The Guardian

The current season has become a meme-war without end, an endless rolling wall of gloat and taunt in which players and managers must try to block out the noise In his new book, Saved, Gianluigi Buffon talks about feeling crushed by nerves even at the peak of his playing career. The day before the 2006 World Cup final Buffon and Gennaro Gattuso walked past the French squad after training and were i…

American beats Sorana Cirstea 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 Gauff struggles as virus spreads through locker room Coco Gauff described how difficult it has been for players to remain healthy at the Madrid Open this year after she reached the fourth round despite vomiting on court and struggling with a virus that appears to have torn through the locker room . “I think I got a little cocky because I’ve been at tour…

Hearts boosted their Scottish Premiership title hopes after Blair Spittal’s 86th-minute winner earned a dramatic derby victory over nine-man Hibernian, putting Derek McInnes’ side three points clear after Rangers lost at home to Motherwell. Hibs took an early lead at Easter Road, with Martin Boyle striking after just seven minutes – but seven minutes later, the game changed as goalkeeper Raphael …

Blues could begin and end the season with silverware, a bewildering prospect given the changes and poor displays Out of chaos comes trophies. It shouldn’t be so, but it’s been the Chelsea way for more than 20 years now: no matter how shambolic everything seems behind the scenes, no matter how many managers they burn through, no matter how scattergun the transfer policy, no matter how much discont…

The London Marathon is run over a mostly flat course that starts in Blackheath and finishes on the Mall. The vast majority of the more than 59,000 participants are raising money for charity or running for personal milestones Continue reading...

Chelsea coach unhappy as officials miss ball crossing line United draw at Spurs to endanger European hopes Sonia Bompastor, the Chelsea head coach, called for goalline technology to be brought into the Women’s Super League next season after Sam Kerr was controversially denied a hat-trick in a 4-1 victory at Everton . The Chelsea and Australia striker scored with two clinical low finishes – either…

Gloucester 34-31 Exeter Home side edge 10-try thriller Almost 12 months ago to the day Exeter shipped 79 points in front of the Shed, precipitating a major coaching reshuffle and a finger-wagging lecture in the dressing room from their chair Tony Rowe. The scale of this eventful defeat was much less but there could yet be a sizeable cost to pay as the end-of-season playoffs loom larger. The Chief…

What must Liam Rosenior have made of this? After being sacked as Chelsea’s head coach on Wednesday, his former players showed all the commitment that was missing during his four months in charge to battle their way past Leeds courtesy of a winning goal from – surprise, surprise – Enzo Fernández. Only eight years ago, Rosenior’s interim replacement Calum McFarlane was an assistant coach for Isthmi…

A calamitous defence error from the goalkeeper Christiane Endler helped defending champions Arsenal to come from behind against OL Lyonnes and ensure they take a narrow lead into next week’s Champions League semi-final second leg in France. Jule Brand had giving the visiting team, the record eight-time winners of this competition, a first-half lead in front of 26,758 fans at the Emirates Stadium …

UFC president says events were ‘pretty crazy’ Man in custody after chaotic scenes in Washington DC While many of those present during the shooting at the White House correspondents’ dinner were shocked by Saturday night’s events, UFC CEO Dana White seemed to rather enjoy himself. White, a long-time ally of Donald Trump, was sitting near the front of the ballroom hosting the dinner when the event …

Kenyan first man to run sub-two-hour marathon ‘I have shown that nothing is not possible’ Sabastian Sawe’s astonishing world marathon record of one hour 59 minutes and 30 seconds at Sunday’s ­London Marathon was fuelled by running 150 miles a week, wearing the ­lightest super shoes in history and a pre-race breakfast of bread and honey, the Kenyan and his team have revealed. With an estimated 800…

Gianluca Rocchi accused of pressing Serie A officials VAR chief also under investigation for same charge The head of referees for Serie A and Serie B has temporarily stepped aside after being placed under investigation by prosecutors in Milan for “sporting fraud”. Gianluca Rocchi said on Saturday that he has decided to “suspend himself” from his role as the man who assigns referees to matches in …

World champion pulls clear of Paul Seixas on final climb ‘It means a lot to win again one of the biggest races’ The world champion, Tadej Pogacar, pulled ahead of the 19-year-old French debutant Paul Seixas in the final climb to secure his third straight Liège-Bastogne-Liège title on Sunday, his fourth overall victory in the race. Pogacar finished the 259.5-km race in five hours, 50 minutes and 2…

The original plans for this summer’s tournament could scarcely sound much different than what we seem to have in store Sign up for the World Behind The Cup newsletter When Fifa announced that the United States would host the 2026 World Cup, everyone knew that the tournament would turn into a money-drenched political spectacle. But back in 2017, when the “United 2026 bid” advanced by the US, Mexic…

The teenager crushed Veselin Topalov 5-1 to become the youngest ever 2700-rated grandmaster, after which his coach said his future target was 2900 Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus, 14, has become chess’s youngest ever 2700-rated grandmaster, breaking an age record set a decade ago by China’s Wei Yi at 15. The Turkish teenager is already the highest ever rated 12-, 13- and 14-year-old, and the youngest to reac…