World Sports News in Brief

Werner penalty gives Leipzig 1-0 win at Tottenham

Timo Werner’s second-half penalty gave a dominant RB Leipzig a deserved 1-0 victory at Tottenham Hotspur in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie on Wednesday.

Soccer Football - Champions League - Round of 16 First Leg - Tottenham Hotspur v RB Leipzig - Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London, Britain - February 19, 2020 RB Leipzig's Timo Werner scores their first goal from the penalty spot. (Photo: Action Images via Reuters)
Soccer Football - Champions League - Round of 16 First Leg - Tottenham Hotspur v RB Leipzig - Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London, Britain - February 19, 2020 RB Leipzig's Timo Werner scores their first goal from the penalty spot. (Photo: Action Images via Reuters)

Werner slotted past Hugo Lloris in the 58th minute after Ben Davies had fouled Konrad Laimer, putting the Bundesliga high-flyers in control ahead of the second leg on March 10.

* Heavyweights Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury jettisoned their previously cordial tone in favour of a heated and personal exchange in the final news conference before their highly-anticipated rematch on Saturday in Las Vegas. WBC champion Wilder 42-0-1 (41 KO) and lineal heavyweight champion Fury 29-0-1 (20 KO) shoved each other when they took the stage at the MGM Grand on Wednesday before both promising knockouts.

* Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has urged his players to focus on their jobs but while they delivered on that in Wednesday's 2-0 Premier League win over West Ham United, the team's supporters vented their anger over the club's two-year ban from European football. Goals from Rodri and Kevin De Bruyne secured a comfortable win at the Etihad against an unadventurous West Ham side who are deep in relegation trouble.

* Rory McIlroy will try to complete his collection of World Golf Championships (WGC) titles when he stares down a stacked field in Mexico City this week that includes defending champion Dustin Johnson. With a victory at Club de Golf Chapultepec, world number one McIlroy would join Johnson as the only players to complete the 'WGC Slam' by winning all four World Golf Championships events.

* Top seed Simona Halep survived an early scare and saved a match point to beat Tunisia's Ons Jabeur 1-6 6-2 7-6(7) in the last 16 of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Wednesday. On the other side of the draw, second seed Karolina Pliskova needed only 67 minutes to advance with a 6-1 6-2 victory over Kristina Mladenovic.

* Frenchman Martin Fourcade won the individual race at the biathlon world championships on Wednesday to equal Ole Einar Bjorndalen's all-time record of 11 individual world titles. Fourcade covered the 20 kilometres in 49 minutes 43.1 seconds after missing only one of the 20 targets to beat Norway's Johannes Bo by 57 seconds and Austrian Dominik Landertinger by 1:22. The 31-year-old Fourcade also has four individual Olympic gold medals to his name with Norway's Bjorndalen ahead on five.

* Cagliari forward Leonardo Pavoletti has been ruled out for six more months after re-injuring his left knee while joking around with team mates outside a restaurant. The Sardinian club said on Wednesday that the 31-year-old had undergone an operation in Innsbruck, Austria, after suffering fresh anterior cruciate ligament damage to his left knee earlier this month.

* Six-times Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton lapped fastest as Mercedes dominated the first day of pre-season testing in Spain on Wednesday while Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel called off sick. Hamilton did 94 laps of Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya on the soft C2 compound in a sunny afternoon session, running untroubled after team mate Valtteri Bottas completed 79 laps in the morning. The Briton's fastest time of one minute 16.976 seconds compared to the best of 1:18.161 set by Vettel on the first day of testing last year.

* Atalanta continued their dream debut Champions League campaign on Wednesday with a 4-1 win over Valencia in an entertaining last-16 first leg meeting at San Siro. Two-time runners-up Valencia will host the Serie A side at the Mestalla Stadium in the return leg on March 10.

* Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has ruled out leaving the club, despite the two-year ban from European football handed out by UEFA for serious breaches of Financial Fair Play rules.

* Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford faces an extended spell on the sidelines as he recovers from a stress fracture and he could struggle to be fit to play for England in Euro 2020, manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said on Wednesday. Rashford suffered the back injury during an FA Cup third-round replay against Wolverhampton Wanderers last month. The European Championship runs from June 12 to July 12 and England's first group match is on June 14 against Croatia.

Reuters