Carlo Ancelotti defended his decision to substitute Toni Kroos during Real Madrid's 2-2 draw with Bayern Munich.

The two European heavyweights shared the spoils in a thrilling Champions League semi-final first leg at the Allianz Arena, where Vinicius Junior's late penalty levelled the tie.

Vinicius had opened the scoring in the 24th minute after latching onto Kroos' delicious throughball, one of a game-high 15 line-breaking passes the Germany midfielder played during the first half.

The 34-year-old was replaced by Brahim Diaz for the final 14 minutes of the contest, which Bayern had turned around thanks to second-half strikes from Leroy Sane and Harry Kane.

But Ancelotti, who knows the support of Madrid's fans will be crucial when he welcomes his former club to Santiago Bernabeu for next week's second leg, explained his thinking.

"Jude Bellingham had cramp, Toni Kroos played a spectacular game, but the plan was to try to recover the control of the game by putting fresh legs in," the Italian told reporters during his post-match press conference.
 
"As always, at this point in the season, we have a great opportunity to play in another final. It's an even tie against a great team. It will be another 90 minutes of suffering, but in an atmosphere that we know quite well. The fans are going to help us."

Meanwhile, Thomas Tuchel knows Bayern will have their work cut out in the second leg, but has encouraged his players to be confident and embrace the challenge.

"The situation is now very clear," he said. "We go to Madrid and the winner takes it all. We are ready to fight. It is important to believe that.

"It is still possible. It is 50-50. It is one of the toughest places to win, but that is also what makes this challenge exciting."

Manchester United have continued their clearout under Jim Ratcliffe by confirming the departures of Patrick Stewart and Cliff Baty.

Interim chief executive Stewart and chief financial officer Baty will depart Old Trafford at the end of the current campaign.

Stewart, who replaced Richard Arnold in the position at the start of the year, will be temporarily replaced by Jean-Claude Blanc until Omar Berrada arrives in July, while Roger Bell will take over from Baty.

The news was confirmed by United on their official website on Tuesday.

INEOS Sport chief Blanc is well known to Ratcliffe, who recently bought a 27.7-per-cent stake in United and is in control of footballing affairs.

Bell also has ties to INEOS and will now take up the same CFO role at Old Trafford.

Ratcliffe said: "I would like to personally thank both Patrick and Cliff for their support in helping us get to know the club and making us feel welcome and I respect their decisions to now move on as we establish a new management team for the club."

Executive co-chairman Joel Glazer said: "I would like to thank Patrick and Cliff for their dedicated service to Manchester United and wish them well for the future. 

"Both have been a source of invaluable advice and expertise over many years, and Patrick has served an important role as interim CEO during this transitional phase."

Since Ratcliffe purchased a minority stake in United, the club have made a number of other changes behind the scenes.

John Murtough stepped down as football director after more than a decade at the club, with Dan Ashworth lined up to replace him, while Jason Wilcox has been appointed as technical director.

United are sixth in the Premier League with four games remaining, raising questions over the future of manager Erik ten Hag under the new regime.

Rafael Nadal paid tribute to supporters after his farewell appearance at the Madrid Open ended following defeat to Jiri Lehecka in the last 16.

The 22-time grand slam champion bowed out after going down in straight sets against his Czech opponent, who prevailed 7-5 6-4 to set up a quarter-final clash with Daniil Medvedev.

Nadal was honoured following the conclusion of the final match at his home ATP Masters event, where he triumphed in 2008, 2010, 2013, 2014 and 2017.

Five banners to represent each of his titles were unfurled, displaying the message 'Gracias Rafa', while he was also presented with a trophy by tournament CEO Gerard Tsobanian and director Feliciano Lopez. 

"It's been a very special week for me, very positive in many ways, both personally and for my tennis," he said during his on-court interview.

"I had the chance to play again on court. A few weeks ago, two days before Barcelona, I didn’t know if I would compete in an official match again, and I've now played two weeks. It's been unforgettable.

"This is one of those days that when it arrives, it's very tough, but life and my body have been sending me signals for a long time.

"The only thing I can say is thank you. It's been an incredible journey that started when I was little. I came to Madrid for the first time in 2003, when the tournament was played indoors.

"The first time I came here feeling competitive was in 2005. It was one of the most exciting wins of my career. Ever since, the support has been unconditional from everyone. I cannot thank you enough.

"Even though it's not over, this is the last time I'll be in Madrid. You have given me a gift for the last 21 years that's more significant than any Grand Slam I have won. The emotions of playing in Madrid, in front of the Spanish fans, is something that will stay with me forever."

Bayern Munich were victims of Real Madrid's lethal efficiency in Tuesday's 2-2 draw but the Germans are ready to beat them in next week's Champions League semi-final return leg, says coach Thomas Tuchel.

The Bavarians struck twice in four minutes early in the second half with a shot from Leroy Sane and a Harry Kane penalty to turn the game around after Vinicius Junior had put the visitors ahead in the 24th against the run of play.

Brazilian striker Vinicius also bagged an equaliser with an 83rd-minute spot kick as Bayern were pushing for a third goal.

Tuchel felt Bayern were in a strong position to stretch their lead going into the closing stages, but instead they will travel to Madrid next Wednesday with the tie all square.

"The result is what it is and it is not worth spending any time thinking about it," Tuchel, who will leave Bayern at the end of the season after a disappointing domestic campaign, said at his post-match press conference.

"Real have done it before, to score twice with two chances. 

"We are not the first team to suffer that. They have the finish, they have the quality to do that."

Reflecting on the match, Tuchel added: "We had a strong start, then we lost a bit of our rhythm. 

"Then [later in the game] we should have scored a third, but we were not efficient enough, not cold enough to add a third. Then we gifted them a penalty."

Bayern enjoyed a strong start and also had chances to score again after going 2-1 up. 

They will now need to win against Real, who are chasing a 15th European Cup, in Madrid if they are to advance to the final at Wembley.

Borussia Dortmund and Paris Saint-Germain face each other in the other semi-final, with the first leg of that tie taking place on Wednesday.

Iga Swiatek admits that, like Pedro Cachin, she would also swap shirts with Rafael Nadal following his Madrid Open exit.

The 22-time grand slam champion's farewell appearance at the clay-court ATP Masters tournament, which he has won five times, was ended by a straight-sets defeat to Jiri Lehecka.

Nadal had beaten Cachin in the last 32, with the Argentine subsequently asking his idol for his shirt as a memento following their clash.

Although Swiatek has never been tempted to follow suit with an opponent, the world number one acknowledged she might make an exception for the Spaniard.

"If I would play against Rafa, for sure I would ask for a T-shirt," she laughed.

"For sure, he was a huge inspiration. When I was younger, he was basically the only player I looked up to, but not because of his game on clay - more because of the way he is off the court and how he never gives up, and also his mentality."

Swiatek is through to the semi-finals in the ladies' draw after recovering from losing the opening set to defeat Beatriz Haddad Maia 4-6 6-0 6-2.

The Pole, who will play former US Open runner-up Madison Keys in the last four, equalled Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova as the fastest player to reach 25 WTA 1000 wins on clay, doing so in just 29 matches.

Howard Webb admitted officials got one of the big decisions wrong in Nottingham Forest's controversial Premier League defeat to Everton this month.

Forest were beaten 2-0 at Goodison Park on April 21 but were left fuming that referee Anthony Taylor did not award a penalty despite three separate calls involving Ashley Young.

Following the game, Forest released a controversial statement on the social media platform X - formerly Twitter - that hinted at the fact VAR Stuart Attwell was a fan of relegation rivals Luton Town and should not have been involved in the game.

Webb was speaking about the incidents on the Mic'd Up TV programme and claimed that while the first decisions were "really subjective calls", the third one , which saw Young challenge Callum Hudson-Odoi, should have resulted in a penalty for Nuno Espirito Santo's team.

"The referee waves away the penalty appeal. The VAR looks at it and asks himself the question, 'Was the non-award clearly and obviously wrong?' and came to the conclusion it wasn't," Webb said.

"He doesn't see a clear action by Young that he considers to be worthy of intervention, one that reaches the threshold of being very clear.

"But we would have preferred an intervention for the referee to go to the screen to make a judgement for himself in this situation and probably would have come out with a different outcome if that would've happened."

"The game is played by human beings, it's officiated by human beings. And obviously our job is to try to ensure that we have a positive impact on the game by identifying correct decisions on the field. This wasn't one.

"But of course they're humans making judgements as well, so we always are trying to reduce the number of errors that we that we make."

Webb also said referee Michael Oliver will have been "really disappointed" to have not originally spotted a foul by Declan Rice on Ben Davies as Arsenal beat Tottenham 3-2 in the North London derby on Sunday, with a VAR intervention eventually awarding a spot-kick.

"I know Michael [Oliver] will be really disappointed," added Webb.

"He had a really good game. He's one of our top referees and one of the top referees in the world."

Vinicius Junior is eyeing "a magical night at home" when Real Madrid welcome Bayern Munich for their Champions League semi-final second leg next week.

The two European heavyweights shared a 2-2 draw in a pulsating first leg at the Allianz Arena, setting up a grandstand climax when the battle resumes at Santiago Bernabeu. 

Vinicius opened the scoring in the 24th minute, but Madrid found themselves 2-1 behind in the second half after Leroy Sane levelled and Harry Kane slotted home from the penalty spot.

However, the Brazil international was also on target from the penalty spot to ensure a share of the spoils with his 31st direct goal involvement in the Champions League since the start of the 2021-22 season - more than any other player in that time. 

"We always want to win, but we know that this competition is like that, you can't give away balls because teams score the chances they have," he said, as reported by Reuters.

"We have to keep our heads calm, rest until next week, and we know that we and the fans are going to leave everything at the Santiago Bernabeu to qualify.

"Now it's time for a magical night at home to win and secure our place in the final."

Vinicius' first goal saw him calmly slide home from Toni Kroos' delicious throughball, with the latter playing 15 line-breaking passes in the first half - at least 10 more than any other player on the pitch.

Rodrygo, who was fouled by Kim Min-jae for the penalty that led to Madrid's second goal, paid tribute to the 34-year-old.

"We all keep telling him to keep on playing for not just one more season, but many seasons to come yet," he told Movistar. "He's genuinely a maestro with talent which people love to watch, and we all love to play with.

"If we couldn't win, we were determined not to lose. Given what went on, a draw's a good result. We know the Champions League. We're accustomed to matches like this.

"I believe that teams think they've killed us off, and that's when we are at our most dangerous."

Jack Flaherty tied an American League record with seven straight strikeouts to open the game and finished with a career-high 14 before the St. Louis Cardinals rallied for a 2-1 win over the Detroit Tigers in a doubleheader opener on Tuesday.

Flaherty’s game-opening seven strikeouts matched the AL record shared by Joe Cowley of the 1986 Chicago White Sox, Carlos Rodon of the 2016 White Sox, Tampa Bay’s Blake Snell in 2018 and Seattle’s Luis Castillo two years ago.

Miami’s Pablo Lopez holds the major league record by striking out the first nine batters of a game in 2021.

Flaherty’s 14 strikeouts were the most by a Tigers pitcher since Max Scherzer had 14 against Pittsburgh on Aug. 14, 2014.

Detroit took a 1-0 lead into the ninth, but Nolan Arenado, Paul Goldschmidt and Alec Burleson had one-out singles before Pedro Pages followed with a go-ahead sacrifice fly for his first career RBI.

In the second game, Wenceel Perez homered from both sides of the plate, including a tiebreaking shot in the fifth inning, to lift the Tigers to an 11-6 win.

Streaking Twins beat White Sox

Max Kepler had a tiebreaking sacrifice fly in the ninth inning to lead the Minnesota Twins to their ninth straight victory, 6-5 over the Chicago White Sox.

Minnesota’s win streak is its longest since a 10-game run in June 2008. The Twins also have won seven consecutive games against the White Sox.

After Andrew Benintendi homered in the eighth to tie it at 5, Bryon Buxton led off the ninth with a walk and took third on Manuel Margot’s single. Kepler’s fly to center gave the Twins a 6-5 lead and Jhoan Duran pitched around a leadoff single by Tommy Pham in the bottom of the ninth for the save in his season debut.

Danny Mendick added his first home run of the season for Chicago, which dropped to a major league-worst 6-24.

Caratini, Hader lift Astros to wild win

Victor Caratini hit a pinch-hit, two-run homer with two outs in the 10th inning after Josh Hader pitched two innings for the first time since 2019 in the Houston Astros’ 10-9 win over the Cleveland Guardians.

David Fry’s RBI double in the top of the 10th put the Guardians ahead by one, but Caratini took Hunter Gaddis deep to give the Astros their third straight win.

Hader pitched a scoreless ninth before returning for the 10th. He got more than three outs in a regular-season game for the first time since getting four on Aug. 14, 2020, and had his first two-inning appearance in five years.

Josh Naylor and Estevan Florial hit three-run homers and Andres Gimenez also went deep for Cleveland, which rallied from an 8-3 deficit with a five-run sixth.

Tyrese Maxey scored seven points in the final 25 seconds of regulation to save Philadelphia’s season and finished with a playoff career-high 46 as the 76ers staved off elimination in their Eastern Conference first-round series with an unlikely 112-106 victory over the New York Knicks on Tuesday.

Down six with 28 seconds left in regulation, Maxey converted the rare four-point play with 25 seconds to play, and after Josh Hart’s free throw, hit a 35-foot 3-pointer to tie it at 97 with 8.1 seconds remaining in front of a stunned Madison Square Garden crowd.

Joel Embiid had 19 points, 16 rebounds, 10 assists and nine turnovers for the 76ers, who will host Game 6 on Thursday.

Maxey added nine assists and was 7 of 12 from 3-point range.

Brunson scored 40 points and Hart had 18 with nine rebounds for the Knicks, who were tantalisingly close to reaching the Eastern Conference semifinals for the second straight season.

Brunson scored the first five points of overtime but Maxey's 3 triggered a 9-0 run that Embiid capped with a 3-point play with 1:40 left for a 106-102 lead. Brunson tied it with a 3 but Kelly Oubre Jr. made the tiebreaking basket with 62 seconds to play, and Tobias Harris sealed it with two free throws. 

Short-handed Bucks stay alive

Khris Middleton had 29 points and 12 rebounds and Bobby Portis added 29 with 10 boards as the Milwaukee Bucks stayed alive with a 115-92 win over the Indiana Pacers in Game 5 despite missing leading scorers Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard.

Portis had the highest point total of his playoff career and made amends after he was ejected from a Game 4 loss. Middleton had his third straight game with at least 25 points.

Tyrese Haliburton scored 16 points and Myles Turner added 13 for the Pacers, who still lead the series 3-2 and will try to close it out at home in Game 6 on Thursday. Indiana hasn’t advanced past the first round since 2014.

The Bucks got a balanced effort without Antetokounmpo and Lillard, as every starter scored in double figures. Antetokounmpo has missed the entire series and hasn’t played since straining his left calf on April 9. Lillard sat out a second consecutive game after injuring his Achilles tendon in Game 3 on Friday.

Cavs edge Magic for 3-2 lead

Donovan Mitchell scored 28 points and Evan Mobley came up with a huge block in the final seconds to lift the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 104-103 win over the Orlando Magic to take a 3-2 lead in their Eastern Conference series.

After Mitchell missed a jumper with 15.7 seconds left, Franz Wagner drove the left side for a potential game-tying layup but was denied at the rim by Mobley with six seconds left.

Mitchell, who had 14 fourth-quarter points, was then fouled and made two free throws with 3.2 seconds remaining to up Cleveland’s lead to 104-100. Paolo Banchero made a 3-pointer in the final second for the final margin.

The Cavs bounced back at home after losing two road games and can finish off the Magic in Orlando in Game 6 on Friday.

Max Strus scored 16 points to help Cleveland offset the loss of starting center Jarrett Allen (bruised rib) and Mobley added 14 points and 13 rebounds.

Banchero scored 16 of his 39 points in the fourth quarter and grabbed eight rebounds, but the next closest Magic player was Wagner with 14 points.  

Los Angeles Angels center fielder Mike Trout will undergo surgery to repair the torn meniscus in his left knee, the team announced Tuesday.

Trout will be out indefinitely, but the injury is not thought to be season-ending, ESPN reported.

The news is a devastating blow to the Angels, who will be without the three-time AL MVP for at least a couple of months.

Trout underwent an MRI after playing in the Angels’ win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Monday but was initially unaware that he had suffered a significant injury.

“It's crazy, because I look back and I don't even know when I did it,” Trout told reporters on Monday. “I was kind of telling myself, ‘Maybe I just banged it on something and I didn’t realise it.’ And then after the game, getting treatment on it, it was really sore.

“The plan was just to see how I felt in the morning. If I woke up and it was sore, just get it looked at. That was the plan. Last night was tough for me to sleep. It was just aching all night.”

Trout is batting .220 this season and leads the majors with 10 home runs.

This will be the third season in the last four that Trout has missed significant time due to injury. The 11-time All-Star missed the last half of last season with a broken bone in his hand, and a calf injury limited him to 36 games in 2021.

The Angels are reeling as a franchise after losing Shohei Ohtani in free agency to the cross-town rival Dodgers, a major blow to a team that has missed the playoffs in each of the last nine seasons.

Los Angeles entered play Tuesday at 11-18.

Jiri Lehecka claimed a memorable win over one of tennis' greats as he downed Rafael Nadal at the Madrid Open.

Nadal's farewell appearance at the tournament he has won five times came to an end with a 7-5 6-4 defeat on Tuesday.

The 22-time grand slam champion had been hoping to tee up a quarter-final against Daniil Medvedev.

Ultimately, though, world number 31 Lehecka was the man who progressed.

Lehecka ruined the hopes of the Nadal fans packed into the stands in the Spanish capital, and took control when he reeled off 10 straight points to take the opening set.

Nadal won the Madrid Open in 2008, 2010, 2013, 2014 and 2017, and said farewell to the crowd in an on-court interview following his defeat.

Data Debrief: Nadal falls short of milestone

Nadal had been hoping to win his 60th match at the Madrid Open, while he would have reached his 100th ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final had he won. This was his first defeat to a player ranked lower than 20th in the world since he went down to Pablo Cuevas in 2016.

Lehecka, meanwhile, will make his second appearance in the last eight of a Masters 1000 event.

Harry Kane refuted suggestions Champions League glory this season will decide the success of his Bayern Munich move, after Tuesday's 2-2 draw with Real Madrid in the semi-final first leg.

Kane scored from the penalty spot to make it 2-1 to Bayern early in the second half, just four minutes after Leroy Sane had levelled with a thunderous finish at Allianz Arena.

Having finished with his usual ease from 12 yards, Kane became the first English player to be directly involved in 11 goals in a single Champions League campaign.

Kane is the joint-top scorer across Europe's big five leagues in all competitions this season (43 – level with Kylian Mbappe), while the England captain now has the most combined goals and assists of any player (54 – 43 goals and 11 assists).

Regardless of whether Bayern can overcome Madrid in the second leg next week and go all the way in the final, Kane insists his move to Germany is a long-term mission, rather than a one-year aim for success.

When asked on TNT Sports if winning the Champions League would define his Bayern move as a success, Kane responded: "I don't think so.

"I'm here for many years, it's not just a one-off year that I've come for. Of course, the expectation at the start of the year was to win trophies and it hasn't gone our way in the Bundesliga or the cup, but the Champions League is the biggest one of them all.

"If we can somehow get our hands on that one, it'll be an amazing season, but there is a long way to go.

"These are the big games under the lights [that I'm here for]. The atmosphere was incredible. I'm sure at the Bernabeu it'll be the same. It's exactly why I’ve come, I wanted to play in these big games, these big moments, and it's no bigger than next week.

"It'll be tough, we know their history in the competition, but we can take a lot of positives from today. There's a couple of small details that we need to get right because we can get punished in a couple of quick moments, but we can take a lot from this game."

Kane now has 401 goals for club and country, having moved past the quadruple-century mark with his double against Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday.

Including his well-taken penalty against Madrid, the former Tottenham striker now has a personal-best 43 goals in all competitions this season as well.

Yet his focus remains solely on the next game, with Stuttgart to come on Saturday before the return visit to Madrid.

"It's been a good season [personally] so far, but it's always about the next game, the next big game, and it's next week, away from home against Real Madrid," he added.

"Everything we're fighting for this year is in this competition, so we've got to find a way to get it done. It's going to be tough, the Bernabeu, Real Madrid in the Champions League, but we go there with full belief, it's 0-0 and we go there for the win."

Kane's second-half strike on Tuesday came after Sane had cancelled out an opener from Vinicius Junior, whose late penalty then ensured the shares were spoiled at Allianz Arena.

With the pressure on Bayern's spot-kick, Madrid's Jude Bellingham appeared to offer Kane a few words of advice – though the Bayern striker was in his own space preparing to face Andriy Lunin.

"I don't know what he was saying," Kane added on his England team-mate's quiet word. "I saw him there, mumbling something, but I'll have to ask him what he said.

"Once I'm in that zone I'm just trying to block everything out – I'm sure he was saying something to try and put me off. Thankfully it didn't do anything."