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A bit more from Eddie Howe, on Alexander Isak: “He’s not for sale from my perspective …”

Dejan Kulusevski has been talking about how the Europa League has brought out Tottenham’s best amid a wretched domestic season, PA Media reports

“When you do performances like [the win at Eintracht Frankfurt], you want to repeat them,” Kulusevski said. “I think in Europe, we play a little bit different. We play with less risk and we put the ball up more in the space like we did today and we got to keep doing that in Europe.

“This season has been really disappointing but at least, let’s finish it in the best possible way. We have got to do everything possible every day to make it happen. It is different football (on an artificial pitch), it is a different pitch, but in life, you have to do what you have to do to find a way to win and we have got to do that.”

• United won first leg 3-0 against Athletic Bilbao
• Senior players ‘need to handle these moments’

Harry Maguire has urged Casemiro, Bruno Fernandes and Manchester United’s other senior players to “step up” and ensure the team seal a Europa League final berth in Thursday’s semi-final second leg at Old Trafford after their 3-0 dismantling of Athletic Bilbao.

A Casemiro header and two Bruno Fernandes goals at San Mamés make United firm favourites to return to the stadium for the final, potentially against Tottenham, who are 3-1 up against Bodø/Glimt. Maguire was asked what the greatest threat was to United’s progress.

After three successive promotions McElhenney and Reynolds will see their club take on their biggest challenge yet in ‘one of the most competitive leagues in world football’

A social media soundbite from Rob McElhenney was typically revealing. “If I’m being honest I don’t even know what the word consolidation means,” the Wrexham co-chair said. Days earlier, in between wheeling around the Racecourse Ground celebrating promotion from League One, he had told Ryan Reynolds that things were about to get “a little pricier from here on”.

Wrexham: welcome to the Championship. After three successive promotions to earn a slice of English football history, the Welsh club and their owners are steadying themselves for one of the most chaotic and competitive leagues on the planet.

Manchester City will be wary of Wolves, Graham Potter needs a derby win and Roméo Lavia is vital to Chelsea

Six straight wins in a run of seven unbeaten has lifted Wolves to 13th. Now Vítor Pereira’s side pose a problem that Manchester City must solve as the latter chase maximum points from their last four games in the race for Champions League qualification. Pep Guardiola’s side are unbeaten in the last eight in all competitions and buoyed by last Sunday’s reaching of a third successive FA Cup final, so this should be a close one. Keep an eye out for Guardiola potentially having a complimentary word with Matheus Cunha, as is his habit when coming up against a high-class opposition player. Jamie Jackson

Manchester City v Wolves, Friday 8pm (all times BST)

Aston Villa v Fulham, Saturday 12.30pm

Everton v Ipswich, Saturday 3pm

Leicester City v Southampton, Saturday 3pm

Arsenal v Bournemouth, Saturday 5.30pm

Brentford v Manchester United, Sunday 2pm

• Visitors strike late in Spurs’ 3-1 first-leg victory
• ‘We need to replicate what we did today’

Ange Postecoglou has insisted that Tottenham have the belief that they can overcome a tricky second leg in the Arctic Circle and reach the Europa League final despite conceding a late goal against Bodø/Glimt.

Ulrik Saltnes gave Kjetil Knutsen’s Norwegian champions hope of mounting a comeback next week after Spurs had raced into a 3-0 lead in the first leg thanks to goals from Brennan Johnson after just 38 seconds, James Maddison and a penalty from Dominic Solanke. Bodø have a formidable record at home, having won six of their seven matches in Europe so far including victories over Olympiakos and Lazio.

The partying in the stands was at odds with everything taking place on the artificial pitch. There was no irony about the celebrations from the noisy Djurgården fans when their team finally found the back of the net. The roar was deafening and the emotion was genuine. The only problem, though, was that Chelsea were already four goals to the good by the time Isak Alemayehu Mulugeta got the underdogs on the scoresheet in Stockholm.

It was not a great look for a competition that Uefa invented for the benefit of Europe’s smaller clubs. Chelsea against the 11th best team in Sweden for a place in the final of the Conference League? A show of the Premier League’s financial power was inevitable. Enzo Fernández, signed for £106.7m, decorated the contest with early assists for Jadon Sancho and Noni Madueke. Nicolas Jackson came off the bench and scored twice. Cole Palmer’s failure to end his goal drought was a sideshow.

This week Nottingham Forest readied themselves for the Champions League, Evangelos Marinakis relinquishing his controlling interest in the club to comply with Uefa’s ownership rules. His other club, Greek champions Olympiakos, have qualified for the grandest stage in the club game but Forest’s bid to return to Europe’s premier competition will likely go to the wire. Will Forest look back on this defeat at home to Brentford as a costly misstep when their season ends here against Chelsea?

Forest, who face Crystal Palace, Leicester and West Ham before that potential final-day showdown with Chelsea, never really got going on a disappointing evening. Goals from Kevin Schade and Yoane Wissa, a January target for Forest, condemned the hosts to successive league home defeats for the first time since the end of last season and Nuno Espírito Santo’s side have now lost four of their past five matches in all competitions, including last weekend’s FA Cup semi-final. At full-time Anthony Elanga and Neco Williams crouched, winded by defeat, and Nuno’s challenge is to lift a dejected group of players. The stakes are a reminder of how far they have come.

• England Netball follows suit after supreme court ruling
• ECB expected to do likewise in Friday board meeting

The Football Association and England Netball have banned transgender women from women’s teams on a day when the effects of the supreme court ruling on single-sex spaces rippled through sport.

The governing body of cricket, the England and Wales Cricket Board, will do likewise when it meets on Friday, with an insider telling the Guardian “the legal advice is that we will have to follow a similar route”.

• Supporters to protest before Wolves match on Friday
• Guardiola: ‘If I can help, I will help, definitely’

Pep Guardiola has said he will do what he can to assist Manchester City fans disgruntled with the club’s ticketing policy. Four supporter groups wrote an open letter to the manager this week, asking him to speak to the chief executive, Ferran Soriano, on the matter, as they prepare to hold a protest before Friday’s match at home to Wolves.

City fans have demonstrated at recent fixtures over season tickets, matchday prices and the use of resale websites to sell tickets. The four groups – 1894, MCFC Fans Foodbank Support, Trade Union Blues and Solid Citizens – want Guardiola’s help to protect the atmosphere at the Etihad Stadium by not pricing out fans. The club have frozen season ticket prices for next season but there are concerns about the lack of new ones being made available.

The Wolves head coach on mingling with supporters, why he is ‘a man of the sea’ and the art of football management

‘Gold, like our club,” says Vítor Pereira, pointing towards his glass of Asahi. “This is the colour.” The charismatic Wolverhampton Wanderers head coach has just taken a sip of beer and something of a breather halfway through an hour-long conversation at the Inn at Shipley, a pub on the outskirts of the city, taking in everything from his days as a lifeguard in his hometown of Espinho, a fishing village south of Porto, to almost becoming Everton manager – on three occasions. He claims he once had job offers from Arsenal, before Mikel Arteta was appointed, Crystal Palace and Wolves’ arch-rivals West Brom, too.

This is his first visit to this watering hole but the perfect setting given Pereira’s “first the points, then the pints” mantra that has led to him celebrating wins by mingling with supporters in the local Wetherspoons and a fans’ group to launch a lager and IPA decorated with the slogan. There is only one place to start: joining supporters to drink in victory.

One of the most photographed men in the world, he has gone from captain of the England football team to elder statesman. We look back at the red cards, redemption, scandals, fashion and family life

• Tim Dowling on David Beckham at 50

It’s swings and roundabouts being a titchy kid in football. David Beckham first played for Chingford-based youth team the Ridgeway Rovers, where he was coached by his dad, Ted. Back then, he didn’t make the England schoolboys squad because he wasn’t burly enough – his father subsequently employing the somewhat nauseating tactic of feeding his son Guinness with raw eggs to gain weight. On the other hand, it did mean he could be a match mascot at Manchester United, his dad’s passion, at the age of 11, because he was still so cute and shrimpy.

Orient and Reading tussle for playoff spot, Bradford have promotion in reach as Doncaster and Vale contest title

A lot here has been decided: Birmingham are champions and Wrexham are going up with them, while Shrewsbury, Cambridge, Bristol Rovers and Crawley have been relegated. But there is plenty of intrigue in the playoff places.

Big signings arrived but recruitment of Sonia Bompastor was perhaps the key factor to club’s sixth straight title

This was a title win that has felt inevitable since December, at which point Chelsea had won their first nine Women’s Super League matches of the season. In truth, it had felt likely long before that, in a campaign where one squad has looked uncatchable and – unbeaten with just two more games to go – they may yet prove to be the 2024-25 invincibles.

It is Chelsea’s sixth WSL title in a row and eighth overall in terms of full-length campaigns, in addition to their triumph in the one-off, transitional “Spring Series” in 2017, meaning they have been crowned champions of England nine times since their first title in 2015. That represents more than just an era of dominance. They have built a dynasty and there are no signs to suggest their reign will be over anytime soon.

Manchester United enjoyed their night in Bilbao so much that they will surely be coming back. They remain the only unbeaten team among the more than 100 that have played this competition over eight long months, and even if they do fall to a first in seven days’ time, the margin of this victory means they should still be there on its final game in this same arena, the season given meaning and potentially a triumphant end, the Europa League their elixir and their escape once again.

They came to the stadium everyone calls the Cathedral and defeated Athletic Bilbao so convincingly that the second leg carries little threat. No one had won here this year in Europe and Athletic had conceded just 10 times in all competitions; United scored three in a quarter of an hour, an opening goal from Casemiro and two from Bruno Fernandes ending this before half-time. All the more so because the second came from the spot, accompanied by a red card for Dani Vivian, infuriating the home supporters and virtually ensuring that they will not play the final they host on 21 May.

With eight minutes to play, Tottenham’s fans must have thought they were almost home and hosed. It had been hard to hear yourself think as the emotions of a frustrating campaign poured out with each goal that went in, with Brennan Johnson’s opener after just 38 seconds setting the tone.

But this being Spurs, things are never quite that simple. Cruising at 3-0 after further goals from James Maddison and Dominic Solanke seemed to have given them a comfortable advantage, a late strike from Bodø/Glimt’s stand-in captain, Ulrik Saltnes, that deflected off the unfortunate Micky van de Ven changed the complexion of the tie in an instant.

• Inter coach says such a talent only ‘born every 50 years’
• Hansi Flick calls 17-year-old ‘a genius’ after 100th outing

The Inter head coach, Simone Inzaghi, called Lamine Yamal a phenomenon that only comes along every 50 years after the teenager led Barcelona’s comeback against his team at Montjuïc.

Inter led the Champions League semi-final first leg 2-0 after only 21 minutes but, on his 100th professional appearance for the club, the 17-year-old scored an outrageous goal to get Barcelona back in the game and produced a performance that suggests it is not that he will become the best player in the world – he already might be.

• Former manager made comments at event in March
• Saudi Arabia is ‘a great place for a World Cup’

Harry Redknapp says his description of England’s head coach, Thomas Tuchel, as a “German spy” was a “joke that badly backfired”.

The 78-year-old former manager, who had successful spells at Spurs, West Ham and Portsmouth but never landed the England job, also talked up Eddie Howe’s credentials as the best man to lead the Three Lions.

• Shares put in blind trust to comply with ownership rules
• Marinakis also owns the Greek club Olympiakos

The Nottingham Forest owner, Evangelos Marinakis, will not have a controlling interest in the club next season before the club’s probable return to European football.

Marinakis, who also owns the Greek club Olympiakos, has placed his shares in a blind trust in order to comply with Uefa regulations on multiclub ownership, which state no individual is allowed to control two clubs that are competing in the same competition.

Lamine Yamal had said that he left fear behind in the park in Mataró when he was little and there was no sign of it here as Barcelona and Inter produced an astonishing night at Montjuïc. As the final whistle went at the end of a noisy and hugely enjoyable semi-final with the score at 3-3, there was a feeling of missed opportunity for Barcelona, of what might have been, yet having been a goal down after 30 seconds and trailed 2-0 and 3-2, it might also have been worse. And it was actually pretty special, an exhilarating occasion that resolved nothing but won’t be easily forgotten.

The same could be said of Denzel Dumfries, scorer of two goals and forever tearing into Barcelona, and of Lamine Yamal. They were the most outstanding of many outstanding players on a wild and wonderful occasion in which Barcelona twice came from behind to equalise but couldn’t turn it around entirely, left lamenting their vulnerability at the back. Inter, meanwhile, left satisfied and very much alive, their first task completed. This was a revival they needed, the greatest prize of all still within their reach.

A wholly disappointing episode has drawn attention away from a legitimate conversation about media coverage

The former England international Eni Aluko’s appearance on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour prompted lines to be drawn between her and fellow pundit Ian Wright. “There’s a finite amount of opportunities and I think that men need to be aware of that,” said Aluko, when asked whether it was wrong that Wright was covering women’s football. The affair has been messy, with Aluko, a trailblazer in many areas, publicly apologising and Wright, a passionate champion of the women’s game beloved by players and fans for that support, rejecting the apology.

It has been a wholly disappointing episode that has, in focusing on Wright, drawn attention away from a legitimate conversation on whether the number of women pundits, commentators and presenters in football is improving.

This is an extract from our free weekly email, Moving the Goalposts. To get the full edition, visit this page and follow the instructions. Moving the Goalposts is back in to its twice-weekly format, delivered to your inboxes every Tuesday and Thursday.

Backed by 3,000 fans, Ulrik Saltnes’s goal against Tottenham gives Bodø hope of reaching the final in Bilbao

As the minutes ticked down, Bodø/Glimt’s support broke out into a rendition of Venner, an earworm of a song by their much-loved celebrity fan Halvdan Sivertsen. The title means “friends”, its chorus the simplest but most glorious celebration of kinship and solidarity. “Every time we meet, we have a good time; we are friends for life, these are the good things to have,” it runs. The hordes in yellow have had plenty of opportunities to revel together on a European run with few parallels; by the end they could dream, however faintly, of a reunion to end them all in Bilbao.

What a curious occasion this ultimately proved to be, both teams’ fanbases legitimately feeling able to cheer at full time and everyone getting what they came for to some degree. Tottenham have one foot in a season-defining final, that much is clear, and it would remain the biggest European upset of the modern era if Bodø/Glimt overturn this deficit in their idiosyncratic Aspmyra Stadion. But the tie remains open and, for Spurs, this must count as a wasted opportunity to offer their faithful the most relaxing of voyages to the Arctic Circle.

I am not a Liverpool fan but this week I have crossed a sacred line – and I’m struggling to feel sorry

This column begins with a confession. One I am afraid and not a little ashamed to make. One that my instincts tell me I should be taking to a priest who is bound to silence, or at the very least an understanding therapist. Certainly not to a forum of sports fans with strong opinions and keyboards full of potential swears.

Scourging rods at the ready, then: this week I have been wearing a Liverpool top. And I am not a Liverpool fan.

We’re down to the last four teams, and the semi-finals didn’t disappoint, even if they were played in contrasting styles

Paris Saint-Germain

The two best players of their generation suffered same-day disappointments that show the game is starting to move on

Not long ago, the results might have been seismic. Or at the very least, worthy of an eyebrows-raised remark. Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, the two leading lights of their generation, the dominant on-field forces for most of this century, both going out of continental competition in the semi-finals? Both in upsets? On the same day?

On Wednesday, it actually happened. Messi’s Inter Miami fell to Vancouver 5-1 on aggregate in the Concacaf Champions Cup, and Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr lost 3-2 to Kawasaki Frontale in the AFC Champions League Elite at a nominally neutral site in Saudi Arabia.

Millie Bright and Aggie Beever-Jones have been among the stars, though it has not been a smooth season for all

Hannah Hampton The 24-year-old has made the No 1 shirt her own this season. Ever present in goal, she is second for clean sheets in the league and her distribution is a key asset. She might not always be the busiest given the team in front of her but, more often than not, she has stepped up in the big moments with memorable saves to ensure her side maintain their unbeaten run. 8

Former coach’s conduct is said to be the tip of the iceberg and Fifa continues to investigate matters related to abuse

It was at a press conference to announce Gabon’s squad for an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Burundi in August 2018 that Pierre-Alain Mounguengui admitted Gabonese football had a problem. After shocking revelations made by Shiva “Star” Nzigou – a former striker who played for the French club Nantes and won 24 caps – that a network of paedophiles had been operating in the country for more than two decades, the president of the Gabon football association (Fegafoot) since 2014 felt obliged to comment.

“Before Shiva Star Nzigou’s statements, we knew that in Gabon there were similar signs and other indications,” Mounguengui said. “In the past, without naming names, we had people in certain clubs and sports venues who were hired to coach young people, but the education of a child begins at the grassroots. If they are deformed at the root, it is sometimes difficult to straighten them out. If we can have adults [coaches] of good moral character, I think it’s possible to stem this phenomenon.”

Club’s president has a deep sphere of football influence and travels to Arsenal desperate for Champions League vision to be realised

As Nasser al-Khelaifi watches from the Emirates Stadium directors’ box on Tuesday night, he can reflect that Paris Saint-Germain may be a month from the latest monumental victory of his career. Champions League success has been a long time coming, given the plan of Qatar Sports Investments had been to reign Europe within five years of its takeover in 2011, but the fresh sense of clarity in PSG’s approach is on the verge of reaping rich dividends. The serial Ligue 1 winners could soon sit atop club football just as their president rules it from the corridors of power.

Khelaifi is, in the words of one seasoned observer, “the most powerful person in sport that nobody has heard of”. That oversight is probably true of a British public to which his influence is yet to cut through. If nothing else the Qatari should receive a slightly more amenable welcome at Arsenal that the one afforded in November by fans of Bayern Munich, who certainly seemed well versed in his various functions when PSG visited.

Club president has turned on his players and the fans have turned on the club. Can the 2012 champions survive this?

By Get French Football News

Montpellier are one of three clubs to have denied PSG the Ligue 1 title since the takeover more than a decade ago. In the time that has elapsed since their 2012 triumph, the club has drifted into a state of dereliction and destitution. Their relegation from Ligue 1 confirmed, La Paillade exit the stage with a whimper; it may be a while before they grace it once more.

Montpellier are a family club. Louis “LouLou” Nicollin is the founding president of the club and upon his death, in 2017, ownership passed to his son, Laurent. LouLou who died aged 74, continues to be honoured in the 74th minute of every home match by the fans, but there was a mixture of applause and boos at Sunday’s commemoration. Families don’t always get along and relationships have buckled under the strain of the most devastating season in the club’s 50-year history. Disunity reigns at the Mosson.

Dino Toppmöller’s side looked spent after they sold their top scorer but have a fine replacement, as Leipzig found out

If they were on the verge of something special, the man in charge was hiding it well. It was not, insisted Dino Toppmöller, a final. Nor a playoff. Nor was it even the most important match of the season. All it was, according to the Eintracht Frankfurt coach the day before the game, was quite simply: “Matchday 31.”

By the end, as Saturday night drew in, it was definitely Saturday night. It turned out that Toppmöller’s less-is-more approach suited his team perfectly. They had thrashed RB Leipzig, their significantly more wealthy rivals for a Champions League spot, and were six points clear of their fifth-placed opposition with three games left, staring a return to the promised land square in the eyes.

Midfielder keeps collecting nicknames – and goals – as he drives his side towards a title that would be his own

Scott McTominay could have said anything and a whole city would still have loved him: the man who fired Napoli clear at the top of Serie A with four games to go inspired a 2-0 win over Torino on Sunday. He had scored the only goal as Napoli won away to Monza in their previous fixture, and two out of three in a rout of Empoli before that.

Carrying his team towards the finish line, in other words, though McTominay has been decisive from the start. He scored within 28 seconds of coming off the bench for his home debut in September and his goals have broken seven 0-0 deadlocks since then. No player in Serie A has done this more.

• Bayern sink Mainz 3-0 but Leverkusen beat Augsburg 2-0
• Kane booked so suspended for Bayern’s likely clincher

Bayern Munich eased past Mainz 3-0 but had to put title celebrations on ice after Bayer Leverkusen matched their win to stay eight points behind with three matches left.

The Bavarian club, top on 75 points ahead of Leverkusen in second with 67, can now secure a 34th German league title with a win at RB Leipzig next week. But Harry Kane will miss next week’s game after picking up his fifth booking and a suspension.

Paris Saint-Germain’s hopes of becoming the first side to complete a Ligue 1 season unbeaten came crashing down at the Parc des Princes on Friday when Nice handed them their first defeat of the league campaign, winning 3-1 to boost their own Champions League ambitions.

Having already secured the title earlier this month, PSG still top the Ligue 1 standings on 78 points, while Nice move up to fourth on 54.

Sacking big name was a gamble but appointing a boyhood fan has proven a masterstroke for a side eyeing Europe

“Claudio has changed my life,” Borja Iglesias said and all around him, as they jumped and sang and smiled and hugged, they felt the same way; he has changed all of their lives. At the end of Celta de Vigo’s victory over Villarreal on Wednesday, players and staff crouched low before fans and for the first time a hush fell over Balaídos. All together now, the chant started slowly, quietly, whispered, but the pace quickened and the volume grew bit by bit until they burst to their feet, belted out their name and bounced off each other, footballers fell into the net laughing and one thought emerged above any other: how much fun they were having.

This is the way football’s supposed to be – about enjoying, about belonging – and this is the way it has been since Claudio Giráldez came along: good even when it has been bad and getting better all the time. The last time Celta played Villarreal they were beaten 4-3 with a 100th-minute winner, a game of seven goals that could have been 17 after which Iglesias said: “If we’re going to lose, let it be like this.” Eight months on Celta beat them back, a 3-0 victory lifting them into a European place where they have not finished for a decade and embodying all they want to be. Iglesias was a ballboy back then and it was “cool”, he said, but not quite like this, grateful for the days he has been given.

• Serie A leaders Inter will now host Roma on Sunday
• Italy v Wales in Women’s Six Nations also rescheduled

Serie A has postponed its three fixtures on Saturday because of Pope Francis’s funeral being held that day in Rome. Meanwhile, Italy’s Women’s Six Nations match against Wales is also expected to be rescheduled as the country prepares to pay its respects.

Earlier media reports in Italy had suggested that Serie A might make an exception for Inter’s clash with the visitors Roma to allow Simone Inzaghi’s side additional rest time before their midweek Champions League semi-final at Barcelona. However, the league has confirmed that the game at San Siro will now kick off at 2pm (all times BST) on Sunday.

Manchester United beat Athletic Bilbao 3-0 at San Mamés on Thursday night after a goal from Casemiro and two from Bruno Fernandes. Speaking after the game their manager, Ruben Amorim, said: "I think it is the best result because nobody expected this result.” He added that it was “hard to explain” the differences in performances between the Premier League, where Manchester United are 14th, and the Europa League, in which Amorim's side are one leg away from the final.

• Ruben Amorim says Athletic Bilbao win is ‘best result’ of his time in charge so far

Chelsea beat Manchester United 1-0 on Wednesday to clinch the WSL title with two games to spare. With their victory, Chelsea also set a record for the longest consecutive unbeaten run of games in a single WSL campaign (20) and they have still not lost a domestic fixture under Sonia Bompastor. The WSL title adds to their League Cup win earlier in the season with Bompastor's side aiming to win the treble when they play Manchester United again on 18 May in the FA Cup final.

• ‘Never satisfied’: Bompastor turns sights to Chelsea treble after sealing WSL glory

Five years after Covid-19 restrictions prevented Liverpool fans from celebrating at Anfield their team's first top flight title triumph in 30 years, Reds faithful wasted little time on 27 April getting the party started on another Premier League success. With Anfield filled to the brim, Liverpool equalled Manchester United's record of 20 English top-flight titles with their 5-1 thrashing of Tottenham Hotspur. But it was after Alexis Mac Allister struck a blistering shot to put the Reds ahead for good in the 24th minute that the delirious crowd at the sun-drenched stadium erupted and they did not stop singing until well after the final whistle sounded.Thousands of fans not fortunate to be inside Anfield on Sunday celebrated outside, setting off flares before the game ended in a party that carried on through the night

• Arne Slot’s coolness lies at heart of Liverpool’s record-equalling title

• Unruffled Liverpool and Salah serve up theatre and euphoria on title day

• From Portman Road to paradise: 10 key moments in Liverpool’s title win

There was a cheeky free-kick in the third tier of Swedish football when Jönköpings Södra's Linus Lyck caught the goalkeeper and defensive wall unawares with a nonchalant curler into the bottom corner to give his side a 1-0 lead against Lunds BK. It was reminiscent of a goal scored against Chelsea by Liverpool's Fábio Aurélio in 2009

Great Weston: National League footballer scores from inside his own area – video

Our cartoonist on the Dutch manager failing to get the credit he deserves off critics close to home

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• David’s new book, Chaos in the Box: buy it now

After a drama-free title race, the legacy of Liverpool’s 20th league triumph will be determined in the years to come

• Sign up for Soccer with Jonathan Wilson here

It was probably just as well the decisive match came against Tottenham. Liverpool fans object to the suggestion this season has been anti-climactic, as though that somehow diminishes their achievement, but it is not a criticism to point out no side has come close to staying with them, that the title was in effect won on the January afternoon when Darwin Núñez scored twice in injury time to beat Brentford then Arsenal threw away a two-goal lead to draw against Aston Villa.

That was the season in microcosm: Arsenal carelessly squandering points, Liverpool always having enough, turning games their way in the second half. Nine times this season in the league, Arsenal have led in games that they have failed to win. On 13 occasions, Liverpool have improved their result in the second half (that is, turned a draw into a win, or a defeat into a draw or a win). It has not been a thrilling conclusion – they’ve wrapped the title up before the end of April with four games to spare and have looked probable champions for at least three months – but at least they had their day of celebration of Anfield.

From sitting in the dugout with his dad to obsessing over Guardiola, Liverpool’s hero appeared destined for success

The man who has supplanted Pep Guardiola as coach of the Premier League champions is, it turns out, something of a fanboy. “He was always talking about Pep,” says Henk de Jong, now in his third spell as coach of Cambuur, the Dutch club where Arne Slot got his first break as assistant 11 years ago.

“We were sometimes laughing at him,” De Jong says, describing how Slot would get out his extensive video collection of Bayern Munich and Barcelona games to amplify a tactical point. “‘Pep again, eh?’ we would say. He had videos of all his games. And we would sit and listen to him talk about what he was seeing.”

From Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah to Alexis Mac Allister’s genius, here’s how Arne Slot’s players performed

• Liverpool win 20th league title – reaction

The Brazilian remains one of the finest goalkeepers in the world at the age of 32, adding authority and agility to an impressive defence. Injuries have hindered him for the second season in succession, however, and 20 games missed in all competitions is a concern, even if he was rested for some. 8

Arne Slot’s team faced the perfect opponents as the afternoon became a dual celebration for their Covid season triumph

Football is often compared to theatre. Sometimes it just is theatre. With 63 minutes gone at Anfield, and Liverpool already 3-1 up, Mohamed Salah took the ball on the right in an empty square of deep green, veered inside, and then paused, leaving just enough time for the entire home crowd to freeze the moment, to see a snapshot of what was about to happen.

Salah rolled the ball to his left then spanked it hard into the near corner, drawing a vast, rolling cheer that just didn’t want to stop, a self‑fuelling cheer for this relentless one-man highlights reel, face of an era, the curator of moments, who then made another one here by taking a mid-match celebration selfie with the Kop.

Scotland’s most powerful force needn’t be wildly praised for topping the pile yet again but the manager deserves respect

Twelve months from now, Brendan Rodgers will either be preparing to bid farewell to Celtic for surely the final time or the manager will be embarking on phase two of this second tenure. Mystery around the more likely scenario means that what happens next to Celtic is far more intriguing than the comfortable retention of their Scottish title. Make that 13 in 14 years.

Rodgers will already know his future plan. So, too, will Dermot Desmond. There may be no official board role for Celtic’s principal shareholder and no public utterances on all things Celtic, but Rodgers has been sure to drop in that he deals directly with the Irish billionaire as opposed to, say, the club’s chair, Peter Lawwell. If this feels structurally odd, it is the kind of thing that is ignored while the team keeps winning.

French clubs are enjoying best continental season in decades but catastrophic crisis could engulf entire league

If it is results that count, tout va bien for Ligue 1. Having so far accrued its second-highest total of Uefa ranking points in a single campaign, the “league of talents” remains on course to register its best season in Europe since the 1990s, when Marseille, Paris Saint-Germain, Monaco and others regularly featured in the latter stages of Uefa competitions.

A transformed, exuberant if still-not-quite-perfect PSG hope to go one better than the Thomas Tuchel side who lost the 2020 Champions League final to Bayern Munich, and Lyon gave Manchester United an almighty scare in the quarter-finals of the Europa League. Brest and Lille defied the odds by qualifying for the knockout stage of the Champions League, beating teams such as PSV, Atlético Madrid and the holders, Real Madrid, on the way. The conveyor belt of young talent shows no sign of slowing, the 17-year-old Ayyoub Bouaddi of Lille and PSG’s Désiré Doué the latest French academy products to break through on the biggest of stages.

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In a world of hyperbole, recency bias and superlatives that are more exhausted than Casemiro on a counterattack, it is still not a stretch to call Lamine Yamal the best male footballer on the planet. Some particularly cantankerous individuals in Madrid might object to that, and while their annual boycott of Football Daily’s Bank Holiday Barbecue continues to be a point of consternation across the footballing world, there is no denying that the Barcelona boy is bit special. We say boy, because that is legally what he is. Akin to mentioning Frank Lampard whenever anyone talks about Coventry City or helicopter rides whenever brings up Michael Owen, we are contractually obliged to remind you of Lamine Yamal’s age whenever we write about him. HE IS JUST 17, FOLKS.

It’s easy to mock Ange Postecoglou as Spurs have had a difficult season and are 16th in the Premier League (scroll down). But at least he’s in the semi-finals of Bigger Vase and all he has to do to get to the final is beat a small Norwegian team whose stadium only has a capacity of 8,270 over two legs. Surely he can do that can’t he? Oh … and double oh” – Noble Francis.

I can’t help thinking your reference to John Terry (yesterday’s Football Daily) is a little out of date. Especially when you could instead refer to Riqui Puig who knacked his ACL in the semi of last year’s MLS Cup and had to watch from the sidelines (in a very nice suit) as LA Galaxy won it all. That didn’t stop him from donning a full kit for their trophy presentation, in a move he surely picked up watching the 2012 Big Cup final” – Tom Dowler.

Everton have previous when it comes to local naming-based b@nter (yesterday’s Football Daily letters). My time as a student in Liverpool coincided with the opening of a sparkly new shopping centre, Liverpool One. The Toffees duly opened a megastore in it called Everton Two” – Isaac Proud.

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Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Lars Sivertsen, Mark Langdon and Sid Lowe to discuss all the big European action

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On the podcast today: a brilliant semi-final in Barcelona as they draw 3-3 with Inter. Lots of brilliant goals and another world-class performance from the frighteningly young Lamine Yamal. Inter will take the draw, especially with the second leg at San Siro, but they were a small toe’s length away from a Henrikh Mkhitaryan winner.

Plus: who has the most Premier League appearances without ever playing a match abroad, and more

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“Cardiff sacked Omer Riza with only three league games remaining,” notes James Robinson. “Has a manager ever been sacked so close to the end of the season?”

Norwich and West Brom saw Cardiff and raised them – perhaps “lowered them” is the better phrase – by getting rid of Johannes Hoff Thorup and Tony Mowbray, respectively, with two league games remaining (while QPR are also trying to get in on the act). They join a list that includes Egil Olsen (Wimbledon, 1999-2000), Alan Smith (Crystal Palace, 2000-01), Roberto Mancini (Manchester City, 2012-13), Steve Lovell (Gillingham, 2018-19), Nigel Pearson (Watford, 2019-20; because of Covid he was sacked on 19 July), Max Allegri (Juventus, 2023-24), Miguel de la Fuente (Real Ávila, 2024-25; replaced by Víctor Valdés).

Young players are impressing across the country following the American league’s very un-American move

For the first time in its history, the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) commenced a regular season this spring with no draft. A quintessentially American event, defined by hopes and dreams being on public display while teams trade players into the professional leagues without their explicit input, was scrapped by a collective bargaining agreement negotiated between the NWSL and the NWSL Players Association in August.

In so doing, a league unafraid of reinvention became the first major professional sports league in the United States to forgo the draft. That’s a seismic shift by any measure, and while the move puts the NWSL in line with global football standards the long-term implications will take much longer to assess. After all, the draft was not simply an entertaining way to distribute talent while introducing them to the public on a celebratory stage; it was also a useful means of ensuring parity in a league proud of its competitiveness. In the words of the NWSL’s commissioner, Jessica Berman: “There actually is nothing to point to as a case study of how to make this transition, because there is no league that has gone from a world of a draft and having years of service, to being able to earn free agency and just having that melt away overnight.”

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Faye Carruthers is joined by Sophie Downey, Ameé Ruszkai and Marva Kreel to discuss Arsenal’s win, Chelsea’s loss and latest action across the WSL and the Championship

On this week’s Guardian Women’s Football Weekly, Faye is joined by Sophie Downey, Ameé Ruszkai and Marva Kreel. The panel discuss Arsenal’s 4-1 second-leg victory over Lyon, the north London side knocking out the eight-time European champions and securing their place in the final. However, it won’t be a full English affair after Chelsea’s dreams were dashed by a rampant Barcelona.

The panel review the latest action across the Women’s Super League and the Championship as the season nears its conclusion and relegation spots are confirmed.

Palace’s best-paid player shows his class, Ipswich meet their fate and Mateo Kovacic sounds a warning

In April 1964 a side from north London came to Anfield with Liverpool one good result from winning the league, and conceded five. “Arsenal did little to allay the general suspicion that they were there just to be sacrificed,” Eric Todd wrote in his report for the Guardian. This time it was Tottenham but otherwise, for anyone whose memory stretches back 61 years it was a familiar story. Time and again Spurs meekly surrendered possession in dangerous areas, and while they defended in numbers – which suggests willing – they did so with terrifying inefficiency, which suggests poor organisation. Their focus is now fully on the Europa League, but if Liverpool had been a little more ruthless this would have been truly another real embarrassment in a season full of them. In April 1988 it was Spurs themselves who came to Anfield with Liverpool needing one point to guarantee the title. It had been a terrible season for Tottenham, and they were only just outside the bottom three. They lost 1-0. “Tottenham remain in the relegation penumbra,” wrote Stephen Bierley in his Guardian report. “Strange it seems that nobody much under the age of 30 will remember them being champions. Who would have thought it?” Simon Burnton

Match report: Liverpool 5-1 Tottenham

FA Cup report: Nottm Forest 0-2 Man City

Match report: Bournemouth 1-1 Man Utd

Renée Slegers masterminded Arsenal’s memorable triumph in Lyon while Shekiera Martinez scored four for West Ham

There was jubilation at the final whistle and Renée Slegers joined the celebrations with her players on Sunday. The Arsenal manager had just guided her team to a Champions League final at the first attempt, defeating her former mentor Joe Montemurro in the process. The 36-year-old outmanoeuvred and outsmarted the Lyon manager as they stormed back from a first-leg deficit to win 4-1 and secure a spot in their first European final in 18 years. It exemplified Slegers’s ability to learn quickly in-game and from match to match, while keeping her feet and those of her players firmly on the ground. “We talked about the Arsenal way – what it looks like and why it’s important for us,” she said. “We really look forward to the final, but also straight away when there’s euphoria on the pitch. We are so happy and we need to celebrate these special moments, but we are also very humble and we need to get ready for the next one.” Sophie Downey

Gazza painted his artistry all over the 1991 FA Cup and his stupendous free-kick influenced the game for years

Football is an unstoppable continuum, a whirling dervish of love and hate, life and death, frequent tedium and the greatest excitement known to humanity. Because we care so much for it it feels like it cares for us back, but the painful truth is this is our imagination and self-respect saving us from acknowledging that actually, football was there before us, it’ll be there after us, and while we’re there it exists as though we don’t.

Occasionally, though, we have bestowed upon us an event that grabs us by the lapels and shrieks indelibly into our souls, the entirety of the cosmos consumed by the wonder of the game. “It tells us something we’ll always remember,” wrote director-screenwriter Randall Wallace when considering what makes something epic. “It makes us walk out of a theatre and whisper into our own hearts, ‘I’m changed.’”

When they’re not shouting at their own children, many of Britain’s soccer dads like nothing more than swearing at the officials, or even trading blows on the touchline. Isn’t this supposed to be fun?

A chilly Saturday morning on the Astroturf pitches at Coram’s Fields in central London and several youth football matches are under way. I’m watching an under-11s game. The sound is the thud of boot on ball, the shrill interruption of the referee’s whistle, and a whole lot of shouting. From the players (“Mine!”, “Here!”, “Pass!”, “Ref!”, etc). From the two coaches (“Press!”, “Stay wide!”, “Push up!”, “Ref!”, etc). And from the touchline dads. There is one mum here today, but she’s less vocal.

To varying degrees, the dads are part fan, part coach, part personal trainer to their progeny. There is one dad (there’s always one) who’s taking it a bit further, who’s a bit shoutier than the others. “Get rid of it!” he screams at the defence, meaning hoof it upfield, which is the opposite of the coach’s instructions to play it out from the back. “Ref! Seriously?” he shouts at the referee (who’s only about 17 himself).

The Championship’s best team will need to be smart in the transfer market to give themselves a chance next season

When Leeds United sold £140m of playing talent last summer, Daniel Farke deviated from accepted managerial convention and declined to throw his toys out of the pram. Farke is a little too unconventional, a little too resistant to groupthink, to always do the expected and his club’s owner, the San Francisco‑based 49ers Enterprises, is poised to reap the benefits.

The German’s unusual amalgam of high emotional intelligence and advanced numeracy have helped to provide the framework for the freshly secured promotion to the Premier League that Leeds so narrowly missed out on last May.

Southampton, Leicester and Ipswich are returning to the Championship. Which of their players deserve to stay up?

By WhoScored

Leicester were relegated at the weekend and will join Southampton in the Championship next season. Ipswich are 15 points from safety with five games to play, so it’s only a matter of time before they too are consigned to the second tier. The three sides have been extremely disappointing this season, picking up just 10 wins between them, but they have some talented players who will be targets for Premier League sides in the summer transfer window.

The coverage of Manchester United’s win over Lyon last week was just the latest sign that fandom is consuming everything

Impartiality fan here – for my sins! – but you have to say Robbie Savage and Rio Ferdinand during the closing minutes of Manchester United v Lyon on Thursday night were absolute class. It all starts in the 118th minute, with United 6-5 down on aggregate, and the TNT Sports camera lingering on the face of a crying boy in the crowd. “Let’s hope we can put a smile on that young man’s face by the time we finish,” the commentator Darren Fletcher says.

And it’s worth unpacking those 17 words, because contained within them are at least three layers of assumption. Foremost among which is the assumption that it would be a good thing, all round, if United won. The child is crying. Is there any cause more catholic or universal, any image more reliably guaranteed to tug at the tear ducts, than a crying child? The coefficient can wait for now.

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