Patrick Mahomes acknowledges he will be relying on "adrenaline" to carry him through an AFC Championship Game in which the Kansas City Chiefs will be thirsty for revenge against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Mahomes sustained a high ankle sprain last week, an injury that could have ruled the Chiefs quarterback out for the rest of the postseason.
But the MVP frontrunner is set for a swift recovery after his return to practice this week went "better than I expected".
Mahomes is still restricted in his movement, however, as he said on Thursday: "I feel like I can still do a lot of things, but we'll see as we get closer and closer.
"We'll see during the game. You can't fully do exactly what it's going to be like in those moments in the game.
"All I can do is prepare myself the best way possible, and then when we get in the game, you hope adrenaline takes over and you can make those throws when you need to."
The concern for the Chiefs is the Bengals won this game last year, again at Arrowhead Stadium, when Mahomes was fully fit.
This is the first time a conference championship has been repeated in consecutive years since the New England Patriots and the Baltimore Ravens played back-to-back AFC Championship Games in 2011 and 2012, with both of those in Foxborough.
However, the teams split those games. The Steelers, against the Houston Oilers in Pittsburgh in 1978 and 1979, are the only team to have beaten the same opposition at the same venue in successive conference championships.
The Bengals will be confident of joining that company, however, as they have won all three of their conference championship appearances, a record only bettered by the 5-0 New York Giants.
Cincy are also 3-0 in their past three games against the Chiefs, although the margin of victory has been just three points on each occasion. No team have ever won four consecutive games against a single opponent by exactly three points.
If nothing else, this is familiar territory for the Chiefs, who will have hosted five AFC Championship Games in a row.
No other team in either conference have hosted more than three straight championships, although Kansas City are 2-2 over the first four.
Rybakina wins 12th straight to reach Miami Open semi-finals, Pegula beats Potapova
Elena Rybakina is now two wins away from completing the rare 'Sunshine Double' after defeating Martina Trevisan 6-3 6-0 to reach the Miami Open semi-finals on Tuesday.
Only four women have ever claimed the Sunshine Double – which requires winning both the Indian Wells Open and Miami Open. Steffi Graf did it in both 1994 and 1996, Kim Clijsters did it in 2005, Victoria Azarenka accomplished the feat in 2016 and current world number one Iga Swiatek did it just 12 months ago.
Rybakina knocked off Swiatek and world number two Aryna Sabalenka in consecutive matches en route to the Indian Wells title, and she has now extended her winning streak to 12 with Tuesday's victory. Against Trevisan, Rybakina served another 10 aces compared to zero from the Italian.
In her fourth-round match the Kazakhstan representative became the first WTA player this season to post three consecutive matches with at least 10 aces, and with another she became the first woman since Serena Williams at the 2020 US Open to do so in four consecutive matches at the same tournament.
She needed just 27 minutes to race through the second set, and in the process she booked a semi-final against third seed Jessica Pegula.
America's top hope, Pegula had to come from behind against Russia's Anastasia Potapova in the 4-6 6-3 7-6 (7-2) result, saving two match points in the deciding set to force the pivotal tiebreaker.
The match was delayed for hours due to persistent rain, and the contest lasted two hours and 38 minutes, meaning they did not finish up on court until nearly 1:30am local time.
While consistently making it deep into major tournaments, Pegula only has two WTA singles titles to her name, and only once since the end of 2019.
With one more win she can book her spot in the final, and a chance to claim her second WTA 1000 crown after breaking through at the 2022 Guadalajara Open.
Messi hopes the 'craziness never ends' after 100th international goal and wild celebrations
Lionel Messi hopes the "craziness never ends" after scoring his 100th goal and ninth hat-trick for his country amid Argentina's homecoming World Cup celebrations on Tuesday.
La Albiceleste routed Curacao 7-0 in Santiago del Estero, with Messi's 20th-minute opener bringing up his 100th international goal, joining only Cristiano Ronaldo (122) and Ali Daei (109) in achieving that feat.
Messi became the first world champion to score 100 international goals, and he showed no signs of stopping there with further first-half strikes for a treble, taking him to 102.
The milestone came as Argentina rounded out their first two games back in their homeland since December's World Cup triumph with wild celebrations, initially in Buenos Aires for Thursday's 2-0 win over Panama.
The players emulated their celebrations from Qatar after the Curacao game, hoisting the World Cup trophy again after it came down from the stadium roof and doing a lap of honour to greet the supporters.
Messi was also presented with a plaque by Argentine Football Association president Claudio Tapia to acknowledge his 100th goal.
"What a nice way to close these dates, impressive today all the people in Santiago del Estero," Messi wrote on Instagram.
"I wish we can continue to share together many moments like these and that this craziness never ends!!!"
Messi's achievement comes after netting 21 goals in his 14 games for Argentina, along with seven assists. That has taken him to 156 goal contributions, which is the most in international football.
Argentina head coach Lionel Scaloni added: "As for Lionel Messi, what I want is for him to be on the pitch and be happy."
He added: "These days were different to the previous friendlies because the players were allowed to be with their people.
"We felt that they had that desire to go out to contact the outside, although that meant that it was difficult to prepare these two games. But in the end we got them through by playing with intensity."
Argentina 7-0 Curacao: Messi caps 100th international goal with first-half hat-trick
Lionel Messi scored his 100th international goal before capping his performance with a first-half hat-trick as Argentina routed Curacao 7-0 during Tuesday's friendly in Santiago del Estero.
Messi came into the game on 99 international goals but did not need to wait long to bring up triple figures, netting a 20th-minute opener, in a lopsided match-up where the world champions raced to a 5-0 half-time lead.
The Argentinian captain played the entire 90 minutes, scoring three goals within 17 devastating first-half minutes, while he also laid off the assist for Enzo Fernandez's powerful strike among the flurry.
Messi was denied early on by Curacao goalkeeper Eloy Room's sharp save, but soon after Giovani Lo Celso found him in space inside the box, setting him up to jink past two defenders and fire in a low right-foot shot for his 100th Argentina goal.
Nicolas Gonzalez added a second in the 23rd minute when he out-jumped Room to head home from a corner, before he played provider for Messi's second with a neat left-foot finish in the 33rd minute.
Two minutes later, Messi held up the ball and dished out a deft pass for Fernandez to lash home, with the Paris Saint-Germain star wrapping up his hat-trick when he raced on to Lo Celso's lofted pass and coolly converted after taking two touches.
Room brilliantly denied Lautaro Martinez twice early in the second half, while Leandro Bacuna fizzed Curacao's best chance over the bar from a 63rd-minute free-kick on the edge of the box.
Substitute Angel Di Maria added a sixth goal from the penalty spot in the 78th minute after Cuco Martina's handball, with Gonzalo Montiel side-footing home another from Paulo Dybala's cutback in the 88th minute.
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