Celtic have continued to incur the wrath of UEFA after being fined 29,000 euros (£25,224) for incidents involving their supporters at last month’s Champions League draw at home to Atletico Madrid.
Following a night when fans defied the club’s pleas not to bring flags or banners relating to the war in the Middle East, the Hoops were fined 17,500 euros (£15,222) for displaying “a provocative message of an offensive nature”.
Celtic were also fined 8,000 euros (£6,960) for their supporters blocking public passageways and 3,500 euros (£3,044) for the lighting of fireworks.
Atletico were also sanctioned for issues surrounding the 2-2 draw in Glasgow on 25 October.
The Spanish club were fined 3,000 euros (£2,610) for the lighting of fireworks, while they received a warning for the “improper conduct of the team”.
The punishment in the wake of the Atletico showdown represents the third time in three Champions League matches this term that Celtic have been hit with a financial penalty.
The Parkhead club were fined 23,400 euros after fans lit fireworks in the stands ahead of their group opener against Feyenoord in Rotterdam, and then, following their second match at home to Lazio, they had to pay 20,000 euros for offensive banners as well as 3,500 euros for the use of fireworks among their supporters.
The Hoops – who have been at loggerheads with fans’ group the Green Brigade recently, following a string of disputes and flashpoints – have told supporters travelling to Rome for next Tuesday’s Champions League match against Lazio that all flags, banners and drums must be pre-approved by the Italian club.
A message posted on social media by Celtic’s supporter liaison officer John Paul Taylor on Tuesday read: “We have been advised that, flags, banners & drums require to be pre-approved ahead of Tuesday’s match.
“Fans wishing to take any of these items to the stadium should send an image entitled “Lazio Banner Request” to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. no later than 5pm Thursday please.”
Mikel Arteta has been given until Friday to respond to his Football Association charge for comments he made after Arsenal’s defeat by Newcastle earlier this month.
The Gunners boss branded the VAR decision not to rule out Anthony Gordon’s goal in his side’s 1-0 defeat at St James’ Park “an absolute disgrace”.
Arteta has been charged with a breach of FA rule E3.1 and initially had until Tuesday to offer his response.
However, that deadline has now been extended until Friday at the Gunners’ request, the PA news agency understands.
VAR made a triple check to see whether the ball had gone out of play before Joe Willock’s cross, whether Joelinton had fouled Arsenal defender Gabriel and whether Gordon had been offside.
Arteta could not hide his anger after the match, saying: “You have to talk about how the hell did this goal stand up? Incredible. I feel embarrassed.
“I have to now come in here and try to defend the club and please ask for help because it’s an absolute disgrace that this goal is allowed. An absolute disgrace.”
India had a "mental issue" in their Cricket World Cup final defeat to Australia, according to their former captain Madan Lal.
Travis Head's 137 propelled Australia to a six-wicket victory in Sunday's final at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
Head's knock is the second-highest score by an opener in a men's World Cup final.
And Madan Lal, who played for India between 1974 and 1987, believes the tournament hosts had a mental slip at the most inopportune moment.
"It is a little bit of a mental issue, you can say that," he told Stats Perform.
"In a final, if you make mistakes, then you have no chance of winning. You have to make less mistakes [than the opposition] as that is the only way you are going to win.
"You can say [India are having] mental issues because in the last 10 ICC tournaments we've played in the finals [knockout rounds], but we didn't win any. That can be addressed.
“Definitely [this was their best chance] because of the way the team was playing and the way their bowling attack was performing.
"I was thinking that India would go through and win, but at the end of the day, when Australia came into the final, then I said it was a 50-50 game. It's not a game that can be easily won.
"I think it's a bit sad. India had done very well. They won all their ten matches, but in the last one, they couldn’t cross the line."
Virat Kohli starred for India in the World Cup, scoring 765 runs.
He tallied a half-century in the final, having plundered a ton in the semi-final, which took him above India legend Sachin Tendulkar in the all-time rankings for ODI centuries.
"He’s fantastic, a world champion, a superb player," Madan Lal said of Kohli.
"The good thing about him is the way he looks after himself, the way he approaches the game, his attitude.
"Plus, if you see when he's batting, we always know that if he bats for 15 minutes, he will get 100 runs.
"And another good thing about him is that he looks at the scoreboard. He plays according to the situation of the game, like Head did [in the final]."
Manchester United defender Luke Shaw has returned to training after a long stint out with a muscle injury.
The left-back sustained the problem in August, making only two appearances this season, but is back in full training ahead of Sunday’s Premier League clash with Everton.
Shaw’s absence has created a problem at left-back as Tyrell Malacia has also been injured, with United signing Tottenham defender Sergio Reguilon on loan while also using Sofyan Amrabat, Diogo Dalot and Victor Lindelof as cover.
The England international was a key part of United’s success last season and he has been missed as Erik ten Hag’s side have endured an erratic start to the campaign.
They are on the verge of Champions League elimination and have lost five of their first 12 Premier League games, sitting in sixth position.
United’s injury situation is still not great, though, ahead of the trip to Goodison Park.
Christian Eriksen and Rasmus Hojlund were added to a lengthy injury list before the international break, with goalkeeper Andre Onana picking up a problem while away with Cameroon.
With ground conditions drying out ahead of Saturday’s 1965 Chase, Dashel Drasher looks set to sidestep the Ascot feature and instead head to Newbury next weekend.
Jeremy Scott’s stable star won the Grade One Ascot Chase two years ago and is a four-time winner from six starts at the Berkshire circuit overall.
Following a satisfactory comeback run when third over hurdles at Wetherby earlier in the month, Scott was keen to send his charge back over the larger obstacles on Saturday – but unsuitable ground, coupled with the likely presence of the brilliant Shishkin, has led to the trainer having a change of heart.
He said: “We’ll have to see what the ground does, but it doesn’t look like there’s much rain around. I think running him over fences, I’d rather be running on the slow side of good and not end up on good ground. That would be our thinking at the moment.
“It’s been so wet and now there’s no rain around. My concern is we end up with a month or six weeks of dry weather, which we’re kind of due, and it will mess all our plans up – but there we are, we can’t do anything about the weather, can we?”
Considering alternative plans, Scott added: “We have Newbury next weekend, where we could run in the hurdle (Long Distance Hurdle). The other thing is it’s actually only three weeks since he ran, so it wouldn’t hurt if we waited another week anyway.
“I was desperately keen to run over fences, but the ground has got to be right, and it’s not helped by Shishkin running either.
“All of these things come into it, but I was keen to run over fences because I think he’s got more to give over fences. The trouble is, after this race on Saturday, you’ve got nothing else other than handicaps until after Christmas.”
Rob Page says he is “absolutely” the right man to lead Wales in the Euro 2024 play-offs despite his position being under review.
Page has already started planning for the March play-offs and will attend Thursday’s draw in Switzerland when Wales will learn the identity of their semi-final opponents.
Football Association of Wales chief executive Noel Mooney cast doubts over Page’s future last month by saying a “serious review” would take place after the final qualifiers “when everything will be settled”.
Asked after Tuesday’s 1-1 draw with Turkey whether he was confident of being the manager to lead Wales towards the Euros, Page gave an emphatic one-word response: “Absolutely.”
On the next few months, he added: “It’s about planning now. I’m off to the draw and we’ll have a staff meeting next week.
“I’ll get the coaches together, probably the week after. We’ll have a review of the camp, if I can say that.
“The planning starts and then I’ll be out watching players.”
Page signed a four-year contract in September 2022 which runs until the 2026 World Cup.
Wales eventually finished third in their Euro 2024 qualifying group after a roller-coaster campaign that saw them take four points from World Cup semi-finalists Croatia but only one off Armenia, ranked 95 in the world.
Turkey and Croatia claimed the two automatic qualifying places as Wales were once more left to contest the play-offs after successfully navigating them to reach the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Wales, who are unbeaten in six games, will welcome either Finland, Iceland or Ukraine to the Cardiff City Stadium on March 21 next year.
The winners of that tie will meet Poland or Estonia, with a draw held to determine who has home advantage in the final.
Page has constantly made the point during this campaign that Wales are in transition following the retirement of talismanic captain Gareth Bale and the loss of other key players such as Joe Allen.
It is unlikely the FAW hierarchy will change manager only four months before the play-offs, but failing to qualify for Euro 2024 would hit Welsh football hard financially.
Mooney said in October: “We’ll have a serious review after the Armenia and Turkey games when everything will be settled.
“We’ll know if we’ve achieved what we’ve set out to do, which is to qualify automatically.
“In a high-team performance environment with teams that have gone to World Cups and Euros over the last few years, we have to keep going forwards.
“The FAW is not like one of these football clubs which keep changing the manager all the time, knee-jerk stuff. That’s not us.
“But I caveat that by saying we have to keep winning football matches, we can’t keep losing matches. That’s very important. We’ve reached the top table in world football, we can’t go backwards.”
Page took over in an interim capacity from Ryan Giggs exactly three years ago and led Wales at the delayed 2020 European Championship, guiding them in to the round of 16.
He won promotion to the top tier of the Nations League and was appointed on a permanent basis in June 2022 after Wales had qualified for their first World Cup for 64 years.
Kelly Oubre Jr will soon be back in contention for the Philadelphia 76ers, Nick Nurse has said.
Oubre was struck by a car earlier in November, suffering a fractured rib.
However, he returned to practice earlier this week, and before the Sixers' loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday, Nurse said there is a chance Oubre might return as early as next week.
"Yeah, there might be a chance," Nurse said.
"I think we're still at a stage where we're not sure how he's going to handle the contact part of it.
"He was in good spirits on Monday. He was pretty energetic.
"I think that's going to determine it. Like if he handles that, kind of first time out OK, I think we're close to that week timeline. If he doesn't, then we're going to be pushing some more days on that. Hopefully days, and not weeks on that."
Joel Embiid scored 32 points and Tyrese Maxey chipped in with 30 for the Sixers in the loss to Cleveland, with Philadelphia having lost three of their last five games.
"We raised our level of play in the second half and gave ourselves a chance," said Nurse. "It just didn't work out."
Qualification for Euro 2024 ended this week, but there are still three places available for next summer’s tournament.
Twelve teams, including Wales, will enter the play-offs with a chance of earning a late ticket to Germany.
Here, the PA news agency takes a look at how the play-off system will work.
Who are in the play-offs?
Georgia, Greece, Kazakhstan, Luxembourg, Israel, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Finland, Ukraine, Iceland, Poland, Wales and Estonia.
How do they work?
Gone are the days when countries need to prevail in one two-legged tie to book their place at a tournament, with a more convoluted process now in place.
The 12 teams have earned another shot at Euro 2024 based on their performance in the Nations League and they have been split into three pathways, though that is still to be fully decided.
Georgia, Greece, Kazakhstan, Luxembourg are definitely in Path C, with Israel, Bosnia and Herzegovina and two of Finland, Ukraine or Iceland in Path B.
Path A consists of Poland, Wales, Estonia and one of Finland, Ukraine or Iceland.
There are two one-legged semi-finals in each pathway, with home advantage determined by Nations League standings. The winners advance to a one-off final, where home advantage will be decided by draw.
What are the fixtures and when will they be played?
The matches will all take place in the next international window. The six semi-finals will be played on March 21, 2024, with the three finals five days later.
In Path C, Georgia will host Luxembourg and Greece take on Kazakhstan.
Path B is more complicated with Israel playing either Ukraine or Iceland, with Bosnia and Herzegovina facing Finland or Ukraine, depending on which pathway Ukraine, Finland and Iceland are drawn in.
Path A has Poland at home to Estonia and Wales hosting either Finland, Ukraine or Iceland.
Which nations have already qualified for the finals?
Albania, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Scotland, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland and Turkey.
Anthony Honeyball could target a familiar race for the yard as he plots the next move for Badger Beer Chase winner Blackjack Magic.
The eight-year-old made his seasonal debut in the Wincanton contest, returning to action after winning twice from four runs last term.
Under Rex Dingle he was a 5-1 chance and ran a fluent race, gaining ground at every obstacle and pulling away to defeat Paul Nicholls’ Threeunderthrufive by three lengths.
Either Cheltenham or Ascot could be the scene of his next run, with Honeyball particularly keen on the Howden Silver Cup – a race twice won by his now-retired stable stalwart Regal Encore.
He said: “There are a few options running up to Christmas, we want to give him plenty of time after that run, so we’re looking at December 16 at Cheltenham.
“There’s a three-mile-two (furlong) £100,000 handicap chase, I think it’s a new race actually.
“Probably the race I favour the most is the race Regal Encore won for us twice, which is on December 23 at Ascot and is another £100,000 chase.
“I’m not sure how important it is for him to go right-handed but it is right-handed, Ascot takes a lot of jumping and his jumping seemed to be what was really winning him the race at Wincanton.
“He travelled well and jumped well and I think you’d have to do that around Ascot, especially when they start down at the three-mile start.
“It’s a race we’ve watched plenty of times with Regal Encore and we think it might suit him.
“It deserves a big field but from our point of view we hope it’ll cut up a bit and we can go there, we might have a look at Cheltenham along the way but the temptation would be to wait for Ascot on the 23rd.”
Honeyball will have to be a little more patient when it comes to the next outing for runaway bumper winner Crest Of Glory, who has sustained an injury that will see him miss the season.
The four-year-old made a highly impressive start to his life as a racehorse when winning the Goffs UK Spring Sale Bumper by 15 lengths at Newbury in March.
A tendon strain halted his progress as he was being prepared to make a seasonal debut, but the gelding is sound and will be given ample time to recover.
“He won’t be back until next season. He was all schooled up and we were making a decision as to whether to go for a Cheltenham Listed bumper or the maiden hurdle route, we were at a little bit of a crossroads with him and then he got a tendon strain,” Honeyball said.
“He’s fine now, he’s a sound as a pound, he must be wondering why the hell he isn’t galloping but he’s still got a little bit of shape to his tendon.
“We’re doing everything we can to treat it and I’d say he’d be back cantering this time next year, he’ll be running in a maiden hurdle in December or January.
“We hope that he develops into an Albert Bartlett horse for the Festival, I don’t think that’s crazy talk. He annihilated them and he didn’t really come out of third gear.
“He’s a galloper and very much an Albert Bartlett-type horse, but this season he wouldn’t have been strong enough to do that. I’m not going to call it a blessing in disguise – it’s still very disappointing – but this season he was always going to be a boy and next season he will really be a man.
“We need to get it right, take it on the chin and give him all the time he needs.”
Darvin Ham celebrated a "great step in the right direction" for the Los Angeles Lakers as they secured their place in the quarterfinals of the NBA's in-season tournament.
Anthony Davis had a double-double of 26 points and 16 rebounds, while LeBron James contributed 17 points to tick over 39,000 for his career, in Tuesday's 131-99 win over the Utah Jazz.
That victory moved the Lakers to 4-0 for the in-season tournament, as they sealed their progression from the group having defeated the Jazz, the Phoenix Suns, the Memphis Grizzlies and the Portland Trail Blazers.
The Lakers are now guaranteed a home quarterfinal on either December 4 or 5.
"A great, great step in the right direction in us not only securing anything for the in-season tournament but just us coming together and constantly trying to get better at being together and playing the right way," said coach Ham.
There is plenty on the line in the latter stages of the tournament. Each player who makes it to the semi-final stage is guaranteed $100,000. The players on the team that finishes runner-up will get $200,000 each, while the winning team will be entitled to $500,000 per player.
"It's not a run-of-the-mill regular-season game," Ham added.
"They're well aware. That purse is pretty attractive. Guys like money. Not like it, they love it. That incentive right there, it's huge."
For Davis, a home tie is the biggest bonus first and foremost.
"Being home and able to sleep in our beds, not having to travel, that's always good when you play well at home," he said.
"Kind of a rocky start on the road so this helps us out, having our fans behind us. But it feels good. One step closer to winning the cup."
The Indiana Pacers also booked their place in the last eight, with Tyrese Haliburton scoring 37 points and providing 16 assists in a 157-152 win over the Atlanta Hawks.
"It is exciting," Haliburton said of advancing to the quarterfinals. "We are the first team to clinch, and we are ready to go.
"We have a few more games before the quarterfinals, so we want to take care of what is in front of us first, but we want to win the championship, of course. It would be awesome."
Ronnie O’Sullivan has warned he will quit snooker if he is restricted from playing in China.
Exhibition events in the Far East are becoming increasingly lucrative, but often clash with World Snooker Tour events. O’Sullivan and other UK-based players are contracted to play in WST tournaments and could face sanctions if they miss events to play overseas.
The seven-time world champion says the sport is at a “crossroads”.
O’Sullivan said in an interview with the BBC to promote his new documentary: “If I can’t go and do what I need to do, which is play a lot in China, I won’t ever play again. So, we’re at a kind of crossroads now.
“If that gets to the point where I’m not able to do that, I’m not allowed to do that, I probably won’t play. I’ll probably go and play Chinese 8-Ball because I still want to play snooker, I still want a cue in my hand.
“There’s just not enough here in the UK for me to justify the effort that I put in.
“If someone’s going to respect me and value me more, why would I not go there? It’s like being in an unhealthy relationship with someone, why would you be in that?
“I’d love to be able to just keep playing snooker for the next five, six, seven, eight years, but if I’m going to be forced into a situation where that’s not possible, then I’m not going to just accept whatever 132 players do, which is to go and play tournament after tournament, week in, week out.”
O’Sullivan has famously derided the standard on the WST in the past, suggesting he would need to lose a limb to drop down the rankings.
He still adopts that stance, claiming he is “revolted” by mediocrity.
“I don’t think it’s very hard to be a top-16 snooker player. I could probably get away with playing once a week for two or three hours a day,” O’Sullivan, 47, added.
“I find it hard to put myself in their shoes because I was in their shoes and I didn’t accept top 50 as OK.
“I’m not a great lover for mediocrity… I find it quite revolting in some ways, when I see people accepting that. That’s why I don’t hang around snooker people at venues because I just don’t like seeing it.
“I don’t think there’s enough good matches. I think there’s a lot of players that people don’t know, that don’t play the game in the right way.”
World champions Argentina’s 1-0 win over Brazil was marred by crowd trouble at the Maracana Stadium.
Kick-off was delayed by half an hour in Rio de Janeiro after rival fans and police clashed, with both sets of players trying to calm the situation down before eventually returning to the dressing room before the game could commence.
Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez was filmed trying to climb the hoarding to stop a police officer wielding a baton before being pulled away by team-mates.
Once the order was restored, Nicolas Otamendi’s second-half header gave Argentina an historic World Cup qualifying victory, with Joelinton sent off for the hosts.
Lionel Messi said on Argentina’s X feed: “This group continues to achieve historic things. Although today was not the most important, it is something very nice.
“We needed this victory after the defeat against Uruguay.
“We knew it was going to be a tough game, similar to the one in the Copa America final. They pressed a lot, they went to look for us high up and it was difficult for us to have long possessions. These games are defined by details.”
It was Brazil’s first-ever home defeat in a World Cup qualifier and their third in a row after previous losses to Uruguay and Colombia, with their path to the 2026 World Cup looking decidedly shaky.
The hosts were the better side in the first half and could have taken the lead just before the break but Arsenal forward Gabriel Martinelli saw his shot cleared off the line by north London nemesis Cristian Romero.
Martinelli missed another key chance after the break, with Martinez denying him from close range.
The defending champions took a 63rd-minute lead when former Manchester City defender Otamendi headed home Giovani Lo Celso’s corner with their only effort on target of the night.
Newcastle’s Joelinton saw red in the last 10 minutes when he struck out at Rodrigo De Paul to compound a miserable night for the hosts, with the inquest to their poor form and the ugly scenes in the stadium set to rumble on.
What the papers say
The Daily Mail says Tottenham midfielder Giovani Lo Celso has emerged as a loan option for Barcelona to fill their Gavi-shaped gap. The Spanish side are reportedly unlikely to look for a permanent replacement after they received £6million in compensation from FIFA following the Spain international’s knee injury.
According to the Mirror, Portuguese midfielder Fabio Vieira could get the green light from Arsenal to join Marseille on loan.
Chelsea are keen to part with Romelu Lukaku in the summer transfer window, with Italian side Roma eager to make the 30-year-old’s loan move permanent, the Evening Standard reports.
Social media round-upPlayers to watch
Gleison Bremer: The Juventus and Brazil centre-back is reportedly keen to move to the Premier League, as per the Telegraph.
Dusan Vlahovic: The 23-year-old Serbian striker is looking to sign a contract extension at Juve, 90min reports, even though there is rumoured interest from Arsenal and Manchester United.
The Indiana Pacers got 37 points and nine 3-pointers from Tyrese Haliburton and set a franchise scoring record in a 157-152 win over the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday to clinch a quarterfinal berth in the In-Season Tournament.
Buddy Hield hit consecutive 3-pointers down the stretch, including one with 53 seconds left to put the Pacers up 155-152.
Haliburton handed out 16 assists, Hield finished with 24 points and Obi Toppin added 21 off the bench for Indiana, which trailed by 20 in the third quarter.
The Pacers are 3-0 in East Group A with one game left in group play, while the Hawks dropped to 1-2.
Trae Young had 38 points and eight assists for Atlanta, while Dejounte Murray added 28 points and Bogdan Bogdanovic had 26 on 10-of-15 shooting.
The Hawks held an 86-73 lead at the break and set a franchise record for points in the first half.
Allen sparks Cavaliers past 76ers in overtime
Jarrett Allen scored six of his 26 points in overtime and Darius Garland had 32 points to lead the short-handed Cleveland Cavaliers to a 122-119 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday in the In-Season Tournament.
Cleveland played without Donovan Mitchell, Caris LeVert and Isaac Okoro due to injury but had six players score in double figures to remain alive for the wild-card berth in the Eastern Conference.
Joel Embiid scored 32 points and Tyrese Maxey added 30 for the 76ers, who were eliminated from tournament contention with their third straight home defeat.
Allen’s hook shot with 18 seconds left in overtime gave the Cavs the lead for good before Embiid and Maxey missed layups at the other end.
Durant moves up scoring list in Suns’ win
Kevin Durant had 31 points to pass Elvin Hayes for 11th on the all-time scoring list and the Phoenix Suns handled the reeling Portland Trail Blazers 120-107 on Tuesday in an In-Season Tournament game.
Durant, playing in his 1,000th NBA game, passed Hayes in the first quarter by shooting 6 for 6.
Devin Booker added 28 points and Jusuf Nurkic had 18 and 12 rebounds to help Phoenix wins its fourth straight.
Deandre Ayton was booed heavily by the Phoenix crowd in his first game against the Suns after he was traded to Portland in a three-team deal that saw Damian Lillard go to Milwaukee.
Ayton finished with 18 points and eight rebounds as the Blazers lost their eighth in a row.
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