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

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

Just Fontaine (France, 1953-60)

Roger Milla (Cameroon 1973-94)

Hugo Sánchez (Mexico, 1977-98)

Romerito (Paraguay, 1979-90)

Abedi Pele (Ghana, 1982-98)

Mia Hamm (USA, 1985-2000)

Michelle Akers (USA, 1987-2004)

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

Stage was set for one of Liverpool’s classic comeback nights – but not this team against these European champions

Often in the past Liverpool has demanded and Anfield has delivered. Past glories perhaps shouldn’t influence the present, but they do; precedent begets belief. That’s part of the mythos of the great stadiums, how they develop a life and an identity of their own. But a club cannot simply give itself to an arena and hope that it will do the job that players and management and the executive body cannot. No ground, not even Anfield, has an infinite capacity for miracles.

Just because Liverpool came from 3-0 down to beat Barcelona in 2019, there’s no reason to believe they could overhaul a two-goal deficit against Paris Saint-Germain in 2026. Anfield did its bit on a windy night on which early drizzle gave way to teeming rain. The rendition of You’ll Never Walk Alone was suitably stirring, the noise from both sets of fans boisterous. But it was not enough.

Manager calls on players and fans to embrace the chance of Champions League success despite recent defeats

There was a dramatic pause when Mikel Arteta was asked what he wants from the Arsenal supporters against Sporting on Wednesday evening in the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final.

After his attempts to rouse them before the early kick-off against Bournemouth at the weekend by telling them to “bring your lunch” backfired spectacularly with a costly home defeat that ended with some fans booing the Premier League leaders off the pitch, this time the message was more considered.

Defeat never tasted so good. At the end of a battle in which both teams had fought and both had bled, in which they had suffered but above all played, a huge banner was unfurled at the Metropolitano. “We give everything to win the cup,” it said, and, boy, had they. For the first time, Diego Simeone had seen his team lose a Champions League knockout game at home, but it didn’t matter: instead there was delirium, the club’s anthem belted out louder than ever before. “Buah! You don’t know how lovely it is to be among the four best teams in Europe,” the coach said.

They had waited a long time for this. Ten years and one day later, Atlético Madrid eliminated Barcelona to reach the semi-final of the Champions League again. “This is the third time we’ve done this – against Messi’s Barcelona, against Lamine’s Barcelona – and it isn’t easy,” Simeone said; the other two times, in 2014 and 2016, they reached the final to which they are so desperate to return and exorcise the ghosts from Lisbon and Milan. “I’ve been here 14 years and never stop feeling emotional,” Simeone said. “I told the players: thank you, thank you, thank you. For the things we do, the faith we have.”

Sarina Wiegman’s side followed up Euro 2025 final glory with another defensively minded win over biggest rivals

As the seconds ran down, the tension was palpable around Wembley. Hearts were in mouths as Hannah Hampton made a world-class save from point-blank range to keep out Edna Imade’s header. Every sinew was stretched by Keira Walsh as she stuck out a head and then a boot to scramble away yet another delivery into the box, every single ounce of energy eked out to protect Lauren Hemp’s third-minute goal, a moment that felt like it belonged to another era of time.

Despite the apparent commotion on the field and the anxiety of the spectators in the stands, there was, however, very little panic evident on the faces of the 11 Lionesses on the field. Instead there was an aura of confidence about them, a true belief that they would get the job done. They cut an image of a team that had been there and done it all before and completed the task at hand on a far more stressful stage than the hallowed Wembley turf.

• Club under a transfer fee embargo until 2027

• Arise hope takeover will be approved by end of season

Sheffield Wednesday’s prospective new owners, Arise Capital Partners, are in talks with the EFL over a partial lifting of the club’s transfer ban this summer. Wednesday are prohibited from paying any money for new players until January 2027 as a punishment for the multiple late payment of wages by the former owner Dejphon Chansiri.

Wednesday will start next season on minus 15 points in League One, as Arise’s purchase price of £18m does not meet the EFL’s requirement to repay creditors 25p in the pound on exiting administration.

• EFL in race against time to hear charges

• Club alleged to have breached P&S rules

West Brom could be given a points deduction that relegates them from the Championship after the season has finished as the club contest charges of breaching the English Football League’s profit and sustainability (P&S) rules.

With the Championship league season concluding on 2 May the EFL is running out of time to hear the charges against West Brom, which relate to an alleged breach of the £39m loss limit in the three-year period culminating in the 2024-25 season. EFL sanctioning guidelines state that any punishment for a P&S breach must be applied in the campaign after it took place, which in West Brom’s case means this season, but the rulebook does not give a definitive cutoff point so it is unclear when the season ends.

• Saints three points off second after 3-0 home win

• Ipswich slip to 2-0 defeat at battling Portsmouth

Southampton moved three points off automatic promotion after a 3-0 victory over Blackburn, coupled with Ipswich’s 2-0 defeat at Portsmouth. Southampton extended their unbeaten run to 18 games in all competitions with a comprehensive victory at St Mary’s, secured by first-half goals from Cyle Larin and Ryan Manning and a late strike from Cameron Archer.

The Southampton manager, Tonda Eckert, made five changes to the team that beat Derby 2-1 on Saturday, but there was no disruption to the relentless rhythm that has catapulted the club up the Championship table and earned an FA Cup semi-final spot.

• Manager’s future has been talking point for months

• Players told of exit after training on Tuesday afternoon

Andoni Iraola has informed Bournemouth he will leave the club when his contract expires at the end of the season. He is expected to consider his options this summer with ­several Premier League jobs potentially arising.

The 43-year-old’s departure could also open the door for the Basque to join his boyhood club Athletic Bilbao, but the former Borussia Dortmund head coach Edin Terzic is thought to be the frontrunner to succeed Ernesto Valverde.

Our cartoonist on the Gunners’ latest wobble and who could be brought in to get final push back on track

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Prof Stacey Pope’s showcase highlights how women have always been required to defend and justify their fandom

“You can be the thickest bloke and you still think you know more about football than a woman,” reads a line from Newcastle fan named Jo around halfway into a new exhibition on women in football culture. “[They] say, ‘you don’t know what you’re talking about.’ Oh, I could wipe the floor with you, man, with my knowledge and how much I’ve been, how much I’ve seen.”

“I love that quote,” smiles Prof Stacey Pope, a leading women’s football sociologist and creator of the Away From Home: The Untold Stories of Women Football Fans exhibition, alongside David Wright of Durham University’s museums, galleries and exhibitions Team.

Away From Home runs until the end of the season at the Beacon of Light, and is available online.

This is an extract from our free email about women’s football, Moving the Goalposts. To get the full edition, visit this page and follow the instructions. Moving the Goalposts is delivered to your inboxes every Tuesday and Thursday.

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• Mascherano coached one full season with Messi in Miami

• Inter Miami have been off to a slow start in 2026

Javier Mascherano has stunningly stepped down as Inter Miami’s manager, just months after leading the team to their first MLS title.

In the club’s announcement of the move, Mascherano said he was leaving for “personal reasons,” though later on the announcement specifies that his coaching staff will also depart the club.

• NJ Transit says no decision has been finalized

• Trip to New Jersey stadium typically is $12.90

Train tickets from New York City to MetLife Stadium, the New Jersey site of eight World Cup games this summer, are set to increase sevenfold to more than $100 during the tournament, according to a new report.

The Athletic reported NJ Transit’s plans for the ticket increase on Tuesday, citing sources familiar with the public transportation provider. NJ Transit told Fox 5 New York that the price has not been finalized. A decision is expected in the coming days, the Athletic report said.

It felt routine in the end, the imperious champions of Europe through to another Champions League semi-final, Luis Enrique waving politely to the VIPs up in the Sir Kenny Dalglish stand having cavorted around Anfield following Paris Saint-Germain’s victory here last season, and a despondent Mohamed Salah bidding farewell to the Kop after his final European outing in a Liverpool shirt. But this was no routine departure from the Champions League for Liverpool.

Having exited the FA Cup quarter-final 4-0 and with a whimper, Arne Slot’s side exited the Champions League quarter-final 4-0 on aggregate but with a fight. For 72 minutes they also had hope, went toe-to-toe with the finest unit in Europe and kept on pressing despite the loss of Hugo Ekitiké to a potentially serious injury and a debatable decision to give – and then take away – a penalty with the capacity to change everything. It will be of little consolation to Slot and his team that, for the second successive season against PSG, taking the fight to Luis Enrique’s champions and putting the fright on them brought no reward at Anfield. The damage inflicted in Paris last week proved irrepairable.

• World Cup qualifier: England 1-0 Spain (Hemp 3’)

• Lionesses win sides’ first meeting since Euros final

A resolute England gave their chances of ­automatic qualification for 2027’s World Cup a ­tremendous boost as they beat the world champions, Spain, at Wembley and demonstrated they are strong enough defensively to hold off the most technically gifted squad in the women’s game.

In a closely fought match in which both teams missed some ­gilt-edged opportunities, the sides were ­ultimately separated by two moments where the ball bounced extremely close to the line; one where it did cross the goalline and another where it did not.

• Sponsorship income due to rise by more than 40%

• Champions League clubs to benefit from the growth

Uefa is poised to bring in more than €1bn (£870m) a year in commercial revenues from club competitions from next year, with two more global sponsorship deals close to being agreed.

UC3, the commercial joint venture owned by Uefa and the clubs, is finalising agreements with an official payments provider and technology partner, which would complete their roster of premium global partners and see sponsorship income rise by more than 40%. Six-year deals with AB InBev as Uefa’s official beer partner and Pepsi as soft drinks provider from 2027 to 2033 have already been agreed, while Nike last week entered exclusive negotiations to replace Adidas as Uefa’s match ball provider.

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jacob Steinberg and Seb Hutchinson after a dramatic weekend in the Premier League.

On the podcast today: Manchester City draw nearer to Arsenal as the nervy Gunners lose at home to Bournemouth, whilst City brush Chelsea aside at Stamford Bridge. Worrying times for Spurs fans as the Lilywhites replace West Ham in the drop zone after a limp defeat at Sunderland, in the wake of the Hammers thrashing Wolves at home. Elsewhere, Forest get a crucial point against Villa, and Liverpool consolidate fifth place.

In the Football League, Ipswich won the East Anglian derby at Carrow Road – now second and two points clear of Millwall – but with two games in hand. A huge weekend in League Two as the top four played each other, leaders Bromley losing 2-1 at second place MK Dons, Cambridge leapfrogging Notts County after hammering them 4-0. Also a big weekend in Scotland, with the top three teams winning, Hearts staying ahead by a point.

Liverpool legend talks memories of Istanbul, learning magic and his adventures in Malaysia with Johor Darul Ta’zim

Luis García was “super cool”, he says. That, at least, was the plan, but things have a habit of working out differently. When the former Atlético Madrid, Barcelona and Liverpool player retired in 2016, it was the second time: he walked out of the game in 2014 and walked back in again six months later. But this time, he wasn’t going to be affected. All that suffering and satisfaction, the pressure, the emotion: that was no more.

“I was always very competitive and once I had left football, I thought I wasn’t going to have those feelings I had before,” he says. “I still enjoy football, still play seven-a-side with my friends – every Saturday at 10am, Los Jareños Club de Futbol – but I thought I had lost that and it wasn’t coming back. In fact, I was trying to avoid it; I didn’t want it. So when it happened, it surprised me. I didn’t expect football to give me that again. But there I was, crying.”

Hard work remains to do off the pitch, with the club needing to strengthen further if they hope to compete on all fronts

Kobbie Mainoo put in a superb performance against Leeds on Monday night, as he did for much of Ruben Amorim’s tenure. The midfielder gets better with every game he does not play, proving how influential he has become under Michael Carrick.

Injury meant the midfielder missed out for the first time since the interim head coach took over in January. In his place was Manuel Ugarte, making his first start for Carrick and it was clear to witness his rustiness, as was the case with Lisandro Martínez at centre-back, who re-emerged after two months out injured to replace the suspended Harry Maguire. The 33-year-old was rewarded with confirmation of his new contract last week, while Mainoo is locked in talks with his representatives who will be eager to point out how his absence affected United.

Marie-Louise Eta has been tasked with saving Union Berlin from Bundesliga relegation in a groundbreaking appointment

For Marie-Louise Eta, it may feel like another day at the office. The wider significance will be greater, though, when she oversees Union Berlin in their crunch Bundesliga match against Wolfsburg this weekend. History will be made and another barrier broken: it will be the first time a woman appointed as head coach of a men’s team has taken charge of a fixture in one of Europe’s top five leagues.

Eta was given the reins on an interim basis after Steffen Baumgart, her predecessor, was sacked on Saturday. Union had just lost 3-1 to bottom-placed Heidenheim and, with five games left, could not be sure of a late-season dalliance with the drop zone. They are seven points clear of the relegation playoff spot but a run of two wins from 14 games has equated to freefall. Union needed the best person to arrest it, some form of continuity was key, so the 34-year-old Eta, a richly exciting prospect, was an obvious choice.

Midfielder has again been Napoli’s star but ageing squad has taken club backwards and Conte’s future is uncertain

Was this the end of the Serie A title race? On a weekend when the last two teams pursuing them both slipped up, Inter delivered another statement victory, recovering from two goals down to win 4-3 away to a Como side who had been playing some of the best football in the division.

When the final whistle went, manager Christian Chivu celebrated like a man who knew exactly what it meant, hugging an assistant so hard he lifted them off the floor. Inter were nine points clear now in first place, with six games to go. But when the cameras arrived for post-game interviews, he played coy.

Teenager’s landmark night delivers derby win that confirms what has been clear for weeks: this title race has been over in spirit long before the maths agrees

Lamine Yamal had not crossed the line yet but he was celebrating already, everyone else following him. It was not over, not officially, but it was done: the derby and the whole damn thing. The nights Barcelona took their last two league titles, they did so against RCD Espanyol, heading beyond the city limits and coming back as champions; the evening they took their third in four years, they faced the same opponents: the rivals Barca’s goalkeeper had grown up with and so many of them had grown up against. Chased from the Cornella pitch in 2023, cycling up Avinguda Diagonal in 2025, this time it was the 18-year-old with the symbolic escape.

There were three and a half minutes left on Saturday night when it happened. Marc Casadó slipped the ball through, Lamine Yamal ran on to it and Marko Dmitrovic ran out to it. The Barcelona forward blocked the Espanyol goalkeeper’s clearance, the rebounded setting him up and leaving Dmitrovic and everyone else to watch the inevitable. Alone, running free into the area, an open goal before him, Lamine Yamal slowed, smiled, maybe even laughed a little, took in the moment, and raised his arms, Usain Bolt contemplating Richard Thompson and Walter Dix. He had not finished, his team had not either, but he knew. They all did.

Kara Nortman talks Monarch Collective’s sports ownership portfolio and potential investment in England

Many Women’s Super League clubs are treated as “an afterthought” by their owners according to Kara Nortman, the co-founder of the women’s sport investment fund Monarch Collective and Angel City FC.

Monarch last month became the first women’s multi-sport group by buying a minority stake in Cleveland WNBA, the basketball franchise joining an ownership portfolio that includes the NWSL teams San Diego Wave and Boston Legacy, and the German club Viktoria Berlin.

• Zahra Ghanbari had been on list of ‘traitors’ whose assets were frozen

• Latest move taken ‘following her change in behaviour’

Iran’s judiciary said on Monday authorities had released the assets of the captain of Iranian women’s football team which had been seized after she made and then withdrew an asylum claim in Australia last month.

Zahra Ghanbari was among a group of six players and one backroom staff member who sought asylum in Australia in March after playing in the Women’s Asian Cup at the start of the Israeli-US war against the Islamic republic.

• Armed men fired at Berekum Chelsea bus on Sunday

• Frimpong dies of wounds at hospital

Berekum Chelsea winger Dominic Frimpong was killed in an armed robbery on his team’s bus as they returned from a match on Sunday, the Ghana Football Association said.

Berekum Chelsea said six “masked men wielding guns and assault rifles” had blocked the road as the team returned from their Ghana Premier League match against Samartex.

Flamengo footballer previously accused pop star’s security of aggressive behavior to his 11-year-old stepdaughter

• The Chappell Roan security incident raises a bigger question: what do celebrities owe their fans?

The Flamengo footballer Jorginho has clarified his comments on last month’s incident between his 11-year-old stepdaughter and a security guard in Brazil, calling his previous claims against Chappell Roan “a misunderstanding”.

“I made my initial statement in the heat of the moment, after hearing that my child and wife had been approached by an adult male security guard in an intimidating way,” Jorginho wrote on Instagram. “I reacted as any father would. My priority is, and always will be, protecting my family, and that is exactly what I did.”

The MLS weekend saw the Timbers capitalize on a rotated LAFC and Bruce Arena continue his second-season magic in San Jose

When the then-Montréal Impact rebranded as Club de Foot Montréal in 2021, their fans weren’t shy about showing their disdain.

“It is the dismantling of a dream,” one supporters’ group statement read in part. “We are becoming a bland club, just as many others have become.”

Expansion and political influence have made soccer’s showpiece too big for one region to handle responsibly

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In retrospect, the 2018 World Cup in Russia looks like a gentle genuflection, a dainty little bow before its strongman leader. Vladimir Putin and his Russian project of gradual conquest were most definitely centered and validated eight years ago: the tournament showcased his nation and awarded its leader prominence of place.

This summer, we will see something altogether different, as the runup to this edition of the world’s biggest and most popular sporting event has become a monument to Donald Trump.

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

Leander Schaerlaeckens is a Guardian US contributor whose book on the United States men’s national soccer team, The Long Game, is out on 12 May. You can preorder it here. He teaches at Marist University.

Manchester City’s unbeaten April record in the past four years bodes well for their end-of-season pursuit for glory

“I have a particular set of skills. Skills I have acquired over a very long career. I may stumble a little in the autumn. I may get a little caustic with a TV camera crew or sarcastically applaud a referee. But I will pursue you. I will hunt you down. I will, in all likelihood, narrowly pip you to the line in an agonising title chase.”

Welcome to Pep in April, the franchise. In which a furiously intense, bald, skinny man becomes a serial springtime league title avenger. At the finish of what was by the end a celebratory, one-hand-on-the-wheel 3-0 win at Stamford Bridge, Manchester City’s record in April in the past four years reads: played 23, won 19, drawn four across all competitions.

With the season reaching its climax and weather improving, it’s ideal for attracting fans, but the fixture list is blank

Momentum can be extremely powerful. Just ask Wrexham, anyone involved in English women’s football in the aftermath of Euro 2022 or the scientists calculating Artemis II’s route for Nasa.

The climax to the domestic women’s football season in England, and around Europe, has lost its momentum as an extended international break has arrived. That, coupled with the Easter weekend’s Women’s FA Cup quarter-finals before the international window, means there will be nearly four weeks without WSL fixtures, at a time when the weather is improving, jeopardy surrounding fixtures’ permutations is increasing and interest should be swelling.

Spurs head coach’s apology for past comments about his former player was important but insufficient. If we want things to change in football, we need some accountability

Roberto De Zerbi apologised in his first interview as Tottenham’s head coach for past comments about Mason Greenwood when the forward was his player at Marseille. Spurs supporter groups, including Proud Lilywhites and Women of the Lane, both of which I co-founded, were among those who criticised him. De Zerbi said he had never meant to downplay male violence against women. (Greenwood denied charges of attempted rape, controlling and coercive behaviour and assault occasioning actual bodily harm in 2022 and the case was discontinued.)

That he responded at all matters. Silence from men in positions of power on these issues is its own problem, and I would rather see someone engage than retreat. But what the response offered was self-description rather than accountability. And in this context, that is not enough. I will come to that.

Our cartoonist on humiliating exits for Arsenal and Liverpool, low-hanging fruit and Hugo Ekitike’s shirt swap

• Buy this cartoon here | His favourites from 2025

• And his latest book, Chaos in the Box: get it now

Manchester City can brush off Rodri’s comments but Chelsea’s existential angst helps explain suspension of midfielder

Enzo Fernández and Rodri would quite like to move to Madrid; many people would. They both said as much in the international break, those special parts of the season when players join up with their national teams and give interviews while apparently unaware that media are global these days: a whisper on Luzo TV can soon become a hurricane in London. But Rodri will line up for Manchester City at Chelsea on Sunday, while Fernández will not, suspended by the club for “crossing a line”.

It’s worth, perhaps, looking at exactly what was said. Fernández expressed disappointment at Enzo Maresca’s departure on New Year’s Day. “It … hurt a lot,” he told Luzo, “because we had a lot of identity, he gave us order, but it’s the way that football is, sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s bad. But we always had a clear identity when it came to training, playing and obviously his departure hurt us especially in the middle of the season – it cuts everything short.” Sadness that a manager has gone surely isn’t a crime; it could even be supportive of Liam Rosenior and the difficulty of taking over a club mid-season.

Mikel Arteta urged fans to bring ‘your lunch, bring your dinner’ but when the set pieces fail to fire his side are short of a full plate

It was another one of those games where Arsenal had found it necessary to rouse the troops beforehand. Mikel Arteta, in his occasional, unusual jokey mode, had urged Arsenal fans to “bring your lunch, bring your dinner” and make this 12.30 kick-off an occasion.

The players, meanwhile, had been training under the eye of a big screen broadcasting footage of Arsenal in happy, successful moments, presumably to encourage the creation of more. “Every game, we have to be there,” Arteta said. So were they?

The retired midfielder’s absence for the semi-final of Euro 2016 was the great ‘what-if’ of Welsh football, but even so his brilliant career managed to transform a footballing public for ever

If some footballers take time to reach their potential, others seem to be the finished article before they’re able to drive. A teenage Aaron Ramsey was firmly in the latter camp. After only 11 league starts for Cardiff he had made his international debut for Wales against Denmark, turned down Manchester United in favour of Arsenal, and given Cardiff fans one of the great what-ifs of their club’s modern age after Dave Jones chose not to start him in the 2008 FA Cup final against Portsmouth, with Ramsey being the tender age of 17.

Success-starved supporters who should know better will pin their hopes on to the narrowest of young shoulders and yet it all seemed so easy for the teenager from Caerphilly who was captain of his country by the age of 20, would go on to play in a World Cup and two European Championships, and this week retired as an icon of the Welsh game.

During my 43-year adventure I saw pubs close, standing on terraces return and big flags fly all over the country

By When Saturday Comes

It was bound to end like this: a long and arduous odyssey that started in 1982 on a crumbling terrace culminated on a grey, drizzly afternoon in December watching my team get hammered 3-0 in a brand spanking new stadium named in conjunction with an international commercial law firm. A glorious away win thanks to a last-minute winner would have been somehow too poetic. This was how it was meant to be, when I finally completed the 92.

As with that game at Everton, most games were as an away Nottingham Forest fan; others as a neutral. There is much I witnessed and learned from this ludicrous yet wholly fulfilling enterprise and the many miles travelled. For one thing, it used to be that one displayed allegiances by carefully trapping a scarf in the window, so it fluttered outside all the way. This has been replaced by the executive car sticker or personalised number plate and our society is much the worse for it.

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Seeing as the Ifab laws of football decree that hair-pulling is an act of violent conduct that is punishable by a straight red card, Football Daily is somewhat perplexed by the controversy surrounding the dismissal of Lisandro Martínez at Old Trafford on Monday night. Approaching the hour mark of his side’s 2-1 defeat by Leeds, the Argentinian quite clearly yanked Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s hair, sending the Leeds striker’s man-bunned up tresses cascading over his shoulders by pulling off the scrunchy that was holding them in place without so much as a formal invitation.

Should Spurs be relegated (no question mark, this isn’t The Moral Maze), it will be not only funny, not only a salutary Ozymandias moment – the €uropean $uper £eague, anyone? – but also a perfect opportunity for a club with an undoubtedly great heritage to take stock, give its long-suffering supporters a season of winning, and come back up in better shape than they have been since Mauricio Pochettino left” – Mark Dawson.

Alma Mana’o, the captain, reflects on their journey from a 21-0 defeat in 1998 to a place in the final round of qualification

The American Samoa women’s team has lived through a scarcely believable tale littered with upsets, and their story is still unfolding. At the end of last year, they entered a World Cup qualification tournament containing the lowest-ranked teams in the smallest federation, the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC). At 153rd in the world rankings, American Samoa ranked the lowest of the low. With an estimated population of 45,319, the island’s entire population would not sell out even the smallest stadium hosting Fifa’s showpiece event next year.

The national team’s captain, Alma Mana’o, talks of American Samoan culture as being “family is above all”. Multiple sets of sisters represent the team, something Mana’o relishes. “This is a family, we have got to get together, hold our sisters accountable and push each other,” she says. The Mana’o family hold the record for most family members to participate in Fifa events – “If we can’t win, we’re going to have the most kids!” Alma declares with a laugh – and American Samoa are out to prove there can be success in the family business.

This is an extract from our free email about women’s football, Moving the Goalposts. To get the full edition, visit this page and follow the instructions. Moving the Goalposts is delivered to your inboxes every Tuesday and Thursday.

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jacob Steinberg and Seb Hutchinson after a dramatic weekend in the Premier League

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On the podcast today: Manchester City draw nearer to Arsenal as the nervy Gunners lose at home to Bournemouth, whilst City brush Chelsea aside at Stamford Bridge.

De Zerbi looks past Simons, Arsenal fans are not helping their team and Ngumoha can give PSG something to think about

Football is such that, when you’re down, there’s a good chance the game boots you in the solar plexus, and that’s exactly what happened to Tottenham at the Stadium of Light, Sunderland’s winner coming by way of a deflection. But you can also take steps to help yourself and, though Roberto De Zerbi’s midfield setup made some sense – he picked three hard-runners in order to compete with Sunderland’s physicality – even pre-match, it wasn’t clear who would create their chances. It’s true that Dejan Kulusevski, James Maddison and Mohammed Kudus are out injured, but in that context, it is surely even more important a place in the XI, whether in midfield or out wide, be found for Xavi Simons, left on the sidelines until the 85th minute. Simons is not perfect, but of the players De Zerbi has available he is the only one with the imagination and technique to make things happen. He may lack physicality, but what Spurs need more than anything is quality. Daniel Harris

Match report: Sunderland 1-0 Tottenham

Match report: Arsenal 1-2 Bournemouth

Match report: Chelsea 0-3 Manchester City

City improve in good weather, says Guardiola

This week’s quarter-finals provided some classic action as this season’s competition hurtles towards its conclusion

Bayern Munich had not won at the Santiago Bernabéu since May 2001, when they beat Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-final on their way to becoming European champions. Tuesday night’s match changed all that. The 29th Champions League meeting between the teams lived up to its heavyweight billing, though Bayern, superior on the night, may rue their failure to extend their 2-1 lead. Real Madrid meanwhile could point to Manuel Neuer making nine saves – not bad for a 40-year-old. “We won’t win the competition without more of these kinds of performances,” said Bayern’s manager, Vincent Kompany, of his keeper. Big trophies are rarely won without great goalkeepers and Neuer continues to play like an all-time great. Bayern’s second goal was a trademark finish from Harry Kane, who made the difficult look easy. The goal will also have calmed England fans’ fears that their captain will arrive at the World Cup suffering from his usual summer malaise. A word too for Luis Díaz and Michael Olise, Bayern’s brilliant wingers whose performances brought back memories of the club’s modern greats Franck Ribéry and Arjen Robben. Kompany’s team were commanding in Madrid, but may fear the backlash from the 15-times champions, the kings of comebacks.

Plus: teams who went out of Europe without losing a game, and rare competitive meetings

• Mail us with your questions and answers

“What’s the furthest a team has gone in Europe while being relegated in the same season?” wonders Matt Reilly.

This question was probably asked in reference to Tottenham, who were still in the Champions League at the time, but it’s still relevant to some of this year’s quarter-finalists. Nottingham Forest are three points above the relegation places in the Premier League; Fiorentina only have a five-point cushion in Serie A.

Real Zaragoza 2001-02, first round; 2007-08, first round

Alavés 2002-03, second round

Celta Vigo 2006-07, last 16

Real Zaragoza 2007-08, first round

Real Betis 2013-14, last 16

Espanyol 2019-20, last 32

Blackburn Rovers 1998-99, Uefa Cup first round

Bradford City 2000-01, Intertoto semi-final

Ipswich Town 2001-02, Uefa Cup third round

Ruda Hvezda Brno 1960-61, Cup Winners’ Cup

Dynamo Zilina 1961-62, Cup Winners’ Cup

Espanyol 1961-62. Inter-Cities Fairs Cup

Napoli 1962-63, Cup Winners’ Cup

Bayern Munich 1962-63, Inter-Cities Fairs Cup

1. FC Magdeburg 1965-66, Cup Winners’ Cup

Lyn 1968-69, Cup Winners’ Cup

Beroe Stara Zagora 1973-74, Cup Winners’ Cup

Real Betis 1977-78, Cup Winners’ Cup

Bologna 1990-91, Uefa Cup

First round Artmedia Bratislavia (2-2 away, 3-1 home)

Group stage Sparta Prague (2-0 away), Zulte Waregem (6-2 home), Ajax (2-0 away), Austria Wien (1-0 home)

Last 32 Livorno (2-1 away, 2-0 home)

Last 16 Maccabi Haifa (0-0 away, 4-0 home)

Quarter-final Benfica (3-2 home, 0-0 away)

Semi-final Werder Bremen (3-0 home, 2-1 away)

Final Sevilla 2-2 (1-3 pens)

Ousmane Dembélé becomes our seventh winner as he beats Lamine Yamal into second and Vitinha into third on our list of the best players on the planet

• Premier League dominates list | How every judge voted | Our methodology | The top 100 female players for 2025

• 2024 edition | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012

The Frenchman, who has been named the best male footballer in the world by the Guardian, has benefitted from PSG’s focus on the team rather than individuals

What makes a good player great, and a great player the best? This question has been occupying me since 2014, when the Guardian first asked me to contribute to its inaugural Next Generation feature. My job was to look for a France-based talent born in 1997 who could go on to have a stellar career.

After a great deal of research, I narrowed it down from my shortlist of five by asking questions not about the players’ football ability, but about other attributes: resilience, adaptability, decision-making, creativity, work ethic, response to feedback and willingness to learn. Qualities we cannot see, and are harder to measure.

Aitana Bonmatí has been voted the best female player on the planet by our panel of 127 experts ahead of Mariona Caldentey and Alessia Russo

• 2024 list | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018

• Meet the judges | See how every judge voted

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The margin may have got smaller but the brilliant Spanish midfielder makes it a hat-trick of No 1 finishes

They say the best things come in threes, and Aitana Bonmatí has written herself into the Guardian’s top 100 history as the first player to finish at the top of the tree for a third consecutive year.

Last year the majestic midfielder emulated her Barcelona and Spain teammate Alexia Putellas by winning for a second year running, but the 27-year-old has now gone one better, establishing herself once again at the top of the women’s game.

From PSG’s Ibrahim Mbaye to Brazil’s next hope, we select some of the most talented players born in 2008. Check the progress of our classes of 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 … and go even further back. Here’s our Premier League class of 2025