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It was a see-saw tie, a tale of three penalties; two scored, one by each team and a third given and then taken away, the most dramatic momentum shift inside a couple of minutes towards the end, the incident that stood to redefine the tie suddenly rubbed out.

It was a night when the controversy pulsed and if it lacked the beauty of Paris Saint-Germain versus Bayern Munich from the other Champions League semi-final first-leg it still had drama; knife-edge tension.

The Premier League isn’t as fun and fizzy as PSG v Bayern but that’s the price of the twice-weekly churn that rewards discipline and sacrifice

In the novel Rabbit, Run, John Updike has one of his characters, a groovy and progressive 1960s priest, calling round to talk to his fellow minister, a hard German Lutheran, about the secret doubts he harbours about his faith. Is the doctrine really necessary? Is hell just, you know, a metaphor? He likes Jesus. But maybe he also likes sinful things, like sex and recklessly open attacking football.

The hard German Lutheran takes one look, curls his lip and tells the groovy progressive priest to get down on his knees in the kitchen and beg for forgiveness. Who is he to reason with divine suffering? Life is pain. Joy is pain. Pain is pain. Frankly, the groovy priest who likes flying full-backs and an open midfield disgusts him. He will burn in hell for his spineless debauchery. The groovy priest leaves in tears.

• Ukrainian has not played since November 2024

• Cas confirms appeal by Mudryk against the FA

The Chelsea forward Mykhailo Mudryk has appealed to the court of arbitration for sport after he received a reported four-year playing ban from the Football Association for the use of a banned substance.

Mudryk has not played a competitive match since November 2024 after he failed a drug test while on international duty with Ukraine and began a provisional suspension. Under the terms of any four-year ban he would not be eligible for selection again until December 2028, but if an appeal to Cas were successful then the 25-year-old could possibly return next year.

Arsenal condemned a broken Leicester to a bottom-place finish in the WSL and kept the pressure on Manchester City at the top with a dominant win. Two goals each from Sweden’s Smilla Holmberg and Stina Blackstenius and one apiece from Frida Maanum, Mariona Caldentey and Leah Williamson, helped Arsenal reduce their goal-difference deficit with the league leaders from 13 to six.

“I’m so happy,” said the Arsenal head coach, Renée Slegers. “We wanted to win today, we needed to win today, so we did that … What’s most pleasing to see is that we play the Arsenal way and that doesn’t change regardless of who’s on the pitch. Everyone’s contributing.”

• Case dismissed after court rules the charges were ‘invalid’

• 37-year-old had been accused of illegally accessing emails

Rui Pinto, the hacker behind the Football Leaks revelations that exposed dodgy dealings in world football, was acquitted on Wednesday of all charges in a second Portuguese trial, despite having previously been convicted for similar offences.

The 37-year-old had been on trial since January 2025 over 241 alleged counts of illegally accessing email accounts belonging to several Portuguese sports bodies, including Benfica, and law firms, magistrates and the tax authority.

• Fears that Salah had played last game for Reds have eased

• Injury sustained against Palace found to be minor

Mohamed Salah is expected to play again for Liverpool before the end of his farewell season after being diagnosed with a minor muscle injury.

Salah was substituted in the 59th minute of Liverpool’s 3-1 win over Crystal Palace on Saturday with a hamstring problem. The 33-year-old’s reaction at the time – applauding all four sides of Anfield before heading straight down the tunnel – raised concerns that he was facing a lengthy spell on the sidelines and might have played his final game for the club.

• Campaigners hit out at striker’s role in ‘Let It Pour’ video

• ‘He is a great hero for many young people’

Erling Haaland’s collaboration with a leading American beer brand has caused a backlash in his native Norway, where alcohol advertising is banned.

World Cup sponsors Budweiser’s hiring of the Manchester City and Norway striker to help launch its “Let It Pour” promotional video together with the former Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp has led to criticism from campaigning groups, who described Haaland’s commercial deal in the buildup to this summer’s tournament as “tragic”.

While Unai Emery’s side are hoping to right past wrongs, their opponents are a serious threat under Vítor Pereira

It is eight years since Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest played out a Championship classic, a topsy-turvy 5-5 draw at Villa Park in which Tammy Abraham got four goals. John McGinn was also in the Villa side and Matty Cash scored to earn Forest a 3-2 lead with 22 minutes on the clock, before more drama ensued. Forest were reduced to 10 men but Lewis Grabban, who played for Villa the previous season, struck the final goal to earn a point.

It is the first top-flight meeting between the teams this millennium; however, that goes some way to telling the story of these sides, particularly Villa’s stealth. It was three and a half years ago, a couple of weeks before Unai Emery took the reins at Villa, and a glance at the teamsheet speaks volumes for the stability that has underpinned his success. Eight of Villa’s starting XI for that 1-1 draw could start against Forest on Thursday, when the Midlands clubs meet at the City Ground for the first instalment of an enticing all-Premier League Europa League semi-final. While there have been plenty of all-English finals, it is the first major European semi-final between English sides since Manchester United overcame Arsenal in the Champions League in 2009.

Manager has helped players rediscover their form and they want to repay him with a fitting farewell in Europe

It’s an occasion Crystal Palace supporters have waited a lifetime for. Around 6,000 are expected to make the pilgrimage to southern Poland for the first leg of their Conference League semi-final against Shakhtar Donetsk on Thursday evening, with many travelling in expectation of eventually adding more silverware to the FA Cup and Community Shield they have already won under Oliver Glasner. Not that Glasner is thinking that far ahead.

“The road is shorter now,” said the Palace manager, who has consistently played down his side’s chances of adding to his Europa League triumph with Eintracht Frankfurt in 2022. “But of course when you get to this stage of the competition everybody wants to win – nobody wants to play a semi-final and lose. That is the goal but whether we can achieve it I don’t know. We have a huge desire, we have really the confidence and the belief that we can win against Shakhtar Donetsk, but we also have huge respect for the team we are playing.”

Madrid’s manic man in black is the personification of the club’s longing to be back in the Champions League final

Diego Simeone had patrolled the touchline all in black, heart racing and arms waving, applying all the pressure he could, seeking to impart his justice, as Danny Makkelie went to the pitchside monitor to make the decision that could have decided this game. Now, as the referee crossed the line back on to the pitch, signalling that there would not be a second penalty for Arsenal after all, Atlético Madrid’s manager followed him. There on the pitch, the force with which he pushed Dávid Hancko and Johnny Cardoso and the volume of the roar from around this stadium, spoke of relief, some kind of redemption.

In the end, then, this was a tale of two penalties, not three. On a night of extreme tension and tiny margins, Viktor Gyökeres and Julián Alvarez scored theirs; Leandro Trossard didn’t get the chance to take his, if it even was going to be his. He had stood by the spot, ball under his arm, waiting, but upon second glance – or third or fourth or 13th– Makkelie decided that Hancko’s challenge on Eberechi Eze, studs on boot, was not enough. Hancko, who had given away the first penalty too, had escaped punishment, apart from Simeone’s shove.

Former Arsenal, Chelsea and England left-back is in his first manager’s job, with playoff-chasing Serie B side, Cesena

It has been a long journey for Ashley Cole, but also for his wife, Sharon Canu. It took seven years for Cole to get his first job as a head coach, with Cesena in Italy, having retired from playing. During that time, Sharon had to endure many dinner table tactical briefings with salt and pepper shakers. The pair met a decade ago while Cole was playing for Roma – Canu is from Italy – and that period clearly left a lasting mark beyond the pitch. “I bored her a lot,” Cole says, smiling. Now that he has a dugout of his own, Sharon may finally get the seasoning back.

“It was always in our plans to live in Italy because we love the food and the calmness of the country,” Cole says. “She [Canu] told me the fans here are passionate about their team and their city. I had to embrace that, understand what makes them tick, so we can represent them properly.”

Our editors’ favourite sporting images from the past week, from the spectacular to the powerful, and with a little bit of fun thrown in

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• Bright won eight Women’s Super League titles at Chelsea

• Defender retired from England duty in 2025 with 88 caps

Millie Bright has announced her immediate retirement, ending a trophy-laden career during which she won eight Women’s Super League titles and six Women’s FA Cups with Chelsea.

The defender, who retired from international football in 2025, also helped England win the 2022 European Championship on home soil, and in 2023 – in the absence of the injured captain Leah Williamson – led the side to the World Cup final. She won 88 caps.

Ángel Mateos González due to play for CD Colunga, making him oldest player to take part in official match

At an age when many veteran footballers might prefer to be regaling grandchildren, friends and assorted barflies with slightly embroidered tales of their former sporting prowess, 70-year-old Ángel Mateos González is heading back on to the pitch.

The Spaniard, who retired from competitive football 27 years ago, is due to play in goal for the Asturian team CD Colunga in a fifth-tier match this Sunday. If all goes to plan and he pulls on his gloves, he will reportedly become the oldest player to take part in an official match in Spain.

• Argentinian punched Huesca’s Jorge Pulido in the face

• Incident came after he was sent off for shoving Pulido

The Spanish football federation has banned Real Zaragoza’s goalkeeper Esteban Andrada for 13 matches after he punched a Huesca player in the face.

The federation’s disciplinary committee said the former Argentina international and his club would also be fined, after Andrada was first sent off then “attacked” Huesca’s Jorge Pulido in the second-tier derby last Sunday.

• 112-page album will require 980 unique stickers to fill

• Individual packets of seven stickers cost £1.25 in Britain

Soaring prices at the pumps, grocery bills on the rise, and now it seems inflation will be hitting the pockets hard of those football fans for whom no World Cup would be complete without the thrill of opening a packet of Panini stickers.

Since the Italian company’s first sticker collection, at the 1970 World Cup in Mexico, striving to complete the set has been an obsession around the globe with swapping of doubles and the search for rarities mandatory.

• Teams should now be exempt from US federal taxes

• Many will still have to pay US state and city tax

Fifa is poised to secure a last-minute tax exemption for all 48 World Cup qualifiers after intensive negotiations with the US treasury.

After months of lobbying Fifa has secured a significant breakthrough that should result in the national associations being exempt from federal taxes, although many will still have to pay state and city tax on their World Cup earnings.

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Wilson and Jonathan Liew to discuss Tuesday night’s Champions League thriller and Ipswich’s late push for automatic promotion

On today’s pod: The panel discuss the record-breaking nine-goal Champions League semi-final between PSG and Bayern Munich. Where does it rank among the greatest games ever? Was it chaos or perfection? And how do you analyse a match in which both teams seemed entirely committed to attack? From Harry Kane’s all-round brilliance to Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s magic, João Neves’s improbable header and that controversial handball penalty – was that harsh on Alphonso Davies?

Elsewhere, Ipswich take a huge step towards Premier League promotion after Jack Clarke’s late goal at St Mary’s, as Southampton throw away their chance of automatic promotion. The panel also look ahead to the final day of the Championship season this weekend.

Plus, Manchester United edge closer to Champions League qualification with a 2-1 win against Brentford on Monday night. The panel questions whether Carrick is the real deal, discusses Kobbie Mainoo’s new contract, and whether José Mourinho is heading back to Real Madrid.

Also, the panel discusses John Stones' departure from Manchester City, how to scatter ashes and we answer your questions.

PSG 5-4 Bayern, arguably the wildest match in Champions League history, has sparked a debate about football’s finest dramas – here are six to savour

It’s hard not to start with the most recent World Cup final, which for entertainment is surely the finest in the tournament’s 96-year history. Two protagonists, each the heartbeat of their sides, stole the show: Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappé, the former scoring twice and dictating play after he singlehandedly dragged Argentina to the final. Mbappé netted a hat-trick (including two inside 95 seconds) to haul France back into the game. A word, too, for the magnificent Ángel Di María and Emi Martínez, who made a save for the ages in extra time to deny Randal Kolo Muani and a stop in the penalty shootout against Kingsley Coman. But this will forever be known as Messi’s World Cup, and the moment where he finally stepped out of Diego Maradona’s shadow in the hearts of all Argentinians.

Champions League semi-final first leg was described as ‘pure madness’ and ‘football in its finest essence’

French media were in thrall to a victory hailed as a milestone performance, calling Paris Saint-Germain’s 100th win in the Champions League “one of the finest” in the club’s history.

Bayern Munich will be hoping for a repeat of their goal bonanza when they host the holders in the semi-final return leg next Wednesday, with Tuesday’s 5-4 loss in Paris breaking the competition record for most goals in a last-four game.

Classic Football Shirts have been in business for 20 years, selling over one million shirts (so far) and keeping the most iconic match-worn pieces in their temperature-controlled vault. Michael Butler travelled to Manchester to meet the CFS founders

The then Newcastle manager’s on-air blast at Sir Alex Ferguson remains a classic Premier League moment

Premier League history is littered with red letter days and Monday 29 April 1996 will for ever rank among the most memorable. Thirty years on, recollections of the aftermath of Newcastle’s 1-0 victory at Leeds remain vivid. Keith Gillespie’s goal saw Kevin Keegan’s team move three points behind the leaders, Manchester United, with two fixtures remaining.

Before Newcastle’s visit to Elland Road, Sir Alex Ferguson craftily suggested that Leeds and Nottingham Forest – the team Keegan’s players would visit three days later – would not try as hard as they had against his own side. Ferguson also pointedly reminded everyone Newcastle had agreed to provide the opposition for Stuart Pearce’s testimonial by the Trent later in the year. This backdrop dictated that Keegan used a live post-match television interview with Richard Keys and Andy Gray of Sky Sports to claim the moral high ground while also walking straight into Ferguson’s psychological trap.

The Brighton and Nigeria goalkeeper is highly critical of the decision to push back Wafcon, but still has hope for the future of the women’s game in Africa

Chiamaka Nnadozie has, at the age of 25, earned her place in the pantheon of African goalkeepers alongside legends such as Cameroon’s Thomas N’Kono and Morocco’s Zaki Badou.

Nnadozie featured at her first World Cup finals for Nigeria at 18, then played at the 2023 tournament and is the only goalkeeper to have won the Confederation of African Football’s (Caf’s) Golden Gloves award three times on the trot: in 2023, 2024 and 2025. Nnadozie, a reigning Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon) champion, is delighted and amazed that she has come so far, so quickly.

Plus: dramatic late drops into the relegation zone, the Italia 90 XI and teams wearing away kits in finals

• Mail us with your all of your questions and answers

“York City won the National League, and achieved promotion to the EFL, thanks to a goal from Josh Stones in the 103rd minute of their final game,” writes Eddie Giles. “Which players have scored the latest title-winning goals?”

In case you’ve been at a digital detox retreat for the past few days, York’s Josh Stones scored a 103rd-minute equaliser at Rochdale on Saturday to win the title and secure promotion to League Two. Had Stones not scored, Emmanuel Dieseruvwe’s 95th-minute strike would have won the title for Rochdale.

• Fifa will not require squad to get approval of Taliban

• Afghan Women United was formed after 2021 takeover

Fifa has given permission for Afghan Women United, a squad composed of refugees scattered around the world in Australia, the Middle East and Europe, to represent Afghanistan in official competitions without requiring the approval of the Taliban.

In a significant regulation change to be approved by the Fifa Council today, Afghan Women will be permitted to compete as the official Afghanistan national team for the first time, against the wishes of the country’s government.

Vincent Kompany’s team demand more of themselves than ever before. Next up: a huge test against PSG

“You’re hopelessly behind, you know there’s a big game in Paris on Tuesday. But that doesn’t matter. This game in Mainz is what counts. The coach finds the right words and the team reacts.” Bayern Munich hope that there will be games to come which define their campaign more than a straightforward win – statistically speaking – in a Bundesliga game with the title of champions already done and dusted.

Yet Max Eberl was right. In terms of finding the kernel of what has already made Bayern’s season an extraordinary one, of what might yet make it an exceptional one, this really meant something. Absorbed on paper, from a distance, it could be mistaken for more grist to the mill of uncommon numbers; keeping alive the possibility of a joint best-ever Bundesliga season in terms of points, and extending the record goalscoring season in the league campaign to a barely-believable 113 from 31 matches.

Conference League semi-finals pit Ukrainian side against Premier League opposition, with the club still reeling from the affects of war

Serhii Palkin wasn’t sure whether Arda Turan, having played for Barcelona and Atlético Madrid, would be up for taking over as manager of Shakhtar Donetsk last May. The former Turkey forward had just left his first managerial post after two years at Eyüpspor in his homeland. But could he be tempted to join a club that last played at the Donbas Arena in 2014 owing to the war with Russia and has hosted its European matches in seven cities since being exiled?

“Arda is a special guy,” says Palkin, Shakhtar’s chief executive since 2004. “For him to be a coach in Turkey is being in his comfort zone. He doesn’t want to be there. When I called him, he said: ‘I want to come, I want to come. I want to sign immediately.’ He doesn’t care about the war, he’s not afraid, nothing. And he’s always using a lot of energy. You will see on Thursday evening. He’s running on the line, I think three to four kilometres every game.”

Allegations of ‘sporting fraud’ against Gianluca Rocchi arrive at an especially messy moment for Italian football

This could have been the weekend when Inter sealed the Serie A title. Instead, it became one overshadowed by a refereeing scandal. On Saturday, Agenzia Italia broke the news that Gianluca Rocchi, the man responsible for designating match officials for Serie A and Serie B, was under investigation for “complicity in sporting fraud”. He suspended himself from his duties for the National Referees’ Committee for Italy’s top two divisions (CAN) the same day.

So did Andrea Gervasoni, the video assistant referee system (VAR) supervisor for the same body and implicated in the same investigation. Rocchi released a statement through the Italian Referees’ Association saying he wanted to minimise disruption to peers while the legal action took its course, but that he was confident he would “emerge unscathed and stronger than before”. Lawyers for both men suggested they were still unclear about the exact nature of the charges.

Run of five defeats could lead to awkward queries this week, including why £124m of attacking talent is being underused

Eddie Howe is braced for forensic questioning by Newcastle’s Saudi Arabian owners at a Northumberland country house hotel in the middle of this week. Matfen Hall sells itself as a venue for rest and relaxation but Newcastle’s struggling manager knows that, with his future at St James’ Park in the balance, a scheduled “summit meeting” with the club’s chair, Yasir al-Rumayyan, and other key figures from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) could prove stressful.

“It’s something we do every year,” says Howe, referring to the annual spring event at which the ownership quiz departmental heads. “But obviously things will be slightly harder for me this time.”

After recent seasons with a defined bottom three, a handful of nervous clubs are aiming to beat the drop to the Championship

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It was a good weekend for Nottingham Forest, although perhaps not as good as it looked like it might be on Friday night. That evening, when they handed Sunderland their record defeat at the Stadium of Light, winning 5-0, Forest must have been expecting to pull away from at least one of their relegation rivals. As it turned out, though, they ended the weekend where they began, five points clear of third-bottom Tottenham and three clear of West Ham with four games remaining after both the London strugglers also won.

It was a classic Saturday afternoon in the relegation battle, the sort that is rare these days with games so spread out over a weekend. But Tottenham’s match at Wolves and West Ham against Everton kicked off at the same time, which meant that Tomáš Souček’s goal six minutes after half-time not only prompted celebration at the London Stadium but also anxiety among the Spurs fans who had travelled to Molineux. Then João Palhinha put Tottenham ahead with eight minutes remaining and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall levelled for Everton with two minutes to go. Had it stayed like that, Tottenham would have been out of the relegation zone on goal difference. But Callum Wilson scored for West Ham two minutes into injury-time, lifting them back above Spurs and within three points of Forest.

The current season has become a meme-war without end, an endless rolling wall of gloat and taunt in which players and managers must try to block out the noise

In his new book, Saved, Gianluigi Buffon talks about feeling crushed by nerves even at the peak of his playing career. The day before the 2006 World Cup final Buffon and Gennaro Gattuso walked past the French squad after training and were immediately sent into a tailspin by their opponents’ intimidating size and athleticism.

“We don’t stand a chance,” Gattuso joked, not actually joking. Buffon spent most of the night smoking in the hotel corridor with half the Italy team. At breakfast nobody could speak. They turned up at the stadium already feeling exhausted.

German and French clubs are showing in the Champions League they can make the most of the benefits of not having to play in a gruelling domestic competition

Paris Saint-Germain have won 11 of the past 13 French league titles and, going into this weekend, stood four points clear of Lens at the top of Ligue 1. Bayern Munich have already wrapped up this season’s Bundesliga title, their 13th in 14 years. According to Deloitte, Bayern are the third-richest club in the world by revenue, PSG fourth.

They meet in the Champions League semi-finals on Tuesday as two modern super-clubs. The idea of a top-five European league feels outmoded. Rather there are the best Premier League clubs, plus perhaps five or six others of whom PSG and Bayern are the outstanding two still left in this season’s competition.

Our cartoonist on BlueCo’s ‘self-reflection’ as another normal week ended with a place in the FA Cup final

• Buy this cartoon here | His favourites from 2025

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From preparation to game mode, the upkeep of Wembley’s pitch is carried out to an astonishing level of perfectionism

Karl Standley and his assistant Cameron Hutcheon have gathered in their usual spot in the south-west corner of Wembley Stadium clutching hot cups of tea. Standley is a coffee devotee but on matchdays, as a nod to his mum, who enjoys a brew whatever the temperature, he mixes things up.

After every kick-off the pair gaze out at 7,140 sq metres of glistening green perfection like lions surveying their savannah. Every thinkable controllable has been controlled and, for a short time at least, the teams – this time Manchester City and Southampton – have dual custody of the Wembley pitch.

In this exclusive book extract, the former Italy goalkeeper describes a moment of crisis before a game against Reggina

If I have to identify the most important moment of this crisis, it was just before a Juventus-Reggina match in February 2004. It was an evening game. We were six points off the top of the table. There were 13 games left in the season, so anything could still happen, but there was an air of negativity, as if the season was already over. We had just had two crazy and very different games. In our previous league match, we had conceded four goals to Totti and Cassano’s Roma, while in midweek we had won the Coppa Italia semi-final against Inter at San Siro, on penalties. Although we were still in the running in the Champions League and perhaps even a little in the league, inside me I was certain that in that season everything was lost.

It was a classic winter Turin evening, wet and cold, and the stadium was half-empty. The speakers played a song that I only heard as an annoying buzz. During the warm-up I prayed and performed my usual pre-match routine, but it felt as if something was wrong with my muscles. After two minutes I put on my gloves, I stood in the goal and I realised that I was struggling to breathe. I stood there, staring at the pitch, and I felt slightly dizzy. What scared me, however, was the tightness I felt in my diaphragm, between chest and stomach, as if I had been hit.

Canada forward broke the £1m transfer barrier and now eyes Sunday’s semi-final first leg against Lyon

Olivia Smith is tentatively laying down roots but remains alert to the changes that can be produced by football. The 21-year-old Arsenal forward, who has nine goals and three assists in her first season in north London, has lived a nomadic football life, driven by a desire to continuously improve and move up the ladder, rung by rung, without a pause.

As the season reaches its climax, a Champions League semi-final against Lyon on Sunday is testament to how far up the ladder Smith has climbed. Now, she is heading towards unknown territory: a second season at the same club for the first time in her senior career. “I do feel quite calm now, knowing that I have set down some roots here, but at the end of the day, football is football and you never know what’s next,” she says. “So I’m always on my toes but, right now, I’m kind of laid-back, just enjoying the time here in the present with Arsenal and looking forward to winning more silverware and growing as a player and a person.”

I’m now at a time of life where a rib injury can feel like a ruptured spleen but playing still trumps watching, so we go again. Again

I woke up a few weeks ago with a searing pain under my left ribs. I ruled out heart attack relatively quickly – I haven’t read about your heart sagging as you enter deep middle age, or whatever your late 40s is. Breathing was uncomfortable, but not short – there were no stabbing pains. Inhaling ached, and it turns out you inhale all the time.

Once I was confident of seeing out the remainder of the day, I started Googling other potential ailments in this region, confidently seizing upon ruptured spleen. It sounded impressive enough to put in a WhatsApp group. And so I went with it.

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While a match-up between Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain would almost certainly be most neutrals’ Bigger Cup final of choice, the major benefit of these two European heavyweights meeting in the semi-finals is that we get to watch them do it all again next week. While Football Daily has occasionally felt first-world resentment at being forced to sit through no end of turgid footballing dross masquerading as top-tier, top-flight entertainment this season, last night we felt genuinely sorry for any football fans who couldn’t enjoy the otherworldly treat served up in Paris. For many in the UK, the cost of watching Europe’s elite is an unaffordable luxury when they’re already struggling to put light in the bulb and food on the table. And while Pep Guardiola’s budget almost certainly stretches to an Amazon Prime subscription, last night the Manchester City boss took an ill-advised punt on Stockport County and Port Vale providing more bang for his buck at Edgeley Park.

Looking at that photo of Messi from 2005 (yesterday’s Quote of the Day), I had no idea before seeing his T-shirt that he was so left wing. We all know he did his best work off the right” – Andy McGregor.

A mention in Football Daily of Nike ‘Phantom Elite’ boots made me realise I may have missed some stages in the overdramatisation of product names in football. In my day we used to just call them Pumas, or Umbros or (quietly) Golas. Now it seems we’re just a few seasons away from kids clamouring for the new Nike Mega Eagle Missile Ghost Boss boots (as worn by Emil Krafth)” – Andrew Boulton.

What an absurd, breathless, brilliant game that was between PSG and Bayern last night. It was so end to end that, every time the camera panned to either end of the ground, I was surprised to see the keeper stood in a proper football goal, rather than between two piles of jumpers. I was also fully expecting the match to be brought to an end by a teacher marching onto the pitch ringing a brass handbell” – Phil Taverner.

Q: Would you like some goals?
A: Nine. Danke!
Q: Bayern’s second goal was scored in what part of Paris?
A: Champs-Olise’s.
Q: Do you think four goals are enough to get a result at PSG?
A: Cinq again!
Q: What time is it?
A: Five past Neuer.
Q: What now for PSG?
A: Oui go again next week!” – Peter Oh.

Wasn’t that a magnificent display of everything that’s good about football these days? No, not that trivial nine-goal kickabout in Paris. I’m referring to the wholly integrated approach to The Great Game yesterday evening in which the Hearts youth team won the Scottish Youth Cup final 4-0, and the Hearts Women’s team, already league leaders, won 3-0 to stretch their lead to five points with three games to go. What a season this could be for all things maroon” – Ken Muir.

Despite being native Baltimorean – yes, a Baltimoron if you must – I had to search for the meaning of recent allusions to Jimmy McNulty (Football Daily passim). Call me chauvinistic, but you see I’ve made it a point of never watching ‘The Wire’. When I need dramatic representation of harrowing, Sisyphean struggle on the one hand and ghastly, inexorable decline on the other, I simply turn to north London’s two (at least for now) Premier League flag-bearers” – Clinton Macsherry.

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‘You can’t build a mountain in one day,’ says former England netball coach who is embracing ‘starting from scratch’ in women’s football

“Every job I’ve done has been about building something from scratch, starting a new franchise, turning something professional or trying to get someone up the table, where we were the underdog and we gave ourselves a big challenge and sent a statement to someone.”

Tracey Neville’s latest role as the managing director of the women’s football team at Stockport County may be in an entirely different sport, but her mission is no different from her days coaching England’s netball team to their historic Commonwealth Games gold medal in 2018.

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Given that the two teams contesting this season’s FA Cup final face more than 200 outstanding counts of financial chicanery between them, the atmosphere at Wembley will – as several Social Media Disgrace wags quickly pointed out – definitely be highly charged. In the blue corner, Chelsea still face 74 FA counts of financial misconduct, having already had their wrist lightly slapped by the Premier League. In the lighter blue corner, Manchester City continue to go about their business, apparently impervious to the outcome of the inquiry into the 130 or so charges of money-related shenanigans that may or may not be released before the next sighting of Halley’s Comet in 35 years. While this season’s renewal of the oldest cup competition in the world had more than its fair share of magic in the form of muddy pitches and giantkillings, it’s not unreasonable to think that some fans will go to Wembley on 16 May more preoccupied by the outcome of forensic audits and arbitration hearings than by the actual final being played.

The latest Chelsea exit raises the intriguing question of who will be the next manager lucky enough to secure a contract there well into the 2030s, only to be back on the market shortly after. Logic suggests Claudio Ranieri may yet return to Chelsea, if only because an anagram of Liam Rosenior is ‘Ranieri looms’. With Leicester preparing to parade their recent silverware in front of the directors of Bromley and Burton Albion next season, memories may yet stir in the Chelsea boardroom and prompt a nostalgic reappointment of the Tinkerman” – Phil Hearn.

Spurs fans: worried about relegation? Console yourselves with the trivia possibilities it will bring! For example, the last time Tottenham played Lincoln City in the league was 1 January 1949. That was also the day that Celestia was registered in Illinois, a micro-nation that claimed ownership of all outer space and chased that claim for decades. There’s a metaphor in there for having the loftiest of dreams that somehow always remain out of reach” – Jon Gregory.

Players have hit out at ‘confused and careless’ management off the pitch, despite their success on it

Dijon are punching above their weight yet again and are fifth in the French top flight going into the final straight. This might be it though. Despite another fine campaign, they could lose their professional status in a few months. The financial crisis at the club has hit the women’s side hardest. The team have been up for sale since the arrival of the new president a year and a half ago, but no buyer has been found.

On 9 April the players at Dijon’s women’s side published a statement saying they felt “unwanted from day one”, denouncing what they call the abandonment of the women’s section by the club. Four days earlier, Dijon had announced plans to scale back their ambitions for the women’s side owing to a lack of resources, going as far as to consider jettisoning the professional team next season. “In the absence of a buyer, no guarantees can be given regarding the level of competition for the teams next season,” the club said, also casting doubt on the future of the women’s academy created in 2024.

Sánchez plays long game for McFarlane, Southampton can take heart, Arteta tries to gain edge and Isak will come good

One moment from their FA Cup semi-final to Chelsea will haunt Leeds. When Tosin Adarabioyo stretched for a through ball and couldn’t quite get there, quarter of an hour in, everything seemed to slow down. There was Brenden Aaronson with just Robert Sánchez to beat, with the chance to put Leeds ahead against a side that hadn’t scored in five Premier League games and had seemingly lost all confidence. Even at the time it felt a huge moment. The US international didn’t do much wrong, but Sánchez made a fine save with his foot. That, it turned out, was the game. There were other opportunities – most notably Anton Stach’s drive that Sánchez saved spectacularly and the Dominic Calvert-Lewin header just after that, aimed straight at the keeper. They came after Chelsea had taken the lead and the emotional tone was set, though. Sometimes one chance can define a game. Jonathan Wilson

FA Cup semi-final report: Chelsea 1-0 Leeds

Jonathan Wilson: Chelsea chaos theory delivers another trophy chance

FA Cup semi-final report: Manchester City 2-1 Southampton

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Dan Bardell and Sam Dalling to discuss the Premier League and FA Cup action

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On the podcast today; Southampton thought they had made the FA Cup final for three glorious minutes before Manchester City’s late comeback in their Wembley semi-final. In the other semi, Chelsea – under the interim management of Calum McFarlane – beat Leeds 1-0 thanks to an Enzo Fernández header to end a run of five straight defeats.

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jordan Jarrett-Bryan and Lucy Ward to discuss the latest in the Premier League

Rate, review, share on Apple Podcasts and join the conversation on email.

On the podcast today: we’ll begin with Chelsea and the sacking of Liam Rosenior after a terrible run of form that culminated with them being thrashed away at Brighton on Monday night.

Plus: scoring past three keepers in one day, highest ratio of European to domestic titles and a dream result

• Mail us with your questions and answers

“I’ve been wondering: who is the greatest footballer never to make an appearance in England?” muses Cameron Turner. “Did any of the game’s greats go their whole career without visiting the home of football? I think the best bet might be a South American from the 1970s-1990s, though Brazil and Argentina often played friendlies at Wembley.”

This question is difficult to answer categorically, mainly because the internet does not yet provide chapter and verse on every football match played by superstars of the black-and-white era. But it’s also far too interesting to leave on the cutting-room floor, so we’ve given it a go with the caveat that the answers are only 99% correct.

Just Fontaine (France, 1953-60)

Roger Milla (Cameroon 1973-94)

Hugo Sánchez (Mexico, 1977-98)

Romerito (Paraguay, 1979-90)

Abedi Pele (Ghana, 1982-98)

Mia Hamm (USA, 1985-2000)

Michelle Akers (USA, 1987-2004)

Hong Myung-bo (South Korea, 1990-2002)

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