Aston Villa are the frontrunners to sign Axel Disasi after Tottenham ended their interest in the Chelsea defender, sources have told ESPN.

Spurs had agreed a loan deal with Chelsea -- one source told ESPN that deal included a 5 million fee ($6.1m) and no option for a permanent move -- but the 26-year-old stated his preference to join Villa.

As of Monday morning, Villa had not reached an agreement with Chelsea but given the centre-back's stance, Tottenham pulled out of the running as they assessed whether to pursue an alternative option at this late stage.

Talks are expected to continue between Villa and Chelsea for Disasi. The club ideally want a substantial loan fee or a deal containing an obligation for a permanent move this summer.

Tottenham have already added one defender after Kevin Danso agreed an initial six-month loan from Lens before an obligation to complete a permanent move for 25m a five-year contract is triggered this summer.

Villa have already signed Marcus Rashford on loan from Manchester United, winger Donyell Malen from Borussia Dortmund for 25m and full-back Andrés García from Levante for 7m.

Cristiano Ronaldo has said Real Madrid must "look after" Kylian Mbappé and advised that the star forward must "do things his way" as he looks to follow in Ronaldo's footsteps as a legend at the Bernabéu.

Mbappé has already scored 22 goals in all competitions in his debut campaign at Madrid, having faced criticism for his performances earlier in the season.

Ronaldo -- who is Madrid's all-time leading goalscorer with 451 goals -- was Mbappé's childhood hero, and famously posed for a photo with Mbappé when the youngster first went on trial at the club as a teenager.

"Look after the lad," Ronaldo urged, in an extract from an interview with Spanish TV show El Chiringuito, due to be broadcast in full on Monday. "The fans need to look after him. He's very good. The club have to help to protect him, I have no doubt he'll bring a lot of joy to Madrid fans.

"I love [Mbappé], not just because of his story as a kid, how he loved Cristiano, I was his idol," Ronaldo said. "I think he's a top player."

Ronaldo revealed he now tunes in to watch Real Madrid's games because his son, Mateo, is a fan of Mbappé.

The five-time Ballon d'Or winner said he feels Mbappé still needs some help in adjusting to his role in the Real Madrid team.

"It's complicated, because he doesn't know how to play as a forward in my opinion -- or rather, it's not that he doesn't know, but it isn't his position," Ronaldo said. "If I was at Madrid, I'd show him how to play as a number nine.

"I wasn't a forward. I got used to it, but I was a winger. People forget that. I was a forward, but not a typical forward. I think [Mbappé] shouldn't be a typical forward, he should do things his way."

Mbappé has already won two trophies with Madrid, the UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Intercontinental Cup, and scored as Madrid were humbled 5-2 by Barcelona in the Spanish Supercopa last month.

Madrid now face a testing few weeks, playing Leganés in a Copa del Rey quarterfinal before a Madrid Derby with Atlético Madrid on Saturday and then facing Manchester City in their Champions League knockout stage playoff.

Khulna Tigers 89 for 1 (Naim 48*) beat Rangpur Riders 85 all out (Javed 32, Mehidy 3-10. Nasum 3-16) by nine wickets

Khulna Tigers roared to a nine-wicket win against the star-studded Rangpur Riders in the BPL's eliminator match. The victory puts them in the second qualifier to face the losing side from the first qualifier later on Monday. Khulna's spinners helped bowl out Rangpur for 85, before needing just 10.1 overs to knock off the target.

Rangpur, who decided to bat first, couldn't get going despite a stronger batting line-up than their previous outings. Khulna's captain Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Nasum Ahmed took three wickets each, opening the bowling quite successfully. Rangpur were in danger of posting an even lower total after being 52 for 9 at one stage.

Rangpur's big guns misfire

The image of Andre Russell, James Vince and Tim David walking through the Dhaka airport on Monday morning was a sight for sore eyes in the Rangpur camp. They had lost their way in the latter part of the BPL, falling to four defeats after winning eight in a row. Rangpur needed this boost from their big guns coming in after their stints in the ILT20. But it didn't quite pan out the way they would have hoped.

Vince got into a mix-up with his opening partner Soumya Sarkar off the second ball of the match, resulting in the latter being run out for a duck. Vince himself got caught and bowled in the second over. David was the next one to go, falling to a catch in the deep for 7 off 9 balls. Mohammad Nawaz clean bowled a slogging Russell in the 12th over, the last nail in the coffin for Rangpur.

Khulna spinners shut down the locals too

Having handled the recently arrived big-hitters very well, Khulna were also relentless against the Rangpur locals. After Soumya and Vince departed, Nasum removed Mahedi Hasan before Saif Hassan slogged Mehidy to no avail. When Mehidy removed his opposite number Nurul Hasan for 23, Rangpur were reduced to 52 for 9. It was only thanks to Aakif Javed's intervention from No. 10 that they scored a few more runs.

Khulna glide in smooth chase

Mehidy's wicket in the first over was the only blip in Khulna's reply. Mohammad Naim continued his great form of the last two months, striking three fours and four sixes in his 33-ball 48 not out. It took him top of the BPL run-getters' chart. Alex Ross added 29 runs off 27 balls, hitting four boundaries.

Khulna have returned to form in the right time in the tournament, having won three matches in a row. They finished fourth in the league stage, equal on points with Durbar Rajshahi, qualifying only through a better net run-rate. Now, they have a chance to reach the BPL final. It is however the end of the road for Rangpur this season, having come into the BPL with the Global Super League title under their belt.

Even as the franchise continued to miss payment deadlines, the team's overseas players were left stranded in the team hotel in Dhaka. Mohammad Haris (Pakistan), Aftab Alam (Afghanistan), Mark Deyal (West Indies), Ryan Burl (Zimbabwe) and Miguel Cummins (West Indies) were all waiting for some portion of their payments to come in. A couple of them had been paid 25%, while some haven't been paid at all. To make things worse for the players, the Rajshahi team bus driver has allegedly said in interviews that he was holding cricketers' kit bags as ransom as he too hadn't been paid.

She promised a five-star holiday - and Danielle Collins has delivered.

The American, 31, became a pantomime villain at last month's Australian Open after being jeered by fans throughout her second-round victory over home favourite Destanee Aiava.

She responded by thanking the fans for "paying my bills" and said the A$290,000 (147,500) she received for the win would be used on a "five-star trip".

She was as good as her word, posting a video on social media, external on Sunday showing her enjoying a luxury holiday with friends at a resort in the Bahamas.

The video ended with Collins slapping her backside - as she did to rile the crowd against Aiava.

Collins' run at Melbourne ended with a third-round defeat by compatriot Madison Keys, when she was again heckled by the crowd.

She said after that match: "You can't please everybody.

"I've gotten to the point where I really don't care any more about what people who aren't important to me think.

"I don't care what some guy sitting in his basement is writing about me. I'm just trying to enjoy my life and have fun."

Chile lost their Davis Cup qualifier against Belgium when Cristian Garin refused to continue playing after being knocked over by opponent Zizou Bergs.

At a changeover during their singles match in Hasselt, a celebrating and leaping Bergs struck him in the face with his right shoulder.

Bergs apologised immediately and Garin was cleared to play after receiving medical attention.

Bergs was given a code violation for unsportsmanlike conduct but Chile called for him to be disqualified.

Garin was given three successive time violations for refusing to play, resulting in a game penalty to hand Berg a 6-3 4-6 7-5 victory and ensure Chile won the tie 3-1.

After the retirement of Johnny Sexton following the 2023 Rugby World Cup, there has been debate over whether Leinster fly-half Prendergast or Munster's Crowley would become the long-term successor to one of Ireland's most influential players.

Prendergast says he only feels "internal pressure" as he looks to cement his place as Ireland's starting fly-half, and added it would be "awkward" if he didn't get on with Crawley and Ciaran Frawley, who is another option at 10.

"The only pressure I feel is what is inside the group and what is inside me.

"Obviously you want to be the starting 10 for Ireland and Leinster, but I wouldn't be listening to too much outside noise.

"It's internal pressure, you want to be starting but there's not too much of a rivalry with us. We work quite well together."

Prendergast added that the trio do kicking sessions together on the team's off days, and that will only help them progress together.

"It would be a bit awkward if we didn't get along. We all kick in the same car to kicking and travel together.

"We all get on very well and give ideas in training or in meetings or stuff like that.

"It's good to learn off each other. You would love to get infinite reps in training but you can't. They are then getting reps and you can learn off their experience on a certain play or situation, so it's very good."

The inclusion of these T20 A-listers will give the tournament some legitimacy. But the swift player transfer highlights the absurdity of the T20 market where a player gets to play more franchise leagues in the same window if his team is eliminated earlier than others. Vince has played in the Big Bash League, before making it to the ILT20 and now have arrived for the BPL.

Ireland are aiming to become the first team to win three successive men's titles since Italy joined the expanded Six Nations tournament in 2000.

Under interim head coach Simon Easterby, with Andy Farrell preparing to lead the British and Irish Lions in Australia this summer, they produced a fine second-half display to ensure that quest began with a victory.

"If I'm Ireland, I'm probably quite enjoying everyone saying we're maybe past our peak," said Barclay. "It was 27-10 realistically, England came away and scored a couple of [late] tries.

"Ireland weren't at their best either and they won convincingly, that's the reality.

"They've got serious quality coming back in so if you write Ireland off at this stage, do it at your peril."

Ireland face Scotland away next, and Bowe said: "Murrayfield is a difficult place to go, it's always really confrontational. If Scotland can get parity up front to unleash the backs they have, they are really dangerous.

"But I'm really excited about this Irish team, particularly their performance in the second half - to weather the storm from England, to be put under the cosh, maybe question themselves at times, and to be able to find a way out."