PARIS – Formula One officials have released the provisional calendar for the 2020 FIA Formula 1 World Championship, which features a record 22 Grands Prix.

Highlighting the 22-race calendar is Formula One’s debut in Vietnam, with the capital city of Hanoi hosting the series for the first time on April 5.

Also confirmed for the 2020 calendar is the return of the Dutch Grand Prix, with Circuit Zandvoort hosting Formula One for the first time since 1985 on May 3.

Noticeably absent from the calendar is the German Grand Prix, which was held at the Hockenheimring this season and was won by Max Verstappen.

The season will again open in Australia on March 15, with the season coming to a close on Nov. 29 in Abu Dhabi.

2020 Formula One Schedule

March 15 – Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit – Melbourne, Australia

March 22 – Bahrain Int’l Circuit – Sakhir, Bahrain

April 5 – Hanoi Street Circuit – Hanoi, Vietnam

April 19 – Shanghai Int’l Circuit – Shanghai, China

May 3 – Circuit Zandvoort – Zandvoort, Netherlands

May 10 – Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya – Montmeló, Spain

May 24 – Circuit de Monaco – Monte Carlo, Monaco

June 7 – Baku City Circuit – Baku, Azerbaijan

June 14 – Circuit Gilles Villeneuve – Montreal, Quebec

June 28 – Circuit Paul Ricard – Le Castellet, France

July 5 – Red Bull Ring – Spielberg, Austria

July 19 – Silverstone Circuit – Silverstone, England

Aug. 2 – Hungaroring – Mogyoród, Hungary

Aug. 30 – Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps – Stavelot, Belgium

Sept. 6 – Autodromo Nazionale Monza – Monza, Italy

Sept. 20 – Marina Bay Street Circuit – Marina Bay, Singapore

Sept. 27 – Sochi Autodrom – Sochi, Russia

Oct. 11 – Suzuka Int’l Racing Course – Suzuka, Japan

Oct. 25 – Circuit of the Americas – Austin, Texas

Nov. 1 – Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez – Mexico City, Mexico

Nov. 15 – Autódromo José Carlos Pace – São Paulo, Brazil

Nov. 29 – Yas Marina Circuit – Yas Island, Abu Dhabi

YORK HAVEN, Pa. – All Star Circuit of Champions owner Tony Stewart spoke publicly for the first time on Thursday after nearly a week of social media conversation stemming from the series’ most-recent event at BAPS Motor Speedway.

The Sunday night affair, won by Gerard McIntyre Jr., was remembered most for the five teams who were disqualified as a result of work-area violations under red-flag conditions on the opening lap of the event.

After a fuel leak from polesitter Justin Peck caused the stoppage, the teams of Danny Dietrich, Anthony Macri, Lance Dewease, Ryan Smith and Skylar Gee were all tossed due to their crew members being outside of the coned-in work area in the infield.

The DQs elevated McIntyre to the outside pole for the restart, a position that ultimately sent him on to victory lane, while fans and drivers in attendance and watching from afar were left frustrated about the turn of events which parked several top contenders.

Stewart finally spoke out about the BAPS event and its surrounding circumstances on Thursday afternoon, releasing a lengthy statement detailing his thoughts on the matter.

“On Sunday night at BAPS Motor Speedway, the All Star Circuit of Champions disqualified five teams and drivers from the feature event due to their crews leaving the designated work area in the infield of the track. This is stated in our rule book and the designated work area was communicated to the drivers at the driver’s meeting,” explained Stewart. “Our officials called the rules violations accurately.

“With that said, I acknowledge that the punishment of disqualification does not fit the wrongdoing by the teams. The intent of the rule is not only for the safety of the crew members, but also to provide a level playing field for all teams in the infield,” he continued. “On Sunday night, track and series officials both determined that a designated area was required for crew members to keep them safe and away from certain areas of the infield.

“I assure each and every track owner, promoter, team owner, driver, crew member and most importantly the loyal fans that support their drivers and tracks, that this will never happen again,” Stewart noted. “We will not put ourselves in a position to have to monitor the designated work area. In the instances that our teams are parked outside the track, the work area will remain outside the track unless the track designates it elsewhere. Any disqualification will be reserved for only those violations that warrant such a response.”

Stewart was also quick to point out that, from the competitors’ side, he was equally disappointed about not being able to challenge himself against those drivers who were parked so early in the 30-lap feature.

“I was a participant in this race for the third straight year and, as a driver, I was upset that I didn’t get to race against the cars that were disqualified,” he said. “I won the All Star race at BAPS Speedway last year and it (was) one of the biggest races that I have ever won for one reason: I came to Pennsylvania and beat the best in the sport.

“Coming to Pennsylvania is important for me and for my series; it’s the toughest racing in the country. When you win in Pennsylvania, you know you beat the best.”

Stewart noted that he has spoken with all of the disqualified teams and “had meaningful discussions with each of them,” and that all of the teams and their drivers have committed to supporting the All Stars next weekend at Port Royal for the Night Before the 50 and the 52nd Annual Tuscarora 50, as well as at Williams Grove on Sept. 20 and at the Dirt Classic at Lincoln Speedway on Sept. 21.

In addition, Stewart stood behind ASCoC series director Eric Walls, who took backlash in his own right on social media following the BAPS event Sunday night.

“I would like to publicly support my series director, Eric Walls,” Stewart affirmed. “Eric is fair and consistent to each and every team that races with us regardless of their tenure, number of wins or resume. Eric did his job Sunday night and he will do so again, beginning this weekend in Ohio. I have the utmost respect and confidence in Eric. If anyone is to take the blame for the rule as it was written, that falls on me as the series owner.

“Finally, it is important to note that my officials made the call Sunday night. BAPS Motor Speedway was not involved in the decision to disqualify the teams,” he added. “Scott (Gobrecht) and Kolten (Gouse) do a great job at their facility and have invested their money and time to make their track a top facility in central Pennsylvania. I ask that you do not hold them accountable on any level and support them just as you have in the past. I extend this ask of support to all tracks in central Pennsylvania. There are a number of high-paying shows left in Pennsylvania over the next two months, and these tracks cannot pay out purses of this magnitude without fan support.

“I am truly sorry for the impact this has caused on the fans, teams, drivers, BAPS Motor Speedway and their partners – including the Snyder family and BAPS Paints – and our series partners, including Ollie’s Bargain Outlet and Mobil 1.”

NAPLES, Maine – Pro All Stars Series officials have revealed the format for the upcoming PASS National Super Late Model event scheduled for Nov. 15-16 at the Lanier Raceplex.

The Lanier National 200 will be 200 laps and pay $6,000 to the winner and $1,000 to start. The starting grid will be set by heat races in which their lineups will be determined by using practice speeds from the last practice.

For the first time, pre-race tech will be set by the order that entries are received, giving teams longer to prepare for practice and the race. The first entrants for the Lanier National 200 are Tate Fogleman, Bryan Kruczek, Gabe Brown and J.P. Josiasse.

In addition, home state favorite Bubba Pollard has confirmed that he has had several drivers inquire with him about racing at Lanier in November.

PASS previously raced at Lanier in 2006 and 2007.  Home town favorite Jason Hogan scored his only win in the series at the inaugural event at Lanier, while Maine’s Corey Williams took the win the following year.

Hogan says there is a need for asphalt racing in Georgia and he is glad to see racing return to Lanier in the Atlanta-metro area.

“I do think it is a great deal and should have a really good turnout,” said Hogan, who currently owns and operates a successful printing business in the area.  “Not sure how the fan base will be since racing has been gone from here for so long, but these folks really do miss that track.  I think the car count will be awesome.”

Hogan said he is considering returning to the driver’s seat to compete at Lanier, but the decision hasn’t been made yet.

“Well, me and Richie Wauters have talked about running at Lanier,” says Hogan.  “But, I also have a new baby on the way and the wife is not a 100 percent sold on it as of yet.”

ANDERSON, Ind. — More than 71 years ago when the organizers of the Pay Less Super Markets Little 500 dreamed up the idea of a 500-lap asphalt sprint car race at Anderson Speedway on the night before the Indianapolis 500, they concentrated on the similarities they could replicate with the Indianapolis 500.

Multi-day qualifying, a field of 33 starting three abreast, pit stops, a festival, and the many pre-race festivities preceding both races are a few of them. Both winners even drink milk in victory lane.

Something happened at this May’s Little 500, however, that never happened before at that event, hasn’t happened in the 103 runnings of the Indianapolis 500 to date, and very well may never happen again.

It’s so unusual, it even took a while for it to sink in to many of the people involved.

What was it?

One team, Nolen Racing, led 499 laps of the 500-lap race. The only lap the Whiteland, Ind.-based team didn’t lead on May 25 was lap 354, when both of its cars were in the pits simultaneously.

Even team owner Gene Nolen didn’t realize it at first. He’d gotten close to winning the Little 500 many times without achieving that goal until Kody Swanson gave him his first Little 500 victory in 2018. But this May 25 Swanson repeated as the winner in a Nolen Racing car; teammate Shane Hollingsworth finished fourth in another Nolen car, and together they led all but one lap.

Swanson led 344 laps in the Nolen Racing No. 4 and Hollingsworth led 155 laps in the Nolen Racing No. 14. DJ Racing’s Bobby Santos III was the only other leader, heading the field for one lap while the Nolen cars made pit stops.

The lap chart shows Swanson led laps 1-186; Hollingsworth led laps 187-325; Swanson led laps 326-353; Santos led lap 354; Hollingsworth was in front again from laps 355-370, and Swanson led again from laps 371-500.

It was Swanson’s third victory in the most prestigious asphalt sprint car race in the world in only five attempts.

Swanson, a native of Kingsburg, Calif. who now lives in Zionsville, Ind., beat runner-up Santos of Franklin, Mass. by an entire lap. Jacob Wilson of Crawfordsville, Ind., finished third, two laps down. Hollingsworth, of Lafayette, Ind., finished fourth, three laps down. Chris Windom of St. Louis rounded out the top five, four laps down.

The two Nolen Racing cars didn’t have the biggest engines. They are powered by Tranter-prepared Chevrolet V6s. The team is sponsored in part by KECO Coatings, K&N Filters, Wilwood Brakes and Goodridge.

“I dearly love V6s, and it’s always our goal to field cars capable of winning,” said team owner Gene Nolen. “The Little 500 is a very hard race to win; we tried to do it for many years and got close, but never did it until last year. Shane’s lap times were comparable with Kody’s this year. Kody looked like the sure winner all night, but something can always happen. Luckily he was able to win again, but I didn’t realize we led that many laps until a reporter told me after the race.”

“The dominance shown by Gene Nolen Racing in the 71st Pay Less Little 500 presented by UAW is something that might not ever be duplicated,” said Jared Owen, vice president of operations for Anderson Speedway. “We have had multiple one-two finishes with one team in the 71-year history of the event, but no team dominated the laps led like Nolen Racing. The accomplishment is a testament to the team’s preparation and race strategy.”

At least two multi-car team owners in the NTT IndyCar Series appreciate the accomplishment.

“It is amazing to see Nolen Racing still competing at such a high level and dominating the Little 500,” said Ed Carpenter of Ed Carpenter Racing. “Although that is a race I never competed in, I understand how difficult it would be to lead that many laps in a sprint car at Anderson Speedway.  I remember watching Tony Stewart win a lot of races in the Nolen Racing No. 20.”

“The Little 500 is almost as epic and storied as the Indy 500,” said Sam Schmidt of Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. “In fact, many successful Little 500 drivers and car owners have gone on to compete at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The domination this year by Gene Nolen’s team is simply unheard of in the world of open-wheel racing.  Kudos to him and both of his drivers who combined to lead 499 out of 500 laps. I think he is ready for the IndyCar sandbox.”

According to Donald Davidson, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway historian, Penske Racing holds the record for the team that has led the most laps of any Indy 500 to date. This occurred in 1994 when winner Al Unser Jr. led 48 laps and Emerson Fittipaldi led 145 for a total of 193 of the 200 laps in a three-car effort that also included Paul Tracy.

Davidson added Penske Racing also holds the record as the team that has led the most laps in total in the history of the Indy 500 with 2,376.

Swanson is also the winningest driver in USAC Silver Crown history, and is leading the current USAC Silver Crown point standings for Nolen Racing as he goes for his fifth championship in USAC’s top series.

He has a happy home at Nolen Racing, but if ever there was a grass-roots driver who has earned his way to the big leagues by talent and hard work, it is Swanson. With his help, Nolen Racing has also set an unprecedented mark at the Little 500 that will be extremely hard to beat.

Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk won the UEFA Men's Player of the Year award on Thursday, taking the prize over Barcelona's Lionel Messi and Juventus' Cristiano Ronaldo.

The award was handed to Netherlands captain at the end of the UEFA Champions League group stage draw ceremony, held in Monaco.

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Van Dijk, 28, made his first appearance on the final three after helping Liverpool win the Champions League title last season. Ronaldo, a three-time winner, has been ever-present since the award was created in 2011.

"It's been a long road but that's part of my journey, it's part of who I am. I needed it like this, I'm not a player who was 18 years old and had that rise straight away. I had to work hard for every step of the way -- that's part of me and I'm very happy about that," Van Dijk said.

Two-time award winner Messi was the leading scorer in both La Liga (36 goals) and the Champions League (12 goals) last season but his Barcelona side fell in the semifinal stage to Liverpool, who overcame a three-goal deficit in the second leg to advance.

Ronaldo and Messi, who have dominated the game's individual awards for the past decade, sat next to each other at the UEFA event and Ronaldo reflected on no longer being in direct competition with the Argentine in the Spanish league.

"It was a special year. I was curious because we've shared the stage here for 15 years. Of course, we have a good relationship. We have not yet had dinner together yet but I hope in the future," the Portuguese star said laughing.

Van Dijk was voted both the Premier League Player of the Season and the Players' Player of the Year, and was instrumental in Liverpool's sixth European Cup triumph.

The centre-back transformed Liverpool's defence since joining them from Southampton in January, 2018 for a then world record fee of £75 million for a defender with his physical presence and superb reading of the game.

Van Dijk began his career in his homeland with Groningen and moved to Scottish club Celtic before heading to the Premier League, where he helped Liverpool to runners-up spot last season as well as a Champions League triumph over Tottenham Hotspur.

He was also awarded the best defender award of the Champions League, with teammate Alisson Becker given the goalkeeper prize. Messi won forward of the year, and Barcelona's Frenkie de Jong took the midfielder award after leading Ajax to the Champions League semifinal round last season.

Manchester United legend Eric Cantona was one of the highlights of the event for his interesting speech after he was given the UEFA President's Award.

Information from Reuters was used in this report.

Alexis Sanchez has joined Inter Milan on a season-long loan from Manchester United, the clubs have announced.

The Chile international, who joined United from Arsenal in January 2018, struggled to find his best form at Old Trafford and, despite manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer having backed Sanchez to come good, has returned to Serie A with Inter.

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"We can confirm that Alexis Sanchez joins Inter Milan on loan until 30 June 2020. We wish @Alexis_Sanchez the best of luck in Italy," United wrote in a Twitter post.

Sources told ESPN FC earlier this week that United had agreed to loan Sanchez for 10 months while contributing around £6 million of his £391,000-a-week salary. Inter are set to pay £9.46m of the 30-year-old's wages plus a loan fee to United. The deal does not include an option to buy.

Sanchez will join up with Belgium forward Romelu Lukaku who left United for Inter this month in a deal reported to have cost the Serie A club around €80m ($89.15m).

We can confirm that Alexis Sanchez joins Inter Milan on loan until 30 June 2020. We wish @Alexis_Sanchez the best of luck in Italy. pic.twitter.com/DdcRQRoEMk

— Manchester United (@ManUtd) August 29, 2019

The Chilean, who previously spent three seasons in Serie A with Udinese before moving to Barcelona, is his country's all-time leading scorer with 43 goals.

"On behalf of the entire Nerazzurri family, we'd like to wish [Sanchez] a very warm welcome and the best of luck," Inter said in a statement.

He arrives at San Siro as a replacement for Ivan Perisic, who signed for Bayern Munich.

The writing was on the wall for Alexis Sanchez at Manchester United in March, long before his loan to Inter was confirmed on Thursday evening.

In the aftermath of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's appointment as permanent manager, club chiefs were privately insisting that the rug would not be pulled from under him with the sale of Paul Pogba to Real Madrid. In reply to questions about whether the French midfielder would leave, the answer was always a firm "no."

But when it came to Sanchez, the tone was very different. It was made clear even then that any decision on Sanchez's future would be left to Solskjaer. The club officials who had worked so hard to pinch the Chile international forward from under the noses of Manchester City 14 months earlier, acquiring him from Arsenal in exchange for Henrikh Mkhitaryan, had already given up.

The stats make for disastrous reading. Sanchez scored five goals in 45 games for United and just three in the Premier League over 18 months with the club. His last goal came in the FA Cup, at former club Arsenal in January. His last 90 minutes for his club came on the opening day of last season. It is slim pickings for a player being paid £391,000 a week, rising to more than £500,000 a week with associated bonuses.

The reasons why a good footballer has been so bad at Old Trafford are, as Jose Mourinho put it privately, "a mystery." At Barcelona, Sanchez averaged a goal every three games. At Arsenal, one in two. At United, it was one in every nine.

Some backroom staff put it down to a crisis of confidence not helped by a series of niggling injuries while others are of the opinion that the move was ill thought-out and, because of that, it was doomed to fail.

In the summer of 2017, Mourinho wanted Ivan Perisic to fulfill his wide forward needs and was left frustrated that, after Inter Milan set the price at £48 million, the United-owning Glazer family would only sanction opening bids of £22m, £23m and £24m.

It was in stark contrast to the way United pursued Sanchez during the January transfer window having sniffed a chance to get one over on City. They made him the highest-paid player in the Premier League, a decision Mourinho grew to feel was as much down to his ability to sell shirts as anything else. Perisic did not have the same star quality and Mourinho felt that balance on the pitch had been compromised for what United's commercial department believed was a better fit off it.

"Alexis Sanchez has set a new January signing record in terms of shirt sales, three times the previous record," executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward said in a conference call with investors. "This trade generated some interesting social media stats. It was the biggest United post on Instagram with 2 million likes and comments, the most shared United Facebook post ever, the most retweeted United post ever."

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Sanchez's arrival also impacted the harmony in the dressing room. Anthony Martial had scored in three consecutive Premier League appearances before the deal with Arsenal was agreed but was then immediately cast to the side. In the final four months of the 2017-18 season, Martial started just four league games and missed out on a place in France's victorious World Cup squad as a result.

There were problems off the pitch, too, after Sanchez's salary blew apart the wage structure. During David De Gea's contract negotiations the Spaniard questioned why he was being offered significantly lower terms despite being the club's player of the year in four out of five seasons between 2014 and 2018.

Approaching the end of his contract, Ander Herrera's demands were impacted, in part, by a realisation that Sanchez was earning upwards of £300,000 a week more. The Spanish midfielder ultimately opted to join Paris Saint-Germain when his deal with United expired.

One senior player, who is due to begin renewal talks in the coming year, has admitted privately that his agent doesn't know where to start with negotiations because the rules on acceptable figures have been re-written.

Wherever he has played, Sanchez has never served as the life and soul of the dressing room. But toward the end of last season, he had become so distant from the rest of the squad that some of his teammates told coaching staff they were worried.

Sanchez took exception at being asked to do an interview alongside Herrera, because he felt it was because the club did not trust him to do it alone. His closest friend at United was Romelu Lukaku and Sanchez's mood plummeted further when the Belgian was sold to Inter.

A week ago, Solskjaer suggested in a news conference that Sanchez could play a key role this season, but there were already mounting concerns that the situation had reached the point of no return.

It says everything about how far Sanchez's relationship with the club has deteriorated that United have agreed to pay £6m of his salary over the next 10 months to have him play somewhere else, and with no ability to bring in a replacement until January.

United's forward line is thin -- no one in the squad has ever scored more than 12 Premier League goals in a season -- and a team that was already struggling for goals has been depleted even further. And yet there is still a feeling within the club they are better off without Sanchez.

Sanchez will still have two years left on his United contract when his Inter loan ends, but he looks to have no future at Old Trafford. A transfer that seemed certain to be successful has turned into one of the worst in United's history and it will be some time before the club finishes paying the price.

The draw for the UEFA Champions League group stage took place in Monaco on Thursday and, as ever, threw up some intriguing story lines. Mark Ogden picks his highlights and makes some predictions.

Jump to: Group A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H

English clubs get it easy

It is the luck of the draw, but while the likes of Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid got groups with heavyweight rivals, the Premier League's quartet will all be happy with their outcomes.

Tottenham landed Bayern Munich, but will expect to overcome Olympiakos and Red Star Belgrade, while Liverpool and Manchester City will expect to coast through as group winners and Chelsea are favoured to take Group H.

Another year, another Man City vs. Shakhtar clash

The two clubs were paired together in the group stage for the third successive season, so it might take an imaginative publicity campaign to tempt supporters to turn out for this fixture again. City's executives will be happy to land yet another group lacking big-name glamour, but their fans might have wished for a bit more star quality.

Group F is the most difficult

Barcelona, Borussia Dortmund and Inter were drawn together in Group F, alongside Slavia Prague, whose cheerful directors chuckled at the prospect of three huge games in the Czech capital. It will be different for the hierarchy at the other three, however, with concerns over missing a top-two spot due to the strength of competition.

Messi and Ronaldo get along

In recent years, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have sat stony-faced with each other, as they wait to discover who has won the Player of the Year and Forward of the Year awards. This time around, the pair were laughing and joking -- mainly at Eric Cantona's speech -- before the prizes were announced. Messi claimed best forward, but both missed out to Virgil van Dijk for the big one.

Eric Cantona

Having been given the UEFA President's Award, convention dictated that Cantona give an acceptance speech. Dressed in jeans, creased shirt and flat cap, the former Manchester United forward made the most of his moment by quoting Shakespeare and discussing science and the ageing of cells, before closing by saying "I love football." All of which left the audience utterly bewildered.

Group A: PSG and Real Madrid go through

Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid meet in heavyweight clashes and while both will expect to progress to the round of 16, the story of this group is likely to be about which team finishes top and earns a seeding in the knockout stages. Finishing second could lead to a nightmare draw against another Champions League big-hitter. Galatasaray and Club Brugge, meanwhile, will enjoy a tough battle for the Europa League spot that comes with third place.

B: Bayern Munich and Tottenham go through

Bayern and Tottenham will be favourites to qualify, but both must be wary of slipping up in hostile arenas when they travel to Athens and Belgrade for clashes with Olympiakos and Red Star. Red Star beat Liverpool 2-0 at home last season and are the dangerous outsider in this group; they could upset Spurs if last season's runners-up fail to rediscover consistency. Olympiakos can be tough to beat at home, though they are something of a soft touch on the road.

C: Man City and Dinamo Zagreb go through

This group is basically a case of who will finish runners-up behind City, who are many observers' favourites to win the Champions League. Shakhtar have the most recent pedigree in the competition, but Dinamo Zagreb and Atalanta will believe they can reach the knockout stages. Champions League debutants Atalanta may suffer from losing home advantage by playing at the San Siro in Milan rather than their 21,000-capacity stadium in Bergamo.

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D: Juventus and Leverkusen go through

Juventus and Atletico Madrid, who met in last season's round of 16, are the two to beat in this group, but Bayer Leverkusen could separate them. Juventus have strengthened in the summer, but questions hang over Atletico following the departures of Antoine Griezmann, Rodri and Diego Godin. Diego Simeone remains at the helm and has signed Portuguese wonderkid Joao Felix, but Leverkusen will be a tough nut to crack; Lokomotiv Moscow could also challenge for second.

E: Liverpool and Napoli go through

Reigning European champions Liverpool meet Napoli again, having played out two big encounters in last season's group stage. Salzburg and Genk look to be making up the numbers, so Liverpool's encounters with Napoli should decide who tops the group. Only a last-minute save by Alisson at Anfield stopped Napoli from dumping Liverpool out at the group stage a year ago, so the Italians will fancy their chances.

F: Barcelona and Inter go through

The most eye-catching group of all features three previous winners -- Barcelona, Borussia Dortmund and Inter -- slugging it out for two places. Barca will expect to finish top, but Dortmund could beat them. Inter, meanwhile, are still an unknown quantity under Antonio Conte, but the nerrazzuri have plenty of quality so don't take your eyes off this group. Slavia Prague make up the numbers.

G: Lyon and Leipzig go through

Zenit St Petersburg's Twitter feed joked prior to the draw that the Russian champions were the top seed that everyone wanted to get. Benfica, Lyon and Leipzig were the lucky clubs in each pot and while this group might lack glamour, it is perhaps the most competitive, with all four teams having a chance to qualify. Lyon made it to the knockout stages last season and will be favourites.

H: Chelsea and Valencia go through

Europa League winners Chelsea will be delighted to get an Ajax team weakened by the departures of Matthijs de Ligt and Frenkie De Jong, as well as a Valencia outfit that scraped in as Spain's fourth qualifier and Lille, who finished a distant second to PSG in France. Chelsea, with Christian Pulisic signed to replace Eden Hazard, are in transition under Frank Lampard, but should top this group.

Australians 77 for 0 (Harris 52*, Khawaja 18*) trail Derbyshire 172 (du Plooy 86, Neser 3-31, Starc 3-46) by 95 runs

Not even present for the tour game at Worcester, Australia's coach Justin Langer underlined the impending pointy end of this Ashes series by intently watching day one of the encounter with Derbyshire from behind the wicket, accompanying the selection chairman Trevor Hohns for long segments of play at the county ground in Derby.

What they saw, joined at various junctures by the captain Tim Paine, the resting David Warner and the former New Zealand coach John Wright, was more or less as might have been expected, save for the curious initial decision to field rather than bat first on a straw-coloured pitch.

Michael Neser claimed two wickets in as many deliveries with the brand new ball and later added a third, Mitchell Starc went wicketless for 12 overs before blasting out three Derbyshire batsmen in his 13th, two by splaying the stumps, and Peter Siddle bowled eight overs for 11 runs while accounting for the hosts' top scorer, the elegant Leus de Plooy.

Wrapping up Derbyshire's innings shortly after tea, the acting captain Usman Khawaja and the opener Marcus Harris then got comfortable against modest bowling, taking their time in the knowledge that only one of them is likely to play in the fourth Ashes Test at Old Trafford. Khawaja, as the senior player of the two, appears more certain of retaining his place, and one or two of Harris' signature airy cut shots through a gully area not overly staffed by Derbyshire did not inspire a great deal of confidence.

Nonetheless, he scored more freely of the batsmen, and in staying undefeated to the close, Harris and Khawaja ensured that Steven Smith's return to the middle following his concussion substitution at Lord's and subsequent absence from Headingley would be delayed by another day.

"He's always looking to score," Paine said of Harris. "I think if you bowl a bad ball to Harry he puts it away and I think that puts guys under pressure. He's just an attacking opening batter and he keeps the scoreboard moving, but as he's shown in Shield cricket he's got the ability to bat for a long time and score big hundreds when he gets in, we know that Harry's got Test runs in him, and when he gets set hopefully he starts well tomorrow, gets a big score and he can continue putting runs on the board like he has for the last 18 months.

"Steve Smith is going to come back in and play. So obviously someone from the last Test is going to miss out. There's no doubt about that. You have the best player in the world coming back into your line-up. I suppose this tour game is important for guys to make sure that you're keeping your name up in front of the selectors. And so far a few guys have done it, which is very pleasing. That's what we want. We want to have depth and we want our selectors to have to make difficult decisions."

In fact Smith's only involvement was a single over of ropey off-spin, including one practice delivery that sailed over the head of a startled Siddle at mid off. Neser, Starc and Siddle all bowled better than that, demonstrating what the selectors could expect should they choose any for Manchester. Paine said that Starc's bowling was steadily on the improve in terms of what the team needed him to do in English conditions.

"I think if anyone's stops trying to get better, that's a problem," Paine said. "We know what Starcy can do in terms of blowing teams away. We also know that coming to England in the past that hasn't worked. So he's been working really hard on getting his length right more so than anything. I think his opening spell today was really good. I thought he bowled in very good areas.

"He bowled with good pace on a wicket that was very slow. So I thought the signs that he showed with the new ball were really good. And then, like we saw again at the end, when he can go back to what his strengths are, attack the stumps and use his short-balls, he's a handful for the tail as well.

"He's been working on his length and I think he showed some really good control in his first spell. He bowled a long spell too [seven overs and eight overs] which he doesn't do a lot when he plays for Australia. I thought he controlled pretty well and, the areas he has been trying to improve so he can be important for us in English conditions, I thought he showed today he's going really well with that."

Rather less of a chance to figure in Lancashire is Cameron Bancroft, who must have been informed of a fairly lowly posting in the batting order after heading, at change of innings, for an extended practice session in the Derby nets. Langer, meanwhile, kept both eyes firmly on the middle.