Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

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Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid celebrates his hat trick goal, one of two he scored from offside positions, as Bayern’s goalkeeper Manuel Neuer appeals in vain against its award. Photograph: Javier Garcia/BPI/Rex/Shutterstock

Uefa Must Cut Out the Slapstick, Play Straight Role in Helping Referees

by Paul Doyle | Apr 26, 2017 | Sports

London – It would be a great service indeed if Uefa ditched the Champions League anthem for the remainder of this season’s competition and replaced it with Dance of the Cuckoos, the theme tune from Laurel and Hardy. The players could still line up and listen to...

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Maria Sharapova should not be vilified but the sense that her return will overturn a gross injustice seems rather too much. Photograph: Damian Dovarganes/AP

Maria Sharapova’s Return to Tennis would Sit more Easily if She Showed Contrition

by Tim Lewis | Apr 26, 2017 | Sports

London – A week or so ago, the legal definition of British prisons was changed: they are no longer places of punishment. The new prison and courts bill, put forward by the justice secretary, Liz Truss, proposed that it was more important that they reform and...

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Chris Hughton was in charge of Norwich before becoming Brighton boss – Getty Images

Brighton’s Long March Ends in Chris Hughton’s Completion of a Job Well Done

by Nick Miller | Apr 22, 2017 | Sports

London – Two days after an exhausted Brighton had lost to Sheffield Wednesday in last season’s play-off semi-final, the club announced that the manager, Chris Hughton, had signed a new four-year contract. In the afterglow of ostensible failure that sort of thing...

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Cristiano Ronaldo has a message for the Bernabéu crowd during Real Madrid’s Champions League quarter-final win against Bayern Munich. Photograph: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images

Ronaldo has Done so Much for Real Madrid – So Why Do some Fans Whistle him?

by Sid Lowe | Apr 22, 2017 | Sports

Madrid – There are supposed to be about 1,300 words in this article. It is tempting to just spend 1,287 of them listing the things that Cristiano Ronaldo has done at Real Madrid – and there are more than enough of them to take up all that space, that is for...

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‘Are you listening, Stan Kroenke of Arsenal, the Venky’s bunch at Blackburn, Francesco Becchetti of Orient or those faceless Sisu hedge fund managers who are dragging Coventry to the brink of extinction?’ Illustration: Gary Neill

Faceless, Failing Club Owners could Learn from Juve’s Dazzling Dynasty

by Richard Williams | Apr 21, 2017 | Sports

London – What kind of people do you want to have running your football club? That’s the question fans of teams as different as Arsenal, Blackburn Rovers, Coventry City and Leyton Orient are asking themselves. Whether faltering just out of range of ultimate...