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• Arsenal manager says players must show character

• Iraola hails statement victory after run of draws

Mikel Arteta admitted Arsenal’s 2-1 defeat by Bournemouth was “a big punch in the face” and said his players must show more character if they are going to end their 22-year wait to be crowned Premier League champions.

Alex Scott struck the winning goal 16 minutes from time after Viktor Gyökeres had equalised from the spot for a nervy Arsenal after Eli Junior Kroupi’s opener. It means Manchester City now have a chance to cut Arsenal’s lead at the top of the table to six points with a game still in hand when they face Chelsea on Sunday, with Arsenal travelling to the Etihad Stadium next Sunday.

Manchester City can brush off Rodri’s comments but Chelsea’s existential angst helps explain suspension of midfielder

Enzo Fernández and Rodri would quite like to move to Madrid; many people would. They both said as much in the international break, those special parts of the season when players join up with their national teams and give interviews while apparently unaware that media are global these days: a whisper on Luzo TV can soon become a hurricane in London. But Rodri will line up for Manchester City at Chelsea on Sunday, while Fernández will not, suspended by the club for “crossing a line”.

It’s worth, perhaps, looking at exactly what was said. Fernández expressed disappointment at Enzo Maresca’s departure on New Year’s Day. “It … hurt a lot,” he told Luzo, “because we had a lot of identity, he gave us order, but it’s the way that football is, sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s bad. But we always had a clear identity when it came to training, playing and obviously his departure hurt us especially in the middle of the season – it cuts everything short.” Sadness that a manager has gone surely isn’t a crime; it could even be supportive of Liam Rosenior and the difficulty of taking over a club mid-season.

At the end of a stormy week for Arne Slot there was respite in the form of a morale-boosting display from Rio Ngumoha. Liverpool’s 17-year-old winger marked his second Premier League start with an exquisite goal and a key role in the second from Mohamed Salah as the troubled champions celebrated a first league win since February.

Liverpool seemed vulnerable after painful cup quarter-final defeats at Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain had intensified the pressure on Slot. The ingredients were in place for Anfield to turn toxic. Fulham never put that fragility to the test. Marco Silva’s team were passive and limited in front of goal while Liverpool, re-energised by the virtuosity of Ngumoha, found the clinical touch and resolve to reach the landmark of 1,500 league wins at Anfield. It was only their second win in six games following a Champions League away trip this season and should restore some confidence before the daunting assignment against PSG on Tuesday. Ngumoha pressed his claims for inclusion from the start.

Mats Wieffer’s double reflected Brighton’s season, making the perfect late runs to secure the points at Championship-bound Burnley. It was their fifth win in six matches to leave them two points behind sixth-placed Chelsea.

Scott Parker was left frustrated after Jaidon Anthony and Bashir Humphreys scored but lengthy video assistant referee delays offered hope and the technology had to work hard to spot the illegalities. Ultimately, Wieffer settled the match, tripling his tally for the club, to boost Brighton’s European hopes, while leaving Burnley 12 points from safety with six games to play.

• Goretzka hits leaders’ 102nd goal in 5-0 win at St Pauli

• Ferran Torres double helps Barcelona beat Espanyol 4-1

Bayern Munich crushed hosts St Pauli 5-0 in the Bundesliga to set an all-time season scoring record while also extending their lead at the top to 12 points with five games left to play.

The Bavarian club, who host Real Madrid next week in their Champions League quarter-final second leg after their 2-1 win in Spain, are within touching distance of the league title on 76 points, with second-placed Borussia Dortmund stuck on 64 after their 1-0 home loss to Bayer Leverkusen.

Two more Igor Thiago goals, yet another solitary Brentford point and a shared dream of European football that remains alive for both clubs. If a game can simultaneously prove drab and pulsating, this was somehow it – all bluster and endeavour forming a peculiar blend of incohesion in the hope of securing a rare continental prize.

A draw was, perhaps, a fair outcome, for all of Keith Andrews’ understandable disappointment at his side conceding Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s injury-time equaliser. Brentford have lost just one of their last nine Premier League matches, but the past four have, frustratingly, been drawn.

• Late double gives Hearts 3-1 win, Celtic overcome St Mirren 1-0

• Aberdeen end winless run by beating Hibernian 2-0

Celtic leapfrogged Rangers to move second in the Premiership with a 1-0 win over St Mirren but Hearts stayed clear at the top as two late goals saw them past Motherwell 3-1.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s first-half strike was enough at Celtic Park, while Rangers head to Falkirk on Sunday and can reduce Hearts’ lead to one point again with victory.

• Controversial penalty sparks 2-0 Ipswich win at Norwich

• Bottom-side Wednesday draw 0-0 at leaders Coventry

Ipswich gave their hopes of automatic promotion a massive boost by recording a hard-fought 2-0 win over Norwich at Carrow Road, while Coventry must wait for another day after being held 0-0 at home by Sheffield Wednesday.

Ipswich moved into the top two, with at least a game in hand on their nearest rivals, as first-half goals from Jaden Philogene, with a harsh penalty, and George Hirst completed a long overdue double over their East Anglian rivals.

Midfielder on the prank-fuelled promotion at Bristol Rovers that kickstarted his career, confidence in Nottingham Forest’s survival and modelling for England

‘It was a brand-new car as well,” says Elliot Anderson, grinning as he relives the Gazza-inspired prank that sticks in the memory from his fruitful loan at Bristol Rovers. It is four years since a reserved teenager from Whitley Bay walked into a dressing room of big personalities after signing on January deadline day and turbocharged the club to promotion. His soaring header was the last and decisive goal in an exhilarating 7-0 win on the final day of the League Two season.

A lot has happened in Anderson’s world since that incredible climax, when Rovers pipped Northampton to third on goals scored. At the end of that four months, he was well versed in the culture of capers. Fridays meant forfeits and spinning the “wheel of fortune”. Practical jokes were never in short supply and on one occasion, as when Paul Gascoigne famously haunted Gordon Durie with trout, players planted fish in the boot and on the back seats of a teammate’s car. The analysts used training-ground CCTV to present a “Panorama” investigation and find the culprits.

Arsenal defender on embracing her England chance, maintaining self-belief and sharing training tips with her cyclist partner, Tao Geoghegan Hart

Lotte Wubben-Moy pauses, then says: “I’d be lying if I said there weren’t doubts.” The Arsenal and England defender has just been asked whether, during her stop-start journey, she had questioned herself or her chances of getting to show what she can do.

Wubben-Moy has had to bide her time with club and country. Having made her debut for England in February 2021, she has picked up only 16 caps despite being almost ever-present in the squad. Even when left out, her lack of game time at Arsenal an obvious issue, she has often found herself called back in because of injuries to others and, regardless of minutes played, her value to the squad and environment is often talked about.

The retired midfielder’s absence for the semi-final of Euro 2016 was the great ‘what-if’ of Welsh football, but even so his brilliant career managed to transform a footballing public for ever

If some footballers take time to reach their potential, others seem to be the finished article before they’re able to drive. A teenage Aaron Ramsey was firmly in the latter camp. After only 11 league starts for Cardiff he had made his international debut for Wales against Denmark, turned down Manchester United in favour of Arsenal, and given Cardiff fans one of the great what-ifs of their club’s modern age after Dave Jones chose not to start him in the 2008 FA Cup final against Portsmouth, with Ramsey being the tender age of 17.

Success-starved supporters who should know better will pin their hopes on to the narrowest of young shoulders and yet it all seemed so easy for the teenager from Caerphilly who was captain of his country by the age of 20, would go on to play in a World Cup and two European Championships, and this week retired as an icon of the Welsh game.

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The moment when West Ham really felt their survival bid pick up pace was when the jab from Taty Castellanos rolled beyond the reach of José Sá and crawled towards the Wolves goal.

Two-nil up in a must-win game, Nuno Espírito Santo’s side looked unrecognisable from the doomed bunch who dropped seven points off 17th place in early January. This is a different West Ham. This is a West Ham with a punch in attack and, if this daring escape act does end with Premier League football secured for another season, a key part of the story will be how Nuno strengthened his squad in January.

• De Zerbi wants to replicate former manager’s style

• ‘I want to see the Spurs I watched with Postecoglou’

Roberto De Zerbi intends to bring back “Ange-ball” as he attempts to prevent Tottenham’s first relegation in 49 years.

De Zerbi has only seven games in which to impart his complex football philosophy to his players and wants to replicate the rampant, marauding style of the former manager Ange Postecoglou, who won Tottenham’s first trophy in 17 years but was dismissed after finishing 17th in the Premier League last season.

• Fans jeer as draw follows losses to Mallorca and Bayern

• Marseille go third in Ligue 1 as Paris FC stun Monaco

Real Madrid had to settle for a 1-1 draw against mid-table Girona in La Liga on Friday, extending the hosts’ winless run to three games in all competitions and giving Barcelona the chance to stretch their advantage at the top.

Federico Valverde put Madrid ahead six minutes after half-time but Girona levelled in the 62nd minute through Thomas Lemar. Álvaro Arbeloa’s side are six points behind Barça, who have a game in hand against Espanyol on Saturday and could move nine clear with seven games to play.

Guardiola says City must win every game, Howe ‘aligned’ with chief executive and Pereira wants fixture help

• Chicago and Pittsburgh decline to enter running

• Some cities opt to focus on men’s Rugby World Cup

• Bid approval delayed by reported government holdups

A number of American cities named in the running to host games at the 2031 Women’s World Cup are considering withdrawing over concerns related to Fifa’s handling of this summer’s World Cup.

The Guardian has learned that several cities are exploring whether to focus solely on winning the right to host matches at the men’s 2031 Rugby World Cup. The US will also stage the women’s rugby tournament two years later.

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Philippe Auclair, Lars Sivertsen and Sid Lowe after a disappointing Liverpool performance at PSG.

On the podcast today: Liverpool are outplayed by PSG from the start, creating almost nothing all game and possibly fortunate to leave Paris only two goals down.

Elsewhere, in Barcelona, the whole game changes in a minute. Barcelona were on top before Pau Cubarsi’s red card and a stunning Julián Alvarez free-kick … meaning it’s advantage Atlético for the second leg in Madrid.

Plus, there’s a Premier League preview with huge games at the top and the bottom, Fifa’s new partnership and your questions answered.

Jack Wilshere’s promotion chasers take on Stockport in Sunday’s Vertu Trophy final with renewed momentum

Spring has arrived and along with sunshine, budburst, bluebells and nesting birds something else is stirring in a previously gloomy corner of Bedfordshire, something nourishing and warming, novel but also faintly familiar: hope.

“The last couple of years it’s been a really tough place to be,” says James Shea, Luton’s longest-serving player. “We’ve lost a lot of games and once you get used to losing it’s hard to turn it around. And you can see we’re starting to turn it around. If you’d said when we were in the Premier League that we’d be in League One in 18 months’ time, people probably would have laughed at you. It’s been a combination of everything – things have gone against us, and we’ve been everyone’s biggest game … Momentum can work both ways and we had momentum in going down. Hopefully we’ve turned that around and hopefully we’re on the way back up.”

After last season’s near-miss, the leaders are two points clear of Rochdale, who they play in what could yet be a final-day shootout

York is a city famed for centurions of the Roman kind, but now its football club are centurions too. With 101 points on the board and 109 goals scored, the Minstermen have a Football League return firmly in their sights after a decade away.

It has been a gruelling journey, punctuated by a near miss last season. The job isn’t done, but Monday’s last-gasp win against Altrincham put them two points clear of Rochdale at the top of the National League with three games to play. Tantalisingly, they go to Rochdale for what could be a final-day shootout for the one automatic promotion spot on 25 April.

Traditional pre-match pies, fans enjoy themselves and Yorkie the mascot.

Spurs head coach’s apology for past comments about his former player was important but insufficient. If we want things to change in football, we need some accountability

Roberto De Zerbi apologised in his first interview as Tottenham’s head coach for past comments about Mason Greenwood when the forward was his player at Marseille. Spurs supporter groups, including Proud Lilywhites and Women of the Lane, both of which I co-founded, were among those who criticised him. De Zerbi said he had never meant to downplay male violence against women. (Greenwood denied charges of attempted rape, controlling and coercive behaviour and assault occasioning actual bodily harm in 2022 and the case was discontinued.)

That he responded at all matters. Silence from men in positions of power on these issues is its own problem, and I would rather see someone engage than retreat. But what the response offered was self-description rather than accountability. And in this context, that is not enough. I will come to that.

There are protests planned at Anfield as Roberto De Zerbi starts his Tottenham tenure and Everton eye Europe

Nuno Espírito Santo has rolled back the years in an attempt to save West Ham. He has gone old-school, switching to a gung-ho 4-4-2 system to give his side more threat in the final third. Pablo Felipe and Taty Castellanos, both January arrivals, have altered the face of the attack, but neither forward has been prolific. Castellanos has scored three goals in all competitions since joining from Lazio and Pablo, who is yet to open his account in English football, failed to convert during last week’s penalty shootout defeat by Leeds in the FA Cup. As a pair, though, Castellanos and Pablo have been oddly effective. Are they any good? Unclear. Do they run around a lot and give a previously ponderous West Ham more energy? Undoubtedly. Played together, Pablo and Castellanos do a worthy job for the team. Importantly, they create space for the wingers, Jarrod Bowen and Crysencio Summerville, who hopes to return from a calf injury for Friday night’s vital home game against Wolves. Bowen and Summerville are the big threats; they are West Ham’s main source of goals, but both are more dangerous with Pablo and Castellanos in the team. Jacob Steinberg

West Ham v Wolves, Friday 8pm (all times BST)

Arsenal v Bournemouth, Saturday 12.30pm

Brentford v Everton, Saturday 3pm

Burnley v Brighton, Saturday 3pm

Liverpool v Fulham, Saturday 5.30pm

English forward has been the perfect loan signing. And yet, there is an ‘and yet’, absurd though that can seem

At the end of Barcelona’s 2-1 win at Atlético Madrid on Saturday night, as the players stood celebrating before the small pocket of supporters applauding them from high in the north-west corner of the Metropolitano, Diego Simeone approached Hansi Flick, shook his hand and reminded him of something: “You’ve got to come back.” It came as an invitation, born of admiration, and also a warning. This was only the start of a trilogy in which they face each other three times in 10 days, and the concluding chapter there would be different.

A different competition, for a start. Goals from Marcus Rashford and Robert Lewandowski, the latter on 89 minutes, had virtually secured Barcelona the league title but it was going to get bigger and mean more. Atlético, already adrift, had rested players; the last time Barcelona had been there – in the Copa del Rey semi-final first leg – they had beaten them 4-0; and the next time the Catalan club came it would be the Champions League quarter-final, second leg. And, back in the Metropolitano, that really would be a battle: tougher than this and, it turns out, tougher than anyone had imagined.

This week’s quarter-finals provided some classic action as this season’s competition hurtles towards its conclusion

Bayern Munich had not won at the Santiago Bernabéu since May 2001, when they beat Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-final on their way to becoming European champions. Tuesday night’s match changed all that. The 29th Champions League meeting between the teams lived up to its heavyweight billing, though Bayern, superior on the night, may rue their failure to extend their 2-1 lead. Real Madrid meanwhile could point to Manuel Neuer making nine saves – not bad for a 40-year-old. “We won’t win the competition without more of these kinds of performances,” said Bayern’s manager, Vincent Kompany, of his keeper. Big trophies are rarely won without great goalkeepers and Neuer continues to play like an all-time great. Bayern’s second goal was a trademark finish from Harry Kane, who made the difficult look easy. The goal will also have calmed England fans’ fears that their captain will arrive at the World Cup suffering from his usual summer malaise. A word too for Luis Díaz and Michael Olise, Bayern’s brilliant wingers whose performances brought back memories of the club’s modern greats Franck Ribéry and Arjen Robben. Kompany’s team were commanding in Madrid, but may fear the backlash from the 15-times champions, the kings of comebacks.

• Bucharest hospital confirms his death after heart attack

• Coach led team to Euro 84 and won multiple club titles

Mircea Lucescu, the Romanian football great who was a serial trophy winner as a player and a coach, has died aged 80.

Lucescu’s death was confirmed by Bucharest university emergency hospital on Tuesday. He had been taken to hospital after reportedly having a heart attack on Friday morning.

“This is why you guys come to these games,” Vincent Kompany had said, and especially here. For the quality, the chaos and the goals, the edge, the drama and the history that invades every moment. Another wild Champions League night had this place believing in another crazy comeback, the noise level rising towards what appeared destined to be one, last thunderous crescendo as Real Madrid rose again and went for their biggest European rivals. In the end, though, Bayern Munich held on for a win that sets up another, definitive battle at the Allianz Arena next week.

Strikes from Luis Díaz and Harry Kane either side of half-time had given Bayern a 2-0 lead, underlining an incontestable authority in the opening hour. But a Kylian Mbappé goal 16 minutes from the end began a rebellion that could have left the tie on even more of a knife edge than it is, Madrid finding chances for a draw or even another victory. They also found Manuel Neuer rolling back the years, aged 40, with nine saves.

• Conte says he should be considered to succeed Gattuso

• Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri also linked with role

Napoli’s president, Aurelio De Laurentiis, has said he would not stand in Antonio Conte’s way if the coach asked to take the vacant Italy job, after Conte said he ought to be under consideration to succeed Gennaro Gattuso.

Gattuso resigned as the Azzurri’s coach on Friday after Italy failed to reach the World Cup for a third straight time. Conte’s deal at Napoli runs until 2027 and the Italian champions are seven points off the Serie A leaders, Inter, with seven matches remaining.

Two ‘factory’ teams of German football proved that there is plenty at stake in the Bundesliga after a 6-3 win for Leverkusen

They said nobody cared enough for the stakes to be this high. If discussion over the destination of the title (and second place for that matter) has been and gone, there is plenty more in the Bundesliga tank and for Bayer Leverkusen and Wolfsburg, two clubs who will never hold universal approval despite producing teams to thrill us and break the Bayern monopoly in the last two decades, that is truer than for most.

Before RB Leipzig were around to corral all the disapproval of German supporters at large, there was El Plastico. As the two ‘factory’ teams of German football, grown from Bayer and Volkswagen respectively rather than from a fanbase, Leverkusen and Wolfsburg have endured a lifetime of rival fans looking down their noses at them, judging them as not organic or real enough.

Conversely this fixture, if derided by some, has produced a string of memorable games; the 5-4 win for Wolfsburg at the Bay Arena in 2015 during current coach Dieter Hecking’s successful first spell, sealed by Bas Dost’s four goals, or the typically later-than-late Leverkusen 4-3 in September 2024 dusted by Victor Boniface’s stoppage-time winner. So when Bild’s headline called this “the wildest plastico of all time,” they really did mean it was something special.

Tension and huge potential consequences can often make for a stilted, cautious spectacle. Not here. For Wolfsburg, there was an element of predictability in that it was a 20th successive game without a clean sheet – and they didn’t look like keeping one for an instant. Still, the record – the worst defensive run in the club’s history since a previous Hecking side did the same in 2014 – wouldn’t have mattered at all had Die Wölfe held the 3-1 lead with which they approached half-time, having seemingly found some nerve to help their desperate situation at the bottom of the table.

In that first half, Hecking would have been delighted. If there had been a thick volume of hard luck stories over recent weeks, Wolfsburg had no time to listen to them here. After Jonas Wind’s opener, they were unhappy with the penalty awarded to Leverkusen when Joakim Mæhle feathered a slight touch on Ibrahim Maza in the penalty area – converted for the hosts by Alejandro Grimaldo – but literally seconds later Mæhle himself stepped up to blast Wolfsburg back in front with a rocket from long range. When Christian Eriksen converted a Wolfsburg penalty shortly after it was 3-1 and finally the strugglers were showing real fortitude. There was light, at last, at the end of the tunnel.

Instead, the inevitable Grimaldo brought Leverkusen back into the match by finishing a smart move just before half-time, enabling his coach, Kasper Hjulmand, to make the changes at the break to turn the match, and perhaps to change his own fate at the helm. For if we look at Wolfsburg’s moment of crisis, the home side were facing one at 3-1 down. “A change of coach is not a scenario we are considering,” Leverkusen’s sporting director, Simon Rolfes, had said before the game but losing at home to a team in the bottom two – to severely compromise Die Werkself’s chances of a return to the Champions League – would have sorely tested that stance. It wouldn’t have been the first time Rolfes has been forced into an abrupt pivot this season.

That, incidentally, is what Hjulmand used to really change the momentum; taking off Equi Fernández, bringing on Patrik Schick to join Christian Kofane up front and really attacking in a season where Leverkusen have often looked too tentative. Schick equalised from another spot-kick before Edmund Tapsoba put the hosts in front. The excellent Maza added another and substitute Malik Tillman made it six after a brilliant slalom along the byline by Ernest Poku.

Another Anfield miracle in the second leg will be talked up, but the gulf in class between the two sides was undeniable

These are strange times for Liverpool Football Club, still, and until anyone specifically says otherwise, the champions of England. It is a mark of where the team is that on an oddly tension-free night in Paris there were reasons to be pleased, but also not to be pleased about being pleased.

Pleased that Liverpool’s players didn’t give up or stop trying. So that’s a tick. Pleased that they only lost 2-0 against a Paris Saint-Germain team who were able to approach this first leg carelessly, to showboat a little, to approach the scoring of a goal in the style of a temperamental high-end Parisian pastry chef, always trying to create the perfect deconstructed mille-feuille tour de vanille infinite, when all you really need is a biscuit.

Petr Vlachovsky’s non-contact sexual abuse has had long-term effects and could finally be the catalyst for safeguarding policy change for women and girls in the sport

Kristyna Janku answered the phone to a police officer, not sure what she was going to hear. She had heard the rumours, the gossip, and was not sure what was true and what was not.

The defender’s former coach Petr Vlachovsky, who coached women and girls at FC Slovacko for almost 15 years and was once voted the best women’s football coach in the Czech Republic, had been arrested and she was about to find out why.

Mikel Arteta discovered that playing your best goalkeeper can be a good idea as his side recovered from cup exits with late win in Lisbon

There was a temptation to fixate on the moment when Arsenal won this game with a goal that could change their season. Mikel Arteta had urged his players not to panic, not to sink away with hopes of a quadruple long gone, and Kai Havertz got the memo. Gabriel Martinelli crossed from the left and, as the ball dropped, Havertz caught the Sporting defence napping at last, controlled with a feathery touch, took a breath and rolled a finish past Rui Silva to give Arsenal victory in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final.

It had been a slog at Estádio José Alvalade. Arsenal attempted 488 passes and it was not until the first of two added minutes that they made one really count. Before then it was a grind. Arsenal were often constipated in open play. Although they controlled the game, at least until allowing it to become ragged during a fraught finale, there were long spells when the best the Premier League leaders offered was set-piece wrestling. Noni Madueke, mostly ineffective as he deputised for Bukayo Saka on the right wing, curled an early corner against the bar. Viktor Gyökeres was recorded as being on the pitch. Leandro Trossard tried to score from 40 yards. Leandro Trossard did not score from 40 yards.

Most of what has gone wrong this season can be put down to poor recruitment – but the manager must share the blame

Even when the fixture list was revealed last summer, it was perhaps predictable that the middle of March would represent the crisis point for Newcastle. If they had reached the Champions League quarter-finals and won the Tyne-Wear derby at St James’ Park, a lot of other frustrations could have been forgotten. Even better, that game against Sunderland would have had to be postponed had Newcastle reached a third Carabao Cup final since 2023.

Those days of celebration a year ago feel a long time ago now, but the mood could easily have been very different. Newcastle were the better side in the home leg against Barcelona in the last 16 of the Champions League. Only the concession of a daft late penalty denied them victory and they were a persistent threat on the break in the first half of the away leg. Only in the second half of the second leg did the game get away from them: a 7-2 defeat made the difference between the sides seem much greater than it actually was.

Our cartoonist on humiliating exits for Arsenal and Liverpool, low-hanging fruit and Hugo Ekitike’s shirt swap

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During my 43-year adventure I saw pubs close, standing on terraces return and big flags fly all over the country

By When Saturday Comes

It was bound to end like this: a long and arduous odyssey that started in 1982 on a crumbling terrace culminated on a grey, drizzly afternoon in December watching my team get hammered 3-0 in a brand spanking new stadium named in conjunction with an international commercial law firm. A glorious away win thanks to a last-minute winner would have been somehow too poetic. This was how it was meant to be, when I finally completed the 92.

As with that game at Everton, most games were as an away Nottingham Forest fan; others as a neutral. There is much I witnessed and learned from this ludicrous yet wholly fulfilling enterprise and the many miles travelled. For one thing, it used to be that one displayed allegiances by carefully trapping a scarf in the window, so it fluttered outside all the way. This has been replaced by the executive car sticker or personalised number plate and our society is much the worse for it.

The sportswear giant says it’s aware of the strange seam on some of the new shirts, and is looking into how to address it

When Nike rolled out its collection of World Cup kits in late March, fans and pundits alike largely approved. The US men’s national team got arguably their most distinctive pair of shirts in decades, while other federations – France, England, Canada and Uruguay among them – earned strong reviews.

Over the last international break, when players took the field in the kits for the first time, many fans couldn’t help but become fixated on one singular detail of the new shirts: a somewhat unsightly bulge along the shoulder seam.

Sublime stint at Bayern Munich has made home audiences appreciate a man who isn’t flash or twinkly but is his country’s best footballer

Everyone has their favourite mental comfort food, the stuff that makes you feel good in troubled times. Maybe you like baking bread and listening to history podcasts about Nazi atrocities. Maybe it’s watching Notting Hill in a Hugh Grant mask.

Perhaps you love to unwind by sitting in your walnut-panelled library and reading Catullus, naked, covered in Doritos crumbs, with a plastic bag over your head. Or enjoy nothing better than doomscrolling in a state of late-night brain-death, before accidentally subscribing to a mystery supplement that will rid you of all the horrific writhing parasites inside your body, because the advert had a really convincing animated graphic that made you hate yourself.

From Algeria to Uzbekistan, our writers and contributors from around the world assess the state of the 48 nations to qualify for the tournament

“There’s more talent and potential than in 2022,” Kylian Mbappé said ominously this week after France had beaten Brazil 2-1 despite having Dayot Upamecano sent off after 55 minutes. He may well be right. For the second game of this window, against Colombia, Didier Deschamps changed the entire starting XI but was still able to field an attack of Marcus Thuram, Désiré Doué, Rayan Cherki and Maghnes Akliouche. Doué scored two in a comfortable 3-1 victory. “I’m well aware that there are some very good players that I won’t be bringing because, in my opinion, there are even better ones,” Deschamps said. Marcus Christenson

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Discipline has long been one of the cornerstones of a successful dressing room in England. If John Eustace’s Birmingham City players did not wish the training ground reception staff “good morning” they were issued with a £250 penalty. Steven Gerrard implemented a variety of fines when manager of Aston Villa for players leaving flip-flops in the shower (£50), forgetting to bring a cake for a birthday (£50, Yaya Touré: look away now), leaving plates and cups on the dining table (£100 an item). When Frank Lampard replaced Maurizio Sarri in 2019-20, Lampard immediately introduced a series of internal disciplinary fines for first-team players. Late for training? That’s £20,000, guv. Failure to report knack or illness before a day off? That’s 10 large. Phone rings during a team meeting? One thousand English pounds, thank you very much.

Sheffield FC invented football (yesterday’s Quote of the Day)? A certain person on the other side of the Atlantic would no doubt dispute that” – Robert Pearce.

This is an extract from our daily football email … Football Daily. To get the full version, just visit this page and follow the instructions.

Alma Mana’o, the captain, reflects on their journey from a 21-0 defeat in 1998 to a place in the final round of qualification

The American Samoa women’s team has lived through a scarcely believable tale littered with upsets, and their story is still unfolding. At the end of last year, they entered a World Cup qualification tournament containing the lowest-ranked teams in the smallest federation, the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC). At 153rd in the world rankings, American Samoa ranked the lowest of the low. With an estimated population of 45,319, the island’s entire population would not sell out even the smallest stadium hosting Fifa’s showpiece event next year.

The national team’s captain, Alma Mana’o, talks of American Samoan culture as being “family is above all”. Multiple sets of sisters represent the team, something Mana’o relishes. “This is a family, we have got to get together, hold our sisters accountable and push each other,” she says. The Mana’o family hold the record for most family members to participate in Fifa events – “If we can’t win, we’re going to have the most kids!” Alma declares with a laugh – and American Samoa are out to prove there can be success in the family business.

This is an extract from our free email about women’s football, Moving the Goalposts. To get the full edition, visit this page and follow the instructions. Moving the Goalposts is delivered to your inboxes every Tuesday and Thursday.

Winger explains her rapid ascent from shy 16-year-old Barça signing to a record-breaking hero

At 19 years, eight months and 12 days Vicky López is a history maker, record breaker and Barcelona hero. The Spaniard has played more than 120 matches for the club of her dreams, scoring 32 goals along the way.

López signed in July 2022 at 16, making her first-team debut that season under Jonatan Giráldez and leaving no doubt she belongs among the best. No Barcelona player, male or female, has made their Camp Nou, Champions League or el clásico debut as young as López. The following season she became the club’s youngest goalscorer in el clásico.

From exposed anxieties to unexpected heroes, this weekend’s cup contests papered over a weird three-week Premier League break

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The soccer calendar has been particularly quirky this year. There’s always an international break in March, but because this year’s edition involved World Cup qualifying playoffs, most games were scheduled for the Thursday and the Tuesday, which meant there was very little soccer played over the weekend; barely even a smattering of friendlies.

For a Saturday in early spring, it all felt very weird; it was a day for pacing the floors, wondering how on earth people who don’t like soccer fill the time. And with the Carabao Cup final falling the previous Sunday, and the FA Cup sixth round this weekend, that has meant a three-week hiatus in the title race. Which has been disorienting and, perhaps, not entirely to Arsenal’s benefit.

Plus: teams who went out of Europe without losing a game, and rare competitive meetings

• Mail us with your questions and answers

“What’s the furthest a team has gone in Europe while being relegated in the same season?” wonders Matt Reilly.

This question was probably asked in reference to Tottenham, who were still in the Champions League at the time, but it’s still relevant to some of this year’s quarter-finalists. Nottingham Forest are three points above the relegation places in the Premier League; Fiorentina only have a five-point cushion in Serie A.

Real Zaragoza 2001-02, first round; 2007-08, first round

Alavés 2002-03, second round

Celta Vigo 2006-07, last 16

Real Zaragoza 2007-08, first round

Real Betis 2013-14, last 16

Espanyol 2019-20, last 32

Blackburn Rovers 1998-99, Uefa Cup first round

Bradford City 2000-01, Intertoto semi-final

Ipswich Town 2001-02, Uefa Cup third round

Ruda Hvezda Brno 1960-61, Cup Winners’ Cup

Dynamo Zilina 1961-62, Cup Winners’ Cup

Espanyol 1961-62. Inter-Cities Fairs Cup

Napoli 1962-63, Cup Winners’ Cup

Bayern Munich 1962-63, Inter-Cities Fairs Cup

1. FC Magdeburg 1965-66, Cup Winners’ Cup

Lyn 1968-69, Cup Winners’ Cup

Beroe Stara Zagora 1973-74, Cup Winners’ Cup

Real Betis 1977-78, Cup Winners’ Cup

Bologna 1990-91, Uefa Cup

First round Artmedia Bratislavia (2-2 away, 3-1 home)

Group stage Sparta Prague (2-0 away), Zulte Waregem (6-2 home), Ajax (2-0 away), Austria Wien (1-0 home)

Last 32 Livorno (2-1 away, 2-0 home)

Last 16 Maccabi Haifa (0-0 away, 4-0 home)

Quarter-final Benfica (3-2 home, 0-0 away)

Semi-final Werder Bremen (3-0 home, 2-1 away)

Final Sevilla 2-2 (1-3 pens)

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Philippe Auclair, Lars Sivertsen and Sid Lowe after another disappointing Liverpool performance at PSG

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On the podcast today: Liverpool are outplayed by PSG from the start, creating almost nothing all game and possibly fortunate to leave Paris only two goals down.

Quiz time! Can you identify the British football stadiums pictured in the matchday images below?

• This article was amended on 3 April 2026 to correct the spelling of the Wrexham stadium, Cae Ras.

Kirby’s class helps stun Arsenal, Palmer shows leadership potential for Chelsea and teenager Shaw makes her mark for Liverpool

Securing their Premier League status for another year remains a priority for West Ham and Leeds this season, so the eight changes Nuno Espírito Santo and Daniel Farke made between them for this tie, which developed into a drama-drenched classic, was understandable to a degree. Still, in Ao Tanaka, Leeds have a gem of a fringe player, who looked eager to make something of his opportunity. The Japan midfielder has not started in the league since 14 December, but Leeds fans have consistently called for him to have more involvement and he showed why with a tremendous opener at the London Stadium, which was all of his own making. In stark contrast to Tanaka’s performance was that of Max Kilman, who has not been trusted to start for West Ham since 3 January when they were beaten 3-0 by the bottom club, Wolves. The centre-back looked rusty and gave away what should have been a clear penalty with a poor challenge on Anton Stach – he was even booed by his own fans at points in the game. Dominic Booth

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

• 2024 edition | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012

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

• 2024 list | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018

• Meet the judges | See how every judge voted

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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.

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