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Just when it seemed nothing was dropping for Liverpool in a capti­vating contest, Arne Slot turned to his substitutes’ bench midway through the ­second half and exhibited his seemingly golden touch. Kostas Tsimikas and Diogo Jota entered, the former teeing up the latter at a corner to equalise ­courtesy of their first touches and keep ­Nottingham Forest, who continue to take great pleasure at gatecrashing the title race, at arm’s length. Even if it was an imperfect night for Liverpool, it felt a significant takeaway. Jota’s header was Liverpool’s first effort on target and the first goal Forest had conceded in more than 500 minutes.

For Forest, this is simply a ride supporters do not want to step off. At the final whistle their players were greeted with applause from all four corners of a throbbing stadium. This was another ­resounding display under Nuno Espírito Santo, another impressive step in an ­extraordinary season and a point lifts them to ­second, six points behind the pacesetters, who also have a game in hand. On this evidence, Forest may prove Liver­pool’s fiercest challengers, especially with both Chelsea and Manchester City dropping more points.

When Brentford spurned their first couple of chances Thomas Frank showed his approval and encourage­ment with applause. But they kept ­missing them: by the end of the first half he was burrowing his head into his hands; by the time Yoane Wissa somehow shot into Nathan Aké with the goal at his mercy and 20 minutes remaining he was prostrate, forehead pressed into the turf in supplication. Maybe someone was listening.

Phil Foden had opened the scoring moments earlier, and shortly afterwards he tapped in a second after Savinho’s shot was saved. If at that moment Brentford looked beaten they did not feel it, and with one final heave the pendulum swung: three minutes later Mads Roerslev’s volleyed centre found Wissa all alone on the edge of the six-yard box to pull a goal back, and in stoppage time ­Christian Nørgaard headed Keane Lewis-Potter’s right-wing cross just beyond the grasp of Stefan Ortega.

From title challengers to top-four contenders to reviving the undercur­rent of dissatisfaction with the club’s direction, quite the recent slide for Chelsea. Thomas Tuchel, on an ­England scouting visit, will have seen few of the players he left behind in 2022. He will, though, have been reminded of the permanent jeopardy of the Chelsea manager.

Previously the safe pair of hands guiding the Chelsea project, Enzo Maresca’s cachet is wobbling after five winless games. Chelsea paid for a combination of callowness and profligacy against a bare‑bones Bournemouth. “The game was completely in our control,” Maresca said. “And it’s something we need to improve.”

It was just as West Ham imagined it when they spent more than £100m last summer. Lucas Paquetá as a false nine. Two left-backs on the pitch at the end. A defence so fragile that Alex Iwobi can score direct from two crosses. The new man in the dugout watching and wondering if life at the London Stadium is always this baffling.

This ended up being a game that West Ham tried very hard not to win, even though they led 2-0 and 3-1 after a host of comical errors from ­Fulham. As it was, all that mattered for ­Graham Potter was taking the points and finding logic in the puzzle.

• Bundesliga strugglers win 4-2 and add to Dortmund woes
• Milan recover to win at Como and Juventus draw again

Struggling Holstein Kiel scored three times in a dominant first half but had to survive a late comeback from Borussia Dortmund before beating the visitors 4-2, capped by a breakaway fourth goal into an empty net, in a second straight Bundesliga loss for the Ruhr valley club.

The result saw Dortmund, who had also lost 3-2 to Bayer Leverkusen on Friday, drop to eighth in the standings while piling more pressure on already-embattled coach Nuri Sahin.

• The 21-year-old has kept two clean sheets in a row
• Spurs manager calls abuse at Tamworth ‘detestable’

Antonin Kinsky has bred confidence in his new Tottenham teammates and liberated them, according to the manager, Ange Postecoglou, who is ready to pitch him into another huge challenge on Wednesday night – the north London derby at Arsenal.

It has been a whirlwind period for the 21-year-old goalkeeper since his arrival from Slavia Prague on the Sunday before last; the £12.5m fee made it one of the most expensive transfers from the Czech league.

• Talks for €60m Real Sociedad midfielder have progressed
• Arteta wants new striker with Jesus set for surgery

Arsenal are confident of agreeing a deal to sign Martín Zubimendi in the summer and will step up attempts to bring in a striker this month after confirming Gabriel Jesus has sustained an anterior cruciate ligament injury that will rule him out until next season.

Talks over Zubimendi, who turned down a move to Liverpool last year and opted to remain at Real Sociedad, are understood to have progressed in recent days, with the Spain midfielder thought to be keen to join. The 25-year-old, part of the Spain squad that won Euro 2024, has a €60m (£51m) release clause that will have to be met.

• Reis set to join City for about £30m from Palmeiras
• West Ham explore loan for Leipzig striker André Silva

Aston Villa have completed the signing of Donyell Malen from Borussia Dortmund for an initial £20m. The Netherlands forward, who can play across the front line, was left out of the Bundesliga club’s squad for the trip to Kiel on Tuesday as he finalised a move to the Premier League.

The 25-year-old has been a longtime target for Villa’s manager, Unai Emery, who is hopeful of further additions. The Celta Vigo full-back Óscar Mingueza is thought to be high on their list of defensive targets.

• Joan Laporta says enemies hoped to ‘destabilise’ the club
• President defends ‘contained euphoria’ before Super Cup

Joan Laporta denounced an attack on Barcelona “by land, air and sea” and insisted there was no reason why he should resign as he spoke publicly for the first time since the club were allowed to register Dani Olmo and Pau Víctor in defiance of the ruling by La Liga and the country’s football federation.

The Barcelona president claimed the club had correctly presented “all” the documentation needed to register Olmo and Víctor by the 31 December deadline but admitted they had not been able to provide the proof of income to comply with financial controls until 3 January. He alleged that was through no fault of their own and that the league made unexpected and unnecessary demands of Barcelona, hinting that the federation (RFEF) had said the registration should have been completed.

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Football Daily has had no previous call to delve into the murky world of pen!le prostheses [prosthesii? – Football Daily Ed] and is already worried about what might happen the next time it has cause to seek advice from Big Website’s IT department. But given the rabbit hole of unpleasant sights that today’s story out of Lazio has sent us down, it seems not everyone is quite so coy when it comes to internal improvements.

‘Global head of soccer’ at an energy drink brand seems a world away from the rough and tumble of the touchline

Flanked by Formula One cars bearing the appropriate livery, Jürgen Klopp cracked open a can of Red Bull and started talking. Product placement has always come naturally to the energy drink brand and here, on home turf, little fanfare was spared in putting a shiny new asset front and centre. This moment had been well over two years in the making but now their head of global soccer could broadcast his mission statement to the world.

These were jarring surroundings in which to see Klopp, champion of the raw and the real, begin his new career. Hangar-7, an events space overlooking the runway at Salzburg airport, lets the public inspect a fleet from a selection of Red Bull’s more daredevil sporting endeavours. The lines are smooth, the Alpine light clear, the corporate self-assuredness pervasive. It could not have felt further from the rough and tumble of the touchline at Liverpool or, even less, Dortmund.

Members of the House of Lords have proposed 375 amendments to the legislation, many of which may require lengthy consultation and could take years to resolve

There is a round of Premier League fixtures this midweek but, all the same, the powerbrokers of English football will have one eye on the House of Lords on Wednesday. The debate over an independent regulator for the game has heated up again after it appeared to be done and dusted; what once commanded cross-party support is starting to look, ahem, like a political football.

In the weeks leading up to Christmas a series of lengthy debates were held in the Lords over the Football Governance Bill and its provisions. A remarkable 375 amendments were proposed, addressing everything from state ownership of clubs to replacing use of the word crest with badge “to avoid the incorrect use of heraldic terms”.

Our cartoonist on an upset in west London, Zidane skills in Tamworth and David Moyes taking over at Everton

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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

After financial fair play concerns limited spending last January, this could be a busier window for Europe’s biggest clubs. In the Premier League, Liverpool are flying high but are yet to secure new contracts for Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk or Trent Alexander-Arnold – with all three now able to speak to other clubs about pre-contract agreements.

Behind them, Arsenal are weighing up whether to boost their attacking options, and Manchester City could recruit a new midfielder with Rodri’s absence derailing their title hopes. Further down the table, Manchester United may need to clear players out before Ruben Amorim can make signings, but Ange Postecoglou is planning to bolster his underachieving Tottenham squad.

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

• Men’s transfer interactive January 2025
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• Former manager hopes Reds’ talisman will extend deal
• Klopp will ‘have a parade’ if City’s titles go to Liverpool

Jürgen Klopp has described Mohamed Salah as “the biggest striker Liverpool have had in modern times”, saying he hopes his former employers will resolve their contract standoff with their talisman and extend his stay beyond this summer.

Salah is in the final six months of his £350,000-a-week Liverpool deal and, by his own admission, progress on agreeing new terms has been minimal. The 32-year-old played under Klopp for seven seasons, winning the Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup and Carabao Cup. Klopp, speaking during his unveiling as Red Bull’s global head of soccer, made clear his preference about Salah’s next step.

• Book won trophies as player and manager at City
• His other clubs as a defender included Plymouth

The former Manchester City ­captain and manager Tony Book has died at the age of 90. Book, whose ­honours as a City player included a First Division title in 1968 and an FA Cup a year later, also played for Bath City and ­Plymouth.

Manchester City said in a ­statement: “It is with huge ­sadness and the heaviest of hearts that we announce the ­passing of former Manchester City captain and manager Tony Book, aged 90. A true club legend in every sense of the word.” Book made 315 ­appearances for City between 1966 and 1974, scoring five goals.

• No charges brought over losses in period ending 2023-24
• Chelsea were among the other clubs under scrutiny

The Premier League has issued a clean bill of financial health to clubs who had been at risk of breaching profitability and sustainability rules (PSR).

Leicester City could face intervention yet, however, with a dispute over whether the league had jurisdiction over the club’s finances for their year spent in the Championship continuing to be worked out.

Replacement of successful South Korean coach with famous former Dutch striker is a gamble that could backfire

In 1938 Indonesia, with their bespectacled captain, Achmad Nawir, went to the World Cup as the Dutch East Indies and “Dutch” should perhaps be put back in the title somewhere given all that has happened with their men’s football team this century. Patrick Kluivert’s appointment as the head coach on Wednesday has not come out of nowhere. After all, it has been said, a Dutch team needs a Dutch coach.

Of the starting XI who defeated Saudi Arabia in a November World Cup qualifier in Jakarta, eight were born in the Netherlands and more are coming. The PSSI, Indonesia’s federation, has embarked on a rapid naturalisation of European players eligible to represent Team Garuda through a parent or grandparent, a legacy of colonial rule from the Netherlands that ended in 1945.

One of the most successful full-backs of the modern era, Walker has been dogged by a prurient obsession with his personal life

England ace Kyle Walker has SENSATIONALLY asked Manchester City for a divorce – and pals fear the sharp decline of his recovery pace could be to blame. According to insiders, jilted Pep Guardiola was HEARTBROKEN on hearing about Walker’s decision to walk out on their seven-year partnership, having publicly defended the 0.06-non-penalty-expected-goal-contributions-per-90-minutes right-back on numerous occasions this season. One source exclusively told the Guardian: “It’ll be an amicable split given everything they’ve been through together. But there’s a mutual recognition that a club of City’s standing can’t go on carrying a player averaging 7.7 possession losses per game and a career‑low 5.8 final-third passes per 90.”

Walker, 34, dropped his BOMBSHELL news last week to City’s head honcho Txiki Begiristain, 60, amid persistent rumours over a budding romance with Italian stallions Milan, 125, whose new coach Sérgio Conceição, 50, could see Walker, 34, as a better fit for his dynamic, transition-based defensive buildup style than either Emerson Royal, 25, or Davide Calabria, 28.

Super Cup victory in Saudi Arabia helps club and president as they try and push the player registration saga aside

Joan Laporta arrived at the King Abdullah stadium in Jeddah performing an up-yours and shouting at the “shameless sons of bitches” there, and left again three nights later with the Spanish Super Cup. These had been some weeks and this was some way to end them, only this never truly ends. Debated in parliament, a question of state occupying everyone, Barcelona’s president could not escape the spotlight; now, late on Sunday, 12 days into the new year and 12 days on from that deadline, nor did he want to. So on the pitch, surrounded by confetti, cameras right in front of him and players right behind – Dani Olmo and Pau Víctor included – he stepped centre-stage again, this time taking the trophy, all triumphant.

At the end of the Super Cup, the Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez had whispered to Luka Modric “we had to lose a final some time, no?” and the Croatian agreed. “If we have to choose, I prefer it to be this one,” he told the television cameras. Which, while true, didn’t feel like much of a consolation right then – and not just because it doesn’t work like that, the nature of defeat suggesting others are more likely to follow, not less – and didn’t do much to diminish its significance for their rivals, which was not just the fact that they had won a title, the first under Hansi Flick, but the way they won it. When they had won it too, a sense of liberation in victory. For Laporta and Olmo, particularly.

Mikel Arteta’s team have had a painful start to 2025 and are now facing challenges in three competitions

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For Arsenal, the pattern was all too familiar. They won the xG against Manchester United on Sunday, depending which model you prefer, by around 3.5 to 0.5, but they drew the game 1-1 and with a certain inevitability, lost on penalties. The previous Tuesday, in the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final, they’d won the xG 3.1-1.2 but lost 2-0 to Newcastle. The previous Saturday, in the league, they drew 1-1 at Brighton despite having won the xG 1.5-0.9. They have begun 2025 by failing to turn dominance into goals and, very quickly, their hopes of a trophy are evaporating.

This was a very good weekend for the FA Cup. Plymouth, bottom of the Championship, pulled off the big upset by eliminating Brentford, while League Two Bromley went ahead before succumbing to Newcastle, non-league Tamworth took Tottenham to extra-time and there were further shocks as Doncaster and Exeter eliminated Hull and Oxford. But the culmination of Sunday’s sulphuric clash at the Emirates: no sense there of Premier League sides soft-pedalling. For Arsenal, the consequences could be hugely significant.

This is an extract from Soccer with Jonathan Wilson, a weekly look from the Guardian US at the game in Europe and beyond. Subscribe for free here. Have a question for Jonathan? Email soccerwithjw@theguardian.com, and he’ll answer the best in a future edition

Time will tell if Ratcliffe and Dave Brailsford can turn around the negative effect their decisions have had on the club

Remember when Manchester United jacked up the cost of tickets for members from around £40 to £66 for the rest of the season? And, for good measure, scrapped the £25 concession for children and asked them to pay full price too? Of course you do. It was barely six weeks ago, on 27 November.

But, without fanfare or it being reported anywhere, that policy has been quietly dropped for Thursday’s match against Southampton at Old Trafford, along with the Ipswich game next month. Adult tickets are now £48. Under-16s are £25. And the further cost to Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Ineos’s reputation for competence? Incalculable.

The most shocking element might be how undaunted Napoli, and Naples, appear over the future of ‘Kvaradona’

Antonio Conte is not angry, just disappointed, but before you accuse him of the oldest trick in the parenting book give the man time to finish his thought. On Saturday he confirmed Khvicha Kvaratskhelia wants to leave Napoli, expressing frustration that six months of working together had not persuaded the Georgia international that they could achieve great things together.

A day later, though, he provided a subtle reframing. “I want to underline something,” said Conte at his press conference following a 2-0 win over Verona. “When I spoke about disappointment, I was not speaking about disappointment felt toward a player or toward the club but in myself. I thought I could cut through and influence this situation … maybe I was a little bit presumptuous.”

England-born forward’s thunderous volley shocked Sahin’s flu-racked side who face fight for Champions League place

Friday night’s resumption always carried the threat of pushing us towards drawing hard and fast conclusions for the second half of the season. In the end the raising of the curtain was so dramatic as not to leave us any other choice. Twenty-four seconds into the Rückrunde and, as Nathan Tella’s volley thundered past Gregor Kobel, we had our emphatic notice that the balance of power at the top of this season’s Bundesliga is not about to change any time soon.

It was not the quickest statement by the standards of Dortmund versus Leverkusen, of course. Ten years ago last August, Karim Bellarabi scored the Bundesliga’s fastest goal, nine seconds into this fixture in the opening match of the 2014-15 Bundesliga season. The winger’s rapid strike set the tone for what turned out to be Jürgen Klopp’s final season at the helm, symbolically snuffing out their hopes of doing something significant with the campaign almost before it had begun.

Rodri has beaten Vinícius Júnior and Erling Haaland to top our ranking of the most talented players in the world this calendar year

• How all the judges voted | Rodri heads 2024 list | Our methodology | The top 100 female players in the world
• 2023 edition | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012

The Manchester City midfielder becomes the sixth player to top our ranking of the world’s best 100 male footballers

• The 100 best male footballers in the world 2024

One of the worst things about seeing Rodri in agony on the pitch against Arsenal in September – and the subsequent news that he had ruptured an anterior cruciate ligament – was that in the buildup to the injury he had criticised the workload being put on players. It was as if he knew something bad was about to happen.

In April, after an epic 3-3 draw at Real Madrid the Manchester City and Spain midfielder said: “I do need a rest.” He added: “Let’s see how we speak, how we live the situation. Sometimes it is what it is. I need to adjust. It [rest] is something we are planning, yes.”

Aitana Bonmatí finishes top of our rankings for a second consecutive year, with Caroline Graham Hansen second and Sophia Smith third

• Bonmatí on top of world again | How every judge voted | Video top ten | 2023 list | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018
• Subscribe now to our free women’s football newsletter

The Spanish midfielder wins for a second consecutive year on a fast-moving list that sees 15 players appearing for the first time

• The top 100: check out the full list for 2024

Aitana Bonmatí emulates her Barcelona and Spain teammate Alexia Putellas and takes back-to-back wins in the Guardian’s 100 best female footballers in the world list.

The double Ballon d’Or winner received votes from all 99 of this year’s judges, finishing 667 points clear of her club teammate Caroline Graham Hansen, the Norwegian climbing to her highest ranking after a superb individual year for both club and country.

Mikel Arteta praised his players’ ­fortitude after a patched-up Arsenal side overcame a sickness bug in the squad to defeat Brentford 3-1 and keep up the pressure on Liverpool. Arteta gave Ethan Nwaneri his first league start more than two years after he became the youngest player in Premier League history at the same ground. The 17-year-old played a part of Arsenal’s second and third goals and Arteta said he deserved his opportunity.

• Arteta sings virtues of ‘versatility’ as Arsenal overcome sickness bug to win

• ‘Set piece FC’ strike again just as Arsenal are tempted by the fountain of youth

Ruben Amorim knows his job will be at risk if Manchester United's results do not improve but said he enjoys the pressure. 'The manager of Manchester United can never, no matter what, be comfortable, and I know the business that I’m in,' Amorim said after a third consecutive defeat and fifth in seven games. 'You can say I am here one month and I’ve had four training [sessions], but we are not winning. That is the reality and I’m quite comfortable with that.'

• ‘Every coach is in danger’: Amorim wary of job risk if United’s poor form rolls on

Arne Slot urged his players to keep their foot on the accelerator after Liverpool extended their lead at the top of the Premier League to four points with a wild 6-3 victory against Tottenham. Although the manager felt his team produced their best attacking performance in an away game under him, he was not happy with a drop in intensity at 5-1 that gave Spurs brief hope of a comeback. The score was pulled back to 5-3 and Liverpool, who ended up capitalising on Chelsea’s draw with Everton earlier in the day, were reminded that they must maintain their focus if they are to win the league.

• Arne Slot warns against complacency despite Liverpool’s six-goal display

• Ange Postecoglou’s unserious Spurs exposed by serious Liverpool

Ruben Amorim said Manchester United's players and fans were 'suffering' after a damaging 3-0 Premier League loss to Bournemouth at Old Trafford. Dean Huijsen exposed United's frailties from set pieces with a first-half header before Justin Kluivert and Antoine Semenyo added goals after the break to secure three points for the visitors

• Semenyo seals stunning Bournemouth win to add to Manchester United misery

Pep Guardiola has defended Manchester City striker Erling Haaland after his team fell to their ninth defeat in 12 matches. CIty have now lost six of their past eight Premier League games following a 2-1 loss to Aston Villa. After the game, in which he failed to find the back of the net, Haaland told TNT Sports that he hadn't been scoring his chances and that he needed to do better.

• Manchester City’s bleak midwinter rolls on as Rogers seals win for Aston Villa

In 2024 the world of football was filled with incredible skill as well as some unique moments. From stunning strikes to own goals and animals on the pitch, here are some of the most entertaining moments the sport had to offer.

• His 15th league goal of season keeps Bayern clear at top
• In Serie A, Atalanta miss chance to go level with Napoli

Harry Kane netted a penalty to give Bayern Munich a 1-0 victory at Borussia Mönchengladbach in their first Bundesliga match after the winter break, keeping them four points clear of second-placed Bayer Leverkusen.

The England captain sent Gladbach keeper Moritz Nicolas the wrong way in the 68th minute to break the deadlock and bag his 15th league goal this season to maintain his status as the Bundesliga’s top scorer.

• Real Madrid 3-0 Mallorca
• Spanish champions set to face rivals Barcelona in Jeddah

Second-half goals from Jude Bellingham and Rodrygo helped Real Madrid to a 3-0 win over Mallorca in the Spanish Super Cup semi-finals and set up a showdown with Barcelona in Jeddah.

Bellingham broke the deadlock after the hour mark with a low drive following an excellent team move. Martin Valjent’s own goal doubled the lead in stoppage time, the Mallorca defender accidentally stabbing the ball past Dominik Greif in goal as he attempted to cut out a pass from the substitute Brahim Díaz to Kylian Mbappé. Rodrygo then struck from close range to round off the victory, converting a stunning cross into the box by Lucas Vázquez.

• Website said Celtic’s Kyogo Furuhashi had joined
• Signing was Cayman Togashi on free transfer

Major League Soccer has apologised after saying Celtic’s Japanese forward Kyogo Furuhashi had signed for Atlanta United when in fact it was his compatriot Cayman Togashi who had joined the club.

Atlanta had previously been linked with Furuhashi and on Wednesday MLS posted an article on its website saying the 29-year-old Japan international had completed a transfer.

The former Barcelona teammates getting together for one last hurrah in MLS would draw in the fans. But injuries have taken their toll on the Brazilian

Lionel Messi’s Florida sanctuary for former Barcelona players could soon have another resident. Comments made by Neymar on Tuesday hinted at a possible reunion with his former Barça teammates, Messi and Luis Suárez, at Inter Miami seven years after the trio formed arguably the most formidable forward line in soccer history. The prospect of the ‘MSN’ reunited in MLS is tantalising.

But just because the signing of Neymar is a compelling idea, that doesn’t make it a good one. Neymar is a shadow of the player who scored 105 goals in 186 games for Barça. Injuries have taken their toll on the 32-year-old, sidelining him for much of the last year. He has only played seven games for Al-Hilal since joining the Saudi Arabian club in August 2023. There may not be much soccer left in him.

Club’s top scorer has his sights set on the Spanish Super Cup but harbours ambitions of playing in the Premier League

“Pair of extra socks, pair of extra boxers”, and that, Cyle Larin says, is pretty much that. Well, it is normally. This time, it is a little different. There is a smile and Real Mallorca’s top scorer this season, Canada’s top scorer of all time, says: “Win that first game and you got to stay longer.”

More boxers, more socks, maybe more history too. Win that first game, Thursday night’s Spanish Super Cup semi-final, and they will still be there on Sunday night, 5,000km from home and 90 minutes from the third trophy in their 108 years.

New Rossoneri coach is regarded as a hard, emotionless taskmaster but Monday’s win prompted cigars and hugs

Sérgio Conceição warned us on Friday that “I don’t like to give out hugs”, but sometimes a moment gets the better of you. In Milan’s changing room on Monday night he danced, smoked a cigar and, yes, gave Théo Hernández a squeeze on camera. If ever there was a time to break character, it might be after winning your first trophy with the club you took charge of a week ago.

Has there ever been a footballing speed-run like this one? Hired to replace Paulo Fonseca as Milan’s manager – a transition so poorly handled that his predecessor wound up announcing his own sacking from a car window – Conceição led his first training session last Monday and flew with his new team to Riyadh a day later. Since then, he has produced come-from-behind wins over Juventus and Inter, delivering Milan their first silverware in three years.

Monaco’s hearts were broken by Ousmane Dembélé’s last-minute winner but they are going places under Hütter

By Eric Devin for Get French Football News

Heartbreak, again, for Monaco. Despite another nip-and-tuck match against Paris Saint-Germain​ – much​ like their meeting in Ligue 1 three weeks ago – ​Monaco were cruelly felled at the death in the Trophée des Champions.​ Ousmane Dembélé scored the only goal of the game in the 92nd minute, finally beating Monaco’s second-choice goalkeeper Philipp Köhn, who put in a fantastic display. The real star of the show though – as has been the case all season – was ​Monaco manager Adi Hütter.

Given his goalkeeper’s strong performance, and the fact his side missed out on what would have been their first trophy since ​​they won the league in 2017, it may sound strange to pick out the manager for praise, but Monaco would be nowhere near​ PSG​’s level without the Austrian. It’s an opinion shared by ​the club’s hierarchy, who extended his contract​ this weekend, no small matter given the number of managers they have churned through since Leonardo Jardim left in 2018. From Thierry Henry, to Jardim’s return, to Robert Moreno, to Niko Kovac and Philippe Clement, the club have lacked stability (and defensive solidity) for nearly a decade.

The midfielder has been linked with a move away from boyhood club Roma but answered his critics against Lazio

Claudio Ranieri does not have all the answers. It can seem as if he does: the man who steered Leicester to a Premier League title and who long before that built a reputation in Italy as the first person to call when a top team was failing. In case of emergency, do not break the glass, just dial Claudio instead.

He had retired after leading Cagliari to an improbable escape from relegation last season, but Roma lured him back. The club – his club, the one he grew up supporting – was in shambles: 12th in the table despite an almost €100m summer transfer splurge and now seeking a third manager of this season. How could he say no, even at 73 years old, to his first footballing love?

Our cartoonist on the coaches, clubs, characters and collective crises set to define the new year

• David’s new book, Chaos in the Box: order it now

The full-back is clearly itching to move but an unrealistic Local Lad premium is demanded of him that reflects wider alienation

Stop talking about this thing I’m talking about. Enough already with the big media fuss I am making a big media fuss over. This kind of messaging is always hard to swallow. Why, the angry man demanded, is everyone so angry right now?

For all that, the fuss over Trent Alexander-Arnold is definitely real, whatever its source or ultimate legitimacy. Why does everyone care so much about this? It seems weird, disproportionate and strangely fevered, not to mention hostage to some persuasive media voices that carry a bit too much unexamined fan-feeling and not enough of the old journalistic detachment.

Scot has the experience new owners see as vital to avoid relegation before move to stadium at Bramley-Moore dock

The prospect of David Moyes returning as Everton manager was met with an almost snobbish disdain when mooted twice before. It illustrates the diverging fortunes of the Scot and the club that the welcome mat has been laid out third time around.

Moyes was close to becoming Everton manager again in December 2019, after Marco Silva’s reign had come to an unceremonious end. He held talks with Farhad Moshiri in Germany and expected to sign terms the following day, only for Napoli to make Carlo Ancelotti available by sacking him that night. A genuine sliding doors moment. Moshiri went for the superstar option. Moyes joined West Ham for the second time, where his contentment and success meant he could resist Everton’s advances when they came again in June 2021. Moshiri turned to Rafael Benítez instead. Moving on swiftly …

After Hollywood farce of Chelsea and two years out of game, rags-to-riches manager has seized chance to join ‘family club’

Remember Angrygate? For a few surreal days in February 2023, pretty much the entire talking apparatus of English football was engaged – as is its habit – in a fevered, earnest and yet entirely fatuous debate about whether Graham Potter was angry enough to be the Chelsea manager.

Under an increasingly persistent line of questioning, Potter coped pretty well. He firmly pointed out that you do not go from the ninth tier to one of the biggest clubs in the world without a certain ruthless streak. He subtly rebuked the hypocrisy of the media for demanding greater touchline theatrics from Premier League managers and then pontificating about the culture of abuse towards grassroots referees. So subtly, in fact, that the media blissfully ignored that bit.

Today’s fluff is counting no chickens

Financial protocols be damned, Spain’s big two are on manoeuvres again, with Barcelona linked with Marcus Rashford and reports that Real Madrid are prepared to pay above the asking price for Tottenham’s Archie Gray. Big Ange Postecoglou’s side may have underachieved this season but the teenager’s mature performances have caught the eye of the European champions. The Spanish outlet Fichajes says Madrid are prepared to offer €50m (£42m) for the 18-year-old talent.

Meanwhile their rivals Barça are evidently prepared to pull various of their many financial levers to move for Rashford, according to sources in Spain, who say Barça’s sporting director, Deco, has been in touch with the Manchester United forward’s representatives. West Ham have also been linked with Rashford – as have Milan, Borussia Dortmund, the world and their spouse, to be honest – but may find the wage costs prohibitive.

Vivianne Miedema and Lauren James return from injury as Villa hit nine and Cheltenham’s historic run comes to an end

It has been a turbulent two years for Vivianne Miedema since rupturing her anterior cruciate ligament. Knee issues have plagued her return to full fitness, the latest of which had ruled her out since October. Her 30-minute cameo in Manchester City’s 3-0 victory over Ipswich saw her back among the goals, a timely return with the continued absence of Khadija Shaw and Lauren Hemp. It was a solid victory for Gareth Taylor’s side against a resilient Ipswich who are unbeaten in the FAWNL Southern Division. A rare outing for Laura Coombs saw her get on the scoresheet too while Jill Roord opened her account for 2025. SD

Tamworth’s heroes deserve better, Pep Guardiola tries to fire up Jack Grealish and Liverpool’s teenagers impress

Ruben Amorim’s 3-4-3 tactics have little place in English football, it was said. Recent Manchester United performances of the resurrected Harry Maguire in tandem with Lisandro Martínez and Matthijs de Ligt suggest it can work if with sufficient energy in midfield to protect the trio. Manuel Ugarte and Kobbie Mainoo offer that, and the wing play of Alejandro Garnacho in setting up Bruno Fernandes’s goal, plus Amad Diallo’s raiding runs at the Emirates Stadium, suggest the framework of a team. Penalty hero Altay Bayindir revealed he is a capable goalkeeper, a possible cult hero. There are complications. The club’s finances, chickens of the Glazer ownership now coming home to roost, may trigger selling “pure profit” youth products like Garnacho and Mainoo to fund recruitment. There are significant miles to travel, but the previous weekend’s draw at Anfield, and this 10-man heist at Arsenal are signs of a motivated team playing for their manager, closely following instructions. About time, too. John Brewin

Match report: Arsenal 1-1 Manchester United (3-5 on pens)

Match report: Brentford 0-1 Plymouth

Match report: Bristol City 1-2 Wolves

Match report: Tamworth 0-3 Tottenham

Match report: Leeds 1-0 Harrogate

Match report: Manchester City 8-0 Salford City

Match report: Liverpool 4-0 Accrington

Max Rushden, Jonathan Wilson, Jonathan Liew and Nedum Onuoha review all the action from the FA Cup third round

Rate, review, share on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Audioboom, Mixcloud, Acast and Stitcher, and join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and email.

On the podcast today: Manchester United win on penalties at Arsenal. Altay Bayindir was the hero for the visitors, but Arsenal missed so many chances – are you ready for another conversation about whether they need a striker?

Former Tottenham Under-23s player has been open about her battles and is determined not to let the trolls win

Tyra Mills is in reflective mood. She may only be 24 years old but it feels as if she has been on a journey already that some may not experience in a lifetime.

Mills is a multitalented content creator and rose to popularity when she started posting videos of football tricks, skills and crossbar challenges during lockdown. At the time she was playing for Tottenham Under-23s but had also started to put on weight and in the end did not feel comfortable continuing. Cyberbullying didn’t help: she became a target as soon as her first football video went viral.

This is an extract from our free weekly email, Moving the Goalposts. To get the full edition, visit this page and follow the instructions.

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Vested interest is a powerful thing. Often the people with the biggest platform, shouting the loudest, are not always the ones we should be listening to. Just look at Mayor Joe Quimby. Yet journalists and broadcasters continue to stick microphones in front of elected officials and Proper Football People, who make arguments and push narratives that seem to directly serve their own position, and nobody else. It’s a tiresome merry-go-round. So excuse the eyes rolling into the back of Football Daily’s head when Ange Postecoglou starts defending the abolition of FA Cup replays in the name of fixture congestion after his Tottenham side [gah, we failed abysmally, Nigel – Football Daily Ed] laboured to a nervy extra-time win over non-league Tamworth in Sunday’s third-round match at the Lamb Ground, capacity 4,000.

Poor Nigel Watersfield (Friday’s Football Daily letters). Not only is he a very Spursy Spurs fan, but he also seemingly lives under the misapprehension that Football Daily can deliver anything vaguely amusing about any football club. Or anything else for that matter” – Martyn Shapter (and 1,056 others).

Nice to see Villa celebrating their 150th anniversary in original colours, devoid of corporate branding and other nonsense, no players’ names on the back, etc on Friday night. Shame they missed the opportunity to go the whole hog and number the shirts 1-11. Or even 2-11 since the keeper never got a number. If the sponsors can agree to leave their branding off, surely the players would acquiesce to playing with a different number on their back? Though I suspect they were never asked” – Steve Hall.

It’s just a shame David Moyes wasn’t offered, and accepted, another return to the West Ham job before jumping ship on news of Sean Dyche’s sacking. Then the strapline could have been ‘two jobs in a week, I bet you think that’s pretty clever, don’t you Moyes?’ as he left the Hammers high and dry” – James Maltby.

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

Plus: non-football athletes wearing football crests on their kit; and teams who were sponsored by news organisations

• Mail us any of your questions and answers

“Chelsea are firmly in the title race despite what their manager says,” wrote Will Nichols before Christmas. “But who was the last team to win the English top flight without a shirt sponsor? Has it been done more recently in another country?”

Chelsea’s conscious uncoupling from the title race doesn’t change the fact that this is a cracking question. Let’s start with the English top flight. Knowledge regular Dirk Maas has trawled the brilliant True Colours website – which, if you are the type of person who reads this column, is likely to be an endless source of serotonin – to find the answer: Aston Villa in 1980-81. Not content with using only 14 players (if you’re under the age of about 40, let that sink in) all season, they didn’t have a shirt sponsor either.

Brighton & Hove Albion British Caledonian

Coventry Talbot

Everton Hafnia

Liverpool Hitachi

Middlesbrough Datsun Cleveland

Nottingham Forest Panasonic

Southampton Rank Xerox

Stoke Ricoh

They are some of the most famous goals in history, but do you remember when they hit the net?

The 2014 Golden Boot winner flopped at Everton and faded away at Real Madrid but is still a maestro for Colombia

On Monday, Rayo Vallecano released James Rodríguez on a free transfer. It hadn’t been much of a stay. In four and a half months at the club, he managed 136 minutes of league football. Only once did he start in La Liga. Rodríguez is 33 now. Since he left Everton in 2021, he has started just 37 league games and scored only 10 goals. This is the sixth season in a row in which he has been released on a free transfer as he has drifted from Real Madrid to the team currently 12th in the table, via Qatar, Greece and Brazil. The sense is of a waning career nearing its end.

And yet in those three and a half years since his last game for Everton, Rodríguez has played 32 times for Colombia. While at Rayo, he has played 374 international minutes. True, he doesn’t often last a full game, but there are few other indications of decline. As Colombia reached the final of last year’s Copa América, he was named player of the tournament. His is a career that seems to run on two parallel tracks: at club level he is a fading star, a player who perhaps never quite lived up to his potential. But at international level, while in the autumn of his career, he remains a maestro.

Unbending coach takes his side to Liverpool on Sunday, with attempts to kick club on undermined by a decade of misrule

The thought had always been that it couldn’t happen now. It’s just not possible in modern football that a super-club could be relegated. Manchester United may have gone down in 1974 but it’s not going to happen in 2025. Even when Ruben Amorim said that United were in a relegation battle after Monday’s 2-0 defeat by Newcastle, he was making the point to shock.

And it’s not going to happen now. United will not be relegated. They probably only need 15 points from the second half of the season to be safe and the financial structure of modern football means there are at least three sides worse than them. Yet it’s significant that Amorim could mention relegation without it sounding entirely absurd, revealing that it feels worth doing the calculation, working out what sort of tally might be necessary for United to survive. What has happened at United since Sir Alex Ferguson left feels like thought experiment made flesh: what would it take for the most successful side in English history to go down?

Wiegman’s England tread a very different road this year, with squad berths and even the side’s system up for debate

How do you prepare to scale Everest three years after reaching the summit? You are a different person, your guide may have changed, your equipment may be different, and the route may be weathered, more hazardous and overcrowded. This time, luck may not be on your side.

There is no single answer as to why Sarina Wiegman’s England triumphed at Wembley in 2022. No easily replicable blueprint for ­success. There were so many variables that could have changed the course of the Euros victory, but everything came together, a perfectly balanced melting pot. Now, all those variables have changed: ­personnel, opposition, preparation.

The Inter and Denmark player wins the award for her climate activism and being behind an open letter to Fifa regarding Saudi Arabia’s human rights issues

The Guardian Footballer of the Year is an award given to a player who has done something remarkable, whether by overcoming adversity, helping others or setting a sporting example by acting with exceptional honesty.

If the football had not worked out, perhaps Sofie Junge Pedersen could have run away to the circus. When her after-school youth club in Aarhus put on its annual week of performances there was one challenge that struck her in particular: the chance to juggle with fire torches and mock knives. “It was quite serious,” she laughs. “We practised a lot beforehand and I thought it would be fun. I just wanted to be the best.” So it proved and there is no evidence that anyone has beaten the time she set, aged 13, for keeping the two airborne simultaneously.

From Franco Mastantuono to Estêvão, we select some of the most talented players born in 2007. Check the progress of our classes of 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 … and look at the editions from further back

We pick the best youngsters at each club born between 1 September 2007 and 31 August 2008, an age band known as first-year scholars. Check the progress of our classes of 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 … and look at the editions from further back

From Warren Zaïre-Emery to Endrick, we select some of the best players born in 2006. Check the progress of our classes of 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018

• Next Generation 2023: 20 of the best Premier League talents