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Maharaj, Harmer star with the ball as hosts are bowled out for 138, setting South Africa 68 to win the second Test.

South Africa have romped to an eight-wicket win over Pakistan on the fourth day of the second cricket Test in Rawalpindi, claiming victory before lunch to level the two-match series.

The home side were dismissed cheaply in the opening hour, collapsing from 94-4 overnight to be all out for 138 on Thursday.

South Africa then took 12.3 overs to reach the 68-run target with captain Aiden Markram scoring 42 before being trapped leg before wicket by Noman Ali, four runs from victory.

Tristan Stubbs was caught in the slips in the same over without scoring, leaving Ryan Rickelton (25 not out) and Tony de Zorzi, who did not face a ball, to complete the job.

It was the 11th win in 12 Tests for South Africa, with the only blemish their 93-run loss to Pakistan in last week’s first match of the series in Lahore.

“There were moments where guys had to put their hands up and stand up for the team and they really did that and excelled in that. It took a lot of confidence and a lot of belief from wins, but when your character’s tested and you managed to come out on the right side, I think that means quite a bit more,” said Markram.

Simon Harmer took 6-50 as Pakistan collapsed with fellow spinner Keshav Maharaj adding two more wickets to the seven he took in the first innings.

Pakistan lost their last six wickets for 44 runs to continue their trend of lower-order slumps despite starting the day with high hopes.

They needed a major contribution from star batsman Babar Azam, whose appearance at the stumps throughout the series saw a sudden spike in spectators and a noticeable increase in excited noise from the stands.

Babar, however, has not scored a century in his last 15 Tests since 161 against New Zealand in Karachi in December 2022.

He was on 49 overnight, sharing a 34-run partnership with Mohammad Rizwan that held out promise of getting Pakistan back into the contest with six wickets in hand and a 23-run lead.

But after going to his 50 with a single off the second ball of the morning, the 31-year-old Babar was trapped leg before wicket by Harmer in the first over.

After that, the home innings came tumbling down like a pack of cards as the 36-year-old Harmer, who has had a long career in county cricket in England but only 12 test appearances, bagged his first five-wicket haul in test cricket.

He had Rizwan caught at short leg for 18 and then Noman Ali nicked behind without scoring to mark a 1,000th first-class wicket.

“We have a lot to work on,” said home captain Shan Masood, “when it comes to lower order batting, when it comes to finishing the innings off, when it comes to the third innings of batting, also when it comes to the first innings where we could have posted something north of 400 but we didn’t.”

Victor Gyokeres ends drought with brace in Arsenal’s 4-0 win against Atletico, while PSG hit seven and Barcelona six.

Arsenal stormed to a third successive Champions League victory by blowing away Atletico Madrid 4-0 thanks to a devastating second-half broadside at the Emirates Stadium.

What had been a compelling clash with little between the sides in the first period on Tuesday became an Arsenal rout, with goals by Gabriel, Gabriel Martinelli and a brace from Viktor Gyokeres leaving Diego Simeone’s side shell-shocked.

Shortly after Julian Alvarez hit the crossbar for the visitors, Gabriel broke the deadlock by heading in a Declan Rice free kick in the 57th minute.

Martinelli finished off a sweeping move seven minutes later, and Gyokeres then prodded his first goal of the night via a deflection as Arsenal ran riot, with the Swede ending a nine-game scoring drought for club and country.

Gyokeres then bundled in his second, as Atletico were again unable to deal with a set piece.

Victory extended Arsenal’s unbeaten run to nine games and put them on nine points in the group phase, well on the way to qualifying for the knockout phase.

Atletico have three points and will have to dust themselves down after their six-game unbeaten run in all competitions came to an abrupt end.

Holders PSG hit magnificent seven at Leverkusen

Paris Saint-Germain scored seven, Barcelona hit six, and Erling Haaland struck his 24th goal of the season on an action-packed night.

PSV Eindhoven routed Italian champions Napoli 6-2, while Inter Milan had a big win to maintain their own perfect starts in Europe.

It is defending champions PSG that lead the way at the top of the standings after a wild 7-2 win against Bayer Leverkusen in a match that saw both teams reduced to 10 men.

Barcelona’s 6-1 win against Olympiakos saw them bounce back from a loss to PSG at the start of the month.

Last season’s finalists Inter beat Union Saint-Gilloise by the same score.

Haaland’s goal helped Manchester City to a 2-0 win at Villarreal.

Fermin Lopez hat-trick and Rashford brace for Barcelona

Fermin Lopez scored a hat-trick and Marcus Rashford hit two goals as Barcelona ran riot.

Barca took full advantage when the Greek champions went down to 10 men after a contentious red card for Santiago Hezze in the second half, scoring four goals to complete the rout.

It was Lopez’s first hat-trick of his career, with Lamine Yamal also on the scoresheet from the penalty spot.

Olympiakos had no answer when Hezze was shown a second yellow card in the 57th minute, despite replays appearing to show he did not make contact with Marc Casado, who was trying to pull him back.

Just three minutes earlier, the visitors had got back into the game at 2-1 after Ayoub El Kaabi’s penalty.

Two clinical finishes from Lopez had given Barcelona a 2-0 half-time lead. Then, with the extra man, the Spanish champions overwhelmed Olympiakos with four goals in 11 minutes – starting with Yamal’s spot kick.

Rashford, on loan from Manchester United, now has four goals in three games in the Champions League this season.

Kazakh team Kairat picked up their first point in European football’s elite club competition with a 0-0 draw against Pafos.

A hat-trick from Mikel Merino, a brace from Pedri and a Ferran Torres strike condemn Turkiye to a shellacking at home.

Mikel Merino’s hat-trick helped Spain to thrash hosts Turkiye 6-0 in a World Cup qualifier as the European champions remained firmly in control of Group E.

The hosts had no answer to Spain’s dominance on Sunday, undone time and again by the visitors’ speed and finesse, with a helpless Turkish defence torn apart on every counterattack.

Spain lead the group with six points from two matches, while Turkiye and Georgia sit on three points from the same. Georgia beat Bulgaria 3-0 earlier on Sunday.

The visitors struck early as Pedri found the net in the sixth minute, slotting past goalkeeper Ugurcan Cakir.

Merino doubled Spain’s tally in the 22nd minute, finishing off a slick passing move inside the box with a simple unmarked strike past the Turkish defence.

In first-half stoppage time, Merino struck again, this time latching onto a pull-back and firing home to give Spain a three-goal cushion at the interval.

The onslaught resumed eight minutes into the second half when a Turkish corner backfired, Ferran Torres led a rapid counterattack and finished off a sharp exchange inside the box to make it four.

Brimming with confidence, Merino completed his hat-trick just four minutes later, capping another breakaway with a stunning left-footed curler from distance that flew into the top corner for Spain’s fifth.

Pedri added another one for Spain in the 62nd minute, arriving unmarked at the end of another swift break to slot home his second for the night.

Elsewhere in the UEFA qualifiers, four-time world champions Germany struggled for more than an hour against Northern Ireland, before scoring twice in three minutes in the second half to earn a 3-1 victory on Sunday.

With the score level at 1-1, a tap-in by substitute Nadiem Amiri in the 69th minute and a free kick from Florian Wirtz made sure of Germany’s first win in Group A.

It was also the first victory for Julian Nagelmann’s team in their last five matches, and followed their shock 2-0 loss to hosts Slovakia on Thursday – their first ever away defeat in a World Cup qualifier – in their opening group match.

In Sunday’s other Group A game, Slovakia eked out a 1-0 win away at Luxembourg.

In Brussels, meanwhile, Kevin De Bruyne underlined his talismanic role for Belgium with a stunning goal to break the deadlock and set his side on their way to a comfortable 6-0 win over Kazakhstan in their World Cup qualifier on Sunday.

It was threatening to become a frustrating night at the Constant Vanden Stock Stadium for the Belgians before the 42nd-minute strike, but after that, they were able to go on and register a comfortable victory with both De Bruyne and Jeremy Doku scoring twice.

Belgium have 10 points from four games in Group J, ahead of Wales on goal difference but trailing leaders North Macedonia, who beat Liechtenstein 5-0 earlier on Sunday by a point. North Macedonia and Wales have played five matches each, however.

Elsewhere, Memphis Depay set a new scoring record for the Netherlands as his double ensured they survived a scare in beating Lithuania 3-2 away in their qualifier on Sunday.

Two goals for the 31-year-old Depay took his national team tally to 52, moving ahead of Robin van Persie’s previous record, and putting the Netherlands at the top of the Group G standings with 10 points from four games – ahead of Poland on goal difference after the Poles won 3-1 at home to Finland on Sunday.

Hosts New Zealand thumped France 43-17 to win the second Test in Wellington and clinch the series with a game to spare.

The All Blacks laboured to a 31-27 win over France in Dunedin last week but were comfortable winners on Saturday, running in six tries at Sky Stadium.

Scott Robertson’s side led 29-3 at half-time before Six Nations champions France, who travelled south without most of their first-choice players, claimed two tries in the second half.

Fly-half Beauden Barrett kicked an early penalty for the All Blacks before the first three tries came from attacking line-outs, with scrum-half Cam Roigard flashing down the blind-side to open the scoring on 14 minutes.

Barrett was sent to the sin-bin for a deliberate knock-on but the hosts continued to attack and captain Ardie Savea pounced on a line-out ball to wrestle his way over for his 29th Test try, meaning he has overtaken Richie McCaw as New Zealand’s most prolific try-scoring forward.

Hooker Codie Taylor crossed on 29 minutes on the back of a more traditional rolling maul, with France’s pack short-handed after debutant lock Josh Brennan – the Toulouse-raised son of former Ireland forward Trevor Brennan – had been sin-binned for a tip tackle.

Offloads by Savea, Rieko Ioane and Netherlands-born lock Fabian Holland then set flanker Tupou Vaa’i free up the middle to score the pick of the tries and put the hosts firmly in charge at the break.

France replied with full-back Leo Barre taking advantage of an All Blacks error to score a 47th-minute try, although New Zealand full-back Will Jordan produced a similar score shortly after for his 41st try from 43 Tests.

The All Blacks extended their lead to 43-10 when winger Ioane dived over in the corner on 62 minutes before Brennan crossed for the tourists with three minutes left.

The series concludes with the third Test at Hamilton’s Waikato Stadium on 19 July.

Goals from Haaland, Gundogan and new signing Cherki help Man City enter the tournament’s knockout stage.

Manager Pep Guardiola has been left a little disappointed that Manchester City were unable to get a seventh goal in their rout of Al Ain, despite the English club securing passage to the knockout stages of the Club World Cup.

German Ilkay Gundogan scored two goals as City comfortably dispatched the Emiratis 6-0 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Sunday, and drew level with Juventus on points and goal difference at the top of Group G.

City play Juventus in their final opening-round match on Thursday to decide who tops the group and who finishes second.

Juventus go into the clash with a slight edge as goals scored in the second tiebreaker after goal difference for teams level on points. Juve have scored nine goals to City’s eight.

In the round of 16, the top team in Group G will play the second-placed team in Group H, currently Red Bull Salzburg. The runners-up will face the top team, currently 15-time European champions Real Madrid.

Juventus beat Wydad 4-1 in the other Group G match.

Erling Haaland scored on a penalty, while new signing Rayan Cherki bagged one close to full-time, and Claudio Echeverri and Oscar Bobb also got on the scoring sheet for City as they aim to look past a disappointing season.

With an entirely new lineup after a 2-0 win over Morocco’s Wydad in the group opener, Man City produced a dominating performance in Atlanta against an overmatched club from the United Arab Emirates.

Guardiola said that his side “pushed and pushed to score another goal” but ended up missing one.

City’s star forward Rodri came off the bench as he continues his gradual return from an ACL injury.

“He cannot play more than 30 minutes,” the Spanish manager said of Rodri’s return. “He still struggles a bit in the duels, still needs to be a little bit stronger, but it’s normal.

“It’s important he played much, much better than the previous game. We miss him a lot. Any team would miss the best player in the world.”

In Sunday’s other results, Salzburg and Al Hilal played out a goalless draw in Group H after 10-man Real Madrid won 3-1 against Pachuca.