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• Tottenham 3-0 Qarabag: Postecoglou's side win Europa League opener despite early red card

  Ten-man Tottenham recovered from an early setback to start their Europa League campaign with a commanding 3-0 victory over Qarabag.

  Despite Radu Dragusin's early red card, goals from Brennan Johnson, Pape Sarr and Dominic Solanke helped Ange Postecoglou's side to a third straight win in all competitions.

  Just seven minutes had elapsed when the hosts were reduced to 10 men as last-man Dragusin dragged down Juninho after he was caught in possession.

  However, Spurs responded brilliantly to take the lead just five minutes later, with Solanke stealing possession and feeding Johnson, who applied a neat first-time finish.

  The hosts survived a scare before the break when Juninho steered wide from Elvin Cafarquliyev's cross but doubled their advantage seven minutes after the restart when Mateusz Kochalski helped a corner into the path of Sarr, who instinctively volleyed home.

  Qarabag squandered a great opportunity to halve the deficit just before the hour mark when Toral Bayramov's penalty hit the crossbar after Yves Bissouma tripped Cafarquliyev.

  Tottenham capitalised in the 68th minute as Kochalski parried Son's shot into Solanke's path and he put the game beyond the visitors, who were denied a consolation later on when Juninho's header was disallowed for offside.

  Data Debrief: Spurs soar despite Dragusin's historic early bath

  It had the potential to be a difficult night for Tottenham when Dragusin was shown a straight red card - Spurs' earliest in a major European match.

  The defender also became the first Tottenham player to be sent off on his European debut.

  Spurs recovered to take control of the contest, though they survived a scare when Bayramov hit the bar with Qarabag's first missed penalty in the Europa League after six consecutive successful kicks.

• Minnesota United v Colorado Rapids: Ramsay challenges hosts to improve on home soil

  With only two home games left of the regular season, Eric Ramsay urged Minnesota United to come away with maximum points, starting against Colorado Rapids.

  The Loons currently sit ninth in the Western Conference, but due to the tight nature of the table, they could spring up it with a win.

  They have won their last three road games on the bounce, but have won just one of their last seven on home soil.

  Following their 2-0 victory over Sporting Kansas City, Ramsay challenged his team to bring their away form to Allianz Field.

  "We've got to win at home between now and the end of the year," he said. "That's the difference maker.

  "We've done our bit against teams below us in the table away from home. We just need to do the easier bit, which is put in a performance at home and win a game there.

  "If we can do that in the remaining two, we'll be in a really good position."

  Meanwhile, Colorado sealed their playoff place with a 2-0 victory over Toronto FC last weekend.

  They are third in the table having lost just one of their last five MLS matches, and head coach Chris Armas says spirits are high ahead of their latest road game.

  "We're excited for a lot of reasons right now," Armas said. "We've clinched a playoff spot; we've got another game coming up against a good team on the road.

  "It's an opportunity to show that we can have a disciplined performance with a lot to play for. The energy in the team is very good, and confidence is high.

  "We have our sights set on getting our position up in the playoffs to get that home game."

  PLAYERS TO WATCH

  Minnesota United – Kelvin Yeboah

  Kelvin Yeboah has scored in three straight regular-season matches, the sixth different Minnesota United player to record at least one three-game goalscoring streak.

  No player in the team's history has scored in four straight league matches.

  Colorado Rapids – Djordje Mihailovic

  Djordje Mihailovic scored his 11th goal of the season on Saturday to go along with his 11 assists in 2024.

  The only Rapids player to record more than 22 goal contributions in a single regular season was Diego Rubio (23) in 2022.

  MATCH PREDICTION: MINNESOTA UNITED WIN

  Minnesota have won seven of nine all-time home matches against Colorado in all competitions, including the last three in a row. The Loons have outscored the Rapids 8-2 over the current three-match run.

  Minnesota have now won four of their last six regular-season matches (lost two) after a nine-game winless run from early June to mid-July (drawn two, lost seven).

  The Loons, who beat Sporting Kansas City 2-0 last Saturday, have not kept consecutive regular season clean sheets since May 2023.

  However, the Rapids have won nine of their last 13 regular season matches (drawn one, lost three), including four of the last five. Only LA Galaxy and Columbus Crew (10 each) have recorded more wins than the Rapids since that run began in mid-June.

  OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

  Minnesota United – 42.1%

  Draw – 26.7%

  Colorado Rapids – 31.2%

• MLB: Ohtani's hit snaps tie as Dodgers extend NL West lead

  Shohei Ohtani singled in the go-ahead run before stealing his 56th base of the season in the sixth inning and the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the San Diego Padres 4-3 on Wednesday night to move within a victory of clinching the NL West.

  The Dodgers increased their lead over the second-place Padres to three games with four to play and reduced their magic number to two. Los Angeles needs a win in Thursday's series finale to earn its 11th division title 12 years.

  The Padres' five-game winning streak ended a night after they celebrated making the postseason with a game-ending triple play on their biggest rival's field.

  Ohtani's two-strike, two-out single to center off Adrián Morejón scored Will Smith, who drew a leadoff walk, and made it 4-3. Ohtani stole second, but Mookie Betts followed with a popup to end the inning.

  With two outs in the ninth, Michael Kopech walked Jake Cronenworth to put the tying run aboard, but Donovan Solano struck out.

  Fernando Tatis Jr. hit a 448-foot homer – the longest by a Padres player this season – to tie the game at 3 in the fifth.

   

  Tigers defeat Rays to stay red hot

  Parker Meadows and Spencer Torkelson homered, and the surging Detroit Tigers strengthened their bid for an AL wild card with a 7-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays.

  Detroit moved 10 games over .500 with its fourth consecutive victory. It is tied with Kansas City (84-74) for second in the wild-card standings behind Baltimore.

  The Tigers play the Rays on Thursday before finishing the season with three home games against the lowly Chicago White Sox.

  Detroit is 29-11 since Aug. 10, thanks to ace Tarik Skubal, one of the favourites for the AL Cy Young Award, and a cast of young pitchers. On Wednesday, rookie Keider Montero pitched 2 2/3 innings of one-run ball before five relievers combined for 6 1/3 scoreless innings.

  Jackson Jobe, Detroit's best pitching prospect, worked the ninth in his major league debut.

   

  Orioles hold off Yankees as Judge homers again

  Gunnar Henderson had three of Baltimore's 12 hits in the first four innings, and the Orioles again prevented the New York Yankees from clinching the AL East title by holding on for a 9-7 victory despite another home run from Aaron Judge.

  Colton Cowser drove in three runs for the playoff-bound Orioles, who tagged substitute starter Marcus Stroman early and improved to 8-4 against New York with one matchup left in their season series.

  Judge went deep for the fourth game in a row, connecting on his major league-leading 57th homer in a four-run ninth inning. The three-run shot off Matt Bowman upped Judge's total to 142 RBIs, also most in the majors, and shaved New York's deficit to 9-7.

  Keegan Akin entered and retired the next two batters for his third career save and first this year.

  Juan Soto also homered and knocked in three runs for New York, which could have wrapped up the AL East race with a victory over the Orioles either of the past two nights.

  Baltimore moved within four games of the Yankees in the division with four remaining as it tries to lock down the top AL wild card. Cedric Mullins went 3 for 4 with a walk, three runs scored and two stolen bases.

  Stroman was a late replacement for injured left-hander Nestor Cortes and gave up six straight singles to begin the game as the Orioles grabbed a 3-0 lead.