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Højlund finally finds the net, top-four battle hots up while Willian proves class once again

He finally scored. Rasmus Højlund broke his 21-match goal drought – dating back to 12 December – with a composed strike to put Manchester United 1-0 up against Leicester at the King Power Stadium. Having received the ball from Bruno Fernandes around 40 yards out from goal, he carried it into the penalty area before unleashing a powerful low shot into the bottom-left corner. You could just sense the relief on the striker’s face as he walked back to the halfway line for the restart. It was also a positive evening for Alejandro Garnacho, who ended his 25-game stretch without a goal, dating back to 28 November. It should give both players a much-needed confidence boost heading into the final stretch of the season. “The most important thing for me is the work they are putting in, especially defending,” Ruben Amorim said. “They live for assists and scoring goals. Rasmus, really good control right foot and then Garnacho is always trying to score a goal and he deserved that feeling.” Emillia Hawkins

Match report: Leicester 0-3 Manchester United

Match report: Arsenal 1-0 Chelsea

Match report: Manchester City 2-2 Brighton

Match report: Everton 1-1 West Ham United

Match report: Ipswich Town 2-4 Nottingham Forest

Match report: Fulham 2-0 Tottenham

Match report: Bournemouth 1-2 Brentford

Match report: Southampton 1-2 Wolves

• West Ham striker refers to having ‘another chance at life’
• He says he is ‘two to three months’ ahead of schedule

Michail Antonio has revealed he almost died when he crashed his Ferrari last December, but the West Ham striker is adamant he will recover from a badly broken leg to play again. Antonio, who spoke with disarming honesty on BBC One’s Morning Live on Monday, feels he has been given “another chance at life” as he continues his recovery.

West Ham’s record Premier League goalscorer is determined to revive his career, but he knows he is lucky to be alive. Antonio can remember nothing from the accident, which occurred when he was driving home from training and crashed into a tree in Epping Forest on a stormy Saturday. The seriousness of it hit home when the forward saw the remains of the car at a scrapyard three weeks ago.

The only locally born starting player for either side proved the catalyst on a day where classic cup final magic won out

Sometimes football just can’t help itself. Even now, in its glazed and managed state, plaything of propaganda machines and sharp-fanged hedge funds, it will still give you these moments, will follow its own gorgeously hammy storylines.

Here it gave Newcastle a story that couldn’t have been more perfectly styled and finished: a Dan Burn day for a Dan Burn team at a Dan Burn Wembley, and a moment before half‑time that seemed to paint the entire world a deep rich shade of Dan Burn.

• ‘We have to turn this around,’ says captain
• Lost chance of two trophies in five days

Virgil van Dijk has warned his Liverpool teammates they should not think winning the Premier League is a foregone conclusion after Champions League elimination and losing the Carabao Cup final. Liverpool are 12 points clear with nine matches remaining as they seek to win one trophy this season. They lost meekly 2-1 against Newcastle at Wembley on Sunday to compound a frustrating few days after they were knocked out of Europe by Paris Saint-Germain on penalties.

“We all have to realise the job is not done for what we have coming up,” Van Dijk said. “We have to work our ass [off] for it.”

West Ham midfielder, who denies wrongdoing, could face life ban if found guilty in English football’s biggest corruption case in decades

In a season dominated by the Premier League’s legal battles, the Football Association is about to get in on the act. Today it will begin prosecuting England’s most high-profile corruption case since Bruce Grobbelaar was acquitted of conspiring to fix five Premier League games, in two trials at Winchester crown court 27 years ago.

Lucas Paquetá is not facing criminal proceedings, but in professional terms the stakes are almost as high. The FA charge sheet sent to West Ham on 23 May last year, in which Paquetá was charged with four counts of spot-fixing and two of obstructing an FA investigation, is understood to have included the recommendation of a life ban if he is found guilty by the independent panel.

• Forest midfielder expected to replace injured Cole Palmer
• England face Albania and Latvia in World Cup qualifiers

Nottingham Forest midfielder Morgan Gibbs-White has been added to Thomas Tuchel’s first England squad.

The 25-year-old is expected to replace Cole Palmer, who was ruled out for Chelsea’s 1-0 loss to Arsenal through injury. He will now join up with the rest of the squad for their opening 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Albania and Latvia at Wembley.

Jamie Vardy rolled the ball into the Manchester United net to huge cheers and about 10 minutes later, amid swirling rain, Ruud van Nistelrooy’s name echoed around this stadium. The only problem for Leicester was Vardy sent the ball over the line during a break in play while Ayden Heaven, forced off early in the second half, received treatment, and it was the United supporters singing about Van Nistelrooy. The Dutchman took charge of United in the reverse fixture in November, signing off from his spell in interim charge with a 3-0 victory, but this time he was on the receiving end of the same scoreline.

That four-match unbeaten run with United must feel halcyonic for Van Nistelrooy, who has now lost 13 of his past 14 league matches. The numbers make grisly reading: Leicester have not scored here since early December and after firing blanks in this defeat they recorded unwanted history, becoming the first Premier League team to lose seven home matches in a row without scoring. Leicester are nine points adrift of 17th-placed Wolves and have a vastly inferior goal difference.

• PSG beat Marseille 3-1 in Ligue 1 top-of-the-table clash
• Leverkusen snatch 4-3 Bundesliga win against Stuttgart

Inter extended their lead at the top of Serie A to three points with a 2-0 win at third-placed title rivals Atalanta on Sunday as both sides finished with 10 men.

An intense opening half ended goalless, with Inter’s Marcus Thuram hitting the upright and Atalanta’s Mario Pasalic forcing goalkeeper Yann Sommer into a save from a header.

• Forward sat out Chelsea’s defeat at Arsenal
• Arteta says Blues are ‘best attacking team’

Enzo Maresca has confirmed that Cole Palmer is likely to be forced out of England’s World Cup qualifiers against Albania and Latvia next week, with the Chelsea forward poised to have a scan on a muscular injury that caused him to miss the 1-0 defeat against Arsenal on Sunday.

Mikel Merino’s clever header from a corner ended Arsenal’s four-match wait for a Premier League victory as they reduced Liverpool’s lead at the top of the Premier League to 12 points.

• Barcelona fought back from 2-0 down to top La Liga
• Lewandowski and Lamine Yamal also on target in victory

Barcelona’s Ferran Torres scored twice to help secure a late 4-2 comeback win over La Liga title rivals Atlético Madrid in a pulsating clash on Sunday that took Hansi Flick’s side back to the top of the table.

The hosts took the lead on the stroke of half-time through Julián Alvarez after Antoine Griezmann broke quickly and found Giuliano Simeone, who curled a precise pass for the former Manchester City forward to score his 11th league goal of the season.

Hamza Igamane drove in a glorious late winner as Rangers beat Celtic 3-2 in a thrilling Old Firm match at Parkhead.

Nico Raskin headed the visitors in front from a corner in the fourth minute before Mohamed Diomande added a second in the 37th minute and Barry Ferguson’s side should have been further ahead at the interval.

After decades of being a club built on resistance, this could be moment they finally joined football’s establishment

The last few minutes are a kind of perfection. Liverpool score after a video assistant referee delay to make it 2-1. Newcastle restart, pump the ball into the Liverpool corner and from that moment a kind of elemental life force seems to surge through them. This is what you came for. This is how you wanted it, where you wanted it. Remember your training.

Can there be any more forlorn, godforsaken assignment than trying to wrestle Newcastle away from the corner flag in the dying seconds of a Wembley final? Curtis Jones tries and Harvey Elliott tries and Jarell Quansah tries, but these are players desperately unsuited to the task.

• Palace a point behind Villa after first win under Smerud
• Brighton beat Tottenham for first win since November

Crystal Palace breathed new life into the Women’s Super League relegation battle after their first win since Leif Smerud’s appointment as manager cut the gap to their opponents, second‑bottom Aston Villa, to one point with six games remaining.

The league’s bottom side were good value for their 3-1 win, which was only their second league victory as a WSL club since promotion last summer and their first top-flight triumph on home soil – coming in Smerud’s third match in charge in all competitions since the sacking of Laura Kaminski on 28 February.

Monotonous positional football grants Arsenal the most comfortable of 1-0 wins as ‘Cole Palmer FC’ label lingers

Jadon Sancho will go down in history as having been on the pitch at the Emirates Stadium. He was on the right-wing, dressed in blue, watching closely as a tepid game unfolded around him. Yet whether Sancho was actually involved as Chelsea produced another monotonous performance in attack was debatable. After all, failing to register a single touch in the Arsenal box did not exactly suggest that this was a player in possession of the personality to lift a team weakened by the absence of their most important forward.

This was the Sancho who drifted along at Manchester United, never justifying his £73m fee. He looked callow every time he thought about taking on Arsenal’s 18‑year‑old left‑back, Myles Lewis-Skelly. There was no mystery about why Sancho was nowhere near Thomas Tuchel’s first England squad. It was less that Lewis-Skelly won their battle after his first international call-up, more that there was never any prospect of Sancho having the wit, invention or speed to trouble the youngster.

Mikel Arteta had promised that Arsenal would not give up on their title dream easily and, although they remain 12 points behind the champions-elect Liverpool after one of the most comfortable 1-0 win you will see, there remains hope in this part of north London.

Mikel Merino’s first-half goal from a corner – Arsenal’s 11th of the season but first since mid-January – proved enough to see off a toothless ­Chelsea side who looked badly short of ­inspiration without their talisman Cole Palmer and secure a first win in four league games.

• Interim manager positive despite League Cup final defeat
• Teams meet in Women’s Champions League this week

Nick Cushing has said Manchester City’s performance in their League Cup final defeat on Saturday gives him belief that they can beat Chelsea in the Women’s Champions League on Wednesday, as the teams’ run of four consecutive meetings continues.

Manchester City lost 2-1 in Cushing’s first game back in interim charge, five days after the sacking of Gareth Taylor, and Cushing’s team will now host Chelsea in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final, before a crucial league meeting at the Etihad Stadium on 23 March and then, on 27 March, the reverse leg of their European tie.

The Steel City derby has not exactly been renowned for goals in recent times: the past five meetings of Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield United have yielded just two, but goodness when they are scored they are mightily significant.

It has been quite some time since these two fiercest of rivals have been pushing simultaneously for pro-motion from the same division. But at the end here there was the distinct feeling that one side’s quest for a return to the Premier League had taken a potentially fatal hit, while the other’s continued to accelerate at pace.

Like their rivals, the problem is not the rise in revenue that a new home offers but that so little of it ends up being spent on players

Build it and they will come – but you should be aware that you will be left with significant debt repayments, an element of the story to which Kevin Costner took a characteristically cavalier attitude. Which may be why Field of Dreams was about building a baseball stadium in Iowa for Shoeless Joe Jackson and the ghosts of the 1919 Chicago Black Sox rather than, say, Daniel Levy constructing a football stadium in Haringey for Vincent Janssen and the remnants of the 2019 Tottenham Hotspur team.

In the past week, Manchester United have revealed plans for a new £2bn stadium, capacity 100,000, next to Old Trafford, while Newcastle are reported to be looking to move from St James’ Park to a 65,000-capacity stadium on Leazes Park. Everton will move into a new stadium at Bramley-Moore dock next season. Wrexham are building a 5,500-capacity Kop. New stadiums suddenly are fashionable again after a period in which they came to seem almost an afterthought. That, perhaps, is an unintended consequence of profitability and sustainability rules (PSR).

• Women’s League Cup final: Chelsea 2-1 Manchester City
• Ramírez 8, Hasegawa 77og; Fujino 64

It seems as though nothing can stop Sonia Bompastor in English football. Not a change of manager from Manchester City, not a sublime individual goal from Aoba Fujino and not even the sand on the pitch. The Frenchwoman is unbeaten as Chelsea manager after 28 games and has secured the first of a potential quadruple this season.

Chelsea’s 26th victory of the season was played on a surface their midfielder Erin Cuthbert told the BBC was not fit for a final and Bompastor, who clearly had higher hopes for the facilities in her first experience of a final in English football, agreed. “That’s a bit of a shame to have this pitch for a final, especially in England where you expect to have the best pitches in the world,” she said. “I’m not sure if it was a men’s final it would be the same.”

WSL record appearance holder on planning for life after football and still harbouring hopes of an England recall

There is a moment in every player’s career when they start to think more concretely about life after the game. Playing careers are short, a fraction of your working years. For female footballers, the much lower wages mean that plan B needs to be prepared for far sooner, too.

Jordan Nobbs has no intention of hanging up her boots just yet, but at 32, the Women’s Super League appearance record holder with 200 games has been thinking about her next steps. Nobbs recently started a Uefa B licence coaching course. A transition into coaching is a common progression for many retiring players, particularly those that miss lacing up boots and stepping on to grass, offering at least a stopgap while they work out their next move.

There’s youth in Myles Lewis-Skelly and experience in Jordan Henderson, but worries remain about midfield and can the desired style of play work in high temperatures?

There is logic to Thomas Tuchel rewarding Marcus Rashford’s encouraging displays since joining Aston Villa by bringing him back into the fold. The forward is devastating on his day and England missed his ability to charge behind defences at Euro 2024. Equally, Rashford has only himself to blame for being cut by Gareth Southgate. The 27-year-old’s resurgence at Villa is not a great look for Ruben Amorim and Manchester United, but his England return came with a warning from Tuchel. Expanding on what he meant about Rashford not falling back into “old routines”, Tuchel stressed the importance of work off the ball.

Despite defeat with Fenerbahce, history is being kind to flawed revolutionary and his two underdog Champions League titles

There was an early moment of excitement at the start of Thursday night’s meeting of Rangers and the José Mourinho industrial entertainment complex (Fenerbahce branch). As the players lined up on the Ibrox pitch Mourinho was caught by the TV cameras leaning forward on his bench, rubbing his hands, looking up to salute the watching world because of course being watched is always the game.

The most significant part of this tableau was Mourinho’s coat, which was ludicrous. This was a statement coat, a coat that looked as if it was given to him by the emperor of Sylvia with a ruby in each pocket. The key detail was its colour, a shade of grey so unnatural its only function is to tell you this garment cost as much as a tenement house, the whole thing finished in a weirdly natureless luxury fur, like a dictator’s dressing gown. Frankly, the coat was a brilliantly played opening gambit, a one-goal start on the night.

New manager is a supremely bright anglophile and logical choice in the win-things-now world of international football

Well, it didn’t feel like a birthright sale or a betrayal of Albion. Maybe if you squinted a bit, or just heard the vowel sounds. Perhaps if you’ve already performed some kind of ad hoc self-lobotomy using a chisel made from cheddar cheese, pork pie meat and fear. Maybe then, maybe then.

But also perhaps not, because Thomas Tuchel’s first squad conference was in the event a highly convincing production, expertly phrased, and hitting just the right note of hope versus realism. So yeah. Good luck with that. How far can we go with this? Because as ever the dynamic remains the same, an appointment to this strange semi-sporting role that will tell us a great deal more about England than the latest smiling man in front of the boards covered in adverts.

Manager opens up on losing his baby son, how close he came to quitting and the Premier League promotion push

After victory at Middlesbrough in October, Bristol City’s players headed towards the pocket of the Riverside Stadium housing their supporters. As the away fans sang on loop the name of their head coach, Liam Manning, the squad unravelled a giant red and white banner displaying the words “Fly High Theo” in block capitals. Manning, on leave after the death of his baby son eight days earlier, was watching from a rural cottage 300 miles south, on a much-needed getaway. “I sent a long message to the lads about it afterwards … yeah, lump in the throat,” he says. “The celebrations epitomised everything. It was above football.”

It is not the only heavy moment in a raw and moving conversation but the one thing Manning stresses, as he discusses the hardest episode of his life in an interview for the first time, is that this is not a sob story. He takes huge pride in sharing Theo’s name.

League Cup final against Manchester City is a chance to continue their dominance despite change of manager

What happens when a leader departs a sporting dynasty? How can the transfer of power cause as little disruption to the team as possible? History has all too often illustrated that it is a far from easy adjustment; that it will take a little time to regroup and recalibrate.

For Chelsea, however, the transition from Emma Hayes’s decade-long reign to new beginnings under Sonia Bompastor appears to have caused barely a ripple. They are unbeaten, registering 25 wins in 27 games. On Saturday they have the chance to claim the campaign’s first trophy – the League Cup final against Manchester City is an opportunity to stamp their mark as the business end of the season begins.

• Milan enjoy thrilling 2-1 comeback against Como
• Bayern held to a 1-1 draw away to Union Berlin

Kylian Mbappé scored twice to help Real Madrid fight back to beat Villarreal 2-1 and move top of La Liga overnight.

The hosts opened the scoring in the seventh minute when Álex Baena’s corner was deflected by Aurélien Tchouaméni, allowing Juan Foyth to score from close range. Real Madrid levelled 10 minutes later when Mbappé pounced on Brahim Díaz’s blocked shot and the ball landed at his feet for a close-range finish.

The 2025 NWSL season kicks off this week. We convened a panel of writers to discuss what they’re most looking forward to this year

Seeing if the Orlando Pride’s 2024 is repeatable in any way, shape or form. I’m a firm believer that last year’s Shield and Championship winning team delivered the most impressive season in the history of the NWSL. Last week, Marta herself said it best that in 2025 “everyone will hunt us.” Seeing how Orlando will carry themselves as defending champions will be fascinating. TLH

• Athletic Club earn 4-3 aggregate win over 10-man Roma
• Lazio and Bodø/Glimt progress as Frankfurt rout Ajax

Nico Williams scored twice as Athletic Club advanced to the Europa League quarter-finals with a 3-1 second-leg win over 10-man Roma on Thursday and Lazio progressed after a 1-1 home draw with Viktoria Plzen. Lazio will face Bodø/Glimt in the last eight after the Norwegian club continued their impressive European adventure despite losing 2-1 at Olympiakos, while Eintracht Frankfurt had little trouble finishing off Ajax with a 4-1 win.

Roma, 2-1 up from the first leg, were down to 10 men in the 11th minute after Mats Hummels saw red for taking down Maroan Sannadi who had intercepted his sloppy pass and Williams levelled the tie on aggregate in added time before the break. His shot took a deflection off Roma’s Angeliño before finding the net and Athletic went ahead on aggregate with 22 minutes left when Yuri Berchiche headed in from a corner.

After his takeover in 2018, the early enthusiasm has long gone, and so mostly has he. Now he wants to get on his bike

At the end of training on Friday, as Real Valladolid’s players left the annex next to the José Zorrilla stadium and headed off under grey skies, rain preparing to roll in, a surprise waited for them. It was the final session before the weekend their coach said would show what hopes they had, an opportunity not so much to save their season as still have one, and there was he was: the Original Ronaldo, in the flesh. He came to encourage them, he said, going round the dressing room reminding them what it means to be committed, always. “Thank you for accompanying the team before the Valencia game!” the club tweeted, exclamation included. The Brazilian, after all, is one of the greatest footballers ever.

He is also their owner and president. But still this was unexpected: they hadn’t seen him for months and didn’t think they would see him now either. He had been in the directors’ box for Valladolid’s first game of the season, which they had won, and when they played Real Madrid at the Bernabéu the following week too, which they hadn’t. Since then, as they watched their team slide towards the second division, abandoned to an increasingly inevitable fate, he hadn’t been back. “Where is the president?” supporters had sung. One day in November, while they were playing Getafe, he was playing tennis. They knew that because he had broadcast it on Twitch. So the following week, they set up a game in the stands, giant foam rackets hitting a ball back and forth.

The Lyon manager began his nine-month touchline ban at the weekend. His assistant filled in brilliantly

By Get French Football News

“The role of a manager is like that of parents,” began Lyon assistant coach-cum-child minder Jorge Maciel. “You educate your child for the moments when they aren’t with you, not those when they are.” Left at the school gates, Paulo Fonseca hugged his players as they entered the Allianz Riviera, not to see them until after the school day. Having completed the school run, the Lyon manager returned to the bus, put on his glasses, turned on his iPad and waited.

The Portuguese manager will be spending a lot of time away from his players this year. In the dying seconds of Lyon’s narrow 2-1 win over Brest last weekend, he violently confronted referee Benoît Millot after being shown a red card. The referee says Fonseca displayed an “intimidating attitude”, “spiralled out of control” and tried to “head-butt” him.

After Motta expresses gratitude to his former manager, Atalanta’s 4-0 win may end his plans for a second season

Thiago Motta has never been shy with his gratitude towards Gian Piero Gasperini. He cites the Atalanta manager extensively in the thesis he submitted while studying for his Uefa Pro coaching licence at Coverciano, describing how the season he spent playing under Gasperini at Genoa reshaped his approach to the game.

He offered thanks again on Saturday, recalling how he had arrived in Italy in a delicate moment of his career – seeking a way back from successive knee injuries at Barcelona and Atlético Madrid. “I’d just started training again and Gasperini asked me if I could play,” said Motta. “I said yes, and he said: ‘OK, I’ll bring you tomorrow and maybe you’ll play 10 minutes.’ Then he stuck me on in the first half when [Omar] Milanetto got hurt.

• USMNT will play Panama in semi-final on 20 March
• Canada and Mexico are other teams in competition

The US men’s national team have announced a 23-player roster for the Concacaf Nations League finals that features three players who will be in camp with head coach Mauricio Pochettino for the first time.

The headliners among the trio are Tyler Adams and Gio Reyna. The players are considered to be key parts of the squad, but both last appeared with the US at the 2024 Copa América, where the team were eliminated in the group stage. Adams, who captained the US at the 2022 World Cup, underwent back surgery after the tournament and returned to action with Bournemouth late last year. Reyna has found consistent minutes hard to come by this season at Borussia Dortmund with the team struggling in the Bundesliga, although they made it through to the Champions League round of 16.

• The right back came on as a 67th-minute sub
• Dest in contention for USMNT Nations League squad

US men’s national team defender Sergiño Dest has returned from knee surgery after more than 10 months out of action.

The 24-year-old entered in the 67th minute for PSV Eindhoven against Heerenveen in the Eredivisie on Saturday, coming on in place of fellow American Richy Ledesma.

After a history-making appointment at Brentford, the former Leicester City boss is hoping to build a new legacy

After spending a month at the 2024 Under-17 World Cup with England, Lydia Bedford returned to her home in early November, ready to settle back into routine. She wasn’t looking for a new job. She wasn’t thinking about leaving Premier League club Brentford, where she managed the U-18 squad. If anything, she was eager to focus on the season ahead.

Then, she got a text from her agent.

While Liverpool boss Arne Slot called the team's exit from the Champions League a shock, he took solace in losing to an excellent Paris Saint‑Germain team in a wildly entertaining two-legged tie that needed a penalty shootout to decide the outcome. In what Slot labelled 'the best game of football I've ever been involved in', PSG beat Liverpool 4-1 in a shootout to advance to the quarter-finals, winning Tuesday's second leg at Anfield 1-0 thanks to a goal from Ousmane Dembélé.

• Slot sanguine after Liverpool exit in ‘best game of football I’ve ever been involved in’

Sam Merson, son of the former footballer Paul Merson, scored an 'outrageous' goal for Hanworth Villa against Farnham Town. Merson's goal opened the scoring in the game which ultimately ended 1-1

Jeering fans from Internacional de Limeira provoked Neymar to score the first olimpico of his career, the Brazil international said on Sunday, after guiding Santos to a 3-0 win in the Paulista Championship. The former Barcelona and PSG player returned to his boyhood club at the end of January and helped Santos to another victory with a hand in all three goals. Neymar assisted the first and the third from corners, both scored by Tiquinho with his head, and he scored the second straight from a corner.

• Neymar responds to jeering fans by scoring for Santos directly from corner

A Watford Women's player was sent off after she, about to take a corner, removed the flag due to a puddle and was told by the referee to return it. Annie Rossiter did so before taking it out again and receiving a red card following an exchange with the official. Watford ultimately lost 3-2 to Lewes in their National League Southern Division game. 'I feel like the game was probably spoiled by some officiating decisions,' said Watford head coach Renée Hector

On Manchester United’s job losses, finances and new stadium, it takes hawk-like focus to work out what the co-owner is actually saying

A core strength of Ineos is direct accountability. Matrix structures are by definition amorphous, confusing, and create places for people to hide.

Hmm. That does sound bad, Sir Jim. Talk me through it one more time, these frustrating corporate shields, these blame-avoidance tactics you’re so worried about. But first could you please just come out from behind the table. And stop doing that admittedly very good Donald Duck voice.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s company Compass is sadly symptomatic of what football has become

What’s this? A second article about the Ineos Compass in a week – it’s this kind of inefficiency that would never happen at Manchester United. But I have been staring at the Ineos Compass for the past 48 hours. For those of you fortunate enough not to have encountered it, according to Ineos’s website “the Ineos Compass was devised by chairman Sir Jim Ratcliffe as a fun way of attempting to capture how Ineos works, and why”.

To the untrained (and perhaps also to the trained) eye, it is just a circle with words in it. “Words we like” are in the top portion and “words we don’t like” in the bottom. We like “no human is limited” – despite Sir Jim highlighting the limitations of a number of first-team players on Monday.

Premier League almost won but contracts are ending and key players ageing, necessitating a summer of change

It’s the 94th minute at Estádio da Luz in October. Benfica are winning 4-0 and Atlético Madrid are in utter disarray. Zeki Amdouni runs the ball into an entirely unpatrolled Atlético area, gets a free shot from 14 yards and misses a glorious chance to make it 5-0. Nobody cares. Least of all Liverpool, even though this miss will in effect end up, five months later, knocking them out of the Champions League.

Of course, we’re in the realm of the absurd here, although when it comes to the new Champions League format this is a system with margins exactly, and absurdly, this fine. By virtue of this one goal not scored – and of course you could pick out many others – Benfica end up finishing 16th in the 36-team group phase rather than 15th: a position from which they, rather than Paris Saint-Germain, would probably have ended up facing Liverpool in the last 16.

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Thomas Tuchel was unveiled as England manager in mid-October. Since then, he spent two-and-a-half months unofficially collecting his thoughts (and sizeable wage) during a pre-job gardening leave before officially starting on 1 January. Since then, Tuchel has spent the last two-and-a-half months making “an absolutely brilliant impact” and “building connections”, according to chief FA suit Mark Bullingham, despite Tuchel spending large stints working remotely in Germany. Fear not, though, Tuchel has spent some time in England, mainly in chauffeured vehicles and Premier League hospitality lounges. Sitting in heated seats a couple of times a week is rough work, but someone has to do it. It is sometimes said that the England manager’s job is the hardest in football. Just don’t tell that to the person cleaning the post-match bogs at your local Sunday League side.

You can only sit around the house and cry for so long. I’m a fighter. I didn’t have a playing career, so I’ve had to scrap to get where I am. I’ve been through a huge amount, so it’s made me quite tough. And it was two-way, right? What the fans did was incredible. It was important for me to show them my appreciation and the way I can do that is being on the touchline driving their club. It was my way of giving back a little bit. I know there were a few reservations from a few people: ‘Is it too early?’ But it just felt right” – the Bristol City manager, Liam Manning, talks to Ben Fisher about returning to football after the death of his baby son, Theo, last year.

I’m sorry for disagreeing with an octogenarian (Guy Robert, yesterday’s letters) whose knowledge I would otherwise bow [to], but a penalty miss is a miss whether saved or not. By the way, I’m only 50 and reading the Football Daily is a highlight of my day. Is this (arguing with my elders and betters) as good as it’s going to get for the next 30 years? Probably” – Andy Morrison.

Since pedantry is suddenly in fashion again: Thursday’s Football Daily referred to ‘an agonising afternoon’ for Villa as they lost at home to Ipswich in 1981. Not so: it was actually an evening game” – Glyn Berrington (and others).

I like Thomas Tuchel primarily because he was involved in that wonderful handshake spat with Antonio Conte while he was the manager of Chelsea. But I can’t look at him without thinking how much he resembles the figure in Edvard Munch’s ‘The Scream’. And judging by the response to his appointment from the unhinged wings of the British press, I have a feeling Munch’s masterpiece is a premonition of the pressure he’s signed up for” – Colin Reed.

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

Baroness Sue Campbell joins Suzy Wrack and Sophie Downey to discuss her journey and her recent book, The Game Changer

On today’s podcast, Suzy Wrack and Sophie Downey sit down with Baroness Sue Campbell to talk about her new book, The Game Changer, and her remarkable career in sport. From kicking a ball around in the school playground to leading the transformation of women’s football as the FA’s Director of Women’s Football, Campbell shares the challenges and triumphs of her journey. She discusses her role in the London 2012 Olympics, the importance of grassroots development, and the impact of England’s historic Euro 2022 victory. Plus, Baroness Sue Campbell shares her thoughts on the future of the game and what still needs to be done to ensure lasting progress.

Join the Fantasy League this season on FantasyWSL.net. Code GUARDIANWFW.

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Results and off-pitch changes contributed to coach going days before a cup final and months after all seemed rosy

On a cold Manchester night last November, as Gareth Taylor watched his team secure a 10th straight victory of the season by beating Hammarby, the idea that he would not be in charge of Manchester City by mid-March seemed fairly far-fetched. City were on a run of 21 wins and one defeat in 23 WSL matches, meaning that across 12 months they had the best league results in the country. Yet four months and four painful league defeats later, Taylor is out.

To some, who were surprised Taylor was given a one-year contract extension in May 2023 despite City finishing fourth, his departure has been on the cards because of a relatively low trophy return – the FA Cup in 2020 and League Cup in 2022 – and City’s eliminations in the qualifying rounds of the Champions League in 2022 and 2023. To others, who see him as the coach who was within a whisker of winning the league last term, his dismissal may seem brutal.

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Nicky Bandini, Mark Langdon and Sid Lowe to chew over the Champions League action

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On the podcast today; even for Real Madrid this felt like a particularly novel way to progress in the Champions League, with Atlético’s Julián Alvarez adjudged to have double-kicked his penalty in the shootout. Cue confusion on the pitch, in the dugout, the press box and at home. But, once the dust had settled, Carlo Ancelotti’s team were through … again.

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While the first-leg shellacking Arsenal dished out to PSV Eindhoven in the Netherlands meant that Wednesday night’s return leg was predictably low on drama, there was at least one moment of highly performative nonsense for fans at the Emirates to enjoy. Handed a rare start by Mikel Arteta, Oleksandr Zinchenko repaid his manager by firing his side ahead with a terrific strike but very pointedly refused to celebrate his first ever Bigger Cup goal for reasons that initially seemed to baffle his own teammates, PSV’s players, both sets of supporters and anyone like Football Daily with so little going on in their life that they’d tuned in to watch this 90-minute long foregone conclusion unfold on TV.

Plus: high-scoring Premier League games with no English-born scorer and club crests similar to logos

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“Liverpool’s 1-0 win against Paris Saint-Germain last week was the ultimate smash-and-grab victory. When was the phrase first used in a football context?” poses our very own Niall McVeigh.

Liverpool’s win in Paris was smash-and-grab bingo. They were away from home, like all burglars. They were battered and their keeper had the game of his life, which made it feel like they had stolen a result they didn’t deserve. The match was low-scoring, which meant there was a single, sudden moment of smashing and grabbing. And that moment came late on, in the 87th minute, increasing the dramatic impact to Hitchcockian levels.

SMASH AND GRAB

Audacious thief sentenced

Sentence of 20 months’ hard labour at Clerkenwell today on William Woolley (31), labourer, for breaking the window of one of Messrs Straker’s establishments in the East End.

Prisoner’s practice, it was shown, was to deliberately smash shop windows with a stone, and then bolt with whatever he could grab from the window.

Our cartoonist on two larger than life presidents coming together to discuss Coldplay, a portal to hell and much more

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Faye Carruthers is joined by Suzy Wrack, Tom Garry, and Robyn Cowen to discuss Gareth Taylor’s exit and the weekend’s games

On the podcast today: Manchester City part ways with Gareth Taylor just days before their League Cup final against Chelsea, with Nick Cushing stepping in as interim manager. What went wrong, and what does this mean for City’s season?

Elsewhere, Liverpool stun Arsenal to reach the FA Cup semi-finals, joining Chelsea, Manchester United, and Manchester City in the final four. Meanwhile, Liverpool’s Taylor Hinds was subjected to “sexually inappropriate comments” from a spectator. We break down all the action from the quarter-finals and discuss Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s latest eyebrow-raising comments on the Manchester United women’s team.

While the sense of alienation at Stamford Bridge runs deep, formulaic football is not helping the manager’s cause

Andoni Iraola does not want automatons. If space is there to be attacked, Bournemouth’s manager asks his players to be bold and seize the initiative. It is about having faith in creative instincts, throwing off the shackles as the shift away from Pep Guardiola’s positional football gathers pace. It would be unlike Iraola to threaten to substitute a goalkeeper for kicking long or a midfielder for trying a risky pass when a safer ball would allow his team to maintain their shape.

Enzo Maresca sees the game differently. Chelsea’s head coach is from the Guardiola school and has built his tactical vision around carefully hoarding possession, which leaves little room for improvisation and is contributing heavily to the sullen atmosphere at Stamford Bridge. “The people have to understand this is our way,” Maresca has said of the lukewarm reaction to his more sedate style. “This is the way we’re going to play.”

The anarchic Barça goalkeeper may not be an idealised athlete but he is writing an extraordinary closing chapter to his career

Accounts differ on just how late Iñaki Peña was to that team meeting in Jeddah. Some reports say two minutes; some go as high as four. Either way, Hansi Flick is nothing if not a coach of fine margins, and by such fine margins was Peña summarily dropped for the Supercopa semi‑final against Athletic Club in January. His replacement: Barcelona’s third goalkeeper, a 34‑year‑old smoker by the name of Wojciech Szczesny.

I think it matters that Szczesny smokes. Not because smoking is cool, which any eye-rolling Gen Z will tell you is no longer actually true, but because there is the idea here of competing motivations: of instant versus delayed gratification, of compromise in a sport that brooks none. The bible of modern football reads: your body is your work. Hone it. Optimise every detail. Squeeze out every last drop of capital it has to offer. Szczesny responds by blowing a cloud of Marlboro Light right in your passive face.

In reaching the Champions League quarter-finals, Unai Emery’s side have taken a step closer to being immortalised

Glory comes in many forms. Perhaps the best Aston Villa could hope for on Wednesday was a game of little drama. They had in effect won the tie in Belgium last week; the last thing they wanted was to have to win it again. And yet, straightforward as it was, this was glorious, a night that in its outcome, if not the precise details, was epochal, marking Villa’s return to the European elite. Perhaps that will be a long‑term state, perhaps fleeting; either way, it is significant.

There is a tide in the affairs of clubs which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. For Villa this was one of the nights fans yearn for, a night of destiny, a night to be spoken of for a long time to come. Even five years ago it would have seemed absurd that all that they had to do to reach the Champions League quarter-finals was avoid a two-goal defeat against the Belgian champions.

Alexander Dyukov and his fellow Putin-backed officials’ continuing role has largely been ignored

Uefa’s response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine could not have been swifter. Hours after the fighting had started in Luhansk, European football’s governing body convened an extraordinary meeting of its executive committee and, three days later, on 28 February 2022, Uefa, with Fifa, announced that all Russian clubs and national teams had been banned from their competitions until further notice.

Under-17 male and female teams were allowed back in September 2023, on condition they compete without their national kit, flag or anthem, only to be banned again after a dozen member associations threatened a boycott.

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

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

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

• The 100 best male footballers in the world 2024

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

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

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

• Bonmatí on top of world again | How every judge voted | Video top ten | 2023 list | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018
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The Spanish midfielder wins for a second consecutive year on a fast-moving list that sees 15 players appearing for the first time

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

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

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

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

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

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

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