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• City confirm Rodri has suffered ligament damage to knee
• ‘I’m used to every position now’ insists Nunes

Matheus Nunes has admitted that Rodri’s prolonged absence due to a serious knee injury is a “massive loss” to Manchester City but believes he can deputise for the midfielder.

City confirmed on Wednesday morning that Rodi had suffered ligament damage to his right knee during the 2-2 draw with Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday. The 28-year-old has travelled to his native Spain for specialist consultation having undergone initial tests in Manchester. It is possible he will miss the remainder of the season, representing a significant blow for City in their pursuit of a fifth straight Premier League title and second Champions League crown.

The tournament has increased to 36 teams and the format is significantly different. But who will win?

By Ryan Benson for Opta Analyst

The Champions League was back with a bang last week; now it’s the turn of the Europa League, with Europe’s second-tier competition taking centre stage with a packed schedule of opening fixtures on Wednesday and Thursday. But much like with the Champions League, this isn’t quite the same Europa League.

The tournament has increased from 32 to 36 teams and the format is significantly different, mirroring the new-look Champions League. The previous group stage of four teams in eight groups is no more, replaced by a league phase in which all clubs will play eight matches – two more than before – and are ranked in a single 36-team table.

The French side played in Champions League qualifiers in 2021-22 but have not been able to regroup after the club went into administration

Last weekend saw the first matchday of the revamped and rebranded top flight of French women’s football, now known as the Première Ligue. The intention behind the new format, backed by an increased budget, is to accelerate professionalism and, in the words of the league president, Jean-Michel Aulas, to turn France’s top flight into the “best professional women’s league in Europe”.

While the first batch of games indicated business as usual for the time being – there were comfortable wins for the usual suspects in Lyon, Paris Saint-Germain and Paris FC – there was nevertheless a conspicuous absence from the 12 participating clubs.

• Defender hangs up boots after knee injury at Como
• ‘I have loved fighting for myself, my clubs, my country’

Raphaël Varane has announced his retirement from football at the age of 31. The former France centre-back made the decision after suffering a serious knee injury at Como in Serie A.

The player joined the newly promoted side on a two-year deal after leaving United at the end of last season, but sustained a knee injury on his debut during a Coppa Italia match against Sampdoria. Later in August the France international was removed from the club’s squad list for the league season, and the injury has now forced him to call time on his illustrious career.

France’s all-time leading scorer joined LAFC during the midseason break. As he learns the demands of the league, his teammates are trying to adjust to his style

It took all of three league games with his new club for Olivier Giroud to show that his influence extends beyond his attacking output.

While celebrating LAFC’s opening goal in a derby against LA Galaxy, Giroud briefly broke away from the festivities and made a beeline for the young midfielder who had played a role in the buildup. As his teammates tell it, that leadership is already the norm for a player who officially swapped Milan for Los Angeles just two months ago.

Before clubs’ Carabao Cup meeting we recall former clashes with the help of two players who saw it from the inside

“Big Sam liked to spoil the party,” Stelios Giannakopoulos says as his mind wanders back to Bolton taking on Arsène Wenger’s Arsenal in the Premier League. It was a clash of styles, the quick passing and attacking flair of Robert Pires, Dennis Bergkamp, Thierry Henry et al against the direct approach of Allardyce with Kevin Davies as its figurehead.

The clubs meet again at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday night in the Carabao Cup but a long way from being equals. Since the days of Sam Allardyce Bolton have slipped from being Premier League mainstays to the brink of oblivion. They are back on firm ground in League One and, once again, are plotting an upset.

Plus: teams who are hard to beat (and lose) to; more losers on open-top bus tours, and kings of consecutive 0-0 draws

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“Apart from Denmark in 1992, have any teams won tournaments or competitions for which they didn’t originally qualify?” enquires John Palfreyman.

It’s Europa League week, so let’s start with the teams who won that competition after going out of the Champions League. (Yes, yes, we know that technically they qualified but they still got there via the back door and the parachute. The definition of ‘didn’t originally qualify’ is in the eye of the beholder so we’ve included any potentially eligible story we find vaguely interesting, which is basically all of them.)

• ‘He will be out for a long time. We wait for the doctors’
• Rodri sustained suspected ACL injury against Arsenal

Pep Guardiola will find out on Wednesday if he will be without Rodri for the rest of the season and has described his star midfielder as “­irreplaceable”. The 28-year-old sustained a suspected anterior cruciate ligament injury 21 minutes into the 2-2 draw with ­Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday.

Guardiola, after his much-changed side beat Watford 2-1 in the Carabao Cup third round, was asked how long Rodri may be out. “Still we don’t have the definitive [diagnosis] but he will be out for a long time, a while,” Guardiola said. “But there are some opinions that maybe it will be less than we expected.

The mission was simple for Chelsea: secure victory against fourth-tier opposition, pump up the confidence of the reserves and maintain this period of rare happiness at Stamford Bridge. It was done quickly, with Christopher Nkunku scoring twice inside the first 15 minutes to set up an easy evening against Barrow.

Nkunku was the main actor, his hat-trick – and Chelsea’s fifth goal – delivered an hour later. But the host forward line all had moments of sparkle. João Félix showed imagination behind Nkunku, Mykhailo Mudryk was electric down the left and Pedro Neto, on the right, scored his first for the club.

As Emiliano Buendía wheeled towards the nearest corner clenching his fists in celebration, in front of the bank of 1,848 travelling Aston Villa supporters, it was the kind of cathartic moment he longed for on the darker days of his recovery from an anterior cruciate ligament knee injury. Buendía, captaining a youthful Villa, headed in the opening goal before Jhon Durán continued his extraordinary run to score his fifth goal of the season, this time from the penalty spot on his first start of the campaign. The Wycombe substitute Richard Kone scored a late, late consolation.

For Buendía, these are all milestones. He scored twice for Villa’s under-21s at Fleetwood in an EFL Trophy win earlier this month and on his first senior start for 16 months he paved the way to the Carabao Cup fourth round. “It is a really special night, to come back to play again for this club,” the Argentinian said. “It is my fourth season here, to have the captain’s armband and to help the team with a goal and get through to another round is an amazing feeling.”

• ‘I always prefer the facts to supposing things’
• Manager may start 16-year-old goalkeeper against Bolton

Mikel Arteta has rejected the accusation from Manchester City that ­Arsenal employed “dark arts” in the 2-2 draw at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday, saying the truth about his players’ condition would be revealed by his team sheet for the Carabao Cup third-round tie at home against ­Bolton on Wednesday.

City were furious at how a succes­sion of Arsenal players went to ground and called for treatment ­during the second half as they tried to preserve a 2-1 lead with 10 men, following the dismissal of Leandro Trossard in first-half stoppage-time.

Series continues in which writers have the impossible task of choosing a boiled down team from club’s entire history

By Richard Hall for The Gentleman Ultra

Picking a five-a-side team of Juventus greats is something of a thankless task. Aside from the love-or-loathe nature of Turin’s Old Lady in both Italy and beyond, they’re a club with a very rich history. League titles and Ballons d’Or gongs have been plentiful, as has Juventus’ contributions to Italy’s World Cup-winning squads. My own criteria have thus been; could this team play well together? And would they be well suited to five-a-side? The vast bulk of these players have played during my lifetime, but not all of them. As usual when Juve are involved, I’m expecting some controversy!

• Real one point behind leaders Barça after 3-2 win
• Rapid and Austria Vienna ban away fans for four derbies

Real Madrid survived a late scare as goals by Lucas Vázquez, Kylian Mbappé and Rodrygo gave them a 3-2 home win over Alavés in La Liga. Carlos Benavídez and Kike García scored in the 88th and 89th minutes for Alavés but Real held on to win a match they had mostly dominated.

Real opened the scoring a little over a minute after kickoff when Vinícius Júnior took a long Federico Valverde pass in his stride and ran up the left channel before setting up Vázquez, who fired home from close range.

Our cartoonist on conspiracies, man-babies and trickery as Manchester City salvaged a draw with Arsenal

• Get copies of David’s cartoons in our Print Shop
• And you can pre-order his new book, Chaos in the Box

With Manchester City missing Rodri for the first time since his serious knee injury, this victory against Watford, the Championship’s eighth-placed side, offers scant clues regarding how they may cope in the long term.

For that, the trip to Newcastle on Saturday will offer more insight into Pep Guardiola’s plan, and which senior player the manager trusts to deputise for the 28-year-old in the pivotal midfield role.

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The 1995-96 season was a significant moment for football in Manchester. United won the Double as their hapless neighbours, City, were relegated in fittingly farcical circumstances. Off the field (or adjacent to it, at least), United were gold-plating their dominance with the completion of a new North Stand that made Old Trafford the biggest club stadium in England. And in what must have felt like a footnote at the time, Manchester was awarded the 2002 Commonwealth Games, with a bid based around a new, purpose-built stadium on a brownfield site. Fast-forward three decades, and the Etihad is now home to English football’s dominant force, an all-conquering team who play in sky blue. It’s been a journey that would take some explaining to a tracksuited, gum-chewing Alex Ferguson if you were to time-travel back to the mid-90s in search of affordable Oasis tickets. Old Trafford’s North Stand is now the Sir Alex Ferguson stand, but not much else has changed at United’s once-palatial home since their glory days. The last major upgrade works were in 2006 and the stadium has entered a post-industrial decline that dovetails with the team’s waning fortunes. One architect looking into United’s proposed regeneration plans had this to say about the former Theatre of Dreams: “Wiring, electrical installation ... everything is approaching the end of its useful life.”

Noble Francis’s exposition on playing out from the back (yesterday’s Football Daily letters) reminded me that it can also be done from set-pieces … although no one seemed to have explained to Hibs’ Nectarios Triantis, back in March, how it should be done. Quickly including two of his teammates in this manoeuvre wasn’t – we assume – quite what was intended” – Ken Muir.

The photo of the waterlogged pitch in yesterday’s Memory Lane (full email edition) brought to mind the iconic ‘Splash’ photo of Tom Finney (and a very well-hidden Wally Bellett) at Stamford Bridge in 1965. It was considered so defining an image that the statue of Sir Tom outside Deepdale is based on the same picture. Beloved as he is, I’m not sure we’ll be seeing a bronze immortalisation of an aquaplaning Nobby Solano outside St James’s any time soon” – Mike Slattery.

• ‘It’s clear to me he has been a good defender all his life’
• Manager says team can still improve at the back

Arne Slot has told Trent Alexander-Arnold that his ability to maintain “100%” concentration is the key to his improvement as a defender.

During talks with the club’s new head coach in pre-season the Liverpool vice-captain outlined an ambition to become “the defender that no one wants to come up against in Europe”. Speaking after the 3-0 victory against Bournemouth on Saturday, when he was directly involved in a Liverpool goal for the 100th time in his career, the 25‑year‑old said criticism of his defensive attributes was “harsh” but said he is intent on improving. Slot believes he has identified how.

• United prepare for Europa League opener against Twente
• Luke Shaw could return before international break

Erik ten Hag has admitted ­Manchester United need to “kill in the box” after scoring only five goals in the Premier League this season, leaving them with a goal difference of zero.

Last season, United managed 57 goals in the competition, conceding 58. On Saturday, they failed to score again, drawing 0-0 at Crystal Palace despite dominating possession (66% to 34%) and producing 15 shots on goal, six of which were on target.

• Carabao Cup opponents Newcastle donate £15,000
• Graham Stacey launched page to help fix pitch

An AFC Wimbledon fan who has raised more than £50,000 for his club after the stadium was hit by flooding said the support has been “flabbergasting”.

Graham Stacey, 50, from Hook in Hampshire, set up the fundraiser – which has surpassed its revised target of £50,000 – after the Cherry Red Records Stadium was hit with flooding and appeared to have a sinkhole in the pitch after some areas of the country saw more than a month’s worth of rain in 24 hours on Monday. The £50,000 mark was crossed on Tuesday after a donor named “Newcastle United” gave £15,000. The target has now been increased to £100,000.

• Allegations relate to Caf general secretary Mosengo-Omba
• He is accused of appointing external auditor himself

The Confederation of African Football’s general secretary, Véron Mosengo-Omba, could be suspended after he was accused of “whitewashing” an investigation into allegations of serious misconduct against him.

Caf’s audit and compliance committee claimed there had been “unauthorised interference” from Mosengo-Omba regarding a report into his conduct, because the external auditor had been appointed by him.

After making real progress last season, Tottenham signed Hayley Raso as the manager Robert Vilahamn seeks to build further

Guardian writers’ predicted position: 6th (NB: this is not necessarily Suzanne Wrack’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)

Last season’s position: 6th

High-profile players have left and the manager divides opinion, but United hope to build on last season’s FA Cup win

Guardian writers’ predicted position: 5th (NB: this is not necessarily Tom Garry’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)

Last season’s position: 5th

Last season’s runners-up are desperate to make up for missing out on the WSL crown, with the arrival of Vivianne Miedema giving them a huge boost

Guardian writers’ predicted position: 2nd (NB: this is not necessarily Tom Garry’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)

Last season’s position: 2nd

Matt Beard’s team broke into the top four last season and smashed the club transfer record for Canada’s Olivia Smith to keep up momentum

Guardian writers’ predicted position: 4th (NB: this is not necessarily Tom Garry’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)

Last season’s position: 4th

Arsenal’s record goalscorer returns to the Emirates as Kiko Seike makes history with a hat-trick on debut for Brighton

It was shared spoils at the Emirates, with Arsenal leading then coming from behind to earn a 2-2 draw with Manchester City – a fair reflection of the game with both sides profligate. The only story that mattered, though, was the return of Vivianne Miedema to her stomping ground of seven years. Gareth Taylor indicated how much the fixture had affected the forward after the game, in which she scored to level things at 1-1. “I could tell this was one [fixture] she just wasn’t comfortable with and I can understand all the reasons why,” City’s head coach said. “It’s really difficult when you go back to your former club, particularly one where you’ve been so long at.” She didn’t want to go, Arsenal fans didn’t want her to leave and that made for the warmest of receptions from the 41,818 crowd. Subbed off midway through the second half, Miedema received a standing ovation at the club where she is the record goalscorer, despite the scoreline being in City’s favour at that point. Come the final whistle she was applauded again. Suzanne Wrack

Manager is navigating plenty of turbulence as his side secured first victory since April against Girona

Valencia’s league started six weeks late but at least it was with a win – and a win, coach Rubén Baraja said, “changes everything”. Sometimes all it takes is the smallest, silliest thing, a little luck for there to be life, an explosion: two second-half minutes, two long shots, two deflections, Juanpe in the way, the ball spinning off the defender’s legs into the net, and Mestalla was liberated, if only for a little while.

On Saturday evening goals from Luis Rioja and Dani Gómez defeated Girona, pulled Valencia off the floor and put 40,896 people on their feet. “I wanted to see them smile again,” Baraja said.

A draw represents a missed opportunity after Arsenal’s defensive diligence and gamesmanship frazzled Pep Guardiola at the Etihad

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The expectation – perhaps the fear – had been that Manchester City against Arsenal would be like their two league meetings last season: of undoubted high quality and tension, but a little tepid, lacking the blood and thunder to live long in the memory for neutrals. Instead, what played out was a classic, a game of a million subplots, of controversy and brilliance and doziness that became, ultimately, almost a re-enactment of José Mourinho’s Internazionale eliminating Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona in the 2010 Champions League semi-final.

Arsenal had kept nine clean sheets in 11 away league games this year with the win over Tottenham last week, via a header from a corner after a stifling defensive display, making clear that Mikel Arteta, although he served an apprenticeship as Guardiola’s assistant, is in no sense a Guardiola clone. Many even said he has a streak of Mourinho (who himself, of course, was schooled in the Barcelona method before adapting it) but, still, few thought that by Sunday afternoon he’d have embraced the role with such gusto.

The seriousness of the club’s 115 charges by the Premier League leaves no room for a result that lets everyone live with outcome

Let’s start by going back to December 2016. And a gathering of the world’s media in London to hear lurid details of how more than 1,000 Russian athletes cheated across 30 sports with the help of spies, a cocktail of steroids mixed with whisky and vermouth, and massive state interference.

First the law professor Richard McLaren tells us that London 2012 was “corrupted on an unprecedented scale”. Then he reminds us that, at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, an agent from the FSB, Russia’s security service, was disguised as a plumber and used a mouse hole in the walls of an anti-doping lab to switch drug-tainted samples for clean ones.

Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest deployed supersubs, while Manchester City and Arsenal served up a doozy

The Etihad showed off the best and worst of English football. Arsenal almost rolled back the years when their back five frustrated all-comers. Riccardo Calafiori’s cracking goal reminded of Ronaldinho at his improvisational best. Manchester City’s opener through Erling Haaland was a beauty, too. As for the bad – a referee taking centre stage and often losing control. Michael Oliver should not be headline-maker after this meeting of the Premier League’s best teams, but is likely to be. Sending off Leandro Trossard was correct, the Belgian foolish, but his red card generated the usual conspiracies that now swamp elite football. Arsenal then cranked up the gamesmanship as both sidelines behaved like spoiled children. That City, until John Stones’ goal, were poor – Rúben Dias is no attacking force – will concern Pep Guardiola. So will Rodri’s injury. Without him, City are a lesser force. Mikel Arteta may wonder about Arsenal’s own lack of composure: 10 men need not have meant complete submission. John Brewin

Match report: Manchester City 2-2 Arsenal

Match report: Brighton 2-2 Nottingham Forest

Match report: West Ham 0-3 Chelsea

Match report: Crystal Palace 0-0 Manchester United

Match report: Aston Villa 3-1 Wolves

Big win against their rivals eased pressure on Paulo Fonseca and suggested Milan could mount a challenge after all

The talk before Juventus played Napoli on Saturday was all about which of these two teams would establish themselves as the “anti-Inter”. Thiago Motta’s Bianconeri were the only team yet to concede a goal in Serie A and had started their Champions League campaign with a confident win over PSV. Antonio Conte’s Napoli were second in the table.

Here were the two presumed contenders to dethrone Inter as champions. Juventus because they are Juventus, the most successful club in league history, led by an up-and-coming manager who just got Bologna back into the European Cup for the first time in 60 years. Napoli because they are still only 16 months removed from their third Scudetto, and Conte retains his reputation in Italy as a serial winner.

Mikel Arteta rejected the idea that Arsenal used 'dark arts' in their 2-2 draw with Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium after John Stones and Bernardo Silva criticised their defensive tactics. Arteta suggested his side, who were reduced to 10 players when Leandro Trossard was sent off for kicking the ball away in the first half, had to adapt. Referring to Arsenal's 5-0 loss against Manchester City in 2021 when Granit Xhaka was sent off, he said: 'We’d better learn [from that experience] … if not I would be thick, very thick.'

Bernardo Silva said that 'only one team came to play football' after Manchester City's dramatic 2-2 draw against Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday. The midfielder said that Mikel Arteta's side, who were reduced to 10 men after Leandro Trossard's red card, tried to 'play to the limits of what was possible'.

When asked to compare the rivalry Manchester City has with Arsenal and Liverpool, Silva said: 'Liverpool have already won the Premier League, Arsenal haven't. Liverpool have won the Champions League, Arsenal haven't.'

Mikel Arteta remained tight-lipped in a press conference after Manchester City's 2-2 draw with Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium. When asked about Leandro Trossard's second yellow card for kicking the ball away after a foul, the Arsenal manager said: 'I'm expecting now 100 Premier League games to be played 10 against 11 or 10 against 10 or 9 against 10.' It is the second time this season that an Arsenal player has been sent off for kicking the ball away after Declan Rice was dismissed against Brighton.

Arne Slot, the Liverpool manager, faced the media after his side’s 3-0 win over Bournemouth in the Premier League. Luis Díaz scored two first-half goals in three minutes before Darwin Núñez curled a strike inside Kepa Arrizabalaga’s far post to give Liverpool a comfortable victory. The result put Slot’s men at the top of the table temporarily – either Manchester City or Arsenal have the chance to rise to the summit when the two sides face off on Sunday

• Luis Díaz sinks Bournemouth as Liverpool bounce back in style

Enzo Maresca said his Chelsea team are 'on the right path' after their resounding 3-0 Premier League win at West Ham United on Saturday. The Chelsea head coach has won all of his first three away games in the league, the last manager to do so was Pep Guardiola in 2016. The victory was achieved in front of Chelsea owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali, who put aside their reported spat over ownership, with Maresca insisting both men were ‘happy’ with the comprehensive victory and congratulated the team inside the dressing room after the match. Chelsea are now second in the table after two goals from Nicolas Jackson and one from Cole Palmer eased the Blues to three points against a lacklustre West Ham

• Nicolas Jackson and Cole Palmer fire Chelsea to emphatic win at West Ham

Arsenal's Mikel Arteta says that Martin Ødegaard's ankle injury will keep the captain out of play 'for a while', as the team gear up for their Champions League opener against Atalanta. Ødegaard missed Sunday’s victory over Tottenham in the north London derby having sustained an injury during Norway's win over Austria last week. 'After everything was scanned, the scan showed he has got some damage, especially on one of the ligaments in the ankle,' said Arteta.

• Martin Ødegaard facing lengthy break after sustaining ligament damage

• Milan beat Inter 2-1; Atlético draw 1-1 with Vallecano
• Barcelona thrash Villarreal 5-1; Leverkusen win thriller

Matteo Gabbia ended Milan’s derby drought as his late header earned a dramatic 2-1 victory against Inter to ease the pressure on their manager Paulo Fonseca.

The defender’s 89th-minute goal restored the lead given to Milan by Christian Pulisic before Federico Dimarco’s first-half equaliser and ended a run of six successive defeats by the Rossoneri’s arch-rivals.

• Olise scores and assists twice as Bayern run riot
• Vinícius Júnior inspires Real Madrid comeback

Bayern Munich extended their perfect Bundesliga start as Michael Olise scored two goals and set up two more to give them a 5-0 victory over Werder Bremen in a one-sided contest at the Weserstadion. The Bavarian side, who suffered a shock 1-0 defeat to Bremen when the sides last met in a league clash in January, ran out comfortable winners to move up to 12 points from four matches.

Olise, signed from Crystal Palace for an initial £45m in July, has quickly established himself in the first team. He once again repaid Vincent Kompany’s faith as he was heavily involved in Bayern’s attacking play.

Just a week after much-loved manager’s brief return, Nuri Sahin’s side played like it was 2012 all over again

It was heartwarming – and not just the part with Jakub Blaszczykowski, Lukasz Piszczek and Nuri Sahin playing on the Signal Iduna Park pitch against a hundred young children, which has smothered social media in the last week. The farewell match that filled international weekend didn’t just allow Borussia Dortmund to pay homage to their two Polish stalwarts, but to a whole generation whose achievements grow in stature with every passing year.

They were all there for what has become known as Tschüssikowski; Lucas Barrios, Kevin Grosskreutz, Marcel Schmelzer and the most important of them all. Jürgen Klopp was back coaching at Westfalen, the famous “Pöhler” (local slang roughly meaning “street baller”) cap atop his head. A day of celebration for Blaszczykowski and Piszczek reminded everybody what BVB had achieved in 2011 and 2012, only a handful of years on from financial near-ruin, with little money by elite-level standards and little experience of mixing it with the top bracket. The excitement that Klopp and his young players brought here in those years was palpable all over again.

End is near for the 38-year-old but he defied his dodgy hip to score winner at troubled club where every day hurts

Jesús Navas can’t walk but he carries Sevilla. He’s nearly 39, he’s played 963 professional games and he has an arthritic hip. Every day for the last four years, it has hurt. It hurts when he turns up to training each morning at the ground named after him and it hurts when he plays. It hurt when he won the Europa League and it hurt when he won the European Championship, the last man standing somehow. Some days, it hurts so much even he has to stop; soon, too soon but later than he probably should have done, he will stop for good. Every few days, it hurts so much it scares him.

Thursday was one of those days, worse even than before. Never mind playing in primera, he couldn’t play with his kids. He hadn’t slept all night and couldn’t move. The doctor called the coach worried about him and so the next morning … well, the next morning he was back in Montequinto, where he first started going a quarter of a century ago and where the mini stadium by the dressing room is now called the Jesús Navas, looking for the manager García Pimienta. “Míster,” he said, “I can help.” So he did, which hurt too.

If they continue on their alarming trajectory, Montpellier won’t be a Ligue 1 side for much longer

By Eric Devin for Get French Football News

Montpellier’s Stade de la Mosson is a metaphor for a club that has been allowed to drift into a state of dereliction. The stadium, renovated back in 1997, hosted knockout games at the 1998 World Cup, but now lies in a decrepit state, unable to withstand the elements, and as leaky as the defence that has conceded 13 goals in their first four Ligue 1 games.

In the space of 12 years, the time that has elapsed since they were crowned Ligue 1 champions, Montpellier’s decline has been slow but sure. Ambition has seeped away; pessimism has crept in. “Let’s be happy just to be in Ligue 1 … in a world where we don’t have big financial means, being in Ligue 1 is exceptional in itself. People should be aware of that and be happy to support us,” said the club president Laurent Nicollin earlier this month.

• Michael Olise nets first league goal in 6-1 thrashing
• Vinícius and Mbappé on target in Real Madrid win

Harry Kane scored a hat-trick as Bayern Munich won 6-1 at promoted Holstein Kiel to lead the Bundesliga after three matches with a maximum nine points.

It was a fourth straight win in all competitions this season under their new coach Vincent Kompany and with Bayern eager to reclaim top spot after losing the title to Bayer Leverkusen last term.

• Former Spurs striker enjoys stellar display in Eredivisie
• ‘This was a very big bump,’ says Van Persie after defeat

The former Tottenham striker Troy Parrott scored four goals as AZ enjoyed a 9-1 Eredivisie victory over Heerenveen whose fledgling head coach, Robin van Persie, called the defeat a “very big bump”.

Parrott, who went without a goal in his first four games since joining in the summer, netted once in the first half and then added three more goals in eight second-half minutes in a seismic win to propel his club up to second in the Dutch top flight.

After defeat at home to Italy and a win over Belgium, the overarching ethos remains the same: substance over style

By Raphaël Jucobin for Get French Football News

The crowd in Lyon was in an unforgiving mood. Just under 24 hours after the country closed out an unforgettable summer of sport, the unwavering home support that had carried French athletes in Paris since the end of July largely dissipated as the men’s football team lined up in Lyon to face Belgium.

All of Didier Deschamps, Kylian Mbappé, Mattéo Guendouzi and Bradley Barcola were booed by sections of the home support when their names were announced in the lineups. The most hostile reception was reserved for Barcola’s introduction in the second half, with the player’s departure for Paris Saint-Germain more than a year ago still leaving a bitter taste for locals.

• Former internationals among those banned
• Move relates to match-fixing and gambling

The Chinese Football Association has banned 38 players and five club officials for life after a two-year investigation into match-fixing and gambling. The investigation, part of a crackdown on corruption in the sport, found that 120 matches had been fixed, with 41 clubs involved, according to the official Xinhua news agency. The report did not say whether all the matches were in China.

The former China internationals Jin Jingdao and Gu Chao and the South Korea midfielder Son Jun-ho were among those banned for life, according to findings made public on Tuesday.

They could very easily have beaten Crystal Palace, and yet left more questions piling up about their manager Erik ten Hag

The good news for Erik ten Hag and Manchester United is that it was better than last season. But if his mission this season is to improve a little on every equivalent fixture from the last campaign, this was the easy bit. A 4-0 defeat at Crystal Palace in May was probably the nadir of a season that had many lows. Saturday’s goalless draw probably does represent progress, but the picture is far from clear.

United were by far the better side before half-time and, but for the woodwork and Dean Henderson, would have had a comfortable lead; in the game as a whole, Henderson made seven saves with a combined xG of 1.65. There is an alternative universe not very far removed from this one in which United scored with one of their early chances and went on to win just as comfortably as they had at Southampton last week. But these days, that’s just not how it goes for United.

The Sicilian striker arrived at the 1990 World Cup a virtual unknown and became the hosts’ unlikely hero

By Richard Hall for The Gentleman Ultra

Nervous, white as a sheet and with the eyes of a nation transfixed on him, he could probably have heard the simultaneous heartbeats of those in the Stadio Olimpico in his head. Salvatore Schillaci was about to announce himself not only into Italian consciousness but into history. He didn’t know it then, at the time he looked like a man fuelled by anxiety and impostor syndrome. Within moments he would be wheeling away in celebration with those wide Sicilian eyes. He didn’t believe it but neither did Italy. All of what came before was passed, in moments he had gone from unknown to saint.

The outpouring of emotion all over the world on Thursday says a lot about “Totò”. “The man who made the nation dream” were the words of the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni. This was true. The hosts had so much hope invested in Italia 90 and the wave of emotion that carried them through this campaign was surfed by Schillaci. Every time his shots hit the back of the net, all six times, it felt like the relief and exaltation of Italy came out through Salvatore’s eyes and expressions. For him to pass away at 59 years of age from colon cancer, as with so many, is too young. What he leaves behind, though, is an embodiment of how football and life should be enjoyed.

Uefa’s new Champions League is less about greater jeopardy, than its growing desire to supplant sporting integrity with the confected thrills of the TV game show

Once more, with seeding. Uefa’s new Champions League group-stage format is known as the “Swiss system”, and frankly you can write your own jokes there. It’s full of holes. It’s totally unaccountable and its inner workings largely impenetrable to outsiders. It’s a handy conduit for sequestering and laundering the money of some of the world’s worst people. It’s a complex and morally contested way of putting people to sleep for long periods of time. Take your pick.

Perhaps fittingly, it is in Switzerland that the first strides into this bold new era take place, with Young Boys v Aston Villa selected as the early Tuesday kick-off, alongside Juventus v PSV. And of course this is an emblematic choice for other reasons, too. The Berne-based club may be competition outsiders, having secured their spot in a playoff against Galatasaray last month. But domestically they have been an insuperable force, claiming their sixth Swiss title in the past seven years despite a season marred by internal wrangling and insipid route-one football.

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If Michael Oliver had brandished a red card in the fizzog of a Manchester City player who had just blindsided a stationary opponent with a fairly violent shoulder charge and then kicked the ball away in frustration upon being penalised for it just before half-time at the Etihad Stadium yesterday, Football Daily is fairly certain various Arsenal fans of our acquaintance would have had no problem whatsoever with his decision. In fact we know for a fact they would be absolutely delighted with it and rubbing their hands together with glee at the prospect of seeing their side play half the game with a one-goal lead and an extra player in their ranks.

Adults with nostalgia and money brought it back. It has the planning ahead of chess, the geometry of pool and the excitement of football. You need the reactions of a cat” – Stewart Grant, media director of the English Subbuteo Association, on how lockdown helped the game bounce back after it almost went under. He was speaking at this weekend’s Subbuteo World Cup in Tunbridge Wells, where the game was invented by Peter Adolph in 1946. Fifteen nations took part and Italy were crowned world champions again after knocking England out in the quarter-finals.

Complain all you like about every two-bit team desperately trying to copy Pep Guardiola’s playing out from the back (which is actually Johan Cruyff’s playing out from the back and, in turn, Rinus Michels’s playing out from the back) despite them not having players talented enough to do it but it is giving us a vast array of gloriously incompetent own goals that would have given Danny Baker enough content for a new VHS every week. Pray silence for the great Huddersfield Town” – Noble Francis.

Following Football Daily’s revelation on Friday that Pep Guardiola had enjoyed a meeting with Neil Warnock, at one point during Manchester City’s game against Arsenal he had four centre-backs on the field, a tactic previously employed on a regular basis by Tony Pulis. If Guardiola wins the Premier League while taking inspiration from the regulars on the managerial merry-go-round, then it would be the most spectacular of his title wins. The only way he could top it would be to bring back the W-M” – Ed Taylor.

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Seb Hutchinson and Will Unwin as Manchester City play out a thrilling 2-2 draw with Arsenal at the Etihad

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On the podcast today; so much to unpick from the 2-2 draw between two title favourites Manchester City and Arsenal. The Leandro Trossard red card, Arsenal’s heroic defending, Riccardo Calafiori’s brilliant goal while Kyle Walker was chatting to the ref. A fascination game but what can it tell us about the title race at large?

Plus: top-of-the-table clashes, first-half substitutions and when did Wengerball first enter the footballing lexicon?

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“I’ve just stumbled across a photo of Newcastle United doing an open-top bus parade emblazoned with the words ‘FA Cup finalists 99’. Are there any other examples of bus parades after defeat?” enquires Mark Cookney.

How about after two defeats and a draw that led to relegation? “Rather sadly, my lot Middlesbrough had an open-top bus ride through the town after the 1996-97 season,” writes Garry Brogden. “That was the season we lost the League Cup and FA Cup finals, and were relegated from the Premier League following a three-point deduction. Our star player Juninho didn’t turn up for it. At the final stop at the stadium, Fabrizio Ravanelli announced that he loved us all, and would be back next season. He lasted two games in the Championship before arguing his way out of the club.”

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Nicky Bandini and Mark Langdon as the Champions League season begins with big wins for Liverpool and Aston Villa.

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On the podcast today; Liverpool get an early fright at the San Siro but ultimately prove too strong for Milan, meanwhile the other English side in action, Aston Villa, score a comprehensive win over Young Boys.

Faye Carruthers is joined by Suzanne Wrack, Tom Garry and Ceylon Andi Hickman to discuss the NewCo, the Women’s Professional League (WPLL) and look ahead to the Barclays Women’s Super League season

On today’s pod, the panel discusses a new era for women’s football as the Women’s Professional League (formerly known as NewCo) takes over the WSL and Women’s Championship from the FA. Is this a good thing or a bad thing for women’s football in England?

The panel also looks forward to an exciting Barclays WSL season by analysing each team's major transfers, assessing their progress, and famously predicting the season's final standings.

Plus: hat-tricks on the losing side, bottom-placed sides winning big and Shay Given’s special bottle

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“Sorry to lower the tone but curiosity got the better of me: last week in Peru, Sebastian Muñoz was sent off for appearing to urinate at the side of the pitch, while in Sweden in 2016, Adam Lindin Ljungkvist was given a second yellow card for ‘unsportsmanlike’ behaviour when he audibly broke wind. Are there any other examples of players being given their marching orders for bodily functionality?” wonders Dave Payn.

Let’s start with a bit of housekeeping. We haven’t included spitting, because Rudi Völler has suffered enough, but we have broadened the question to include unpunished acts of biology, partly so we can start with the most famous egestion of all. Gary Lineker didn’t receive a yellow card during his career, never mind a red, not even in England’s opening match of the 1990 World Cup. “I tried to tackle someone, stretched and relaxed myself and erm …” he said in 2010. “You can see myself rubbing the ground like a dog trying to clean it. It was the most horrendous experience of my life.”

Striker grew the game with skills and warmth, while raucous fans watched her like the Beatles were in town

One hundred and twenty-three goals in 224 appearances for the US women’s national team. Two World Cup wins. A gold medal, a bronze medal, a three-time Olympian. A National Women’s Soccer League champion. A relentless advocate for the growth of the game. Alex Morgan retired from professional football this past weekend in San Diego, California as one of the most successful players ever to lace up her boots. She leaves a multifaceted legacy behind her. One of its greatest aspects is the excitement she uniquely inspired, and her ability to leverage it for broader growth.

In a decade when the popularity of women’s football skyrocketed globally, Morgan was often its key name. Stateside, every stadium Morgan played in drew enormous crowds. Upon her arrival, those elated crowds were decked out in Morgan gear, carrying AM13 signs and shrieking with joy at her every movement. It was like watching the Beatles swing through town. Morgan-mania was for real.

Midfielder is the first Englishman to score for the club in 101 years but that is only part of the reason why he is admired

The first Englishman to score for Atlético Madrid in 101 years was “buzzing” on Sunday night, supporters singing his name and his coach calling him the player they needed. “It was really special,” Conor Gallagher said after his first start at the Metropolitano, where 61,752 fans who are now his fans watched him guide the ball past Giorgi Mamardashvili to set Atlético on course for a 3-0 victory against Valencia. Thousands more watching on TV voted him La Liga’s man of the match. “He’s going to be good for us,” the goalkeeper Jan Oblak said, speaking for everyone. “He makes us better,” Diego Simeone said.

Gallagher completed a neat move five minutes before half-time, slipping into the area and collecting Rodrigo De Paul’s gorgeous ball through Cristhian Mosquera’s legs to deliver a smooth finish. In his third game since a €42m (£35.5m) move from Chelsea that was done, undone and then done again, he had his first goal. No Englishman had scored for Atlético since someone called Drinkwater, whose first name time forgot, hit three against Ferroviária in the semi-final of the Copa Federación Centro in 1923. Kieran Trippier is the only Englishman to play for them since, and he didn’t score. He did, though, win the league.

CBS’s Champions League coverage has become the gold standard for the sport in the US. And the former England keeper has carved out his own lane as an insightful co-commentator

Even towards the end of his soccer career, Rob Green hadn’t considered what would come next.

“You’re so ingrained in the game. It’s drilled into your brain that you have to play. To have any thought of quitting is an admission of losing. It’s very difficult to manage that in your brain,” Green tells the Guardian.

The Football League has been the source of some surprising transfers to clubs such as Bayern, with mixed results

Eyebrows were raised when Stockport’s assistant coach Andy Mangan appeared on the verge of a sensational move from the League One club to Real Madrid last week, only for the deal to be scuppered by work permit issues related to Brexit regulations. But where Mangan’s application failed, others have succeeded in taking the unlikely path from the Football League to some of the biggest clubs in Europe.

As an independent commission prepares to assess the charges levelled at the club, here’s what it all means

The Premier League has charged the champions with more than 100 breaches of competition rules between the seasons 2009-10 and 2022-23. The charges cover four areas: a failure to give “a true and fair view of the club’s financial position”; a failure to “include full details” of player and manager remuneration; breaches of national and continental financial fair play regulations; and a failure to “cooperate with, and assist, the Premier League in its investigations”. The counts will be heard by a three-person independent commission, starting on Monday, in what is thought to be a London location.

Erling Haaland has been voted the best player in the world for 2023 by our 218-strong panel, with Jude Bellingham finishing second

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• Meet the judges | Best female footballers to launch in January

Aitana Bonmatí, Sam Kerr and Salma Paralluelo top the list of female footballers in the world in 2023 according to our judges

• Putellas tops 2022 list | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | Meet the judges
• Spain and Barcelona lead the way after year of success
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The Norwegian is only 23 but his devastating goal record has seen him voted as the No 1 player in the world by the Guardian’s expert panel

When Pep Guardiola tearfully claimed Manchester City could not replace the departing Sergio Agüero in May 2021, he didn’t just create a meme. Guardiola was soft-launching a global audition for his team’s new attacking talisman. An unsuccessful pursuit of Harry Kane in the summer of 2021 came between two title-winning seasons where Ilkay Gündogan (13) and Kevin De Bruyne (15) were the club’s top league goalscorers. Guardiola’s slick creative machine needed a new front man, and they found him in Erling Haaland.

Like Agüero before him – and in contrast to many of City’s most successful Pep-era signings – Haaland arrived as a bona fide superstar, a plug-and-play addition to an already stellar lineup. Whether he was a bargain is another question. The release clause paid was €60m (£51.2m), but some reports suggest Haaland’s five-year deal could cost the club in the region of £300m. And while there was an ominous logic to the move for City’s rivals, questions remained.

Aitana Bonmatí the clear winner of the Guardian’s best 100 female footballers in the world with 15 Spaniards on the list

• The 100 best female footballers in the world 2023

After Alexia Putellas reigned in 2021 and 2022, her Barcelona and Spain teammate Aitana Bonmatí has been crowned the top female footballer of 2023 by the Guardian’s panel of 112 experts. The World Cup winner triumphed by a clear margin, finishing more than 500 points ahead of second-placed Sam Kerr.

Injuries and a World Cup meant there was a definite changing of the guard feel to this year’s list, sadly emphasised by the fact last year’s top two – Putellas and Beth Mead – missed a large chunk of our 12-month voting period with ACL injuries.

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

We pick the best youngsters at each club born between 1 September 2006 and 31 August 2007, an age band known as first-year scholars. Check the progress of our classes of 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 … and look at the editions from further back

• Next Generation 2023: 60 of the best talents around the world

Five years ago we picked 80 of the most talented players in the world to follow their progress in a cut-throat business

It is the time of year when we check in on the Next Generation players we picked in 2018 to follow for five years, to assess their progress amid success, setbacks, injuries, trophies won and transfers made.

Next Generation started in 2014 with the aim of showing the difficulties that even the best prospects in the Premier League (we pick one from each club at first-year scholar age) and the rest of the world (we choose 60 born in a specific calendar year) face on their way towards the top.

A defensively minded midfielder who is incredibly strong (he used to be a wrestler) but with an excellent touch to go with his physicality. Made his debut in the Swedish top flight as a 16-year-old last year and captained Sweden as they reached the quarter-finals of the Euro Under-17 tournament in England this summer. Has taken an unusual path to the top. He left the top-flight side IFK Göteborg for sixth division Angered MBIK as a 14-year-old as he felt that he was not getting the right support for his football education. Another Gothenburg club, Häcken, snapped him up in 2017 and he made his senior debut that season. Has signed a new contract with the club from Hisingen until 2021 despite interest from Real Madrid and Benfica and trials at both Manchester clubs.