20 years of Monaco you don’t want to see it left behind. “It earns its place on the calendar. It’s the jewel in the crown in many respects, but as the sport continues to move forward you can’t stand still, and Monaco needs to be part of that process.” Despite being considered among the most glamorous events in world sport, the Monaco track has remain largely unchanged from the first grand prix staged in 1929, and some have claimed it is no longer fit for purpose in its current guise. F1 bosses have looked at ways to adapt the tight and twisty layout, but have made little progress. Verstappen kept his composure in the changeable conditions, and even survived a bump with the wall when the rain landed at Portier, to take his 39th win for Red Bull, surpassing Sebastian Vettel’s record of 38 victories for the grid’s all-conquering team. “If you have a good car you can break these numbers,” said Verstappen. “I never thought I would be in this position in my career. Growing up, I wanted to be a Formula One driver and I am now winning these races. It is amazing and better than I could have ever imagined.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Fernando Alonso ready to pounce if Max Verstappen makes a slow start in Monaco Max Verstappen fends off Fernando Alonso to take pole position in Monaco Lewis Hamilton: Racist abuse of Vinicius Junior really hits home for me
1970-01-01 08:00
Chelsea 1-1 Newcastle: Player ratings as Blues end season with Stamford Bridge draw
Player ratings from Chelsea's 1-1 draw with Newcastle United at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League
1970-01-01 08:00
Southampton 4-4 Liverpool: Player ratings from thrilling end of season clash
Player ratings from Liverpool's 4-4 draw with Southampton in the Premier League.
1970-01-01 08:00
