The Emirati club, Shabab Al-Ahly, announced the arrival of its team to the Saudi capital, Riyadh, in preparation for facing Al-Hilal, tomorrow (Tuesday), in the fourth round of the elite AFC Champions League, after hours of mystery surrounding the date of the team’s arrival in Saudi Arabia.
The club’s official account on the “X” platform published pictures of the delegation’s arrival, accompanied by welcoming phrases in which he said: “We are in Riyadh... As we promised you, O Riyadh Al-Izz, we have come to you, out of longing for you and its people, from the house of love to the house of glory... Oh welcome to Riyadh and its people.”
The past few hours have witnessed a state of ambiguity regarding the date of the arrival of the Shabab Al-Ahly delegation, in light of the Emirati club’s failure to respond to calls from the Asian and Saudi Football Federations, and Al-Hilal Club, to determine the date of the delegation’s arrival, as the three parties did not have confirmed information regarding the team’s arrival date until 1:39 pm today (Monday).
Al-Sharq Al-Awsat had previously indicated that the concerned parties had no information regarding the team’s arrival date, at a time when indications pointed to the possibility of postponing the match, before the Emirati club announced that its delegation was on its way to Riyadh through its official account.
Alpine team drivers, Argentine Franco Colapinto and Frenchman Pierre Gasly, who finished Sunday's Formula 1 Mexican Grand Prix in eighth and tenth place, respectively, were subjected to two penalties that ultimately led to them being stripped of points.
The referees committee accused the two French-British drivers of not slowing down, in accordance with the laws stipulated during the display of yellow flags, following the violent accident suffered by Finnish driver Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac).
The committee imposed on Colapinto a penalty of adding 10 seconds to his time, while Gasly received a “stop and start” penalty, which requires the driver to enter the pit area and remain stationary for 10 seconds before returning again to the track.
Due to the end of the race, the referees decided to replace this penalty by adding 30 seconds to the French driver’s total time.
Accordingly, Argentine Colapinto fell to fifteenth place, and Gasly to seventeenth and last place.
On the other hand, Oscar Piastri (McLaren) also received a 10-second time penalty due to his collision with English driver Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls), forcing the latter to withdraw before the end of the race.
Thus, the Australian driver, who had finished the race in seventh place, dropped to thirteenth place.
These three penalties benefited French driver Isaac Hajjar (Red Bull), who advanced from twelfth to ninth place, earning two points in the standings.
Hajjar's car, who started from seventh place, slid at the beginning of the race, after colliding with British driver George Russell (Mercedes), which dashed his hopes of achieving a good result.
At the end of the race, Italian Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes driver, was crowned the youngest world champion in the history of the first category by occupying third place, behind the winner, Dutch Red Bull driver Max Verstappen, and British Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton.
Lyon's French coach Paulo Fonseca has reached an agreement to assume the position of coach of the Portuguese club Sporting Lisbon, according to media reports on Monday.
The Foot Mercato website indicated that Fonseca represents Sporting Lisbon's first choice to succeed coach Ruben Borges, in light of the recent decline in the team's results.
Sporting announced, on Sunday evening, the start of procedures to terminate the contract with Borges, who led the team to win the domestic league and cup double in the 2024-2025 season, confirming in a statement submitted to the Portuguese Stock Market Authority that it had begun discussing the termination of the 45-year-old coach’s contract.
The decision came after an unstable start for the team this season, as Sporting occupies third place in the Portuguese League, nine points behind leaders Porto, which reduced their chances of competing for the title.
The club decided to temporarily assign the task to Thiago Fernandez, coach of the reserve team, to lead the team in its match against Shakhtar Donetsk in Ukraine tomorrow, Tuesday, in the Champions League.
Sporting still needs to reach an agreement with Lyon regarding the terms of Fonseca’s departure, but Foot Mercato stated that the Portuguese club is confident in the possibility of completing the deal, especially since the coach’s contract with the French team extends until 2027.
Borges took over as coach of Sporting in 2024, succeeding Joao Pereira, who lasted in his position for only eight matches, after succeeding Ruben Amorim, who moved to coach Manchester United.
During his first season, Borges succeeded in leading Sporting to win the Portuguese League and Cup titles, achieving the club's first domestic double in 23 years.
He also led the team to a historic achievement in the Champions League by reaching the quarter-finals, in its best participation in the competition, but in its second season it failed to defend the league title, and lost the Portuguese Cup final to Torense, a second-tier club.
