The Guardian

Six Russians and four Belarusians set for Milano Cortina ‘Their flags have no place at international ­sporting events’ Ukraine’s sports minister has condemned the decision to allow six Russians and four Belarusians to compete under their country’s flags at next month’s Winter Paralympics as “disappointing and outrageous”. Matvii Bidnyi said Ukraine officials will not attend the opening ceremony o…

Plus: high-scoring symmetrical scorelines, Scottish two-club title winners and an almost-one-club manager Mail us with your questions and answers “Has a footballer ever been sent off but still won player of the match?” asked Jimmy Clark. The short answer is yes, quite a few. We’ll kick off with a couple of recent examples. “In 2024 Anthony Gordon was shown a second yellow card for Newcastle again…

British sides keep hopes alive with vital wins Team GB women need to beat Italy on Friday These are strained days at the curling arena, where the chances of the two British teams are teetering like a bus full of bullion that’s backed over the lip of a cliff. Both the men and women ended up in a position where they need to win every game they play and hope other results go their way to have any ch…

Woman says she was pregnant during alleged assaults Lawsuit seeks monetary damages of more than $1m Rice was suspended to start 2025 for role in car crash A former girlfriend of Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Rashee Rice filed a civil lawsuit this week in Texas alleging he assaulted her during a span from December 2023 to July 2025. Dacoda Jones, with whom Rice has two children, said she was pr…

If you want to have an impact on your Premier League debut, then denting the title hopes of currently the best team in the land is not a bad way of doing it. Tom Edozie came off the bench to hammer in an injury-time shot which Riccardo Calafiori forced into his own net for the Wolves equaliser to punish Arsenal on a regrettable night. Bukayo Saka and Piero Hincapié thought they had earned the vic…

A hard-fought 3-1 victory over OH Leuven at Meadow Park sent Arsenal through to the quarter-finals of the Champions League. The visitors tested Renée Slegers’ side when Sara Pusztai cancelled out Alessia Russo’s goal but a penalty from Mariona Caldentey and second from Russo secured the win, earning them a comfortable 7-1 aggregate score. Confidence is flying high around Arsenal, they are almost …

The greatest American skier of all time won her first Olympic medal in 2014. The 12 years in between have been marked by brutal ups and downs A lot can happen in 12 years. If you’re Mikaela Shiffrin, as a teenager you can become the youngest ever person to win the Olympic slalom , stack a couple more medals at the next Olympics, become the most successful World Cup skier of all time with a record…

When, on the eve of kick-off, Qarabag’s manager, Gurban Gurbanov, said Newcastle had “a style of play that does not suit us”, there were suggestions he was playing mind games. Long before half-time it was fully apparent that, if anything, Gurbanov had rather understated things. Had this been a boxing match it would surely have been stopped after a matter of minutes. Qarabag were utterly overwhelm…

Mitch Marner scores in overtime to seal 4-3 win Canadians lose star Sidney Crosby to injury Nick Suzuki tied the game on a deflection with 3:27 left, Mitch Marner scored in overtime, and Canada avoided what would have been a stunning quarter-final exit at the Olympics by rallying to beat the Czech Republic 4-3 on Wednesday. Canada fell behind with 7:42 remaining when Ondrej Palat scored off a pas…

Europa League tie will be 1,000th professional match ‘Of course you like showing that you can still win’ Martin O’Neill admits he takes satisfaction from proving he can still succeed in management as he prepares to hit a significant career landmark. Celtic’s visit of Stuttgart will see O’Neill preside over his 1,000th game in professional management, a statistic he was completely unaware of until…

The Brazilian has seen this before, football has seen this before and yet why does it feel like nothing ever changes? José Mourinho: against provoking opposition fans. José Mourinho: in favour of restrained celebrations. José Mourinho, once of the poke-in-the-eye, sprint-down-the-touchline, accost-the-referee-in-the-car-park school of footballing expression: now apparently very big on showing res…

Portuguese managed Fenerbahce and leads his new side into their Europa League playoff sounding confident As Vítor Pereira wrapped up his pre-match media duties at Sukru Saracoglu Stadium on Wednesday evening, his assistant Luís Miguel Moreira da Silva waited at the mouth of the tunnel. “Let’s go?” he said as Pereira eventually emerged, before the Nottingham Forest squad followed the pair on to th…

Backing a sign of improved relations between presidents Tournament expected not to be held every two years Uefa is ready to back Fifa’s proposed expansion of the Club World Cup to 48 teams for the next edition in 2029 in a sign of improving relations between their respective presidents, Aleksander Ceferin and Gianni Infantino. European football’s governing body had opposed plans to grow the Club …

Prop gets erroneous credit for Traitors appearance ‘Who am I to correct her? I didn’t really know what to say’ Anyone who tuned in to the celebrity version of The Traitors last year will be familiar with the former England rugby player Joe Marler. With the exception, it turns out, of Princess Anne who was involved in a case of mistaken identity during the Calcutta Cup pre-match formalities at Mur…

Row between Sweden and Canada over accusation of double-touch continues to cast shadow over Winter Games Well hell’s bells, who knew the ice could get so hot? The Olympic curling community is still all in a twist about everything that’s gone on in the sport since a row broke out between the Sweden and Canada sides on Friday. “The whole spirit of curling is dead,” Canada’s Marc Kennedy said on Mon…