Barca into Copa del Rey semis

Ousmane Dembele scored the only goal as Barcelona beat in-form Real Sociedad to book their place in the Copa del Rey semi-finals.

The visitors, who had won their previous nine games, had Brais Mendez sent off in the first half for a dangerous tackle on Sergio Busquets.

Dembele settled the tie when he ran onto Jules Kounde’s ball down the right wing before hammering in from an angle.

Gavi almost put the game beyond doubt but hit the bar.

Osasuna also made it to the last four of the competition after beating Sevilla 2-1 in extra time.

Ezequiel Avila looked to have won it in normal time for the hosts only for Youssef En-Nesyri to level in the 94th minute.

On-loan Barcelona winger Abde Ezzalzouli scored in the first half of extra time to send Osasuna through. (BBC)

France are the current Nations League champions, having beating Spain in the 2021 final

Nations League: Uefa reveals ‘more compelling’ expanded format for tournament from 2024

UEFA says the introduction of quarter-finals and promotion playoffs to a revised Nations League will make it a “more compelling” competition.

The new expanded format will begin in September 2024.

There will still be groups of four but, for the 16 highest-ranked League A teams, the top two will qualify for a two-legged quarterfinal in March 2025, with group winners facing runners-up.

The winners of those matches will go into the ‘Final Four’ in June 2025.

As with the current format, the side finishing fourth in their League A group will be relegated.

But a side finishing third will go into a promotion play-off with a side finishing second in League B, and also held over two legs.

Scotland have been promoted to League A for the 2024-25 event, with England relegated to League B alongside Wales, and Northern Ireland are in League C.

“This makes the Nations League a more compelling competition, with more interesting and attractive knockout matches, “ said Uefa deputy general secretary Giorgio Marchetti.

The revised format will trigger changes to the qualification system for the 2026 World Cup and 2028 Euros.

Instead of 10 qualification groups at present, there will be 12, six with five teams and six with four.

Countries who reach the ‘Final Four’ will be placed in a fourteam group as their qualification programme cannot begin until September 2025.

The actual qualification process will begin in March 2025, but only with five-team groups and only with countries not still involved in the Nations League.

Uefa says the changes will have no impact on the current international calendar and would fit any alterations world governing body Fifa makes to it.

Olympics 2024: IOC plan for Russian & Belarusian athletes criticised by UK Government

The International Olympic Committee’s plan to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete at Paris 2024 has been condemned by Culture Secretary Michelle Donelan.

She said the move was a “world away from the reality of war”.

On Wednesday, the IOC said it would “explore a pathway” for Russian and Belarusian athletes’ participation.

“We condemn any action that allows President Putin to legitimise his illegal war in Ukraine,” Donelan said.

“This position from the IOC is a world away from the reality of war being felt by the Ukrainian people - and IOC president [Thomas] Bach’s own words less than a year ago where he strongly condemned Russia for breaking the Olympic Truce and urged it to ‘give peace a chance,” she added.

“We, and many other countries, have been unequivocal on this

The year. However, Wednesday’s statement said “no athlete should be prevented from competing just because of their passport”.

Last month, Bach spoke of not wishing to punish individual athletes for the actions of their governments.

However, in response to the IOC statement, World Athletics stressed that athletes from those countries remained excluded from its events. The athletics governing body outlined that Russian athletes were suspended over the country’s doping scandal and also - alongside Belarusian athletes - for the invasion of Ukraine.

It added that a taskforce will report in March on whether “the intensive work we have conducted in cleaning up athletics in Russia has now been sufficiently embraced for the doping-related suspension to be lifted.”

If that suspension is lifted, World Athletics said its council meeting would then consider the ongoing suspension of Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials in relation to the invasion of Ukraine.