Carolina Panthers founder Jerry Richardson has died aged 86.

Richardson brought the Panthers to Carolina and the NFL in 1995, reaching Super Bowls in the 2003 and 2015 campaigns.

He left the franchise in 2018 after allegations of sexual and racial workplace misconduct.

Panthers owners David and Nicole Tepper paid tribute to Richardson after his death was announced on Thursday, saying: "Jerry Richardson's contributions to professional football in the Carolinas are historic.

"With the arrival of the Panthers in 1995, he changed the landscape of sports in the region and gave the NFL fans here a team to call their own.

"He was incredibly gracious to me [David Tepper] when I purchased the team, and for that I am thankful.''

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell also saluted Richardson, saying in a statement: "The NFL community is deeply saddened by the passing of Jerry Richardson.

"The Carolina Panthers are a testament to his extraordinary and tireless dedication to the community. But his league-first attitude as seen through his leadership of numerous NFL committees... helped pave the way for a series of public-private stadium partnerships throughout the country, and collective bargaining agreements that continue to support the growth of the game.

"As a former player himself, Jerry cared deeply about the welfare of players and the labour agreements he helped negotiate have led to improved pay and benefits for generations of players. From a personal perspective, he was a wise and caring advisor to me, his fellow owners, and many Panthers players and coaches over the years."

New Panthers head coach Frank Reich was the franchise's first quarterback under Richardson, and said: "I will always be thankful to Mr Richardson for the Panthers. Being a part of the inaugural [season] is something that I will never forget.

"It was truly a special experience to play a part in the culmination of his efforts to bring football to the Carolinas."

Xavi was not entirely satisfied with Barcelona's performance despite a 1-0 win away at El Clasico rivals Real Madrid in their Copa del Rey semi-final first leg, and still believes their opponents are favourites for the tie.

An own goal by Eder Militao in the first half at the Santiago Bernabeu was enough for a Barca victory, while Madrid enjoyed plenty of the ball and had 13 shots, but did not hit the target once as they fell to defeat.

Barca's head coach was pleased with the win, but appeared eager to put the pressure back on Los Blancos ahead of the return leg on April 5 as he insisted they were still favourites to reach the final.

"We have a certain advantage," he told reporters. "We will have to compete very well [in the second leg at Camp Nou]. We have defended well. The return home, with our fans, is positive. But I still see Real Madrid as favourites."

Xavi was pleased with his team's defending, but concerned by their inability to keep the ball as the visitors claimed just 35.3 per cent possession in the game, completing just 309 of their 380 passes (81.3 per cent).

"I'm not satisfied... It's not the percentage we're looking for," he said.

"The result is very positive. I'm happy with the work, solid defence, we minimised Real Madrid on their field. The game was difficult.

"The victory is tremendous [but] we didn't know how to keep the ball, it was difficult for us to win duels. We defended well without the ball and fought well without the ball.

"The people are supportive. I am satisfied, but we have to improve in our game with the ball. We cannot give the opponent dominance.

"I am satisfied with the result but not so much for the match."

Barcelona will take a slender advantage to Camp Nou after they beat Real Madrid 1-0 in their Copa del Rey semi-final first leg at the Santiago Bernabeu on Thursday.

An Eder Militao own goal was all that separated the two Spanish giants, with Carlo Ancelotti's men having a lot of the ball but unable to craft much in the way of chances.

Militao's own goal was only the fourth this century in a Clasico, three of which have favoured Barca after Ivan Helguera's in May 2002 and Raphael Varane's in February 2019.

Madrid may consider themselves fortunate not to lose by more, however, with Ansu Fati inadvertently denying team-mate Franck Kessie a certain goal in a second half largely dominated by the hosts.

Karim Benzema had the ball in the net early on when he chested down a cross from Vinicius Junior and volleyed home, only to be flagged offside.

Despite Madrid dominating early on, it was Barcelona who took the lead in the 26th minute.

Ferran Torres played in Kessie, whose shot went in off Militao after Thibaut Courtois had initially saved from the Barca midfielder.

Vinicius saw an effort blocked by Ronald Araujo early in the second half, while the visitors should have doubled their lead 18 minutes from time.

Kessie met Torres' cut-back but saw his goal-bound shot deflected wide by substitute Fati with Courtois stranded.

Nevertheless, Xavi's men held on despite Madrid's desperate late onslaught.

Novak Djokovic clinched a 20th win in a row and maintained his perfect year to date with victory against Hubert Hurkacz at the Dubai Tennis Championships.

The world number one cruised in the opening set, before Hurkacz put up more of a fight in the second.

Djokovic eventually prevailed to seal a 6-3 7-5 win, successfully seeing off his opponent despite Hurkacz valiantly throwing everything at him.

The 35-year-old Serbian has now won 15 consecutive matches in 2023, with his latest impressive display including just seven unforced errors, less than half Hurkacz's 15 as Djokovic's clinical edge proved decisive.

Fifteen successive victories is the fourth-best start to a season in Djokovic's career, though he remains some way off the 41-0 record he began 2011 with.

A semi-final clash against Daniil Medvedev awaits following the Russian's comfortable 6-3 6-2 victory against Borna Coric, which clocked in at one hour and 21 minutes.

Medvedev is also in the midst of an impressive winning streak, rattling off 12 consecutive successes since being eliminated by Sebastian Korda at the Australian Open in January.

Andrey Rublev booked his spot in the final four with a 6-3 7-6 (7-3) victory over Botic van de Zandschulp to maintain his title defence.

He will face seventh seed Alexander Zverev in the semi-final, the German having seen off Lorenzo Sonego 7-5 6-4.

LeBron James' foot injury will be reassessed in three weeks, the Los Angeles Lakers have confirmed.

The 38-year-old sustained the injury in the third quarter of Sunday's victory over the Dallas Mavericks and subsequently missed the defeat to the Memphis Grizzlies and the victory against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Reports on Thursday stated that James would not require surgery and, although not confirmed by the team, the Lakers have said it is a right foot tendon injury.

A team statement said: "LeBron James has been evaluated by Lakers team physicians and medical staff, and it has been determined that he has sustained a right foot tendon injury.

"James will be reevaluated in approximately three weeks."

There is just over a month remaining of the regular season, with the Lakers facing a battle to secure a spot in the playoffs, sitting 11th in the Western Conference on a record of 30-33.

Harry Kane should leave Tottenham for Manchester United if he wants to win trophies in his career, former Red Devils full-back Gary Neville said.

England captain Kane has spent his entire career at Spurs despite regularly being linked with a move away over the years, most notably in 2021 when he was seemingly pushing for a move to Manchester City before agreeing to stay in north London.

The 29-year-old is having another productive season, having scored 18 goals in 25 Premier League games, but is yet to win a major trophy with Spurs, who were knocked out of the FA Cup by Sheffield United on Wednesday.

Speaking to Sky Sports News, Neville said Kane could look to move on at the end of the campaign as a result, and believes his former club are a realistic destination for the striker.

"Harry Kane is going to want to win trophies, I think," Neville said. "It's whether he sees it as being a case whereby he commits to Tottenham for his last five years and he does what some players have done.

"But if Harry is going to leave, I think now is the moment. He is a wonderful player, he's a great professional, and I think if Harry Kane could leave now, and you could get him an exit out of there to a club in Manchester probably, United or City, I think he would take that opportunity.

"It's more than likely not going to be City because of their [Erling] Haaland expenditure and what they've done with him, but Manchester United are desperate for a centre-forward.

"Chelsea, I can't see him going there. He's quite loyal to Tottenham and there's a big rivalry with Chelsea, so I don't see that happening, even though they do need a centre-forward.

"He's not going to go to Arsenal, because of the rivalry, so Manchester United is the only option in England for Harry Kane this summer.

"Bayern Munich have been mentioned. That could happen and I think Daniel Levy would be happier if he was to go internationally, so we could see that.

"But I think Harry, if he wants to win trophies, is going to have to leave Tottenham, because Tottenham do struggle with that aspect."

Neville also queried the idea of United signing another England international, Declan Rice, who was a part of the West Ham team who lost 3-1 to the Red Devils in the FA Cup fifth round on Wednesday.

"Obviously, Declan knows the position, but when I look at world-class holding midfielders, and players of that type, because Rice doesn't score or assist enough goals, so you're putting him into that category of more of a destroyer," he said.

"You've then got to be someone who I think is highly competent on the ball and linking play, and having that knowledge of the subtleties of getting on the ball from the back four.

"I personally feel, at this moment in time, that Declan needs to go and work under a different set-up, he needs to drive forward in his career, he needs to go and play at a different club.

"But for me, I wouldn't be spending £110million or £120m on Rice if I was Manchester United this summer. I would spend £50m-60m on Declan Rice, but I wouldn't spend the figures being reported because I feel in that position, I still feel like he's got a lot of growth."

Newcastle United director Amanda Staveley says the club's owners decided to invest in the Magpies over the likes of Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham because it was cheaper.

Staveley's consortium, partnered with the Public Investment Fund (PIF) of Saudi Arabia, purchased Newcastle in October 2021, paying around £300million, and she explained that one of the key reasons for doing so was so more money would be left over to invest in the club than if they had bought a more expensive alternative.

Speaking at the Financial Times Business of Football Summit, Staveley also pointed to the fans as a driving force behind deciding to buy the club.

"I think if we look specifically at Newcastle, we were very clear that prior to buying the club, we wanted a club with a very passionate fanbase," she said. "But we also wanted a club that we could buy affordably, because we're also partners with PIF and they are, effectively, a pension fund, managing money for future generations.

"So we wanted something that was very sustainable, and that we could build. We didn't go for the wonderful Tottenham and Chelsea and Liverpool and obviously, everybody knows I was a massive Liverpool fan.

"We tried to buy Liverpool, and when we walked into the Newcastle game, we said 'why spend x billion when you can actually spend 300 and some million and put in?' I think we've put in £200+ [million] to date of new money since we bought the club. We had a particular business plan based on a five, 10, 15-year timeline.

"Critical to that plan was making sure we had the right partners...PIF are very long term investors."

Staveley also explained why it is unlikely that the PIF would also look to invest in another Premier League club, despite previous links to Manchester United.

"Mehrdad [Ghodoussi, co-owner and Staveley's husband] and I are not wealthy," she said. 

"Jamie [Reuben, co-owner] obviously is an extraordinarily wealthy gentleman, we're the poor partner, but that helps govern a lot of the decisions – so there's no scenario where Saudi Arabia will decide to sell Newcastle to buy one of the mega clubs like Manchester United."

Staveley spoke about the challenges since arriving at St. James' Park, including in player recruitment where the owners are mindful about what head coach Eddie Howe wants for his team.

"If I did it all again. I think we should have probably brought in more people more quickly," she said. "Players or staff... the players we had to be just very careful and analytical on everything we did and we still do that.

"Because we have an FFP budget we keep to... that guided a lot of our transfer policy but we couldn't afford to have a dud player. And so we had to make sure that we built at the back so that we [could] start to play the football that Eddie wants to play, this fantastic pressing football that we love and exciting attacking football.

"But to do that we needed to make sure that we could really strengthen because we had, I think, the weakest defence in the whole league, and now we have one of the strongest. And that was really important.

"So we always want more players. But the problem is, especially when you're running a football club, you don't really want to lose the players that you've worked with, and Eddie's the same, and so it's really difficult. So we've got to do that."

Chelsea prospect Andrey Santos has returned to former club Vasco da Gama on loan.

The 18-year-old midfielder will move back to Brazil until the end of June.

Santos helped Vasco earn promotion to the top-flight last year before joining Chelsea in January, reportedly costing the Blues £18million.

Despite being highly rated, Santos was unable to secure a work permit for the United Kingdom, though reports suggest Chelsea are confident he will qualify for one next season.

Palmeiras had apparently been leading the race for Santos, but negotiations were said to have broken down due to a disagreement on the length of the loan.

It was claimed Chelsea wanted Santos back for next season, whereas Palmeiras wanted him until the end of their campaign, meaning he would not have been back at Stamford Bridge until December.

Santos captained Brazil to success in the South American Under-20 Championship glory last month, finishing joint-top scorer with six goals.

Premier League chief executive Richard Masters will reserve judgement on Chelsea's spending until seeing what they do in subsequent transfer windows.

After a busy first window following the May 2022 takeover by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, Chelsea went even further in January, signing eight players for an approximate total of £300million, including a Premier League record £106.8m on Enzo Fernandez from Benfica.

Speaking at the Financial Times Business of Football Summit, Masters was asked about the Blues' spending, and was not in the mood to pass judgement.

"I'm not here to defend [them]," he said. "The new owners have owned the club for less than a year, they've had two transfer windows, and you need to judge the football club after three or four years.

"They might have bought, they would argue probably... a different transfer policy to the previous regime, buying younger players and [signing them to] longer contracts at low wages. And obviously, within our rules, it's a test that is over a 12-month period.

"So the question is whether they're going to sell some of their existing players in the next window. And I don't know the answer to that question. I'm not here to defend them, but you have to judge these things over a period of time."

Masters also spoke about the UK government's recent white paper on reforming football governance, outlining a plan to introduce an independent regulator for clubs in the English football pyramid.

"It is a significant moment for English football, things are going to change," Masters said. "The review process has concluded, the white paper is finally out and we're all getting the opportunity to reflect upon it.

"I think from the Premier League's perspective, we've always accepted that there needs to be stronger regulations, more independently enforced, and the white paper offers to deliver that... we would like to protect everything that's great about English football, including the Premier League, but sit on the top and make sure that the system doesn't run too hot.

"It's dealing with football [through] sustainability, ownership, and fan interests. And who can argue with those three objectives?

"Our concerns would be clear; it's an independent regulator with a lowercase i, it reports to politicians, and can be instructed by politicians. And so we would be worried that over time, football might become the ultimate political football.

"... I think the league should continue to write its own rules and continue to govern itself, and the regulator hopefully will only step in as and when necessary, when regulation is seen not to be performing, or the clubs are financially overheating to the point where the regulator needs to step in."

Masters was also asked about recent comments from Crystal Palace manager Patrick Vieira on the lack of black coaches in the Premier League.

"There's always more that we can do... Patrick is right," Masters said. "If you look at the diversity on the pitch, and it's not just in the Premier League, it's throughout the academy system, it is incredibly diverse, but that isn't translating into opportunities for people from ethnic backgrounds, not just in coaching but in other employment pathways as well.

"We have a number of schemes in place at the moment. Player-to-coach pathways, player-to-executive pathways. We launched this last year. We have seven ex-Premier League players and WSL players who are participating in that.

"So Patrick is accurate to say there's an issue and to raise the point and to put pressure on football authorities to do more, and we'll always look at that."

Charles Leclerc is confident Ferrari can compete with Red Bull for both titles in the new Formula One season.

Ferrari failed to capitalise on their strengths last year and compete with Max Verstappen, who waltzed to a second consecutive championship title.

Early signs ahead of the 2023 season suggest Red Bull remain ahead of their rivals, with Leclerc admitting that is a perception he holds.

However, he believes Ferrari can mount a threat over the course of the season due to the developments from last year.

"From what I can see, it seems Red Bull is a bit ahead. But it's a long season, our goal is still to win the championship," he told Sky Sports.

"I am confident. We have great guys in Maranello, I think we have shown it with the big step forward from 2021 to 2022.

"There were too many mistakes in 2022, we know that, but we've been very honest with ourselves in order to get better for this season.

"The target is still [to win the title]. Even if we are starting a bit of the back foot compared to them in terms of performance, I'm sure we can come back."

Leclerc's assessment that Red Bull begin the campaign ahead of their rivals is shared by Mercedes' George Russell, who expects them to dominate the opening weekend in Bahrain.

"It probably wasn't the smoothest three days we could have hoped for at testing. But the learning we found is going to put us in better stead for this weekend," he said in Thursday's press conference.

"I think it’s definitely fair to say Red Bull are in a league of their own this weekend. But it'll probably be a nice fight for second between Ferrari and Aston Martin."

Lewis Hamilton rebuffed suggestions the 2023 season will be his final year in Formula One and is adamant he will be at Mercedes next season.

The seven-time champion is in the final year of his contract with the team, who are expected to be off the pace of rivals Red Bull in the hunt for the championship.

Speculation that Hamilton will walk away from the sport has persisted ever since a controversial conclusion to the 2021 season, when Max Verstappen pipped him to the title in Abu Dhabi.

Hamilton returned to the grid for 2022, although Mercedes struggled and lost their constructors' championship crown to Red Bull, and is set for a 17th season in F1 in 2023.

The Brit is not set for a swansong, as he hit back at claims from former F1 drivers Jenson Button and Damon Hill that he will retire following the campaign.

"It is ultimately people creating rumours without facts, and it is never helpful. You would have thought that they [Hill and Button] would both know me by now," he told reporters ahead of the opening race of the season in Bahrain.

"I have been with Mercedes since I was 13, and last year we had a difficult year, but I am still here, and whether or not we have a difficult year this year, I will still be here.

"I am a fighter, and we fight as a team. I love the challenge of finding solutions and I still believe I am able to put the car in places that perhaps others are not able to. I love that challenge.

"Of course, I wish we started the season with a great car, but it is the journey that really counts."

Negotiations over a new contract for Hamilton are continuing, with the 38-year-old confident an agreement will be reached.

"There is no hold-up with our contract. I have always been very, very relaxed and I don't feel like I have to get it done right this second. I am in a very fortunate position," he added.

"It will get done when we are ready. I have a great relationship with Toto and with Mercedes and we fully support each other.

"I am really excited about the future together and really proud of the work we are doing, on and off the track and the potential of new things that we can do moving forward.

"We will get there, unless something catastrophic happens between me and Toto [team principal Wolff] and we get in the [boxing] ring, but other than that we are good."

Barcelona have handed Joao Mendes a chance to make it big at Camp Nou, just like his father Ronaldinho ascended to superstar status at the club.

The 18-year-old Mendes signed a contract on Thursday to join Barcelona's youth academy, with the young forward hoping to make the grade.

Mendes has been taken on after a trial period, having previously played at junior levels with a number of Brazilian clubs.

Across all competitions, Ronaldinho scored 98 goals in 207 games for Barcelona during a five-year spell from 2003 to 2008.

He was recruited as close to the finished article, having already shone for Paris Saint-Germain and Brazil, and went on to take his game to even higher levels by helping Barcelona win two LaLiga titles and the Champions League.

While thousands turned out to welcome Ronaldinho in 2003, his son's signing was a low-profile affair, with the club's youth football director Joan Soler Ferre joining him to overlook the completion of the deal.

Ronaldinho, who won the 2005 Ballon d'Or, is now a Barcelona ambassador.

Youngster Mendes was released by Cruzeiro last year, but in February the Barcelona president Joan Laporta welcomed the prospect of him joining the Catalan giants.

"The pressure on the boy is great, because Ronaldinho has been one of the best in history," Laporta said then. "The son has pressure, but it's the job of our coaches to develop his skills."