Cristiano Ronaldo is yet to win a major trophy since arriving in Saudi Arabia, and Al-Nassr will be hoping the 41-year-old Portuguese star returns to action on Wednesday to help the Riyadh club move closer to silverware.

Al-Nassr takes on Arkadag of Turkmenistan with a place in the quarterfinals of the Asian Champions League Two on the line.

Ronaldo hasn’t played any part in Al-Nassr’s most recent two games in the Saudi Pro League amid reports he was unhappy with the way the club is being funded, particularly after watching rival Al-Hilal sign Karim Benzema in last month’s transfer window.

Al-Nassr, Al-Hilal, Al-Ittihad and Al-Ahli are all majority owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.

In a statement, the SPL outlined that no player is bigger than the club or the league.

“The Saudi Pro League is structured around a simple principle: every club operates independently under the same rules,” the league said. “Cristiano has been fully engaged with Al-Nassr since his arrival and has played an important role in the club’s growth and ambition. But no individual – however significant – determines decisions beyond their own club.” 
Despite the absence of the five-time Ballon d’Or winner, Al-Nassr beat reigning champion Al-Ittihad 2-0 on Friday.

Ittihad is the only one of three Saudi teams in the top-tier AFC Champions League Elite not to have secured a place in the round of 16, with two group games remaining.

Despite losing star striker Karim Benzema last week to Al-Hilal, which has a history of making high-profile signings, including Neymar from Paris Saint-Germain in 2023, Ittihad will advance to the next round if it defeats Al-Gharafa of Qatar on Tuesday.

The top eight in each of the tournament’s two 12-team groups – divided geographically into East and West Asia – qualify for the second round.

Al-Hilal leads the western zone and is the only team with a perfect record of six wins from six, meaning coach Simone Inzaghi can choose to rest players. Al-Ahli, which won its first Champions League title in May, is also guaranteed a spot in the knockout stage.

In the eastern zone, only Vissel Kobe has clinched qualification, but Japan will have three teams in the round of 16 if both Sanfrecce Hiroshima and Machida Zelvia win this week.

The pressure is on China’s three representatives, which occupy the bottom three positions.

Chinese champion Shanghai Port is in last place and on the verge of being ousted from the tournament. Wins for Chengdu Rongcheng and Shanghai Shenhua would keep both teams in contention.

Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield were repeatedly accused of ducking the same former world champion, who eventually faced the latter in a long-awaited heavyweight clash.

Before that, Tyson and Holyfield were largely considered to be on a collision course, especially after ‘The Real Deal’ dethroned James ‘Buster’ Douglas in 1990.

Douglas had caused an almighty upset by knocking Tyson out, via a 10th-round finish earlier that year, to become the unified world heavyweight champion.

‘Iron Mike’, however, was able to swiftly bounce back with two first-round stoppages, while Holyfield became a two-weight world champion following his third-round finish over Douglas.

The former cruiserweight king was then ordered to defend his titles against Tyson, only for a lucrative battle with George Foreman to take priority instead.

Their collision in 1991 finally materialised after Foreman, who ended his decade-long retirement in 1987, had spent the past few years calling out both Holyfield and Tyson.

In the end, Holyfield came away with a unanimous decision victory, before losing to Riddick Bowe a year and a half later, while Tyson never locked horns with ‘Big George’.

According to Foreman, whose interview around that time has been shared by Combat Highlights, the two American heavyweights wanted no part of him whatsoever.

“I’m not fighting Mike Tyson [and] I’m not fighting Evander Holyfield, because they are afraid of me. Let’s get that straight.

“They’re going to fight each other, because they’re small guys and they don’t want to fight Big George.

“I’ve gotten into the ring with guys and I’ve seen them turn their back, and run; I mean literally turn their backs on me and run.”

Holyfield went on to complete his iconic trilogy with Bowe and secure a sizable upset victory against Tyson, stopping him in the 11th round of their first encounter in 1996.

There may end up being just six or seven fights at the White House this summer, despite Donald Trump claiming “eight or nine championship” bouts are in the UFC’s plans for 14 June.

That is the provisional date for an unprecedented fight card, which would mark a unique celebration of the US president’s 80th birthday and 250 years of his nation’s existence

And Mr Trump suggested in December: “They’re gonna have eight or nine championship fights, the biggest fights they’ve ever had. Every one’s a championship fight, and everyone’s a legendary type of fighter.

“[UFC president Dana White] is actually holding back fights right now, for six months, so he can do it for [14] June.”

But according to Ari Emanuel – the CEO of the UFC’s ownership group, TKO – that might have been an optimistic prediction by Mr Trump, or changes might have been made since then.

“Dana’s working on it right now,” Emanuel said on The Pat McAfee Show. “There’s going to be, approximately, six to seven fights, 14 June.

“He hasn’t said to us what the card is gonna be, but I know they’re working pretty hard at it right now […] It’s gonna be CBS, Paramount+. I mean, I don’t know who is not watching that fight [card].”

Mr Trump had also said, “I think the arena’s gonna be 5,000 or 6,000 seats, right in front of the front door of the White House, and 100,000 people in the back, where they’re putting up eight or 10 very big screens.”

But Emanuel suggested: “At the White House, I think it’s 3,000-4,000 [attendees], and then there will be other areas [to watch the fights].”

UFC president White has said the Octagon will be built on the South Lawn, and he previously hinted at “snipers” while discussing security measures. Furthermore, there will be no ticket sales, per TKO president Mark Shapiro.

Currently, no regular UFC champions are scheduled to defend their titles at any upcoming events. On 7 March, Max Holloway will defend the “Baddest Motherf*****” belt against Charles Oliveira, but none of the official, divisional titles are linked to scheduled fights.

The only title bout so far this year have seen Alexander Volkanovski retain his featherweight belt against Diego Lopes and Justin Gaethje win the interim lightweight strap against Paddy Pimblett. Kayla Harrison was due to defend her bantamweight title against Amanda Nunes in January, but the champion suffered an injury that derailed the fight.

Jon Jones and Conor McGregor are among the former champions to have called for a spot on the White House card, but White has been coy on their involvement. White suggested that Jones, who retired last summer after a career full of legal troubles and failed drug tests, might not be reliable, while McGregor has had his own legal issues since his last fight five years ago.

Team India (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

Former West Indies cricketer Ian Bishop warned that England are one of the most dangerous teams in the T20 World Cup because of their powerful batting and smart bowling options. Speaking on JioStar’s show, he said, “We’ve seen across franchise cricket that experience counts for a lot. And sometimes, we’re still trying to work out whether this is an old man’s game or a young man’s game. England are one of the teams that scare me… because they’ve got so much power. Their philosophy, starting with Harry Brook, is very similar, boundary and six-hunting quite often.”

Bishop also praised England’s bowling attack and their ability to use the field cleverly. He added, “Jofra Archer will bring some much-needed cutting edge to that England line-up… Adil Rashid… is still playing very, very well. Jacob Bethell is another one who can throw his name into the mix. They are scoring, utilising areas that traditionally have not yielded runs for many teams, which is part of why they scare me.”England showed that strength in a close four-run win over Nepal in Mumbai. Jacob Bethell and captain Harry Brook shared a key partnership and scored half-centuries, helping England reach 184 runs. Jos Buttler also climbed the list of top T20 World Cup run-scorers.Nepal chased bravely, with Rohit Paudel and Dipendra Singh Airee putting pressure on England. However, England’s bowlers took crucial wickets at the right time, and despite a late push from Lokesh Bam, Nepal fell just short, finishing on 180/6.

David Benavidez wants nothing more than to fight the best and, with his star power growing and the WBC Light-Heavyweight World title around his waist, he is becoming hard to ignore.

‘El Monstro’ is set to move up in weight again this summer, facing Gilberto Ramirez for the WBO and WBA belts at cruiserweight. He is then planning to drop back down to 175lbs to face Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev. Both Russians have expressed their interest in fighting with the 29-year-old pressure fighter.

Despite big main events on the horizon, Benavidez has still failed to secure the signature of Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, and that is something that will always irk him.

Asked on The Danza Project if he felt not fighting Alvarez would leave a hole in his career, Benavidez said yes.

“100%. Always in boxing, or whatever sport, everybody has their arch nemesis. Canelo is my arch nemesis, basically. That’s exactly how it’d be. It’d be an unfortunate moment that never happened in boxing. If it doesn’t happen, there’s really nothing I can do about it.”

Benavidez – who has campaigned for the fight for a number of years now – then admitted that the delay has already seen it lose some appeal, given Alvarez’s loss to Terence Crawford last year.

“[Crawford] took a lot away from it. At the time Crawford beat him, Canelo was basically looking invincible. If I could’ve got in there, beat him, it would’ve been more of an impact. Now that Crawford came in and beat him, you don’t know what Canelo is gonna show up – if he’s gonna be extremely prepared or he doesn’t really seem like he’s hungry.”

Despite the consistent calls from both fans and Benavidez to make the fight happen, Canelo has demonstrated that he will make his own decisions in the sport. With a September return date locked in, and a shot at one of his previous super-middleweight world titles likely, it’s anybody’s guess whether or not he will venture back up to light-heavyweight again.

If he does so, he has made it clear that a rematch with Dmitry Bivol is higher on his list than facing Benavidez.

For the $300,000 Expressway Stakes at Randwick this Saturday, Chris Waller has nominated three standout stablemates, yet it’s doubtful they’ll all line up together.

The 1200-metre Group 2 race, featuring 10 entries including Joliestar, Angel Capital and Lady Shenandoah, provides a platform toward Group 1 objectives on the following run, while Waller assesses his options.

“We have got three ace cards for the Expressway, including Angel Capital and Joliestar, so I don’t want to run all three,” Waller said.

“I want to try to hold one back. I don’t know which one, possibly Lady Shenandoah.

“She could run in the mares’ race, the Triscay (Stakes), or run the following week in the Millie Fox.”

That said, Waller is set to send out three contenders for the Expressway Stakes, spearheaded by Lazzura, a four-year-old eyeing the Coolmore Classic, starting her autumn campaign.

“She’s had a couple of Group One placings and hasn’t had a lot of luck with a couple of them. She jarred up a bit in Melbourne with the firm tracks in the spring,” Waller said.

Last Saturday at Randwick, Lazzura and Lady Shenandoah, who are in the 13-horse nominations for the $250,000 Group 3 Triscay Stakes (1200m), completed 1000m exhibition gallops.

Aeliana, Autumn Glow, Lindermann and Trinity College also engaged in those workouts, which Waller described as helpful for sharpening their condition.

“The day out, the hot weather, the trip home, they’ve been away from the freed bin for six hours. It’s all part of tightening them up,” Waller said.

“It just saves the hard workouts and it saves getting behind. It’s easier to be well ahead. You just can’t play catch up with horses, so being well prepared and exhibitions gallops show everything has gone to plan and there have been no setbacks.

“If I don’t give them an exhibition gallop, it’s either a rushed prep or I just didn’t have time to do it how I wanted to do it.

“It gives them a chance to have a bit of a sweat, break the skin. Then next week they’ll come back and they’ll be picture perfect.”

In the $300,000 Group 2 Apollo Stakes (1400m), Waller lists nine entries such as Autumn Glow, Aeliana, Lindermann and Trinity College, possibly alongside Antino, Ceolwulf and Stefi Magnetica.

Visit the racing betting markets for competitive offers on the upcoming Expressway Stakes.

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