England’s Lottie Woad hit a three-under-par 69 on day two of the Tournament of Champions to share the lead with three-time major winner Lydia Ko.
The 22-year-old, who only turned professional last year and was invited to play at the season-opening LPGA tournament in Orlando, built on her opening round of 67 to jointly lead with New Zealander Ko on eight under.
Olympic Champion Ko, 28, added a 67 on Friday to Thursday’s 69 round the Lake Nona course.
Woad, who hit four birdies and one bogey, said: “I looked at the leaderboard quite a lot because I was getting annoyed.
“The pins were probably a little trickier, so [there] weren’t as many birdies as [Thursday], so I just had to keep giving myself chances.”
Ko, meanwhile, is bogey-free through 36 holes but the 2024 Women’s Open champion said she would never call the Florida course “easy”, adding: “I think this golf course changes a lot depending on how the conditions are.”
“The cage was locked for most of the match, and I was the furthest one along – I couldn’t get out to use the toilet until half time and I don’t know what I would have done if there was a fire or something. I felt quite claustrophobic. It was unsettling.
“My personal assistant was separated from me, outside the cage, and I was worried about my phone dying in an emergency because I wasn’t allowed to take a power bank in.
“I know in theory the cage is for our safety from home fans, getting to and from the stadium was efficient, and the police and stewards were very friendly, but it’s 2026 – there has to be a better way than this.”
Jane Boland, 61, Liverpool fan in Marseille, France: “The riot police made entering and exiting the stadium really hard work. After being told to arrive at a designated meeting point more than four hours before kick off, we were held in overcrowded areas and made to wait for ages, sometimes with difficult or no toilet access.
“Leaving the stadium took over two hours after full time – by far the longest I’ve ever experienced. We were stood packed on stairwells for what felt like forever, and I had awful back pain afterwards. I understand that someone passed out and needed medical attention, and in retrospect I’m surprised it was only one.
“After two days of everything being great and nothing but friendly interaction between the two sets of fans, we were treated like cattle.
“I probably spent about £1000 on the trip, most of that in Marseille itself, so it smarts to be treated so badly as a ‘customer’.”
Sue Fox, 68, Spurs fan in Frankfurt, Germany: “Transport was pretty efficient, overall. The meeting point was well organised and the police gave clear instructions.
“Then we took a train and they marched us through a very dark, muddy forest for about half an hour. When we arrived at the ground the gates were locked so we had to queue for an hour, and we were all packed very close together. It was uncomfortable and inappropriate.
“The men were able to go to the toilet in the bushes, but what were we supposed to do? It was nearly two hours without being able to go.
“Inside, the only women’s toilet was in the home end, so we had to use the one there, which felt wrong and had the potential to be unsafe.”
England’s Lottie Woad is one shot behind leader Nasa Hataoka after the first round of the Tournament of Champions in Florida.
Woad, 22, who only turned professional last summer and was invited to play at the opening LPGA tournament of the season in Orlando, is one of four players on five under par.
Japan’s Hataoka claimed seven birdies for a round of 66 to lead on six under from Woad, Thai pair Chanettee Wannasaen and Atthaya Thitikul and Sweden’s Linn Grant.
Woad had the lead thanks to six birdies through 14 holes but made her only bogey of the day at the 18th.
She said the Lake Nona course “definitely challenges you”, adding: “The practice days were pretty cold… so it played a little bit easier today.”
Woad was an amateur when she won her first Ladies European Tour title in dominant fashion at the Women’s Irish Open in July.
She then then delivered a statement victory on her professional debut three weeks later when she secured her second tour win at the Women’s Scottish Open.
French forward Kylian Mbappe questions team’s desire after damaging defeat sends Real Madrid into playoffs.
Published On 29 Jan 202629 Jan 2026
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Real Madrid striker Kylian Mbappe has said his team “deserve” to be in their current situation because they were not consistent enough for a top-eight spot as his side slipped into the Champions League playoff round.
The record 15-time European champions fell to a 4-2 defeat at Jose Mourinho’s Benfica on Wednesday, finishing ninth in the league phase table, meaning they must face their Portuguese conquerors or Bodo/Glimt in February instead of reaching the last 16 directly.
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After three wins in their previous three matches under new coach Alvaro Arbeloa, Madrid were brought back down to earth by Benfica in Lisbon.
“The problem is we aren’t consistent in our play, we have to fix that, you can’t have one day [playing well] and another not, a champion team does not do that,” Mbappe told reporters.
“We deserve to be in this situation today. Benfica were better. Now we have to play two more playoff games. It hurts to have to play those. We wanted to have the time in February to work on our game.”
Mbappe said he could not put his finger on a clear reason why Madrid played so poorly against Benfica.
“I think it’s a bit of everything. I can’t tell you it’s just a matter of attitude, because if I only say that, you’ll think we came here without any desire,” said the French superstar, who scored twice in the defeat.
“If I tell you it’s a football issue, you’ll think the team is bad. No, I think it’s a broader issue, and in the Champions League, every detail matters if you want to beat your opponent.
“It shows you that if you don’t come in with everything you need to win a Champions League match, the opponent will come and, as they say, make fools of you.”
However, Mbappe called on Madrid’s fans to support the team at the Santiago Bernabeu on Sunday against Rayo Vallecano in La Liga, rather than booing as they did earlier in January.
“Come and support the team – we had a bad game – but we are not knocked out of the Champions League, and in La Liga we’re in a good dynamic now,” pleaded Mbappe.
“If the Bernabeu is with us, we will win on Sunday.”
The result in Naples could prove to be of great importance for Rosenior whose appointment in place of Enzo Maresca was hardly greeted with open arms.
Rosenior’s lack of elite experience – having moved from sister club Strasbourg after stints with Derby County and Hull City in the Championship – saw him labelled by some as a ‘yes man’.
He also experienced the wrath of the fans who voiced anti-ownership chants questioning the ambition of the BlueCo.
Rosenior has been adamant from the start that his reply must be through results.
And he has put together an impressive set of results in his first weeks with five wins in six matches and the latest over a former Chelsea favourite should win him the confidence of more supporters.
“These players lost a manager that they really respected for reasons that are beyond my control or knowledge,” Rosenior told TNT Sports.
“So when you go through that as a young group, to accept a new manager the way they have done and for them to work as hard as they have done is a credit to them.
“It’s not about me or my ego or trying to prove anything. I’m trying to do the very best I can with my group, with my staff and hopefully we can have more and more really good nights like this.”
Rosenior’s introduction of Cole Palmer at half-time provided assisted both of Joao Pedro’s goals while Trevoh Chalobah added defensive solidity after coming on later in the half as the Blues restricted Napoli to a single shot on target after the break.
The Chelsea manager added: “I’m learning all the time about my team, about what we’re capable of.
“I really wanted to be front-footed today. I wanted to go out and win the game.”
His impetus was rewarded with a win that helps Chelsea avoid adding a two-legged play-off to their already busy schedule.
“It’s massive – that is huge for us to be able to be able to work with the players on the training round,” Rosenior said.
Bigger challenges await Rosenior and his young squad as they enter the business end of the competition but the London-born coach is optimistic.
“You have to enjoy this job,” he said.
“We’re the luckiest people in the world to do this job. You have to enjoy these moments, but we want more.
“You’re in the Champions League, so at the end of the day you have to play against the best and beat the best.”
Firsts are not easy to come by for Jose Mourinho at this stage of his long, often highly dramatic, career.
But on Wednesday night in Lisbon, Anatoly Trubin provided such a moment.
Simply beating 15-time European champions Real Madrid was not going to be enough for Benfica.
In added time to added time, they led 3-2 but needed another goal or their Champions League campaign would be over.
A free-kick provided them with one last chance and goalkeeper Trubin was sent forward.
Moments later it was pandemonium at Estadio da Luz with Benfica players running in all directions and Trubin ending his own euphoric wild charge with a knee slide having scored the decisive goal with a bullet header.
“A fantastic goal, a historic goal, a goal that nearly brought the whole stadium down – and I think it was very deserved for us,” Mourinho said.
“For Benfica it’s an incredible prestige to beat Real Madrid.”
Given the way the league format works with 18 games taking place simultaneously on the final matchday, it is little wonder Trubin was not fully aware of what his side needed.
They were heading out on goal difference at the end of the eight-round league phase, until his sensational intervention. Marseille were the unlucky side, falling out of the play-off places as Benfica snatched their spot.
A couple of minutes before his goal, Trubin had dropped to his knees after claiming a cross, seemingly trying to waste a few seconds to close out the win, unaware Benfica were still going out as it stood.
“Before, I didn’t understand what we needed,” Trubin said. “I see everyone start to point at me and I go and after I see [I can go forward]. We need one more goal.
“I don’t know, I don’t know what to say. A crazy moment.
“I am not used to scoring, so for me it was something completely new. I am 24 years old and for me it’s the first time.”
Champions League pundits Stephen Warnock, Nedum Onuoha and Julien Lauren discuss Tottenham’s “clinical ability” to score goals away from home and Thomas Frank’s “great achievement” to handle the pressure.
Barcelona leap into Champions League automatic qualifying positions with win in Copenhagen, but PSG face playoffs.
Barcelona stormed back in the second half to claim a 4-1 victory over Copenhagen at the Camp Nou, sealing a top-eight finish and direct qualification for the last 16 of the Champions League.
Goals from Robert Lewandowski, Lamine Yamal, Raphinha and Marcus Rashford on Wednesday ensured the Catalans finished fifth in the standings on 16 points, level with Manchester City, Chelsea and Sporting but ahead on goal difference.
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Copenhagen shocked the hosts early when 17-year-old Viktor Dadason slotted the opener past Joan Garcia in the fourth minute, but the second half began with a Barcelona fightback.
Yamal set up Lewandowski to equalise in the 48th minute, before scoring himself in the 60th with a deflected effort that left Copenhagen keeper Dominik Kotarski helpless. Raphinha made it 3-1 from the penalty spot after Lewandowski was fouled, and Rashford added a fourth with a free kick in the 85th minute.
“We all came here tonight thinking about getting into the top eight. We’re very happy with the win,” 18-year-old Yamal told Movistar Plus.
“When you concede a goal in the Champions League, it’s very difficult to come back, but the team was very resilient and managed to turn it around. With the number of matches we play in a season, having two fewer matches leaves you feeling much better.”
Despite the comfortable final result, Barcelona endured a frustrating first half, during which Copenhagen took a shock lead.
Dadason stunned the home crowd after Mohamed Elyounoussi delivered a defence-splitting pass, allowing Dadason to outrun Barca’s high defensive line before rifling a low shot past keeper Garcia.
Clearly unsettled, Barcelona were wasteful in attack during the opening 45 minutes. Raphinha and Lewandowski spurned opportunities to equalise, while Eric Garcia came closest to levelling when his driven effort struck the crossbar in the 33rd minute.
The second half, however, saw a completely transformed Barcelona.
Barely three minutes after the restart, Yamal burst forward on a counterattack, darting past Copenhagen defenders before unselfishly squaring the ball for Lewandowski to slot into an empty net.
The hosts seized control and upped the tempo, pinning Copenhagen deep inside their own half, and Barca took the lead on the hour mark through Yamal, whose deflected shot from inside the box looped over a stranded Kotarski and nestled into the far corner.
Raphinha made it 3-1 from the penalty spot in the 69th minute after Lewandowski was brought down inside the area while attempting to shoot, and substitute Rashford wrapped up the scoring.
Although Barcelona delivered a clinical attacking display, questions remain about their defensive organisation. They completed the league phase without a clean sheet and finished with the worst defence among the top 13 teams.
Paris Saint-Germain’s Ousmane Dembele has his penalty saved by Newcastle United’s Nick Pope [Sarah Meyssonnier/Reuters]
Dembele’s penalty miss costs PSG in 1-1 draw with Newcastle
Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembele had a night to forget, missing an early penalty and a golden chance from close range as defending champion Paris Saint-Germain drew 1-1 with Newcastle in the Champions League.
The draw meant both sides finished out of the top eight places in the league table and failed to qualify automatically for the last 16. They will enter the playoffs instead.
PSG was awarded an early penalty when Bradley Barcola got behind the defence down the left wing with less than one minute played. The ball hit Barcola’s arm following a tackle from a defender coming across, and then flew onto the arm of Lewis Miley right behind him.
Miley seemed unsighted, and the handball appeared accidental, but referee Slavko Vincic awarded the spot kick following a short video review.
Dembele aimed for the bottom right corner, but goalkeeper Nick Pope made a brilliant save. Pope was beaten in the eighth minute when Vitinha curled a shot into the same corner after being set up by Khvicha Kvaratskhelia on the edge of the penalty area.
Dembele, who scored 35 goals overall last season, scooped the ball well over the crossbar from 10 metres out in the 40th minute when meeting a cross from the left.
Joe Willock equalised for the visitors in first-half stoppage time, and substitute Harvey Barnes missed a chance to win it for the visitors with moments left.
Benfica beat Real 4-2 which sends both teams into Champions League playoffs, as Madrid miss out on top eight.
Published On 28 Jan 202628 Jan 2026
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Goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin scored an astonishing 98th-minute header as Benfica beat Real Madrid 4-2 to keep themselves in the Champions League and deny their illustrious opponents an automatic spot in the last 16.
In an extraordinary finale on Wednesday, the Portuguese side were heading out despite leading 3-2 with seconds of stoppage time remaining before Trubin came forward for a free kick to score the goal needed to sneak into the playoff round on goal difference.
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That sparked wild celebrations from Benfica players, fans and their charismatic coach Jose Mourinho – a former manager of Real Madrid – at the Stadium of Light in Lisbon.
The Spaniards had hoped to finish in the top eight and go straight into the last 16, but their 15 points from eight games were not enough, and they finished the match with nine men as Raul Asencio and Rodrygo were sent off.
Andreas Schjelderup scored two goals for Benfica and Vangelis Pavlidis netted from the penalty spot, while Kylian Mbappe netted twice for Real in a hugely entertaining, end-to-end contest.
Benfica advance at the expense of Marseille, who lost 3-0 at Club Brugge. The giant screen in the stadium in Belgium congratulated both teams for advancing to the next stage, but that proved premature as Trubin turned the tables.
Both Benfica and Real needed a goal for different reasons going into the final minutes, and it is a vindication of the competition’s format that a single goal could have such a dramatic effect on the table.
Goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin of Benfica scores his team’s fourth goal with a header [Jose Manuel Alvarez Rey/Getty Images]
Benfica were denied two strong early penalty shots, and Real took the lead on 30 minutes against the run of play when Asencio’s cross to the back post was headed in by Mbappe.
The home side drew level six minutes later when Asencio’s slip in the wet conditions allowed Pavlidis to provide a perfect cross for Schjelderup to head into the net.
Benfica were awarded a penalty in first-half added time when Aurelien Tchouameni was adjudged to have hauled Nicolas Otamendi to the floor, and Pavlidis buried his spot-kick.
Schjelderup scored his second of the game from Pavlidis’s perfect pass to make it 3-1, before Mbappe swept home his second, too – his 36th goal of the season in all competitions.
Benfica were still outside the top 24 when they were awarded a free kick with virtually the final play, and Fredrik Aursnes’s delivery was headed in by Trubin to complete a night of high drama in Lisbon.
The battle to pin down places in the top eight could be enthralling, given how tightly packed the standings are.
Let’s start with the easy bit. For Real Madrid and Liverpool, both on 15 points, and Tottenham, on 14, a victory on matchday eight would secure direct entry into the last 16.
Spurs face eliminated Eintracht Frankfurt in Germany, where the north London outfit won last year on the way to a Europa League triumph that secured them Champions League football this season.
Arne Slot’s Liverpool side are at home to Qarabag, who have a slim chance of still making the top eight.
“It’s all down to us again. Let’s make sure we’re in the top eight,” said Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk after last week’s win in Marseille.
“It’s very important as you miss the play-offs, and it helps with the intense programme that we’re having. We’ve put ourselves in a good position.”
Real Madrid are away to their former manager Jose Mourinho’s Benfica.
Mourinho reached three Champions League semi-finals in a row with Real before leaving in 2013, but Benfica – with only two wins in their first seven games – will need to beat Real to have a chance of sneaking into the play-offs.
Behind Spurs come the group of eight teams, starting with holders Paris St-Germain in sixth down to Atalanta in 13th, on 13 points.
Newcastle, Chelsea and Manchester City are all in that group and looking for a priceless win – and even then knowing their fate could come down to goal difference.
Chelsea are also up against a familiar face in their former head coach Antonio Conte, who won Serie A with Napoli last season.
Conte welcomes the Blues to Naples with his side sitting outside the play-off spots on goal difference and needing a positive result.
