Julian Alvarez and Alexander Sorloth struck as Atletico Madrid stunned 10-man Barcelona to win the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final 2-0.

Alvarez curled home a stunning free-kick after the dismissal of Pau Cubarsi and Sorloth tightened Atletico’s grip on the tie with a second 20 minutes from time at the Nou Camp on Wednesday.

Barca, who beat the same opponents in LaLiga on Saturday, were left to rue a series of missed chances both before and after Cubarsi’s red card for hauling down Giuliano Simeone.

Marcus Rashford went close on several occasions, but was unable to find a way past Atletico goalkeeper Juan Musso.

In the Europa League, Cucho Hernandez’s second-half penalty earned Real Betis a 1-1 draw in the first leg of their quarter-final at Braga.

Florian Grillitsch had got the hosts off to a fast start with a clever finish after five minutes, but Betis responded well and hit the post through Marc Bartra while Lukas Hornicek denied Hernandez.

The Spanish side levelled just after the hour when Hernandez converted from the spot after Abde Ezzalzouli was fouled.

New customers can claim the Tote Grand National offer from one of the UK’s leading horse racing betting sites ahead of the 2026 Grand National.

As one of the best betting sites when it comes to horse racing, Tote stands out from the crowd due to their unique pool betting system.

Tote undeniably offers a one-of-a-kind betting approach for horse racing, it has branched out to provide a top-tier sportsbook and online casino.

Punters looking for a Grand National offer will find plenty to like about Tote’s Grand National betting offers, which includes its bet £10, get £40 betting sign up offer for new users.

Tote Grand National Offer: Bet £10, get £40 Grand National free bets

New customers looking to claim the Tote Grand National offer must open an account using the Tote promo code B10G40CF to receive the £40 free bets.

The bonus is split up into the following denominations; £20 in Tote credit to bet on horse racing, £10 in free bets for the sportsbook and 2x £5 football acca bets. The £20 racing bonus can be used for Tote Grand National betting.

To claim the latest Tote sign up offer, follow our step-by-step guide below.

Tote Grand National Offer: Key terms and conditions

New customers need to be aware of some key terms and conditions when signing up for the Tote Grand National offer if they want to make sure they receive their Tote Grand National free bets.

Below, we have run through some of the key T&Cs for the Tote Aintree offer (though as a reminder, full terms and conditions are available on the Tote website):

Tote Grand National Offer: Money back if 2nd in selected races

Tote are giving punters their money back on selected races during the three-day Grand National Festival at Aintree.

Bettors will have their stake refunded in free bets – up to a maximum payout of £10 – if they back a horse and it finishes second. To benefit from this promotion, first opt into the offer, which can be found on Tote’s promotions page.

Next, place a win or each-way bet on the money-back race chosen by Tote at Aintree.

If your horse finishes second, Tote will refund your stake as a free bet (up to £10).

Tote Grand National betting offers

Tote also provides a suite of additional horse racing promotions for the Grand National Festival:

Tote Guarantee: Customers will always get paid at least the Starting Price (SP) on a selection, and if the Tote dividend pays more than the SP, you get the bigger return. This is Tote’s version of a ‘best odds guaranteed’ promo.

Stayers Club Offers: Earn £10 in free horse racing bets each week as a member of Tote’s Stayers’ Club. Stayers Club members also get placepot insurance and expert insight from Andrew Mount, with his Tote racing Grand National tips delivered directly via email.

Live Streaming: Tote customers can watch every race from Aintree for free via their live streaming service. In fact, bettors who have made one deposit can watch every UK and Irish meeting.

Responsible gambling

If you decide to engage with any of the Grand National free bet offers,remember to gamble responsibly.

Betting should only ever be considered a form of entertainment – it will never be a surefire way to make money.

When taking advantage of the Tote Grand National offer, assume you’ll lose and therefore, only wager what you can afford. Please take steps to remain in control of your time and budget.

Make sure you use the responsible gambling tools offered by gambling sites such as deposit limits, reality checks, loss limits and time outs. These can stop gambling from getting out of hand.

The same applies if you’re using new casino sites, slot sites, poker sites or any other form of gambling.

If you have gambling-related concerns, then seek independent help. There are several UK charities and institutions that offer support, advice and information, with a few listed below:

We may earn commission from some of the links in this article, but we never allow this to influence our content. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.

Los Angeles Angels designated hitter Jorge Soler and Atlanta Braves pitcher Reynaldo López are both facing seven-game suspensions from MLB in the wake of their fight that cleared the benches and bullpens on Tuesday night, and they’re both appealing, according to multiple reports Wednesday.

Less than an hour after the news broke about those impending bans, Soler went yard again in Angel Stadium against the Braves.

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In his first at-bat since of the series finale, Soler teed off on an 84 mph slider from Atlanta’s Grant Holmes and sent the ball 402 feet to left-center field. The solo shot made it a 2-1 game in the second inning.

Earlier on Wednesday, Grace Davison set a new Irish Senior and Championship record of 54.45 in the 100m freestyle heats to reach Commonwealth Games and European consideration and while slightly slower in the final with a time of 54.88, it was enough to claim gold

The 18-year-old Ards swimmer finished ahead of Larne’s Danielle Hill whose 55.92 is also enough for Commonwealth Games consideration, while National Centre Ulster’s Victoria Catterson finished third in 56.12.

“I’m really happy with that (day), but if I’m honest I’m probably a little bit disappointed with tonight, I wanted to go a bit quicker, I was 54.4 this morning and 54.8 there,” Davison reflected.

“But it’s all learning for me and I think a big thing for me is learning to be quicker in the morning, so when I do go to the international stage I can progress through the rounds, so if anything, it’s interesting to see that I can go quicker in the morning than in the final.

“I’m really happy to get all those times out of the way on the first day of the competition, it’s pretty cool.”

In the Open 100m freestyle final, Limerick swimmer Evan Bailey took gold in 48.98 with Bangor’s James Ward second and Lisburn City’s Matthew Hamilton third.

Jack Cassin claimed the 200m butterfly title with a personal best and championship record of 1:57.05, finishing ahead of team-mate Paddy Johnston and UCD’s Sean Donnellan.

Templeogue’s Ellen Walshe won the 200m butterfly title in 2:09.74 – under the consideration time for the European Aquatics Champinships – with National Centre Ulster’s Alana Burns Atkin second and Eve Leleux third.

Clare Custer won the 800m freestyle title in 8:52.63, finishing ahead of Bangor team-mates Chloe Stewart and Eva Hand with visitor Fleur Lewis of Loughborough University first home in the race with a time of 8:48.33.

Competition continues tomorrow (Thursday) through to Sunday.

The first thing that strikes you about Augusta National, as is probably to be expected from all the still and video images you’ve seen over the years, is the sheer greenness.

Every shade of green; the nuances provided by the dappled light of early April here on the border between Georgia and South Carolina. There are emerald, celadon, jade and seafoam greens, mint and sage if the sun catches the slope right, a verdant equivalent of the diamond-like shimmer found on the ocean waves.

And with every perfectly groomed curve, every neatly-coiffured undulation you proceed to the next level of understanding Augusta. The attention to detail. The perfection of it all.

There is not much to be written about this golf course and this tournament that has not been written before, least of all when it is your first time on Augusta National’s hallowed grounds and you are still coming to terms with its blooming azaleas and towering pines. But as every golf fan who has yet to come here dreams of their first stroll down Magnolia Lane, mouth agog as you lightly meander through other gawpers, covering your first Masters brings with it the opportunity to finally discover the course for yourself. A televisual artefact made life, a sporting holy grail that you can explore and touch and smell.

First of all, though, one must contend with the rules. No phones. No cameras (well, not after the practice rounds finish today) so there is no real way to memorialise your weekend in this golfing Mecca except the old-fashioned method of stashing them in your hippocampus and hoping you remember them faithfully. Many patrons, it would seem, have decided that the best way to remind themselves that they were at the Masters is via merchandise, hence a queue for the golf shop that stretches beyond 45 minutes. I am sure it is nice in there, but I won’t be waiting long enough to find out. At least not today.

Considering the true competition starts tomorrow, that very serious, century-old golf tournament that so many of these players have grown up dreaming of winning, it’s slightly odd that Wednesday has such a casual feel. The Par 3 Tournament obviously plays into that, with kids, family members and celebrities caddying or even putting. Instead, some golfers choose to grind extensively on the driving range, with Ludvig Aberg dropping out of the par 3 and hitting more shots on the practice area than anybody else on Wednesday. Others choose to take to the course, be it the Hojgaard brothers enjoying a special practice round they would never have imagined possible growing up in Denmark or Zach Johnson relentlessly practicing out of the sand on the second hole’s greenside bunkers.

These are the things you don’t see on television, and they start drawing you in to feel a little bit closer to Augusta. You can observe the player’s families going about their business, the smile and relaxation that melts away into nerves or frustration as the days progress. There are well-known media faces enjoying their last day of relative freedom before their own professional grind begins. Feverishly behind the scenes, a sprawling team keeps Augusta oiled and functioning.

It must be said that – again, fully as advertised – the service and staff around the course are as friendly and helpful as it is possible to be, without ever feeling overbearing or saccharine.

And that comes back to the great achievement and wonderful paradox of Augusta and the Masters – to make something so utterly exclusive feel so friendly and welcoming, an event that must be so chaotic and difficult to wrangle feels utterly serene.

All the while, this venue of such tradition, that guards its history fiercely, is also secretly always modernising. When players mentioned the trip from the clubhouse to the first tee was quite long, AGNC built tunnels under the practice range to make it shorter. When a tournament director felt the sight of golf buggies delivering supplies to food and beverage outlets was somewhat gauche and unsightly, they made it into a tunnel network. Things simply appear where they’re supposed to be, be that another pimento cheese sandwich on the shelf or Tommy Fleetwood’s hole-in-one this afternoon as his son Frankie caddied for him. No expense is spared in constantly improving, modernising and finding efficiencies at a tournament known for its old-timer feel, and that might be the secret sauce.

The true competition starts on Thursday, when the immaculate fairways will give way to divots and the pristine waters of Ike’s pond will be punctured by wayward tee shots.

Until then, as the sun goes down on Wednesday at Augusta, the perfect bentgrass is too well-kempt to even sway in this light breeze.

After Rory McIlroy’s historic win here last year there is a distinct lack of the tension that has hung over preceding warm-up days. The major story of this year’s tournament is yet to reveal itself and there doesn’t feel an obvious narrative to follow quite yet.

There is a main character, though.

There always is at the Masters, and it’s always Augusta National.

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Fred Ridley had his annual State of the Masters press conference Wednesday morning. (Tradition, tradition.) The club chairman sat in the middle of a windowless auditorium with a familiar face sitting to his left, Tom Nelson, the tournament’s media chairman. But to his right there was a new one, in that seat: Geoff Yang, an Augusta National member and a longtime USGA rules official. Yang, a tech investor from Northern California, is in his first year as the chairman of the competition committees, a position Ridley had all through the years Billy Payne was chairman of the club.
 
In this role, Yang serves as the ultimate rules official for the tournament, among other duties, including course setup. It is the ultimate behind-the-curtains position. You won’t see him, but you’ll see what he does.
 
Ridley took questions from 14 different media members Wednesday. Yang took one. It came from Jerry Tarde, the longtime editor of Golf Digest.
 
“We have the portraits of the founders staring at us on the wall here,” Tarde said. “What do you think would surprise Jones the most if he came back?” There was a little more after that, but that was the thrust of it.
 
There are two founders of the club, Cliff Roberts, a Midwestern banker, and Bob Jones, the great amateur who designed the course with the architect Alister MacKenzie.

“I think Jones would be amazed by a lot of things,” Yang said, “including how far people are hitting the ball and the level of athlete involved in the game. And I think the conditions have adapted to try to maintain those skills. I don’t think it would be any one thing. I think everything is a little bit of a reaction to where the game has gone.”

The response alone tells you that Yang can do careful and thoughtful when his public life calls for careful and thoughtful. What you wouldn’t know from that response is that Yang, who studied engineering at Princeton, has wry sense of humor with any eye for nuance and irony. Top rules officials — and Yang is now the Masters’ top rules official — typically seek to settle any rules debate in a binary way. A rule was broken, or not. When any of the four men’s Grand Slam events has a rules controversy it reverberates throughout golf, and that is especially true at the Masters.

There are still people talking about a drop Arnold Palmer took on Masters Sunday on the par-3 12th hole in 1958. Ken Venturi, Palmer’s playing partner that day, groused about the legality of that drop for decades, even though Bob Jones said Palmer’s drop was done correctly during play. That was the first of Palmer’s four wins in the tournament.

There are still people talking about the 1968 Maters, won by Bob Goalby after the great Argentine golfer Roberto De Vicenzo signed an incorrect Sunday scorecard. Had he signed for a correct score, Goalby and De Vicenzo would have played in an 18-hole playoff for the title. But that did not happen and Goalby walked off with a green club coat. Roberts sat with both men during a Butler Cabin interview and said to De Vicenzo that “in our hearts we will always regard you as one of the two winners of this tournament, without taking anything away from the new Masters champion.” That comment got deeply under Goalby’s skin — there was, under unfortunate circumstances, one winner — and remained there for years, until the annoyance finally gave way to acceptance.
 
In 2013, in the Saturday round, Tiger Woods took an incorrect drop after his second shot into the 15th green ricocheted off the flagstick and into a water hazard. Per the rules then, he could have been disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard. Ridley, in the role Yang has now, ultimately decided to give Woods a two-shot penalty. Still gets discussed and analyzed.
 
This week, and in the years to come, Yang will face new rules questions, ones that will influence the outcome of the tournament. You won’t see much of Yang or hear much from him. But the rulebook rides herd over every aspect of this event, and any serious golf event. The Augusta National philosophy is to try to prevent rules problems before they happen or get out of hand. That’s what Jones did with Palmer in 1958. Yang, in his own way, will be asking a long series of questions: what do the rules say — and what would Jones do?