Check out these photos Cris Cyborg’s superfight title victory over Larissa Pacheco at PFL: Battle of the Giants, which took place at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (Photos courtesy of PFL MMA)
Sport
Aston Villa 1 Bayern Munich 0: Jhon Duran scores stunning goal to seal biggest win in hosts’ recent memory
THERE was 1980s nostalgia in the air at Villa Park – so trust the bloke called Duran to bring the house down.
Aston Villa 1 Bayern Munich 0 is the most famous scoreline in the history of this great football club – ever since the night Peter Withe won them the European Cup in Rotterdam 42 years ago.
That was when Birmingham’s own Duran Duran were a permanent fixture at the top of the charts.
Jhon Duran, Aston Villa’s extraordinary supersub, always leaps off the bench, hungry like the wolf.
And he netted a spectacular late winner – his sixth goal of the season, and his fifth as a sub – to recreate the result of Villa’s finest ever victory.
With two wins and two clean sheets in this monumental Champions League group, Villa are proving themselves well worthy of a place back on European football’s grandest stage.
As Villa Park rattled and hummed with noise – with the words from the TV commentary of Withe’s winner plastered across the Doug Ellis Stand – here was a night worth waiting more than four decades to enjoy.
Bayern may have dominated for long periods but Villa defended manfully, had a first-half Pau Torres effort ruled out and ought to have seen Bayern defender Dayot Upamecano sent off before the break.
Whatever your opinion of the new group-stage format – and if you think it’s any good, then you’re wrong – this was one fixture, one occasion, which dripped with meaning.
Villa’s first home fixture in Europe’s elite competition in 41 years, and against the club they defeated to capture the trophy.
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The air was acrid with pyrotechnics and a huge banner was unfurled in front of the Holte End but in truth they didn’t need any gimmicks – Villa Park provides one of the last great authentic atmospheres in English football.
The old place rattled and hummed but the Germans had a strut on, bossing possession, making obvious they were the club who belonged in this tournament, and who’d won their opening match 9-2.
You only had to look at Bayern’s bench to recognise their immense strength – Jamal Musiala, Thomas Muller, Leroy Sane, Leon Goretzka, Joao Palhinha – never mind the 11 blokes Vincent Kompany had actually selected to start.
And the visiting fans were certainly in high spirits, with one caught on camera appearing to prepare to snort a substance off his hand.
Harry Kane had been passed fit after an ankle injury and his early header forced Emi Martinez to save with his boot, yet the England skipper was offside.
Villa were relying on counter-attacks and Dayot Upamecano was having kittens trying to deal with the pace of Ollie Watkins.
First the Bayern defender bundled Watkins over only for Romanian ref Radu Petrescu to wave play on.
The next time Villa broke, Watkins turned Upamecano again, was dragged down and Petrescu showed the yellow card he ought to have brandished the first time around.
The popularity of the match officials went down another notch when Villa were denied an opener by VAR.
A Lucas Digne up and under caused chaos and Pau Torres stabbed in. The Holte End went berserk and even the Prince of Wales was caught on camera punching the air.
Yet even the heir to the throne has no authority over UEFA’s robot linesmen, who spotted that Jacob Ramsey was marginally offside in the build-up.
Ramsey had to limp off soon after, replaced by Leon Bailey, who had been surprisingly dropped in favour of youngster Jaden Philogene in a bold call from Emery.
When Watkins broke again, the flailing Upamecano cleared only as far as Amadou Onana, who shot straight at Manuel Neuer.
Bayern had been rocking but began to reassert their authority.
Serge Gnabry dashed down the right and drilled into the side-netting when he ought to have centred for Kane, who swore at him heartily in English, not German.
Soon, Michael Olise’s curler from outside the box was tipped over by Martinez.
And the half ended with more eccentric refereeing from Petrescu, who refused to book Kane for wrestling over Morgan Rogers to halt a breakaway in what was one of the most obvious yellow-card offences it is possible to imagine.
At half-time, Kompany sent on Musiala for Kingsley Coman and Bayern continued to hog the ball – Ezri Konsa survived a penalty shout for handball and Olise had a couple of shots blocked.
Emery responded to Bayern’s dominance with a double change – ruthlessly subbing sub Bailey in the process.
His replacement, Ian Maatsen, then rifled a shot over after some neat work from Youri Tielemans.
But Musiala was finding his dancing feet, bobbing and weaving his way through half the Villa team to win a corner.
Next, Emery withdrew Watkins and sent on Duran and nine minutes later his moment arrived.
Martinez rolled out the ball to Torres who sent a through-ball up the right allowing Duran to lash home a first-time shot past the stranded Neuer.
Bayern continued to press but somebody must have saved a prayer for Villa.
Speaking after the game, captain Martinez revealed boss Emery was the mastermind behind Duran’s delight chip over Neuer.
He said: “We knew Neuer plays high. We watched a lot of movies with the manager this morning. He had that in his mind.”
On Duran’s impact, Martinez added: “He came back with a different mentality this season. He’s willing to work hard, he’s pushing Ollie all the way, they can play together.
“He’s a super sub, the first time he touched the ball, he lobbed Neuer, one of the best goals in history.”
Martinez also opened up over denying Kane on several occasions as he hailed Villa’s defence.
The World Cup winner said: “You know with Harry Kane, you know that he’s always going to hit on target at some point in the game so I’ve working a lot with moving and making saves.
“We are committed [more] defensively Champions League, we need to transmit that into the Premier League now, we are conceding some sloppy goals in the Premier League, we need to find that balance, we know we can keep clean sheets so we move on from here.”
On the result and Villa fans’ celebrations, he added: “It’s a statement, there’s still a lot to play. We want to qualify in the first eight, in the top eight, it’s one step at a time.
“We’ve got Bologna at home now in our second game, we are probably more relaxed but we want to win every game.
“It’s unreal to be fair. This is the loudest Villa Park that I’ve heard since I joined the club, that’s for sure, it was hurting my ears at some point. It’s a club that is moving forward.
“It’s the main reason why I stay in this football club. I love playing here, I love the fans, this is a win for them.”
Manager Emery was also full of praise for Duran, saying: “We’re working with him, but most important is his attitude and commitment now with us. He changed a lot in his mind, he’s being focused each minute he’s playing.”
He continued: “Try to enjoy the way. We want to keep it for long time, playing consistent in Europe.
“It’s very important defensively to be strong. Emi Martinez did amazing job, Carlos & Konsa were fantastic and others. Both players they needed to improve playing together.”
Sport
Conor McGregor loses huge $500,000 bet in just three minutes of Francis Ngannou’s MMA return fight
CONOR McGREGOR lost $500,000 in just three minutes after backing Francis Ngannou to LOSE his MMA return.
Ngannou made his cage comeback after two years away against 6ft 8in Brazilian Renan Ferreira in Saudi Arabia.
And it came just seven months after he was brutally knocked out in the boxing ring by Anthony Joshua in two rounds.
McGregor whacked a huge $500,000 (£380,000) on Ferreira and said: “Hello, folks, The Notorious Conor McGregor here.
“Fight night, fight night, fight night… the Mac is back with his winning bets.
“I have a 100 per cent winning ratio on these bet. Ngannou is losing by KO tonight.
“12/5 the Brazilian is to knock him out and I’m putting half a million on it and I’m going to win back $1.7million. That’s it.
“It’s a ruthless business and I’m a ruthless man.”
But despite McGregor’s hot-streak, it came to a crashing end in just a round.
Ngannou, 38, took Ferreira, 34, down before hammering him with vicious ground and pound till the referee had seen enough.
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It sealed a successful return to MMA for Ngannou and got him off to winning ways under the Professional Fighters League.
And it was also Ngannou’s first fight and victory since the tragic death of his 15-month-old son Kobe.
He tearfully dedicated the win to Kobe and said: “I can’t think about anything other than my son, Kobe.
“I only took this fight because of him, I took the fight for him. I hope they can remember his name because without Kobe, we wouldn’t be here tonight. I wouldn’t have fought.”
MMA
‘The real f*cking heavyweight champ’: Pros react to Francis Ngannou’s triumphant return at PFL Battle of the Giants
Francis Ngannou is picking up right where he left off.
In his first fight under MMA rules since January 2022, “The Predator” added to his collection of memorable knockouts with a first-round finish of Renan Ferreira in the PFL Battle of the Giants main event on Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Ngannou signed with the PFL in May 2023 after parting ways with the UFC—having never lost that promotion’s heavyweight title in the octagon—but booked a pair of high-profile boxing bouts with Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua before finally competing for the league. He didn’t disappoint, needing less than a round to take Ferreira to the mat and finish with power punches on the ground that left the 2023 PFL tournament champion limp.
Praise for Ngannou came from all corners of the combat sports world, with fellow PFL signing Jake Paul calling him “The real f*cking heavyweight champ” and calling for a matchup between Ngannou and UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones.
See more of the best reactions from social media below.
Let’s fucking go Francis . The real fucking heavyweight champ!!!
— Jake Paul (@jakepaul) October 19, 2024
Francis Ngannou vs Jon Jones. That’s what I want. That’s what you want. Repost this now
— Jake Paul (@jakepaul) October 19, 2024
I love Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic.
But don’t forget the last time Stipe fought he was KOd by Francis Ngannou.
So no matter who wins that fight, the top heavyweight is Francis
— Jake Paul (@jakepaul) October 19, 2024
That’s some king shit. They tried to underpay pay him but he had the balls to find his way out. Respect Francis #Kobe
— Jake Paul (@jakepaul) October 19, 2024
UFC has zero competition in MMA.
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) October 19, 2024
So happy for Francis. After everything he been through. Massive love to him and his family. He did it for Kobe.
— Modestas Bukauskas (@balticgladiator) October 19, 2024
Motorsports
Acosta out of MotoGP Australian GP with shoulder injury
Pedro Acosta will miss Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix thanks to left shoulder trauma resulting from his crash in Saturday’s MotoGP sprint race.
The Tech3 KTM rookie dislocated his shoulder when he fell on lap 11 of 13 at Phillip Island. Although nothing was broken, the 20-year-old was declared unfit following further medical checks on Sunday morning.
Despite some flashes of pace for the rider who took pole position last time out in Japan, a poorly-timed qualifying run meant he only qualified 15th, his worst starting position of the year.
The Spaniard had only progressed as high as 11th place when his bike spat him into the air. In the violent impact with the ground, his shoulder popped out of place, although it was later repositioned.
After an initial medical examination he was released from the medical centre, with the plan to check how he spent the night and re-evaluate his condition before Sunday’s warm-up.
Despite getting up with the intention of trying to participate in the warm-up before the main race, the pain was intense and led the doctors to declare him unfit.
Pedro Acosta, Red Bull GASGAS Tech3
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
This will be the first time Acosta has missed a race in the top category. However, it does not seem that the injury will prevent him from competing in the next two rounds of the calendar, next week in Thailand and a week later in Malaysia.
Until then, the Spaniard will receive conservative, minimally invasive treatment, based on giving the joint time to heal so that he can get on the bike next Friday at Buriram.
“I’ve crashed many times in my career, but this is the first time in my life that the bike spat me into the air when entering the corner,” said Acosta, who has accumulated 24 crashes this season.
He leads that particular metric ahead of even Marc Marquez, who has 22 accidents, but none so far this weekend.
Acosta was unable to finish either the short or the long race in Japan two weeks ago. On Saturday he crashed from the lead of the sprint when he seemed on the verge of his breakthrough win.
He then fell in the Japanese Grand Prix on the following day, while disputing the lead with Francesco Bagnaia.
Sport
Women’s Challenge Cup: Hat-trick hero McGuinness praises ‘outstanding’ Reds
It was an emotionally charged evening for midfielder Marissa Callaghan as it marked just over a year since the death of her nephew, Ryan, in October 2023.
She was unlucky not to get on the scoresheet, hitting the crossbar and the post, but she was happy for Caitlin McGuinness to receive all the plaudits.
“My nephew Ryan passed away this time last year and my family is here tonight, and we are wearing our armbands and it’s dedicated to him tonight,” she explained.
“Unfortunately, I couldn’t get myself a goal I hit the crossbar, the post – everything!
“It has not been easy, but the girls were outstanding tonight. Caitlin McGuinness – what a hat-trick! I’m so happy and proud of them.”
Callaghan believes the historic first treble is just reward for the effort put in by players and staff alike this season.
“We have worked so, so hard together. We put in the shifts with late hours and early mornings, and it means everything.”
MMA
Photos: Cris Cyborg def. Larissa Pacheco at PFL: Battle of the Giants
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Football
Match of the Day analysis: Alan Shearer on William Saliba’s red card against Bournemouth
Match of the Day pundit Alan Shearer says Arsenal’s disciplinary record “has to change” after William Saliba earned Arsenal’s third red card of the season in their 2-0 loss to Bournemouth in the Premier League at the Vitality Stadium.
READ MORE: Do Arsenal have a red card problem – and could it cost them the title?
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