England head coach Sarina Wiegman believes her side have “moved on” from the heartbreak of missing out on Olympic qualification.

The Lionesses face Austria on Friday and Italy next Tuesday in a pair of friendlies which have replaced what they hoped would be Nations League semi-finals.

A 6-0 thrashing of Scotland looked to have secured top spot in Group A1 in December, only for the Netherlands to score twice in added time against Belgium to pip England on goal difference and end Team GB’s hopes of qualifying for Paris 2024.

“This is really the start of our Euros campaign and after the very disappointing result of not qualifying for the play-offs to qualify for the Olympics we moved on,” said Wiegman, whose side will bid to defend their European title in Switzerland next year.

“This is the start, with two friendlies which is really good for us because we can try out some things.

“We are also very close to the Under-23s [also training in Spain] so we can see them, we can connect with them and we get a lot of players that we can see where they are at this moment.

“This is a great start because in April the Nations League starts which are the qualifiers for the Euros.”

Euro 2022-winning captain Leah Williamson had been named in Wiegman’s squad for the first time since suffering an anterior cruciate ligament rupture, but the Arsenal defender withdrew with a hamstring injury on Sunday.

Asked if club coaches had requested a limit on player minutes amid a three-way Women’s Super League title race and a spate of high-profile injuries, Wiegman said: “Not this time.

“We are in contact with each other all the time, we update each other and of course we know how important the Women’s Super League is too but also the German League for Georgia [Stanway] and the Spanish league for the players who play in Spain at the moment.

“Of course, we want to take care of the players but we want to do lots of things. We play to win but we also have the opportunity now to try out things and also manage minutes. With a busy calendar I think that’s something to be aware of.

“The issue of injuries is a bigger picture and it’s about the load on the players. The calendar we talk about a lot, that we really have to address the calendar. I spoke up about that last week – we really ask FIFA and UEFA to change things.

“But we are doing a job as good as possible with all the expertise we have in our team and staff. We have a programme and we monitor the players really well.

“You’re in an environment where an injury can happen because it’s a physical sport, but if you can diminish the risk of injuries as much as possible, that’s also what we try to do.”

England have drafted in seamer Ollie Robinson and off-spinner Shoaib Bashir for their must-win fourth Test against India in Ranchi.

Fast bowler Mark Wood drops out after an onerous workload in the third-Test defeat in Ranchi, where he bowled mainly in sweltering conditions, while leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed has also been omitted.

Robinson is set for his first appearance of the series while Bashir returns after taking four wickets on his England debut in the second Test in Visakhapatnam earlier this month.

England trail 2-1 in the five-match series.

What the papers say

Paris St Germain and Liverpool are both interested in England defender Levi Colwill, but Chelsea are not keen on seeing the 20-year-old leave the Blues, says the Evening Standard.

West Ham are eyeing striker Dominic Solanke, who currently plays for Bournemouth, the Daily Telegraph writes.

As per the Daily Telegraph, Bayern Munich manager Thomas Tuchel is eager to return to England when he wraps up at the German club at the end of the season.

Social media round-upPlayers to watch

Marc Guehi: Manchester United could join Liverpool in the race to sign the Crystal Palace defender, according to the Daily Telegraph.

Kylian Mbappe: Liverpool’s uncertainty over Mohamed Salah cost the club the chance to sign the Paris St Germain star ahead of Real Madrid, talkSPORT reports.

Mason Greenwood: Barcelona and Atletico Madrid are gearing up for a showdown for the Manchester United forward, as the Red Devils appear eager to offload the striker following his loan spell at Getafe, says the Daily Mail.

Auston Matthews scored his 50th and 51st goals of the season to become the fastest to 50 in 28 years and the Toronto Maple Leafs won their fifth straight, 6-3 over the reeling Arizona Coyotes on Wednesday.

Matthews, from nearby Scottsdale, Arizona, reached the milestone in his 54th game of the season to become the fastest to 50 goals since Mario Lemieux accomplished it in 50 games with Pittsburgh in 1995-96.

Wayne Gretzky holds the record, scoring his 50th in his 39th game for Edmonton in 1981-82 on his way to a record 92 goals. Matthews is the fastest to 50 among U.S.-born players.

Matthews, who added his 51st of the season in the second period, is on pace to surpass 70 goals, which hasn’t been done since Teemu Selanne and Alexander Mogilny each had 76 in 1992-93.

William Nylander also scored twice and Mitch Marner had three assists as the Maple Leafs won for the ninth time in 11 games (9-0-2).

The Coyotes lost their 11th in a row and have allowed at least five goals in five of their last seven contests.

Bruins edge Oilers in overtime

Charlie McAvoy scored in overtime and the Boston Bruins snapped the Edmonton Oilers’ eight-game home winning streak, 6-5.

McAvoy was the sixth different goal scorer for the Bruins, who got three assists from Mason Lohrei to extend their road point streak to 10 games (7-0-3).

Warren Foegele had a pair of goals for the Oilers, who hadn’t lost at home since a 5-1 defeat to Florida on Dec. 16.

Flyers beat lowly Blackhawks

Samuel Ersson stopped 22 shots and Travis Konecny and Garnet Hathaway scored third-period goals to lift the Philadelphia Flyers to a 3-1 win over the league-worst Chicago Blackhawks.

Travis Sanheim had the other goal as the Flyers improved to 5-1-1 in their last seven games.

Colin Blackwell scored the lone goal for Chicago, which has lost 10 of 11.

Arvid Soderblom made 30 saves to lose his 12th consecutive start. He is 0-11-1 since defeating Toronto on Nov. 24.

Australian tennis player Thanasi Kokkinakis has beaten Britain’s Daniel Evans to advance to Mexico’s ATP Los Cabos quarter-finals.

Kokkinakis advances with back-to-back top-60 victories after his 6-4 6-2 win against the world number 42 Briton.

The win, which took just over two hours, marks his second consecutive win against a British opponent.

The Australian defeated world number 53 Jack Draper earlier in the week.

Kokkinakis made it to his first tour-level quarter-final since the beginning of 2023, securing a win with five aces compared to three for Evans.

Evans hit three double faults during the match, while Kokkinakis had the better of the clutch moments, saving four out of the five break points against him.

The loss also marks Evans’ third loss to the Australian.

In the next round, Kokkinakis will play world number six Alexander Zverev and the top seed at Los Cabos.

Tyson Fury beat Deontay Wilder by seventh-round stoppage to win the WBC world heavyweight title in Las Vegas, on this day in 2020.

Fourteen months on from his controversial draw with Wilder in their first bout – when he out-boxed the champion only for two knockdowns to deny him victory – Fury had vowed to take the fight to the American.

He did just that, flooring his opponent twice and completely dominating the action before Wilder’s corner threw in the towel to save the bewildered champion from more punishment.

A right hand which landed near Wilder’s left ear saw the American go down heavily in the third and a right to the head and left hook to the body in the fifth had a tired Wilder down again.

Fury said: “Big shout-out to Deontay Wilder. He came here tonight, he manned up and really did show the heart of a champion.

“I hit him with a clean right hand and dropped him and he got back up and battled on into round seven. He is a warrior, he will be back, he will be a champion again.

“But I will say, the king has returned to the top.”

The rivalry concluded with a third fight the following year when it was Fury’s turn to take punishment, getting knocked down in the fourth round, only to rise off the canvas and produce a storming comeback and retain his title.

The Briton has since continued his unbeaten record with victories over Dillian Whyte, Derek Chisora and Francis Ngannou but recently pulled out of a fight with Oleksandr Usyk after suffering a cut in the build-up.

Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has set out his vision for bringing some of the Eric Cantona glamour and swagger back to Old Trafford.

The 71-year-old Ineos founder and chairman wants the club he has supported since the age of six to be seriously challenging their “noisy” north-west neighbours Manchester City and Liverpool for domestic and European titles within three seasons, and “knock them both off their perch”.

In a wide-ranging briefing, Ratcliffe also:

:: Outlined his hope to either redevelop Old Trafford at a cost of around £1billion, or build a new £2billion stadium with state support that could host England matches, FA Cup finals and Champions League finals.

:: Admitted Dan Ashworth would be “a very good addition” to the Manchester United leadership as sporting director and said it would be “absurd” if he remained on gardening leave after his departure from Newcastle.

:: Pledged that a fresh decision would be taken on Mason Greenwood’s future.

:: Joked about whether Qatari businessman Sheikh Jassim, his long-time rival for full control of United, even existed.

Ratcliffe, who by the end of the year will hold a 28.9 per cent stake in United and whose Ineos company now controls football operations at Old Trafford, conducted the interview with a bust wearing a United number seven shirt stationed behind him, collar turned up in the fashion of the club’s hero of the 1990s Eric Cantona.

“(Cantona) was the catalyst for change in Sir Alex Ferguson’s era … and then that sort of kickstarted everything off. He was the sort of talisman,” Ratcliffe said.

“There has always been a bit of glamour attached to Manchester United which has been lacking a bit in the last few years. You’ve had George Best, Bobby Charlton, Eric the King for a while.

“At the end of the day we are in the entertainment business. So that’s why you don’t want to watch bland football or characterless football.

“And to be honest, since Christmas, with the young lads, they have played some fantastic football.

“There have been some great matches. I can’t remember many matches at the beginning of the season I was really excited by but since Christmas we have played some really good football and there has been a bit of glamour attached to some of these footballers on the pitch, and we have really enjoyed it.

“The three young lads (Rasmus Hojlund, Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo) sitting on the hoarding at the side – that was a good picture. So I think that’s the ‘Eric’ point really. We are cognizant of the fact you do need a bit of glamour in this.”

Ratcliffe says improving the club’s record on recruitment is “top of the list” of things to get right, and publicly stated his club’s interest in Dan Ashworth, who has been placed on gardening leave by Newcastle after expressing his desire to leave the Tyneside club.

“I think it’d be a very good addition to Manchester United, but he (Ashworth) needs to decide whether he’s going to make that jump,” Ratcliffe said.

“We’ve obviously had words with Newcastle. They clearly would be disappointed to lose Dan. I understand why they would be disappointed to lose Dan but but then you can’t equally criticise Dan because it is a transient industry.

“So we’ll have to see how it unfolds.”

Ratcliffe said it would be “a bit silly” if it took £20million to secure Ashworth’s services, and added: “What I do think is completely absurd is suggesting that a man who’s really good at his job, sits in his garden for one and a half years.”

Also key to the transformation as Ratcliffe sees it is a redeveloped Old Trafford or a new stadium built partially with state support.

Ratcliffe said a taskforce would be set up to look at the feasibility of the latter option and agreed former Manchester United defender Gary Neville would be an “obvious” person to include on it.

Ratcliffe sees no issue with one of the world’s richest clubs in United seeking state support for such a project.

“The people in the north pay their taxes like the people in the south pay their taxes,” he said.

“But where’s the national stadium for football? It’s in the south. Where’s the national stadium for rugby? It’s in the south. Where’s the national stadium for tennis? It’s in the south. Where’s the national concert stadium? It’s the O2, it’s in the south. Where’s the Olympic Village? It’s in the south.

“All of this talk about levelling up and the Northern Powerhouse… where is the stadium in the north? How many Champions Leagues has the north-west won and how many Champions Leagues has London won? The answer to that is the north-west has won 10 – Liverpool have won more than us – and London has won two.

“Where do you have to go if you get to the semi-final of the FA Cup and you’re a northern club? You have to schlep down to London, don’t you?

“People in the north pay their taxes and there is an argument that you could think about a more ambitious project in the north which would be fitting for England, for the Champions League final or the FA Cup final and act as a catalyst to regenerate southern Manchester, which has got quite significant history in the UK.”

Ali Carter held his nerve to beat top seed Judd Trump 6-4 and book his place in the Players Championship semi-finals in Telford.

Trump went close to levelling the match at 5-5, but a potential frame-winning break ended with just the colours remaining and after 11 minutes of cat and mouse, Carter sank the yellow and closed out the match.

The world number eight will now face Northern Ireland’s Mark Allen or Gary Wilson, who won the BetVictor Welsh Open on Sunday, for a place in the final.

Trump made a break of 115 to level the match at 3-3, but Carter moved 5-3 up thanks to a score of 82 in the eighth frame. Although Trump responded with his fifth half-century to make it 5-4, it was not enough.

Earlier on Wednesday, Mark Selby reeled off four frames in succession to beat Barry Hawkins 6-3 and set up a quarter-final clash with Ronnie O’Sullivan.

Hawkins dominated the early stages of the match, easing into a 2-0 lead and edging back in front with a break of 91 in the fifth frame after Selby had fought back to level the scores at the mid-session interval.

However, Hawkins made an increasing number of mistakes as the match wore on and Selby took full advantage with breaks of 56, 66, 75 and 67 to advance.

“Barry was getting on top of me from the start, I started off slow and Barry’s had a good season so far,” four-time world champion Selby told ITV4.

“It was a tough game for me because you’re playing one of the top players on form and he’s also a good friend so it’s hard to try to overcome both of them.”

Looking ahead to Thursday’s quarter-final with O’Sullivan, Selby joked: “It gets easier next game doesn’t it?

“I cherish every game I play against Ronnie so I’m really looking forward to that. If I play like I did after the interval with that authority and that confidence, then I’ll go into the match with a chance.

“You know what you’re going to get with Ronnie, he very rarely plays to a bad level.

“It’s either very good or unplayable so it makes your job a lot easier going into the match because you know you have to turn up and, if you don’t, you’re going home.”

The quarter-final line-up was eventually completed when China’s Zhang Anda edged past Thailand’s Noppon Saengkham 6-5 in a contest lasting more than four and a half hours.

Zhang, who came from 5-4 behind and sealed victory with a break of 65 in the decider, will face John Higgins in the last eight.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp evoked memories of their famous win over Barcelona in 2019 during their “thunderstorm” second-half comeback to beat Luton 4-1.

Trailing to Chiedozie Ogbene’s 12th-minute header, Klopp’s side were a different prospect after the break with Virgil van Dijk, Cody Gakpo, Luis Diaz and Harvey Elliott bringing up 100 goals for the season.

While it by no means matched the magnitude of their Champions League semi-final comeback after losing the first leg 3-0 to the Catalan giants, it was significant in terms of the title race – re-establishing a four-point lead over Manchester City – and the invigorating atmosphere which the team will undoubtedly have to lean on during the run-in.

“Tonight is one of those nights where it is difficult to stop talking. I am so happy,” said Klopp, who was without 11 first-team players including forwards Mohamed Salah and Darwin Nunez who remain doubtful for Sunday’s Carabao Cup final against Chelsea.

“We had to ignore the fact we were 1-0 down and use the things that are good and improve the counter-press. The second half was a thunderstorm. Wow.

“I will mention this game from now quite a few times. I promised my team a few months ago that I would never mention or use the Barcelona game as an example and I used it again today so I broke my promise.

“Just because before the game, it was kind of similar. Many players missing, stuff like this. The team that time ignored the fact who is missing and I want us to ignore the fact who is missing.

“That is difficult because the public got the whole knowledge of who is missing only tonight. It’s like… I needed a few minutes to process it when I got all the news.

“But from that moment on, when you know how you can deal with it and sort it for this game, it feels really good. That is what I wanted the boys to show.

“This is an example tonight. This is their Barcelona, now against Luton. A difficult situation, plenty of reasons to give up in moments: not tonight and I saw only a super group fighting.

“If you don’t limit yourself with bad thoughts, you can fly. And that’s what the boys did.”

Luton head coach Rob Edwards, whose side were impressive in the first half, admitted scoring so early just made their task harder.

“We just made them angry,” he said. “Overall it was a really good first half. Second half I thought we saw Anfield, saw Liverpool, saw their full-throttle football. Their counter-pressing football was amazing.

“In the end, it was a great learning curve for us to see what the best looks like. I know they had some players missing, but their second-half performance was like the best out there.

“I thought we were very, very good. They were better.”

Mikel Arteta bemoaned a lack of aggression from his Arsenal side in the Champions League defeat at Porto but said it would be “cruel” to judge their return to the knockout stages on the last-gasp goal that settled the contest.

The Gunners’ hopes of reaching the quarter-finals for the first time in 14 years suffered a blow as Galeno’s fine late strike saw Porto win 1-0 in the last 16 first-leg tie.

With the second leg at the Emirates Stadium on March 12, Arteta now knows his side must win on home soil to reach the business end of the Champions League on their long-awaited return.

Arsenal, more than anyone, know there are no easy games at this stage of Europe’s elite club competition – having fallen at this hurdle seven years in a row under Arsene Wenger.

This is their first time back at this level since the last of those in 2017 and it proved much more challenging than the recent Premier League thrashings of West Ham and Burnley for a team inexperienced on these occasions – Kai Havertz the only player from the starting XI with any previous appearances in the Champions League knockout phases.

The vistiors failing to register a shot on target on a tough night at the Estadio do Dragao with Porto more than a match for the Gunners, frustrating the visitors for much of the evening and ultimately capitalising on some lapse defending to secure a late victory.

“Obviously I am very disappointed the way we gave the game away at the end,” Arteta said.

“Not managing that situation well enough. You get punished in the Champions League. If you cannot win it, you don’t lose it.

“We really dominated the game but we lacked purpose, especially in the first half. You need to have much more aggression, you need to break lines, to play forward and generate much more threat on that backline.

“We will learn from it. Now it is clear, it is half-time. If you want to be in the quarter-finals you have to beat your opponent and that will be the purpose and the plan.”

Asked if his team were naive to fall to defeat in such a way, Arteta added: “Well it’s only the last ball, so if in 94 minutes they haven’t had any naivety other than that one.

“I think it’s a bit cruel to judge it. But it’s true that it has had a big impact on the result. A lot of other things they did for the first time here were very good. When you give the ball away three times in that area – you cannot do it.”

Arteta also criticised the performance of referee Serdar Gozubuyuk, who awarded 36 fouls – the most in a Champions League game this season – and often spent time ahead of set-pieces speaking to players in the box.

“From set-pieces as well every time we touched somebody it seemed to be a foul before we even kicked the ball. But we will learn and do better,” added the Spaniard.

Porto, captained by 40-year-old Pepe, appeared much more streetwise to the task at hand, leaving head coach Sergio Conceicao happy with the result.

He said: “The team understood perfectly the spaces they had to step into to condition our opponents and also what we had to do up front to hurt them.

“It was a good game, a Champions League game. Our opponents had more of the ball, but Porto were always more dangerous.”

Victor Osimhen rescued Napoli a 1-1 home draw against Barcelona in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie in his first appearance for the Italian club since December.

Osimhen, who had served a ban in Napoli’s previous game after returning from Africa Cup of Nations duty for runners-up Nigeria, stole clear in the penalty area with 15 minutes remaining to fire home an equaliser.

Barcelona had taken a deserved lead on the hour-mark through Robert Lewandowski’s 93rd Champions League goal.

It was Napoli’s first game since they sacked head coach Walter Mazzarri after three months in charge and replaced him with Slovakian Francesco Calzona.

Porto winger Galeno’s stunning stoppage-time winner clinched his side a 1-0 win against Arsenal in the first leg of their tie.

Arsenal looked set to return to London all-square after a cagey tactical battle at Estadio do Dragao, but Brazilian Galeno crashed home a shot from outside the box in the fourth minute of added time.

The Gunners, bidding to reach the tournament’s last eight for the first time since 2010, created few chances, while Galeno struck a post with a close-range effort in the first half.

Kai Havertz had Arsenal’s best two chances late in the first half, firing off target from six yards before heading Bukayo Saka’s corner just wide.

The two sides will meet in the return leg at the Emirates Stadium on March 12.

Arsenal’s hopes of reaching the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time in 14 years suffered a blow as they slipped to a last-gasp defeat in the first leg of their last 16 clash in Porto.

On the eve of the tie, Mikel Arteta challenged his players to prove they belong on this stage but they laboured for large parts of the game and failed to register a shot on target throughout a largely drab affair, losing 1-0 at the death courtesy of a stunning Galeno strike.

With the second leg at the Emirates Stadium on March 12, Arteta now knows his side must win on home soil to reach the business end of the Champions League on their long-awaited return.

Arsenal, more than anyone, know there are no easy games at this stage of Europe’s elite club competition – having fallen at this hurdle seven years in a row under Arsene Wenger.

This is their first time back at this level since the last of those in 2017 and it proved much more challenging than the recent Premier League thrashings of West Ham and Burnley.

Porto currently sit third in the Primeira Liga, off the pace of their big rivals Benfica and Sporting Lisbon, but they were a match for the Gunners, frustrating the visitors for much of the evening.

Declan Rice was walking a tightrope for almost the entirety of the contest after he was booked for a late challenge on Galeno with just 67 seconds on the clock.

Arsenal were not at their recent, slick best and were very fortunate not to fall behind just before the midway point of the first half as Galeno wasted two great chances in quick succession.

After a cross dropped to him in the box, with the Brazilian fizzing a shot off the far post and then somehow turned the rebound wide for six yards – the home fans flummoxed as they celebrated along with the music that greets a goal for the hosts inside the Estadio do Dragao.

The let-off failed to rouse Arsenal from something of a slumber, but they did finally have their first shot on the evening after 33 minutes and should have taken the lead themselves soon after only for William Saliba to head a Bukayo Saka corner wide.

Porto were still the more likely to open the scoring, though, as Evanilson drew a low save out of David Raya with what proved to be the only shot on target from either side until the late winner.

Kai Havertz, who scored the winning goal in a Champions League final in this stadium for Chelsea, was next to miss the target with a header from a Saka corner.

Set-pieces certainly seemed Arsenal’s best way to goal and Leandro Trossard will feel he should have done better as he peeled off to the back post from a corner early in the second half, only to fire Rice’s centre harmlessly over.

There were no other opportunities of note until the dying embers, when Galeno collected the ball and brilliantly bent a finish over the out-stretched Raya as the whole Porto bench burst onto the pitch in celebration.

For Arsenal, they return to their Premier League title challenge knowing their backs are against the wall in their quest to progress in Europe.

Victor Osimhen snatched an unlikely 1-1 draw for Napoli in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie against Barcelona.

The Nigeria striker cancelled out a trademark Robert Lewandowski strike as a low-quality tie ended all square.

The champions of Italy met the champions of Spain in what should have been the glamour tie of the round at Napoli’s Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.

The Argentinian’s name is synonymous with glory days at both clubs but now both are struggling to recapture last season’s title-winning successes.

Napoli, a lowly ninth in Serie A, sacked Walter Mazzarri on Monday with Francesco Calzona replacing him as their third manager of the season.

The Slovakia coach, appointed on an interim basis, had just 48 hours to try to inject some life into their dismal campaign.

Meanwhile, Barca boss Xavi – whose side lie eight points behind rivals Real Madrid in La Liga – announced last month he would be leaving at the end of the campaign.

Two sides bereft of confidence locked horns with Barca, without Gavi, Ferran Torres, Marcos Alonso and Sergi Roberto through injury, dominating the first half but lacking any real goal threat.

Lamine Yamal, their 16-year-old sensation, brought the first save from Napoli goalkeeper Alex Meret with a fierce drive from the edge of the area.

Lewandowski’s first chance came from Ilkay Gundogan’s through-ball but his flicked finish was blocked by Meret.

The Napoli defence then opened up invitingly for Gundogan, whose dipping effort was also beaten away by Meret.

For Napoli, Osimhen was playing his first match since before Christmas but he looked isolated up front as the hosts finished the first half without a single effort on goal.

That sorry stat at least changed at the start of the second half when Matteo Politano planted an early header wide.

Gundogan should have done better with Yamal’s cut-back to the edge of the box but his side-footed effort was easily dealt with by Meret.

But Lewandowski broke the deadlock on the hour when Pedri played the ball into his feet.

Lewandowski expertly turned and fired low between two defenders and beyond the dive of Meret.

It was the Poland international’s 93rd Champions League goal, although he had not scored in his last four appearances in the competition.

But Barca had only kept one clean sheet in their previous nine matches and a blunt Napoli attack finally woke up in the 75th minute.

Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa drove the ball forward and Osimhen rolled Inigo Martinez, who claimed he was fouled, before tucking the ball past Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

Both sides could have grabbed a winner but Napoli substitute Giovanni Simeone blazed over before Gundogan fired inches wide in stoppage time.