Jude Bellingham has been suspended for Real Madrid’s next two league matches after his red card against Valencia at the weekend.

The 20-year-old England midfielder was sent off after he remonstrated with referee Jesus Gil Manzano, who blew for full-time seconds before Bellingham headed in what would have been a winner for Real.

The Spanish football federation (RFEF) competitions committee confirmed Bellingham had been banned for two matches for “attitudes of contempt or disregard towards referees, directors or sports authorities”.

It confirmed Bellingham had also been fined 600 euros (£513), with his club fined 700 euros.

Nicky Henderson may be without Constitution Hill in the Unibet Champion Hurdle but is still set to be double-handed after deciding to supplement Iberico Lord for the Cheltenham Festival showpiece.

The reigning champion was ruled out on Monday due to a respiratory infection, which has prompted a rethink from Henderson and owner JP McManus on the Cotswolds target for Iberico Lord.

Winner of the Greatwood and Betfair Hurdles, the six-year-old had been among the leading lights for Friday’s County Hurdle – but Constitution Hill’s absence combined with the possibility of testing ground on the opening day will see him switched to the main event.

McManus has paid the £18,000 supplementary fee and Iberico Lord will now join stablemate Luccia, winner of Ascot’s Betfair Exchange Trophy when last seen, in the Champion Hurdle line-up.

In a statement on X, Henderson said: “We have decided to supplement Iberico Lord this morning for the Unibet Champion Hurdle.

“He is obviously a very progressive young hurdler that keeps improving having won both the Greatwood and the Betfair handicaps. He loves soft ground which it seems that it might well be on Tuesday and therefore possibly not so soft on Friday when he was originally intended to run in the County.

“Obviously with the unfortunate defection of Constitution Hill, the race has a different complexion and so he is due to join Luccia in the line-up.”

Wales will field a new centre partnership of Joe Roberts and Owen Watkin in Sunday’s Guinness Six Nations clash against France.

They take over from established midfield pairing George North and Nick Tompkins, who have 155 caps between them, at the Principality Stadium.

It will be Llanelli centre Roberts’ first Six Nations start after making his Test debut against England last summer in a World Cup warm-up match.

Elsewhere, Wales captain Dafydd Jenkins has been switched from lock to blindside flanker, with Will Rowlands called up as Adam Beard’s second-row partner, while hooker Ryan Elias replaces Elliot Dee.

The Betfair Imperial Cup Handicap Hurdle could prove a more than suitable alternative to the Cheltenham Festival for connections of Go Dante, who are weighing up a shot at the valuable Sandown prize.

As well as his ticket to Saturday’s Sandown feature, Olly Murphy’s Betfair Hurdle third holds entries in both the Country Hurdle and Martin Pipe races at Prestbury Park the following week.

However, with the eight-year-old not certain to make the final line-up for those events in the Cotswolds, the Warren Chase handler is seriously considering a trip to Esher for the prestigious £100,000 contest, with Go Dante a 7-1 chance with the sponsors.

Murphy said: “It’s certainly something we are looking at. Ideally, we would have liked to have got into a Cheltenham handicap but that doesn’t look like happening, so the Imperial Cup looks the most likely race we will take our chance in.

“He’s in good form and had a very good run in the Betfair. I think soft ground and a stiff two miles at Sandown should suit him well.

“He’s got two entries at Cheltenham next week and it’s a case of looking at where he’s most likely to get in and making the right decision, but we’re certainly looking at Sandown on Saturday.”

Similar sentiments apply to Oliver Greenall and Josh Guerriero’s Making Headway, who also has a couple of options at the Cheltenham Festival but has connections leaning towards a crack at the Imperial Cup.

An impressive winner from the front in heavy ground at Newbury last month, it could be ground conditions once again that ultimately decide if the six-year-old’s team roll the dice or hold fire in case they make the cut in either the Coral Cup or Martin Pipe at Prestbury Park.

“I think he will (go to the Imperial Cup), as long as it doesn’t dry out too much,” said Greenall. “He will definitely want it no quicker than good to soft or soft – it looks a nice opportunity for him.

“He’s not guaranteed to get in at Cheltenham and we were going to go for the good novice race at Kelso (Premier Novices’ Hurdle) but that looked quite hot and there was a couple we didn’t want to take on.”

Ben Pauling’s recent Huntingdon scorer Jipcot currently heads the market, with the in-form handler also responsible for narrow Ascot runner-up Bad amongst the 23 in the mix for Saturday’s contest.

Owen Burrows is considering the Greenham Stakes at Newbury as a potential stepping-stone to the Qipco 2000 Guineas for his exciting colt Alyanaabi.

The son of Too Darn Hot won two of his four starts as a juvenile, including the Group Three Tattersalls Stakes at Newmarket, and rounded off his campaign by finishing best of the rest behind star two-year-old City Of Troy in the Dewhurst in October.

While City Of Troy is odds-on to provide trainer Aidan O’Brien with an 11th victory in the season’s first Classic on the Rowley Mile, Alyanaabi is available at 25-1 and Burrows is keen to at least give him the opportunity to advertise his Guineas credentials this spring.

He said: “I’m very pleased with him, he’s done well (over the winter) and we’ve just started faster work with him, so all good.

“We might give him a run (in a Guineas trial), if he goes anywhere he’ll probably go to the Greenham at Newbury. It just sort of makes sense as it’s just up the road for us and luckily he had a couple of runs at Newmarket last year, so he handles the Rowley Mile well by the look of it.

“We’re a long way off and like most people, we’ve not been able to do much on the grass as yet. It would be nice for it to dry out a little bit so we can get a bit of work on the grass into him, but we’re happy that he might just go to Newbury and have a run before the Guineas.

“City Of Troy is the standout at the minute, but you can’t run away from one and we’d like to think that we’ll be up there with a few of the others, so we shall see.”

The Lambourn handler has also entered Futurity Trophy fourth Deira Mile for the 2000 Guineas, but his bid for Classic glory may have to wait until later in the year.

“I’ll be honest, I’ve got him in the English Derby and the French and the Irish (Derbys) and we’ve just put him in the Guineas in case for whatever reason he doesn’t stay,” Burrows added.

“I’d be amazed if he doesn’t because that’s all he did in the Futurity and obviously that was over a mile in heavy ground.

“The Guineas entry is just a speculative entry, but the owner was happy to cover all bases and he’s going to be treated like a Derby horse, who will start over a mile and a quarter at the beginning of April and then we’d be expecting to hopefully look at a Derby trial with him after that.”

England are confident Shoaib Bashir will be available for the fifth Test against India despite an upset stomach that has led to the tourists taking precautionary measures to prevent an outbreak.

Young off-spinner Bashir and seamer Ollie Robinson woke up on Wednesday morning feeling under the weather, so the pair missed the afternoon’s practice and have been separated from the rest of the team.

While Robinson has been replaced by Mark Wood as England try to salvage a consolation win in the final match in Dharamsala, Bashir was retained as one of two spinners alongside slow left-armer Tom Hartley.

Ben Stokes doubts a late change will be necessary, even if two umpires stopping at the team hotel are also unwell. Illness to on-field official Joel Wilson and TV umpire Kumar Dharmasena might lead to fourth umpire Jayaraman Madanagopal being on standby for duties in the middle.

“I don’t think it’s anything to be too concerned about,” said the England captain, whose side trail 3-1 in the five-match series.

“The day before the game you don’t want to put anybody at risk so we’ve decided to keep them away from the team. It’s the sensible thing to do.

“When you’ve got so many people contained in the same space all the time you want to limit the chance of it spreading.

“It’s not a major issue, we just wanted to safeguard against anything spreading to someone else.”

Stokes has “not thought too far ahead” about contingencies, although England are down to two frontline spinners after electing against drafting in replacements when Jack Leach and Rehan Ahmed returned home.

With the picturesque HPCA Stadium situated in the foothills of the Himalayas, against a backdrop of snow-capped mountains, conditions are cooler than those England have experienced on the tour thus far.

Even Stokes expected England would have to play three seamers and a lone spinner but an inspection of a wicket he described as an “absolute belter” for batting in the last day or two has prompted a rethink.

“Playing two seamers and still having Bash and Tom gives us a good mixture when you’re a little bit unsure of what it will do as the Test goes on,” said Stokes.

Stokes insisted the XI was not predicated on him bowling competitively for the first time since July. While Stokes had surgery on a longstanding left knee injury in November, his recovery went better than expected and he has hinted in recent weeks he could send down a few overs before the trip is over.

“If I do bowl any overs in this game it will again be a bonus, just like when we picked the team for the four games before this,” he said.

Stokes wanted Wood’s “pace and firepower to break the game open”, while the 41-year-old James Anderson will go in search of the two wickets he needs to become the first non-spinner to reach 700 Test dismissals.

“It’s phenomenal to think about, especially as a seam bowler,” said Stokes. “It’s been an amazing career to date and I can’t see him stopping.

“I have played with Jimmy for a long time and I’ve never seen him as physically fit as he is right now. Being 41, showing that hunger and desire to get better every single day is testament to his attitude and commitment.”

Stokes threw his backing behind Robinson, who is England’s only change from Ranchi after struggling with back issues that led to him being down on pace and sending down 13 wicketless overs last time out.

“Ollie did everything in his power to put in a match-winning performance last week and unfortunately not everything works out the way we want it to,” added Stokes.

“When you see someone putting in the hard work and showing that desire to not only be physically and mentally fit and something happens to them that is uncontrollable, you can’t really moan about it.”

Jonny Bairstow is set for his 100th Test appearance this week and ahead of training on Wednesday, the Yorkshireman plus Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Tom Hartley, Gus Atkinson, Dan Lawrence and some members of the backroom team visited the Dalai Lama at his residence in McLeod Ganj – 10km north of Dharamsala.

England are confident Shoaib Bashir will be available for the fifth Test against India despite an upset stomach that has led to the tourists taking precautionary measures to prevent an outbreak.

Young off-spinner Bashir and seamer Ollie Robinson woke up on Wednesday morning feeling under the weather, so the pair missed the afternoon’s practice and have been separated from the rest of the team.

While Robinson has been replaced by Mark Wood as England try to salvage a consolation win in the final match in Dharamsala, Bashir was retained as one of two spinners alongside slow left-armer Tom Hartley.

Ben Stokes doubts a late change will be necessary, even if two umpires stopping at the team hotel are also unwell. Illness to on-field official Joel Wilson and TV umpire Kumar Dharmasena might lead to fourth umpire Jayaraman Madanagopal being on standby for duties in the middle.

“I don’t think it’s anything to be too concerned about,” said the England captain, whose side trail 3-1 in the five-match series.

“The day before the game you don’t want to put anybody at risk so we’ve decided to keep them away from the team. It’s the sensible thing to do.

“When you’ve got so many people contained in the same space all the time you want to limit the chance of it spreading.

“It’s not a major issue, we just wanted to safeguard against anything spreading to someone else.”

Stokes has “not thought too far ahead” about contingencies, although England are down to two frontline spinners after electing against drafting in replacements when Jack Leach and Rehan Ahmed returned home.

With the picturesque HPCA Stadium situated in the foothills of the Himalayas, against a backdrop of snow-capped mountains, conditions are cooler than those England have experienced on the tour thus far.

Even Stokes expected England would have to play three seamers and a lone spinner but an inspection of a wicket he described as an “absolute belter” for batting in the last day or two has prompted a rethink.

“Playing two seamers and still having Bash and Tom gives us a good mixture when you’re a little bit unsure of what it will do as the Test goes on,” said Stokes.

Stokes insisted the XI was not predicated on him bowling competitively for the first time since July. While Stokes had surgery on a longstanding left knee injury in November, his recovery went better than expected and he has hinted in recent weeks he could send down a few overs before the trip is over.

“If I do bowl any overs in this game it will again be a bonus, just like when we picked the team for the four games before this,” he said.

Stokes wanted Wood’s “pace and firepower to break the game open”, while the 41-year-old James Anderson will go in search of the two wickets he needs to become the first non-spinner to reach 700 Test dismissals.

“It’s phenomenal to think about, especially as a seam bowler,” said Stokes. “It’s been an amazing career to date and I can’t see him stopping.

“I have played with Jimmy for a long time and I’ve never seen him as physically fit as he is right now. Being 41, showing that hunger and desire to get better every single day is testament to his attitude and commitment.”

Stokes threw his backing behind Robinson, who is England’s only change from Ranchi after struggling with back issues that led to him being down on pace and sending down 13 wicketless overs last time out.

“Ollie did everything in his power to put in a match-winning performance last week and unfortunately not everything works out the way we want it to,” added Stokes.

“When you see someone putting in the hard work and showing that desire to not only be physically and mentally fit and something happens to them that is uncontrollable, you can’t really moan about it.”

Jonny Bairstow is set for his 100th Test appearance this week and ahead of training on Wednesday, the Yorkshireman plus Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Tom Hartley, Gus Atkinson, Dan Lawrence and some members of the backroom team visited the Dalai Lama at his residence in McLeod Ganj – 10km north of Dharamsala.

Emma Raducanu insists working on her game rather than winning matches is the priority this year.

The former US Open champion has won three of the seven matches she has played in 2024 following her return from triple surgery last spring on both wrists and one ankle.

Raducanu will play Spanish qualifier Rebeka Masarova on Thursday in the first round of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, where she has been given a wild card.

The 21-year-old, who reached the fourth round in the Californian desert last year, has been training at home in London for the last couple of weeks, and she told the BBC: “I want to work on becoming a better tennis player.

“I think for me I’m not too concerned about this year’s tournaments. A lot of people out there would say that I need matches, but I think that for me I want to work on my game and development.

“Taking time to do that is very necessary and not just following the crowd, or playing a lot of matches, or dropping down (below the WTA Tour) to do that. I want to work on developing skills.”

Raducanu also said that she is likely to play in next month’s Billie Jean King Cup tie against France if selected by Great Britain captain Anne Keothavong.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer hopes under-fire successor Erik ten Hag comes good and says Sir Jim Ratcliffe is unlikely to have a “magic wand” to immediately turn around Manchester United’s fortunes.

This has been a miserable second season in the hotseat for the Dutchman, whose stuttering side are 11 points off the Premier League top four and have the FA Cup as their only remaining route to silverware.

But Ratcliffe’s recent minority purchase of the club from the Glazer family offers hope of long-term improvement, with the Ineos chairman also taking control of football operations.

Rumours continue about Ten Hag’s future as the summer approaches and Solskjaer, United’s previous permanent manager, would like to see him succeed at Old Trafford.

“I don’t think there’s a magic wand (at United) as in, ‘We’ve changed the owners’,” the 1999 treble hero said in the latest episode of Stick to Football in partnership with Sky Bet.

“Obviously, they’ve got their ways of working – the Glazers have still got their commercial – who knows how it’s going to be in football with that side of it.

“Obviously Erik, I hope he’s going to be successful. We hope he’s going to make it, but you never know what the new owners are thinking. It’s about results and consistency the rest of the season.”

Solskjaer knows all about any difficulties working under the Glazer family and with many of the current United squad, having been in charge between December 2018 and November 2021.

The Norwegian kept his counsel for a long time but is beginning to speak publicly again, including recently revealing some United players did not want to be captain for certain matches.

“No one said ‘no’ to being the club captain, it was just for certain games,” Solskjaer said.

“Yes, but they didn’t want to say it themselves, they had other people come up to me and say it. It was disappointing. It’s a different generation, its Gen Z. It’s petty and shows a lack of ambition.”

United players have not only been turning down the chance to skipper the side but even face a handful of underarm questions in a pre-match host broadcast interview.

“Many players said no to doing the pre-match interviews, the three questions,” Solskjaer said.

“You had the go-to’s, Bruno (Fernandes) always did it, Harry (Maguire) always did it, Victor (Lindelof) did it, David (De Gea) did it, Luke Shaw did it.

“The others were worried about the questions, so preferred not to do it. You’re scared of the whole reaction maybe, but you also understand some of the players’ mental health.”

Solskjaer has focused on the wellbeing of himself and his family since being sacked by United, turning down numerous opportunities to return to the game.

“I needed time out, and I have properly enjoyed it. Just prioritised myself, family – and I have had a few offers with (other clubs) and it’s like, ‘Nah, I’m not ready’,” he added.

“It’s one of them, it’s got to be somewhere where I can be myself, not like anyone dictating, ‘You need to do this, you need to do this’, because when you’ve been at United, you manage them, you learn a few things, and you want to do it your way next time. So, yeah, I’ve enjoyed myself.

“That’s the thing, you think, ‘I don’t really need a job’, but then if something pops up then yeah, why not?”

England have brought back express fast bowler Mark Wood as they attempt to salvage a consolation victory against India in the fifth Test in Dharamsala.

Ollie Robinson makes way after a wicketless outing last week on his competitive comeback in Ranchi, where India moved into an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match series.

Wood replacing Robinson is England’s only change to their XI as they persist with two spinners in Tom Hartley and Shoaib Bashir despite the coolest conditions of the tour in the foothills of the Himalayas.

Bashir – alongside Robinson – missed practice on Wednesday due to an upset stomach but it is not thought the issue will stop him from playing in 24 hours’ time, where middle-order batter Jonny Bairstow will make his 100th Test appearance.

What the papers say

The Telegraph reports signs are increasing that Crystal Palace are looking to sell defender Marc Guehi in the summer. The paper says club bosses have begun to draw up a list of centre-back targets to pursue in the next transfer window. Summer will be Palace’s last chance to sell the in-demand 23-year-old for a significant fee, as he enters the final two years of his Palace contract.

Newcastle are in talks to sign Bournemouth defender Lloyd Kelly on a free transfer, according to the Daily Mail. The 25-year-old is set to be out-of-contract in the summer.

i sport says Championship side Hull intend to pursue a permanent deal for on-loan Liverpool winger Fabio Carvalho. However, the club would only make the move if they win promotion to the Premier League.

And The Independent reports Sporting Lisbon manager Ruben Amorim is Barcelona’s top target to succeed outgoing boss Xavi at the end of the season.

Social media round-upPlayers to watch

Joshua Kimmich: Manchester City lead Liverpool in the chase for the Bayern Munich midfielder, according to the website Caught Offside.

Joshua Zirkzee: Italian outlet Tuttosport says Manchester United recently sent scouts to watch the Bologna striker.

Dean Wade sank five 3-pointers and scored 20 of his career-high 23 points in the fourth quarter as the Cleveland Cavaliers rallied from a 22-point deficit in the final period to end the Boston Celtics’ 11-game winning streak, 105-104 on Tuesday.

Wade personally outscored the Celtics in the fourth quarter, 20-17, as he came to the rescue with his barrage of 3s and a putback dunk with 19.1 seconds left to put the Cavs up 105-104.

Boston’s Jayson Tatum appeared to draw a foul on Darius Garland while shooting a jumper with 0.7 seconds left, but Cleveland challenged the call, and following a review, officials said it was Tatum’s leg that caused the contact and not Garland.

Jarrett Allen scored 21 points and Garland had 16 with 11 assists for the Cavs, who made 8 of 11 3s in the final quarter, including two from reserve Georges Niang.

Tatum led Boston with 26 points and Kristaps Porzingis added 24 as the league-leading Celtics lost for the first time since Feb. 1.

Doncic extends triple-double streak in loss

Luka Doncic notched his fourth straight triple-double, but Tyrese Haliburton had 19 points and 11 assists to lead the Indiana Pacers to a 137-120 win over the Dallas Mavericks.

Doncic had 39 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds for his 14th triple-double of the season. Russell Westbrook is the only player in NBA history with five consecutive 30-point triple-doubles and Oscar Robertson is the only other player with four.

Myles Turner scored 20 points to lead nine players in double figures for the Pacers, whose bench outscored the Mavericks’ 69-32.

Suns cool Nuggets with win in overtime

Kevin Durant scored eight of his 35 points in overtime and the Phoenix Suns recovered after blowing a 22-point lead to beat the Denver Nuggets, 117-107.

After being held to 12 points in the fourth quarter, the Suns erupted for 15 in overtime, with Durant and Beal combining for 13.

Beal finished with 16 points and Grayson Allen scored 28 with eight 3-pointers as Phoenix avoided a third  straight loss.

Jamal Murray had 28 points and Nikola Jokić added 25 points, 16 rebounds and five assists for Denver, which had a six-game winning streak stopped.

Nick Cousins scored twice and the Florida Panthers held on for their sixth straight victory, 5-3 over the New Jersey Devils to spoil the debut of interim coach Travis Green on Tuesday.

Eetu Luostarinen, Evan Rodrigues and Sam Reinhart had the other goals as Florida won for the 12th time in 13 games and extended its NHL lead with 43 wins and 90 points.

The Panthers, who are 25-4-2 since Dec. 23, have won 14 of their past 15 road games.

Jack Hughes, Timo Meier and Colin Miller scored for the Devils, who lost their third straight and fell in their first game since Lindy Ruff was relieved of his coaching duties on Monday.

Backup Anthony Stolarz made 21 saves to win his fourth consecutive start.

Oilers rally past Bruins

Leon Draisaitl scored his second goal of the game in overtime and the surging Edmonton Oilers rallied for a 2-1 win over the Boston Bruins.

Stuart Skinner made 25 saves and Connor McDavid assisted on both goals to help the Oilers win their fifth straight game.

McDavid extended his point streak to 12 games, during which he has two goals and 26 assists. He is one point away from his fourth straight 100-point season.

Pavel Zacha scored for the Bruins, who dropped to 2-2-3 in their last seven home games.

Canadiens rally to end Predators’ streak

Nick Suzuki scored just 17 seconds into overtime and the Montreal Canadiens rallied for a 4-3 victory, ending the Nashville Predators’ eight-game winning streak.

The Predators appeared headed for another win when Ryan O’Reilly scored with 7:41 left in regulation for a 3-2 lead, but Joshua Roy tallied the tying goal 2 ½ minutes later.

Filip Forsberg had a goal and an assist for Nashville, which suffered its first loss since Feb. 15.

Brendan Gallagher and David Savard also scored for the Canadiens, who have points in four straight (2-0-2).