Leeds United have urged supporters to show respect when players who are observing Ramadan break their fast during Sunday’s FA Cup fifth-round match against Norwich City.

Loud boos were heard when play was paused to allow fasting players to take on fluids and energy supplements during last weekend’s match against Manchester City at Elland Road.

The club said the booing was “disappointing and unexpected”, but added there were “several mitigating circumstances”, including their own failure to properly explain the interruption to fans before it happened.

“To be clear, Leeds United explicitly condemn any supporters in the home or away sections who actively boo players observing Ramadan and use the protocol in place to break their fast,” said the Premier League club in a statement issued on Friday.

Leeds said they should have been “more proactive with our communications in advance of the Manchester City fixture, to explain to supporters that this was going to happen”, as “this was the first time a game at Elland Road has ever been paused to allow players observing Ramadan to break their fast”.

The club added: “There was a clear lack of awareness by some attending the fixture. Whilst we displayed a message on our big screen at Elland Road to explain why the game had been paused, this was not visible for approximately 25% of the stadium.”

As a further explanation to why some fans may have reacted as they did, Leeds pointed to an incident during the away fixture against Manchester City in November, when Farke accused goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma of feigning injury to “bend the rules” and allow Pep Guardiola’s side to hold a tactical timeout on the touchline.

Leeds say it is important “for respect to be shown” when the Norwich game pauses for players observing Ramadan to break their fast – including the club’s striker Joel Piroe – following sunset on Sunday.

Sunset, which is when Muslims break their daily fast during Ramadan, is expected to fall around the 75th minute of a game that kicks off at 16:30 GMT.

Leeds also condemned discriminatory and tragedy chanting at football grounds, as well as continuing taunts referencing Leeds-born Jimmy Savile, one of the UK’s most prolific sexual predators, aimed at the club’s supporters by opposition fans.

“Football still has a long way to go in eradicating stains on the game, including racism, homophobia, tragedy chanting and the sickening Jimmy Savile taunts our own supporters are subjected to at every match from opposition fans,” Leeds said.

“As a club, we will continue to work to ensure that in time, these issues cease to exist. On Sunday against Norwich City, there is an opportunity to show the very best of Leeds United, and that everyone is welcome at Elland Road.”

After anticipation, expectation and then litigation, hope of seeing Jaron Ennis fight Vergil Ortiz Jr anytime soon has seemingly ended, but despite that disappointment, ‘Boots’ may well end up challenging for world honours in a replacement fight.

Ennis and Ortiz have been linked to a showdown for years now, but in recent months it seemed as though the super-welterweight rivals would finally go toe-to-toe, in one of the most in-demand clashes of 2026.

Then, Ortiz filed a lawsuit against his own promoter, Oscar De La Hoya and Golden Boy Promotions, in order to get out of his contract and proceed with the Ennis fight as part of a multi-fight deal with Matchroom Boxing.

Last month, Golden Boy were granted a temporary restraining order against Ortiz, restricting his ability to negotiate with other promoters and fight Ennis. That legal battle has now been sent to arbitration, with the arbitrator ordered to settle the matter by September 2.

As a result, Ortiz’s career has been put on hold, whilst Ennis has been forced to look for a short-notice fight, having been preparing for a proposed April 18 fight date.

IBF super-welterweight world champion Josh Kelly seems to be one option for the Philadelphia phenomenon, but unified WBA and WBO titleholder, Xander Zayas, told Brendan Tobin that he would also be willing to face Ennis next.

“We are seeing what is happening with Vergil and Boots, if they are going to make the fight happen. If not, are any of those guys going to be available for the date that I have set, that is what it comes down to.”

Zayas has previously confirmed that he has already agreed a fight date, venue and broadcaster for an event on home soil in Puerto Rico. In order for a fight with Boots to take place, those plans may need to be ditched.

England captain Nat Sciver-Brunt has called on her side to embrace the power of home advantage in this summer’s Women’s T20 World Cup, as the hosts look to heal some of their tournament “scars”.

England Women have won four of their five major global trophies on their own soil, including a memorable 50-over title success at a packed Lord’s in 2017.

The trail has gone cold on the road over the past nine years, with the group-stage exit in the United Arab Emirates a notable low point at the previous T20 event in 2024.

Speaking at Edgbaston with exactly 100 days to go before their curtain-raising fixture against Sri Lanka, Sciver-Brunt acknowledged that it is time to put England back in the hunt for silverware.

“Being at home definitely gives you an edge; everyone in that team will be feeling the expectation,” she told the Press Association.

“As a captain, that’s what you sign up for, and to lead the girls out on this ground will be so, so special. We know we’ll be brilliantly supported and we’re really looking forward to it. It’s in touching distance.

“It felt like that in 2017, too, but you never know if you’ll get another chance to experience something like that. Now, here we are with 100 days to go until we have another opportunity to rewrite English Women’s cricket a little bit.

“It’s been frustrating not to have accelerated as we wanted after the last World Cup win. The senior players have probably got a few more scars than some of the younger ones, so it’s up to us not to bring that into the team environment.

“We’ve got such a youthful team, we’ll be drawing on that youthfulness and trying to live in the present as much as we can.”

Ticket sales surpassed the total for the 2017 World Cup in January and are now over 115,000, with buyers from 45 different countries and a sold-out allocation for the final on 5 July.

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Tournament director Beth Barrett-Wild has even loftier ambitions as the fixtures edge closer and credits the Hundred with helping amplify the reach of the women’s game.

“What the Hundred did was transformative for women’s cricket. It’s not necessarily about unlocking a door, but it created a stage to present the women’s game to as many people as possible,” she told PA.

“The competition in 2017 was a breakthrough moment for the game, but we’re past that milestone already, and we’re targeting a total attendance of around 270,000 this time.

“But we don’t just want to break records, we want this to be a moment that really changes behaviour and engagement. It’s about fan retention for 2027 and what the audience for women’s cricket looks like beyond that.”

You don’t need us to tell you that Duke, Arizona and Michigan will be No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament.

Nevermind the final few days of the regular season or upcoming conference tournaments. It will take more than another loss to knock any of those teams off the top line. They have done enough.

The remaining No. 1?

Defending NCAA champion Florida (24-6) and 2023-24 champ UConn (27-3) are the only candidates.

Polymarket alert.

It’s Florida.

The NCAA selection committee can take the easy path or the more considered one when it announces the 68-team tournament field on Selection Sunday, March 15.

The Big East champion Huskies can point to one game as justification for their second No. 1 seed in three years — a 77-73 victory over Florida in the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 9.

UConn held the Gators to 40 percent shooting and forced a five-second call on an inbounds play with nine seconds left in a three-point game, preventing the Gators from a potential game-tying shot.

A quality win’s quality win.

UConn is 18-2 since entering its final regular-season Big East game at Marquette on Saturday.

In the three months since, Florida has grown fangs.

Florida is 19-2 since, while playing a tougher schedule in a tougher Southeastern conference. It has won 10 straight, the longest current streak in the Power Six and the fourth-longest in Division I behind Miami, Ohio (30), Navy (13) and High Point (11).

It simply took Florida a bit longer to find its new identity.

Dynamic point guard Walter Clayton was the most influential player in the NCAA tournament during the Gators’ run to their third title a year ago.

Clayton’s skill and will helped the Gators overcome a nine-point deficit to Texas Tech in the West Regional finals, a nine-point deficit to Auburn in the national semifinals, and a 12-point deficit to Houston in the title game. Simply breathtaking.

And never mind the earlier 77-75 second-round NCAA victory over UConn, when the Gators overcame a six-point lead to end coach Danny Hurley’s bid for a three-peat.

No longer guard-first but not guard-bereft, the Gators have arguably the best frontline in the college game led by forward Thomas Baugh, a projected 2026 NBA lottery pick. They lead the NCAA with a plus-14.3 rebound margin and are ninth in scoring margin at plus-15.7.

Analytics trust the Gators.

Duke, Michigan, Arizona and Florida are ranked 1-4 in KenPom’s adjusted efficiency margin. UConn is 10th.

Duke, Michigan, Arizona and Florida are the only teams to rank among the top nine in both offensive efficiency and defensive efficiency. UConn is 12th in defensive efficiency and 20th in offensive efficiency.

Numbers can change, but the trend seems clear.

UConn won the game. Florida has won the war.

Former world champion Paulie Malignaggi has predicted the rematch between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao, basing his opinion largely on Pacquiao’s latest performance.

The two pound-for-pound legends will square off in a professional rematch at the Sphere, Las Vegas, on September 19, over a decade removed from their first encounter.

Back then, Mayweather came away with the WBC, WBO and WBA world welterweight titles after convincingly outpointing his rival, who has since been involved in eight professional outings.

The most recent of which came in July, when the Filipino ended a near four-year hiatus and held then-WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios to a contentious draw.

Other than that, the 47-year-old has done very little to prove his professional capabilities in recent years, while Mayweather is perhaps even less qualified to compete in a sanctioned bout.

The 49-year-old has not fought in a ‘competitive’ contest since 2017, when a 10th-round finish over Conor McGregor hardly justified the ‘professional’ tag attached to their crossover affair.

But still, many believe that Mayweather will orchestrate a repeat of proceedings in his sequel with Pacquiao, despite having only been involved in exhibitions since his 50-0 victory over McGregor.

Speaking on BoxingScene, Malignaggi expressed this opinion while, at the same time, highlighting that he was largely unimpressed by Pacquiao’s last display.

“I think Mayweather, if there’s anything left, probably beats Manny. I don’t think Manny looked particularly great [against Barrios].

“But also, from Manny’s perspective, he’s going to grab on to that momentum. He got a draw with a [then-world] champion.”

Mayweather will again put his unbeaten record on the line against Pacquiao, who boasts an extraordinary resume himself after having become an eight-division world champion.

For both fighters, though, their respective legacies should hardly be impacted by the result of this rematch.

You’re no doubt familiar with the phrase: Defense never rusts.

So while the Jayson Tatum fan club uses his long absence as an excuse for the rim-chipping step-backs, the crowd-pleasing passes into the audience and the dribble out of bounds off his bloated ankle, there’ll be nothing but the naked truth about his defense within seconds of when he steps back onto the court.

Tatum is the most overhyped player in the history of the NBA. Don’t believe me? I have a stat to prove it.

Three NBA All-Stars suffered Achilles tears last year. All are plotting a comeback.

Since the injury, Tyrese Haliburton has gotten – by my unofficial count – 96 updates posted on social media.

Damian Lillard, who made himself available to the media masses at the All-Star Game and then, incredibly, went out and won the 3-Point Shootout, has warranted 126 updates.

Tatum has had 158 … yesterday alone. His total (this changes by the minute): 7,966.

And I’m not counting the five-part documentary on the incredible story of an athlete making a miraculous comeback from an Achilles injury. Apparently it’s never been done before.

As Tatum’s return to game action gets closer, the saga gets even more ridiculous.

You gotta know the NBA, which has driven the Tatum hype machine from Day 1, wants their Golden Boy to return next Tuesday against the Spurs. Why? Because it’s a nationally televised game on NBC, the league’s cash cow.

But Tatum went to Duke, remember? He’s not dumb enough to take that path.

He’d rather make a triumphant return in a game in which, well, a triumph is more likely … like Friday night against the hapless Mavericks. It’s his kind of stat-padding opponent.

Plus, it’s at home, which makes sense, and comes at the perfect time … Two days after the Celtics were drubbed by the Hornets, demonstrating – despite the shiny record – that the club desperately needs him back.

It would make the perfect theater. Likely accompanied by a green carpet.

That first dribble between the legs. Wow. Waited 10 months for this. Worth every minute.

That 11th dribble between the legs on the same possession. Incredible. He’s still got it.

That assist to Jaylen Brown. Classic teammate. Forget for a moment that Payton Pritchard has done this 70 times already this season.

And that 3-pointer. He’s back! It came on his fifth ill-advised 24-footer of the night, but the broadcasters have already cautioned seven times that he’s rusty.

We’ll give him that. But whenever he returns, a well-rested Tatum should be on top of his game defensively. He’s made this perfectly clear in the twice-a-day videos he’s directed.

And this is a potential problem.

You see, while Tatum has fooled people into thinking he’s more than an Olympic Team 12th man by putting up impressive numbers in points, rebounds and assists, you can do that by shooting a lot, standing next to the basket on defense and committing a lot of turnovers.

But there’s no defending his defense.

It’s remarkable how often Tatum is cited as an outstanding defender. Heck, over the course of his career, he’s gotten almost as many All-Defensive Team votes as Brown.

That speaks to the myth of Jayson Tatum as much as anything.

Watch Brown play defense. Complete lock-down guy at multiple positions. Look at what he did to Luka Doncic in the 2024 Finals.

The Celtics won that title on the defensive end of the court. Fortunately, seven of the 11 voters for Finals MVP saw that and went with Brown.

Tatum got the other four votes … surely not for shooting 26% on 3-pointers as he almost single-handedly kept the Mavericks in the series.

As the broadcasters reminded us multiple times: It was his blanket defense on Mavericks big men Daniel Gafford and Dereck Lively II that won the series for the Celtics, failing to note that two stiffs with a combined shooting range of 18 inches went 28-for-39 in the five games.

You want to learn a little something about Tatum that’s not covered in his documentary? Focus on his defense in his return.

First, note who he’s guarding. He routinely gets assigned to the other team’s weakest forward or center while Brown actually guards a guy with a heartbeat.

Is that what you do with an elite defender?

Because his guy is no threat, he gets an opportunity to hang around the hoop while Brown and his hard-working mates induce bad shot after bad shot. Tatum has 4,293 career rebounds; his cumulative jump for those boards has totaled 4,292 inches.

And then watch as an opponent attacks the rim. Ole’. After all, he can’t afford to get in foul trouble.

The master plan: This allows him to grab the ball out of the net and inbound it to someone sure to pass it back immediately, so Tatum can begin his dribbling act.

You can stop watching at that point. He will be, after all, rusty offensively.

But on defense, he won’t be rusty at all. Just – as usual – exposed.

As India get ready for the final of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026, a debate has started over the team’s opening combination. Questions are being raised about whether the side should continue with Abhishek Sharma despite his run of low scores or bring in Rinku Singh for the title clash.

With the trophy at stake, the discussion has spread among fans and experts.

Abhishek’s numbers in the tournament have drawn attention. In seven matches, the left-hander has scored 0, 0, 0, 15, 55, 10 and 9, making a total of 89 runs at an average of 12.71.

Except for a half-century against Zimbabwe, he has not managed to score consistently, leading to questions over whether India should persist with him in the final.

The debate has gained momentum on social media, especially on X, where fans have expressed different views on the issue.

“You can’t take risks with a person who is consistently flopping. This is the final and we must go with full strength, without any weak link,” wrote one fan, as cited by news agency IANS.

Another supporter said rival teams have already worked out how to dismiss him. “Abhishek has become so predictable. New Zealand will make sure he doesn’t score either. Rinku should come in.”

There are also voices supporting the youngster. “Abhishek can be our X factor in the final. There is a big inning due from him. He might deliver big in the finale,” another fan commented, as cited by IANS.

For the team management, the situation presents a choice: continue backing a player through a difficult phase or make a change before the final.

Attention is now on head coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Suryakumar Yadav. They will decide whether to stick with the combination that took India to the final or bring in Rinku Singh for the match.

At present, a change appears unlikely, but the decision will show whether India opts for continuity or makes a late adjustment ahead of the final.

India vs New Zealand final

Date & Time: India will face New Zealand in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 final on Sunday, March 8. The match will begin at 7:00 PM (IST).

Venue: Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad

Live Telecast: Star Sports Network

Live Streaming: JioHotstar app.

It’s going to be a crucial week for Real Madrid and the future of their manager Alvaro Arbeloa. The Spanish giants lost the latest home game against Getafe and are now four points behind Barcelona in LaLiga standings. This is why Friday’s match against Celta Vigo will be crucial, only few days before the first leg of the Champions League’s Round of 16 against Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City. Arbeloa spoke ahead of the game and looked confident.

“We know what we’re up against, we’re aware, and we were in the two matches we couldn’t win. We know the level we have to reach if we want to succeed against a great opponent, and that it depends a lot on ourselves and the level we deliver. For us, the past doesn’t exist, and we’re only thinking about Celta Vigo.”

Real Madrid will have to deal with the injury of French striker Kylian Mbappe, whose return on the pitch is still unknown. “I talk to him every day. Of course, we are keeping track of how he’s doing and how he feels. Each day, he’s getting better; it’s a process where we’re taking it day by day, observing his sensations, but it’s all good news as of today. He’s improving more and more”, Arbeloa added. 

Here’s what you need to know ahead of the game: 

How to watch Celta Vigo vs. Real Madrid, odds

• Date: Friday, March 6 | Time: 3 p.m. ET
• Location: Estadio Abanca-Balaidos — Vigo
• Live stream: ESPN+
• Odds: Celta Vigo +228; Draw +245; Real Madrid +117

Possible lineups

Celta Vigo XI: Andrei Radu; Javi Rodriguez, Joseph Aidoo, Carlos Dominguez; Oscar Mingueza, Miguel Roman, Ilaix Moriba, Sergio Carreira; Fer Lopez, Ferran Jutgla, Hugo Alvarez.

Real Madrid XI: Thibaut Courtois; Trent Alexander-Arnold, Antonio Rudiger, Ferland Mendy, Fran Garcia; Aurelien Tchouameni, Thiago Pitarch; Federico Valverde, Arda Guler, Vinicius Junior; Gonzalo Garcia.

Prediction 

It will be a key week for Alvaro Arbeloa’s future and Real Madrid, especially after losing the last home game against Getafe. This is a must-win clash for Real Madrid. Pick: Real Madrid 3, Osasuna 0.