The NBA season is now in full swing. There were also mid-week UEFA Champions League Games. Anthony Joshua is preparing to make some changes as he prepares to bounce back from his recent defeat.
Enjoy the full breakdown of this week’s sports updates.
Champions League Games
Cristiano Ronaldo scored a late winner to complete a stunning Manchester United comeback on a night when Bayern and Chelsea were also victorious.
The competition’s all-time leading scorer completed another Manchester United turnaround at Old Trafford, while holders Chelsea cruised past Malmö, Barcelona got off the mark and Bayern put in an impressive late cameo.
Barcelona clinched their first points of the campaign with victory against Dynamo Kyiv. Sergiño Dest and Luuk de Jong were both denied by visiting goalkeeper Georgiy Bushchan before Gerard Piqué volleyed in Jordi Alba’s teasing cross soon after the half-hour mark.
Andreas Christensen’s emphatic half-volley, Jorginho penalties in either half and a neat Kai Havertz finish following a rapid counterattack left the holders three points behind group leaders Juventus. Apparent injuries suffered by Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner were the only concerns for Chelsea, while Malmö were still seeking their first point.
NBA: Milwaukee Bucks beat Brooklyn Nets, LA Lakers lose to Golden State Warriors
Reigning NBA champions the Milwaukee Bucks crushed the Brooklyn Nets 127-104 on the opening night of the league’s 75th anniversary season.
Giannis Antetokounmpo, who was the most valuable player in last season’s finals, contributed 32 points and 14 rebounds for the Bucks against one of the pre-season favourites.
Meanwhile the Los Angeles Lakers lost 121-114 to the Golden State Warriors.
LeBron James scored 34 points and Anthony Davis added 33 in the defeat. The Warriors, led by a 21-point, 10-assist and 10-rebound triple-double from Steph Curry, came from behind to beat the 2020 champions.
Six Warriors players scored double figures, while Nemanja Bjelica added 15 points and 11 rebounds from the bench.
“This is a good feeling,” Curry said. “We had a lot of excitement coming into this season — a new cast of characters mixed with our core.
A sold-out crowd packed into the Fiserv Forum Arena as the Bucks unveiled their championship banner and celebrated their first title win in 50 years before the game.
“It was hard, we all were excited to get the rings, and see our banner,” Antetokounmpo said.
“It’s kind of hard to balance that, to go from that excitement and emotional state to go and play a game.
Joshua mulls changes to coaching set up
Anthony Joshua has met with several American-based trainers as he considers a shake-up to his coaching set-up following his defeat by Oleksandr Usyk.
The British heavyweight has faced calls to part ways with long-time coach Rob McCracken since losing his WBA (Super), WBO and IBF titles to Usyk last month.
Joshua has met Virgil Hunter, Eddy Reynoso and Ronnie Shields in the US.
“I guess he didn’t feel it was the right [gameplan against Usyk] so he wanted to make a change,” said Shields.
Hunter is based in Oakland, California and trained the likes of multiple-weight world champion Andre Ward and Amir Khan.
Joshua has close ties within Hunter’s camp with British fighter Joshua Buatsi also training under the veteran coach.