SOCCER
Mbappe has bad night
Kylian Mbappe’s night on Wednesday went from bad to worse when he missed a twice-taken penalty for Paris Saint-Germain in their 3-1 Ligue 1 win against Montpellier Herault and blazed the rebound over the crossbar before limping off injured later in the game. He went off midway through the first half moments after clutching his right leg below the knee following a challenge. TV cameras also showed him rubbing the back of his left thigh as he walked to the dressing room. However, PSG coach Christophe Galtier was optimistic. “Is it a bruise? We don’t know yet. It doesn’t look very serious,” Galtier said. “We’re not too worried.” PSG were awarded a penalty in the seventh minute, but goalkeeper Benjamin Lecomte saved Mbappe’s first effort and, after the referee ordered it to be retaken, made an outstanding save to push Mbappe’s effort onto the right post. Mbappe missed an open goal when the rebound fell to him and he fired the ball high over the crossbar.
SOCCER
Barcelona reach 50 points
A goal by Robert Lewandowski on Wednesday helped Barcelona reach the 50-point mark in La Liga as they defeated Real Betis Balompie 2-1. Lewandowski sealed Barcelona’s sixth straight victory in all competitions with his first league goal since October last year. He is the league’s leading scorer with 14 goals. Meanwhile, Barcelona missed out on signing LA Galaxy defender Julian Araujo on transfer deadline day on Tuesday, as they were 18 seconds late in registering the paperwork, Barcelona director of football Mateu Alemany said on Wednesday. Barca had been trying to sign the 21-year-old rightback for US$6.5 million in a deal until 2026, Spanish newspaper Diario AS reported. “We couldn’t register due to a system error, it was just 18 seconds, we’ll see what FIFA say,” Alemany told Movistar.
RUGBY UNION
WRU cut ‘Delilah’
The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) has removed Delilah from its Principality Stadium choirs’ song list due to its “problematic” lyrics, British media reported. The song by Welsh singer Tom Jones, first released in 1968, is about a jealous lover stabbing a woman after seeing her with another man. The lyrics include the line: “She stood there laughing, I felt the knife in my hand and she laughed no more.” “The WRU condemns domestic violence of any kind,” a Principality Stadium spokesperson told Sky Sports. “We have previously sought advice from subject matter experts on the issue of censoring the song and we are respectfully aware that it is problematic and upsetting to some supporters because of its subject matter.”
CRICKET
Khawaja departs for India
Australia cricketer Usman Khawaja was cleared to join the national squad for a tour of India after his visa issues were cleared up ahead of his rescheduled departure yesterday. Cricket Australia said that Khawaja was flying out of Melbourne after having to wait for his visa to be approved. It is not the first time Khawaja, who was born in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, has faced visa challenges when trying to enter India. In 2011, the top-order batter took to social media to say he had not been permitted to enter the country because he was not born in Australia.
Robinson Cano spent 17 seasons playing in the MLB in front of all kinds of baseball fans, but he said there is something special about his stint with the Mexican Baseball League’s Diablos Rojos. He is not alone. The league last week opened its 100th season, aiming to keep an impressive growth in attendance that began after the national team’s surprise run at the 2023 World Baseball Classic, and is already surpassing some first-division soccer clubs. After finishing third in the 2023 tournament, many casual fans, some of them soccer enthusiasts disappointed after Mexico were eliminated in the first round in the 2022
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
Arne Slot has denied that Darwin Nunez was dropped from Liverpool’s win against West Ham because of a training-ground row with a member of his coaching staff. The Liverpool head coach on Sunday last week said that Nunez was absent from the 2-1 victory at Anfield, having felt unwell during training the day before, although the striker sat behind the substitutes throughout the game. Speculation has been rife that the Uruguay international, whom Slot criticized for his work rate against Wolves and Aston Villa in February, was left out for disciplinary reasons. Asked on Friday to clarify the situation, Slot said: “He
CUNNINGHAM CONNECTS: In the Eastern Conference, the Pistons snapped their record 15-game playoff losing streak by beating the Knicks to level their series at 1-1 Kawhi Leonard on Monday scored 39 points on 15-of-19 shooting as the Los Angeles Clippers evened their first-round NBA Playoffs series against the Nuggets with a 105-102 win in Denver. “It feels like he didn’t miss a shot,” James Harden said. “His shot-making ability is elite.” Good thing, too, because his teammates were a combined 26 of 66 for a 39 percent clip. “I made shots tonight,” Leonard said. “I just keep playing, try to stay in the zone no matter if I’m making or missing shots.” The fifth-seeded Clippers needed every bit of his brilliance to snatch the homecourt advantage in the series
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