The new Champions League and McLaren's F1 opportunity

Monday, September 16, 2024

Written by Karl Matchett

The new Champions League sets up a high-stakes game in football's 'turning point'

When Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin attends the first games of the new Champions League this week, it will be with a considerable security detail. This has led to grumbles from federation staff, especially since very few people outside football know what he even looks like. There have probably only been two moments when the Slovenian official was properly in the public eye.

One was when the Super League was launched in April 2021 and Ceferin admirably defended the spirit of European football in a defiant media appearance, all while lambasting executives as "snakes" and "liars". Less publicised from that day was the fact Uefa were also in the process of approving the changes to the Champions League we are going to see enacted this week.

This directly led to the second time, as Ceferin was inexplicably put front and centre of Uefa's launch video at the group-stage draw. There was no doubting who the star was supposed to be, given there were even jokes at Zlatan Ibrahimovic's expense. The many actual football stars in the video weren't given anything like the same status.

If it seems ironic to complain about that and also start a discussion about the same star-filled competition with talk of a football administrator, it is only because there is a lot more at stake here than who will win the trophy in May.

Read more here from Miguel Delaney

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McLaren must seize F1 title opening – it could be Lando Norris's only chance

Under the afternoon sun on Saturday in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku, it felt like the moment the drivers' title slipped away from Lando Norris.

Due to a combination of bad luck and needless risk, the McLaren driver was eliminated from the first part of qualifying and started Sunday's grand prix in 15th. The scant consolation was that it was just nine places behind championship leader Max Verstappen, who could only manage sixth.

But a terrific recovery drive, in the face of more drastic floundering in the Red Bull corner, saw Norris finish a spot above Verstappen in fourth. From a position where it seemed certain that Verstappen would stretch his lead beyond 70 points again, it is now down to 59 points. With seven races to go, the chase is still on.

The only issue for McLaren is that it's been on for a while. Since Norris' memorable first F1 triumph in Miami in May, the papaya have discernibly had the quickest car on the grid but have only managed to win three more races. Only one of them has come from Norris, with Oscar Piastri stealing the show with a stunning victory on the shores of the Caspian Sea on Sunday, coming out on top in a riveting battle with Charles Leclerc. It was the drive of the year so far.

It also marked a turning point which has been on the horizon for some time.

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Rory McIlroy rues another painful near miss at Irish Open: 'I'm getting used to it'

Denmark's Rasmus Hojgaard produced a brilliant finish to win the Amgen Irish Open and inflict a second heartbreaking defeat of the year on home favourite Rory McIlroy.

McIlroy looked on course to claim his first professional win on home soil when he led by two shots with four holes to play at Royal County Down, just an hour from where he grew up.

But while Hojgaard completed a superb closing 65 with four birdies in the last five holes – including three in a row from the 16th – McIlroy crucially three-putted the 17th and then agonisingly missed an eagle putt on the 18th to force a play-off.

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