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    Real Madrid’s sensational win over Man City could be the night that put Liverpool on course for quadruple

    IT felt like the night we may look back upon as the most significant step in Liverpool’s quest for the Quadruple — without Jurgen Klopp’s men even having played.When Manchester City imploded on a frenzied night at the Bernabeu, you can bet that Klopp would have been chuckling into his beer.
    Liverpool reached their third Champions League final under KloppCredit: REX FEATURES
    It took a gutsy display away at Villarreal to book their place in ParisCredit: REX FEATURES
    Man City, on the other hand, fell at the final hurdle to RealCredit: REX FEATURES
    For while Real Madrid were magnificent in their belief and desire, the Reds boss will be convinced his side can swarm all over Carlo Ancelotti’s ageing side in the final in Paris, three weeks tomorrow.
    And if City slip up in their four remaining Premier League matches, Wednesday night’s almighty choke will be regarded as the trigger for them surrendering a one-point lead at the summit.
    City were the polar opposite of Klopp’s ‘mentality monsters’ in the Bernabeu.
    While Real and Liverpool, with their mighty European histories, expect to win these ties, City frequently freeze.
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    When Karim Benzema netted the winning penalty, there were still 25 minutes remaining but City looked physically and mentally spent and barely threatened. 
    None of Pep Guardiola’s squad  have won the greatest prize in club football — other than back-up keeper Scott Carson with Liverpool — and the manager has now failed to do so in 11 years.
    “Football’s unpredictable sometimes,” said Guardiola, after his team’s late collapse.
    But it’s not always unpredictable. City did not buy the world-class goalscorer they needed last summer.
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    And while that has not affected them in the vast majority of games, it certainly did in the first leg against Real at the Etihad, when City dominated but managed only to gain a one-goal lead.
    It also affected them in the 2-2 home draw against their only title rivals, when poor  finishing allowed Klopp’s men off the hook last month.
    Guardiola scoffs at all this, gets bored and tetchy at the repetitive nature of the  questioning — but it is only repetitive because it’s true.
    For a second straight season, City do not have anyone in the top eight of the Premier League scoring charts.
    Erling Haaland may change all that next term but the  Norwegian goal machine is increasingly injury-prone.
    Before that, Guardiola must revive his side for a title run-in which looks a whole lot trickier when the psychological trauma of tossing away a two-goal aggregate lead in the dying minutes in the Bernabeu, is added to City’s burdens.
    An in-form Newcastle arrive at the Etihad for Sunday’s  Arabian derby — a fixture which certainly won’t be sponsored by Amnesty International but which will test City’s bouncebackability.
    Real sunk City late on to reach the final against LiverpoolCredit: REX FEATURES
    Then back-to-back away matches at European-chasing Wolves and West Ham, before a final-day home match with Aston Villa, where Steven Gerrard could finally win the Premier League for Liverpool.
    One possible twist is the idea of Harry Kane — the man City couldn’t sign last summer — denting Liverpool at Anfield tomorrow night, in the toughest of the Reds’ four league fixtures.
    Spurs did the double over City — while just West Ham, Leicester and Crystal Palace have managed to inflict even a single defeat on the Premier League’s dominant duo this season.
    But if Liverpool, who comprehensively survived their own Champions League semi-final scare at Villarreal on Tuesday, can beat Antonio Conte’s men at Fortress Anfield, it is difficult to imagine them dropping another point against Villa, Southampton or Wolves.
    They must also face Chelsea in the FA Cup final a week tomorrow before they head to Paris in the springtime and the prospect of immortality. And a clean sweep is on now, for sure.
    Real’s 13 European titles and their comebacks to defeat Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and City, will give them supreme self-confidence.
    Yet those victories were all secured at the Bernabeu, where the home crowd possess a divine right to rule, which feels like an all-powerful mania.
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    Paris will be rammed with Scousers, who, since Klopp took over, have extreme levels of belief too now.
    And if they complete the Quad, Liverpool’s players may look back fondly on the night they watched from their sofas as City chucked it away in Spain. More

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    Amir Khan’s decision to carry on boxing is as dangerous as him putting a loaded gun to his head with safety-catch off

    AFTER being robbed at ­gunpoint of his diamond-encrusted £72,000 watch last month, Amir Khan understandably says he’s scared of being in London.The two-time world champ was in a Leyton street in east London with his wife when he was confronted by the gun-toting mugger.
    Khan has declared that he will keep on fightingCredit: GETTY
    Khan lost to rival Brook three months agoCredit: GETTY
    Yet Khan, by deciding to continue his boxing career, doesn’t seem to understand it will be like putting a loaded pistol to his temple with the safety-catch off.
    The thought of Amir stepping back into the ring should chill the blood.
    Less than three months ago, when Kell Brook battered him to defeat, we saw a former formidable world champion in sad decline.
    It was obvious within seconds of the opening bell, when a left jab turned his legs to jelly, that Khan has little punch resistance left.
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.nk-headline-heading{color:rgba(71,30,121,1);}.css-1uyse24:before{content:”;top:0;right:0;bottom:0;left:0;overflow:hidden;position:absolute;z-index:1;}.css-xpuujo{border-width:0 1px 1px 1px;border-style:solid;border-color:rgba(149,199,208,1);padding:12px;max-height:104px;min-height:98px;}.css-tqcu81{padding:0;border-width:0 1px 1px 1px;border-style:solid;border-color:rgba(149,199,208,1);padding:12px;max-height:104px;min-height:98px;}.css-124tga5{overflow:hidden;-webkit-line-clamp:3;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;display:-webkit-box;word-wrap:break-word;line-height:1;}.css-5jzxpx{overflow:hidden;-webkit-line-clamp:3;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;display:-webkit-box;word-wrap:break-word;line-height:1;}.css-bq4915{margin:0;padding:0;color:rgba(34,97,108,1);text-transform:uppercase;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;font-family:The Sun;font-size:18px;line-height:1.333;font-weight:700;letter-spacing:0%;font-stretch:normal;display:inline;}.css-bq4915:hover:not(:disabled){-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}ACTION MEN .css-8h3gc3{margin:0;padding:0;color:rgba(34,37,38,1);-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;font-family:The Sun;font-size:18px;line-height:1.333;font-weight:700;letter-spacing:0%;font-stretch:normal;display:inline;}.css-8h3gc3:hover:not(:disabled){-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}CCTV footage shows restaurant staff run to help Khan as boxer robbed at gunpoint
    And his foot and hand speed and reflexes have eroded to dangerously low levels.
    Khan wisely announced his retirement after taking a bad beating. 
    But inexplicably, and stupidly, he changed his mind and declared he intends to continue fighting.
    It has been suggested he would be an ideal opponent for unbeaten welterweight Conor Benn — that would be like making him dive into a pool inhabited by a starving crocodile. 
    Why family man Amir, 35, a multi-millionaire, would contemplate prolonging such a hazardous occupation is beyond understanding.
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    The only conclusion I can come to is defeat by bitter rival Brook has badly dented his pride.
    And he feels the only way to restore his self-esteem as a fighter is to have one more contest and go out a winner. That kind of logic is bordering on lunacy.
    Ex-world champions Carl Froch and Carl Frampton are dead against Amir carrying on.
    Frampton said: “I think his family and those closest to him need to sit him down and tell him to wise up.  
    “To repeat an old Joe Bugner line ‘What’s the point of ­having money if you can’t count it’.”
    Froch was just as forthright when he said: “He’s only good for getting knocked out — he needs to retire.”
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.nk-headline-heading{color:rgba(71,30,121,1);}.css-1uyse24:before{content:”;top:0;right:0;bottom:0;left:0;overflow:hidden;position:absolute;z-index:1;}.css-xpuujo{border-width:0 1px 1px 1px;border-style:solid;border-color:rgba(149,199,208,1);padding:12px;max-height:104px;min-height:98px;}.css-tqcu81{padding:0;border-width:0 1px 1px 1px;border-style:solid;border-color:rgba(149,199,208,1);padding:12px;max-height:104px;min-height:98px;}.css-124tga5{overflow:hidden;-webkit-line-clamp:3;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;display:-webkit-box;word-wrap:break-word;line-height:1;}.css-5jzxpx{overflow:hidden;-webkit-line-clamp:3;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;display:-webkit-box;word-wrap:break-word;line-height:1;}.css-bq4915{margin:0;padding:0;color:rgba(34,97,108,1);text-transform:uppercase;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;font-family:The 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    There’s never been a finer ambassador for British boxing than Khan — from the moment he won his Olympic silver medal in Athens 18 years ago aged 17.
    Every promoter in the country should impose a Khan boycott to save him from himself. More

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    England fans are snubbing Qatar World Cup, and who can blame them with extortionate flights and pricey food and drink

    ENGLAND fans will not be flocking to the World Cup in Qatar —  you can hardly blame them.Extortionate flights, accommodation worries, plus the price of food and drink has put off many.
    Thousands of regular England fans have not even applied for tickets for the World Cup in Qatar this winterCredit: Getty
    Nasser Al-Khater, a member of Qatar’s World Cup organising body, shows off the Khalifa International Stadium in DohaCredit: AFP
    England have been given 2,489 seats for their opening game against Iran at the Khalifa Stadium on November 21.
    All of the England Supporters Travel Club members who applied were successful.
    When you consider there are about 15,000 members, it illustrates many are staying at home.
    Iran are set to have over 30,000  at the match.
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.nk-headline-heading{color:rgba(71,30,121,1);}.css-1uyse24:before{content:”;top:0;right:0;bottom:0;left:0;overflow:hidden;position:absolute;z-index:1;}.css-n392go{border-width:0 1px 1px 1px;border-style:solid;border-color:rgba(155,201,183,1);padding:12px;max-height:104px;min-height:98px;}.css-1p5s3t0{padding:0;border-width:0 1px 1px 1px;border-style:solid;border-color:rgba(155,201,183,1);padding:12px;max-height:104px;min-height:98px;}.css-124tga5{overflow:hidden;-webkit-line-clamp:3;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;display:-webkit-box;word-wrap:break-word;line-height:1;}.css-5jzxpx{overflow:hidden;-webkit-line-clamp:3;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;display:-webkit-box;word-wrap:break-word;line-height:1;}.css-i1acvs{margin:0;padding:0;color:rgba(34,99,73,1);text-transform:uppercase;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;font-family:The Sun;font-size:18px;line-height:1.333;font-weight:700;letter-spacing:0%;font-stretch:normal;display:inline;}.css-i1acvs:hover:not(:disabled){-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}RAISE THE BAR .css-8h3gc3{margin:0;padding:0;color:rgba(34,37,38,1);-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;font-family:The Sun;font-size:18px;line-height:1.333;font-weight:700;letter-spacing:0%;font-stretch:normal;display:inline;}.css-8h3gc3:hover:not(:disabled){-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}Footie fans will pay a whopping £9.98 a PINT at the World Cup in Qatar
    With England, it is the same story for the game against the USA in the 60,000-capacity Al Bayt Stadium on November 25.
    England have been given 4,158 tickets and all who applied have been successful.
    The only match oversubscribed is  the potential Battle of Britain against Wales, Scotland or Ukraine at the Ahmad bin Ali  on November 29.
    England’s allocation is 2,339. Just 613  have been unsuccessful but they are likely to get tickets via the Fifa website to see Gareth Southgate and Co in action.
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    More are likely to travel as the team progress  but numbers will still be small.
    Fifa say there are many options for accommodation — and the fan parks will only charge £5 for a beer, which is true.
    But not all want to stand in a fan park — and the cost of a beer in a hotel is around £10 and a burger £20.
    At least we know that England’s fans in Qatar will not cause any trouble, because those who follow the team to far-flung places are terrific.
    The problem supporters are the ones who stay closer to home. As this column revealed, there are security fears for the Nations League clash against Germany in Munich on June 7.
    EF-HELL OR HEAVEN?
    ATTENDANCES in the EFL have returned  to pre-Covid levels, which is a massive relief for clubs.
    The final data will not be processed until the entire season has been completed.
    But early signs are that after an initial dip at the start of the campaign when some fans were nervous about returning to games, everything has returned to normal.
    Equally, club chairmen are fascinated over how the gates will fair during the World Cup.
    The Championship will pause for almost a month but League One and League Two matches will continue unless — however unlikely — a team has three players starring in Qatar.
    So, maybe fans will flock to the lower leagues to get their fix of football — or maybe it will work the other way and supporters will just stay at home glued to the World Cup games.
    GUNNER BE AWKWARD…
    EVERTON could be relegated by Arsenal on the final day of the Premier League season.
    And Everton’s scheduled opponents in the first game of their pre-season tour of the United States in Baltimore on July 16 are . . . Arsenal. More

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    Brian Clough is a tough act to follow at Nottingham Forest but Cooper has them on brink of Premier League promised land

    THERE have been 22 permanent managers of Nottingham Forest since Brian Clough — and few of them have less in common with Old Big ’Ead than Steve Cooper.No bombast, no ego, no witty one-liners, no stellar playing career and certainly no just popping into the training ground on a Friday after leaving the coaching to his backroom staff all week.
    Cooper could guide Forest to the Prem via an automatic spot or the play-offsCredit: REX FEATURES
    Clough won back-to-back European CupsCredit: REX FEATURES
    But should Forest win at Bournemouth in the biggest match of the Championship season, then follow it up with another victory at Hull on Saturday, their 23-year absence from the Premier League will be over — barring an unlikely goal swing in favour of the Cherries if they also win their final game.
    And special agent Cooper will be able to stroll along the River Trent in the manner of his greatest Forest predecessor.
    Incredibly, Forest were bottom when Cooper took over in late September but a thunderous late run of nine wins in ten matches leaves them just two games away from what would be an extraordinary top-flight return.
    “Rome wasn’t built in a day,” as Clough once said, “but I wasn’t on that particular job.”
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    Neither was the transformative Cooper.
    Many of Clough’s successors have shied away from his legacy of back-to-back European Cups but Cooper was adamant that history should be embraced, that Forest needed a ‘big club mentality’.
    Memories of long-gone glory days at a rocking City Ground were revived in Forest’s FA Cup victories over Arsenal and holders Leicester, along with a near-miss against Liverpool this season. Their league form has been more impressive still.
    And while the end of Leeds United’s 16-year wait for Premier League football attracted far greater publicity, a return for Forest would be even more significant.
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    No former European champions have ever been devoid of top-flight football for remotely as long as they have.
    They last slipped out of the top flight in a disastrous 1998-99 campaign, with several leading players sold, star striker Pierre van Hooijdonk on strike and an 8-1 home defeat by Manchester United under Ron Atkinson summing up the entire shambles.
    The Premier League hierarchy, while never expressing any public preference, would like one of England’s grandest clubs to win their automatic promotion duel against Bournemouth — with their tiny ground and Russian-born owner.
    And while ‘dirty Leeds’ were the club everyone loved to hate, Clough’s Forest were many people’s favourite second team. Their return would be cherished by footballing nostalgics.
    Cooper is similar to Clough in their old-school respect for refsCredit: REX FEATURES
    A return to the top flight for Forest will be more significant than Leeds’ return after a 16-year absenceCredit: REX FEATURES
    If Cooper has one similarity with Clough, it is an old-school respect for referees — not least because the Welshman is the son of former Premier League ref, Keith.
    Cooper, 42, is an outstanding coach of young players — having managed England’s Under-17s, including Phil Foden, Jadon Sancho and Callum Hudson-Odoi, to glory in the 2017 World Cup.
    At Forest, this season’s stand-out players have been 20-year-old Welsh winger Brennan Johnson — the Championship’s Young Player of the Season — and wing-back Djed Spence, 21, a cute loan signing  from Middlesbrough.
    While Cooper preaches possession football, the stats from Saturday’s victory over his former club Swansea were remarkable. Forest had just 30 per cent of the ball but mustered 27 shots in a 5-1 victory.
    That is possession with purpose, not necessarily a hallmark of Scott Parker’s ball-hogging Bournemouth.
    It also suggests a tactical flexibility which will be mandatory if Forest are promoted.
    England boss Gareth Southgate rates Cooper extremely highly as an innovative tactician and man-manager, employing him as an opposition scout during the 2018 World Cup.
    But there are plenty of bookish career coaches who excel in youth football and never step up to succeed in the professional game.
    Cooper is highly rated by Three Lions boss SouthgateCredit: REX FEATURES
    Cooper is an innovative tacticianCredit: GETTY
    Cooper has the necessary mettle and does not suffer fools.
    If securing automatic promotion from such a distant start would represent a footballing miracle, Cooper was complicit in another, at Forest’s expense, just two years ago.
    Then, on the final day of the season, his Swansea side needed to win at Reading and hope Forest lost at home to Stoke, with an unlikely goal-difference swing of five required, to pip them for the final play-off spot.
    The Swans won 4-1, Forest conceded three late goals to lose 4-1, slipping out of the promotion race in the final minutes of the season, after 207 consecutive days inside the top six.
    No day has better summed up the frustrations of Forest’s vast stretch in the wilderness than that.
    Should Cooper now lead Forest back to the land of milk and money, there will be no public bragging.
    But he might just have taken heed of another famous Clough quote.
    “I knew I was the best,” the great man once said, “but I should have said nowt and kept the pressure off cos they’d have all worked it out for themselves.”
    No pick axe
    Pickford has never let England downCredit: REX FEATURES
    AT some point in the next six months there will be a heated debate as to whether Everton keeper Jordan Pickford should be England’s No 1 at the World Cup — there always is.
    But when it comes around, just watch back his heroics in the 59th and 60th minutes of Everton’s victory over Chelsea on Sunday.
    Pickford, who has never let England down, will not be moved.
    More yawns
    City are locked in ANOTHER title race with LiverpoolCredit: REX FEATURES
    SO is this season’s title race absorbing and compelling, as those of us in the media keep insisting, or is it dull and predictable, as plenty of real people claim?
    When Manchester City and Liverpool are so far superior to everyone else in the league, and never seem to drop points unless they are playing each other, does their two-horse race lack true drama?
    And is the Premier League in danger of turning into a glorified version of the Scottish Premiership, where Celtic and Rangers have lost a combined total of six league games this season, while Liverpool and City together have suffered five defeats?
    We’ll need a few more seasons of this duopoly before that could be true but some of those yawning might have a point.
    Wreck it Ralf
    Man Utd needed Rangnick’s brutal honestyCredit: GETTY
    RALF RANGNICK may be the least successful Manchester United manager of the Premier League era in terms of results but he has done a mighty fine job of  acting like a truth drug to a club with delusions of competence.
    Barely a single press conference of Rangnick’s goes by without the interim boss delivering brilliantly accurate take-downs of the club, its hierarchy or individual under-performing players.
    Rangnick is off to manage the Austrian national team but he will leave behind an important legacy.
    He was the bloke who dared to give it to United straight.

    BT SPORT’S anchorman Jake Humphrey — who is nailed-on as TV’s next Richard Madeley — says it’s difficult to ‘have a pop’ at Newcastle’s Saudi ownership when Eddie Howe has lifted his team to mid-table.
    We must have missed the clause in the UN universal declaration of human rights which claims that genocide and the dismemberment of dissident journalists is fine once your points-per-game ratio sneaks above 1.5.
    Humphrey says it’s difficult to ‘have a pop’ at Newcastle’s Saudi ownership when Eddie Howe has lifted his team to mid-tableCredit: REX FEATURES
    FANS of Walsall are none too happy at a sponsorship deal renaming their ground as the Poundland Bescot Stadium.
    But rugby league followers will know that there is worse.
    Castleford Tigers’ home is known as The Mend-A-Hose Jungle.
    Walsall’s stadium will be renamed the Poundland Bescot StadiumCredit: GETTY
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Sun;font-size:18px;line-height:1.333;font-weight:700;letter-spacing:0%;font-stretch:normal;display:inline;}.css-i1acvs:hover:not(:disabled){-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}’LIKE FLATMATES’ .css-8h3gc3{margin:0;padding:0;color:rgba(34,37,38,1);-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;font-family:The Sun;font-size:18px;line-height:1.333;font-weight:700;letter-spacing:0%;font-stretch:normal;display:inline;}.css-8h3gc3:hover:not(:disabled){-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}Helen Flanagan reveals she hasn’t shared bed with fiance Scott for 7 YEARS
    JUST because Ian Botham and Andrew Flintoff failed as England captain, it does not mean fellow all-rounder Ben Stokes will also flop.
    Watching the World Cup final and the Headingley Test of 2019, I didn’t get the impression Stokes was a man who found responsibility too weighty.
    England Cricket hero Stokes doesn’t find responsibility too weightyCredit: PA More

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    F1 first with Miami Grand Prix to have gondola going through track and fake marina as super-yachts head to Florida

    FORMULA ONE is set for its biggest race weekend in centuries as it hosts the inaugural Miami GP this week.
    It is a huge event – not so much from a sporting perspective – but from a commercial one, as the sport’s owners, Liberty Media, the teams and several sponsors all look to cash in on F1’s booming popularity in the United States.
    Miami is set for its biggest race weekend in centuriesCredit: SPLASH NEWS
    A handful of super-yachts have been craned into placeCredit: SPLASH NEWS
    There is a gondola that goes across the trackCredit: SPLASH NEWS
    The track in Miami is making its debutCredit: SPLASH NEWS
    If you were feeling cynical, you could label the Miami GP more of an F1 trade show than an F1 race.
    If you were feeling unkind, you could call it all a bit fake.
    For instance, there is a gondola that goes across the track, but not to a destination and a fake marina – two F1 firsts.
    The second part – the marina – is pretty laughable actually in that a handful of super-yachts have been craned into place only for what looks like sparkly blue tinfoil placed around their hulls to make it look like water.
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F1.css-1gojmfd{margin-bottom:16px;}.css-gmec1d{display:-webkit-inline-box;display:-webkit-inline-flex;display:-ms-inline-flexbox;display:inline-flex;height:auto;-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;-webkit-align-content:center;-ms-flex-line-pack:center;align-content:center;-webkit-box-flex-wrap:nowrap;-webkit-flex-wrap:nowrap;-ms-flex-wrap:nowrap;flex-wrap:nowrap;-webkit-flex-direction:row;-ms-flex-direction:row;flex-direction:row;-webkit-box-pack:start;-ms-flex-pack:start;-webkit-justify-content:flex-start;justify-content:flex-start;margin-left:calc(-20px/2);margin-right:calc(-20px/2);}.css-fh9577{display:-webkit-inline-box;display:-webkit-inline-flex;display:-ms-inline-flexbox;display:inline-flex;margin-left:calc(20px/2);margin-right:calc(20px/2);}.css-65fvqt{max-width:302px;max-height:294px;}.css-h98a3b{box-sizing:border-box;overflow:hidden;background-color:rgba(236,245,247,1);-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;position:relative;display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-flex-direction:column;-ms-flex-direction:column;flex-direction:column;max-width:302px;max-height:294px;}.css-bk55po{box-sizing:border-box;display:block;position:relative;margin-bottom:0;}.css-1shocxe{box-sizing:border-box;}.css-1a2irou{box-sizing:border-box;padding:0;}.css-1a2irou 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    But that toe-curling fakery won’t detract the American audiences, who have grown up with people who buy cheese that comes out of a spray can!
    It would be missing the point to say this race is for the purists, or even dare I say it, for fans of racing, but rather for fans of entertainment.
    Liberty Media have always wanted to create a calendar that takes in 23 – possibly 24 next year – ‘super bowls’ across the world.
    And as anyone knows, the super bowl is not really for those fans inside the stadium, it is those who are watching on the sofa at home on TV – and there are millions of them.
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    JOIN SUN VEGAS: GET A FREE £10 BONUS WITH 100s OF GAMES TO PLAY AND NO DEPOSIT REQUIRED (Ts&Cs apply)
    As a result, this race has a completely different business model from another on the calendar.
    The organisers pay no host fees to F1, unlike every other race apart from Monaco. Instead, F1 will look to supplement that lack of fee with future lucrative sponsorships and TV rights deals by showcasing F1 to an American audience.
    Just look at the special heavily-branded grandstands for VIP guests of McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes while Red Bull have their own site spreading around a whole corner.
    Then there are key spots too for big-spending F1 sponsors MSC Cruises while the Miami International Autodrome also has its own giant hospitality area for guests.
    And finally the Crypto.com Terrace, home for the weekend to the race sponsors and their guests.
    There is no doubt it will look great on TV and come Sunday, I expect everyone at F1 and at the Miami GP to be partaking in some serious back-slapping.
    Oh, and if you are still struggling to get over the manufactured, fake feeling of it all – just wait until we get to Las Vegas next year!

    MY paddock sources tell me that FIA President Mohammed ben Sulayem still wants to punish F1 drivers who flout the non-jewellery rule.
    It was evident in a recent video call with team chiefs. Will he dare crack the whip this weekend in Miami? We will have to wait and see….

    AS if the start to this year’s MotoGP season has not been exciting enough, Francesco Bagnaia has now joined the title race.
    The Italian, who finished runner up last season, had struggled in the opening five rounds.
    But he blasted back into the reckoning after converting pole position – a new Jerez track record – into victory to become the fifth different winner in the opening six races.
    After his win in the Spanish GP, he said: “Finally, I think I’m back to my best shape like I was last year and I would like to continue like this from now on.
    “We can’t lose any more points because after six races I’m already 33 points behind. I want to start recovering a bit.”

    Spanish MotoGP bosses have been criticised on social media for their decision to invite bullfighters along as VIP guests. Not very 2022, Amigos.

    FORMULA E unveiled plans for their new car for next season last week, dubbed the ‘Gen 3’.
    It will be the quickest electric race car in the world and signals a huge step in development.
    The cars will reach a top speed of 200mph and have a combined power output of 600kW.
    Now, that might not mean much to you but if I explain this year’s ‘Gen 2′ cars have 250kW of power – and are 60kgs heavier – then you can understand why the drivers in the championship are excited to race them.

    THE W SERIES kick off their championship this weekend in Miami having signed a TV deal with Sky Sports F1, who will broadcast all their races.
    The women-only single-seater series welcomes some new racing talent while former gold-medal Olympian and reality TV star Caitlyn Jenner has entered a team in the championship.
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Sun;font-size:18px;line-height:1.333;font-weight:700;letter-spacing:0%;font-stretch:normal;display:inline;}.css-bq4915:hover:not(:disabled){-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}’LIKE FLATMATES’ .css-8h3gc3{margin:0;padding:0;color:rgba(34,37,38,1);-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;font-family:The Sun;font-size:18px;line-height:1.333;font-weight:700;letter-spacing:0%;font-stretch:normal;display:inline;}.css-8h3gc3:hover:not(:disabled){-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}Helen Flanagan reveals she hasn’t shared bed with fiance Scott for 7 YEARS
    Jamie Chadwick is back for a third season – having won the title for the past two times – but my money is on fellow Brit Abbi Pulling.
    I caught up with Abbi last week, who is part of the Alpine F1 team’s development programme, who have been helping her get up to speed. More

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    Football regulator will still make errors just like referees – but finally fans might be prioritised

    YES, of course there  are rights and wrongs in football. Whether many will be cured by a regulator is open to much doubt.After all, it’s possible to  give him a different name —   a referee.
    Karren Brady claims a football regulator wouldn’t be able to totally prevent errorsCredit: Getty
    The judgment that football should have a regulator has been made by a fan-led review under Tory MP Tracey Crouch.Credit: Rex
    That, as you know, has already been pinched but our refs make plenty of mistakes, even with help from several quarters.
    There would be nothing infallible about this freshly-minted bureaucrat, either, and he will not come cheaply.
    The judgment that football should have a regulator has been made by a fan-led review under Tory MP Tracey Crouch.
     It contains ten key points and includes an improved owners’ and directors’ test — and more say for supporters.
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Sun;font-size:18px;line-height:1.333;font-weight:700;letter-spacing:0%;font-stretch:normal;display:inline;}.css-i1acvs:hover:not(:disabled){-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}United news .css-8h3gc3{margin:0;padding:0;color:rgba(34,37,38,1);-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;font-family:The Sun;font-size:18px;line-height:1.333;font-weight:700;letter-spacing:0%;font-stretch:normal;display:inline;}.css-8h3gc3:hover:not(:disabled){-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}Ronaldo rescues Red Devils AGAIN, Rangnick CONFIRMED as Austria coach
    Indeed, the cost of regular checks on club books, inquiries over alleged injustices, ensuring  player costs are limited to 70 per cent of a club’s revenues, and so forth, will be enormous.
    And the problem is that 70 per cent of Manchester United’s revenue, because of Champions League football, has given them a decent amount to spend.
    Yet 70 per cent of Brentford’s revenue doesn’t allow them to compete . . . 
    Most of this, I suspect, will be heaped on the Premier League, plus just a little on the FA.
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swoop for Tchouameni, Ramsay to reinforce squad’
    The FA? It is a shocking commentary on the effectiveness of the governing body that the report all but ignores them.
    The Government now plans swift implementation but much of it should be welcomed like a giant hole in Wembley’s pitch. It is messing with an industry which works better than most and it’s hard to see what football has in common with banks or other financial institutions who also have regulators.
    There is, in my view,  only one way a regulator would prevent bankruptcy at badly-run or impoverished clubs.
    And that’s by milking the Premier League of vast sums  — also known as chewing the hand that feeds them.
    FREE BETS AND SIGN UP DEALS – BEST NEW CUSTOMER OFFERS
    Fans across all divisions, though, could be prioritised with new measuresCredit: Getty
    The case for the Premier League must be made. It has grown from the threadbare First Division into one of the world’s greatest domestic competitions.
    It has a worldwide audience and makes enough revenue to attract football lovers and businessmen to club ownership.
    In doing so, it also passes down cash to countless good causes, as well as to lower-level clubs, making it an important benefactor.
    I wouldn’t wish to suggest that we allow free entry for suspect characters around clubs — owners and agents among them.
    But that is also true of many businesses for which regulators would be poison.
    Football, though, is glamorous as well as successful, with lots of TV and fame thrown in.

    Politicians are bound to find meddling irresistible. Some even know the difference between Aston Villa and West Ham.
    Now, we have to assume there will be a cost to implementing the ten key points.
    Control and bureaucracy do not come cheap, so much so that the whole thing could be in the HS2 wasted money league.
    But we have to remember  the Premier League is the envy of world sport, so why break it because Bury went bust?
    It’s staggering that there are 92 full-time professional clubs in England and that only Bury have gone out of business.
    More would have done if the Prem hadn’t handed out heaps of money during Covid.
    Politicians are bound to find meddling irresistible. Some even know the difference between Aston Villa and West Ham.Credit: Getty
    And for those that think the Prem should do more, we are already giving away £1.6billion to other leagues, grassroots  and charity over the next three seasons.
    How much more giving can we do without damaging the top flight itself?
    The logic is flawed — why should Norwich, for example, give more cash to Stoke, whose owners are worth £7bn?
    And one of the big problems with the proposed directors’ and owners’ test is that those you may want to keep out are already here.
    How do you root them out? More work for the regulator, I presume? More

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    Everton boss Frank Lampard has to be highly motivated and highly confident and squad will follow in battle to beat drop

    A CAPTAIN can be the real difference-maker in a ­dressing room that is ­fighting ­relegation.He will float around the group, making sure things are ticking over and morale is high — and that is exactly what Seamus Coleman will be doing at Everton.
    Everton boss Frank Lampard needs to show his squad he is confident, motivated and preparedCredit: GETTY
    Skipper Seamus Coleman will need to lead by example with Everton deep in a relegation battleCredit: REUTERS
    But, more importantly, it comes from the leadership and the persona of the manager,  in this case Frank Lampard.
    If the manager is confident and showing you ways in which he feels he can get the team through a situation, the rest of the squad will fall into line and back him.
    A skipper has his role to play too, like I did at Watford, but ultimately he will react off the back of the manager.
    Someone like Lampard is highly motivated and highly confident.
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    He will be spreading a clear message and it is down to the captain to then reinvigorate the dressing room.
    That can be a difficult task, especially if the manager is losing the support of a squad because of results or methods.
    But I don’t think there will be one Everton player who is thinking: “We cannot get out of this”.
    They will be positive that  they are good enough to get themselves away from danger.
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    Positivity is not all it takes to beat the drop but to have a manager who is upbeat and inspiring is a massive contributing factor.
    As a captain you can shout all you want to rev everyone up or to keep them from downing tools but, if the manager isn’t showing that belief, you have no chance.
    It is very easy for things to boil over in a dressing room. It is high octane. Every little thing is scrutinised, especially when you are in a negative position.
    Questionable things a player does off the pitch or in the dressing room when you are winning, people give you a pass for it.
    Lampard will need to get the best out of his playersCredit: GETTY
    But as soon as the results hit the fan, everyone goes for you. “Why is he not doing that?” It is high pressure.
    And if it does boil over, like I have seen many times in dressing rooms before games or at half-time, you have to nip it in the bud quickly as a captain.
    Yet it only starts to get toxic and nasty when the writing is on the wall, a bit like if Norwich lose this weekend.
    That will be a nasty dressing room, I would imagine. The  selfishness takes over. When you get to that stage, players look after themselves and that’s when you see their true colours.
    Everton have six games to save themselves from disasterCredit: GETTY
    Everyone will care about getting relegated, don’t get me wrong, but people care in different ways.
    No one wants that blemish on their CV, but you get some bad eggs and they get nastier because they realise they are going down or they have already sorted out a move away.
    It is a tough one.
    For Everton right now, and I don’t like the cliche of taking each game as it comes, but I have been in that situation and that’s what you do — no matter how hard you try not to.
    Everton are two points off 17th place Burnley but have a game in handCredit: GETTY
    You are identifying games and doing the maths and thinking: “If we beat this team, and that team may lose”.
    And then suddenly a team around you gets a freak result and you think: “God where did that come from?” and that is mentally deflating.
    Players say they don’t look at the table but that’s b******s.
    Everyone looks at it and thinks of all the scenarios and ways you can get out.
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    And Everton players will be doing that this weekend as they look to try to nick something against Chelsea while Burnley play Watford.
    This week won’t be make or break for the Toffees but, if they can get a result against Chelsea and then win their next few, you would have to make them survival favourites. More

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    Mark Irwin: Howe has made fans dreaming of Conte, Pochettino and Zidane eat their words with Newcastle transformation

    WHEN Newcastle told the world the man replacing Steve Bruce was going to be Eddie Howe, how we all sniggered.All those Geordie dreams of Antonio Conte, Mauricio Pochettino and Zinedine Zidane shattered by the bloke who had been out of work since taking Bournemouth down.
    Eddie Howe has done a remarkable job turning around Newcastle’s fortunesCredit: Reuters
    But if he wasn’t so allergic to smiling, it’s nice guy Eddie who would be laughing now after proving to be the finest Transformer since Optimus Prime.
    In less than six months at St James’ Park, Howe has taken Newcastle from bottom of the Premier League to the top half of the table.
    And anyone who can turn Joelinton into the Brazilian Kevin De Bruyne must be some kind of miracle worker.
    Only Liverpool and Manchester City have taken more points in 2022.
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.nk-headline-heading{color:rgba(71,30,121,1);}.css-1uyse24:before{content:”;top:0;right:0;bottom:0;left:0;overflow:hidden;position:absolute;z-index:1;}.css-n392go{border-width:0 1px 1px 1px;border-style:solid;border-color:rgba(155,201,183,1);padding:12px;max-height:104px;min-height:98px;}.css-1p5s3t0{padding:0;border-width:0 1px 1px 1px;border-style:solid;border-color:rgba(155,201,183,1);padding:12px;max-height:104px;min-height:98px;}.css-124tga5{overflow:hidden;-webkit-line-clamp:3;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;display:-webkit-box;word-wrap:break-word;line-height:1;}.css-5jzxpx{overflow:hidden;-webkit-line-clamp:3;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;display:-webkit-box;word-wrap:break-word;line-height:1;}.css-i1acvs{margin:0;padding:0;color:rgba(34,99,73,1);text-transform:uppercase;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;font-family:The 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    And Saturday’s home game against Jurgen Klopp’s team might just be the match that makes a telling impact on the title race.
    Yet when Howe was appointed in November, the common consensus was that he was only keeping the manager’s seat warm for a superstar coach.
    That he would be sent on his way at the end of the season with a massive payoff from the new owners happy to still be in the Premier League.
    But if that were ever the Saudis’ plan, Howe has certainly made them think again with the way he has exceeded all expectations at their club.
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    FREE BETS AND SIGN UP DEALS – BEST NEW CUSTOMER OFFERS
    Of course, he was helped by the fact that he was able to spend more money than any other manager during the January window to bring in Bruno Guimaraes, Dan Burn, Kieran Trippier, Chris Wood and Matt Targett.
    Yet they weren’t exactly the kind of off-the-scale signings the club were originally linked with when the Saudis took over.
    And it took more than just cash to convince those players to join a team who were stuck firmly in the relegation zone at the time.
    But with their top-flight status assured, Newcastle will soon be able to make life very difficult for Manchester United, Spurs, Arsenal and Chelsea in the transfer market.
    The so-called Super League clubs, in danger of being left behind by City and Liverpool, are planning major overhauls this summer.
    But suddenly there is another competitor in the scrap for Europe’s top talent.
    And Newcastle’s owners have the wealth to outbid just about anyone. None of this makes their ownership any more palatable. It remains a scandal they were ever given the green light to complete their £305million takeover.
    Yet at least with Howe as their manager, Newcastle are not going to be rubbing their opulence in the faces of their top-flight rivals.
    In fact it’s difficult to think of a less likely front man for the kings of bling than the understated 44-year-old.
    And now that Amanda Staveley has finally piped down and adopted a lower profile, it is becoming increasingly difficult to mock the Magpies.
    Which is no fun at all.
    WAD IS EFL ON?
    CAN’T help thinking the EFL are pushing their luck by demanding a 25 per cent cut of the Premier League’s broadcast cash as part of the ongoing review of English football.
    Top-flight teams have already agreed to pay £1.6billion over the next three years to help keep the Football League afloat.
    That’s still not enough for EFL chairman Rick Parry, though.
    He wants another £1bn and is banking on the Government’s backing to help him get his way.
    But just like buying a bottle of vodka for an alcoholic, the Premier League fears handing extra cash to the Championship spendthrifts is only going to feed bad habits.
    And when you look at the way the likes of Derby, Reading and Birmingham have been run in recent years, you can understand those concerns.
    The very last thing that football needs right now is the threat of intervention from this shambles of a Government.
    Because it is only when you see pictures of the Prime Minister trying to kick a ball at bankrupt Bury that you realise just how much worse things could get for the game.
    Rick Parry wants another £1bnCredit: PA
    PLANE STUPID
    TYSON FURY is adamant he has thrown his last punch in a boxing ring after banking another £22million for beating Dillian Whyte.
    So now that the search is on for a new heavyweight champion, how about that bloke on the plane who got into a row with Mike Tyson?
    He’s proved  he can take a punch by copping half a dozen right-handers from the most fearsome fighter of his generation.
    And there’s no danger of him having his brains scrambled considering he was already stupid enough to wind up the baddest man on the planet.
    Most people wouldn’t mess with Iron MikeCredit: AFP
    WIMBO NOT DIM
    IF EVER Wimbledon needed to justify their decision to ban Russian players, they need only point to Vladimir Putin’s meeting with teenage drug cheat Kamila Valieva.
    You might recall Valieva as the 16-year-old ice skater whose Olympic gold medal has been withheld as a result of a positive dope test.
    Yet that did not prevent her being feted by Putin at a Moscow ceremony this week.
    The butcher of Ukraine declared: “It is impossible to achieve that kind of perfection dishonestly.”
    Says the most dishonest man in the world.
    Even with his country on the brink of World War Three, Putin remains obsessed with Russia’s sporting prowess.
    And the fact that so many major events are now closed to his country is clearly driving him mad. Or madder.
    Vladimir Putin poses with Kamila ValievaCredit: AFP
    JUST SAVE IT FOR SAVES
    ARSENAL keeper Aaron Ramsdale went full Martin Keown when Bruno Fernandes’ comedy penalty hit the post the other day.
    And he wasn’t going to let the fact that he had been sent completely the wrong way spoil his celebrations.
    It wasn’t on quite the same scale as Middlesbrough’s Joe Lumley after their FA Cup shootout win at Old Trafford.
    Because Lumley hadn’t saved any of the nine spot-kicks he faced from Manchester United that night.
    Yet it still didn’t prevent him from partying like Boris Johnson when Anthony Elanga put his penalty into the Stretford End.
    Aaron Ramsdale celebrates Bruno Fernandes’ penalty missCredit: PA
    COACH CLASS
    EMMA RADUCANU has now had more coaches than wins following her decision to dispense with the services of Torben Beltz.
    If she is not careful, the US Open champion will soon be known as the greatest one-hit wonder since Chumbawamba.
    Emma Raducanu will be in action in Madrid without a coachCredit: Getty
    GOOD INNINGS
    THE ECB and latest chief Rob Key’s online advert for a new head coach for England’s red-ball side is promising extra holidays for the successful candidate.
    Will that be the fifth day of all our Tests matches?
    Rob Key is promising plenty of holidaysCredit: Getty More