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Lyon's Attack Looks Sharp Under New Coach Fonseca

Lyon's Georgian forward #69 Georges Mikautadze celebrates with his teammates after scoring a goal during the French L1 football match between Montpellier Herault SC and Olympique Lyonnais (OL) at Stade de la Mosson in Montpellier, southern France on February 16, 2025. (Photo by Sylvain THOMAS / AFP)
Lyon's Georgian forward #69 Georges Mikautadze celebrates with his teammates after scoring a goal during the French L1 football match between Montpellier Herault SC and Olympique Lyonnais (OL) at Stade de la Mosson in Montpellier, southern France on February 16, 2025. (Photo by Sylvain THOMAS / AFP)
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Lyon's Attack Looks Sharp Under New Coach Fonseca

Lyon's Georgian forward #69 Georges Mikautadze celebrates with his teammates after scoring a goal during the French L1 football match between Montpellier Herault SC and Olympique Lyonnais (OL) at Stade de la Mosson in Montpellier, southern France on February 16, 2025. (Photo by Sylvain THOMAS / AFP)
Lyon's Georgian forward #69 Georges Mikautadze celebrates with his teammates after scoring a goal during the French L1 football match between Montpellier Herault SC and Olympique Lyonnais (OL) at Stade de la Mosson in Montpellier, southern France on February 16, 2025. (Photo by Sylvain THOMAS / AFP)

After 10 goals in three games, new coach Paulo Fonseca's pledge to bring attacking soccer back to Lyon is holding firm.
Sunday's 4-1 win at Montpellier in Ligue 1 saw four different Lyon players on target for the second straight game, The Associated Press reported.
After being involved in all four Lyon goals against Reims last weekend, Rayan Cherki took only three minutes to set up Georgia's Georges Mikautadze for the opener.
Forward Tanguy Coulibaly equalized for last-placed Montpellier shortly before halftime, but Lyon pulled away early in the second half. Ernest Nuamah scored and three minutes later set up rejuvenated midfielder Corentin Tolisso, who has netted in every game under Fonseca.
Under previous coach Pierre Sage, the team was looking laborious and had scored only five goals in six games without a win before he was fired.
Veteran striker Alexandre Lacazette completed the rout in the 73rd minute for Lyon, which stayed in sixth place because Lille won 2-0 at Rennes in Sunday's late game to retain fifth spot.
The race for third place promises to be intense, with Nice reclaiming it from Riviera rival Monaco on goal difference after winning 3-1 at lowly Le Havre.
Both Nice and Monaco have 40 points and trail second-place Marseille by six points.
Striker Gaëtan Laborde sent Nice ahead in the 16th minute and an own-goal from Étienne Youté two minutes later put Nice in control. Yassine Kechta pulled a goal back soon after but Sofiane Diop made it 3-1 in stoppage time.
Coach Liam Rosenior's Strasbourg won 2-0 at Lens to leapfrog the northern side — also on goal difference — and move into seventh place, with Dutch striker Emanuel Emegha grabbing his 10th goal of the season.
Algerian winger Farid El Melali scored the only goal as Angers won 1-0 at Reims. The two sides meet again in the French Cup quarterfinals on Feb. 25.
Bentaleb's poignant goal After poking in Lille's opening goal from close range following a corner, Nabil Bentaleb sprinted to the bench and was hugged by everyone there.
With good reason.
The Algeria midfielder only started training again last month after suffering a cardiorespiratory arrest in mid-June last year. He was put into an artificial coma and fitted with a pacemaker-defibrillator days later.
Lille's top scorer Jonathan David was rested for this game and his replacement penalty-taker missed from the spot. Chuba Akpom's effort in the 44th was saved by goalkeeper Brice Samba.
The English striker then had a goal disallowed midway through the second half for an offside. But Akpom's perseverance led to a red card for defender Christopher Wooh, who fouled him in the 75th, and the sending off opened up the game for the visitors.
The former Tottenham and Schalke midfielder Bentaleb scored five minutes later — prompting a big smile from Lille coach Bruno Genesio — and Akpom was played in by Mitchel Bakker six minutes later against 13th-placed Rennes.
After the final whistle, Lille's players urged Bentaleb to go toward the traveling supporters, who applauded him.
“It’s incredible. These images will remain engraved for life,” Bentaleb told match broadcaster DAZN. “There are things that are not forgotten and that I will not forget when I stop playing football.”
Runaway leader PSG scraped a 1-0 win at Toulouse on Saturday to stay 10 points clear of free-scoring Marseille in second position.

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‘Incredible Situation’: Spurs Coach Tudor on Subbing Kinsky After Errors

Tottenham's goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky leaves the field after substitution during the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 soccer match between Atletico Madrid and Tottenham in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (AP)
Tottenham's goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky leaves the field after substitution during the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 soccer match between Atletico Madrid and Tottenham in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (AP)
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‘Incredible Situation’: Spurs Coach Tudor on Subbing Kinsky After Errors

Tottenham's goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky leaves the field after substitution during the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 soccer match between Atletico Madrid and Tottenham in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (AP)
Tottenham's goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky leaves the field after substitution during the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 soccer match between Atletico Madrid and Tottenham in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (AP)

Tottenham's interim coach Igor Tudor bemoaned an "incredible situation" which led him to withdraw goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky after just 17 minutes of Tuesday's 5-2 Champions League defeat at Atletico Madrid.

The 22-year-old Czech stopper made two errors leading to goals as Spurs fell three behind inside the first 15 minutes of the last 16 first-leg clash at the Metropolitano stadium.

Tudor selected Kinsky, who had not played since October, over Guglielmo Vicario after five straight Premier League defeats before the game.

"(The situation was) very rare. I've been coaching for 15 years, I've never done this. It was necessary to preserve the guy, preserve the team," Tudor told reporters.

The Croatian coach defended his decision to start Kinsky.

"It was, before the game, the right choice to do in the moment like we are. With pressure on Vicario, in another competition... 'Tony' is a very good goalkeeper. It was, for me, the right decision.

"After this, of course, it's easy to say that it was not the right decision."

Kinsky slipped and gave the ball away in the sixth minute for Marcos Llorente to open the scoring.

After Micky van de Ven fell over allowing Antoine Griezmann to score the second, Kinsky erred again.

The goalkeeper bungled a pass and Julian Alvarez was able to walk the ball into the net.

Tudor sent on Vicario to replace Kinsky, who was applauded off by Atletico's fans.

"Unfortunately, it happened in this big game, these mistakes. So we paid this start of the game, it was too much for us," continued Tudor.

"(Kinsky) was sorry... the team is with him, me too. I was speaking with him. He understands the moment, he understands why he goes out.

"As I said before, he's a very good goalkeeper. We are with him, we are all together. It's never about one player."

Tudor, who has lost all four matches at the helm since replacing Thomas Frank in February, refused to say whether he should still be at the helm.

Tottenham, 16th in the Premier League, are facing a fight against relegation.

"I need to keep working. Not speaking too much, stay focused on the things we can do," Tudor added on TNT Sports.

"It's unbelievably difficult to explain all these things, the first time in my career that I saw these things, 15 years.

"I'm focused on the problems, the players also. We need to stay positive."

Sports

China Sprint Race Presents ‘Huge Challenge’ in F1’s New Era

Formula One F1 - Australian Grand Prix - Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit, Melbourne, Australia - March 8, 2026 Drivers in action during the race. (Reuters)
Formula One F1 - Australian Grand Prix - Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit, Melbourne, Australia - March 8, 2026 Drivers in action during the race. (Reuters)
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China Sprint Race Presents ‘Huge Challenge’ in F1’s New Era

Formula One F1 - Australian Grand Prix - Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit, Melbourne, Australia - March 8, 2026 Drivers in action during the race. (Reuters)
Formula One F1 - Australian Grand Prix - Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit, Melbourne, Australia - March 8, 2026 Drivers in action during the race. (Reuters)

Formula One's new era heads into its first sprint in Shanghai this weekend, with the Chinese Grand Prix promising a very different test to Melbourne, where George Russell led home a Mercedes one-two.

The Silver Arrows dominated the season-opener, Russell winning from Kimi Antonelli and followed home by the Ferrari pair of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton in the first race under sweeping new regulations.

Lando Norris and McLaren struggled, the British world champion trailing home fifth and teammate Oscar Piastri failing to even start after crashing on his way to the grid.

Red Bull's four-time champion Max Verstappen carved his way through the field to sixth after starting 20th on the grid following a qualifying crash.

The Shanghai International Circuit, unlike the Albert Park track in Melbourne, has one long straight and several complexes of turns.

It will require a different approach to battery deployment and energy harvesting in the new cars, which have a 50-50 split between conventional and electrical power.

But with only one practice session before sprint qualifying on Friday, the teams will have little time to hone their set-ups and strategies.

Saturday morning will see the sprint race over 19 laps of the 5.451km circuit and grand prix qualifying in the afternoon.

Sunday's grand prix will be over 56 laps, and if the race in Melbourne is anything to go by, it could be very eventful.

"Shanghai is going to be important to be straight on point with deployment, with everything, because obviously we get only one practice and then we go into qualifying," said Antonelli.

"The rate of development is going to be massive and it's going to be important to not put any wrong step because the situation can flip very quickly."

Leclerc agreed: "To have a sprint race so early on in a season like this will be a huge challenge for everybody. It's going to be very tricky."

Race-winner Russell said his only reservation about the 2026 cars was a lack of control when the active front wing was opened up under the new "straight mode".

Introduced this season to reduce drag and give a boost of speed akin to the now-defunct DRS system, Russell said it made the cars skittish.

- 'Pretty big gap' -

"The only thing I would request from the FIA is that the front wing doesn't drop as aggressively," said Russell.

"When we open 'straight mode' we will have lots of understeer, and when I was behind Charles and I was trying to duck out of his slipstream it was like my front wing wasn't working.

"So, I think from a safety aspect that would make the racing safer, better. I don't see a downside of doing it."

Norris was highly critical of the new cars.

McLaren, so dominant last season, were off the pace all weekend in Australia.

"The gap to the guys ahead is pretty big and we clearly have a lot of work to do," said the world champion.

Verstappen admitted Red Bull also have problems to address.

"I had some issues at the start with the battery so as soon as the clutch was dropped, I had no power, so that is something we need to understand," said the Dutchman.

"It was a decent comeback from P20 and we will work as a team to close the gap further."

New to the grid, Cadillac were encouraged by Sergio Perez finishing 16th on the team's much-anticipated debut.

"It was great to see the Cadillac Formula 1 Team bring its first car home," said team principal Graeme Lowdon.

Sports

Sinner Edges Into Indian Wells Quarters, Sabalenka Powers Past Osaka

Sinner Edges Into Indian Wells Quarters, Sabalenka Powers Past Osaka
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Sinner Edges Into Indian Wells Quarters, Sabalenka Powers Past Osaka

Sinner Edges Into Indian Wells Quarters, Sabalenka Powers Past Osaka

World number two Jannik Sinner survived a stern test from Joao Fonseca on Tuesday to reach the Indian Wells quarter-finals, while women's world number one Aryna Sabalenka eased past 16th seed Naomi Osaka 6-2 6-4 to progress to the women's last eight.

Sinner was pushed hard by the 19-year-old Brazilian, trailing 6-3 in the first set before rallying to close out the match 7-6(6) 7-6(4).

"I am very happy winning this match," Reuters quoted Sinner as saying.

"Joao is an incredible talent. He was serving really well. I was trying to be as aggressive as possible and that was the key to get through against the incredible talent."

The Italian will now meet the home favorite Learner Tien on Friday for a place in the last four.

"I feel he is a very consistent player and I am very happy to face him again. He has improved a lot since the last time we met," Sinner said of his American opponent.

Meanwhile, in the ⁠first meeting between ⁠the two four-time Grand Slam champions since 2018 - when Osaka beat Sabalenka at the US Open en route to her maiden major title - the Belarusian's power proved too much for the former world No. 1 on Tuesday.

"Yeah that's crazy, for so many years we only played once. I'm pretty sure we are playing many more matches, she's coming back playing great tennis," Sabalenka said in her on-court interview. "I'm pretty happy for the result today, much better than last time."

Mar 10, 2026; Indian Wells, CA, USA; Naomi Osaka (JPN) and Aryna Sabalenka (BEL) embrace after their fourth round match in the BNP Paribas Open at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

Osaka began confidently with a strong opening service game, but top seed Sabalenka soon found her rhythm and capitalized on a brief ⁠dip from the Japanese, breaking for 2-1 after two double faults.

The Belarusian tightened her grip with a barrage of powerful backhands to lead 5-2, then served out the set comfortably with an ace.

After a series of solid holds from both players early in the second, Sabalenka again used her firepower to take control, breaking again for a 4-2 lead that proved decisive in closing out the win and continuing her run in the tournament without dropping a set.

"I'm happy that I put so much pressure on her today, that I brought variety to the court," Sabalenka said. "My serve worked well. On the return I played really great tennis. Happy with my performance for sure."

Last year's runner-up Sabalenka will continue her quest for a first title in the California desert against Canada's Victoria Mboko, who sailed past higher-ranked American Amanda Anisimova 6-4 6-1.

It will be a rematch of an Australian Open round-of-16 between ⁠the two, which Sabalenka won ⁠in straight sets.

Elsewhere, Australia's Talia Gibson enjoyed the biggest win of her career, beating Italy's world No. 7 Jasmine Paolini 7-5 2-6 6-1 in her first match against a top-10 player.

The 21-year-old, playing her first WTA 1000 main draw, also became the first qualifier in 11 years to reach the quarter-finals of the tournament.

"I just have a confidence in the way I'm playing," Gibson said. "I'm in shock."

Czech Republic's Linda Noskova, the 14th seed, sailed past Alexandra Eala in just 55 minutes with a 6-2 6-0 win to book a quarter-final meeting with Gibson.

In the men's draw, Alexander Zverev saw off Frances Tiafoe 6-3 6-4, converting two of three break points and firing 14 aces to seal his ninth win over the 21st-seeded American.

He will next face France's Arthur Fils as he looks to reach his first Indian Wells semi-final.

Fils earlier produced a stunning 6-3 7-6(9) win over Canadian ninth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime, saving five set points and rallying from 0-5 down in the second-set tiebreak to book a place in the quarter-finals for the second consecutive year.