“On November 23, 2010, a lunch was hosted at the Elysee Palace, the official residence of the French president. Among President Nicolas Sarkozy’s guests that day were Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad al-Thani, now the Emir of Qatar, and Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al-Thani, who was Qatar’s prime minister at the time. Also in attendance was the legendary French footballer Michel Platini, then-president of UEFA, European football’s governing body, and a member of the FIFA executive committee that was about to hold a vote to decide which countries would host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. …”
NY Times/The Athletic
Paris Saint-Germain are in the Champions League final, but has Qatar already won?
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“From the dugout at San Siro, Lautaro Martinez and Federico Dimarco were helpless. The Inter captain and his team-mate — a hometown hero and lifelong fan of the club — had already been taken off against Barcelona. A 2-0 first-half lead had been cut to 2-1, the visitors equalised soon afterwards, and then, with only three minutes remaining, Inter’s dream of reaching the Champions League final was apparently shattered, as Raphinha completed a remarkable remontada. …”
“Almost 11 years after his last game as a Real Madrid player, Xabi Alonso is 
“It’s that time of year again. Liverpool have finally lifted the Premier League trophy after securing the title last month, but the main prize is not the only thing being handed out. Mohamed Salah hoovered up the individual awards, with 29 goals securing the Golden Boot and 18 assists grabbing the Playmaker award for the second time in a Liverpool shirt. Golden glove? That goalkeeping accolade was shared between Nottingham Forest’s Matz Sels and David Raya of Arsenal, with 13 clean sheets apiece. …”
“Manchester City’s dominance finally came to an end, Liverpool were able to celebrate the title in front of their fans for the first time in 35 years, two of the ‘Big Six’ finished in the bottom six and the promoted clubs all went straight back down.Those might be the raw headlines from 2024-25 but this Premier League season offered so much more — this was the campaign, don’t forget, when a player got booked for imitating a seagull. Seb Stafford-Bloor, Tim Spiers, Nick Miller, Oliver Kay and Stuart James reflect on the highs and the lows as another year of English top-flight football reaches its conclusion. …”
“For a lot of this season, the Premier League has been light on compelling, competitive narrative. It was pretty clear that Liverpool would be champions from fairly early on, and it was even more obvious that Ipswich Town, Leicester City and Southampton were going to go down. Stakes seemed low, attention could easily wander, the summer loomed. But then, emerging over the hill to save us all as winter turned into spring, was the race for the Champions League places. The fact that the Premier League had five places this season rather than four gave things an added element of spice, so as Nottingham Forest faltered, Manchester City started to look more like themselves and both Newcastle United and Aston Villa found some form, it was all headed inexorably towards high drama and teeth-chattering tension on the final day. …”
“The defining moment of Stoke City’s 10 years in the Premier League came on November 29, 2008. They were playing Hull City at home, whose defender Kamil Zayatte had just played a backpass to goalkeeper Boaz Myhill. Myhill was immediately closed down by two Stoke attackers, so the standard clearance up the pitch was not an option. There wasn’t a short pass on. The next most logical choice was to go sideways and put it out for a throw — not ideal, but it would have dealt with the immediate issues. After all, how dangerous can a throw-in really be? But Myhill stopped, hesitated, stuttered, regretted every one of his life decisions that had led him to this point, weighed up his options… and kicked it out for a corner. …”
“There will be many memories of Tottenham Hotspur’s Europa League triumph, the club’s first trophy in 17 years. One of them will be the change in tactical approach during the knockout stages, which saw 
“It is one of Anfield’s most iconic banners. Six metres wide and three metres high, it features the faces of six cherished managers from Liverpool’s illustrious history — Bill Shankly, Bob Paisley, Joe Fagan, Kenny Dalglish, Rafa Benitez and Jurgen Klopp — and takes pride of place near the front of the Kop before each home game. This summer, it will undergo a makeover, with Arne Slot set to be added alongside Klopp for the start of next season. It is recognition for the Dutch head coach guiding Liverpool to the Premier League title during a remarkable first campaign. …”
“Barcelona are La Liga champions for the 28th time after a 2-0 victory at city rivals Espanyol took the title away from defending champions Real Madrid. Lamine Yamal curled in a fine effort in the 53rd minute to set Barca on the way to the title before Fermin Lopez wrapped up the win following Yamal’s assist in the fifth minute of second-half stoppage time. It crowns a transformational season under new coach Hansi Flick, who arrived last summer to little fanfare but has given a young group of players a clear, exciting new direction. Flick’s team already lifted the Copa del Rey in a heated final against Madrid last month and thrashed their arch-rivals 5-2 to lift the Supercopa de Espana in January. They have four wins over their Clasico rivals 
“European members of the FIFA council staged a dramatic walkout at the world governing body’s congress following the late arrival of President Gianni Infantino. The eight UEFA members of the FIFA council and several European delegates did not return to Thursday’s conference centre in Paraguay, including UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin and the English Football Association (FA) president Debbie Hewitt. The exit followed a three-hour delay to the congress, because FIFA president Infantino was late arriving for his own event on Thursday morning, having prioritised meetings with United States president Donald Trump in Doha and Qatar this week. This included rescheduling the FIFA council, which should have been in person in Paraguay on Tuesday, but was instead held virtually last Friday. …”
“In football, we obsess over which team is going to win every competition, where every side will finish in the league and the future transfer destinations of top players. What we talk about far less is where managers will end up, other than in the unemployment queue — which, obviously, is only a metaphorical image because in reality they’re all multi-millionaires and set for life financially. Which club will Marco Silva call home after he leaves Fulham? Ever wondered where Crystal Palace’s Oliver Glasner will work next? Nope, us neither. But maybe it’s time we started. …”
“In a period when a small handful of superclubs regularly win the league, it can be difficult to differentiate between various title-winning campaigns. But Barcelona’s 2024-25 La Liga victory — albeit not yet mathematically certain — will live long in the memory. There are certain elements of this Barca season that are very specific to this particular title success. They’re playing in the city’s Olympic stadium rather than the Camp Nou. They’re using a new generation of world-class teenagers, led by Lamine Yamal and Pau Cubarsi. The thrilling victory over Real Madrid on Sunday completed a clean sweep of 
“It may seem a strange thing to say about a man who has won the World Cup, Copa America and Premier League over the past two-and-a-half years, but Alexis Mac Allister’s genius is underrated. Perhaps this is simply what happens when you play in the same national team as Lionel Messi, and have Mohamed Salah as a club team-mate. Maybe it is down to his unassuming nature. Or could it be his physical size? At Anfield, his fellow midfielders Dominik Szoboszlai and Ryan Gravenberch literally stand out more than the 5ft 9in (176cm) Argentinian. …”
“Football tactics have experienced a boom in recent years, but even the most progressive fan still loves to see their team ‘stick it in the mixer’. In many ways, the football we watch has become increasingly cultured in the Premier League, but ask yourself this: who doesn’t reminisce about Rory Delap’s iconic long throw-ins for Stoke City in the late 2000s? The drop in directness from these towards the end of the previous decade in the Premier League coincided with a decrease in the percentage of goalkeeper passes played long — defined as ones that travel at least 32m (35 yards) — as more teams were focusing on maintaining possession, building out from the back, and recycling the ball if they lost it. …”
“Mohamed Salah is five goals clear of Alexander Isak in the race for the Golden Boot and leads 
“Let’s start with a quick quiz question. Aside from Trent Alexander-Arnold, who is the Liverpool player to most recently score from a direct free kick in the Premier League? I’ll give you a clue. It happened in 2017, and was scored by a player who, as Real Madrid target Alexander-Arnold seems set to do this summer, left Anfield for Spain. We’ll give you the answer at the end of the article, but the fact that it has been over seven years since anyone in a Liverpool shirt apart from Alexander-Arnold had success from a dead-ball points not only to the right-back’s qualities but also the team’s over-reliance on him. …”
“Luton Town fans looked dumbfounded. Their team had just been beaten 5-3 by West Bromwich Albion in a breathless game on the final day of the Championship season to confirm relegation into English football’s third tier. Some hugged loved ones for comfort; others just held their heads in their hands. It was a dark day in the club’s recent history, and all the more painful given that — just 12 short months ago — Luton still had a chance of staying in the Premier League. They ultimately lost that fight but started this season among the promotion favourites. …”
Scissors Kick 