WINNERS & LOSERS
A WEEKEND is a long time in sport, as this lot will attest. But while for some it was a few days to remember, others may wish they had never set foot out of the house.
TONY MCCOY
Cheltenham Gold Cup, Champion Chase, and Champion Hurdle; McCoy had won them all. The 14-time champion jockey finally nailed the one that got away in the Grand National on Don’t Push It. Winners don’t come much more popular than this.
ARSENAL
Man Utd’s failure to beat Blackburn means Arsenal could go second on Wednesday. Even more happily for Arsene Wenger, their opponents, Tottenham, go into the north London derby off the back of a gruelling extra-time FA Cup semi-final defeat to Portsmouth.
LIONEL MESSI
Who doesn’t love Lionel Messi? Real Madrid fans, perhaps, who watched the pint-sized Argentinian genius lead Barca to a 2-0 victory in El Clasico on Saturday – a match widely billed as the title decider – upstaging £80m Cristiano Ronaldo in the process.
ANDREW STRAUSS
England’s captain showed he is still rusty from his recent rest by being dismissed for just 15 as Middlesex lost their County Championship match with Worcestershire by 111 runs. On the plus side, it was an improvement of 14 runs on his first innings.
WORCESTER
Relegation from the Guinness Premiership is looming larger by the day at Sixways. Things were looking unusually optimistic when they took a 10-3 lead against London Irish on Saturday, but old habits die hard and they slipped to a loss that leaves them three points adrift with three to play.