Champions League Resumes Tuesday at Manchester Utd in Mourning for Bobby Charlton

Floral tributes are pictured at the base of the “United Trinity” sculpture, depicting former Manchester United players George Best, Denis Law and Bobby Charlton, outside Old Trafford football stadium in Manchester, northwest England, on October 22, 2023, following the announcement of death of club legend Bobby Charlton on Saturday. (AFP)
Floral tributes are pictured at the base of the “United Trinity” sculpture, depicting former Manchester United players George Best, Denis Law and Bobby Charlton, outside Old Trafford football stadium in Manchester, northwest England, on October 22, 2023, following the announcement of death of club legend Bobby Charlton on Saturday. (AFP)
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Champions League Resumes Tuesday at Manchester Utd in Mourning for Bobby Charlton

Floral tributes are pictured at the base of the “United Trinity” sculpture, depicting former Manchester United players George Best, Denis Law and Bobby Charlton, outside Old Trafford football stadium in Manchester, northwest England, on October 22, 2023, following the announcement of death of club legend Bobby Charlton on Saturday. (AFP)
Floral tributes are pictured at the base of the “United Trinity” sculpture, depicting former Manchester United players George Best, Denis Law and Bobby Charlton, outside Old Trafford football stadium in Manchester, northwest England, on October 22, 2023, following the announcement of death of club legend Bobby Charlton on Saturday. (AFP)

The Champions League resumes Tuesday at Manchester United where one of the competition’s most storied clubs is mourning its all-time great Bobby Charlton.

Charlton, who died Saturday aged 86, survived the fatal air crash at Munich in February 1958 that devastated the then-champion of England on its journey home from a European Cup game.

He lifted the trophy 10 years later as captain of a team rebuilt by manager Matt Busby who had been seriously injured at Munich, where eight players died.

Charlton was a beloved director on the Man United board when it was European champion again in 1999 and 2008 under another Scottish manager, Alex Ferguson, who he had helped bring to the club.

The main stand is named for Charlton at Old Trafford where Man United will host Copenhagen on Tuesday and pay tribute to a man who helped define its illustrious history.

Charlton “was a hero to millions,” the club said in a statement. “Not just in Manchester, or the United Kingdom, but wherever football is played around the world.”

Manchester United was the first English team to play in the European Cup, and Charlton first played in the competition in that 1956-57 season. He scored against Real Madrid though a 2-2 draw in the semifinals, second leg in Manchester meant the defending champions advanced.

The “Busby Babes” had just qualified for another semifinal the next season, eliminating Red Star Belgrade, when the team airplane stopped at Munich to refuel. The plane overshot the runway and caught fire on its third attempt to take off in heavy snow.

Charlton was thrown clear of the wreckage and suffered only minor injuries in an accident that eventually took the lives of 23 of the 44 people on board.

Restoring Manchester United to greatness was a quest for Busby and Charlton, who scored twice in the 4-1 extra-time win over Benfica in the 1968 European Cup final at Wembley Stadium. England’s national stadium in London stages the next Champions League final on June 1.

Early exit?

Manchester United started this Champions League campaign in Munich and it has not been a happy return after playing last season in the second-tier Europa League.

Back-to-back defeats – 4-3 at Bayern Munich and twice wasting leads in a 3-2 loss at home to Galatasaray – have left United last in Group A and added pressure on manager Erik ten Hag.

Home and away games against Copenhagen in a 16-day spell ahead of the next break for national-team games are likely to be key to United’s chances of advancing.

One bright spot for Ten Hag is three goals in the group by 20-year-old forward Rasmus Højlund, who Copenhagen sold 21 months ago for a little over $2 million to Sturm Graz. His value had increased 40-fold when Manchester United agreed an $80 million transfer fee with Atalanta in August.

Arsenal also lost three weeks ago, 2-1 at Lens and now has back-to-back games against Sevilla, starting Tuesday in Spain. The Europa League title holder fired its coach José Luis Mendilibar after a slow start to the season including draws in its first two Group B games.

Newcastle soars

Newcastle also had a slow start to the season but has surged to an eight-game unbeaten run — including a 4-1 beating of Paris Saint-Germain — ahead of hosting Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday.

In its first Champions League campaign for 20 years, Newcastle is top of the blockbuster group that also includes seven-time champion AC Milan, which plays at PSG on Wednesday.

Defending champion Manchester City is cruising to the knockout rounds with two wins before going to Swiss champion Young Boys on Wednesday.

Bayern rolls on

If the Champions League group phase often seems predictable, Bayern Munich is one reason.

The German champion hasn’t lost a group game since 2017 and hasn’t dropped a point since 2020, though needed an 83rd-minute winning goal at Copenhagen three weeks ago. Next up Tuesday in Istanbul is Galatasaray.

In Germany this week, Leipzig hosts Red Star Belgrade on Wednesday after losing 3-1 to Man City.

Union Berlin’s debut Champions League campaign has been a story of heartbreak, losing to both Real Madrid and Braga on goals scored deep into added time. Union next hosts Napoli on Tuesday, when Madrid is at Braga.

Pointless so far

Benfica is along with Manchester United perhaps the biggest surprise among teams with no points after two games.

A quarterfinalist last season, and top-seeded in the group-stage draw, Benfica lost at home to Salzburg before a 1-0 defeat at Inter Milan. The Portuguese champion now hosts Real Sociedad.

Celtic aims to get off the mark at home to Group E leader Atletico Madrid. Royal Antwerp hosts Porto at its 100-year-old Bosuil Stadium where a two-goal lead was given up in a 3-2 loss to Shakhtar Donetsk.

Barcelona hosts Shakhtar on Wednesday seeking a third straight win.



All Eyes on Tsunoda at Japan GP After Ruthless Red Bull Move 

Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda of Japan smiles during a press conference in Tokyo, ahead of the Japanese Formula 1 Grand Prix, Wednesday, April 2, 2025.(Kyodo News via AP)
Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda of Japan smiles during a press conference in Tokyo, ahead of the Japanese Formula 1 Grand Prix, Wednesday, April 2, 2025.(Kyodo News via AP)
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All Eyes on Tsunoda at Japan GP After Ruthless Red Bull Move 

Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda of Japan smiles during a press conference in Tokyo, ahead of the Japanese Formula 1 Grand Prix, Wednesday, April 2, 2025.(Kyodo News via AP)
Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda of Japan smiles during a press conference in Tokyo, ahead of the Japanese Formula 1 Grand Prix, Wednesday, April 2, 2025.(Kyodo News via AP)

Yuki Tsunoda will be center of attention at his home Japanese Grand Prix this weekend after joining Max Verstappen at a Red Bull team desperate to reel in McLaren following their ominous start to the season.

Tsunoda was already a hero at Suzuka but his sudden promotion at the expense of Liam Lawson puts him under a whole new level of scrutiny as partner to the four-time world champion Verstappen.

Red Bull axed Lawson last week after the New Zealander's disastrous start to his debut season, which saw him fail to score any points in the first two race weekends.

The 24-year-old Tsunoda steps up from sister team RB, with Lawson moving the other way to the team he drove for last season.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has told the Japanese driver to get as "close as possible" to Verstappen, said Tsunoda, whose highest finish at a race is fourth in 2021 at Abu Dhabi for RB, then called AlphaTauri.

"In the end Red Bull Racing are focused on Max scoring a drivers' championship," Tsunoda told the BBC.

"He also promised me, in some situations, that if I'm able to be in front of Max that he wouldn't necessarily ask me to swap positions and make Max win."

Tsunoda said he will be happy if he can finish in the top 10 and score points on his Red Bull debut.

Now in his fifth Formula One season, he has shown pace this season.

He was 12th in the season-opener at Melbourne then picked up three points for coming sixth in the Shanghai Saturday sprint.

He only finished out of the points in the China main race because of RB's flawed two-stop pit strategy.

Red Bull's cars will have a special white livery at Suzuka in tribute to their partner Honda's maiden victory in Formula One, in Mexico in 1965.

Verstappen is second in the drivers' standings but Horner needs his ruthless driver change to kick-start Red Bull's constructors' championship campaign after ceding early ground to McLaren.

- Suzuka specialist Verstappen -

Australia's Oscar Piastri led teammate Lando Norris to a one-two in Shanghai, after the Briton took the chequered flag in Melbourne.

"Apart from Ferrari I don't think there's another team that has two drivers that push each other anywhere near as much," said Norris, who leads the drivers' championship on 44 points.

"For us, that's a huge advantage."

Norris is 12 ahead of Verstappen with Mercedes' George Russell third on 35 and Piastri on 34.

Verstappen has yet to win this season -- he was second in Melbourne, fourth in the Chinese GP and third in the Shanghai sprint.

But the Dutchman has won in Japan for the last three years in a row, clinching his second world championship there in 2022, and has spoken frequently of his love for the "old school" Suzuka circuit.

He romped home 12.5sec clear of Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez last season.

"Whenever I needed to go faster I could, whenever I needed to look after my tires I could," said Verstappen. "That's always a nice feeling."

Ferrari will be looking to get their season into gear in Japan after a calamitous outing in China two weeks ago.

The Italian team started the weekend on a high when Lewis Hamilton controlled the sprint from pole for his first win in Scuderia red.

But their joy turned to despair when the seven-time world champion and teammate Charles Leclerc were both disqualified from the main race for technical infringements.

Hamilton's former team Mercedes have made a solid start with a pair of third-placed finishes from Russell.

Teenage rookie Kimi Antonelli has also shown early promise, finishing fourth and sixth in his first two grands prix.