To measure how difficult it is to win away in the Ryder Cup, chat to Tony Jacklin. He is among the very few Europeans to do it, but can still work himself into a state of incredulity about a defeat fr...

RIATH AL-SAMARRAI: I enjoyed Snoop Dogg 's involvement with the Paris Olympics last summer. The old mutt was everywhere, peaking one afternoon when he rocked up at the equestrian.

RIATH AL-SAMARRAI: Arsenal put out a little note on their website on June 4. It was the usual for that time of year, which meant thanking 20 players who were being released.

RIATH AL-SAMARRAI: Wimbledon commences on Monday and the top seed in the men's draw is Jannik Sinner, who blamed a failed drugs test on an extraordinary chain of events.

RIATH AL-SAMARRAI: There's yarn about Jack Draper that tells us a little about his backhand and far more about his mind. It is also why the sharer of this tale uses 'savage' as a term of endearment.

RIATH AL-SAMARRAI: By now, we are well aware of the toxic messaging that regularly finds its way to an athlete's inbox - abusive, threatening, often from a faceless minority of low-lives.

RIATH AL-SAMARRAI: There are some nice angles to FIFA's Club World Cup . Here's one: Auckland City. Here's another: their goalkeeper. That would be a guy named Conor Tracey.

RIATH AL-SAMARRAI: We spoke one morning in 2019. That was in the August, in London, so two months after the evening in Madrid when everything went wrong against Liverpool.

RIATH AL-SAMARRAI: We spoke one morning in 2019. That was in the August, in London, so two months after the evening in Madrid when everything went wrong against Liverpool.

Honesty is a fine thing. For Ruben Amorim, it might be all he has. But is it the best policy? Does it help? Has he heard of Gerald Ratner?

RIATH AL-SAMARRAI: Little can match the thrill of seeing the next big thing but even less ranks above the sight of a 14-year-old smashing a century in the Indian Premier League.

RIATH AL-SAMARRAI: We're a month shy of two years since senior elements of Tottenham Hotspur thought their next manager would be Arne Slot, who is now loving life at Liverpool.

RIATH AL-SAMARRAI: I've always viewed Real as all trophies and no soul, a club that can elevate a player to untold heights just as easily as it can chew them up for no good reason.

RIATH AL-SAMARRAI: Let's start with the Spanish lad who did that thing in the wrong place at Augusta National on Thursday.

RIATH AL-SAMARRAI: Before getting into the weeds at Augusta National, there are yarns to share about grass. The mechanisms of control at this sporting nirvana go down to the roots.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW BY RIATH AL-SAMARRAI: No subplots to The Masters are as provocative as the presence of an ex-champion making his first return after being in prison for domestic violence.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW BY RIATH AL-SAMARRAI: To understand the undulations of Viktor Hovland's golf, it is probably necessary to start with the boundaries of his curiosity.

For all the complications written across Rory McIlroy's scorecards at Augusta, the solutions sound so simple when they come from the man entrusted with his mind.

RIATH AL-SAMARRAI: Manchester City made an announcement on Friday morning. It wasn't the one we're all waiting on, but they do have a new energy drink partner in Vietnam.

RIATH AL-SAMARRAI: A few tales have reached me about how West Ham's Paqueta managed his existence in the early days of an important saga, once the asteroid came into view.

RIATH AL-SAMARRAI: The tragedy of Diego Maradona was told in many details this week, but none were so arresting as those contained in a single photograph.

If we are to fully understand the fear that compelled her to hide behind an umpire's chair in Dubai on Tuesday, then we should look back to an incident closer to her home. Far closer.

RIATH AL-SAMARRAI: A birthday is approaching at United and it will be accompanied by a few questions, one of which might be: does Ratcliffe have enough spare cash to spring for a cake?

Hearts and minds don't come cheap in football. For Birmingham City's American ownership group, the bill is being paid one pint at a time.

RIATH AL-SAMARRAI: Out of the dustiness of Olympic politics came a pair of related thoughts this week. They both went to the subject of blood. The blood of a female boxer and a bloodline.

RIATH AL-SAMARRAI: Levy could sign three players on £250,000 a week and still be within 50 per cent of turnover. Levy should be embarrassed by those beans, ones of institutional cowardice.

RIATH AL-SAMARRAI: Among some healthy praise for the team he faced, this is what he said: 'There was also a lot of moments where it took a while before the play restarted.'

The Everton of today isn't the same image of competency Moyes remembers. Today's Everton beat the fight out of Dyche across a two-year period at Goodison Park.

The Everton of today isn't the same image of competency Moyes remembers. Today's Everton beat the fight out of Dyche across a two-year period at Goodison Park.

RIATH AL-SAMARRAI AT THE EMIRATES: For Mikel Arteta, who had Martin Odegaard on the bench and Kai Havertz out with illness, disappointment will also come from elements of the performance.

RIATH AL-SAMARRAI: Littler goes from zero to 180 in around four seconds at the oche, thud-thud-thud, and in a similar amount of time he might burn through two answers at a microphone.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW BY RIATH AL-SAMARRAI: Hatton is grinning a little sheepishly. We are sat under the desert sun, in Dubai, and calm has returned for the 33-year-old, if only for a while.

RIATH AL-SAMARRAI: There's a tattoo on Mykhailo Mudryk's throat which reads: 'Talent ain't enough.' What we really need to know is whether talent had a little help.

RIATH AL-SAMARRAI: Before we get to princes, vikings, a nuke and other explosions that took him by surprise, Barry Hearn wishes to discuss his epiphany. It was delivered by horse 30 years ago.

RIATH AL-SAMARRAI: Pep Guardiola has been here before. Not as a manager, as we all know by now, but as a player he once stood in the grandest of sporting cathedrals and it crumbled around him.

RIATH AL-SAMARRAI: Pep Guardiola has been here before. Not as a manager, as we all know by now, but as a player he once stood in the grandest of sporting cathedrals and it crumbled around him.

RIATH AL-SAMARRAI: Before we get to princes, vikings, a nuke and other explosions that took him by surprise, Barry Hearn wishes to discuss his epiphany. It was delivered by horse 30 years ago.

RIATH AL-SAMARRI: Contrary to the sense that all shadowy corners at West Ham are occupied by assassins, there are still some at the club who have nice things to say about Julen Lopetegui.

The walkers gave the game away. Not Kyle, not this time, because he wasn't on the pitch. But the strollers were there and they are easy enough to spot when you review the footage of a meltdown.

The walkers gave the game away. Not Kyle, not this time, because he wasn't on the pitch. But the strollers were there and they are easy enough to spot when you review the footage of a meltdown.

RIATH AL-SAMARRAI: There's a lesser-told yarn about Roy Keane and car parks that warrants an airing. It also serves as a warning to any Ipswich Town fans faced with an invitation to step outside.

RIATH AL-SAMARRAI: There's a lesser-told yarn about Roy Keane and car parks that warrants an airing. It also serves as a warning to any Ipswich Town fans faced with an invitation to step outside.

ASTON VILLA 0-0 JUVENTUS - RIATH AL-SAMARRAI AT VILLA PARK: There is no end of beauty to evoke when you think of the grand Old Lady of Europe under the grand old lights of Villa Park.

RIATH AL-SAMARRAI: Liverpool appeared far from their usual standards on Sunday, yet Salah came to the rescue, converting a penalty in the 82nd minute to clinch a victory.

RIATH AL-SAMARRAI: Liverpool appeared far from their usual standards on Sunday, yet Salah came to the rescue, converting a penalty in the 82nd minute to clinch a victory.

RIATH AL-SAMARRAI: While the FA were briefing a defence of their snub to homegrown options and the wisdom of choosing an invisible man, Bellamy was perched at the front of a school hall.