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NFL says no probe into Vrabel over resort photosPatriots silent on whether team will launch reviewRussini resigned from job after images surfacedThe NFL is not investigating Mike Vrabel’s behavior after published photos of the New England Patriots coach and former Athletic reporter Dianna Russini at an Arizona resort prompted her resignation and an internal investigation at The New York Times-owned sports outlet.NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy confirmed to the Associated Press on Saturday the league is not looking into the matter. The Patriots didn’t immediately respond to a question about whether the team has launched its own review of Vrabel’s actions. Continue reading...

The two clubs are struggling to relive former glories and fans are not happy as the overlords make them foot the billEnglish football’s two best teams are from London and Manchester. On Sunday, they meet to decide this season’s Premier League title. Chelsea and Manchester United are not those clubs. Both have dropped from the local prominence they once commanded. If United have a top-four place nailed down, there is significant drop-off from Arsenal and Manchester City. Those two clubs’ gap to Chelsea becomes close to a chasm. Brentford, level on points, may soon enough surpass Chelsea as west London’s best team.United are far closer to a renaissance, though there have been many false dawns since 2013. Both clubs share much in common in the betrayal of previous legends. Rebellion reigns among Chelsea fans. They staged a protest against their current ownership, joined this time by ultras from Strasbourg, both groups raging against the unwelcome changes BlueCo’s stewardship has brought, all for a debt mountain that makes little obvious sense. Continue reading...

Atlético Madrid 2-2 Real Sociedad (aet: 3-4 on pens)Lookman 19, Alvarez 83; Barrenetxea 1, Oyarzabal 45+1penHistory has a pair unexpected heroes. Unai Marrero, a 24-year-old substitute goalkeeper, born in San Sebastián and raised at Real Sociedad, saved two penalties in the shootout to put his boyhood club within a single shot of victory on the what his captain had called the night of their lives. Then he embraced Pablo Marin, the former ballboy who now walked towards him carrying all of their hopes on his shoulders, and asked his teammate to take them over the line. So Marin, 22, and on as a substitute, did just that, stepping up and securing only the fourth Copa del Rey in la Real’s history, defeating Atlético Madrid from the spot after a 2-2 draw.Last time they had won it, in 2021, it took a penalty. This time it took six of them; Mikel Oyarzabal, as he had done then, scored one during the 90 minutes on the way to a 2-2 draw and three more men did in the shootout. Back then, Real Sociedad had won the trophy it in an empty stadium, unable to avoid the feeling that something was missing. Now at last they had done it in front of thousands of fans in Seville – there to see a trophy lifted for the first time in 38 years. Continue reading...

World Championship venue has a minute’s applauseZhao Xintong starts title defence with edgy victoryA minute’s applause was paid in tribute to John Virgo, who died in February aged 79, as the World Snooker Championship got under way at the Crucible in Sheffield.Virgo, who won the UK Championship in 1979, enjoyed a successful playing career but was best known for his broadcasting. During his 18 years as a professional, he reached the World Championship semi-finals in 1979. He went on to work for the BBC in 1994 and his voice became a distinctive feature of the national broadcaster’s snooker coverage for three decades. Continue reading...

A makeshift Manchester United defence did not even have to resort to hair pulls to keep out a goalshy Chelsea. The unfamiliar pairing of Ayden Heaven and Noussair Mazraoui grew into a tepid game after a shaky start, making the full-time boos inevitable. Stamford Bridge was an unhappy place again, the unrest in the stands growing as a fourth consecutive defeat in the Premier League approached, and the only time the home fans stopped pining for the old Chelsea was when Mason Mount came on to help United protect their 1-0 lead.Think back to Porto in May 2021. Back then, long before anyone in west London had heard of BlueCo, it was Mount who created the winner when Chelsea became kings of Europe for the second time. Five years on, though, this is a club that cannot even be sure that they will be in the Champions League next season. Continue reading...

American dismisses Dubois as ‘not on my level’Baumgardner targets bouts with Taylor or SerranoBritish stablemate touts fight as ‘best versus best’A dismissive Alycia Baumgardner said Britain’s Caroline Dubois still has more to prove before the American will entertain a fight between the two unified champions.That was the curt assessment from Baumgardner early Saturday morning after she retained her WBA, WBO and IBF junior lightweight world titles with a controlled, at times punishing display across 10 three-minute rounds against Bo Mi Re Shin in a main event that started well past midnight at Madison Square Garden. Continue reading...

Chiefs’ new owner will be Black Knight Sports and EntertainmentMichael B Jordan has stake in company that owns BournemouthBill Foley, owner of AFC Bournemouth, is poised to take control of Exeter Chiefs in a multimillion-pound deal that will bring Premier League and Hollywood glamour to English club rugby.The Guardian revealed this week that Exeter’s chair, Tony Rowe, had agreed to sell the club to a wealthy American investor, and can now disclose the club’s new owner will be Foley’s multisport investment company, Black Knight Sports and Entertainment. Continue reading...

Australia’s former world No 4 player and now respected pundit speaks about highs and lows in her life, and the importance of family on successAll sports stars know that dealing with highs and lows comes with the territory, as part of the job. But few have been through such extremes as Jelena Dokic, who spent her whole career, and much of her life, navigating painful moments. Abused, physically and psychologically, by her father, Dokic suffered from depression, an eating disorder and, at the very lowest moments, contemplated suicide.But Dokic never gave up, showing rare resilience, built from her experience growing up in a war-torn country and being a refugee, twice. (Dokic was born in Croatia – part of the former Yugoslavia – and moved to Serbia, before settling in Australia). Somehow, even in the worst moments off the court, she was able to produce incredible moments on it. Continue reading...

Six drivers taken to hospital with non life-threatening injuriesF1 world champion Max Verstappen is competing at eventThe racing driver Juha Miettinen has died after a multi-car collision in the ADAC 24h Nürburgring Qualifiers in Germany, which were also set to feature the four-time Formula One champion Max Verstappen.According to a statement from the organisers, race control immediately stopped competition following the serious incident early on, which involved seven drivers, and emergency services quickly arrived on scene. They were unable to save 66-year-old Miettinen, who was removed from the vehicle and later died at the medical centre after attempts at resuscitation were unsuccessful. Continue reading...

Now Guardiola has granted his players freedom to improvise, it’s the Gunners’ manager who is the stickler for blueprint over instinctAt half-time in the Carabao Cup final, Arsenal’s hopes of a quadruple remained strong. They were unbeaten in 14, 11 of them won. They were drawing 0-0 against Manchester City and it wasn’t unreasonable to think that if the second half carried on as the first half had, they would eventually find a winner – quite possibly from a corner.They had drawn a Championship side in the sixth round of the FA Cup and a Portuguese side in the quarter-finals of the Champions League. They held a nine-point lead in the Premier League. This was shaping up to be the greatest season in Arsenal’s history. Continue reading...