GLENDALE, Arizona: Patrick Mahomes shook off an ankle injury, turned back into a magician and pulled out another comeback on the biggest stage to help the Kansas City Chiefs win their second Super Bowl in four years.
Mahomes threw two touchdown passes in the fourth quarter and scrambled 26 yards on the go-ahead drive before Harrison Butker kicked a 27-yard field goal with 8 seconds left to give the Chiefs a 38-35 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday night.
Mahomes and Hurts excelled in the first Super Bowl matchup featuring two Black starting QBs. But Mahomes, the two-time AP NFL MVP, turned it up in the second half after reaggravating a sprained right ankle.
Chiefs coach Andy Reid, who couldn’t win the big game in Philadelphia, beat his former team to earn his second ring with Mahomes and the Chiefs.
With the score tied at 35-35, the Eagles tried to let the Chiefs score a touchdown with under two minutes left so they could get the ball back. But Jerick McKinnon slid at the 2, forcing the Eagles to use their last timeout.
After Mahomes took a knee two times, Butker nailed his kick, sending thousands of red-clad Chiefs fans into a frenzy.
The Chiefs won their second Super Bowl following the 2019 season, 50 years after the first one. It took just three years to get another Lombardi.
Chiefs fans were outnumbered in the stadium, but they did their part to silence the boisterous Philly fans with the tomahawk chop chant.
Down 24-14 with a limping Mahomes, the Chiefs followed up Rihanna’s electrifying halftime performance with a sensational offensive outburst.
Mahomes, who suffered a high ankle sprain in the divisional round, hurt it again on a 3-yard scramble late in the second quarter. He limped off the field but showed no ill effects on Kansas City’s next possession.
Mahomes slipped — several players lost their footing on the natural grass surface — in the pocket yet somehow regained his balance and scrambled 14 yards to the Eagles 4, setting up Isiah Pacheco’s 1-yard TD run that cut the deficit to 24-21.
After Jake Elliott’s 33-yard field goal extended Philadelphia’s lead to 27-21, the Chiefs struck again.
Mahomes tossed a 5-yard TD pass to a wide-open Kardarius Toney to give Kansas City its first lead, 28-27, early in the fourth quarter.
The Chiefs tightened up their defense, forcing Philly to punt. Then Toney returned a line-drive kick 65 yards to the Eagles 5 for the longest punt return in Super Bowl history.
On third down from the 4, Mahomes connected with Skyy Moore to extend their lead to 35-27. Moore also was wide open on the play.
But the Eagles wouldn’t go away.
Hurts hit DeVonta Smith for a 46-yard gain to the Chiefs and ran in for his third score of the game. He also ran in for the 2-point conversion to tie it at 35-35 with 5:15 to go.
As “Fly! Eagles! Fly!” reverberated throughout the stadium, Mahomes and the Chiefs went back to work.
The 27-year-old Mahomes became the third player to win his second NFL MVP award before age 28. He also became the youngest QB to start three Super Bowls. Then, Mahomes became the first player to win the Super Bowl the same season he was MVP after nine straight players lost.
Just five years after winning the first Super Bowl in franchise history, the Eagles came close with a new coach — Nick Sirianni — and new quarterback — Hurts.
Hurts set a Super Bowl record with 70 yards rushing and tied a record with three rushing scores.
The Eagles marched 75 yards down the field with Hurts scoring from the 1 for a 7-0 lead, and controlled the ball for almost 22 minutes in the first half.
Hurts, who missed two games late in the season with a shoulder injury, had no trouble throwing a perfect deep ball to A.J. Brown, giving the Eagles a 14-7 lead with a 45-yard connection on the first play of the second quarter.
But Hurts then made a rare mistake on the next drive when he fumbled without being hit while scrambling away from pressure. Nick Bolton picked it up and raced 36 yards for a score that made it 14-14. Hurts had just eight turnovers this season, six picks and two fumbles.
Undeterred, Hurts kept running.
He took off for 14 yards on the first play after the fumble. On fourth-and-5 from Chiefs 44, Hurts ran 28 yards. He finished off the drive with a 4-yard TD run to put Philadelphia ahead 21-14.
Elliott kicked a 35-yard field goal to send the Eagles into halftime leading 24-14.
Mahomes connected with Travis Kelce on an 18-yard TD pass in the right corner to tie it at 7-7 in the first quarter. The Chiefs’ All-Pro tight end and Eagles All-Pro center Jason Kelce became the first set of brothers to play against each other in the Super Bowl.
Their mom, Donna Kelce, wore a half-red, half-green jersey with No. 87 on the front for Travis and No. 62 on the back for Jason. She sat in a suite between NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Damar Hamlin.
Eagles fans turned State Farm Stadium into a sea of green, chanting “E-A-G-L-E-S!” and singing the team’s fight song after each score. But they left disappointed.
Reid won more games than any coach in team history during 14 seasons with the Eagles but the one knock against him was that he couldn’t win the big one. Reid finally earned his ring with the Chiefs when they beat San Francisco in the Super Bowl following the 2019 season. They went back the next year and lost to Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The first Super Bowl involving both No. 1 seeds since the Eagles beat the Patriots in February 2018 lived up to its hype. It was the third-highest scoring Super Bowl and the Eagles scored the most points by a losing team.
Plenty of celebrities were the Eagles fans wearing, including Bradley Cooper and Kevin Hart, who wore a Reggie White No. 92 jersey.
Paul McCartney and LeBron James also were in the crowd of 67,827.
Kansas City Chiefs beat Philadelphia Eagles to win 2nd second Super Bowl in 4 years
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Kansas City Chiefs beat Philadelphia Eagles to win 2nd second Super Bowl in 4 years
- The Chiefs won their second Super Bowl following the 2019 season, 50 years after the first one
Scheffler, McIlroy focus on Houston while preparing for Masters
- McIlroy is making his first Houston trip in 11 years and playing the course for the first time
- Scheffler was the runner-up in Houston last year, a season in which he won nine titles include Olympic gold and his second Masters title
HOUSTON: Top-ranked Scottie Scheffler and world No. 2 Rory McIlroy play their final tuneups for the Masters at this week’s PGA Houston Open, seeking a title while preparing for Augusta National.
McIlroy, who won the Players two weeks ago after taking the Pebble Beach crown last month, is making his first Houston trip in 11 years and playing the course for the first time.
“It has been a great start to the season for me and I want to continue it,” McIlroy said.
But the 35-year-old from Northern Ireland visited Augusta National this week to start preparations for the Masters, the only major title he needs to complete a career Grand Slam.
“I use those trips just to refamiliarize myself with the place, clubs off tees, looking to see if they changed any greens,” McIlroy said.
“There are four greens that are new this year that they’ve redone. You have a look at those and see if there’s any new hole positions they give you, stuff like that.
“Honestly for me, it’s nice to play a practice round without people around and it sort of takes the pressure off the start of the (Masters) week for me.”
His time in Houston, however, is about competing and trying to add another title to his season before his quest for a green jacket resumes.
“I just want to get a card in my hand and shoot scores and hopefully get myself in contention and try to win another golf tournament,” McIlroy said. “It’s not as if I’m playing here this week and thinking about two weeks’ time. I’m here, I’m in the present, I’m trying to do my best this week and trying to win this golf tournament.”
Repeated shotmaking under tournament pressure is on McIlroy’s mind.
“I want to keep playing well, so I think every round you play where you see good things you’re filling up that confidence bucket a little bit, so I want to see that,” he said.
“It was great to get a win a couple weeks ago but I still feel I could have played a lot better. I tried to poke holes in a lot of my game last week and think about things I could do better, and there were definitely things that I could work on.
“It’s a good opportunity to go out and see if some of the work I did at home and I’m continuing to do here... is all going in the right direction.”
Scheffler was the runner-up in Houston last year, a season in which he won nine titles include Olympic gold and his second Masters title.
But Scheffler missed the first month of this season with a hand injury and is only now getting back to normal form.
“Feeling pretty good. Excited about the stuff we’re working on right now and game feels like it’s in a good spot. Definitely excited to get the season going this week,” he said.
He finds Houston’s Memorial Park course a worthy place to prepare for the challenge of winning a third Masters in four seasons.
“With it being rye grass in the fairways now I think definitely improves the prep for the Masters, it’s a similar grass to what we see at Augusta,” Scheffler said.
“It’s also a big golf course. You’ve got to hit it far out here, so there is definitely some similarities and good preparation between here and Augusta.”
Like McIlroy, however, Scheffler is concentrating on winning this week before trying for another major win.
“I try to focus as much as I can on the tournament at hand,” he said.
“I think in the back of your mind at all times the majors are always kind of there... so when you’re here with the Masters being only two weeks away, it’s very easy for us to look ahead. But I’m trying to do my best to focus on this week.”
Arsenal stage 3-goal comeback against Real Madrid, set up Women’s Champions League semifinal against Lyon
- The England star might have had a hat trick only to be denied by a VAR call for offside, then by Madrid goalkeeper Misa in a one-on-one, then by another offside call
- Arsenal will face last season’s beaten finalist Lyon as they seek to win the trophy for the second time after success in 2007
LONDON: Alessia Russo scored twice and Arsenal staged a remarkable comeback to reach the Women’s Champions League semifinals with a 3-0 win over Real Madrid.
Mariona Caldentey scored the other as Arsenal grabbed three goals in 13 minutes to overturn the team’s 2-0 loss in the first leg of the quarterfinal in the Spanish capital last week.
Caldentey, who used to torment Madrid while playing for Barcelona, wheeled away in delight after leveling the tie three minutes after Russo pulled a goal back as Arsenal couldn’t have had a better start to the second half.
Russo fired Arsenal in front for the first time in the tie with an acrobatic finish in the 59th. It proved to be the winner in the 3-2 victory on aggregate.
The England star might have had a hat trick only to be denied by a VAR call for offside, then by Madrid goalkeeper Misa in a one-on-one, then by another offside call.
Arsenal needed a save from goalkeeper Daphne van Domselaar in stoppage time to prevent Madrid star Linda Caicedo from sending the match to extra time.
Arsenal will face last season’s beaten finalist Lyon as they seek to win the trophy for the second time after success in 2007.
Lyon advance
Kadidiatou Diani scored one goal and set up two more as Lyon outclassed Bayern Munich 4-1 in the second leg of their quarterfinal earlier.
The French powerhouse needed a wake-up call before reaching the semifinals for the 13th time. Klara Bühl opened the scoring in the 33rd minute off the far post to claw a goal back for Bayern after losing the first leg 2-0 in Munich.
Lyon, the eight-time champion, emerged reinvigorated after the break and went on to wrap up a 6-1 victory on aggregate with Diani scoring and setting up goals for Melchie Dumornay and Tabitha Chawinga, who both scored in Munich last week.
Dumornay played in Ada Hegerberg to seal the rout with a flourish by shooting the ball through Bayern goalkeeper Maria-Luisa “Mala” Grohs ‘ legs in stoppage time.
Bayern will be left to rue defensive blunders for undermining its comeback hopes.
The other quarterfinal second legs are scheduled for Thursday, with defending champion Barcelona in a comfortable position after a 4-1 win over Wolfsburg in Germany, and Chelsea needing goals as it host Manchester City after losing the first leg 2-0.
Barcelona defeated Lyon in last year’s final.
Lyon outclass Bayern with 4-1 win to reach Women’s Champions League semifinals
- Lyon, the eight-time champion, emerged reinvigorated after the break and went on to wrap up a 6-1 victory on aggregate
- Bayern will be left to rue defensive blunders for undermining their comeback hopes
LYON: Kadidiatou Diani scored one goal and set up two more as Lyon outclassed Bayern Munich 4-1 in the second leg of their Women’s Champions League quarterfinal on Wednesday.
The French powerhouse needed a wake-up call before reaching the semifinals for the 13th time. Klara Bühl opened the scoring in the 33rd minute off the far post to claw a goal back for Bayern after losing the first leg 2-0 in Munich.
Lyon, the eight-time champion, emerged reinvigorated after the break and went on to wrap up a 6-1 victory on aggregate with Diani scoring and setting up goals for Melchie Dumornay and Tabitha Chawinga, who both scored in Munich last week.
Dumornay played in Ada Hegerberg to seal the rout with a flourish by shooting the ball between Bayern goalkeeper Maria-Luisa “Mala” Grohs’ legs in stoppage time.
Bayern will be left to rue defensive blunders for undermining their comeback hopes.
Diani was given two opportunities to cross the ball for Dumornay to equalize on the night, then Bayern star Giulia Gwinn inadvertently set up Diani to score in the 54th.
It was the third blow for Bayern in quick succession with forward Jovana Damnjanovic going off with an apparent rib injury.
The fourth blow came shortly afterward with Diana crossing for Chawinga to score Lyon’s third goal on the hour-mark. The French league champion missed further chances to score before Hegerberg made the last one count.
Lyon will face either Real Madrid or Arsenal in the semifinals. They were contesting the second leg of their quarterfinal in London later, with the Spanish team 2-0 up from the first leg in Madrid last week.
Arsenal made a promising start without scoring while Madrid began threatening toward the end of the first half in the second leg.
The other quarterfinal second legs are scheduled for Thursday, with defending champion Barcelona in a comfortable position after a 4-1 win over Wolfsburg in Germany, and Chelsea needing goals as they host Manchester City after losing the first leg 2-0.
Barcelona defeated Lyon in last year’s final.
Tour de France champion Pogacar targets Paris-Roubaix’s cobbled ‘hell’
- “It was initially planned for Tadej Pogacar to participate in both the E3 Saxo Classic and Gent-Wevelgem,” read UAE’s statement
- Mauro Gianetti, UAE team manager, highlighted their concerns for the best paid member of the peloton
PARIS: Three-time Tour de France champion Tadej Pogacar will race the notorious Paris-Roubaix, known as the ‘Hell of the North’ for its treacherous cobbled mining roads, for the first time, his team UAE announced on Wednesday.
Of the five big one-day races known as ‘Monuments’, Paris-Roubaix is the least suited to the Slovenian’s slender frame and adding that title would confirm his growing status as one of the all-time greats.
He will be the first reigning Tour de France champion to tackle what is often a mudfest since Greg Lemond in 1991 — the American finished 55th.
Cycling legends Bernard Hinault and Eddy Merckx also tried to win the one-day race in 1982 and 1975 respectively, a year after winning the Tour de France.
Neither was successful although Merckx finished second, edged out on the line by Roger De Vlaeminck. However, they both achieved perhaps an even greater feat in landing the two races in the same year, with Merckx doing the double in 1970 and Hinault in 1981.
Victory on April 13 would set Pogacar up nicely to join that elite duo.
He already has seven Monument victories to his credit, including the 2023 Tour of Flanders.
Pogacar has also won Il Lombardia each of the last four years and Liege-Bastogne-Liege twice.
“It was initially planned for Tadej Pogacar to participate in both the E3 Saxo Classic and Gent-Wevelgem,” read UAE’s statement.
“However, after discussions with the team, it has been decided that he will adjust his calendar to focus on the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix instead, aiming for peak form in those iconic races.”
The change of plan is a victory for Pogacar, who has said he prefers the one-day races to multi-stage ones, as he had argued to compete in the Paris-Roubaix, against the wishes of the team directors who were concerned about the possibility of injury.
Paris-Roubaix is considered the most dangerous race of them all owing to its six million cobble stones, many of them uneven, which has resulted in serious injuries to the riders.
Mauro Gianetti, UAE team manager, highlighted their concerns for the best paid member of the peloton — he is believed to earn 8 million euros ($8.6 million) a year — in the one-day races after he had fallen in the Strade Bianche before getting back up to win it.
“A bad fall could put a question mark over his competing in the Tour de France and maybe the rest of the season,” said Gianetti.
“He has enough time in his career to ride in the Paris-Roubaix.”
However, his decision, after finishing third in the Milan-San Remo, delighted Paris-Roubaix race director Thierry Gouvenou.
“It is a huge moment for cycling,” said Gouvenou.
“It has been a long time since we had a Tour de France winner who is a genuine contender to win the Paris-Roubaix.
“He is going to face a challenge suited to his talent.”
Gouvenou, though, believes Pogacar is up against it with rivals like Milan-San Remo winner Mathieu van der Poel, Belgian Wout Van Aert and Italy’s Filippo Ganna.
“If Van der Poel is at the top of his game, it will be very difficult for Pogacar,” said Gouvenou.
“He is going to race on a route that is not suited to him.
“If ever he wins Paris-Roubaix it will be against the odds. But that is what we all expect: to see champions up against it.
“This race could make him even greater than he is now.”
Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme said Pogacar’s bid was a bold move.
“That he dares take this risk in a year he wants to win the Tour is a bold move. It’ll be a hell of a fight. I can’t wait to see it.”
De Kock fireworks see Kolkata thrash Rajasthan in IPL
- Spinners Moeen Ali and Varun Chakravarthy combined to help restrict Rajasthan to 151-9 after KKR elected to field first in Guwahati
- De Kock bossed the chase with his 61-ball innings laced with eight fours and six sixes as Kolkata achieved their target with 15 balls to spare
GUWAHATI, India: South Africa’s Quinton de Kock struck an unbeaten 97 as holders Kolkata Knight Riders registered their first win of the IPL season with an eight-wicket hammering of Rajasthan Royals on Wednesday.
Spinners Moeen Ali and Varun Chakravarthy combined to help restrict Rajasthan to 151-9 after KKR elected to field first in Guwahati.
De Kock bossed the chase with his 61-ball innings laced with eight fours and six sixes as Kolkata achieved their target with 15 balls to spare.
De Kock, who has retired from Tests and one-day international cricket for South Africa and whose T20 international future remains uncertain, showed no signs of rustiness.
“To be fair, haven’t felt any challenges yet,” De Kock said.
“Have had three months off which felt nice. Had about a 10-day build-up to this season. Only my second game here, just taking it as I see it.”
Kolkata signed De Kock in November’s auction after he was released by Lucknow Super Giants.
He handed his team a quick start, hitting two fours but then lost opening partner Moeen, run out for five.
Skipper Ajinkya Rahane fell after a brisk 18 but De Kock stood firm and along with impact substitute Angkrish Raghuvanshi, who made 22, steered the team home in an unbeaten stand of 83.
De Kock finished with a six off Jofra Archer as Kolkata bounced back from their opening loss to Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
Rajasthan suffered their second straight loss.
Earlier, Kolkata fast bowler Vaibhav Arora dismissed Sanju Samson, bowled for 13, and Chakravarthy and Moeen soon took two wickets each.
Wicketkeeper Samson is Rajasthan’s regular captain but has been forced to play only as a batter in the first three matches due to an injury.
Chakravarthy, who starred in India’s recent Champions Trophy triumph, got stand-in-skipper Riyan Parag out caught behind for 25.
Former England all-rounder Moeen, in for the unwell Sunil Narine, stifled the opposition with his off-spin and was rewarded with the wicket of Yashasvi Jaiswal for 29.
The 37-year-old and Chakravarthy both struck again as Rajasthan slipped to 82-5 in 11 overs.
Wickets kept tumbling for Rajasthan and despite wicketkeeper-batsman Dhruv Jurel’s 33 and 16 from Archer, they settled for a below-par total.
“I think 170 was a reasonable score but we fell short by 20 runs,” said Parag. “The plan was to get Quinny out early but he didn’t so we shifted to containing them in the middle overs.”
Arora and fellow quick Harshit Rana also took two wickets each.
Kolkata, under Shreyas Iyer who is now Punjab Kings captain after a $3.17 million move in the auction, won their third IPL title last year.
