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BALE, KANE ON TARGET AS TOTTENHAM BEAT STOKE CITY TO REACH CARABAO CUP SEMIS.

Tottenham Hotspur reached the semifinals of the League Cup with a 3-1 win over second-tier side Stoke City on Wednesday thanks to goals from Gareth Bale, Ben Davies and Harry Kane.

On the sort of inhospitable evening that Stoke’s stadium became famous for in the Premier League, Spurs boss Jose Mourinho paid the now-Championship team the compliment of fielding a strong side from the off including goal-machine Kane.

Chasing a first major trophy since winning the League Cup in 2008, the Premier League side totally dominated the first half and took a deserved lead when Gareth Bale flicked in a cute 22nd minute header from a Harry Winks cross.

It was Bale’s third goal since returning to Tottenham on loan from Real Madrid.

The hosts lacked their famously passionate crowd at the Bet365 stadium, but the chill wind and pre-match rain bore out the old cliche about the toughest test in football being a “cold, wet night at Stoke.”

And indeed, as those few present to watch huddled in their woolies, Stoke brought scowls to Mourinho’s face in the second half with an equaliser by Jordan Thompson, who beat Hugo Lloris from close after Jacob Brown’s pass in the 53rd minute.

Tottenham weathered the mini-storm, however, to restore their lead with a fine low shot from outside the area by Ben Davies in the 70th minute before Kane, inevitably, blasted into the top of the net from close range in the 81st minute.

“We’re really happy. We knew that a cold, wet windy Wednesday night at Stoke was going to be tough,” man-of-the-match Winks said afterwards.

“The boys were brilliant. It’s a tough place to come.”

Spurs were top of the Premier League earlier this month but they have dropped to sixth after collecting only a point from their last three matches. Mourinho has already won the League Cup four times with Chelsea and Manchester United and is now two wins away from a fifth triumph in the competition.

“We deserved it,” he said after beating Stoke. “Now we have two tough games to come.”

Tottenham join holders Manchester City and Championship side Brentford in the semi-final draw, along with either Everton or Manchester United who were playing later on Wednesday.

At Stoke, Mourinho started with out-of-favour Dele Alli, but he was substituted after Stoke’s 37-year-old debut goalkeeper Andy Lonergan thwarted him twice with smart saves. It was Lonergan’s first competitive game since turning out for third tier League One team Rochdale in 2019.

Stoke manager Michael O’Neill said Stoke were too timid in the first half, but he was not displeased overall.

“We expected Spurs to come with a strong team — maybe not as strong as they started” he chuckled.

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ARSENAL ARE JUST LIKE US – ALLARDYCE.

West Brom boss Sam Allardyce insists Arsenal are in a relegation battle just like Westbromwich Albion, his new team.

The Gunners are 15th in the table having lost five of their last seven Primmer League matches.

Allardyce, who has never suffered relegation with his seven previous top-flight clubs, replaced Slaven Bilic at the Hawthorns last week.

The Baggies are five points from safety after 14 games and host Arsenal on January 2.

Asked if he views the Gunners as a relegation rival, Allardyce said: “If they are in the bottom eight at the moment, yes, absolutely.

They’ve only won maybe one in the last 10 or so, and it appears their big results have come in the Europa League.

“And of course getting beat again last night, even though it’s not in the league, as it does with our players, drains the confidence of Arsenal’s players, of course it will.

Because they’ll be wondering what has hit them, why they are down there, and what it is going to take to get out of that position.

“I know what it takes, I hope I can convince the players to respond to what I say on what it takes to get out of it.

I hope we can push on Arsenal when they play us because they’ve got a lack of confidence, and try to beat them – or anybody in the bottom eight.”

He added: “[Arsenal boss] Mikel Arteta would not think they’d be in that position at this moment in time, but he seems a strong character, seems to not move away from what his beliefs are – which is what we all have to do.”

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TRIPPIER HANDED 10-MATCH BAN OVER BREACH OF BETTING RULES.

Atletico Madrid and England defender Kieran Trippier has been suspended for 10 weeks and fined £70,000 following a breach of betting rules, the English Football Association (FA) said on Wednesday.

Trippier, 30, denied seven alleged breaches of FA Rule E8, which were said to occur in July 2019, and requested a personal hearing.

An FA statement read: “An independent regulatory commission was appointed to hear the case, with four of the alleged breaches found proven and three dismissed during a subsequent personal hearing.

“The independent regulatory commission’s written reasons for its decisions and the associated sanction will be published in due course.”

The FA did not clarify what the breach entailed but said it had occurred in July 2019, around the time Trippier joined Atletico from Tottenham.

The ban means that Trippier will miss Atletico’s Champions League round of 16 first-leg tie against Chelsea in Madrid on Feb. 23.

The defender will now miss at least 13 games in all competitions but is set to return in time for the city derby against Real Madrid in March.

Diego Simeone’s side sit three points clear at the top of La Liga with a game in hand on Real who are second.

Trippier has been one of the standout performers for Atletico, playing every minute of their La Liga and Champions League games this season.

Trippier’s ban comes around nine months after former England striker Daniel Sturridge was punished for a breach of the FA’s gambling rules.

Sturridge was initially handed a six-week ban, four of them suspended, and fined £75,000 after being found guilty of providing his brother with information on a potential move from Liverpool to Sevilla in 2018.

After the FA appealed against the decision on the grounds that it was too lenient, an independent appeal board increased the ban to four months and doubled the fine.

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LA LIGA: MARCO ASENSIO GUIDES REAL MADRID TO WIN OVER GRANADA.

Substitute Marco Asensio helped lead Real Madrid to a 2-0 win over Granada on Wednesday, keeping it level on points with Spanish league leader Atletico Madrid.

Two minutes of inspired attacking by Asensio culminated in his pass for Casemiro to head in the 57th-minute opener at Madrid’s Alfredo Di Stefano Stadium.

Karim Benzema scored Madrid’s second goal in the game’s final seconds with Granada caught off balance while searching for an equalizer.

Madrid’s fifth league victory in a row left it in second place behind Atletico on goal difference. The title chase is shaping up to be a contest between the two capital city rivals. They are both six points ahead of Real Sociedad and Villarreal. Fifth-place Barcelona is eight points back.

Atletico also has more games in hand to play than the pursuing pack. Atletico has played 13 games, Barcelona 14, Madrid and Villarreal 15, and Sociedad 16.

Asensio replaced forward Rodrygo Goes in the 38th when the 19-year-old Brazilian grabbed his right thigh and asked to be substituted.

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FIFA LODGES CRIMINAL COMPLAINT AGAINST BLATTER.

FIFA on Tuesday announced it had filed a criminal complaint against former president Sepp Blatter over the finances of its loss-making museum in Zurich.

In a statement FIFA said it had “lodged a criminal complaint with Zurich’s cantonal prosecutor as evidence of suspected criminal mismanagement by FIFA’s former management and companies appointed by them in relation to the (museum) has surfaced.”

Blatter’s lawyer, Lorenz Erni, told AFP “the accusations are unfounded” and vehemently denied wrongdoing.

According to FIFA, the museum generated a bill of 500 million Swiss francs ($564 million) that instead “could and should have been channeled into the development of global football”.

“We came to the conclusion that we had no choice other than to report the case to state prosecutors, not least because the current management of FIFA also has fiduciary responsibilities to the organisation and we intend to live up to them, even if those before us dismally failed to,” said FIFA deputy secretary general Alasdair Bell.

The Zurich-based museum, a landmark Blatter project, was opened in February 2016 by current FIFA president Gianni Infantino just after he was elected as the successor to the disgraced Blatter.

Under Blatter, FIFA said it spent $140 million on refurbishing and renovating an office building and signed an “unfavourable” long-term rental agreement above market rates that will cost the organisation $360 million by its date of expiration in 2045.

The 10-floor building is spread across 3,000 square metres and includes exhibition, events and dining areas as well as 34 rental apartments and some 140 workstations.

The numbers given by FIFA are wrong,” a Blatter confidant told AFP, arguing the annual rent on the building is 8.9 million francs and the “fact that FIFA can rent around 20 of the apartments and offices” is not taken into account.

Museum director Stefan Jost quit in October 2016 following “contrasting views” on its future plans.

A month later it was at risk of closing due to heavy financial losses, with staff at the time even informed it was to shut.

However, it has remained open despite losing $50 million in its first year of operating as it attracted an average of 11,000 visitors a month, way below its target figure.

While it set a goal of 250,000 visitors in 2018, latest FIFA figures showed that 161,700 — the most since its opening — passed through the museum gates last year.

“Given the massive costs associated with this Museum, as well as the general way of working of the previous FIFA management, a forensic audit was conducted in order to find out what really happened here,” said Bell.

“That audit revealed a wide range of suspicious circumstances and management failures, some of which may be criminal in nature and which therefore need to be properly investigated by the relevant authorities.”

Blatter, now 84, was suspended from football for six years over a two million Swiss franc payment to then UEFA boss Michel Platini.

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NAPOLI WINS APPEAL FOR SERIE A UNPLAYED JUVE MATCH

Napoli have won their appeal against the decision to hand them a 3-0 defeat and deduct one point for failing to play their Serie A match at Juventus in October amid confusion over Italian football’s COVID-19 rules.

The ANSA news agency said the Italian Olympic Committee’s Guarantee Board, the highest tribunal in Italian sport, had accepted Napoli’s appeal and ordered that the match be played.

Napoli did not travel to Turin for the game on Oct 4., saying their local health authority (ASL) had told the players to stay at home after two members of their squad tested positive for COVID-19.

Serie A turned down Napoli’s request to call the game off and the league’s disciplinary tribunal subsequently handed them a 3-0 defeat and deducted one point.

“We are happy,” said Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis. “We live in a country where those who respect the laws cannot be convicted. And Napoli always follow the rules.”

Juventus director of football Fabio Paratici shrugged off the verdict.

“The first comment to make is that we have always been indifferent to the matter,” he said. “When they tell us to play we will go and play — having said that we were also there on 4 October.”

Before Tuesday’s decision, Juventus were third on 27 points, with AS Roma on 24 and Napoli on 23.

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MESSI OVERTAKES PELE’S RECORD FOR MOST GOALS FOR ONE CLUB.

Barcelona’s Lionel Messi has overtaken Brazil legend Pele to become the player to score the most goals for a single club after taking his tally to 644 on Tuesday.

The record-breaking goal came in the second half of Barca’s 3-0 win at Valladolid, with Messi taking the ball in stride off a nifty flick from Pedri for a finish into the corner of the net.

Pele struck 643 competitive goals for Santos during an 18-year stay with the Brazilian club. He left for the New York Cosmos in 1975 and until Messi’s goal, the record had stood ever since.

Gerd Muller came closest to matching Pele’s one-club goal-scoring feat. The former Germany international netted 565 times for Bayern Munich between 1964 and 1979. The top five is completed by Fernando Peyroteo (Sporting CP 1937-49, 544 goals) and Josef Bican (Slavia Prague 1950s, 534 goals).

“When I started to play football, I never thought I would break any record. Especially not the record held by Pele that I now hold,” Messi wrote on Instagram after Tuesday’s game. “I can only give thanks to everyone that has helped me throughout the years, my teammates, my family, my friends and everyone that supports me every day.”

The only other active player still in the top 10 is Cristiano Ronaldo, who scored 450 goals for Real Madrid. The Juventus striker is 10th behind Jimmy McGrory (Celtic 1922-37, 522 goals), Jimmy Jones (Glenavon 1951-62, 517 goals), Uwe Seeler (Hamburg 1953-72, 507 goals) and Eusebio (Benfica 1961-75, 473 goals).

Messi’s Barcelona goals have been spread across 16 years in the club’s first team. He scored his first professional goal in 2005 against Albacete as a 17-year-old.

Along with Ronaldo, who played for Manchester United before Madrid and Juve, Messi has taken goal scoring to new heights over the past decade. Everyone else in the top 10 has been retired for at least 40 years.

Messi reached his zenith in the 2011-12 season, Pep Guardiola’s final year in charge of Barcelona, when he scored 73 goals in all competitions. That tally was sandwiched in between 53 the previous season and 60 the season after.

The Argentina forward has scored more than 50 goals in a season on six occasions, including 58 in 2014-15 when he won his second Treble as a Barca player.

However, it looked like Pele’s record would be left to stand this past summer when Messi pushed for a move away from Barcelona after 20 years in Catalonia.

Messi believed a clause in his contract, which expires in 2021, allowed him to leave for free but eventually backed down when it became apparent the only way to try to invoke the clause would have involved a legal battle with the club.

If he had left, he would have done so having scored 634 goals for Barca’s first team.

Instead, he ended up staying for at least one more season, which has allowed him to pass Pele’s one-club record and continue making history.

Messi replaced Cesar Rodriguez (232 goals) as Barca’s top scorer in 2012 and overtook Telmo Zarra (251 league goals) as the record scorer in La Liga in 2014.

In addition to his 644 goals with Barca’s senior side, he scored 11 goals for the C team and the B team as a teenager.

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RASHFORD RECEIVES SPECIAL BBC SPORTS AWARD.

Marcus Rashford’s scintillating Sunday as a Manchester United player became even better in the evening as he collected an individual honour at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year ceremony, scooping the 2020 Expert Panel Award.

Fresh from helping the Reds to beat Leeds United 6-2 in the Premier League, our no.10 travelled the short distance from Old Trafford to MediaCity in Salford, where he was welcomed on stage at the annual BBC event by former England striker Gary Lineker and his fellow presenter Gabby Logan.

“What a player, on and off the pitch,” said Lineker, before inviting Marcus to explain his motivation, for the vital work he has done to combat food poverty this year.

“It all started when I was growing up as a kid,” said the Reds forward.

“I feel like [in my career], if it was a 100 metres race, I started 50 metres behind everybody else. It was more difficult for me to do the basic things like get to training and eat the right food. It was a nightmare of a situation but, in the end, I got to where I needed to get to.

Once I got there, I’ve always had this thing that eats at me, saying ‘make sure you make a difference for the next generation.’ I think, as a country, we should always protect them as much as we can and give them the best chance in life at becoming whatever they want to become.

“For me, everything that I get for doing what I have done will sit in my mum’s house and be where she can see it every day because she’s the person who, in difficult circumstances, brought me up to become a person that has morals. My friends will tell you that I’ve not changed at all since they remember me as a kid.”

When asked by Logan whether he expected his passionate social media message about food poverty, posted in March this year, to have such an impact and affect government policy, Marcus modestly replied: “I didn’t expect it. To be honest, it was something that I tried a few years ago in Manchester. It was helping a lot of people, a lot of children, in Manchester but I wasn’t satisfied with the reach it was having.

”A few years later, I was speaking to my brothers and my mum – I was injured at the time – and I just said to them, ‘I’m going to have another go at it.’ Then we did but what has happened since then we didn’t expect.“

Congratulations, Marcus, on your latest award, from everyone at Manchester United. What a year @MarcusRashford has had.

He’s been recognised with a special award at tonight’s Sports Personality of the Year awards.

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EL GHAZI INSPIRES IMPRESSIVE ASTON VILLA WIN AGAINST WESTBROM, GIVES ALLARDYCE A NIGHTMARISH START.

A brace from Anwar El Ghazi and a second-half Bertrand Traore strike gave Aston Villa a 3-0 win over West Brom in the Premier League on Sunday, handing new Baggies boss Sam Allardyce a defeat in his first game in charge.

Allardyce replaced the sacked Slaven Bilic in midweek, but there was little he could do as his side went behind when El Ghazi deftly steered home Traore’s cross at the far post in the fifth minute.

West Brom had captain Jake Livermore sent off following a VAR review for a reckless tackle on Jack Grealish, and Allardyce’s new charges barely threatened after that, managing a single shot in the whole game.

Traore added a second goal six minutes from time and El Ghazi slotted home a late penalty to secure a win that lifts Villa to ninth spot on 22 points after 12 games.

Meanwhile, West Brom remain second from bottom with seven points from 14 games.

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MUN 6-2 LEE: MC TOMINAY, FERNANDES INSPIRE UNITED MASSIVE VICTORY OVER LEEDS

Scott McTominay scored the earliest double in Premier League history as Manchester United earned a thrilling 6-2 victory over Leeds United at Old Trafford.

The Scot drilled in a superb opener from Bruno Fernandes’s pass before finishing Anthony Martial’s through-ball to put Man Utd two up inside three minutes.

Fernandes then started and finished a slick move to make it three, before Victor Lindelof made it 4-0 in the 37th minute after Martial flicked Luke Shaw’s corner into his path.

Liam Cooper pulled a goal back three minutes before the break and it took a splendid save by David De Gea in the home goal to push away Raphinha’s first-time volley on 50 minutes.

But any hopes of a fightback by Leeds were dashed on 66 minutes when McTominay turned provider for Daniel James to slot in a fifth.

Fernandes added a sixth goal from the penalty spot after Martial had been fouled, before Stuart Dallas scored a spectacular consolation for Leeds in a match featuring 43 shots.

Man Utd’s biggest win of 2020/21 moves them up to third, five points behind Liverpool with a match in hand. Leeds are 14th with 17 points.