Lamine Yamal has been ruled out of Barcelona’s Champions League opener against Newcastle United on Thursday after failing to recover from a groin injury in time.

Yamal, 18, went into the international break last week managing some pain and took painkillers to feature in Spain’s World Cup qualifiers against Bulgaria and Turkey.

He was subsequently forced to miss Barça’s 6-0 LaLiga win against Valencia last weekend and has not trained this week.

As a result, he has not been named in the squad which flies to Newcastle on Wednesday.

“For me, it’s a shame he’s not playing,” Newcastle manager Eddie Howe said a news conference on Wednesday. “I’m disappointed that we don’t get to see him at his best playing in the game.”

Midfielder Gavi and left-back Alejandro Balde are also missing with injuries, but Frenkie de Jong has been cleared to return to action.

Yamal’s injury has been a cause for contention between Barça and Spain, with club coach Hansi Flick accusing La Roja of failing to take care of their young players.

Yamal had started the season well, scoring two goals and setting up two more in the opening three LaLiga games.

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He also assisted three goals during his two Spain appearances last week.

With Yamal missing, Flick is likely to pick three from four of Raphinha, Robert Lewandowski, Ferran Torres and Marcus Rashford to start in attack at St. James’ Park this week.

“Whoever they play, they’ve got real pace in wide areas, we know that,” Howe added. “They’ve got international players that will challenge us in different ways, so I think structurally our team performance has got to be really strong, we’ve got to defend well in wide areas, so we’re looking forward to that battle.”

After reaching the semifinal last season, where they lost to Inter Milan, Spanish champions Barça are eyeing a first Champions League trophy since 2015 this year.

Information from PA was used in this report.

Former Los Angeles Chargers star Shawne Merriman put naysayers on notice after the team walloped the Las Vegas Raiders on Monday night, 20-9, to move to 2-0 on the season.

Merriman told Fox News Digital in a recent interview that the all-around performance from the team showed that they’re true contenders for the conference title.

“If anybody didn’t believe they were going to be contenders, not only in the AFC West, but in the AFC in general, you haven’t been paying attention,” he said. “First of all, Jim Harbaugh won at every program, organization he’s been to the last several years. Two, this is Justin Herbert’s first year having a stable situation where he’s had the same head coach, same offensive coordinator, you know, same, same, same. He hasn’t had that since he’s been playing with the Chargers. Every year, he’s had to learn something new.”

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The first seasons Herbert, who had 242 passing yards and two passing touchdowns against the Raiders, had the same offensive coordinator was in 2021 and 2022 with Joe Lombardi while Brandon Staley was the head coach. With Harbaugh as the head coach, he’s kept Greg Roman on as the offensive coordinator from last season to this season.

Merriman also touted how the entire team has been built and that they no longer have to rely on Herbert trying to make all of the plays to win a game.

“Now, you have a team that’s not relying on Justin Herbert to win anymore,” he said. “If he plays well, great. If he doesn’t, they can still win. The fact that you have the quarterback with the biggest arm in the National Football League that can win games for you is a bonus. But this team is physical on both sides of the football. … This is a big, strong, physical team – that’s their DNA.”

The Kansas City Chiefs have been the cream of the crop in the AFC West for the last nine years. But going into Week 3, they find themselves 0-2 to start the year.

Los Angeles Chargers wide receiver Quentin Johnston (1) celebrates after scoring a touchdown against the Las Vegas Raiders during the first half of an NFL football game, Monday, Sept. 15, 2025, in Las Vegas.  (AP Photo/David Becker)

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Merriman noted that the Chiefs can no longer rely on Patrick Mahomes to do everything for them and will have to address the holes in their team and their aging stars.

“This is not a knock on the Chiefs at all, but you can only rely on Patrick Mahomes for so long. We’ve seen it with some of the greatest quarterbacks in the business,” he told Fox News Digital. “How long have we seen it with Aaron Rodgers? They didn’t give him a No. 1 wide receiver. They didn’t get people around him. They just say, ‘Hey, you’re Aaron Rodgers. You can go win a lot of football games for us. You don’t need any help.’ And that gets you so far because you can win a lot of games with great quarterbacks. 

“Travis Kelce may go down as the greatest or top three greatest tight end of all time, but he’s just like the rest of us. He’s getting older. He can’t do what he used to do five years ago. Xavier Worthy went down with a shoulder. They don’t have a deep threat right now. They can’t run the football effectively. But the Chiefs are still a good team. The Chargers are just better, and that happens in the division when people get better around you and you don’t.”

Los Angeles Chargers safety Tony Jefferson (23) celebrates after making an interception against the Las Vegas Raiders during the first half of an NFL football game, Monday, Sept. 15, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David Becker)

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The Chargers will have their home opener on Sunday against the Denver Broncos.

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The Pakistan cricket team was seen leaving their hotel for their Asia Cup match against the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday after the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief asked them to depart.

In a post on X, PCB Chairman Mohsin Naqvi said: “We have asked the Pakistan team to depart for the Dubai Cricket Stadium. Further details to follow.”

The Asian Cricket Council confirmed in a statement that the match would go ahead at 8:30pm PKT.

Pakistan cricket team departs for the stadium ?#BackTheBoysInGreen pic.twitter.com/gSnZig71jv

— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) September 17, 2025

PCB spokesperson Amir Mir earlier said the clash was delayed by one hour amid uncertainty over whether the match would even be played at all.

“The consultation process is ongoing and PCB chief Mohsin Naqvi is discussing with former chairmen Ramiz Raja and Najam Sethi and on the other hand, online negotiations are also going on with Dubai. Immediately, the match between UAE and Pakistan has been delayed by one hour,” he said.

Mir said efforts were underway to achieve some “good news” and Naqvi would make the final announcement himself.

Earlier, media reports said the Pakistan cricket team would not play their men’s Asia Cup 2025 match against the UAE, according to media reports.

 The PCB was awaiting a response from the International Cricket Council (ICC) over a protest about match referee Andy Pycroft.

The Zimbabwean oversaw Sunday’s politically charged clash with India, after which the victorious India team refused to shake hands with the Pakistan players.

The PCB said that Pycroft told Pakistan skipper Salman Ali Agha not to shake hands with Indian counterpart Suryakumar Yadav before the match.

Pycroft was scheduled to be the match referee for today’s game as reports coming out from India claimed the ICC had rejected Pakistan’s demand.

This is not the first time teams have tried to change a match official in international cricket. India, in a 2001 test against South Africa, tried to have match referee Mike Denness removed, according to a report by Cricinfo.

The Indian and South African cricket boards agreed to remove Denness; however, the decision was not taken by the International Cricket Council (ICC).