HOUSTON -- James Click was introduced as the new general manager of the Houston Astros on Tuesday, joining a scandal-plagued team that scrambled to fill two major roles just before the start of spring training.

Click took over for Jeff Luhnow, suspended for a season by Major League Baseball and then fired for his role in Houston's sign-stealing scandal. The Astros last week hired 70-year-old Dusty Baker to take over for AJ Hinch as manager.

The 42-year-old Click spent the last three seasons as the Tampa Bay Rays' vice president of baseball operations. Click had been with Tampa Bay for the last 14 seasons.

Astros owner Jim Crane lauded the combined experience of Click and Baker, who have joined a team that lost a seven-game World Series to Washington.

"They've both been in baseball a long time and have unbelievable experience," Crane said. "We're confident that under their leadership we will win another championship or championships."

Click seemed undaunted at the challenge of taking over a team portrayed as an outlaw. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred concluded the Astros used electronics to illicitly steal signs during their run to the 2017 World Series championship and again in the 2018 season.

"My goal is to help us win this year, nothing less," Click said. "I'm confident that with the talent we have in the front office and the talent we have on the field that we will be competitive for years to come."

Click is a Yale graduate and wrote for analytics website Baseball Prospectus for several years before being hired by the Rays.

Click was involved in guiding and overseeing all aspects of the baseball operations department. His areas of focus were research and development, strategic planning and innovation.

Crane was asked if he was concerned about hiring someone who has never been a general manager to lead his team during these trying times.

"He's worked in almost every department and has tons of experience and was primed to be a general manager," Crane said. "With his experience level, and his interaction with the guys, and our entire staff, I think he's definitely the right person and I have no reservations whatsoever putting them in the job. I know we can do it."

Click is the 13th general manager in franchise history.

"Winning a championship is going to be on the front burner at all times," Click said. "I'm really looking forward to getting to know Dusty and everybody here at the Astros and figuring out the best way to do that."

In his report on Houston's sign-stealing, Manfred called the culture in the team's front office "problematic." Before the sign-stealing sanctions, the Astros were widely criticized when assistant general manager Brandon Taubman was fired after yelling at female reporters about closer Roberto Osuna during the team's celebration after winning the AL Championship Series.

Click didn't have any comment on how things were done in the past, but vowed that he'd foster a nurturing culture under his watch.

"Culture is something that I take very seriously," he said. "And I think we'd like to do everything we can to continue to make sure that this is an employee-first culture, the kind of place where people want to work and are involved and engaged in every phase of your life, that continue the positive culture that we have with the Astros."

Crane found a new manager and general manager in less than a month after Luhnow and Hinch were fired on Jan. 13. The Astros also were fined $5 million, the maximum allowed under the Major League Constitution, and forfeited their next two first- and second-round amateur draft picks.

Álex Cora, the bench coach for the Astros in 2017 and the manager who guided the Red Sox to the 2018 World Series title, recently parted with Boston. Carlos Beltrán, singled out for his role in the cheating scheme while playing for the 2017 Astros, was let go as manager of the New York Mets last month before working his first game.

Mike Trout has been baseball's best player for nearly a decade and still has not won a postseason game. We know this, and yet the mere mention of it always seems to make our heads spin. Such a thing is actually a very rare circumstance, even within a sport that so greatly diminishes the impact of an individual.

Consider: Trout, still only 28 years old, has averaged nine Baseball-Reference wins above replacement per season since his rookie year in 2012, putting him on track for 81.5 WAR by the end of the 2020 regular season. Only 58 players have ever reached those heights, and only seven of them accumulated that much WAR before experiencing their first postseason victory. Four of them -- Walter Johnson, Rogers Hornsby, Cy Young and Nap Lajoie -- retired before World War II. The others -- Robin Roberts, Ferguson Jenkins and Phil Niekro -- were done before the 1990s.

Since then, Major League Baseball has added two divisions and four wild-card spots, creating an era when a third of the league's teams makes the playoffs each year. In some ways, it has never been easier to reach the postseason. And yet Trout, on a track that could someday make him the greatest player in baseball history, has gone eight years without putting his imprint on October.

How?

The easy answer is that the Angels -- the franchise that made him a first-round pick, then signed him to two nine-figure extensions -- have failed Trout. But it's not that simple. Flawed as their process might have been, they've tried. They signed star free agents, pulled off in-season trades for impact players, chased veteran pitchers and basically avoided a necessary rebuild in hopes of maximizing Trout's prime -- only to potentially waste it further in the process.

The Angels lost 90 games last season, then brought back the decorated Joe Maddon to be their new manager and splurged on a star third baseman in Anthony Rendon. They hope this is the year they finally reward Trout for his loyalty; the punishment levied against the division-rival Houston Astros for their sign-stealing methods should only help. But to even get to this point -- to not do any meaningful winning around a player who makes you no worse than mediocre all by himself -- is an outright travesty.

Below are 10 reasons why it has happened.

Pujols' elusive prime

You should have seen Albert Pujols in his first spring training with the Angels. He was spry and light on his feet, lining pitches all over the field and looking very much like the greatest hitter on the planet. Then the regular season began, and Pujols went on a mystifying 27-game homerless drought. He recovered well enough to contribute solid numbers in 2012. But then plantar fasciitis ruined his 2013 season, and the player who emerged from that no longer resembled the titanic slugger from St. Louis. Pujols' prime was gone -- just like that. From the start of June to the end of August in 2012, Trout and Pujols combined to bat .336/.402/.617 with 41 home runs and 121 RBIs. It was the only period when their greatness truly intersected.

Haren's balky back

Most of the talk heading into the 2012 season centered on Pujols, but the Angels' starting rotation seemed particularly formidable. C.J. Wilson, another coveted free agent, was added to a staff that already featured one of the game's best rotation duos in Jered Weaver and Dan Haren. But Haren fell off precipitously in 2012. A back injury he suffered the previous summer materialized again during spring training and plagued him throughout the season, limiting Haren's ability to finish pitches in the bottom of the strike zone as his ERA rose to 4.33. That led the Angels to trade for two months' worth of Zack Greinke in July, which cost them a talented infield prospect named Jean Segura. And it helped keep a talented team out of the playoffs.

The Hamilton debacle

On Dec. 12, 2012, the Angels introduced four new pitchers -- Joe Blanton, Tommy Hanson, Ryan Madson and Sean Burnett -- at the ESPN Zone at Downtown Disney in Anaheim. Their offseason work was presumably finished. But later that night, while the team hosted its annual holiday party at the same venue, players in attendance were made aware of the shocking news that would leak the following morning -- Josh Hamilton was joining the team, by virtue of a five-year, $125 million contract.

It was a setup for disaster from the outset.

Hamilton arrived at his first spring training with the Angels significantly lighter and ultimately lost a lot of his prodigious power. Years 1 and 2 included a .255 batting average and 31 home runs in 240 games. Year 3 was flat-out bizarre. Hamilton's cocaine and alcohol use resurfaced over the offseason, and the front office quickly distanced itself from him. When MLB decided not to suspend Hamilton, the Angels expressed public anger. They ultimately sent him back to the Texas Rangers -- and agreed to eat most of the remaining $83 million on his contract. It set the franchise back years.

A man named Nori

The Angels were the best team in baseball when the postseason began in 2014. They won a major league-best 98 games, cruising to the American League West title with relative ease. Then they ran into a Kansas City Royals team that played amazing defense, and right fielder Norichika Aoki stole Game 1 of the division series with two circus catches. To end the sixth inning, Aoki extended his right arm while backing up Lorenzo Cain in the gap and found Howie Kendrick's fly ball in his glove. To end the seventh, he dove on the warning track to make up for a bad route on C.J. Cron's drive and somehow made the catch. Both plays came with two outs, a runner in scoring position and the game tied. The Angels lost that game in 11 innings, then lost Game 2 in 11 innings. They were routed in Game 3, and that was it -- Trout's best chance at a postseason victory was over.

July of 2015

When the month began, the Angels were suddenly without a general manager. Jerry Dipoto resigned in the wake of a testy meeting with the coaching staff, the final straw in what had evolved into a contentious relationship with longtime manager Mike Scioscia. The Angels were four games out of first place and in the thick of the wild-card race at the time, and Dipoto's departure precipitated a run of 13 wins in a span of 15 games. But the moves made to bolster the roster ahead of the July 31 trade deadline -- adding outfielders Shane Victorino, David DeJesus and David Murphy -- were ineffective. The Angels faded toward the end of another unfulfilling summer.

Weaver's diminishing fastball

Jered Weaver's fastball averaged 90 mph for the last time in 2011. For the next three years, he pitched around 88 but still managed to win 49 games, compile 556⅓ innings and post a 3.24 ERA. His determination and know-how, not to mention the deception in his delivery, allowed him to remain among the game's best pitchers despite lacking an overpowering pitch. But by 2015, in his age-32 season, Weaver's fastball plunged to 84 mph. And there was no recovering from that. Weaver's days as a legitimate force at the top of the rotation -- or, to some extent, as a serviceable member near the middle of it -- ended abruptly. The Angels still haven't found a worthy replacement.

The rotation -- or lack thereof

All of Fenway Park fell abruptly silent on the night of Aug. 20, 2014. Garrett Richards, the electric young right-hander in the midst of a breakthrough season, lay on the ground writhing in pain, clutching his left knee upon suffering a torn patellar tendon. It foreshadowed what became a dizzying number of injuries for Angels starting pitchers.

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Over the next five years, Richards, Andrew Heaney, Tyler Skaggs, Nick Tropeano and Shohei Ohtani all needed Tommy John surgery, while Matt Shoemaker dealt with a mysterious nerve issue that limited him to one start over the course of 15 months. From 2015 to 2018, 32 pitchers made starts for the Angels. And on the first day of July in 2019, Skaggs was found dead in his hotel room at the age of 27, just as he was coming into his own as a major leaguer. The organization is still coping with the aftereffects.

September of 2017

The Angels found themselves in a general malaise for about a three-year stretch, but they suddenly caught the attention of baseball observers throughout the country on Aug. 31, 2017, the deadline for acquiring postseason-eligible players. With their record at 69-65, the Angels traded for outfielder Justin Upton and second baseman Brandon Phillips, who had a combined seven All-Star appearances on their resumes. But then the Angels suddenly faded, winning only 11 of their next 28 games. Another season lost.

Missing out on Corbin

The Angels clearly needed a top-of-the-rotation starter heading into the 2019 season, and GM Billy Eppler made a run at free agent Patrick Corbin, a second-round pick by the team in 2009 who was traded to Arizona a year later. Corbin instead chose to sign a six-year, $140 million contract with the Washington Nationals, sending Eppler to the proverbial bargain bin to try to patch holes in his pitching staff. He wound up spending nearly $30 million on Matt Harvey, Trevor Cahill and Cody Allen, who combined to allow 131 earned runs in 185 innings for a team that went 72-90. Corbin went 14-7 with a 3.25 ERA for the team that won the World Series.

The farm system

Baseball America had the Angels' farm system ranked as either the worst or the second-worst in baseball at the start of every season from 2013 to 2017. If you're looking for the biggest reason the organization has not fielded enough talent around the game's best player, look no further. You can point to the loss of draft picks as compensation for expensive free agents, or cutting back on international spending in the late 2010s, or failed drafts shortly thereafter -- all are valid reasons why the Angels' once-bountiful minor league system evolved into an industry-wide laughingstock. The effects were felt immensely on the major league level.

An Angels team that doesn't boast the revenue streams of financial behemoths like the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers badly needed cheap, talented, young players to offset the high salaries on their payroll and consistently struggled to produce them. And because of that, they constantly found themselves having to fill needs on their major league club through the shallow end of the free-agent pool -- historically treacherous waters through which to navigate. Names such as Blanton, Madson, Harvey, Cahill, Raul Ibanez, Matt Joyce, Zack Cozart and Jesse Chavez show that the Angels did not do well in this department.

Trout -- and, indirectly, the entire baseball-loving segment of our population -- has suffered because of it.

The T37 sprinter calls time on her career, which also featured four world title wins

Britain’s double Paralympic sprint champion Georgie Hermitage has announced her retirement from athletics.

The 30-year-old, who also won four world titles during her career, says the decision to retire is “heartbreaking” but she has been unable to overcome recurring injuries.

The T37 sprinter, who has cerebral palsy, was inspired to return to athletics after watching the London 2012 Games and made her international debut at the World Para Athletics Championships in Doha in 2015.

There she claimed the T37 400m title as well as T35-38 4x100m relay gold and 100m silver. Two years later, in front of a home crowd, she retained her world 400m title in London in a world record time and also gained gold in the 100m.

READ MORE: Sophie Hahn and Georgie Hermitage run records to win world gold

In Rio in 2016 she was crowned Paralympic champion in the T37 100m and 400m and that year also saw her become a four-time European gold medallist with wins in the 100m, 200m, 400m and relay in Grosseto.

After calling time on her career, Hermitage said: “It is a heartbreaking decision to retire but despite our best efforts, my body isn’t recovering from injuries which means I’m not able to train or compete to the level that’s required.

“Working with the British Athletics medical team, we have thrown the kitchen sink at trying to deal with the injuries, but they keep recurring. You can never say never, but I know this is the right decision at this point in my life.

“Sport is a lovely thing, but it is not everything,” she added. “I want to be able to go out for a jog with (her daughter) Tilly. I don’t want to miss those lovely moments with her. I’m at a point in my life when that is the most important thing. Tilly is so excited to get her mum back.

“I would have loved to have gone to Tokyo, but I would have been half the athlete I know I can be. The pain and stress it was causing me meant I wasn’t enjoying it as much.”

Reflecting on her highlights on the track, she said: “The 2015 world championships in Doha was a bubble. I remember being in holding camp wearing kit and I was so excited. It was a quick intro into that environment. I think it helped that I met my best friend in the sport on that trip – ‘Butters’ (Jo Butterfield). She was my room-mate and we just got on straight away. I was nervous but not under real pressure, so I really enjoyed those championships. It is one of my happiest memories.

“I’d say the highlight of my career was definitely winning the 100m in Rio. It was not my favourite event so to win it meant even more. The whole race was an out of body experience – I still can’t actually watch it! The relief was so huge, and my euphoria went through the roof. I felt invincible.

“London 2017 was special in a different type of way. I remember there was a really good crowd in for my heats on Saturday morning. The roar was just amazing. Richard Whitehead told me to use it and I pumped up the crowd, it was unbelievable. To win both races in front of Tilly and my family was also very special. I won’t forget that moment.”

The European 200m silver medallist shares insight into his winter training which features CrossFit inspired cardio and weekends off

Too often athletes avoid the rival head-to-heads that supporters crave outside of major championships, but not Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake. He doesn’t just race against them. He trains with them.

“I feel like I’m in a professional environment now,” says the Florida-based Brit whose training group, which is guided by coach Lance Brauman, includes world 200m champion Noah Lyles among a host of other global talents.

“When you’re training with the best people in the world I feel like naturally your levels just rise. You know you have to go out and give it your best effort every time, because everyone’s here to compete. If you’re going to race them eventually, why not see what they’re doing in training?”

AW: What are the essential components of training at this time of year?
“The most important thing about this training block is staying healthy and looking after your body so you can stack each block on top of each other,” says Mitchell-Blake.

“Never take health for granted. It’s about doing the little things right, whether it’s nutrition, sleep, whatever works for you.”

AW: Favourite session at this time of year?
“Naturally the faster ones – every sprinter loves to sprint. We dread the days where we have to put in a bit more mileage.”

AW: And the least favourite?
“The 300s, the 200s … but I try to approach every workout with as positive an attitude as possible. Sometimes you know it’s going to hurt but you just have to suffer in silence and handle the business. It’s your job.”

Always room for improvement

No matter how things are going in training, there’s always room for improvement, says Mitchell-Blake.

“Nobody is the complete athlete, so you have to work on the little things. I’m not a natural starter – I believe I have a greater top end – but you have to work on your weaknesses and allow them to become your strengths,” adds the European 200m silver medallist and 2017 world 4x100m champion.

“I set myself a target each week, each block. Nothing will ever be perfect, but I have to find how I can maximise certain things to ensure they work to my advantage. It can be exhausting, but it’s Olympic year, so if you need any motivation, you’ve just got to think of that.”

A TYPICAL JANUARY TRAINING WEEK

This phase, which includes the transition between base training and speed, is hugely important for Mitchell-Blake.

“It’s the first speed block of the year so we’re going to be a bit sore from doing a lot of fast pattern movements,” he says.

MONDAY: Speedwork. “800m warm-up, drills, bounding, then sled pulls, blocks, wickets. We’re starting to get into blocks now which is the fun part for me. After that we might do a couple of 150ms, then we hit the gym (lower body workout). We’re lifting pretty heavy right now.”

TUESDAY: “We do something like 2 x 350m (off 3 or 4 minutes), 2 x 200m (off 2 minutes), 150m-100m- 100m (off 4 minutes) – so a bit more mileage. We’re hitting 12/13s per 100m, so it definitely gets the heart going and it’s a fast-enough pace to hurt. Then we hit the gym (upper body).”

WEDNESDAY: “This is a day to work on what you want to do. I do a lot of abdominal work and stretching on a Wednesday.”

THURSDAY: As Tuesday

FRIDAY: “Hills, e.g. 200m, 100m, 150m, 150m, then we’ll finish off with 4 x 100m sprints. The hills are timed so it’s pretty intense. Friday in the gym is a bit of Olympic lifting, hex bar, power clean, snatch.”

WEEKEND OFF

In addition to athletics-specific training, Mitchell-Blake does a lot of CrossFit inspired cardio which is added on to the end of each session.

Britain's Jamie Murray reached another Grand Slam final alongside American Bethanie Mattek-Sands in the Australian Open mixed doubles. In his regular BBC Sport column, the Scot talks about their three-set defeat, playing until his 40s and how eating meat in Colombia left him concerned about failing a drugs test.

Losing the mixed doubles final and missing out on my eighth Grand Slam title at the Australian Open was very disappointing.

Bethanie Mattek-Sands and I lost to Nikola Mektic and Barbora Krejcikova, but I know if we keep putting our games out there, then we will have more chances to win Grand Slam titles in the future.

That's the same with Neal Skupski in the men's doubles, even though we had a disappointing tournament in Melbourne.

My goals now, which will be my goals until I finish playing, are trying to win the French Open and Wimbledon. I would love to make a career Grand Slam.

I turn 34 next week and I don't see why I can't play for a long while yet. Maybe I will play until my 40s.

I'll play for as long as I can. As long as I'm fit and healthy, as long as my ranking is at a point where I'm still able to compete at the biggest tournaments in the world, and as long as I enjoy doing it.

Once you stop, you can never go back.

I'd find it difficult to replicate those feelings and emotions in other walks of life knowing the experiences I've had on a tennis court.

A lot of guys are playing into their 40s now, such as the Bryan brothers.

People are looking after themselves much better, we've got all the sports scientists and with the scoring system we play on the ATP Tour, the endurance aspect has gone out of the game.

If I'm fit and healthy, and feeling like I'd still get out there, compete and do myself justice, then why not keep playing into my 40s?

'Beth and I will play together at Roland Garros'

In the mixed doubles final, Beth and I made a bad start in the match tie-break and it got away from us pretty quickly.

We did well to turn around the first set. Beth played some amazing shots at the end of the first set to get that in the bag for us. Then I was unlucky to lose my serve in the middle of the second set.

I thought Nikola played a great match start to finish and Barbora started to really play well in the last quarter of the match.

They got a lot of momentum and we weren't able to stop it, especially after a bad start in the tie-break. Overall it was a great final and they deserved victory.

The match was played after the women's final but it still felt as if there was a lot of energy on Rod Laver Arena.

Obviously people are going to leave after the women's final; that's normal.

It was late because we didn't go on court until 10:30pm but there was still a decent crowd and atmosphere.

Overall we are disappointed to lose in a final but we played a lot of great tennis over the two weeks and had a lot of fun.

Beth is an amazing player, an amazing mixed doubles player and I've been lucky to get the chance to compete with her.

We will play together at Roland Garros and in all the tournaments we can this year.

I hope we can add to the US Open titles we won in 2018 and last year.

'Neal and I must learn from disappointing early exit'

Even though Beth and I just came up a bit short in the final, it was still a positive tournament.

The men's doubles was more disappointing for me and Neal.

After reaching the US Open semi-finals at the previous Grand Slam, we had high hopes of going far in Melbourne.

But we lost in the second round when we were beaten by American pair Sam Querrey and Steve Johnson.

Having saved six match points, we eventually went out after losing a final-set tie-break 14-12.

We were on top in the third set and let it get away. To go out in that way - to lose such a close match, after having loads of chances ourselves - was disappointing.

The hope is that we will learn from that - and if that situation arises again, we will do a better job of seeing it out.

We have to learn from those experiences and learn what we can do better in those moments.

But overall it has been a decent start to the year. I've played a lot of matches and feel better with a lot things I've been working on.

I feel that Neal and I can go ahead and have a good season.

Drugs test concerns after eating Colombian meat

I got a bit concerned when I saw Robert Farah, who is the world number one doubles player from Colombia, allege that he failed a drugs test because of the meat he had eaten when he was back home.

My wife Alejandra is from Colombia, and we had been over to Bogota to see her family for a few days in December.

I ate all sorts of food there and ate meat at family barbecues. It was only when I saw the story that I realised. That's when I got a bit worried.

Eating meat is a big part of the culture in Colombia and I was there for five days.

I probably ate it a couple of times - it wasn't like I'd eaten a whole cow! But perhaps that all it takes.

I got tested a couple of days after leaving but when the results came back, they were fine, thankfully - and I had no further issues.

Bogota is a fun city. The people there know how to enjoy themselves; they are warm people and are very friendly.

There is a lot of good food there. The fruit and veg are amazing, and a different league to what we have in the UK.

We didn't get chance to do much sightseeing on this trip, I've done plenty there before; we were just spending time with Ale's family and relaxing in the off-season.

It was a great break and set me up nicely for a busy start to the new season.

Jamie Murray was speaking to BBC Sport's Jonathan Jurejko at Melbourne Park

Worcester forward Michael Fatialofa has left hospital a month after suffering a serious spinal cord injury.

The 27-year-old was hurt in his side's Premiership loss to Saracens on 4 January and spent more than a fortnight in intensive care at St Mary's Hospital in central London.

He will move to a spinal rehabilitation unit to continue his recovery.

"Doctors, nurses and physios have been amazing," Fatialofa wrote on his Instagram page.

"Overwhelmed by the love and support from family and friends. Thanks for riding with me. The marathon continues," he added.

The Rugby Players' Association has launched a crowdfunding page to raise money to help Fatialofa and his family.

Harlequins' head of rugby Paul Gustard and Saracens players Jamie George, Will Skelton and Duncan Taylor are among those from Premiership clubs who have already donated to the page, which has raised more than £10,000 in less than 18 hours.

"As a family, we appreciate any help people are willing to give at this difficult time," Fatialofa's wife Tatiana said.

"It is very humbling and well outside of our comfort zone to reach out and ask for support in this way.

"We would love to thank everyone in advance, and feel so overwhelmed already by the generosity, prayers and kindness Michael and I have been shown.

"Together, we can all ensure he has the best chance of regaining independence and living a fulfilling life again."

Manchester City are confident Raheem Sterling will be available for their Champions League clash with Real Madrid despite suffering a hamstring injury during the defeat to Tottenham, sources have told ESPN.

Sterling limped off with a hamstring strain during the 2-0 defeat on Sunday and is set to miss City's next fixture, West Ham's visit to the Etihad Stadium.

The England winger is also a doubt for the game against Leicester at the King Power Stadium on Feb. 22 at the end of City's winter break, but the injury should not keep him out of the Champions League round-of-16 first leg against Real Madrid at the Bernabeu on Feb. 26.

Manager Pep Guardiola has admitted Sterling, who has already played 40 games this season, is suffering from fatigue but club medical staff consider the 25-year-old to be a quick healer and, at this stage, there are no fears he will miss the game against Zinedine Zidane's side in three weeks' time.

Meanwhile, City are interested in Villarreal defender Pau Torres as they prepare to rejuvenate Guardiola's squad over the summer.

- Premier League winter break: All you need to know

The hierarchy, led by director of football Txiki Begiristain, have identified the centre of defence as a key area to strengthen ahead of next season and Torres, 23, could be one of two centre-backs to arrive.

Vincent Kompany's departure in the summer has led to midfielder Fernandinho spending most of the campaign in defence, while there are also doubts over the futures of Nicolas Otamendi and John Stones.

Stones, 25, has endured a difficult season and despite being on the verge of entering the final two years of his contract, there are no plans yet to discuss an extension.

Two South Korean fans who sued the match organiser after Cristiano Ronaldo failed to play in a friendly during Juventus's preseason tour in Seoul last year are entitled to compensation due to "mental anguish" a court ruled on Tuesday.

A district court in Incheon, west of Seoul, ordered the local agency that organised the match, The Fasta Inc, to pay $312 to both fans listed in the lawsuit.

The lawsuit complained that The Fasta Inc had publicised that Ronaldo would play for at least 45 minutes, but the Portugal star ultimately sat out the entire game in July 2019.

The court ordered The Fasta Inc to pay $58.95 per ticket, $252.63 each for "mental anguish" for the two plaintiffs, lawyer Kim Min-ki who filed the lawsuit, told Reuters.

Kim said he was also representing 87 other plaintiffs in several other cases that were filed in connection with the match.

Ronaldo converted two penalties as he scored for the ninth Serie A game in a row during Juventus' 3-0 win over Florentina on Sunday.

Real Madrid and Barcelona were united by their teenage prodigies last weekend.

Los Blancos via their brilliant 19-year-old Brazilian, Vinicius Junior, who drew three spellbound Atletico Madrid opponents toward him before releasing a magical pass so that Ferland Mendy could feed Karim Benzema for the winning goal. Barca, Spain's reigning (but soon to be deposed) champions, offered prayers of thanks to 17-year-old Ansu Fati, whose rampant precocity continues to set new Camp Nou, La Liga and Champions League records. His brace of goals won three precious points against a Levante side that should have drawn, and could have won, at Camp Nou for the first time in their history.

Nevertheless, Spain's dominant clubs are utterly divided on this subject. They are on two sides of an argument about what it is to have young talent, whether such precious resources are for sale, how to bring promising prodigies to maturity and whether the helter-skelter drive towards trophies and increased turnover allows time to develop.

Put it like this: In a week when Barcelona, not long ago the kings of youth development, elbowed five fledgling players out the door, without much intention of recuperating them, Real Madrid stayed three points clear at the top of La Liga using a clutch of players they've successfully nurtured in a manner to which those in charge at Barcelona seem to be blind.

Starting for Madrid against their bitter red-and-white rivals were Casemiro, Dani Carvajal and Federico Valverde -- each of whom were made to serve apprenticeships far from either the majestic Bernabeu or the sprawling Valdebebas training ground you see off to your right as you drive in from Barajas airport. Casemiro was sent to Porto (where, at age 21, he played 40 times and reached the Champions League quarterfinal under Julen Lopetegui), Carvajal to Bayer Leverkusen (36 matches and Champions League qualification), while Valverde spent 2017-18 at Deportivo La Coruna (latterly coached by four-time Champions League winner Clarence Seedorf, where he, and the Galicians, were relegated).

Pretty disparate overall experiences, you'd agree.

Throw in the fact that Lucas Vazquez and Marco Asensio spent 2014-15 and 2015-16 respectively at Espanyol (nearly 80 appearances between them), with the former reaching the Copa del Rey semifinal, and Madrid's policy becomes crystal clear.

Between them, Casemiro, Carvajal, Lucas and Asensio have 13 Champions League winners' medals, two Champions League final goals, one final assist and a converted penalty in the 2016 final shootout. Whether or not you draw a direct line linking the experiences those guys gained in Westphalia, Catalunya, Oporto or Galicia and this deluge of success in the tournament that Madrid covet the most, Casemiro, Carvajal, Lucas, Asensio and Valverde represent resources that were spotted young, nourished and have gone on to extremely high yields. Valverde, still only 21, is only establishing himself in Los Blancos' first team, but he'd probably be the fourth or fifth name Zidane chooses for his team sheet in important matches -- plus he's the absolute darling of the Santiago Bernabeu.

Obviously, unless you've been on Jupiter or Mars, you'll be starkly aware that this is a dramatic pendulum swing from not many seasons ago when Barcelona (who take on Athletic Bilbao on Thursday in the Copa del Rey quarterfinals; 2:55 p.m. ET, stream live on ESPN+) not only swaggered to the bravado of a bevvy of home-bred talents, they even fielded a team of 11 academy players against Levante in 2012. Of that lineup, once Dani Alves was replaced by Martin Montoya, eight were World Cup winners, European champions (or both) or Olympic Gold medalists. To list all their combined club and international trophies would take the rest of the column, so let's just accept that those virtuoso prodigies -- Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Lionel Messi, Carles Puyol, et al -- were one of the greatest crops ever produced by any club ever.

Which is why that turgid, sloppy and eventually narrow win over Levante, little more than seven years later, brings this subject into stark focus.

During those interim years Madrid (who host Real Sociedad in the Copa del Rey quarterfinals on Thursday; 12:55 p.m. ET, stream live on ESPN+), as detailed, have found ways to sign, mature and integrate players from their youth system. But the days leading up to Ansu's record-breaking Sunday (now he's not only the youngest ever Champions League scorer, he's the most youthful in La Liga history to score two goals in one game) saw that mass expulsion of junior talent from the Camp Nou to all corners of European football. Carles Perez (Roma), Carles Alena (Real Betis), Moussa Wague (Nice), Jean-Clair Todibo (Schalke) and Abel Ruiz (Braga) all were loaned out.

One key difference from Casemiro, Valverde, Vazquez, Asensio and Carvajal is that Barcelona punted these budding talents with options for their new clubs to buy them but with no real intention to bring them back to the Catalan capital. That's in contrast to Madrid's philosophy of using loan spells to toughen up and grant invaluable experience to footballers who weren't quite ready but were evidently bankable futures.

Much was made of the fact that Barcelona, a club for which the founding father of their modern philosophy, Johan Cruyff, used to say that age was irrelevant, "only talent mattered," were down to 14 fully fit first-team players by last weekend. Yes, the much-hyped and evidently promising Riqui Puig added a handful of first-team moments on Sunday and Alex Collado (potentially a better prospect than Puig) made the bench, but if you're of the opinion that Barcelona still have a strategy for what to do with talents who've reached the ages of 18-21 but who aren't automatic starters in the first team, or if you believe that Todibo, Perez and Alena couldn't be in Quique Setien's starting XI a dozen times each between now and May, then you are in a tiny minority.

And have you been paying attention? Even a spot check of the crop that Madrid have planted elsewhere, which they'll harvest in the coming two summers, compared to the Blaugrana talent factory comes up firmly on the side of Los Blancos -- very firmly.

Right now, the talent assessors who report back to Zinedine Zidane (and his employer, president Florentino Perez, with whom relations are gently strained over their disagreement about how to restock midfield) have glowing reports from Germany, Mallorca and the Basque Country. Perez's passion project to recruit the world's very best 16- and 17-year-olds looks like being immensely successful (I give you Vinicius, Rodrygo and, potentially, Reinier) but they already have some explosive tyros banging at the door screaming: "Let me come home!"

Martin Odegaard, only just 21, has been one of the stars of La Liga's season at Real Sociedad. Takefusa Kubo (like Vinicius) chose Madrid over Barcelona and looks a startling talent at Mallorca. Achraf Hakimi has amassed nearly 60 matches for Borussia Dortmund, changed positions, found a notable scoring ability and stands to win the German title this season -- he's also just 21. There are others -- too many to list -- but while Madrid might eventually choose to cash in, each of the latter three already look like they have a magnetic draw for Real Madrid to bring back in seasons to come. They possess quality and, now, experience and maturity.

Barcelona? Right now it's hard to say what their ideas are. Who makes such decisions? The coach who's barely in the front door? The president who's got a year and a half of mandate left before he's obliged to depart? Eric Abidal, the director of football who needed a clear-the-air meeting with president Josep Bartomeu at the weekend to clarify whether he or Ramon Planes is truly in charge of football resource planning?

Meanwhile, there are "Why the heck isn't he still playing at the Camp Nou?" players like Marc Cucurella and Adama Traore successfully strutting their stuff at clubs who know how to polish uncut diamonds. Each kid is a product of Barcelona's once-famous La Masia academy, but no place last summer -- or the previous summer -- could be found for Cucurella, who's exploits at Eibar and now Getafe make those look like joke decisions.

Not developing talent is one thing. Developing it but then failing to recognise it right under your nose is another kind of, much more heinous, myopia.

Traore is pulling up trees (perhaps literally) at Wolves and only left Barcelona, having been sure he was staying, because of what he calls "a misunderstanding." Wolves are howling in delight at that Barcelona blunder, I'm sure.

The long and short of it is this: Madrid look destined to take Barcelona's La Liga title from them this season for only the second time in 12 years. As for the hypothetical crown for "Kings of Nurturing and Developing Youth Talent," well, Los Blancos knocked Barca off that throne some considerable time ago.

After all the fun in England on Jan. 31 and the variety of winners and losers around the Premier League this winter, it's time to rate the teams that met their needs around Europe and those who fell far short of expectations.

WINNERS

Borussia Dortmund

Seven goals, 133 minutes... and just £17 million (€22.5m).

Dortmund pulled off the winter's most spectacular move in capturing Erling Haaland, whose form across his first three appearances has defied belief, from Red Bull Salzburg. The 19-year-old has helped his new club fly out of the traps since the winter break, earning nine points from nine and moving to within three points of the Bundesliga summit. Their attacking prowess looks fearsome but the deadline-day addition of Emre Can, the former Liverpool midfielder, from Juventus looks smart, too.

Can is just 26, extremely versatile and has an excellent record at the top level. He should add nous, balance and stability to a side that will be fascinating to watch domestically and in the Champions League over the coming months.

Inter Milan

Call them a Premier League retirement home all you like. Antonio Conte may have made the English top-flight his primary pool for recruitment, but when you are enlisting the talents of Christian Eriksen for a mere £16.9m, the jokes suddenly wear rather thin.

Inter are already making a genuine title push under Conte and, if used correctly, Eriksen remains more than good enough to be among Europe's top bracket of playmakers. Ashley Young's arrival from Manchester United and the loan of Victor Moses from Chelsea also raised a few chuckles but with little reason: both know how to win a title and, with Inter looking to secure Lo Scudetto for the first time in a decade, that kind of experience on and off the pitch could just help them over the line.

Hertha Berlin

It feels, to an extent, as if the perennially underachieving club from Berlin's capital are playing fast and loose with their newfound funds, but it's at least intriguing to see them having a go. The Bundesliga side, 13th in the table this season, have spent big, lavishing a total of £64.2m on striker Krzyszstof Piatek, winger Matheus Cunha and defensive midfielders Lucas Tousart and Santiago Ascacibar.

The signing of Piatek, who was high on Tottenham's radar, from AC Milan for a club record fee is the one that intrigues the most. The Poland international never quite got going at San Siro, even if 13 Serie A goals in his year there hardly proved a disastrous haul, but he has the platform now to lead the line at a club that, with Jurgen Klinsmann at the helm, has big ambitions. Can he help Hertha finally pose some sort of challenge to Germany's leading lights?

LOSERS

Atletico Madrid

While welcomed back, the loan return of Yannick Carrasco is probably not quite what Atletico fans had in mind in order to salvage an unsatisfactory La Liga campaign. Atletico remain light at centre-forward and midfield, with an unsuccessful pursuit of Edinson Cavani compounding Diego Simeone's winter frustration. Simeone will now have to go with what he has, and it bodes ill given their sixth-placed position and the scale of their Champions League task against Liverpool.

Following last summer's exodus -- Antoine Griezmann, Lucas Hernandez and Rodri were all sold, while Diego Godin, Juanfran and Filipe Luis all left at the end of their contracts -- that weakened Simeone's options, Atletico show little sign of returning to their formidable old selves and this window feels like a costly missed opportunity.

- Transfer Grades: All the big moves rated
- All major completed transfer deals

Barcelona

Make no mistake: Barcelona have snapped up two promising players for next season and beyond in Francisco Trincao and Matheus Fernandes, but they failed to address more pressing needs during the January window.

Attacking cover for the injured Luis Suarez was badly needed for the second half of the campaign, but a move for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang never really seemed realistic. Then there was the strange tale of Cedric Bakambu, the Beijing Guoan striker, who was mid-flight with a view to joining the club when they decided to pull the plug. Bakambu is, in truth, probably not of the quality Barcelona need but Quique Setien, in his first transfer window, could surely have done with somebody extra to call upon.

AC Milan

Zlatan Ibrahimovic has enjoyed a fair enough return to Milan, scoring in both Serie A and the Coppa Italia, and there's little doubt that his work ethic and professionalism will prove helpful to those beneath him. But his addition still smacks of patch-and-mend, particularly as the league's eighth-placed club failed to bring in a longer-term striking option to fire them back toward the Champions League places.

Loans for defender Simon Kjaer, goalkeeper Asmir Begovic and midfielder Alexis Saelemaekers do not exactly set the pulse racing, and, even if a number of fringe players were successfully culled from a bloated squad at long last, Stefano Pioli's side are still some way short of where a club of this stature ought to be.