Champions Barcelona ease to opening win at Mallorca
Raphinha headed home after seven minutes and Ferran Torres doubled the lead in the 23rd minute to put the Spanish champions in command.
Mallorca's Manu Morlanes was shown a second yellow card for a foul on Lamine Yamal and Vedat Muriqi was also sent off before halftime.
Rashford, on loan from Manchester United, was sent on in the 69th minute for his debut, becoming the first Englishman to play a first-team game for Barcelona since former England striker Gary Lineker in 1989.
Yamal powered home Barcelona's third goal in stoppage time.
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The Guardian
20 minutes ago
- The Guardian
England's Marlie Packer: ‘This team is No 1 in the world – we're going to be under scrutiny'
'If you asked me at the start of pre-season: 'Am I going to this World Cup?' No. I didn't think I was going,' says the former England captain Marlie Packer. Self-doubt around her selection may surprise a lot of people. A World Cup winner in 2014, the 35-year-old will compete in her fourth successive global showpiece for the Red Roses after being duly confirmed in the 32-player squad for the host nation. But Packer has been through a lot in the past 12 months. She was named world player of the year in 2023 and during the two seasons that she led England, the side won all 20 games. Then, in January, the openside flanker had the captaincy taken away, with the second-row Zoe Aldcroft given the armband. Packer was made a vice-captain for the 2025 Six Nations but was only included in two matchday squads. Defiance and determination have been hallmarks of her 111-cap international career. She has built a resilience and is keen to push the message that whatever is right for the team to put them in the best position to win the World Cup when it gets under way on 22 August is the decision she will always agree with. But she also describes decisions out of her control in 2025 as 'tough'. When asked which hurt more, having the captaincy taken from her or being left out of matchday squads Packer lets out a little laugh, looks away out of the window and is a little emotional before saying: 'That's a question isn't it?' She adds: 'When me and Mitch [coach John Mitchell] sat down and talked about the captaincy, I am an openside flanker and what he sees and wants from his flanker is to cover six and eight; I don't cover six and eight in the role he wants it to be. 'The game has changed and evolved, that is the way he wants to play. I knew if I wasn't starting that I am more likely not to be in that matchday 23. He has told me that in black and white. I know where I stand and where I sit. 'Anything can happen, injuries happen so I always have to make sure I am ready. But with that, all I can keep doing is when we do extras at the end of training sessions I am showing I am upskilling myself in those areas so if I ever was called upon I know I can do what is asked of me. That's all I can do. 'I'm not going to lie to you and sit here and say that being left out of the matchday 23 wasn't hard but what happened is that even though I wasn't in the matchday 23, I still travelled with the squad, I was still a massive part of it. I felt so much value in that.' Nonetheless, being left out for the France game at Twickenham – when England squeaked to a 43-42 victory to seal their grand slam in April – stung. 'It's always tough not to be selected for the France game,' Packer says. 'Playing at Allianz Stadium is everything. Two years ago when I captained my country to a world-record crowd and my son was mascot, that is one moment I bottle up and it means everything. 'But at the start of the game week [in 2025] Mitch says: 'I want you in the coaching box with us.' The value of learning what it's like to be up there, what he is thinking, what he is seeing, the plans. You're in the know, you're trusted. That does mean a lot. 'He'll say it; it's one man's decision and it's tough. But he genuinely cares and I know he does and I genuinely care about him and this squad as well.' Mitchell was full of praise for Packer at the World Cup squad announcement and it is clear she remains a key aspect of the Red Roses machine. She is also one of the most experienced in the squad with only Emily Scarratt – who is poised to feature in her fifth tournament – having played in more. But still doubt remained in her mind over her own selection. 'Oh yeah,' Packer responds when asked if there were any worries around her selection. '100%, of course. Any athlete would tell you that in any sport. If you get comfortable being where you are then it's going to get taken from underneath you. 'You get swamped down with things but you have to keep pushing yourself to be the best of the best. We ain't got time for people to be complacent in their role and in their job. We need to keep elevating each other and being the best of the best because that is the difference between winning and losing a World Cup. 'I put myself in the best possible step to go to this World Cup. I came into pre-season, I felt fit, strong, and good. Sign up to The Breakdown The latest rugby union news and analysis, plus all the week's action reviewed after newsletter promotion 'I am actually really happy … with Mitch's communication with me about where I am going, what his thinking was and what his decisions were looking like over the warm-up games and pool games. For me I know where I'm at, head down, keep going, keep working hard and keep elevating everyone around me.' The warm-ups have not gone completely to plan, though, with Packer being sent off against Spain on 2 August, risking a suspension that would see her ruled out of the tournament. A disciplinary panel, however, handed her only a one-game ban, putting her out of the warm-up against France, but leaving her free to play at the World Cup. This may be Packer's fourth World Cup but it is her first at home, something she describes as the 'icing on the cake' with the cherry coming if the team wins the trophy. The tournament has already broken records, selling the most tickets of any Women's Rugby World Cup with 350,000 sold so far. The final at Twickenham is expected to be sold out which would set a new milestone for the highest-attended women's rugby game. The Red Roses have the opportunity to do something special by winning the trophy at home but they have fallen at the last hurdle in the previous two tournaments, losing both finals to New Zealand. The talk around that will inevitably grow the further England go in the competition but it is apparently not a focus in the Red Roses camp. Packer says: 'That was three years ago and the one before that was eight years ago, there is no point living in the past. This is a whole new group of players. This is a whole new coaching staff apart from Deacs [forwards coach Louis Deacon]. You have to be in the here and now. 'The media can say and do whatever they want. Some players are going to read into it, some won't but it's what we know within. That's all that matters. 'We know we are going to be under scrutiny, we are the Red Roses. We have been a professional team for a lot longer than a lot of these other nations. We are the team that is ranked No 1 in the world with the highest-ever ranking that has ever been in rugby – not just women's rugby. We are an outfit that can be scrutinised but what we know is we have got to keep living in the moment and enjoying it.' For Packer, past World Cups are chapters already written. Now, with doubts behind her and selection secured, her eyes are on the story England aim to write in this one.
Reuters
20 minutes ago
- Reuters
Tottenham need to use 'exceptional' Richarlison smartly, says Frank
Aug 17 (Reuters) - Richarlison demonstrated how crucial he is to Tottenham Hotspur with a sublime brace in their 3-0 Premier League win over Burnley, with manager Thomas Frank saying it was vital to manage the Brazilian smartly to continue getting the best out of him. The forward struck in the 10th minute, converting a cross from Mohammed Kudus, before the pair combined again on the hour mark for a spectacular second goal, as Richarlison showcased his aerial prowess with an acrobatic effort. "To have a striker who takes those two chances helps us to win the game. He deserves a lot of praise... Today, he was exceptional," Frank told reporters. "His work rate, driving the team, link-up play, hold-up play, just dominating. And then the two finishes. I'm so happy for him. Again, the performance department and medical department have done a top job to build him up... "I'm a little bit disappointed that it's so early that we've had the goal of the season, but it must be a contender!" In just one match, Richarlison has netted half as many league goals as he managed in the 2024-25 season, when he made only 15 league appearances and spent extended spells on the sidelines due to calf and hamstring injuries. "I think it's fair to say that he hasn't played every game in the last three or four seasons because of injuries, so I think we need to be smart with him," said Frank, who was appointed Tottenham manager in June. "What is the right answer to that? I don't know. That can be getting out earlier, that can be coming from the bench, that can be various ways, that can be playing five games in a row. "We need to get to know him as well. That's the next thing. I don't know him." Tottenham next travel to Manchester City for a league clash on August 23.
Telegraph
20 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Why it is now or never for Mikel Arteta
When Jurrien Timber joined Arsenal two years ago he was given a tour of the training ground by the club's then sporting director Edu Gaspar. Edu pointed to a silhouetted cut-out of the Premier League trophy on one wall. 'Here, we leave the trophy dark like this, but under there, there is a way to make that shiny. We will make that shiny [when we win the Premier League],' a grinning Edu told the Dutch defender. It is the kind of gimmick – Mikel Arteta with his lightbulb; the manager playing You'll Never Walk Alone to the players before a game at Anfield – that has led to ridicule. But the fact is that this season, the light has to come on. There is only so long a process can be trusted. It is now or never for Arteta. Vamos or vamoose. This is the campaign in which he must deliver. Otherwise we will be talking about his achievements at Arsenal in the past tense. And delivering means winning a trophy – and that means not just the FA Cup or League Cup, but a Premier League title, for the first time in what would be 23 years, or the Champions League. A big prize for a big club who have shown admirable degrees of patience and backed the manager. No longer can 'Silent Stan' Kroenke be accused of not spending. If Arteta does not win silverware, what is the point of the Spaniard carrying on as Arsenal manager? If that feels like a harsh judgment, then the reality is that even if Arteta leaves at the end of this season, he will have done a fine job; his first job, it should be remembered, as a manager. But maybe the 43-year-old just cannot take that final step. Not with Arsenal. It happens sometimes. Some managers are builders. Others are finishers. Arteta may prove to be the former and it might take his successor to get Arsenal over the line. Arteta is about to begin his seventh season in charge of Arsenal and, among his Premier League peers, only Pep Guardiola, who set him off on the managerial route by appointing him his assistant at Manchester City, has served longer. Arteta has won one major trophy – those two Community Shields do not count whatever Guardiola and, before him, Jose Mourinho argue – and that was within months of taking over and with Unai Emery's team. So, let us provide a little context. Since Arteta won the Covid-delayed FA Cup final in August 2020, City have won four Premier League titles, the Champions League, the FA Cup, the League Cup, the Club World Cup and the Uefa Super Cup. Liverpool have won the Premier League, the FA Cup and two League Cups. Chelsea have won the Champions League, two Club World Cups and the Uefa Super Cup. Even the basket case of Manchester United have won the FA Cup and League Cup, and Tottenham Hotspur have the Europa League. That is a lot of silverware going elsewhere and, while Arteta had a huge rebuild to do at Arsenal and it was always going to take time to catch City, he has followed two second-placed finishes in the league by being caught out when they faltered. It had to be Arsenal's title to win last season. They needed to be ready and ruthless to exploit City's fall-off. Instead they allowed themselves to be overtaken by Liverpool and finished even further behind them than they had City (10 points as opposed to just two and five). And that was in Arne Slot's first season. Second (an excellent finish), second (again impressive)… and then second again (not so great). It is hardly a case of diminishing returns – but it is not progress to be usurped by a team you finished seven points ahead of in the previous season. That is a 17-point swing. And Liverpool did not spend. So that has added even more pressure on Arteta. Which brings us on to another table doing the rounds. Again, it does not reflect well on Arteta as Transfermarkt compiled a chart that showed he had spent more than any other manager in Europe since last winning a trophy. That total was put at £672m. And it is not as if Arteta is only just ahead. The next highest is Emery – first with Villarreal and then Aston Villa – with £371m and who Arteta replaced at Arsenal, of course. With this summer's expenditure factored in – and the window not yet closed – the spending under Arteta at Arsenal has totalled £860m. In terms of value, it has not been money wasted. Arsenal have recruited well. It is a good squad, Transfermarkt also assessing that they have the most valuable starting XI in the Premier League. That now needs to show a return. Worryingly, Arteta has been coming up with ever more elaborate and – at times – unsubstantiated claims as to why Arsenal have fallen short. They have included stating he was told by Paris St-Germain staff that Arsenal were better than them in the Champions League semi-final. That raised more than a few eyebrows. Then at his press conference on Friday, ahead of the first league game away to Manchester United, Arteta said: 'For three seasons we've had more points than any other team in this league, which is incredible.' More points but no prizes. Arteta is acutely aware of the need to win with Arsenal's recent signings – not just in this window – reflecting the fact that he has preferred players who are ready to go now. It is not about potential, which is why 26-year-old Martín Zubimendi and, most notably, Viktor Gyokeres, who is 27, have been signed. Even buying Gyokeres, a deal pushed by the new sporting director Andrea Berta, over Benjamin Sesko – five years the Swede's junior – shows we are dealing in the here and now. Berta's arrival is another factor. The Italian plays his cards close to his chest but he knows what he wants. He also has no allegiance or history with Arteta. He can make a more calculated assessment as to how the manager is performing. And whether he can deliver. On Friday, Arteta declared: 'You keep digging, digging, digging and you have to be digging because one day the gold is going to be there.' It is a good quote. An optimistic quote. But this has to be the season when that light is turned on at the training ground. Or it will feel his chance has passed.
