With league leaders Al-Ittihad throwing away a two-goal advantage to draw 2-2 with Al-Hilal, Al-Nassr drew to within three points of the top spot with three games remaining in the season. Al-Ittihad, however, still have the advantage in their head-to-head with Al-Nassr, the first tiebreaker if teams finish level on points.
* Luton Town moved a step closer to reaching the Premier League with a 2-0 home win over Sunderland thanks to first-half goals from Gabriel Osho and Tom Lockyer in their Championship playoff semi-final, second leg on Tuesday for a 3-2 aggregate victory. Luton will face either Middlesbrough or Coventry City in the playoff final at Wembley on May 27. Those two teams meet again on Wednesday after the first leg ended goalless at Coventry.
* Spaniard Jon Rahm, Australian Cameron Smith and Briton Matt Fitzpatrick were put together on Tuesday in a star-studded group of major champions for the first two rounds of the PGA Championship. World number one Rahm, winner of last month's Masters, joins US Open champion Fitzpatrick, and Smith, who won last year's British Open before jumping to the LIV Golf, in a marquee threesome that will be among the early starters at Oak Hill on Thursday going off the 10th tee at 8.33am ET.
* Striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has announced a return to the Gabon national team a year after he retired from international football, citing the influence of the country’s president Ali Bongo Ondimba in his decision to make a comeback. The Chelsea forward, who as a youngster was also eligible to play for France or Spain, has long had a testy relationship with the Gabonese Football Association since making his national team debut in 2009, and called it quits in May last year after netting 30 goals in 72 appearances.
* Mexico midfielder Andres Guardado has retired from the national side after an international career spanning 16 years, the Real Betis player announced on Tuesday. The 36-year-old, who made his international debut in 2005, has played in five World Cups and is Mexico's most capped player with 181 appearances.
* Qatar's Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani made an improved final offer for Manchester United in an attempt to see off his main rival British petrochemicals billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe, The Times reported on Tuesday. Sheikh Jassim is offering to buy 100% of the club now for a price nearer to £5 billion (US$6.31 billion), the report said.
* Real Madrid will need to rely on more than individual talent to overcome Manchester City in their Champions League semi-final second leg, manager Carlo Ancelotti said as his side aim for a record-extending 15th European Cup title. Real have won five Champions League trophies in the last decade, three with Zinedine Zidane and two with Ancelotti, including last season when they beat City in the semis with a 6-5 aggregate win.
* Formula One personnel were asked to leave the Imola circuit on Tuesday amid fears of flooding as water levels rose in the nearby Santerno river following heavy rain ahead of the weekend's Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. Cars are not due to be on track until Friday, when less rain is forecast, but advance team and technical personnel have to set up the garages and hospitality.
* Austria goalkeeper Heinz Lindner has been diagnosed with testicular cancer, the player said on Instagram on Tuesday. The 32-year-old, who plays for FC Sion in the Swiss Super League, said he would be taking a break from football.
* Arsenal striker Folarin Balogun has opted to represent the United States, US Soccer said on Tuesday, after FIFA approved his decision to switch international allegiance from England. The 21-year-old, who is currently on loan at Ligue 1 side Stade de Reims, had previously played for England at Under-21 level.
* Serie A is targeting up to €7.2 billion (US$7.9 billion) from its upcoming sale of domestic TV rights as Italy's top soccer league seeks to extend the duration of contracts to up to five years and trim the revenue gap with other countries. Home to clubs such as champions Napoli, Juventus, AC Milan and Inter Milan, Serie A collected some €2.8 billion from the sale of its TV rights in Italy in the three-year cycle ending in June 2024. DAZN has most of the rights, along with Comcast's Sky Italia.
* Extra-time goals from Irfan Jauhari, Fajar Rahman and Beckman Putra earned Indonesia the Southeast Asian Games gold medal for the first time since 1991 with a 5-2 win over a Thailand side that finished the game with nine men in Phnom Penh on Tuesday. Jauhari struck a minute into the first additional period after Yotsakorn Burapha had netted in the dying seconds of normal time to take the game into extra time with Rahman and Putra adding the gloss on a dramatic victory.
* Denmark's Magnus Cort completed his Grand Tour Slam with a maiden victory at the Giro d'Italia in Tuesday's stage 10, out-sprinting Derek Gee and Alessandro de Marchi in a rain-soaked 196-km ride from Scandiano to Viareggio. The trio were part of a breakaway group that held off the peloton and set up a three-way sprint, with Cort timing his move perfectly to take the win.
* Rory McIlroy said he was only focused on the PGA Championship on Tuesday as the Northern Irishman chose few words in response to questions regarding PGA Tour's feud with the Saudi-bankrolled LIV Golf. It has been a year since LIV Golf arrived on the scene poaching players disrupting the sport with massive purses and lawsuits that have divided golfers into two camps.
* Nick Kyrgios has pulled out of the French Open starting later this month, further delaying his return to competitive action following knee surgery at the start of the year, the French Tennis Federation (FFT) said. The 28-year-old Australian had a brilliant second half of 2022, winning a title in Washington in August and reaching the US Open quarter-finals the following month having contested his first Grand Slam final at Wimbledon earlier in the year.
* Barcelona sporting director Jordi Cruyff will leave the LaLiga champions at the end of the season after two years in the role, the Spanish club said on Tuesday. The 49-year-old Dutchman, son of Barca great Johan Cruyff, joined the Catalan club in September 2021 after leaving Chinese side Shenzhen FC. Cruyff's departure comes after the exit of director of football Mateu Alemany earlier this month.
* Manchester United will face Olympique Lyonnais in a pre-season friendly in Edinburgh on July 19, marking the first time in 13 years that the Premier League giants have featured in Scotland, the club said on Tuesday. Erik ten Hag's side will face the French Ligue 1 outfit at Murrayfield, regarded as the home of Scottish rugby, before they begin a four-game tour to the United States on July 22 to prepare for next season.
* All Wigan Athletic players and non-playing staff have been paid their overdue wages, the club said on Tuesday, apologising for the delay after failing to pay salaries on time on the fifth occasion this season. Wigan, who have been relegated from the second-tier Championship, were docked three points in March by the English Football League (EFL) for failing to pay salaries and were charged this season for late payments in June, July and October.
* AC Milan midfielder Ismael Bennacer has been ruled out for at least six months after having surgery on his right knee, the Serie A club said on Tuesday. Algeria international Bennacer, 25, was substituted in the 17th minute of his side's 2-0 Champions League semi-final first leg defeat by Inter Milan last week.
* Holder Novak Djokovic powered past Briton Cameron Norrie 6-3 6-4 in a tense match to reach the Italian Open quarter-finals on Tuesday and remain on track for a seventh title in Rome. Djokovic will meet seventh seed Holger Rune in the last eight. Iga Swiatek continued her title defence with a 6-3 6-4 win over Donna Vekic to set up an intriguing quarter-final meeting with Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina.
* The Women's Champions League final between Barcelona and VfL Wolfsburg has become the first final to be sold out since 2009-10, European soccer's governing body UEFA said on Tuesday. UEFA said that over 34,100 tickets have been issued for the match, which will be played at the PSV Stadium in Eidhoven in the Netherlands on June 3.
