Spain and Barcelona midfielder Aitana Bonmati has won the women’s Ballon d’Or for the second year in a row.

Bonmati won every possible trophy at club level last season as Barcelona secured a historic quadruple – winning Liga F, the Champions League, Supercopa and Copa de la Reina.

The 26-year-old scored a career-best tally of 19 goals across all four competitions.

Bonmati also spearheaded Spain’s charge to the inaugural Women’s Nations League title in February with four goals, including one in their 2-0 win over France in the final.

England’s Lauren James achieved a 13th-place finish, while her Lionesses team-mates Lucy Bronze and Lauren Hemp finished 20th and 28th in the voting, respectively.

Emma Hayes became the first winner of the women’s coach of the year award after leading Chelsea to a fifth straight Women’s Super League title before guiding the United States to Olympic gold at Paris 2024.

Aljamain Sterling likes his chances against Ilia Topuria.

This past Saturday, Topuria secured the first defense of his featherweight title, stopping former champion Max Holloway in the main event of UFC 308. Topuria is now the first person to finish Holloway with strikes and given his second-round knockout of Alexander Volkanovski earlier this year, “El Matador” has established himself as one of the most devastating strikers in the sport currently, so much so that even his possible future opponent was impressed.

“I ain’t standing with that guy. I would never stand and trade with that guy!” Sterling said on his YouTube channel. “I saw comments from the reaction, ‘You should change weight classes.’ I thought that was so funny… I made a joke, ‘I want to go back to 135.’ [Laughs] …

“I’ll point to the ground but I’ll do my running man dance instead.”

All kidding aside, Sterling may soon be in a position to face Topuria.

Volkanovski appears to be next up for Topuria, with Diego Lopes waiting in the wings, but the former bantamweight champion faces Movsar Evloev at UFC 310 and the winner could also be in the mix for a shot at the champion. And should that happen, “The Funkmaster” believes he can give Topuria a run for his money.

“If I were to fight him, god willing, I beat Movsar and I do get the crack, I do think I have a great style to neutralize his offense,” Sterling said. “Bro, most of these guys are striking with him. I ain’t doing that, bro! I ain’t doing that. We’re sitting there looking for a takedown. I have to make it a grappling match. I’m trying to the the W, I’m not trying to get my brain and my head sent to the next dimension again. I’m cool on that.”

Sterling notably lost his UFC bantamweight when he was knocked out by Sean O’Malley last year at UFC 292. Following that loss, Sterling moved up to featherweight where he defeated Calvin Kattar in his debut.

After he left bantamweight, his longtime friend and teammate Merab Dvalishvili dethroned O’Malley to become the 135-pound champion. And for Sterling, that might be the only downside to a matchup with Topuria: making Merab choose sides.

“Merab and I are boys. Merab is also boys with Ilia, so I don’t know what that turns into,” Sterling said. “… Thankfully I don’t have to worry about that anytime soon. I’ve got one other tough opponent in front of me and then we kind of go from there.”

UFC 310 takes place on on Dec. 7 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

The defending NASCAR Cup Series champion, Ryan Blaney, was seconds away from securing his place in the Championship 4 when ‘The Beast’, Tyler Reddick, ripped around the outside of his No. 12 Team Penske Ford — taking the win and leaving Blaney to deal with his bitter emotions from such a brutal loss.

“I had a good shot to win it and I didn’t have a very good last lap,” admitted Blaney. “I thought I got into three hard and the 45 [Reddick] just went in there and it stuck for him, which is really impressive. I hate to give one away there like that.”

Tyler Reddick, 23XI Racing, The Beast Killer Sunrise Toyota Camry

Photo by: Gavin Baker / NKP / Motorsport Images

Setting up the final dash to the finish — Blaney managed to hold Kyle Larson back until the Hendrick Motorsports driver spun. This put Blaney in a position to aggressively defend against Chase Elliott after getting put three-wide on the restart. He successfully ran down Denny Hamlin as well, but Blaney couldn’t stop Reddick, who was running third with slightly older tires. Reddick didn’t appear to be a real threat. but in the course of a single lap, he stole the show.

As Reddick pulled alongside him, Blaney had the opportunity to get physical,  but he chose not to. The 2023 Cup champ believed he could still get the run off the corner and clear the 23XI Racing driver. In truth, Reddick was already clear of him before he could possibly respond.

“I kind of thought I could slide up and be good and I sent it in there and he sent it in there miles further than me, which I cannot believe that it stuck,” admitted Blaney. “The Toyotas could do that really good all day. Their entry speed was crazy fast and it benefitted him there. It stinks. It was an up and down day and it was a shame to lose one on the last lap like that.”

“We got the lead back after losing it on the restart and just that last lap didn’t play out for us,” Blaney said. “I appreciate everybody on the 12 team for bringing a really fast race car. I had a really great shot to go to Phoenix and I still have one more chance, so we still have to look forward to that … . It is a shame. I will be thinking through it all night of what I should have done different, probably. That is just the way it goes but I am really proud of the effort and hopefully we can bring it to them next week.”

Moving forward, Blaney noted that he tries ‘not to stew over’ moments like this, regrouping and looking ahead to the next battle at Martinsville Speedway. It will be his last shot to advance into the Championship 4 and looking at the points situation, he’s going to have to win. But there is some good news: Blaney is the defending winner of that event.

SunSport’s DAVE KIDD says Erik ten Hag’s time at Man Utd is up… and explains what’s wrong with all the potential candidates to replace him.

THIS is a mid-table squad at an underachieving club, with a lot of unwanted players on big money.

And Ratcliffe is an instinctive cost-cutter who may not pay top dollar to the next manager.

If this club wasn’t called ‘Manchester United’, it wouldn’t be an especially desirable job.

The good news for United is that their new sporting director, Dan Ashworth, is a very decent judge of a manager.

He has been instrumental in three previous managerial appointments — Gareth Southgate for England, Graham Potter for Brighton and Eddie Howe for Newcastle.

None were wildly popular at the time, all were conspicuous successes.

Interestingly, Ashworth’s No 1 choice for the Newcastle job was Unai Emery, who turned him down to stay at Villarreal but has since proved that judgment right by excelling at Aston Villa.

And the Spaniard would be an excellent fit for United — yet there is next to no chance that he would abandon Villa’s Champions League campaign to take the Old Trafford job, not least because he isn’t a stark raving madman.

Howe would be another good candidate to succeed Ten Hag but, although he has become frustrated on Tyneside, the Saudis would surely not allow Ratcliffe to poach Howe, as they reluctantly did with Ashworth.

Potter is available but his Chelsea experience and lack of charisma would make him a tough sell.

Which brings us to Southgate, who remains close with Ashworth and is an excellent man-manager who was seriously considered by United last spring.

Yet, despite having led England to two of their three major finals, Southgate’s reputation for over-caution was only enhanced during the Euros.

Mauricio Pochettino, passed over twice by United, is out of the equation having taken the United States job.

Thomas Tuchel would also have been a popular and gettable option – but England got in there first.

Likewise, Roberto De Zerbi, now at Marseille after his brief Brighton stint sparkled then fizzled out.

Kieran McKenna — a gifted former United coach who has won back-to-back promotions with Ipswich Town — is an intriguing candidate but the imminent vacancy may come a year or so too soon.

Marco Silva, the extremely under-rated Fulham boss, has been on United’s radar and should not be discounted.

Sporting Lisbon’s Ruben Amorim, last season’s ‘next big thing’, was passed over by West Ham as well as Liverpool this summer and is not an easy man to pin down.

Zinedine Zidane, who has taken over from Alan Curbishley as a 20-1 shot for every Premier League job, is a ‘figurehead’ manager and not an Ashworth type.

Ruud van Nistelrooy, the former United goal machine who joined Ten Hag’s coaching team in the summer is the bookies’ favourite. Simply because he’s in the building and he’s Dutch.

So, yes, getting rid of Ten Hag is the easy part.

Ferrari and Toyota have received double Balance of Performance breaks ahead of this weekend’s World Endurance Championship finale in Bahrain as they attempt to overhaul points leader Porsche

The Ferrari 499P and the Toyota GR010 HYBRID Le Mans Hypercars will go into the Bahrain 8 Hours lighter and with more power than last time out in the WEC at Fuji last month. 

Porsche, which leads the drivers’ and manufacturers’ standings, has gained weight under the latest Hypercar class BoP released on Tuesday after Laurens Vanthoor, Kevin Estre and Andre Lotterer triumphed in Japan to go 35 points clear in the championship.

The 963 LMDh has, however, received a power increase for the eighth round of the series on Saturday in which it will bid to convert on its 10-point advantage in the manufacturers’ standings.

Ferrari and Toyota have respectively received reductions in minimum weight of two and five kilogram, while their baseline maximum power figures have been increased by 10 and 6kW, equivalent to 13 and 8bhp. 

The minimum weight for the Ferrari is now 1053kg and 1065kg for the Toyota, while their power maximums under 250km/h (155mph) stand respectively at 510 and 499kW (683 and 669bhp).

Each manufacturer has lost out on Power Gain, a new component of the BoP introduced at the Le Mans 24 Hours WEC round in June in an attempt to level the speeds of the cars above 250km/h.

Ferrari now has a negative figure of 0.9% after a 2.2% reduction and Toyota’s positive figure has been reduced by 1.2% to 4.2%.

#50 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

The Porsche has had minimum weight increased by 7kg to 1056kg and its power upped by 2kW to 214kW. Its Power Gain figure is unchanged at 0.2%.

Vanthoor, Estre and Lotterer require only four points in Bahrain to take the drivers’ title no matter what their closest rivals do, even though more points are on offer for the race than at a regular six-hour WEC race. 

They would win the title with eighth place even if the second-placed Ferrari crew of Antonio Fuoco, Nicklas Nielsen and Miguel Molina take the 38 points for victory and the extra point for pole position. 

Ninth place would be sufficient if the Ferrari wins without claiming pole. 

Toyota drivers Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries are a further two points behind in the championship race.

The Japanese carmaker, however, has a deficit of only 10 points in the manufacturers’ classification.

A victory for one or other of its GR010s would give it the title: even if the Penske factory Porsche finishes second and takes the point for pole, Toyota would win on countback. 

Peugeot’s second-generation 9X8 LMH has received another break under the BoP. 

It will run at the maximum power of 520kW (697kW) allowed in Hypercar and is only 1kg above the minimum weight of 1030kg. 

The Alpine A424 LMDh, which scored a maiden WEC podium last time out in Fuji, has had its minimum weight increased by 4kg and power decreased by 1kW.

Track action for the final round of the 2024 WEC on the Bahrain International Circuit begins at 12:15 local time on Thursday with the opening, 90-minute session of free practice.

Manchester United are in talks about appointing Sporting manager Ruben Amorim as Erik ten Hag’s replacement.

Dutchman Ten Hag was sacked on Monday following the side’s poor start to the season.

Amorim, 39, is a highly regarded coach who has won two Portuguese league titles with Sporting – including their first in 19 years – since joining in 2020.

The extent of the talks over Amorim are not known.

It is also not clear whether other alternatives remain in the frame to take the Old Trafford job.

However, Amorim is now becoming the leading candidate.

Speaking at a news conference on Monday, Portuguese Amorim said he was expecting a question about the Manchester United job but was not prepared to talk about it.

United have appointed Ten Hag’s assistant Ruud van Nistelrooy as interim manager but have so far refused to clarify how long the Dutchman will remain in charge, or whether he will definitely be in post for Wednesday’s EFL Cup tie with Leicester at Old Trafford.

The club has already ruled out Van Nistelrooy conducting a pre-match press conference on Tuesday. Ten Hag spoke about the EFL Cup game after Sunday’s defeat by West Ham.