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Borussia Dortmund’s early season difficulties have prompted the club to go for Germany forward Niclas Füllkrug to get the team on track again

No. 5 LSU has the chance to make a major statement when it opens against No. 8 Florida State on Sunday night

A fresh slate of NBA rumors: Jayson Tatum recruits Damian Lillard to the Celtics, Brandon Ingram gets benched by Team USA, and Mark Cuban gets too honest.

Real Madrid was confident it had locked up the heir to Luka Modric when it signed Jude Bellingham in the offseason

Ball movement leads to open shots.

Al-Ettifaq midfielder Jordan Henderson has been named in Gareth Southgate’s England squad for the upcoming games against Ukraine and Scotland, but there was no place for Raheem Sterling. The road to next summer’s European Championship continues with a qualifier against Ukraine in Poland on September 9, before playing a friendly in Scotland three days later. Southgate has largely stuck with the tried and tested with his 26-man squad for the double-header, giving call-ups to three regulars with questions over their international roles. England vice-captain Henderson’s move to Saudi club Al-Ettifaq raises questions ahead of the Euros, while former Manchester United captain Harry Maguire and Manchester City midfielder Kalvin Phillips have yet to play a minute of club football this season. Under-21 European Championship winner Levi Colwill received his first formal call-up and uncapped Arsenal striker Eddie Nketiah has also got the nod for the first time. There is no place for Chelsea forward Sterling despite a strong start to the campaign. Henderson’s inclusion came after he opted to leave Liverpool for the Saudi Pro League in the summer and Southgate admits he has some concerns looking to the future. Speaking after announcing his squad, Southgate said: “We’ve watched every game, the key as we move forward is going to be the physical intensity of the league, because of the heat as well, whether that is going to allow him to perform at the level we need. “Clearly the level of the league is changing all the time, lots of countries are going to have this issue. Portugal have got a few players there so I’m sure they are going to be playing international football still.” On the decision to select Henderson despite moving to Saudi Arabia and their lack of LGBTQ+ rights, Southgate said: “I think we are supportive of the LGBT+ community, a large number of the team and staff have either relatives or friends from that community. “We have tried to be very supportive but I also accept members of the community felt let down. You have to live your life as you see fit, I can only speak on personal level and what the team represents and I try to be accepting of all cultures and understanding of everyone in different positions. “If there is a feeling we haven’t done enough we have to accept that position, but it is not intentional, but these are all very complex situations that we are trying to do our best to navigate.” The England boss said the door was still open for Sterling to earn a way back into his thoughts and tipped the 82-cap winger to continue his fine start to the campaign. He said: “He was not available for the last two and of course that has given other people the opportunity to play well and establish themselves in the group, it is a difficult call and Raheem isn’t particularly happy about it – I’m convinced he will have a good season at Chelsea, I’ve no doubt about that.” Southgate said of Maguire’s inclusion: “We have lost a lot of experienced players with caps at centre-half, we are giving some less experienced players the opportunity to come into the squad but unfortunately it looks like Tyrone (Mings) is out for the season, (John) Stones is out for this camp, Eric Dier hasn’t been in the Tottenham squad. “There is a space there and I think for these two games it is important we have some experience in that place of the pitch.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Chelsea set to spend as Spurs aim to replace Kane – deadline day talking points Man Utd look for new arrivals on deadline day and Liverpool aim to keep Salah The body still feels good enough – Scotland prop WP Nel has no plans to retire

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A U.N.-backed team of human rights experts focusing on racial discrimination has urged Italy to do more to fight acts of violence, hate speech, stigmatization and harassment against Africans and people of African descent

“I wouldn’t say I’m a masochist, no.” It’s a reassuring start from Chris Eubank Jr, as he reflects on his defeat by Liam Smith – the first stoppage loss of his career, and an experience he says he enjoyed. “Imagine being in a sport your entire life, thinking you’ve experienced every single thing there is, then something new happens at 33 years old,” the Briton explains to The Independent, as his rematch with Smith looms. “I’ve been fighting since I was 14, and I’ve never been buzzed like that, or had to get up, recuperate, march forward, then go back down again, get back up. I never would’ve imagined that I’d be in a position where a referee could stop a fight for me. “So, it was new, it was crazy. Looking back on it, it was exciting. It was a huge adrenalin rush, probably the same amount of adrenalin as I would get from knocking a guy out.” Twice Eubank Jr hauled himself off the canvas in the fourth round at Manchester’s AO Arena, his body moving almost gelatinously as his brain tried to recentre him, before Victor Loughlin waved off the bout. Eubank Jr will hope he does not have to feel that same canvas against his knees and elbows on Saturday when he returns to the AO Arena for a middleweight rematch with Smith. “It has to change how I think, feel, and how I approach fights,” he says. “You have to learn. I have a new mindset on going into fights and protecting myself at all times, making sure I don’t get hit flush. We have to do everything in our power to make sure we’re never in that position again.” That said, “I feel like I dealt with it well,” Eubank Jr adds. “A lot of fighters... when they get hurt, you see the real side of them. A lot back down, a lot look for ways out. Everyone saw that night, I was ready to go out on my shield. I was ready to die in there. ‘Let’s keep going,’ that’s what I said when the going got tough. I think the fans appreciated seeing that side of me.” Never before had Eubank Jr touched the canvas, let alone been stopped, and once the “excitement” subsided, he was left to deal with a different emotion. “I wasn’t upset, disappointed; I was pissed off,” he recalls. “It wasn’t like I got my ass kicked for three rounds and then got knocked out; I was dominating the fight, then I made a mistake and got caught. I was pissed off at myself, pissed off at the referee for not giving me the chance to continue. Whether he was right or wrong, as a grizzled veteran I don’t feel the need to be saved by a referee. “[But] when I watched the replay back in the changing room, I said to everybody: ‘I’ll take that.’ As in, if I was ever gonna get stopped, that’s the way I’d want it: on my feet, demanding they let me continue. I can accept that, I can sleep at night. I couldn’t sleep at night if I’m getting the 10 count and I can’t get up, or if I’m telling the referee, ‘No, [I can’t continue]’.” As well as mentioning referee Loughlin, Eubank Jr has cited an alleged elbow by Smith as proving decisive in the fight’s final sequence. Still, he maintains that these are not excuses, while Smith, 35, has revelled in his victory. “I enjoyed every bit of it,” Smith told The Independent in July. “It was a great week, I wish I could have that week back, it was a great week.” The Liverpudlian also said the prickly build-up to their first fight existed because the boxers just “wouldn’t get on” in normal life. But Eubank Jr, for his part, says: “Just because I fought him, doesn’t mean I know who he is as a man. He might be a great guy. I don’t know and I don’t need to know, that’s not part of my job; my job is to know who he is as a fighter and exploit that or deal with that. I think he is exploitable, he does get riled up, I can get into his head. I’m not here to be buddies or pals with people, I’m here to take guys out. I’m here to create a legacy, and he’s put a serious bump in that road for me; I need to smoothen it out.” That legacy has always been a complicated one, given the memories that Eubank Jr’s father gave to British boxing fans. Still, its ending is unwritten, and it is still in Eubank Jr’s control – for now. “There’s so many huge fights left for me to have,” he says. “There’s so much left for me to achieve. We have to see if I can do the things I say I can do. First and foremost, I have to beat Liam Smith; it’s not a great legacy if I finish my career with two losses to Liam on my record. That would for sure damage any type of ‘great’ legacy. Knowing that, it’s hugely important that I avenge this loss. I can explain a freak accident – it happens; I can get away with one loss to Liam, I can’t get away with two.” However Eubank Jr’s in-ring endeavours are ultimately judged, one thing seems certain: his personality and words outside the ring will see him remembered as one of the most divisive boxers of his generation. “It’s part of selling a fight, it’s part of beating your opponent,” Eubank Jr says. “You’ve got to win every fight – verbal, mental, physical. I’ve become very good at that over the years. I understand it’s part of the sport if you want to be ‘box office’. The guys that don’t talk, don’t have an opinion or aren’t able to express themselves to the fans and to their opponents, they don’t get airtime or headlines. You need those things to make money, I’ve learnt that from the very beginning, watching my old man. “As I got older, my old man took more and more steps back, and I was able to come forward and be my own personality. Now we’re at a stage where I’m comfortable in every situation. I can read the room very well, I can read my opponents well.” Eubank Jr will hope he has a good read of Smith on Saturday. Watch Smith vs Eubank Jr 2 on Sky Sports Box Office on Saturday 2 September, live from the AO Arena in Manchester Read More Eubank vs Smith 2 live stream: How to watch fight online and on TV this weekend Liam Smith: ‘Chris Eubank Jr is a nightmare – not for me, for other people’ Oleksandr Usyk remains heavyweight champion but where does he go from here? Adam Azim seeks Aram Fanyan ‘demolition’ in grandfather’s memory Who is fighting on Eubank vs Smith 2 undercard this weekend? What time does Eubank vs Smith 2 start this weekend?