Sports, in brief

Como beat Manchester United 4-1 in the Champions League on Wednesday night, in only Como's third game in the competition. [1][2]

Nico Paz, Como's Argentine forward, scored after less than two minutes, then scored again and set up another goal. [3][1]

United have won two of their 11 games this season and are 13th in the Premier League. [2]

Bruno Fernandes, United's captain, told TNT Sports it was 'a decision from the staff' not to press Como's players man-to-man. [4][5]

Michael Carrick, the manager, replied that United did press man-to-man after half-time and conceded a goal doing it. [6] He added that a team whose players do not run will not win, whatever the tactics. [7]

Carrick apologised to the 700 United fans who travelled and walked past his own players. [2] Ole Gunnar Solskjaer made the same gesture after a 4-1 defeat at Watford in 2021, and was sacked 24 hours later. [4]

Carrick's future is expected to be discussed by three men: Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the co-owner who controls United's sporting policy, Omar Berrada, the chief executive, and Jason Wilcox, the director of football. [2]

Carrick signed a two-year contract in May, after leading United to third place in the Premier League. [6]

If he goes, he would be United's third manager changed in the middle of a season in three years, after Erik ten Hag and Ruben Amorim. [8]

A week earlier a United defender, Lisandro Martinez, publicly criticised the summer signings made under Wilcox. [8][9]

Before kick-off Como's players had played 62 Champions League games between them, and United's had played 242. [10]

It was the first time United had conceded four goals in a European match in 33 years. [1]

Why it matters. The next test is whether Ratcliffe, Berrada and Wilcox keep Carrick in charge for Sunday's home game against Bournemouth. [2][11]

China won the women's team final at the world gymnastics championships in Rotterdam on Wednesday, with 165.764 points to the United States' 165.531. [22] It ended a run of seven US world team titles in a row that began in 2011. [22] China went ahead on the balance beam, where Zhang Qingying scored 15.066, the highest mark by anyone on any apparatus. [22] It is China's first world team title since 2006. [23] Japan took bronze, their first world team medal since 1966. [23]

Why it matters. The top three teams also won places for full teams at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. [24] The US men finished sixth in their own team final on Tuesday, their worst result since 2006. [25]

Arsenal drew 2-2 at Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Wednesday, and Declan Rice scored their equaliser in the 82nd minute. [26] Bukayo Saka, Arsenal's winger, went off in the 10th minute with an injury to the big muscle at the front of his thigh. [16] Mikel Arteta, Arsenal's manager, said it did not 'look good at all'. [26] Saka missed seven Arsenal games last season with an Achilles injury. [16] Harry Kane set up one Bayern goal and scored the other from a penalty. [27]

Why it matters. Arteta said a game played man-to-man for 96 minutes leaves players no time to breathe, and pointed to the injuries in Paris the night before. [26] Saka played 49 games as Arsenal won the Premier League last season. [16]

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Paris Saint-Germain's Georgian winger, ruptured a cruciate ligament, one of the bands that hold the knee together, in Tuesday's 4-2 win over Barcelona. [17] He will need surgery, and ESPN reports he is out for the rest of the season. [17][28] Ousmane Dembele and Marquinhos, two more PSG regulars, also went off injured in the same game. [28] Kvaratskhelia helped PSG win the last two Champions League titles. [17]

Why it matters. PSG are trying to win a third Champions League in a row and lost three starters in one night. [28] Kvaratskhelia was also one of the contenders for the Ballon d'Or, which is awarded on Monday. [17]

Harry Kane, Bayern Munich's English striker, is the bookmakers' favourite for the Ballon d'Or, the yearly award for the world's best footballer. [29] The winner is named at the London Palladium on Monday night. [29] Kane scored 61 goals for Bayern last season and 12 for England. [29] Against Arsenal he even took one of Bayern's goal-kicks himself and sent an 80-yard pass that nearly made a goal. [30]

Why it matters. Kane said the wait is 'very stressful' for his family, but understands that the organisers keep the result secret so that all the big names attend. [29] Lamine Yamal of Barcelona and Kylian Mbappe of Real Madrid are next in the betting. [29]

Real Madrid beat RB Leipzig 4-1 on Wednesday for their third Champions League win in three games. [31] Kylian Mbappe scored again and has 12 goals in 12 games this season. [31] Aston Villa beat Viking of Norway 3-1. [32] Lask, the Austrian champions, came from behind to win at Sporting in Lisbon, their first win of this season's competition. [31] The week's 18 games produced 74 goals, 4.1 a game. [28]

Why it matters. Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid, Liverpool, Real Betis and Villa have all won three out of three. [28] Mbappe said every point matters in the race for a place in the top eight. [31]

Hal Steinbrenner, who controls the New York Yankees, said on Wednesday that a $2.6bn deal with Apollo, a private equity firm, is not a step towards selling the club. [14] A league source told The Athletic that Apollo gets 8% now and 16% within four years. [14] Steinbrenner said Apollo has 'zero' say in running the team. [14] Baseball's rules were changed this year to let such firms own up to 20% of a club. [14] Brian Cashman also agreed a new contract as general manager, a job he has held since 1998. [13]

Why it matters. Steinbrenner said the money gives the family stability into its third generation. [14] He blamed the players for losing in the playoffs to the Tampa Bay Rays, a club with a lower payroll than the Yankees' $341.9m. [13]

AFC Wimbledon is owned by its fans through the Dons Trust, which has 6,265 members, and they will vote over four weeks on an £87m investment. [15] Sloane Street Capital, a new firm funded by a technology adviser called Omar Mir, would pay £16m now for about 34% of the shares. [33][15] It would add £71m over five seasons and end up with 90% of the club's economic value, meaning its share of the money. [15] The trust would always keep at least 50.01% of the votes. [15] Ryan Bertrand, a former England defender, would advise on football. [33]

Why it matters. Fans founded the club in 2002 after the old Wimbledon FC moved 60 miles north and became MK Dons. [15] The deal would keep the fans' veto over the club and its stadium while someone else pays for its growth. [15]

Maryland fired Mike Locksley, its American football coach, on Wednesday after a 2-5 start and five defeats in a row. [12] It is the first firing of a head coach in college football's top division this season. [12] Maryland owes him nearly $10m, with $4.9m due within 60 days. [12] His contract has no 'offset', so he keeps the money even if he takes another job. [12] He won 39 games and lost 54 in eight seasons. [34]

Why it matters. The university will pay Locksley while it pays whoever replaces him. [12] Last year eight coaches in the top division were fired before 21 October, at a total cost of more than $60m. [12]

Major League Baseball set this winter's 'qualifying offer' at $23.15m, up 5.1% on last year. [35] A club makes the offer to its own player when he is about to become a free agent. [36] The figure is the average of the 125 biggest contracts in the league. [35] If the player turns it down and signs elsewhere, his old club gets an extra draft pick. [36] Only 18 of 157 offers have ever been accepted. [35]

Why it matters. Offers are due five days after the World Series, while the agreement between owners and players runs out in December. [36] Owners are expected to lock the players out then, and want a salary cap the players' union refuses. [36]

St. Louis City won the US Open Cup on Wednesday, the first trophy in the club's history. [18] They beat the Columbus Crew on penalties after a 0-0 draw. [18] Their backup goalkeeper, Ben Lundt, saved Columbus's first penalty, after the captain, Roman Burki, was stretchered off with a head injury. [18] The Open Cup, first played in 1913-14, is the oldest competition in American soccer. [37] St. Louis joined Major League Soccer only in 2023. [37]

Why it matters. The win puts St. Louis into next year's Concacaf Champions Cup against the best clubs of North and Central America. [38] Clubs from the city won the cup ten times, the last in 1988, and the city had waited 38 years for another. [37]

The Atlanta Dream beat the Golden State Valkyries 97-71 on Wednesday to lead the WNBA Finals 2-1. [39] Angel Reese had 21 points and 12 rebounds. [39] The game was moved to State Farm Arena, home of the NBA's Atlanta Hawks, and the Dream sold out its roughly 17,000 seats. [20][40] Their usual home holds 3,500, the smallest in the league. [20] Game 1 drew 2.1 million viewers on NBC and Peacock, the most ever for a first game of the Finals. [19]

Why it matters. The move gave the Dream about five times as many seats to sell for a home Finals game. [20] Game 4 is in Atlanta on Saturday. [39]

Enes Kanter Freedom, a former NBA player, left Game 3 of the WNBA Finals after refusing to watch from a private suite. [41] The Dream and the arena said he had told the authorities and the league that he feared for his safety. [41] So they moved him from the seats he bought to a guarded suite. [41] Freedom said he was banned from his own seats. [42] In August the Chicago Sky banned him from its home games after a row with one of its players. [41]

Why it matters. The WNBA has no league-wide ban on him, so each arena decides where he can sit. [41] The league's commissioner has told a member of the US Congress that he cannot play in the WNBA because he is a man, after he entered its draft. [41]

Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 35 points on his first game for the Miami Heat, who lost 131-106 at home to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday. [43] He joined Miami in a summer trade with the Milwaukee Bucks. [43] Anthony Edwards scored 45 for Minnesota. [43] Only Wilt Chamberlain and Michael Jordan had also scored 40 points in more than one season opener. [43] Kawhi Leonard, back with the Toronto Raptors, won his first game 135-92 against the Chicago Bulls. [44][45]

Why it matters. Twenty-two of the NBA's 30 teams opened their season on Wednesday, many with stars who moved clubs in the summer. [46][45] Pat Riley, who runs the Heat, has hinted they still want another big player. [45]

Cooper Flagg, 19, scored 32 points for the Dallas Mavericks, the most by a teenager in a season opener in NBA history. [47] Dallas still lost 128-110 to the Houston Rockets. [47] Tyrese Haliburton played his first competitive game for the Indiana Pacers in 486 days. [48] He had 23 points and 12 assists in a 123-120 win at New Orleans. [48]

Why it matters. Haliburton fought back tears and said it 'means a lot to be back out here'. [48] Dallas trailed by as many as 37 points, so Flagg's record came in a heavy defeat. [47]

The Golden State Warriors are exploring trades for one of their players, Kristaps Porzingis, ESPN reported. [49] He has POTS, a condition that makes the heart race on standing up, and is reportedly thinking about his future in basketball. [49] The Warriors said he will not be around the team for now and would not comment on trade talk. [49]

Why it matters. CBS Sports says Golden State want room in their budget to chase a star in 2027. [49] So a club that takes his contract may ask for something extra in return. [49]

Louis Oosthuizen, the 2010 Open champion, has left LIV Golf and plans to return to the DP World Tour, Europe's main men's tour, in 2027. [50] In September LIV filed for Chapter 11 in the US, a kind of bankruptcy that lets a company keep running while it sorts out its debts. [50] It filed after Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund withdrew its backing. [50] Oosthuizen, 44, was captain of LIV's Southern Guards team. [50]

Why it matters. He said the schedule of the rebuilt league, 'LIV 2.0', would be hard to manage, and called leaving probably the hardest decision of his career. [50] The BBC called him the latest high-profile player to quit. [50]

Formula 1 races will go back to a maximum of 305km in 2028, after being cut to 290km for 2027. [51] The cut came because changes to the engines will make cars use more fuel. [51] Some teams want to keep this year's chassis, the car's main frame, to save money, and the fuel tank inside it cannot be made bigger. [51] The FIA, motor sport's governing body, published the rules this week. [51]

Why it matters. The engines' power, now split nearly 50-50 between fuel and electricity, moves to 60-40 by 2028, after complaints that the cars reduced the role of driver skill. [51] Only a few races, where fuel use is heaviest, are affected. [51]

Lancashire will not offer James Anderson, England's all-time leading wicket-taker, a new contract. [52] Anderson is 44 and first played for the county in 2001. [52] He took 50 wickets in the County Championship this year, at 17 runs each, while Lancashire finished second from bottom of the second division. [53] England ended his international career in 2024. [52]

Why it matters. A new chief executive, Richard Kenyon, and director of cricket, Paul Farbrace, are rebuilding the club. [53] Unless another county or an overseas team signs him, his 26-year professional career may be over. [52]

South Africa bowled Australia out for 99 in the second Test in Gqeberha and made them follow on. [54] That means batting again straight away, because they were too far behind. [54] It had not happened to Australia in an away Test since 2005. [54] Rain delayed the final day on Thursday. [55] South Africa then won by an innings and 31 runs, though Travis Head made 121 and Scott Boland batted 166 balls. [76]

Why it matters. The win levels the series at 1-1 before the third Test in Cape Town. [76] A former Australia opener, Simon Katich, said several players are batting for their careers. [54]

Maro Itoje, who has played 102 times for England's rugby team, has agreed a new deal with Saracens, reportedly until 2029. [56] French clubs, including Perpignan and Bordeaux, had been linked with him. [56] His previous deal was due to end after next year's World Cup. [56] Staying in England lets him keep playing for his country. [56]

Why it matters. Brendan Venter, who runs Saracens, said Itoje had agreed terms with the club's owner. [56] Saracens are rebuilding with Venter back in charge for a second time. [56]

An autopsy has found that Hyron Andrews, a 31-year-old South African rugby player, died of natural causes. [57] He was found dead at his team's hotel in France before a Champions Cup match last weekend. [57] He had a tear in the aorta, the artery that carries blood from the heart to the body. [57] Andrews, a former Sale player, joined the Lions of Johannesburg this summer. [57]

Why it matters. A tear like this can come from high blood pressure nobody had found, or a defect from birth. [57] His body has not yet been flown home to South Africa. [57]

Mark Allen, 40, a former snooker world number one from Northern Ireland, said he spent 10 weeks in a mental health clinic before Tuesday's match at the Northern Ireland Open. [58] He left the clinic so he could play, and lost 4-2 to his friend Jordan Brown. [58] It was his first match since April's World Championship semi-final. [58] He plans to continue his treatment. [59]

Why it matters. Allen said World Snooker's chief executive, Simon Brownell, visited him in the clinic. [58] The tour and the sport's governing body said they are supporting him. [59]

The Times, a London newspaper, withdrew its report that FIFA had paid its president, Gianni Infantino, a 'second salary' it had not disclosed. [60] The report was about $1.76m paid by FWC2026, the company FIFA set up to run this summer's World Cup in the US. [60] The paper accepted that Swiss rules do not count expenses as pay in FIFA's annual report. [60] FIFA says it paid Infantino 4.8m Swiss francs, about $5.76m, for 2025. [60]

Why it matters. Infantino faces an election for president next spring. [60] FIFA said there was a 'concerted and ongoing effort' to undermine him. [60]

The family of Bob Huggins, 73, a Hall of Fame college basketball coach, said he has a 'progressive cognitive condition' that is affecting his memory. [61] Huggins won 399 games at Cincinnati and coached West Virginia for 16 seasons. [61] He left West Virginia in 2023 after an arrest for driving under the influence of alcohol. [61] The family spoke as he prepares to join Cincinnati's athletics Hall of Fame this week. [61]

Why it matters. Huggins won 934 games in four decades as a coach. [61] The family had kept the illness private for several months. [61]

The NCAA, which runs US college sport, has asked a federal judge in Ohio to throw out Ezekiel Elliott's lawsuit over money he could not earn as a student. [62] Elliott, a former Ohio State running back, says the NCAA and the Big Ten conference fixed the price of his name and image at zero. [62] Until 2021, college athletes lost the right to play if they were paid for their name, image and likeness. [62] The NCAA says he waited ten years, beyond a four-year time limit. [62]

Why it matters. No former player has yet won a case like this. [62] A win would open the way for thousands of former athletes, and colleges could owe large damages. [62]

Emails obtained by Front Office Sports show who lobbied for the Protect College Sports Act, a US bill to set national rules on paying college athletes. [63] The campaign ran through Saving College Sports, a group set up by Cody Campbell, a gas billionaire and Texas Tech donor. [63] Its messages reached David McIntosh, head of the Club for Growth, a conservative political group, and an executive at DraftKings, a betting company. [63] The group does not publish who funds it. [63]

Why it matters. The bill would also protect the NCAA, conferences and schools from antitrust lawsuits. [63] Critics say it limits what athletes can earn and their right to sue, without giving players a seat in setting the rules. [63]