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The goalkeeper on her difficult exit from Manchester United, life in France and battling for her England spot

“It’s a blessing and a curse,” says Mary Earps. “Naturally when you get named the Fifa Best goalkeeper, expectations do raise, and especially when you do it twice. People expect more of you.”

That is a pressure the England international, who joined Paris Saint-Germain in the summer at the end of her contract at Manchester United, deals with on a daily basis. But she does not want that to change. “It is a massive compliment but you do get criticised more and held to a higher standard than what other people do,” she says. “Then the extraordinary is expected. But, the reality of it is that I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’m really grateful for everything that I’ve achieved and the exciting thing for me is that I still feel like I’ve got room for improvement.”

This was not just a victory, it was an exorcism, the olés ringing round the Olympic stadium as high on Montjuïc hill Barcelona laid ghosts to rest. ­Bayern Munich – the ogres who had put eight past them in ­Lisbon, defeated them six times running with an aggregate score of 22-4, and hadn’t even conceded the last four times they met, the team that were just too good, repeatedly reminding them of their own grim reality – left here in pieces, expertly sliced apart.

Four times Barcelona cut through, Raphinha scoring a hat-trick on his 100th game and Robert Lewandowski getting another in a 4-1 win that felt like a revelation, a new life.

Modern club owners, from states to oligarchs, have the financial might to bully the body into submission

For a long time, football has heard the voice crying in the wilderness: make way for the coming of the regulator. This has been the hope that has sustained the rump of the game as the rich have disappeared further and further into the distance and clubs have been dragged further and further from their traditional communities. And now, with the launch on Thursday of the football governance bill, it feels a little realer, a little closer. This is actually happening.

But as details emerge, perhaps the most important thing to remember is that just because a regulator exists does not mean that regulations are followed, as the water industry demonstrates all too clearly. Far more important than any individual clause in the bill is what power the regulator will have in practice.

It is too early to pass judgment on Liverpool’s credentials or the new Champions League format, ­according to Arne Slot. It is not too soon to pass judgment on Slot’s start. Remarkable, with Liverpool’s head coach racking up another win and another record on an unnecessarily complicated night in Leipzig.

For the first time in their ­illustrious history Liverpool have won 11 of the opening 12 games in a season and their first six away matches from the start of a campaign. Their latest came courtesy of a Darwin Núñez tap‑in against the club that will soon be looked over by Jürgen Klopp, Red Bull’s incoming head of global ­soccer, and a few late escapes against a Leipzig team still searching for its first point in the Champions League. Liverpool have nine from a possible nine and are almost already through to the next phase of the competition.

In the goalfest that is Erling Haaland’s remarkable career, the reverse-flick while airborne that beat Peter Vindahl while facing away from Sparta Prague’s goalkeeper is surely a glittering standout. It was Manchester City’s second, coming on 58 minutes, and Haaland’s nonchalant, whadda-you-expect grin illustrated just how impressed he was with his own work.

Asked if the 24-year-old’s strike was normal, Pep Guardiola said: “For a human being I would say not. It’s unbelievable. He made an incredible goal, similar to [against Borussia] Dortmund a few years ago. I don’t know which one is more difficult but I would say both [are equal].”

There should be no embarrassment whatsoever attached to the scale of Celtic celebration which greeted confirmation of a draw in northern Italy. That Atalanta had run out of ideas long before the end of this intriguing encounter owed everything to a stirring Celtic response to events in Dortmund at the start of October.

On that chastening night in Germany, Brendan Rodgers watched his players trounced 7-1. The fallout – understandably to everyone apart from the Celtic manager himself – was epic. Rodgers insisted he and his team were “beat over the head with a stick” after last season’s beaten finalists ran riot. There is no requirement for metaphorical weaponry this week. Rodgers has shot back in the best manner possible.

• Régis Le Bris’ team win 2-1 at Kenilworth Road
• Burnley scrape 1-1 draw with Hull as Sheffield United lose

Sunderland moved three points clear at the top of the Championship with a 2-1 win at Luton.

Carlton Morris’s first-half strike was controversially ruled out for offside and the home side were left to rue other missed chances when the visitors took the lead early in the second half.

• Cushing won WSL title with Manchester City in 2016
• The 39-year-old is now New York City men’s coach

The former Manchester City women’s manager Nick Cushing is among the shortlisted candidates to be the next Arsenal women’s head coach.

Cushing has been in charge of the New York City FC men’s team since 2022, having moved to the Major League Soccer side initially as assistant coach in 2020. The 39-year-old was quickly identified as a target by Arsenal to replace Jonas Eidevall, after the Swede’s resignation last week.

• Team winless in Europa League before Mourinho reunion
• Manager without 10 senior players for trip to Turkey

Erik ten Hag has admitted that he is under pressure to win another trophy in his third season at Manchester United and prove himself again but believes they are heading in the right direction after their comeback win over Brentford on Saturday.

United face a reunion with their former manager José Mourinho in Thursday’s Europa League match against Fenerbahce, having failed to record a victory in the first two rounds of matches. Ten Hag’s side have conceded 17 goals in their past five away matches in European competition, stretching back to the Dutchman’s first season in charge when they were eliminated in the quarter-finals of the Europa League.

• Fenerbahce manager hints at Premier League return
• Says Ten Hag getting better United treatment than he did

José Mourinho has mischievously suggested he could be in line for a fourth Premier League winner’s medal, after finishing as runner-up with Manchester United in 2018, if Manchester City are stripped of their title.

Mourinho, whose Fenerbahce side host his former club in the Europa League on Thursday, also said he believed United had given Erik ten Hag “trust and stability” not afforded to him at Old Trafford.

• United have made unbeaten start to WSL season
• Defender determined to earn England spot at Euro 2025

Maya Le Tissier has said she never expected to be captaining Manchester United at the age of 22 and that her team have a new culture, after reaching the first international break unbeaten. The England defender has overseen four wins and a draw after a summer of major changes to the squad, including the high-profile departures of the England trio Mary Earps, Nikita Parris and Katie Zelem, the previous captain. There were six signings, including the Norway winger Celin Bizet from Tottenham.

“It’s a really positive place to be,” Le Tissier said. “There’s a different culture within the team, a very young team.

A congested schedule, last-minute venue changes and empty stands all marred what is supposed to be the pinnacle of South American women’s club football

This year’s Copa Libertadores Femenina, the principal women’s football club tournament in South America, ended with mixed emotions on Saturday. Corinthians went through the finals undefeated and secured their fifth title at the Estádio Defensores del Chaco, in Paraguay, defeating Colombia’s Santa Fe 2-0 in a thrilling final.

Vic Albuquerque and Érika scored the decisive goals but as the players celebrated on the pitch, they also shared a protest video on their social media accounts, criticising the tournament’s conditions. “We won, but not everything is a party,” they said. “Last-minute venue changes, lack of publicity, poor pitches, risk of injury, having only 20 players, games every three days, empty stadiums, no warm-ups allowed on the pitch, inadequate infrastructure … it is disrespectful.”

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

On the wing, Kulusevski’s lack of speed was a problem, but in midfield, his speed of thought is crucial

By Ben McAleer for WhoScored

Abba Voyage isn’t the only Swedish attraction lighting up London at present. While fans of the legendary band flock to witness the event in east London, a little further north, Tottenham supporters are witnessing another Swede go about his business.

Dejan Kulusevski has gone from somewhat dispensable to undroppable under Ange Postecoglou. Indeed, Kulusevski is the midfielder that makes Spurs tick, shining both on and off the ball to help them not only dominate possession but are quick to win it back when it’s lost.

When selecting a supreme Samp five, it is impossible to look beyond the stars of their greatest era, in the 80s and 90s

By Stephen Kasiewicz for The Gentleman Ultra

The members of my Sampdoria five-side-team played together during the club’s most successful period, from 1984-1994.

It would have been easy to pick an ultra-attacking side with four forwards. But to maintain some kind of balance there was no room for Blucerchiati icons Fabio Quagliarella and Francesco Flachi, while none of Doria’s star foreigners made the cut either.

“In this cup and in this place anything can happen,” Vinícius Júnior said, barely audible in the midst of the madness after yet another night in which it had. Real Madrid gonna Real Madrid. One hundred and 43 days after they met at Wembley, the Champions League finalists faced each other again and Borussia Dortmund scored twice in four minutes midway through the first half, the quickest team to come here and take a two-goal lead in almost 20 years, so Real Madrid went and scored five even faster. “We went in at half-time shitting ourselves but we listened, we said get one, we’ll come back again,” the Brazilian revealed, and so it was.

Madrid had gone into the dressing room 2-0 down, goals from Donyell Malen and the Reading-born Jamie Bynoe-Gittens giving Dortmund a lead they deserved. A banner before the game announced that this was Madrid’s crown and Madrid’s cup, which it always was and always will be, but at that stage it you wondered if it might just be Dortmund’s night. History, though, has warned otherwise so many times, the ridiculous now routine, and here it was repeated. Madrid win, which is what they do, and ultimately they had deserved it too; their superb second half yielding five goals and underlining their candidacy for the trophy they like to think of as their own.

• Defender forced off in second half of win over Shakhtar
• Arteta says Bukayo Saka ‘unlikely’ to be fit for Liverpool

Arsenal’s injuries are piling up after Riccardo Calafiori was forced to depart their victory against Shakhtar Donetsk midway through the second half with a problem Mikel Arteta described as “not great news”.

An otherwise routine night’s work, the win secured by a first-half own goal from the Shakhtar goalkeeper Dmytro Riznyk, was clouded when the left-back came off in visible discomfort with what appeared to be a knee injury. Bukayo Saka, Martin Ødegaard and Jurrien Timber were among those who missed the game and all may still be absent when Liverpool visit the Emirates Stadium for a crunch Premier League fixture on Sunday.

In the seconds after John McGinn gave Aston Villa the lead, the scoreboards in opposite corners malfunctioned, flickering to display a 3-0 scoreline against Bologna courtesy of a supersonic hat-trick from their captain. For a moment it was pure fantasy but Unai Emery’s team really are top of the reformed Champions League, the only side with a 100% record so far having played three matches. Nine points, three clean sheets, Real Madrid, Milan and Paris Saint-Germain are looking up the table with a touch of envy.

McGinn inadvertently scored the first directly from a free-kick before Jhon Durán, handed a rare start, added a second with his seventh goal of the season. Everybody was on cloud nine, then? Not quite. Durán’s instinctive, hooked finish to convert Morgan Rogers’s dinked cross proved his final touch and, after being replaced by Ollie Watkins, he thumped a padded seat in the home dugout and then booted the back of another chair.

• Bachmann errors help Farke’s side to 2-1 win
• Cardiff beat Portsmouth to climb out of bottom three

Leeds moved up to second in the Championship as two goalkeeping blunders by Watford’s Daniel Bachmann helped them to a 2-1 win at Elland Road. The Austria goalkeeper was at fault for both Leeds’ goals as they raced into a 2-0 lead inside the opening seven minutes through Largie Ramazani and Brenden Aaronson.

Kwadwo Baah pulled one back for Watford, who were much improved in the second half, but Leeds held on for back-to-back home wins in the space of five days. Daniel Farke’s side extended their unbeaten league run to six matches and have now lost one of their first 11, while Watford slipped to a fifth straight league defeat on the road.

Australia have no time to waste under an interim coach as they start on a path towards redemption with friendlies against Switzerland and Germany

One of the oft-repeated mantras of the Football Australia chief executive, James Johnson, lately is that the Matildas have time. That thanks to automatic qualification as hosts for the 2026 Asian Cup, Australia have plenty of time to find a permanent replacement for former coach Tony Gustavsson.

That the Matildas have time to bounce back from a disappointing Olympic Games and rediscover the sense of joy in their play that waned through that difficult tournament. And that they have plenty of time to build towards their peak for a continental showpiece event on home soil that offers the chance to perhaps not replicate the nation-defining unity that came with the Women’s World Cup but, at least, evoke a sense of nostalgia.

Plus: stands delivered from one club to another; Erling Haaland denied; and a brutal time for Ängelholms FF

• Mail us your questions or tweet @TheKnowledge_GU

“Pakistan caused a stir in the cricket world at the weekend by applying patio heaters and giant fans to the pitch that will be used for the third Test against England at Rawalpindi,” writes Harry Trumpston. “The hope was that this would make the pitch more helpful to the home side’s spin bowlers. What tactics have football clubs used to make their pitches provide more assistance to teams?”

You can’t start this answer anywhere other than with John Beck and his early-1990s Cambridge United side, who rose rapidly from the fourth tier to second and came very close to reaching the top flight with their uncompromising, committed and direct brand of the beautiful game. Beck instructed Cambridge’s ground staff to let the grass grow long in the corners of the Abbey Stadium pitch, so that the ball would sit up on the turf when the U’s got it launched to their wingers … who would, in turn, supply their potent old-school front pairing of Dion Dublin and John Taylor.

Ferguson’s legacy at Old Trafford is assured but revelations over his earnings for ambassadorial duties leave a sour taste

Wayne Rooney had stolen the show in a 2-0 Manchester United win. The visit of the Premier League champions to Aberdeen in the summer of 2008 provided the kind of carnival occasion always guaranteed after Alex Ferguson’s defining move from Pittodrie to Old Trafford. This particular friendly was to mark the 25th anniversary of Ferguson leading Aberdeen to Cup Winners’ Cup glory. Friendly it was … until post‑match media duties.

Frank Gilfeather, a household name in the north east, asked Ferguson about the potential impact of Carlos Queiroz’s recently announced exit from United to take over as the Portugal head coach. Ferguson, hitherto unaware Gilfeather was in the room, shot a glance so vengeful it made the four horsemen of the apocalypse look like cartoon characters. After a pause of three seconds – which felt like three months – Ferguson answered the question in perfectly articulate terms. As the press conference concluded a group of us dived towards Gilfeather, desperate to know the basis for Ferguson’s extraordinary reaction. Gilfeather had reported throughout Ferguson’s spell in Aberdeen and, it was always assumed, had a decent relationship with the managerial icon.

As fans lose control of the sport and clubs they love to mega-rich owners, they turn instead on a familiar enemy: officials

• Sign up to Soccer with Jonathan Wilson here

Another weekend, another slew of wearying arguments about VAR and refereeing. At Bournemouth, Arsenal fans called the referee Robert Jones “a cheat” and chanted that the Premier League was “corrupt”. On social media, the outrage was even greater. Fans have always complained about referees, of course, but traditionally they called them “blind” and dismissed them as “wankers” or “bastards”. Then came the “You’re not fit to referee” song; the cries of systemic corruption, though, are relatively new.

Perhaps this is just the world we live in, one of distortions and paranoia, shaped by a diverse range of populist cynics from José Mourinho to Donald Trump, social media nurturing conspiracy theories which sprout from the fertile ground left as Covid retreated. Or perhaps there is something more complex going on.

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

Aston Villa are grateful for their No 1, West Ham have problems and Eddie Howe is under the pump

Curtis Jones’s all-action display against Chelsea was all the more impressive, given that the Liverpool midfielder and his partner have a newborn daughter at home – and he slept in the spare room before Sunday’s game. Called in to cover for Alexis Mac Allister, who picked up a knock on Argentina duty, Jones brought energy to Arne Slot’s midfield in an outstanding box-to-box display. He kept Cole Palmer quiet, might have won two penalties with runs into the box (the second was overturned by VAR) – and was in the right place again to poke home a second-half winner. Jones’s form will be a big boost for Slot with a brutal run of fixtures set to test the depth of his squad. The 23-year-old is surely overdue an England senior debut, having been part of the recent Nations League squad. Jones is the kind of dynamic midfielder Thomas Tuchel may be looking for, and more game time for Liverpool could convince the interim manager, Lee Carsley, to bed in a player he called “one of the most talented I’ve worked with”. Niall McVeigh

Match report: Liverpool 2-1 Chelsea

Match report: Wolves 1-2 Manchester City

Match report: Liverpool 2-1 Chelsea

Match report: Bournemouth 2-0 Arsenal

Match report: Fulham 1-3 Aston Villa

Match report: Manchester United 2-1 Brentford

It’s not the moments or the music, the joy in how he plays. It’s something simpler with ‘the eternal solution’

Ferenc Puskas played pregnant, teammate Amancio Amaro liked to say. The day he arrived at Real Madrid in 1958, he was 31 years old, 18kg overweight and, banned by Fifa for defecting after the Hungarian uprising, hadn’t played football for two years. He couldn’t possibly go on a pitch like this: signing me is all well and good, he told the club’s president Santiago Bernabéu, but have you seen me? “I was the size of a large balloon,” he recalled and the coach, Luis Carniglia, didn’t know what to do with him either. That, Bernabéu replied, was their problem not his. As it turned out, blessed with a left foot like no other, 242 goals followed, the only problem that he hadn’t come sooner.

Most called him Cañoncito pum! (Little Cannon Bang!), although Alfredo Di Stéfano called him little cannon big belly. That summer Puskas trained wrapped in plastic and woolly jumpers. By the season’s end, he had scored the goal that took Real Madrid to the European Cup final; a year on, he scored four in the final but gave Erwin Stein the match ball. Old when he came, supposedly finished, he helped Madrid reach three more. He scored a hat-trick in 1962 and played in 1964 but when the 1966 final arrived, eight years after he had, it was over. Left behind while they travelled to Brussels, he was in a makeshift cup team facing Betis three days before and 1,000 miles south.

The Bavarians’ big win against Stuttgart shows just how much things have changed since Thomas Tuchel’s tenure

Build it and they will come. That had been the message coming out of Bayern Munich’s corridors of power over the international break, from Vincent Kompany, Max Eberl and the higher-ups. If there had been a fortnight’s worth of heel-kicking it was just that; not stewing, not sulking, but a belief that Bayern were ready to unload on an opponent, with the excellence and exhilaration of their play so far this season bound to reach critical mass.

Even for a club constantly walled in by hyperbole and overreaction, the description of the team’s pre-international break run of three games without a win as Kompany’s first “mini-crisis” had felt faintly ludicrous. For starters, they were still unbeaten in the Bundesliga and top of the table. The mood suggested a determination to correct course, rather than recrimination and fury. “For me it isn’t a matter of belief,” Kompany told Bild after Saturday’s 4-0 win over Stuttgart. “It is about what the analysis showed. That we were dominant, that we had many, many, many more chances than the opponents.” Their winless run was hardly against nobodies either, but against champions Leverkusen, then Aston Villa on a Champions League night for the ages and lastly in-form Eintracht Frankfurt.

José Mourinho cheekily suggested he could be in line to win a fourth Premier League title after finishing as runners-up with Manchester United in 2017-2018 if Manchester City are stripped of their title. Mourinho, whose Fenerbahce side will host his former club in the Europa League, also said he believes United have shown Erik ten Hag 'trust and stability' by keeping him in his post for this season in contrast to the way the he was treated by the club.

• Mourinho: I can win Premier League with Manchester United … if City are stripped of 2018 title

Gunsu entertains fans on Instagram by demonstrating his unique football techniques. He catches the ball between his feet and flicks it up and over his head ready to score goals or, in some cases, baskets.

Pep Guardiola has stressed the importance of players prioritising their clubs by revealing that he has 'never been so angry' as when Manchester City's John Stones was injured in England’s friendly against Belgium earlier this year. Reflecting on the situation Guardiola said 'if it's a friendly game, you cannot come back injured. I'm sorry. You are focused. In a friendly game you cannot come back injured when you're playing quarter-finals of the Champions League'

• ‘Never so angry’: Guardiola underlines Stones’ value by recalling fury at England injury

A number of free, week-long football camps are taking place in Scotland throughout the 2024-25 season, with children from all socio-economic backgrounds invited during the school holidays. A free lunch is also provided as the initiative aims to help tackle the rising issue of holiday hunger and ease the pressure on parents while their children are not in school. The programme is projected to reach more than 850 participants at 33 regional locations during the October half-term period. Motherwell captain Paul McGinn, who took part in a coaching session with Motherwell Community Trust, said: 'This week might be a catalyst for these kids to go on to play football for the rest of their lives or pick it up as a hobby, which will make a massive difference to their physical and mental health'

Mario Engels scored an incredible goal from beyond the halfway line for Heracles, making it 2-1 in their home game to Ajax in the Dutch Eredivisie. Goals from a trio of former Premier League stars – Davy Klaassen, Bertrand Traoré and Wout Weghorst – would seal a dramatic comeback win for Ajax

After Thomas Tuchel's appointment as England men's manager, Pep Guardiola said the German's nationality is irrelevant. "I don't like to criticise for just the fact you were born in a place," said the Manchester City manager. "He is recognised for his talent and I wish him the very best," Guardiola added of Tuchel. "I would like to support him unconditionally."

Pierre Sage’s men have won five matches in a row with Rayan Cherki and Malick Fofana to the fore

By Eric Devin for Get French Football News

Whisper it, but are Lyon back? If not to the scintillating level of their record run of titles, then are they at least a reasonable facsimile of the team that took Ligue 1 by storm in the second half of last season, going from relegation candidates to a sixth-placed finish?

In the early going, their summer transfer window looked to be full of missteps, with Saïd Benrahma, Georges Mikautadze and Moussa Niakhaté struggling for form, the trio having cost the thick end of €70m.

The current existential threat to some of the biggest clubs in the country shows who holds the cards in French football

This is how a senior Ligue 1 club executive put it: “Without PSG, we can’t survive. But we can’t live with them either.” Few of his colleagues at other French clubs would disagree. For “PSG” read “Qatar”.

On one hand, Paris Saint-Germain have been transformed by the hundreds of millions spent on acquiring star players after Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) rescued the club from bankruptcy in 2011, and have dominated French football to such a degree that of the 33 major trophies on offer since the 2012-13 season, only 10 have escaped the Parisian juggernaut.

Englishman has made a big impression since taking over at Strasbourg, who are now aiming to end PSG’s unbeaten run

“What I’ve learned in three months here, I probably wouldn’t have learned in England over five years,” Liam Rosenior says of his introduction to French football. A few months after his dismissal by Hull, the former defender became only the second Englishman to coach in France since the 1950s when he succeeded Patrick Vieira at Strasbourg in the summer.

In only the third role of his managerial career, Rosenior has taken an unconventional step at a club purchased by BlueCo, the consortium that bought Chelsea from Roman Abramovich, last summer. “It wasn’t really on my mind that I was an Englishman going abroad, it was just a really exciting project,” he says. For the time being, Rosenior’s assistant coach and former Reading teammate, Kalifa Cissé, serves as a translator during press conferences, while the former undergoes weekly intensive French lessons.

After glorious start at Arsenal the midfielder found pathway blocked and has honoured his roots with Deportivo move

Old tweets can come back to bite, but not this time. This time, digging into his past made them love Charlie Patiño even more: for who he could be and always was, already an icon in A Coruña where he hadn’t lived before and hasn’t played yet but which is home.

If you’re wondering why a generational talent Arsenal’s head scout described as the best to walk through the academy doors has joined a club that spent the past four years in Spain’s third tier, look online. You might find part of the answer in a picture of him, aged 10. In his posts, the things he said years ago. And in what he says now, a calm, analytical clarity and determination making sense of it all.

A 1-0 defeat by Kyrgyzstan rocked North Korea while South Korea are on course for their 11th successive qualification

In June 2009, South Korea had qualified for the World Cup by the time Iran came to Seoul (and produced that protest) but Park Ji-sung’s late strike secured a 1-1 draw. It was a goal more celebrated by the North Korea players watching in their hotel in Riyadh before their game with Saudi Arabia.

“Park Ji-sung gave us the best-ever assist,” the DPRK striker Jong Tae-se told me in an interview with the Guardian a few months later. “He gave us a great chance. It was so exciting. We knew that we only needed a draw and I had faith that we could do the job in Saudi Arabia.” It ended 0-0 and North Korea made it to South Africa and as well as the delight in Pyongyang, there was happiness in Seoul.

The former Liverpool assistant on a tricky start to life at Red Bull Salzburg, his coaching methods and Arne Slot

After four months as Red Bull Salzburg’s head coach Pepijn Lijnders has experienced a wide range of emotions. Jürgen Klopp’s former Liverpool assistant won six and drew two of his first eight games but has since overseen a challenging period that has included three heavy defeats. Not that it has lessened his determination. This job has, after all, been a long time in the making.

From the moment it was announced in January that Klopp and Lijnders would leave Anfield at the end of the season, the Dutchman was open to offers and a few clubs were invited to his house in Formby to explain their ideas. Salzburg were among them and it was not their first attempt to lure him.

Can the Inter Miami talisman win the league’s top individual honor despite missing much of the campaign? It depends on your definition of valuable

In a development that will only come as a shock to newborns and extraterrestrials, Lionel Messi’s MLS performances have been absolutely stellar this season. He has been a key part of the Inter Miami team at the top of the standings, has produced all manner of goals and assists, and has generally lived up to the hype every time he has stepped on the field.

It’s slightly more surprising that if his spectacular run ends with winning MLS’s Most Valuable Player award (MVP), it would be unprecedented in North American men’s sports and nearly unheard of in the most famous domestic men’s leagues in Europe – with one very notable exception.

• France captain links ‘fake news’ to PSG wages dispute
• Swedish prosecutors have not named Real Madrid star

Swedish prosecutors say a rape investigation had been opened in ­Stockholm without mentioning Kylian Mbappé, following media reports that the France captain and Real Madrid player was the suspect.

Citing documents it has seen, the Swedish public broadcaster SVT reported that the French footballer is “reasonably suspected” of rape – the lower level of suspicion under Swedish law.

We head to Italy’s capital for the latest instalment of a series where writers delve into their banks of calcio nostalgia

By Martin Dunlop for The Gentleman Ultra

Here we go; the almost impossible task of picking a Roma five-a-side team and keeping most people happy. Roma, like many Italian sides, are a club with a rich history of top-class players who have each brought their own unique skills and styles of play to an adoring public.

I would argue, reasonably confidently, that three of my five selections will not spark much debate. I have chosen only one midfielder, which means legends such as Agostino Di Bartolomei, Giuseppe Giannini and Daniele De Rossi miss out. However, my midfield choice brings energy, dynamism, and a creative spark that I feel would flourish on a five-a-side pitch. I’m confident that if my attacking duo rediscover their old spark, this team would be competitive against any side put in front of them.

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

The two Americans were on our list five years ago but their paths show the professional game is rarely straightforward

Career paths are rarely straightforward, whether in football or any other area of life. Circumstances often change. Injuries and illnesses happen, there are often changes in leadership which have an impact on the individual while personal lives also play a part.

Career paths are therefore very difficult to predict. Looking down the list of our 2019 Next Generation, which we have now followed for five years, there were no guarantees any of the players would become household names. OK, Alex Holiga, who covers the Balkans for us, was confident that Josko Gvardiol would make it big – which he has – but apart from him, and perhaps Ansu Fati, Eduardo Camavinga and Jérémy Doku, there were no certainties.

A remarkable year for the youngster. Made his Bundesliga debut on 18 January and has not looked back since. He now has 23 first-team appearances and has established himself as a starter and one of the most talented young players in Europe. “I’m still learning a lot tactically,” he said in August. “There is a very big difference between youth and professional football. Making the right movements and creating space for myself and others is what I still need to learn the most.

A tumultuous year for the young American who was caught in the crossfire of a feud between his own family and the USMNT coach, Gregg Berhalter, after the World Cup, during which he played a mere 52 minutes of the US’s four games. Injuries have once again hampered him but he is back to full fitness now and a US return seems likely too after talks with Berhalter.

The fury of the newspaper’s star sports writer about a German managing England means a central point gets lost in translation

Well, that kicked off a bit didn’t it? By now it seems fairly clear we all need a break from people having feelings about The Germans, and specifically about the morality or otherwise of a German being employed as manager of the England men’s football team.

Except, perhaps not quite yet. How about it? Once more, this time with feeling? At the very least, as the tide retreats on all that free-floating anxiety, it is probably worth taking a look at the reaction itself, which is, as ever, the part that seems to stick.

Manager’s resignation suggests the decision came from him as bad results and a toxic atmosphere took its toll

It is sad to see a journey that started with such promise end in a whimper. That is the reality of Jonas Eidevall’s Arsenal tenure, which was bookended by matches against Chelsea – his opening game a thrilling 3-2 victory and his final one a blunt 2-1 defeat that epitomised problems that just would not go away.

The announcement on Tuesday that Eidevall had resigned as head coach was not surprising, but it was unexpected. With only one win from three Women’s Super League games and a bruising 5-2 defeat against Bayern Munich in the Champions League before the game against Chelsea, the feeling was that the writing was on the wall for the 41-year-old. Win or lose and Eidevall’s future looked uncertain. However, with an international break two games away and a winter break further ahead, Arsenal pulling the trigger immediately felt unlikely.

Legal battle between Manchester City and the Premier League highlights the game’s existential crisis – is it too late to save it?

Don’t look up! As the families of Westeros squabble, the undead gather beyond the Wall. As senior monks jockey to be the new abbot, viking longboats mass on the horizon. As the left bicker interminably over infinitesimal doctrinal differences, right-leaning billionaire tech-bros fund the march of quasi-fascistic populism.

The problem with existential threats, from the climate crisis to Conquistadors to Covid, is that they always seem distant, somehow unreal. People are always predicting the end of the world, which makes it easy to dismiss the doom-mongers. When we’ve had so many warnings of the apocalypse, why should anybody listen now? But some day one of those prophets is going to be right. Nothing is eternal.

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When it was reported last Friday that Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis had been landed with a five-match stadium ban for “improper behaviour” around the tunnel area following their defeat to Fulham last month, Football Daily can’t have been alone in wondering what exactly it was the Greek businessman could have done to merit such a hefty punishment. Considering Nuno Espírito Santo and Morgan Gibbs-White had received shorter bans on the same day for slinging a few effs and jeffs at match referee Josh Smith and his team of match officials, it turns out Big Vange’s suspension was imposed for the similar – but crucially very different and far more serious – crime of gobbing off in their direction.

As I read Sid Lowe’s article on Luka Modric, I was reminded of a mind-blowing stat that I saw the other day, that Modric has now played in more than half of Croatia’s all-time men’s national games (182 out of 363). He has outlasted legends at Real Madrid, including Karim Benzema, Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale, Sergio Ramos, Marcelo, Toni Kroos, Casemiro and more. That Modric is now 39 and still competing at the highest level, both for club and country, is amazing, and it’s a wonder his name is not brought up as often in discussions about the greats” – Sam Fetherlin.

I know four years is a long time in football but, even still, the change from this to the utterly predictable this with Real Madrid is quite startling” – Noble Francis.

While Arthur Ellis might well have been the ‘man in the middle’ in Berne (yesterday’s Memory Lane, full email edition), this was some years before I was even born. So you’ll have to forgive me (and 1,056 other readers) for remembering the man and his weekly refereeing role in It’s A Knockout. If you can get past Stuart Hall, Arthur adds a ‘smart, aristocratic’ air to the seaside-postcard proceedings. Sadly, 1979 never looked so seedy” – Stephen Gash (and no other readers).

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Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Nicky Bandini and Lars Sivertsen as Madrid overcome a two-goal deficit against Dortmund and Aston Villa win their third consecutive Champions League game

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On the podcast today: new Champions League format, same old Real Madrid. Did Dortmund manage the game poorly or is this just what happens when you play Carlo Ancelotti’s team?

Our resident cartoonist on the societal collapse that followed England naming a GERMAN! as their new manager

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Faye Carruthers, Suzanne Wrack, Chris Paouros and Tom Garry to discuss the weekend’s WSL action and look ahead to the internationals. Plus, FA’s women’s technical director, Kay Cossington, joins for an exclusive interview

On today’s podcast, the panel reviews a weekend full of drama. Chelsea showcased their five-star quality, and our discussion centres around whether Johanna Rytting Kaneryd is currently the best winger in the world. Additionally, Arsenal kicked off the post-Jonas Eidevall era with a much-needed win, but do they still face lingering problems?

Manchester City came from behind to take the top spot in the league. Meanwhile, Leicester defeated Everton to achieve their first victory of the season, and just how pleased was Nikita Parris to score against her former club, Manchester United, while playing for Brighton.

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Wilson and Sam Dalling as Liverpool beat Chelsea 2-1 to stay ahead of Manchester City at the top of the table

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On the podcast today: Liverpool’s first big test of the season and they pass it with a relatively scare-free 2-1 win over a much-improving Chelsea.

Match the footballers and coaches to the shiny silverware

Below, we’ve listed the trophy hauls of players and managers – with players first. The lists do not include losing final appearances (except Olympics), individual prizes, or trophies a selected player won as a manager (and vice versa) …

Plus: the biggest age difference between scorers, swift strikes, more tattoos and generational international talent

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“When Celtic and Aberdeen meet on Saturday, both will have 100% records going into the match, with seven wins from seven. Has there been a later meeting between two teams with perfect records?” tweets Mike Slattery.

Saturday’s game at Celtic Park has a simple sales pitch: The Irresistible Force v The Irresistible Force. There are few precedents for opponents both having a perfect record after seven games apiece, and in fact we couldn’t find any in the men’s game.

ARSENAL P16 W16 D0 L0 F80 A10 PTS 48
EVERTON P13 W13 D0 L0 F46 A9 PTS 39

Game may be in rude health at the top level, but cases of Solihull Moors and Liverpool Feds offer a stark contrast

In harsh contrast to the upcoming England vGermany fixture at Wembley, the ever-nearer possibility of the first million-pound transfer fee, and the six-figure salaries some players enjoy at the top of the Women’s Super League, the news earlier this month that the entire coaching staff and several players of the women’s team at fourth-tier Solihull Moors had resigned over alleged neglect of the team’s entire programme served as an important reminder that all is not as rosy as it may seem in the English women’s football pyramid.

Last weekend’s headline WSL fixture between Arsenal and Chelsea attracted a crowd of 45,860 and was broadcast live on BBC One, but that will have felt a world away for a club such as Liverpool Feds, who are positioned just outside the top-30 women’s clubs in the country within the pyramid. As a third-tier club, currently sixth in the Women’s National League Northern Premier Division and competing with men’s Premier League-backed brands such as Nottingham Forest and Wolves, Liverpool Feds are run entirely by volunteers. The club was formed in 1990 and currently have close to 200 players, of ages ranging from six to 60, including a walking football section. But their women’s first team is unable to pay players’ expenses, let alone pay players or staff wages.

Journalist Javier Cáceres asked many of the game’s biggest names – from Guardiola to Pelé and Bobby Charlton – to draw their favourite goals: the results are revealing

Like the best stories, the biggest adventures and football itself, this begins in a pub. In 2005 the journalist Javier Cáceres flew from Berlin to Santiago to interview Leonel Sánchez in a bar called Munich where the former international had his own stein with his name on. Sánchez, the son of a boxer, joint-top scorer at the 1962 World Cup, was one of Chile’s greatest players and among the hardest too. Once leader of the team they named the Blue Ballet, what he did that day over a beer would, two decades on and purely by chance, bring together footballers from around the world in a unique collection of art.

In the Battle of Santiago, between Chile and Italy – memorably introduced by David Coleman as “the most stupid, appalling, disgusting and disgraceful exhibition of football, possibly in the history of the game” – it was Sánchez who broke Humberto Maschio’s nose and hit Mario David. But he then scored in Chile’s quarter-final against the Soviet Union, the radio commentator Julio Martínez embedding it in the collective conscience with shouts of “Divine justice!” Of Sánchez’s 260 goals, beating Lev Yashin meant the most. Yet as he described that moment, Cáceres couldn’t picture it. So he handed Sánchez a pen and asked him to draw it.

Champions League conqueror is a fiery tactical zealot but narrative has always been that England need a winner

Well, at least we know now why Lee Carsley spent last week addressing the nation’s media in the style of a low-comedy adulterous 1950s sales executive explaining in flustered detail exactly why or indeed why not he might or might not be on the verge of finally leaving his wife.

The news that the Football Association has been engaged in advanced discussion with Thomas Tuchel over the vacant England head coach role does explain the riddle-me-this tone of the interim choice while discussing the immediate future.

The former England and Manchester United defender’s foundation is now having an impact far beyond the south London estate where he grew up

Whenever Rio Ferdinand needs inspiration, he remembers his mother. Growing up on the Friary Estate in Peckham, south London, Janice St Fort “was always known for helping other people”. “If one of the mums on the estate was in trouble, she would come down and say: ‘What’s going on?’” says the former Manchester United and England defender. “She was a doer – someone that people could lean on.”

Ferdinand is proudly reflecting on the achievements of his foundation, which his mother helped to establish in 2012 and has been taken to new heights since her death seven years ago. Working with disadvantaged communities and aiming to provide opportunities and pathways to employment in a number of fields, the Rio Ferdinand Foundation is estimated to have provided support to more than 10,000 young people from the UK, Ireland and beyond.

Spain’s cult hero on the injury layoff that revived his career, not taking football too seriously and Chelsea’s resurgence

“Before it was Ronaldinho and now it’s people like … well, me,” Marc Cucurella says, and then there is laughter. With him there is a lot of laughter. All of a sudden the Chelsea defender is a European champion and cult hero, and you can see why. There’s the hair: massive, as the song says, and in the right light still a bit red, celebratory dye not entirely washed out three months after Spain won Euro 2024. There’s the playing style that helped take them there, “one people empathise with”. And there’s the personality. What was it Erling Haaland said? “He’s a funny man.”

A very funny man.

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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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.