Newcastle United might be one of the few clubs capable of signing Cristiano Ronaldo, but Eddie Howe has suggested the Magpies' interest lies elsewhere.

Ronaldo wanted to leave Manchester United in the last transfer window, but the 37-year-old ultimately stayed at Old Trafford.

He has only had a bit-part role under Erik ten Hag, though came on from the bench to score United's winner against Everton last week, bringing up his 700th club goal in the process.

There remains question marks over his future, but ahead of United's meeting with Newcastle on Sunday, Howe – while revealing his huge appreciation of Ronaldo – indicated his side are looking towards signings more suited to a long-term approach.

When asked in a press conference if Newcastle, backed by the wealth of Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) would be interested in signing Ronaldo, Howe told reporters: "We're trying to provide long-term growth, we've got a longer-term vision.

"At the moment, we have quite an ageing squad, so we need to invest more in young players. That's probably a big part of our progression, we need to get the average age down.

"So, it might not be a signing that we would necessarily look to make, but that's not under-estimating the quality of the player.

"He's an outstanding player. You look at his goal record last year, that was incredible. So, for me, the transfer [to United] has worked, it's been a success.

"He got massive goals last year and some really late, important goals in the Champions League. The quality of the player is unquestionable.

"We are going to have to be very, very good against him if he plays. We're going to have to brief our players on the areas from where he wants to score That's something we have to be aware of."

Newcastle spent big on Sven Botman from Lille and Alexander Isak from Real Sociedad – aged 22 and 23 respectively – to bolster their squad for this season.

Howe's side had lost only one of their opening nine league games this season ahead of Sunday's trip to Old Trafford.

Michael Hooper is back in the Australia squad for the upcoming tour of Europe, but James Slipper will retain the captaincy.

Hooper has not played since he withdrew from the Wallabies squad on the eve of their Rugby Championship opener against Argentina in August.

The flanker stated that he was not in the right frame of mind to play, but is set to make his comeback on the international stage after being included in a 36-man squad on Sunday.

Slipper will continue to skipper Australia, while the uncapped Jock Campbell, Ben Donaldson, Langi Gleeson, Mark Nawaqanitawase, Sam Talakai have been included.

Overseas-based duo Bernard Foley and Will Skelton were also selected for a tour that starts with a Test against Scotland at Murrayfield on October 30.

The Wallabies, who finished third in the Rugby Championship, will also face France, Italy, Ireland and Wales next month.

Australia head coach Dave Rennie said: "We've got a massive opportunity over the next five matches to test ourselves against some of the best teams in the world and string together some performances that our supporters are proud of back home in Australia.

"It's been really pleasing to continue to get game time into our players through the Australia A programme and a number of those guys have been rewarded for their form with selection in the squad.

"To have Michael back in the group is massive for our team on and off the field and we'll continue to make sure that he has the support around him he needs."

Australia squad:

Allan Alaalatoa, Tom Banks, Jock Campbell, Ben Donaldson, Folau Fainga'a, Lalakai Foketi, Bernard Foley, Matt Gibbon, Nick Frost, Langi Gleeson, Jake Gordon, Ned Hanigan, Reece Hodge, Jed Holloway, Michael Hooper, Len Ikitau, Andrew Kellaway, Noah Lolesio, Lachlan Lonergan, Tate McDermott, Fraser McReight, Mark Nawaqanitawase, Cadeyrn Neville, Hunter Paisami, Jordan Petaia, Matt Philip, David Porecki, Tom Robertson, Pete Samu, Will Skelton, James Slipper (captain), Sam Talakai, Taniela Tupou, Rob Valetini, Nic White, Tom Wright.

Fabio Quartararo said he is in for "the toughest job of his career" after his crash at the Australian Grand Prix handed the MotoGP title race lead to Francesco Bagnaia.

Quartararo conceded the lead in the championship when he crashed out on Turn 2 of the 11th lap on Sunday, while trying to make up for an early mistake that had seen him fall to the back of the race.

The Frenchman has now failed to collect points in three of his last four races, and Bagnaia's third-placed finish at the Phillip Island Circuit propelled him 14 points ahead of Quartararo in the standings.

Indeed, Quartararo was fortunate the Ducati rider gave up his lead to Alex Rins and Marc Marquez on the final lap.

Quartararo's chances of retaining his title might well be slipping away, but the 23-year-old will give it his all.

"Now we need to turn the page and we only have one job and it's trying to win," Quartararo, who held Bagnaia off last season to win his maiden MotoGP title, told reporters.

"It's going to be the toughest job of my career, but I'm ready to fight for it."

Quartararo gave up the title lead at a similarly late stage in 2020, ultimately finishing eighth, though he does not believe this season is comparable to two years ago.

"[In] 2020 [it] was mentally and technically, and now I don't feel mentally like I'm over-thinking too much or not. So mentally I don't feel it's [like] 2020," he added.

"I'm just trying to do my best and I'm overriding a little bit too much and the risk of having a mistake is really close. So that's what happened."

Rins, meanwhile, celebrated victory in what will be his final race in Australia with Suzuki, who are withdrawing from MotoGP at the end of the season.

He said: "I'm super happy to finish in the first position. First of all it will be the last time with the Suzuki here at the Island.

"I'm blessed that I got the first position for this and then for all the people that were supporting me during all the season, during all the bad moments. The team really deserves [this win] and all the staff in Hamamatsu.

"We really deserve it and in many races we know our weak point which is the qualifying.

"We struggled but in some races we had unbelievable pace and were forced to finish in fifth position, sixth position for this reason. The victory was quite nice. It's sad that Suzuki is leaving but let's leave with the victory."

Antoine Griezmann apologised to Atletico Madrid fans for the "damage" he may have done when initially leaving the club for Barcelona in 2019.

Griezmann joined Barca in 2019 when the Catalans triggered his €120million release clause, ending a long courtship by the Blaugrana.

Barca had been heavily linked with Griezmann in 2018, but the player opted to remain with Atletico, making his announcement in a documentary called 'La Decision'.

Although Griezmann stayed then, many Atletico fans were frustrated by his conduct, with the documentary – echoing his NBA hero LeBron James' 'The Decision' – seen by some as an unnecessary sideshow that stoked speculation.

The France forward ended up joining Barca the following year, but his spell at Camp Nou was generally underwhelming, and he returned to Atletico last season on loan, a deal that was made permanent on Monday.

In his first LaLiga game since signing a permanent deal with Atletico, Griezmann scored the winner in a 1-0 win at Athletic Bilbao to take his league tally for the club to 100, and afterwards he felt it necessary to offer an olive branch to supporters.

"In the end, I want to apologise," he said.

"I know that people want to hear it from my mouth: I apologise for the damage I may have done to fans.

"But the greatest forgiveness I want to ask for is on the pitch, giving everything for the team and with [games] like this."

Atletico completed the signing of Griezmann after opting to tread carefully with the amount of minutes he was being given earlier this season.

According to reports, Atletico would have been obliged to pay €40m for Griezmann if he had played more than 30 minutes in a certain percentage of their games.

As such, Diego Simeone routinely brought Griezmann on after the 60th minute, and in the end that tactic seemingly forced Barca to accept a significantly reduced deal apparently worth just under €20m.

"Personally, it was complicated, but I tried not to show it," Griezmann said of the contractual quirk.

"I know I was playing for a coach I love very much and some team-mates who deserve the best of me.

"If I have to play, I give 100 per cent, and if I don't [play], I encourage my team-mates. Then, when I come on, I try to make a difference."

Tottenham forward Richarlison tearfully admitted he fears the injury sustained in Saturday's win over Everton could crush his dream of representing Brazil at the World Cup.

Richarlison was substituted early on in the second half of Spurs' 2-0 Premier League victory against his former side Everton at Goodison Park with a calf injury.

The 25-year-old left the stadium on crutches and will undergo an MRI scan on Monday, but he has already been ruled out of Wednesday's trip to Manchester United.

He missed a month of action last season with a similar injury and is now worried about a comparable lay-off, with Brazil facing Serbia in their tournament opener on November 24.

"It's so close to the realisation of my dream," he told ESPN Brasil with tears in his eyes. "I've already suffered a similar injury to this, but I hope it can heal as soon as possible.

"It's hard to talk at this moment, but let's see, I hope to recover. Monday, I have tests to do, but even walking hurts. Let's wait. I have to stay positive if I want to go to Qatar.

"It's all so close, it's about a month to go, and we've been getting ready, working every day so that nothing serious can happen. 

"Unfortunately, I had this calf injury, but now it's just a matter of waiting, doing the treatment every day so that I can recover as soon as possible."

Richarlison has scored just twice in 13 appearances since joining Tottenham from Everton, both of those goals coming against Marseille in the Champions League.

He has been capped 38 times for Brazil and has scored seven times in six appearances this year, making him a certainty to be named in the squad if fit.

Brazil boss Tite, spoiled for options in attack, has until November 14 to name his final 26-man squad – though most competing nations are expected to do so much before then.

Record five-time champions Brazil follow up their opener against Serbia with group games against Switzerland and Cameroon on November 28 and December 2 respectively.

Dusan Vlahovic says the Juventus players are firmly behind Massimiliano Allegri after they stopped the rot with a 1-0 Derby della Mole win at Torino.

Head coach Allegri has come under increasing pressure after Juve were beaten 2-0 by Maccabi Haifa this week on the back of a Serie A defeat at Milan.

Bianconeri president Andrea Agnelli came out in support of Allegri following the midweek loss to Maccabi, which left the Turin giants surely facing a Champions League exit.

Allegri ordered his players in for a training retreat ahead of the clash with Torino, putting them through double sessions.

Juve responded with a derby victory on Saturday, Vlahovic scoring the only goal at the game in the second half at the Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino.

And the Serbia striker made it clear the players want Allegri to stay on.

"We knew it wouldn't be easy because it's the derby and they're a tough team," said Vlahovic. "We won in their home, and it was really important to us, we remain together and united.

"Now, we are working game by game, and the message is that Juve will never give up.

"We're all behind the coach, and you learn more in difficulties, I'm available, and I give 100 per cent, and I want to keep going like this."

Juve's win against their city rivals was their first away from home this season.

Aaron Boone expects the New York Yankees to hit back after a "gut-wrenching" Game 3 defeat to the Cleveland Guardians as they battle to keep the American League Division Series alive.

The Guardians lead the best-of-five series 2-1 after a dramatic 6-5 victory at Progressive Field on Saturday.

Cleveland went into the ninth inning trailing 5-3, but Oscar Gonzalez came up with a two-out, two-strike single with the bases loaded to consign the Yankees to a walk-off loss.

Yankees manager Boone expects a response in a do-or-die Game 4 in Cleveland on Sunday.

He said: "It was a gut-wrenching ending, but we've got to get over it. Now we’re obviously up against it, but I still love our chances.

"We've got Gerrit [Cole] going tomorrow. We've got to take care of business and try and get back to New York."

Boone called for rookie pitcher Clarke Schmidt to close it out rather than Clay Holmes as the Yankees tried to cling onto their advantage in Game 3.

He defended that decision, stating Holmes would not pitch back-to-back days due to shoulder soreness.

"Part of the thing with him [Holmes] being available for this series, [he] was not really in a back-to-back situation yet," Boone explained. "He just hadn't thrown any live or anything.

"So while he was pretty good today and I fully expect him available tomorrow [Sunday], it just felt like we needed to stay away there."

Holmes felt ready to step up if called upon.

"I prepared today to do my job," Holmes said. “Sometimes those decisions aren't mine. I felt like I was available to pitch.

"Whenever my name is called, I'm ready to go out there and give it everything I've got. They asked, and I said I was good to go if needed. That’s how the conversation was. Those decisions aren't mine, but I was prepared to pitch."

Joe Musgrove was born in San Diego and has watched the Padres lose, lose and lose again against the Los Angeles Dodgers for his entire life.

When Musgrove was born in December 1992, the Dodgers had a 227-198 all-time lead in a regular season series in which they have never trailed. That gap has since increased to 509-418.

After returning to San Diego with the Padres in 2021, the pitcher has three losses and no wins in this matchup.

"Since I was a little kid, we've been getting beat up by the Dodgers," Musgrove said.

But on Saturday, that all changed, with Musgrove the starter as the Padres eliminated the best regular season Dodgers team of all from the NLDS.

San Diego had recovered from losing the first game of the series to the record-breaking 111-win Dodgers, leading 2-1 ahead of Game 4 at Petco Park.

However, through six and a half innings, it appeared LA would be recovering their hold over the Padres, ahead 3-0 in the middle of the seventh.

Then five hits and five runs in the bottom of that inning turned the tide, with Jake Cronenworth's go-ahead two-run single ultimately enough for a remarkable 5-3 win.

The Padres are going back to the NLCS for the first time since 1998 and are doing so having beaten a team who had swept their only previous postseason series in 2020 and dominated them 14-5 this year.

"These guys dominated us all year long, but we got hot at the right time," Musgrove added.

"And you see the unity in this group, this fan base.... we wanted to give it to these people so bad. It's a good feeling."

The Dodgers had been bidding to fulfil manager Dave Roberts' prediction of a World Series all year long, but they fell at the first hurdle in the playoffs.

"Shock factor, very high. Disappointment, very high. It's crushing," Roberts said afterwards.

"Each guy gave everything they had all year long, and [it was] a tremendous season. The great thing about baseball is the unpredictability, and the tough thing about it is the same thing.

"Nothing I can say is going to make it feel any better. Obviously we didn't expect to be in this position."

Keegan Bradley claimed his first win since 2018 as he edged out Rickie Fowler and Andrew Putnam at the Zozo Championship.

Bradley was left fighting back tears after rolling in the winning putt, which saw him end a wait that stretched back to the BMW Championship over four years ago.

The 2011 US PGA champion prevailed thanks to a two-under 68, overcoming a wobble in which he carded two bogeys in three holes between the 14th and 16th.

It took him to 15 under par and proved enough to beat overnight leader Fowler, who could only manage a level par 70.

Fowler has not won on the PGA Tour since 2019. Putnam, whose last win came a month before Bradley's in August 2018, also finished one stroke back after a 68.

Emiliano Grillo's 64 was the second-best score of the day behind Lucas Herbert's 63 and took him to 13 under and outright fourth.

Viktor Hovland, Hayden Buckley and Sahith Theegala finished in a three-way tie for fifth.

Deontay Wilder ended his return to the ring inside the first round with a swift knockout of Robert Helenius in Brooklyn and then claimed he had brought back "excitement in the heavyweight division".

The former WBC champion had not fought since back-to-back defeats to Tyson Fury, the second coming last October.

But after just over a year away, Wilder made light work of underdog opponent Helenius, who was knocked down by a trademark big right hand with seconds left in the opening round.

Wilder had outlined this week his desire to land "the number one fight in the world" against Anthony Joshua, but he was open-minded about his next task following the defeat of Helenius.

"I'm down for whatever," Wilder said. "Andy Ruiz, [Oleksandr] Usyk or whatever. Deontay Wilder is back. The excitement in the heavyweight division is back."

Wilder enjoyed himself on his return at Barclays Center, adding: "We wanted to make this fun again.

"You can do this so long it can be a job, just something you are doing. We made it fun. It paid off big time."

The defeat of Helenius, his former sparring partner, saw Wilder improve to 43-2-1 with 42 knockouts.

The San Diego Padres delivered an unbelievable five-run seventh-inning rally to progress to the NLCS for the first time in 24 years and end the Los Angeles Dodgers' record-breaking season prematurely.

The Padres had lost Game 1 of the NLDS and trailed 3-0 halfway through the seventh inning in Game 4 against the Dodgers, who have dominated them for the past decade and had notched a franchise-best 111-51 regular season.

But San Diego found a way in front of the largest crowd in Petco Park history, booking their maiden NLCS appearance since 1998, where they will take on the Philadelphia Phillies, after they beat the Atlanta Braves 8-3 on Saturday.

Jake Cronenworth delivered a go-ahead two-run single as the Padres rallied with five hits and five runs in the seventh inning after managing only four hits in six innings prior to that.

Freddie Freeman lined a two-run double in the third inning before Will Smith's seventh-inning sacrifice fly for Mookie Betts had put the Dodgers 3-0 up, the latter marking the first run the Padres bullpen had conceded all series.

San Diego responded in a crazy inning, with Austin Nola bouncing to the right side to plate Jurickson Profar, before Kim Ha-seong's left-field line drive drove in Trent Grisham to make it 3-2.

Juan Soto tied the game up with a shot into right field, before Jake Cronenworth's go-ahead two-run double turned the crowd raucous.

Closer Josh Hader struck out Freeman to clinch the win and slay the dragon from down the road at long last.

The defeat ended the campaign for the Dodgers, whose 111 regular-season wins were the fourth-most wins in MLB history and the most by a National League (NL) team since 1906.

Yankees facing elimination after Gonzalez walkoff

Oscar Gonzalez stole the show and the win for the Cleveland Guardians with a two-run single with two outs in the ninth inning to earn a 6-5 win over the New York Yankees and a 2-1 ALDS lead.

Gonzalez hit the walk-off shot when he lined a 1-2 pitch from Clarke Schmidt through the middle to bring home Stevan Kwan and Amed Rosario.

That came after the Yankees had rallied from an early 2-0 deficit as Aaron Judge snapped his postseason skid with a two-run home run. New York had carried a 5-3 lead into the ninth inning.

The Yankees bullpen flopped, meaning they are facing an early exit when the ALDS resumes on Sunday at Yankee Stadium.

Astros advance after Pena ends epic

Jeremy Pena blasted an 18th-inning solo shot to advance the Houston Astros to the ALCS for the sixth straight season, ending an epic 1-0 victory over the Seattle Mariners and completing the sweep.

Luis Garcia closed out six hours and 22 minutes of prolonged postseason action, after Pena sent Penn Murfee into the seats over left-center field with a 415-foot blast.

Mariners starting pitcher George Kirby had been brilliant with five strikeouts across seven innings, but Astros right-hander Lance McCullers Jr overcame illness to send down seven K's across six innings, while Houston's bullpen only allowed five hits and struck out 15.

The game was only the fourth to last 18 innings in MLB postseason history, and the first in postseason history to go scoreless through 17 innings. 

World number one Iga Swiatek qualified for her ninth WTA Tour of the year, coming from a set down to get past fourth seed Jessica Pegula at the San Diego Open on a rain-affected Saturday.

Swiatek was at her dominant best against Pegula after dropping the opening frame, breaking her opponents' serve four times in the latter two sets to triumph 4-6 6-2 6-2 in two hours and six minutes.

The Pole extended her domination of Pegula this year, winning all four of their encounters in 2022, while the victory is her 63rd of the season, equaling Angelique Kerber's mark from 2016. Swiatek is also 23-1 in the United States this season.

Swiatek finished with 22-8 forehand winners, while she won 75 per cent of her second serves, compared to Pegula's 38 per cent.

After Pegula won the first set that included three breaks of serve, the match was halted for more than an hour due to rain, with Swiatek revealing post-game she passed time with crosswords.

That worked for the top seed who raced to a 3-0 second-set lead after the resumption and did not drop serve for the remainder of the match, saving three break points at 2-2 in the third.

The 2022 French Open and US Open champion will take on either Croatian qualifier Donna Vekic or American world number 19 Danielle Collins in Sunday's decider after their semi-final was ultimately suspended due to rain.

Collins leads Vekic 4-6 6-4 4-2 with the match restarted three times after rain, before the call was made to postpone it until Sunday, no earlier than 12.30pm local time, with the final to be played later in the day.