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Bayern Munich won their Champions League opener on Wednesday 3-1 at home thanks to Harry Kane’s double goals.

With 20 minutes left, Michael Olise pressured Trevoh Chalobah to score an own goal before Kane won and won the penalty.

Chelsea regained control of the game two minutes later when Cole Palmer completed a superb team counterattack.

However, Kane stepped up once more in the second half to retake control of Bayern.

England’s captain Kane claims that facing Premier League opponents gives him more motivation to “play better,” and that Chelsea were the ones who saw his goal total rise to 10 in just six games this year.

Manuel Neuer, Bayern’s last survivor from the 2012 Champions League final won by Chelsea at the same venue, recorded his 100th victory. He currently trails only Iker Casillas, Thomas Mueller, and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Since losing to Spain’s Deportivo La Coruna in 2002, Bayern have now won their 22 Champions League matches.

Palmer and three others were called back after being criticized for their restraints in Chelsea’s limpy 2-2 draw at Brentford on Saturday.

Bayern had won five out of five games before the season opener, but Chelsea’s intensity early led to a catch-up.

Bayern took their first step in putting their own pressure on themselves before breaking through when Chalobah missed an Olise cross and converted it into his own goal.

Soon after Kane struck from the spot, the hosts were already two up.

With a clever one-two on the break, Moises Caicedo, who had an awkward tackle in the box, helped Chelsea immediately slam the penalty away, allowing Palmer to fire home.

Konrad Laimer, Kane, and Olise all saved shots quickly in the second half, which brought Bayern to life.

Soon after, Kane slammed on a subpar Malo Gusto backpass before sliding the ball into the far corner.

Taylor Townsend, an American tennis player, apologized on Wednesday for serving up a turtle and bullfrog at a Chinese dinner buffet as “crazy.”

She wrote on Instagram on Tuesday night, “What the hell, a turtle and a bullfrog is WILD?”

“These people are savagely killing bullfrogs,” the statement read. Do they not give you warts, boils, and other symptoms, “? In a follow-up video, she stated.

On China’s Twitter-like platform Weibo, the hashtag “American tennis player publicly insults Chinese food” was one of the most popular topics and had received more than 50 million views by Wednesday afternoon.

The player’s approach to Chinese cuisine was criticized by Weibo users. However, some made racist remarks racially against Black Townsend.

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Townsend once more apologized on Instagram on Wednesday, this time saying sorry. Her original posts attracted a lot of negative feedback.

Townsend wrote, “I just wanted to come on here and sincerely apologize from the bottom of my heart.”

“I have only had the most incredible experience and time here,” he said. Nothing about the things I said about it was accurate.

There is no justification, they say. I’ll improve.

Prior to their opening game against Napoli on Thursday, Pep Guardiola acknowledged that Manchester City are not regarded as one of the favorites to win the Champions League.

City have consistently surpassed the top clubs in Europe in recent years, winning the trophy for the first time in 2023.

In a two-legged play-off with a place in the knockout stages in doubt, they were forced to suffer a painful early exit last season, falling to 15-time champions Madrid.

Favorite of the Season

The bookmakers predict that Paris Saint-Germain, Barcelona, Arsenal, and Liverpool, the defending champions, will all be the more likely winners of the Champions League this season.

At his pre-game press conference on Wednesday, Guardiola was asked if he thought City might be a contender.

He responded, “Apparently, we are not.”

“And (we must) take in the journey and the moment.” We’re delighted to be present.
We have always been that way. That’s a lot of work because we only managed to win once. (We are)

Simply focusing on the game we must play tomorrow to start this competition well, he continued.

After finishing last season without a trophy for the first time in eight years, City are determined to make their mark.

They struggled to win the first three games of the Premier League season, but they came back to defeat Manchester United 3-0 on Sunday.

De Bruyne At Etihad&nbsp,

Over the past two transfer windows, Guardiola has rebuilt his team, with the departures of many veteran players, including Ederson, Kevin De Bruyne, and Ilkay Gundogan.

De Bruyne, who left Napoli in June after a 10-year trophy-laden spell in Manchester, will make an emotionally charged return to the Etihad on Thursday.

Guardiola stated that he was looking forward to seeing the midfielder “after the game.”

De Bruyne’s quick settle-in to Italy, according to the City manager, was no surprise.
He praised his former player’s talent and vision, saying that the players at that level don’t need much time to adapt and perform well.

Gianluigi Donnarumma, City’s new goalkeeper, also told reporters on the day of the game against Napoli, highlighting the club’s top choice.

The Italian international completed a £26 million ($36 million) deadline-day transfer to City after winning the Champions League with PSG in May but was determined to be insufficient by the French club.

“It was my intention to visit here. Donnarumma, who has taken Ederson as first-choice goalkeeper, said, “That was my first and only option, the only thing I wanted.”

Ghana and Villarreal midfielder Thomas Partey pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to raping two women and sexually assaulting a third woman.

The 32-year-old former Arsenal player is accused of five counts of rape as well as one charge of sexual assault.

Partey was granted bail and will stand trial at Southwark Crown Court in November 2026.

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The alleged offences took place between 2021 and 2022, when he was an Arsenal player.

Partey was charged four days after leaving the Premier League club following the expiry of his contract at the end of June.

The midfielder on Wednesday spoke only to confirm his name and date of birth before pleading not guilty to each of the charges against him during a short hearing at the court.

At the conclusion of the hearing, Judge Christopher Hehir told Partey, “Your trial will take place at this court on November 2 of next year, 2026.

“I appreciate that is quite a long way in advance. As you may appreciate, the crown courts have a huge backlog of work, which means that trials do take a long time to come on.

“Because you have bail, effectively you are sitting behind a queue of people in prison who are waiting to be tried.”

Partey was granted bail on the same conditions that he was given at a previous hearing — he cannot contact any of the three women and must notify police of any permanent changes of address or international travel.

His court appearance came a day after he played in Spanish side Villarreal’s 1-0 Champions League defeat to Tottenham in London.

The midfielder joined Arsenal from Atletico Madrid in 2020 in a deal worth around £45 million ($61 million).

He appeared 52 times for the Gunners last season, scoring four goals. Overall, he played 167 games for the club, scoring nine times, and has also made more than 50 appearances for Ghana.

Partey joined Villarreal last month.

An Arsenal spokesperson had previously said, “The player’s contract ended on June 30. Due to ongoing legal proceedings, the club is unable to comment on the case.”

Lionel Messi scored one goal and set up another to spark Inter Miami over the Seattle Sounders 3-1 on Tuesday in an MLS rematch of a melee-capped Leagues Cup final.

The 38-year-old Argentine striker, who starred for Barcelona and led his homeland to the 2022 World Cup, set up Spaniard Jordi Alba’s goal in the 12th minute and scored in the 41st to give Miami a 2-0 halftime lead in the grudge-match contest.

American Ian Fray added a Miami goal in the 52nd minute for a 3-0 edge before Mexican midfielder Obed Vargas pulled one back for Seattle in the 69th.

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“We understood it in the best way. We played the game we had to play.”

The Sounders had routed Miami 3-0 on August 31 in Seattle in a Leagues Cup final that ended with a benches-clearing brawl and Inter striker Luis Suarez spitting on a Sounders staff member.

“It was important, beyond having good feelings, to find ourselves with the victory against a great rival that took away the possibility of winning a competition a couple of weeks ago,” Miami coach Javier Mascherano said.

Suarez, who apologized two weeks ago, was banned from the 2026 Leagues Cup and issued a three-match ban by MLS for his actions. The Uruguayan served his second match of the suspension in the home rematch with Seattle.

Inter Miami had slid to eighth place in the Eastern Conference with a 3-0 loss at Charlotte on Saturday, but by beating Seattle, improved to 14-6 with seven drawn for 49 points, leaping into fifth in the East and only eight points adrift of pace-setter Philadelphia with three matches in hand.

“We have seven finals left and our goal is to win all seven to finish first in the conference,” Mascherano said.

“It makes the expectations with us high, invites us to be competitive, always have our guard up, and not relax.”

The Sounders fell to 12-8 with nine drawn for 45 points to stand fourth in the Western Conference, just one point ahead of Los Angeles FC.

The Sentry, January’s opening event of the 2026 PGA Tour season, will not be played at Plantation Course at Kapalua because of drought conditions on Maui, the tour said Tuesday.

The traditional Hawaii debut for the PGA Tour has been in jeopardy due to drought conditions, with more than 90 percent of the region impacted and more than 140,000 residents affected, according to Hawaii state data.

Water conservation mandates have been imposed to ensure the local community’s needs are met, but they have hit Kapalua Resort, where the PGA Tour agronomy team conducted a site visit in early September, Temitope that concluded the condition of the course was significantly compromised by the lack of water.

Given the time needed to prepare an event, the tour found it impossible to ensure tour-level playing conditions for the January 8-11 event.

“Following discussions with the Governor’s office… Kapalua Resort and Maui County, the PGA Tour has determined the 2026 playing of The Sentry will not be contested at The Plantation Course at Kapalua due to ongoing drought conditions, water conservation requirements, agronomic conditions, and logistical challenges,” the tour said in a statement.

No announcement was made regarding a new site for the event.

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“We support the PGA Tour’s decision, given the drought conditions Maui is facing,” Hawaii Governor Josh Green said. “Protecting our water and supporting our communities come first.”

The tournament is the first PGA Tour signature event of the season, with a field including 2024 event winners and players from the top 50 of the 2025 season points standings.

Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama won this year’s title in January for his 11th career PGA Tour triumph.

The tour plans to play January’s Sony Open in Hawaii at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu as usual.