PHILADELPHIA — Giannis Antetokounmpo said it was “disrespectful” for Milwaukee to bench him over the final weeks of the season while he said he was healthy enough to play, a stinging rebuke of the franchise as he enters a stay-or-leave off-season.
Antetokounmpo, a two-time MVP who led Milwaukee to its first title in half a century in 2021, said after Sunday’s season-ending loss to Philadelphia that he learned that he had no control over his playing status as the Bucks limped to the finish.
Antetokounmpo was the subject of trade speculation as the deadline approached, but he wasn’t dealt. He has since been in a dispute with team management over his injury status.
The 31-year-old Antetokounmpo hasn’t played since landing awkwardly after a dunk on March 15. Antetokounmpo said in the closing weeks of the season that he was healthy and wanted to play, but the Bucks continued to rule him out with a left knee hyperextension and bone bruise.
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Antetokounmpo did not play Sunday at Philadelphia in what was also likely the final game of Hall of Fame coach Doc Rivers’ career.
“Being cleared to play, I don’t understand. I’ve never in my life denied participation in practice,” Antetokounmpo said. “Whoever came up with that is disrespectful towards what I’ve done for this team and the way I carry myself.
“I did what I was supposed to do. I wasn’t able to come on the court now. Who has that say? It comes from above. I thought I had control. OK, if I’m healthy, I’m going to play. This just shows me that not just me, players in general, don’t have no control. No, I didn’t feel like I had control.”
Antetokounmpo had participated in recent pregame warmups, showing no sign of injury.
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“It was draining for me, for sure,” Antetokounmpo said. “If it was draining for me, it was definitely draining for me and the organization.”
Antetokounmpo said he planned to put his phone on “do not disturb” and try to avoid the distractions that plagued the end of his season.
The Bucks could look to trade Antetokounmpo in the offseason, or he could sign a four-year, $275 million extension in October.
Antetokounmpo said he had yet to be formally offered the extension — no surprise given that it could not be finalized for months.
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“That’s too far away. It’s something I have to sit down with my family and see what’s best for me, what’s best for my family,” Antetokounmpo said. “Money doesn’t mean nothing do me. Zero. Absolutely zero. What means something to me, it’s winning.”
The Bucks put Rivers’ job in jeopardy with a dismal 32-50 season that ended the Bucks’ streak of nine straight playoff berths.
Rivers had said he has a “great relationship” with Antetokounmpo and that he often talks to the superstar about what to work on and what to add to his game.
“I just want to see it end well for him and for the franchise. I think they both deserve it,” Rivers said. “Giannis is a fantastic person. I’ve been lucky to coach a lot of stars, and he’s right at the top as far as good people. I want good people to be taken care of.”
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The Bucks reached the East finals during Antetokounmpo’s first MVP season in 2019 — ending an 18-year stretch without a playoff series win. They won the title two years later. But they haven’t won a playoff series since 2022.
“We’re the furthest away we’ve been,” Antetokounmpo said. “I didn’t think we were going to be in this position last year, so I don’t know what position we will be in next year.”
MONTE-CARLO, MONACO – APRIL 10: Carlos Alcaraz of Spain celebrates after victory against Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan in the Men’s Singles Quarter Final match on day six of the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters at Monte-Carlo Country Club on April 10, 2026 in Monte-Carlo, Monaco. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)
Carlos Alcaraz is back in the Monte Carlo final after a 6-4, 6-4 win over Valentin Vacherot.
The win sends him to back-to-back finals in Monte Carlo and continues his strong run on clay.
With this result, Alcaraz becomes just the third man to reach 10 ATP Masters 1000 finals before turning 23, joining Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.
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He has now won 15 straight matches at clay-court Masters events and is 26-1 on clay since 2025.
This will be his fifth Masters final on clay and the 10th of his career.
Alcaraz is in form, and Monte Carlo is proving it again.
Gary Neville has stuck to his guns with his prediction of this season’s Premier League winner despite results from Arsenal and Manchester City last weekend. Six points separate the pair of sides at the summit of the English top-flight following a dramatic weekend.
Mikel Arteta‘s Arsenal suffered a shock defeat at home to Bournemouth on Saturday as they missed an opportunity to go 12 points clear in the league. Manchester City took full advantage of their slip, doing their business efficiently in a 3-0 win over Chelsea on Sunday.
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Neville spoke on Sky Sports about the title race in England, pointing out that this year is undoubtedly Arsenal’s, judging by the amount of struggles they have faced to get to this stage. He admitted that the Gunners will not coast to the title in what remains of the season, but will find a way to get it over the line.
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“I do feel now is the time for Arsenal. I’m not going to go and say it’s now or never, but it does feel a bit like because if you’ve had five years of trying to climb that mountain, and you’ve just failed at that final hurdle each time, there has to be a moment where you get over the line.
Arsenal will crawl over the line. I don’t think they’ll get over the line easily, they might even lose next week, but I do think they’ve probably got a little bit of a cushion. Manchester City aren’t perfect, and Arsenal will just get there, but they’re in a lot more trouble than they were at 12.30pm on Saturday, when they were just about to kick off against Bournemouth”, he said.
Neville’s prediction will become much clearer in the coming weeks, as there are only six games left to play in the Premier League this season. City have a game in hand, and will host their rivals at the Etihad next weekend in what will be a six-pointer in the title race.
The Gunners have not won the Premier League since 2004 and have not won a major trophy since 2020. They have finished in second place in each of the last three league seasons, and will hope to end their trophy drought this season.
Manchester City defeat Chelsea to take advantage of Arsenal slip
Manchester City overcame Chelsea in their Premier League meeting at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, claiming a 3-0 win. Pep Guardiola‘s side kept their hopes of winning the Premier League alive in dominant fashion in London.
Following a scoreless first half, the visitors needed just six second half minutes to go ahead as Rayan Cherki crossed for Nico O’Reilly to head home. Their lead was doubled shortly after when Cherki showed off his quick feet before slipping a pass through to Marc Guehi, who scored his first league goal for the club.
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Manchester City made it 3-0 in the 68th minute, as Jeremy Doku took full advantage of a Moises Caicedo error to find the back of the net, sealing the win. The result in Stamford Bridge, coupled with Bournemouth’s win over the league leaders on Saturday, sets up a thrilling finale to the campaign.
In the final days of one of the longest seasons in Vancouver Canucks history, it’s like the players suddenly don’t want it to end.
For the second time in California in less than 24 hours, the Canucks were fully invested and engaged Sunday and beat a team with everything to play for in the playoff race, denying the Anaheim Ducks a chance to clinch their first Stanley Cup tournament berth in eight years by winning 4-3 in overtime.
The Canucks delivered a severe blow to the San Jose Sharks’ wild-card playoff hopes on Saturday by winning 4-3 in a shootout in Northern California.
The Ducks and Sharks, who will likely miss the playoffs for a seventh straight year, are the rebuilds frequently trumpeted as blueprints for the genre and teams the Canucks should try to emulate. But Vancouver, at the embryonic stage of its own rebuild, set back both opponents.
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Marco Rossi’s power-play one-timer with 10 seconds left in overtime blasted the Canucks to victory in Anaheim after Beckett Sennecke, part of the Ducks’ new young core, turned the puck over in his own zone, which led to Chris Kreider’s slash on Drew O’Connor at 2:53 of the extra session.
After the Canucks rallied three times to win in San Jose, forcing overtime on Teddy Blueger’s goal late in regulation time, Vancouver blew a 3-1 lead in the third period against Anaheim.
Canuck Brock Boeser forced John Carlson into a turnover and brilliantly finished a shorthanded breakaway at 4:28 to put the National Hockey League’s worst team up by two goals. But Cutter Gauthier fired through Vancouver goalie Nikita Tolopilo on the same power play 37 seconds later. And at 6:56, Leo Carlsson tied it 3-3 by flipping a rebound through a sprawling Tolopilo after Canucks defenceman Filip Hronek’s rim-around took an unlucky bounce and caromed straight to Kreider in the slot.
But with Anaheim fans chanting “We want the playoffs! We want the playoffs!”, the Canucks survived the rest of the Ducks’ third-period surge before Vancouver’s sizzling power play won it in OT. Losing the bonus point left the Ducks tied with the Edmonton Oilers for second place in the Pacific Division (but third on the tie-breaker), one point behind the Vegas Golden Knights. Each team has two games remaining.
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As impressive as the resilience the Canucks displayed after losing their lead with 13 minutes to go in regulation, their start was at least as encouraging as their finish.
Facing a rested, hungry Ducks team 19 hours after beating the Sharks about 600 kilometres away, the Canucks were physically and emotionally engaged from puck drop.
Blueger went back at tough Anaheim defenceman Radko Gudas for his heavy hit on Vancouver rookie Liam Ohgren on the second shift, then challenged and fought him later in the period despite being overmatched. Even Gudas was impressed, helping Blueger up off the ice after the tilt.
Defenceman Elias Pettersson (Junior) didn’t shy away from Alex Killorn in a scrum. And as the game got rough, Canucks enforcer Curtis Douglas won a fight against Jeffrey Viel.
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Importantly, even after Gauthier opened scoring for Anaheim just 3:41 into the game, five seconds after Blueger’s initial cross-checking penalty ended, the Canucks responded with goals by Douglas at 10:49 and Jake DeBrusk, on a power-play shot-pass from Rossi, at 14:37 to build a road lead Vancouver held until the third period.
With their first consecutive victories since December, the Canucks are playing like a team that doesn’t want the season to end. Or, at least, a team that doesn’t want it to end despairingly, without any positivity heading into a long summer.
“Yeah, they’re really fighting,” Foote told reporters in Anaheim before the game. “It’s a great group. They’re getting better and better, they’re working at it. You can almost feel the room, the energy, something shifted the last month or so and especially the last, you know, 10 days. I know they don’t want it to end.”
As exuberantly joyful as Douglas was at scoring his first NHL goal, it was difficult to tell after he swept in a loose puck at 10:49 who was the happiest Canuck on the ice. That’s how excited teammates were for the 26-year-old who spent five years in the minors before changing NHL teams twice this season on waivers.
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Aatu Raty wouldn’t let go of the six-foot-nine winger during the group hug in the corner, and Pettersson looked like he wanted to wrestle him. It was a special moment for Douglas, a point-per-game player at the end of his junior career, who grew up in Oakville, Ont., not dreaming of fighting in the NHL but scoring goals.
Analyst Dave Tomlinson smartly pointed out on Sportsnet’s broadcast that all six Canucks on the ice for the goal — Douglas, Raty, Pettersson, Tolopilo, Ty Mueller and Kirill Kudryavtsev — were in the American Hockey League last season.
Playing his first NHL game this year, and the third of his career, defence callup Kudryavtsev earned his first NHL point by shooting from the point, the shot bouncing to Douglas off Raty. Kudryavtsev, 22, finished plus-one in 14:17 of ice time, with a 6-2 shots advantage at five-on-five and expected-goals-for of 77.8 per cent.
No team successfully rebuilds without veterans to help teach the kids, and the Canucks should seriously consider re-signing both Douglas and Blueger before they leave as unrestricted free agents this summer. Games like Sunday’s illustrate why leadership and toughness remain such important elements with so many young players in the lineup.
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In 23 games since the Olympic break — and since Rossi returned to the Canucks fully healthy — Vancouver is 18-for-55 on the power play (without a shorthanded goal against) for a success rate of 32.7 per cent that ranks second in the NHL during that time.
The power play was 4-for-7 on the weekend and a huge factor in both wins. But we were surprised not to see Jake DeBrusk used on either unit in overtime after he scored his fifth power-play goal in seven games in the first period. DeBrusk is fourth in the NHL this season with 18 PPGs.
When retiring Hockey Night in Canada reporter and After Hours host Scott Oake was invited into the Canucks’ dressing room before his final show Saturday in San Jose, the team gave him more than a jersey and an engraved silver puck. The Canucks are also making a $50,000 donation to the Anne Oake Family Recovery Centre in Winnipeg.
Scott and Anne lost their son to addiction in 2011, then founded the Bruce Oake Recovery Centre for men in an effort to change how drug addiction is treated in Canada. A retired nurse, Anne Oake succumbed to cancer in 2021. The new treatment centre in her name will allow women who have children to seek help without fear of being separated from their kids.
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“It caught me completely by surprise, something I never expected,” Scott said Sunday night of the donation. “We appreciate every dollar we get, but we depend on significant donations like this, and it will help save lives. For the Canucks to do this, I’m really touched.”
He said construction on the Anne Oake Family Recovery Centre begins in May and the 75-bed facility should be completed by the end of 2027.
Fabio Wardley has targeted an opponent that would bring together arguably the two biggest punchers in the entire division.
After beating Joseph Parker to get his hands on the WBO Interim title, it seemed as though Wardley would next collide with then-undisputed ruler Oleksandr Usyk. However, the Ukrainian instead opted to vacate his belt, with Wardley subsequently being upgraded to full WBO world champion.
Although, if Usyk changes those plans, Wardley has another option in mind, in the form of former WBC heavyweight world champion Deontay Wilder, telling The Stomping Ground of his wish to fight and defend his title across the pond.
“We would love to [fight Wilder]. He was one that was on the list before Daniel, both him and [Derek] Chisora funnily enough.
“I have ticked off a lot of milestones in my career but one thing that I haven’t done is fought in America and done one of the big ones [venues], whether that be MSG, whether that be in Las Vegas.
“If I am going to do that, I need a big name to do it with and who better at the moment, in terms of my division and in America, than Deontay Wilder.”
Wilder is widely regarded as one of the biggest punchers in boxing history, with 43 of his 45 wins coming by knockout, though he had to settle for a rare points victory when he defeated Derek Chisora earlier this month.
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Wardley has established himself as a massive puncher in his own right, with 19 of his 20 wins ending inside the distance. If a fight against Wilder came to fruition, Wardley went on to promise that there will be fireworks but, ultimately, he will score a ‘decisive’ win.
“I would be more of that [what we saw in Wilder-Chisora], just a lot cleaner and probably a bit more of decisive victory for me.”
It seems unlikely but is still technically possible.
The Central Glamorgan Rugby Union (CGRU) initially succeeded in receiving the required 10% of backing from Welsh clubs to call the EGM.
It had proposed three motions, which included a vote of no-confidence in WRU chair Collier-Keywood and Professional Rugby Board (PRB) chair Malcolm Wall.
The third motion involved governance changes which included how the four council WRU members – who sit on the governing body’s board – are elected.
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It has since been announced both Collier-Keywood and Wall will be leaving their respective roles. Former Harlequins chairman Wall has been replaced on an interim basis by Marianne Okland, while the process has been started to replace Collier-Keywood.
Following the announcement of those departures, the CGRU wrote to clubs stating it would withdraw the motions and believed the EGM should be cancelled.
The WRU rejected calls for the meeting to be called off, saying legal obligations dictate it must go ahead.
The governing body wrote to member clubs to check if any object to the resolutions being withdrawn from the EGM, given that 40 of the original 50 member clubs that requisitioned the meeting proactively withdrew their support.
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If clubs responded to this letter requesting to keep the resolutions on the table, the EGM will open with all members being asked to consent to the withdrawal of the resolutions.
If consent is not obtained, the EGM will continue as originally planned and members will vote on the three resolutions.
If no objections are received, the EGM will take place as an informal meeting which will include a WRU presentation about the “future of rugby in Wales” followed by an open discussion.
Clubs can attend in person at the Principality Stadium or online with at least 95 clubs needed in order for the meeting to begin without delay, if resolutions are to be considered.
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WRU board members will be in attendance. Whether outgoing Collier-Keywood – now effectively a “lame duck” chair – is present or speaks remains to be seen, with WRU chief executive Abi Tierney and director of rugby Dave Reddin the other key figures.
AUGUSTA, Ga. — When someone witnesses a catastrophe, several interesting things happen in the brain in an instant.
The autonomic nervous system floods the body with adrenaline and cortisol, speeding up sensory processing in the amygdala and supercharging memory encoding — basically turning the brain into a vector for documentation. Occasionally, this physiological response causes a phenomenon called “tonic immobility,” where the witness of a traumatic event does not flee or fight, but freezes.
In this situation, the witness is helpless — trapped in a moment of unforgivable horror, incapable of doing anything to alter the situation, and undergoing a moment of physiological stress in which their brain is uniquely attenuated to remember every gory detail.
This is the unfortunate situation that befell a few hundred patrons on the side of the 13th hole on Sunday afternoon at the Masters, when Haotong Li endured the worst 30 minutes of his golfing life, then recorded a score that both torpedoed his tournament and defied belief: A quintuple-bogey 10.
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The trauma began fairly innocuously. On his second shot from the fairway, Li overcooked his 3-wood approach into the winding section of Rae’s Creek that frames the hole. Under normal circumstances, the situation facing him would be fairly simple: Recover the ball from the creek, take a drop on dry land no nearer to the hole, and play the wedge approach shot into the green.
Except, as fate would have it, Li’s approach did not arrive under normal circumstances. Rather than settling inside the tributary, his ball ricocheted off a large rock and took an ugly bounce left, nestling deep into the bushes further up the hill on the far side of the creek.
Li sauntered down the fairway without too much concern — but realized his bad luck as soon as he arrived at the scene of the crime. Li’s caddie, Jady de Beer, drew the short straw, dropping the bag and stumbling across Rae’s Creek as he entered the bushes in pursuit of the ball.
After a few hapless seconds, the patrons on the far side of the fairway took pity on the caddie and began to shout instructions en masse, directing de Beer toward the golf ball, which he eventually recovered. (Left, left! Up! Higher!) After a long conversation, Li grabbed a wedge and headed across the river to survey the lie in the trees.
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This might have seemed like a good idea to both parties at the time of the decision, but it seemed quite clear to everybody on the opposite side of the fairway that it was an unforgivable error because it introduced a powerful, terrifying force: temptation. The ball was almost assuredly unplayable; Li seemed like he’d be better served to return to his previous spot than take on any additional risk. But after some more chatter, Li ignored the gallery’s better judgment and settled in for his chip from the middle of the hedges by straddling a bush and battling a thicket of branches just to get his club on the ground.
Finally, he swung, and the crowd’s worst fears were realized. The ball traveled less than 15 feet, on an angle roughly perpendicular to the direction he’d intended to hit his ball, and settled even further into the crap.
It was around this time that myself and my colleague, cv vDylan Dethier, realized we might be on the brink of witnessing something not just bad, but truly horrific. Li’s ball had been in hell. Now it was somewhere worse. He no longer had the option to return to the site of his original tee shot. Instead he could take several club lengths and get a drop that way.
Li appeared to realize this himself as his mind finally adjusted and he recovered the ball in the bushes. He spent a little while attempting to settle into a stance in this new, worse lie — at one point taking dead-aim at the group of onlookers — before giving a dejected look at his ball and stepping away.
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At long last, and to the great relief of those seated potentially within low-laser-to-the-shins range, he decided to take a drop, which was when a new character entered our story for the first time: The rules official, who’d been serving as innocent bystander up to this point.
The problem was that Li appeared to pick his ball up off the ground, like a kid might pluck a dandelion, but he was not actually in a penalty area. The red lines demarcating said area were behind him; he’d just picked his ball up from live action, or at least that’s how it appeared from our vantage point, and so the rules official reacted like Li had just cut the wrong wire on a pipe bomb, furiously waving the golfer back into place so that he could take a proper drop from the location in deeper-hell. Put another way: You’re not allowed to do that.
Eventually, the rules official and Li worked out a solution — though the official still seemed impressively anxious about the whole affair — and after a few more long walks zig-zagging Rae’s creek, Li had taken a proper unplayable drop, sourced a proper golf club, and was prepared to play a shot advancing his ball up in the general direction of the green. (An aside: At one point during the zig-zagging, de Beer realized he’d left the bag roughly 30 yards behind where it needed to be, and began running back to gather it at pretty close to full speed. Two thoughts on that decision: 1. There is no running at Augusta National. 2. It’d been around 15 minutes since he’d first entered the creek when he started the sprint, which struck me as an unusual time to begin caring about pace of play.)
Haotong Li in the moment of disaster.
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Li played his pitch shot, though he used a surprisingly full swing and sent it high over the trees and long and left of the green, landing mercifully on the safe side of Rae’s Creek. The crowd, which was at this point equal parts dismayed and totally stunned, responded with an Augusta National first: A Bronx cheer for the golfer, who quickly escaped from the wrong side of Rae’s Creek and up in the direction of the green.
It was only now, pretty close to 25 full minutes after Haotong Li had first entered the wilderness, that the crowd’s attention turned to the other golfer sharing the hole with him: World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, who was preparing to hit what might be described as the single most consequential shot of his entire Masters week, a pitch shot to set up a must-make birdie to cut the deficit from leader Rory McIlroy to 2.
Say what you will about Scheffler’s recent snippiness with the press and himself, the man handled the first act of Li’s disaster with the patience of a saint. He’d paced back and forth on the fairway, up to the green, back behind his ball, and now he hustled up to the ball and hit a good — if not great — pitch to roughly 11 feet.
Scheffler might have reasonably expected that his birdie putt might arrive soon after that pitch shot. Common sense would dictate Li playing his next shot with some eagerness, considering the delay his misfortune had already caused. Justin Rose was waiting in the fairway by now, after all. But Li hadn’t demonstrated much urgency at any point throughout the process and wasn’t about to start now.
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Li certainly may have hoped this part would wrap up fast. Instead he made a short, aggressive stroke with his putter toward the tucked Sunday pin location and it became clear that his disaster was only beginning. Li watched in a state of mesmerized disbelief as his ball rolled past the hole, espast his flagstick-tending caddie, past the edge of the green and all the way into the water.
It was around this time that the crowd reacted as if it had literally seen a collision, letting out the kind of low, horrified, disbelieving grunt one might hear after metal on metal, or discovering a cockroach infestation.
It’s unclear what Scheffler was thinking around this time, but his inner-dialogue probably didn’t get any more forgiving after Li’s eighth shot — which was another putt from the same location as the first putt into the water, though it traveled only about half the distance to the hole — nor his ninth, which missed the hole on the low side. Somehow Scheffler’s playing partner had managed to take eight shots between Scheffler’s second on the 13th and his birdie try, which also missed on the low side.
Thankfully, by the time the ball got within striking distance of the hole on his 9th stroke, Li was no longer trying to maintain the artifice of taking his time. He practically ran to place his mark behind his ball, clearing the runway for Scheffler. And then practically ran up to hit his tap-in, which fell into the hole for a truly breathtaking quintuple-bogey 10 … and elicited a second Bronx cheer from the Amen Corner faithful.
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Li, to his credit, was a good sport about the debacle, holding his hands to the sky in mock-celebration after finally escaping with a 10. And CBS, to its credit, was a good sport about it too, choosing not to show Li’s fall from 5 under and in-the-thick-of-it to even par and deeply dismayed.
But to those who watched the action from up close, the journey was a horrifying exercise in the kind of trauma only Augusta National can inflict.
The pain of the moment was real for Haotong Li, but the memory was even realer for those who saw it up close, and who will now live their lives trying to forget.
“I always thought I wanted to play this hole,” one of the victims said Sunday afternoon. “Now I’m not so sure.”
BBC Sport Northern Ireland’s Stephen Watson gets an exclusive interview with back-to-back Masters champion Rory McIlroy at Augusta National.
The 36-year-old from Northern Ireland became only the fourth player in history to win consecutive Masters titles on Sunday with a one-shot victory over American Scottie Scheffler.
MONTE-CARLO, MONACO – APRIL 11: Jannik Sinner of Italy celebrates after winning match point against Alexander Zverev of Germany during the Men’s Singles Semi Final match on day seven of the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters at Monte-Carlo Country Club on April 11, 2026 in Monte-Carlo, Monaco. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)
Jannik Sinner is in the Monte Carlo finals after a 6-1, 6-4 win over Alexander Zverev.
The result marks his fourth consecutive Masters 1000 final and extends his run to 21 straight match wins.
He has also now won 42 of his last 43 sets at the Masters level, along with an eighth straight win over Zverev.
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After the match, Sinner said:
“We came here trying to give myself some feedback. Now finding myself in the final means a lot to me.”
“Every match every day is different. I’m very happy about today’s performance. I felt really solid from the beginning. When you’re a break up straight away it changes the dynamic of the match. Very happy. Let’s see what’s coming in the final.”
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The Italian is now into his 12th Masters final and his second on clay, with this being his first in Monte Carlo.
He is now on a 16-match winning streak and has won 38 of his last 40 matches.
Sinner also joins Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic as the only players to reach the finals of Indian Wells, Miami, and Monte Carlo in the same season.
New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel and NFL reporter Dianna Russini have been in the news after their pictures from a resort in Arizona were published by the New York Post.
Russini is reportedly being investigated by The Athletic following the release of the pictures. Amid the investigation and rumors of her alleged affair, NFL commentator Colin Cowherd reflected on the moral and ethical aspects of the controversy. Cowherd said on his podcast (timestamp 20:00 onwards):
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“If you’re winning in the NFL as a football coach, and Vrabel took a team to the Super Bowl that had no business being in the Super Bowl. If these allegations, all we have is pictures. Just pictures, right? So it’s just a moral issue if the allegations are true. With Diana, it’s moral and ethical, because she has in her contract, there are standards and procedures from the New York Times.
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“I mean, they fired Jason Blair was a reporter. I don’t talk about the moral stuff. What I’m trying to tell people is, don’t confuse moral and ethical. Diana’s in a space where it’s moral and ethical. Mike’s is moral if, and again, these are allegations. That’s the other reason I don’t talk about it. But I do want to create or provide clarity on that… So I’m supporting the mainstream media.”
Vrabel and Russini were seen interacting near the pool at an Arizona resort. While The Athletic initially defended Russini, the journalist has been sidelined from reporting amid her ongoing investigation.
Manchester City breathed fresh life back into the Premier League title race with an emphatic 3-0 win at Chelsea.
Tottenham, meanwhile, remain in the relegation zone after Roberto De Zerbi’s first game in charge ended as a 1-0 defeat at Sunderland.
Guardiola wary of Arsenal
Pep Guardiola believes Arsenal are still the best team in England and Europe after Manchester City cut the gap at the top of the Premier League to six points with a comprehensive 3-0 win at Chelsea.
Nico O’Reilly, Marc Guehi and Jeremy Doku were on-target in 17 second-half minutes at Stamford Bridge as City put real pressure on the league leaders ahead of next Sunday’s showdown between the two sides.
Should City triumph at the Etihad Stadium they will move to within three points of the Gunners with a game in hand, but despite three wins on the trot for his side, Guardiola is wary of Arsenal.
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“We have done a good three games but the best team in England so far is Arsenal, the best team in Europe so far is Arsenal, because the numbers are there, the consistency they had,” said Guardiola.
De Zerbi concerned by Spurs mindset
Roberto De Zerbi admitted fear of relegation may be a problem for Tottenham after losing at Sunderland.
Despite some promising opportunities from Richarlison and Dominic Solanke in particular, Sunderland claimed three points when Nordi Mukiele’s strike deflected in off Micky van de Ven in the 61st minute.
Defeat leaves Tottenham in 18th place in the Premier League table and they are still searching for their first Premier League win of 2026.
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Asked if he felt like the fear of relegation itself is the problem, De Zerbi replied: “I think so, yep. The target now is to win one game because if we win a game, we can see everything in a different way.”
Mainoo getting closer to signing new deal – Carrick
After an uncertain time under previous boss Ruben Amorim, academy graduate Mainoo has flourished under Carrick’s guidance as head coach and once again looks like a cornerstone player for the Red Devils.
His current contract runs until 2027, with an option for an additional 12 months, but the club have reportedly given the green light to a new five-year deal for the England international.
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“We’d like to think so and it’s getting closer, so we’re positive with that,” Carrick said. “We’re calm with it, but we’re positive with it and time will tell how it goes. At the moment, we are in a good place.”
Glasner hopes Mateta can win Eagles fans over
Oliver Glasner believes Jean-Philippe Mateta deserves to be back in the good books of Crystal Palace supporters after the striker’s match-winning display against Newcastle.
Mateta upset Eagles fans by trying to leave the club in the January transfer window, only to see a move to AC Milan break down after a knee injury caused problems with his medical.
After scoring in Palace’s Conference League quarter-final victory over Fiorentina on Thursday, his redemption continued as he struck twice off the bench to help his side come from behind in the 2-1 victory.
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Glasner said: “I was delighted for him and I mentioned weeks ago that is what he deserves.
“As soon as it was clear that he had to stay at Crystal Palace, he said, ‘OK, I will work very, very hard to come back and help the team win,’ and to help us achieve all our goals. This is what he has showed and he is now getting back to his top fitness.”
What’s on today?
Manchester United can bolster their position of third in the league when they welcome old rivals Leeds to Old Trafford. The visitors will be hoping to increase a three-point cushion away from the drop zone.
Arne Slot will address the media on Monday afternoon ahead of Liverpool’s crunch Champions League quarter-final second leg at Paris St Germain, who hold a 2-0 lead at the halfway point of their tie.
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