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Horrendous start for Villa! Elliott plays a one-two with Salah and crosses from the byline. It hits Pau Torres but is a pretty regulation catch for Martínez … but the World Cup winner drops the ball and then accidentally pushes the ball into his own net as he tries to collect the loose ball!

Peeeeeeep! We’re off in the West Midlands.

• Club claims huge volume of rain caused issue after Arsenal game
• United have examined feasibility of replacing Stretford End roof

Manchester United failed to fix a hole in the Old Trafford roof despite being aware that it was prone to sporadic leaks, as occurred at the end of the 1-0 defeat against Arsenal on Sunday.

While it is understood United accept there are faults in the stadium covering that allowed rain to get through on Sunday and previous occasions, the club deny that the large cascade of water pouring from the south-west corner at the Stretford End was due to a leak in the roof. Instead this was because of the huge volume of precipitation that fell which entered a siphonic roof drainage system and caused this to overflow.

• Palace sporting director in frame to replace Dan Ashworth
• Reports in Germany claim Bayern Munich eyeing Oliver Glasner

The Crystal Palace chairman, Steve Parish, is attempting to persuade Dougie Freedman to reject an offer from Newcastle to become their sporting director after the former Scotland striker held talks about replacing Dan Ashworth.

Freedman, who has also been linked with Manchester United thanks to his impressive record at Selhurst Park, met Newcastle officials last week and is understood to be weighing up whether to step into the shoes of Ashworth, who remains on gar­dening leave before an expected move to Old Trafford to become their ­sporting director. Parish is determined to retain the 49-year-old, who had successful spells as a Palace player and manager before returning as sporting director in 2017.

For the second time in league history, the three promoted sides will be relegated. And the underlying numbers paint a grim picture for the English pyramid

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Luton Town’s defeat at West Ham and Burnley’s at Tottenham on Saturday mean that, barring something astonishing on the final weekend (a Luton win over Fulham and a Nottingham Forest defeat at Burnley with a goal-difference swing of 12), the three sides who came up last season will be the three teams who go down. For those who fear the gulf between Premier League and Championship is becoming impossible to bridge, that is a worrying sign.

The truth is that, but for Forest’s four-point deduction for breaches of the league’s Profit and Sustainability rules, it wouldn’t even have been close. The other interest at the bottom came from Everton, before their recent run of 13 points from five games. But they wouldn’t have been in the mix either had it not been for their own 10-point deduction, subsequently reduced to six. The feeling that if you had to have points deducted this was the season to do it has been proved accurate.

• Tottenham game with City crucial to rival’s title hopes
• Coach ‘will never understand’ fans wanting own team to lose

Ange Postecoglou has said he does not understand why some Tottenham supporters would prefer to lose against Manchester City on Tuesday if it means Arsenal do not win their first title for 20 years. Arsenal’s victory against Manchester United on Sunday means City must win for the first time in the Premier League at the ­Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to reclaim top spot before the final round of matches on Sunday.

A defeat or draw would leave ­Arsenal in pole position. Tottenham’s chances of qualifying for the Champions League will be alive unless Aston Villa beat Liverpool on Monday night, and regardless Postecoglou was adamant that his side will be aiming for victory.

Real Madrid refused to dance on the grave but with relegation confirmed elsewhere, Los Cármenes resembled a crematorium

Carlo Ancelotti had the cool cat shades and the big fat cigar but this wasn’t the time, not just yet. Real Madrid’s party, the manager taking to the mic, and the dancefloor, a conga line forming round the most famous fountain in the city, would have to wait a little while; first they had a funeral to go to. On Sunday morning, the champions boarded an open top bus down the Castellana and a stairway up Cibeles, goddess of fertility. But not before they headed to Los Cármenes on Saturday evening to face Granada – a week after Madrid won the league, three days after they reached the European Cup final, and two hours, 38 minutes after Granada were relegated.

The calendar and the contrast were cruel, and it could have been even worse. When Madrid wrapped up the title last Saturday – finally confirmed two hours after beating Cádiz, the players watching together as Barcelona were defeated by Girona – the federation announced that they would hand over the trophy before their next match. Which might have made sense except the next match was away against someone almost certainly going down, and Madrid said no, give it to us the next morning, the cup eventually presented behind closed doors in silence then carried into the city where thousands waited. They were going to dance, sure, but not on Granada’s grave.

Michael Emery allegedly asked teammates ‘Anyone want a go?’ hours after non-league side won at Wembley

A footballer raped a sleeping woman twice in one night and sent naked photos of her to his teammates asking: “Anyone want a go?”, a court has heard.

Michael Emery, 33, a reserve goalkeeper for Warrington Rylands FC, invited the woman to stay in his hotel room after his team won a non-league cup final at Wembley on 22 May 2021.

• TFC manager said Cushing ‘cornered’ unnamed 19-year-old
• Clubs involved in post-match brawl on Saturday

New York City FC manager Nick Cushing has denied the allegation that he punched a Toronto FC player in March.

The allegation was made public over the weekend by Toronto manager John Herdman, who accused Cushing of punching an unnamed 19-year-old player at half-time of a game between the two teams earlier this season.

Atmosphere against Arsenal showed that whether supporters want manager to stay or go, backing for team remains strong

At the picnic benches behind the Stretford End where fans enjoy a pre-game bite the atmosphere is as serene as Erik ten Hag’s perma-calm media persona before Manchester United’s kick-off against Arsenal.

The manager has remained unruffled despite the 24-7 speculation about his job, but in the next few weeks his future will be decided by Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the Ineos chairman’s key lieutenant, Sir Dave Brailsford, and the acting chief executive, Jean-Claude Blanc.

Adi Hütter has struck a perfect balance at Monaco, guiding them to a second-placed finish in Ligue 1

By Luke Entwistle for Get French Football News

When Monaco appointed Philippe Clement to replace Niko Kovac in January 2022, they shifted from one extreme to another. The soft management approach taken by Clement came as a stark contrast to the military style regime that had been imposed by Kovac. Ultimately, neither approach worked so the club turned to Adi Hütter last summer. The Austrian’s style – not too harsh, not too soft – has proven right for this talented and youthful side, which he has now led back to the Champions League.

“Monaco belong in the Champions League,” said sporting director Thiago Scuro, but the club has not competed in the group stage of the competition since 2018. Third place has proven a false dawn for Ligue 1 sides in recent seasons – Monaco failed to win two successive Champions League playoffs and then Marseille befell the same fate at the start of this campaign, dropping into the Europa League.

• Forward is WSL’s all-time leading scorer with 125 goals
• Miedema could be joining Manchester City

Arsenal have confirmed that Vivianne Miedema will leave at the end of the season when her contract expires. The forward joined from Bayern Munich in 2017 and has scored 125 goals and provided 50 assists in 172 appearances.

Miedema, the Women’s Super League’s all-time leading scorer, has played 13 times this season after being out from December 2022 to October 2023 because of an anterior cruciate ligament injury. It is understood she may stay in England and join Manchester City for the 2024-25 season.

City erupts in ecstasy as Atalanta’s victory over Roma returned Bologna to Europe’s top table for the first time in 60 years

Alessio De Giuseppe hopped into the passenger seat of Riccardo Orsolini’s car without stopping to check where it was headed. The Dazn reporter had been waiting outside Bologna’s training ground, hoping to speak with players after their qualification to next season’s Champions League was confirmed by Atalanta’s 2-1 win over Roma on Sunday night. Orsolini pulled out of the gates and gestured for him to get in. Like a hitchhiker with no fixed destination, De Giuseppe climbed in first and asked questions later.

This scene unfolded live on TV, rendered more surreal by the camera cutting back not only to Dazn’s panel of analysts in the studio but also to images of a laughing Cesc Fàbregas in a white jacket. The former Arsenal, Barcelona and Chelsea midfielder was joining the show via a separate video call to speak about his work helping Como to get promoted to Serie A.

Odds are still against them but if struggling Effzeh stay up the wild win against Union Berlin will be talked about for decades

Borussia Dortmund may have done the Bundesliga proud this week. They didn’t do FC Köln any favours on Saturday night. After the Champions League finalists’ meek 3-0 defeat at Mainz, Edin Terzic and Marco Reus were sheepish and apologetic, with the coach bemoaning the display as “the face we’ve shown far too often this season”.

No matter. It takes a lot to dampen the spirits of the people of Cologne at any time, but on this Saturday? Nothing was going to smother the fire in their hearts. Their Effzeh had snatched victory from the jaws of certain defeat in a manner that stunned a stadium and city in which people want to believe anything, everything, is possible. They couldn’t quite believe this. “We were already relegated,” defender Timo Hübers told Sky afterwards. “We were mentally and physically exhausted.”

• Tottenham host Manchester City on Tuesday
• Squad will ‘pray’ for positive Spurs result, Saliba says

William Saliba says the Arsenal squad are ready to break the club’s religion and become Tottenham supporters. The centre-half, outstanding in the 1-0 victory at Manchester United on Sunday that ensured the Premier League title race will go to the last day, is desperate for Spurs to win or draw their home game against ­Manchester City on Tuesday night.

It would mean Arsenal stay above City at the top of the table before the final round of fixtures on Sunday and have control of their own destiny in securing a first title since 2004 – notwithstanding a possible goal difference swing. Arsenal are three goals better off than City, who face West Ham at home. Arsenal play Everton at the Emirates Stadium.

• Defender was ‘a little bit shy’ in early months at Manchester City
• John Stones may return at Tottenham after Nathan Aké injury

Pep Guardiola has hailed the transformation in Josko Gvardiol from nervous newcomer to potentially title-winning goal machine, saying the Manchester City left-back “struggled” during his early months at the club.

Gvardiol scored twice in a 4-0 win at Fulham that leaves a fourth straight Premier League trophy firmly in City’s sights. The first of those goals was superbly taken after an inventive burst inside; the second an instinctive toe-poke past Bernd Leno. The Croatian has scored five times in the past seven games, having broken his duck emphatically at the Bernabéu last month, and has become an unlikely driving force in City’s seemingly inexorable late-season run.

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Having made no secret of his displeasure at the squalid state of Manchester United’s IT department and dressing rooms last week, one shudders to think what Big Sir Jim Ratcliffe made of the scenes at Old Trafford on Sunday. While the club’s techies and future stars might be forced to endure workplaces that are ankle-deep in Monster Munch crumbs and Marvel comics or empty Brylcreem tubs and gaffer tape, respectively, at least they are dry as they potter about in these messes of their own making. The same cannot be said for many of the club’s paying customers, who could be forgiven for hoping the roof over their prohibitively priced seats might prevent them from being soaked to the skin by the waterfalls which cascade through its assorted holes and gaps on the regular occasions the heavens open in the sky above Manchester.

• Manager says 4-0 win over Spurs can be ‘springboard for success’
• Victory secured United Women’s first piece of major silverware

Marc Skinner praised his “history makers” as Manchester United won the Women’s FA Cup to claim their first piece of major silverware and insisted that this is only a starting point for his team.

“This has to be the impetus and that springboard for us, knowing that we can deliver success for this fantastic club,” the Manchester United manager said.

• Bundesliga champions win 5-0 at Bochum
• Paris Saint-Germain stunned at home by Toulouse

The Bundesliga champions, Bayer Leverkusen, crushed hosts Bochum 5-0 on Sunday to stretch their unbeaten run across all competitions to 50 matches.

Last Thursday Xabi Alonso’s team, aiming for a treble of titles, surpassed Benfica’s longstanding European unbeaten record set from 1963 to 1965 with a 2-2 draw against Roma that sent them through to the Europa League final.

• Human rights group fears increase in state ownership
• Bill introduced in March is at committee stage

The United Kingdom’s parliament has been urged to revoke a clause in the new football governance bill that could leave the door open to sportswashing by authoritarian states.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has drawn attention to a section of the bill that, it says, may point the way to a damaging increase in state ownership under certain conditions. The bill, currently being debated in the House of Commons, will define the powers of a long-promised independent regulator for English football but there are concerns that the new body will be unable to step in if the government waves unsavoury new owners through.

Arsenal can still improve, Erling Haaland perplexes and Thomas Frank feels the love from his players

Though Arsenal have enjoyed another fine campaign, the likelihood is that they will again finish second, victims of the almost unbeatable combination that is state wealth plus Pep Guardiola. And regardless of whether they finish as champions or runners-up, they must improve next term – not easy given they’ve followed an 84-point season by racking up 86 with three still to play for. However, on five occasions this term, Arsenal have failed to score in a league game – as well as in the FA Cup against Liverpool and the Champions League at Bayern Munich – which is to say that, unlike Manchester City and unlike Liverpool in 2019-20, they lack superstars able to override poor performances with individual brilliance, finding crucial goals where there appeared to be none. This is not an issue easily resolved, but Jürgen Klopp found a way, completing an already excellent side by adding Alisson and Virgil van Dijk to his back five; Mikel Arteta must now do similarly to Arsenal’s attack. Daniel Harris

Match report: Manchester United 0-1 Arsenal

Match report: Tottenham 2-1 Burnley

Match report: Nottingham Forest 2-3 Chelsea

Match report: West Ham 3-1 Luton

Multiple approaches are needed to stem vitriol aimed at officials but it is clear that examples need to be set at the top

“Szymon Marciniak you son of a whore”. “Don’t come to Germany for your safety.” “How much money did you get?” “FUCK YOU MARCINIAK YOU DISGUSTING BASTARD #RMAFCB.”

This is a snapshot of X and Instagram after Bayern Munich crashed out of the Champions League last week. Marciniak’s crime? Blowing for offside too early, which meant that a possible Matthijs de Ligt equaliser could not be reviewed by the VAR. Even a freeze-frame image could not confirm whether De Ligt was onside or not. But that didn’t stop Bayern’s manager, Thomas Tuchel, saying the referee’s decision “felt like a betrayal” – or the bile on social media.

Defeat to Chelsea in last year’s FA Cup final stood Marc Skinner’s side in good stead to win their first major trophy

In the words of Julius Caesar, “experience is the teacher of all things”. As Marc Skinner and his Manchester United team made the long climb to the royal box at Wembley, they will have known how important the lessons of heartbreak last time out were in enabling them to lift the Women’s FA Cup for the first time in their history.

With a dominant performance in a comfortable 4-0 victory over Tottenham, the demons of that defeat by Chelsea were firmly put to bed. On that occasion, United were outdone by the guile and nous of more seasoned winners. Against Robert Vilahamn’s fledgling side this time around, Skinner’s side were determined to put on an accomplished display that illustrated why many considered them favourites.

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Dan Bardell and Will Unwin to review the penultimate weekend in the Premier League, discuss Manchester United’s FA Cup triumph, Celtic’s win over Rangers, and more

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On the podcast today: Arsenal get a conservative but vital 1-0 win at Old Trafford, while the Manchester City machine bulldozes through yet another Premier League opponent in Fulham. However they got it done, both sides won … which means the winner will be decided on the final day.

Centre-back delivered another commanding performance of craft and consistency in a partnership still in prime years

Even the weather seemed to want this match done. By the time the final whistle blew at Old Trafford the skies had already broken open, pounding the turf with English summer rain, gluing Erik ten Hag’s ill-advised houndstooth summer sports jacket to his shoulders, leaving Mikel Arteta squelching across in skintight all-black to punch the air in celebration of a 1-0 win that leaves Arsenal top of the table, right up until the next time they’re not.

This is not the end, as long as we can still say: this is the end. The title race will now tick down into the final week of the season, which is a thing in itself given the might of the Manchester City machine.

Fans of the Eredivisie club hoped takeovers would transform their fortunes, but instead they face an existential threat to their future

• Abramovich loans fund Vitesse owner, leaked documents suggest

Vitesse Arnhem are a cautionary tale. At first glance, it is possible to fall into the trap of thinking that they hit the jackpot 14 years ago. Vitesse, a Dutch club with little history of success, had their identity transformed after a takeover led by the Georgian former footballer Merab Jordania.

Allegations of links between Jordania and Roman Abramovich, the Russian oligarch and former owner of Chelsea Football Club, were always denied. Vitesse, whose highest finish in the Eredivisie was third in 1998, trundled along. They were characterised as “Chelsea B” because of the numbers of players they took on loan from the Premier League side. The game that brought them the first trophy in their long but modest history is instructive. Three young Chelsea loanees – Matt Miazga, Lewis Baker and Nathan – were in the Vitesse team that beat AZ Alkmaar in the Dutch Cup final in 2017.

Old Trafford flooded with water at the end of Manchester United's game with Arsenal on Sunday, leaking through the roof and cascading through the stands. Footage also shows the roof in Arsenal's dressing room leaking water on to the players. The Glazers, Manchester United's long-time owners, have often been criticised by fans for their apparent reluctance to invest in updating and adequately maintaining the increasingly ageing stadium.

After losing to Chelsea in last year's FA Cup final, Manchester United Women stormed to a 4-0 win against Tottenham this time around to claim their first major trophy. The team celebrated on and off the pitch with the usual singing and champagne spraying.

Arsenal made sure the Premier League title race will go to the last day of the season with a 1-0 victory at Manchester United. Leandro Trossard struck in the 20th minute to put Arsenal back on top of the table and ensure the Gunners will take their title fight with defending champions, Manchester City, to the final round of matches.

‘Live the final day’: Arteta dreams of title after win at United sets up climax

Arsenal keep up title pressure as Trossard sinks Manchester United

Real Madrid celebrated their 36th La Liga title as they paraded through the streets of the Spanish capital. Madrid had clinched the league title a week earlier, with four games to spare, but could not celebrate the triumph before last midweek's Champions League semi-final second leg against Bayern Munich.

The Liverpool manager, Jürgen Klopp, has said that his side can no longer win the Premier League title. Liverpool sit third in the table, five points behind the league leaders, Arsenal, with just two games to play. 'We cannot win it [the Premier League] anymore. We don't have to deal with that,' Klopp said. 'We all can read the table. We all see the situation. Do we expect them to lose? City has to lose three games. Three. Difficult to see that, but you never know.'

Six-times European champions Bayern Munich missed out on returning to the Champions League final for the first time since winning the competition in 2019-20. The 2-1 defeat in Madrid left manager Thomas Tuchel ruing an offside decision that denied his side a late equaliser and meant there will be no rematch of the all-German final in 2013, when Bayern beat Dortmund to win their fifth European title

• ‘Disastrous’: Tuchel rues contentious offside call as Bayern cave in Madrid

• Victory and Phoenix locked on 0-0 after first leg at AAMI Park
• Hosts had 20 shots to the Nix’s six but could not break deadlock

Melbourne Victory and Wellington Phoenix have it all to play for after a cagey 0-0 draw in the first leg of their A-League Men semi-final at AAMI Park. In a clash of two styles, the Victory were allowed to control the tempo and territory for much of the contest but were unable to create enough clear-cut chances to unlock a determined Phoenix defence on Sunday.

The hosts were the more positive throughout with 20 to six attempts, and five shots on target, while the Nix were content to sit back and play on the counter without managing a single shot on goal. The Victory pushed hard in the dying stages to find a goal to take to Sky Stadium as the Phoenix all but settled for a stalemate from halfway through the second half, with the return leg to be played in New Zealand on Saturday 18 May.

Ademola Lookman, Matteo Ruggeri and El Bilal Touré scored in Atalanta’s 3-0 win over Marseille for a 4-1 aggregate victory in their Europa League semi-final. The Italian side will meet Bayer Leverkusen, who overcame Roma, in their first European final, in Dublin on 22 May.

Lookman put Atalanta ahead in the second leg on the half-hour with a long-range strike past Pao López before setting up Ruggeri to double the lead seven minutes after the break.

• Llamas report focuses on responsibilities to workers
• Amnesty International calls on Fifa to reveal findings

Fifa must publish an independent report into its responsibilities to migrant workers in Qatar and begin the process of providing financial compensation, Amnesty International has said.

The human rights organisation has called on Fifa to finally publish the report by Michael Llamas, president of the Gibraltar Football Association, before its congress in Bangkok next week. According to those familiar with the process, the Llamas report has found Fifa has a responsibility to provide financial remedy to workers or the families of workers involved in 2022 World Cup projects in Qatar and that its conclusions were approved by the executive Fifa council in March. The Guardian understands the report is under review by Fifa stakeholders but that the governing body remains committed to its publication.

• Goalkeeper to hang up gloves after nearly 19 years and 103 caps
• She appeared at five World Cups and won the Asian Cup in 2010

After five World Cups, six Asian Cups, 103 caps and nearly two decades in a Matildas shirt, Lydia Williams says it is the right time to call time on her international career. One of the most experienced Australian footballers of all time on Thursday announced her intention from retire after the upcoming Paris Olympics – what would be her third Olympic football tournament.

“It’s been a wonderful ride over the last 19 years and I’m so thankful for the opportunity to not only wear the crest and perform for my country, but also to the wonderful memories and fantastic people that I’ve met along the way,” said Williams, who turns 36 next week.

• Fifpro wants expanded tournament in 2025 to be rescheduled
• Letter calls for agreement on international match calendar first

Fifa must postpone its expanded Club World Cup or face the prospect of legal action, the international ­players’ union has warned, in a fierce broadside against the game’s global governing body.

Fifpro and the World Leagues organisation have written jointly to Fifa’s president, Gianni Infantino, asking him to reschedule the 32-team tournament, which is set to take place in the US next June and July. The new Club World Cup, ­alongside its old iteration now rebranded as the ­Intercontinental Cup, should be paused until a full agreement on the shape of the ­international match calendar can be agreed, the letter says.

After a disastrous start to the A-League Men season, Mark Jackson’s side are now just three games away from an unlikely treble

Central Coast Mariners are done with flying under the radar. The reigning A-League Men champions have floated through a whirlwind week that started with sealing the premier’s plate with victory in the final match of the regular season, and ended with clinching the AFC Cup in Oman.

The Mariners will next take the first of three remaining steps towards a historic treble when they face Sydney FC in the first leg of their A-League semi-final on Friday night. The unprecedented haul of titles that is now within reach would rubber stamp the Mariners’ remarkable resurgence that could just as easily have hit its peak when stunning Melbourne City 6-1 in last year’s grand final.

Early season disappointments put the Argentinian coach on the hot seat, but a resurgent Lionel Messi has shown the value of experience

Riding a six-game unbeaten streak in MLS, leading the race for the Supporters’ Shield and with their star players featuring at the top of the goals and assists charts, all is well in the world of Inter Miami.

Yet little over a month ago, head coach Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino was on the hot seat. A humiliating 4-0 defeat to New York Red Bulls in late March was followed by elimination from the Concacaf Champions Cup at the hands of Mexican side Monterrey in early April.

Michel’s team of misfits showed against Barcelona why they deserve their plaudits despite the big blue elephant in the room

Cristian Portugués Manzanera was lying on the physio’s bench, pissed off, his manager pointing at him. It was the morning of the best day of their lives and Miguel Sanchez Muñoz, Michel II of Vallecas, Prince of all Girona, had just named the team that would go down in history. This time, Yan Couto wasn’t in it and he wasn’t happy either, so the coach took him aside and explained. Which is when the Brazilian saw his teammate getting treatment. “Look at Portu,” Michel insisted, “he scores goals and I never start him. He says: ‘You’re sinking me, but OK, I’ll just go out and score again.’”

And so it was.

With facilities destroyed and lives cut short, the conflict has brought destruction to a previously thriving sporting scene

Mohammed Abu-Hujair was booked on a flight to Spain last October. A scout from Real Madrid had visited Gaza in August and invited Mohammed, a 17-year-old who plays on the left wing, to join a football academy with the hope that, if he did well, he would stay in Spain. Mohammed also had the promise of a contract with Gaza Sport Club, making him one of the youngest players to sign with the team.

Then came the 7 October attacks on Israel, and the war in Gaza. Mohammed didn’t make that flight. “My life has turned upside down in a blink of an eye,” he says.

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

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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.

The club has been awarded a 999-year lease on the Den and its surrounds, bringing down the curtain on a fraught few years

Bermondsey has always been a fluid, ever-changing kind of place, shoved up into a bend of the Thames, surrounded on all sides but also oddly isolated.

For hundreds of years that whole strip of land south of the city was an interlude of leisure and licentiousness. In his biography of London Peter Ackroyd mentions “bear pits, stew-houses and pleasure gardens”, plus a flourishing grassroots industry of cutpurses and dandy highwaymen, a place where “flashy women come out to take leave of thieves at dusk and wish them luck”.

The Frenchman raged over the game’s super-rich when in charge of Arsenal. His hopes of a more level playing field may come to fruition

For much of the final 14 of his 22 years at Arsenal, Arsène Wenger was a study in frustration. The free thinker who brought trophies and glory to Arsenal in his blazing first eight years at the club, ushering in a revolution across the Premier League with his use of data, approach to talent scouting, commitment to technically intricate football and careful attention to the diet and lifestyle of the players under his watch, was suddenly transformed into a snippy crank. The sideline fiddling with his parka zipper, the tetchy press conference responses, the comic insistence that he “almost” signed every successful player in Europe, the disgusted tossing of the tiny water bottle as his once-invincible team gave away another lead, endured another slapstick mishap at the back, squandered another title challenge: the visual lore of Late Wenger has, in its own way, become a series of cliches, a kind of stock carousel for any once-great manager on the brink of professional disintegration.

The cause of Wenger’s great anguish through this long decline, of course, was what he memorably described as “financial doping”: the emergence – first with Roman Abramovich at Chelsea, then with the Abu Dhabi United Group’s takeover of Manchester City – of a new class of billionaire club owners who turned the Premier League into a simple spending contest tilted, seemingly perpetually, in favor of the teams controlled by plutocrats.

US stars have flooded English soccer on the backs of the Wrexham phenomenon. But the shimmer of fame cannot overcome ineffective ownership

Tom Brady was nowhere to be seen as Birmingham City dropped to the third tier of English football. He was, however, in Los Angeles the following day for Netflix’s The Roast of Tom Brady, a live TV special in which Bill Belichick, Kevin Hart and many others ripped into the seven-time Super Bowl winner.

“I see your soccer team got knocked down another tier in the English Football League,” Belichick, Brady’s former coach, said from the dais. “For those not familiar with English football, thanks to the intricacies of their obscure regulations system, I’ll put it in English for you: they suck! Not so easy to run a team, is it Tom?”

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While it was no great surprise that Regionalliga Nord outfit FC Teutonia 05 Ottensen shipped eight goals without reply in getting knocked out in the first round of the German equivalent of the FA Cup by Bayer Leverkusen last August, nobody who was involved in the match had any idea of the significance of the hammering they had just watched unfold. Ostensibly a fourth-tier side who had only earned the right to play in the DFB-Pokal once before, Teutonia were almost certainly happy to take their licks in return for a big payday but could yet go down in football history as the extremely difficult answer to the pub quiz question: “Who was the first team Bayer Leverkusen played when they went an entire season unbeaten in all competitions at home and abroad in 2023-24?”

Can I be the first of 1,057 people to read Darren Ferguson’s comments about the refereeing in Peterborough’s playoff semi-final defeat (yesterday’s Quote of the Day) and express their shock that this particular apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree?” – Ed Taylor (and no others).

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Spurs manager Robert Vilahamn talks about his hopes of ending the season in north London with silverware

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“It doesn’t end if we don’t win,” says Robert Vilahamn before his Tottenham side play Manchester United in the FA Cup final at Wembley on Sunday.

It is that mindset and the aura around the club that has fans so excited, because, at the end of the Swede’s first season in charge, it feels as if there is so much more to come. If anything, as Vilahamn points out, reaching a Cup final so soon into his tenure and after a relegation battle last season puts them ahead of schedule.

Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund booked their spots in the final at Wembley thanks to a pair of unlikely match winners

Two second legs that both reached a dramatic climax, one with late goals, the other with late misses, set up a Wembley final between Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund.

Goalkeeper: Andriy Lunin, Real Madrid

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Nicky Bandini, Archie Rhind-Tutt and Sid Lowe as Real Madrid again find a way to win when it matters in the Champions League, denying Harry Kane … again

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

On the podcast today: Real Madrid can’t keep getting away with this, can they? Two late, late goals from former Stoke City man Joselu see them through to yet another Champions League final. They probably deserved this one, but what a gut punch it is for Harry Kane.

Our cartoonist on the Tractor Boys embarking on another great adventure in the top flight after consecutive promotions

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Plus: the same losing teams in the playoffs in consecutive seasons and even bigger cumulative cup crowds

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“Newcastle have beaten Sheffield United 13-1 on aggregate this season,” tweets Craig. “Has there been a larger margin before?”

Newcastle romped to an 8-0 victory at Bramall Lane in September, then beat Sheffield United 5-1 at St James’ Park last month. The aggregate score is a Premier League record, pipping Manchester City 12-0 Watford (2019-20) on goals scored. But won’t somebody think of the rest of the world, and women’s football, and the years 1888-1992? Yes, yes they will. And we’ll stick with league matches, too, as that was the basis for the question.

The competition latched on to the Matildas’ success but some feel that more could have been done to move the game forward

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Was the 2023-24 A-League Women (ALW) season the best in the competition’s history? Possibly. There were certainly enough standout games, players, narrative, and intrigue to provide enough fuel to carry a long pub debate. What can be said more definitively, though, is that the campaign just concluded with Sydney FC edging Melbourne City to win a record fifth title was one of, if not the most consequential since the league’s inception.

Generally, you only get one post-World Cup season to capitalise and, after the 2023 tournament, this was the year for the ALW. And the ground was fertile. Putting aside their historic achievements on the field, what the Matildas achieved across that tournament was unprecedented, taking hearts and minds of the country in a stranglehold and altering what was thought achievable not just in women’s football, football, or sporting context, but on a cultural level itself.

Faye and Suzy are joined by Anita Asante and Jenna Schillaci to round up a dramatic weekend in the WSL, check in on what’s happening lower down the pyramid and preview the Women’s FA Cup final

Chelsea lost, then Manchester City lost then Chelsea won – that’s the week in a nutshell. After Emma Hayes waved the white flag on Wednesday, by Sunday she declared “it’s not over!”

The panel also preview Sunday’s FA Cup final between Manchester United and Tottenham.

The outgoing manager deserves another WSL title but her replacement will inherit a lot of quality young players

Many will look at Emma Hayes’s 12 years as Chelsea manager and think her lasting legacy is six – potentially seven – Women’s Super League titles, five FA Cups and two League Cups but for me her impact has been felt far beyond west London. By turning Chelsea into the benchmark for others to follow, she has forced up standards throughout the women’s game.

People forget that the early years were difficult for Hayes, with Chelsea narrowly avoiding relegation in her first full season, but there was always a clear plan of how to improve. Her spell managing in America at Chicago Red Stars, where I was in the squad, I think was pivotal in her career and shaped what she wanted to do at Chelsea. At the Red Stars we arguably had the most talented group of individuals but we were not the best team and I think she realised it was imperative she recruited the right characters, not just the best players. I think this resulted in a big shift in Hayes’s outlook.

Fresh doubts of deal being completed paint bleak picture and could leave troubled club unable to meet their financial obligations

Everton’s owner, Farhad Moshiri, has always sounded extremely confident that he will be selling the Premier League club to the US investment firm 777 Partners. In October last year he told Sky Sports News: “The more time that I have spent with the 777 team, the more my confidence increases that we have found the right people to take the club forward in the modern era.”

That comment is ageing less and less well.

What was the point of such a spectacular player spending seven seasons of his prime playing for Paris Saint-Germain?

Farewell then, project superstar. By the end of this Champions League semi-final second leg it seemed oddly fitting that the final act across 180 minutes should be Kylian Mbappé falling over his own feet.

Mbappé was through on goal at the time, the most beautifully balanced footballer on the planet haring away from a clutch of yellow shirts in emergency battery mode, then slipping over on the Parc des Princes turf just as the final whistle was blown.

Spurs’ fightback to book a spot in 2019 Champions League final was one for the ages. Where have the players ended up since?

André Onana
Of all the Ajax players, perhaps Onana has been on the wildest ride since 2019. Just over two years separated a 2021 doping suspension after a positive test for Furosemide – a substance he says was his wife’s and taken mistakenly – and his appearance in the 2023 Champions League final with Internazionale. A £44.1m move to Manchester United followed, where form and fortunes have fluctuated for both club and Cameroon.

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.