Lamine Yamal scored once and set up two goals as FC Barcelona beat RCD Espanyol 4-1 Saturday to take a major step toward defending their La Liga title.

Ferran Torres netted twice, with Yamal and Marcus Rashford finding the net late on as the Catalans moved nine points clear of second-placed rivals Real Madrid.

Real drew 1-1 against Girona Friday and with seven games remaining, one of which is a Clasico at Camp Nou in May, Hansi Flick’s side have a commanding lead.

Barca face Atletico Madrid Tuesday in the Champions League quarterfinals, aiming to fight back from a 2-0 first-leg defeat, but the coach still picked a strong side against Espanyol.

Midfielder Pedri Gonzalez and 18-year-old winger Yamal played the full match as Flick tried not to let the second leg disrupt the team’s league campaign.

Flick said he would not accept his team slacking off despite their strong position.

“Every game has to start with the right attitude and right mentality, with only quality you will win nothing,” said the German coach.

“I’m positive we can win La Liga, but it’s not done.”

After a strong start to the season, Espanyol were beaten at home by Barca in the first game of 2026 and have failed to win a match since.

They offered little resistance as Flick’s side cruised into a two-goal lead.

Yamal created both goals for Torres, whipping in a corner which the Spain international nodded home for his first goal since January.

Although some wondered whether Flick would rest Yamal for Tuesday’s visit to Atletico, the teenager is always keen to play, and Barca fans adore watching him.

Yamal’s assist for the second was sumptuous, playing Torres through with the outside of his boot and the striker’s shot trickled past Marko Dmitrovic and into the net.

“You always hear noise around you, more for the bad things than for the good… I am always focused on myself, on improving,” Torres told DAZN.

Espanyol came close when Tyrhys Dolan’s chipped effort clipped the top of the crossbar but they were mainly pinned back in their own territory.

Yamal curled a free-kick narrowly over the crossbar and Dmitrovic made a good double save to keep Fermin Lopez and Eric Garcia at bay.

‘Small errors killed us’

Barcelona thought they had extended their lead early in the second half when Torres stabbed home Garcia’s goal-bound header, but it was ruled out for a tight offside against the defender.

Espanyol pulled one back through Pol Lozano immediately afterwards with a rasping effort after Barca struggled to clear the ball.

“Small errors killed us a bit. We have to be proud of the work we did,” said Lozano after the game.

“We’re getting better and sooner rather than later, the victory will come.”

Substitute Rashford could have got a third for Barca, but the England international seemed to lack confidence as he delayed his shot before firing straight at Dmitrovic.

The winger missed several chances against Atletico in the first leg of the Champions League tie, but by the end, he found the net and will look to make further amends at the Metropolitano.

Yamal notched the third in the 87th minute by charging down a loose ball, which rebounded beyond Dmitrovic, leaving him with a tap-in.

Two minutes later, Rashford hooked home the fourth with a volley from Frenkie de Jong’s cross, the Dutch midfielder making his first appearance since suffering a hamstring injury in February as a substitute.

Barca fans stayed in the stadium after the final whistle to celebrate with their team and try to inspire them ahead of the visit to face Atletico.

Coach Diego Simeone rotated heavily for his team’s visit to face Sevilla to keep players fresh and Atletico, fourth, fell to a 2-1 defeat.

Akor Adams sent the hosts ahead from the penalty spot and after 20-year-old Atletico reserve defender Javier Bonar levelled, Nemanja Gudelj struck again for Sevilla before the interval.

Atletico have a wide 12-point cushion on Real Betis, fifth, who visit Osasuna on Sunday.

The victory was important for Sevilla, with the Andalusians climbing out of the relegation zone and up to 15th.

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Arsenal suffered a blow to their Premier League title hopes with a 2-1 home defeat to AFC Bournemouth, while Liverpool FC boosted their push for a UEFA Champions League spot with a 2-0 win over Fulham FC Saturday.

In the battle of unlikely top-five contenders, Brentford and Everton battled out a 2-2 draw.

Alex Scott’s winner for Bournemouth ⁠at The Emirates threw the title race wide open as ⁠leaders Arsenal labored to a first league defeat in nine games.

The London club remain on 70 points, nine clear of second-placed Manchester City, but Pep Guardiola’s side have two games in hand starting with Sunday’s trip to Chelsea and host Arsenal next weekend. ​Bournemouth are up to 10th on 45 points.

“Extremely disappointing. It’s a big punch in the face,” Arsenal ​manager ⁠Mikel Arteta said. “We were very far from the level that we’re expecting, that’s for sure.”

In their first Premier League match for almost a month, Arsenal could have built a 12-point cushion with six games left to play, but could have few complaints as Bournemouth emerged with a deserved three points to boost their European hopes.

Bournemouth took the lead when 19-year-old Eli Junior Kroupi turned in a deflected cross at the far post in the 17th minute.

The French youngster has now scored 10 times in the top flight this season – the first teenager to reach that mark in his debut campaign in the Premier League since Robbie Keane for Coventry City in the 1999-2000 season.

Arsenal struggled to respond but got a helping hand when Bournemouth’s Ryan Christie was adjudged to have blocked a shot with his arm, allowing Viktor Gyokeres to equalise from the spot in the 35th – his 11th goal in all competitions this year.

The anxious hosts huffed and puffed in search of a winner and Gyokeres had a goal ⁠disallowed, ⁠but it was Bournemouth who struck again as Scott was played in by Evanilson and finished calmly past David Raya in the 74th minute.

Battle for UCL spots

With UEFA confirming that the Top 5 clubs in the Premier League will all qualify for next season’s Champions League, the battle to join Europe’s elite is set for an intriguing finale.

Liverpool remain fifth on 52 points, four ahead of Chelsea, with a victory that featured teenaged winger Rio Ngumoha becoming the club’s youngest player to score a Premier League goal at Anfield.

The 17-year-old – already the team’s youngest scorer thanks to his goal at Newcastle United in August when he was 16 – etched his name alongside another record when he unleashed a rocket into the far corner in the 36th minute.

Mohamed Salah doubled the lead with a first-time finish into the far ⁠corner after 40 minutes. The 33-year-old, who is leaving at the end of the season after nine remarkable years, tapped a hand to his Liverpool shirt crest and gave a wave to the crowd.

“It’s a better place than it was two or three days ago or a week ago,” said Liverpool boss Arne Slot as his side ended ​a run of three straight losses in all competitions. “But it’s also not that after we win, all of a sudden everything is good again.”

“I ​was really happy with a clean sheet. That’s what you need in almost every game,” he told Sky Sports

Fulham are 11th on 44 points.

Thiago scores again

Brentford were tipped as relegation contenders at the start of the season after losing some of their top ⁠players and seeing manager ‌Thomas Frank depart ‌to Tottenham Hotspur.

But under Keith Andrews they have prospered and are putting pressure on the likes of ⁠Chelsea and Liverpool.

They will be kicking themselves though after twice leading against Everton but ‌only taking a point.

Igor Thiago’s double took his top-flight tally this season to 21, making him the highest-scoring Brentford player in a single Premier League campaign, overtaking Bryan Mbeumo and Ivan ​Toney, who both hit 20.

But Everton’s Beto cancelled ⁠out Thiago’s opener and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall scored a stoppage-time equaliser for the visitors.

The result left Brentford and Everton ⁠in seventh and eighth spots respectively with both on 47 points from 32 games.

Brighton & Hove Albion kept their own European ambitions alive as they ⁠beat Burnley 2-0 with a double ​from Mats Wieffer at Turf Moor, which moved his side to ninth on 46 points.

It was a third successive league win for Brighton while second-from-bottom Burnley look almost certain to be relegated as they are 12 points off the safety zone with six games left.

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The Justice Department is investigating the NFL for potential anticompetitive practices, according to a government official.

The official, who was not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation by name and spoke on condition of anonymity Thursday, said the investigation is “about affordability for consumers and creating an even playing field for providers.”

The investigation was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

The NFL has not received a notification that the league is being investigated, according to two other people with knowledge of the situation. Those people spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak on possible legal matters.

The investigation comes amid increasing federal scrutiny of the amount of money fans are paying to watch sports on television. The Federal Communications Commission, for example, is seeking public comments on the ongoing shift of live sports from broadcast channels to streaming services.

The NFL said in a statement Thursday that over 87% of its games are available on broadcast television, including all that are played in a team’s local market.

“The NFL’s media distribution model is the most fan and broadcaster-friendly in the entire sports and entertainment industry. The 2025 season was our most viewed since 1989 and reflects the strength of the NFL distribution model and its wide availability to all fans,” the league said in its statement.

Utah Sen. Mike Lee, chair of the Senate judiciary subcommittee on antitrust, competition policy, and consumer rights, wrote a letter to the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission on March 3 urging them to review whether the NFL’s distribution methods are in line with the Sports Broadcasting Act, which grants limited antitrust immunity to allow teams to collectively license game broadcasts to national networks.

“The modern distribution environment differs substantially from the conditions that precipitated this exemption. Instead of a small number of free broadcast networks, the NFL now licenses games simultaneously to subscription streaming platforms, premium cable networks, and technology companies operating under different business models,” the Republican senator wrote. “To the extent collectively licensed game packages are placed behind subscription paywalls, these arrangements may no longer align with the statutory concept of sponsored telecasting or the consumer-access rationale underlying the antitrust exemption.”

Lee said in his letter that football fans spent almost $1,000 on cable and streaming subscriptions. Forbes estimated the cost of watching every NFL game via streaming last season at $765.

The NFL aired games last season on CBS, NBC, ABC/ESPN/ESPN+, Fox, NFL Network, Amazon Prime Video, Netflix and YouTube TV.

The league averages nearly $11 billion per season in revenue from its media deals. That could increase since the sale of Paramount to Skydance Media allows the league to renegotiate its deal with CBS.

The rights deals go through 2033 with most outlets and 2034 with ESPN. The league has an opt-out clause after the 2029 season, which it is likely to exercise since 83 of the top 100 broadcasts last year were NFL games, according to Nielsen.

The Sports Broadcasting Act exemption passed in 1961 applies only to broadcast television. Courts have ruled in the past that it does not apply to other media, including cable, satellite and streaming.

The law includes a rule allowing blackouts of local games, which still applies to out-of-market packages sold by the league. The NFL ended local TV blackouts, which applied to games within 75 miles of a team’s market if they did not sell out 72 hours before kickoff, after the 2014 season.

Last year, the House Judiciary Committee requested briefings from the NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB on whether antitrust exemptions should still be granted for coordinating their broadcast television rights.

All four of the major North American professional sports leagues have deals with streaming platforms.

In 2024, a jury in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles ruled the NFL violated antitrust laws in distributing out-of-market Sunday afternoon games on a premium subscription service and awarded $4.7 billion in damages.

A federal judge overturned the verdict in the class-action lawsuit because the testimony of two witnesses for the subscribers had flawed methodologies and should have been excluded.

The lawsuit covered 2.4 million residential subscribers and 48,000 businesses in the United States who paid for the “Sunday Ticket” package on DirecTV of out-of-market games from the 2011 through 2022 seasons.

Because damages can be tripled under federal antitrust laws, the NFL could have been liable for $14,121,779,833.92.

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The World Cup has always been more than the matches on the pitch. For a brief, electrifying moment every four years, it extends into the streets, bars, and living rooms of millions of fans worldwide. And for a long stretch, from 1998 through 2010, that heartbeat came in the form of music.

The songs weren’t just background noise as they carried motivational fire, capable of uniting entire nations and turning casual spectators into believers.

Ricky Martin’s “The Cup of Life” in 1998 was the spark that changed everything.

The horn-driven salsa, the chantable “¡Ale, ale, ale!”, the relentless energy, it bypassed language barriers and demanded participation.

My friend, who watched his first World Cup in 1998, always says it felt like every stadium and every living room with a TV was beating to the same unstoppable rhythm.

It wasn’t merely a hit song; it was the tournament itself distilled into four minutes of explosive Latin fire.

Suddenly, the World Cup had a voice, a pulse, and a personality that echoed far beyond the Stade de France.

The golden era of World Cup music continued into the early 2000s, each official track carrying its own energy and flair. Anastacia’s “Boom” in 2002 delivered dance-pop adrenaline, while Il Divo and Toni Braxton’s 2006 ballad “The Time of Our Lives” added cinematic drama without losing its motivational core.

These songs shared a crucial DNA: they were alive. They were tied to place, time, and the communal joy of sport.

Then came 2010 in South Africa.

This one hits especially close to home, as Africans, it felt like the world was in our hands, with every street from Cape Town to Cairo alive with the roar of vuvuzelas.

The undeniable peak of World Cup anthems accompanied the traditional instrument.

Shakira’s “Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)” fused Afro-pop rhythms, South African instrumentation, and a chorus designed for stadium-wide sing-alongs.

K’naan’s “Wavin’ Flag” became a companion piece, a deeply personal anthem transformed into a celebration of resilience and triumph.

For the first time, the tournament felt truly global, yet rooted in the spirit of its host continent.

Fans across Africa and the world debated which track carried more weight: Waka Waka’s infectious party energy or Wavin’ Flag’s emotional depth.

Together, they created a sonic moment that remains unmatched, a reminder of what happens when music and sport converge perfectly.

Even controversies, like the plagiarism of Cameroon’s “Zangalewa” by Shakira, couldn’t diminish the impact.

These songs didn’t just play during matches; they defined them. They moved crowds, motivated players, and turned the World Cup into a festival that transcended sport.

After 2010, the magic began to fade. By the 2014 Brazil World Cup, the anthem formula had shifted.

Pitbull, Jennifer Lopez, and Claudia Leitte’s “We Are One (Ole Ola)” carried star power and carnival energy, but it felt manufactured.

It was polished, professional, and commercially successful, but it lacked the heartbeat of previous anthems.

Four years later, “Live It Up” in Russia, with Nicky Jam, Will Smith, and Era Istrefi, felt even more engineered for mass appeal, a boring song built to hit streaming charts rather than to unite fans in stadiums.

By Qatar 2022, FIFA abandoned the single-track model entirely, splintering its soundtrack across multiple artists and genres.

The result was the safe Dreamers by BTS’ Jung Kook, forgettable music that rarely inspired a crowd to sing in unison or move with genuine energy.

The first preview for 2026, “Lighter” by Jelly Roll and Carin Leon, has already sparked criticism online.

Too country, too slow, too disconnected from the global pulse of football, it signals a continued departure from the era when World Cup songs felt like an event in themselves.

The stadium-shoutable chorus, the infectious beat, the cultural authenticity all seem absent.

In their place are tracks designed for streaming algorithms and cross-market appeal, losing the grit, the soul, and the communal energy that once made the World Cup soundtrack a global event in its own right.

The decline is not accidental. It is a product of three converging forces.

First, commercial pressures turned the anthem into a multi-track, multi-market production, diluting focus and emotional impact.

Second, safety and formula replaced risk and cultural authenticity. Producers optimized for global streaming trends rather than creating music grounded in the host nation’s rhythms and identity.

And third, the modern digital era, dominated by TikTok snippets and short-form virality, undermines the long-form build-up that makes a song a communal, stadium-filling experience.

A track can be a social media hit, but it cannot be chanted by 80,000 fans in unison if it was designed for a 15-second clip.

And so, the motivational fire of World Cup songs, once capable of turning ordinary fans into believers, has dwindled.

Today’s tracks play and fade, rarely leaving a lasting imprint. The memories of Ricky Martin’s La Copa de la Vida, Shakira’s Waka Waka, and K’naan’s Wavin’ Flag endure precisely because they carried emotional weight, cultural grounding, and raw energy.

They remind us that the right song can transform a tournament into an unforgettable moment in history.

Tyson Fury is back in the ring and already looking ahead, with the long-delayed all-British showdown against Anthony Joshua once again taking center stage.

Fury returns from yet another retirement on Saturday at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, where he faces dangerous puncher Arslanbek Makhmudov in his first fight since a December 2024 defeat to Oleksandr Usyk. But even before the opening bell, the 37-year-old is plotting his next move.

If he gets through the weekend, Fury wants Anthony Joshua next, no more delays, no more detours.

“I’ve got Makhmudov to think about, but all going well, Joshua is the fight I want next,” Fury said. “Let’s do it straight away.”

The fight has hovered over British boxing for more than a decade, repeatedly collapsing at the final hurdle. Now, with both men in the twilight of their careers, Fury is urging urgency, wary of how quickly fortunes can shift in the heavyweight division.

“This fight was supposed to happen so many times,” he said. “One more fight in between, someone gets knocked out or injured, and it’s gone again. In this division, nothing is guaranteed.”

Joshua, 36, has rebuilt momentum after stopping Jake Paul with a brutal sixth-round knockout in December. Days later, however, his career was overshadowed by tragedy, surviving a car accident in Nigeria that killed two close friends. He has since returned to training, signaling a renewed push toward the sport’s biggest fights.

Fury is not interested in alternatives. Not even a resurgent Deontay Wilder, who edged Derek Chisora in a split decision last weekend, has caught his attention.

“I’ve never seen two men slide as much,” Fury said of that bout. “Forget Wilder. I want Joshua.”

It is a rivalry that has simmered for years, fueled by near-misses and shifting circumstances. Fury insists the timing must finally align.

“I’ve been out of the ring 16 months,” he said. “Let’s do it. Let’s dance.”

Even the noise outside the ropes has done little to distract him. Whether Joshua attends Saturday’s fight remains uncertain. Fury’s father, John Fury, may also be absent after publicly urging his son to retire, claiming the former champion is past his peak.

Fury shrugs it off.

“I’ve got business to take care of,” he said. “Who’s in the crowd doesn’t matter.”

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Oscar Piastri, aware of how quickly dominance can vanish in Formula One, is approaching his unexpected early-season break with cautious optimism that McLaren can challenge Mercedes once racing resumes.

The Australian endured a disastrous start, crashing en route to the grid at his home Grand Prix in Melbourne and then failing to start in China because of an electrical fault in his car.

Round three in Japan, however, offered a reminder of his talent, as Piastri finished second behind Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli, echoing the form that left him 34 points clear in last season’s title race after 15 rounds.

With the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix postponed amid the Middle East crisis, Formula One now faces nearly a month off before action returns in Miami in early May.

Piastri, who turned 25 on Monday, views the pause in the season as an opportunity for McLaren to work on closing the gap with Mercedes, which has won all three grands prix and the China sprint so far this year.

“Obviously the off-season this year was very short, so it’s a nice little window for everyone to get some good training in,” he said in a video posted on social media this week.

“Just some more time to prepare, basically. I think we’ve learned a lot in the first few races and still have plenty more to learn. It just gives us more time to analyze stuff, sit down, digest it and try to come back stronger for Miami.”

Humbling Experience

Piastri, in his third season in Formula One, was named Wednesday as Australia’s top-earning sportsperson by the Sydney Morning Herald, with an estimated income of A$57 million to A$59 million ($40.31 million to $41.72 million).

His marketability soared last year when he won seven of the first 15 races in the then-dominant McLaren, threatening to end Australia’s 46-year wait for a world champion.

In the end, the wins stopped, and his teammate Lando Norris took the crown, with Max Verstappen’s late-season surge for Red Bull relegating Piastri to third in the final standings.

It was a humbling experience for Piastri but one he has clearly learned from as McLaren aims to close the performance gap Mercedes has opened under the new regulations this season.

“We know from last year that even when you have the best car, you still need to operate it at an incredibly high level,” he said after holding off Mercedes’ George Russell at times during his run to the Suzuka podium.

“I think it’s interesting to see that when someone else has the fastest car, it’s not that straightforward. The fact that I could keep George behind for so long was really encouraging, but we’re under no illusion.

“We did everything right this weekend and still got beaten by 15 seconds, so we have a pretty big gap to fill. I’m confident we can get there, but yes, we still have some work to do.”

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