SPORTS UPDATE: UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
UEFA Champions League.
Match Day five of the UEFA Champions League continues on Wednesday with some decisive matches scheduled to take place.
Inter of Milan will be playing host to Viktoria Plzen. A victory for Inter will see them qualify for the next round of the competition.
Club Brugge will battle things out with F.C Porto.
Eintracht Frankfurt will lock horns with Olympique Marseille.
Barcelona will exchange lessons with Bayern Munich.
Ajax will take on Liverpool. A victory for Liverpool will see them qualify for the next round of the competition.
Atletico Madrid will be playing host to Bayer Leverkusen at the Wanda Metropolitano.
Tottenham will entertain Sporting, while
Napoli will clash with Scottish giants Rangers.
Unai Emery: Aston Villa appoint Villarreal manager as head coach.
Aston Villa have appointed Unai Emery as manager following the sacking of Steven Gerrard. Former Arsenal boss Emery, who had been in charge of Spanish club Villarreal, will take over at Villa on 1 November. Villa have paid a £5.2m buyout fee to Villarreal for the 50-year-old. Caretaker Aaron Danks will again take charge at Newcastle this weekend, after Gerrard was dismissed last week following a 3-0 Premier League defeat by Fulham. Emery, who would have been out of contract at Villarreal next summer, will begin work next week "after his work permit formalities are completed," Villa said. They added: "Aston Villa is delighted to announce the appointment of Unai Emery as the club's new head coach. "A highly experienced top level coach who has managed over 900 games, Unai has also previously managed in the Premier League during a spell with Arsenal, leading the Gunners to a Europa League final. "He has also enjoyed notable success at Sevilla and at Paris St-Germain. In Seville, he won three successive Europa League titles between 2013 and 2016 before going on to lift a Ligue 1 championship in France as well as two French Cups, two French League Cups and two Trophees des Champions." Emery joined Villarreal in 2020 and led them to Europa League success in the 2020-21 season, beating Manchester United in the final. The Spanish club also reached last year's Champions League semi-finals under Emery, losing 5-2 to Liverpool on aggregate. Emery’s Villarreal appointment followed his sacking after just 18 months as Arsenal manager in November 2019, after failing to win in seven games - the Gunners' worst run at the time since February 1992. During his time in north London he took Arsenal to the Europa League final, losing to Chelsea in 2019. Villa beat Brentford 4-0 on Sunday under caretaker Danks - just their third win in 12 Premier League games this season - which left them 14th, three points above the relegation zone. The club had also held talks with representatives of Sporting Lisbon coach Ruben Amorin.
Basketball.
NBA: Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant score high in Brooklyn Nets defeat at Memphis Grizzlies.
Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant scored 37 points apiece but couldn't prevent the Brooklyn Nets falling to their second defeat of the season at the hands of the Memphis Grizzlies. The Grizzlies won 134-124 with Desmond Bane setting career highs of 38 points and eight three-pointers. Ja Morant also added 38 as Memphis pulled away in the third quarter after trailing at half-tme. Durant’s tally moved him up to 20th on the NBA's all-time scoring list. He now has 25,622 points, putting him ahead of eight-time All-Star Alex English. Elsewhere on Monday night, the Boston Celtics' winning start to the season ended in a 120-102 defeat by the Chicago Bulls. DeMar DeRozan scored 25 points, Ayo Dosunmu added 22 and Nikola Vucevic recorded 18 points and 23 rebounds for the Bulls, whose victory came after two defeats. Jayson Tatum scored a game-high 26 points for Boston, who had won their opening three games. There was a first win of the season for the Philadelphia 76ers as James Harden led them to a 120-106 victory over the Indiana Pacers. Harden made 29 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds with Joel Embiid adding 26 points. The Portland Trail Blazers continued their blistering start to the campaign with a fourth win, this time a 135-110 success over the Denver Nuggets. Damian Lillard recorded 31 points, eight assists and six rebounds for Portland, who have opened a season with four wins for the first time since 1999-2000. There was a first win of the season for the Houston Rockets over the previously unbeaten Utah Jazz, as well as victories for the Toronto Raptors, San Antonio Spurs and New York Knicks.
