Selby goes close against Momen but Elias is too hot for Willstrop 
By ALAN THATCHER – Squash Mad Editor

England legends James Willstrop and Daryl Selby bowed out of the St. James’s Place Canary Wharf Classic as top seed Mohamed ElShorbagy overcame a tricky test and India’s Saurav Ghosal produced a seedings shock on day two at the East Wintergarden.

Willstrop fell to Peru’s Diego Elias before Selby narrowly failed to deliver another giant-killing act against world champion Tarek Momen.

Egypt’s World No.1 ElShorbagy narrowly secured his berth in the quarter-finals after a close battle with France’s Mathieu Castagnet and Ghosal delivered shots of precision at crucil moments to beat No.5 seed Simon Rosner of Germany.

ElShorbagy held control through the first game against Castagnet and he took it 11-6. But the fit-again Castagnet fought his way back.

The match was played at a phenomenal pace throughout and the World No.22 refused to go down without a fight. He took the second 11-8 to set up a decider and it looked like it could go either way right through the middle part of it, with neither player able to pull away.

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In the end, the World No.1 took the victory and was full of praise for his opponent, saying: “He is a warrior. He had a really bad injury and he is making his way back. I know his ranking is still outside the top 20 but the level he can play at…once you are a great player, you don’t just become a bad player. You stay great and luckily I pulled through at the end.

“The best-of-three format changes the dynamic of the sport. It will be short, sharp rallies and you will play at a very high pace. With the best-of-five you have to think about the whole match, and think about your energy throughout the match. I am proud of my mental performance today. I got lucky today and I know I need to try and improve for the next round.

“I have always enjoyed playing this event and the crowd are always fully supportive from the first day. We play for the crowd and they make it really exciting for us to play. It is close to Bristol, my home, and I definitely enjoy playing here.”

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ElShorbagy will face Ghosal, who came out firing in the first game of his clash with World No.7 Rösner. He held the momentum through the middle part of the first game, before he caught the German on his follow-through at 9-5. After a ten-minute blood injury delay, Rösner came back onto court and won five of the next six points, including saving four game balls.

However, it would be Ghosal that took the game, before the German Tree-Chopper fought his way back into the match, restoring parity in the contest by winning the second – despite the Indian saving a game ball in the process.

It would eventually be the ‘Mongoose’ that took the win, only his third over Rösner on the PSA World Tour, as he moved through to the quarter-finals of the PSA Gold tournament.

Ghosal, reflecting on that first game collision, said: “I think it was a culmination of a couple of things. I was 9-5 up, the momentum was with me, and especially when you are playing Simon, it is so difficult to get that against him because he has such good power and a great touch art the front of the court.

“He stepped up and played some really good stuff but I am glad that I was able to finally win it because I think on the balance of play that I deserved to win it. Beating a player of that quality, in the form that he is in right now, is a really good win for me!”

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Earlier on the second day of the tournament, Peru’s World No.6 Diego Elias and World Champion Tarek Momen made their way through to the last eight, with the pair scheduled to meet on Wednesday after halting the progress of English veterans Willstrop and Selby.

Peruvian World No.6 Elias is through to the quarter-finals after a superb debut performance saw him overcome former World No.1 Willstrop.

It was his first match at the tournament, and Elias needed just 24 minutes to get the better of Willstrop, playing at a high pace throughout, keeping the ball fast and low, forcing the 36-year-old 6ft 4in Willstrop to twist and bend into some awkward movements under extreme pressure.

Elias won the first four points of the match but Willstrop responded with an excellent run of six points of his own, offering hope of a home upset in a competition he has won four times, including the very first edition back in 2004.

I reminded the crowd that his 4-2 victory over Thierry Lincou was in a best-of-seven games final (PAR to nine) but this was best of three and there was no room for error.

Elias fought back to take the opening game 11-8 and he maintained a blistering pace throughout the second to dominate proceedings to clinch the match 11-4.

Afterwards he said: “I am really happy. It is always amazing playing James. I have played him a couple of times and I am always nervous because I watched him when I was a kid. It is always great to have another opportunity to play him.

“I enjoyed the match a lot. It is tough to play best-of-three. It was my first time so I was nervous and I knew that if I gave James anything that he could win the match so I had to start really strong at the beginning.

“I tried to make the rallies long and tried to played fast. I was trying to make it as long as possible. I don’t know why I have never played here because it is an amazing atmosphere. This year, I was looking forward to this tournament!”

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Selby threw everything he had at World Champion Momen, but the Egyptian was just about able to come through it to book his place in the quarter-finals of the St. James’s Place Canary Wharf Classic.

This was the eighth time the pair had met on the PSA World Tour, but the first time they faced off in the best-of-three format. It suited the Englishman, as he took the first game 11-9, with the home crowd cheering him to the rafters.

However, the World Champion showed his class in the second and third games, and apart from a late Selby flourish in the second game, where he threatened to pull it back from 10-3 and send it into a tie-break (as he had done in his stunning win over world No.10 Joel Makin the previous day), Momen seemed to have it under control.

Momen said: “I am very pleased to be through. As Daryl said, he is one of the most experienced players on tour and he is very skilful so to play him in a best-of-three format would always be a tricky one.

“I was just trying to prepare myself to just stick to my game plan and not deviate from it. He has a way to impose his game, with lots of tricky shots that can catch you out, but I was very happy to get out of it every now and then. I finally managed to sneak it which is a great pleasure.

“If this is the last time I play Daryl, then it has been a pleasure. I remember that we played here eight or nine years ago, and it has been a great pleasure.”

Selby, when asked if this was his farewell performance at Canary Wharf, was non-committal. He said: “We never say never but if it was my last, then I said to Tarek at the end that it was an absolute pleasure to play the current World Champion. Tarek has been a great player and a great ambassador for the sport.

“I had a hard game yesterday but with a crowd like this to motivate you, you have every incentive to back it up.”

He told his Twitter followers: “Got close to another upset. Nice to mix it with the current World Champ and didn’t feel like I was too far away tonight. At 5-3 up in the third, it would have been nice to have those two nicks go for me rather than against me! Loved every minute of being on that court as always.”

St. James’s Place Canary Wharf Classic, East Wintergarden, Canary Wharf, London, England.

Second Round (Top Half):
[1] Mohamed ElShorbagy (EGY) bt Mathieu Castagnet (FRA) 2-1: 11-6, 8-11, 11-9 (47m)
Saurav Ghosal (IND) bt [5] Simon Rösner (GER) 2-1: 13-11, 7-11, 11-4 (61m)
[6] Diego Elias (PER) bt James Willstrop (ENG) 2-0: 11-8, 11-4 (24m)
[3] Tarek Momen (EGY) bt Daryl Selby (ENG) 2-1: 9-11, 11-8, 11-8 (51m)

Second Round (Bottom Half today):
[4] Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) v Greg Lobban (SCO)
Omar Mosaad (EGY) v [7] Marwan ElShorbagy (EGY)
[8] Mohamed Abouelghar (EGY) v Fares Dessouky (EGY)
Declan James (ENG) v [2] Ali Farag (EGY)

Quarter Finals (Top Half, Wednesday):
[1] Mohamed ElShorbagy (EGY) v Saurav Ghosal (IND)
[6] Diego Elias (PER) v [3] Tarek Momen (EGY) 

Pictures by STEVE LINES (www.squashpics.com) courtesy of PSA and PATRICK LAUSON

HOMESTEAD, Fla. – The final test session prior to the start of a new Road to Indy presented by Cooper Tires season concluded Monday afternoon at a blustery Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Kyle Kirkwood, from Jupiter, Fla., posted the fastest time among the Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires field for Andretti Autosport, which will be aiming to claim a third successive championship.

A total of 746 laps around the 2.21-mile road course were turned Monday during the four-and-a-half hour Spring Training test.

After the first 90 minutes of running Monday morning, Toby Sowery emerged narrowly fastest for Belardi Auto Racing with a best lap of 1:14.9445.

But rookie teammate Rasmus Lindh, from Gothenburg, Sweden, and Kirkwood were both within just .0358 of a second of the Englishman.

Lap times continued to come down after the lunch break, with Kirkwood’s 11th lap remaining as the fastest of the day at 1:14.3331, an average speed of 107.032 mph.

“It reconfirms that we have a good setup and that we’re strong,” said Kirkwood. “Everyone is close but it’s nice to go into St. Pete with some confidence. This year is so different from last year – I’ve had more testing this year than I’ve ever had, considering my deals the past two years came together at the last minute. I’ve had time to get to know the team and my engineer, Doug Zister, so everything feels good.

“I consider St. Pete my home race, but I’m not sure if it creates pressure to have so many of my friends and family there. It’s the best street course we go to and to race right downtown is very cool.”

One year ago, both Kirkwood and Sowery arrived for the corresponding final pre-season Spring Training test with deals that were concluded virtually at the last minute. It certainly didn’t seem to adversely affect their results.

While Kirkwood’s race season included a few hiccups in the early rounds, he ended the year as a convincing Indy Pro 2000 champion, while Sowery impressed by finishing on the podium at St. Petersburg in each of his first two Indy Lights races.

“This year is so much better than last year,” said Sowery, who was one of only two drivers to improve at the end of the day, turning a best lap of 1:14.4428. “Last year the deal came together so late, and after the first session we were a second off the pace. This year we led the first session without really going for it and when everyone went to the new tire, we were right there. So I’m feeling quite confident going into St. Pete.

“There were some nerves going into St. Pete last year, as I had never driven a street course, but I came back to take two podiums – but it was Belardi who beat us, so this year should be even better.”

Lindh, 18, has finished second to Kirkwood in each of the past two years, firstly in USF2000 and then again last year in Indy Pro 2000. He continued his strong form by ending the day third with a time of 1:14.5290, less than a tenth behind his more experienced teammate.

“I’m quite happy,” said Lindh. “I feel as though I’ve adjusted to the car after the Indy Pro 2000 car. Everything feels more proper: the brakes are better, there’s more downforce, so I thought the jump was fairly easy. Belardi always has a good car at St. Pete; they’ve won races there the past few years. It’s a good track to drive. You have to be very precise and that’s fun.”

Another teenager, David Malukas, was fourth fastest for HMD Motorsports, just over a tenth and a half faster than teammate and Indy Lights veteran Santi Urrutia, who is returning to Indy Lights after a one-year hiatus.

Robert Megennis, a race winner last year for Andretti Autosport, was sandwiched between the two HMD Dallaras, fifth fastest, as the top six cars were blanketed by less than a half-second.

Frenchman Tristan Charpentier and Singapore’s Danial Frost, also driving for the Andretti Autosport juggernaut, were seventh and eighth ahead of Canadian Antonio Serravalle for HMD Motorsports and Los Angeles-based Russian Nikita Lastochkin, who has stepped up to Indy Lights this year along with the Canadian-based Exclusive Autosport team.

The Indy Lights teams and drivers will join those from the two junior rungs on the ladder, the Indy Pro 2000 Championship presented by Cooper Tires and the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship, whose Spring Training test wrapped up Sunday, in heading north to St. Petersburg, Fla., for the opening two races of the season.

Kirkwood, 21, has taken the Road to Indy by storm over the past two years. He won 12 of 14 races in 2018 during a dominant campaign in USF2000, then added another nine race wins last year on his way to securing the Indy Pro 2000 crown.

In 2020, he will attempt to become the first driver to win championships on all three levels of the Road to Indy – and, even more impressively, in consecutive years.

If so, he will also claim another Road to Indy scholarship, valued at $1 million, ensuring entry into at least three 2021 IndyCar Series races, including the 105th Indianapolis 500.

Colorado Avalanche star Nathan MacKinnon sustained a lower-body injury in the second period of Monday night's 3-1 loss to the Los Angeles Kings and did not return.

Coach Jared Bednar did not know the extent of the injury or when it happened.

"He leaves the game, I'm concerned right away,'' Bednar said postgame. "I know that he wasn't good enough to come back in the game tonight, so yeah, I'd say that is concerning.''

MacKinnon had one shot in 11:37 of ice time before departing in the second frame.

He has 35 goals and 58 assists this season, good for a tie for fourth in the league in points entering Monday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy refused to rule out a return to the England side for Euro 2020 with first-choices Harry Kane and Marcus Rashford nursing injuries, but the 33-year-old said he had not discussed it with national coach Gareth Southgate.

Vardy, who retired from England duty following the World Cup in 2018, is the Premier League's top scorer this season with 19 goals, following his brace in Monday night's 4-0 win over Aston Villa.

With Tottenham Hotspur's Kane recovering from a hamstring operation he had in January and Manchester United's Rashford out with a back issue, Vardy has emerged as an option for the Euros in June and July.

"Who knows? Gareth and I both agreed the door would still be open for whatever reason and then we would sit down and have a talk about it [if needed]," Vardy, who has seven goals in 26 appearances for England, told Sky Sports.

"We've not had the chat or anything yet and nothing has been spoken about. The lads (Kane and Rashford) are out injured, but they're looking to be back in time. So only time will tell."

Southgate said last week both Kane, who returned to training on Monday, and Rashford were on track in their recoveries but would not close the door on a recall for Vardy.

The striker admitted, however, that being out of the England side had helped him.

"I'm not going to lie, I've had a few extra days off in the international breaks so I've been able to switch off completely from football and it's always beneficial," Vardy said.

"Knowing that when you get back it's constant again, it's 100 percent football every day so it's one of those things that has benefited me."

Of the eight last-16 matchups in the Champions League, just two are effectively settled after the first leg. (Sorry, Chelsea and Valencia.) Three of them feature heavy favorites (Man City, Barcelona, RB Leipzig) against long underdogs (Real Madrid, Napoli, Tottenham), but the odds haven't meant much over the past few years. Beyond those, there are three other ties -- one involving the defending champions -- that currently look like anyone-can-win coin flips. In other words, there's plenty left to play for!

So, with the return legs set to kick off on Tuesday, let's take a look back at each of the first-leg games and see what they can tell us about what's to come over the next two weeks.

Editor's note: scores in parentheses below are from the first legs, played in February. The winner on aggregate over the two legs advances; ties are broken by away goals.

Also, several Champions League games have been impacted by coronavirus fears: Both Valencia vs. Atalanta on Tuesday and Paris Saint-Germain vs. Dortmund on Wednesday will be played behind closed doors. When decisions are made regarding attendance and/or logistics for other matches, we will update this page accordingly.

Jump to: Leipzig-Spurs | Valencia-Atalanta | PSG-Dortmund | Liverpool-Atletico | Man City-Real Madrid | Juventus-Lyon | Napoli-Barcelona | Chelsea-Bayern

RB LEIPZIG (1) vs. TOTTENHAM (0)
Second leg: 3/10, 4 p.m. ET
FiveThirtyEight odds of advancing: RB Leipzig 90%, Spurs 10%

This season marked Leipzig's first-ever appearance in the Champions League knockouts, while their hosts were last year's runners-up and have advanced beyond the group stages in each of the past three seasons. But a wider lens creates a skewed perception of the two clubs. Right now, Leipzig are one of the 10 best teams on the planet, Tottenham are barely one of the 10 best teams in their own country and the game played out pretty much exactly how that dynamic would suggest. In fact, Tottenham were fortunate to get out of the first-leg with a one-goal deficit.

Leipzig came to London and straight-up walloped Jose Mourinho & Co. for 90 minutes. They pressed effectively, controlled possession and dominated territory. They took 16 shots, tied for second-most among all teams across the eight first legs, and they created 2.25 expected goals. Given that Leipzig did all of that on the road, there's not much to suggest a Tottenham comeback beyond, you know, the inherent volatility of soccer's low-scoring nature. However, they did come to life at the end of the match, ultimately creating 1.09 expected goals thanks to some late attacking flurries from Steven Bergwijn and Lucas Moura.

Key stat: In the first leg, 22% of Tottenham's final-third passes were crosses (second-most among all round of 16 participants). Given how aggressively Leipzig presses, you'd expect Spurs to be able to attack more centrally when they do break through that high first line of defense. Perhaps a more nuanced approach could slightly shorten their long odds of advancing.

VALENCIA (1) vs. ATALANTA (4)
Second leg: 3/10, 4 p.m. ET
FiveThirtyEight odds: Atalanta 97%, Valencia 3%

Vindication! Atalanta have been a darling among the soccer analytics community for the past couple of seasons. Per the site FBRef, they were second in Serie A in xG differential last season, and this year they're nearly double the nearest competitor: plus-1.39 xG per match, compared to Juventus's second-best mark of plus-0.79.

Forget their budget or the names on the backs of their jerseys. Just based on the chances they've created and conceded over the past two seasons, Atalanta don't look like a Champions League dark horse; no, they look like a legit title contender. And the first leg against Valencia proved that ... right?

Not quite. Atalanta's efficiency in front of goal belied a rocky overall performance. After controlling the first half and taking a 2-0 lead into the break, they were outshot 12-4 over the final 45 minutes. In fact, Valencia's 18 total shots were the most across all of the first legs, and they weren't just letting rip from range because of the big deficit, either. They completed 16 passes into the penalty, while only allowing eight.

The early goals skewed the way the rest of the game played out, but 4-1 was an incredibly unlikely outcome. Hans Hateboer picked up a brace, and he hasn't even scored in Serie A this season!

Key stat: This one is over for all intents and purposes, but Atalanta's inability to control the game in the second half -- at home, no less -- should give Valencia a tiny bit of hope. They created 2.92 xG in the first leg, fewer than only Manchester City and Bayern Munich.

PSG (1) vs. DORTMUND (2)
Second leg: 3/11, 4 p.m. ET
FiveThirtyEight odds: Dortmund 53%, PSG 47%

This was the most even first leg of the eight games and while PSG do have Neymar and Kylian Mbappe, they unfortunately do not employ Erling Haaland.

Dortmund took two more shots, but PSG had more possession. Dortmund completed more passes into the penalty area, but PSG pressed more effectively. They each generated two shots on fast breaks -- none of the other 14 teams had more than one -- and the quality of chances they both created were about as close as it can get: 1.38 xG to 1.34, in favor of the hosts. The difference, of course, was that Haaland was able to harness the power of the naturally occuring electrostatic current in the Earth's atmosphere and bolt one into the upper corner during the second half.

While the loss was a blow to our claim that PSG have the look of a Champions League winner, they've got an away goal, and they'll be favored to win every game they play at home, no matter the opponent. But part of the point of the PSG experiment is that they'll always have the best attacker on the field and as a Norwegian teenager proved to them a couple weeks ago, that is no longer the case.

Key stat: Kylian Mbappe took nine touches in the Dortmund penalty area, third-most among all players behind Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. However, he only took two shots. Can Dortmund walk such a fine line again in Paris?

LIVERPOOL (0) vs. ATLETICO MADRID (1)
Second leg: 3/11, 4 p.m. ET
FiveThirtyEight odds: Liverpool 51%, Atletico 49%

This was vintage Diego Simeone, huh? Atletico held Liverpool to their worst pre-Watford attacking performance of the season, per FBRef, as they generated just 0.5 xG despite having all of the vaunted front three (Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino, Mohamed Salah) on the field at kickoff.

Jurgen Klopp's team only took eight total shots, and not a single one was on target. It was a masterful defensive performance from every angle: Atletico allowed the fewest total xG among all of the first legs and allowed the fewest xG per shot. Score on a set piece and hold your opponent at arm's length: in Europe, that's been Simeone's home recipe for nearly a decade now. But if you look at everything that happened before the shots, then Liverpool seem dominant -- almost absurdly so.

They completed around 73% of the game's attacking-third passes and they completed 16 passes into the penalty area -- both of which were second-best among all 16 teams. They allowed just 4.89 passes per defensive action (PPDA); no one else was below 8.41. And their average sequence (defined as an uninterrupted possession) began higher up the field (53.5 meters) than anyone else, too.

Key stat: Despite an incredible amount of pressure, Simeone's side did an incredible job to keep the dam from breaking. But that's going to be tough to repeat. Per FiveThirtyEight's non-shot xG tallies, which "estimate of how many goals a team should have scored based on non-shooting actions they took around the opposing team's goal: passes, interceptions, take-ons and tackles," Liverpool more than doubled-up Atletico: 1.4 to 0.6

MAN CITY (2) vs. REAL MADRID (1)
Second leg: 3/17, 4 p.m. ET
FiveThirtyEight odds: Manchester City 90%, Real 10%

Real Madrid's success this season has been built upon their defense, which has allowed the fewest goals (17) in La Liga. Earlier in the campaign, Zinedine Zidane installed a second defense-oriented midfielder, Federico Valverde, alongside Casemiro. Pair them with two great center-backs (Raphael Varane and Sergio Ramos) and a couple defensively capable fullbacks (Dani Carvajal and Ferland Mendy), and you're just not going to give up many goals. That is, unless you're playing Manchester City.

For a team that still really lacks a defining modern European victory, Pep Guardiola's side came into the Santiago Bernabeu and eviscerated Madrid's greatest strength. Think of it as the inverse of Atletico's defensive display: City generated the most expected goals (3.07), the second-most shots (16) and the second-most xG per shot (0.192). Despite playing an unfamiliar, and theoretically defensive, left-wing role, Gabriel Jesus got on the end of shots worth more xG than anyone else across (1.41) all of the first legs.

Key stat: Madrid now have to score at least two goals, and they're going to have to do it without their captain, Sergio Ramos, who was red-carded in the first game, and without allowing much to the same attack that destroyed them a few weeks ago. It's hard to see it happening, but maybe this is one number for Zidane to focus on: Real completed 12 passes into City's penalty area and only allowed eight into theirs.

vs. JUVENTUS (0) vs. LYON (1)
Second leg: 3/17, 4 p.m. ET
FiveThirtyEight odds: Lyon 50%, Juventus 50%

Juventus didn't look like a true title contender before the first leg, and they looked like even less of one after it. Lyon, meanwhile, came into round of 16 as one of the two or three weakest teams remaining. They're currently in fifth place in France, and the FiveThirtyEight Soccer Power Index rates them as the 34th-best team in the world: one spot behind Olympiacos and two spots ahead of Sheffield United. Despite that, they played a roughly even match against the seven-time defending Serie A Champs, just trailing slightly in xG (1.10 to 1.04) and total shots (14 to 12).

This season, Juve really feel like a team in transition: They've moved away from the defensive solidity of the Massimiliano Allegri era, but they haven't fully integrated the field-tilting, systematic chance creation that made Napoli so fun to watch under Maurizio Sarri. Instead, they're a team that can hold lots of possession, but they take a ton of low-quality shots and struggle when they don't have the ball.

"I am having a lot of difficulty in getting across the idea of moving the ball quickly to this team," Sarri said after the loss. Against Lyon, Juventus had 63.5% of possession -- less than only Barcelona and Liverpool -- but their pressing rate (or PPDA) was middle of the pack (11.59). So, most of their attempts came against a packed-in, settled defense, and not a single one ended up on target.

Key stat: Lyon's attack has struggled all season, but Houssem Aouar, the club's latest midfield uber-prospect, gave them enough juice to get over the line in the first leg. Playing on the left wing, he created 0.61 expected assists, which was the most in the match and 10th-most among all players.

It seems unlikely that Lyon hold Juventus scoreless in Italy, so they'll probably need another individual performance like that to make it out of Turin alive.

NAPOLI (1) vs. BARCELONA (1)
Second leg: 3/18, 4 p.m. ET
FiveThirtyEight odds: Barcelona 87%, Napoli 13%

While Barcelona have doubled-down on the "possess the ball until the opponent gives up" strategy since hiring manager Quique Setien, this felt like a new extreme.

In the first leg, they completed 85.3% of the game's attacking-third passes; no one else in the last 16 was above 73.7. They were the only team to complete at least 90% of their passes. Their average sequence contained 7.3 passes -- two more than PSG's second-most total of 5.3. And their average sequence lasted for an absurd 19.2 seconds -- most of all the 16 teams by more than five seconds. And yet, somehow Barcelona were only able to generate eight shots, just one more than Napoli, despite the impossible-seeming possession advantage.

In a broad sense, it worked, as Barcelona created the highest quality opportunities (by xG per shot) across all the first legs, and they edged Napoli on overall xG, 1.62 to 0.75. The difference was the finishing, but given that Barcelona employ the greatest finisher in the world, they'll take that kind of performance every time.

Key stat: Messi completed eight dribbles (tied for most among all players), took 10 touches in the penalty area (second most), completed six passes into the penalty area (second most), and racked up 0.39 xG and 0.72 xA. He didn't score a goal or get an assist. It seems unlikely that'll happen again.

BAYERN MUNICH (3) vs. CHELSEA (0)
Second leg: 3/18, 4 p.m. ET
FiveThirtyEight odds: Bayern greater-than-99%, Chelsea less-than-1%

This was a complete blowout from every conceivable angle. Even though Robert Lewandowski is out injured for the return, I cannot make the case for a Chelsea comeback without invoking witchcraft, ancient magic, alien invasion or geopolitical intervention.

Key stat: Despite being a Canadian teenager who is theoretically playing out of possession as a left fullback, Alphonso Davies completed six dribbles (tied for second-most among all players) and created 0.69 expected assists (fifth-most). He's special.

The weekend's La Liga action confirmed that whoever wins Spain's title is probably going to stumble over the line, exhausted, embarrassed and underwhelming.

Barcelona defeated Real Sociedad 1-0 in a turgid performance against a rotated La Real side -- winning thanks to a dubious penalty after Real Sociedad were denied one of their own which looked at least as givable. The league lead was re-taken, but even more doubts were generated. Plus, a row between Jordi Alba and supporters was sparked over the whistling of Barca players.

Madrid? They were pallid, sloppy and lost 2-1 to Betis down in the seething, green-and-white cauldron that is Benito Villamarin. Afterwards, a succession of their players, and manager Zinedine Zidane, owned up to the fact that their performance had stunk the house out.

"That might have been our worst performance of the season," said the Madrid boss. Ramos added: "When you don't actually do what you've been practising in training all week a result like this is normal. We lacked intensity."

One thing which unites Spain's top two teams is that they look mentally and physically drained. On and off the ball thoughts are processed more slowly, creative movement is delayed, the amount of high-intensity kilometres covered is lower and more passes are misplaced. The entertainment value as a whole is down and the ball is circulated with less and less wit and less and less risk.

Another thing which unites them is their neck-and-neck struggle at the top of La Liga. You could, if you were a chancer, portray the snapshot picture of how the top of the table looks as something positive. There are 11 matches left and it's true that they will be played in a high-tension, "first-slip-loses" atmosphere. It's theatrical.

Kusal Perera is likely to receive substantial compensation over his 2015-16 doping suspension, as settlement negotiations with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) reach their final stages.

The final amount has not yet been pinned down, but Perera is seeking compensation not only for the roughly US$ 100,000 he and his agent had spent clearing his name but also for loss of income and damages. Perera and his legal team had initiated the settlement process, choosing not to pursue legal action.

Perera had been cleared of doping allegations in May 2016, but before that had been barred from playing and training for over five months, after a urine sample he had provided allegedly contained a banned steroid - 19-Norandrostenedione. The suspension had prevented him from appearing in the 2016 T20 World Cup, for which he would almost certainly have been picked.

In fighting to clear his name through the early months of 2016, Perera's legal team even put him through a polygraph test and a hair analysis. After Perera had appealed the suspension, an independent expert hired by the ICC found that the test results that occasioned the suspension were "not sustainable… for various technical and scientific reasons". The ICC consequently issued a release stating that "there is no evidence that Mr Perera has ever used performance-enhancing substances".

The Qatar-based lab that made the unsustainable finding has also since been blacklisted by both WADA and the ICC.

Although it is the ICC that issued the suspension, no financial liability is understood to fall on the body. It may be WADA, or perhaps even the Qatar-based lab, that may ultimately pay Perera's compensation.

Australia's Test captain Tim Paine was called to account by coach Justin Langer for his leadership mistakes during the frenzied final hour of the Headingley Test in front of the rest of the team, and the footage will be aired as part of a deep dive documentary on the national side's 16 months after the Newlands scandal.

Paine, who is also shown delivering a blunt but rousing message to the team in the dressing room in the minutes after the one-wicket loss to England that threatened to derail their bid to retain the Ashes, is challenged by his close ally Langer about the singles made available to Ben Stokes as he charged towards an extraordinary result in Leeds.

Langer and team analyst Dene Hills had forced the touring squad to review footage of the dramatic defeat the morning after it as a way of ensuring it would not be allowed to fester as an issue, something the coach has previously attributed to advice from the former Adelaide Crows AFL coach Don Pyke, who had admitted he waited too long to debrief his side after the 2017 Grand Final loss to Richmond.

The decision to do so and the confrontation between Langer and Paine is one of numerous raw moments captured by the documentary series, The Test, now available on Amazon Prime. It chronicles the long road from the Newlands scandal to the retention of the Ashes at Old Trafford last September, but is never more revealing than when Paine first speaks to a stunned and silent dressing room in the minutes after Stokes has delivered England their miracle.

"Even as someone who knew what was going to be in it, it was fascinating for me to sit back and watch. There were times where I was watching it with just sheer joy and there were others when I literally felt like I was going to cry" Justin Langer

"I'll go and do media now boys, but I just want to say f*** that's going to f***en hurt a lot, no doubt, the next couple of days. However, as I said to a few of you out there, we've still got two Test matches," Paine says to the dressing room. "So let this f***en sting, we had our chances to win that game and we f***ed it up. S*** happens, we can talk about that another time.

"We've got two Test matches, we've got a bit of time off, let's take time, stick together, keep knowing that the process we've got in place to beat these blokes is going to work. So it's not game over, it's not toys out of the cot, it's a game of cricket, s*** f***ing happens. Yep, it was f***ing important, and we wanted it, we should have f***ing won it. Let's move on, and start getting our heads around winning the next two f***ing Tests."

Paine walked straight from that address to his post-match press conference, where he explained, in part, why he had not brought the field up to deny Stokes the opportunity to farm the strike with Jack Leach at the other end. "If we didn't it probably would have finished a lot earlier, the way he was hitting them, to be honest," he said. "It's one of those things. It is a really difficult period of time to captain. I don't think anyone has done it perfectly. I certainly didn't. I don't claim to have. But when a guy is going like that, you bring the field up he's hitting them for four or six anyway."

Langer, meanwhile, is shown to be critical of the field settings as the Stokes-Leach partnership is unfolding, and clearly has them in mind when he calls a still forlorn Australian squad into the boardroom of the Leeds Marriott Hotel the following morning.

"Truth is, this could easily break us," Langer tells the team. "That's what everyone else, the whole rest of the world will be saying, but it's our choice. So what we're going to do is we're going to watch what happened yesterday, and for no other reason except we're going to learn. It's going to give us the s***s watching it, but we're going to learn from it, shake ourselves off, and we're going to get up to be ready for the next Test match."

There are plenty of glum faces as the tape is rolled, as the likes of Nathan Lyon and Marcus Harris struggle to watch. After Stokes is seen coshing the winning runs, the following exchange ensues. "Hard to watch, hard to watch but it is what it is," Langer says. "The only thing I will say, there was an opportunity in my opinion with 71 to go, last ball of the over. If we're reading the play, there is no way there can be a run there. We want six balls at Leach, right, we've got to squeeze in on them, we can't give an easy run like that."

Paine replies: "If he wanted to sweep from wide out of rough, we thought that it was actually a chance to get him out."

Langer: "Were our plans clear enough to Stokes, do you reckon?"

Paine: "We know, we could've changed the fields, we could've bowled more bouncers. We had blokes coming on saying 'bowl slower balls'. Hoff [Josh Hazlewood] bowled him three slower balls and he hit them for three sixes. So 100% we could do things slightly differently. We didn't panic, we didn't s*** ourselves, we tried our best, we had a crack, the bloke had a day out. Absolutely I've been awake all night, I've changed the field a hundred times, I think we all have, but we didn't."

Langer: "The question is, when we're under that pressure, we know that were we really clear on what the plan was."

Hazlewood chimes in: "Plans were really clear, Painey came up at the start of the over, said let's try some slower balls and try to go wide, probably wasn't wide enough on occasions, and I tried a yorker, just missed."

Langer: "He's faced 220 balls by now, and we've got Leach who's come in, you want Patto [James Pattinson] to have six balls at Leach surely. The opportunity missed there, is that we let him have a single. That's just intent, that's just game awareness, which we all talk about."

Paine: "I was sort of umming and ahhing, 'f*** well if we get one or two at Leach, Patto can hit him on the toe ... but the percentage play will now be to bring the field up. Balls five or six we should have had the field up when we had 60 or 70, played it simple, seen that. Got it wrong."

Langer: "No-one ever wants to have that feeling again that you had yesterday, or last night when you lie in your bed. We're going to stay together, we're going to stick together, we're going to work hard together, we're going to get ready together to be ready for Old Trafford together to win the fourth Test match."

The documentary format is to broadcast numerous similarly confronting moments from team meetings or training sessions, followed by commentary from the players concerned. Of the Headingley debrief, Langer says: "After it, Painey says to me, 'mate, I found that really confronting, because I had to admit that I made some mistakes'. And I said, 'that's not a weakness, mate, that's a strength, because we're all human, and it's good to admit weakness or vulnerability in front of your mates', because then they'll go 'oh yeah so we actually did make some mistakes'."

The documentary was launched in Sydney on Tuesday evening, and both Paine and Langer have spoken of their own reactions to it: alongside limited-overs captain Aaron Finch and vice-captain Pat Cummins, they formed a committee that reviewed each episode of the series, directed by Adrian Brown.

"Even as someone who knew what was going to be in it, it was fascinating for me to sit back and watch," Paine told RSN Radio last week. "There were times where I was watching it with just sheer joy and there were others when I literally felt like I was going to cry."

Langer, meanwhile, has admitted the openness of the documentary was difficult for him to watch at times. "It's very confronting," Langer said. "But it is what it is, that's what actually happens in the Australian cricket team. I'll be fascinated how the public reacts to it, I hope they enjoy it. Looking back on it after 18 months, I've spoken very publicly about the first six months of the job and how hard it was. To watch that, I was getting sweaty under my tracksuit every time I watched it. But looking back, that's actually what happened."

Jonty Rhodes believes South Africa should "do anything" to win the T20 World Cup, and that means picking AB de Villiers, who hasn't played international cricket for nearly two years, if needed. But Rhodes is concerned that picking de Villiers could set a worrying precedent, as it would mean leaving out a player who would be in contention in the lead-up to the tournament.

Rhodes' fear is the same as that expressed by middle-order batsman Rassie van der Dussen during the World Cup last year, as van der Dussen would likely have lost his spot had de Villiers been picked. Incidentally, van der Dussen ended as South Africa's second-highest scorer, averaging 62.20 with three half-centuries, behind Faf du Plessis.

"I think it's interesting because it's a tough call," Rhodes told ESPNcricinfo on the sidelines of the Road Safety World Series in Mumbai. "You want your best team to play, it's also tough on the guys who then miss out. You know AB is a very special player so then do you set a precedent for a guy like AB de Villiers if he is not playing for South Africa, I mean why are you selecting him?

"I suppose a lot of people watch how he performed at the IPL but just watching him in the Big Bash, he's such a class player; I'm a big fan of AB de Villiers. I'm just not sure of the precedent. If you want to win a T20 World Cup, you should do anything to win it. You're not breaking any rules, you are setting a slight precedent and you are going to be upsetting a few players who are going to miss out. But a team without AB de Villiers or a team with AB de Villiers… I'd love to see that guy play. Although difficult to answer that because I'm not somebody who is missing out, I'm also not from the administration about setting this kind of precedent, so I don't have to make that call. It'll just be great to see AB de Villiers play at a World Cup again for us."

De Villiers retired from international cricket in May 2018 and it was later revealed that he made an offer to play the 50-over World Cup last year, but was turned down by the national selectors.

There have been recent talks of de Villiers returning to the international fold and the new head coach Mark Boucher indicated last month that if de Villiers were available, they would take him to Australia later this year for the T20 World Cup.

South Africa will be desperate to get the best players for a global tournament after their seventh-place finish in the ODI World Cup last year, with only three wins in eight completed games.

Cricket in the country is also coming out of a crisis. Boucher took over as the head coach in December - until 2023 - and Graeme Smith was named the CSA director of cricket to help pull the team and the administration out of the abyss both on and off the field. South Africa lost a home Test series to Sri Lanka a year ago and were blanked 3-0 in India later in the year before losing a home Test series to England despite taking a 1-0 lead. That was followed by du Plessis stepping down as their Test and T20I captain last month.

"Firstly, South Africa have just won a series against Australia, it's the first series we've won after a new start. I don't think anybody is saying 'all is fixed' so, I think there's a lot of work to be done." Jonty Rhodes

Things look slightly more promising in ODIs, though. They recently swept the home series against Australia, the first series win under Boucher.

"Firstly, South Africa have just won a series against Australia, it's the first series we've won after a new start," Rhodes said. "I don't think anybody is saying 'all is fixed', so I think there's a lot of work to be done. Mark Boucher is the head coach and knows there's a lot to put in place but finally, we've won a series."

For the T20 World Cup, South Africa will also be upbeat because of the possible presence of Dale Steyn, who is now focusing on only one format and is set to play the IPL again after featuring in the Pakistan Super League and Big Bash League recently. On the international front too, he played two games against England at home and one more against Australia last month, taking three wickets in as many T20Is this year.

"If you add a guy like Dale to [Lungi] Ngidi and [Kagiso] Rabada, you've got real pace," Rhodes said. "And in T20 cricket, you've to knock people over. Economy rates are important but you also got to take wickets. You might be good for seven or eight overs but if you haven't taken wickets in the powerplay, you've given the opposition a real platform to launch. You do need wicket-takers in your team.

"A guy like [Tabraiz] Shamsi for me can be an important part of our T20 World Cup [squad] even in Australia, not big turning wickets but if there's bounce, the left-arm chinaman can become a handful. Hoggy (Brad Hogg) played cricket forever, and successfully. In Australia, you can as a wristspinner get reward for what you do.

"So with the pace of Steyn, Ngidi and Rabada, they got to add a few allrounders - [Andile] Phehlukwayo or somebody, in limited-overs cricket he's got a knack of taking wickets because he changes up; every delivery is different and that's what you need. If you haven't got pure pace, you've got to work on other skills. And if you have those four guys who can take wickets, and someone like a Shamsi, then you have a world-class bowling attack. In T20 cricket, it's not just about the batting, if you can continue to take wickets, you're in the game."

C Shamsuddin will take no further part as an on-field umpire in the Ranji Trophy final in Rajkot because of swelling in his lower abdomen, after a ball thrown by a Bengal fielder following the fall of a wicket on Monday hit Shamsuddin when he wasn't looking.

"He didn't look comfortable taking the field because of pain, so we took him to hospital and he underwent medical examination," a Saurashtra Cricket Association official told ESPNcricinfo on Tuesday. "He was advised a week's rest, so he will return home."

For one full session on Tuesday, KN Ananthapadhmanabhan, the other on-field umpire, officiated from both ends, with local umpire Piyush Kakkar doing duty at square leg. The BCCI regulations require the presence of neutral umpires from both ends; Kakkar, being from Rajkot, wasn't allowed to officiate from the main end.

S Ravi, the designated third umpire, couldn't take the field as he was the only match official equipped with BCCI's limited DRS available for the match. However, after lunch, Shamsuddin was temporarily slotted in as TV umpire, with Ravi taking the field to comply with BCCI's neutral umpires' criteria.

The absence of a fourth umpire for a televised five-day game, that too a final, could raise questions over the board's contingency measures in case of unforeseen situations like external injuries to officials, like in Shamsuddin's case, or concussion.

The BCCI has summoned Yashwant Barde from Mumbai as replacement. He is expected to arrive on Tuesday evening, and will officiate along with Ananthapadhmanabhan from Wednesday, the third day of the final.