Nigerian striker Tolu Arokodare has spoken out against racism after he was targeted with abusive messages on social media following Wolves’ 1–0 defeat to Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Sunday.
Arokodare missed a first-half penalty at Selhurst Park, with Palace goalkeeper Dean Henderson saving his effort shortly before half-time. After the match, the forward revealed that he received racist messages online.
“It’s still unbelievable to me that we are playing in a time where people have so much freedom to communicate such racism without any consequences,” Arokodare said in a social media post.
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“These individuals should have no place in our game and we all have to take action to punish anyone who behaves like this.”
The missed penalty was Wolves’ best chance to take control of the match. Henderson also saved a long-range effort from Arokodare as Wolves tried to respond to an early strong start from Palace. Yeremy Pino and Ismaïla Sarr both went close for the hosts in the opening minutes.
Wolves’ situation worsened just after the hour mark when Ladislav Krejčí was sent off for a second yellow card. Substitute Evann Guessand later scored from close range to secure the win for Palace and end their eight-match winless run at home.
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The result moves Crystal Palace up to 13th in the Premier League table, while Wolves remain in the relegation zone and are still without an away win in 16 league matches.
Barcelona election season is in full swing, with the countdown ongoing to the presidential vote next month. Joan Laporta is the overwhelming favourite to be re-elected, and right now, he is in the process of staking his claim to return to office.
On Saturday, Laporta was out-and-about in Barcelona, as he continued his campaign run. He made a speech at the Port Sitges Resort Hotel, and as per MD, he spoke during this on how he had helped stabilise the Catalan club’s financial woes.
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“The club is objectively and indisputably better than five years ago, thanks to a management that has allowed the entity to save itself from a limit economic situation, recover its institutional credibility and put it back in the front line. Good management is not the result of chance, but of constant work, courageous decisions and the commitment of a management and executive team that has placed the shield above any other interest.”
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Image via David Ramos/Getty Images
Laporta: Barcelona cannot fall into inexperienced hands
Laporta made it clear that he believes voters should back him because of his experience of running the club, as he aimed a small dig at the candidates also in the running to become Barcelona’s next president.
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“The club does not it must fall into inexperienced hands. Institutional stability must be reaffirmed, social and economic, culminating the project of the new Spotify Camp Nou, consolidating a modern, professional and high-level governance model, maintain the sporting ambition in all sections, guarantee the ownership model of members and continue to defend the essence of the Club and the commitment with democracy, freedom and the Catalan language and culture.”
It has been two weeks since Laporta handed in his resignation, as per Barcelona rules for the election process. He is confident of being re-elected, and right now, it is clear to see why, given how popular he has been with the club’s members and supporters.
A few more musical acts wrap up a ceremony that’s had opera, dance, DJs, flag waving, medals and some IOC speeches. The ceremony was certainly authentically Italian and the Verona Arena played its part, an evocative venue for the occasion.
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After 17 days, 2900 athletes, 116 gold medals and 150 minutes of closing ceremony, the flame is extinguished and the Winter Olympics moves on to the French Alps for 2030.
Kirsty Coventry takes to the lectern to congratulate volunteers, athletes and her own organization for a successful Games. The general consensus is that it has, indeed, been a success despite a number of political challenges for the IOC. They will likely face more in Los Angeles at the next summer Games in 2028.
“The Olympic Games will continue to be the space where athletes can inspire the world through sport freely, safely and proudly,” she said before declaring the Games closed and seeing the Olympic flame extinguished.
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Then we’re quickly back to the high opera that we started with to extinguish the light in a figurative sense, too.
IOC President Kirsty Coventry enters, along with various other dignitaries, behind the Olympic flag. She’s all smiles despite a tough first Games in charge, where her tearful response to her organization banning Ukraine skeleton athlete Vladyslav will likely be the enduring memory of her.
Ukraine’s skeleton star slams Olympic ban over helmet
The flag is passed to a pair of beaming representatives from France, who will host the next Winter Olympics in the French Alps in 2030. The French flag is then raised to a brass-y, subdued rendition of the French anthem, ‘La Marseillaise’ that gradually builds a little momentum without every reaching the punch it usually packs.
After a mercifully brief spinning of 90s Eurodance earworm ‘Blue’ by Eiffel 65, we see a montage of the numerous volunteers who help these things run smoothly. With this Games so spread, the logistics were particularly tricky this time around.
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Then there’s a moment to remember those no longer with us through an interpretive dance. Next it’s the last artistic element of the night, another dance symbolizing the poetic journey through the states of water. Mostly ice and snow the relevant ones here you’d imagine.
As is tradition, medals for the last set of events of the Games will be awarded in the stadium. We start off with the women’s 50 km mass start cross country skiing, won by Sweden’s Ebba Andersson.
Then it’s the same event for the men. This one, muc like fve other events, was won by Johannes Hosflot Klaebo, who won six golds in total and formed part of a Norwegian podium clean sweep in this event.
Norway completed a clean sweep of the men’s 50km mass start classicImage: Mikhail Tereshchenko/ZUMA/IMAGO
The country of just 5.5 million have punched well above their weight to finish top of the medal table by some distance.
A real change of pace now, with some electronic music bringing dozens of figures that resemble white mushrooms on to a stage packed with mirrors. One splits off to jump on a trampoline and then we get a huge figure in a sort of jellyfish get-up reciting lines from, we are reliably informed, Dante’s Divine Comedy, a narrative poem published in 1321.
After the flag bearers complete their long trudge in to the stadium, athletes from all sorts of countries flood through the impressive stone archways and on to the stage.
They just keep coming, which makes you realise the scale of an Olympics. Though some will have gone home or on to other competitions, there were 2900 athletes who competed over the course of the games in Italy. Even that is dwarfed by a summer games though. There were 10,500 athletes at Paris 2024 and will likely be more at LA 2028.
As the Italian flag is raised and the country’s anthem is picked out on a lone trumpet later joined by a full orchestra and choir, the country’s medalists stand side by side on stage belting out the words despite the slower tempo than usual.
The camera pans to IOC chief, Kirsty Coventry, who is decked out in a dazzling white bomber jacket emblazoned with the Olympic rings.
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Then the flame is carried in by four men in white tracksuits and beanie hats, one of whom is holding a glass vase with said flame.
According to the IOC, it is “a manifestation of the positive values that Man has always associated with the symbolism of fire and thus makes the link between the ancient and the modern Games.”
The flame is always lit in Olympia, Greece, a few months before the Games and carried to that year’s venue where it is kept burning throughout the event.
And we’re off! The stunning Verona Arena is ready and starts in a fashion familiar to it, with an operatic performance getting things going in front of an audience mostly wrapped up in disposable ponchos.
European nations dominate Winter Olympic medal table
As mentioned earlier, there was a distinctly European feel to the top of the medal table. Aside from the US in 2nd and Japan in 10th, the rest of the top 10 on the table were European nations.
Even at this late stage, there have been a couple of significant news lines from the Games’ final weekend. On Saturday, the IOC cleared FIFA president Gianni Infantino, who is also an IOC member, saying he had not broken the Olympic Charter’s neutrality requirement by donning a red MAGA-style USA hat at the first meeting of Donald Trump’s Board of Peace earlier in the week.
IOC chief Kirsty Coventry said she didn’t even know Infantino was an IOC member when pressed ahead of the decision during a press conference where she admitted she “wasn’t aware” of a number of issues which face her organization.
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Then, on Sunday, ahead of the closing ceremony, protesters took the streets of Verona to object to having had the Games in their region. Hundreds of people marched through Verona just hours before the ceremony was set to start to protest against housing costs and environmental concerns linked to the Winter Games.
The “Olympics? No thanks” rally was organised by university groups and others that oppose hosting an event they say disrupts forests, pours concrete onto fragile land and deepens social inequality.
Politics and sport prove tough to separate at 2026 Olympics
While there have been countless sporting achievements, there have also been plenty of moments during this Games where the spotlight was away from the events.
Heraskevych told DW moments after his disqualification was announced that: “If (the) IOC reacts in a way with common sense, we will not have this terrible scandal now. And then there is much less politics in this competition and also much more attention (being paid) to the athletes in the competition now.”
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Ukraine’s skeleton star slams Olympic ban over helmet
The new boss of the IOC, Kirsty Coventry had tears down her eyes when announcing the decision, admitting that it was ” a message of memory and no one is disagreeing with that” but confirming it broke IOC rules.
There were also protests against the presence of American ICE agents, a British skier urinating a profanity against Donald Trump in the snow and the decision, announced during these Games, that Russian athletes can compete under their national flag at the upcoming Paralympics.
Organizers the IOC have promised to tell the story of Italy through a “tapestry of music, art, and storytelling,” adding that the ceremony will showcase “not only athletic excellence, but also Italian cultural identity and innovation.”
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Performers include Italian singer and rapper Achille Lauro, award-winning Roman actress Benedetta Porcaroli and Italian DJ Gabry Ponte.
As with the opening ceremony earlier this month, each nation — with a handful of exceptions — will have chosen athletes to be their flagbearers. In Germany’s case this will be Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt. The pair became the country’s most successful Winter Olympians by each winning a seventh gold in luge.
Welcome to our Winter Olympics closing ceremony coverage!
Hello and welcome to DW’s live blog of the 2026 Winter Olympics closing ceremony.
After 17 days of skiing, sliding, jumping and curling, the USA defeated neighbors Canada to win the last of 116 gold medals at Milan-Cortina. That left the US second on the medal table, six behind Norway whose Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo won six on his own, becoming the most successful Winter Olympian of all time in the process.
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With the sport over, it will soon be time for the curtain to officially come down on the Games. The closing ceremony will take place at the Verona Olympic Arena, a beautifully preserved ancient amphitheater built in 30AD and is scheduled to start at 20:30 CET and run for somewhere approaching three hours.
Elite jumper Constitution Hill appears headed toward a pioneering bid for the 2026 Melbourne Cup on the back of his dominant return to action in England last weekend.
Michael Buckley, the owner, discussed on Racing TV’s Luck on Sunday—screened Sunday afternoon Australian time—that the $10 million 3200m Flemington spectacle in November is his prized objective.
Buckley with trainer Nicky Henderson haven’t confirmed a hurdles comeback at next month’s Cheltenham Festival, but the owner holds firm views on late-year plans.
“I think we need to make a plan, we can always change it along the way,” Buckley said.
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“I think that the horse should be running around about the end of August or beginning of September, in either the Ebor (at York), or there’s a race at Goodwood, or in the Irish St Leger, with a view to going to Melbourne.
“I think he’ll stay two miles on the flat.
“If you were asking me what I’d like to do, that’s what I’d like to aim at.”
Constitution Hill returned via a 9-1/2 length rout at 2414m on Southwell’s all-weather track, raced in Saturday’s early Australian hours.
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This was his first flat race, following falls in three of four preceding jumps starts. He entered with a streak of 10 jumps victories, eight Grade 1s.
A March 17, 2017 foal by Blue Bresil, the horse would enter the Melbourne Cup as a 10-year-old per Australian standards for hemisphere-bred runners.
The oldest Melbourne Cup winners at eight years old are Toryboy (1865), Catalogue (1938), and Twilight Payment (2020), from the event’s 1861 origins.
Given his jumps background, Constitution Hill must secure black-type flat credentials for Melbourne Cup qualification and undergo Racing Victoria’s thorough vet checks.
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The owner is confident of approval, despite the horse’s odd trotting gait, with Henderson set to supply video evidence to examiners.
“As far as I know, he doesn’t have anything that would be adverse to getting in,” Buckley said.
“Nicky will make sure that they have a video of the way he trots…he’s a terrible trotter but he seems OK when he’s galloping.”
Constitution Hill is quoted at $15 in places for the 2026 Melbourne Cup slated for November 3.
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Discover leading racing betting markets featuring Constitution Hill for the Melbourne Cup.
Zoe Atkin capped Team GB’s best ever Winter Olympics with a bronze medal in the freeski half-pipe, to go with three golds and a silver won earlier in the Games.
The 23-year-old is the reigning world and X Games champion and had qualified in top spot, but China’s Eileen Gu recovered from a poor qualifying performance to win gold in her best discipline, defending her title from Beijing four years ago.
Atkin was a disappointing ninth in Beijing and withstood the pressure in Livigno Snow Park to seal a first Olympic medal despite a crash on her second run, equalling her older sister Izzy’s slopestyle bronze from Pyeongchang 2018.
China took gold and silver through Gu – the most decorated freeskier in history, who added a gold to her slopestyle and Big Air silver last week – and Li Fanghui, with whom Atkin shared the overall World Cup crystal globe last season.
Atkin’s bronze takes GB’s overall medal haul up to five, matching the record set in Sochi 2014 and Pyeongchang, but an improvement with three golds compared to just one at each of those Games.
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She said: “I can’t even begin to describe the rollercoaster of emotions it is here at the Olympics. I was so stressed out today and so nervous. So I kind of played a little bit safer on my first run just to put one down. And then I set it up on that third run there, so I’m just super stoked.”
Her family and fellow Olympic medallist sister were in Livigno to cheer her on, and she added: “I wanted to one up her so bad! But no, watching her in 2018 has always been such a big moment of inspiration for me. And she’s always been my biggest role model. It was so full circle to have her watching me here and supporting me, when I was watching her in Pyeongchang when she got her medal. It’s really special, and to share that with her means so much.”
The final was initially delayed by an hour and a half due to heavy snowfall in Livigno which completely blanketed the half-pipe, with poor visibility making it unsafe for the event to go ahead, before the decision was made to push it back to Sunday.
Fortunately the weather gods smiled on Livigno on the final day of the Games, and 11 athletes – missing Canada’s Cassie Sharpe, who qualified third but crashed hard and withdrew with a concussion – took to the Snow Park in bright sunshine.
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Gu won a high-quality final (Getty Images)
Nerves were on show for much of the field, with several of the early starters crashing on their first run and struggling to maintain balance landing on the fresh snow.
Gu produced a huge first trick but landed slightly awkwardly and bailed on the remainder of her run, having lost all her speed, and scored on 30.00 to go into eighth place.
But Li was on impeccable form, launching up the 7 metre wall fearlessly and transitioning well between difficult tricks to post 81.25, going into provisional third.
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A relaxed-looking Atkin, who had qualified in first place, chatted to her coach at the top of the half-pipe and spent some time on her phone selecting her music choice for the run before setting off.
Zoe Atkin dropped in last and produced her best score of the day with her final run (Getty Images)
The 23-year-old’s amplitude – the height she gets on her jumps – is her major advantage over her rivals, and she powered into the lead with a superb, consistent opening run to score 90.50, remaining in the lead and with more difficult tricks in her locker.
Gu put together a much better second run – successfully landing the trick she erred on in qualifying – to soar into the lead with 94.00, putting the pressure back onto Atkin.
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Australian 16-year-old Indra Brown recorded the first 1080 of the day – a cork 1080, three full rotations in the air – but only scored 65.00, while Li pushed Atkin down to third with a 91.50.
Atkin soared 5.4 metres, nearly 2 metres higher than most of her rivals, into the air with her first trick but came unstuck later in the run, clipping the pipe with her skis and crashing hard, unable to improve her score.
Gu posted a 94.75 with her best run yet, reaching a height of 4 metres to maintain her position at the top of the standings and guarantee a medal.
The 22-year-old ran to hug compatriot Li after the latter completed another strong final run, posting 93.00 to put China in the top two podium spots.
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Gu ran to celebrate with teammate Li (Getty Images)
Atkin dropped into the half-pipe last, recovering after her crash to put in an excellent run, including a huge switch 900 for her final trick. Her amplitude was again miles higher than any of her rivals but it was only enough for bronze, a 92.50 – half a point off silver.
But she was delighted to make the podium and celebrated with her fellow medallists, the tears flowing as she prepared to accept her medal, while Gu dropped to the snow in joy and disbelief after defending her title.
The Milan Cortina Olympics ended Sunday and passed the Olympic flag over to the next Winter Games host nation, France, raising its flag next to Italy’s and Greece’s. The closing ceremony payed tribute to Italian dance and music, as some 1,500 Olympians filed into the arena waving small national flags to a medley of Italian pop hits.
Cristiano Ronaldo recently wen on striker at Al-Nassr after the club’s owners allowed title rivals Al-Hilal to sign Karim Benzema.
Nathan Ridley and Matty Hewitt Football Writer
15:31, 22 Feb 2026
Cristiano Ronaldo has declared that he ‘belongs to Saudi Arabia’ in a forceful rebuttal to rumours surrounding his future. The 41-year-old former Manchester United star raised questions about his Al-Nassr career earlier this month when he refused to take to the pitch.
The Portugal skipper sat out two matches in protest at the PIF’s decision to permit Karim Benzema to join Al-Nassr’s title competitors, Al-Hilal, from defending champions Al-Ittihad. All three sides are owned by the PIF, who fund Ronaldo’s staggering £488,000-a-day salary.
Ronaldo ended his boycott last weekend, finding the net in his team’s 2-0 away triumph against Al-Fateh. On Saturday, the five-time Ballon d’Or recipient was back on home turf at Al-Nassr’s stadium and netted a crucial double.
Their 4-0 triumph over Al-Hazem enabled them to overtake Al-Hilal and claim top spot in the standings by a single point. After the match, Ronaldo spoke to Thmanyah Sports and reasserted his dedication to Saudi Arabia.
“Yeah, I’m very happy,” the forward smiled. “As I say so many times, I belong to Saudi Arabia. It’s a country that welcomed very well to me and my family and my friends.
“I’m happy here. I want to continue here. And the most important, it’s we keep pushing. We are there in the top. Our job is to win, make pressure [on our title rivals], and let’s see.
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“We are on track. We’re back; we are good; we are confident. Game by game. We are in a good shape. Let’s see what’s going to happen.”
After reaching an astonishing career total of 962 goals, with assists from team-mate Kingsley Coman in both halves, Ronaldo commented: “We created so many chances, in my opinion. We should score more, but we won – that is the most important.
“Without conceding goals, again. I’m very happy with the result and, of course, for the goals.”
Following the match, Ronaldo donned a traditional bisht to mark Saudi Arabia’s Founding Day. The gesture served as a reminder that the former Manchester United icon continues to be the face of sport across the Middle East.
Earlier in the week, Ronaldo’s manager, Jorge Jesus, defended his captain by suggesting that Al-Hilal possess greater ‘economic power’ than Al-Nassr. “I’ve already been at Al Hilal,” Jesus said.
“I’ve been on the other side, so I know what that’s like. I’ve already benefited from it. They have more economic power.
“hen I was there, I benefited as a coach. It’s normal. Al-Nassr, with different resources, has to compete for the top spots. We have to continue to be strong.”
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LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Lakers have unveiled a statue of Pat Riley outside their downtown arena to honour the head coach who masterminded their Showtime championship era.
Riley was in attendance Sunday when the Lakers revealed the 8-foot bronze likeness of the Hall of Fame coach in one of his famed Giorgio Armani suits. The statue stands in Star Plaza between statues of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson, the two pillars of the Lakers’ five championships in the 1980s.
Riley was an assistant for that first title before leading the Lakers to the next four, reaching seven NBA Finals in his nine years as their head coach. Riley had never been a head coach before owner Jerry Buss installed the former Lakers player in 1981, but he went on to become one of the greats in his profession.
“The time has gone so fast,” Riley said. “I feel like everything I’ve ever done, I’ve been blessed. I was surrounded by greatness.”
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The 80-year-old Riley went on to major successes in New York and Miami, where he still serves as the Heat’s president. But Riley proudly recognizes his NBA roots are in Los Angeles, where he remains a city icon after spending two decades with the Lakers as a player, a broadcaster and a coach. He won six total championship rings in purple and gold.
Abdul-Jabbar and Johnson lauded Riley during the unveiling ceremony, with Abdul-Jabbar reminiscing about a relationship that goes all the way back to their high school days in New York.
“When they say, ‘City of champions,’ we can look at you as one of the architects of that slogan,” Johnson said to Riley. “You’ve done more for us than we could ever thank you for.”
Riley also shared the stage with Lakers governor Jeanie Buss, Heat great Dwyane Wade, and actor Michael Douglas, a longtime friend who adopted Riley’s signature ’80s look for his Academy Award-winning role as banker Gordon Gekko in Oliver Stone’s “Wall Street.” Douglas laughingly told the story of eagerly waiting for Moroccan customs officials to release his Betamax tapes of the Lakers’ NBA Finals games while the actor was trying to avoid spoilers on set shooting “The Jewel of the Nile.”
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“Pat really was a guardian angel for this franchise,” Jeanie Buss said. “The epitome of an era, the stylish leader of the Showtime Lakers, Pat did it all with flair and swagger.”
Many other basketball greats who played for Riley watched from the crowd, including James Worthy, Jamaal Wilkes, Norm Nixon, Bob McAdoo, A.C. Green, Kurt Rambis, Byron Scott and Alonzo Mourning.
The inscription on the base of the statue is advice that Riley attributes to his father: “There will come a time when you are challenged, and when that time comes, you must plant your feet. You must stand firm. You must make a point. About who you are, what you do, and where you come from. When that time comes, you do it.”
Riley was awash in memories during his latest return to Los Angeles. He told stories of joining the Lakers as a player after being cut by Portland, winning a ring in 1972 and eventually entering the broadcast booth alongside Chick Hearn, who encouraged him to do the New York Times crossword puzzle each morning to improve his vocabulary.
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Riley became an assistant coach and eventually got the head job — and the NBA was never the same. The coach freed Johnson and Abdul-Jabbar to lead the up-tempo, flashy style known as Showtime, and they rolled to championships in 1982, 1985, 1987 and 1988.
Riley’s statue is the eighth honouring the Lakers to be installed in Star Plaza, joining Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal — who sent a video praising his former coach in Miami — and Hearn.
“That statue is loaded up with all of us who took that magical journey together,” Riley said.
