Warren Gatland felt Maro Itoje’s outstanding display in the British and Irish Lions’ victory over South Africa last weekend was the best he has seen from the back-row.

Itoje was named man of the match after playing a huge part in the Lions overturning a half-time deficit to win the first Test at Cape Town Stadium 22-17.

The 26-year-old England lock was dominant at the breakdown against the world champions and came up with a game-high three turnovers.

"To me that’s probably the best game I’ve seen him play in any sort of jersey," said Gatland.

"He has been guilty in the past of giving away penalties and probably pushing the limits but I thought we saw an incredibly mature performance last weekend."

Gatland was impressed with Itoje's discipline in an attritional battle.

"I thought it was an excellent performance; I made a joke on Monday that it was the first time in about 360-odd games that Maro Itoje hadn't given away a penalty," Gatland added.

"I thought his decision making around the game in terms of when he went for things, when he decided to leave things alone, I kind of felt in the past he's chased lost causes and gone after things he didn't need to do and probably wasted a lot of energy.

"But I thought on Saturday his decision making about when to go after something, counter-ruck at the breakdown and the line-out stuff, was actually outstanding."

The Lions have made three changes for the second Test on Saturday, bringing in scrum-half Conor Murray, Mako Vunipola and debutant Chris Harris.

Celtic suffered another Champions League nightmare as Midtjylland came from behind to reach the third qualifying round with a 2-1 victory after extra time.

A magnificent Callum McGregor goal put the Hoops in front on aggregate early in the second half of a second leg that started with the two sides level at 1-1 at the MCH Arena.

Awer Mabil equalised with a header and Raphael Onyedika settled the tie early in extra time as the Danish Superliga side set up a two-legged meeting with PSV.

Celtic crashed out at the same stage as they did last season at the hands of Ferencvaros and will now face a Europa League qualifier against Czech side Jablonec in a miserable start to Ange Postecoglou's reign.

David Turnbull forced an early save from Midtjylland goalkeeper Jonas but it was not until the second half that the game burst into life.

McGregor opened the scoring in spectacular fashion just three minutes after the break, controlling the ball on his chest after it was headed into his path from a corner and unleashing a sublime left-foot volley that flashed into the far corner of the net from outside the penalty area.

Midtjylland responded well to going behind and Onyedika called Scott Bain into action with a shot from a tight angle before Mabil nipped in to nod home Pione Sisto's pinpoint cross just after the hour mark.

Victor Stange Lind wasted a great chance to snatch victory at the end of normal time when he fired a volley wide, but Onyedika deservedly fired home the winner with his left foot when Celtic failed to deal with a free-kick four minutes into extra time.

Kylian Mbappe dealt a blow to major clubs across Europe by revealing his greatest ambition is to win the Champions League with Paris-Saint Germain.

Mbappe's contract with PSG expires in 2022 and there has been no shortage of speculation over his future.

Mauricio Pochettino's side finished as Ligue 1 runners-up to Lille and departed at the Champions League semi-final stage in a disappointing 2020-21 season.

Mbappe scored 42 goals in 47 appearances in all competitions for the Paris giants last season  – only Robert Lewandowski (48) scored more across Europe's top-five leagues.

Despite PSG's underwhelming season, the former Monaco star expressed his desire to stay in the French capital in a joint-interview with Neymar for PSG Magazine.

Marca published the interview on Wednesday, with Neymar initially stating: "My biggest dream with PSG is to win the Champions League and with Brazil to win the World Cup".

When the Brazi forward flipped the question on his team-mate, Mbappe answered that his "biggest dream is to win the Champions League with PSG, that would be fantastic."

The interview took place in May, but is only being released on Friday as a commemorative 10-year edition of PSG Magazine, so Mbappe's preferences may well have changed.

Since then, Mbappe has endured a lean spell at Euro 2020 in which he failed to score in France's four matches and decisively missed from the penalty spot in their last-16 shoot-out exit to Switzerland.

While he converted just over one of every four shots in Ligue 1, Mbappe failed to find the net at the European Championship as he spurned 14 attempts.

France's exit represented the first time since 2010 that Les Bleus had not made it past the quarter-final stages of a major tournament but Mbappe is hopeful for more success in Qatar in 2022.

"Winning another World Cup would be very good too," he added, jokingly responding to Neymar's assertion that "the next World Cup is for me".

Mbappe is back in training for PSG as Pochettino's men prepare for the French Super Cup final against Lille on Sunday.

Japan remained top of the medal table at the Tokyo Olympics as they collected another three golds on day five.

Daiki Hashimoto, 19, was the standout performer as he secured a last-minute win in the men's all-around gymnastic final, with China's Ruoteng Xiao and the Russian Olympic Committee's pre-event favourite Nikita Nagornyy settling for silver and bronze.

That win took the host nation to 13 golds, with Chizuru Arai in the women's 70kg judo – their eighth medal in the sport at the Games so far – and Yui Ohashi in the women's 200m individual medley the other victors.

China pulled one clear of the United States as they also collected three golds on Wednesday. Shi Zhiyong broke his own world record to win the men's weightlifting 73kg event, while Wang Zongyuan and Xie Siyi brought China's third diving gold at the Games with victory in the men's synchronised 3m springboard final.

The USA had to settle for silver in China's diving win, though they did pick up gold in the debut 3-on-3 women's basketball event by defeating the Russian Olympic Committee.

Katie Ledecky and Erica Sullivan captured an American one-two in the women's 1500m freestyle meaning only Michael Phelps (13) has more individual Olympic success than Ledecky.

The Russian Olympic Committee remain fourth despite not winning gold on a frustrating day that saw them finish runners-up in both 3x3 basketball events and the men's 4x200m freestyle relay.

Australia enjoyed a memorable day in rowing as they battled to back-to-back golds in both the male and female coxless four, with Ariane Titmus setting a Games record in the women's 200m freestyle to move the Australians up to six golds.

Due to Australia's success on the water, Great Britain's dominant five-gold run in the men's coxless four that stretched back to Sydney 2000 came to an end, though they did collect a first silver medal in men's quad sculls.

Tom Dean, who won gold on Tuesday, was part of the men's 4x200m freestyle team that picked up Team GB's only gold of the day as they moved down to sixth place.

Aaron Rodgers considered retirement during his stand-off with the Green Bay Packers but said the "fire still burns" to play in the NFL.

Rodgers reported to training camp on Tuesday and was on the field for practice on Wednesday having brought his self-imposed exile to a close.

A report before the start of the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft in April revealed Rodgers had informed some within the Packers organisation of his desire not to return to the team.

However, the two sides found common ground and came to an agreement to ensure Rodgers will play for the Packers in 2021.

Speaking at a media conference, Rodgers revealed the saga stretched back to conversations he had with the franchise in February following the Packers' second successive NFC Championship Game loss in which he stated his desire to be involved in conversations about playing personnel.

There had been talk of Rodgers calling time on his NFL career and the reigning league MVP revealed that thought had crossed his mind.

Rodgers said: "It's [retirement] definitely something I thought about. I talked about how important being a full-timer was for a long time, this was the first time to spend the offseason away without a Covid year or a lockout year, and I enjoyed it, I really did.

"I took time working on myself and trying to better myself in a number of areas where I feel like I can improve based on my own patterns and conditioning and it was a lot of growth in that process by continuing to find joy and happiness in things off the field.

"However, there's still a big competitive hole in my body that I need to fill and, as I got back into my workouts, I just realised that I know I can still play and I want to still play and as long as I feel like I can give 100 per cent to the team then I should still play.

"I was really working on myself and my own mental state throughout the summer and at various points deciding if I wanted to even keep playing but the fire still burns and I wanted to be on a football team and we got some things figured out in the last few days and I'm here."

One move the Packers have made to seemingly satiate Rodgers is to bring back receiver Randall Cobb in a trade with the Houston Texans. Rodgers spoke of his excitement at the return of Cobb, who racked up 5,524 receiving yards and 41 touchdowns in eight seasons with Green Bay between 2011 and 2018.

And on a reported "list of concessions" made by Green Bay is the Packers' agreement "to review Rodgers' situation at the end of this season".

ESPN's Adam Schefter reported "the biggest concession" was "the freedom to decide where he wants to play in 2022".

But Rodgers said it is not his understanding he can choose where he wants to play next offseason and refused to make any declarative statements about being with the Packers past 2021.

He added: "I'm just going to focus on this year, there's a lot of moving pieces besides myself, expiring contracts for a number of guys, there's going to be a lot of tough decisions at the end of the year.

"I'm just going to enjoy this year and then revisit that conversation at the end of the season."

On the possibility of finishing his Hall of Fame career with the Packers, Rodgers said: "I'm definitely not closing the door on anything. I'm always optimistic in the ability to change. I'd never want anyone to give up on me."

Lamar Jackson has tested positive for coronavirus, disrupting the Baltimore Ravens' preparations for the new NFL season.

Ravens coach John Harbaugh revealed on Wednesday his quarterback was missing the team's first practice of training camp.

Former NFL MVP Jackson reported to camp last Thursday but only returned a positive result on Tuesday, with running back Gus Edwards also confirmed as a case.

Harbaugh, who would not reveal how long the pair would be sidelined for, said: "It's just part of the deal. It's just the way the world is right now.

"It's no different than if somebody gets an injury – you tweak an ankle and you're out for some number of days. It's just part of football.

"To me, whenever you have a problem or whenever something comes up like that, you embrace it and you almost kind of rejoice in it because it's an opportunity to improve somewhere else."

Trace McSorley and Tyler Huntley took the majority of snaps in Wednesday's practice, with Robert Griffin III waived by Baltimore in January.

Griffin started for the Ravens on both occasions Jackson was missing over the past two seasons, including when he previously tested positive for COVID-19 ahead of the Week 12 trip to the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2020.

In a 19-14 defeat, Griffin completed seven of 12 passes for 33 yards and an interception.

McSorley came off the bench to supply their sole touchdown pass, connecting with Marquise Brown for a 70-yard score from one of only two successful throws.

Across the other 15 games, Jackson regressed from his MVP year, his passer rating falling from 113.3 to 99.3 as 36 touchdowns and six interceptions became 26 TDs and nine picks.

He still passed 1,000 rushing yards, however, and scored seven times with the ball in his hands.

India went down by four wickets to Sri Lanka in Colombo on Wednesday, levelling their Twenty20 International series after losing a number of big names to a coronavirus outbreak.

The tourists will have to bounce back quickly ahead of Thursday's decider having come up just short of a victory that would have secured a fourth successive bilateral series success against Sri Lanka in this format.

Krunal Pandya's positive COVID-19 test prompted the postponement of this match on Tuesday and ruled out eight players as close contacts.

That meant there were four debutants in the India XI, with Ruturaj Gaikwad opening in a depleted batting line-up and Devdutt Padikkal coming in at number three, and Sri Lanka capitalised.

India made a promising start, but were restricted to 132-5 after being asked to bat first, captain Shikhar Dhawan top scoring with 40.

Although Minod Bhanuka (36) departed quickly after he was dropped by Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Sri Lanka remained within reach heading into the closing stages of their chase.

A brief late rain delay dragged out the drama and Sri Lanka – led by Dhananjaya de Silva (40 not out) – then immediately profited from a 12-run 19th over that brought them within eight, a target achieved with two balls to spare.

HERO TO ZERO

This should have been a night to remember for Bhuvneshwar, whose unbeaten career-high 13 in India's innings – batting up the order at six – was followed by his 50th wicket in the format. He is the fourth Indian bowler to this mark.

But, as well as that awful drop, he was the man running in for the 19th over, with Sri Lanka in complete control after Chamika Karunaratne hit a full toss for six.

TOUGH GROUNDING

For a time, it had appeared as though Bhuvneshwar was setting an example for Chetan Sakariya, the debutant seamer who struggled from the outset. Ultimately, they both contributed to India's defeat.

Starting alongside Bhuvneshwar in the attack, there were nine runs off Sakariya's first over and 10 off the second. A first wicket came in the third as Ramesh Mendis paid for his aggressive approach, but that over still brought eight and the miserable fourth saw Sri Lanka seal victory. Sakariya went for 34 off 3.4 overs.

Trey Lance has signed his rookie contract with the San Francisco 49ers, leaving New York Jets quarterback Zach Wilson as the last unsigned first-round pick.

The agency representing Lance, CAA, confirmed on Wednesday that Lance had signed his deal prior to the first training camp practice for the Niners.

His contract is a four-year, $34.1million deal with a fifth-year option that is included for all first-round picks.

San Francisco traded three first-round picks to move up to the third pick in the 2021 NFL Draft and select Lance as their quarterback of the future.

However, head coach Kyle Shanahan said on Tuesday that Lance enters camp as the number two quarterback, declaring there is no competition, at present, between him and starter Jimmy Garoppolo.

"There's no open competition right now," Shanahan said. "Jimmy is coming in as the one and Trey is coming in as the two."

While the 49ers can focus on developing Lance, the Jets began camp without second overall pick Wilson, who arguably needs the practice time more as he approaches his rookie season as the unquestioned starter.

The sticking point between the two sides is offset language. A common stumbling block when signing high draft picks, the Jets and most of the NFL include offsets in their contracts, providing financial protection should a player be released before the end of the contract.

An offset effectively ensures a player cannot collect two salaries from his old team and his new team if released.

New Jets head coach Robert Saleh, who was hired following a successful spell as the 49ers' defensive coordinator, did not sound overly concerned when asked about the stand-off on Tuesday.

"This is business, [general manager] Joe's [Douglas] got a great handle on everything and when it gets done it gets done," said Saleh.

"From a rookie standpoint you need as many reps as you can, it's something he'll have to navigate through and I've got a lot of faith in Zach, too. He's incredibly intelligent, he's got tremendous drive, so when he does get here I know that somehow, some way he'll make up for it."

The men's Olympic golf event starts in Tokyo on Thursday and Caeleb Dressel goes for more glory in the pool.

A new golf champion will be crowned this weekend at the Kasumigaseki Country Club with Justin Rose, who won in Rio when the sport returned to the schedule for the first time since 1904, not selected for Team GB.

Dressel has already won a relay gold in these Games and the American could be back on the top step of the podium again after the 100 metre freestyle final, while there will be no Simone Biles in the women's individual all-around competition.

Stats Perform picks out some of the events to look out for, including the start of the women's rugby sevens competition.

MORIKAWA FAVOURITE FOR GOLF TITLE

Collin Morikawa won The Open at Royal St. George's in Sandwich this month and is favourite to add a gold medal to go with his claret jug.

Morikawa's fellow American Justin Thomas is also in with a great chance of taking the title, while Rory McIlroy is in the medal hunt and Hideki Matsuyama goes for gold on home soil.

Asked what it would mean to him to win a medal, McIlroy said: "I don't know what it would mean. I never dreamed of that.

"I dreamed of claret jugs and green jackets. I never dreamed of winning the Olympics, so I don't know what it would mean until you actually got one.

"It's a hard one to put into words. If it wasn't an option for you growing up and dreaming about it ... maybe I could articulate it a little better if I was in possession of one."

DRESSEL POISED FOR ANOTHER GOLD

Dressel threw his gold medal to team-mate Brooks Curry in the crowd after winning the 4x100m freestyle title this week.

Curry had taken Dressel's place in the team for the qualifying heats before sitting out the final and was rewarded for the part he played by a team-mate who won three golds in Rio five years ago.

Dressel will be keeping his medal around his neck if he retains the 100m title he claimed in Brazil.

The men's 800m freestyle, women's 200m butterfly, men's 200m breaststroke and women's 4x200m freestyle relay finals will also be staged on Thursday.

LEE AND ANDRADE EYE INDIVIDUAL GLORY

There will be a new individual all-around gymnastics champion after defending champion Biles withdrew.

American icon Biles opted out of the event to focus on her mental health after completing only one apparatus in the team competition at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre, having registered the lowest score of the first rotation.

Biles opened up on her struggles after Team USA took silver and it was no surprise when she decided not to go for individual gold again.

Sunisa Lee, Biles' team-mate, and Rebeca Andrade of Brazil are among the standout contenders to win gold in the absence of the 24-year-old star.

AUSTRALIA START SEVENS DEFENCE AGAINST HOSTS

It is the turn of the women to serve up rugby sevens entertainment after Fiji retained their men's title on Wednesday.

Defending champions Australia take on hosts Japan in their first Pool C match at Tokyo Stadium.

New Zealand, silver medallists in Rio, get under way against Kenya in Pool A on the first of three days of competition.

Chelsea have signed Marcus Bettinelli on a two-year deal after his contract with neighbours Fulham expired.

The goalkeeper made 120 appearances over a decade at Craven Cottage but will now provide back-up to Edouard Mendy and Kepa Arrizabalaga.

Bettinelli, 29, will replace Willy Caballero, who left Chelsea as a free agent after just two appearances in all competitions last season.

The new man has limited top-flight experience, having made his Premier League debut for Fulham against Burnley in August 2018. That game started a run of seven league starts under Slavisa Jokanovic.

Bettinelli's form over that stretch earned a call-up to Gareth Southgate's England squad, though he did not make an appearance for the Three Lions.

On moving to Stamford Bridge, Bettinelli said: "It's always been a special club. I know the area very well so it's been a dream of mine to come over to this side and it's finally happened.

"There were some talks a few years ago when I was a bit younger and for whatever reason that didn't come about but I'm here now.

"I'm really excited to be involved and looking forward to trying to impress and help the team as much as I can."

Fiji continued their Olympic men's rugby sevens dominance with a 27-12 win over New Zealand to retain the title they won at Rio 2016.

Their shorter-form rugby success represents their second gold in Games history, with Fiji's sevens team yet to lose at the Olympics after extending their unbeaten run to 12 games.

In April, COVID-19 forced the Fiji squad into isolation in the capital Suva before travelling to Australia in June for a pre-Games warm-up tournament.

Head coach Gareth Baber revealed some players, who had never been on a plane before nor played at an elite level, had not seen their families in "nearly 20 weeks".

"We locked them down for five months, basically," Baber said. "They came into a training camp on Easter Monday thinking they were going back on the Friday, and on the Tuesday they were told they couldn't go back and haven’t seen their families since. That takes a special kind of person to make that commitment.

"We were effectively locked up in a Christian hostel. We built a gym, basically in the garage of the hostel, and we were there for about 12 weeks.

"In fact, when the players go back and do their quarantine, it will have been about 20 weeks since they were last with their families."

Gold medal winner Asaeli Tuivuaka, whose try sealed the all-important final win, also spoke of the sacrifices involved for the sevens success.

"This gold medal is special to me. Back at home, their sacrifice and prayer motivated me through everything," Tuivuaka said. "I did not see them, only spoke to them on the phone, and that’s why it is meaningful to me.

"I have not seen my family for months. They are praying for me, they give me a lot of encouragement to keep on moving forward so that I can be here today.

Runners-up New Zealand claimed their first medal in a men's rugby event at the Games, though Great Britain lost out to Argentina, who claimed their first medal of the Olympics, for bronze.

ZHIYONG BREAKS OWN WORLD RECORD

China's Shi Zhiyong broke his own world record to secure gold in the men's 73kg weightlifting event.

The three-time world champion becomes the second weightlifter, after Waldemar Baszanowski in 1964 and 1968, to win back-to-back titles at the Games in the lightweight category, given his previous gold in the 69kg at Rio 2016.

"I prepared five years for Olympics so I really want to perform at the best," Zhiyong explained in Mandarin. "So if I didn't make to break my own record, just a gold medal, I would feel regret.

"I want myself to break the record in the Olympics... Even though I didn't make the 192kg [on my first attempt], I am still confident that I'm pretty sure I’m going to break my record so I did the 198."

A 166kg lift in the snatch achieved an Olympic record before a 198kg clean and jerk took his total to 364kg – one kilo more than his previous world record.

HASHIMOTO CONTINUES JAPAN'S GYMNASTIC DOMINANCE

Daiki Hashimoto captured a third straight men's gymnastics all-around title for Japan as he followed up Kohei Uchimura's back-to-back victories at London 2012 and Rio 2016.

Across all six events, the 19-year-old totalled 88.465 to win gold by a whisker, with China's Ruoteng Xiao and Russia's pre-event favourite Nikita Nagornyy, the reigning world and European champions, winning silver and bronze respectively.

Hashimoto, who could only manage third behind Nagornyy's Russians in the team event on Monday, was in third again before a near-flawless routine gained 14.993 points to put him top.

Japan also claimed more gold in judo as Chizuru Arai defeated Austria's Michaela Polleres to bring the host nation its eighth judo medal of the Games so far.

LATVIA AND USA CLAIM FIRST EVER 3X3 BASKETBALL TITLES

The United States dictated proceedings throughout the five-day women's tournament, winning nine games and losing only one as they etched their names in basketball history with the first ever 3x3 Olympic basketball triumph.

Stefanie Dolson, Allisha Gray, Kelsey Plum and Jackie Young did the hard yards early before securing an 18-5 victory over the Russian Olympic Committee in the debut of 3-on-3 basketball at the Games.

In the men's edition, Latvia were the first winners as Karlis Lasmanis' two-point shot with 28 seconds left clinched a 21-18 win over the Russian Olympic Committee.

Though, basketball fanatics feel the real winner of the three-aside debut event is the sport itself.

"I think it's going to keep growing," the USA coach Kara Lawson said. "I think it's got a great future around the world, it's a lot of fun to play. Being an Olympic sport now, there's more converts probably than we've ever seen before."

SOUTH KOREA'S KIM MAKES EMPHATIC RETURN

Fencer Kim Jung-Hwan won gold at London 2012 but quit the sport before making a comeback from retirement in 2019.

After taking bronze in the men's individual sabre on Saturday, the 37-year-old may have felt fate would not be on his side.

However, Kim was part of South Korea's team that won the men's sabre on Wednesday as they coasted past Italy 45-26 in a one-sided final to defend their London 2012 title - after the discipline did not feature at Rio 2016.

Kim also becomes the first Asian fencer to claim four Olympic medals in the field, while Italy's silver medal reflected a record-extending 21st Olympic medal in the men's team sabre event.

Real Madrid winger Takefusa Kubo was on target again as hosts Japan eliminated France from the Tokyo Olympics men's football tournament with a 4-0 win on Wednesday.

Kubo netted in Japan's first two Group A games and gave Madrid another reminder of his quality by opening the scoring against France in Yokohama.

In doing so, the 20-year-old became the first Japanese player to score in each group-stage match at the same Olympic tournament.

Hiroki Sakai doubled Japan's lead prior to half-time before Koji Miyoshi and Daizen Maeda completed the rout, either side of Randal Kolo Muani being sent off.

Japan advance as the only side with a 100 per cent record, whereas France – who had Timothee Pembele and Andre-Pierre Gignac in their line-up – are out at the first stage.

Only Fiji (23 in 2016) and Serbia-Montenegro (14 in 2004) have let in more than the 11 goals France conceded at Tokyo 2020 in the 21st century.

"The tournament was really difficult for us, because we are young players and these are the first games we have played with the team," France midfielder Alexis Beka Beka said. 

"One of the big differences was the other teams knew each other much better. But it's all about the details. The game is never finished."

Mexico recovered from their loss to Japan last time out by beating South Africa 3-0 in a game in which both sides had a player sent off, seeing them through in second place ahead of France.

SPAIN MATCH CLASS OF '92

Spain were not perfect in the pool phase, having been held for the second time in three games in Wednesday's clash with Argentina, but they still went through as Group C winners.

It is the first time La Roja have achieved that feat at the Olympic Games since the likes of Pep Guardiola and Luis Enrique went on to win gold in Barcelona in 1992.

Spain dominated possession against Argentina and took the lead through Mikel Merino's 66th-minute strike at Saitama Stadium.

Tomas Belmonte's late equaliser came against the run of play, but it was not enough to prevent 2004 and 2008 gold medallists Argentina crashing out early on.

London 2012 quarter-finalists Egypt finished level on four points with Argentina after beating Australia 2-0 and progress to the last eight, where heavyweights Brazil await, by virtue of a superior goal difference.

HISTORIC ACHIEVEMENT FOR OLYWHITES

New Zealand picked up the point they needed against Romania in a goalless draw to advance to the quarter-finals of the competition for the first time.

Goalkeeper Michael Woud redeemed himself for his horror show in the loss to Honduras by making a string of stops against Romania, who would have advanced with a win.

"It really came down to desire tonight," said OlyWhites head coach Danny Hay. "The boys really dug deep and showed a lot of that.

"I'm really proud of the performance. It's historic and we look forward to a quarter-final for a New Zealand men's team."

New Zealand also needed a favour from South Korea, who followed up a 4-0 win against Romania with a 6-0 victory over Honduras on Wednesday en route to topping Group B.

Hwang Ui-jo scored three of the goals, two of those from the penalty spot, and a showdown with Mexico is up next for rampant South Korea for a place in the semi-finals.

RIO FINALISTS GERMANY FALL SHORT

Germany will not get the opportunity to match or better their silver medal from Rio in 2016 as a 1-1 draw with Ivory Coast saw their opponents through at their expense.

Nothing less than a win would do for Stefan Kuntz's men but they fell behind to a Benjamin Henrichs own goal with 67 minutes played.

While Eduard Lowen's impressive free-kick did set up a tense finish in Miyagi, Germany were unable to find a winner and are on the plane home.

Ivory Coast will now take on Spain, the last European nation standing, in the quarter-finals.

Also through to the knockout stage are reigning champions Brazil after seeing off Saudi Arabia 3-1, with Richarlison's late double adding to Matheus Cunha's first-half opener.