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Six Real players are threatened with yellow cards

Jason Maverick
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Six Real players are threatened with yellow cards

Tonight, Real Madrid host Bayern Munich in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals. Six Real players are facing yellow cards for the second leg – a fact that Vincent Kompany is ignoring.

It “cannot be a tactic” to provoke yellow cards at the Estadio Bernabeu, said the Bayern coach on the fact that six Real Madrid players are facing yellow cards for the second leg in Munich next Wednesday.

For example, the two star strikers Kylian Mbappé and Vinicius Junior would be suspended for the next caution against the Whites. However, Jude Bellingham, Dean Huijsen, Aurelien Tchouameni and Alvaro Carreras would also be ineligible to play at the Allianz Arena in the event of a yellow card.

The situation at FC Bayern is far more relaxed. Only Dayot Upamecano, who was cautioned in the 3-1 defeat at FC Arsenal and the 2-1 loss at PSV Eindhoven, and Konrad Laimer will have to watch out. The Austrian has already collected four yellow cards this Champions League season and has therefore already been sent off once. Both players did not play in the second leg of the round of 16 tie against Atalanta Bergamo (3:1) and watched the match against the Italians from the bench for 90 minutes.

In the Champions League, a one-match ban is imposed from the league phase onwards after three yellow cards that did not result in a sending-off. This is followed by a ban for every further odd-numbered caution (five, seven …). The cautions will only be canceled after the end of the quarter-final matches.

Bayern’s fond memories of Oliver

The referee for the match is Englishman Michael Oliver. Bayern have had good experiences with the 41-year-old so far, winning six of the seven international matches he has officiated, with FCB only having to settle for a 1-1 draw against RB Salzburg in the round of 16 of the 2021/22 Champions League. In these games, Oliver handed out 17 yellow cards to Bayern players, and in the 1-0 win at PSG in the round of 16 in 2022/23, he sent Benjamin Pavard off with a red card.

Real Madrid have had less contact with Oliver so far, having only played four games under the Englishman’s management. The last time was last November, when the Whites won 4:3 at Olympiakos Piraeus. Mbappé and Arda Güler were yellow-carded by Oliver in Greece.

Lincoln City back in the Championship after 65 years

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Lincoln City back in the Championship after 65 years

Lincoln City have got their ticket back to the English Championship after a decade-long absence. A 2:1 win at chasers Reading led to bliss.

Lincoln secured promotion from League One to the second-tier Championship thanks to a hard-fought 2:1 win at play-off contenders and former Premier League side Reading. The East Midlands club last played at this level in 1961.

“The Imps” only needed one more point to secure promotion. Scotsman Ryan Oné made it 1-0 in the fifth minute. Reading equalized in the second minute of stoppage time with a free-kick from Lewis Wing, but Jack Moylan scored the winner for the visitors four minutes later in front of 17,144 fans.

Cardiff drop points

Harry Leonard’s equalizer secured a 1-1 draw elsewhere for Peterborough against second-placed Cardiff, who dropped points in their fight for promotion. Leonard immediately equalized Alex Robertson’s opening goal for the Bluebirds, extending their slump to just two wins in eight games and narrowing the gap to third-placed Bradford City – now league newcomers – to seven points. Nevertheless, Cardiff still have a good chance of returning directly to the Championship.

Bradford turned their game around to beat Wycombe Wanderers 2-1 at Adams Park. Aden Baldwin’s second-half goal gave their play-off hopes a huge boost after Bobby Pointon had equalized Andre Vidigal’s opening goal for Wycombe, who slipped to 11th place.

Dampener for Bolton

Bolton Wanderers, in the Premier League until 2011/12 and occasionally in Europe, and Stockport County drew 2-2 in front of just under 24,000 fans, effectively ending both teams’ hopes of direct promotion; a late own goal from Ben Osborn at least secured a point for the hosts. Both clubs will be hoping to secure their third ticket to England’s second-highest division via the play-offs between third and sixth in the league.

James back in training after hospitalization

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James back in training after hospitalization

According to his club Minnesota United, James has completed his stay in hospital and will be gradually reintegrated into training following his severe dehydration.

James had to be treated in a clinic for three days after the international match against France (1:3) on March 29 in Minnesota due to severe dehydration, an acute lack of fluids in the body in which the body lacks vital water and electrolytes.

Minnesota denies rumors

US media have now also spread the rumor that James, who was under contract for Bayern Munich between 2017 and 2019, is suffering from rhabdomyolysis, a rapid and severe, potentially fatal destruction of muscle tissue. Minnesota United firmly refuted this. There was “no medical evidence whatsoever” for this, according to a statement from his club.

Last Sunday, the attacking player was substituted after 63 minutes in the test against France without any immediate abnormalities, followed by “preventive clinical monitoring”, as the Colombian association had announced. James has only played 39 minutes for Minnesota so far this year due to his physical problems.

Lorenzo is counting on James

However, the top scorer at the 2014 finals is almost certainly set for the World Cup with national coach Nestor Lorenzo. In the USA, Colombia will face Uzbekistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Portugal in Group K.

Minus points, relegation and now a horror record: Sheffield Wednesday’s disastrous season continues

Lesley Summerville
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Minus points, relegation and now a horror record: Sheffield Wednesday’s disastrous season continues

No other team in Europe is in as bad a position as Sheffield Wednesday in the English Championship. On Monday, the team at the bottom of the second division set a negative record.

Despite a lightning start thanks to Jerry Yates, who scored in the second minute at home to Hillsborough Stadium, Sheffield Wednesday only managed a 1-1 draw against Leicester City on Monday, with Jordan Ayew scoring the equalizer in the 84th minute. It was the Owls’ tenth draw of the current season, in which they have lost a whopping 30 times. A sense of achievement? There was exactly one: a 2-0 win at Portsmouth on matchday 6.

After that, there was a negative run that has only been seen once in this form since the first professional league was founded in England in 1888: Sheffield have been without a win in 36 competitive games, and only Derby County were that bad between September 2007 and August 2008. Since the game at Portsmouth on September 20, 2025, the four-time English champions, who were a founding member of the Premier League in 1992, have conceded 26 defeats in 35 league games and drawn nine times – plus a 0:2 in the 3rd round of the FA Cup against Brentford.

Point deduction and relegation sealed long ago

The poor run is just one aspect of a disastrous season that will certainly go down as one of the worst in the club’s history. Due to “breaches of payment obligations”, the club had started the season with a deduction of 18 points – a mortgage that was too high for then coach Danny Röhl, who had led the team to twelfth place the season before and had left Sheffield shortly before the first matchday.

It was clear to many at the start of the season, including former Braunschweig coach Henrik Pedersen, who took on the challenge anyway, that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to stay in the league with such a draconian punishment. The miracle failed to materialize and Sheffield Wednesday have known since matchday 33 that they will go down. The team is currently 46 points behind second-last Oxford United in the Championship with -5 points.

On Saturday (1.30pm), the Owls will now be looking to avoid becoming the team with the longest winless streak in history – but they will need nothing more and nothing less than a win at league leaders Coventry City to ensure that doesn’t happen.

First title in 37 years: Michigan downs UConn to become NCAA champions

Lesley Summerville
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First title in 37 years: Michigan downs UConn to become NCAA champions

Michigan has been crowned champion and completed an impressive March Madness journey. The Wolverines prevailed over UConn in the final in an intense duel.

The Michigan Wolverines have been crowned 2026 NCAA champions with a 69-63 win over the UConn Huskies. It is Michigan’s first title since 1989 and only the second in program history. At the same time, the Wolverines ended the dominance of UConn, which had hoped for its third title in four years.

Michigan struggled offensively for a long time, especially from the three-point line. It was not until midway through the second half that the first long-range shot was made – at a time when the game was threatening to tip over. Elliot Cadeau took responsibility at precisely this moment and led his team with 19 points, while Yaxel Lendeborg contributed 13 important points despite knee problems.

Injury worries ahead of the final – Karaban’s era ends

The game was also characterized by injury worries on both sides. Lendeborg played despite knee and ankle problems, as did UConn’s guard Solo Ball with a foot injury. Ball, however, had early foul trouble and only got 17 minutes of playing time. UConn lacked the offensive consistency in the decisive phases to turn the game around.

This marks the end of an era for UConn around Alex Karaban, who played his last game for the Huskies. The forward was part of several final teams, but had to admit defeat this time. German big man Eric Reibe also made a brief appearance, but failed to record a statistic in five minutes.

Michigan, on the other hand, crowns a remarkable development: just two years after a season with fewer than ten wins, the Wolverines are now back at the top of college basketball.

After massive criticism: Stamina and Ringside Pass adjusted

Sotd Editor
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After massive criticism: Stamina and Ringside Pass adjusted

Of all things, two of the central new features of WWE 2K26 have been heavily criticized. Developer Visual Concepts responded to this in the latest patch.

WWE 2K26 doesn’t have many new features – and the most important ones have been heavily criticized. In focus: the Ringside Pass and the new stamina system.

Boost for Season 2

The Ringside Pass works in a similar way to other games, such as the F1 series: players unlock cosmetic content, wrestlers and consumables – depending on how much RXP they collect or whether they invest real money. Individual levels can also be purchased.

The system caused frustration at the time of release. The criticism was that progress without real money was too slow. Developer Visual Concepts has now responded with an update. For Season 1, players will receive additional RXP – enough to unlock around 20 levels. The points will be credited automatically after logging in.

Adjustments have also been made for Season 2, which starts on April 15. Anyone who played the game before April 14 and linked their 2K account will also receive a boost. The progression system will also be revised: Less RXP will be required to level up in future, while the benefit of boosts will increase at the same time. Further changes concern the Premium Seasons. In future, DLC characters will be available directly from level 1.

Stamina will be extended

A second major point of criticism: the new stamina system. Since the new part, this is shown as a purple display above the wrestler. The previous yellow status now signals that the character is close to exhaustion. Once this is reached, there are noticeable consequences: Sprinting and counterattacking are then no longer possible.

Visual Concepts is also making improvements here. Stamina should develop more dynamically in the match, players should exhaust less quickly. In multi-fights, counterattacks also consume less energy. In addition, the damage threshold has been adjusted to prevent immediate disqualifications when attacking referees.

Dovizioso warns: Marquez injury more serious than expected

Sports Of The Day
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Dovizioso warns: Marquez injury more serious than expected

Andrea Dovizioso warns: Marc Marquez’s physical condition is more serious than expected – can the Spaniard still fight for the title after another shoulder injury?

The physical condition of Marc Marquez continues to cause discussion in the MotoGP paddock. Following his shoulder injury in the sprint at the Indonesian Grand Prix, in which he crashed after a collision with Marco Bezzecchi, the Spaniard is not yet back to full strength.

Although Marquez himself and his team are optimistic, not everyone shares this assessment. Andrea Dovizioso has now issued a particularly critical verdict.

The three-time MotoGP runner-up (2017 to 2019) and long-time rival of Marquez knows the Spaniard well. During their time together, the two fought numerous intense duels, especially during Marquez’s dominant Honda era.

Dovizioso suspects worse situation

Dovizioso continues to follow events closely and is regularly present in the paddock as a development rider for Yamaha. In an interview with the Italian website Moto.it, he made a clear statement about the situation of his former opponent: “In my opinion, Marc’s situation is much more serious than it seems.”

The Italian emphasized that Marquez has never publicly dramatized his problems: “Marc is not a rider who complains and he has never made excuses.”.

This is precisely why his actual condition is often underestimated. “The truth about how he really is and how many problems he has has never been taken particularly seriously – especially by those who don’t support him,” believes Dovi.

Marquez not fully fit by 2025?

His conclusion is correspondingly clear: “In my opinion, his situation is much more serious than it seems.” Looking back, Dovizioso even believes that Marquez was not fully fit last season, despite winning the title.

“Last year, he managed to win the championship. I couldn’t tell you exactly at what percentage level, but without a doubt he wasn’t at 100 percent.”

In this respect, the Italian still sees a lot of catching up to do: “He still has a lot to improve physically.” He also suspects that the crash in Indonesia has further exacerbated the restriction in his arm, “which I believe has no solution”.

In search of his new 100 percent

Dovizioso cites the race weekend in Austin, one of Marquez’s favorite tracks to date, as the final confirmation of his assessment. “At a place where he could have made the difference, he couldn’t,” he summarizes.

The Italian thus paints a much gloomier picture than many other observers and questions whether Marquez will be able to regain his old strength in the foreseeable future.

The reigning MotoGP world champion himself has recently emphasized several times that the main thing at the moment is to understand “what my new one hundred percent will look like physically”. A clear sign that although his recovery is progressing, it is not yet complete and questions remain unanswered.

While the Aprilia riders, above all Marco Bezzecchi, are dominating the early stages of the season and are at the top of the overall standings, Marquez is currently only in fifth place, 36 points behind. It remains to be seen whether he can get back into the title fight in this condition.

Piastri swaps Formula 1 cars for V8 violence: “First time with a roof”

Jason Maverick
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Piastri swaps Formula 1 cars for V8 violence: “First time with a roof”

Premiere with a roof over his head: Oscar Piastri swapped his McLaren for the brute force V8 supercar of Cam Waters and went to the limit

Oscar Piastri has temporarily swapped his McLaren for the brute force of an Australian V8 supercar. On a trip to his home country, the 24-year-old met compatriot Cam Waters, who acted as his teacher with the experience of 18 race wins under his belt.

“To be honest, I probably used to watch more V8 racing than Formula 1 because the time difference was much more pleasant. I was also often here at the drag races with my father,” Piastri reveals about his roots in Australian motorsport.

The track day turned out to be a steep learning curve for the Formula 1 driver, however. Right at the start, he openly admitted that he had no knowledge of how the car worked or where the track led.

From “courtesy mode” to notch hopping

Piastri was encouraged to adopt a more aggressive driving style after the initial drives in Waters’ Mustang. After initially holding back “very politely”, the message was: “Take the kerbs a little harder!” The youngster didn’t need to be asked twice, bouncing the Ford Mustang over the kerbs and putting a smile on the faces of the observers.

“It’s great fun. It’s nice to drive something new. It’s the first time I’ve sat in a racing car with a roof,” concluded the Australian.

A boost after a difficult start to the 2026 season

The outing in the touring car should also serve to refresh Piastri mentally after he had a difficult start to the 2026 Formula 1 season. However, he was able to turn the tide with a strong second place at the Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka. Prior to that, the season opener had been disappointing: a crash on the warm-up lap at his home race in Australia and an electrical defect in China had left him without points.

“We just couldn’t do any more in the race today,” he summed up after the success in Japan. “We had a good start, the pace was right. I think I was strategically clever – especially in the way I used and managed the boost.”

Piastri: “Can cause headaches”

Despite the podium, Piastri still sees room for improvement at McLaren: “Our strategy was good, we didn’t flinch too early. The safety car was a shame, of course, but overall we couldn’t have got more out of this weekend. I’m very happy with my performance and that of the whole team.“

However, he remains realistic: ”On the one hand, we still have to find pure performance, on the other hand, the weekend on Lando’s side of the garage was severely affected by many problems. The start of the season was not easy for us in terms of reliability, so we still have a long way to go.”

Piastri’s challenge to the competition is clear, however: “We have shown that If we can get everything together perfectly, we can give the others a real headache.”

“Very important”: Thierry Vermeulen starts the 2026 DTM with this goal in mind

Sotd Editor
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“Very important”: Thierry Vermeulen starts the 2026 DTM with this goal in mind

Four podium finishes, but no victory yet: Emil Frey Ferrari driver Thierry Vermeulen is chasing his debut success in the 2026 DTM season and is convinced “that it is possible”

Thierry Vermeulen will start his fourth DTM season in 2026. The 23-year-old Dutchman, who, as in previous years, will be driving a Ferrari 296 GT3 from Emil Frey Racing, has finished on the podium four times but has yet to win. That is set to change this year.

“The first goal is to win a race. That is very important to me,“ emphasized Vermeulen in an interview with the Dutch edition of Motorsport.com, ”I want to show that it is possible.“

”We had a few chances last year, but for various reasons it didn’t work out,” said the Ferrari driver, recalling the previous season. “Beyond that, I just want to be consistent. Personally, I believe that we are fast enough and have everything we need to be at the front throughout the year.”

Thierry Vermeulen is making “significant progress”

And the signs are good: “If I look back over the last few years, I’ve improved a lot in the rankings,” recalls Vermeulen, who finished 16th overall in his debut season in 2023, followed by a 15th place in his second year.

In the previous season, the Ferrari driver finished tenth, which shows an improvement in the overall standings. “But also in terms of overall performance,” emphasizes the Dutchman confidently. “In the first year, I first had to settle in. We knew that the DTM is highly competitive.”

“But due to the changes in the GT Masters and the takeover of the DTM by the ADAC, it was the right decision to make my DTM debut back then. In the second and third year, you could see that not only the team but also I myself had made significant progress.”

Vermeulen admits himself: “I still have to improve”

Now the onus is on Vermeulen, after team-mate Jack Aitken was able to fight for the DTM crown for a long time last year. “Last season, the performance peaks were very high,” recalls the son of Raymond Vermeulen, the manager of four-time Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen.

“On the top weekends, we were simply the strongest throughout the weekend. If you look at the Norisring or the Red Bull Ring, we were simply very competitive there. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to win a race yet for various reasons.”

Why is that? “I believe that I still need to improve in certain areas to be able to win races in a truly dominant manner,” says Vermeulen, who, unlike Verstappen, has not switched to the Mercedes-AMG GT3. “And I think that we as a team can also do certain things better in order to achieve the results.”

Ferrari driver has “worked hard in the winter”

That’s why the team has not sat back so far. “We worked hard last winter, including with some new crew members in the team,” reveals the Emil Frey driver. “I myself also thought a lot about certain races and why some weekends didn’t go well.”

“We had some very good top weekends, but if you look at why we didn’t end up in the top eight of the overall standings, it was mainly due to the weaker weekends,” the Dutchman looks back.

“In the DTM, it is crucial to avoid such weekends,” emphasizes Vermeulen, who is very confident about his fourth DTM year. “We have worked hard over the winter and hope that we can show this in the new season.”

“Rusted out”? Sergio Perez reacts surprisingly clearly to Andretti

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“Rusted out”? Sergio Perez reacts surprisingly clearly to Andretti

Mario Andretti calls him “rusty”, but Sergio Perez disagrees: the Mexican explains why he is happy with himself despite being behind

Sergio Perez returned to Formula 1 in 2026 after a one-year break. The Mexican now firmly rejects criticism from Mario Andretti that he “just seems a bit rusty” after the break and emphasizes that he is already back in full form. “To be honest, I think we performed at a very high level,” said the six-time Grand Prix winner on the sidelines of the race in Japan.

After a disappointing 2024 season, Sergio Perez was released by Red Bull at the end of the year. After a one-year sabbatical, he signed with Formula 1 debutant Cadillac for the 2026 season. However, the new era got off to a difficult start. Perez failed to score any points in the first three races of the season, which came as no surprise given the expectations placed on the US team as a latecomer.

The Cadillac MAC-26 is currently around two to three seconds behind the leaders and regularly struggles with technical faults. The fact that they are currently ahead of Aston Martin in the world championship remains a small ray of hope.

However, Mario Andretti was critical of the driver pairing. In addition to Perez, Valtteri Bottas also returned to a permanent cockpit after leaving Sauber at the end of 2024. “To be honest, I think they’re both just a bit rusty,” explained the 1978 world champion, who is the namesake of the chassis, in the Drive to Wynn podcast.

Perez defends his form

Sergio Perez clearly contradicts this statement. “I was very happy with my weekend in Melbourne and with my first qualifying. In the race we had different scenarios and a lot of damage. So it was not straightforward. Shanghai was not an easy weekend either, I had a lot of damage in the race.”

He believes that he and Bottas are getting the maximum out of the material, which simply lacks basic speed. Perez added: “I haven’t had a full weekend yet, but I’m pretty happy with my performance. I was back in rhythm within a few days of my return. I think I’m at a good point driving-wise.”

Upward trend in Suzuka gives hope

After the race in Suzuka, the Mexican was even more optimistic. For the first time in the 2026 season, he finished a race on the same lap as the leader. He also significantly reduced the gap in Q1: while he was still 3.098 seconds behind in Melbourne and 3.601 seconds behind in Shanghai, it was only 2.171 seconds in Japan.

“It was pretty interesting. When I was driving behind the Williams and the Alpine, I could see that they weren’t too far away. They are just able to consistently find more and more pace,” analyzed Perez.

Formula 1 now goes into a break in April as the Saudi Arabia and Bahrain Grands Prix have been cancelled due to the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East. The fourth race will take place next month in Miami. “It’s clear we need a break now and I really hope we bring a big upgrade to Miami,” Perez continued.

“I think this will be the biggest test for the team. We have been improving at every Grand Prix. This was the first weekend where everything went more or less smoothly, apart from the power issues yesterday. I really hope we can take this step to be in the midfield.”

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