List of All Articles with Tag 'sp'

Pep Guardiola admits he was concerned after Manchester City’s 3-2 comeback win over RB Leipzig in the Champions League. The holders trailed to two breakaway Lois Openda goals at half-time of Tuesday’s clash (28 November) at the Etihad Stadium. Phil Foden sparked their recovery after the interval, teeing up goals for Erling Haaland and substitute Jeremy Doku either side of scoring a sublime effort himself. “If you talk about the game, we could do better,” Guardiola admitted at full-time. “Sloppy goals, in football you have to win duels and it was quite similar against Chelsea. We were solid and now we’ve had two warnings already.” Guardiola also made a plea to City fans ahead of the Leipzig fixture. Read More Pep Guardiola pays tribute to Terry Venables: ‘A true gentleman’ NHL mass brawl as referee sends players off the ice Watch: F1 fans spark chaos and launch bottles of prosecco in Abu Dhabi brawl

The Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers haven’t let last season’s postseason disappointment become a hangover in 2023

FanDuel is giving you an extra $150 in bonus bets if you pick the winner of any NBA game today! Find out how to claim this exclusive promo here.

A video review official has been removed from his Champions League game on Wednesday, one day after having a key role in a disputed decision to award Paris Saint-Germain a stoppage-time penalty for handball against Newcastle which contradicted Uefa’s own advice to referees. The VAR specialist from Poland, Tomasz Kwiatkowski, is no longer listed to work at the Real Sociedad-Salzburg game and has been replaced by a German match official. In Paris on Tuesday, Kylian Mbappe scored in the eighth minute of stoppage time to salvage a 1-1 draw after a ball struck Newcastle defender Tino Livramento in the chest and then deflected off his arm, and a penalty was awarded by Polish referee Szymon Marciniak following a VAR review. Marciniak refereed the Champions League final last season and the 2022 World Cup final with Kwiatkowski in his team. Marciniak initially allowed play to continue Tuesday but awarded the penalty after he was advised by his video assistant to review the incident on the pitchside monitor. However, a Uefa panel of storied coaches and former players said in April that “no handball offense should be called on a player if the ball is previously deflected from his own body, and, in particular, when the ball does not go towards the goal.” The advice to be given to match officials this season was detailed by the panel, chaired by Uefa Chief of Football Zvonimir Boban, in an April 25 statement headlined “Uefa Football Board urges more clarity on handball rule.” “The handball rule, for example, will always be disputed, but we can make it more consistent and aligned with the game’s true nature,” Boban, the former Croatia and AC Milan great, said in April. Uefa declined to comment, in line with a policy not to discuss field of play decisions. The current laws of the game allow for handballs to be penalized even if the contact was not intentional and after a deflection if a defender’s arm is judged to be in an unnatural position. “But his hand is not in an unnatural position,” Newcastle manager Eddie Howe said after the game, “(his hands) are down by his side, but he is in a running motion.” The cross from Ousmane Dembele that struck Livramento was also going backward — and not towards goal. The penalty decision in the PSG game directly affected the standings in the tightly fought Group F, as it kept PSG two points clear of Newcastle in the second qualifying place for the round of 16 behind group leader Borussia Dortmund. “I feel it is a poor decision and it’s hugely frustrating for us as you know how little time there is left in the game,” Howe said. “There is nothing we can do about it now.” Newcastle must now win its home game against last-place AC Milan on Dec. 13 and hope PSG fails to win at Dortmund. The second-place team advances to the Champions League round of 16 and the third-place team goes to the Europa League knockout playoffs. Read More ‘He is the future’: Newcastle and Lewis Miley robbed of night to remember VAR the villain as late penalty call denies Newcastle rearguard win in Paris Newcastle fans attacked in Paris before Champions League match On this day in 2015: Jamie Vardy scores in 11th game in a row Football rumours: Victor Osimhen keen on making Chelsea move The sporting weekend in pictures

Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher believes a trial of sin bins at higher levels of football could rescue the game from being “ruined” by red cards - but former England captain John Terry says it could make the sport “boring”. Football’s lawmakers IFAB have backed a trial of temporary dismissals of players for offences such as dissent and tactical fouls and a proposed change to the laws of the game will be considered at its annual general meeting in March. If approved, sin bins could be introduced at the higher levels of the game by the start of next season and those backing the changes will now look to develop a protocol and a system for trialling after its successful implementation at grassroots levels. Like in rugby union, which operates a 10-minute sin bin for yellow card offences, players would be removed from the pitch temporarily under the new rules, with the emphasis on improving behaviour towards the referee. Sin bins were introduced across all levels of grassroots football from the 2019-20 season in an attempt to to improve levels of respect and fair play in the game and the rule change was implemented up to step five of the National League system. The IFAB also backed a proposal which would only allow the team captains to talk to the referee in certain in-game situations. Carragher said he has not been a “fan” of sin bins in the past but said football could benefit from a system of “orange cards” where players are not sent off for the full match for accidental dangerous play. The Sky Sports pundit cited recent red cards shown to Liverpool’s Curtis Jones at Tottenham and Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford at Copenhagen where the punishment awarded was too severe. “I’ve never been a fan of sin bins before, but we are watching too many games that have [red] cards and for me it ruins the game,” Carragher wrote on Twitter/X in response to former England team-mate Terry, who said he was against the proposed change. Terry argued teams would be encouraged to sit back if they had a player sent to the sin bins and warned it could lead to “inconsistencies” from week to week. “I personally don’t like it because the level of tolerance and inconsistencies from referees will differ every week!" Terry wrote on social media. "Also what will happen is the team that goes down to 10 men for three minutes will go into a low block and make it difficult to break down, which will become boring for every one watching!" he added. Pierluigi Collina, chairman of the Fifa referees committee who sits on the IFAB’s technical subcommittee, said the proposed trials would “very probably” involve professional football. “The idea is to go deeper into all of the details because it’s easy to say we do (it) and it’s a bit more difficult how to regulate everything,” he said. “But the idea is to start working on this as soon as possible to provide those who would be involved in the trial a protocol to be used. “The trial was very successful in a grassroots competition. Now we are talking of a higher level, very probably professional or even high professional football. We need to draft something that works or is worthy for top football.” IFAB board members also agreed any new VAR measures should not result in any additional delays to matches, while supporting the need to continue developing semi-automated offside technology. Additionally, they discussed potential strategies to address time lost in matches and tactics aimed at disrupting the game’s tempo, including in relation to the six-second restriction for goalkeepers, delaying restarts and managing injuries. A possible law amendment, which would result in handball offences for which penalties are awarded being punished in the same way as fouls in terms of yellow and red cards, was a further consideration. Includes reporting from PA Read More ‘He is the future’: Newcastle and Lewis Miley robbed of night to remember Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta believes he still has something to prove in Europe Champions League: What do Man United, Arsenal and Newcastle need to reach last 16? ‘He is the future’: Newcastle and Lewis Miley robbed of night to remember Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta believes he still has something to prove in Europe Champions League: What do Man United, Arsenal and Newcastle need to reach last 16?

Gary O’Neil insisted on Monday, after his team were again on the wrong end of a controversial VAR call, that livelihoods were at stake over this misuse of the technology so controversially gaining a further stranglehold over football around the world. But there is something greater at stake – something that is irreplaceable, that untold millions cannot make up for. Lewis Miley’s performance in the Parc des Princes deserved to be talked about for generations of Geordies. The 17-year-old from County Durham should have been able to tell his future grandchildren about the time, on his full Champions League bow, against the might of Paris Saint-Germain, on their own turf, he went toe-to-toe with one do the best players in the world in Kylian Mbappe and won. It was a performance of honour. There were no spectacular goals or moments of jaw-dropping skill, more that a teenager not yet legally allowed to buy fireworks and his injury-ravaged side held the Parisien millionaires at bay for the second time in three months to achieve their greatest-ever European away result. Instead, we are talking about a ball brushing against an arm, again, and whether the interpretation of a single rule needs to be rectified. How depressing. “I just try to enjoy football and I’m just tired of discussing these matters,” Newcastle defender Kieran Trippier said. “If you’re on the end of it, in a good way or a bad way, nothing can change it. The referee makes a decision. “He had the chance to go to the monitor, which he did. So I don’t understand it, from my point of view you can clearly see that’s come off his chest and onto his arm. I’m standing here, discussing the decisions, why can’t officials? Why can’t the referee come out and explain why he gave that penalty? “We didn’t make one sub, it was 11 against 16 tonight. The lads have given absolutely everything, as I’ve said over and over again. We’ve all just got to keep stepping up. Everyone can see it is just not a penalty.” Trippier was well placed to be able to witness what Miley had just done to one of the world’s best players. Between them, Miley being 16 years Trippier’s junior, they nullified Mbappe for long periods of the encounter down the Newcastle right, and when presented with the opportunity, especially in the first half, the pair countered at will. There was no shirking responsibility or any appreciation for the magnitude of the occasion, Miley looked for the ball and carried it forward at every opportunity. In fact, no player in black and white made more entries into the final third than the talented teenager. “He was quality, again,” Trippier added. “Seventeen-year-old. He can go all the way to the top. “To come to a place like this, against this opposition, he wasn’t out of place. He was showing he is calm on the ball. He is an unbelievable player. He’s got a bright future ahead of him. “The good thing about him is he it feels like he’s played 500 games already. He is going be the future for Newcastle.” Such composure under pressure, authority on the ball, spirit to lead his team forward should not be forgotten, but it will. In 20 years time, the next generation of Geordies should have been the ones searching out clips of Miley’s coming of age – the moment one of the greatest players in the club’s history, which many who know him now keep suggesting he can become, announced himself to the world. Instead, such a performance will be lost in the vitriol. Something nobody asked for when technology was brought into our beautiful, storied game. Read More Xavi hails Barcelona winning mentality while Dortmund top ‘group of death’ Jamie Carragher and John Terry split opinion on sin bin trial in football Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta believes he still has something to prove in Europe Xavi hails Barcelona winning mentality while Dortmund top ‘group of death’ Jamie Carragher and John Terry split opinion on sin bin trial in football Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta believes he still has something to prove in Europe

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is working on a deal to sell a majority stake in the NBA franchise to the family that runs the Las Vegas Sands casino, a person with knowledge of the talks said Tuesday night. The agreement would be in the valuation range of $3.5 billion and take weeks for the league to process, according to the person, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because details weren’t being made public. Cuban would retain control of basketball operations in the deal. NBA reporter Marc Stein was the first to report the potential sale. The family of Miriam Adelson, widow of casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, announced earlier Tuesday it was selling $2 billion of her shares to buy an unspecified professional sports team. Cuban said almost a year ago he was interested in partnering with the Sands. He has been a proponent of legalizing gambling in Texas, an issue that didn’t make it out of the state Legislature in a biennial session that ended earlier this year. The 65-year-old Cuban, who just announced he was leaving the popular business TV program “Shark Tank” after a 16th season next year, rose to fame quickly after buying the Mavericks in 2000. Dallas was one of the worst franchises in pro sports in the 1990s, but turned into one of the best under Cuban, with a lot of help from star forward Dirk Nowitzki. The Mavericks, who won the franchise’s only championship in 2011 with Nowitzki leading the way, are worth $4.5 billion, according to Forbes magazine. Read More Boston Celtics continue unbeaten run with 124-114 win over the Brooklyn Nets Sacramento Kings coach chokes up speaking about Maine mass shooting Damar Hamlin offers message of support after Bronny James suffers cardiac arrest

French club Nantes has fired coach Pierre Aristouy, who helped the team avoid relegation last season

Beth Mead says she is rediscovering the joy of football after a year shaped by loss and grief. The last time Mead played at Wembley, her mother, June, was still alive to see it. Wembley was the scene of Mead’s greatest triumph, when England won the Euros and she finished as the tournament’s top scorer and best player. What followed was the toughest year of her life, as she ruptured her anterior cruciate ligament and then lost her mum after a long battle with ovarian cancer. But on Friday, Mead has the chance to return to Wembley and make her first appearance for the Lionesses in 385 days. It is another significant milestone, both in the resumption of her career as a footballer, and in her grieving process. While she has required emotional resilience, Mead is proud of her journey and believes her mum would be too. “Growing up I would say I was mentally quite weak,” Mead says. “I’d like to think the things I’ve dealt with have made me a stronger and better person.” Injury not only robbed the 28-year-old of a place at the World Cup, but it took away an outlet to process the loss of her mother as well. Instead of having that focus, Mead was limited to a repetitive cycle of rehabilitation, a routine she got through along with her Arsenal team-mate and partner Vivianne Miedema, who was sidelined along with Mead after rupturing her ACL a month after she did. There were dark moments during rehab but Mead says those bad days feel better now she is back on the pitch and doing what she loves. On Sunday, Mead scored her first goals since returning to the pitch in Arsenal’s 3-0 win over West Ham. She dedicated both to her mum, a moment she had waited 11 months for. If that finally provided some closure, returning to Wembley is set to as well, even though it is the place where they shared some of their happiest memories. As with scoring her first goals, it can be a reminder that her mum is not there to see them and that can make it difficult as well. But Mead is back and the Lionesses have been lifted by her presence ahead of a pair of must-win fixtures against the Netherlands and Scotland. England manager Sarina Wiegman didn’t want to rush her return and said the forward needed more time when she named her squad for last month’s double-header against Belgium: but as Mead got minutes off the bench, and then starts, the confidence returned. “I’ve been feeling more like myself again,” she says. Instead of being in Australia with the Lionesses this summer, she was at home watching the World Cup on TV with captain Leah Williamson, who suffered the same injury four months after Mead. If missing the World Cup was cruel, having to watch as England narrowly lost the final to Spain was just as hard. The final was a tough watch for them both. “We struggled,” Mead admits. “We just want to help the team do the best that they can do. We got that taken away from us.” How England are in need of the return of the Euros golden boot winner. Defeat last month to Belgium left the Lionesses in third place in their Nations League group, with top spot required to secure a place for Great Britain at the Paris Olympics next summer. England, who have lacked a spark in games since the World Cup, must now beat both the Netherlands at Wembley and Scotland at Hampden while hoping other results go their way. Mead, who missed out on the 2020 Olympics after she was controversially left out of Hege Riise’s Team GB squad, famously sparking the form that led into the Euros the following summer, is as motivated as anyone to get the job done. Now she returns to the Lionesses with a renewed perspective, taking to each training session with a sense of fresh enthusiasm. “I feel like a kid again,” she smiled. After all, the thought of returning to England was Mead’s motivation during rehab. Now Wembley also offers a meeting that perhaps Mead could not have dared for during the dark days, the chance to face Miedema on the pitch when the Lionesses host the Netherlands, now both players have recovered from their ACLs. Even thinking about those moments with the people who lived and breathed what Mead went through during rehabilitation is enough to make her emotional. “I think it’s a nice moment for both of us,” Mead says. “It’s a hard journey - who does their ACLs at the same time?” she laughs. “We’ve seen the good and bad days from each other. But I’m proud of my journey and I’m very proud and happy to have had the support around me that I’ve had during this time. I feel very lucky and blessed to have had that.” Read More Beth Mead ‘smiling like a Cheshire cat’ on England return WSL and Women’s Championship poised to break away from FA The sporting weekend in pictures

It’s not quite hell any more, and Manchester United no longer look so tormented, but they do need salvation on Wednesday. Galasataray’s relatively new Rams Park stadium will be the stage for a definitive point in a season of hinge moments – at least, if Erik ten Hag’s side get through it, until the next one. United need victory to have any chance of getting through to the Champions League, but really know they need two in a row. The reason that has an importance for stakes beyond staying in the most prestigious competition is that such a key step can have an effect on everything that follows because of its significance. It is either confirmation that the team is on course or more serious cause for doubt. Ten Hag has endured a constant back-and-forth this season where the team has occasionally been convincing but results have never been consistent. Even some of the better victories have had that sense of only momentarily disguising the problems. The 3-0 win over Everton was a case in point because of how Sean Dyche’s side got at them before Marcus Rashford’s penalty. It has all left them in a situation that most clubs don’t get out of – but which isn’t quite impossible for United. They will be looking to become just the 10th club in Champions League history to get through the group stages having accumulated three points or fewer with just two games left. That’s just over two per cent of all 424 qualifiers since the group stage became the first round in 1994-95. It’s an awful lot to do, but there is at least some encouragement it’s possible. Four of the sides to have managed this have been in even worse positions. Three have been English, and two among their greatest rivals. Champions League miracle workers The nine teams that got through with three points or fewer with two games left Rosenborg 1996-97, three points Lyon 2000-01, three points Newcastle United 2002-03, three points Lokomotiv Moscow 2002-03, one point FC Porto 2004-05, two points Stuttgart 2009-10, three points Manchester City 2014-15, two points Arsenal 2015-16, three points Atalanta 2019-20, one point The question of whether they can do it in these games is of course connected to the far greater puzzle over whether it’s coming together for the season. This is another discussion that feels like it’s being repeated again and again – particularly when United go through a brief sequence of wins. The feeling from the outside has been that they’re just getting through it until the next disappointment, which Champions League elimination obviously would be; that the recent wins have been an illusory positive. The talk within, as has long been relayed, is that almost all of this is down to injuries and constant changes in personnel. There have nevertheless been misgivings about Ten Hag’s hardline approach with certain players, an overemphasis on fitness work and the fact that there is no real sense of the manager’s tactical idea. This is why doubts have persisted even around wins, and an otherwise admirable sense of defiance. Ten Hag, for his own part, would insist that a run of results will restore confidence which will make the team look more like what they’re supposed to. “It is good progress,” he said on the eve of the Galatasaray game. “You see we are stepping up, more stable, winning games so definitely there is progress from the first game.“ The Dutch coach believes that Kobbie Mainoo greatly helps that. There’s even a suspicion that his impact can end up being even more impressive and important than what it has been seen so far. Ten Hag is hopeful that Mainoo can be the Frenkie de Jong-style midfielder that he has been lacking since joining the club, and wants to see how a pairing with Mason Mount works. That could be crucial, although it is obviously a lot of pressure to put on a mere 18-year-old. It’s easy to forget now but one of the reasons that Ten Hag so pursued De Jong was because he feels the Dutch international is close to unique as a midfielder. Liverpool’s Ryan Gravenberch was actually one of very few who looked like he could have the qualities to be developed into a similar sort of player. Since Ten Hag couldn’t get either, though, the club went a completely different route with Casemiro. The Brazilian did offer a fine solution, but one that increasingly looks like it was a stop-gap. Ten Hag has been imagining his team going in another direction. Mainoo aids that. He has many of the same qualities as De Jong. He offers balance and that understanding of the way Ten Hag wants the team to move. Mainoo is certainly making good on the way coaches and scouts spoke about him when he was as young as 11. Youth cup opponents commented on how they’d never seen players so developed technically and mentally at Mainoo’s age. “Kobbie is so mature,” Ten Hag says now. It says even more that there is absolutely no concern about exposing him to Galatasaray’s infamous ferocious atmosphere. “No, we don’t have fear,” Ten Hag said. “If players are good enough then they are old enough.” The manner in which Mainoo immediately makes the formation fit should at least theoretically mean that Galatasaray won’t just cut through United in the way they did in the 3-2 win at Old Trafford. Reality can go another way, though, and involve a lot of unpredictables. It isn’t to question Mainoo’s superb ability to say it is maybe a reflection of where United are right now that there is so much responsibility on a teenager. A problem with United that precedes Ten Hag has also been the number of players or situations which look like a fix-all solution… but only for a brief period, because the issues are naturally much greater. Casemiro was one of them. Those with knowledge of the squad have commented on how “nothing seems to stick long-term”. Rashford looks elite “for a while”. Anthony Martial threatens a comeback “for a while”. A while might be all that is required right now, though, since United just need to get through this group to keep the season on track. That’s two weeks, set up by this one huge game. It is also a fixture loaded with all sorts of history and menace. United enlisted some of the players involved in that notorious 3-3 draw 30 years ago to speak about their experience before this game. The Champions League is a very different competition than it was then, though. This isn’t the Ali Sami Yen Stadium and this isn’t 1993. There is a familiarity from modern exposure which means very few venues carry that same level of intimidation. The main anxiety United might feel is the prospect of again failing, something that has been seen a few times this season. It is something else Ten Hag has been working on. He said: “You have to stay calm in your head and don’t get too emotional and control emotion, don’t give them anything, the referee as well, don’t give them a moment they can take, so you have to stay away from such moments. You have to make it your game. It is not that important how the opponent is playing, it is how you are playing. We will make a good plan and the players, they have to decide.” They could go some way in deciding how this entire season goes. Galatasaray vs Manchester United kicks off at 5.45pm on Wednesday. Coverage begins on TNT Sports 1 at 5pm Read More Deloitte predicts global revenues for women’s elite sport will top £1bn in 2024 Why Bruno Fernandes is the only choice as Man Utd captain Erik Ten Hag outlines how ‘calm’ Man Utd can negotiate Istanbul atmosphere Is Galatasaray vs Man United on TV? Kick-off time, channel and how to watch Champions League: What do Newcastle, Man Utd and Arsenal need to reach last 16? Bruno Fernandes excited for ‘amazing’ atmosphere at Galatasaray

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund will buy a 10% stake in London Heathrow Airport as part of a

Eddie Howe was left fuming after Paris St Germain denied Newcastle a priceless Champions League victory with a controversial stoppage-time penalty. The Magpies were heading for a famous 1-0 win at the Parc des Princes until Polish referee Szymon Marciniak awarded a spot-kick against Tino Livramento after a VAR review, allowing Kylian Mbappe to level in the eighth and final minute of added time. Howe, who said in a television interview that the official had been placed under “extreme” pressure by the PSG players, labelled a decision which cost his side two precious points “poor” in his post-match press conference. Asked if he felt a sense of injustice, the Newcastle boss said: “Yes, I do. It wasn’t the right decision in my opinion. “There are so many things to take into account at that moment, the speed first. It was a ricochet that when it is slowed down, looks completely different to the live event. “The ball hits his chest first, comes up and hits his hand. But his hand is not in an unnatural position, they [his hands] are down by his side, but he is in a running motion. “I feel it is a poor decision and it’s hugely frustrating for us as you know how little time there is left in the game. There is nothing we can do about it now.” The pivotal moment arrived in the fifth minute of stoppage time when Ousmane Dembele attempted to deliver the ball across the Newcastle penalty area and saw it hit Livramento’s side and rear up on to the underside of his arm. Mr Marciniak, who had earlier seen decisions not to award spot-kicks for an Anthony Gordon challenge on Achraf Hakimi and a shout for handball against teenager midfielder Lewis Miley upheld, was advised to review the incident and this time decided to award the penalty. The Magpies, who had taken a 24th-minute lead through Alexander Isak, defended it for grim life until the last-gasp controversy, although they needed Pope to be at his brilliant best on several occasions. They now need to beat AC Milan at home on December 13 and hope PSG do not win away to Borussia Dortmund to progress. Asked if that was something to cling on to, Howe, who celebrates his 46th birthday on Wednesday, said: “Yes, I think that’s absolutely right. In the next couple of days, that will become more relevant in our thoughts, I think. “When the draw came out, it was the ‘group of death’ and I don’t think many people gave us a chance of qualifying from it and sitting here now, I’m a little bit frustrated that it’s not in our hands because when I look back at the two Dortmund games, I felt we could have done better in those matches. “I don’t think it’s the time for that, I think it’s probably a time to be positive and to say that if we can beat Milan, then good things can happen from it.” For PSG boss Luis Enrique, there was a mixture of relief and frustration on a night when his side created a host of chances but were unable to take any of them until Mbappe’s late intervention. Enrique said: “Without a doubt, we played a very great game. We deserved to win. We played better than Newcastle. The result does not reflect what happened on the pitch. “It’s not basketball. We are one of the teams in Europe that scores the most. Sometimes the ball doesn’t want to go in. “Sometimes the game looked like table tennis. I couldn’t believe we couldn’t score, but we carried on despite the frustration.” Read More On this day in 2015: Great Britain end long wait for Davis Cup win Deloitte predicts global revenues for women’s elite sport will top £1bn in 2024 Alan Shearer blasts ‘disgusting’ penalty as Newcastle denied win in Paris First half was the worst I’ve seen us – Phil Foden savours thrilling fightback Beth Mead ‘smiling like a Cheshire cat’ on England return Rodrigo Bentancur set to be out until February after tearing an ankle ligament