British number one Katie Boulter thanked boyfriend Alex de Minaur for racing over to California to watch her win a first WTA 500 tournament after his own success at the Mexican Open.

The 27-year-old came from behind to claim the San Diego Open title with a 5-7 6-2 6-2 win over Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk and earn a second career title.

Boulter’s victory was watched by De Minaur, who defended his Mexican Open title in Acapulco on Saturday before scheduling an early-morning flight to support her on Sunday.

“I want to say a small special thank you to my boyfriend,” Boulter said post-match.

“He finished last night at midnight and I really want to embarrass him. He got a 4.15 taxi this morning and six o’clock flight to be here today, so I do appreciate it.”

After an even start to the match, Kostyuk began to get the better of Boulter and surged into a 5-2 lead.

Boulter fought back to level at 5-5 but the sixth-seeded Ukrainian regained the momentum to wrap up the first set 7-5.

Boulter then found her groove in the second, dominating on her first serve to clinch the set 6-2 and force a deciding third set.

The Briton continued her ascendancy into the third, claiming the first break point of the set en route to opening up a 3-1 advantage.

Boulter broke again in the seventh game and hit her first two aces of the match in the next to close out the victory in two hours and 13 minutes.

The San Diego win is her second WTA title, adding to a maiden championship on grass in Nottingham last summer and Boulter reflected on a “special” week in California.

“This week has been very, very special for so many different reasons,” she said post-match.

“This one is pretty amazing, I’ve worked very hard for it, I played some incredible tennis all week.

“Today was a complete battle, with myself as well because I was a little bit nervous. But I managed to get over the line and that I’m very proud of.

“A lot of it was about me staying as tough as I possibly could mentally and I managed to keep my cool and actually kind of went within myself and calmed myself down a lot.

“I think that really helped me and then I started to relax and play through shots a little bit more.”

Boulter has had a flying start to the 2024 season and the victory over Kostyuk sees her break into the top 30 for the first time, now ranked 27th.

Snooker becomes the latest sport to head to Saudi Arabia this week and with it comes a new twist – the golden ball.

The 23rd ball will make its debut at the World Masters of Snooker in Riyadh, which runs through to Wednesday, and here, the PA news agency looks at how it will all work.

What is the golden ball?

Traditionally snooker has comprised of 22 balls; 15 reds and six colours plus the white cue ball, but the World Masters is introducing a 23rd – the golden ball. The purpose of this new ball is to increase the maximum possible break which currently stands at 147 – 15 reds followed by 15 blacks. Should any player make a maximum, the golden ball comes into play with a value of 20 points, giving rise to the possibility of a 167.

Where will the ball be on the table?

Those familiar with snooker will know colours are potted in the following order; yellow, green, brown, blue, pink and black. The first three colours are spaced out along the baulk line at the top of the table and the golden ball will rest in the centre of the baulk cushion or, as you watch on television, the cushion at the top of the screen. If a 147 is made, the ball becomes live but, as soon as such a break is no longer possible, the ball is removed until the start of the next frame.

What’s the prize and how likely is it to happen?

Once upon a time 147s were a rarity and the first ever was made by Steve Davis in 1982 but, as the playing field and number of tournaments have increased, so have the amount of maximums and the 200th was made last week by Joe O’Connor. Maximum breaks once paid £147,000 and the game’s star attraction, Ronnie O’Sullivan, has been outspoken about the decrease in prize money over the years and once had to be persuaded to pot the final black when he discovered there was no money on offer. However, this week, the first place to make a 167 will receive £395,000.

Which players are involved?

O’Sullivan, the world number one and the sport’s greatest of all time, heads a stellar field of the world’s top 10 players who will contest for the trophy alongside two wild cards, Omar Alajlani and Ali Alobaidli.

What the papers say

Brentford are reportedly keeping tabs on Norwich’s in-form American striker Josh Sargent. The Sun says the Bees view the 24-year-old, who has scored 11 goals in 17 matches this season, as an ideal replacement for Ivan Toney, who is expected to be sold in the summer.

Miguel Gutierrez is on the radar of Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag, according to The Sun. Citing a report from Spanish outlet Mundo Deportivo, the paper says the 22-year-old defender is a high priority transfer target for the United boss, though Gutierrez’s former club are thought to Real Madrid retain 50 per cent of his rights and a buy-back clause and could prove a substantial roadblock for the Red Devils.

And the Daily Mirror reports Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United all had scouts in attendance to watch Sporting Lisbon striker Viktor Gyokeres net his 31st goal of the season against Benfica last week.

Social media round-upPlayers to watch

Andy Robertson: Football Insider says Liverpool are set to open contract talks with the defender, who has been linked with Bayern Munich in recent days.

Francesco Camarda: Gazzetta dello Sport, via Football Italia, reports Manchester City and Borussia Dortmund are monitoring the 15-year-old AC Milan forward.

For the second game in as many nights, the Winnipeg Jets came out flat over the first two periods.

And for the second game in as many nights, the Jets stormed back in the third period to rally for a victory.

Winnipeg erupted for four goals in the final 10 minutes Sunday to beat the Buffalo Sabres 5-2.

With their ninth win in 11 games, the Jets (39-16-5) moved into a tie with the Dallas Stars for first place in the Central Division.

Winnipeg's latest third-period outburst came one night after it tallied all five goals in the final period against the Carolina Hurricanes to rally from a 3-0 deficit to pull out a 5-3 road victory.

Josh Morrissey started the rally with a goal at 10:38 of the third period to tie the score and Morgan Barron put the Jets ahead on a partial breakaway with 6:05 remaining.

Vladislav Namestnikov and Sean Monahan capped the scoring with empty-net goals in the final 81 seconds.

Nino Niederreiter scored the Jets' first goal with six seconds to go in the first period and Laurent Brossoit stopped 17 shots to win his third straight start.

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 30 of the 33 shots as Buffalo (29-29-4) lost for just the second time in seven games.

JJ Peterka opened the scoring for the Sabres with his 20th goal of the season and Eric Robinson also scored.

Canucks end mini skid with win over Ducks to move back atop West

Conor Garland and Nils Hoglander each scored goals to help the Vancouver Canucks beat the Anaheim Ducks 2-1.

The Canucks (39-17-7), who arrived in Anaheim having lost back-to-back games and six of seven, moved back into sole possession of first place in the Western Conference.

Both teams scored on their first shot, with Hoglander opening the scoring at 1:37 of the first period and Alex Killorn tying things up at 4:15.

Garland broke the tie at 3:34 of the second period when he redirected a pass from Nikita Zadorov for his first goal in nine games.

Casey DeSmith stopped 17 shots to end a personal four-game losing streak to win for the first time since January 9.

Lukas Dostal turned aside 29 shots for the Ducks (22-36-3), who lost for the first time in three games.

Danault scores three goals as Kings beat Devils

Phillip Danault recorded his second career hat trick to help lead the Los Angeles Kings to a 5-1 win over the New Jersey Devils.

Kevin Fiala assisted on two of Danault's goals, and added a goal of his own, while Alex Laferriere also scored for the Kings (31-19-10), who won for the eighth time in 12 games under interim coach Jim Hiller.

New Jersey's Timo Meier opened the scoring just 15 seconds into the first period and Danault tied it at 7:56 on a breakaway.

Danault finished the scoring with an empty-netter with 2:13 remaining to notch his first hat trick since December 22, 2018, when he played for the Montreal Canadiens.

Meier's goal - his second goal in as many games after scoring two goals in his previous 20 contests - was the only score allowed by Cam Talbot, who finished with 30 saves.

Akira Schmid stopped all nine shots he faced after replacing an ineffective Nico Daws, who was lifted in the second period after giving up four goals on 13 shots.

The Devils (30-27-4) have lost two in a row and five of seven.

Stephen Curry's first basket Sunday tied the score between the Golden State Warriors and Boston Celtics midway through the first quarter.

The next time he made a shot, the Warriors trailed by 32 points.

The Celtics annihilated Curry and the Warriors, cruising to a 140-88 drubbing to extend their season-best winning streak to 11 games.

The victory marked the third-largest winning margin in franchise history as Boston set an NBA record with its third win by 50 or more points this season.

After Curry's floating bank shot tied the game at 21 with 6:05 to play in the opening period, Boston went on a 22-3 run en route to a franchise-record 44-point half-time lead.

Curry's only other basket came with 4:24 remaining in the second quarter, as his four points marked his fewest since he scored just three on March 16, 2022 at Boston - a game he departed after playing just 16 minutes due to a foot injury.

The 10-time All-Star missed all nine of his 3-point attempts and didn't play after half-time.

The Celtics had no such trouble making their baskets, connecting on 51.0 per cent of their 3-point tries, hitting a season high-tying 25 shots from beyond the 3-point arc.

Jaylen Brown had a game-high 29 points in just 22 minutes, while Jayson Tatum had 27 points on 9-of-13 shooting on his 26th birthday.

Payton Pritchard added 19 points for the Celtics, who shot 60 per-cent in the first half to go into the break with an 82-38 lead, and led by as much as 56 points.

At 48-12, Boston has its best record through 60 games since 2007-08 - the last season the franchise won the NBA title.

Golden State (32-28) arrived in Boston having won 11 of 13, including eight straight on the road.

None of the Warriors starters played more than 20 minutes, as reserve Lester Quinones had a team-high 17 points in 33 minutes.

Thunder escape in Phoenix to move back atop West

The Oklahoma City Thunder survived a furious rally by the Phoenix Suns to pull out an impressive 118-110 road win to move atop Western Conference.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 36 points, nine rebounds and nine assists to help the Thunder bounce back from Thursday's 132-118 loss to the San Antonio Spurs.

The victory marked Oklahoma City's seventh in eight games as the Thunder (42-18) moved into sole possession of first place in the West for the first time since January 27.

Oklahoma City looked like it was going to cruise to an easy win, going up by 24 points on Gilgeous-Alexander's jump shot with 6:56 left in the third quarter.

The Suns (35-26) stormed back, however, going on a 31-5 run and taking a 91-89 lead Royce O'Neale's 3-pointer just over one minute into the fourth period.

Phoenix built its lead to six points before Oklahoma City rallied once more, taking the lead for good at 105-103 on Jalen Williams' driving layup with 5:29 to play.

Jusuf Nurkic established a Phoenix franchise record with 31 rebounds - the most by any player in the NBA since Kevin Love also had 31 for the Minnesota Timberwolves on November 12, 2010.

Nurkic's previous career high for rebounds was 23 and he broke the Suns' record of 27 set by Tyson Chandler on January 23, 2016.

He also had 14 points and four assists for Phoenix, which was playing without Devin Booker after he sprained his right ankle in Saturday's 118-109 loss to the Houston Rockets.

Bradley Beal led the Suns with 31 points and six assists but also accounted for seven of Phoenix's 21 turnovers.

Kevin Durant, who added 20 points, turned the ball over five times, along with Nurkic.

Brunson exits early but Knicks get past Cavaliers

Things looked bleak early for New York when Jalen Bunson got hurt in the opening minute, but the Knicks managed to overcome the loss of their All-Star guard for a 107-98 road win over the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Brunson was injured on New York's first possession when his left knee hit the knee of team-mate Isaiah Hartenstein as he lifted off the ground while attempting a jump shot after coming off a screen from Hartenstein near the foul line.

He sat on the court holding his left leg and needed to be helped to the locker room.

The injury is not believed to be serious with coach Tom Thibodeau saying after the game that X-rays were negative. 

That's good news for a banged-up Knicks team already without starters Julius Randle, Mitchell Robinson and O.G. Anunoby because of injuries.

Brunson, who was diagnosed with a knee contusion, entered the game against the Cavaliers averaging 30.2 points in his last six games.

Josh Hart and Donte DiVincenzo stepped up in Brunson's absence for the Knicks (36-25), as Hart finished with 13 points, a career high-tying 19 rebounds and 10 assists, while DiVincenzo scored 28.

Reserve Miles McBride entered New York's lineup after Brunson was injured, and was never subbed out, finishing with 16 points and four 3-pointers - including a clutch 3 in the final minute to put the Knicks up by nine.

Playing without Donovan Mitchell for a second straight game because of left knee soreness, the Cavaliers (39-21) fell apart late, missing 5 of 6 shots while turning the ball over four times in the final four minutes.

Backup Sam Merrill led Cleveland with 21 points while making 7-of-13 3-point attempts and Darius Garland added 19 points and went 5 of 8 from beyond the arc. 

On this day in 2012, Andre Villas-Boas left Chelsea as former midfielder Roberto Di Matteo was appointed interim manager until the end of the season.

Villas-Boas, 34, lost the job he had held for just eight months less than 24 hours after a 1-0 defeat at West Brom which left the Blues sitting in fifth place in the Premier League table and having won just five of their previous 15 games in all competitions.

The Portuguese had been recruited at great expense – around £13.3million – as Carlo Ancelotti’s replacement by then Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich in June 2011 and handed the task of overhauling an ageing squad after winning a remarkable quadruple with Porto.

However, he quickly found himself under pressure and reports of dressing room unrest coupled with faltering form prompted the club to act ahead of an FA Cup trip to Birmingham and an impending Champions League showdown with Napoli.

In a statement, they said: “Unfortunately the results and performances of the team have not been good enough and were showing no signs of improving at a key time in the season.

“The club is still competing in the latter stages of the UEFA Champions League and the FA Cup, as well as challenging for a top-four spot in the Premier League, and we aim to remain as competitive as possible on all fronts.

“With that in mind, we felt our only option was to make a change at this time.”

Assistant Di Matteo was placed in temporary charge and made rather a good fist of it, at least initially.

The Italian guided Chelsea to FA Cup final victory over Liverpool and then famously at the Allianz Arena, a dramatic penalty shoot-out win over Bayern Munich in the Champions League final as Didier Drogba, whose late header had taken the game to extra time, converted the decisive spot-kick to complete Abramovich’s quest for European glory.

Di Matteo’s reward was a permanent two-year contract, although his reign too proved short-lived when he was sacked after just five months at the helm.

British number one Katie Boulter has claimed her first WTA 500 tournament victory with a 5-7 6-2 6-2 win over Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk in the final of the San Diego Open.

The 27-year-old from Leicester was watched by boyfriend Alex De Minaur, who scheduled an early-morning flight after retaining his title in Acapulco.

After an even start between the two, the sixth seeded Ukrainian began to get the better of Boulter, stringing multiple games together and rapidly closing in on the opening set.

Boulter fought back to even the set at 5-5, but Kostyuk regained the momentum to wrap up the first set 7-5.

Boulter then found her groove in the second, dominating on her first serve to clinch the set 6-2 and force a deciding third set.

The Briton continued her ascendancy into the third, claiming the first break point of the set en route to opening up a 3-1 advantage.

Boulter broke again in the seventh game and stormed home from there to close out the victory in two hours and 13 minutes.

Both women picked up their first WTA Tour titles last year in breakout 2023 seasons.

Boulter claimed her maiden championship on grass in Nottingham last summer, while Kostyuk found victory in Austin.

Boulter has had a flying start to the 2024 season and the victory over Kostyuk guarantees she will break into the top 30 for the first time.

Wet weather suspended play on the final day of the Cognizant Classic with 26 players to return on Monday, including Ireland’s Shane Lowry who sits three strokes off the pace.

After sharing the lead on the third day with American Austin Eckroat and England’s David Skinns, Lowry played five holes on Sunday at Palm Beach Gardens in Florida before play was suspended, hitting one bogey and dropping to equal fourth place.

Eckroat picked up two birdies in his first seven holes to take the outright lead, while Skinns  dropped two shots in his five holes to sit tied for eighth.

South African Erik van Rooyen finished one shot behind Eckroat after he shot nine birdies through 18 holes, while American Jake Knapp sits in third place and two shots off the lead after 15 holes.

The severe weather in Florida caused a three hour delay to play with officials having to suspend play because of dangerous conditions for players and spectators, after lightning struck near the course.

Barcelona remain third in LaLiga after being held to a 0-0 draw by Athletic Bilbao at San Mames.

A frustrating evening for Barca included midfielders Frenkie de Jong and Pedri coming off with injuries in the first half.

Xavi’s men are eight points behind leaders Real Madrid, who had drawn 2-2 at Valencia on Saturday.

And they are a point behind second-placed Girona, whose 1-0 loss at Mallorca earlier on Sunday, via a first-half Jose Manuel Copete goal, had offered Barca the chance to climb the table.

Fourth-placed Atletico Madrid beat Real Betis 2-1 at home with a Rui Silva own goal and Alvaro Morata effort putting the hosts in charge before William Carvalho’s reply, and Alexander Sorloth netted a hat-trick as Villarreal thrashed second-bottom Granada 5-1 at El Madrigal.

In Serie A, second-placed Juventus suffered a third defeat in five games as they lost 2-1 at Napoli.

Giacomo Raspadori scored a late winner on the follow-up when Victor Osimhen’s penalty was saved by Wojciech Szczesny, after Federico Chiesa had cancelled out Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s opener.

It leaves Juve 12 points adrift of Inter Milan, who host Genoa on Monday.

Fourth-placed Bologna strengthened their Champions League bid by coming from behind to triumph 2-1 at Atalanta, with Scotland’s Lewis Ferguson netting the winner.

Cagliari moved up a place to 18th with a 1-0 win at Empoli. They are level on points with 17th-placed Hellas Verona, who beat Sassuolo 1-0 at home.

Sunday’s other top-flight game in Italy saw Frosinone and Lecce draw 1-1.

Bayer Leverkusen went 10 points clear at the top of the Bundesliga with a 2-0 win at 10-man Cologne.

After the hosts had Jan Thielmann sent off early on, Jeremie Frimpong and Alejandro Grimaldo scored in each half for Xabi Alonso’s men as they took full advantage of second-placed Bayern Munich being held at Freiburg on Friday.

Maximilian Beier’s first-half brace secured a 2-1 win for Hoffenheim at home against Werder Bremen, the hosts holding out for three points after having Marius Bulter sent off in the 73rd minute and conceding a stoppage-time Skelly Alvero goal.

In Ligue 1, Brest are nine points behind Paris St Germain in second after Pierre Lees-Melou’s first-half effort secured a 1-0 home win over Le Havre, extending their unbeaten run to 13 games.

Toulouse came from behind to win 2-1 at home against fifth-placed Nice, and Lens are up to sixth following a 3-0 win at Lyon.

Lorient moved out of the relegation zone with a 2-1 win at Rennes, Montpellier dropped in having drawn 2-2 at home with Strasbourg and second-bottom Metz won 2-0 at Nantes.

Dimitri Van den Bergh finally derailed the Luke Humphries juggernaut after beating him in a gripping final of the UK Open.

World number one Humphries came into the tournament at Minehead having won four of the last five major ranking tournaments, which included sealing glory at the World Championship at the start of 2024.

He was a heavy favourite to add the UK Open to his collection after a trouble-free run to the final at Butlin’s, but the Belgian won a deciding leg to claim an 11-10 victory and seal a second major title of his own.

It looked like he had blown his chance as he squandered a 7-2 lead and then missed six match darts, only to finally land his seventh after Humphries had missed chances of his own.

While Luke Littler – who was a beaten quarter-finalist at Butlin’s – has stolen the limelight since his emergence, Humphries was proving himself to be the best player around so this defeat will be a tonic to the rest of the pack.

And Van den Bergh, who excelled as youth player, will be hoping this can help kickstart his career, which showed early promise when he won the 2020 World Matchplay.

He said: “First of all, he showed again why is he the world champion. There was a moment when it was 10-8 and I was like ‘I’m one leg away, I can win this’, and I lost it. I lost my gut but all of a sudden, it turned around.

“My grandad died two years ago and this is my first major win since. This is gold and it’s for him.

“You win some, you lose some, you have got to dig deep and keep trying.”

Humphries said: “I have had a long five days on the road, I am absolutely shattered. I was very lucky to get two darts, I will obviously be gutted because I missed two darts.

“But I did my best with the way I was feeling. I give everything, I really didn’t play well. I am proud of the way I played.”

With Michael van Gerwen, Michael Smith and Gerwyn Price all crashing out in the early rounds, it seemed prime for another battle of the Lukes in the final, but teenager Littler was ousted in the last eight by Damon Heta.

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The 17-year-old has made waves in the first few months on the PDC Tour, having claimed the Bahrain Masters in his debut tournament in January and competed well in the Premier League, but leaves his first major empty handed.

He will have regrets about his defeat as, despite Heta’s incredible level, Littler rallied from 8-4 down and missed two darts at his favoured double 10 to send it to a decider.

Littler said on Instagram: “Disappointed to not make it past the quarters but was a great game. Enjoying my darts and just grateful for everything.”

Home favourite Jemma Reekie took 800 metres silver on the final night of action at the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow for her first global medal.

The 25-year-old Scot clocked a time of 2:02.72 as she finished 0.82 seconds behind Ethiopia’s Tsige Duguma.

Reekie told the BBC: “I knew those girls were going to throw something at me that they were confident with, and they were just better than me today.

“I didn’t want anything other than the win, but first senior medal, I made some mistakes and I’ll learn something from it.

“It’s my first senior medal and I’ve got to take it. I’ve got one now and I definitely want one of those Olympic ones, and it will be a good stepping stone forwards.”

There was also bronze for Great Britain in the women’s 4x400m relay earlier in the evening as the team finished with a haul of four medals.

Laviai Nielsen, twin sister Lina Nielsen, Ama Pipi and Jessie Knight again set a new national record – as they had done in the morning’s heats – with a time of 3:26.36.

They came in behind the Netherlands (3:25.07) and the United States, with Jamaica not finishing after the baton came out of Charokee Young’s hand on the third leg, seemingly via accidental contact from Pipi.

Pipi said: “It was a really messy leg but I just stayed focused on what I needed to do and tried to give it to Jessie in a good position, and I think I did that.”

GB’s other two medals had come in the form of golds on Saturday for Reekie’s fellow Scot Josh Kerr in the men’s 3,000m and Molly Caudery in the women’s pole vault.

British pair Georgia Bell and Revee Walcott-Nolan were fourth and sixth respectively in the women’s 1500m final, and team-mate Cindy Sember was seventh in the women’s 60m hurdles, won in a new world record time of 7.65secs by Devynne Charlton of the Bahamas.

The men’s 1500m final included GB’s Adam Fogg coming 14th.

Also among Sunday evening’s finals was the men’s pole vault title being retained by Sweden’s Olympic champion Armand Duplantis.

Mikel Arteta is not setting a points total he believes will deliver the Premier League title – but the Arsenal boss has warned the rest of the season may have to be perfect if they are to do so.

The Gunners travel to bottom club Sheffield United on Monday night knowing victory will once again see them close to within two points of Liverpool at the summit.

Reigning champions Manchester City are also locked in the three-way tussle for the title as Arteta aims to bring the Premier League crown back to Arsenal for the first time in 20 years.

Asked how many points might be required to win the league this season, the Spaniard replied: “You always ask me this question and I never get it right.

“The demands, you might have to win every game. I don’t know. I have no clue.

“There are a lot of games and we are all going to have crazy schedules and this league might be different to last season. Anything under 90 points I think it (winning the league) would be very difficult.

“We have to improve in every aspect, that is all, all managers try to be better in what we do.”

Arsenal were top of the table at this stage last season and led the pack for a total of 248 days before ultimately slipping behind City in the run-in.

“I think we are where we deserve to be,” Arteta said on Arsenal’s current standing.

“We could probably be a little bit better in terms of the points that we have deserved in the league

“Being (back) in the Champions League is another step – that makes obviously the challenge more difficult and the amount of injuries that we had I think we are going good but we want to do better.

“The target is clear. It’s to be better every day so that when it comes to the weekend, earn the right to win and do everything you possibly can to win the game.

“This is the focus and the way I see them training every day gives me  more confidence and more reasons to believe that we have a good chance because they really want it.”

Barcelona suffered a costly evening against Athletic Bilbao as they failed to make ground on leaders Real Madrid after a goalless draw that saw Frenkie de Jong and Pedri pick up injuries.

Defeat for second-placed Girona and Real’s draw at Valencia opened up an opportunity for Barca but they were held to a stalemate at San Mames and sit eight points off top spot.

Worse yet, they lost midfielders De Jong and Pedri in the first half, with the latter unable to hold back the tears as he contemplated the latest in a series of fitness setbacks.

Ernesto Valverde’s side struggled to get time on the ball in the opening stages, with his former club Barcelona enjoying plenty of possession as Joao Cancelo established himself as the liveliest outlet on the park.

Hanging on to the ball did not translate into obvious openings, though, with a pair of set-pieces the closest they came to an early breakthrough.

Andreas Christensen headed over Ilkay Gundogan’s free-kick and Jules Kounde’s ambitious flick off a corner also cleared the crossbar.

For their part, Athletic were feeding on scraps and largely unable to make use of the ball when they made it into the final third. Barca’s flow was disrupted when De Jong went over on his ankle in the 26th minute, clearly unable to shake off the pain as Fermin Lopez took his place.

They almost grabbed an opener out of nowhere shortly after the half-hour when Cancelo tried his luck from long-range after Unai Simon’s punt up-field and caught the keeper out of position. Simon managed to back-track and get a hand on it but still needed Yeray Alvarez to clear up on the line.

With time running down on the first half Pedri went down with nobody else involved, forced out of the match and letting his emotion get the better of him as he returned to the dugout.

Athletic came alive at the start of the second period, captain Inaki Williams twice finding space in behind and twice missing the target as he let loose. Barca defenders Ronald Araujo and Pau Cubarsi were also forced into shutting down promising moves as the tide threatened to turn.

Alex Berenguer had a couple of promising breaks but floundered when it came to an end product while 16-year-old Lamine Yamal, Pedri’s replacement, saw a penalty shout waved away at the other end.

The hosts almost made Barca’s night even worse in added time when Dani Garcia arrived unmarked at the far post from a corner but failed to direct his header on target.