Sport (Page 79)

Max Verstappen has doubled down on his criticism of sprint races. Drivers will compete in another sprint race at the Brazilian Grand Prix this weekend. “We should just get rid of the sprint weekend and then everyone can just set up their cars normally. “It wouldn’t have happened that we would have had a normal race weekend. “These things only happen when you have a sprint weekend where everything is so rushed into your in-between FP1 and qualifying. “From our side, I think we went a bit too conservative, but that’s still better than the other way.” It comes months after the Dutchman threatened to retire if changes kept being made to the F1 schedule, with more sprint races added.Continue Reading

Shaun Murphy has responded to Ronnie O’Sullivan’s jibe towards him by calling it a “cheap shot” before explaining that the two snooker icons are “not the best of friends”. The Rocket was perplexed when noticing that Murphy had brought multiple cues to his Northern Ireland Open match with Chris Wakelin, in order to combat the changing table conditions. Murphy had used several cues in his 4-2 defeat in Belfast to Wakelin, to which O’Sullivan reacted by saying: “Have three cues if you’re winning, but when you keep getting pumped it don’t look good, does it? So start winning some matches before you start doing that.” The two legends have often clashed over the years and recently Murphy insisted that O’Sullivan’sContinue Reading

Carlos Alcaraz suffered another disappointing exit at the Rolex Paris Masters on Tuesday, falling at the first hurdle as he lost to Roman Safiullin 6-3 6-4. But it’s no coincidence that the tough loss came in Paris-Bercy as Alcaraz has something of a ‘curse’ at the event – getting injured last year and being left in tears in 2021. And the world No 2 believes that there are two factors behind his woes – the tournament’s reputation for upsets and where it falls in the tennis calendar. Alcaraz has a tough record at the final Masters 1000 event of the season, going back to when he made his debut two years ago. It was an impressive start for the then-world No 35Continue Reading

The quarter-final draw for the Carabao Cup has taken place following Wednesday night’s matches. Liverpool, Chelsea and Newcastle all made it through, while Manchester United and Arsenal exited at the round of 16. The tie of the quarter-final will be at Stamford Bridge when Chelsea host Newcastle. The Magpies beat Man Utd 3-0 at Old Trafford in another miserable night for Erik ten Hag. Chelsea beat Blackburn 2-0, while Liverpool overcame Bournemouth 2-1 in stormy conditions on the south coast. The Reds will play host to West Ham in the last eight after the Hammers eased past Arsenal 3-1. The two remaining non-Premier League clubs will play each other, with Port Vale hosting Middlesbrough. That means at least one ofContinue Reading

Felipe Massa is likely to skip the Brazilian Grand Prix this weekend, his home race, amid an ongoing legal battle with the sport. Massa has challenged the result of the 2008 title, claiming that Lewis Hamilton’s trophy should be awarded to him after F1 chiefs did not act properly on a deliberate crash in Singapore that affected the standings. He has not appeared in the paddock since hiring lawyers to represent him on the matter and looks set to continue watching from afar. “The only thing I know is that F1 asked me not to go to the Monza race,” Massa told Motorsport.com. “I was also going to go to the Japan race [as ambassador] and I didn’t go. “AboutContinue Reading

Smalling joined Roma in a £13million deal back in 2020 after a successful season-long loan spell was turned into a permanent switch by the Giallorossi. He was a regular for Jose Mourinho’s side last season, making 47 appearances in all competitions, but has been limited to just three outings this term. The centre-back had been signed by Sir Alex Ferguson from Fulham as a youngster just two years after turning out in non-league and went on to make 323 appearances for the Red Devils. He left Old Trafford with two Premier League titles, an FA Cup winners’ medal, Europa League and Carabao Cup to his name and has won 31 caps for England, although his last cap came back inContinue Reading

In a post on October 27, El Ghazi said he condemned “the killing of all innocent victims in Palestine and Israel“, and said his previous posts had been “misunderstood”. In his latest post published on Wednesday, November 1, he wrote: “My position remains the same as it was when this started: I am against war and violence, I am against the killing of all victims, I am against all forms of discrimination, I am against Islamophobia, I am against anti-Semitism, I am against genocide, I am against apartheid, I am against occupation, I am against oppression.” He then added: “I do not regret or have any remorse for my position. I do not distance myself from what I said andContinue Reading

Perez’s collision, caused by his audacious overtake attempt on the first corner, means that Red Bull are now at risk of not securing a historic one-two at the top of the Drivers’ Championship. The team are desperate to secure the achievement, though several drivers also have their heart set on securing P2. Asked whether a failure to finish second behind Verstappen would result in Red Bull parting ways with Perez, Horner explained: “It’s not as binary as that. You’ve got to look at the circumstances, and so on. Checo [Perez] has an agreement with us for next year and that’s our intention for him to be in the car in 2024. But we’ll give him all the support that weContinue Reading

Manchester United players are reportedly concerned that Erik ten Hag‘s no-nonsense coaching methods are negatively affecting morale in the dressing room. The Dutchman has made an example out of Jadon Sancho, like he did with Cristiano Ronaldo, which has opened him up to scrutiny at Old Trafford. Such drastic action can prove a hit among supporters when results back up the manager’s approach. But United have endured a miserable start to the season, losing five of their first 10 Premier League games to leave them eighth in the table. The scale of the gap between the Red Devils and title-chasing sides was exemplified on Sunday, when Manchester City proved a class apart at Old Trafford, toying with the hosts inContinue Reading

Al-Ettifaq star Jordan Henderson was incredibly fortunate not to have been shown a straight red card in his side’s heated clash with Al-Nassr. The former Liverpool captain sparked a major brawl by viciously barging Otavio on three separate occasions. Henderson has struggled since making the move to the Saudi Pro League and his conduct in Al-Ettifaq’s King Cup clash with Al-Nassr epitomised his time in the Middle East to date. With the match still goalless, tempers boiled over when the England international came to blows with Otavio on the halfway line, after his teammate Ali Hazazi had attempted to run down the clock late on by not giving the ball back after a free-kick was awarded. As Otavio attempted toContinue Reading