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Man City stunned by tiny Bodø/Glimt in huge Champions League upset and Arsenal into round of 16

Manchester City lost 3-1 at tiny Norwegian club Bodø/Glimt in one of the biggest upsets in Champions League history on Tuesday, while defending champion Paris Saint-Germain also was on the end of an unexpected defeat at Sporting Lisbon.

Vinícius Júnior turned jeers from his own fans to cheers by scoring for Real Madrid in a 6-1 win over Monaco and Arsenal became the first team to secure direct qualification for the round of 16 after a 3-1 victory at Inter Milan, maintaining its 100% record in the league stage after seven rounds.

Pep Guardiola’s squad of City superstars was humbled inside an 8,000-capacity stadium in Bodø, a Norwegian fishing town north of the Arctic Circle whose soccer team is playing in the Champions League for the first time this season.

City fell 3-0 behind at one point and had 2024 Ballon d’Or winner Rodri sent off in the second half.

“In the end, it’s embarrassing,” said City’s Norwegian striker Erling Haaland, whose team was coming off an abject derby loss to Manchester United in the Premier League on Saturday.

After Kasper Høgh’s first-half double for Bodø/Glimt, Jens Petter Hauge curled into the top corner in the 58th to make it 3-0. City replied through Rayan Cherki but hopes of a comeback were damaged soon after by Rodri collecting two yellow cards in quick succession.

City didn’t look like a team that has had $500 million spent on players over the last 12 months, with its flimsy, injury-hit defense constantly pierced on the counterattack. The hosts had two would-be goals disallowed for narrow offside decisions and also hit the crossbar.

Add this upset to the most unlikely results down the years in the Champions League. They include Moldovan club Sheriff beating Real Madrid 2-1 in 2021, Rubin Kazan winning 2-1 at Guardiola’s Barcelona in 2009, and Swiss underdog Basel beating Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United by the same score in 2011.

PSG struggling

Colombia international Luis Suarez’s 90th-minute goal earned Sporting a 2-1 win over PSG, which — like City — now has work to do in next week’s final round to qualify automatically to the last 16 by finishing in the top eight and avoid needing to go through the two-legged playoffs for a second straight season.

That was Suarez’s second goal of the game. He put Sporting ahead before an equalizer by substitute Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.

PSG, which became European champion for the first time last season, dropped to fifth and City to seventh — and they are likely to slip lower after Wednesday’s games.

Arbeloa’s debut

Alvaro Arbeloa, Madrid’s new coach, was taking charge of a Champions League game for the first time and it was again an unusual atmosphere at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.

Part of the crowd jeered Vinícius nearly every time he touched the ball, like during Saturday’s win over Levante in the Spanish league. The Brazil forward has been having an underwhelming season and some fans view him as one of the reasons why coach Xabi Alonso was replaced last week.

However, the home fans were applauding Vinícius after his solo goal that made it 5-0 in the 63rd minute. Kylian Mbappé, with a double against his first club, and 18-year-old Franco Mastantuono had already scored for Madrid and Jude Bellingham grabbed its sixth goal.

Madrid, the record 15-time champion, climbed to second place.

Arsenal advances

Arsenal is now on its longest-ever winning streak in the Champions League and is guaranteed a top-two finish.

Gabriel Jesus scored the first two goals for the Premier League leaders and the man he started ahead of — Viktor Gyokeres — came off the bench to net the third.

Petar Sucic had made it 1-1 with a goal for Inter, the heavily beaten finalist last season which has lost three straight games in the competition for the first time.

Inter slipped to ninth place.

Respite for Frank

Eleven teams in the Champions League have changed coaches already this season and Tottenham manager Thomas Frank was being tipped as the next to go heading into a home match against Borussia Dortmund.

However, Spurs won 2-0 against the 2024 runner-up, which had midfielder Daniel Svensson sent off in the first half, to give Frank some respite and move into fourth place.

The Dane has been jeered by Tottenham’s own fans in recent games.

Cristian Romero and Dominic Solanke scored Tottenham’s goals.

Napoli in danger

The Italian champions are in danger of elimination.

Napoli was held to a 1-1 draw at 10-man FC Copenhagen and dropped to 23rd place before Wednesday’s games. Those finishing 25th or lower in the 36-team standings won’t even qualify for the playoffs.

Copenhagen had captain Thomas Delaney sent off after a VAR check in the 35th and went behind to Scott McTominay’s goal four minutes later. Jordan Larsson equalized.

Winless teams

It’s turning into a miserable debut in the Champions League for Kairat Almaty, which lost 4-1 to Club Brugge to stay in last place in the 36-team standings and is one of three teams without a win so far.

Another is Villarreal, which conceded in the 89th to lose 2-1 to Ajax.

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Steve Douglas is at https://twitter.com/sdouglas80

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Ryan Fox wins first career major at 2026 Open Championship

CNN
(CNN) — Ryan Fox took home the Claret Jug after draining a birdie putt on the 18th hole to win the 2026 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale on Sunday.The 39-year-old Fox beat out American Cameron Young to win his first career major title, becoming only the third New Zealander to win a men’s major golf championship.Fox came into the final hole tied with Young, after the 29-year-old finished the round at 6-under 64 a few hours before.The Kiwi powered his drive into the middle of the fairway and then set up the biggest putt of his golf career so far with an approach shot that landed about 12 feet from the pin.As the putt fell into the hole, the crowd in Southport, England, gave Fox a rousing ovation as he raised both arms in the air to celebrate the achievement.The putt capped off four birdies in the last six holes for Fox.Fox was at a loss for words while speaking to the NBC Sports broadcast after the win.“I don’t really know what to think at the moment. I’ve got a lot of people to thank. First of all, my family. My wife and kids are in Florida at the moment. I spoke to my kids last night and they said, bring back a trophy. I think that’s a pretty cool one to bring back for them,” Fox said. “My family back in New Zealand and all my supporters back there. I know it’s been a long night for them, but I’m glad it was worthwhile.”Fox finished with a 2-under 68 after trailing Sam Burns, who held a two-stroke lead coming into Sunday’s final round.Fox also becomes the third-oldest major winner in the last 10 years, trailing only Phil Mickelson at the 2021 PGA Championship and Tiger Woods at the 2019 Masters.“Just an unbelievable week. The golf course was fantastic. The English weather was fantastic. You guys out there were fantastic. The support was amazing. This is pretty cool. I’m sorry if I’ve forgotten anyone, but thank you very much,” Fox added.It is another disappointment for Young, who is still looking for his first career major title despite winning The Players earlier this year. Young finished one shot back of the win at the 2022 Open Championship at St. Andrews and held the lead heading into the final round at the Masters back in April.It is also another let down for Burns, another golfer looking for his maiden major win.The Louisiana State University alum came into the round ahead by two strokes but quickly lost it and went birdie-free for the final 12 holes.“(Fox) is a well-earned champion and hats off to him,” Burns said. “He did what he needed to do down the stretch and ultimately just came up a couple short today.”Defending champion Scottie Scheffler stayed within striking range throughout the round, but wound up with a 3-under 67 on Sunday to finish tied for fourth with Tommy Fleetwood.After a drama-filled tournament, Bryson DeChambeau finished tied for 14th while Rory McIlroy, who has been critical of the LIV Golfer all tournament long, ended tied for 40th.Fox’s journey to first major winFox’s road to his first career major title wasn’t the easiest. It came with many bumps and U-turns.While speaking to CNN’s Don Riddell ahead of the Desert Classic in Dubai in early 2025, Fox opened up about his mental health issues, including being an older rookie after spending years on the DP World Tour and the PGA Tour of Australia.“I think being a rookie at 37 years old on the PGA Tour was, I probably wasn’t quite prepared for what that was again,” Fox told CNN.“I knew all the golf courses, knew how to travel work, knew where to stay, and everything was new on the PGA Tour, and that was probably a shock to the system more than anything.”Fox comes from a lineage of athletes within his family tree, including his father, Grant Fox, who was a main kicker for the New Zealand national rugby team and his grandfather, Merv Wallace, a former New Zealand cricketer who later coached the national team.Fox spoke out on the “pressure” a golfer faces, mentioning the 2024 death of former PGA Tour golfer Grayson Murray, whose parents later confirmed it was death by suicide.“It can be a stressful life. It’s all performance-based. There’s a lot of pressure on – Looking after your mental health is really, really important, and having people to talk to and all of that is part of that,” Fox said.“It’s a shame it got to that point with Grayson that, you know, we’ve had to have those, those pretty tough conversations now, but it will help – hopefully it helps someone else in a similar situation going forward because we certainly don’t want to see it again.”CNN’s Kyle Tatelbaum and Don Riddell contributed to this reporting This write has been updated with additional reporting The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
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