Sports
No Maresca, no problem? Chelsea’s late draw at Man City a blow for Guardiola & Co.
MANCHESTER, England — Chelsea snatched a dramatic late equalizer in potentially Calum McFarlane’s only game in charge as they held Manchester City to a 1-1 draw Sunday, just four days after parting company with Enzo Maresca.
McFarland, Chelsea’s under-21 coach, was on the touchline at the Etihad Stadium after the club announced Maresca’s departure on New Year’s Day. Chelsea are expected to unveil Strasbourg coach Liam Rosenior as the Italian’s replacement before the trip to Fulham on Wednesday. And in potentially his only game as boss, McFarlane watched Enzo Fernández grab a 94th-minute goal to dent City’s title hopes.
Tijjani Reijnders gave Pep Guardiola’s side the lead just before halftime with a fine close-range finish. City restricted Chelsea to relatively few clear-cut chances throughout, but they were made to pay in injury time when Fernandez got on the end of a cross from the right to stab the ball past Gianluigi Donnarumma at the second attempt.
– Report: Chelsea snatch late draw at Man City
– Olley: Why Chelsea, Maresca parted ways
It’s a damaging result for City, who have now dropped points for the second game in a row to slip six behind Arsenal at the top of the table. — Dawson
Reijnders in form when City need it
The Dutchman has been in and out of the Man City first team since his summer move from Milan, but he showed again against Chelsea what a goalscoring threat he can be. He got 10 goals in Serie A last season — a good return for a central midfielder — and after netting his fifth in the Premier League against Chelsea, he’s on course to do it again.
Reijnders started the season with a goal at Wolves, but he hasn’t always been in Guardiola’s starting XI. Back as a regular since mid-December, he has found the net in three of his past four games.
The 27-year-old played off the left against Chelsea and looked dangerous from early on with runs from deep, which were hard to pick up. He has likened himself to Kevin De Bruyne in the past, but in that respect at least, he’s far more like Ilkay Gündogan.
If he can keep scoring crucial goals and reach double figures before the end of the season, it will help take some of the responsibility off Erling Haaland to be City’s sole source. — Dawson
McFarlane gets a result against Guardiola
On Sunday, Etihad Stadium arguably witnessed the greatest managerial mismatch in Premier League history. Pep Guardiola has won 12 league title in three different countries in addition to three Champions Leagues, 16 domestic cups and is widely credited as the finest football mind of his generation. Chelsea U21 boss Calum McFarlane, meanwhile, was on the way to a light show in Windsor with his family when he got the call to take charge of Chelsea for this match, following the sudden departure of head coach Enzo Maresca on Thursday.
McFarlane, 40, made the point beforehand that Chelsea’s model dictates the under-21s play a similar style to the first team, so there was no surprise Chelsea were not radically different in style or shape. However, they were notably conservative out of possession, falling into a back five shape deep on the edge of their own box for long periods.
Despite a shaky opening period, both McFarlane and Chelsea grew in confidence in the second half. Substitute Liam Delap’s 68th-minute burst forward, denied by an apparent handball, was the trigger for McFarlane to become more animated, and he had the last laugh when Fernandez equalized. Guardiola gave McFarlane a warm embrace at full time — he may not have known him before kickoff, but Guardiola is unlikely to forget him now after a hugely damaging result for City.
McFarlane even had the honor of his name being sung by the Chelsea fans as the team went to acknowledge their travelling support at full time. — Olley
1:50
Tighe impressed by McFarlane’s proactivity in Chelsea’s draw vs. Man City
Sam Tighe explains why he was ‘impressed’ by Calum McFarlane’s tactical decisions that led Chelsea to get a last minute draw vs. Man City.
Rodri passes his test
At this point — nearly 18 months after his knee ligament injury — the biggest thing for Rodri is coming through a game unscathed.
There were a couple of nervous moments as he made his first City start for three months. He briefly went down after a challenge from Reece James midway through the first half and was on the end of an even heavier one in the second half. The midfielder looked in some pain after yet another challenge from James and for a while, there was some concern on the City bench.
It has been nearly 18 months since his knee ligament injury and he has already had so many setbacks. Understandably he’s not yet at his best after so long on the sideline. Against Chelsea, there were moments when he looked rusty, but also the usual clever positioning and sharp passing.
His understudy, Nico González, has made a step up this season, but Guardiola will know that he needs Rodri fully fit if City are going to chase down Arsenal at the top of the table. After playing 90 minutes, it will be a big positive if he’s able to be in the squad which faces Brighton on Wednesday. — Dawson
Gvardiol injury a blow for City
As much as Rodri was a positive for City, losing Josko Gvardiol for any length of time would be a massive blow.
The Croatian defender was forced off after a challenge with Malo Gusto in the second half. He was limping heavily as he came off and ultimately needed help from James and a member of City’s medical team.
Gvardiol was described as “a warrior” by Guardiola last season because he kept making himself available when the squad were going through an injury crisis. Now he needs the 23-year-old back as quickly as possible because if he’s sidelined for a while, it will leave Guardiola with problems in the center of his defense.
John Stones is injured and hasn’t started a league game since October, while Nathan Aké had had issues staying fit, picking up a knock of his own in the goalless draw with Sunderland last time out. Abdukodir Khusanov replaced Gvardiol on Sunday, but there are question marks about whether he’s ready for a prolonged run in the team, particularly at center back.
Problems in defense could be mounting for Guardiola after Rúben Dias was substituted late on and Nico O’Reilly ended the game holding his hamstring. It’s a bad sign for the City boss that his team looked in relative control before his makeshift defense conceded late on. — Dawson
Chelsea’s substitutions pay off — whoever was dictating them
Sources have told ESPN that one of Maresca’s major gripes was what he felt became undue influence from Chelsea’s medical staff in team selection and the use of players. Sources added that there was a feeling Maresca sometimes disregarded that advice and ignored those instructions, particularly relating to player load where he would be told specific individuals could only play for 45 minutes, an hour or 75 minutes in a game.
It therefore felt worthy of note that McFarlane’s only three changes took place at halftime — Estevao Willian replaced by Andrey Santos — and then on 62 minutes, as Delap and Jorrel Hato were introduced for João Pedro and Josh Acheampong. Had Cole Palmer come off on 75 minutes, that would have surely indicated a hat trick for the medical team, but in fairness to Chelsea and McFarlane, they improved notably after the break. Delap, in particular, proved much more of a handful for City than Pedro, while Santos helped even up the midfield battle.
McFarlane switched fullbacks Acheampong and Malo Gusto at the interval to nullify City’s threat in wide areas, and he also moved Fernandez into a No. 10 position. It all paid off at the other end, too. Gusto, operating on the right, crossed and Fernandez equalized in the fourth minute of added time. It was a goal that would not have happened had those changes not been made. — Olley
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Mendoza Mania has arrived in the NFL.
The projected No. 1 overall pick in this year’s draft, Fernando Mendoza brings one of football’s most unexpected stories to the pros.
Legendary football agent Leigh Steinberg, who has represented an NFL-record eight first overall draft picks, believes what sets Mendoza apart from the other hyped prospects is his words.
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“The way he relates to people,” Steinberg said was the most unique part about Mendoza, in an interview with Fox News Digital.
“He seems to have a really nice touch in dealing with teammates. It seems to be a natural leader. He relates well in interviews. He relates well in everything. And so, the job of a franchise quarterback is to represent the franchise, and he becomes the most visible face of a franchise. And you know, he’s handsome. He speaks well, and I think he’s sort of an ideal representative or spokesman for the team.”
How did a kid from Florida who know one saw coming become a Heisman Trophy winner, national champion, and the NFL’s next big thing?
Mendoza’s grandparents fled communist Cuba
The reason Fernando Mendoza is in the U.S. and making his mark on football history is because of a bold decision by his grandparents decades ago.
After Fidel Castro seized control of Cuba and installed a communist regime, all four of Mendoza’s grandparents fled the country and came to America.
“We all thought it was temporary,” Mendoza’s maternal grandfather Alberto Espino previously told The Washington Post of the “There was no way the United States would allow a communist regime 90 miles away.”
But Castro’s reign endured, so Espino and the Mendozas remained in the U.S. and built their life as Americans. That meant American sports.
Mendoza’s parents were star athletes
Both of his parents grew up in Miami, Florida as the children of Cuban refugees.
Mendoza’s father, Fernando Mendoza Sr., was a rower at Brown University and a 1987 Junior World Championships gold medalist.
But Mendoza’s father also played football when he was younger, and was teammates with Miami Hurricanes head coach Mario Cristobal at Christopher Columbus High School during the 1980s. Mendoza would go on to defeat his father’s former teammate in this year’s CFP national championship game.
Meanwhile, his mother, Elsa Mendoza, played tennis at the University of Miami.
When Mendoza was a child, his mother was diagnosed with a serious disease
Mendoza was born in Boston in 2003 as the first of his parents’ three children, before his family moved back to Miami, Florida where he would grow up.
But when Mendoza was only about four years old, his mother was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. It’s a chronic, autoimmune disease of the central nervous system that can affect the brain and spinal cord. She has spent the last few years in a wheelchair.
Elsa Mendoza wrote about the experience in a 2015 letter to her sons that was published in The Player’s Tribune.
“I was diagnosed about 18 years ago, but of course you never knew that. You and Alberto were so young, and I was doing fine….. and mostly I didn’t want you to worry. It just felt like this impossible thing to place on you guys. On my sweet boys. And then I kept doing fine until about 10 years ago, when we went skiing and I broke my ankle and knee,” she wrote.
“But even after that, I wasn’t quite ready to tell you — only that my leg hadn’t healed all the way, which is why your mom had her limp. It wasn’t until five years ago, when I got Covid, that things started to go downhill in a way where there was no more hiding it. It was during football season, and I realized I wasn’t going to be able to travel. And the thought of you wondering if I supported you any less, because suddenly I wasn’t at your games? I hated that. So that’s when I knew we had to sit you and your brother down.”
She went on to recall, “how hard of a conversation it ended up being. ‘Your mom has this degenerative disease … and while we don’t know how it will progress, it’s going to start to affect us in a few ways. But it won’t affect us in the ways that matter. We’ll have each other, and love each other, and be there for each other. I promise.'”
He grew up Catholic, and went to an elite Catholic school
As a young boy, Mendoza would gather mangoes from his grandparents’ yard and sell them door-to-door to his neighbors.
Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza looks to throw a pass during the school’s NFL pro day in Bloomington, Indiana, on April 1, 2026. (AJ Mast/AP Photo)
Not only did he embrace capitalism as a young man, but he also embraced Catholicism.
He later followed in his father’s footsteps of playing football at Christopher Columbus High School — an elite, $18,000-a-year all-boys private Catholic school with a football program.
As the team’s starting quarterback his senior year, he led his team to an 11-3 record and the 2021 FHSAA Class 8A state semifinals.
INDIANA FOOTBALL STAR AND HIS BROTHER TURN THEIR NAMESAKE BURGER INTO BATTLE AGAINST MS
But it wasn’t enough to earn the affection of many college scouts.
As a two-star recruit, Mendoza was ranked the 2,149th-ranked recruit in the country in his high school class. He didn’t receive a single FBS scholarship offer.
He passed on Yale for Cal Berkeley
With limited offers out of college, Mendoza nearly accepted an Ivy League education and non-scholarship football spot at Yale. But instead, he went across the country to try his luck at California, Berkeley.
He wasn’t handed the starting job on day one; instead, he redshirted, studied the game, and quietly earned his business degree from the prestigious Haas School of Business in just three years.
As a quarterback, he earned the starting job in 2023 and 2024, becoming Cal’s all-time leader in completion percentage (66.4%) and tying for 7th in 250-yard passing games.
California Golden Bears quarterback Fernando Mendoza stands on the field after the game against the Arizona Wildcats at FTX Field at California Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, Calif., on Sept. 24, 2022. (Darren Yamashita/USA TODAY Sports)
But his college football career hadn’t even really begun.
The Indiana decision
In 2025, Mendoza made the decision to transfer to Indiana. What followed is considered one of the most unlikely runs in college football history.
He threw for 3,535 yards, 41 touchdowns, and only 6 interceptions, completing over 72% of his passes, while also adding seven rushing touchdowns, and won the Heisman Trophy.
“It’s very often not until the end of their [college] career that they show exactly those qualities. So a lot of maturation happened,” Steinberg said of Mendoza’s senior-year surge. “There have been a number of players who were late bloomers… you’re getting them at the height of their arc, and they put it all together. It takes time to read defenses and see the field.”
Then when the playoffs started, he cemented his name in college football history. He threw eight touchdowns with only five incompletions in the initial playoff games against Alabama in the Rose Bowl and Oregon in the Fiesta Bowl.
In the national championship game, played in his home town of Miami against his hometown university Miami Hurricanes, he was named the CFP National Championship Offensive Player of the Game, delivering a crucial 12-yard fourth-quarter touchdown run to seal the title.
Indiana Hoosiers quarterback Fernando Mendoza holds up the trophy after the College Football Playoff National Championship game at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla., on Jan. 19, 2026. (Mark J. Rebilas/Imagn Images)
Indiana became the first time in modern college football history to go a perfect 16-0 behind Mendoza’s leadership, making a case for one of the greatest CFB quarterback seasons ever.
Now the real work begins
With the Las Vegas Raiders set to pick first in the NFL Draft this year, Mendoza appears destined for Sin City.
Steinberg believes the fit will work out well football wise and business wise.
“He’s a perfect pick for the Raiders because he’s someone they can build a franchise around. He seems to have the proper leadership skills and motivational ability to lead a team. He’s high character, he’s got physical size. He’s got great arm strength. He’s indicated a number of times that he can bring the team back in critical circumstances,” Steinberg said.
“As a marketing proposition, Las Vegas is the hottest sports town as there is in America… It’s a good environment to be in with supportive fans and companies for sponsorships and endorsements.”
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Mendoza has already filed 12 trademark applications. These filings include his name, “Fernando Mendoza,” “Mendoza,” “Flippin’,” and “HE15MENDOZA,” aimed at covering athletic apparel and merchandising.
“By picking 12 different areas, that pretty much covered the field. And that means that nobody can go ahead and put together distinctive Mendoza [merchandise] without dealing with him,” Steinberg said.
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Rawalpindiz delivered a clinical bowling performance, maintaining pressure throughout the innings to limit Islamabad United to a modest total of 137 in the 34th match of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 11 at Karachi’s National Bank Stadium on Thursday.
Batting first, the former champions were dismissed for 137 in their allotted 20 overs, as RawalPindiz’s bowling attack produced a standout display throughout the innings.
Islamabad United made a cautious start as openers Devon Conway and Sameer Minhas struggled to accelerate, with runs coming at a slow pace in the early overs.
However, Mohammad Amir made the breakthrough on the second ball of the fifth over, dismissing Minhas for six off 11 balls, including one boundary, to end the 20-run opening partnership.
United slipped further in the final over of the powerplay when Naseem Shah joined the attack and removed Mohammad Faiq for five off six deliveries, leaving Islamabad at 29-2 after 5.5 overs.
The pressure mounted in the seventh over when Saad Masood struck, claiming the key wicket of Shadab Khan for just one run, leaving United reeling at 30-3.
Devon Conway and Mark Chapman then attempted to stabilise the innings, sharing a crucial partnership that took the total past the 50-run mark.
However, Daryl Mitchell broke the 49-run stand by dismissing Conway, who scored a fighting 40 off 33 balls, including three fours and two sixes, reducing Islamabad to 79-4 in 11.3 overs.
Asif Afridi added to United’s troubles by trapping Chapman lbw for 23 off 18 deliveries, an innings featuring one four and a six.
Wickets continued to fall at regular intervals as Haider Ali was dismissed for six off 13 balls, again courtesy of Saad Masood, who completed his spell effectively.
Mohammad Amir returned to the attack and removed Faheem Ashraf, who made 11 off 12 deliveries, leaving Islamabad struggling at 99-7 in 16.3 overs.
Chris Green then attempted to revive the innings with a brisk contribution, pushing the total beyond the 100-run mark and adding valuable late runs in search of a defendable score.
However, Islamabad United’s innings ended shortly after, with Green run out in the final over for 29 off 16 balls, featuring two fours and two sixes.
Dian Forrester then wrapped up the innings by dismissing Mohammad Hasnain for a first-ball duck, before removing Richard Gleeson to claim his second wicket.
Cricket’s return to the Olympic Games after 128 years reached an “important milestone” Wednesday when construction began on the new Los Angeles 2028 cricket venue.
International Cricket Council (ICC ) Chairman Jay Shah and other officials took part in a ground-breaking ceremony on the Fairplex Grounds in Pomona, Los Angeles County.
“Our focus has been on expanding the footprint of cricket and being part of the Olympic movement is something that brings both pride and dreams with it,” said Shah.
“The groundbreaking marks an important milestone in cricket’s return to the Olympics and is a proud moment for all ICC members and stakeholders worldwide.”
ICC chief executive Sanjog Gupta said the Games would be a significant step in expanding the game outside of its traditional heartlands.
“The momentum for our game has never been stronger, with strong participation growth across the world,” he said.
The inclusion of cricket at LA28 provides a platform to inspire more young people to take up the game, the ICC said, and broaden the fan base across continents, accelerating the game’s global growth.
Cricket at the Los Angeles Games will feature T20 competitions for both men’s and women’s teams.
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