Paris St Germain boss Luis Enrique has offered Kylian Mbappe no guarantees about his playing time in the Champions League.
The reported wantaway striker was taken off at half-time during PSG’s goalless draw with Monaco on Friday, having been substituted just over an hour into the draw against Rennes a week earlier.
Asked what he expected from Mbappe in their second leg at Real Sociedad on Tuesday night, Enrique told a press conference: “I expect my team to be up to the level of the game and to approach it in the way we have throughout the season.
“I can see that the team is full of confidence and we have a clear target, which is to try to win the game.
“We want to beat Real Sociedad away from home, but it will certainly be very tough.”
PSG lead 2-0 from the first leg and Enrique added: “It is an attractive position to be in and we have the desire to be in this competition.”
Enrique confirmed that full-back Nuno Mendes was fit to start following his lengthy injury absence.
Real Sociedad coach Imanol Alguacil knows his side face a tough task to overturn the two-goal deficit, but is hopeful they can spring a surprise.
“I will ask the team to show personality, just like in Paris. We made it clear over there that we are capable,” he said.
“For our part, we will do everything we can to achieve it. I want the best atmosphere, both on and off the pitch. It won’t be easy, but we are full of hope. The important thing is to compete and to stay alive.”
Mike Evans is staying with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after all.
The star wide receiver has agreed to a two-year, $52million contract with the Buccaneers, according to multiple reports.
The deal, which includes $35million guaranteed, was reported Monday, just days after it was announced Evans was going to test free agency.
Instead, he will continue his career with the Buccaneers - the team he has been with since it selected him seventh overall in the 2014 NFL draft.
A five-time Pro Bowler, Evans is the only player in NFL history to begin his pro career with 10 consecutive seasons of 1,000-plus yards receiving.
Playing in all 17 games in 2023, the 30-year-old tied the Miami Dolphins' Tyreek Hill for the NFL lead in touchdown receptions with 13, while catching 79 passes for 1,255 yards - the third highest of his career.
He is Tampa Bay's franchise leader in receptions (762), receiving yards (11,680) and TD catches (94).
The Bucs' next order of business is re-signing quarterback Baker Mayfield - a move that is expected to get done this off-season.
Mayfield and Evans helped Tampa Bay capture last season's NFC South title and pull off an upset win over the Philadelphia Eagles in a wild-card game.
The season ultimately ended with a loss to the Detroit Lions in the divisional round.
In the two play-off games, Evans had 11 receptions for 195 yards with one TD.
Gordon Elliott is eager to let Irish Point take his chance in the Unibet Champion Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival after Constitution Hill was ruled out.
The trainer was planning to run the grey in the Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle after a taking performance in the Jack de Bromhead Christmas Hurdle over nearly three miles just after Christmas.
Constitution Hill was at the head of the Champion Hurdle market following a dominant display last year and Elliott was therefore going to avoid that contest and tap into Irish Point’s stamina in the Stayers’ Hurdle instead.
However, confirmation that Constitution Hill will not make the Cheltenham Festival came on Monday, leaving Elliott to rethink his decision and consider taking on the Willie Mullins-trained State Man, who is the new odds-on favourite for the Champion Hurdle.
“I’m keen to run him,” Elliott told Racing TV.
“State Man is going to be very hard to beat, but I’d prefer to take him on around Cheltenham rather than going round Punchestown or Leopardstown.
“He’s the horse everyone has to beat and he looks a good thing, but I’d like to take him on with Irish Point.
“We’re going to be second favourite if Lossiemouth doesn’t run, I’ll have a chat with Brian (Acheson of owners Robcour) in the morning and we’ll go through the horses, but I’d be keen to run him.
“He’s a classy horse, I think he’ll run a big race. The track will suit him and the ground, being a bit soft, I think will suit him.
“The favourite’s going to be very hard to beat but you should never be afraid of one horse. He hasn’t many miles on the clock and I think the race could suit him, I’m keen to run him.”
Elliott has his own woes with Festival hope Firm Footings out for the remainder of the season and was able to empathise with Nicky Henderson in the disappointment felt when a horse misses the meeting.
He said: “It’s heartbreaking, this time of year, for owners and the staff in the yards. Nicky is going to feel a lot worse than I am, he had the favourite for the Champion Hurdle.”
The Phoenix Suns will likely be without Devin Booker for 7-to-10 days after the four-time All-Star sprained his right ankle late in Saturday’s 118-109 loss to the Houston Rockets.
Booker had 24 points in 38:21 of action before getting injured when he stepped on teammate Royce O'Neale's foot.
Booker is averaging 27.5 points - second on the Suns behind Kevin Durant (27.8) – and leads the team with 6.8 assists per game while also averaging 4.6 rebounds.
Booker, Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic and Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander are the only three players in the NBA averaging at least 27.5 points, 6.5 assists and 4.5 rebounds per game.
Phoenix (35-26) is in seventh place in the Western Conference and battling a handful of teams for positioning in an attempt to avoid the NBA Play-In Tournament.
Tom Hartley has been a breakout success for England this winter with the ball but the slow left-armer intends to focus on his batting to avoid being frozen out at Lancashire.
Despite just 20 first-class appearances behind him and a modest record, Hartley fully vindicated his left-field selection for the tour of India by spinning England to a famous win in Hyderabad, while he tops the wicket-taking charts with 20 dismissals at an average of 33.45 after four Tests.
Hartley is gaining increasingly in confidence but he could be marginalised in the County Championship after Lancashire pulled off a coup by snapping up Australia off-spinner Nathan Lyon for the summer.
Rather than fret about his place, Hartley sees the upshot of the Red Rose signing a bowler with 527 Test wickets and will take steps to try to prevent the pair from being in direct competition with each other.
“I’m really trying to work on my batting and become more of that all-rounder role which makes me a lot easier to pick,” Hartley said. “Playing alongside (Lyon) would be fantastic.
“I hope he’s going to be fantastic for me and be a real game-changer. He’s going to be great to learn off. He’s probably going to be fed up of me by September. Hopefully we can get on really well.
“The type of bowler he is is something I’m trying to work on. The way he operates in Australia on pretty flat wickets, there are times when English wickets are pretty similar.”
England head coach Brendon McCullum said last week it would be “slightly mad” if Hartley and Shoaib Bashir were overlooked by their counties having established themselves as Test cricketers on this trip.
While Hartley could be behind Lyon in the pecking order and Bashir set to play second fiddle to Jack Leach at Somerset, one solution would be to send the pair on loan to other counties.
“I think it’s a bit early for that,” Hartley said. “I’ll do whatever’s best for Lancashire and the team.”
Hartley will instead concentrate on pumping up a respectable first-class batting average of 26.19. He has demonstrated his character in recent weeks by taking the attack to Ravichandran Ashwin, thumping India’s premier spinner for four sixes in the series.
While there may still be more to work on before he can consider himself a fully-fledged all-rounder, Hartley is determined to show he can bring value with both bat and ball.
“I’ve made big strides in these last two years with my batting but I still feel there are gaps there and that (improving) only really comes with time at the crease,” Hartley said.
“I think I get a bit carried away trying to hit sixes and fours. Sometimes I’ve just got to relax myself, take my time to get in and just have a bit more patience.”
His adventurous approach to batting has been encouraged by McCullum and captain Ben Stokes, with Hartley bumped up to eighth in Ranchi after three Tests at number nine in the order.
“They’re over the moon whenever I hit a six, that’s what I get cheered for,” Hartley said. “Coming back in the dressing room, that’s what they talk to me about. It just encourages me to play more of them.”
India are 3-1 up in the series heading into the final Test in Dharamsala, starting on Thursday and cooler conditions in the area could lead to England choosing an extra seamer and potentially discarding either Hartley or off-spinner Shoaib Bashir.
Irrespective of whether he features this week, Hartley believes all avenues are now open to him after previously drifting towards limited-overs opportunities before England came calling.
“The way it was going, I was naturally trailing down that white-ball route,” Hartley added. “But that’s just because there was more opportunities for me that way.
“Playing this series has really opened my eyes and made me believe that I can be a pretty good red-ball bowler. I’ve got a lot more confidence now.
“There will be extra incentive for me to play this summer and really try and do well for Lancs.”
Celtic have appealed against Yang Hyun-jun’s red card and written to the Scottish Football Association with “serious concerns” over the standard of officiating during their 2-0 defeat by Hearts.
Yang was sent off in the 16th minute following a VAR review after initially being booked for catching Alex Cochrane with a high boot.
Both sides had penalties awarded during the cinch Premiership encounter at Tynecastle on Sunday.
Celtic confirmed they would be appealing against the red card and added in a club statement: “We have also written to the SFA to raise our serious concerns regarding the use of VAR and the decisions made within the match.”
Newly crowned World Indoor 60m champion Julien Alfred is over the moon after securing her country’s first ever global track and field medal with her triumph at the recently concluded World Indoor Athletics Championships held in Glasgow, Scotland from March 1-3.
The 22-year-old became St. Lucia’s first ever global medallist with a joint world-leading 6.98 ahead of main rival Ewa Swoboda of Poland (7.00) and Italy’s Zaynab Dosso (7.05).
In a post-race interview, the 2023 Bowerman Award winner said she said she has long dreamt about being her country’s first ever global medallist.
“I’ve been dreaming about this for such a long time to come out here and give my country their first ever medal and I feel so happy and overwhelmed,” she said.
“I had so many feelings going through my mind and body. We had to wait such a long time to see our names come up and I just kept wondering is it me? Is it Swoboda? As soon as my name came up I just felt overwhelmed and happy knowing I can finally call myself a world champion,” Alfred added.
Alfred entered into the final as the second fastest qualifier with a time of 7.03 and watched Swoboda light up the track on her war to a world leading 6.98 to win her semi-final.
The former St. Catherine High and University of Texas standout was asked about whether or not Swoboda’s semi-final performance was on her mind going into the much-anticipated final.
“I think I’ve grown a little bit more compared to last year at the World Championships. Even if somebody runs faster than me in the semis, just don’t worry about it because there’s always a final,” she said.
As far as her tactical approach went, Alfred’s goal was to get a good start and maintain her composure through the line.
“Just get out! I think my semi-final wasn’t executed in the right way. I know my top end speed was there but I know that Swoboda has a great start so my main focus was just to get out and hang on and continue to push to the line,” added the former Texas standout.
With that said, “no,” was her response to a question about whether or not she executed her race perfectly.
“My start was there but I felt like the ending could’ve been much better had I just stayed relaxed and not pressured myself to go to the line,” she added.
Alfred's goal now shifts to some outdoor success at the Paris Olympics.
"Definitely! One step at a time, one race at a time and just practicing hard to execute when the time comes," she said.
Constitution Hill’s Cheltenham Festival absence has left bookmakers fearing an avalanche of cash on State Man, with Willie Mullins’ star two-mile hurdler now the overwhelming Unibet Champion Hurdle favourite.
Nicky Henderson’s defending champion obliged as the 4-11 favourite on the opening day of the Festival 12 months ago and was expected to do the double – especially after showing his well-being at Kempton on Boxing Day in the Christmas Hurdle.
However, it was a different tale when next sighted at the Sunbury venue, where a disappointing gallop kick-started a chain of events that has seen State Man ultimately promoted to big-race favourite on the news the Seven Barrows superstar will be missing from the action in the Cotswolds.
BoyleSports are expecting State Man to also take Constitution Hill’s place as the cornerstone of many punters’ multiples for the Festival, describing the 10-time winner as the ‘Irish banker’ of the week.
“It looks like State Man will be the Irish banker for this year’s Cheltenham Festival,” said BoyleSports spokesman Brian O’Keeffe.
“He is now the shortest-priced favourite over the four days of the meeting after Constitution Hill was ruled out of the Champion Hurdle by Seven Barrows.
“State Man isn’t a bad result quite yet, Constitution Hill had him well covered last year and most punters weren’t expecting anything different this year.
“We are expecting momentum and liabilities to start building behind him now pretty rapidly, especially if Ballyburn goes for the Supreme, as punters will likely latch onto the short-priced Willie Mullins treble on Tuesday, with Lossiemouth in the Mares’ Hurdle.
“It could be a long week for us if Tuesday doesn’t go our way and we imagine that State Man will be an accumulator maker or breaker for a lot of people across the four days.”
The only time State Man has tasted defeat in his last 11 runs was at the hands of Constitution Hill in last year’s Champion Hurdle and bookmakers are now in no rush to take him on.
Paddy Power are one of the firms taking no risks by installing him as their 1-3 market leader – one of the shortest-priced favourites of the whole week.
“It is desperately disappointing news for racing fans who wanted to see possibly the greatest hurdler of our lifetimes at Cheltenham,” said Paddy Power spokesman Paul Binfield.
“Hopefully we will see him back to his brilliant best sooner rather than later, but in the meantime State Man has taken his place at the front of the market as a very short-priced favourite and he now looks the one to beat – he has proven he is the best hurdler around bar one for the last couple of seasons.
“If there is any good news from today, then at least Paddy Power have been ‘Non Runner Money Back’ on the Champion Hurdle for quite a while, so at least punters will get their hard-earned cash back if they have backed Constitution Hill.”
Many layers are hoping something will emerge from the periphery to take on State Man, with Sam Boswell of BetVictor eager to see fellow Irish raiders Irish Point and Lossiemouth rerouted to the Champion Hurdle picture.
He said: “It is never nice to see racing lose one of its star attractions just days out from the Cheltenham Festival.
.
“The story of the Champion Hurdle now is not too dissimilar, with the fact we have a new but still very short-priced favourite in State Man from the all-conquering Willie Mullins yard.
“It would be nice to see the race have either stablemate and star mare Lossiemouth or Gordon Elliott’s Irish Point take their chance to make the showpiece on the Tuesday less processional.”
The Republic of Ireland will announce a new permanent head coach at the start of next month.
FAI director of football Marc Canham appeared to rule out interim boss John O’Shea from the role by revealing the preferred candidate is still in work.
“The process of the appointment of the permanent new head coach is very close to the end, nearing its end point, and we look forward to announcing that new permanent head coach in early April,” Canham said at a press conference alongside O’Shea.
“Existing contractual obligations mean that we are not in a position to announce any further details at this point but as we have committed to, we will announce that in early April.
“The process has been ongoing for a period of time, we have given a series of updates, but we are near the end. We are at a really advanced stage but for different practical reasons we can’t confirm that until early April.”
Former Manchester United and Ireland defender O’Shea was appointed interim boss last week for the home friendlies against Belgium and Switzerland later this month.
“Look, my focus is on these two games,” said the 42-year-old. “When I got the message from Mark just over a week ago it was an amazing feeling, I’m very proud.
“It’s an amazing feeling and I can’t wait for it to come round.
“(The future) takes care of itself, I’m focused on these two games and we’ll see what happens then.”
O’Shea will be assisted by Paddy McCarthy and Glenn Whelan, as well as former national team boss Brian Kerr as technical director.
Paul Tierney, who was at the centre of a dropped ball controversy in the Nottingham Forest v Liverpool match last Saturday, will not referee a Premier League match this weekend.
Tierney faced criticism after he failed to award a dropped ball to Forest in an attacking area after stopping the match for a head injury to Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konate.
Forest did regain possession after Tierney’s error, but conceded a 99th-minute goal which cost them a valuable point in the race for Premier League survival.
Tierney has been selected as the video assistant referee (VAR) for the Arsenal v Brentford match on Saturday evening. Sources close to Professional Game Match Officials Ltd insist Tierney has not been dropped.
He is one of a group of officials who regularly alternate between being referees and VARs.
Former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg, who has been employed by Forest on a consultancy basis as a referee analyst, told BBC Radio 5 Live at the weekend: “(Forest) should have had the ball back. If the referee stops the game, he has to give the ball back to the team in possession. That was Forest.
“When (the ball was) given to the keeper, with Liverpool scoring afterwards, you can see why (Forest) are aggrieved,” Clattenburg added.
“I haven’t spoken to the referee – I’ll leave that to the club. I went to go into the referee’s dressing room (after the game) but he (Tierney) wouldn’t allow it.”
PGMOL is understood not to have received any further correspondence from Forest regarding the incident on Saturday beyond Clattenburg’s comments.
Tierney sent off Forest’s first-team coach Steven Reid after he came onto the pitch at the end of the game to protest. Forest later dismissed reports that club owner Evangelos Marinakis had to be restrained by security staff in the tunnel.
William Knight has the Al Quoz Sprint in mind for his promising filly Frost At Dawn.
The three-year-old is by Frosted and was homebred by her owner, Abdulla Al Mansoori.
She acquitted herself well in two British starts on the all-weather last year before heading to Meydan, where she was placed over both six and seven furlongs before successfully stepping down to five furlongs in the Group Three Nad Al Sheba Turf Sprint on Saturday.
A 33-1 chance under Mickael Barzalona, the filly was drawn in stall three and made straight for the rail to lead from the outset.
From there she flew home, prevailing by two and a half lengths and breaking the Meydan track record over the minimum trip in the process.
“It was a very nice performance and the time was very good,” said Knight.
“She keeps on surprising me, we went out there thinking we were going to run in the UAE Guineas and we’ve ended up winning a Group Three over five furlongs.”
The Al Quoz Sprint, a Group One contest run on Dubai World Cup night, is the next port of call for a step back up to six furlongs that Knight expects to cause no issues.
“It’s fantastic and all roads lead back to the Al Quoz Sprint, I think she’s versatile and Mickael thought she could potentially be better over six,” he said.
“She was great over five and she’s got the track record but she could prove to be quite versatile.”
From there, the grey is likely to travel again for a domestic turf campaign – and if that proves a success, the Breeders’ Cup may come into focus later on in the year.
Knight said: “We’ll see how she comes out of the Al Quoz and take each race as it comes, but I’d like to think we could be competing in the big races throughout the summer and that would be great.
“If she can continue in this sort of form, then the Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar could be something we aim for at the end of the season.
“She’ll need to have a freshen up when she comes back from Dubai, but for the owner to have a runner on World Cup night, and a homebred at that, would be very special.”
Sunny Singh Gill will become the first British South Asian to referee a Premier League match this weekend.
Singh Gill has been appointed to take charge of Crystal Palace against Luton on Saturday, Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) has announced.
He took charge of his first Sunday League match aged only 17, and in April 2021 both he and his brother Bhupinder became the first pair of British South Asians to officiate in the same Championship match.
His father, Jarnail Singh, was the first EFL referee to wear a turban when he took charge of Bristol Rovers v Bury in August 2004. Singh senior went on to referee almost 200 EFL matches up to 2010.
In an interview published on the Premier League’s website last month, Sunny Singh Gill said: “You want the younger generation to look at you and think ‘I can also do it’.
“If parents are looking at us thinking, ‘Wow, we have Asian kids in the Premier League officiating games, my son can give that a go, my daughter can give that a go…’
Singh Gill took charge of his first EFL match in August 2022, a League Two fixture between Northampton and Hartlepool.
“Football has always run in the family,” he added in an interview with the EFL published last season.
“Me and my brother grew up loving the game and like most young kids, we just wanted to play but in our household it was a bit different because when we were going to primary school, we knew our dad was going out to referee on a weekend.
“There were times he was a fourth official in the Premier League and our friends would say they saw him on Match of the Day!”
Paul Tierney, who was at the centre of a dropped ball controversy in the Nottingham Forest v Liverpool match last Saturday, will not referee a Premier League match this weekend.
Tierney faced criticism after he failed to award a dropped ball to Forest in an attacking area after stopping the match for a head injury to Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konate.
Forest did regain possession after Tierney’s error, but conceded a 99th-minute goal which cost them a valuable point in the race for Premier League survival.
Tierney has been selected as the video assistant referee (VAR) for the Arsenal v Brentford match on Saturday evening. Sources close to Professional Game Match Officials Ltd insist Tierney has not been dropped.
He is one of a group of officials who regularly alternate between being referees and VARs.
Former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg, who has been employed by Forest on a consultancy basis as a referee analyst, told BBC Radio 5 Live at the weekend: “(Forest) should have had the ball back. If the referee stops the game, he has to give the ball back to the team in possession. That was Forest.
“When (the ball was) given to the keeper, with Liverpool scoring afterwards, you can see why (Forest) are aggrieved,” Clattenburg added.
“I haven’t spoken to the referee – I’ll leave that to the club. I went to go into the referee’s dressing room (after the game) but he (Tierney) wouldn’t allow it.”
PGMOL is understood not to have received any further correspondence from Forest regarding the incident on Saturday beyond Clattenburg’s comments.
Tierney sent off Forest’s first-team coach Steven Reid after he came onto the pitch at the end of the game to protest. Forest later dismissed reports that club owner Evangelos Marinakis had to be restrained by security staff in the tunnel.
Thomas Tuchel is not contemplating whether Tuesday’s Champions League tie with Lazio could be his last in charge of Bayern Munich.
It was announced last month that Tuchel would leave Bayern at the end of the season, but speculation over his future continues after Bayer Leverkusen opened up a 10-point lead at the Bundesliga summit over the weekend.
Bayern go into Tuesday’s last-16 second leg trailing 1-0 from the first meeting in Rome and failure to progress would further increase the scrutiny on their German boss.
Asked if it could be a knock-out game for him, Tuchel told a press conference: “Not from my side. Maybe from other sides but what we did discuss and decided is what we communicated on.
“I think there is no one else that wants to win this game more than myself.”
Given Leverkusen’s healthy advantage in the title race, the Champions League appears Bayern’s most likely chance to win silverware this season.
Ex-Chelsea manager Tuchel acknowledged the importance of this fixture, but hopes it can inspire his out-of-form team, who dropped two more points at Freiburg on Friday.
“I think everyone is aware that it is important and obviously in a situation like that, a certain amount of pressure is to be expected,” Tuchel admitted.
“With the first-leg result, it is not going to be super easy. The pressure is normal and the pressure is needed to bring special performances.
“Obviously the situation is clear. We need to win with two goals more against an Italian team, against a (Maurizio) Sarri team.
“It is about what we can bring to the pitch and the fans are there to support us from the first minute to hopefully create a specific atmosphere that could lead us to win with two goals.”
Bayern will be boosted by the return of Matthijs de Ligt, who missed the 2-2 draw at Freiburg due to a one-match ban.
Dutch defender De Ligt has struggled with a knee injury this season but urged his team-mates to stick together during a difficult period and admitted they must take responsibility for Tuchel’s imminent exit this summer.
View this post on Instagram
De Ligt added: “We players are responsible. We do everything together. When the coach has to go, then we also have to say we didn’t do well.
“We’re in this spell together and have to come out of it together. That’s why tomorrow is an hugely important game.
“Tomorrow is very important for us, for the whole club. We’re in a tough spot in the Bundesliga. The Champions League is also very important for us. We need to be ready.
“If you reach the quarter-finals, it’s good for the whole season, gives you energy. That’s why it’s a very important game for us.”
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
