Tom Brady 'Deflategate' player banned for four matches

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady has been suspended for four games by the National Football League after an inquiry into under-inflated balls.

Brady, 37, will not receive any pay during his ban, while the team have been fined $1m (£642,000) for a scandal that has become known as 'Deflategate'.

The NFL said on Monday the club were sanctioned after "failure to cooperate in the subsequent investigation".

Last week, Brady said the findings did not taint his side's Super Bowl win.

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Real Madrid: Spanish club tops 'world's most valuable team list'

(CNN) - If Real Madrid and Barcelona progress to the European Champions League final, it will mean not only another all-Spanish showdown -- but also a clash between the world's two most valuable football teams.

Real tops Forbes' latest ranking with a value of $3.26 billion, while Barca is not far behind on $3.16 billion.


The Madrid club, which faces a 2-1 semifinal deficit against Juventus as it seeks to win an 11th European title, has topped the financial magazine's standings for the past three seasons.

However, the gap between Spain's top two teams has closed significantly in the past five years and the Catalan side hopes to soon take top spot.

"FC Barcelona's staggering economic development is patently clear," the La Liga's leader's first vice-president Javier Faus, who heads the club's finance department, said in a statement.

"With the club now valued just $100 million short of Real Madrid, it's the smallest gap for the last five years.

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Carlo Ancelotti: 'I want to stay at Real Madrid for the rest of my life'

(CNN) - Since the turn of the century 11 coaches have come and gone at Real Madrid, but the 12th is looking to buck that trend -- so much so he'd like to stay at the club for the rest of his life.

And such is the thickness of Carlo Ancelotti's skin he relishes the scrutiny -- good and bad -- of a job that demands each coach must deliver instant success and global domination.


"I like everything in this atmosphere -- even the criticism," the Italian told CNN Español ahead of Real's Champions League semifinal against Juventus in Turin on Tuesday.

It's not just scrutiny from the boardroom that Ancelotti faces. There's also the intense interest of the media, notably Spanish sport daily Marca.

"You have to compare: criticism is one small negative thing but on the other side, there are a lot of positives," added Ancelotti.

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Mayweather v Pacquiao Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen refuses to pay up on £3,300 bet

Floyd Mayweather’s defeat of Manny Pacquiao has led to all sorts of hysterical reaction, but on Monday a surprise new voice entered into the debate.

Hun Sen, the Cambodian prime minister of more than 30 years, is refusing to pay up on a £3,300 bet on the outcome of the ‘Fight of the Century’ on the grounds that Mayweather’s points win was unfair.

According to the Cambodia Daily newspaper, the PM, and former Khmer Rouge commander, expressed his anger on Monday about the weekend’s $300m Las Vegas fight, claiming that Pacquiao’s aggression deserved to triumph over Mayweather’s more conservative approach.

Mr Hun Sen was so unimpressed with the American’s performance that he was moved to offer him constructive advice.
The Cambodian noted that: “If I were Floyd, I would consider [it] a draw.”

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Fans disgusted with money-hungry Floyd Mayweather

From the MGM Grand to homes across America, boxing fans rained boos on Floyd Mayweather over the weekend — but the only sound the welterweight champ could hear was the ka-ching of cash registers.

With Saturday night’s fight making him the highest-paid champ in boxing history, Mayweather hardly seemed to notice he was also one of the most reviled.

“The check’s got nine figures on it, baby,” Mayweather bragged Sunday, as he waved the $100 million check he earned for beating Manny Pacquiao in a unanimous decision in Las Vegas.
“No pictures, though,” he warned reporters. “Don’t want any pictures of it.”

His total take could go as high as $180 million once pay-per-view revenue is tallied, experts said.
That would be by far the largest purse ever earned by a fighter.

But the welterweight title holder has also earned the ire of boxing fans, who are less impressed by his 48-0 record than they are repulsed by his constant bragging, his selfishness and his history of assaults on women.

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Floyd Mayweather Jr. Defeats Manny Pacquiao in Boxing’s Big Matchup

LAS VEGAS — Floyd Mayweather Jr., the 38-year-old with the baby face and the unblemished professional boxing record, beat Manny Pacquiao on Saturday night with a unanimous decision in what was considered the highest-grossing bout in history.

In a long-anticipated fight between the two dominant welterweights of the past decade, Mayweather stretched his record to 48-0 while quieting critics who thought he had spent years avoiding a showdown with Pacquiao, a 36-year-old fighter from the Philippines.

All three judges scored the fight in favor of Mayweather. One had the score at 118-110, and the other two had it at 116-112.

The purse, a majority of it from pay-per-view revenue from several million American households paying about $90 each to watch, was estimated to be roughly $300 million. The contract called for Mayweather to receive 60 percent, win or lose.

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Record opening stand stuns Pakistan

The prospect of surviving five sessions under a heavy deficit against a potent bowling attack would have forced most sides into a shell. Ten years ago in Dhaka, Bangladesh had batted out 142 overs against Zimbabwe to force a draw and win their first Test series. Nafees Iqbal had knuckled down to score 121 in almost six hours in that match.

Faced with a daunting deficit of 296, Nafees' brother Tamim Iqbal, however, chose an alternative approach. He kept all diffidence aside in a blistering century - his third in three Tests, his seventh overall and his first against Pakistan - that helped Bangladesh slice off almost all of Pakistan's daunting lead in just over two sessions. Along with Imrul Kayes, who was close on Tamim's heels with his third Test century, he added 273 runs in 61 overs during an unbeaten stand that not only beat the record of Bangladesh's best opening set by the same pair in the the team's previous Test, it also was their best stand for any wicket.

If there was any help for the bowlers from the pitch, it remained buried deep under the solidity of the two batsmen. The ball reversed, but often found the middle of the bat; it turned, too, but was regularly carted away over the boundary ropes. Only twice, Pakistan came close to breaking the stand as Tamim was hit on the pads, but in both instances, the decision stayed with the umpire after Pakistan asked for a review.

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How to watch Mayweather vs. Pacquiao

t’s the fight of the century! The most exclusive sporting event ever to be held! Anticipation for this Saturday’s Mayweather vs. Pacquiao boxing match has reached well past hype to record levels of fever pitch, never mind that many sports analysts predict a dud.

The action is expected to begin Saturday at about 11 p.m. EDT at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Here are your options for watching what may or may not be the greatest boxing match of all time:

In person: For the (private) jet set only
If you’ve already shelled out for a trip to Las Vegas or your private jet is fueled and ready to go, you’ll be happy to know there are plenty of tickets available on resale sites. Get ready for the sticker shock: Prices even for the worst seats are upward of $3,500. On StubHub, the highest priced ticket as of 4:30 p.m. ET was one ringside seat going for $351,005.25. A few rows back, you can get in for $117,005.25.

In your home: Pay-per-group
Most people will opt to watch from the comfort of their own home on pay-per-view: about $100 to watch in high definition and $90 in standard definition. Find a few friends or family members to go in on the cost together, and you’re looking at the most reasonable way to tune in. Depending on your cable provider, you can order over the phone, online or with your remote. The fight is expected to generate at least 3 million pay-per-view buys.

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How to find tickets for the world's hottest event

It is the hottest ticket in town - and not just in boxing. Floyd Mayweather will take on Manny Pacquiao at Las Vegas's MGM Garden Arena on 2 May.

The odds of getting a ticket are as low as poor Charlie Bucket's, the character who hoped to visit Willy Wonka's chocolate factory in the famous Roald Dahl book.

In the end, Charlie had to rely on pure fate to see his dream fulfilled.

The vast majority of the world's boxing fans will need luck and lots of cash to get them a ringside seat for the fight of the year.

Tickets for the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight will cost between $1,500 (£999) and $7,500 (£4,997), and will go on sale at 12:00 Las Vegas time (20:00 BST) on Thursday.

Even though the arena has 16,500 seats, only 1,000 or so tickets will be made available to the public.

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Real Madrid’s Javier Hernández breaks Atlético resistance at the last

Madrid’s derby may have been Atlético’s this season, but Europe still belongs to Real. Atlético were down to 10 men, exhausted, and willing the clock to run down, hoping for extra time and penalties, when Cristiano Ronaldo burst up the right and fed Javier Hernández to score the goal that sent the European champions through to the semi-finals. They had finally beaten their city rivals – for the first time since they met in last year’s final.

There had been seven derbies since then, but eight was the number. As Hernández put the ball in the back of the net, the scoreboard read 88 minutes. At last, Real had beaten Atlético and at last they had found a way through, without four of their usual starters, too. Over 180 minutes, one goal had been enough and Real had got it. They had searched for it for much of this game, far more than Atlético had, but had not always been sure of finding it. Yet Carlo Ancelotti had preached patience and it proved a virtue.

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“We’re alive and when we’re alive we’re very dangerous. What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger,” Ancelotti smiled afterwards, adding: “I’m joking: I’m not a philosopher. But we can compete with anyone, no problem.” As for Diego Simeone, he was left expressing his “pride” in his team. “When I was a boy I was taught to compete and that if you go home having given everything you go happy even if you have lost. Lots of coaches would envy me having players who run for 90 minutes like my players do, despite the difficulties they faced,” he said.

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Robert Lewandowski inspires Bayern Munich’s rout of Porto

As you were, then, Pep. This was an extraordinary Champions League quarter-final second leg at the Allianz Arena. Chiefly, of course, for Bayern Munich’s magisterial passage into the semi-finals, Pep Guardiola’s team turning around a 3-1 first-leg deficit to go to half-time 5-0 up, having reduced Porto to a collection of bewildered, ill-fitting parts.

Almost as remarkable, in a perverse kind of way, was Porto’s own first-half collapse. They were abject in losing 6-1, undone by Bayern’s ruthless exposing of weakness on the flanks via classically Guardiola-ish switches of play and a bravura performance of centre-forward craft and strength from Robert Lewandowski.

“We were very bad in the first half,” Porto’s manager, Julen Lopetegui, said. He was wrong though. Porto were not quite as good as that.

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Anthony Ujah sorry for rough handling of goat mascot - BBC

Cologne's Anthony Ujah has apologised for grabbing the club mascot Hennes VIII the goat by the horns when the striker celebrated a goal on Sunday.

The 24-year-old Nigeria international struck his side's fourth goal in their 4-2 win against Eintracht Frankfurt.

He then ran to Hennes VIII, grabbed the animal by the horns and tried to drag it on to the pitch.

"Sorry Hennes. I was a bit too rough on him," Ujah wrote on his Twitter page  next to a picture of the incident.

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Cricket World Cup 2015: South Africa beat Ireland by 201 runs - BBC News

South Africa condemned Ireland to their first defeat of the World Cup as they cruised to a 201-run win in Canberra.

Hashim Amla hit 159, Faf du Plessis 109 and Rilee Rossouw a rapid unbeaten 61 in South Africa's 411-4, the second time in two Pool B games they have passed 400.

Ireland collapsed to 48-5 as they were bowled out for 210 in 45 overs despite Andrew Balbirnie's 58.
Kyle Abbott claimed 4-21 and fellow pace bowler Morne Morkel 3-34.

South Africa need to win only one of their remaining two group games, against Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates, to reach the quarter-finals.

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Dave Mackay: Scotland and Tottenham legend dies aged 80 - BBC News

Former Tottenham, Derby, Hearts and Scotland midfielder Dave Mackay has died, aged 80.
He won 10 major honours as a player in British and European football.

The Edinburgh-born player also won 22 caps for his country and was named 'Footballer of the Year' in both Scotland and England.

Paying tribute, Spurs said: "He was one of our greatest ever players and a man who never failed to inspire those around him."

After winning all three domestic honours in Scotland with Hearts, Mackay joined Spurs in 1959.
He helped the north London club become the first post-war team to achieve the double of league and FA Cup in 1961, then won the FA Cup again in 1962 and 1967.

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Cricket World Cup: Rampant India too strong for UAE in Pool B - BBC News

Defending champions India maintained their perfect start at the World Cup as they outclassed United Arab Emirates in a one-sided contest in Perth.
India were on top throughout and dismissed UAE for 102 - the lowest total at the World Cup so far, behind England's 123 against New Zealand.
Only a spirited 35 from Shaiman Anwar spared UAE from real embarrassment.
India lost just one wicket as they raced to their target in 18.5 overs, Rohit Sharma hitting a half-century.
Former Australia seamer Terry Alderman
"If India had been put in to bat first it would have been carnage. Against that UAE attack they would have scored upward of 400 I reckon."
"The bowlers have really stepped up and that has led to improvements in other parts of the side," said a satisfied India captain MS Dhoni.

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Cricket World Cup: New Zealand beat Australia by one wicket - BBC News

New Zealand survived a late collapse to beat Australia by one wicket in a thrilling World Cup Pool A game.
Chasing a meagre 152 to win, the Kiwis slipped from 131-4 to 146-9 as Mitchell Starc claimed 6-28.
However, Kane Williamson (45no) hit Pat Cummins for six to seal victory with 26.5 overs to spare in a wonderfully tense climax at Eden Park in Auckland.
Earlier, Australia lost eight wickets for 26 runs as they were bowled out for 151, with Trent Boult claiming 5-27.
"I was always going to try and hit a boundary at the end as I didn't want to leave it too long," Williamson told Test Match Special.
New Zealand, who have won all four of their group matches, need only one victory from their remaining two games - against Afghanistan and Bangladesh - to secure their place in the quarter-finals.

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Steven Finn & James Anderson lead England to win over India - BBC News

Tri-series, Brisbane:
India: 153 (39.3 overs) Finn 5-33, Anderson 4-18
England: 156-1 (27.3 overs) Bell 88*, Taylor 56*
England won by nine wickets
Scorecard

Steven Finn and James Anderson led England to a morale-boosting nine-wicket thrashing of India in Brisbane.

Finn took 5-33, his one-day best, and Anderson, back after a knee injury, 4-18 as India were bowled out for 153.

Ian Bell then made an unbeaten 88 and James Taylor 56 not out in a stand of 131 as England chased their target inside 28 overs.

The bonus-point win leaves England second in the tri-series table behind Australia, whom they meet on Friday.

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