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In 20 years, this Essex club has tumbled down the leagues and seen its ground fall apart. Is a revival finally coming – or will hopes be dashed again?

The Bentley was not on the driveway. By now, after nine months of protests, the Southend United fans knew that meant Ron Martin wasn’t home. Martin is the chairman of Southend United FC, and his almost 25 years in charge are widely seen – both by fans and more dispassionate observers – as one of the most disastrous chairmanships in modern football. Since 2007, Southend have sunk from the English game’s second tier, the Championship, down to the third and then the fourth. In 2021, the club fell out of the league entirely for the first time in its history. At this final indignity, a plaque at the Blue Boar pub, which marks the site where the club was founded in 1906, was painted over with the letters RIP.

On the late September day I attended, about 40 or 50 fans were amassed on the pavement outside Martin’s residence. A large coniferous tree dwarfed the two security guards who idled on the driveway. When fans had started protesting outside Martin’s house in early 2023, a few brought bags of beer as if it was an away day. The organisers, Southend Fan Protest Group, soon put a stop to this. If they were serious about their objectives – summarised by their banner, “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. PAY UP. PACK UP. SELL UP” – they needed to do it properly. They replaced the cans with flyers, and their cause picked up more supporters.

Leading players have not been at their usual club levels since going to the Asian Cup or Africa Cup of Nations

On Thursday night Son Heung-min will lead Tottenham out against Chelsea for a game vital to the north London club’s chances of finishing in the top four and securing Champions League football. Had the Spurs captain not headed to the Asian Cup in the middle of the season, it is possible his club would be closer to the promised land, not just because Ange Postecolgou would have had his top scorer available for those few weeks but also because the forward might well have been in better condition in the time since.

In England the discourse around mid-season continental tournaments focuses on the inconvenience for clubs as players head to Asia or Africa. Less is said about the physical and mental effect on those involved. Mohamed Salah, Jürgen Klopp and Liverpool must wish that the Egyptian had never reported for Africa Cup of Nations duty in January given the injury sustained and the loss of form since.

Despite the team’s rise on the global stage, players are often underpaid so look for opportunities in the armed forces

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Despite the increasing interest in Zambian players from clubs abroad after their impressive recent performances, which have helped the women’s national team qualify for all major international tournaments in the past two years, including the Paris Olympics, there exists a desire among them to be recruited into the Zambian military.

Earlier this month, three Copper Queens first-team players – Margaret Belemu, Ochumba Oseke and Mary Wilombe – graduated from Zambia air force training as noncommissioned officers. As a result they missed the Olympic Games qualifiers in February, having also missed the 2024 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon) qualification round last November.

Getting to grips with club is like ‘sitting on a volcano’ but big plans are afoot as Thursday’s Europa League semi-final awaits

Looking up towards the endless galleries of Stade Vélodrome, a line of former Olympique Marseille players take in the applause. This is one of the world’s great football venues: bold, sweeping, wild, volatile. All of these 11 men graced it at one point or another, some at its emotional peak. At the right of the group stands Basile Boli, waistcoated and absorbing the scene through shades. It was Boli who entrenched Marseille in the global consciousness 31 years ago, heading past Sebastiano Rossi in Munich to beat a decorated Milan side and win the 1992-93 Champions League. He knows better than anyone that, when the stars align, there is nowhere else like this.

The group of legends have been invited to a reunion of African, or African-heritage, players who once wore the all-white kit. They watch the present-day team play Nice and, with the game deep into added time, the score is 2-2. Marseille have been down to 10 men since Faris Moumbagna’s harsh red card before half-time but only a win will keep them in serious contention for this year’s European spots. In the game’s last attack Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, a Gabon international, somehow musters the searing speed of old to skin two defenders and run through one-on-one. A stadium, or more accurately an entire city, holds its breath. Aubameyang chips Marcin Bulka but the weight is a fraction too heavy and the ball pings off the crossbar. It is the story of their season.

Erling Haaland is the frontrunner, with Cole Palmer, Alexander Isak, Ollie Watkins, Dominic Solanke and Mo Salah in pursuit

By Ryan Benson for Opta Analyst

Haaland ran away with the Premier League golden boot last season, scoring 36 goals in his first campaign in England. He is unlikely to challenge his record for scoring the most goals in a single Premier League campaign, but 21 makes him the frontrunner against this season and would be considered an unequivocal success for any other striker in the league.

• Five Bundesliga clubs certain to be in next season’s tournament
• Aston Villa lead Spurs in battle for fourth place in England

Borussia Dortmund’s win at home to Paris Saint-Germain has confirmed that the Bundesliga, not the Premier League, will get an extra spot in next season’s Champions League.

England’s slim hopes of overhauling Germany in the Uefa coefficient rankings have been extinguished and the Bundesliga’s top five finishers are guaranteed to play in the Champions League. Only the top four clubs in the Premier League will participate.

With a Conference League semi-final and Champions League qualification in sight, there is a sense of euphoria at Villa Park

Unai Emery took a deep breath, digested the question and delivered a considered response. Moments earlier, staff in Uefa clothing had hastily erected a Europa Conference League-branded backboard inside a nondescript room at Bodymoor Heath, Aston Villa’s training base, and for the manager the topic of conversation soon turned to their quest to qualify for the Champions League.

Has Emery been able, in the quieter moments of a congested schedule, to reflect on the strides his side have made in little more than 18 months, since he inherited a team outside the Premier League relegation zone on goals scored alone? “At the beginning of the season, to be where we are now, maybe it was the best we could have hoped for,” he says.

• Manager says it is important for players to learn from mistakes
• Chelsea face Tottenham aiming to boost their European chances

Mauricio Pochettino has said the volume of youngsters at Chelsea has made it harder to guide his players down the right path.

Pochettino, who is determined to build his inconsistent team’s mentality, wanted to talk before Thursday’s home game against Tottenham about the challenge of looking after a squad full of youthful players. The Argentinian explained that helping young players learn from their mistakes was more difficult when the dressing room is so short on experienced figures.

• Tractor Boys close to earning place in Premier League
• Unsettled De Zerbi reportedly wants new challenge

Brighton will look to lure Kieran McKenna away from Ipswich if Roberto De Zerbi quits as manager this summer.

It is understood Brighton have been making contingency plans as they prepare for the possibility of needing a new manager. De Zerbi, whose side are in dismal form, has grown unsettled and has been linked with several big jobs in recent months.

• Footage appears to show volunteer being punched on sidelines
• Incident took place at Amlwch Town’s ground in Anglesey

Police in north Wales are investigating an incident in which a teenage volunteer assistant referee appeared to be punched while running the line.

The alleged assault took place during a game at Amlwch Town FC’s ground in Anglesey on 27 April. Footage circulating on social media appears to show the assistant referee, who is believed to be 17, pass a man on the touchline in front of a dugout.

• Welsh club’s Racecourse Ground currently holds 12,600
• ‘We could get between 45,000 and 55,000 people in there’

Wrexham’s owners, Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds, plan to develop the club’s Racecourse home into a stadium with up to 55,000 seats. The club will be playing in League One next season after back-to-back promotions and have attracted a worldwide fanbase thanks to the FX docuseries Welcome to Wrexham and the presence of their Hollywood A-listers.

But the ground holds only about 12,600 fans, with a temporary stand on the derelict Kop end behind one goal. “We have a plan in place right now that would work from stand to stand so eventually you get all four sides,” McElhenney said in an interview with the entertainment website Collider.

No Continental League Cup, no FA Cup, no Champions League and, whisper it, possibly no trophy at all. Emma Hayes certainly thinks so, the Chelsea manager saying “the title is done”, after the Blues suffered a 4-3 defeat to Liverpool to hand Manchester City the advantage in the title race.

“I think the title is done,” she said. “Of course, mathematically it’s not, but I think the title is done. Our job between now and the end of the season is to keep pushing until the end, but I think it will be very difficult.”

Having played under Benítez, Mourinho and Guardiola, the Spaniard has given his players a structure and identity

Football is, fortunately, a game. Victory and defeat are sometimes decided by chance. When the best of the best meet, I reckon it’s 20%. The draw increases the luck factor even more. That’s nice: it makes new winners possible.

It brought Manchester City and Real Madrid together in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, the most spectacular game in European football for three years. Once again, it kept all its promises and thrilled with intensity and great goals. In the second leg, Carlo Ancelotti had everyone defend and said it was the only way Real had a chance. The penalty shootout was decided by psychology.

Tuchel is leaving and Rangnick likely to come in, with several Red Bull alumni already in place amid disquiet among fans

There is always something now. There is always something later. Even as the sweat was drying on Bayern Munich’s 2-2 draw against Real Madrid on Tuesday night, thoughts were beginning to turn, with alarming speed, to new plans and new eras. While the outgoing Thomas Tuchel dissected the performances of Kim Min-jae and Leroy Sané in the broadcast zone, the top brass were a few yards away discussing his likely successor: Bayern’s present, and future, and soon-to-be past, all gauchely colliding against each other in one big hot mess.

The deal with Ralf Rangnick is not quite done at the time of writing, but by all accounts imminent. Rangnick is said to be keen, a three-year contract is waiting to be signed, and a seven-figure compensation deal with the Austrian Football Association, where Rangnick is contracted as national team coach, should be a formality. “We all know that Ralf Rangnick is a good coach and has achieved a lot in his career,” the sporting director, Christoph Freund, said. “If everything fits, then it will be done.”

The ties begin on Thursday night, with Marseille hosting Atalanta and Roma facing Bayer Leverkusen

By Ben McAleer for WhoScored

Roma left it late to rescue a result at the weekend, with Tammy Abraham coming off the bench to score in the 88th minute and rescue a point in their 2-2 draw against Napoli. With four rounds of fixtures to play in Serie A, Roma sit fifth in the table and are battling with Atalanta for a place in next season’s Champions League.

• Group of 35 players taking action against game’s authorities
• Solicitors submit more than 8,000 pages related to the case

Four Premier League-era players and the family of Joe Kinnear are part of a legal action against the football authorities over brain injuries ­sustained from playing the game, which returns to the Royal Courts of Justice on Wednesday.

They are part of a group of 35 former players who claim that the Football Association, English Football League, Football Association of Wales and Ifab, football’s law-making body, were ­negligent in failing to take ­reasonable action to protect them from permanent injury caused by repetitive ­concussive and subconcussive blows.

• Patrick Stewart and Cliff Baty will leave at end of season
• Jean-Claude Blanc will be interim CEO until 13 July

Manchester United have announced that their interim chief executive, Patrick Stewart, and chief financial officer, Cliff Baty, will leave the club at the end of the season.

Jean-Claude Blanc, the chief executive of United’s minority owners Ineos Sport, will step into Stewart’s role until 13 July, when Omar Berrada will take over after his impending arrival from Manchester City. Roger Bell, the former CFO at Ineos Sport, will replace Baty.

• Football Supporters’ Association hit out at renewed talk of plans
• Premier League’s Richard Masters had said ‘the door looks ajar’

Any attempt at resurrecting plans to stage Premier League fixtures outside England and Wales will be met with vehement “studs to the knee” opposition, the Football Supporters’ Association has said.

Richard Masters, the Premier League’s chief executive, said last week the “door looks ajar” for leagues to play matches overseas, although the Premier League currently has no plans to do so. A high-ranking executive at NBC Sports, which holds the rights to screen the Premier League in the United States, told the Athletic the broadcaster is intent on bringing games to American audiences.

• Chief refereeing officer concedes mistake made at Goodison
• But Webb insists other two incidents did not merit review

Howard Webb has conceded VAR should have intervened to recommend Nottingham Forest be awarded a penalty during their Premier League game against Everton.

The ­admission comes 10 days after Forest created a furore by publicly criticising the selection of the video referee ­Stuart Attwell, alleging he was a Luton Town supporter and lacked due impartiality.

• Club handed two-game partial closure and £17,000 fine
• Athletic Club player hit out at ‘stupid people’ after incident

Atlético Madrid have been ordered to partially close their south stand for two matches by the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) after Athletic Club player Nico Williams suffered racist abuse in Saturday’s La Liga game.

The referee, Juan Marténez Munuera, stopped the match in the 36th minute as part of La Liga’s protocol against racism after he heard racist abuse directed at the 21-year-old Spain international, who was born in Pamplona to Ghanaian parents.

The former Arsenal midfielder has sought help from Uefa’s career transition expert, to navigate the world outside the dressing room

Robert Pires will never forget what it was like coming to terms with being a retired footballer. “You don’t want to say stop because I had been playing for 19 seasons and football meant everything to me,” says one of the stars of Arsenal’s Invincibles, who was part of the France team that won the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000. “Even now, football is my life and it’s in my blood, so that’s why when I said it was game over, it was very difficult to accept.”

Luckily for Pires, help was at hand. He first met Stéphane Ehrhart – a former player who is now Uefa’s career transition expert – in 2009 while playing for Villarreal, when the decision to hang up his boots had barely even crossed his mind.

League commissioner Jessica Berman talks ballooning franchise values, the merits of expansion and reducing injuries

No soccer league in the world is experiencing a boom comparative to the NWSL in 2024. Last month, the world’s first purpose-built stadium for a women’s sports franchise opened in Kansas City, marking the new home of the Current. San Diego Wave broke its NWSL home opener attendance record with over 32,000 fans, while the NWSL was listed at No 5 on the World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies of 2024.

“At the NWSL we are working to drive innovation, growth and increased investment in women’s soccer,” Jessica Berman, the NWSL’s commissioner, tells the Guardian. “I’m excited about the 2024 season and to see what else we can accomplish in the women’s soccer space.”

The irreplaceable German midfielder refused to allow Bayern to escape with the game – and his control kept Madrid in the tie

Thomas Tuchel had warned that you don’t see Real Madrid’s goals coming, so Toni Kroos helpfully pointed it out, but still Bayern Munich couldn’t stop it. There are times, the German coach had said on the eve of this most classic of European confrontations, when you watch their games, analysing them closely, and everything seems to be under control, when the 14-times winners appear outnumbered and there’s nothing going on, no danger, nothing to fear, and so, feeling safe, you press play again. And then, bang, five, 10 seconds pass and the ball is in your net.

Which is when you rewind and try to work out where it all began. Here, control in hand, he could actually pinpoint the exact second his defence ripped in half. It began, Madrid began, in the mind and at the feet of Kroos: right there in the centre of the screen, strolling across the midfield, seemingly going nowhere, looking left and hoping that everyone else except Vinícius Júnior would look there too, following his eyes not his fingers. Suddenly he stuck out an arm, signalled to the vast pathway that had opened and the Brazilian set off into it. A gentle turn of the foot and the ball followed; Vinícius was through beyond Kim Min-jae.

As one of two WSL sides without Premier League backing this term, Lauren Smith’s team were up against it from the start

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As the clock hit full time at Ashton Gate on Sunday evening, Bristol City finally succumbed to the inevitable. Relegation was confirmed after a 4-0 defeat to Manchester City, a final nail in the coffin in their Women’s Super League campaign. Only 371 days after achieving promotion, the Robins were condemned to the Championship to start rebuilding once again.

The table does not lie. With only one win all season – a thrilling 3-2 triumph at West Ham in November – Bristol City’s struggles have been evident. Their defensive problems, in particular, have been impossible to ignore. Context is key, however, particularly in a sport where the parameters are quickly shifting.

Owner Farhad Moshiri once said the club were ‘robust’ enough to fund stadium but now they need working capital injections

At Everton’s annual general meeting in January 2019, the owner, Farhad Moshiri, made a dramatic promise.

Speaking about the club’s ambition to build a 52,888-seat stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock, the club’s majority shareholder pledged: “I’ll throw as much money as needed. Private markets will provide £350m, naming rights will give us some more and we will maybe have an equity gap of £100m.”

An end-of-season wobble has ended any hopes of a dream send off. But it’s characteristic of Klopp’s managerial career

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And so there will be no glorious farewell for Jürgen Klopp. Saturday’s 2-2 draw with West Ham, coupled with victories for Manchester City and Arsenal, means any realistic hope of a second Premier League title is effectively over. Klopp is exhausted, his team is exhausted and the manic emotional energy that gripped the side during the League Cup final and immediately after has dissipated.

There will be questions about the wisdom of revealing when he did that he would be leaving. This has been a truism if English soccer since Alex Ferguson announced in 2001 that he planned to quit Manchester United. Do that, even if you’re as fearsome a figure as Ferguson, and the danger is that authority wanes. Something similar seems to have happened with Emma Hayes, who will leave Chelsea Women in the summer after a hugely successful 12-year stint to take charge of the USWNT. Would Saturday’s touchline spat with Mohamed Salah have happened had the Egyptian thought that Klopp would still be his manager next season? (It now seems likely that Salah, who has only a year left on his contract, will also leave in the summer).

Leicester will return to the Premier League as champions after they sealed the Championship title with victory over Preston. The team celebrated wildly on the pitch surrounded by overjoyed fans before continuing the party into the dressing room and beyond.

Arne Slot caught the eye of Liverpool’s recruitment team with his track record of improving young talent, success on a relatively modest budget, European experience and a style of play that is not a dramatic departure from Jürgen Klopp’s. The Feyenoord coach has earned a reputation for high intensity on the pitch and has led his team to success multiple times.

Since joining the Rotterdam club from AZ Alkmaar in 2021, Slot has won the Eredivisie in 2022-23 and the KNVB Cup this season. He also led Feyenoord to the Europa Conference League final in 2022, where they lost to José Mourinho's Roma.

• Arne Slot: the overachiever and ‘good guy’ who can spark a revolution

Thiago Silva, Chelsea’s veteran defender, has announced that this season will be his last at Stamford Bridge. The 39-year-old Brazilian, a mainstay of the Blues team that lifted the Champions League in 2021, revealed the news on social media. An emotional Silva spoke of leaving the door open for a return, 'albeit in another role' saying 'goodbyes are for those that leave and don't come back. I intend on coming back one day'. Silva has made 151 appearances for the club and also won the Fifa Club World Cup and Uefa Super Cup.

• ‘An indescribable love’: Thiago Silva announces departure from Chelsea

Thousands of jubilant Internazionale fans took to the streets around San Siro Stadium to celebrate the club's historic 20th Serie A title with the players. The newly-crowned champions paraded through hoards of fans after a straightforward 2-0 win over 10-man Torino

Emma Hayes called the referees' decision to send off Chelsea defender Kadeisha Buchanan as the 'worst in Women's Champions League history', as her side crashed out to Barcelona at the semi-final stage with a 2-0 defeat. The tie was level at 1-1 from the first leg, with Aitana Bonmatí cancelling out Erin Cuthbert's strike, but the game at Stamford Bridge turned decisively against Chelsea in the second leg. Buchanan stretched for a loose ball and was judged to have caught Patri Guijarro on the ankle, with referee Iuliana Demetrescu showing the Blues defender a second yellow card. Chelsea were left to hold off the European champions for the final 30 minutes with 10 players.

The Manchester United manager, Erik ten Hag, has defended Marcus Rashford after the England forward criticised the abuse he has received this season and said on social media 'enough is enough'. Rashford is enduring a disappointing campaign in which he has scored only eight times in 41 appearances for Manchester United, having managed a career-high 30 goals last season. At 12.36am on Friday Rashford retweeted a post on X, formerly Twitter, that said: 'The way Marcus Rashford is being treated is absolutely disgusting. It’s cruel. It’s abuse.' Above this he wrote: 'I appreciate your support! It is abuse and has been for months. Enough is enough.'

• ‘Enough is enough’: Marcus Rashford hits out after receiving months of abuse

• Premier League: 10 things to look out for in this weekend’s football

• Fifa has concerns over running of Zambia’s football association
• Letter warns that there may be ‘grounds for the suspension’

Zambia’s women could miss out on playing at this summer’s Olympics after Fifa threatened the country’s football association with suspension amid accusations of money-laundering offences against its president and “undue influence by third parties”.

Andrew Kamanga, the FAZ president since 2016, was last week charged by Zambia’s drug enforcement commission with obtaining government funds under false pretences and being part of a conspiracy to defraud. It has been alleged that he used the money to fund trips for two associates to the Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast this year. The general secretary, Reuben Kamanga, was also charged, along with Madalitso Kamanga and Jairous Siame, who travelled to the tournament as part of FAZ’s support staff. All have denied the charges.

• Two nations will instead focus on securing 2031 tournament
• Brazil to rival joint bid for Belgium, Germany and Netherlands

The United States and Mexico have withdrawn their joint bid to host the 2027 Fifa Women’s World Cup. The two nations will instead focus on securing the 2031 edition, their national governing bodies said on Monday.

The decision comes just weeks before the Fifa Congress chooses the tournament hosts on 17 May. It leaves Brazil and a joint bid from Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands as the remaining candidates to host the 2027 event.

• Hollywood stars join Club Necaxa ownership group
• Mexican top flight second most-watched league in US

Actors and Wrexham AFC owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney have bought a minority stake in the Liga MX side Club Necaxa, Variety and Sportico reported on Monday.

The pair join celebrity minority owners actor Eva Longoria, Houston Astros pitcher Justin Verlander, model Kate Upton and NFL wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr.

• 65,612 in attendance at Gillette Stadium for Miami’s 4-1 win
• Messi has 16 goal contributions this season

Lionel Messi scored two goals to excite a record New England Revolution crowd, leading Inter Miami to a 4-1 victory on Saturday night.

Messi did not disappoint the crowd of 65,612 that filled Gillette Stadium, scoring with a left-footed shot from deep inside the box for his ninth goal of the season, putting his side 2-1 up in the 68th minute.

Announcement was no shock but reflects environment shift at club and an appetite to find stability after a dismal week

Being the Barcelona manager is “cruel and unpleasant” Xavi Hernández said, but in the end it is all he ever wanted, all he has got. He is all they have got too. And so on Wednesday night, three days after any lingering hopes of winning the league were extinguished, eight days after being knocked out of Europe again, 88 after announcing he was leaving and calling it a “liberation”, he decided that he would continue after all. Ultimately, he just could not let go and nor could they.

“I have no problem changing my mind,” Xavi said on Thursday. When he had said he was leaving on 27 January, Barcelona had just conceded five at home for the first time in 60 years, a defeat he described as a portrait of their season: self-inflicted and absurd, a complete collapse. He had previously linked his continuity to trophies, the first law of coaching; beaten 5-3 by Villarreal, they were 10 points off the top. They had also lost to Real Madrid in the Super Cup final and to Athletic in the Copa del Rey quarters, conceding four in each. Besides, it went deeper than defeats.

Simone Inzaghi’s thrilling tactics have seen Nerazzurri pull clear of their city rivals – and the rest of the Italian top flight

How else could it end but like this: tempers boiling over and the red card being shown to one player after another as Inter sealed their 20th league title with a win over neighbours Milan? Denzel Dumfries and Théo Hernández were first to be sent off after squaring up in midfield at the start of injury time. Milan’s Davide Calabria followed moments later for throwing a forearm into the face of Davide Frattesi at a corner.

And then the final whistle went, transforming a ruck into revelry as the rest of Inter’s players and staff rushed from the dugout to join their colleagues on San Siro’s pitch. They carried giant Scudetto shields displaying the No 20 against the colours of the Italian flag. The two Milan clubs began this season tied on 19 league titles apiece. Now Inter will be the first to affix a second gold star to their club badge.

The latest MLS franchise is owned by the Right to Dream academy. They plan to use a model inspired by LeBron James to carve out a new path in US soccer

Major League Soccer will integrate its 30th club at the beginning of the 2025 season when expansion side San Diego FC joins the Western Conference.

But the league’s latest addition will arrive with a model for on-field success, development and business unlike the other 29 teams.

Having reached their first playoff semi-final, the eastern Indian club are looking to make the most of their untapped potential

It was an unforgettable weekend for Raj Athwal. On Friday night, the only British chief executive of an Indian Super League (ISL) club, Odisha FC, watched them beat Kerala Blasters 2-1 to reach the last four of the Championship playoffs in the most dramatic fashion. On Sunday, he then saw his beloved Coventry City, where he worked for over a decade, lose to Manchester United in the FA Cup semi-finals in the narrowest fashion.

Wembley outdid Kalinga Stadium in the drama and excitement stakes, but not by much. With three minutes remaining, Odisha were a goal down and a fine season was coming to an end.

• Lamine Yamal’s strike in 3-2 loss on Sunday not given by VAR
• Barça believe ball crossed the line and could demand replay

Barcelona’s president, Joan Laporta, has threatened legal action and could demand a replay after his side were denied a goal against Real Madrid at the weekend.

Lamine Yamal thought he had scored in the 28th minute of Sunday’s 3-2 clásico loss at the Bernabéu but the on-pitch officials did not rule the ball had crossed the line, and after a lengthy VAR check, their decision stood. La Liga does not use goalline technology.

Erling Haaland has been voted the best player in the world for 2023 by our 218-strong panel, with Jude Bellingham finishing second

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• Meet the judges | Best female footballers to launch in January

Aitana Bonmatí, Sam Kerr and Salma Paralluelo top the list of female footballers in the world in 2023 according to our judges

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• Spain and Barcelona lead the way after year of success
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The Norwegian is only 23 but his devastating goal record has seen him voted as the No 1 player in the world by the Guardian’s expert panel

When Pep Guardiola tearfully claimed Manchester City could not replace the departing Sergio Agüero in May 2021, he didn’t just create a meme. Guardiola was soft-launching a global audition for his team’s new attacking talisman. An unsuccessful pursuit of Harry Kane in the summer of 2021 came between two title-winning seasons where Ilkay Gündogan (13) and Kevin De Bruyne (15) were the club’s top league goalscorers. Guardiola’s slick creative machine needed a new front man, and they found him in Erling Haaland.

Like Agüero before him – and in contrast to many of City’s most successful Pep-era signings – Haaland arrived as a bona fide superstar, a plug-and-play addition to an already stellar lineup. Whether he was a bargain is another question. The release clause paid was €60m (£51.2m), but some reports suggest Haaland’s five-year deal could cost the club in the region of £300m. And while there was an ominous logic to the move for City’s rivals, questions remained.

Aitana Bonmatí the clear winner of the Guardian’s best 100 female footballers in the world with 15 Spaniards on the list

• The 100 best female footballers in the world 2023

After Alexia Putellas reigned in 2021 and 2022, her Barcelona and Spain teammate Aitana Bonmatí has been crowned the top female footballer of 2023 by the Guardian’s panel of 112 experts. The World Cup winner triumphed by a clear margin, finishing more than 500 points ahead of second-placed Sam Kerr.

Injuries and a World Cup meant there was a definite changing of the guard feel to this year’s list, sadly emphasised by the fact last year’s top two – Putellas and Beth Mead – missed a large chunk of our 12-month voting period with ACL injuries.

Ugly row with Jürgen Klopp on the London Stadium touchline shows the Egyptian’s focus has waned

When it comes to picking one image to symbolise the end of an era at Liverpool, Jürgen Klopp’s quarrel with Mohamed Salah on the London Stadium touchline will take some beating. This is what happens when power slips away. This, sadly, is the way that it ends.

We will have to speculate about the specific reason behind the row that grabbed the attention after Liverpool’s deflating 2-2 draw with West Ham on Saturday. West Ham’s equaliser had arrived before Klopp, who had been waiting to make a triple substitution, was able to introduce Salah, Darwin Núñez and Joe Gomez. The manager seemed miffed and appeared to admonish Salah, whose angry response made it very clear that he had zero interest in listening to any criticism.

Maybe all things Luton are behind Forest’s difficulties but against Pep Guardiola’s men, they failed to get the basics right

There is no better way to rally the base than to insist there is an external conspiracy. Everything would be fine if it weren’t for them. We’re being derailed by – delete as appropriate – the Rosicrucians, the Illuminati, the Masons, giant lizards or, most fearsome of all the shadowy string-pullers, the celebrity Luton fans.

Nottingham Forest are threatened with relegation not because they cannot defend set plays, because they do not take their chances or because they bought 34 players over two transfer windows, a splurge that put them in breach of profitability and sustainability regulations and led to them being docked four points. No, they sit a point above the drop zone because of the nefarious forces ranged against them. Who was the referee when Forest beat Luton in the 1959 Cup final? Jack Clough of Bolton. Can it be coincidence that he shares his surname with Forest’s greatest manager? No wonder Luton are out for revenge.

The Chelsea manager’s last tilt at the biggest prize to elude her ended in valiant defeat by Barcelona in the semi-final

As the rain relentlessly tumbled to the Stamford Bridge turf, Emma Hayes and her Chelsea players trudged forlornly around the ground, the pain etched on their faces knowing how close they had come. A matter of inches the wrong side of the post, a series of questionable refereeing decisions and a key injury to Mayra Ramírez who had caused Barcelona so many issues at the Estadi Olímpic just a week earlier. Millimetres, a series of moments … so close but so far once again.

The Champions League is the one trophy that has eluded Emma Hayes in her 12-year tenure. The one that, despite her protestations, she so desperately wanted to complete her haul of winning every available trophy at a club she had built from the ground up.

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The last time Ipswich Town played in the Premier League, they lost 5-0 against Liverpool, with Nicolas Anelka and Michael Owen among the goals. Holly Valance was top of the UK charts with her debut single Kiss Kiss and current Ipswich manager Kieran McKenna was 16 years old, an age when it was not uncommon for teenage boys in his native Fermanagh and beyond to take a furtive but keen interest in the Kylie-lite Bhangra-pop stylings of the artist formerly known as Flick from Neighbours. A lot has happened in the intervening 22 years, not least Holly’s emergence as a card-carrying right winger and Kieran’s decidedly more heartwarming evolution into one of the most talented young managers in the United Kingdom.

Oh joy, oh dizzy rapture. Southampton’s forward line of 2014 gets a mention! As usual, you’re taking the [snip – Bad Word Ed] but what the hell do we care. Surely, this was the only team who had an 8-0 trollocking captured in Lego? Streets won’t forget!” – Joe Lowry.

Did you guys give the letter o’ the day prize for Tuesday’s edition to Pete Welsh because you didn’t really feel like reading the whole thing? Reminds me of my in-law who doesn’t really feel like reading dense literature, therefore referring to all of them as ‘his favourite classic’. Just saying …” – Karen Asad.

Send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s winner of our prizeless letter o’ the day is … Joe Lowry.

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Mark Langdon and Nedum Onuoha as the Champions League semi-finals begin with a 2-2 draw between Bayern Munich and Real Madrid

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On the podcast today; a great game at the Allianz Arena between Bayern Munich and Real Madrid. Could Kim Min-jae have done more to prevent either goal and who are the favourites heading into the next round?

Faye Carruthers is joined by Sophie Downey, Emma Sanders and Chris Slegg to discuss the second legs in the Women’s Champions League semi-finals, the weekend’s WSL action and focus on Crystal Palace’s ascent

On today’s episode, the panel discuss the Champions League semi-finals as a record attendance at Stamford Bridge in a women’s game witnessed Chelsea bowing out Barcelona. A departing Emma Hayes let her feelings be known following the game, but were the refereeing decisions fair?

The panel also look at all of the weekend’s WSL action as Manchester City extended their lead at the top, confirming Bristol City’s relegation in the process. They take your questions and weigh up the challenge ahead for Crystal Palace next season after they sealed promotion from the Championship.

Our cartoonist has a guide just for you to help choose which official to blame when your striker misses a sitter from six yards out

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Plus: players injured warming up on touchline, points-per-game differentials of long-serving players and more

• Mail us your questions or tweet @TheKnowledge_GU

“Leverkusen’s Bundesliga title win has broken Kingsley Coman’s remarkable run of winning the league in each of the last 11 seasons (with PSG, Juventus and Bayern). Can any player in world football ever boast of a longer run of consecutive league titles?” asks Richard Forsythe.

“It’s worth bearing in mind that Coman technically won 12 league titles in 11 seasons,” writes Sean DeLoughry, who gets the ball rolling as we spin off from this 2022 question and answer. “He played once for Juventus in Serie A at the start of the 2015-16 season before joining Bayern.

Our cartoonist on the scrapping of replays, fixture congestion, drama at Wembley and that Nottingham Forest statement

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Liverpool await a dead-ball salvo, Luton have to keep their chins up and things could get spicy at City Ground

David Moyes will surely have taken note of Liverpool’s struggle to defend set pieces against Everton. Jürgen Klopp, who must be delighted with a 12.30pm kick-off on Saturday, should prepare his team for another bruising test when they visit West Ham. For Moyes, this is a chance to repair the sizeable damage to his reputation caused by last weekend’s collapse at Selhurst Park. West Ham were 4-0 down to Palace after 31 minutes and are preparing to part company with Moyes at the end of the season, but they should take heart from how Everton unsettled Liverpool in the Merseyside derby. Everton scored twice from set pieces and West Ham pose a similar threat from dead balls. James Ward-Prowse’s deliveries towards Tomas Soucek, Kurt Zouma and Michail Antonio will have Klopp’s defenders sweating. Jacob Steinberg

West Ham v Liverpool, Saturday 12.30pm (all times BST)

Fulham v Crystal Palace, Saturday 3pm

Newcastle v Sheffield United, Saturday 3pm

Manchester United v Burnley, Saturday 3pm

The England manager’s honesty and systems expertise are just what is needed at the haunted house Old Trafford has become

And so we entered the age of the noble, blameless bald men. This is a pretty good moment to be Ineos at Manchester United. Nothing really matters yet. Every problem is someone else’s problem. Every solution is your own.

For now you’re just hope, blue sky. You’re a silent reproach on a gantry. You’re a tieless Tony Blair jamming with Shed Seven in the Downing Street garden. And even the bad things are kind of good, because you’re not the bad things.

For the teams at the bottom of the food chain, England’s top flight has come to resemble an abusive relationship

And you may ask yourself: how do I work this?

And you may ask yourself: what happened to that three-man midfield?

Star striker talks achieving another promotion, potentially making scoring history and finding acceptance in his son’s autism

‘The desire to win will be the same as every other game,” Paul Mullin says as he anticipates a Hollywood-style finale for Wrexham on Saturday afternoon while their fans at home and around the world celebrate a second straight promotion. Wrexham’s last game in League Two is against the new champions, Stockport County, and Mullin is determined to end another tumultuous and successful season with a personal milestone.

If Mullin scores against Stockport he will become the first player since Alan Shearer to have racked up at least 25 goals in four consecutive seasons across the top five flights of English football. Mullin has spent the past hour thoughtfully discussing his role in the delirium surrounding Wrexham’s rise under the celebrity ownership of Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney and a range of subjects from finding acceptance and even joy in his son’s autism to how this season began with a fleeting acknowledgment of his seemingly imminent death.

Despite relegation to England’s fourth tier, Cod Army have cast net to be like ‘City Football Group but on a much smaller scale’

Fleetwood United’s celebrations on becoming second division champions in the United Arab Emirates could not be dampened even by a freak thunderstorm in Dubai. “I’ve never seen anything like it,” the captain, Ben Pringle, told the Guardian. “It was the most rain they have had for 75 years. Cars were underwater on the motorway.”

This is not supposed to happen in the glittering city of skyscrapers and excitement but then Fleetwood Town, a club that have just dropped into England’s fourth tier, are not really supposed to be at the head of a stable of international clubs that also includes Waterford FC in Ireland and Western Cape Fleetwood in South Africa.

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

We pick the best youngsters at each club born between 1 September 2006 and 31 August 2007, an age band known as first-year scholars. Check the progress of our classes of 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 … and look at the editions from further back

• Next Generation 2023: 60 of the best talents around the world

Five years ago we picked 80 of the most talented players in the world to follow their progress in a cut-throat business

It is the time of year when we check in on the Next Generation players we picked in 2018 to follow for five years, to assess their progress amid success, setbacks, injuries, trophies won and transfers made.

Next Generation started in 2014 with the aim of showing the difficulties that even the best prospects in the Premier League (we pick one from each club at first-year scholar age) and the rest of the world (we choose 60 born in a specific calendar year) face on their way towards the top.

A defensively minded midfielder who is incredibly strong (he used to be a wrestler) but with an excellent touch to go with his physicality. Made his debut in the Swedish top flight as a 16-year-old last year and captained Sweden as they reached the quarter-finals of the Euro Under-17 tournament in England this summer. Has taken an unusual path to the top. He left the top-flight side IFK Göteborg for sixth division Angered MBIK as a 14-year-old as he felt that he was not getting the right support for his football education. Another Gothenburg club, Häcken, snapped him up in 2017 and he made his senior debut that season. Has signed a new contract with the club from Hisingen until 2021 despite interest from Real Madrid and Benfica and trials at both Manchester clubs.