“Time can make fools of us all. Even supercomputers. Barring some sensational results in the quarter-final second legs this week, there are probably only five teams left who can win this season’s Champions League (Arsenal, Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain, Inter and Bayern Munich). That’s a significant shift from the start of the season when, before a ball was kicked in the new-look format, The Athletic’s Opta-powered projections had Manchester City (25 per cent) and Real Madrid (18 per cent) as the most likely sides to lift the trophy. …”
NY Times/The Athletic
Champions League projections: How Arsenal steadily became 2024-25 tournament favourites
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“It’s been a breathless start to the game. After conceding inside the first two minutes, France Under-21s lead 2-1 against an England side who have just hit the post. Enzo Millot, the France captain, picks up possession midway inside his own half and sweeps a lofted pass out to the right. Only Rayan Cherki knows why he chose to do what he did next. …”
“Declan Rice stunned Real Madrid with two brilliant free-kick goals to help 
“Just when you think you’ve seen everything that football has to offer, along come Ipswich Town. Amid another morale-sapping defeat that all but sealed their relegation from the Premier League, Ipswich, with a little help from their opponents, Wolverhampton Wanderers, served up the maddest two minutes of Premier League action you are likely to see this season. A backpass, a mistake, a save, a free kick, a melee on the goal line, a thudding shot and a point-blank block… there was nothing technically proficient about any of it, but it was memorable. Are you not entertained? 
“Anthony Elanga scored a thrilling solo goal to tighten Nottingham Forest’s grip on a surprise Champions League place next season and leave Ruben Amorim’s Manchester United side languishing in 13th in the Premier League. The former United forward covered 85 metres of the City Ground pitch in nine seconds, taking seven touches, the last of which was a shot past Andre Onana to give Forest the lead after five minutes. United, like many teams against Forest this season, had plenty of possession but Diogo Dalot hit the crossbar and Ryan Yates blocked well from Alejandro Garnacho and they could not find a way to level the scores, with Murillo also clearing the ball off the line from Harry Maguire at the death and celebrating in style. …”
“There has been little to cheer about for supporters of Southampton Football Club this season. Southampton were promoted back to the Premier League last summer at the first time of asking via victory over Leeds United in the Championship’s play-off final, but it has not been a happy first campaign on their return to the English top flight. They’ve only managed two league wins in their 29 games, sacked the manager who brought them up, Russell Martin, in December, are on a nine-match losing streak at home and have conceded 70 goals, which, unsurprisingly, is more than any other top-flight team. …”
“… It is the first weekend of Norway’s football season and, inside the stadium of Oslo’s biggest club, the stand where Valerenga’s most boisterous supporters congregate is 
“Early morning Basque sunshine is threatening to break through. Take the first turning off the main road and you will come across Real Union’s bar, tucked into the corner of their stadium. Inside, gentle music is playing as a couple of locals enjoy a coffee. The artificial pitch used for training is opposite and Real Union’s first-team players have started to trickle out for today’s session. It is here, in the province of Gipuzkoa, where Aston Villa manager Unai Emery’s footballing foundations were formed. Real Union play in Irun, a sovereign community of just over 60,000 in the Basque Country, about a 25-minute drive east of San Sebastian, Gipuzkoa’s capital, and four kilometres from Emery’s family home in Hondarribia. …”
“With the Premier League title race and relegation battle seemingly wrapped up before April, you might think there is little peril remaining in the final weeks of 2024-25. Fear not. Any thrill-seekers need only look as far as the race for Champions League spots, with as many as seven teams still fighting to dine at Europe’s top table next season. Liverpool, Arsenal, and Nottingham Forest have separated themselves from the remaining pack at the top of the table but based on the latest UEFA coefficient standings, fifth is enough for a place in the 2025-26 Champions League. One more win for any of the five English sides remaining in a European competition this season should confirm that additional spot in the continent’s top tournament. …”
“Kevin Day is talking about trophy cabinets and silver allergies. ‘We’ve only got two FA Cup finals to our name,’ the writer, comedian and lifelong Crystal Palace fan says. ‘That’s one of the things about Steve Parish insisting we were founded in 1861 and not 1905 — it just adds another 44 years to the amount of time we haven’t won anything.’ Parish, the Palace chairman, likes his history, and opportunity knocks right now for his club to create some. Palace are one of the four out of this weekend’s FA Cup quarter-finalists who have never won a major trophy — Fulham, Brighton & Hove Albion and Bournemouth are the others — opening the door to the possibility of a first-time winner and a 45th different name being engraved on one of football’s most famous pieces of silverware. …”
“On average, about one in every 30 corners leads to a goal. The success rate tends to go up dramatically, however, when the goalkeeper and their entire defence are standing outside their six-yard box when a corner is taken. That was the remarkable scene during the UEFA Nations League quarter-final in Dortmund on Sunday. Germany’s Jamal Musiala turned the ball into an empty net against an Italy team who acted like they thought the game would stop for them to hold a debrief into where everything had been going wrong for them during the first half. Joshua Kimmich had other ideas and the combination of his brilliant quick-thinking and Musiala’s goal-hanging — allied to a ball boy who was, well, on the ball — led to Germany doubling their 1-0 lead from a highly unusual corner on 36 minutes, and making fools out of Italy in the process. …”
“Football fans love the idea of the clean break, the fresh start, and the new era that is unlike anything that has come before. When Thomas Tuchel got the 
“It was referred to as the darkest period in Mexican football history. Following Mexico’s exit in the group stage at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Mexico lost to the U.S. 2-0 in the semifinals of the Concacaf Nations League in 2023. Before that, El Tri had lost to the Americans in the 2019 Nations League final, and also suffered a defeat in Cincinnati in 2021 during the World Cup qualifiers prior to Qatar. Shortly before the 2022 World Cup, then-Mexico federation president Yon de Luisa fired his entire sporting department in what was viewed as a last-gasp effort to change the national team’s direction prior to the tournament. Yet Mexico crashed out, snapping a streak of seven straight knockout-stage berths, while the U.S. escaped its group. El Tri were no longer the Kings of Concacaf. Instead, they were forced to look up at their most bitter rivals, as the U.S. celebrated an unprecedented run of success against their neighbors to the south. …”
“At the beginning of March, Liverpool were surging under Arne Slot. Less than a fortnight ago, Slot’s first season at Anfield was geared up to be one of the greatest in club history. The Premier League was a procession. A Carabao Cup final awaited. The Champions League was theirs to snaffle up, too, after topping the revamped league stage. Not so now. In the space of six days, Liverpool’s lofty season has tumbled. From looking so imperious during the Dutchman’s first six months at the helm, now Slot’s side are left with just the Premier League to play for — though it would take quite the implosion for that to fall out of their grasp. The Carabao Cup and Champions League are gone. …”
“On Sunday evening, for the first time since 2007 — long before Diego Simeone took charge — Atletico Madrid lost a match having held a two-goal lead. And when a team comes back from 2-0 down to win 4-2 in a match with major significance in the title race, the instinct is to ask precisely what changed in the tactical battle, particularly when two managers with wildly different philosophies, Simeone and Hansi Flick, were involved. …”
“Arsenal’s return to the top table of English football has been a long time coming. Two decades have passed since they last won the Premier League title — few who watched their famed ‘Invincibles’ team of 2003-04 would have predicted that would be the last of Arsene Wenger’s league successes. Yet football, and perhaps English football more than anywhere else, has changed dramatically since those days of Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp and Robert Pires. Financially, Arsenal have had to deal with the seemingly bottomless wealth of first Chelsea and then Manchester City, two rivals whose various periods of domestic dominance were at least in some part built on the back of Arsenal’s hard work, given they raided Wenger for many of his best players. …”
“It is a problem dominant football teams are experiencing across the world: with so many opposing sides deploying a low block, meaning they sit deep on their 18-yard line for the majority of the game, how do you find a way to goal? With space behind the defence strangled and the centre of the pitch condensed, plotting a course requires precise combination play. Most teams have to go around the block but that usually means crossing the ball, and statistically those do not translate into goals very often. In light of those convoluted routes, Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard has made the executive decision that going over all those bodies is the best policy. …”
“It is a staple of English football. Despite the progression in modern football tactics, it is remarkable how many managers point to a specific part of the game in their pre- and post-match interviews. The second ball. With the influx of overseas coaches over recent decades, it feels like a rite of passage to note the importance of second balls when striving to win a game of Premier League football. Most notably, early in Pep Guardiola’s first season with Manchester City, he recalled how 
“Watch the video without sound, without context, and you will be forgiven for wondering what exactly is going on. 
“One-touch passes are hard. As the great Johan Cruyff once said, ‘Technique is passing the ball with one touch, with the right speed, at the right foot of your team-mate.’ The truth is first-time passes are dying out, with Premier League sides increasingly prioritising controlled possession. Manchester United playmaker Bruno Fernandes, though, has never been one to follow convention. His one-touch, no-look assist in last season’s FA Cup final win against Manchester City would surely have earned Cruyff’s seal of approval. From the edge of the box, Fernandes slid a first-time ball between John Stones and a recovering Kyle Walker, teeing up Kobbie Mainoo for the side-footed finish, as United ran out 2-1 winners, denying City a second successive league-and-cup double. …”
“As Adam Wharton turned and played a perfect through ball to Eddie Nketiah, Thomas Tuchel must have raised an eyebrow. The England head coach watched Crystal Palace from the stands for the second successive match with several players on his radar. But if there was a pass which by itself warranted an England call-up then this was it. Wharton received the ball 10 yards inside Palace’s half, surveyed the surroundings and advanced forward. He spotted Nketiah, who was through a crowd. …”
“Manchester United’s wait for back-to-back Premier League wins this season goes on after Declan Rice’s fine second-half strike earned Arsenal a point at a raucous Old Trafford. This game lacked the quality that was once associated with this fixture, with Bruno Fernandes’ goal shortly before half-time — a precise free kick from 25 yards — the outstanding moment in a poor first half. Arsenal improved after the break and levelled with Rice’s powerful long-range effort, their first goal in 257 minutes of Premier League action. And despite that shortage of quality, the closing stages had plenty of drama as both sides pushed for a win, Fernandes coming closest in the dying seconds. …”
“As Arne Slot closes in on the second league title of his career, he may reflect ruefully on how it could easily have been his third. It is five years to the day that AZ’s season was effectively ended by Covid-19 after Slot’s in-form team had beaten ADO Den Haag to draw level on points with Ajax, the team they had beaten the week before, at the top of the Dutch Eredivisie. AZ had the look of champions-in-waiting, Slot having instilled such fearlessness and aggression in their football that their belief was growing with every passing week. What made this fairytale even more incredible was that Slot, in his first season as a top-flight coach, was outsmarting his rivals with a team largely made up of academy graduates. …”
“Wojciech Szczesny returns to the Estadio da Luz on Wednesday — the place where, only five weeks ago, his short Barcelona career must have flashed before his eyes. His first Champions League start of the season, in 
“… Those are the big three iconic Parisian landmarks. On Wednesday night at the Parc des Princes, Luis Enrique’s Paris Saint-Germain showed 
“Mousa Dembele was a players’ player: a rare talent whose quality is 
“More than 20 games in the English Football League are underway and a cry of ‘it’s gone’ bellows from Pod J. Panic sets in. Peter Walker dashes in to check what has happened, fearing a camera has gone down in Stevenage’s home game against Huddersfield Town in League One. After a brief exchange, the panic is over. It was a false alarm. A player appeared to have an injury and the match director feared their hamstring had gone as opposed to losing a camera feed. …”
“If Liverpool’s loosely-defined ‘luck’ in the Premier League is a real thing then consider the not-so-compelling narrative in the 
“The 
“Jean-Philippe Mateta had his ‘life endangered’ in a challenge from Millwall goalkeeper Liam Roberts that left the Crystal Palace striker with a head injury, his club’s chairman Steve Parish said. Mateta was given oxygen on the pitch following the challenge in Saturday’s FA Cup fifth-round tie, before being taken off on a stretcher from the field of play in a neck brace and being directly taken to an ambulance, with play stopped for over 10 minutes. Millwall’s Roberts was shown a straight red card after the video assistant referee (VAR) recommended on-field referee Michael Oliver to review the decision, after the goalkeeper was initially not punished for the incident. …”
“Last season, the
“The underdogs had held out for as long as possible but now, surely, it was over. Second-tier Dunkerque had somehow succeeded in weathering an almighty storm at Lille, but with five minutes of the match remaining, Andre Gomes had popped up to give the Ligue 1 side a 1-0 lead. The goal had been coming. This was the same Lille team who had beaten Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid and thrashed Feyenoord 6-1 en route to securing direct qualification for the Champions League last 16. …”
“You could argue that Emile Smith Rowe’s goal did not stand out in last weekend’s wider collection of finishes. Fulham ran out 2-1 winners against Nottingham Forest, with their opener coming from a well-worked sequence that saw Adama Traore cut inside onto his left foot before delivering a delightful ball for the onrushing Smith Rowe to head home. …”
“Liverpool’s tilt at the 2024-25 Premier League title is beginning to look like a procession. This trip to the Etihad was meant to be one of Arne Slot’s biggest tests but his side negotiated it with minimum fuss, closing out victory thanks to goals from Mohamed Salah (of course) and Dominik Szoboszlai to move 11 points clear at the top of the table. Our experts analyse where the game was won and lost and where it leaves the campaign. …”
Leeds striker Joel Piroe celebrates with a young fan after scoring against Hull. Daniel Farke’s side currently top the Championship ahead of Sheffield United.
“Being in the right place at the right time is a priceless skill. It is often the result of understanding space and knowing when to time your off-ball movement. In 
“The Champions League’s new format may have given every team only two possible opponents in the round-of-16 draw but that has done little to dampen the excitement now that we know the eight ties. 
“When a manager turns a match around in the second half, the logical question to ask is: what did they change at half-time? That was the first question Juventus’ head coach, Thiago Motta, was posed on television last night after his side changed the tide against Inter to earn a 1-0 Serie A home win. … Then in the post-match press conference, Motta was asked again about his half-time message, and explained that he’d talked about ‘the usual things’ alongside ‘small details’. …”
“It was a moment many watching the game may have missed — but it has become increasingly common for Andoni Iraola and Bournemouth fans. As Milos Kerkez passes backwards under instruction from Bournemouth team-mate Antoine Semenyo during Saturday’s match at the St Mary’s Stadium, Southampton forwards Kamaldeen Sulemana and Paul Onuachu start to press the intended recipient, Dean Huijsen. Centre-back Huijsen controls the ball with the studs of his right boot, then rolls it to open up his body. …”
“Jude Bellingham was sent off on Saturday for swearing at a referee — but the Real Madrid midfielder insists the incident that saw him shown a red card was a ‘miscommunication’. Bellingham says his red card against Osasuna was down to referee Jose Luis Munuera Montero misinterpreting him swearing as an insult directed at the official. Carlo Ancelotti explained at full time the sending off was a mix-up over Bellingham’s use of the phrase’f*** off’, which he claims was used to voice his confusion over a decision as opposed to abuse the referee. …”
“One of the most successful and lucrative commercial rights partnerships in football is ending. On Tuesday, it was announced that 
“Lloyd Kelly’s first start of 2025? Against Bromley of League Two, English football’s fourth tier, in the FA Cup’s third round on January 12 as one of nine Newcastle United changes to their previous line-up as coach Eddie Howe fielded a largely second-string side. Kelly’s second start of 2025? Against Dutch title holders PSV on February 11 in a Champions League play-off to decide who goes forward to the round of 16 next month as the 26-year-old defender made his home debut for Juventus, 36-time champions of Italy and two-time winners of the European Cup/Champions League (among their nine appearances in the final). …”
“Football very rarely goes to plan. AC Milan’s new strike force were supposed to quickly start scoring a lot of goals. Feyenoord selling their best player was supposed to mean their season was over. Bayern Munich were supposed to crumble away from home again. Oh, and VAR was supposed to eradicate horrendous refereeing decisions. As you can see from last night’s Champions League play-off knockout clashes, the sport rarely fails to disappoint when it comes to predictability. Here Tim Spiers analyses the key talking points from Wednesday evening’s matches. …”
“Erling Haaland scored against Real Madrid for the first time in his career. And then scored another. But Manchester City still lost at home to the Champions League holders. It will have felt all too familiar for Pep Guardiola and his team as they threw away a 2-1 lead with four minutes of normal time to play at the Etihad, being stung first by one of their former players, Brahim Diaz, and then the tireless Jude Bellingham, who steered the ball home from close range in added time. Oh, and earlier in the game Kylian Mbappe had scored with his shin. …”
Scissors Kick 