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Barcelona coach Hansi Flick has said picking Wojciech Szczęsny ahead of Iñaki Peña was one of the toughest decisions of his career.
Szczęsny, 34, signed for Barça in October, coming out of retirement to join as a free agent after first choice goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen was ruled out for the season.
The former Arsenal and Juventus stopper had to wait until January to make his debut, starting a Copa del Rey tie against Barbastro, but he has now been in goal for five of Barça's last seven games.
"It was a tough decision," Flick said in a news conference on Tuesday of the switch from academy graduate Peña to Szczęsny in recent weeks.
"Being No. 1, the goalkeeper is a special position so this is, yes, I can say yes, it's one of the toughest decisions I ever made."
The decision has generated debate after Szczęsny was sent off in the Supercopa win over Real Madrid, committed two mistakes in the 5-4 victory over Benfica last week and gave away a penalty, which was later overturned by VAR due to a prior foul, in the 7-1 rout of Valencia on Sunday.
Flick refused to go into the reasoning for his selection, explaining that he didn't want any praise for the former Poland international's qualities to be taken as criticism of Peña.
"When I say good things about [Szczęsny] it means maybe [it's reported] as weakness for Iñaki and I don't like this," he added.
"My job is to make the decision on this position. For me, Szczęsny is an experienced player, of course, but he also has a good personality.
"Both of them are great goalkeepers, but we decided for Szczęsny at this point. Nothing else. Also, in the past, Iñaki made a good job, but now I decided like that while thinking about the team."
Flick was speaking ahead of Barça's final game in the Champions League group phase, which is against Europa League holders Atalanta at the Olympic Stadium on Wednesday.
Barça have already sealed their passage to the round of 16, but a seventh straight win in Europe would guarantee they progress in at least second place, potentially giving them a more favourable rout to a hypothetical final.
"The Champions League is the toughest competition to win," Flick said. "There are a lot of great teams. For us, its important to win tomorrow because we want to finish second. For the next steps in the competition, it's a good situation.
"But it's not easy to play Atalanta. They play one against one over the whole field. When you build up, you are always under pressure. And when they win the ball, the transition is very fast.
"They play always one contact. We have to be ready for that. I have the highest respect for [coach Gian Piero] Gasperini and the unbelievable job he's done. They play a unique style in Europe and are brave in away games."
MANCHESTER, England -- Pep Guardiola said he is convinced Manchester City will beat Club Brugge and book their place in the Champions League knockout rounds.
Guardiola's team must win at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday to secure a place in the top 24 of the league phase table. Anything less than victory will see City fail to reach the knockout for the first time since the 2012-13 season.
"I appreciate your concern for if we don't qualify but I think we are going to do it," Guardiola told a new conference on Tuesday.
"The situation that we have is that we have to win the game and if not we will not continue in this competition.
"We want to go though to have another chance to play another two games to have the chance of the next stages. It's not a problem, it's an opportunity."
City have won just two of their seven league phase games and sit outside the top 24. Finishing between 9th and 24th will earn a two-legged playoff for a place in the round of 16.
Club Brugge are one of only two teams going into the final games that mathematically could make the top eight, end up in the knockout play-offs or be eliminated. They are 20th in the table after wins over Aston Villa and Sporting CP and a home draw with Juventus on matchday seven.
"I've been here many years in the Champions League and these types of games I've played many times," Guardiola said.
"Sooner or later you have to play them where if you win you go through and if you don't you go out. We are here for the reasons we know that we have not been good enough and this is a situation we have lived many times."
City are enduring a difficult season by their own standards, but head into the game against Club Brugge on the back of an impressive 3-1 win over Chelsea in the Premier League on Saturday.
"It's obviously a final for us," defender Josko Gvardiol said. "We want to qualify for the next stage and our confidence is very good, especially after the last game [against Chelsea].
"They are a good team, there is a reason they are here in the Champions League and it is not going to be easy."
Manchester United are continuing to work on a deal for Patrick Dorgu before the transfer deadline, sources have told ESPN.
Lecce have already knocked back an offer of 20 million ($20.9m) plus 5m in add-ons for the 20-year-old Denmark international.
Sources have told ESPN that talks between the two clubs are ongoing and that there is growing confidence an overall package of close to 40m can be agreed.
Ruben Amorim is keen to add a left wing-back to his squad in January. United, according to sources, have also explored the possibility of triggering their 18m buy-back option to re-sign Álvaro Fernández from Benfica.
The former Old Trafford academy graduate, who has impressed in Portugal, is considered a fallback option if a deal for Dorgu cannot be agreed. Should either Dorgu or Fernández arrive, United will listen to loan offers from Tyrell Malacia.
There's hope that Luke Shaw is close to a comeback from injury and a temporary move until the end of the season would allow Malacia to play regularly. The Dutchman has made seven appearances this season after spending more than a year sidelined with a knee injury.
Sources have also told ESPN that United will listen to loan offers for Casemiro before Monday's deadline. The Brazil international has started just one of the last 11 games and has been an unused substitute in the last six matches.
His last appearance was in the 2-0 defeat to Newcastle on Dec. 30. Roma have expressed interest in signing the 32-year-old until the end of the season.
Sources have told ESPN that United are willing to pay a portion of Casemiro's wages -- more than 300k-a-week -- to make the move happen.
Dhananjaya de Silva: Hoping to discuss opportunity to play more Tests
"It's really disappointing, as a good Test cricketing country, to have only four Tests," Dhananjaya said on the eve of the two-Test series against Australia. "Honestly, it is a big disadvantage, especially considering ours is a good side, as well.
"I'm hoping we can get more fixtures than we have. We're hoping to discuss the opportunity to play more Test series and hopefully we get an open window for that. Hopefully Sri Lanka Cricket can organise something. But all we can do is control what we can, and play good cricket in the matches that we do get."
"We were close to getting to the WTC final," Dhananjaya said. "We have a good side and we were unlucky in a couple of games. If you take the two Tests we lost to Pakistan [at the start of the cycle] that was a big drawback. But we need to finish the cycle strong. If we can get to No. 3, then we will be satisfied."
India bowl, bring in Mohammed Shami for Arshdeep Singh
Toss India chose to bowl vs England
On what is expected to be the best surface for batting in the series so far, Surykumar was again keen to chase. "It looks nice and hard and I don't think it's going to change," he said.
Shami's return in place of the rested Arshdeep Singh is a significant moment after ankle surgery ruled him out of action for the whole of 2024. His last T20I was also against England, in the semi-final of the 2022 T20 World Cup.
Buttler confirmed that he too would have looked to field first. "We fought hard and pushed them all the way," he said of England's improved performance in the second T20I. "We need to be at our best tonight."
England had already named an unchanged team, with Jacob Bethell continuing to sit out after illness and Jamie Smith taking the gloves from Phil Salt due to what Buttler described as a "tight calf".
India: 1 Sanju Samson (wk), 2 Abhishek Sharma, 3 Tilak Varma, 4 Suryakumar Yadav (capt), 5 Hardik Pandya, 6 Dhruv Jurel, 7 Axar Patel, 8 Washington Sundar, 9 Ravi Bishnoi, 10 Mohammed Shami, 11 Varun Chakravarthy
England: Phil Salt, 2 Ben Duckett, 3 Jos Buttler (capt), 4 Harry Brook, 5 Liam Livingstone, 6 Jamie Smith (wk), 7 Jamie Overton, 8 Brydon Carse, 9 Jofra Archer, 10 Mark Wood, 11 Adil Rashid
Vishwa Fernando signs for Warwickshire on short-term Championship deal
Fernando has taken 79 Test wickets, including four in his last outing in South Africa in December, and will be available for Warwickshire's Division One games in April.
He impressed last summer in a three-match stint with Yorkshire, taking 17 wickets including nine in the match against Derbyshire, and went on to feature in Sri Lanka's Test tour of England, including a key role in their victory at the Kia Oval in the third Test.
He could make his Warwickshire debut in their season opener against Sussex, starting on April 4, and will also be available to play against another former club, Durham, and in Warwickshire's home fixture against Nottinghamshire from April 18.
"I am thrilled to be joining Warwickshire for the early stages of the season," Fernando said. "Playing county cricket has been hugely enjoyable for me over the last two years.
"The county have some very good cricketers and I am looking forward to playing with Alex Davies, Ed Barnard and all the boys.
"When I step on to the field for any team I always give 100 percent and the loyal Bears fans will get my absolute heart and soul in every day I am there.
"I am grateful to Cricket Sri Lanka for allowing me this opportunity and thankful to Mark Robinson for believing in my ability."
"We are delighted to have secured Vishwa for the first three rounds of the County Championship," Robinson, Warwickshire's first-team coach, said. "He's a proven international bowler and, a left-armer, who will offer us great variation to complement our attack.
"He did well for Yorkshire last season in a brief stay, took plenty of wickets, and we hope he can help us get off to a strong start this campaign."
Hundred investors express frustration at ECB's 'pure financial' motives
Prospective investors in Hundred franchises have expressed their frustration with the ECB's sales process, which will be determined by final bids in the next two weeks. Bidders fear that the efforts they have put into building relationships with potential partners over the past five months may have been wasted, with the process ultimately determined by "pure financial factors".
Some prospective investors have raised their frustrations that the final stage of the process will be determined by a straightforward financial offer. This has come as a surprise to some bidders, who believed that host venues would consider all final-round offers and choose their preferred partner based on the extensive discussions they have held over the past five months.
"It's coming down to the highest number wins," an associate close to a bid team told ESPNcricinfo. "If that's been the case from the start, then such a drawn-out and confusing process could have been avoided. We, like many, have a compelling case that goes beyond pure financial factors.
"The bidders in this process are very successful people both from the sporting and business worlds. But the whole thing has been unpredictable, and has changed throughout, which has been concerning. This is such a crucial moment in time for the game in England: let's hope all things have been considered with regards to partnerships versus financial gain."
ECB defend 'thorough and rigorous' process
The ECB denies that the sales will simply be a case of the highest bidder winning, and defended their process as "thorough and rigorous". They argue that the first two stages of the process saw more than 100 initial expressions of interest cut down significantly in collaboration with the eight host venues, depending on their preferences, with some lucrative offers counted out.
Richard Gould, the ECB's chief executive, has previously dismissed criticisms of the process, describing it as investors trying to "negotiate through the media". An ECB spokesperson told ESPNcricinfo: "This has been a thorough and rigorous process, with each host venue choosing its own shortlist of potential partners based on who they would like to work with, not making purely financial decisions.
"Our aims have always been to attract interest from a diverse range of parties with relevant skills and expertise to help the Hundred continue to grow, and to maximise value for the whole game. We have had a huge amount of interest and engagement from a wide range of interested parties, and we recognise that this leaves a number of disappointed parties who will not be successful."
The ECB also insisted that all remaining bidders in the process have submitted bids at each stage of the process. Several prospective investors have queried the recent emergence of a bid from a Silicon Valley tech consortium - led by Nikesh Arora and including the CEOs of Google, Microsoft and Adobe - but the board insisted there have been no late entrants since the initial first-round deadline of October 18.
Another member of a bid team told ESPNcricinfo that they have found the process "complex" and that they feel miscommunication has led to "confusion" among prospective investors. But they added: "I respect what the ECB are doing. They are trying to maximise what they can get from this. They have to do everything they can on that front."
Big names 'need to really shine' for injury-hit Scotland
"I think they will need to rely on their bigger players now - and they need to step up even more. You look at someone like Finn Russell, Blair Kinghorn has been playing over in France, and I think they'll really be looking to them now to really shine."
Hastings believes "we can still be very positive" going into the Six Nations.
"There's a tiny bit more pressure on the depth of the squad, but boys have been playing brilliantly for their clubs, some of the best form I've seen," he said.
A home game against the Italians is viewed by some as the perfect game to open the championship for Scotland, but after defeat in Rome in last season's Six Nations - and having been taken to the wire by the Azzurri in victory in the 2023 championship - Hastings says nobody in the Scotland camp will be looking past the threat Italy pose.
"It's funny, even some of my mates from school, they all kind of have that mindset like, 'we're going to smash Italy', but it's not a thing [within the camp]," Hastings said.
Will Ireland author a first Six Nations three-peat?
Speaking of the Lions, no fewer than eight of Ireland's playing squad, plus coaches Easterby and Paul O'Connell, know the feeling of pulling on the famous red jersey.
However, with the tourists' last trip coming after a season when Ireland finished third in the Six Nations and were still finding their feet under Andy Farrell, there are a host of key players who come into this championship targeting a first call-up to the invitational side having missed out on South Africa four years ago.
Josh van der Flier, for example, may be a former World Rugby player of the year, but at 31 years old has never represented the Lions.
The three-Test series against the Wallabies will likely represent a final chance to do so in his prime.
While slightly younger, Garry Ringrose, 30, Hugo Keenan and James Ryan, both 28, will be in the same boat.
Kiwi-born Jamison Gibson-Park and native Australian wing Mack Hansen will be in the mix having become key Test players since the last tour, while Caelan Doris has been tipped as not just a potential first-time tourist but as a Lions captain too.
There will be plenty of talk of taking things game by game and focusing on the task at hand in the coming weeks, but as Doris himself noted, Lions selection will be an "extra factor" to each round of the championship.
The Toulouse fly-half is no stranger to the Six Nations, having played in his first championship in 2019 as a 19-year-old.
The 25-year-old is hoping to make his first appearance in the competition for nearly two years after a nasty knee injury forced him to miss the 2023 World Cup and last year's championship.
Ntamack was France's starting fly-half when they won the Grand Slam in 2022, and it comes as no surprise their below-par campaign last year came with him absent.
Toulouse's European and domestic double last season came as result of Ntamack's return to the side as he ably supported the brilliance of half-back partner Antoine Dupont.
Thomas Ramos, the Toulouse full-back, started three of France's Autumn Nations Series games at fly-half after a calf injury ruled out Ntamack.
His other main competitor for the starting shirt is Matthieu Jalibert, who was sent back to play for Bordeaux-Begles on Saturday, indicating a likely return for Ntamack on Friday against Wales.
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