Airdrie hit five first-half goals before bouncing back from a red card for their goalkeeper to thrash Falkirk 6-2 in the first leg of their cinch Championship play-off semi-final.

Falkirk finished one place above Airdrie in second spot in League One but John McGlynn’s side suffered a disastrous opening period in Lanarkshire.

Gabby McGill hit the crossbar not long before setting up Justin Devenny to fire an eighth-minute opener and the Diamonds were three up inside 16 minutes after player-manager Rhys McCabe smashed in a free-kick and Callum Smith netted after charging down a clearance and playing a one-two with McGill.

Former Bairns defender Aaron Taylor-Sinclair headed his first Airdrie goal in the 31st minute and 10 minutes later he flicked a corner into the path of Callum Fordyce to make it 5-0.

Falkirk pulled one back in the 61st minute when Coll Donaldson headed home and they got a further lifeline four minutes later when Airdrie keeper Josh Rae was sent off for bringing down Rumarn Burrell.

Substitute goalkeeper David Hutton came on and immediately had to pick the ball out of the net when Kai Kennedy’s free-kick was deflected past him.

But there was more drama to come. Falkirk forward Jordan Allan was sent off in stoppage-time for a foul on Hutton and McCabe netted a penalty at the other end after Ben Stanway was brought down in the box.

Three weeks after being named the 2022-23 Defensive Player of the Year, the Memphis Grizzlies’ Jaren Jackson Jr. is the leading vote-getter to headline the NBA All-Defensive first team.

The league announced the All-Defensive first and second teams on Tuesday, and joining Jackson on the top team is Chicago Bulls guard Alex Caruso, Cleveland Cavaliers forward Evan Mobley and Brook Lopez and Jrue Holiday of the Milwaukee Bucks.

Jackson, who boasted an individual defensive rating of 106.6 – the best among all full-time starters – received the most first-team votes with 96, followed by 94 for Holiday, 85 for Lopez, 50 for Caruso and 49 for Mobley.

The 23-year-old Jackson just completed his fifth professional season, and this is his second time selected to the All-Defensive first team.

Jackson’s former Memphis teammate Dillon Brooks was named to the All-Defensive second team, along with Boston Celtics guard Derrick White, Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green, Toronto Raptors forward O.G. Anunoby and Bam Adebayo of the Miami Heat.

Jackson’s inclusion on the All-Defensive first team comes after he was announced the winner of the Hakeem Olajuwon Trophy as the NBA Defensive Player of the Year on April 17.

Blocking an astounding 9.58 per cent of all opponent shot attempts, the 6-foot-11 Jackson averaged an NBA-best 3.0 blocks per game.

Lopez was the runner-up in voting for Defensive Player of the Year after leading the league with 193 blocks, an average of 2.5 per game – the highest mark of his 15-year NBA career.

Sports stars and clubs across the world continue to provide an insight into their lives on social media.

Here, the PA news agency looks at some of the best examples from May 9.

Christian Eriksen felt honoured.

A post shared by Christian Eriksen (@chriseriksen8)

David Ginola also enjoyed the Laureus awards.

A post shared by David Ginola (@davidginolaofficial)

When Peter met Ted.

Burnley celebrated.

Abdoulaye Doucoure made the podium.

Beth Mead brought a smile to Leah Williamson’s face.

Happy birthdays.

Charlie Adam saluted the retiring Glenn Whelan.

Sam Billings revealed he had skin cancer last year.

Somerset turned the clock back.

Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill reflected on her weekend in Paris.

A post shared by Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill (@jessicaennishill)

Simone Biles shared her big day.

Joe Joyce made a vow.

View of the day?

Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog missed the entire 2022-23 season because of a right knee injury.

That same injured knee will cause him to miss all of the 2023-24 season, as well.

Landeskog will undergo cartilage transplant surgery on the knee, the Avalanche announced on Tuesday.

Wednesday’s scheduled surgery will be the fourth on the knee for Landeskog, who initially hurt it when he was sliced by a skate in a 2020 playoff game against the Dallas Stars.

The last time Landeskog took the ice he was hoisting the Stanley Cup over his head on June 26, 2022, after helping Colorado to the franchise’s third title.

He missed the final seven weeks of the 2021-22 regular season after having surgery on the same knee in March, but was able to return for the playoffs.

He was instrumental to Colorado’s Cup run, tallying 11 goals and 11 assists in 20 postseason games.

The 30-year-old then had another surgery in October 2022, and was initially projected to miss 12 weeks.

He was never able to fully recovery, however, and announced during the final week of the 2022-23 regular season he would remain side-lined for the playoffs.

Without Landeskog this past season, Colorado still managed to win the Central Division, but its season ended with a first-round loss to the Seattle Kraken.

Landeskog, who has six seasons left on a $56million, eight-year deal he signed in 2021, was drafted second overall by the Avalanche in 2011, and ranks eighth all-time in franchise history with 571 points.

Lewis Stevenson will extend his lengthy Hibernian adventure after agreeing a new one-year deal that will keep him at the club for next season.

The 35-year-old sits fourth on the Hibees’ all-time appearance list, with 572 games under his belt since making his debut in 2005.

Stevenson, a one-club man, is also the only player to have won both the League Cup (2007) and the Scottish Cup (2016) with Hibs and will now get a chance to bid for more success with the club next term.

“Everyone knows how much Hibs means to me and I’d like to play here for the rest of my career,” he told Hibs’ website after his new contract was finalised.

“I feel pretty good, there are little things I can’t do that I did 10 years ago, but I still feel good physically and feel like I can help the team both on and off the pitch.

“I never imagined I’d go on to make as many appearances for Hibs as I have, but I want to keep working hard, playing and have more success here.”

Stevenson has made 27 appearances under current manager Lee Johnson this term.

“In this modern day and age, it’s not often you have a player that shows the kind of loyalty Lewy has to Hibs,” said Johnson.

“He has rightly written his name into the club’s history books and I think everyone can see that he’s still going strong.

“He’s really humble, a fantastic human being, and is exactly the type of person we want at this football club, so we’re delighted that he will stay with us for another year.”

Leicester are ready to contest Chris Ashton’s red card that could rule him out of Tigers’ Gallagher Premiership play-off clash against Sale.

The 36-year-old former England wing was sent off for a high tackle on Harlequins’ Cadan Murley during Leicester’s 20-17 defeat three days ago.

Ashton, the Premiership’s record try-scorer, will retire at the end of this season, but he could now be banned by disciplinary chiefs.

If Ashton is suspended then his hopes of featuring in the play-off – and possibly the Premiership final on May 27 – will be over.

“When we get the date of the hearing, which I would have thought would be Wednesday, we will contest it,” Leicester boss Richard Wigglesworth said.

“It will be this week and if we get it turned around he will be available (for the play-off).

“The slipping and the dipping, there were mitigating factors in the tackle and the mitigating factors are why we think it is a yellow (card) and not a red.

“I am not calling anything dodgy. I know they have got a difficult job. We just want everything to be clear and obvious.

“If it is a high level of force and danger, then the red card is there to protect players. They have got to get it right, that is their job.

“We have got to get our tactics right, the players have got to get themselves right and they have got to get those decisions right.”

Wigglesworth would have no problem, given the time-frame, regarding Ashton’s readiness to face Sale on Sunday if he received a green light.

“Chris will know his stuff and be good to go,” Wigglesworth added.

“He is experienced and he will still have a training day knowing he is in the starting team, if that happens, so that wouldn’t be a problem for us.”

Premiership champions Leicester face a team that finished one place and 10 points above them across the 20-game regular season.

Saracens meet Northampton in the other play-off, meaning a repeat of last year’s final between Leicester and Saracens is possible.

Gregor Townsend admitted he had resigned himself to the likelihood that his time as Scotland head coach was drawing to an end before the Scottish Rugby Union recently moved to offer him a new deal until April 2026.

The 50-year-old’s previous contract was due to expire after the upcoming World Cup and, with no talks having taken place with the governing body, there was intense speculation during the winter that he would be leaving his post following the autumn showpiece in France.

However, tentative negotiations began in the middle of the recent Six Nations campaign and it was confirmed on Tuesday that Townsend – already Scotland’s longest-serving head coach after taking charge in 2017 – was set to remain at the helm for a further three years.

“I suppose the time when I wasn’t getting offered the contract, there was a lot of thinking going on there and a couple of stages in the season I thought ‘this will be my last season’, so to be able to at least have the discussion and think about the future has been a big positive and I’m obviously delighted to be able to stay with this group in this role for a few more years,” he said.

Townsend was linked with other jobs earlier this year but he insists there was never any likelihood he would commit to anything at that point.

“Not really,” he said, when asked if he was close to pledging his future elsewhere during his period in contract limbo.

“There were a couple of approaches between the Autumn Tests and the Six Nations but I don’t think there was any chance I was going to commit to anything before the Six Nations.

“The positive was that during the Six Nations, discussions started to happen between Scottish Rugby and myself. While I felt I wasn’t going to get a contract offer here, I don’t think I was going to commit to anything with a tournament on the horizon.”

Townsend, who will have been in charge for nine years if he sees out his contract, is thrilled to be remaining in a job he relishes.

“Not being able to make that choice or decision (to stay) was the difficult part,” he said.

“Me and the coaches focused on the rugby side of it because there wasn’t really any decision to make until we got to a stage where there was a contract offer.

“I love the job. You get ups and downs with it but I feel real sense of purpose being in the job.

“I’ve loved this season more than any other, the emotion down at Twickenham, seeing the way the guys came back in Paris, to have experienced a tour like last summer (in South America) with new, young players that breathed life into the team. We obviously want to build on that in the next few months ahead.”

British heavyweight Joe Joyce intends to jump straight back in with Chinese fighter Zhilei Zhang after activating his rematch clause.

Joyce’s hopes of a world title showdown against either Tyson Fury or Oleksandr Usyk suffered a major setback when the Londoner was stopped in the sixth round by Zhang at the Copper Box Arena last month.

It was a first professional defeat after 15 straight wins for Joyce, whose right eye was almost swollen shut, which led to the bout being waved off after he was twice inspected by a ringside doctor.

Despite being outclassed by Zhang first time around, Joyce wants to immediately correct the record.

“Rematch clause activated. Taking back what’s mine,” the 37-year-old wrote on Twitter.

Zhang claimed Joyce’s WBO interim title and with it the mandatory position to face the sanctioning body’s full champion Usyk, who also holds the WBA and IBF belts in boxing’s blue riband division.

However, the WBA and IBF mandatories – Daniel Dubois and Filip Hrgovic respectively – take precedent, which may have left Zhang waiting for his shot for at least a year.

Zhang was rumoured to be in talks for a showdown with Tyson Fury, but a return bout against Joyce, which could take place in China, now looks the likeliest option.

Gregor Townsend is braced for a “difficult” task in whittling his 41-man Rugby World Cup training group down to 33 for the tournament itself, although the Scotland head coach is intent on finalising his pool for France in early August.

There were few major surprises in the 50-year-old’s provisional squad named on Tuesday. Glasgow back Stafford McDowall and Leicester lock Cam Henderson were the only uncapped players included, although both were involved in the Six Nations squad earlier this year.

Jonny Gray was the highest-profile absentee after the Exeter second row suffered a serious knee injury recently, while Fraser Brown, Johnny Matthews and Mark Bennett have been left out.

“It was really difficult,” Townsend said of his selection. “Certain positions required a lot of debate, not just yesterday but the last few weeks.

“I was really keen for a 38-man squad and then I suppose Jonny picking up his injury last week, and a couple of other things, it got to 40 and then it got finalised on 41.

“It just shows the depth we have that we’ve left out some quality players and we’ve still got so much quality in the squad.”

Scotland play four warm-up matches between July 29 and August 26 and Townsend hopes to cull eight players after the game at home to France on August 5.

“It will be difficult,” he said. “It would have been easier if it was 38 because then you only have five players to drop out the squad.

“My goal is to get that down to 33 quickly, maybe after the second warm-up game. That’s what I’m looking at, so we can start working with that 33 in training weeks, get used to them working together, with two games after that.

“If we can get down to 33, that will be really good for our preparations for the World Cup.”

Townsend confirmed he does not expect lock Gray to be fit for the World Cup after the 29-year-old dislocated his kneecap in Exeter’s Champions Cup semi-final defeat by La Rochelle a week past Sunday.

“I think it’s going to be at least four months from now until he’s back in full training and ready to play,” said the head coach. “We kick off in four months’ time against South Africa so who knows?

“It might be that a couple of weeks into the tournament we pick up an injury and he’s back in full training and played pre-season games, but I think that’s unlikely from where we stand today.

“Let’s hope he’s ready to go around September or October, whether that’s for us if we pick up injuries, or his club.”

Edinburgh wing Darcy Graham and Glasgow flanker Rory Darge are both back in the mix after missing the Six Nations through injury, while former Scotland captains Stuart Hogg and Stuart McInally – both of whom recently announced plans to retire from rugby to pursue other interests after the autumn showpiece – remain on course for World Cup swansongs.

Townsend admitted it was always unlikely there would be many newcomers to the World Cup squad given the number of players that have been integrated gradually but deliberately over the past few years.

“The form of players that have been in our recent squads,” said Townsend when asked why there were so few new faces.

“Argentina and Chile (the summer tour) last year was very important for a number of reasons, and one of the reasons was development of players that got opportunities there and have kicked on and are still in our squad.

“The Six Nations was more of a senior squad, we picked the best squad we could put together and didn’t make many changes because we wanted to keep as much cohesion as possible, so it was always going to be difficult for players outside the group to come in when the players were performing so well in games and training.

“There’s lots of depth there so if we do pick up injuries, we know we’ve got quality players just outside the squad.”

AC Milan striker Olivier Giroud is determined to roll back the years as he attempts to add another Champions League crown to his collection of honours.

The Frenchman, who will celebrate his 37th birthday in September, picked up a winner’s medal as an unused substitute in Chelsea’s 1-0 final victory over Premier League rivals Manchester City in 2021 and is refusing to allow age to diminish his hunger for future success.

Speaking at a press conference ahead of Wednesday evening’s eagerly-anticipated semi-final clash with neighbours Inter, Giroud said: “Today I’m more motivated than ever.

“For me, it’s a great opportunity to win the Champions League. I’m [nearly] 37 years old, but I have the same motivations as a young boy.”

The Milan rivals will battle it out for the right to face either Real Madrid or City in next month’s final in Istanbul, with each having won their respective Serie A “home” game this season and Inter triumphing in the Coppa Italia in January, but with both previous encounters in Europe’s biggest club competition going the way of Milan.

Giroud said: “A derby is always a special match. I am very proud of this Milan team and we hope to do something great tomorrow.”

Coach Stefano Pioli, who has guided his side past Tottenham and newly-crowned Italian champions Napoli to reach the last four, is hoping for more of the same, although that task may be all the more difficult with Rafael Leao battling a thigh injury.

Pioli said: “It will take great team-work, as we have seen in the last four Champions League matches. To get an exceptional result, you have to do an extraordinary job and we will try.”

The sides have met on seven occasions since November 2021, with Inter faring marginally better having won three to Milan’s two along with two draws, but boss Simone Inzaghi is reading little into that record.

He told his pre-match press conference: “We have played seven derbies in 20 months. We have won and we have lost.

“We can take something from those previous meetings, but every game is different. The players will need to sacrifice for their team-mates.

“We will need to use our heads and our hearts. I have no doubts about our hearts, but we will have to use our heads since there will be setbacks along the way. The race will last 180 minutes and we mustn’t forget it.”

For Inter wing-back Federico Dimarco, the tie conjures up painful memories, but also presents an opportunity to gain revenge for old wounds.

The 25-year-old was among the crowd at San Siro in May 2003 to see Andriy Shevchenko’s strike send Milan through on away goals after a 1-1 semi-final, second leg draw.

Dimarco said: “Like all derbies, it’s always an incredible feeling to play them as an Inter fan. I’ve also seen many. I’m really happy to play in a semi-final. I want to enjoy it.

“I was at San Siro in 2003. I don’t have wonderful memories as an Inter fan. To think that I was there 20 years ago and now I can play this match is an incredible feeling.”

Mark McCall says Saracens’ defeat in the Gallagher Premiership final last season has proved a driving force behind their quest for an immediate Twickenham return.

Victory over play-off opponents Northampton on Saturday would land Saracens a ninth appearance in English rugby’s domestic showpiece on May 27.

Their title hopes last year were dashed by Freddie Burns’ dramatic late drop-goal that saw Leicester claim a 15-12 victory.

“I guess it wasn’t so much losing the final, it was how we lost it, which is the thing that is driving us, I think,” Saracens rugby director McCall said.

“It felt like we played within ourselves. It was how we lost, not because we lost.

“Anyone can lose a final – knockout games are hard to win – but when you don’t feel that you have given it a proper go, then you carry that all summer. I guess that has driven this season to a degree.

“We’ve enjoyed a couple of really good weeks’ preparation. The players are in good spirits.

“We don’t take these things (semi-finals) for granted and we are looking forward to it. To get a home semi-final is exactly what you want.

“They (Northampton) are a very good team, an unbelievably dangerous team, full of talented players in their squad. And this is their second semi-final in a row, so they have shown some really good consistency as well.”

Saracens go into the play-offs after topping the regular season table and finishing 16 points above Northampton.

Fly-half Owen Farrell, though, does not believe that Saracens require a trophy to validate their Premiership return three years after relegation following persistent salary cap breaches.

“I think we have performed consistently enough over the past two years since we’ve been back to be enough of a presence in the Premiership,” Farrell said.

“Do we want to win the Premiership? Yes, of course we do. We’ve got some big personalities maybe playing in their last games for the club and we want to make sure we do them proud.

“To come back and do it (win the title) within a year, we talked about it being special, and we didn’t do it.

“We are on another year now and I have not thought about it in that way too much if I am honest. We’ve been consistent enough over the past two years, without winning last year, to validate us being back in the Premiership.

“We want to be at our best, getting the best out of of ourselves, and I am sure Northampton are the same. We want to make sure we are playing some of our best stuff and we want to enjoy it.

“It’s tough to lose any final. We felt like we didn’t put the best out of us out on that day (last year) and that is obviously a credit to Leicester and what they did as well.”

Liverpool have asked for next season’s opening match to be played away from home to allow preparations to be completed on their new Anfield Road stand.

Work, which began in September 2021, is on course to be finished this summer on the £80million redevelopment and will add around 7,000 extra seats, taking the ground’s overall capacity to more than 61,000.

However, with test events and potential additional work required on the pitch as a result of the building work – which will see the roof of the existing stand removed at the end of the season – Liverpool are looking to buy themselves more time to ensure everything is ready to open on the second weekend of the new campaign.

The club made a similar request to the Premier League when they completed the new Main Stand in 2016, which followed the same process of erecting the new building behind the existing one so the ground’s capacity was not affected during the season.

“We are on track and on budget,” vice-president of stadium operations Paul Cuttill said. “The progress has gone really well and we’re due to complete by the end of July, with a view to being ready for the first home game of the 2023-24 season.

“It’s not been confirmed yet but we’ve asked for the first game to be away, which will mean the first home game is August 19 or 20.

“It just means we have the best possible chance to make sure the stadium is ready, that we have had test events which are licensed and good to go.

“There is an element of pitch work, to make sure it has recovered from the roof being removed and the work which takes place on the pitch during the close season.”