“Welcome to the latest edition of Inside Barcelona, our weekly series to follow throughout La Liga’s 2025-26 season. Every week, we will bring you key information and analysis on the biggest talking points, cutting through the noisy world of all things Barca with reporting you can trust. The information contained in this article reflects multiple conversations with various sources at the Spanish champions, all of whom wanted to speak anonymously to protect relationships. …”
NY Times/The Athletic (Video)
Inside Barcelona: How will Hansi Flick react to his team’s worst performances of the season?
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“Xabi Alonso’s response to a question about his preferred playing style in his first press conference as Real Madrid head coach last May was instructive. … Alvaro Arbeloa’s response to the same question seven-and-a-half months later, after being promoted to the first-team job from coaching in the club’s academy in the wake of Alonso’s January 12 sacking, was much simpler. …”
“… Anatoliy Trubin has had a bit more time to process what happened in the 98th minute of Benfica’s final Champions League group game against Real Madrid. But it still doesn’t feel entirely real. To recap: because of injuries and a couple of VAR reviews in the first half, the game was still going six or seven minutes after every other fixture on the last, chaotic day of the group stage had finished. That meant Benfica knew what they had to do to make it into the playoffs for the knockout stages. Well, in theory they did. …”
“New Year, new managers. Chelsea kicked things off when they sacked Enzo Maresca on New Year’s Day, before Manchester United parted company with Ruben Amorim four days later. Now, after a pair of February firings this week, there have been four Premier League sackings already in 2026, the most ever seen across the first two months of a calendar year. Tottenham Hotspur reignited the sacking spree when they dismissed Thomas Frank on Wednesday, while Nottingham Forest relieved Sean Dyche of his duties less than 24 hours later, releasing a statement in the early hours of Thursday following their 0-0 draw at home to last-place-by-a-mile Wolverhampton Wanderers the previous evening. …”
Sandro Tonali of Newcastle complains to referee Chris Kavanagh during Saturday’s FA Cup game against Aston Villa
Fabian Hurzeler pictured during Brighton’s FA Cup tie at Anfield on Saturday
Tottenham Hotspur’s sporting director Johan Lange (left) and CEO Vinai Venkatesham, the men who will appoint a long-term successor to Thomas Frank
“After beating Barnsley in the FA Cup last month, Arne Slot admitted that his approach to analysing opponents might need a rethink. ‘We’ve played 30 games this season and I’d say 28 of my pre-match meetings, I could just throw in the bin,’ he said in a press conference, highlighting the extent to which he feels teams have altered their approach when lining up against Liverpool. For context — and this is important — Slot was not suggesting that opponents should roll over and play into Liverpool’s hands. Against Barnsley, for example, he acknowledged that he also would have adopted defensive tactics in their position. …”
“All FA Cup draws are equal, but some are more equal than others. It is an age-old maxim for managers to rebuff suggestions that they have been handed a favourable tie in football’s oldest competition. Jose Mourinho provided a classic of the genre when his Premier League employers Tottenham were given a third-round tie away to Middlesbrough of the second-tier Championship in the 2019-20 competition. …”
“Liverpool came through a bruising encounter away to Sunderland, with battles across the pitch and a serious-looking injury to Wataru Endo. Virgil van Dijk’s goal just after the hour was enough to seal three points at the Stadium of Light and inflict the hosts’ first home defeat of the season after a first half in which Liverpool missed several chances, before Endo had to be carried off a few minutes later to add to their right-back concerns. …”
“A couple of weeks ago, two football stories which seemed unrelated were, in reality, very much connected. The first story was 
“Sean Dyche was right when he observed that Evangelos Marinakis was unlikely to sack him on the back of one poor performance by his Nottingham Forest side at Leeds United. But there is a reason Forest’s match tonight (Wednesday) against fellow relegation candidates Wolverhampton Wanderers feels as though it will carry an additional weight for their head coach. It is not just one game that has left Dyche’s position in the spotlight less than four months into his tenure as Forest’s third head coach of this season, but the cumulative effect of several recent displays. …”
Dominik Szoboszlai departs down the tunnel after his late red card against Manchester City
Jorgen Strand Larsen, James Ward-Prowse and Tony Pulis
“Manchester United’s interim manager has long been on the premises, if not in the building. In recent years Michael Carrick was a regular visitor at the club’s Carrington training ground, sitting unassumingly in his car for hours, waiting for his son Jacey, now 15, to finish training with United’s junior sides. Those staff who are still around — and many are not — from when Carrick left United in December 2021 after his previous interim spell in charge would say hello, but the man himself usually kept a low profile. …”
“… Joseph Oughourlian, owner of Racing Club de Lens, was responding to a question from The Athletic about what it would mean for Lens — a city in northern France with a population of just 35,000 — to pip Paris Saint-Germain to the Ligue 1 title. With 20 matches played in Ligue 1, and 14 remaining, Lens trail the European champions by just two points, having been leading at Christmas for the winter break. They will have a keen eye on PSG’s next match, at home to Marseille in Le Classique on Sunday night. For Lens to even be in the title mix at this stage is a remarkable achievement. …”
“Of the many ways that Pep Guardiola is not a typical football manager, the strength with which he holds his political convictions is especially striking. On Tuesday, a seemingly routine pre-match press conference, ahead of his Manchester City side’s League Cup semi-final against Newcastle United, turned into a global talking point. ‘Right now we kill each other for what? For what?’ he implored a room full of journalists, ostensibly there to get answers to questions about refereeing decisions and City’s inability to play well after half-time. …”
“Pep Guardiola was defiant in his press conference after Manchester City threw away a two-goal lead to draw with Spurs, but he did admit his side have ‘difficulties for many things’. They are the kind of things that mean City’s latest dropped points cannot be explained by the unusual Tottenham curse, which has seen them win just four of their 12 matches against the Londoners since the start of the 2021-22 season. If there is an underlying reason for that poor head-to-head record then it may be that Spurs, seemingly no matter how much they may be struggling, relish the opportunity to hit teams on the break, and have been able to turn over City when they have been trying to find some momentum themselves. …”
Manchester United owners Avram Glazer, Jim Ratcliffe, Joel Glazer and Malcolm Glazer on a devil’s fork held by a protestor in May 2025
Dominic Solanke scores his spectacular second goal as Spurs fight back from two down to draw with Manchester City
“… Striker Omar Bogle, who plays for Crewe Alexandra in League Two, is recalling to The Athletic the frightening moment last year when he became addicted to sleeping pills and painkillers. He initially started taking the pills after suffering a back fracture during pre-season in the summer of 2024. Bogle described the back fracture as the worst pain he’d ever felt. In agony and struggling to sleep, he turned to sleeping pills and, similarly to the painkillers he was taking, at the beginning, he found them helpful. …”
Coventry players celebrate during their Championship win over Leicester this month
“When UEFA changed the format of the Champions League, it was for nights like this. The Swiss model, now more famous than Swiss Cottage station on the London Tube network but not yet as famous as Swiss cheese, replaced the old eight groups of four model (less catchy) in 2024. The final day was pretty good last year, with 64 goals in the 18 games, but no big teams dropped out and the big will-they-won’t-they? of the night saw Paris Saint-Germain stroll past Stuttgart 4-1 to avoid an early elimination (wonder what happened to them). …”
“Anyone not plugged into football’s online discourse may have missed it, but the analytics community was rocked by a seismic event last week. FBref.com, once the great Alexandrian library of free football data, has been stripped of its advanced metrics after announcing on January 20 that Stats Perform, the company behind Opta, had informed them it was terminating their data agreement. Why did this happen? What does it mean for the availability of advanced football data, or for informed, independent football analysis? And can we enjoy expected goals anywhere else online? Here is an attempt to explain… ”
“Whatever Hansi Flick said in the Barcelona dressing room at half time, it worked wonders. Having gone 1-0 down to Copenhagen in the fourth minute, goals from Robert Lewandowski, Lamine Yamal, Raphinha and Marcus Rashford steered the Catalans into the Champions League last 16 with a 4-1 home victory on Wednesday night. It means Barca avoid having to contest a play-off to reach the knockout stages proper, after a win that moved them up into the top eight of the league phase table. For Copenhagen, a spirited and battling display ultimately ends with defeat and elimination. …”
“A 3-2 Chelsea win in Naples has sealed a top-eight finish in the Champions League for the Premier League side and eliminated their opponents from the competition, as Liam Rosenior’s promising start at the club continues. It was advantage Chelsea early on, after Enzo Fernandez’s 19th-minute penalty put the London side 1-0 up. Napoli were unhappy with the decision to penalise Juan Jesus — jumping up from his position in a defensive wall — for handball. And the home side seemingly used that sense of injustice to shake off their lethargy, with the rest of the first half a consistent stream of Napoli attacks. …”
“Newcastle and Paris Saint-Germain are both now in the Champions League knockout phase play-offs after a tense 1-1 draw at Parc des Princes. Both went into the game in the top eight teams — who go straight to the last 16 — but results elsewhere mean they will need two-legged play-offs to advance further. Vitinha put PSG ahead with a beautifully-placed finish after Ousmane Dembele had missed an early penalty given harshly against Lewis Miley for a handball. And though the hosts dominated the majority of the first half, Joe Willock headed in an equaliser just before the break with Newcastle’s first shot on target. …”
“It was four days after Christmas, and 58 years after he started supporting Bristol Rovers, when Mike Jay snapped. Rovers were at home to Barnet in League Two and in the seconds before half-time, Barnet went 1-0 up. Rovers falling behind was not news to Jay, and he got his half-time cup of tea as usual. But then he did something truly unusual. He did not re-take his seat. Instead, Jay walked up the slope, through the blue gates at the top of the Memorial Ground, and went home. …”
Qarabag celebrate their win against Eintracht Frankfurt
“Welcome to the latest edition of Inside Barcelona, our weekly series to follow throughout La Liga’s 2025-26 season. Every week, we will bring you key information and analysis on the biggest talking points, cutting through the noisy world of all things Barca with reporting you can trust. The information contained in this article reflects multiple conversations with various sources at the Spanish champions, all of whom wanted to speak anonymously to protect relationships. …”
“Two sensational finishes from Patrick Dorgu and Matheus Cunha gave Manchester United a shock 3-2 win against Arsenal in an incredible game at the Emirates. Mikel Arteta’s side went into the weekend seven points clear of Manchester City at the top of the Premier League, but they now lead by just four after defeat to United and City beating Wolves on Saturday. Cunha scored from distance after Mikel Merino had equalised for Arsenal late on. This followed Dorgu’s strike that had put United ahead after Bryan Mbeumo had equalised following an error from Martin Zubimendi. Arsenal felt they could have had a penalty when the ball struck a diving Harry Maguire on the hand, but nothing was given. Arsenal had initially gone in front through a Lisandro Martinez own goal. …”
“So much for Liverpool having turned a corner. The hope provided by an impressive Champions League triumph over Marseille in midweek was whipped away by a dismal Premier League defeat at the hands of Bournemouth. One step forward, two steps back. This was another act of self-sabotage for their collection as Arne Slot’s side rallied from 2-0 down to restore parity, only to capitulate late on when Amine Adli bundled home the winner from a long throw-in. It’s the fifth time this season Liverpool have conceded a result-defining goal deep into stoppage time, with a total of seven points frittered away. How costly they could prove to be. …”
Amine Adli scores from a tight angle to seal Bournemouth’s win
“Real Madrid and Barcelona were football’s top-earning superpowers last season, according to Deloitte’s latest Football Money League report. Madrid topped the annual listing of club revenues for the third year running and 15th time in 21 seasons, generating £975million ($1.309bn) in 2024-25, leading second-placed Barcelona by more than £150m. Liverpool became the second English club to book more than £700million in revenue during their charge to the Premier League title, yet their income last term was only enough to rank them fifth worldwide. It is the first time in the report’s 29-year history that no English side has featured in the top four. …”
“Change is the only constant in football. In the modern game, players can reasonably expect to meet new team-mates, new managers (or head coaches), and fulfil new tactical demands within an average two-year cycle. Combine that with an ever-congested fixture calendar, and it can be difficult to keep up with the physical requirements that are placed on a professional footballer. …”
Galatasaray should now make the play-offs, despite a tricky-looking final-day trip to Manchester City “We are down to next Wednesday’s final-day bonanza in the Champions League, with 18 simultaneous games to close out the initial league phase. Seven matchdays in, only Arsenal and Bayern Munich have guaranteed spots in the round of 16 in March. Third-placed Real Madrid and Juventus in 15th are separated by just three points, and with some of the teams in-between them playing each other in the final round of matches, expect the table to undergo a bewildering amount of change during Matchday 8. …”
Brahim Diaz’s missed Panenka penalty in the Africa Cup of Nations final 
Perez, pictured at the Bernabeu on Saturday
“It is almost three years since a stark verdict was delivered on the chaotic scenes that preceded the 2022 Champions League final in Paris. ‘It is remarkable that no one lost their lives,’ concluded an independent review of that fraught evening that ended with Real Madrid beating Liverpool. UEFA, as event organisers, was found to 
“Welcome to the latest edition of Inside Barcelona, our weekly series to follow throughout La Liga’s 2025-26 season. Every week, we will bring you key information and analysis on the biggest talking points, cutting through the noisy world of all things Barca with reporting you can trust. The information contained in this article reflects multiple conversations with various sources at the Spanish champions, all of whom wanted to speak anonymously to protect relationships. …”
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“Nigeria ended their penalty hoodoo by beating Egypt in a shootout to claim third place at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations following a goalless draw. Super Eagles goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali brilliantly saved efforts from Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush, allowing Ademola Lookman to settle it despite attempted mind games from Pharaohs keeper Mostafa Shobeir. The West Africans had 
“What is it really like to be a football manager? How do you escape the pressure? What impact do results have on your family? How long are the hours? Where do your best ideas come from? Do players still get a rocket at half-time? Can you wear what you want on the touchline? And, most importantly of all, how do you choose from 17 different varieties of cider? To find out the answers to all those questions and more, The Athletic spent a month with a head coach in the most volatile and unpredictable league in English football: the Championship. Gerhard Struber, a 48-year-old Austrian, took over at Bristol City last summer after spells with Koln, Red Bull Salzburg, New York Red Bulls, and Barnsley. …”
“It is coming up to two years since Sir Jim Ratcliffe got his hands on a piece of Manchester United and set about his mission to restore the club to ‘the top of the game’. It would not be a quick fix, the petrochemicals billionaire said, given the sense of decline and drift that had taken hold over the previous decade. It wasn’t a case of flicking a switch or waving a magic wand. ‘We have to walk to the right solution,’ he told the 
“The dominant reaction to Liverpool’s season has been one of disbelief. Seven consecutive wins to start the campaign were followed by nine defeats in their subsequent 12 across all competitions, with few reigning Premier League champions experiencing such a sharp decline in such a short space of time. Arne Slot’s second season was always likely to come with choppier waters. Becoming the hunted league champions, reshaping a playing squad and experiencing an incomprehensible summer of loss is enough to unsettle any club. Still, no one anticipated the events that have occurred in recent months. Still, despite some disappointing draws, there have since been green shoots of recovery with Liverpool currently on an unbeaten run of 11 games in all competitions. …”
Scissors Kick 