Pep Guardiola admitted he will face a nervous wait to see if all of his Manchester City players come through the international window unscathed ahead of a crucial run of games.

City kept alive the possibility of a second treble as they beat Newcastle 2-0 on Saturday to become the first team in the history of the FA Cup to reach the semi-finals in six consecutive seasons.

But the majority of Guardiola’s squad will now be heading off to play international football before the crunch Premier League fixture against title rivals Arsenal on March 31.

“I will not watch the (international) games, I will rest, and when they arrive on Thursday we will see which players survive and which did not survive,” Guardiola said.

“It’s difficult sometimes in that period to give all the players away for friendly games in a difficult part of the season, but the schedule is the schedule.”

Two deflected strikes from Bernardo Silva were enough for City to ease to victory over outclassed Newcastle, booking the first of what City hope will be three visits to Wembley before the end of the season, with the national stadium hosting the Champions League final on June 1.

“One step at a time,” said Guardiola, who will enjoy a break in his native Catalunya during the internationals. “First we have a final against Arsenal. But now we rest. I don’t want to think too much in the future.

“It’s been an intense period. Now the players change environment, it is always good for their mind. Some will be with their families, the staff will be with their families, and then when we come back we have three games to prepare for the game against Arsenal. Let’s go.”

Speaking immediately after Saturday’s game, Guardiola said he needed Kevin De Bruyne and Jack Grealish to come back fit after the break, and also mentioned Erling Haaland, who missed two months of the season through injury earlier in the season.

But although the Norwegian was unable to add to his eight FA Cup goals in Saturday’s match, bending a shot narrowly wide early in the second half, Guardiola was happy with the striker’s performance.

“This was the Erling I like to see,” he said. “In the moments we didn’t find him a little more with the players behind him…We should have used him a little bit more in the space but sometimes it’s difficult to see during the game.”

Grealish was an unused substitute following a groin injury which saw him left out of Gareth Southgate’s England squad, but Guardiola predicted he would be ready for the Arsenal match.

“Now we have 10 days to train,” he said. “We have a plan for him to train and he will be ready. Every three days we have a game in the final (stages) of the Premier League and the final (stages) of the Champions League. Everyone will be needed.”

Scottie Scheffler overturned a five-shot deficit to become the first player to successfully defend the Players Championship in the tournament’s 50-year history.

Scheffler carded an eagle and six birdies in a flawless closing 64 at Sawgrass to finish 20 under par, a shot ahead of US Open champion Wyndham Clark, Open champion Brian Harman and Xander Schauffele.

Clark birdied the 16th and 17th to keep his hopes alive but agonisingly lipped out for another birdie on the last to force a play-off.

Overnight leader Schauffele paid the price for dropped shots on the 14th and 15th and also missed from seven feet for birdie on the treacherous 17th.

“It’s pretty special,” Scheffler told CBS. “It’s something you don’t really get the opportunity to do very often.

“It’s tough enough to win one Players so to have it back-to-back is extremely special and I’m really thankful.

“I put up a good fight for four days, Teddy (Scott, his caddie) kept me in a good head space. We had a great finish yesterday, got off to a slow start today and then the hole-out on four kind of propelled us a little bit.

“I hit a lot of good shots today, did a lot of good things this week and it’s nice to come out on top.”

Asked how he had coped with the neck injury he suffered during Friday’s second round, Scheffler added: “I’m a pretty competitive guy and didn’t want to give up in the tournament.

“I did what I could to hang around until my neck got better and then today it felt really good.”

Scheffler, who also won the Arnold Palmer Invitational by five shots last week, kickstarted his challenge by holing out from 92 yards for an eagle on the fourth and also birdied the fifth, eighth and ninth to race to the turn in 31.

That gave the world number one his first share of the lead and although Schauffele moved back in front with birdies on the seventh and ninth, Scheffler birdied the 11th and then drove the green on the short par-four 12th to set up another.

Schauffele picked up a shot on the same hole to take the outright lead again, but Scheffler birdied the 16th to draw level before Schauffele crucially dropped shots on the 14th and 15th.

Steve Borthwick will begin plotting New Zealand’s downfall this week as he looks to build on England’s encouraging end to the Guinness Six Nations.

A stunning victory over Ireland in round four and agonising near-miss against France in Lyon on Saturday have generated excitement around a team that is now playing their most ambitious rugby for four years.

While finishing third in the table will hardly have set alarm bells ringing in the All Blacks’ camp ahead of the summer tour, the threat posed by England’s attack against two of the best international sides will have been noted.

Borthwick will head to New Zealand for a scouting mission on Monday, accompanied by head of strength and conditioning Aled Walters, who will also continue preparations for the first leg of the tour in Japan.

“I’ve got to go and put plans in place for where we are going to be and how we will do it, so that we prepare properly,” Borthwick said.

“I did Japan just before the start of the Six Nations, with a visit there, and then Aled is going to Japan as well, after New Zealand.

“In a week’s time we will understand exactly where we are going with our training programmes, our locations, our venues, so we give the team the best opportunity to get the result we want.

“I’ll be taking the very best players that are available for selection at that point in time.”

After a humdrum start to the Six Nations, England came alive in the final two rounds by scoring seven tries and only losing to France when Thomas Ramos landed a long-range penalty in the final minute.

George Ford insists the revival was borne out of their deflating nine-point loss to Scotland on February 24, a result that sparked considerable soul-searching due to the high error count.

“Our mindset since the Scotland game has been to really go at teams with the ball in hand,” Sale fly-half Ford said.

“Be a threat, ask questions, fire shots, be that attacking team and be on the front foot a lot more. You have seen that in the last two weeks.

“We had to front that up after Murrayfield. We had to make a choice. It was off the back of that game when we had to have a few honest conversations about things and decide what team we want to be.

“We were putting bits and parts together, but we didn’t have the feeling we’ve had the past two weeks. We’ve probably made a good thing out of a bad there.

“You never want to go through those situations, but when you do you’ve got to learn and come out the other end of them.

“We’re improving and there’s a good base. We still need to improve on that but the penny’s dropped in terms of what type of team we want to be. And how dangerous we can be.

“We all play rugby because we want to score points and want to score tries. You’ve got to do all the other things as well but we’re in a good place now – and we want to get better.”

World number one Iga Swiatek coasted to victory over Maria Sakkari to win the BNP Paribas Open final.

In a repeat of the 2022 final at Indian Wells, Swiatek proved too strong and won her second WTA title of the year with a straightforward 6-4 6-0 success.

Swiatek, 22, never looked in trouble and once again showed why she has spent nearly two years atop the women’s rankings.

The Polish star raced into a lead as stars including Zendaya and Tom Holland watched on, sealing the opening set with a perfect forehand drive after Sakkari had briefly looked to fight back by breaking to level at 3-3.

The second set was even more of a one-sided affair as Greece’s Sakkari, beaten in the final two years ago 6-4 6-1, could not win a game this time around.

Swiatek needed just 20 minutes to wrap it up and now plots victory at the Miami Open.

“Every year I come here, I feel a really positive vibe,” she said on court following her latest success.

“I want to thank my team, for every little thing we work on, which ends up working. For sure we’re going to celebrate – many things to celebrate.”

World number one Iga Swiatek coasted to victory over Maria Sakkari to win the BNP Paribas Open final.

In a repeat of the 2022 final at Indian Wells, Swiatek proved too strong and won her second WTA title of the year with a straightforward 6-4 6-0 success.

Swiatek, 22, never looked in trouble and once again showed why she has spent nearly two years atop the women’s rankings.

The Polish star raced into a lead as stars including Zendaya and Tom Holland watched on, sealing the opening set with a perfect forehand drive after Sakkari had briefly looked to fight back by breaking to level at 3-3.

The second set was even more of a one-sided affair as Greece’s Sakkari, beaten in the final two years ago 6-4 6-1, could not win a game this time around.

Swiatek needed just 20 minutes to wrap it up and now plots victory at the Miami Open.

“Every year I come here, I feel a really positive vibe,” she said on court following her latest success.

“I want to thank my team, for every little thing we work on, which ends up working. For sure we’re going to celebrate – many things to celebrate.”

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag hopes his side’s dramatic FA Cup quarter-final win over arch-rivals Liverpool will prove to be the turning point of their season.

The Dutchman declared himself happy with his weekend after United snatched a 4-3 victory in time added on in extra time courtesy of Amad Diallo’s breakaway goal, having seen Tottenham and Aston Villa both drop points in the race for the top four in the Premier League.

Speculation about Ten Hag’s long-term position has increased since Sir Jim Ratcliffe bought a 27.7 per cent share of the club but the manager believes this victory could be pivotal.

“Every team needs a moment into a season and we have never had this moment,” he said.

“This could be the moment where the team can have the belief and energy that they can do amazing things.

“I think when you can beat Liverpool in the way we did you can beat any opponent – it is up to us to prove that point. Today we did.”

Ten Hag was asked whether the nature of this victory, achieved after they came from 2-1 and 3-2 down, was more significant than their Carabao Cup win last year.

He added: “It was a good win but I’ve had some more good wins, I can tell you. For me winning a trophy is more. Maybe it can be very important towards winning another trophy.

“I am pleased with the performance of my team, the first 35 minutes we showed again that the future of this team is very bright and there is huge potential and we have to get it out.

“We have to get to the consistency but from January onwards we are ready, we got results.

“After the first 35 minutes we had our drop, allowed Liverpool to be back in the game and we know they have a very good team but we showed resilience and determination to win this game.”

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp insisted he could not find fault with his side but admitted it was the first time he had seen them struggle physically as their gruelling quest for an unprecedented quadruple finally caught up with them.

“Obviously the day was on and above the edge, it was really tough for us with all the 130-whatever minutes,” he said.

“The second half was absolutely exceptional but we didn’t finish the game off and when you leave the door open at Old Trafford it is clear they will get chances and they could score the equaliser and Marcus (Rashford) had a big chance at the end of normal time.

“They could win it there and then it got really hard for us, that was the first time I really saw my team really struggling.

“The problem was we didn’t even know who to take off. In 90 minutes it would have been fine but then with extra time our options were really not (there).

“We say we have to bring the kids in at the right moment but it was not the right moment.”

Asked who he wanted to take off, Klopp added: “Macca (Alexis Mac Allister) definitely, Wataru (Endo) definitely, Darwin (Nunez) definitely. Lucho (Luis Diaz) we did.

“The boys play all the time and the way we conceded the last two goals you could see were not on top of our game anymore – we gave two balls away but absolutely no criticism of the boys.

“They gave absolutely everything, today it was not enough and that is what we have to accept.”

LeBron James bemoaned the Los Angeles Lakers suffering from a "weird" NBA review call as the Golden State Warriors triumphed on Saturday.

The Lakers trailed 124-120 with 1:50 remaining of the fourth quarter when a delay started after Los Angeles coach Darvin Ham challenged an out-of-bounds call that granted the Warriors possession.

Ham's questioning was proved correct as the Lakers were granted the ball but, in the process, the Lakers were punished for points after the officials reviewed LeBron's earlier three-pointer.

LeBron was deemed to have been in contact with the paint when shooting from the corner, with his three-point conversion reduced to two by the officials.

"I've never seen that be called before like that, in that particular time," said James, who finished with 40 points, 9 assists and 8 rebounds.

"That was kind of weird. It took some momentum away from us. I didn't believe I stepped on the line.

"I knew how much space I had over there. And when I shoot, I shoot on my tippy toes, so it's kind of hard for me to have a heel down."

NBA official David Guthrie explained the call after the game, though that did not quell the frustrations from either side.

"James' left foot is out of bounds as he begins to shoot," Guthrie said. "Yes, it is reviewable at that time.

"The rule is Rule 13, Section II(f)(3): Whether the shooter committed a boundary line violation, the replay center official will only look at the position of the player's feet at the moment they touch the floor immediately prior to the release of the shot. This can be applied during other replay triggers as well."

Despite profiting from the review, even Golden State coach Steve Kerr was unsure of the ruling.

"I also don't like the rule that you can go back and look at an out of bounds, or LeBron's 3," Kerr said. "That seems to happen once or twice a year. I'd love to see that rule go away.

"I think we're trying so hard to get everything just right, at the expense of the flow. Who cares if a guy's foot is half an inch on the line?

"Is that worth going back 45 seconds and changing everything, with the unintended consequences? It's not my favourite rule, for sure."

Although Kerr surprisingly took the side of the opposition, LeBron was content to prioritise fairness rather than lament the method of replay reviews.

"At the end of the day, you want to get it right," LeBron said. "So, it's unfortunate what happened. But you want to try to get it right, obviously.

"And our crew has a job to do, which is the referees, they have a job to do, and they have to do it at the best they can. So, all good."

If the review decision was not bemusing enough, the last two minutes of the game took more than 20 minutes due to additional shot-clock malfunctions.

The Lakers twice tried to restart play but the shot clock was not in cohesion, leaving the stadium announcer to count the time down due to the technology issue.

"It was bizarre," Kerr added. "It seems like a few times a year you get clock issues. That's about as extreme as I've been a part of where the backup unit doesn't work either.

"It's unfortunate. I felt bad for the fans. That was a great game, and then the last two minutes everyone is just kind of looking at each other wondering what to do."

The Football Association has condemned the tragedy chanting heard during Sunday’s FA Cup quarter-final between Manchester United and Liverpool and vowed to liaise with police over the matter.

A significant number of fans in the Stretford End at Old Trafford were heard chanting ‘Murderers’, quickly followed by ‘Always the victims’ around the hour mark, with the singing audible to the live television audience.

The FA said in a statement: “We are aware of the reported tragedy chanting during today’s FA Cup fixture between Manchester United and Liverpool, and we will be liaising with and supporting Greater Manchester Police.

“We strongly condemn any offensive, abusive and discriminatory chants in football stadiums, and we are determined to stamp this behaviour out.

“It is entirely unacceptable and can have a lasting and damaging impact on people and communities within our game. It must stop, and we support any club and their fans who try to eradicate this from the terraces.”

Manchester United and Greater Manchester Police have been contacted for comment by the PA news agency.

Manchester United beat Liverpool 4-3 after extra time in a gripping FA Cup semi-final on Sunday.

Here, the PA news agency looks back at some other memorable United cup wins.

Liverpool 1 Man Utd 2, final, 1977

United prevented Liverpool, already First Division champions and playing the European Cup final four days later, from winning the treble. All the goals came in a five-minute burst early in the second half. Stuart Pearson’s opener was quickly cancelled out by Jimmy Case but Lou Macari’s shot rebounded in off Jimmy Greenhoff to settle it.

Chelsea 0 Man Utd 4, final, 1994

Sir Alex Ferguson’s side turned on the style in the second half at Wembley to win their first double with some swagger. Eric Cantona broke the deadlock with two penalties in quick succession and Mark Hughes added another shortly afterwards. Brian McClair wrapped up the scoring in stoppage time.

Man Utd 2 Liverpool 1, fourth round, 1999

Liverpool took an early lead through Michael Owen but United, establishing a trend which would manifest itself with even greater significance in Europe later that season, turned it around with two late goals. Dwight Yorke equalised in the 88th minute and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer snatched a thrilling winner moments later.

Arsenal 1 Man Utd 2, semi-final replay, 1999

In another dramatic encounter in United’s treble-winning season, Ryan Giggs settled what was to be the last-ever semi-final replay with a sensational solo effort. United had led through an early David Beckham goal at Villa Park but seemed to be hanging on after Dennis Bergkamp levelled and Roy Keane was sent off. Yet Bergkamp missed the chance to win it from the penalty spot and Giggs had the final word in extra time.

Man Utd 3 West Ham 1, fifth round, 2023

Erik Ten Hag’s United produced a stirring late fightback to reach last year’s quarter-finals. Said Benrahma’s powerful strike put the Hammers on course for victory but United drew level in the 77th minute when Nayef Aguerd headed into his own net. Then, in a frantic finish, Alejandro Garnacho curled in a 90th-minute shot and Fred followed up with another in stoppage time.

The Philadelphia 76ers had reason to celebrate after Saturday's victory over the Charlotte Hornets and Nick Nurse's side will have further joy incoming as Joel Embiid continues his recovery from injury.

Center Embiid was forced into meniscus surgery for a left knee issue at the end of January but Nurse suggested his star man could return before the NBA playoffs.

"I'm still hoping so and pretty confident, yes," the 76ers coach said when asked if Embiid would feature in the postseason.

"I think there's always stages of how these things progress. Everyone wants to know 'Well how long is it going to be?'

"And they give a wide range because of that because everyone heals differently. We're just trying to take it as it comes, get him healthy and get him back when he's ready to go."

Embiid has missed 21 games since tearing his meniscus against the Golden State Warriors, with the 76ers slipping down from third to eighth in the Eastern Conference.

The 76ers man was at least in attendance as Philadelphia downed the Hornets 109-98, with that victory coming after Embiid offered a boost when returning to on-court training.

"He looked pretty good to me," said Cam Payne. "For my first time seeing him, he looked pretty good, man. He attracts a lot of attention out here. So it's probably going to make our job a little bit easier."

Against Charlotte, Tyrese Maxey scored 30 points and Kelly Oubre Jr. added 22 as the 76ers withstood a fourth-quarter comeback for victory.

Buddy Hield also had 14 points and Paul Reed contributed 11, though the 76ers are still 8-13 without key player Embiid.

"I thought Buddy kept us going there for stretches in the second half," Nurse said. "He got some good spots and got some good looks.

"We only scored 109 points, but I thought the offense was really good."

Charlotte have now lost six straight to Philadelphia, though coach Steve Clifford was not too disheartened.

"We were right there with three and a half minutes left," Hornets coach Clifford said.

"We had a couple blown sets where we got a little disorganized there, but we got back into the game and I would say that we played well for about 43 minutes.

"The second quarter, we had a couple of minutes there where the ball didn't hit the paint and we took a couple of OK shots and put a lot of pressure on the defense."

Holders Manchester City will face Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-finals with rivals Manchester United taking on outsiders Coventry.

The draw for the last four raises the prospect of a repeat of last season’s all-Manchester final.

Treble-chasing City eased through with a comfortable 2-0 victory over Newcastle on Saturday while Chelsea saw off Leicester 4-2.

United’s reward for a thrilling 4-3 extra-time victory over Liverpool on Sunday is a clash with Championship outfit Coventry, who stunned Wolves 3-2.

Coventry are managed by former United striker Mark Robins, scorer of a crucial winner as the Red Devils beat Nottingham Forest en route to winning the competition in 1990 – a goal widely believed to have saved Sir Alex Ferguson’s job as manager.

The Sky Blues famously won the cup in 1987 but have endured some lean years since their relegation from the Premier League in 2001.

United are hoping to win the trophy for the first time since 2016 while Chelsea last won the cup in 2018.

The matches will be played at Wembley on the weekend of April 20-21.

Leeds boss Daniel Farke admitted he will “enjoy it a little bit” after his side’s 2-0 win against Millwall sent them top of the Sky Bet Championship for the first time this season.

Willy Gnonto’s brilliant first-half opener sent Leeds on their way at Elland Road, but they were forced to work hard for their second goal, scored by substitute Dan James in the closing stages.

Farke said: “First of all you’ve got to enjoy it a little bit because if you don’t enjoy such a moment then you’ll ask yourself one day why are you doing all this hard work?

“So when there’s a time like right now you have to enjoy it a little bit, but also make sure we stay on it because it’s a tight race. It’s not important where you are after 38 games.”

James’ effort lifted Leeds above long-time leaders Leicester on goal difference as the Yorkshire club extended their unbeaten league run this year to 13 matches. They are also unbeaten in 19 home league games this season.

“I won’t fall into the trap and say right now we have the best momentum,” Farke said. “Obviously we’re in perfect shape and have won many points.

“But it’s a tight race. The teams are more or less on the same base, just a few points are between them.

“I’m sure Leicester will win some points in their game in hand and then they have the best possible option.”

Leeds were 17 points adrift of Leicester at the end of December and Farke added: “If I’m honest I didn’t think too much about it because I was more concentrated on us.

“But a quality side like Leicester, with their consistency, if I’d have thought about it I would have said ‘no, it’s not realistic to reach them’. But they still have the best situation.”

Millwall had dropped only two points in four unbeaten matches since Neil Harris returned for his second spell in charge in February and he had few complaints about his side or the result at Elland Road.

Harris said: “Leeds deserved to win the game, there’s no debating that for me, but I thought some elements of our performance were very good.

“People will look at the (Gnonto) goal and say ‘what a brilliant strike’. But we don’t win the first ball, the second ball or the third ball. That’s not what Millwall teams do. We don’t do that.

“And the second goal I just thought the stadium was getting a bit nervy, we were the better team for 10 minutes, and then we give another really poor goal away from another restart and that’s my only disappointment today.”

Super sub Amad Diallo sealed a scarcely-believable 4-3 extra-time triumph against bitter rivals Liverpool to send Manchester United into the FA Cup semi-finals and breathe new life into their season.

All eyes were on Old Trafford as these great rivals met in a highly-anticipated clash that lived up to the hype on Sunday, swinging from one way to the other before a box-office conclusion.

Scott McTominay put United into an early lead, but Liverpool looked set to run amok after Alexis Mac Allister and Mohamed Salah scored late in the first half to put Jurgen Klopp’s men in control.

Under pressure Erik ten Hag’s side offered little in response, but substitute Antony managed to level against the run of play in the 87th minute.

Marcus Rashford blew a gilt-edged opportunity to win the quarter-final with the final kick of regulation time, with the roller-coaster ride continuing in extra time.

Liverpool sub Harvey Elliott landed a 105th-minute body blow but, in front of United fan Tyson Fury, the hosts picked themselves off the canvas.

Rashford drew United level in the 112th minute and Diallo scored on the break in added time at the end of extra time, shaking Old Trafford to its foundations.

The 21-year-old was sent off after receiving a second booking for taking his shirt off during the ear-shattering celebrations on a day that seals the winger’s place in United folklore.