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Arsenal substitutes Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard pounced in the final stages to secure a 2-0 victory at Athletic Bilbao in their Champions League opener on Tuesday.

Last season’s beaten semi-finalists got off to a winning start in the Basque country as they shaded a tight game at the San Mames stadium in the first of eight group matches.

Mikel Arteta’s side, chasing a first major trophy since 2020 and their first ever Champions League win, ground out their victory with a typically sturdy defensive display and their late goals.

Martinelli scored in the 72nd minute, 36 seconds after coming off the bench, before Trossard added a second after 87 minutes, each setting the other up.

Athletic, back in the competition for the first time in 11 years, were on top in the early stages, buoyed by boisterous home support.

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Their coach Ernesto Valverde lined up with an entire team of players making their Champions League debut, including talisman striker Inaki Williams but not his injured brother Nico Williams.

Arsenal started with four Spaniards, including two Basque midfielders in Mikel Merino and Martin Zubimendi, who used to play for Athletic’s rivals Real Sociedad.

The Gunners, missing several regulars including Bukayo Saka, began to turn the tide through the movement of Viktor Gyokeres and Noni Madueke’s persistence on the right wing.

Swedish striker Gyokeres had an effort saved by Unai Simon and then headed narrowly wide of the post after reaching a dangerous cross by Jurrien Timber.

Alejandro Berenguer pulled a shot wide of the far post with Athletic’s first real chance shortly before the break.

Gyokeres, sporting a bandage after a clash of heads left him bleeding, nodded Declan Rice’s free-kick wide when well placed.

Williams was denied by David Raya and Merino headed straight at Simon at the other end as the match stepped up a gear.

Arteta brought on Martinelli for the ineffective Eberechi Eze and immediately found the goal he craved as the Gunners countered at pace.

Martinelli ran on to Trossard’s pass, took a fine touch to leave Andoni Gorosabel trailing in his wake and then fired under Simon.

The Brazilian was involved again in the second, cutting the ball back for Trossard, who beat Simon with the help of a deflection.

Arsenal reinforced heavily in the summer to increase their squad depth, particularly in attack, and it paid dividends here.

Arteta brought on two more new arrivals in Christian Norgaard and Piero Hincapie for their debuts late on.

FIFA announced on Tuesday a $355 million (300 million euros) pay-out to clubs releasing players for next year’s World Cup – a 70 percent hike on the 2022 edition.

The new benefit scheme deal, reached in association with the powerful European Club Association (ECA), includes for the first time players involved in qualifiers but not figuring in the 48-team 2026 tournament, co-hosted by the USA, Canada and Mexico.

For the 32-team 2022 World Cup in Qatar, FIFA distributed $209 million to 440 sides “from 51 FIFA member associations”, football’s world governing body noted.

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“The enhanced edition of the FIFA Club Benefits Programme for the FIFA World Cup 2026 is going a step further by recognising financially the huge contribution that so many clubs and their players around the world make to the staging of both the qualifiers and the final tournament,” said FIFA president Gianni Infantino.

Bayern Munich striker Harry Kane said facing English opposition “makes me want to play better” ahead of Wednesday’s home Champions League opener against Chelsea.

Speaking to reporters in Munich on Tuesday, the 32-year-old former Spurs striker said his historic rivalry with Chelsea would add a little more spice to the showdown.

“The rivalry was a good rivalry, especially early in my Tottenham career in the (Mauricio) Pochettino era. We had a lot of good games, tough games against each other,” Kane said.

Kane faced London rivals Chelsea 22 times in all competitions with Tottenham, winning seven times and scoring eight goals, before moving to Bayern in 2023.

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The England captain broke through for a maiden team trophy last season when Bayern won the Bundesliga but said he saved extra motivation for English sides.

“I think playing against Premier League opposition there’s always a little more expectation around the game. Maybe the Chelsea fans don’t like me as much and when we play Arsenal, maybe the Arsenal fans don’t like me as much.

“That makes me want to play better, that motivates me. There will be some familiar faces — all those things added together brings a little something special.”

Kane has scored 93 goals in 101 games in all competitions for Bayern and said he was surprised by his record since moving to Germany.

“I don’t think I expected it. I always back myself to score goals but I didn’t know how it would go.

“The style suits me well. I’ve got a lot of confidence right now and I’m physically and mentally strong.”

Kane rejected suggestions from club powerbroker Uli Hoeness that the six-time Champions League winners were underdogs in Europe this year.

“When you’re at a club like Bayern Munich, there’s an expectation to win the best competitions — and the Champions League especially.

“Ultimately, if we don’t win it, there’s always going to be a bit of disappointment so I wouldn’t say we’re underdogs.”

This summer, Bayern brought in Luis Diaz and Nicolas Jackson from the Premier League, the latter coming from Wednesday’s oppponents Chelsea.

The duo were two of the few players swimming against a tide of big-money signings moving to England from the Bundesliga.

Bayern coach Vincent Kompany on Tuesday repeated his concern about the imbalance.

“Obviously there’s a big financial gap between the Premier League and other leagues,” Kompany said.

“We have to think about how we solve that one day. The Bundesliga has a lot of talent and English sides have bought a lot of players from here.

“But tomorrow is not about Bundesliga versus Premier League.”

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone smashed the long-standing United States women’s 400 metre record to surge into the final at the World Athletics Championships on Tuesday.

The 26-year-old American, who is the world record holder at the 400m hurdles but has chosen to run the flat race in Tokyo, blazed through her semi-final in 48.29sec.

That was almost half a second faster than Sanya Richards-Ross’s previous US record of 48.70, which had stood since 2006.

McLaughlin-Levrone will be the red-hot favourite to capture her first 400m world title in Thursday’s final and said she was “honoured” to better Richards-Ross’s national mark.

“Definitely wasn’t expecting that time but it just shows the fitness is there,” she said.

“Excited for the finals and grateful to have taken down a record by an amazing woman.”

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McLaughlin-Levrone was one of the stars when Tokyo hosted the Covid-delayed Olympic Games in 2021.

She set a world record of 51.46sec when winning 400m hurdles gold in one of the stand-out performances of those Games.

She was also part of the US 4x400m relay squad that took gold.

She said she still had gas left in the tank after her semi-final performance and was taken aback when she looked at her time on the scoreboard.

“I wasn’t expecting that but it’s not surprising because I know the work’s been put in,” she said.

“It’s really just about executing and I’m grateful that it showed me that it’s there.”

McLaughlin-Levrone was joined in the semi-finals by Paris Olympics champion Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic, who went through in a time of 49.82.

Paris Games silver medallist Salwa Eid Naser of Bahrain also qualified along with Poland’s Natalia Bukowiecka and Jamaica’s Nickisha Pryce.

Britain’s Amber Anning, who qualified with a second-quickest time of 49.38, said McLaughlin-Levrone would be the woman to beat in the final.

“I think she wanted to put herself into a good position going into that final,” said Anning.

Serbia and Albania’s World Cup qualifier next month has been moved from Belgrade to a smaller southern city over security fears, the Serbian Football Association (FSS) has announced.

UEFA approved Serbia’s request to relocate the October 11 match away from the capital to Leskovac with Albania’s consent.

“The key reason is security — not only for the fans, but above all for the players and everyone else involved in the match,” the FSS said in a statement late Monday.

“Such a fixture carries the highest level of risk and requires full control to prevent incidents like those already witnessed in previous encounters between these two teams,” it added.

The FSS referred to a 2014 match, when a drone carrying a flag promoting a “Greater Albania” flew over the pitch – triggering angry fans to run onto the field and cancelling the game.

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The flag depicted an expanded Albanian state that included Kosovo — a province that declared independence from Serbia in 2008, a move Belgrade does not recognise.

The tiny nation of Kosovo remains a flashpoint of tensions between the two countries, after a bloody war between ethnic-Albanian guerrillas and Serbian forces in 1998-1999 ended with Belgrade’s withdrawal from Kosovo.

After the pair’s earlier qualifying clash in Tirana, which ended in a goalless draw, Albania were sanctioned by FIFA over fan conduct, including “discriminatory behaviour” and lighting fireworks.

In 2015, the two teams met again, in Elbasan, Albania, amid heightened tensions and a heavy police presence.

Media at the time reported, on the eve of the match, the Serbian team bus was attacked with stones.

FIFA earlier punished the FSS for “discrimination and racist abuse” by fans during a match against Andorra in June.

While there were tense scenes in the stands during Serbia’s 5-0 defeat to England in Belgrade last week.

“Relocating and organising the match in Leskovac significantly reduces the risk of potential incidents,” the FSS added in its statement.

The Dubocica Stadium in Leskovac, built two years ago, has a capacity of just over 8,000 – much reduced from the original 52,000-seat Belgrade venue.

Serbia are third in their group, with England top and Albania second.

Indian sport is battling to shake off its reputation for being one of the world’s worst doping offenders as the country pushes an ambitious bid to host the 2036 Olympics.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has raised concerns about the number of Indian competitors taking performance-enhancing drugs and so too has the country’s best-known athlete.

The 2021 Olympic javelin champion Neeraj Chopra made a blunt admission earlier this year.

“Doping is a big problem in India among our athletes,” he told local media, saying they instead should “eat well, rest well and work hard”.

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The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) last month formed a new anti-doping panel after the IOC flagged India’s poor record.

The government has passed a new national anti-doping bill aiming to tighten enforcement, expand testing facilities and “ensure the highest standards of integrity” in sports.

“Obviously the IOC would want to make sure that in awarding the Games to a country, the host has a robust doping policy and governance,” Michael Payne, former IOC marketing director, told AFP.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) lists India among the worst offenders among nations submitting more than 1,000 samples.

India’s national anti-doping agency, NADA, insists the figures reflect more aggressive testing in the nation of 1.4 billion people.

From 5,606 samples collected in 2023, 213 came back positive.

The synthetic steroid stanozolol is the most widely used banned substance taken by Indian athletes, experts say.

Careers at stake

Despite its vast population, India has won only 10 Olympic golds in its history.

Experts say desperation to add to that and escape poverty is one reason why some Indian athletes are prepared to risk doping.

Success in sports can be a ticket to coveted government jobs, often with the police or armed forces.

That provides life-long financial security after their sporting careers end.

“Athletes know that they can be punished but still put their careers at stake,” lawyer Saurabh Mishra, who has defended athletes in doping scandals, said.

“(They know that) getting a medal will help them clinch a government job.”

Athletics leads India’s doping violations, followed by wrestling, where 19 athletes were recently banned.

In July under-23 wrestling champion and Paris Olympics quarter-finalist Reetika Hooda tested positive and was provisionally suspended.

Mishra said some athletes are victims of ignorance, consuming banned substances through supplements or medicines, but others take risks knowingly.

Sometimes they are encouraged by their coaches to dope.

Sports medicine expert Saranjeet Singh, who has written extensively on doping in India, said a recent surge in violations was only partly due to stricter testing.

“They cannot achieve the level of performance that they want at international level and use banned drugs for a short cut,” Singh told AFP.

Bigger hurdles

India now faces a race to prove its credibility, as it competes with the likes of Indonesia, Turkey, Chile and Qatar for the 2036 Games.

The former IOC marketing director Payne noted that many past Olympic hosts had chequered doping histories.

While doping is an issue, India’s greater obstacle to staging an Olympics lies elsewhere, he said.

“The bigger issue is confidence in the overall operational delivery capabilities of the host, and there India has a lot of work to do,” Payne said.

He was referring to the corruption-riddled 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, memories of which still linger.