Untung99

All eyes will be on the league’s record goalscorer as she returns to the club where she spent seven successful years When the fixture list landed for the Women’s Super League season and the standout “Arsenal versus Manchester City” glared conspicuously on the opening weekend page, one player’s name was on almost everybody’s lips: Vivianne Miedema. The WSL’s all-time leading goalscorer spent the past seven years of her career at Arsenal, so where else would her new team be travelling to for their first league game of the season other than the Emirates, to face a club whose fans have adored her since she arrived from Bayern Munich in 2017? Continue reading...

Arsenal travel to Manchester City on Sunday and the key battle once again looks like the Gunners’ defensive duo against City’s prolific Norwegian The final whistle had been blown but that didn’t stop Erling Haaland and Gabriel Magalhães. Having battled it out for 90 minutes during March’s 0-0 draw at the Etihad between Manchester City and Arsenal, the Brazilian defender was in no mood to back down. As their teammates shook hands, Gabriel confronted Haaland, whose claim for a late penalty had been waved away by the referee, Anthony Taylor. Pep Guardiola was first on the scene to act as peacemaker as temperatures simmered, pushing the Norwegian striker away before the two players eventually embraced. “Good game,” said Haaland. Continue reading...

* Uruguayan yet to start under new manager * Coaches at club working on striker’s positioning Arne Slot has backed Darwin Núñez to be influential at Liverpool despite not starting him in the first five matches of his tenure. The Uruguayan, who has scored once in 17 club appearances since mid-March, has come off the bench in the past four games. Núñez will likely be a substitute again for the visit of Bournemouth on Saturday, with Slot preferring different combinations for his front three. Mohamed Salah, Diogo Jota and Luis Díaz started the first four Premier League games but Cody Gakpo took his chance at San Siro after replacing the Colombian in the starting lineup. Victory in Italy helped Liverpool bounce back from defeat by Nottingham Forest last Saturday but Slot could be without Alisson, who has a tight hamstring. Continue reading...

Manchester City's manager, Pep Guardiola, and his Chelsea counterpart, Enzo Maresca, have backed players considering strike action over workload, with Guardiola saying 'only the players have the power to do it'. Maresca said the industry doesn't 'protect' players and that the amount of games they are made to play in a season is 'too much'. The comments come in the context of players considering taking strike action over their workload. On Tuesday, the City midfielder Rodri said players are close to striking over the increased number of games, with the Spaniard believing that 40-50 matches a season is the optimum amount. Players face at least an extra two matches in this season’s Champions League and the campaign is set to end for 12 European clubs with Fifa’s new 32-team Club World Cup in the United States. * La Liga chief Tebas hopes a players’ strike would kill Fifa’s Club World Cup * Manchester City’s Rodri warns players close to striking ...

New-look side still lack an identity in the post-Moyes era and need to be sharper and more fluent at both ends The style revolution is moving slowly. West Ham look no less dowdy after swapping David Moyes for Julen Lopetegui, who has much to prove after beginning his new job by producing football surprisingly lacking in inspiration, guile, cohesion, energy and defensive organisation. It has not been easy to work out what Lopetegui has been trying to do so far. There has been talk of laying on more entertainment and there have been flashes here and there. Mohammed Kudus had an exciting spell during the second half of West Ham’s defeat by Aston Villa on the opening weekend and there was also a burst of assertive play against Manchester City, who had to fight hard for a 3-1 win. Continue reading...

There’s a Scottish takeover in Vancouver, Christian Benteke continues to lead the way in DC and slapstick defending could cost LAFC a shot at a championship Welcome back to the Guardian’s MLS Power Rankings, where I have a beef with your specific team and your specific team alone. I’m convinced something similar goes for CF Montréal owner Joey Saputo, who clearly has beef with his own team given his near-total disregard for his roster. Now, as a reminder, these aren’t your standard, run-of-the-mill power rankings. We’re still ranking teams from worst to first. But along with the rankings, we’re diving deep into a handful of teams from around the league who are doing particularly interesting things. Continue reading...

* Penalty save earned Arsenal Champions League draw * ‘He’s been exceptional. You need that at this level’ Mikel Arteta admitted Arsenal were far from their best against Atalanta but praised David Raya for his brilliant double save from Mateo Retegui’s second-half penalty that rescued a point in their opening Champions League match. The Spaniard produced the game’s standout moment three minutes into the second half after first consulting with the Arsenal goalkeeping coach, Iñaki Caña, before facing the penalty. But while Arteta said he was pleased with the impact Raya has made since signing from Brentford last season, he was adamant that Arsenal must improve for Sunday’s meeting with Manchester City. Continue reading...

Mikel Arteta had promised that this week would be the acid test of how much Arsenal have improved this season and, on the evidence of this scrappy performance, they still have plenty to work on. But after overcoming the first hurdle against Tottenham on Sunday, it needed a miraculous double save from David Raya to rescue them from defeat in the opening match of their Champions League campaign after a disjointed display that only underlined just how much they are missing the captain Martin Ødegaard. Continue reading...

MPs demand ‘forensic’ look at Labour’s plans to protect football pyramid in light of Premier League hospitality Keir Starmer is facing questions about whether his £35,000 of free tickets from football clubs risks a conflict of interest as his government prepares to bring in a new regulator opposed by the industry. The prime minister has been under scrutiny for days over his more than £100,000 of freebies and gifts over the last parliament, with another £8,000-plus due to be registered for the free use of a hospitality box at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium. Continue reading...

Italian side’s low block stifled Pep Guardiola’s men and offered reminders of March’s Premier League stalemate Pep Guardiola had made the decision. The Manchester City manager had known for five or 10 minutes and so when the half-time whistle sounded in Wednesday night’s Champions League tie against Inter at the Etihad Stadium, he sprinted off to the dressing room, eager to put the plan in place. It is a major part of Guardiola’s greatness. The ability to see when and where things are going awry; to make the needed changes. Here, there was not much going right. City were blocked up, unable to find fluency or incisiveness. There was an unusual kind of vulnerability about them. Continue reading...

Preparations for Champions League bow was marred with player departures and stadium issues but draw offers hope By Luke Entwistle for Get French Football News Seventy-four years into their existence, having been founded in 1950, the chance for Stade Brestois to finally make their European debut has been long-awaited. Not only will Wednesday’s match mark the Champions League debut but the clash with Sturm Graz is Les Ti’Zefs’ maiden match in European football. Only promoted back from France’s second division in 2019, Brest have operated on the fringes of Ligue 1 since then, with a mid-table finish (11th in 2021-22) their best placement before last season. However, under the incredible (and unlikely, given his record) stewardship of Éric Roy, the team finished third in the final standings, edging out Lille, Nice and Lyon, and also playing cohesive, modern attacking football. Continue reading...

The Silician striker arrived at the 1990 World Cup a virtual unknown and became the hosts’ unlikely hero By Richard Hall for The Gentleman Ultra Nervous, white as a sheet and with the eyes of a nation transfixed on him, he could probably have heard the simultaneous heartbeats of those in the Stadio Olimpico in his head. Salvatore Schillaci was about to announce himself not only into Italian consciousness but into history. He didn’t know it then, at the time he looked like a man fuelled by anxiety and impostor syndrome. Within moments he would be wheeling away in celebration with those wide Sicilian eyes. He didn’t believe it but neither did Italy. All of what came before was gone, in moments he had gone from unknown to saint. The outpouring of emotion all over the world on Thursday says a lot about “Totò”. “The man who made the nation dream” were the words of the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni. This was true. The hosts had so much hope invested in Italia 90 and the wave o...

Manchester City know only too well how tough a nut Inter are to crack. The greatest night of City’s history, the Champions League final triumph against them in 2023, was not without its difficulties; the heart-stopping moments have gilded the legend. This was another reminder of the quality of Simone Inzaghi’s Italian champions, albeit without the same levels of drama. The City supporters had come to see Erling Haaland and the striker’s latest assault on the history books. If he had scored, he would have become the fastest player to reach 100 goals for a club, narrowly eclipsing ­Cristiano Ronaldo’s mark for Real Madrid. It was game No 104 for ­Haaland. Ronaldo took 105. Continue reading...

* Scotland midfielder says players’ mental health is at risk * McGinn concerned by plan for expanded Club World Cup The Aston Villa captain, John McGinn, has said players’ mental health is at risk because of the volume of matches and that next summer’s Club World Cup is a sign of things “getting a little out of hand”. This week, the Manchester City midfielder Rodri said players may go on strike over the schedule, after the Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson said it was poor that Uefa had not consulted players on the Champions League expansion. Next June, the month-long Club World Cup will feature 12 European clubs, including Champions League winners from 2021-24. Continue reading...

* Philip Dooley died after collision with vehicle in Bergamo * Arne Slot and players wore black armbands for match A Liverpool fan in Italy to watch his team play in the Champions League has died after a collision with a vehicle as he crossed a road. Philip Joseph Dooley, 51, from Liverpool, died after the accident near Bergamo airport in the early hours of Tuesday, Merseyside police said. Continue reading...

As the English top-flight grapples with spending regulations, the US league offers a blueprint for improved parity and financial transparency The pre-Profit and Sustainably Rules age was a simpler time. Premier League clubs were broadly allowed to spend freely. So freely that occasionally a club would spend their way into oblivion (looking at you, Leeds United and Portsmouth), but at no point was it expected that a club would have to sell a hotel to balance the books. Many supporters – and club executives, for that matter – are still getting their heads around the Premier League’s PSR. Major League Soccer fans know how they feel. Spending limits and complex roster rules have been part of the league’s DNA since its inception nearly 30 years ago. In MLS, it’s not just about what you can spend, it’s about what you’re allowed to spend, often to the frustration of those who believe the league is holding itself back from reaching its full potential. Continue reading...

Plus: top-of-the-table clashes, first-half substitutions and when did Wengerball first enter the footballing lexicon? * Mail us your questions or tweet @TheKnowledge_GU “I’ve just stumbled across a photo of Newcastle United doing an open-top bus parade emblazoned with the words ‘FA Cup finalists 99’. Are there any other examples of bus parades after defeat?” enquires Mark Cookney. How about after two defeats and a draw that led to relegation? “Rather sadly, my lot Middlesbrough had an open-top bus ride through the town after the 1996-97 season,” writes Garry Brogden. “That was the season we lost the League Cup and FA Cup finals, and were relegated from the Premier League following a three-point deduction. Our star player Juninho didn’t turn up for it. At the final stop at the stadium, Fabrizio Ravanelli announced that he loved us all, and would be back next season. He lasted two games in the Championship before arguing his way out of the club.” Continue reading...

An hour before kick-off the few ­hundred Aston Villa supporters admiring the view from their seats cheered the first rendition of the Champions League anthem over the speakers and their mood was similarly jubilant after watching their team ruthlessly dispatch the Swiss champions on their first ­foreign assignment at this level for 41 years. It was fitting that Jacob Ramsey, who joined Villa’s academy at six years old, got on the scoresheet as the ­travelling supporters sang the name of the late 1982 European Cup ­winner Gary Shaw, another homegrown hero and the youngest member of that revered team, from start to finish. Ramsey’s strike, scored in comical circumstances, was bookended by fine strikes from the Belgium pair Youri Tielemans and Amadou Onana, the latter registering his third goal since a £50m summer move from Everton. Continue reading...

* Referee issued record 14 yellow cards at Bournemouth * Premier League investigating abuse directed at official Anthony Taylor will not referee a Premier League match this weekend after being subjected to abuse on social media after Chelsea’s 1-0 win at Bournemouth, with the English top flight now investigating. The 45-year-old issued a Premier League record of 14 yellow cards during Saturday’s game, eight of them to Chelsea players. The referees’ body, Professional Game Match Officials Limited, said on Tuesday that Taylor would act as the fourth official on two occasions this weekend. He will officiate when Southampton host Ipswich on Saturday and Brighton welcome Nottingham Forest on Sunday. Continue reading...

CBS’s Champions League coverage has become the gold standard for the sport in the US. And the former England keeper has carved out his own lane as an insightful co-commentator Even towards the end of his soccer career, Rob Green hadn’t considered what would come next. “You’re so ingrained in the game. It’s drilled into your brain that you have to play. To have any thought of quitting is an admission of losing. It’s very difficult to manage that in your brain,” Green tells the Guardian. Continue reading...