Why is Enzo Fernandez not playing for Chelsea vs. Port Vale in FA Cup?

Chelsea will face Port Vale in theFA Cup quarterfinal on Saturdaywithout key midfielder Enzo Fernández.

Fernández is not injured, but instead been dropped for disciplinary reasons. Chelsea coach Liam Rosenior said the Argentine would miss Saturday's game as well as next weekend's Premier League match against Manchester City due to comments about a potential transfer to Real Madrid.

"I spoke with Enzo an hour ago. We've made a decision - he won't be available for tomorrow's game and he won't be available for Manchester City," Rosenior said at his press conference on Friday.

"It's disappointing to speak in that way. What I will say about Enzo is that, in terms of him as a person, I've got no bad words to say.

"But a line was crossed in terms of our culture. We had to make a sanction."

Fernández has raised eyebrows with his comments recently, first telling ESPN Argentina"I don't know" when asked if he would still be at Chelsea next season.

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Spain – 17th appearance

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Brazil – 23rd appearance

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> United States of America – 12th appearance

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" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> France – 17th appearance

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Iran – seventh appearance

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Switzerland – 13th appearance

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" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Tunisia – seventh appearance

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> South Africa – fourth appearance

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Spain– 17th appearance

Then the 25-year-old told Argentine media personality Marcos Giles: "I really like Madrid - it's similar to Buenos Aires."

Asked if he would consider living in Madrid, Fernández responded: "Yes, of course."

Rosenior emphasized that there was still a way back for Fernández at Chelsea, but the coach felt he was forced into disciplinary measures.

"The door is not closed on Enzo - that's very important. It's a sanction," Rosenior said. "You have to protect this club and culture, and in terms of that, the line was crossed in the international break."

Chelsea has dropped down to sixth in the Premier League table and was bounced from the Champions League with a heavy 8-2 aggregate defeat against Paris Saint-Germain in the round of 16.

Even without Fernández, the Blues will be heavily favored to reach the FA Cup semifinal with a win over Port Vale, which comes into Saturday's game sitting dead last in League One.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Why is Enzo Fernandez not in for Chelsea FA Cup lineup vs Port Vale?

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Why is Enzo Fernandez not playing for Chelsea vs. Port Vale in FA Cup?

Chelsea will face Port Vale in theFA Cup quarterfinal on Saturdaywithout key midfielder Enzo Fernández. Fernán...

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Palestinian babies separated from parents at start of war, reunited after 2 years

When Sundus al Kurd and her daughter Bissan were separated at the start of the Israel-Hamas war in 2023, she wasn't sure she'd see her again. Bissan was only a few days old when her mother allowed her to be medically evacuated from the Gaza strip to Egypt.

The premature baby's life was saved, along with others, by the World Health Organization and Palestinian Red Crescent during the height of the conflict, but now the two have been reunited.

"After all this time, my daughter is finally back in my arms!" al Kurd, a young Palestinian mother, exclaims as she held her child for the first time in over two years.

'Horror' in Gaza is 'incomprehensible,' says US doctor who treated patients there

"Every day, I lived with fear -- fear that I might never hold her again, fear that she might forget me. But the moment I held her in my arms again, it felt like she had never been away. That moment was complete joy!" the 27-year-old al Kurd told ABC News.

Bissan, who has spent the last 2 1/2 years in Egypt, had been one of 33 premature babies trapped inside the Al Shifa hospital as the Israeli military laid siege to it in November 2023.

"Being reunited with my daughter is something I cannot fully describe. It is a mix of relief, love, and something deeper -- like life returning to me after being paused for years," al Kurd said.

Over half of Gaza's hospitals are non-functional: WHO

"The first night we spent together was very emotional. I couldn't sleep. I kept watching her, holding her, making sure she was really there beside me. I was afraid to close my eyes, as if it was all a dream that might disappear," she said.

Bissan's life had been in imminent danger in November 2023, doctors said. The neonatal unit she was in at Al Shifa hospital was running out of fuel and oxygen, cut off by the Israeli army, which had encircled the hospital, saying that Hamas had a hidden command center in its precincts, something both Hamas medical teams there strongly denied.

"They were meant to die without incubators, without oxygen, without water, but they survived every single stage of this terrible reality," Dr. Ahmed Mokhallalati, the former head of plastic surgery at Al Shifa Hospital, told ABC News.

Israeli military warns Gazans to evacuate Al-Shifa Hospital as raid continues

Mokhallalati was one of the few doctors who remained at Al Shifa throughout the Israeli siege.

"Most of the doctors were surgeons, not even pediatricians, but we felt we had to do our best to keep these kids alive," he said. "We felt these kids were like our own babies. Every morning, we would go just to make sure they were still alive."

He said that the extreme danger of the situation forced some parents to abandon their babies.

"There were no parents because the hospital was bombed and people were forced to flee to save their other children," Mokhallalati said. "In the calculus of survival, mothers fled with the children who could run and left behind those who could not, making an impossible choice."

The premature babies were left fighting for their lives for days, with one doctor and six nurses caring for them in ever-worsening conditions, he said.

"We did not know their names, we did not know their parents. They had no one to take care of them. They were wearing only small wristbands, usually with their mothers' names, and that was the only thing we knew about them," Mokhallalati said.

Not all the babies survived those difficult days. Five died as the team struggled to keep them fed and warm, but Mokhallalati was amazed that so many of the babies made it.

"They were meant to die at many stages but they survived every single challenge," adding, "They were the only feeling of hope we had in all of this chaos and destruction."

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On Nov. 19, 2023, they were rescued after the WHO and the Palestinian Red Crescent were given access to the hospital. They carried the precious cargo through a war zone to a hospital in Rafah, in southern Gaza, before taking them across the border to Egypt, officials said.

"Twenty-eight were evacuated to Egypt, but seven more died there due to the difficult conditions, leaving 21 survivors. Of those, 11 have now returned on March 30, while four others came back earlier when Rafah crossing opened, and six remain in Egypt with their families," Dr. Ahmed Al-Farra, the head of pediatrics and neonatal care at Nasser Hospital in Gaza, told ABC News.

Among those returning was 2-year-old Azzhar Kafarna. Her mother, Heba Saleh, described the ordeal of their separation to ABC News.

"For two and a half years, I felt something missing all the time," she said.

"I missed everything -- her first smile, her first steps, even the little things that any mother waits for. I used to imagine her ... how she looks now, how her voice sounds, and if she would recognize me when we finally meet," Saleh said.

She was nervous about their reunion, "When I saw her again, I didn't know what to feel. I just hugged her tightly. It felt like I was holding all the days we lost in that one moment."

Al-Farra examined all the toddlers when they returned to Gaza this week.

"All of the children are in generally good condition, with normal weight and growth, but many are facing complications linked to extreme prematurity," he said.

Al-Farra says many of them, "have vision problems and need glasses because their eye nerves were not fully developed," like Bissan, who wears a bright red pair of spectacles.

However, not all of them have come back to happy reunions.

Bissan, who spent the last 2 1/2 years in Egypt, had been one of 33 premature babies trapped inside the Al Shifa hospital as the Israeli military laid siege to it in November 2023.

"I don't think all of these children have parents to return to. Some of their families were likely killed during the war," Al-Farra said.

"In one case, there is real confusion over the child's identity, with more than one person claiming the baby. We are still trying to identify the family, but without access to DNA testing in Gaza, we cannot confirm who the child belongs to," he said.

Fear returning to Gaza

Both the mothers ABC News spoke with were nervous about their children returning to Gaza.

"As a mother, I feel everything at once. I'm happy she's finally with me ... but at the same time, I feel guilty, even though I had no choice. I keep thinking about all the moments I wasn't there for." Saled said.

After 2 years of Israel-Hamas war, a systematic and brutal conflict continues amid glimpses of potential peace

"And of course, I'm worried about raising her in Gaza. I want her to feel safe, to live a normal life, but the situation here is not easy," Saled said.

That sentiment was echoed by al Kurd.

"I am also worried. My daughter has never heard the sound of bombing before. I am afraid of how she might react if she experiences it here in Gaza. This fear is always in my heart."

"I wish for my daughter to have a better future, a life that is safer and more stable than the one we are living now," al Kurd said.

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Palestinian babies separated from parents at start of war, reunited after 2 years

When Sundus al Kurd and her daughter Bissan were separated at the start of the Israel-Hamas war in 2023, she wasn'...

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Downed planes raise new perils for Trump as Tehran hunts for missing US pilot

By Phil Stewart and Enas Alashray

WASHINGTON/CAIRO, April 3 (Reuters) - Two U.S. warplanes were downed over Iran and the Gulf, Iranian and U.S. officials said on Friday, with two pilots rescued and a third still missing and being hunted by Tehran's forces.

The incidents show the risks still faced by U.S. and Israeli aircraft ‌over Iran despite assertions from U.S. President Donald Trump and his Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that their forces had total control of the skies.

The first plane, a two-seat ‌U.S. F-15E jet, was shot down by Iranian fire, officials in both countries said.

The second plane, an A-10 Warthog fighter aircraft, was hit by Iranian fire and crashed over Kuwait, with the pilot ejecting, two U.S. officials said.

Two Blackhawk ​helicopters involved in the search effort for the missing pilot were hit by Iranian fire but made it out of Iranian airspace, the two U.S. officials told Reuters.

The degree of injuries among the crew of the aircraft remained unclear. The status and whereabouts of the missing F-15E crew member was not publicly known.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps said it was combing an area near where the pilot's plane came down in southwestern Iran and the regional governor promised a commendation for anyone who captured or killed "forces of the hostile enemy."

Iranians, who have been pummeled by American air power for weeks, posted ‌gleeful messages celebrating the plane downings. Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer ⁠Qalibaf said on X that the U.S. and Israel's war had been "downgraded from regime change" to a hunt for their pilots.

Trump has been in the White House receiving updates on the search-and-rescue operation, a senior administration official told Reuters. The Pentagon and U.S. Central Command did not immediately respond ⁠to requests for comment.

NO SIGN OF END TO WAR

The prospect of a U.S. service person being alive and on the run inside Iran raises the stakes for Washington in a conflict with low public support and no sign of an imminent end.

Iran has officially told mediators it is not prepared to meet with U.S. officials in Islamabad in coming days and that efforts to produce a ceasefire, led by Pakistan, ​have ​reached a dead end, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

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The U.S. and Israel opened the campaign with ​a wave of strikes that killed Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ‌on February 28. The war has killed thousands and threatened lasting damage to the global economy.

So far, 13 U.S. military service members have been killed in the conflict and more than 300 have been wounded, according to the U.S. Central Command.

Iran has rained drones and missiles down on Israel. It has also taken aim at Gulf countries allied to the U.S., which have so far held back from joining the war directly for fear of further escalation.

In a security alert on Friday, the U.S. embassy in Beirut said Iran and its aligned armed groups may target universities in Lebanon and urged U.S. citizens in the country to leave while commercial flights are still available.

Israel has been waging a parallel campaign against Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon after the ‌militant group fired at Israel in support of Iran.

TRUMP THREAT TO STRIKE BRIDGES, POWER PLANTS

On Friday, as Trump ​threatened to hit its bridges and power plants, Iran struck a power and water plant in Kuwait, underlining ​the vulnerability of Gulf states that rely heavily on desalination plants for drinking water.

On ​Thursday, Trump posted footage on social media showing dust and smoke billowing up as U.S. strikes hit the newly constructed B1 bridge between Tehran and ‌nearby Karaj, which was due to open this year, and said more ​attacks would follow.

"Our Military, the greatest and most powerful (by ​far!) anywhere in the World, hasn't even started destroying what's left in Iran. Bridges next, then Electric Power Plants!" he wrote in a subsequent post.

On Friday, a drone hit a Red Crescent relief warehouse in the Choghadak area of Iran's southern Bushehr province.

Kuwait Petroleum Corporation said its Mina al-Ahmadi refinery had been hit by drones. Other attacks ​were also reported to have been intercepted in Saudi Arabia and ‌Abu Dhabi. Missile debris landed near the Israeli port of Haifa, site of a major oil refinery.

Oil markets were closed after benchmark U.S. crude prices gained 11% ​on Thursday following a speech by Trump that offered no clear sign of an imminent end to the war.

(Reporting by Phil Stewart in Washington, Reuters bureaux; ​Writing by James Mackenzie and Sharon Singleton; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne, Bill Berkrot and David Gregorio)

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Downed planes raise new perils for Trump as Tehran hunts for missing US pilot

By Phil Stewart and Enas Alashray WASHINGTON/CAIRO, April 3 (Reuters) - Two U.S. warplanes were downed over Ir...

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South Carolina ends UConn's perfect season, advances to title game

PHOENIX -- Ta'Niya Latson had 16 points and 11 rebounds to lead a balanced South Carolina attack, and the Gamecocks stunned undefeated and top-seeded UConn 62-48 in the NCAA Women's Final Four on Friday.

"I knew I had to impact the game in any way I could," Latson said. "I wanted this win. Whether that was rebounding, scoring, assisting, I was going to do what I had to do. The balls were coming my way, so I had to grab 'em and snag 'em."

Agot Makeer scored 14 points, Joyce Edwards had 11 and Tessa Johnson added 10 for the Gamecocks (36-3), who avenged an 82-59 loss to the Huskies in the 2025 national championship game.

The Gamecocks will play for their fourth national championship and third in five seasons on Sunday against UCLA, which beat Texas 51-44 in the second semifinal. South Carolina completed a 38-0 season with an 87-75 victory over Iowa in the 2024 title game.

"This is my why," Latson said. "This is why I came to South Carolina."

National player of the year Sarah Strong had 12 points and 12 rebounds, Ashlynn Shade scored 10 points and Azzi Fudd had eight points and five assists for the Huskies (38-1), who had a 54-game winning streak broken.

Strong's 3-pointer, her first points in the second half, closed the deficit to 51-47 with 4:39 remaining, but South Carolina scored the next 11 points to pull away.

Strong shot 4 of 16 from the field against a sticky South Carolina defense that pressured the perimeter. Fudd was 3 of 15. The Gamecocks limited UConn to 31.1% shooting and outshot the Huskies 45.8% to 22.6% in the second half.

"Yeah, I just thought that we made it real difficult for them to get clean looks," South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said. "We made them put the ball on the floor. That's disruption to UConn, because they're a passing team, they like to assist. They did get 15 assists on 19 field goals. If they're allowed to play that way throughout an entire game, they win.

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"I thought our players just locked in once we built a little lead, and we got suggestions from coaches as to should we change our defense, start switching everything."

UConn coach Geno Auriemma said, "I think, and we do this a lot, the more defensive pressure you try to put on the other team's best player, you are hoping that there is a level of frustration a little bit and it starts to affect the way they play."

Latson made six free throws in the final 1:45 and UConn missed 11 of its last 12 field-goal attempts.

Auriemma and Staley were seen having a heated exchange on the sideline as the clock wound down, but neither offered much additional clarity on the situation following the game.

"You can ask Geno the question, he's the one that initiated the conversation," Staley said in the postgame presser. "I don't want what happened to dampen what we were able to accomplish today."

Auriemma told ESPN that Staley "rants and raves on the sideline and calls the referees some names you don't wanna hear."

After the Huskies held a 26-24 halftime lead, the Gamecocks opened the second half on a 12-2 run for a 12-point lead, the largest deficit UConn had faced all year. All but one of the Huskies' wins were by at least 10 points.

Latson made a pair of free throws for a 40-30 lead with 3:09 left in the third.

Consecutive 3-pointers by Kayleigh Heckel, Blanca Quinonez and Fudd brought UConn within 40-39 with 1:10 left in the quarter, but the Huskies were never closer. The Huskies had made 1 of 11 3-point tires before that and finished 6 of 21. The Gamecocks led 44-39 after three.

--Jack Magruder, Field Level Media

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South Carolina ends UConn's perfect season, advances to title game

PHOENIX -- Ta'Niya Latson had 16 points and 11 rebounds to lead a balanced South Carolina attack, and the Gamecock...

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'What are you doing dude?': Social media reacts to Geno Auriemma-Dawn Staley altercation

The UConn women's basketball program came into the2026 Final Fouras a sizable favorite to take home its second national championship in as many years.

Instead, the Huskies left Phoenix empty-handed after the national semifinals.

Burdened by an uncharacteristically cold shooting night in which it made just 19 of its 61 field goal attempts (31%), including a 4-of-16 showing from national player of the year Sarah Strong, coachGeno Auriemma's team saw its perfect season come to an end in a 62-48 loss to fellow No. 1 seedSouth Carolinain the national semifinals on Friday, April 3.

The Final Four matchup between South Carolina and UConn was played with intensity throughout, with emotions building as the game reached its closing stretch.

That tension surfaced late as the outcome was decided, leading to visible reactions and an exchange between two of women's basketball's most prominent coaches.

Above, UConn Huskies head coach Geno Auriemma and South Carolina Gamecocks head coach Dawn Staley react during the second half of the 2026 Women's Final Four semifinal at Mortgage Matchup Center.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Head coach Dawn Staley of the South Carolina Gamecocks and head coach Geno Auriemma of the UConn Huskies exchange words during the fourth quarter in the Final Four of the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament at Mortgage Matchup Center on April 03, 2026 in Phoenix, Arizona.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />

Dawn Staley and Geno Auriemma bring intensity to SC‑UConn. See photos

The Final Four matchup between South Carolina and UConn was played with intensity throughout, withemotions building as the game reached its closing stretch.That tension surfaced late as the outcome was decided, leading to visible reactions and an exchange between two of women's basketball's most prominent coaches.Above, UConn Huskies head coach Geno Auriemma and South Carolina Gamecocks head coach Dawn Staley react during the second half of the 2026 Women's Final Four semifinal at Mortgage Matchup Center.

REQUIRED READING:Geno Auriemma rants about South Carolina fouls: 'Been beating the (expletive) out of our guys'

The loss snapped a 54-game win streak for the Huskies, which is tied for the fourth-longest run in Division I women's basketball history. UConn had won its first 38 games this season by an average of 37.8 points, with only one of those victories decided by fewer than 13 points.

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The victory came with a measure of revenge for coach Dawn Staley and the Gamecocks, who lost to UConn 82-59 in the national championship game last season.

Despite the comfortable margin of victory for South Carolina, there were some fireworks after the game when Auriemma and Staley got into a heated exchange while shaking hands at the end of regulation. The interaction happened with a few tenths of a second remaining. Once the horn officially sounded and the game came to an end, Auriemma was already walking back to his team's locker room.

Auriemma had complained about the officiating during an interview with ESPN's Holly Rowe earlier in the game, which included a shot at Staley, who he said "rants and raves on the sideline" and "calls the referees "some names you don't want to hear."

Here's a sampling of what people were saying on social media about the war or words between the two Philadelphia natives:

Social media reacts to Geno Auriemma-Dawn Staley altercation

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Social media reacts to Geno Auriemma-Dawn Staley altercation after UConn-South Carolina

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'What are you doing dude?': Social media reacts to Geno Auriemma-Dawn Staley altercation

The UConn women's basketball program came into the2026 Final Fouras a sizable favorite to take home its second nation...

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