Today's sports news: What you need to know

Latest - Karim Benzema scored a quickfire hat-trick as Real Madrid fought back to beat Paris St Germain 3-1 and move into the Champions League quarter-finals 3-2 on aggregate.

Kylian Mbappe struck before halftime to put the French side 2-0 up in the last-16 tie and they had chances to extend their lead.

Benzema equalised in the 61st minute, then scored in the 76th and 78th minutes to send the record 13-times European champions into the last eight.

Manchester City sailed through to the quarter-finals after they played out a 0-0 draw against Sporting, progressing 5-0 on aggregate.

City had already done the hard work in their thrashing of the Portuguese side in the first leg three weeks ago in Lisbon, and could take it easy against an inferior Sporting at the Etihad Stadium.

Coach Pep Guardiola could afford to make several changes to his starting team.

Liverpool and Bayern Munich qualified yesterday.

-Reuters

Windies on a roll

The West Indies have scored another upset at the Cricket World Cup beating reigning champions England by seven runs in Dunedin.

After beating New Zealand in their opening game, the Windies are well on their way to making the semi-finals, while England have now lost both of their games.

England's last two batters were dismissed in the 48th over just as it looked like they would reach their victory target of 226.

It was a first victory for West Indies against England at the World Cup and put them second behind favourites Australia in the standings for the round robin stage, from which the top four teams will progress to the semi-finals.

After they had lost three top order batters in one Sophie Ecclestone (3-20) over, West Indies had Shemaine Campbelle (66) and Chedean Nation (45 not out) to thank for a fourth-wicket stand of 123 which helped them to a total of 225-6.

The islanders used eight bowlers to keep England at bay after a screamer of a one-handed catch from Deandra Dottin off the bowling of Shamilia Connell (3-38) had removed Lauren Winfield-Hill for 12 to give them their first breakthrough.

New Zealand play India in Hamilton today.

Phoenix run continues

David Ball has ensured the Wellington Phoenix have returned to the A-League with a win.

The English forward scored an 88th minute goal to secure the Phoenix a 3-2 win over Newcastle Jets at Central Coast Stadium in Gosford.

The victory in Wellington's first match in 18 days extends their unbeaten run to seven matches and lifts them to sixth on the A-League ladder.

The Nix led 2-1 at halftime courtesy of a stoppage time goal from new All White Ben Waine, after Jaushua Sotirio had put them in front from the spot in the 25th minute.

Phoenix head coach Ufuk Talay was pleased with how his side finished the match after two and half weeks without a competitive fixture.

"We conceded two goals that we're pretty disappointed with, but scoring the winner late shows the character in the boys," Talay said.

"It showed the first 10-15 minutes that we hadn't played a game for a couple of weeks…but overall pleased to get the three points tonight."

The Nix are now three points above Sydney FC and have games in hand over all of the other teams in the top six.

The Wellington Phoenix will endeavour to continue their unbeaten run on Saturday, when they travel to Redcliffe to face the bottom of the table Brisbane Roar.

Comm Games scheduled confirmed

The Black Sticks will meet Australia in the group stages of the women's and men's competitions at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games later this year.

Reigning women's champions New Zealand will play Australia, Kenya, Scotland and South Africa in their group.

Australia, who have won every men's tournament since it was first introduced to the Games in 1998, take on New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan and Scotland in their group.

The Black Sticks women will open the competition on July 29th against Kenya.

Memorial service confirmed for Shane Warne

A state memorial service for cricketing great Shane Warne will be held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on the evening of March 30, the Premier of his home state Victoria announced.

Warne died on Friday at the age of 52 while on holiday on the Thai island of Koh Samui. Local authorities said Warne died of a suspected heart attack and congenital disease.

His body remains in Bangkok awaiting a flight back to Melbourne, where he will be buried at a private family funeral ahead of the state service.

Victoria Premier Dan Andrews announced that the wider community would have the chance to mourn Australia's most prolific wicket taker at the 100,000-seater stadium in late March.

Tributes from across the world have continued to pour in for Warne since his death, with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison calling him "one of our nation's greatest characters".

Born and bred in Melbourne, Warne took his 700th test wicket in front of a crowd of 89,155 at the MCG during the fourth Ashes test against England on Boxing Day, 2006.

The Victoria government announced at the weekend that the Great Southern Stand at the stadium, where his most passionate fans would once gather, would soon be renamed the S.K. Warne stand in his honour.

-Reuters

Cheika to coach Pumas

Former Wallabies coach Michael Cheika has been appointed coach of Argentina through to the 2023 World Cup in France.

Cheika worked with the Pumas for the last two years as an assistant to former head coach Mario Ledesma, who stepped down last month after a string of poor results.

The two have had a long history of working together with Ledesma serving as scrum coach under the Australian at the Wallabies.

Cheika, 55, beat out former Pumas playmaker Gonzalo Quesada, the head coach of French club Stade Francais, to replace Ledesma, La Nacion reported.

Leinster assistant coach Felipe Contepomi will join Cheika's staff with the intention of succeeding him after next year's World Cup in France, the newspaper said.

A championship-winning coach with Irish club Leinster and Sydney-based Super Rugby side New South Wales Waratahs, Cheika guided the Wallabies to the final of the 2015 World Cup in Britain the year after taking over the team.

He resigned in acrimony four years later, however, after Australia crashed out of the World Cup quarter-finals in Japan, matching their worst result at the global tournament.

-Reuters

Guthrie retires from netball

England captain Serena Guthrie has announced her pregnancy and subsequent retirement from netball.

Guthrie, 32, was set to captain the Roses as they try to retain their Commonwealth Games title in Birmingham this year.

It marks the end of an illustrious 15-year career in which Guthrie won 110 England caps and played at three World Cups and two Commonwealth Games.

Guthrie played for the Northern Mystics for two years in 2015-16 before heading to Australia for two years.

Guthrie also has an MBE which she received in 2020 for services to netball.

Magnussen to drive for Haas

Danish driver Kevin Magnussen has sealed a surprise Formula One comeback with US-owned team Haas after signing a multi-year deal to replace sacked Russian driver Nikita Mazepin.

The 29-year-old, who has 119 grand prix starts to his credit, raced with the Ferrari-powered team from 2017 to 2020 and will partner German Mick Schumacher, son of seven-times world champion Michael.

Mazepin's contract was terminated last week after Russia invaded Ukraine.

The season starts in Bahrain on March 20 after a final three-day test this week.

Brazilian reserve driver Pietro Fittipaldi will do half a day in the car today before handing over to Magnussen and Schumacher.

Magnussen started out in Formula One with McLaren in 2014, finishing second on his debut in Australia.

He sat out 2015 as team reserve and raced for Renault in 2016 before switching to Haas where his best result was fifth place in Bahrain and Austria in 2018.

-Reuters