LONDON: Mauricio Pochettino is staying calm as he faces a defining moment in his reign as Tottenham manager when he tries to keep his bid for a first major prize alive against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League tonight.
The in-demand Argentine has taken to defending his failure to win any trophies in almost five years at the north-London club by insisting he values qualification for Europe’s elite club competition more highly than success in domestic cups.
But for all of Pochettino’s protestations that reaching the Champions League is his primary goal, that claim rings a little hollow when they never make it to the business end of the tournament.
Tottenham have never been past the last-16 of either the Champions League or the Europa League since Pochettino arrived from Southampton in May 2014.
Derided as serial underachievers when they struggled to break into the Premier League’s top four, Pochettino has made Tottenham into Champions League mainstays capable of ruffling the feathers of Europe’s aristocracy.
“We feel so proud and with all the circumstances the team is doing fantastically, the performance of the squad is unbelievable,” Pochettino said.
“We are showing great character and very good quality, fighting against big sides and being in a position that’s very close to the top.
“We hope to keep going in the same direction, to fight for big things.”
But for all their undoubted growth in the Pochettino era, there remains a nagging feeling of unfulfilled potential about Tottenham, who have won only three cups in the past 28 years.
Failure to claim a trophy with a golden generation of Tottenham stars he has cultivated so astutely, including Harry Kane, Dele Alli, Christian Eriksen and Son Heung-min, has led many to believe he has missed a once-in-a-career opportunity.
While angered by mounting criticism following recent exits from the FA and League Cups, Pochettino confirmed chairman Daniel Levy told him his brief was to finish in the top four while the club build their long-delayed stadium.
For Tottenham’s opponents, Germany legend Lothar Matthaeus believes the German giants will be playing the game without their best player.
Marco Reus, who has scored 17 goals and created 11 more for the Bundesliga leaders this season, has a thigh strain which will keep him out of the first leg.
“Now he’s also going to be missing for the important game against Tottenham — that won’t make it any easier,” said the former Germany captain.
“The third-best team in the Premier League against the best in the Bundesliga. I see the chances as 50/50.
“In Marco Reus, Dortmund are missing their best player.”
However, it is not just Reus who will be missing against Spurs.
Right-back Lukasz Piszczek is out with a heel injury, stand-in center-back Julian Weigl has flu and striker Paco Alcacer is sidelined by a shoulder injury.
Dortmund head coach Lucien Favre is struggling with the effects of flu and England winger Jadon Sancho forgot his passport, forcing a red-faced dash home to retreive the document before making the flight to London.
“Yes, we have a few dropped out, but we won’t be going there just to wave,” said Dortmund’s director of sport Michael Zorc.
Matthaeus says Dortmund’s 3-3 draw at home to Hoffenheim on Saturday showed how much they miss Reus’ influence and organization.
In his absence, Sancho, 18, already a full England international, has taken over playmaking duties and was outstanding in scoring a goal, setting up two more and hitting the post against Hoffenheim before Dortmund leaked three late goals.
“He (Reus) is the one who instills respect until the very end and has a controlling hand on the whole Dortmund game,” added Matthaeus.
“They have also won games without him and were 3-0 ahead on Saturday.”
Matthaeus said Saturday’s draw will have given hope to defending champions Bayern Munich, who closed the gap in the Bundesliga table to five points behind Dortmund with a 3-1 home win against Schalke on Saturday.
“The points Dortmund lost will have given Bayern a push, they’d have been inspired.”
Mauricio Pochettino calm over lack of Spurs silverware ahead of Dortmund Champions League clash
Mauricio Pochettino calm over lack of Spurs silverware ahead of Dortmund Champions League clash
Pakistan’s Saim Ayub ruled out of second South Africa Test after twisting right ankle
- Ayub fell awkwardly in the outfield and was visibly in lot of pain as he received brief treatment on the ground
- South Africa dominated the day 1 at Newlands and piled up 316 for four, with Ryan Rickelton hitting 176 not out
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan had an injury scare when opening batter Saim Ayub twisted his right ankle on the field on day 1 of the second and final Test against South Africa on Friday.
Ayub fell awkwardly in the outfield and was visibly in lot of pain as he received brief treatment on the ground before he was rushed to a hospital for precautionary scans.
The opening batter has been ruled out of further participation in the second Test, according to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).
“Saim underwent X-rays and MRI tests this afternoon and the reports have been sent to specialists in London for further advice on the treatment and time away from competitive cricket,” the PCB said in a statement.
South Africa dominated the day 1 of the second Test at Newlands and piled up 316 for four, with Ryan Rickelton hitting 176 not out. He shared a fourth-wicket partnership of 235 with his captain, Temba Bavuma, who made 106.
South Africa have already sealed a place in June’s World Test Championship final with a dramatic two-wicket win in the first test at Centurion.
Hideki Matsuyama sets the target at Kapalua and leads Collin Morikawa by 1
- Matsuyama: I’m definitely satisfied with where I am
- Ten players were separated by three shots going into the weekend of the tournament that invites only PGA Tour winners from 2024 and the top 50 from the FedEx Cup
KAPALUA, Hawaii: Collin Morikawa has played Kapalua enough to know that trailing Hideki Matsuyama by seven shots early in the second round was no reason to panic. Sure enough, he nearly caught up to the Japanese star on Friday at The Sentry.
Matsuyama played bogey-free on another gorgeous day on Maui with moderate wind, making seven birdies in a 10-hole stretch in the middle of his round and posting an 8-under 65 for a one-shot lead going into the weekend of the PGA Tour season opener.
Morikawa ran off five straight birdies in the scoring stretch late — only one of them longer than 5 feet — until his streak ended on the par-5 closing hole at the Plantation course with a 12-foot birdie putt that missed on the high side.
He also had a 65 and was expecting more of the same on the weekend. Conditions are prime for scoring, and The Sentry has the best players from the PGA Tour last year.
“When you look at the leaderboard, I’m through six holes and I’m even par and guys are lapping the field already,” Morikawa said. “But like I said, it’s not telling myself I’ve got to be patient. I just know this golf course, and I know at any point you can go on a little stretch of birdies, and I just had to keep playing my game.”
It was the eighth time Morikawa had 65 or better at Kapalua, the most of any player since 2020 when the two-time major champion made his debut.
Matsuyama went about his business, breaking into one big smile when he holed a 35-foot birdie putt across the green on the par-3 11th. He was at 16-under 130 with a pack of players lining up behind him.
“I’m definitely satisfied with where I am,” Matsuyama said.
Ten players were separated by three shots going into the weekend of the tournament that invites only PGA Tour winners from 2024 and the top 50 from the FedEx Cup.
Corey Conners of Canada and Thomas Detry of Belgium were among those at 14-under 132 thanks to big finishes of their own.
Conners holed a 40-foot eagle putt on the par-5 15th, followed with two medium-range birdie putts and two-putted from the front of the green on the 18th for another birdie and a 66. Detry was 6 under on the final six holes. He drove the green on the 306-yard 14th hole to 10 feet for eagle, and had to settle for par on the 18th for a 65.
The field averaged 68.1, which was skewed slightly by Davis Riley posting the first 80 of the season. He made four straight birdies, a tough two-putt par and then took a 9 on the 17th hole with a lost ball to the right on one tee shot and a second tee shot into the left hazard. The margin of those misses was about the length of a football field.
Only four players failed to break par.
For everyone else, it was a case of taking aim at spots on the contoured greens that feed to the hole and cashing in with birdies.
Sepp Straka birdied every hole on the back nine until he hit what he considered his best shot, a 6-iron to 20 feet, only to miss the putt. He shot 65.
Eight players shot 64, a group that included Davis Thompson, who was 14 shots better than his first round of the year. Patrick Cantlay was 10 shots better with his 64.
“Now I need to do it again,” said Cantlay, who still was eight shots behind Matsuyama.
Among the group three shots behind was former US Open champion Wyndham Clark, who birdied eight of his last 10 holes. Clark made the argument the low scoring was a product of the players, not the course.
“I don’t necessarily prefer this low, but at the same time, we make courses like this look easy,” Clark said. “To be honest, it’s not that easy. Typically, there’s a lot of wind here, and we didn’t have much wind today, so you’re going to have a lot of birdie looks and sometimes eagle looks.
“I’ve never really shot 20 under on the PGA Tour, so maybe I can break it this week.”
At this rate, that won’t be enough.
Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley also had a 64, marked by an eagle on the final hole and his two sons racing onto the fairway as he walked to the 18th green. Bradley has not ruled out playing in the Ryder Cup. But that’s a long way off.
“We’re two rounds into 2025,” he said. “So if we get to July and it’s looking like that, then we’ll start to talk, but for now I’m just going to keep playing my best.”
‘Luke the Nuke’ still living his teenage darts dream
- This time last year he had surged through the field as a 66/1 outsider, becoming the undisputed fans’ favorite at Alexandra Palace in north London
- Littler came above British prime minister Keir Starmer and King Charles in Google’s most searched for people of 2024 in the UK
LONDON: Luke Littler has become world champion of darts, a sport that has its origins as a British pub game, before the English 17-year-old can legally buy an alcoholic drink in his homeland.
Yet, despite his tender age, Littler has had a long apprenticeship in the sport given, as shown by family videos, he first started playing darts when still a nappy-clad toddler.
This time last year he had surged through the field as a 66/1 outsider, becoming the undisputed fans’ favorite at Alexandra Palace in north London, before world No. 1 Luke Humphries defeated him in the final.
But such was Littler’s impact as a breakout performer that even those not normally interested in darts were aware of his achievement in becoming darts’ youngest world finalist.
Suddenly, Littler found himself being invited onto television chat shows with Hollywood movie stars. It all led to the modest Humphries joking about how people who engaged in conversation with him discovering they were talking to the “wrong Luke.”
Littler came above British prime minister Keir Starmer and King Charles in Google’s most searched for people of 2024 in the UK, behind only Catherine, Princess of Wales, and Donald Trump.
But the boy from Warrington, an industrial town between Liverpool and Manchester, is no longer a surprise package in an unforgiving test of accuracy where the distance between success and failure is measured in fractions of an inch.
To its supporters, darts is a game of fine motor-skills allied to mathematical knowledge, made all the harder at professional level by the players being cheered on by raucous and often alcohol-fueled crowds.
Players try to hit specific small targets while standing over seven feet (2.37 meters) from the board where the most valuable ‘treble’ sections are also the smallest.
The aim is to go from 501 to exactly zero in the fewest number of darts while finishing either on a double on the outer edge of the board or the central bullseye.
Each player takes turns to throw three darts, with the highest total possible 180 — three treble 20s.
Littler, nicknamed ‘Luke the Nuke’, admitted the occasion had got to him after he won his opening match of the 2024/25 World Championship against Ryan Meikle.
“It is probably the biggest time it’s hit me,” he said. “It has been a lot to deal with.”
Yet he still posted a tournament record three-dart average of 140.91 in the fourth set.
And come the semifinals, Littler thrashed world No. 5 Stephen Bunting 6-1 in sets.
A final against Michael van Gerwen was billed as a much tougher contest, with the Dutchman going into the game as the youngest world champion to date after winning the title as a 24-year-old in 2014.
Yet the three-time winner was blown away as Littler surged into a 4-0 lead and showed no nerves to close it out 7-3.
“I sometimes say every 17 years a star gets born and he’s one of them,” said Van Gerwen.
Littler’s fame isn’t simply built upon his undoubted skill.
In an age where many sportsmen become detached from the communities they have grown up, he remains a relatable figure, although nutritionists may be aghast at the pre-match routine he outlined a year ago.
“I don’t wake up until 12, in the morning go for my ham and cheese omelette, come here and have my pizza, and then go on the practice board,” said Littler, also known for celebrating his victories with a post-match kebab.
Bellingham’s late goal gives 10-man Real Madrid comeback win at Valencia
- Luka Modric’s 85th minute equalizer and Bellingham’s stoppage time winner ensured that Madrid avoided back-to-back defeats for the first time since 2019
- Fourth-tier club Pontevedra dispatched high-flying La Liga side Mallorca 3-0 to move into the last 16 of the Copa del Rey
MADRID: Jude Bellingham missed a penalty but scored a late winner and Vinicius Jr. was sent off as 10-man Real Madrid fought back in the most dramatic of fashions to beat Valencia 2-1 and return to the top of La Liga on Friday.
Luka Modric’s 85th minute equalizer and Bellingham’s stoppage time winner ensured that Madrid avoided back-to-back defeats in La Liga for the first time since 2019.
The win took it to 43 points, two above city rivals Atletico, albeit having played a game more.
The match at the Mestalla pitted second from bottom against second from top and it was the struggling home side which took the lead after 27 minutes. Hugo Duro stabbed the ball into the empty net after it came back off the post.
Madrid came into the game more in the second half but it looked like it would be a frustrating night for the capital club.
Kylian Mbappe won a penalty after 55 minutes but Bellingham’s shot hit the post and moments later the Frenchman himself saw a goal disallowed after a video review.
Things got worse for Real with 11 minutes remaining when Vinicius pushed goalkeeper Stole Dimitrievski and the referee, after a long video review, showed the Brazilian a red card.
However, Real are never out of it and Carlo Ancelotti’s late changes turned the game around.
Modric came on in the 80th and it took the 39-year-old Croatian just five minutes to make his mark, dancing through a sea of defenders and poking home the equalizer.
Even with a man less there was a sense of inevitability as Real pushed for a winner, and five minutes into added time Bellingham made up for his earlier miss.
Valencia defender Hugo Guillamon seemed to slip and lay the ball into the path of the advancing Englishman, who made no mistake with only the keeper to beat.
Even then the drama was not over. Valencia deserved to take something from the match and Luis Roja almost got an equalizer with the last kick of the game. He watched in agony as his long-range shot came back off the post.
Valencia stayed second from bottom.
Pontevedra slay another giant in Copa
Earlier, fourth-tier club Pontevedra dispatched high-flying La Liga side Mallorca 3-0 to move into the last 16 of the Copa del Rey.
Dalisson de Almeida scored from almost 40 yards to make it 1-0 after 21 minutes, Yelko Pino doubled the lead with a cracking volley four minutes into the second half, and then Rufo rounded off the perfect night with 18 minutes left after a shocking defensive lapse.
The Galician side knocked out Villarreal in the last round.
In the night’s other games, top-tier clubs Rayo Vallecano and Getafe progressed.
Getafe needed extra time to beat second-division Granada in southern Spain. After a goalless match, Borja Mayoral got the only goal in the 93rd minute to put the visitor through.
Rayo Vallecano made swift work of second-tier Racing Ferrol. Alfonso Espino and Jorge de Frutos put the visitors 2-0 up before halftime and Frutos grabbed a third on the hour mark.
Alvaro Gimenez scored a late consolation for the home side.
AC Milan rally past Juventus to meet Inter in Italian SuperCup final
- AC Milan were transformed after the break in the second semi-final of the four-team tournament in Saudi Arabia
RIYADH: AC Milan came from behind to beat Juventus 2-1 on Friday and set up a showdown with city rivals Inter Milan in the Italian Super Cup final in Riyadh.
Sergio Conceicao took charge of his first game as AC Milan coach after he was appointed to replace Paulo Fonseca earlier this week.
But Kenan Yildiz fired Juventus ahead after 21 minutes after poor defending from Theo Hernandez allowed the Turkish midfielder beat Mike Maignan in the Milan goal.
AC Milan were transformed after the break in the second semi-final of the four-team tournament in Saudi Arabia, which is staging the SuperCup for the third year in a row.
Christian Pulisic pulled Milan level from the penalty spot after 71 minutes before under pressure Juventus defender Federico Gatti inadvertently turned into his own goal four minutes later.
AC Milan will try to win the Italian SuperCup for the eighth time and first since 2016 on Monday, against three-time defending champions Inter who dominated Atalanta 2-0 on Thursday thanks to a double from Dutch international Denzel Dumfries.
