hopes

Paris St-Germain boss Luis Enrique says he was surprised to learn Manchester City had been found guilty of breaching Premier League financial rules and he hopes the club can avoid sanctions.

City host European champions PSG in the Champions League on Wednesday (20:00 BST) – their first home match since being found guilty of the majority of 115 charges.

“There is a lot of noise around Manchester City and there is often noise around big clubs,” said Enrique when asked about City’s guilty verdict at a news conference at Etihad Stadium on Tuesday.

“We have just have to to wait and see what the final decision will be. I hope everything works out well for Manchester City because I think what they have done on the pitch has been incredible over the last few years and they certainly deserved to win on the pitch all the trophies they have won.

“Now we have to wait to see what the authorities decide or the judge is going to say.”

An independent commission found City had broken rules over a nine-year period between 2009 and 2018 by creating “sham” contracts with commercial partners to secretly funnel more than £830m into their football operations.

City insist they are innocent and have appealed.

Luis Enrique added: “The first thing that you hear, it is a surprise, but we need to respect the process and wait for the final decision.

“The authorities are responsible for making these decisions. But speaking only about football, they deserved those trophies. I love their football. Beyond that, we have to wait for the decision.

“The trophies you win on the pitch remain on the pitch. They deserved to win that and I hope they can avoid the sanction. But we have to wait.”

Missing a number of experienced players, including captain Simone Magill, Laura Rafferty and Nadene Caldwell, McArdle handed a debut to defender Jane McMaster and first caps to Kess Elmore and Charlotte Havern off the bench.

McMaster responded well after giving away the early penalty for Encarnacao’s opener, while Kelmore was lively in the second half and, at 16, it was a big moment for Cliftonville’s Havern to be introduced with 10 minutes remaining.

“It’s fundamental, especially for our younger players, to get this exposure,” McArdle added.

“It’s a risk and it’s brave, but it’s one that will definitely 100% stand strong with us in the long term.

“It will give us that sustainable opportunity to qualify for tournaments in the longer run because we need our younger players to get this exposure, but also for a lot of our senior players as well.”

After impressing in the second half before Pinto’s goal took the wind out of their sails, McArdle said his players will “hurt for the next 24 hours or so” but regroup for the second leg.

Northern Ireland will be without Chambers, who was sent off in the closing stages for grabbing the hair of Carolina Correia.

“There’s the travel over to Portugal thrown in to allow us to relax a wee bit afterwards.

“But once we get there, we’ll look forward to Tuesday again.

“We’re trying to qualify, but there is a longer process as well that we’ll use Tuesday night for.”

Paul Whitehouse joked his three heart stents would outlast him as he discussed his health with Bob Mortimer on Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing.

Comedian Paul Whitehouse opened up about the “very difficult” changes he has had to make to his health.

Welsh actor Paul Whitehouse shared his hope that his heart stents would not be the cause of his death during a candid conversation with Bob Mortimer on Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing. The comedian, who had three stents fitted in 2015, said: “I think they are going to outlast me.

“Like I bought a sofa recently that’s probably going to outlast me, Bob. And I like to think my stents aren’t going to be the cause of my demise, you know?” His remarks came after Bob suggested that, although the stents needed no upkeep, they might eventually need replacing.

Paul’s heart disease was discovered following life-saving bowel surgery and the conversation surrounding his health featured in the third episode of the BBC programme’s first series, which saw Paul introduce Bob to fly-fishing for wild rainbow trout in Derbyshire. The pair spoke about their diets, before attention turned to Paul’s stents.

Asked how the stents worked, Paul offered a characteristically humorous explanation: “Some sort of very high-tech, futuristic kind of steel sleeve. They put it in, blow it up, leave it. Get on with it. Let this man carry on delighting millions.” Bob was also keen to know what adjustments Paul had been asked to make after his treatment.

“What had to change, obviously, is diet,” Paul admitted. “But it’s very difficult to resist a mini chocolate doughnut, for example, isn’t it?” Both comedians have experienced serious heart problems, and their shared health struggles inspired the fishing series, which is currently being repeated on BBC Two.

Bob had an emergency triple heart bypass in October 2015 after learning that 95% of his arteries were blocked. The pair’s daily health routines also featured in the episode. At the start, Bob played solemn music on his laptop while Paul listed all of his medication as he took it.

Away from the series, Whitehouse has been open about his stents and how he feels “lucky to be alive” after the operation. He told Saga Magazine: “In many ways I was lucky. When I had the heart stents, the guy who did it said, ‘Well I didn’t put them in for you to go and sit by the fire, so get up and go out’.

“I took him at his word, so I do a lot of exercise to keep myself ticking over.” In a Radio Times interview back in 2015, the star was asked whether he reflected on his own mortality, to which he replied: “Well, I should probably die. Although, there is a school of thought that thinks I will live forever.

“I mean obviously there are things in the world that make me very anxious but I don’t worry about illness. I don’t particularly worry about that. I worry much more about mental illness than physical illness. Again I wouldn’t say I lie awake at night worrying about what mental illness I might be afflicted with in future.”

Also previously speaking to GQ Magazine, the comedian said he was keen to be an advocate for heart health awareness, sharing: “It is because it is a heart attack decade. If you don’t get a scare in your fifties, you’re lucky. Because you either have a heart attack and die or you have problems that flag up serious issues.

“As your doctor, Chris Young put it: angina is the heart consultant’s friend because it is a warning sign at least. If you don’t get that, you could get a heart attack, which could be fatal, or you might be one of these people like Glenn Hoddle who think of themselves as fit, but actually get to 60 and discover they have a heart problem.”

The episode of Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing airs tonight on BBC Two at 10pm

Rothesay County Championship, Division One, Headingley (day four)

Yorkshire 212 & 275: Hill 89, Bess 77; Overton 3-44

Somerset 201: Cliff 8-76 & 101: Lammonby 32; Coad 4-33

Yorkshire (19 pts) beat Somerset (3 pts) by 185 runs

Match scorecard

A relentless Yorkshire bowling performance put a significant dent in Somerset’s County Championship title challenge, the hosts consigning the pre-game Division One leaders to a hammer blow defeat at Headingley.

Somerset – chasing 287 – started day four on 73-3, quickly slipped to 79-6 and were later bowled out for 101 just before 12:00 BST to lose by 185 runs.

A third defeat of the season, and a second against Yorkshire, means that Warwickshire now lead Division One by 11 points from second-placed Somerset, who have never won this title. Nottinghamshire will also be in the mix come next week’s final round even if they lose against Sussex later on Friday.

For the mid-table White Rose, they claimed their fifth win in 13 games and backed up May’s success at Taunton. New ball seamers Ben Coad and Ben Cliff starred today, Coad finishing with four wickets and Cliff three.

Outstanding Cliff ended with career best match figures of 11-105, the 13th best match analysis in his county’s first-class history.

Cliff and Coad struck in the space of five balls inside the day’s opening half an hour, putting Yorkshire on course for a 19-point haul to Somerset’s three.

They removed not out batters Tom Lammonby and Tom Abell as Somerset lost two wickets for the addition of only three runs – 76-5.

Lammonby was squared up and caught behind off Cliff for 32 before Abell looped a catch up to backward point off the shoulder of the bat against Coad.

And when Coad struck again almost three overs later, at the end of the 39th, Somerset were in significant trouble, with James Rew caught at second slip on the drive.

Yorkshire came into day four knowing they had the edge, but one wicket they were desperate for was that of Craig Overton, who had broken their hearts back in July here with a stunning 79 not out off 30 balls in the Vitality Blast quarter-final.

Cliff got him caught behind pushing forwards in the 42nd over for five, also trapping Lewis Gregory lbw three balls later.

At 88-8, it was all but game over under an overcast Headingley sky but not quite matching the gloomy Somerset outlook.

The Overton and Gregory wickets were Cliff’s 10th and 11th in the match following his eight in the first innings.

Like Overton, Migael Pretorius had scored a first-innings fifty. But George Hill had him caught behind, leaving Somerset at 92-9.

Matthew Revis then wrapped things up by yorking Jake Ball, with day four lasting only 82 minutes in all.

Somerset face Surrey at the Cooper Associates County Ground, Taunton in the final round of fixtures, which starts on Thursday, while Yorkshire can continue to play the role of spoilers when they travel to face Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge.

ECB Reporters’ Network supported by Rothesay.

The Rams will be without edge rusher Myles Garrett for at least the next four games.

Will they have Aaron Donald for Monday night’s game against the New York Giants?

“We’ll see how this week goes,” coach Sean McVay said Thursday before practice.

The Rams are coming off an embarrassing 27-7 defeat by the San Francisco 49ers in Melbourne, Australia.

Garrett, who failed to record a tackle or a quarterback hit in the defeat, had surgery on his left knee Monday. He will not play against the Giants, Denver Broncos, Philadelphia Eagles and Buffalo Bills.

McVay noted that Garrett was on crutches Wednesday but walking without them Thursday.

“He’s like Wolverine, healing fast,” McVay quipped, adding that Garrett would not be rushed back.

Donald, 35, ended a two-year retirement when he rejoined the Rams late last month. He did not travel to Australia.

Asked what benchmarks Donald would have to hit before returning, McVay said it was up to how Donald felt after getting more 11-on-11 reps during practice.

“There just hasn’t been a whole lot of opportunities for different reasons … based on the schedule that we’ve had,” McVay said. “But we are hopeful … that he’ll have some good work [Thursday], tomorrow and then hopefully he’s feeling good enough.

“And if he says he’s ready to go, then we’ll be excited to see him rock.”

McVay said the Rams have moved forward from the loss to the 49ers.

“It’s almost like you try and do the ‘Men in Black’ thing,” McVay said, referencing the movie franchise, “where you say all right, ‘hey I don’t remember what happened.’ That was so long ago. We’re not playing in Australia ever again, I hope. Not because it wasn’t a great atmosphere. That will get taken out of context.”