Match of the Day pundits Alan Shearer and Micah Richards believe Benjamin Sesko’s goal against Liverpool should not have stood after it brushed his fingers, saying under the laws of the game it should have been a handball.
Nov. 12, 2025, in Oklahoma City Thunder 121, Lakers 92 Neither team was at full strength with James sidelined because of sciatica and the Thunder without Luguentz Dort and Jalen Williams. Oklahoma City still dominated behind an effortless 30-point, nine-assist night from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. It was the largest defeat of the season for the Lakers until April.
Feb. 9, in Los Angeles Thunder 119, Lakers 110 Both teams were without their MVP candidates as Gilegous-Alexander sat because of a strained abdominal muscle and Doncic was sidelined by a hamstring injury. The Thunder proved their depth and chemistry by holding off the Lakers in the fourth quarter. This was one of just eight clutch-time losses for the Lakers during the regular season.
April 2, in Oklahoma City Thunder 139, Lakers 96 The nightmare score wasn’t as scary for the Lakers as seeing their two leading scorers injured in the same game. Reaves played through what was later diagnosed as a Grade 2 oblique muscle strain, and Doncic left in the third quarter with a Grade 2 left hamstring strain. The game was expected to be a major showdown between MVP candidates and a litmus test for the Lakers, who entered with 13 wins in their previous 14 games.
April 8, in Los Angeles Thunder 123, Lakers 87 The Lakers were without four starters and still reeling from the regular season-ending injuries suffered by Doncic and Reaves the previous week. Matching up with the Thunder again only exacerbated the emotional hangover. Redick tried to inject some energy into the group by benching veterans Rui Hachimura and Jarred Vanderbilt for small mistakes early, but the coach later admitted the tactic didn’t work.
Wrexham’s dream of reaching the Premier League is over, for this season anyway.
And for Ryan Reynolds, it was tough to stomach.
“I am completely gutted by today’s result but incredibly proud of our season,” the actor wrote on X after the Welsh club he co-owns missed out on a place in the playoffs in the second-tier Championship by drawing 2-2 with Middlesbrough in a dramatic final round of the regular season on Saturday.
That allowed Hull to jump ahead of Wrexham and into sixth place — the fourth and final spot in the playoffs — courtesy of a 2-1 win over Norwich in a match played at the same time.
The winning goal for Hull, by Oli McBurnie in the 67th, appeared to be scored from an offside position but there are no video reviews in the English Football League.
It ended Wrexham’s unprecedented run of three straight promotions under its famous owners — a streak that began by getting out of the fifth tier in the 2022-23 season and has been documented in the globally popular, Emmy Award-winning “Welcome to Wrexham” series.
Still, seventh place marked the Wrexham’s highest finish in its history, bettering the 15th position it achieved in the second tier in the 1978–79 season.
“We’ve come a long way in five years and this was the best result in our 150+ year history,” Reynolds wrote alongside a graphic that showed how Wrexham has risen from the National League. “More to do. But for now, we have so much to be proud of, Reds.”
Elsewhere, Ipswich secured the second automatic promotion spot behind champion Coventry — and an immediate return to the Premier League — by beating Queens Park Rangers 3-0.
Ipswich is owned by U.S. investment group Gamechanger 20 Limited and counts pop star Ed Sheeran as a minority shareholder.
Joining Hull in the playoffs, which begin next week and are over two legs, are Millwall, Southampton and Middlesbrough.
Millwall will face Hull, and Southampton will meet Middlesbrough.
Best-ever finish by Wrexham
It was a memorable campaign by Wrexham in its first season in the second tier since the 1980s.
However, the short-term pain was acute, and Wrexham’s players sat on the ground and looked disconsolate after the final whistle — even though the Hull-Norwich match hadn’t finished.
Wrexham started the day in sixth place, ahead of Hull on goal difference, and conceded in the fourth minute to Middlesbrough, only to score through Josh Windass and Sam Smith for a 2-1 lead by the 41st.
Middlesbrough hit back immediately with a 43rd-minute equalizer but Wrexham finished the stronger, squandering a string of great late chances for a winner that would have secured a playoff place on goal difference.
Wrexham’s Josh Windass squats on the field and looks dejected following a draw with Middlesbrough on Saturday.
(Michael Steele / Getty Images)
In the end, Wrexham finished two points behind Hull.
“This squad as it stands, with a preseason together, will be even stronger next year,” said Wrexham manager Phil Parkinson, who oversaw a summer spend of around $40 million last year.
“Of course we’ll always look to add to that to try and give ourselves an even better chance … we know where we’d like to strengthen and what we need to improve on. We’ll do that and we’ll make this squad as strong as we possibly can to mount a challenge next year.”
Note: Second Round in Divisions II-V, May 7 at 4 p.m. at higher seeds; Quarterfinals in Division I, May 7 at 7 p.m. at higher seeds; Quarterfinals in Divisions II-V, May 11 at 7 p.m. at higher seeds; Semifinals in Open and Division I, May 12 at 7 p.m. at higher seeds; Semifinals in Division DII-V, May 13 at 7 p.m. at higher seeds; Finals in all divisions May 15-16 (sites and times TBD).
Demis Hassabis, the co-founder and chief executive officer of Google DeepMind (L), shakes hands with South Korea’s legendary Go player Lee Sedol at an event held in Seoul on Wednesday. Photo by Yonhap
Demis Hassabis, the co-founder of Google DeepMind, reunited Wednesday with South Korea’s legendary baduk player Lee Sedol, who went up against the company’s AlphaGo AI in a legendary human-versus-machine match 10 years ago.
“It’s great to be back here kind of the center of where it all started” Hassabis said at the event held by Google in central Seoul, saying that the historic five-game match “signaled the beginning of these incredible advances that happened in the last decade.”
When asked about the Lee-AlphaGo match in 2016, the Google executive pointed to the AI’s move 37 as the “most incredible moment” that demonstrated that AI can show creativity.
During game two of the 2016 match, AlphaGo made an unconventional shoulder hit on the fifth line for its 37th move, widely considered a pivotal move that secured its victory against Lee.
Such AI creativity can usher in a new “renaissance” of humans flourishing in science, he said, as it did in helping him solve the 50-year-old “protein folding problem,” which led to a Nobel prize in 2024.
“I think we could maybe even like solve all diseases in the next 10 to 20 years. We can use these technologies to help the environment and new energy sources,” he said.
The father of AlphaGo also mentioned South Korea’s potential to become one of the leaders in the AI sector.
“It’s amazing at manufacturing from chips to robotics, incredible strength in industry, fantastic universities and research institutes,” he said. “So I think it has all of the ingredients to be one of the world leaders in this technology.”
Hassabis, who has been in Seoul since Monday, has met with President Lee Jae Myung and signed a memorandum of understanding with the science ministry technology partnerships program.
The executive is also said to have held separate meetings with chiefs of local conglomerates, including LG Group and Hyundai Motor Group.
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