Eze and Rice fire Arsenal past Leverkusen into quarter-finals

Arsenal’s Eberechi Eze opened his Champions League account with a stunning goal as his side outclassed Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen 2-0 at home to reach the quarter-finals with a 3-1 aggregate victory. The tireless Declan Rice made it 2-0 just past the hour mark with a precise low finish and Leverkusen, who ended Arsenal’s 100% record in this season’s competition when they had the better of a 1-1 draw in last week’s first leg, never really threatened a comeback.

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Chelsea fined over £10m by Premier League for rule breaches

Chelsea have been fined £10.75m, handed a suspended ban from signing first-team players and given an immediate nine-month academy transfer ban by the Premier League over breaches of financial rules during Roman Abramovich’s ownership. The club, who still face potential sanctions from the Football Association over 74 charges of breaching agent regulations, were investigated by the league over undisclosed payments to agents, non-licensed intermediaries and other figures, including players, around signings between 2011 and 2018.

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Richarlison snatches point for Spurs at Anfield

Richarlison’s 90th-minute equaliser earned Tottenham’s under-fire interim head coach Igor Tudor a stay of execution with a 1-1 draw at Anfield as Liverpool conceded another late goal to dent their Champions League qualification hopes. Substitute Randal Kolo Muani held off Virgil van Dijk to roll a pass for the Brazil international to slot past international team-mate Alisson Becker and have Tudor punching the air as he ran out of his technical area to celebrate his first point in his five matches.

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Antonelli beats Russell to claim maiden win at Chinese Grand Prix

Teenager Kimi Antonelli took his first Formula 1 victory as he led team-mate George Russell home in a Mercedes one-two at the Chinese Grand Prix. The 19-year-old Italian became the second youngest grand prix winner in history, a day after becoming the youngest pole-sitter, with a controlled drive after briefly losing the lead at the start to Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari. Hamilton complete the podium ahead of Charles Leclerc in the sister Ferrai while Haas’ Ollie Bearman finished a superb P5 as his star continues to rise in the sport.

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Ramos the hero as nervy France down England to win Six Nations

A magnificent England performance came thrillingly close to derailing France’s Six Nations party in Paris, only for Thomas Ramos to land a long-range penalty with the clock in the red to clinch an extraordinary 48-46 victory and the title. Ireland, winners against Scotland earlier in the day, watched on in Dublin, seeing the title wrenched out of their grasp in the final act of an enthralling edition of the sport’s oldest international championship.

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