SOCCER
Messi departure expected
Barcelona captain Lionel Messi has called off negotiations over renewing his contract with the club and is ready to leave the Catalans when his current deal expires next year, Spanish radio station Cadena Ser reported yesterday. The report said Messi and his father, Jorge, had begun discussing renewing his last deal with the club, which was signed in 2017, but that he no longer wishes to stay at the Camp Nou. The report said that Lionel Messi is angry about leaked media reports that appeared to make him seem responsible for events at the club. Barca trail Real Madrid by four points in the title race with five games remaining after Real beat Getafe 1-0 on Thursday. Earlier, Real Sociedad stayed in the race for European qualification by winning 2-1 at home against RCD Espanyol, while CA Osasuna beat Sociedad Deportiva Eibar 2-0.
SOCCER
Bremen held to draw
Werder Bremen were held to a 0-0 draw at home to second-division side Heidenheim in the Bundesliga promotion-relegation play-off first leg on Thursday. Bremen captain Niklas Moisander is suspended for the second leg on Monday after being sent off for a second yellow card.
SOCCER
Atalanta defeat Napoli
Atalanta BC beat SSC Napoli 2-0 in Serie A on Thursday to keep up the pressure on Inter in the fight for third place. Mario Pasalic and Robin Gosens scored in the second half to extend Atalanta’s club record tally to 82 league goals this season. They moved back to within four points of Inter. Napoli remained sixth, three points below AS Roma, who lost 2-0 against Udinese.
FOOTBALL
FedEx seeks name change
The title sponsor of the Washington Redskins’ stadium wants the NFL team to change its name. “We have communicated to the team in Washington our request that they change the team name,” FedEx said in a statement on Thursday. The company paid the team US$205 million in 1999 for the naming rights to FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland.
RUGBY UNION
Barrett to play in Japan
All Blacks flyhalf Beauden Barrett yesterday confirmed he has signed a one-year deal to play for Suntory Sungoliath in Japan’s Top League club competition. Barrett is in the first year of a four-year deal with the Auckland Blues in Super Rugby, but has exercised a “sabbatical” option that allows him to take up a short-term contract overseas. He will join the Tokyo-based club next year, returning to New Zealand in time for the international season.
MOTORSPORT
Bell pulling double shift
Townsend Bell is putting his own unique twist on “double duty” by calling the IndyCar race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway before jetting to Florida to compete in the IMSA sports car race. The NBC Sports analyst on Thursday flew from California to Daytona International Speedway for a practice with his AIM Vasser Sullivan team. His itinerary has him traveling to Indianapolis, where he is due at the track at 9am today for his broadcasting duties. When the race ends, he is to take a plane to Daytona for the 6:10pm start. “For the love of the game,” Bell joked.
ADVANTAGE ATLETICO: Well off the pace in La Liga, the Copa del Rey represents Atletico Madrid’s best chance of silverware this season Atletico Madrid on Thursday hammered Copa del Rey holders Barcelona 4-0 in the first leg of their semi-final. After an Eric Garcia own-goal sent Diego Simeone’s side ahead early on, Antoine Griezmann, Ademola Lookman and Julian Alvarez struck to give Atletico a landslide lead by halftime. Barca defender Garcia was sent off in the final stages, with Atletico maintaining their significant advantage on the record 32-time winners, which they take into the second leg at the Camp Nou on March 3. Both sides missed good chances in the second half, with Barca’s Pau Cubarsi having a goal disallowed before Garcia was sent off
‘EVERYONE SAW’: The visitors were left fuming after Jules Kounde was fouled by Claudio Echeverri in the buildup to the winning goal and it went unpunished Spanish champions Barcelona on Monday fell to a damaging 2-1 defeat at Girona to leave them trailing Real Madrid by two points at the top of La Liga. Los Blancos beat Real Sociedad on Saturday to overtake the Catalans and Hansi Flick’s side could not defeat Girona in an gripping derby clash to reclaim the lead. Teenage star Lamine Yamal missed a penalty for Barcelona, who took the lead through defender Pau Cubarsi just before the hour mark. However, goals from Thomas Lemar and Fran Beltran helped Girona, 12th, mount an impressive comeback. “In the end Girona deserved it, they had a lot of
Stade Rennais, four days after firing coach Habib Beye, stunned Paris Saint-Germain 3-1 on Friday, snapping the defending champions’ seven-match winning run in French Ligue 1. Second-placed RC Lens could leapfrog the champions and retake top spot last night after press time if they beat Paris FC in the capital. PSG started brightly, with Ousmane Dembele and Desire Doue carving openings to no avail. Rennes fired Beye on Monday and promoted his assistant Sebastien Tambouret, and the same players who had lost four games on the bounce seemed transformed. Jordanian forward Mousa al-Tamari bagged the opener, unleashing a fierce strike
Dasun Shanaka hammered the fastest half-century by a Sri Lankan in T20Is as the cohosts thrashed Oman by 105 runs at the World Cup yesterday in Pallekele, Sri Lanka, for their second win in Group B. The 2014 champions piled up 225-5, the highest total of the tournament, before restricting an outclassed Oman to 120-9. The 43-year-old Mohammad Nadeem waged a lone battle for Oman, compiling an unbeaten 53 to become the oldest player to score a 50 in T20 World Cups. Having promoted himself up the order and under pressure to deliver, Sri Lanka skipper Shanaka smashed a 19-ball half-century. It has been
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