Sport

Doué seals Super Cup glory for PSG after Madjo makes history for Aston Villa
Posted on Wednesday August 12, 2026

Uefa Super Cup: Paris Saint-Germain 2-1 Aston Villa
Kvaratskhelia 20, Doué 62; Madjo 45

Luis Enrique says it doesn’t matter which sport he is playing – football, tennis, padel or parchis, a board game – he wants to win all of the time. In Paris Saint-Germain, he has built a winning machine, the back-to-back Champions League victors maintaining a useful habit by conquering Aston Villa in an absorbing Super Cup contest in Salzburg. For PSG, after the joy of Munich and Budapest, three months ago, does a three-peat in Madrid in May beckon?

Aston Villa more than played their part in an enthralling showpiece, Brian Madjo becoming the competition’s youngest scorer after the 17-year-old cancelled out Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s opener. They could have taken the game to a penalty shootout, Warren Zaïre-Emery’s extraordinary block preventing João Gomes a near-certain debut goal and Emi Buendía heading wide in stoppage time.

Hudson-Smith dazzles home fans as he surges to golden European 400m hat-trick
Posted on Wednesday August 12, 2026

Becomes first man to win three European 400m titles
Hudson-Smith: ‘Nobody is going to beat me on this track’

Stand … and deliver. On a balmy night in Birmingham, Matt Hudson-Smith powered past the stand bearing his name at the Alexander Stadium and into history by becoming the first man to win three European Championship 400m titles.

And afterwards, as the adrenaline flooded his body and he posed wearing a crown in front of the Matthew Hudson-Smith Stand, the 31-year-old made it clear just how much it meant. “Nobody is going to beat me on this track,” he said. “This is my home. I have been here since I was nine. I know this track like the back of my hand.”

Atlético Madrid agree £34.1m deal for Tottenham’s Cristian Romero
Posted on Wednesday August 12, 2026

Centre-back closes on move to La Liga side
Hull break their transfer record to sign Nobel Mendy

Tottenham have reached an agreement with Atlético Madrid over the sale of their captain, Cristian Romero. Romero was given the green light by the club and Roberto De Zerbi to depart Spurs this summer after a turbulent 2025-26 campaign in which he served four separate suspensions.

Inter initially led the chase for the Argentina centre-back, but after talks with Spurs stalled, long-term admirers Atlético swooped in and a package of €40m (£34.1m) is set to secure Diego Simeone his target.

‘Be adults’: Joe Root gets rid of England Test team’s midnight curfew
Posted on Wednesday August 12, 2026

‘I don’t think they work,’ says returning Test captain
Root takes charge for three-match Pakistan series

Joe Root has abolished the midnight curfew for his England Test side, telling his players to “be adults” after a string of late-night incidents.

A curfew was imposed on the England men’s teams after their Ashes defeat in the winter, when the on-field action was overshadowed by players’ behaviour off it. Most notably, there was Harry Brook’s altercation with a nightclub bouncer on the eve of a one-day international in Wellington, with the batter admitting he was fortunate to keep his position as white-ball captain.

Premier League 2026-27 preview No 7: Coventry
Posted on Wednesday August 12, 2026

After 25 years away, can Coventry make their return to the top division stick under Frank Lampard?

Guardian writers’ predicted position: 18th (NB: this is not necessarily Ben Fisher’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)

Last season’s position: 1st (Championship)

Jack Draper: ‘When you reach rock bottom like that you can come back up again’
Posted on Wednesday August 12, 2026

Former world No 4 reflects on emotional reaction in Canada and rebuilding after the most difficult period of his career

Those painful images have relentlessly spread to all corners of the internet. Deep in the final set of the first-round match at the Canadian Open against Térence Atmane just over a week ago, 15 months of pent up emotion erupted. Two games from defeat, Draper spent the entire changeover in tears.

This was a devastating and alarming sight. Injuries had already defined so much of Draper’s career, but the uncertainty of trying to recover from a bone bruise injury to his left arm over the past year has been more challenging than anything he has experienced. All of his efforts since last July have been focused on trying to find a way to compete consistently at the highest level again, to no avail.

Manchester United enjoy trip to Dublin with penalty shootout win over Leeds
Posted on Wednesday August 12, 2026

Manchester United 1-1 Leeds (5-4 on pens)
First game between two English clubs at Croke Park

With blazing sunshine fading over a hot Dublin day, this penultimate friendly for Manchester United and Leeds United felt like a pre-season game on a far continent, not one staged a few hundred miles from the teams’ home across the Irish Sea.

The phoney-war element is always present whatever the locale, as players sharpen technique and fitness, so when Joshua Zirkzee’s instant left-foot shot met Diogo Dalot’s zipped-in cross and James Trafford saved low, all involved could be satisfied.