Sun, Apr 27, 2025 page6

• SPORTS BRIEFS

  • Agencies
  • • 
    • 
    • 

  SOCCER

  Real Madrid boycott

  Real Madrid lashed out at the Copa del Rey final referees on the eve of yesterday’s match, labeling complaints about pressure from the club’s television channel “unacceptable” and boycotting all planned prematch activities in protest. Real Madrid refused to take part in the usual press conference, the open training in front of media, the traditional presidents’ dinner and a pre-match photo-call. This week, the club’s television channel aired a video attacking the referee for the final at La Cartuja in Seville. Madrid took particular issue with the final’s VAR referee Pablo Gonzalez Fuertes suggesting referees were “united” and looking to take collective action against the pressure they had received from Real Madrid TV. Madrid said his words had “a threatening tone” and suggested action would be taken that was “far removed from the principles of fairness, objectivity and impartiality” necessary for the final. Los Blancos published an open letter in February claiming Spanish refereeing was “rigged” and “completely discredited.”

  SOCCER

  Chelsea’s high hopes

  Chelsea have a mountain to climb as they seek to overturn a 4-1 deficit against Barcelona today to reach the Women’s Champions League final. The two clubs are meeting at the semi-final stage of the competition for the third straight year. Barcelona have come out on top both times, going on to lift the trophy on both occasions. Last week’s painful defeat was just the second under Bompastor, who took over from Emma Hayes at the end of last season. Chelsea bounced back on Wednesday, beating Crystal Palace 4-0 to move within touching distance of a sixth successive Women’s Super League title. However, they have never won the Women’s Champions League — they finished as runners-up to Barcelona in 2021 and have lost four times at the semi-final stage. Chelsea have won only two of their previous 11 semi-final matches, while Barcelona have never lost a Women’s Champions League tie after winning the first leg. The winners would meet Arsenal or Lyon in the final in Lisbon on May 24.

  RALLY

  Drivers agree on swearing

  World Championship Rally drivers have resolved a dispute with the sport’s governing body over when they can swear during a competition. The World Rally Drivers Alliance (WoRDA) had protested after Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux was fined 10,000 euros (US$11,364), with a further 20,000 euros suspended, for swearing in a television interview during Rally Sweden in February. They stayed silent, or spoke only in their own languages, in stage-end interviews at last month’s Kenya Safari Rally. Retired eight-time world champion codriver Julien Ingrassia, representing WoRDA, told DirtFish that a compromise had been reached ahead of this weekend’s round in the Canary Islands. “The rally will now be divided into two zones: one is a controlled zone, one is an uncontrolled zone,” he said. “The latter is based around heat-of-the-moment areas such as stage ends, onboard cars during the stages or on road sections. Controlled sections are, for example, the media zones and the post-event FIA press conferences.” The drivers had argued that the fines were vastly disproportionate to average incomes and budgets in rallying compared with Formula One, with some drivers not full-time professionals.
• Most Popular

  • 1

    Police identify man who engaged in indecency at park

  • 2

    Taiwan’s GDP per capita lead fuels South Korean unease

  • 3

    McDonald’s to raise prices on select items from May 27

  • 4

    Wildlife cam sex scene drawing copycats, visitors

  • 5

    Trump weighs Taiwan arms package