27/02/2026

SPORTS FRIDAY | FEB 27, 2026

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Enrique calls on PSG to raise their game

Ko balancing fatigue with Grand Slam ambition THREE-TIMES major champion Lydia Ko says the pursuit of golf’s rarest prizes is still enough to stir her competitive fire, even as her 13 years in the LPGA weigh more heavily on her body. The 28-year-old New Zealander returns to this week’s HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore as defending champion, buoyed by a pair of top-five finishes in Thailand and the Tournament of Champions in Florida to open the season. The former world No. 1 has won a full set of Olympic medals and three majors among her 23 LPGA Tour titles but would like either a first Women’s PGA Championship or a maiden US Women’s Open crown to com plete the career Grand Slam. The LPGA considers women who have won four of the tour’s five majors to be career Grand Slam winners. “There might be the what’s next?’ And I’ve had that ques tion in my career at multiple points, and even after winning the silver medal in Rio, that was such a big goal of mine,” Paris Olympics champion Ko said in Singapore. “After that was done, I had lost a little bit of sense of direc tion in my career. “I think the US Women’s Open has always been a big star or key on the schedule in any season. “I obviously haven’t won that. So that’s always a motivation.” Though Ko took the world by storm as a 17-year-old world number one in 2015, she has often spoken of quitting the game at 30 to follow other pur suits rather than grinding on the tour into middle age. She said she was no longer as resilient physically as before. “To be honest, now that I’ve been on tour for so long, my body, I know, is not the same as 10 years ago,” she added. “So my recovery is not as fast as I think it should be. Sometimes I think the fatigue catches up to me more than where I am mentally. “So, I’m just trying to have a good balance of that.” – Reuters question in your head like, ‘OK,

PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN coach Luis Enrique admit ted that his side still had considerable room for improvement after they edged past Monaco in the Champions League yesterday to set up a last-16 showdown against Barcelona or Chelsea. “We had the toughest draw in the league phase, and we are used to playing games like these against anyone,” the Spaniard said after Wednesday’s 2-2 draw in the all-French knockout phase play-off tie that allowed PSG to squeeze through 5-4 on aggregate. PSG led 3-2 from last week’s first leg but Maghnes Akliouche gave Monaco the advantage on the night at the Parc des Princes to level the scores on aggregate. The sending-off of Monaco’s Mamadou Coulibaly early in the second half paved the way for PSG to equalise through Marquinhos and then go

ond half of last season when they blew away their continental rivals on the way to thrashing Inter Milan 5-0 in the Champions League final in Munich. “We knew how difficult it would be and we were not surprised by Monaco,” Luis Enrique added. “We showed our resilience and our ability to overcome problems, but this competition is diffi cult. It is important to improve and that is what we will try to do.” PSG will find out today their path to this season’s final in Budapest, beyond the identity of their opponents in next month’s last 16. Asked how his team can get back to the levels of last year, Luis Enrique said: “Just keep doing the same things. There are still more or less three months of the season to go and we have the same mentality. The objective is to win every competi tion.” – AFP

2-1 up in the second leg through Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. But with a man fewer, the principality team still scored again through Jordan Teze and Wout Faes missed a glorious chance to force extra time. “Of course we can and want to improve, but there is also always an opponent and we knew how difficult it would be,” said Luis Enrique. “The next one will be easier, no? Chelsea or Barca – not bad. But if any team is ready, it is us.” PSG lead Ligue 1 and remain in the running to retain the Champions League title they won for the first time last season. They have also won the Uefa Super Cup, the Fifa Intercontinental Cup and the French Champions Trophy in this campaign – all on penalties. There is a sense that the Qatar-owned club are a long way short of the form they showed in the sec

Samardzic last-gasp winner … helps Atalanta eliminate Dortmund to reach Champions League last 16

A STOPPAGE-TIME Lazar Samardzic penalty gave Atalanta a 4-1 victory over Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday, sending the Italian side into the last 16 of the Champions League 4-3 on aggregate. Dortmund led 2-0 from the first leg but were on the back foot from the opening whis tle, with Atalanta neutralising the visitors’ advantage by halftime thanks to goals from Gianluca Scamacca and Davide Zappacosta. Mario Pasalic gave the hosts the lead in the tie but Karim Adeyemi’s solo effort dragged Dortmund level. With the match set for extra time, Ramy Bensebaini was penalised for catching Nikola Krstovic in the face with a high boot in the box. Atalanta’s Arsenal defender Sead Kolasinac said he went through “a whirlwind of emo tions” in the final seconds. “When the referee decided for a pen alty, I didn’t know who would take it. All our penalty takers had been substituted, but luckily Lazar converted brilliantly,” Kolasinac told DAZN . Atalanta will meet either Premier League leaders Arsenal or German champions Bayern Munich in the last 16, with the draw to be held today. The victory and qualification continues Atalanta’s resurgence under Raffaele Palladino, who took over from the struggling Ivan Juric in November. Under Palladino, Atalanta are unbeaten domestically in 10 matches in 2026. The victory also helped save the blushes of Italy’s Champions League sides in this sea son’s competition. former Referee Jose Sanchez duly pointed to the spot and handed Bensebaini a second yellow card. Samardzic blasted home the penalty in the 98th minute with virtually the last kick of the match.

Inter Milan’s surprise elimination to Bodo/Glimt on Wednesday left Atalanta as the only remaining Serie A sides in the com petition. “Everyone had written us off,” said Atalanta defender Davide Zappacosta. “This match showed once again how strong this group is – we always believe and we never give up.” Italian journalist Vincenzo Credendino said: “It is a piece of history. Speaking about Italy and Inter, this is one of the worst pieces.” Not since 1987/88 had a Serie A club failed to make it to the last 16 of the European Cup. “Now Atalanta are the darlings of Italian football,” former West Brom and Aston Villa defender Curtis Davies said on BBC Radio 5 Live . European football expert James Horncastle added: “They’re sort of Serie A’s Bodo/Glimt in many respects. “They were a yo-yo club until about eight years ago and we’ve not only seen them win a European trophy and reach three Coppa Italia finals but really establish themselves in the Champions League.” Football journalist Nicky Bandini described Atalanta’s comeback win as “sig nificant” for Italian football, adding: “I think there would be more of a feelgood factor that carries over for a team like Atalanta than there would be for Juventus or for Inter because they haven’t been traditionally one of the big teams of Italian football.” Floored by their earliest Champions League exit since 2021/22, 2024 finalists Dortmund will need to pick up the pieces quickly with Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich set to visit on Sunday (1.30am Malaysian time). Dortmund captain Emre Can told DAZN that his error-prone side deserved their elimi nation. “If you make so many individual errors, it’s going to be difficult to progress … We were very unlucky, but to be honest we didn’t deserve to advance.” – AFP/Agencies

Atalanta’s Lazar Samardzic shoots and scores a penalty kick to win the Champions League knockout round, second leg match against Dortmund in Bergamo yesterday. – AFPPIC

Old Lady lick wounds after painful loss to Galatasaray

JUVENTUS were left wondering what might have been after coming close to mounting an incredible comeback against Galatasaray with 10 men before eventually being knocked out of the Champions League, 7-5 on aggregate. Few gave Juve a chance of reaching the last 16 yesterday after a horror show in Istanbul last week left the Italians trailing 5-2 and needing a near-miracle to get through to the next round. But elimination was especially painful as a superb performance and goals from Manuel

face the capital club on Monday (3.45am Malaysian time). But Juve icon Giorgio Chiellini was hoping for more, especially with one of Liverpool or Tottenham awaiting Galatasaray in the next round. “We’re upset and disappointed after the effort put in and what we showed today,” said Chiellini, now a club official. “What we did today should be a starting point for the remainder of the season.” – AFP

match, we gave everything we had,” said Locatelli. “We’re on the right track with the coach and I think you can see that, even if we’ve lost in our recent matches.” Juve were applauded off by their supporters after a display which will boost them in their bid to qualify for next season’s edition of the Champions League. The Turin giants are fifth in Serie A, four points behind fourth-placed Roma before their trip to

Locatelli, Federico Gatti and Weston McKennie took the tie to extra time in a cacophony of noise. “The lads delivered an incredible perform ance, but we threw the qualification away in the first leg,” Gatti said. Victor Osimhen and Baris Yilmaz netted in that additional period to send the Old Lady out, leaving captain Manuel Locatelli admitting: “I feel like crying.” “All I know is that we put our souls into that