Sports
Osimhen scores two goals to drown Spurs to go top in Europa league
Victor Osimhen scored twice as Galatasaray inflicted a first Europa League defeat of the season on Tottenham to move top of the table with a 3-2 victory in Istanbul on Thursday.
The Turkish champions have 10 points from four games and have all but secured qualification for at least the knock-out play-off round, while Spurs sit in fifth place after losing their 100-percent record.
Galatasaray took an early lead when Yunus Akgun smashed a sensational long-range volley into the top corner in the sixth minute.
But the visitors hit back just 12 minutes later as teenage striker Will Lankshear marked just his second first-team appearance with a goal by tapping in Brennan Johnson’s pass across goal.
Galatasaray took control before half-time, though, as Osimhen scored twice in the space of eight minutes.
The Nigerian star fired them back in front just after the half-hour mark, before cleverly volleying Dries Mertens’ cross past Tottenham goalkeeper Fraser Forster.
Osimhen has now scored six goals in eight appearances for Galatasaray since joining on loan from Napoli.
The home side passed up several opportunities to put the game out of sight for their opponents, but Spurs’ hopes of a comeback were hit when Lankshear was sent off for two yellow-card offences in quick succession in the second half.
Dominic Solanke pulled one back in the 69th minute, shortly after being brought on by Ange Postecoglou, but Galatasaray held on with relative comfort.
Eintracht Frankfurt are second in the standings, behind Galatasaray on goals scored, after Omar Marmoush’s 13th goal of the season clinched a 1-0 win against Slavia Prague.
The Egyptian clipped a superb free-kick in off the crossbar shortly after the break.
Athletic Bilbao are in third, separated from Eintracht also by goals scored, after coming from behind to grab a 2-1 success at Ludogorets.
Inaki Williams and Nico Serrano both scored in a two-minute burst from the Basque club.
Roma’s disappointing form this season continued as Kevin Mac Allister’s goal 13 minutes from time secured Union Saint-Gilloise their second point of the competition with a 1-1 draw in Belgium.
AFP
Sports
Woman wins civil rape case against Conor McGregor
A woman who accused Conor McGregor of raping her has won her claim against him for damages in a civil case.
A jury found that the Irish mixed martial arts fighter assaulted Nikita Hand in a Dublin hotel in December 2018.
He has been ordered to pay her more than €248,000 (£206,000) in damages.
Speaking outside the court on Friday, Ms Hand said her story was “a reminder that no matter how afraid you might be to speak up, you have a voice”.
In a post on X on Friday evening, McGregor said he would appeal against the verdict and he thanked “all my support worldwide”.
“I am with my family now, focused on my future” he added.
Nikita Hand said she was “overwhelmed” by support after taking the case against McGregor
The jury at the High Court in Dublin had been deliberating for a day before returning its verdict that McGregor did assault Ms Hand.
She had also taken a case against another man, James Lawrence, 35, of Rafter’s Road, Drimnagh in Dublin.
She alleged that he assaulted her by having sex with her without her consent in the Beacon Hotel.
The jury found that he did not assault her.
‘Justice will be served’
Ms Hand told reporters said she was “overwhelmed and touched” by the support she had received.
She added: “I want to show [my daughter] Freya and every other young girl and boy that you can stand up for yourself if something happens to you, no matter who the person is, and that justice will be served.”
Both men had denied the claims by the 35-year-old hair colourist and said they separately had consensual sex with Ms Hand at the hotel almost six years ago.
After eight days of evidence and three days listening to closing speeches and the judge’s comments, the jury of eight women and four men spent six hours and 10 minutes deliberating before returning with its verdict.
McGregor shook his head after the jury read out that Ms Hand had won her case against him.
He was accompanied by his partner Dee Devlin, his parents, his sister and his brother-in-law.
He sat in the back row of the court, between his partner and mother Margaret.
Ms Hand cried and was hugged by her partner and supporters.
The jury had previously heard that on the day of the attack Ms Hand and her colleague Danielle Kealy went to the hotel’s penthouse suite with McGregor and Mr Lawrence after their work Christmas party.
They gave evidence of how they had been partying all night from 8 December into the morning of 9 December and had been heavily drinking and taking cocaine.
‘Placed in a chokehold’
Ms Hand, a mother-of-one, told the court how McGregor had pinned her to a bed before assaulting her.
She was left with extensive bruises and abrasions over her body, including on her hands and wrists.
There was a bloodied scratch on her breast and tenderness on her neck after she said she was placed in a “chokehold” by McGregor.
He denied causing the bruising, saying it could have happened after she “swan dived” into the bath in the hotel room.
Ms Hand was taken in an ambulance to the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin the next day where she was assessed in the sexual assault treatment unit.
A paramedic who examined Ms Hand told the court that she had not seen “someone so bruised” in a long time.
The jury had been told how Ms Hand had to leave her job as a hairdresser and has not been able to work since due to her mental health, that her relationship with her partner ended months after the incident, that she had to move out of her home in Drimnagh and that her mortgage was now in arrears.
She also said she had to stop seeing a counsellor because she could no longer afford to pay for the sessions.
The court heard that she had spent more than €4,000 (£3,326) on GP, pharmacy and psychotherapy costs.
Credit: BBC
Sports
Manchester City lose major premier league vote
The Premier League have approved changes to Associated Party Transaction (APT) rules after a crunch summit.
On Friday morning, top-flight sides gathered in London before voting in a ballot over the Premier League rules.
The competition had been forced to act after an independent panel found sections of the existing rules on associated party transactions (APTs) – deals between clubs and parties linked to their owners – to be unlawful after a legal challenge from City.
However, the champions called on clubs to vote against the amendments, accused the Premier League of rushing its consultation and raised the prospect of further legal action should they be enforced.
Yet the Premier League champions were dealt a blow after the English top-flight voted to approve the changes to ATP rules.
More shortly…
Sports
Boxing world split as 58-yr-old Tyson goes back to ring 19yrs after retirement
Nearly 40 years after his professional debut, and 19 years after retiring, 58-year-old Mike Tyson will return to the ring on Friday in a Netflix-backed bout that has stirred widespread condemnation in the boxing world.
Tyson, who dominated the heavyweight division in the late 1980s, will lace up the gloves once more to face YouTuber Jake Paul, 27, in an officially sanctioned fight at AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys, in Arlington, Texas.
The bout, set for eight two-minute rounds, was initially scheduled for July but was postponed in May when Tyson required medical treatment after vomiting blood on a flight from Miami to Los Angeles due to a bleeding ulcer.
The incident has fuelled criticism of Friday’s fight, with many condemning it as a macabre spectacle that poses undue risk for Tyson, who last appeared in a professional ring in 2005, ending in a technical knockout loss after quitting on his stool against Irish journeyman Kevin McBride.
‘It Shouldn’t Be Happening’
“Mike Tyson retired from boxing 20 years ago and was already worn out,” British promoter Eddie Hearn said this week.
“If anyone thinks Mike Tyson should be in a ring at this age, you either have absolutely no concern for him, or you’re being reckless. This shouldn’t be happening.” Punch
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