Chelsea boss criticizes fans' chants of Russian club owner

Chelsea Football Club coach Thomas Tuchel criticized the English club's fans who chanted the name of the club's owner and Russian businessman Roman Abramovich during the minute of applause dedicated to the solidarity with the Ukrainian people.

Chelsea Football Club coach Thomas Tuchel criticized the English club's fans who chanted the name of the club's owner and Russian businessman Roman Abramovich during the minute of applause dedicated to the solidarity with the Ukrainian people, in the English Premier League, on Saturday.

"This is not the time for conflicting messages," Tuchel said. "If we want solidarity, we must do it together."

Addressing the Chelsea fans, who won the match against Burnley 4-0, he said, "It is a moment dedicated to showing our respect for Ukraine, our support is directed to them, and the time is not right for there to be another opinion on this."

Chelsea fans chanted the name of its Russian owner, Abramovich, at the same moment the English Premier League dedicated to solidarity with the Ukrainian people in the wake of the Russian attack on the country.

This comes days after Abramovich announced his desire to sell the club, after 19 years of ownership, after highlighting his relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In 2013, Abramovich bought the English club for $186 million.

A few days ago, Abramovich renounced the ownership of the club, awaiting another buyer, and made it clear that he would not demand the repayment of the loans he provided to the club, estimated at about two billion dollars.

Abramovich asserts that he is not an official Russian political figure, and that his links with Russian leaders are personal.

Espargaro and Honda send a clear message in Qatar

Jakarta - Pol Espargaro demonstrated the immense potential of the Honda RC213V after finishing third in the season-opening race of the Qatar Grand Prix on Sunday.

Escaping from P6 to take the lead for most of the 22 laps, Espargaro proved himself and his new mount underwent a radical change this season.

He missed the chance to win after Gresini Racing's Enea Bastianini made a maneuver to overtake towards the first corner on lap 18.

The added speed he picked up behind the slipstream saw Espargaro wide into the first corner runoff and was forced to finish third after being overtaken by KTM's Brad Binder.

His teammate, Marc Marquez, completed a top five finish after claiming the second starting position in the qualifying round.

"It's very fun," said Espargaro on the official MotoGP website.

"In general, we Honda and myself sent a clear message tonight, that it is not only Marc Marquez who can win with Honda.

"And this is very extraordinary after so many years Honda has only one rider who wins," said the rider who was overwhelmed in his first year riding a Honda last season.

"I think for the whole Honda group it's amazing, it means this bike is capable of winning with different riders and different riding styles in different places. For a manufacturer this is incredible."

It was Espargaro's second podium finish in a Repsol Honda shirt and was his best result in Qatar as well as his first podium finish in the series opener.

Espargaro will try to maintain the momentum when MotoGP visited the Pertamina Mandalika Circuit two weeks ago.

In Lombok, the Spaniard also felt positive results after recording the fastest lap in the pre-season test session at Mandalika in the middle of last month.