Vincent Kompany has issued strong criticism of Jose Mourinho over his reaction to Vinicius Jr’s accusation of alleged racist abuse in a Champions League play-off between Benfica and Real Madrid on Wednesday.

Kompany, the Bayern Munich manager, used a press conference to give an impassioned speech which drew on his own experiences of racism in football, and said Mourinho had made a “huge mistake” by “attacking the character” of Vinicius in the aftermath.

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Vinicius accused Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni, a 20-year-old Argentina international, of calling him a “monkey” in the wake of the Brazilian’s second-half goal for Madrid. The claims were backed up by his teammate Kylian Mbappe, who said he heard the abuse by Prestianni, who could be seen holding his shirt over his mouth during an exchange with Madrid players.

Vinicius reacted furiously to something said by Prestianni and alerted the match officials. The French referee, Francois Letexier, paused the game for 11 minutes after activating Fifa’s anti-racism protocols, although the action later continued with Prestianni on the field.

Fans inside the Estadio Da Luz loudly booed and jeered Vinicius throughout the remainder of the game, as Real Madrid saw out a 1-0 victory.

Prestianni now faces an investigation by Uefa. He has denied racially abusing Vinicius and claimed to have been misheard.

After the match, Benfica manager Mourinho blamed Vinicius for the confrontation and said the Brazilian had incited his players because he did not celebrate in a “respectful way”. Mourinho also claimed Benfica could not be considered guilty of racism because the club’s greatest player, Eusebio, was Black.

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“I told him that when you score a goal like that you just celebrate and walk back,” Mourinho said, of his conversation with Vinicius after the game. “And then when he was arguing about racism I told him the biggest person in the history of this club [Eusebio] was Black. This club, the last thing it is is racist, so if in his mind it was something in relation to that, this is Benfica.

“There is something wrong because it happens in every stadium. Every stadium that Vinicius plays, something happens. Always.”

Bayern Munich manager Kompany was asked for his take on the incident ahead of his team’s weekend game in the Bundesliga, and he responded with a long answer in which he defended Vinicius and tore into Mourinho’s response.

“When you watch the action itself and how Vini reacted, that reaction cannot be faked,” Kompany said. “You can see it was an emotional reaction. I don’t see any benefit for him to go to the referee and put all this misery on his shoulders. In that moment he saw that it was the right thing to do.

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“Kylian Mbappe normally always stays diplomatic, but he was very clear about what he saw and heard. Then there’s the Benfica player who was hiding what he was saying in his shirt. In the stadium you can see there were people [Benfica fans] doing monkey signs, it’s in the video.

“And for me, what happened after the game is even worse. Jose Mourinho has basically attacked the character of Vini Jr by bringing in the type of Vini’s celebration to discredit what he was doing at that moment. It was a huge mistake in terms of leadership.

“On top of that, Mourinho mentioned the name of Eusebio. He said Benfica cannot be racist because their best ever player was Eusebio. Do you know what Black players had to go through in the 60s? Was he there to travel with Eusebio every away game and see what he went through?”

Kompany said Mourinho has a positive reputation in the game and is “deep down a good person”, but suggested the Benfica manager had made a serious misjudgement with his reaction.

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“I met 100 people who worked with Jose Mourinho. I’ve never heard someone say something bad about Jose. All his players love him. I understand the person he is, I understand he fights for his club. I know deep down he’s a good person. I don’t need to judge him on that. But I also know what I’ve heard. I understand what he’s done, but he made a mistake. Hopefully it won’t happen again in the future, and we can move on together.”

Arshiya Das (Special Arrangements)

NEW DELHI: In a region where borders blur into mountains and valleys fold into one another, India’s Northeast has never lacked talent. What it has lacked, for decades, is attention. Its athletes have long defined a culture of discipline that rarely seeks validation from the mainland.And today, riding on India’s unequivocal chess boom, the Northeast has found its latest sensation.At 15, Tripura’s chess prodigy Arshiya Das recently became the first Woman International Master (WIM) from Northeast India. Playing in Serbia, she not only won the 42nd Rudar IM Round Robin tournament with a score of 6.5/9 but also completed her final WIM norm.

For India, it is another prodigy proving her worth in the world of chess. For the Northeast, it is a tectonic shift.“We are very happy because we know she is actually very dedicated to chess. It was her dream for a long time to become national champion. She became Under-15 National Champion in November last year. Then, in the Senior National Women’s Championships 2025, which is a big tournament, she got a bronze medal. We saw that she is at her peak. So we planned to send her to Europe because all the norms come from there,” Arshiya’s father Purnendu Das told TimesofIndia.com during an exclusive interaction.

Arshiya Das (Special Arrangements)

“Also, next year, she has 10th board exams, so things are getting tight. Before that, we planned this and sent her. She completed two norms, one in the first week of January, and this was the final norm.”Arshiya’s story began at the breakfast tableLike a plethora of Indian prodigies, Arshiya, born in March 2010, did not start in an academy or under a master coach. Rather, it began with her parents trying to get their child to eat breakfast and get ready for school.“This was around 2015. You know, when you have to make the children eat breakfast before sending them to school, you need to give them something in their hands, like a laptop or a mobile phone. So we used to give her a laptop so that she would eat her breakfast properly,” her father recalled.

Arshiya Das (Special Arrangements)

“When she would open the laptop, in Windows, there was a default chess game. She got used to sit with it. Then, one day, in a mall, she saw a chessboard and said, ‘This is the thing I saw on the laptop, I need this.’ So, I bought her a board. From there, her interest grew slowly.”From under-7 nationals to global exposureAt six, she finished in the top 10 in the Under-7 nationals. However, with an aim to better the scores, she participated again in the same tournament next year in 2017 and won bronze. The progress over a year was indeed noticeable, and it prompted the Das family to look at Arshiya’s potential with a sharper, more deliberate lens.“From Tripura, this was the first time someone got bronze and got selected for the World Cadet and Asian Youths to represent India,” her father added with palpable pride.International exposure followed as gold and bronze medals in Uzbekistan and a representation in the World Cadet Championship in Spain ensured her steady climb through India’s age-group hierarchy.

Arshiya Das (Special Arrangements)

When COVID shut down the circuit, Arshiya started playing online with unforeseen obsession.“During COVID, she played around 400-500 online tournaments and became champion in many of them. She utilised COVID very well,” Purnendu said.Training across IndiaFor a chess player in the Northeast, geography is the first opponent, not the one sitting at the other end of the board. For elite training, one must travel to Chennai, Kolkata, or Delhi. Agartala is an afterthought.“From the Northeast, coaching was always a problem. We had to go to Kolkata, Chennai, or Delhi,” her father admitted.And that is perhaps why her coaching journey spans local mentors Ramesh Koloi and Pradip Chaudhary, Apollosana Rajkumar in Manipur, FM Prasenjit Dutta, GM Saptarshi Roy Chowdhury in Kolkata, and the Gurukul system under GM RB Ramesh and WGM Aarthi in Chennai.Today, she trains with IM Kaustav Kundu and GM Swayams Mishra, attends Chola Chess Academy camps, and logs online hours with GM Jacob Aagaard’s Killer Chess Training.A family with purposeArshiya’s story is inseparable from her family’s sacrifices. Her father is an engineer. Her mother, Arnesha Das, stepped away from her own ambitions to aid the ambitions of their only child.“She wanted to join the Tripura Civil Service but sacrificed to support Arshiya,” her father told this website.

Family of Arshiya Das (Special Arrangements)

They live in government quarters in Agartala.“She studies in Holy Cross School, ICSE board, very tough. But school is very supportive with special notes and special classes. She missed the Class 9 exam due to Under-15 Nationals, but school promoted her and asked her to focus on board exams next year,” Mr Das revealed.Amid the hardships…The Das family is well aware of the financial burden that comes with steady improvement in ratings.“We depend on a government job. Flights from Agartala to Chennai are very expensive. She’s been playing since 2015, 11 years now. So it has already been a huge expenditure,” he added.“She once had a laptop problem. Sagar Shah (from ChessBase India) helped and got her a specially designed laptop for chess players. After that, her performance increased 50–60%. Before that, she used a Rs 35,000 laptop since 2016, but the battery changed four times.”But even amid the hardships, people have always come forward to help their cause.Dipa Karmakar, her coach, and many moreDipa Karmakar, the Olympic gymnast who put the city on the global sports map, is now the state’s sports director. She and her coach Bishweshwar Nandi personally trained Arshiya physically.In 2021, Arshiya received the Prime Minister’s Rashtriya Bal Puraskar for becoming the first and only girl chess player from the Northeast to receive an international gold medal.

PM Modi interacting with Arshiya Das (Special Arrangements)

But the latest WIM title is not the end of the road, as her current European tour is stitched together like a budget airline itinerary.“We planned five tournaments in one trip to save costs, and her mother is with her. After playing all five, she will return to Agartala on March 2,” Purnendu added.“We are definitely very happy, and in our state also, people associated with us, the sports minister sir, everyone is very happy that among girls from the Northeast, she is the first.”ALSO READ: No ecosystem in India, no problem: How 9-year-old Arshi Gupta became the youngest ever to join F1 Academy’s programmeBefore concluding, Arshiya’s father circled back to a recurring concern: “The Northeast lacks big companies for sponsorship. We request companies to support girl children in Northeast chess. Out of 91 Indian GMs, only 4 are women. We need to boost girls. PM schemes are coming. If companies support, Arshiya can become the first female GM from the Northeast.”

In seven weeks’ time, Tyson Fury makes his return to the fight scene, as he sets about his goal of becoming boxing’s fifth three-time heavyweight champion.

Ahead of his comeback, the 37-year-old has revealed a three-fight plan that would make for a ‘perfect’ 2026.

‘The Gypsy King’ retired for a fifth time when he was twice trumped by Oleksandr Usyk during 2024, costing him his WBC heavyweight world title, as well as his undefeated record.

Whilst many fans believed Fury’s retirement would finally be a genuine one, he has instead announced that he will return to the ring in April, taking on Russian powerhouse, Arslanbek Makhmudov, at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

In an interview with FurociTV, the two-time heavyweight unveiled a three-fight plan for 2026, that culminates in another retirement.

“The perfect year would be to smash Makhmudov to pieces, then smash Anthony Joshua to pieces and then win the world title at the end of the year, whether it is off Usyk or if it is off the Dubois-Wardley winner.

“That would be a good year, then I would retire again. Take two more years out, come back at 40 and do it all again, and so on and so forth.

“When boxing dies a death again, [I will] come back, bring it all back, bring the biggest broadcasting network in the world. Let’s go, 2026, here we come. Big year.”

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Despite Fury’s suggestions, Eddie Hearn has confirmed that, whilst Anthony Joshua will hopefully fight in July, he will take on an alternate heavyweight next, rather than Tyson Fury.

By Thursday morning, a lot had changed around Tottenham Hotspur. The Arsenal result from the night before had naturally sent a charge around the club, given that the derby is next up. They’ll suddenly be facing a team enduring their own crisis. This has been amplified by the shift that comes from a new coach, no matter who it is. While there have been questions about Igor Tudor, he has spent most of his time so far seeking to implement his own game model. It’s foundation-first.

There have already been a few quips about how Thomas Frank would have overly focused on Arsenal, a factor that had started to grate on some of those around the club.

They – and Arsenal – are also conscious of how the atmosphere on Sunday is going to be different. The toxicity that surrounded Frank will be gone, at least temporarily. The derby will only amplify this better mood.

That suddenly creates a new danger for Arsenal. This could be an especially bad week.

But that doesn’t mean there isn’t a longer-term risk for Spurs from some of this, and that goes beyond the threat of relegation.

This is the first time that a north London derby has involved both the title and survival since 1934-35, when Arsenal were champions and Spurs went down. Arsenal won those fixtures 5-1 and 0-6.

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This season feels very much up for grabs at both ends.

But if Frank occasionally overstated the exact quality of Arsenal, and recent results make even discussing it feel mistimed, Spurs would be unwise to ignore the wider point.

The club hierarchy is currently trying to figure out a way out of this unprecedented mess, but there is a good roadmap across north London.

The very fact that Arsenal are so disappointed right now is at once a sign of their progress. Better to be frustrated in a title race than nowhere near. They are competing.

Spurs chief executive Vinai Venkatesham should know about that journey better than anyone at the club, since he was on it.

The official was part of a wider team led by former executive vice-chair Tim Lewis, former sporting director Edu, the ownership and – of course – Mikel Arteta, in making Arsenal a serious operation again.

The hierarchy first stripped everything back, removing all old pretensions and hang-ups to rebuild anew. Arteta decided on an identity and went there.

Another irony in the eternal intertwining of these two clubs is that this Arsenal have almost represented an upscaled version of what Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham Hotspur were, right down to the style and an initial emphasis on youth.

Above all, though, Arsenal have had a clear sense of where they are going.

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Spurs haven’t really been able to say that since Pochettino took them to the Champions League final in 2019, but arguably even earlier.

Since the club lost the Argentine’s singular focus, they have been a mess of different ideas. It says much that all of 2025, 2023, 2021 and 2019 were cast as restarts when they really just perpetuated the same cycle.

A significant cause was the one constant at Spurs: Daniel Levy. The former chair is still widely respected in the game for how he gradually built the club, but there were increasing criticisms about how virtually everything at Tottenham was done according to his preferences. Even executives at Arsenal quipped about how it was Levy’s way rather than the Spurs way.

It arguably says more that, outside Pochettino’s time and brief bursts like Antonio Conte’s Champions League qualification or Ange Postecoglou’s Europa League triumph, the club has been most associated with a dismissive eponymous adjective: “Spursy”. They are now a club who receive most attention for things going wrong.

The ultimate example might be the Eberechi Eze negotiations, which was one of Levy’s last acts.

Except that the departure of someone as central as Levy has now naturally left a huge vacuum, and one that threatens to swallow up the whole club.

It is actually even worse than the obvious lack of decisiveness over Frank, and how the complete absence of a plan saw them allow a dysfunctional situation to become one where relegation is a genuine risk.

Put bluntly, Spurs have no idea what they are, and multiple sources insist there are still not enough football people at the club to figure this out.

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Those same sources point to how Tudor was previously a name raised by the former director of football, Fabio Paratici.

This is a club badly in need of ideas, and especially one central idea.

As is often the case, it’s impossible not to feel some of this should be obvious, to the point it’s almost boring to repeat in a media article.

Spurs themselves even pronounce it before every home match. There are the inevitable references to Danny Blanchflower’s famous speech proclaiming that “the game is about glory… about doing things in style and with a flourish”.

This again feels incredible to say about one of the wealthiest clubs in football, but it should not have taken them this long to decide on a football ideology that evokes this; to appoint managers and sign players that fit into this.

Again, it should be obvious, but it hasn’t been properly tried at Spurs in years.

One fair argument right now is that the club do not currently have the football expertise to start going about such a project. Other Premier League figures are insistent that Spurs won’t be able to properly do anything like that until there is a change in ownership.

The rumours there refuse to go away. Many potential buyers are said to be interested. The Lewis family, however, are still described as “capricious” on this subject.

And of course, it wouldn’t be modern Spurs without some other layer of complication.

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Although it is usually at this point, during one of their frequent coaching changes, that they try to start thinking about the future, the biggest danger is a sense of drift; this time could see them get cut adrift.

They have to stave off relegation. Even the mere risk of this can affect preparation for next season, as Spurs may have to start considering two different plans.

The target will still be the same. They want to return to Pochettino after the USA’s involvement in the 2026 World Cup ends.

The hierarchy feels the fanbase needs to be unified after such a divisive period, and there is no better candidate. Pochettino’s football ideal, to be fair, also fits into that kind of Blanchflower proclamation.

But should this be based around one man? Is that not a superficial plan in itself? Is it even the same man as in 2019, let alone 2014, when Pochettino offered the fire that was necessary?

There is yet another little twist in how Arteta suddenly faces up to precisely the problem that Pochettino did, and potentially peaking at the wrong time, of not taking the project to fulfilment.

Spurs could have a significant say in that – but they know the club needs to be about so much more. Arsenal are still going for everything, while their great rivals still just need something.

The Big West should receive just one NCAA Tournament bid, but three teams are currently within a game of each other atop the standings.

UC Irvine holds the top spot at 11-4 after defeating Long Beach State yesterday.

Hawaii and Cal State Northridge both have 10-5 conference records after losses on Thursday to Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara, respectively.

The Anteaters and Rainbow Warriors have the better overall records with meaningful games still on their slates, so we take a look at those two teams here.

The players at both Hawai’i and UC Irvine have easy access to the beach, but they find themselves in different basketball situations.

Hawai’i’s big men play a drop action in the pick-and-roll. This means the big man doesn’t defend the guard, but provides just enough of a presence to be annoying.

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If the ball handler gets hot from 15 feet, a post player pops for some threes, or if there’s a vertical threat, it can be beaten.

Since the Big West lacks elite athleticism, this defense is effective.

The other guiding principle, and the main one, is no-help defense. This forces the opponent to win one-on-one matchups, which is difficult for most college players.

The justification for this defense is that it helps stymie ball movement.

The Bows rank first in the nation, only allowing 9.0 assists per game this year. UH also ranked in the Top 25 in this same category a season ago.

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Hawai’i is also sixth in the country in defensive rating and 35th in points allowed per game.

Offensively, the Rainbow Warriors are decent, ranking 104th in points scored per contest.

They have four different players who average 10 points or more per game, led by center Isaac Johnson, who averages 13.4.

Head Coach Eran Ganot is on pace to lead Hawaii to its third 20-win season in the last four years, and has recorded just one losing season in his 11-year tenure as the coach at UH.

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UC Irvine (11-4, 18-9)

UC Irvine is like that reliable worker who always gets overlooked. Last year, if not for a missed point-blank layup, they would have won the NIT.

Scarcely any mid-major program will make the Big Dance each season like Gonzaga, but the Anteaters are back at the top of the Big West standings again in 2026.

Offensively, the ‘Eaters are led by Jurian Dixon, who averages 15.5 points per game.

Dixon has proven a bit inconsistent at times, but can also take over a game, as was the case with his 26-point explosion against CSU Bakersfield.

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The Big West Freshman of the Year in 2024-25 decided to stay after a tough end to his freshman season, aided by a bunch of players transferring out, meaning he would get more shots.

Irvine has two other players who average more than 10 points per game, and Kyle Evans is one of those guys.

But Evans isn’t known for his offense; he’s a defensive menace, leading the NCAA in blocked shots, averaging 3.35 blocks per contest.

He has 87 total denials on the year, 15 more than the second-place shot-blocker.

Evans’ defensive presence helps anchor a team that ranks seventh in defensive rating and 43rd in points allowed per game. He also averages 8.5 rebounds per contest.

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The third player averaging more than ten points per game is Derin Saran, who also averages 3.5 assists and 1.4 steals per contest.

Russell Turner has done a marvelous job at UC Irvine. Most of his players impact the game in multiple facets, a staple of a winning program.

Not surprisingly, he is the winningest coach in ‘Eaters history.

Writes about football and basketball as a Senior Writer and hosts “The Nick Bartlett Show” for SuperWest Sports.

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Following a light workout at Cranbourne and subsequent x-rays, the favoured Big Sky has been withdrawn from Victoria’s flagship two-year-old event.

The colt from the Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr stable was primed as the choice for the Group 1 Blue Diamond Stakes (1200m) on Saturday, though Price voiced concerns over the colt after his Friday morning canter at Cranbourne.

Thursday’s Racing Victoria vet barrier check had cleared Big Sky, as it did for all 20 declared runners.

Price’s optimism faded rapidly, however, within the next day as issues emerged with the colt’s stride.

“I had a little canter with him this morning and his action is not what it should be,” Price told SENTrack.

“We know by looking at the data, on Tuesday morning his stride was a little shorter than it should be, but I was looking more at knees this morning and we have had them x-rayed.

“There’s a little bit of immaturity near front, off-front, there’s enough there to say I need a second opinion of what’s going on with that knee.

“We think we can see a small little flake of bone in there.

“I’m not sure we need to do, but what I do know is that horse will not be running on Saturday and will be going to the paddock.”

Price noted that his approach remains consistent across the board, irrespective of whether it’s a premier Group 1 for juveniles or an ordinary mile maiden.

“I wouldn’t ask any horse to do anything I wasn’t 100 per cent happy with, especially a two-year-old baby,” Price said.

“He’s very talented, he might be a Group 1 horse as a three-year-old.

“Regardless of anything in the future, he will not run tomorrow, and the information is ‘black and white’.

“It is disappointing, but it would be disappointment times ten if I was to run him and get a poor result, number one, and to see him pull-up poorly number two.

“He’s a young horse and we need to look after him.”

Markets reacted swiftly, elevating stablemate Guest House to the fore at $4.60, in front of Unit Five ($5.50) and Closer To Free ($6.50).

After vet reviews, the filly Torture trained by Ben, Will and J D Hayes was barred from racing, but Tough Romance from Tony and Calvin McEvoy secured approval.

Phillip Stokes’ first emergency Stretan Ruler was stood down Thursday to contest the Group 2 Silver Slipper Stakes (1100m) at Rosehill Saturday.

Visit leading betting sites to check the updated betting markets for the race.