Category: Sports

Newcastle‘s match with Sunderland was paused early in the second half because of reports of discriminatory abuse from the crowd towards Sunderland player Lutsharel Geertruida.

Referee Anthony Taylor briefly stopped the Premier League match for three minutes in line with the competition’s on-field anti-discrimination protocol., external

In the 52nd minute, with play already stopped as Newcastle player Sven Botman was receiving treatment, Sunderland captain Granit Xhaka ran over to speak to Taylor.

Moments later Taylor spoke to both sets of coaching staff, Geertruida and Xhaka before restarting the game.

The Premier League has said the incident will be fully investigated.

Newcastle were leading their Tyne-Wear rivals 1-0 at the time, although the match ultimately finished 2-1 to Sunderland thanks to Brian Brobbey’s late winner.

Northern Ireland’s crucial World Cup play-off semi-final against Italy is almost upon us and you can keep up with all the build-up and action from Bergamo across the BBC.

Michael O’Neill’s side are aiming to qualifying for their first World Cup in 40 years but will be underdogs against four-time World Cup winners Italy.

NI will also be without Liverpool’s Conor Bradley, while defender Dan Ballard is also a doubt after picking up a hamstring strain for Sunderland.

If they can be victorious over the home side, then a trip to play either Wales or Bosnia-Herzegovina awaits with the winner of that play-off securing a place in Group B of the World Cup, alongside Canada, Qatar and Switzerland.

You can find everything about the match on this dedicated page as well – but while you are here, here’s a run down of everything to look forward to.

Former Chelsea and Arsenal player Jorginho may be best known as a defensive midfielder – but he has gone viral on social media for his attack on pop singer Chappell Roan, alleging her security guard reduced his 11-year-old daughter to tears.

The 34-year-old Italy international, who has dual Brazilian citizenship and now plays for Flamengo in Rio de Janeiro, claimed in a post on Instagram, external that his family suffered the “very upsetting situation” over breakfast at a hotel in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

The former Premier League midfielder said his daughter was a big Chappell Roan fan and had made a sign to take to the Lollapalooza music festival in Sao Paulo, which the singer was headlining.

He says his daughter recognised the star while eating at a nearby table and walked past her, smiled, then went back to her seat without saying anything or asking anything of the Pink Pony Club singer.

“What happened next was completely disproportionate,” he wrote.

“A large security guard came over to their table while they were still having breakfast and began speaking in an extremely aggressive manner to both my wife [Catherine Harding] and my daughter, saying that she shouldn’t allow my daughter to ‘disrespect’ or ‘harass’ other people.”

He added: “He even said he would file a complaint against them with the hotel, while my 11-year-old daughter was sitting there in tears. My daughter was extremely shaken and cried a lot.”

Chappell Roan has not responded to his claims.

Jorginho said he understood well the pressures of public exposure after playing 57 times for Italy – helping them win the European title in 2021 by beating England at Wembley.

He has also played for elite clubs across Europe and Brazil – winning the Champions League and Europa League with Chelsea and silverware in Italy with Napoli.

But he added: “I understand very well what respect and boundaries are. What happened there was not that. It was just a child admiring someone.

“It’s sad to see this kind of treatment coming from those who should understand the importance of fans. At the end of the day, they are the ones who build all of this.

“I sincerely hope this serves as a moment of reflection. No-one should have to go through this, especially not a child.”

Jorginho finished his impassioned post with a direct message to Chappell Roan, written in capital letters: “WITHOUT YOUR FANS, YOU WOULD BE NOTHING. AND TO THE FANS, SHE DOES NOT DESERVE YOUR AFFECTION.”

The “unexpected beef”, as described by some commentators, led to a flood of responses on social media in support of Jorginho and his family – some serious, some tongue-in-cheek.

Rio de Janeiro’s mayor, Eduardo Cavaliere, wrote that he intended to ban Chappell Roan from performing in his city, adding that Jorginho’s daughter would be invited as a guest of honour to the city’s Todo Mundo music festival in May.

Others cited her previous comments about fans’ “creepy” and “stalker-like-behaviour”, external.

Some also poked fun at the Grammy Award winner for lacking the credentials to play in the Premier League.

Defender Ben Davies says Wales reaching consecutive World Cup finals would “surpass all dreams”.

The 32-year-old will miss the play-off semi-final against Bosnia-Herzegovina on Thursday, 26 March in Cardiiff (19:45 GMT) and any potential final after suffering a broken ankle playing for Tottenham in January.

But having been captain for the majority of the qualifying campaign, Davies believes the opportunity to reach a fourth major finals in the last six would be an incredible achievement.

Read more: Wales ‘cannot afford to lose’ Wilson, says Bellamy

Swiss-born Lehmann, 26, has spoken in the past about how she hopes to use her social media platform to build the profile of women’s football and bring the game to a new audience.

For comparison, England’s Chloe Kelly and Alessia Russo have 1.5 million and 1.1 million Instagram followers respectively, while ex-US star Alex Morgan has 9 million.

Her posts alternate between lifestyle content and her football, catering for a broad and diverse following, but make her a target for those who seek to criticise.

“Sometimes, it’s frustrating,” she tells BBC Sport. “People don’t see the work that I put in. They think I just train and then go home to make TikToks – it’s not true.

“I’m very professional. I always give everything on the pitch and I want to be the best. If I’ve not done my best when I check my data after training, I will do extra rounds to try to improve.

“People can think what they want but everything I do is focused on being the best player I can be.”

Lehmann first moved to the Women’s Super League in 2018, joining West Ham after scoring twice in the 2018 European Under-19 Championship.

Across six years in England, she made 108 appearances, scoring 19 goals and providing 10 assists during spells in east London, Everton and Aston Villa.

After a difficult time in Italy with Juventus and then Como, Lehmann says returning to a country she thinks of as “home” was an obvious decision.

“I signed a long-term deal in Como but after a month I realised I didn’t like it and wanted to return to England,” she explains.

“I love it here, the football is better and England feels like home to me.”

For Northern Ireland, playing in a smaller venue should be beneficial.

In fact, manager Michael O’Neill went as far to say he was “delighted” the game was at the New Balance Arena.

The stadium holds a similar capacity to Northern Ireland’s home ground of Windsor Park, which stands at 18,500 and also generates a passionate and vociferous atmosphere.

O’Neill pointed to the fact that the majority of his players play their club matches in stadiums between “10,000 to 25,000”, either in the Championship or in League One.

“I think we’ll feel very at home in Bergamo and we won’t be intimidated by the atmosphere at all,” he told BBC Radio 5 Live.

“Obviously the Italians and Gennaro Gattusso have their reasons for going there as well, but we’re happy with the choice of venue. If I’m honest, I feel it suits us.”

Manchester City defender Marc Guehi is ineligible to play in Sunday’s Carabao Cup final against Arsenal because he is cup-tied.

The 25-year-old centre-back appeared three times for previous club Crystal Palace earlier in the competition and was signed by City after the semi-final first leg against Newcastle.

Under new rules brought in by the EFL before the 2025-26 season, players had to be registered before the last-four to be able to play in the competition.

Manager Pep Guardiola said that “pure logic” suggests Guehi should be allowed to play at Wembley, but requests for him to feature were not granted.

Antoine Semenyo joined City from Bournemouth in January but was signed in time for the first leg, scoring in the 2-0 victory at St James’ Park.

This article is the latest from BBC Sport’s Ask Me Anything team.

Defeat by Everton means Chelsea have lost three of their past four Premier League matches – as many defeats as in their previous 18 games in the competition.

They have also failed to score in three consecutive matches in all competitions for the first time since September 2023 despite attempting 52 shots (16 on target) across those fixtures.

That profligacy in front of goal has been matched by defensive issues, with Chelsea conceding the opening goal in four consecutive Premier League games for the first time since November 2023.

There is also the well‑publicised statistic that Chelsea have been outrun by every Premier League opponent in every match this season.

“We have played 10 Premier League games in my time here and have 17 points,” Rosenior told Match of the Day.

“We are not in as bad a place as the noise suggests – but we need to come out of it very quickly.”

Indeed, since Rosenior replaced Maresca, Chelsea are fourth in the Premier League form table, winning five of their 10 games.

Only Manchester United, Arsenal and Manchester City have picked up more points in this period.

Wayne Rooney, who had Rosenior as his assistant at Derby County in 2021 and 2022, believes the Chelsea boss is getting unfairly scrutinized.

“I do [think he is harsh criticism]. He has been from the moment he went in,” Rooney told Match of the Day.

“Liam knows he will get judged on results. He started really well, they have hit a bad run of form over the last couple of weeks but he needs to figure out a way to get out of it.

“I know he is a fantastic coach, but it’s going to take time.”