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• 88% target of sexual misconduct in the past five years

• 260 members of Women’s Sport Collective took survey

There is a significant sexual safety problem for women working in elite sport in the UK, according to a survey, with 88% of respondents reporting they had been the target of at least one form of sexual misconduct in the past five years and five people (2%) saying they had been raped in work-related contexts outside the main workplace in that period.

The report published on Wednesday, titled Women’s Experiences of Sexual Misconduct Working in UK Elite Sport, invited members of the Women’s Sport Collective to take part in the study anonymously and 260 people responded. Participants included administrators, coaches, current and former athletes, TV producers, lawyers and physios.

• Annex attempt could bring about Uefa-led boycott

• Implications for World Cup alarming heads of FAs

European football leaders are increasingly concerned about Donald Trump’s wish to annex Greenland, and they have held initial discussions about how the sport could respond.

The Guardian understands the implications for the World Cup this summer were among the topics raised among about 20 football association heads in Budapest on Monday. Talks about the Greenland crisis were held informally on the sidelines of an event organised to celebrate the Hungarian football federation’s 125th anniversary, in the knowledge that a unified European response may be required should Trump seek to escalate the situation.

To channel Bjørge Lillelien and his famous commentary on Norway’s win against England in 1981: Pep Guardiola, your Manchester City boys took a heck of a beating here on the shores of the Norwegian Sea, below the skies of the aurora borealis, and on the Aspmyra Stadion’s ­artificial pitch graced by this immortal Bodø/Glimt victory which downed a ­continental superpower.

Jonas Gahr Støre was present to witness a win that came courtesy of Kasper Høgh’s two first-half goals plus Jens Petter Hauge’s curled peach after the interval, as Norway’s prime minister escaped Donald Trump’s curious obsession with the Nobel peace prize: another measure of how this result will never be forgotten.

Plus: legends’ funerals on state TV, record wins and losses in recent times, and referees scoring goals

• Mail us with your questions and answers

“Viktor Gyökeres and Leandro Trossard are Arsenal’s top scorers in the league with just five goals each,” writes Steven Pye. “This seems quite a low total for a team that could go on to win the league. I was wondering which winner of the top flight in England has had the lowest top goal scorer, both before and after the start of the Premier League?”

Arsenal’s 40 Premier League goals have been shared among 13 players – 16 if you include own goals from Sam Johnstone, Yerson Mosquera and Georginio Rutter. Only Everton, Sunderland and Wolves have a leading scorer with fewer than the five goals scored by Gyökeres and Trossard.

13 Frank Lampard (Chelsea, 2004-05); Ilkay Gundogan (Manchester City, 2020-21)
14 Eric Cantona (Manchester United, 1995-96)
15 Mark Hughes (Man Utd, 1992-93), Teddy Sheringham (Man Utd, 2000-01), Kevin De Bruyne (Man City, 2021-22)
16 Dennis Bergkamp (Arsenal, 1997-98), Frank Lampard (Chelsea, 2005-06)
17 Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United, 2006-07)

The former Portsmouth defender took a chance when moving to Brussels but is now captain of the Belgian champions and preparing to mark the England captain in the Champions League

Below the zigzagging contrails that paint the blue Brussels sky, Christian Burgess is reflecting on the latest chapters of his extraordinary journey, those since joining Royale Union Saint‑Gilloise almost six years ago. At the time he felt that his career was at risk of stagnating, but after rummaging Wikipedia to get a handle on the club and learning of their big ambitions, it felt a leap of faith worth taking.

Even so, there is a detectable disbelief at how that decision led him to the Champions League and an unlikely reunion with Harry Kane, with whom he last duelled as an 18-year-old on trial at Tottenham more than 15 years ago. On Wednesday Union play at Bayern Munich in arguably the biggest match in their history, knowing a positive result would keep alive their chances of advancing to the knockout stage.

Today’s tell-all is keeping the plates spinning

Manchester United transfer gossip abounds once more, Mikel Oyarzabal the latest striker in their sights. They had their people in Spain at the weekend watching Real Sociedad’s win over Barcelona, and though they were also there to check on Marcus Rashford – who they apparently want back in the summer – La Real’s Spain forward is reportedly very much on their radar. Oyarzabal, 28, has a €75m (£65m) release clause, mind, and a summer swoop might be more likely than a move now.

Another United target is Rúben Neves, though they may face stern competition for the midfielder from Real Madrid. Neves is in the final six months of his contract with Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia and is thought to be keen on a move back to Europe. Meanwhile the latest rumoured contenders for the permanent manager’s gig at Old Trafford include Frank Lampard of Championship table-toppers Coventry, Getafe’s José Bordalás and the Rayo Vallecano manager, Iñigo Pérez.

It was a contender for shock result of the season. Nobody had given Tottenham any hope after the Premier League disaster here against West Ham on Saturday, one which came coated in vitriol for Thomas Frank. The fans had demanded his immediate removal as the manager, only for him to stagger on.

The execution was stayed. But here were Borussia Dortmund, the Bundesliga’s second-placed team, who had lost only three games all season, to apply the final cut.

• Head coach ‘happy and pleased’ Salah is back from Afcon

• Forward is expected to start in European tie at Marseille

Mohamed Salah is in line for an immediate return to the Liverpool team at Marseille on Wednesday with Arne Slot insisting he has no issues with the Egypt international.

Salah trained with Liverpool on Tuesday for the first time since returning from the Africa Cup of Nations, where his quest for a first continental title with Egypt was ended in the semi-finals by the eventual winners, Senegal. The 33-year-old’s Anfield future was shrouded in doubt before his departure for Morocco, having accused the club of throwing him under a bus in response to poor results and claiming his relationship with Slot had disintegrated.

Mission accomplished for Arsenal. A seventh win out of seven ensured Mikel Arteta’s side will head straight into the last 16 of this competition as one of the two top seeds after Gabriel Jesus scored twice – including their 19th goal of the season from a corner – to see off last year’s beaten finalists.

It means that as well as getting one back over an Inter team that they lost to 14 months ago, Arsenal have surpassed their longest winning streak at this level. While Manchester City’s surprise defeat in Norway in the earlier kick-off had removed any jeopardy about them progressing, this was more evidence of the ruthless streak Arsenal have developed under Arteta. The only blot on the copybook in a fourth successive away game in four different competitions was Petar Sucic’s equaliser in the first half after Jesus had given Arsenal an early lead, although this was all about the Brazil striker even after the substitute Viktor Gyökeres sealed the points late on with a classy finish.

• Coventry 2-1 Millwall, Ipswich 2-0 Bristol City

• Osmajic sent off as Preston beaten at home by Hull

Haji Wright scored the winner for the second time in three days as the league leaders Coventry beat Millwall 2-1 at the CBS Arena. Wright scored an 85th-minute goal against Leicester on Saturday and notched his 10th goal of the season as Coventry made it back-to-back victories.

The on-loan Crystal Palace winger Romain Esse opened his account for Coventry against his former club before Mihailo Ivanovic scored a brilliant equaliser just before the half-hour.

The benefit of national team players honing skills abroad is balanced by concerns over a weakened NWSL

The dust has yet to settle on Trinity Rodman’s club status, but the star USA forward’s near future has ignited an emphatic revival of an old debate on this side of the Atlantic.

How does the National Women’s Soccer League stack up against its top competitor leagues? At what point should the league be worried, if top USWNT talent trickles across the Atlantic? And what, if anything, can be done to stop the flow?

All the latest Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Ligue 1 and Serie A deals and a club-by-club guide

• Women’s transfer interactive – all the January deals

Every deal in the WSL, NWSL, Liga F, Frauen-Bundesliga, Première Ligue and Serie A Femminile as well as a club-by-club guide

• Men’s transfer interactive – all the January deals

• Crystal Palace want £35m and interested in Guessand

• Ethan Nwaneri is poised to join Marseille on loan

Aston Villa have registered interest in signing Jean-Philippe Mateta, with Crystal Palace weighing up a move for Villa’s Evann Guessand as his replacement.

Mateta has expressed his desire to leave Selhurst Park this month and has less than 18 months on his contract. The France striker is understood to have agreed terms with Juventus but the Italian side failed to reach an agreement with Palace over a loan that would include an obligation to buy at the end of the season.

The scars remain and there is much to be fixed still but this was a step towards reconciliation. It was something of a statement too, and not just in the goals scored but the reaction to them. Nine days after Xabi Alonso’s sacking, six after their captain said they had hit rock bottom with Copa del Rey elimination and three after the protest of a generation, white hankies and whistles greeting the players and even the president, there were songs and support at last as Real Madrid defeated Monaco 6-1.

Kylian Mbappé, Franco Mastantuono and Jude Bellingham all scored, while there was an own goal from Monaco’s Thilo Kehrer. More significantly still, the man who had been at the centre of the storm made three of the six goals and smashed in a superb strike of his own. And if Vinícius Júnior, who had stood accused before the game and stood with the MVP trophy at the end of it, wasn’t entirely ready to share his moment with fans yet, his first goal here since October saw teammates come to his side. He then hugged his new coach, Álvaro Arbeloa, who claimed that was the embrace of the whole of Madrid.

• Suárez hits late winner after Kvaratskhelia stunner

• McTominay scores but Copenhagen peg back Napoli

Paris Saint-Germain slipped to a 2-1 defeat against Sporting in Lisbon, jeopardising their bid to qualify directly for the Champions League last 16 after Luis Suárez struck twice, scoring the winner in the final minute.

Sporting had gone ahead against the run of play in the second half through Suárez, despite sustained pressure from PSG. The French champions hit back quickly as Khvicha Kvaratskhelia levelled with a superb strike, appearing to salvage a point.

• Players to have eight seconds to take goal-kicks

• Ifab focused on limiting disruption of play

Football’s law-making body has backed plans to extend the use of the video assistant referee system, allowing it to intervene on second yellow cards and the awarding of corners, provided the process “does not slow the flow of play”.

With the speed of the game in mind, the International Football Association Board (Ifab) also expanded the “countdown principle”, where goalkeepers have eight seconds to release the ball from their hands, to include the taking of goal-kicks and throw-ins.

• Fernández linked with Champions League winners

• Chelsea have no intention of selling Argentina midfielder

Liam Rosenior has dealt a blow to Paris Saint-Germain’s and Real Madrid’s hopes of signing Enzo Fernández by insisting the midfielder’s long-term future lies at Chelsea.

There has been plenty of noise around Fernández over the past week, with reports in France claiming PSG are targeting him as part of their plans to rebuild their midfield this summer. Madrid are also being talked up as a potential destination for the Argentina international, particularly as they are short of a player capable of dictating play, but Rosenior has no doubts about the 25-year-old’s commitment to Chelsea.

• Ceferin, as well as Fifa, intervened with the Israeli FA

• Aida facility was set to be removed by security forces

A football pitch used by refugees in the occupied West Bank has been saved from demolition after an intervention by the president of Uefa, Aleksander Ceferin.

A decision to stop plans to remove the pitch in the Aida refugee camp outside Bethlehem was taken by Israeli security forces on Tuesday after an international campaign for its preservation.

Ousmane Dembélé becomes our seventh winner as he beats Lamine Yamal into second and Vitinha into third on our list of the best players on the planet

• Premier League dominates list | How every judge voted | Our methodology | The top 100 female players for 2025

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The Frenchman, who has been named the best male footballer in the world by the Guardian, has benefitted from PSG’s focus on the team rather than individuals

What makes a good player great, and a great player the best? This question has been occupying me since 2014, when the Guardian first asked me to contribute to its inaugural Next Generation feature. My job was to look for a France-based talent born in 1997 who could go on to have a stellar career.

After a great deal of research, I narrowed it down from my shortlist of five by asking questions not about the players’ football ability, but about other attributes: resilience, adaptability, decision-making, creativity, work ethic, response to feedback and willingness to learn. Qualities we cannot see, and are harder to measure.

Aitana Bonmatí has been voted the best female player on the planet by our panel of 127 experts ahead of Mariona Caldentey and Alessia Russo

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The margin may have got smaller but the brilliant Spanish midfielder makes it a hat-trick of No 1 finishes

They say the best things come in threes, and Aitana Bonmatí has written herself into the Guardian’s top 100 history as the first player to finish at the top of the tree for a third consecutive year.

Last year the majestic midfielder emulated her Barcelona and Spain teammate Alexia Putellas by winning for a second year running, but the 27-year-old has now gone one better, establishing herself once again at the top of the women’s game.

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Seb Hutchinson, John Brewin and Osasu Obayiuwana to discuss the Manchester derby and extraordinary scenes at the Afcon final On the podcast today; Manchester United completely dominate the derby. Is it as simple as just do all the things Ruben Amorim didn’t? Elsewhere, despite a last-minute defeat at home to West Ham, Thomas Frank remains in his job at the time of recording. We also discuss Oliver Glasner’s extraordinary post-match interview as Palace lost to Sunderland and Liverpool’s miserable unbeaten run. Plus, a quite unbelievable Afcon final and your questions answered.

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Our cartoonist on the latest manager in north London to take the good ship Tottenham in the wrong direction

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While the famous penalty technique is the ultimate act of showmanship, the cost of failure is too high to justify

Being too smart for your own good is usually drummed out of children before they leave school but sometimes people cannot help themselves. The Panenka penalty, successfully executed, offers the limited benefit of making a goalkeeper look silly and the taker a genius but Brahim Díaz is the latest to learn the cost of what happens when it goes wrong.

Díaz was given 15 minutes to consider what to do with his spot-kick after the ludicrous levels of drama in the Africa Cup of Nations final. Maybe this was his undoing: being able to ponder every option, from the rudimentary to the artistic, until deciding to replicate Antonin Panenka’s creation with what could, and should, have been the last kick of the tournament.

Which version of Marseille will turn up against Liverpool in the Champions League? Even Roberto De Zerbi has no clue

By Get French Football News

Marseille are beginning to show what a coherent Roberto De Zerbi team looks like. In the Italian’s second season at the club, the ideas are visible, the attacking output is striking, and the ceiling is high enough to trouble elite opponents. What remains unclear is whether this progress can survive at a club that tends towards inconsistency and uncertainty.

“This was the best first half since my arrival,” said De Zerbi after his team’s 5-2 win at Angers on Saturday. It’s hard to dispute that assessment. Marseille raced into a four-goal lead, with four different players producing a series of stylish goals. It was the clearest illustration yet of what his team are capable of when the stars align.

Carnival drums provided the backdrop to surprise victory over league leaders that was not just down to luck

“There was a little magic in the atmosphere,” Pellegrino Matarazzo said. Real Sociedad’s new coach could feel it; he could hear it too, the sound of drums beating on every street of the city he has embraced and into the stadium that has embraced him back already. When he and his players arrived at Anoeta on Sunday evening, they entered through a guard of honour, a band of soldiers and chefs lined up in the rain, hammering out the club anthem and hoping. By the time they departed around midnight, following 35,346 supporters out into San Sebastián, it had actually happened. La Real had beaten Barcelona 2-1. Celebrations, his captain Mikel Oyarzabal said, had come a day early.

This week is tamborrada, the San Sebastián festival where, at midnight on 20 January, the city flag is raised and marching bands parade through its streets in Napoleonic uniforms and cooks’ costumes grasping sticks, batons and giant cutlery, routes mapped out in loving detail and special supplements. Initially it was a popular pastiche of a military procession, a prelude to carnival, practice runs echoing round in the days before. Kids go first, adults next. An expression of civic pride, they sing of “spreading joy,” being “always happy,” and God knows they were happy now. What better way to begin it all than this? What better way to become one of them?

Gian Piero Gasperini is clearly a fan of the on-loan Aston Villa forward who shone in their 2-0 victory at Torino

Was it even a real quote, or only an approximation, a convenient lead-in to columns such as this? After Donyell Malen put the ball in the net for the second time in the first half-hour of his Roma debut, a member of his new team’s coaching staff was reportedly heard asking: “ma chi abbiamo preso?” – who on earth have we just signed?

Nobody would clarify who said this, and frankly it did not matter. The phrase was now canon, repeated in commentary and churned across the oceans of online news aggregation. It resonated because Roma’s supporters were asking the same question of a player who arrived from Aston Villa two days before.

Relentless 5-1 comeback win was ominous and made one wonder how many goals champions could score this season

Vincent Kompany had warned after their completion of a record-pace Hinrunde of the Bundesliga season that Bayern would have to “start completely from scratch” for the campaign’s second half. The message clearly got across. Poor RB Leipzig could not have known that his players would interpret that quite so literally.

On Wednesday Bayern had done the job in Köln; on Saturday in Leipzig, they gave the full manifestation of their brilliance as the evening went on. This became the numbers of the season’s first half made flesh. It is difficult to know what their hosts could have done much differently. Leipzig had been “clearly the better team” in the first 45, as Kompany had admitted. “It felt like they were twice as good as us.” His opposite number, Ole Werner, described his team’s first half as “the almost perfect performance”, and it was difficult to argue. Had Antonio Nusa, part of the excellent collective movement that led to Rômulo’s opener, taken one of the two good chances he missed in that time, then perhaps the discussion would be different.

• Morocco head coach furious after Senegal leave pitch in protest

• Post-match press conference held up by arguments among media

The Morocco head coach, Walid Regragui, accused Senegal’s Pape Thiaw of having brought shame on African football after Morocco failed to win the Africa Cup of Nations in what he termed “a final with a Hitchcockian script”. After Senegal had had a goal ruled out in stoppage time, his side were awarded a penalty by the video assistant referee, prompting Senegal’s players to walk off the pitch in protest. When they returned, Brahim Díaz missed the penalty with a duffed Panenka, and Senegal went on to win in extra time.

“The image we’ve given of Africa is shameful. A coach who asks his players to leave the field … What Pape did does not honour Africa,” Regragui said. “He had already started in the [pre-match] press conference. He wasn’t classy. But he is a champion, so he can say whatever he wants. We stopped the match in the eyes of the world for 10 minutes. That didn’t help Brahim. That doesn’t excuse Brahim for the way he hit the penalty. He hit it like that and we have to accept it. We were one minute from being African champions. That’s football. It’s often cruel. We missed what for some was the opportunity of a lifetime.”

• La Liga lead cut to one point after surprise 2-1 defeat

• Füllkrug scores first goal in Italy since leaving West Ham

Real Sociedad damaged Barcelona’s title defence with a surprise 2-1 home victory as Hansi Flick’s side fell to a first defeat in 12 matches. The Catalan side, who hit the woodwork four times and had two goals disallowed, now lead their rivals Real Madrid by only a point at the top of La Liga after Álvaro Arbeloa’s side beat Levante on Saturday.

Sociedad, now unbeaten in four games under their new American coach Pellegrino Matarazzo, had Carlos Soler sent off late on but managed to hold on.

Monaco have lost seven of their last eight league games. Next up they visit Real Madrid in the Champions League

By Get French Football News

“We are trying to anticipate things that could maybe not be in a good place soon,” said Monaco CEO, Thiago Scuro, when he sacked manager Adi Hütter and replaced him with Sébastien Pocognoli in October. The change did not save the club from the bad place they had feared. Perhaps Hütter wasn’t the problem, perhaps Pocognoli isn’t the problem either; that is certainly the view of the club’s fans.

The Stade Louis II was sparsely populated on Friday night for the visit of Lorient in Ligue 1. The Monaco ultras boycotted the first 45 minutes entirely, creating a tepid atmosphere. Every noise was accentuated, from the home fans’ ironic cries of “olé” as Lorient toyed with Monaco in the dying stages of their 3-1 win, to the celebrations of the 32 travelling fans who savoured their team’s first away victory of the season, and the calls for Scuro’s resignation.

For Mehdi Taremi and others playing abroad, showing solidarity with their home nation can mean threats and possible detention

Mehdi Taremi did what he does best. On Saturday, the Iranian striker turned inside the area and scored for Olympiakos, a well-taken eighth goal of the season for the 33-year-old that clinched a 2-0 win at Atromitos and a place at the top of the Greek Super League. Usually, millions of people in Iran follow every step of Taremi’s European career, one that took off with Porto and has settled in Piraeus via Milan, but not this time.

The ruling regime in Tehran has cut the internet and all communications, which meant that residents of the football‑loving nation also missed the non‑celebration that followed. “It actually has to do with the conditions in my country,” Taremi said. “There are problems between the people and the government. The people are always with us, and that’s why we are with them. I couldn’t celebrate in solidarity with the Iranian people. I know that Olympiakos fans would like me to be happy, but I don’t celebrate the goals, in solidarity with what the Iranian people are going through.”

Frenetic derby was just the place for the interim manager to roll out Ferguson’s old ‘use the energy of the people’ dictum

For Manchester United’s executives, City are the best-in-class runaway train they wish to emulate and aspire to. Coveted talent like Antoine Semenyo and now Marc Guéhi opt for blue when a generation ago, Old Trafford was the destination of dreams.

United’s myth and legend becomes increasingly sepia-tinged but there may be life in it yet. The list of Sir Alex Ferguson’s boys able to take the reins in times of emergency is being exhausted but Michael Carrick, on his second turn, found a way to feed off it. He has just 17 games though there is a tantalising prize on offer. A return to the Champions League looks possible. Rather than embracing the void, Carrick’s United reminded that sporting directors, analytic departments and strategic reviews may have their place in the eventual restoration of power, but dogged spirit, wanting it more, can win the day.

Manager’s decision is no surprise having fought to keep Marc Guéhi in the summer and amid doubts over futures of a host of Palace’s FA Cup-winning stars

It was the day Crystal Palace supporters had dreaded but feared was inevitable. Oliver Glasner, having confirmed that the captain Marc Guéhi’s move to Manchester City is poised to go ahead, had another bombshell prepared for his press conference to preview Saturday’s trip to Sunderland.

Nearly eight months to the day since the Austrian led the club to their first major trophy by beating Manchester City in the FA Cup final, his announcement that he will leave Selhurst Park at the end of the season came as no surprise. It rounds off one of the worst weeks in the club’s history after the humiliating defeat by non-league Macclesfield that will be for ever an unwanted postscript to their victory.

Real Madrid and Manchester United put their faith in familiarity but the lesson of Ferguson is dynastic greatness rests not in tradition but ditching principles

“It is all too easy to make mistaken inferences unless the process involved is already very well understood.” Francis Crick, molecular biologist

“This club is about winning, winning and winning again. It’s in our DNA.” Álvaro Arbeloa

Football has to be held to account: we cannot have another generation of qualified black coaches being ignored

Football’s start to 2026 has been seismic, with the festive season soon replaced by sacking season. At times this week it has been hard to keep up. The lifetime of a head coach or a manager seems to be getting shorter, with pressure for positive results apparently never greater.

In among the churn came a landmark moment, with Liam Rosenior taking on the head coach role at Chelsea, making him the first permanent black English manager at a big-six club.

Our cartoonist looks back on a glorious day for the non-league side as they knocked out the FA Cup holders

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Former Newcastle goalkeeper opens up on the abuse he has received and using the platform footballers have to support an anti-racism charity

It was a chance encounter that would ultimately help change countless lives for the better but, at the time, all Shaka Hislop wanted to do was escape.

As the then Newcastle goalkeeper stood on a petrol station forecourt, filling his car on a dark November night in 1995 his overriding emotions were outrage and fear. Hislop was heading home after an evening out with his wife and young daughter when, with the fuel gauge edging towards the red zone, he pulled into a garage just across the road from St James’ Park.

A guide to each club’s setups, from Chelsea’s multi-headed structure to Brentford’s smooth planning and Manchester United’s muddles

The appointment of Andrea Berta as sporting director in March was greeted with much enthusiasm by Arsenal’s supporters, given his impressive track record in more than a decade at Atlético Madrid,. The Italian, who began his career in finance, has made an instant impression. Known as a shrewd negotiator, the suave and softly spoken 54-year-old masterminded Arsenal’s outlay of more than £250m in the summer that included the arrivals of Viktor Gyökeres, Eberechi Eze and Noni Madueke. Berta takes the lead on recruitment in consultation with Richard Garlick, who was promoted to chief executive in September, the manager, Mikel Arteta, and the co-chair Josh Kroenke. James Ellis, a former scout who then spent two years as head of recruitment, was appointed as technical director in the summer and is tasked with “delivering the club’s long-term player progression strategy”, with a focus on creating a pathway from academy to first team. Ed Aarons

Full-back says she has worked her whole career ‘to lift a trophy like that’ and has not given up on this year’s WSL title

Katie McCabe had the last laugh in May. After Arsenal’s phenomenal Champions League win against Barcelona, in which she was part of a back four that did not concede a foul against the three-time European champions, Arsenal partied hard and McCabe was front and centre of the social media posts from inside the club’s after-party.

At the celebration outside the Emirates Stadium two days later, the full-back was a highlight, shades on, leading the 10,000 crowd in singing her own chant before shushing them and kicking off a rendition of the final goalscorer Stina Blackstenius’s song to the tune of Karma Chameleon, getting a huge cheer when she proclaimed “red is in my bloooood” and being spotted having to run to catch up with the coach before it left the ground when the players finished their third day of celebrations.

League One club offered behind-the-scenes access for FA Cup tie and manager Gary Caldwell will not let crushing loss at Manchester City define them

“The team to win today, lads” begins Gary Caldwell. Exeter City are two hours from kicking off against Manchester City in the FA Cup third round, and their manager is addressing his players at a hotel shortly before they travel to the Etihad.

“You know why I said that?” he continues, his thick Scottish accent filling the room. No one knows. He explains the phrase is borrowed from Roberto Martínez, under whom Caldwell won the competition with Wigan in 2013. It was used to bring humour and break tension when his team were inevitably written off.

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Back in the 1990s, when sitting in a TV studio chair gravely intoning that “you’ll never win anything with kids” became fashionable, Manchester United fans took grave exception to what they viewed as the excessive number of highly decorated former Liverpool players being given a platform from which to pontificate because they felt they were all too biased. Fast forward to the present day and increasing numbers of United fans are similarly miffed by the ubiquity of highly decorated former players from their own club because they’re not biased enough. Of course the advent of podcasts and round-the-clock subscription TV means there are far more jobs for the boys available and no shortage of United alumni have been recruited. We have now reached a point of such super-saturation that even Paul Scholes, who maintained an almost heroic public silence throughout the entirety of his playing career, seems unable to keep quiet.

On the grounds that it is better for a Stockport County fan to post this rather than someone who will take the mickey, the own goal scored by Rotherham on Saturday was very funny, but it didn’t matter. Here it is, ho ho ho. Funnily enough I had just been pondering on the absence of comedy OGs in recent years at Edgeley Park. Has there been a more ludicrous one this season?” – Dan Levy (not that one).

To whomever is meant to be in charge: by all means fiddle around with offside, meddle with the last-man red card or dabble with the yellow card goal thingy but please, please, please turn your attention to the WWE shenanigans that happen every time there is a corner. We may well roll our eyes at the events in the Afcon final but the players there acted like proper gentlemen compared with the childish behaviour shown in Premier League penalty areas. Back to a darkened room for me” – Nick Smyth.

I was relieved to learn that, when faced with the question Ta Bi or not Ta Bi, Sunderland decided in the affirmative. In football as in life, ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune’” – Peter Oh.

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The veteran is known for his sense of responsibility and it was apparent as his Senegal teammates threatened to quit African football’s showpiece

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Sadio Mané has done many great things for Senegal and for Senegalese football, but what he did on Sunday evening, in what he confirmed would be his last Africa Cup of Nations game, was perhaps greater than his winning goal in Wednesday’s semi-final, greater than his penalty to win the World Cup qualifying playoff against Egypt in 2022, greater even than his decisive penalty in the 2021 final.

When Senegal stormed off the pitch in protest at the award of a penalty against them eight minutes into added time at the end of the Cup of Nations final, African football faced a crisis. For this to happen at all was embarrassing, for it to happen in the final of the confederation’s showpiece would have been a humiliation – not least because many may have felt that Senegal had a point. Refereeing has been a topic of discussion in this tournament in a way it should never be.

The arrival at Toluca of another France favourite adds to Liga MX Femenil’s claim of being among the world’s top five

“The league for me is top is five or six leagues in the world,” says Eugénie Le Sommer, speaking about Mexico’s Liga MX Femenil, where she’s just started the second half of her first full season in Latin America.

The OL Lyonnes and France great became the latest big name to join the league last summer, following former teammate Amandine Henry to Toluca, coached by another Frenchman in Patrice Lair, but others have gone before the pair of former internationals to a league that has everything going for it.

Today’s rumours are playing the long game

As the vultures circle the Tottenham misery hole, there’s talk that Liverpool want to pluck Micky van de Ven from Thomas Frank’s injury-ravaged and form-deficient squad. Weekend whispers had it that Liverpool were preparing a £78m bid for the Dutch defender, though a move would be likelier in the summer. By way of return, and more immediately, Spurs have shown interest in luring Curtis Jones from Anfield and Juventus could be in for Liverpool’s Federico Chiesa for a fee of around £13m-£17m.

Gabriel Jesus could be on the move from Arsenal back to Palmeiras, where the striker began his career. The Brazilian, though, says he wants a new deal with the Premier League leaders, after an injury-ravaged period, but a move could happen in the summer if not now. An Emirates Stadium arrival could be Federico Dimarco. The Italian outlet Tuttosport reports “genuine interest” from the Gunners in the Inter full-back, whose deal at San Siro ends in June next year.

Faye Carruthers is joined by Suzy Wrack, Tom Garry and Emma Sanders to review the fourth round of the Women’s FA Cup, assess the latest transfer moves and answer your questions

On today’s pod: the fourth round of the Women’s FA Cup delivered goals, history and a few familiar outcomes as WSL sides dominated the weekend. The panel discusses Chatham Town’s historic run to the fifth round, Charlton’s 10-goal demolition of Swindon, Arsenal seeing off Aston Villa and convincing wins for West Ham and London City Lionesses under new management.

Elsewhere, the January transfer window is well underway. The panel assess Manchester United’s rebuild, Liverpool and Leicester’s recruitment drives, Tottenham’s busy business and headline arrivals from the NWSL, including Sam Coffey and Delphine Cascarino.

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Philippe Auclair, Dan Bardell and Sid Lowe as Xabi Alonso leaves Real Madrid and the Carabao Cup semi-finals begin

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On the podcast today: Arsenal win at Stamford Bridge in their Carabao Cup semi-final first leg, but it was still a decent showing for Liam Rosenior in his first home game in charge at Chelsea.

From PSG’s Ibrahim Mbaye to Brazil’s next hope, we select some of the most talented players born in 2008. Check the progress of our classes of 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 … and go even further back. Here’s our Premier League class of 2025