Bayern's Kane to miss Gladbach game but could return v Atalanta — and more

Bayern Munich will be without star striker Harry Kane for the first time in the Bundesliga this season on Friday but coach Vincent Kompany expects him to return for the Champions League next week.

Kompany said that league top scorer Kane would miss the game against Borussia Mönchengladbach with a calf problem which he however considers not to be too serious.

Harry Kane is out. He got a knock on his calf and hasn't recovered yet. It's just a knock, it's nothing serious for the time being, but we'd need maybe another a day for him to be involved," Kompany told a news conference on Thursday.

"Of course we would have liked Harry to be involved, but these things happen."

Kane has scored 30 Bundesliga goals this season, including a brace in each of his last four games. He is chasing Robert Lewandowski's league record 41 season goals and due to missing Friday's game will have nine games left to reach it.

Kompany said he doesn't expect Kane to miss Tuesday's Champions League last 16 first leg match at Italy's Atalanta as well.

"I don't think so. You can see my body language, I am pretty relaxed," Kompany said.

The coach added that Kane's absence opens the door for others to shine on Friday.

"The lads who are involved tomorrow against Gladbach are really looking forward to it. If Harry isn't involved, some of the lads are hoping they can get their moment," he said.

Defenders Hiroki Ito and Alphonso Davies are also out but captain and goalkeeper Manuel Neuer returns from a calf muscle injury, with Kompany simply saying: "He is fit."

Arne Slot has insisted that he’s ‘happy’ with the transfer business that Liverpool completed last summer and that it was impossible to predict the extent of the injury problems which have affected his squad this season.

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Despite an outlay of almost £450m on new players in 2025, the Reds find themselves sixth in the Premier League table with only nine matches remaining to salvage Champions League qualification, falling woefully short of expectations at the outset of the campaign.

Between a spate of long-term injuries and some simultaneous absences in certain positions, the LFC head coach has felt compelled to deploy players in unfamiliar roles to try and plug the gaps, and it’s evident that a few core names have been badly missed in recent weeks and months.

Slot ‘happy’ with Liverpool’s summer transfer business

In his pre-match press conference ahead of Liverpool’s FA Cup clash against Wolves, Slot was asked if he has any regrets over not ensuring that he’d had a deeper squad by the end of last summer’s transfer window.

The 47-year-old insisted (via Liverpool Echo): “I’m happy with what we did last summer. We signed so many great players but you can’t predict that so many would be injured. Adaptation you can predict.

“It’s the model we are having that we don’t have 25 players over here. It hurts even more if you have three or four long-term injuries. I knew when I came in this was the model and I’m happy with that.”

Bad luck has played a part, but lessons to be learned for Liverpool

Nobody could accuse Liverpool of not being ambitious in the transfer market last summer, and as Slot says, no-one could’ve legislated for the extent to which the Reds have been hampered by injuries this season.

Don Hutchison made the point that the Dutchman had vastly superior strength in depth last term compared to now, highlighting how the exits of several big-name players have contributed to the shortage of options in reserve during the current campaign.

Injury issues are an inevitability in football, especially in an era where such intense demands are placed on those at the highest level, but LFC have been unlucky to lose Giovanni Leoni, Conor Bradley, Wataru Endo and Alexander Isak to long-term setbacks.

That’s not to mention the likes of Jeremie Frimpong, Alisson Becker, Joe Gomez and Florian Wirtz being sidelined at times throughout the season, although Slot hinted that the German could make a brief substitute outing at Molineux tomorrow night.

Liverpool would undoubtedly be a different beast if they had a fully-fit squad, although the travails of this campaign must be taken into account in the composition of transfer policy for the upcoming summer so that we don’t find ourselves in the same unwelcome scenario in 2026/27.

Bahrain and Saudi Arabia remain on the F1 calendar for 2026, but the status of both events is still in question. With time running out, F1 needs to decide soon if those races will go ahead as planned.

This year’s season begins with the Australian Grand Prix returning as the opening race, followed by a trip to China before teams head to Suzuka. But before then, a decision is expected on whether Bahrain and Saudi Arabia will remain part of the schedule.

There has been talk about Japan potentially hosting back-to-back races, which would put extra pressure on Aston Martin and Honda if their underperforming power units have to go through two races in front of local fans.

What happens to F1 if Bahrain and Saudi Arabian grands prix don’t go ahead?

Adam Williams weighed in on the issue, saying: “F1 and the event organisers will be covered for this eventuality to an extent, I’d have thought. There was a lot of debate about what was and wasn’t covered in insurance agreements when the pandemic hit, so it’s a nuanced question.

“Many agreements have a ‘war exclusion’ clause, but I’d expect that, given their geography, the organisers of the Bahrain and Jeddah races would have seen this as a material risk, so would have paid for war cover. Without seeing the contracts, we can’t say for sure, however. Either way, even if they do have cover, you’re going to get back some of the money you’d have made in revenue if the race had gone ahead, but not all of it.

“And matters are complicated by the commercial structure of Formula 1 – there could be different layers of loss and insurance at the local level, for broadcasters and sponsors, and for F1 itself. Also, would F1 cancel the races altogether, replace them or suspend them? That’s another factor.

“There is something of a precedent in the 2011 Bahrain Grand Prix being cancelled because of the Arab Spring… but that was resolved commercially and politically rather than through insurers,” Williams continued.

“I appreciate there are a lot of ifs and buts there… Clearly though safety has to be first – not just fans or drivers either.”

Other venues in Europe like Imola and Portimao are also being discussed as alternatives.

Formula 1 nearing deadline for decision on Bahrain and Saudi Arabian races

With practice in Bahrain set to begin on 10 April, the clock is ticking. Teams face a tight timeline, not only to prepare for the event but also to manage the complex logistics that come with a global racing calendar.

Freight schedules and travel plans don’t leave much room for uncertainty. According to a report from BBC Sport, teams may have to start sending equipment immediately after the Chinese Grand Prix if no decision has been made by then.

Both circuits are believed to pay over £75 million each in hosting fees, which includes support races like Formula 2, Formula 3 and F1 Academy.

The chances of finding replacements on short notice seem slim. Organising a Grand Prix involves ticket sales, local planning and a massive logistical effort that can’t be arranged overnight.

Adding to that, the same report downplays the idea of back-to-back races at Suzuka, suggesting there’s ‘little benefit’ compared to the strain it would put on teams and staff.

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The numbers of nine-darters taking place in the world of professional darts seems to be on the rise, with 2026 on track so far to become a record year for perfect legs.

The Players Championship has already seen six in the first six events. and there has been one within the opening four weeks of the Premier League Darts campaign.

Televised nine-darters are also becoming more frequent, but this is largely due to the increasing number of competitions being broadcast in recent years.

"It's a special feeling," two-time world champion Dennis Priestley told BBC Sport.

"It's like kids starting up today you know getting their first 180, it is such a milestone for them and then if they're just good enough to go on and play on TV and they do a nine darter.

"It's the perfect darts."

But are nine-darters really on the up? What are the potential reasons for it if so, and can they actually be a curse in disguise?

The numbers behind the rise of nine-darters

There have only been two full months of the 2026 darts season, but there are already early signs that nine-darters are on the up.

In the Players Championship, there have been six perfect legs from as many meetings so far this term, compared to five at this stage 12 months ago.

Last year's Players Championship had a record 33 perfect legs across the campaign and all of the previous five full campaigns had at least 20 perfect legs.

Data from Ochepedia shows that on average, a nine-darter has taken place once every 1,167 legs in this year's Players Championship, making it fractionally the most common season for them of all-time, edging ahead of 1,195 in 2021 and 1,200 from last year.

The Premier League did not have any in its opening four weeks of the 2025 season, but the 2026 season saw Josh Rock find the first in week four in Belfast.

In the 2025 season, there were a record five Premier League nine-darters, making it the first campaign to consist of more than two.

However, the 2026 World Darts Championship did not contain any in over 2,200 legs, in what was the most fixtures played at a single World Championship.

More tournaments and thinner wires

Some players go without landing many, if any, nine-darters in their professional careers.

Others make a habit of it, with 597 being hit that have been officially recognised by the Professional Darts Corporation since their formation in 1992.

Dutch darting great and current world number four Michael van Gerwen leads the way at present with 30, eight more than the next highest and 16-time world champion Phil Taylor.

Prior to 2018, there had never been 30 or more nine-darters in a single year. But the last couple of years have seen their frequency significantly increase, with 58 in 2024, 55 in 2025 and 19 already in the first two months of 2026.

"The standard is better and they're playing competitively nearly every weekend," explained Priestley. "That's a big help."

"When I won the [World Championship] in 1991 in January, I didn't play another competitive game until April. So there's a big difference.

"You're attuned and you're ready mentally and physically when you're playing week in, week out at a tough level."

As well as an increased rate of tournaments and higher standard across the sport of darts, Priestley says that a slimmer set of wires around the trebles bed allows players to aim for a larger target, with eight trebles often needed as part of a nine-darter.

"They can see more of the treble now because the wires are so thin. That's a big help," the 1992 and 1994 world champion explained.

"The trebles are no bigger than when I was playing, but you can just see more because the wiring is so thin."

A blessing or a curse?

Among the players to hit a perfect leg in recent history is women's world number one Beau Greaves, doing so during a Players Championship event to become to first female player to hit a perfect leg, during a victory over Mensur Suljovic.

Fifteen years ago, Priestley hit his only PDC-recognised perfect leg against the same player, but went on to lose the match.

It is a pattern that is common in players hitting perfect legs.

Rock's perfect leg in Belfast a week ago against Gian van Veen came during a defeat, with Van Veen himself doing the same during a loss to Luke Littler in the final of last month's Poland Darts Open.

The last two nine-darters in the World Championship, hit by Christian Kist and Damon Heta during the 2025 edition, both came during losing performances.

"It's a mental barrier, they are still overjoyed about it in the nine-darter and the standard just seems to drop that little touch," Priestley adds.

"The consummate professional probably more than 50% lose rather than win after hitting a nine-darter."

Given the celebration and rarity there is for nine-darters, many tournaments award separate prizes for players who can achieve perfection.

Kist and Heta were both awarded £60,000 each for their World Championship perfect legs, prize money that was significantly higher than what both earned for their progression in the competition.

Rock's perfect leg in Premier League Darts saw him win a custom-made set of gold darts worth £30,000, triple the £10,000 prize won by Stephen Bunting for winning last week's final.

But does the extra incentive mean players are targeting perfect legs over tournament wins?

"I wouldn't have thought so," said Priestley.

"The first thing is getting the match won. It didn't help me [against Suljovic in 2011].

"John Lowe won £102,000 in 1983, so that was a big incentive. Because there are more and more being hit, obviously they are not prepared to offer that sort of money now."

This article is the latest from BBC Sport's Ask Me Anything team.

More questions answered...

• Who is playing in Premier League Darts 2026 and what is the schedule?
• How do players get picked for Premier League Darts?
• Do they change the dartboards at the World Championship?
• What is dartitis and what causes it?

Following Borussia Dortmund’s elimination from the UEFA Champions League, it could leave the Black-Yellows with a shortfall of up to €27m, according to Bild, who add that Julian Ryerson would be allowed to leave the club for a reported €30m.

The Norwegian has been in excellent form this campaign with 14 assists in 32 games across all competitions, which has attracted interest from Manchester United, Newcastle United and Barcelona.

Only Bayern Munich stars Michael Olise (18) and Luis Diaz (13) have more Bundesliga assists than Ryerson (11) this term. The 28-year-old’s four assists against Mainz in February is only the fourth time a player has done so since detailed data collection began in 2004/05.

Additionally, Bild further report that Nico Schlotterbeck, Serhou Guirassy and Felix Nmecha are also candidates to leave, should they receive a suitable offer, as Sebastian Kehl and Lars Ricken look to overhaul the squad ahead of next season, with Kauã Prates and Justin Lerma, both 17, joining Die Schwarzgelben in the summer.

GGFN | Daniel Pinder