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On the face of it the Egyptian’s new contract has no downside – but this is not entirely a free ride for Arne Slot and the club

Well, that’s good then. Things fall apart. But sometime they also don’t. And the centre does actually hold.

Perhaps the most interesting part of Mohamed Salah’s contract extension at Liverpool is the fact this is a rare crossover story, a signing that steps outside its own tribal margins. There will of course be localised delight. Liverpool fans can look forward to their own lost weekend in the sun, a sense that the good times will now continue to roll, that the time bar has shifted. Return to your seats. This is a lock-in.

• Manager says leaked information is hurting club
• Spurs hire ex-Arsenal chief executive Vinai Venkatesham

Ange Postecoglou has said there is a mole at Tottenham who is leaking sensitive team news and working against what he and the players are trying to achieve. The manager, who is preparing for Sunday’s Premier League game at Wolves, said he had a “fair idea” of the identity of the individual and was working to deal with the situation.

The subject came up as Postecoglou was questioned about Wilson Odobert’s fitness and at about the same time – on an unrelated topic – that Spurs announced the hire of the former Arsenal chief executive Vinai Venkatesham. He will join in the summer and take the same title that he held at Arsenal, which would appear to be bad news for Tottenham’s chief football officer, Scott Munn.

With Liverpool and Arsenal in line for two of five guaranteed spots in the tournament we assess other contenders

The important thing for Forest is that they sit third and have an FA Cup semi-final against Manchester City to look forward to. Everyone below would like to be in their position. Injuries will be a cause for concern for Nuno Espírito Santo, who has been without his top scorer, Chris Wood, since the international break and then lost Wood’s replacement, Taiwo Awoniyi, leaving Forest without a recognised striker for the loss to Aston Villa, a game also missed by Ola Aina. Their final seven matches include four at home, where they have lost only twice, but three tricky away clashes in London mean the path to a historic return to Europe’s top table is unlikely to be straightforward for a team who have not been in this situation before. Forest have more experienced squads snapping at their heels as they seek to accomplish the most significant Premier League achievement since Leicester won the title. Will Unwin

There may be mitigating circumstances but the Manchester United goalkeeper cannot keep making mistakes

Thursday night was another blot on the André Onana copybook after the goalkeeper’s two errors meant Manchester United left Lyon on level terms in their Europa League quarter-final. In the buildup the former United midfielder Nemanja Matic described the Cameroonian as “one of the worst goalkeepers in Man United’s history” – and Onana failed to dispel the claim.

Erik ten Hag brought in Onana from Inter in July 2023 to replace David de Gea, one of the best keepers United have had but who was allowed to leave for nothing, and the decision has never looked justified. Onana cost about £45m a year after he was available for free, in another strange recruitment decision by United. De Gea took a year off before returning this season with Fiorentina, where he has again shown himself to be one of the continent’s finest, to make the situation more painful for United fans.

• French police used teargas at Europa League tie
• Supporter’ groups criticise response of authorities

Manchester United are investigating the treatment of their fans who attended Thursday’s 2-2 draw at Lyon. The local government admitted French police used teargas but said it was “proportionate” to restore calm.

Posts on social media showed United fans feeling the effect of the spray at the Europa League quarter-final first leg. The Rhône prefecture said in a statement: “English fans were seated in the away section waiting to be allowed to join their bus. They attempted to force their way through the security measures deployed by the national police. Projectiles were also reported to be thrown at the police. The police therefore used moderate, proportionate and necessary force (tear gas) to restore calm.

The Tinners are back on home soil and four games away from a remarkable promotion to the fifth tier

This time last year Truro City were simply trying to limp through the season, in the middle of a ludicrous grind of 10 National League South games in 20 days. This exact week 12 months ago brought four matches, a period that could have been a Craig David 7 Days remix: Torquay United on Monday, Eastbourne Borough on Wednesday, Yeovil Town on Thursday and Maidstone United on Saturday. Sunday offered a little respite before the final stretch, three matches across four days. Just completing the campaign was an achievement.

But, arguably, that was not even the biggest challenge. Truro spent the final two months playing home games at Gloucester City, a 390-mile round trip and the final bizarre but memorable chapter in a nomadic existence that spanned four years. Until that point they had been groundsharing with Taunton Town, 120 miles away, and before that across the Devon border at Plymouth Parkway, 55 miles away, but a cocktail of inclement weather and pitch problems left them searching for another home. The league pushed them towards Gloucester’s synthetic surface to fulfil their fixtures. “I think we would have played on a local patch of grass on a roundabout if they would have allowed us,” says Gareth Davies, the club’s head of media and communications and a local BBC commentator.

• Club negotiating financial deal with governing body
• Breach of 80% cap pertains to 2023-24 campaign

Aston Villa have begun discussions with Uefa’s club financial control body (CFCB) over a financial settlement after being found in breach of the European governing body’s squad cost ratio rules (SCR) last season.

Under Uefa regulations clubs in European competition were required to keep spending on player wages and fees to 80% of revenue last season, a percentage that has dropped to 70% this season.

Lewis Dunk is running out of time, Jakub Kiwior rises to the challenge for Arsenal and Liam Delap has an audition

Manchester City’s tame outing at Manchester United on Sunday showed how they have flatlined this term, the goalless draw also damaging their prospects of Champions League qualification – after beating Leicester the following night, Newcastle vaulted them and went into fifth place. Without Erling Haaland, unavailable until mid-May at the earliest, City were toothless at Old Trafford, and with Crystal Palace arriving at the Etihad on a run of six wins in seven matches – the other was a draw – it is time for Pep Guardiola to earn his salary by ensuring his side are far better, or Europa League football may be on the cards next season. Jamie Jackson

Manchester City v Crystal Palace, Saturday 12.30pm (all times BST)

Southampton v Aston Villa, Saturday 3pm

Nottingham Forest v Everton, Saturday 3pm

Brighton v Leicester, Saturday 3pm

Arsenal v Brentford, Saturday 5.30pm

Chelsea v Ipswich, Sunday 2pm

Hope is still not lost for Ange Postecoglou even if, on another night, the Tottenham manager might have been celebrating a wonder-goal from the outstanding Lucas Bergvall as his side looked forward to next week’s second leg in Germany with a healthy advantage.

But it is a reflection of how things have been going for Postecoglou that somehow Spurs did not manage to win this game after conceding an early goal to the in-demand Hugo Ekitiké. Despite Bergvall’s best efforts, as the 19-year-old covered every blade of grass for the cause in a performance that belied his age, they could not build on Pedro Porro’s improvised back-heeled equaliser as Eintracht Frankfurt held on for a draw that will probably make them favourites to progress to the semi-finals.

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Short of Everton being docked 20 points and their new Bramley Moore Dock sinking to the bottom of the Mersey without trace overnight, it’s difficult to imagine any news putting more of a spring in the step of Liverpool fans than the announcement that Mohamed Salah’s new contract until 2027. The Egyptian is one of three Liverpool stalwarts who were due to become free agents at the end of this season but is almost certainly the one whose replica shirt fans were least likely to set fire to in performative Instachat videos. While the nitty-gritty of the 32-year-old’s new deal have not been disclosed, he has not taken a pay cut from his basic £350,000 weekly stipend, although it is believed he earns nearer £1m per week when various side-projects such as image rights, sponsorship deals and a window-cleaning round are taken into account.

I’m sure they’re regretting that now. My favourite was the sparring. Initially, I started taekwondo for self-defence. That also really contributed to football, just with power, discipline and attitude. The type of training I did was absolutely brutal. I remember times when I was crying in pain, just from all the work I was doing, but it paid off” – Liverpool’s Olivia Smith tells Tom Garry about being bullied at school and how learning martial arts helped her deal with the physical demands of football.

Ange Postecoglou: from ‘I don’t usually win things in my second year, I always win things in my second year’ to ‘I’m resigned to the fact that the football Gods have got their eyes elsewhere this year – they’re obviously busy with other clubs and other managers’ in just six months. I’m trying to think of a word to describe Tottenham Hotspur being so up and down but nothing comes to mind” – Noble Francis.

If Big Sir Jim wants to make United great, he could start by manufacturing red ‘Make United Great’ hats to their fans. To save on costs – and for clarity – all he needs to do is put Make United Great’s initials on them” – Jon Harris.

If Rob Ford has supported ‘La Real’ for so many years, then he must be thrilled by the success of the Basque country teams’s former players in England such as Alexander Isak and Mikel Merino. Unless he actually supports El Madrid” – George Feldman (and 1,056 others).

Arsenal take on Brentford at Saturday teatime while leaders Liverpool host West Ham on Sunday afternoon

Saturday 12.30pm TNT Sports 1 Venue Etihad Stadium

Canada international talks about being bullied at school, turning to martial arts and the Women’s FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea

It is hard to comprehend the level of pride Olivia Smith’s dad, a Liverpool fan from Ontario, must have felt when he made his first visits to Anfield this season and his daughter scored three times in two games. They had been nurturing her skills together since she was three years old at a Just For Kicks session in her home town of Whitby, near Toronto.

“My dad was so invested in football. He put me into every sport, but football was the one we felt was ‘the one’,” says Smith, who was routinely playing for age-group teams that were two years up. “I didn’t fully commit to football until I was about eight or nine, as I was torn between taekwondo and football, but my dad just saw something really special in me.

Clubs are moving on from the ‘circus’ business model but long-term fans are in danger of being squeezed out

At first glance it was not obvious why Manchester City fans were so upset about the announcement at the end of last month that the club had signed a multi-year agreement with Viagogo. After all, the difference between their previous tally of eight ticket resale partners and nine is pretty marginal and, besides, it was stipulated that tickets would not be taken from ordinary fans but from the existing allocation of hospitality seats. But the story touched a nerve and at the next home game thousands responded to the call from three supporters’ groups to leave their seats empty until the ninth minute.

“These resellers, they don’t offer anything of value,” Chris Neville, secretary of one of the fan groups, Trade Union Blues, told the BBC. “They have a completely parasitical business model where they take something that already exists and sell it for a profit. We’re loyal fans. We don’t object to people who want to come to Manchester and have a good time and take in a City game. What we object to is the fact the club now seems to be prioritising these fans over longstanding loyal fans.”

The head coach on staying calm against Real Madrid, learning to cope with losing and the challenge of Lyon

‘The tactical side is the easier part of the job because it’s like mathematics,” says Renée Slegers. “The challenging part is the people, in a positive way; that’s where the most energy goes, and I think that’s right.”

The Arsenal manager is on a sofa in her office, relaxed and open as we talk about how much of coaching is psychological and how much is tactical. Is the psychological side the most enjoyable part of the job, then? “I like the combination,” says Slegers, after a short pause. “I like puzzles and board games and, for me, tactics are kind of a game, but then working with people I get so much energy. That’s inspiring.”

• No pay cut for Egyptian forward on deal to 2027
• Salah cites trophies, family and Slot as reasons to stay

Mohamed Salah should keep “trying to reach perfection” according to Arne Slot after ending uncertainty over his Liverpool future by signing a new two-year contract.

Salah agreed to extend his illustrious Anfield career to a decade after months of negotiations between his agent, Ramy Abbas Issa, and Liverpool’s sporting director, Richard Hughes. Financial details of the deal, which was confirmed by the player and club on Friday, have not been disclosed but the 32-year-old has not taken a pay cut. His previous three-year contract was worth a basic £350,000 a week, although his overall earnings were about £1m a week.

VAR might have its critics but it certainly creates drama. Within a quarter of an hour a review had led to the Rangers defender Robin Pröpper being dismissed, while in the second half Athletic Bilbao had a goal disallowed only to be awarded a penalty, in the same sequence of events, that was then saved. The end result was a goalless draw for Rangers to take to the Basque Country next week and the hope they can return for the Europa League final.

The red card sharpened the Rangers minds as they fought to stay in the tie. They twice thought that had been snatched away when first Álex Berenguer fired in from an offside position before failing to redeem the situation from the spot.

The Chelsea head coach, Enzo Maresca, praised the contributions of the club’s academy graduates after Tyrique George scored his first senior goal and Josh Acheampong also impressed in their 3-0 Conference League win over Legia Warsaw.

After a poor first half in Poland it was quick reactions from 19-year-old winger George that gave Chelsea the breakthrough, tapping home when Reece James’ long-range strike was pushed out by the goalkeeper.

• The plan may eliminate qualifying in South America
• Expansion already in place for 48-team 2026 World Cup

Alejandro Domínguez, the president of South American soccer’s ruling body Conmebol, made an official proposal on Thursday to expand the men’s 2030 World Cup to 64.

Fifa is aware of the proposal, which was first introduced last March by a delegate from Uruguay during an online meeting of the ruling council of world soccer’s governing body.

• Striker argues PSG owe him unpaid wages and bonuses
• PSG hit back at ‘fantastic story from parallel universe’

Kylian Mbappé’s legal team are going on the attack with multiple lawsuits to try to resolve the legal dispute between the World Cup winner and his former club Paris Saint-Germain.

The France striker argues PSG owe him €55m (£47.5m) in unpaid wages and bonuses, and his lawyers say they have asked the Paris court to start proceedings. Thomas Clay, one of the forward’s legal experts, said Mbappé had been authorised to make a precautionary seizure of the money, which was frozen from PSG’s bank accounts on Thursday. A legal hearing is scheduled for 26 May, he said.

• Dutchman also led Trinidad & Tobago at 2006 World Cup
• Clubs pay tribute to ‘legendary coach’ and ‘unique figure’

Leo Beenhakker, the former Real Madrid, Ajax and Netherlands manager, has died at the age of 82.

The Dutchman’s first stint as Ajax manager between 1978 and 1981 brought him the Eredivisie title, which he won again on his return to the Amsterdam club later in his career in 1990.

After a frenetic international window, here’s what we have learned about England and the 15 other contenders

The latest international window, with several high-profile games in the Nations League, provided goals, encouraging debuts, injuries and some shocks. Here, we run the rule over the 16 teams set to play in the European Championship in Switzerland in July.

Arsenal’s ‘star boy’ is the player who epitomises Mikel Arteta’s team and he was hugely influential against Real Madrid

It was a brilliant teaser, one that had Arsenal fans smiling and shaking their heads, protesting loudly, essentially calling it immoral. Deal or no deal. They win the Premier League title. But they sell Bukayo Saka.

It was posted by the @goalglobal TikTok account at the start of last season and the reactions of those in front of the camera shone a light on just how loved Saka is at Arsenal. The consensus was no deal. It would not be worth it because some things just mean more. “That’s our star boy, that’s like your son,” one of the supporters said. The video was liked by 3 million people.

PSG’s winger makes up his own moments – and he scored a beauty to set Luis Enrique’s side on course for victory

It took three minutes of the second half for Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, perhaps the most watchable footballer in Europe right now, to confirm the way this game was going.

Unai Emery had sent on Axel Disasi for Matty Cash at the break, with the score 1-1 and PSG hugely dominant on every metric. Cash was effectively doomed in this game from the moment he was booked pulling Kvaratskhelia back, just trying to stop the pain on Aston Villa’s right side, and already facing a case of terminal neck-crick from staring down at those shuffling feet. That was Cash’s fourth foul with just 17 minutes gone. Tick tock.

Lyon’s manager reflects on his nine-month domestic ban for confronting a referee and his Europa League hopes against Manchester United

“This kind of motivation can make miracles,” says Paulo Fonseca as he describes the glint in his Lyon players’ eyes before the visit of Manchester United. It is a clash of two giants who have lost their way – although something, at least, is stirring in France’s second city. They have won eight of their 11 games since Fonseca’s arrival less than two and a half months ago and that tells only part of a story with little precedent.

The Europa League quarter‑final first leg on Thursday will be a rare opportunity for Fonseca to do what he enjoys best: manage his team from the technical area, cajoling and tweaking from the sidelines. Early in March he was given a nine-month ban from domestic games for aggressively confronting the referee Benoît Millot towards the end of a win against Brest. He is barred from the dugout and from communicating with his bench until 30 November, but will be allowed access to the dressing rooms and tunnel area from 15 September. Recent Ligue 1 matches have been taken in from the press box. Uefa-run fixtures offer relief and he is still getting his head around a suspension with a duration which could have jeopardised his career.

Striker on his unusual path to England, his first sight of snow and how friends back home now wear Notts shirts

Football appears to be a small world but moving from the Gambia to Estonia still seems a little unconventional. It was a route the Notts County striker Alassana Jatta took when he left his homeland as a 20-year-old, desperate to make it in Europe as a professional. The journey from Sukuta to the banks of the Trent has been convoluted, complicated by absconding triallists, contract withdrawals and the weather.

Jatta’s CV is eclectic, featuring spells with Real de Banjul in his homeland, Paide Linnameeskond in Estonia and the Danish club Viborg. Currently he is second in the League Two scoring charts with 17 goals, spearheading the Magpies’ promotion push. They sit sixth, four points off automatic promotion, and face a trip to Salford on Friday.

Midfielder has bounced back from tough Forest Green loan and is chasing Conference League glory at Legia Warsaw

Fourteen months ago, Maxi Oyedele was experiencing the lowest moment of a burgeoning career, being substituted after coming off the bench for a team destined for relegation from League Two. Now he is preparing for a European quarter-final with Legia Warsaw against one of the biggest clubs on the continent. Forest Green feels a world away.

When any teenager is loaned by Manchester United to a lower-league club, the aim is for them to gain experience that can help them progress. In theory, this is done through positive performances and playing against senior professionals, allowing a youngster to learn the tricks of the trade. Sometimes, however, a setback is the best learning curve. It has helped the midfielder earn full international honours, the Conference League battle with Chelsea in Warsaw on Thursday and a Polish Cup final next month.

• Six neighbourhood associations join forces in letter
• Fears it would add to ‘touristification’ of city

Six neighbourhood associations in the Basque city of San Sebastián have asked Fifa to withdraw it as a venue for the 2030 men’s World Cup. The letter – which was criticised by the city’s mayor on Tuesday – comes three months after the city was named as one of 11 Spanish venues for the tournament taking place in Spain, Morocco and Portugal.

Signed by associations representing several areas around San Sebastián’s historic centre as well as a platform of residents pushing for “tourism degrowth,” the letter said: “Hosting the Fifa World Cup will only worsen living conditions in our city,” adding that it would “further exacerbate the touristification” of the city.

Jude Bellingham was not shocked by Madrid’s display after a campaign littered with defeats and tactical muddle

On the way out of the Emirates Stadium, someone asked Kylian Mbappé whether Real Madrid could still do this. “Course we can,” he replied, three words and then he was gone. In front of him, Vinícius Júnior left in silence. Rodrygo passed by unnoticed again. Luka Modric didn’t talk, nor did Fede Valverde. Lucas Vázquez and Raúl Asencio did, then Thibaut Courtois and Jude Bellingham.

“We weren’t good,” Vázquez said. Courtois said: “We forgot to play well.” Asencio said: “It’s not what we expected,” but it wasn’t unexpected either, which is why it was the description Bellingham didn’t use which said it best.

• Club reportedly holds the Belgian’s MLS rights
• Signing would be complex under league’s rules

If Kevin De Bruyne decides to come to Major League Soccer for his next professional stop, the destination could very well be with Lionel Messi at Inter Miami.

The Athletic and ESPN each reported on Monday that the south Florida club have acquired the Belgian star’s discovery rights, giving them the right of first refusal to negotiate a contract with De Bruyne should he decide to move to the league after he leaves Manchester City. Inter Miami declined to comment on the reports.

England’s puzzling form continued with a defeat in Belgium but Sarina Wiegman insisted she is unconcerned and believes the result will help her side in the long run.

From 3-0 down, the Lionesses attempted a stunning comeback, helped by a world-class debut goal from the striker Michelle Agyemang, but it was too little too late. Having seemed to be back to their entertaining best when emphatically beating Belgium on home soil on Friday, an injury-hit England side produced a wholly contrasting first‑half display in Leuven and could have no complaints about the scoreline.

Former Huddersfield coach has steered side away from relegation zone and claimed win at Bernabéu to savour

“You can’t let yourself be intimidated when you walk into this stadium,” Carlos Corberán said, although almost everybody is, better teams than his taking it in turns to fall to their fate. Valencia weren’t going to back down, even if there were 75,382 people waiting in the Santiago Bernabéu and just 150 of them on your side, wedged out the way high in the north-east corner. If their starting XI did cost €300m, another €120m coming at you off the bench, and only two of yours cost anything at all; if their striker’s signing-on fee would pay your whole squad, and if they’ve won more in 12 months than you have in 20 years. If they’re La Liga’s best home team and you’re its worst away, if they’re chasing the title and you’re running from relegation, 32 points, 47 goals and a world between you.

Not even if your captain is out and two more starters are absent precisely because Saturday at the Bernabéu isn’t really your fight, suspensions sought and served now, resources employed elsewhere. Not when your record against the big three this season says played five, lost five, conceded 20, your right-back is making only his third appearance and the other two ended 1-7 and 0-5. When you haven’t won away in 355 days, 12 cities visited without victory, and haven’t won here in 17 years, back when you were good. When none of your players ever have. Still, Valencia’s coach said the day he went for the first time, you need personality, belief. Even as the bell tolls, the bugle calls and the inevitable’s coming.

PSG have been flawless this season – something they never achieved with Leo Messi, Neymar and Mbappé in the team

By Get French Football News

“It’s only the start,” said Lucas Hernández as Paris Saint-Germain wrapped up their fourth consecutive Ligue 1 title in muted fashion against Angers on Saturday. To be crowned league champions is the climax of a season for many clubs; for PSG, it is merely the starting gun.

This isn’t the earliest that PSG have won the title. In March 2016, Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored four of his 38 league goals that season in a 9-0 win over Troyes, ensuring Laurent Blanc’s side wrapped up the title with eight games to spare. This term though, there weren’t the same fireworks as Désiré Doué’s solitary goal was enough to secure the all-important win but, make no mistake, this has been PSG’s most emphatic title win.

• Depleted Australia win 2-0 at McDonald Jones Stadium
• Record crowd watches as Fowler strike and own goal seal victory

Mary Fowler gave the Matildas cause for optimism ahead of next year’s Asian Cup after a fine first-half finish and some second-half wizardry helped secure a second friendly victory over continental rivals South Korea in the space of four days, this one ending 2-0 in Newcastle in front of a record crowd.

The Matildas were missing half their first choice line-up to injury and were well-matched against the visitors for much of this physical chess match, but proved resilient in keeping the opposition scoreless and accelerated away in a dominant second half.

The defender’s Singaporean club Lion City Sailors can ruin Sydney FC’s dreams of reaching an Asian final for the first time

Bailey Wright knows a thing or two about defensive resilience. Capped 29 times by the Socceroos, the Melbourne-born defender played an important cameo role in one of Australian football’s most significant victories – the 1-0 win over Denmark in the final group game at the Qatar World Cup which sealed progression to the last 16.

Australia had to withstand a late barrage that night in al-Wakrah, and Wright, who Graham Arnold deployed off the bench with 15 minutes to go, was at the very heart of it.

Former Liverpool midfielder was frozen out by Turkish club but has seized lifeline given by new manager

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is still just 31 years old, which feels very young for a man who made his first-team debut for Southampton when Gordon Brown was UK prime minister. It is just over 15 years since Oxlade-Chamberlain broke into Alan Pardew’s Saints squad, aged 16, and after successful and high-profile moves to both Arsenal and Liverpool, plus a trophy haul that includes a Premier League and Champions League title, plus three FA Cups, few can say that Oxlade-Chamberlain has not fulfilled his potential.

Yet his exit from Liverpool at the expiry of his contract in 2023, aged just 29, felt a little hollow. Presented with a photo collage after his final Anfield match and photographed on the pitch alongside his fellow departees, Roberto Firmino (to Saudi Arabia) and 37-year-old James Milner (to Brighton), who were both beaming ear to ear, Oxlade-Chamberlain looked a little lost, diffident almost. Where next?

­Manchester United fans chanted abuse at Manchester City’s Phil Foden about his mother during Sunday’s goalless derby. City manager Pep Guardiola said the move 'lacked class' and added: 'I don’t understand the mind of the ­people ­involving the mum of Phil, it’s a lack of integrity, class, and they should be ashamed.' It is understood that City were shocked and disgusted by the chants and the number of people involved. United’s stance is that they condemn all abusive chants aimed towards players

• ‘Lack of class’: Guardiola hits out at United fans’ chant about Foden’s mother

Weston-super-Mare’s Luke Coulson scored from his own penalty area against Hornchurch in the National League South. With the hosts 3-2 down in stoppage time, goalkeeper Mason Terry went up for a late corner - but the ball instead dropped to Coulson, who kicked it from the penalty spot all the way upfield, where it bounced and rolled into an empty net.

Sir Gareth Southgate has expressed his concern that 'callous, manipulative and toxic influencers' are taking the place of traditional father figures in society and contributing to mental health issues among young men. He believes the decline in communities and a lack of mentors – or 'father figures' – are causing more young men to become reluctant to talk or express their emotions. Southgate voiced concern that 'this void is filled by a new kind of role model who do not have their best interest at heart'.

• Gareth Southgate rails against ‘callous toxic influencers’ in Dimbleby Lecture

Newcastle United beat Liverpool 2-1 at Wembley Stadium to win the Carabao Cup final. Goals from Dan Burn and Alexander Isak gave Newcastle a two-goal lead before Federico Chiesa scored a late consolation for Liverpool. The Newcastle manager Eddie Howe said: "With such a long wait for a trophy, this will be a day that I'm sure everyone will never forget." More than 32,000 Newcastle fans made the journey to Wembley and they celebrated the victory into the night.

• Eddie Howe ‘will never forget’ day Newcastle broke trophy drought

Loss to Belgium highlighted a lack of speed in the back four while Hannah Hampton looks set to be No 1 in Switzerland

England’s results and performances in 2025 suggest they are one of a relatively small group of teams to which the following two statements apply: they are good enough to win this summer’s European Championship title if they play at their best, while they are also vulnerable to crashing out in the group stages if they are off their game.

That great potential coupled with inconsistency could scarcely have been illustrated better than by their two matches this month: the first, an emphatic 5-0 win at home to Belgium on Friday in which the Lionesses looked unplayable at times; and the second, a concerning 3-2 loss away to the same opponents on Tuesday that exposed how easy it can be to score against Sarina Wiegman’s team. But what else can be gleaned from these two hugely contrasting matches?

With the title and relegation all but decided, fourth and fifth are the main spots of intrigue as the end of the season approaches

• Sign up for Soccer with Jonathan Wilson here

Southampton’s relegation from the Premier League was confirmed on Sunday, with a record seven games remaining. Wolves beat Ipswich, so there is now a 12-point gap between the bottom three and the rest: Ipswich and Leicester look doomed.

The gap at the top, meanwhile, remains a seemingly unassailable 11 points. Leaders Liverpool lost at Fulham but, with Arsenal only drawing at Everton, it didn’t really matter.

Talented players are heading to club but there is uncertainty over their home and an awkward fixture list may deny them a top-five place

The promise of a better tomorrow at Chelsea divides opinion. While some predict disaster, others look on with fascination. Speaking to an analyst at a Premier League club last week, the feedback was glowing when the conversation turned to Chelsea beating Manchester United to the £44m signing of Sporting’s 17-year-old winger Geovany Quenda. Good players are heading to Stamford Bridge. The question is less whether Chelsea have an eye for talent, more whether they can put the pieces of the puzzle together.

They are not deviating from their chosen path. There is a sense that Chelsea, aware of the mockery about all the seven-year contracts, are waiting for the moment when they can silence the critics. They have faith their process will come off.

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Philippe Auclair and Archie Rhind-Tutt as to talk over the Champions League action

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On the podcast today: PSG get a vital goal in injury time to give them a healthy lead over Aston Villa. There were four brilliant goals in the game but the best of the bunch came from Désiré Doué, whose long-range effort left Emi Martínez planted to the floor.

Plus: surnames that begin with the same letter, Gil Scott-Heron’s dad and Bradford Park Avenue’s unwanted record

• Mail us with your questions and answers

“Ipswich. Leicester and Southampton have a combined total of 47 points. Are they on course to be the worst bottom three in Premier League history?” asks Will Hollis.

In a 24-season period from 1999 to 2023, there were no cases of all three promoted clubs being relegated from the Premier League. Now it is probably going to happen for the second successive season. In 2023-24, Luton, Burnley and Sheffield United gained 66 points between them, easily the lowest combined total of the Premier League era.

Faye Carruthers is joined by Suzy Wrack, Tom Garry and Sophie Downey to discuss the Lionesses tale of two matches against Belgium

On this week’s Guardian Women’s Football Weekly, the panel, who are scattered across Europe, discuss the Lionesses’ two game in four days home and away against Belgium.

Last Friday was a very comfortable 5-0 win in Bristol but fast forward to Monday and it was a different story as Belgium got their revenge with a 3-2 win, leaving the Lionesses in second place in their group

United and City play out a deeply forgettable Manchester derby and Unai Emery gets his Aston Villa team right

• Premier League top scorers: the latest standings

This was a deeply forgettable derby, but it was Manchester United who looked the more likely to get a winner as time ticked down. Ruben Amorim spoke afterwards of using pace in transitions to try to carve out chances – and with a little more composure in the penalty area, it might have worked. Bruno Fernandes was the game’s standout player but Patrick Dorgu also caught the eye in just his fifth Premier League start. Signed from Lecce in January, the Danish wing-back is the first player Amorim has brought in that fits his system. Freed up by City’s narrow formation, Dorgu was able to get forward and test City’s backline at will. The 20-year-old’s red card at Ipswich sparked fears that, like some other young United recruits, he was too raw for regular Premier League football. Sunday’s performance should ensure he holds down the left-sided spot in Amorim’s 3-4-3 setup for the rest of this season, even with Luke Shaw nearing a return to fitness. Niall McVeigh

Match report: Manchester United 0-0 Manchester City

Match report: Fulham 3-2 Liverpool

Match report: Tottenham Hotspur 3-1 Southampton

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Despite having made 405 senior appearances for club and country/countries, Declan Rice had never scored with a direct free-kick before the match between Arsenal and Real Madrid at the Emirates Stadium. Indeed, not only had the Arsenal midfielder never scored from a direct free-kick, he had not even provided the slightest shred of evidence that he might be a mite handy over any dead ball that wasn’t placed near the corner flag, ready to be arced with precision on to the head of one of his teammates. So when Rice channelled his inner Roberto Carlos and defied both his instructions from the bench and the laws of physics to curl the first of two free-kicks around the four-man defensive wall and centimetres inside the upright, it seemed fitting that the Brazilian he’d just emulated was in the stadium to see his thunder(bolt) stolen by a 26-year-old Londoner playing in one of the biggest games of his career.

It’s just funny for my mum because she left Poland to come to England and make a life; I left England to go to Poland to start my journey” – Maxi Oyedele gets his chat on with Will Unwin about his life at Manchester United, a tough loan spell at Forest Green and finding his feet at Legia Warsaw, who play Chelsea on Thursday.

Top marks to The Guardian for its behind-the-scenes exposé of Real Madrid’s preparations on Monday, complete with a photo that told its own story. The Spaniards’ pre-game worries about dealing with Arsenal’s set-piece prowess were certainly realized in spectacular fashion last night, if not from the expected quarter. However, preparing Thibaut Courtois by having him make saves in a drastically reduced goal seems to have been a bad error of judgment, in retrospect” – Justin Kavanagh.

Our cartoonist on legacy fans being taken for granted and YouTube ballers taking the game in a new direction

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Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Liew and Mark Langdon as Nottingham Forest beat Manchester United, taking a step closer to Champions League football next season

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On the podcast today: Anthony Elanga scores a wonderful solo goal against Manchester United and it proves enough for Nottingham Forest to claim a vital 1-0 win in the hunt for Champions League football.

England goalkeeper on how she has fine-tuned her game since moving to France and ‘loving the architecture’ in Paris

Many of us might perceive it as a bustling metropolis full of tourist hotspots. To Mary Earps, however, Paris is noise-free. Peaceful. Beautiful. It is very rare for anybody to spot the England goalkeeper in public – unless she is at the airport or waiting to catch the Eurostar from Gare du Nord – and, for a player who shot to fame so quickly that she was the 2023 BBC Sports Personality of the Year, such relative invisibility in the City of Light is a blissful feeling.

“It’s been more refreshing than I thought it would be,” Earps says of her move to Paris Saint-Germain, who she joined last summer. “The last few years have been unbelievable, a massive acceleration I could never have predicted, and what’s come with that is some incredible opportunities but also a lot of noise, and so I really wanted to get into a little focus zone and just totally concentrate on my development as a footballer. Careers are short and I really wanted to maximise mine. I’m trying to squeeze out every last bit of potential that I have in myself and put the blinkers on a little bit – it’s been nice to escape and just be totally all-in with trying to push myself to another level.”

Amid club’s scoring struggles we run through the centre-forwards, from Rooney to Zirkzee, since Alex Ferguson’s exit

Centre-forward only statistics: Games 63 Goals 26 Assists 14 Mins 5,196

Uefa’s president could yet do a volte-face and run for office in 2026 as he enjoys success of new-look Champions League

As Uefa’s delegates filed into a long, low-ceilinged room it was tempting to wonder what difference a year makes. Sava Centar in Belgrade places function ahead of form and there was little of the Parisian grandeur that adorned the governing body’s annual congress in 2024. Nor were there as many fireworks on display, although plenty of the issues that will define European football over the second half of this decade flickered persistently around the edges.

Last year’s event turned into the Aleksander Ceferin show, the Uefa president drawing a scandalised reaction by pushing through an extension to the term limits for his role before pulling the rug away by announcing he would step down in 2027 anyway. Uefa had already been rocked by the acrimonious departure of its head of football, Zvonimir Boban, and the sense was that internal posturing risked diverting focus from the real structural and existential concerns the sport continues to face.

Fulham were excellent in beating the champions-elect and credit should be given to the mid-table tier’s progression

Here it comes then. The much‑promised collapse. The improbable, but somehow also deserved and collectively willed disintegration of these champions by default. Something like that anyway. Tell you what though. Fulham are good aren’t they? And particularly so, it should be said, for a team that started the day 10th in an apparently mediocre league. Or is that not part of the story?

At the end of a fun, boisterous 3‑2 victory for Marco Silva’s excellent, vigorous upper‑midtable team the talk will of course be about Liverpool, and not necessarily in a very flattering way.

Chelsea and England defender on the power of football and praise for her teammate for talking about her ADHD and autism diagnosis

“When you experience the things we have in the women’s game, it does open your eyes to the struggles of others,” says Millie Bright. “It makes you more aware of all kinds of different barriers people might face. You really appreciate the struggles that people have to go through and the constant barriers and battles that have to be fought every single day just to exist. Literally just to exist. You’re not asking to be better than anyone, you’re just asking to exist and be able to do what you love doing, whatever that is, in sport or beyond sport; things that are just part of living a full life, and everyone deserves a full life.”

The Chelsea and England defender is sitting in the small stand at Cobham FC’s brilliantly named Leg O’Mutton Field talking about the power of football. Last year Bright was back in Killamarsh, the village in north-east Derbyshire where she grew up, visiting the “Millie Bright pitch” at her childhood club, Killamarsh Juniors. The club had previously benefited from Football Foundation funding. Since then, 30 3G pitches dedicated to prioritising women’s and girls’ football that have received funding via the Premier League, the Football Association and the government-backed Football Foundation’s Lionesses Futures Fund.

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