PFA Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year nominees unveiled – Arsenal, Tottenham and Liverpool feature but Leicester players dominate April 13, 2016 Three Leicester City stars have been nominated for the PFA Player of Year award in recognition of their team's incredible Premier League season. Riyad Mahrez, Jamie Vardy and N'Golo Kante have all been nominated for the gong by their fellow players after standing out in the Foxes' rise to the summit of English football. Second-placed Tottenham, [...]
Manchester City 1, Paris Saint-Germain 0 (Agg: 3-2): Pellegrini revels in City showing “big club” mentality as £55m man Kevin de Bruyne fires club to first ever Champions League semi-final April 13, 2016 Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini expressed his pride after the club reached the semi-finals of the Champions League for the first time in their history by edging past a subdued Paris Saint-Germain last night. A composed finish from £55m record signing Kevin de Bruyne spared the potential blushes of the usually dependable Sergio Aguero, who [...]
Real Madrid 3, VfL Wolfsburg 0 (Agg: 3-2): Zidane revels in best night of managerial career as Ronaldo treble stokes Champions League comeback April 13, 2016 Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane shrugged off speculation about his job security and instead chose to revel in his side’s stunning second-leg comeback after a Cristiano Ronaldo treble broke the resistance of Wolfsburg. Former Manchester United forward Ronaldo wiped out the German outfit’s advantage with two strikes in the space of 86 first-half seconds before [...]
McLaren’s Alonso remains doubtful for Chinese Grand Prix as Spaniard awaits medical green light April 12, 2016 Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso admits he remains unsure whether he will be given the all-clear to make his comeback and compete at this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix. McLaren driver Alonso was ruled out of the Bahrain race earlier this month after fracturing ribs during a horror crash at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in [...]
Danny Willett thanked his analytics team following his Masters triumph – but what are the key stats used in golf? April 12, 2016 Amidst the more usual recitations of gratitude towards his wife, sponsors and coach, Danny Willett this week took time off from celebrating his Masters win to tweet his thanks to a data analysis consultancy for professional golfers, who helped him plot his course strategy. In football, data analysis units have become well estabilished at top clubs, and the sport’s followers now [...]
Louis van Gaal’s only hope of avoiding the sack at Manchester United is to win the FA Cup and salvage a top-four place April 12, 2016 Leicester aside, West Ham are the team who have completely embarrassed pundits and proven that clubs beyond the usual suspects can sustain a high level throughout a season. Manager Slaven Bilic, like his Foxes counterpart Claudio Ranieri, has to take credit for keeping his players happy and confident, ensuring that their rare defeats have not [...]
NASA’s stunning series of free space tourism posters offers a glimpse at the imagined future of interstellar travel April 12, 2016 NASA’s Voyager mission left Earth in 1977, taking advantage of a once-every-175-year alignment of the planets to take a grand tour of the solar system. Using a manoeuvre called a gravitational assist, the tiny probe swung itself around Jupiter like a slingshot, zipping past Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, picking up speed each time until it was [...]
Tributes paid as heart condition forces England batsman James Taylor to retire April 12, 2016 England batsman James Taylor has been stripped of the finest years of his international career after being forced to retire due to a serious heart condition, according to former national team skipper Nasser Hussain. The 26-year-old is set to undergo surgery later this week having been diagnosed with Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Cardiomyopathy, a similar condition [...]
West Ham United v Manchester United: Slaven Bilic savours perfect farewell to FA Cup football at the Boleyn Ground April 12, 2016 West Ham manager Slaven Bilic insists Wednesday's quarter-final replay against Manchester United is the perfect way to bring down the curtain on FA Cup action at the Boleyn Ground. The Hammers have just four fixtures left at their home of 112 years before relocating to the Olympic Stadium and, regardless of the result, the visit of [...]
Masters winner Danny Willett can’t wait to watch replays of his Augusta triumph – and change nappies April 12, 2016 Masters champion Danny Willett admits he is looking forward to watching replays of his Augusta triumph after arriving back in Britain. Willett, who became a father just days before jetting out to America for the year’s first Major tournament, also listed being back with his family among the things he was relishing upon his return [...]