As the great entertainers, it is rare that Toulouse are upstaged by the pre-match pageantry but it is not every day a paratrooper attempting to land on the pitch gets snagged on the stadium roof and suspended in midair for half an hour. As it was, the paratrooper in question was rescued by the fire … Read more
Pep Guardiola has said that the Manchester United fans who chanted abuse at Manchester City’s Phil Foden about his mother during Sunday’s goalless derby lacked “class”. The invective was directed at the winger during the first half when City attacked the Stretford End at Old Trafford. Guardiola was asked about the chant. “[It was a] lack of … Read more
The in-form Arsenal striker has been forced to withdraw from the England squad because of injury before their Women’s Nations League fixture away against Belgium on Tuesday. In her place the Brighton striker Michelle Agyemang, on loan from Arsenal, has been added to the squad, the 19-year-old receiving a senior call-up for the first time. … Read more
St Johnstone gave themselves some unlikely relegation relief with a stunning 1-0 win against the Scottish Premiership leaders, Celtic, at McDiarmid Park. Daniels Balodis went off-script after four minutes when the defender scored with a header and, while the visitors dominated for the rest of the game, Simo Valakari’s side held out, helped by some … Read more
There is an odd paradox at play when it comes to sport at elite level. Aspiring professionals spend most of their youth dreaming of making it, only to get there and then wonder if they truly belong. Even Roger Federer doubted himself for many years. It has taken Jack Draper a long time to truly … Read more
It may be that Southampton pick up the two points they need to surpass Derby’s 2007-08 tally of 11 so as not to be ranked the worst team in Premier League history, but no side has ever previously been relegated with seven games of the season remaining. In that sense, and that alone, this was … Read more
Here it comes then. The much-promised collapse. The improbable, but somehow also deserved and collectively willed disintegration of these champions by default. Something like that anyway. Tell you what though. Fulham are good aren’t they? And particularly so, it should be said, for a team that started the day 10th in an apparently mediocre league. … Read more
“He’s definitely a very, very, very good player,” the Washington Capitals’ director of amateur scouting, Ross Mahoney, told reporters on the night of the NHL entry draft in June 2004. He was talking about Alex Ovechkin, who the team picked first overall that night. “How good will he be?” Mahoney asked. “Time will tell.” Now, … Read more
Blunt and tame, the 196th Manchester derby was a curio that failed to ignite despite the cross-town rivalry, conjuring memories of the last goalless affair of this sort here, in December 2020, before an empty Old Trafford, owing to Covid. This edition can be rated slightly better yet, towards the close of play, when the … Read more
Pablo Barrios scored deep in added time to give Atlético Madrid a much-needed 2-1 La Liga win at Sevilla on Sunday that ended their month-long six-game winless run in all competitions. Eliminated from the Champions League in the round of 16 on penalties by old rivals Real Madrid and knocked out of the Copa del … Read more