Wednesday’s briefing: De Bruyne farewell as Man Utd and Spurs prepare for final

ATLANTA: Lionel Messi connected on a free kick in the 54th minute to propel Inter Miami to a 2-1 victory over FC Porto in a Group A match of the FIFA Club World Cup on Thursday afternoon. After Porto struck first on Samu Aghehowa’s penalty kick in the eighth minute, Marcelo Weigandt assisted on Telasco Segovia’s game-tying goal in the 47th. Miami found its second goal in the first 10 minutes of the second half against Porto goalkeeper Claudio Ramos as Messi scored on the 68th free-kick goal of his illustrious career. Each team netted their first goals of the tournament after Miami tied Al Ahly 0-0 on Saturday and Porto suffered the same result against Palmeiras on Sunday. After VAR review confirmation, it was determined that Miami’s Noah Allen committed a tripping penalty in the box against Joao Mario, leading to Aghehowa’s penalty goal that was deflected by goalkeeper Oscar Ustari and in for the game’s first goal in the eighth minute. Aghehowa, 21, had 19 goals in 30 Primeira Liga matches for the Portuguese side this past season. Miami knotted the score at one less than 90 seconds into the second half, as Weigandt’s cross into the center of the box was finished by Segovia, who fired in the equalizing goal past a sprawling Ramos. Miami then continued its great start to the second half, as Porto’s Rodrigo Mora’s foul led to Messi’s successful free kick — perfectly placed in the top right corner in the 54th minute.  

HALLE WESTFALEN, Germany: Defending champion Jannik Sinner lost his second-round match on grass at Halle on Thursday to Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik, the Italian’s first tournament since his French Open final defeat. The world number one fell 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 to the 45th-ranked Bublik for the 23-year-old’s first defeat to a player ranked outside the top 20 since the summer of 2023. A few days before his defeat to Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz in the title match at the French Open, Sinner had easily dispatched Bublik in the quarter-finals at Roland Garros, dropping only six games. On Thursday, ten days before Wimbledon, Bublik claimed his second victory in six ties against Sinner. The Kazakh will play Tomas Machac in the quarter-finals after the Czech beat Hungarian Fabian Marozsan 6-2, 6-3 earlier in the day. Earlier world number three Alexander Zverev rallied from a set down to see off Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego and advance to the quarter-finals on grass in Halle. The 28-year-old German won 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/2) against the 46th-ranked Sonego and next plays another Italian, Flavio Cobolli for a place in the semifinals. A finalist in Halle in 2016 and 2017, Zverev recorded his fifth victory in as many meetings with Sonego, a year after beating him at the same stage of the same competition. Sonego took advantage of his only chance to break in the first set at 4-3.

Trawlerman made every yard of the running in the Gold Cup to go one better than last year for John and Thady Gosden in the Royal Ascot highlight.

Real Madrid star Kylian Mbappe has been discharged from hospital after being admitted with “acute gastroenteritis”.

CHICAGO — From villain to superhero.

The group stage at the Concacaf Gold Cup is well underway, and we'll soon start to find out the first qualifiers for the quarterfinals.

After nearly half a century shaping one of the NBA's most well-known franchises, the Buss family is stepping down as majority owners of the Los Angeles Lakers, marking the end of an era that fused sporting dominance with Hollywood spectacle.

Asosiasi Pesepakbola Profesional atau PFA Inggris merilis daftar 6 kandidat pemain muda terbaik di Liga Inggris 2024/2025. Salah satunya bintang Real Madrid.