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LONDON: Jamie Vardy has criticised himself and his Leicester City teammates after they were relegated from the Premier League, calling their performances in the current campaign “embarrassing.”

A 1-0 defeat at the hands of EPL leaders Liverpool saw 19th-placed Leicester confirm their relegation yesterday, just one season after returning to the top flight.

Leicester, who won the Premier League against all odds in 2016, have endured a poor run of form, losing their last nine home games in a row without scoring a goal – an English record.

Former England international Vardy, Leicester’s hero in the 2016 title triumph and the 2019-20 Premier League Golden Boot winner, has also failed to impress, scoring just seven league goals in 31 appearances this season.

“At this point, I don’t know what to say. There are no words I can say to express my anger and sadness at how this season has gone,” the 38-year-old said in a statement on social media.

“There are no excuses. Collectively, as players and as a club, we have failed. There is nothing to hide and I do not want to entertain any suggestion of doing so.

“Having been at this club for so long, we’ve experienced so much success and glory — and this season has just been sad and for me personally, a complete disgrace. It hurts and I know you feel it too. To the fans: I’m sorry…”

Leicester, 19th with 18 points from 33 games, travel to Wolves on Saturday.

BIRMINGHAM, England: Unai Emery believes more will come from Aston Villa as they exit the Champions League with pride after a thrilling 3-2 win over Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) early this morning.

The French champions advanced 5-4 on aggregate to reach the semi-finals following a 3-1 first-leg win, but lost at Villa Park for the second time in 19 matches.

Emery’s men came close to sparking the most stunning comeback in Champions League history.

After trailing 2-0 earlier this morning, they needed four goals to force extra time but were denied by a series of saves by Gianluigi Donnarumma after goals from Youri Tielemans, John McGinn and Ezri Konsa.

“I’m very proud of everything we’ve done. To be at this level is a step forward that I want to build with Aston Villa,” said Emery, who has turned Villa’s fortunes around since taking over in 2022.

“Today it was great how we felt here with our fans. The crowd was fantastic. They enjoyed it as much as we did.”

Villa’s first appearance in Europe’s elite competition since 1983 also included a stylish victory over Bayern Munich in the group stage.

Emery’s men face a tough task of booking a ticket to the competition again next season by finishing in the top five of the Premier League.

Villa are seventh but just one point behind fifth-placed Manchester City with six games remaining.

“Going through the Premier League is very difficult,” Emery explained. “It’s an even more challenging objective to qualify for the Champions League again.

“Our challenge now is the last six games to go, trying to qualify for Europe and trying to get into the Champions League. If not, the Europa League or the Conference League.”

LIVERPOOL, England: Liverpool did not have it easy when they beat West Ham 2-1 but the players showed a great mentality to come back and claim three points, manager Arne Slot said as they edged closer to the title.

After Luis Diaz opened the scoring, West Ham equalised in the 86th minute through an Andy Robertson own goal before captain Virgil van Dijk headed in the winner three minutes later.

With a 13-point lead over second-placed Arsenal, Liverpool only need two wins from their last six matches to win their second Premier League (EPL) title after 2020 and their first trophy under Slot after losing the League Cup final last month.

“That’s what we’ve done all season. After the disappointment of being eliminated by PSG (in the Champions League), we came out again, came out every three days with this mentality,” Slot told Sky Sports.

“We didn’t win the game the easy way. The easy way was to have the ball, make five passes and we scored a goal and the next goal and the next goal.

“If we achieved anything this year, it was all because of the mentality the players showed. That’s what you saw today.”

Liverpool have lost just two league games this season, with the second coming last weekend at Fulham.

Slot said he feared they would drop points again when West Ham began to threaten in the second half and praised goalkeeper Alisson Becker for rescuing Liverpool with a number of crucial saves.

“The second half was tough, we needed Alisson because (Lucas) Paqueta and (Mohammed) Kudus were exceptional throughout the game,” said Slot.

“Then we conceded a goal… an own goal. How much more disappointment can you feel after what happened last week? Getting a goal through Virgil shows you how big the mentality of my players is.”

MANCHESTER, England: Jack Grealish ended his Premier League (EPL) goal drought as Manchester City, who were without Erling Haaland, defeated struggling Leicester 2-0 early this morning to move up to fourth place.

England international Grealish struck after just two minutes – his first Premier League goal for 16 months – with Omar Marmoush also netting in the first half at the Etihad Stadium.

The victory put the reigning English champions back in the Champions League group, although they are still 22 points behind leaders Liverpool.

It also saw them perform well even without Norwegian striker Haaland, who had to be out for up to seven weeks after suffering an ankle injury during the FA Cup quarter-final win at Bournemouth last Sunday.

“It wasn’t easy with 10 men defending in the penalty area,” City manager Pep Guardiola told the BBC. “We missed the third goal to be more calm, it never ended. But happy with a good performance overall.”

Manchester City needed just two minutes to take the lead against second-bottom Leicester, who have lost seven league games in a row.

Jeremy Doku and Savinho combined to break down Leicester’s defence before Grealish fired home from close range for his first league goal since December 2023.

Grealish’s long-awaited goal was not seen by hundreds of City fans, who remained outside the stadium for the first nine minutes in protest at the club’s deal with a ticket resale company.

The protestors, however, saw City double their lead in the 29th minute when Egyptian striker Marmoush fired home after Leicester goalkeeper Mads Hermansen failed to deal with Ruben Dias’ pass.

City jumped to fourth place, one point ahead of fifth-placed Newcastle and two ahead of sixth-placed Chelsea, who face Tottenham early on Wednesday.

LONDON: England midfielder Jude Bellingham needs to be more disciplined to have a greater impact on the team, says his manager Thomas Tuchel.

The 21-year-old has scored 11 goals for Real Madrid this season and six in 41 appearances for England.

Bellingham, who set up Myles Lewis-Skelly’s opening goal in the 2-0 win over Albania at Wembley on Friday, was also a key player for England in their run to the European Championship final in Germany last year, where they lost to Spain.

“He is always ready to give his all but we need to help him so that he can play more optimally according to the structure, and provide the same impact, or maybe even more.

“We need to make sure the leader, and he is one of the leaders, as well as the key players, play at the same pace and help each other.

“And maybe play with more discipline, to save energy for the important moments,” Tuchel said of Bellingham’s performance.

Tuchel also wants Bellingham to be more involved in the game.

“He likes to talk to the referees and the linesmen. He’s an emotional guy when he’s on the pitch. You can see he hates losing and will do anything…” he said.

GLASGOW: Rangers are disappointed and embarrassed by the behaviour of a few fans during last week’s Europa League match against Fenerbahce, which led to charges by UEFA.

UEFA has charged Rangers for the actions of fans displaying racist or discriminatory banners.

A banner reading: “Keep away foreign ideologies – defend Europe” was seen raised by supporters as Rangers reached the quarter-finals on penalties against giants Turkiye last week.

The Scottish club were also charged with several other offences by UEFA, including throwing objects and obstructing the path.

“For a club to be accused of such things in 2025 is disgraceful, and the contempt for those responsible will be shared by the majority of our supporters,” Rangers said in a statement.

“This punishment will bring consequences to the club while the club is also working to identify those responsible and ensure they bear the consequences.

“For the avoidance of doubt, if you do not believe in 2025 that everyone is welcome to follow Rangers whether at Ibrox or away, then Rangers is not the club for you, and you should disassociate yourself from the club immediately.”

The 2022 Europa League finalists are scheduled to face Athletic Bilbao in the last eight of the Europa League next month.

LONDON: Arsenal beat London rivals Chelsea 1-0 for their first win in four Premier League games on Wednesday.

Striker Mikel Merino’s towering header added to their hopes of catching current leaders Liverpool.

Merino struck in the 20th minute when he headed past Robert Sanchez in the Chelsea goal after receiving a corner from Martin Odegaard.

Victory leaves second-placed Arsenal 12 points behind Liverpool who face Newcastle United in tonight’s League Cup final.

Both teams have played 29 matches and still have nine more matches remaining.

Chelsea are now fourth, one point ahead of Manchester City and five behind third-placed Nottingham Forest.

LIVERPOOL: Paris Saint-Germain advanced to the quarter-finals of the Champions League after beating Liverpool 4-1 on penalties in the second leg of the round of 16.

Trailing 1-0 after the first leg in Paris last week, PSG levelled on aggregate thanks to Ousmane Dembele’s 12th-minute goal at Anfield.

The match went into extra time, but no goals were scored and had to be decided through penalty kicks.

PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma proved his mettle by saving shots from Darwin Nunez and Curtis Jones, while Vitinha, Goncalo Ramos, Dembele and Desire Doue completed the scoring for the visitors.

The French champions, who have never won the tournament, now advance to next month’s quarter-finals to face either Aston Villa or Club Brugge.

Villa hosted the visiting Belgian club at Villa Park with a 3-1 lead.

LONDON: Arne Slot says Liverpool need not fear at Parc des Princes as he prepares his Premier League (EPL) favourites for a blockbuster Champions League clash against Ligue 1 leaders Paris Saint-Germain (PSG).

The Slot team took a step forward in their bid for their first Champions League crown since 2019 when they faced PSG in the first leg of the last 16, early this Thursday morning.

The six-time European champions lost both of their previous visits to PSG in 1997 and 2018.

But Liverpool have only lost four times in all competitions this season and once in the Champions League – meeting PSV Eindhoven in the final group stage match, when they already qualified for the last 16.

The Reds emerged as league champions with seven wins from eight matches, including a 2-0 victory over defending champions Real Madrid, and were also dominant on the domestic stage.

Inspired by the greatness of Egyptian striker Mohamed Salah, Slot’s men are 13 points ahead at the top of the EPL as they approach a record-equalling 20 English championships.

Liverpool can clinch their first trophy of the Slot era when they face Newcastle in the League Cup final at Wembley on March 16.

With 20 wins, the Reds have won more league games than any club in Europe’s top five leagues so far this season.

After a recent slump, Liverpool are back on track with two 2-0 wins over Manchester City and Newcastle, which have allowed them to move closer to EPL glory.

They also benefited from not playing last weekend before the PSG match due to being knocked out early in the FA Cup.

No wonder Slot explained that Liverpool had no reason to be nervous about their visit to Paris.

“Are we afraid of PSG? We’re not afraid of anyone. But I’m impressed by their quality, they’re on a similar upward curve to us at the moment,” he said.

“I don’t think teams like Liverpool, Arsenal, Paris Saint-Germain, Barcelona, ​​Real Madrid are afraid of their opponents.

“But of course we respect them and there’s a reason for that. They’ve won too many games in a row and they’ve got too many quality players.”

Like Liverpool, PSG are also closing in on the French title, leading by 13 points after 24 games unbeaten in Ligue 1 this season.

STUTTGART: Bayern Munich came from a goal down to stay top of the Bundesliga with a 3-1 win at VfB Stuttgart.

The win strengthened Bayern’s position at the top of the league on 61 points, 11 points ahead of Bayer Leverkusen who have played a game less.

Stuttgart took the lead in the 34th minute through Angelo Stiller before Bayern equalised through Michael Olise.

Bayern then took the lead in the 64th minute when Leon Goretzka intercepted a Stuttgart defender in the penalty area and scored to make it 2-1.

Stuttgart made another mistake before the end of the game when Joshua Vagnoman tried to pass the ball to goalkeeper Alexander Nubel, but it was intercepted by Kingsley Coman who scored the third goal.