UCLA capture first NCAA women’s basketball title, 79-51 over South Carolina

• Gabriela Jaquez scores 21 points in rout

• Victory margin is third-largest in NCAA history

Gabriela Jaquez scored 21 points, Lauren Betts added 16 and UCLA routed South Carolina 79-51 Sunday to win their first NCAA championship in women’s basketball.

The near-record lopsided victory completed the Bruins’ journey through this year’s March Madness that started after a loss to UConn in last season’s Final Four. The Bruins ran through their opponents this season with their only loss coming in November, to Texas in a Thanksgiving tournament.

Published: April 5, 2026, 10:38 pm

Bernardo Silva will leave Manchester City this summer, reveals Pep Lijnders

• Captain deserves good farewell, says assistant manager

• Silva has interest from Barcelona as contract ends in June

Pep Lijnders has revealed that Bernardo Silva will leave Manchester City in the summer, with the assistant manager hoping the captain is given a fitting farewell.

The 31-year-old Silva, whose contract expires in June, has been in impressive form this season but Lijnders stated it will be his last for City.

Published: April 5, 2026, 9:30 pm

‘We’re home’: Even in a draw, Inter Miami’s stadium opener was a win for David Beckham

Nu Stadium’s first game of any kind saw the South Florida club accomplish a long-held goal barely under the deadline

Lionel Messi may have scored, captained the side and had a quarter of the new building named in his honor, but this was unmistakably Inter Miami co-owner Sir David Beckham’s night.

The inaugural game at Nu Stadium in Miami – an entertaining 2-2 draw with Austin FC – was the culmination of the former England captain’s arduous, thirteen-year odyssey to first establish an MLS team in Miami, then fill it with superstars, win major honors and, critically, build a world class arena for the team to play in.

Published: April 5, 2026, 12:52 pm

Pogacar holds off Van der Poel to win Tour of Flanders but faces fine for running red light

• Slovenian among riders who ran light at rail crossing

• Demi Vollering beats Ferrand-Prévot to win women’s race

Tadej Pogacar won a record-equalling third Tour of Flanders on Sunday after the world champion dropped his main rival Mathieu van der Poel with 18km to ride. However, the race winner later learned he would be among up to 20 cyclists in the race who could face action from Belgian authorities after running a red light at a railway crossing.

Van der Poel was himself aiming for a record fourth victory in the second Monument of the season, but instead Pogacar made it two from two in the prestigious one-day classics having won Milan-San Remo last month.

Published: April 5, 2026, 10:11 pm

Angels’ Jo Adell acrobatically robs three home runs to shock Mariners

• Adell stole homers from Raleigh, Naylor and Crawford

• Zach Neto hits solo home run for game’s only run

Los Angeles Angels outfielder Jo Adell is known for his power bat but he put on a show for the ages with his glove in the middle game of the three-game series with the visiting Seattle Mariners.

Adell performed three home run robberies in a single game on Saturday and will look to help the Angels win the series when they close the set against the Mariners on Sunday at Anaheim, California. Zach Neto hit his 10th career leadoff homer for the game’s lone run, but Saturday night was the “Jo Show,” where a right fielder sometimes chided for his defensive shortcomings put on one of the best outfielder performances of all time.

Published: April 5, 2026, 3:49 pm

‘Let’s do it’: Deontay Wilder targets Anthony Joshua fight after beating Chisora

• Former world champions may finally meet in the ring

• Eddie Hearn says Joshua is ready for fight after car crash

Deontay Wilder called out Anthony Joshua for a long-awaited matchup between the former heavyweight champions, after Wilder edged Derek Chisora to clinch a split-decision victory in London on Saturday.

Wilder came face to face with Joshua as he walked past the Briton after the fight. The two fist-bumped, and the American said: “Let’s do it. It wasn’t a few words, I dapped it up with him and I said, now let’s get it on. I’m ready for whoever, [as] long as these guys are in the heavyweight division, I am here. You can call me Mr Clean, because I want to clean up the whole division. The division is nothing without Deontay Wilder.”

Published: April 5, 2026, 12:50 pm

Leeds hold nerve to win shootout after West Ham’s dramatic fightback

The familiar London Stadium rush for the exit has never been so misjudged. A lot of West Ham fans decided they had seen enough when Dominic Calvert-Lewin put Leeds 2-0 up and within touching distance of a first FA Cup semi-final since 1987, but how wrong they were. The non-believers reckoned without their side forcing extra time and were not allowed back in to see a ridiculous game go the distance.

It ended with Finlay Herrick, a 20-year-old goalkeeper whose experience of senior football extended no further than 10 games during a loan spell with National League side Boreham Wood earlier this season, coming on for his West Ham debut after Alphonse Areola went off injured just before penalties. Talk about a baptism of fire. Herrick is West Ham’s No 3 goalkeeper and it seemed he was about to steal the headlines when he opened the shootout by saving a tame effort from Joël Piroe.

Published: April 5, 2026, 7:01 pm

Spurs gamble on creative but combative De Zerbi conjuring up an escape plan

With seven games to save their status, Tottenham’s owners have taken risk on a gifted coach who favours tough love

It is ironic that the man who has appointed Roberto De Zerbi to be Tottenham manager, just as the club faces its most critical seven games this century, is also partially responsible for one of the most successful managerial recruitments in Mikel Arteta, albeit for north London rivals, Arsenal. And even that didn’t start well. Vinai Venkatesham was blindsided when photographs of him emerging from Arteta’s house at 1.20am were published in a newspaper at a sensitive stage in negotiations. The man who is now Tottenham’s chief executive only found out he had been rumbled when the pictures went online and was mortified.

Venkatesham was part of a committee that settled on Arteta as a replacement for Unai Emery, and while it was a huge gamble to entrust a novice to a club the size of Arsenal, it was at least inspired, which is more than can be said for his hiring of Igor Tudor, a coach with no Premier League experience, to save Spurs. Now Venkatesham, along with the sporting director, Johan Lange, has settled on De Zerbi, which is similarly high risk.

Published: April 5, 2026, 7:00 am

Tradition, trepidation and that Augusta ‘thing’ – why the Masters remains golf’s greatest prize

Even the greatest golfers can wilt in pursuit of the Green Jacket – Xander Schauffele, Jordan Spieth and Tommy Fleetwood try to explain its special aura

They say the Masters is all about tradition. One involves the sense of trepidation that collides with excitement as the finest golfers in the world take to Augusta National. Rory McIlroy, now a Masters champion, was scared to take a divot when first taking to the Georgia venue. “For my first two or three times, it kind of felt like I was in a museum,” says Xander Schauffele.

Some visibly wilt under an intimidation provided by a course that is picture perfect. It is like the dazzling princess is concealing an axe.

Published: April 5, 2026, 2:27 pm

Arteta’s ChatGPT Guardiola-ism is down but history beckons for Gunners

The quadruple dream may be dead but Arsenal are now just four games from achieving an unprecedented nonruple

And then there were two. As the clock ticked down at St Mary’s Stadium on Saturday night even the stray yellow balloons on the pitch had begun to take on a weirdly mocking quality.

The balloons were almost too much, like metaphors-for-hire in an arthouse film, popping up in shot every time Arsenal tried to transform another spell of mechanical pressure into creative, incisive football. Your dreams? Your dreams are just air inside a polymer shell. Your dreams are a squeaky veneer. Even when you try to take agency over your dreams, or at least stamp on them before a set piece, they will scoot away and bobble about annoyingly near the corner flag.

Published: April 5, 2026, 7:00 pm

Brighton stun Arsenal in Women’s FA Cup shock; Liverpool also through to last four

• Brighton two wins away from first major trophy

• Liverpool edge out Charlton in extra time

Arsenal made a surprise exit at the quarter-final stage of the Women’s FA Cup for the second successive season as Brighton stunned the record 14-time cup winners at Borehamwood.

Liverpool managed to avoid it becoming a day of shocks as they struck late in extra time to eventually find a way past a stubborn Charlton Athletic side, but they was no such joy for Arsenal, who paid the price for a performance that was well below their best.

Published: April 5, 2026, 5:51 pm

Scottish Premiership: Hearts back on top but drop points in Livingston draw

• Hearts point clear of Rangers with six games left

• Celtic stay in contention with 2-1 win at Dundee

Hearts reclaimed their status as Scottish Premiership leaders but missed the chance to restore their three‑point cushion after being held to a 2-2 draw by the bottom side, Livingston.

The Jambos had been knocked off the top for the first time since September after Rangers edged ahead of them on goal difference by defeating Dundee United on Saturday.

Published: April 5, 2026, 6:13 pm

European football: PSV crowned Dutch champions after Feyenoord draw with Volendam

• PSV hold 17-point lead to clinch title with five games left

• Inter edge towards winning Serie A with Roma thrashing

PSV Eindhoven were crowned on Sunday as Dutch champions for the 27th time, with five matches left of the season, after second-placed Feyenoord’s 0-0 draw with Volendam.

PSV hold an unassailable 17-point lead at the top of the table after bouncing back from successive defeats with a 4-3 victory against Utrecht on Saturday.

Published: April 5, 2026, 9:45 pm

‘You can overachieve’: how Michael Skubala’s Lincoln beat the League One odds

A decade ago, Lincoln City finished 15th in the Conference – now they’re on the verge of promotion to the second tier for the first time since 1961

It is almost like an actor refusing to say “Macbeth” for fear of jinxing the play. Even though Lincoln City’s promotion to the EFL Championship is nigh on certain – “it feels a bit like we’re on match point,” Michael Skubala said after Friday’s 1-0 victory over AFC Wimbledon – no one involved dares mention the prospect of Tottenham or Wolves playing a league game at Sincil Bank next season.

Extending their club-record unbeaten run to 24 league games at Reading on Monday would guarantee Lincoln’s return to the second tier of English football for the first time in 65 years. A draw between Bolton and Stockport would also suffice.

Published: April 5, 2026, 7:00 am

Van Dijk claims Liverpool ‘gave up’ in Manchester City defeat as PSG trip looms

• Arne Slot under pressure before Champions League tie

• Van Dijk questions togetherness after 15th loss of season

Virgil van Dijk believes Liverpool “gave up” during their FA Cup defeat at Manchester City and has apologised to fans for the woeful performance that heightens the pressure on Arne Slot.

A dejected Liverpool captain was unsparing in his assessment of the heaviest defeat of Slot’s reign and claimed it will be difficult for the team to recover for Wednesday’s Champions League quarter-final first leg against Paris Saint-Germain.

Published: April 5, 2026, 11:00 am

Aerial view of American sprinter Sha'Carri Richardson winning her Stawell Gift heat - video

USA sprint star Sha’Carri Richardson has cruised into the Stawell Gift semi-final, comfortably winning her heat on Saturday afternoon. The Paris Olympic 100m silver medallist started from scratch but powered past the field, easing up before the line once victory was assured

Published: April 6, 2026, 12:41 am

Caroline Dubois beats Terri Harper on points and adds WBO to WBC lightweight title

• London-born fighter wins easily on points

• Harper was knocked down in sixth round

Caroline Dubois added the WBO world lightweight title to her WBC crown with a unanimous points victory over her fellow Briton Terri Harper. The London-born younger sister of heavyweight Daniel Dubois scored a 98-91, 97-92, 98-91 win to see off Harper at London Olympia on Sunday night.

Dubois struggled to get to her opponent initially, but floored her in the sixth round and never looked back as she moved a step closer to unifying the division.

Published: April 5, 2026, 11:01 pm

Leeds fans will take over London for FA Cup semi-final, Daniel Farke promises

• Club in FA Cup last four after shootout win at West Ham

• ‘I feel humble. You can see how much it means to them’

Daniel Farke promised that Leeds fans will take over London after their side secured an FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea thanks to a breathless win against West Ham on penalties.

Leeds appeared to be cruising to an easy victory at the London ­Stadium, only for West Ham to force extra time by fighting back from 2-0 down with stoppage-time goals from Mateus Fernandes and Axel Disasi.

Published: April 5, 2026, 8:56 pm

County cricket day three: Leicestershire make hash of chase against Sussex, Essex win – as it happened

Matt Critchley starred for Essex as they romped to an innings victory over Hampshire while Storm Dave wiped out day three’s play at Durham

Play is underway at eight of the nine grounds. No play before lunch at CLS, but Mike’s update (below) makes it sound pretty unlikely we’ll get much play at all. Ian Holland has the ball here at Grace Road, a fierce west wind blowing across the ground and billowing at the flags up on the pavilion.

Huge thanks to CCLive! reader Mike McKie who is on the spot at The Riverside:

Published: April 5, 2026, 7:48 pm

Leeds to face Chelsea in FA Cup semi-finals after beating West Ham on penalties - as it happened

Lucas Perri saved twice in a penalty shootout s as Leeds reached their first FA Cup semi-final since 1987

1 min West Ham kick off from left to right as we watch. You’ll be pleased to hear that national treasure Danny Dyer is in attendance at the London Stadium.

“If he organisers are trying to recapture some of the long-faded ‘magic of the cup’, they’ll need to turn the pitch at Wembley into a quagmire for any potential meeting of Chelsea and Leeds,” writes Justin Kavanagh. “The 1970 FA Cup final was famously played the day after the Horse of the Year Show, and looked more suited to WWI trench warfare than a football match, even one in the 70s. May I suggest that England’s national stadium offer to host Ireland’s National Ploughing Championships on the same week?”

Published: April 5, 2026, 6:56 pm

NCAA women’s national championship: South Carolina 51-79 UCLA – as it happened!

• UCLA win first NCAA title by stunning South Carolina

• Gabriela Jaquez leads the Bruins with 21 points

• Dawn Staley denied a third title in five seasons

South Carolina 4-9 UCLA, 5:14 1st quarter

After Ta’Niya Latson hits a pair of free throws, Jaquez follows a miss with a rebound and a floater that falls, and she’s fouled!

Published: April 5, 2026, 9:57 pm

Saudi-backed LIV Tour looks at staging national opens after plug on talent drain

• Saudi investment shows no sign of reducing LIV’s scale

• Plan likely to compete with DP World Tour

Tournaments as opposed to players could become the next key domain in elite golf’s power struggle, with the Saudi Arabian-backed LIV circuit exploring the staging of national opens. Any such approach is likely to cause anxiety within the corridors of power at the DP World, formerly European, Tour given the number of such events already on its schedule.

While the talent drain of elite players from traditional tours towards LIV has stopped, or reversed, the concept of increased competition for prime tournament markets is an intriguing one.

Published: April 5, 2026, 6:00 pm

MLS commissioner: Fifa ‘smart’ to use dynamic pricing for World Cup tickets

• Don Garber spoke to reporters at Miami’s stadium debut

• ‘It’s going to be a premier event and premier pricing’

The commissioner of Major League Soccer, Don Garber, said Fifa has been “smart” about its ticket pricing strategy for this summer’s World Cup, the effect of which has raised prices significantly across all games of the tournament to be held in the US, Mexico and Canada this summer.

Garber made the comments in Miami, where he attended the inaugural fixture at Inter Miami’s Nu Stadium and spoke to reporters before kick-off. Asked by the Guardian whether high prices resulting from Fifa’s dynamic pricing model undermined the domestic league’s efforts to grow the game and attract new fans, Garber reasoned that the cost attached to tickets matched the event’s exclusivity, and said Americans were used to that.

Published: April 5, 2026, 5:24 pm

NCAA Tournament: Michigan rout Arizona to set up final against UConn

• Wolverines and Huskies will meet for championship

• UConn top Illinois to reach third title game in four years

Michigan overpowered Arizona early and humbled the Wildcats, turning the Final Four meeting, billed as the ‘Game of the Year’, into a 91-73 Wolverines highlight reel in Indianapolis.

Junior center Aday Mara scored a career-high 26 points and had nine rebounds, a dinged-up Yaxel Lendeborg had 11 points in 14 minutes and Michigan blew through their fifth straight March Madness opponent by double digits while becoming the first team to break 90 points five times in a single tournament.

Published: April 5, 2026, 3:49 am