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Before his final game, the manager reflects on an Anfield career that delivered seven major trophies and made him a club legend

Firstly, how do you reflect on the past eight and a half years? It is so rare in this industry that you can create this kind of relationship to a club and to a city because, in the beginning, what did we know? It is not that we can lie. In the 15 years before I arrived I watched loads of football, but did I watch a lot of Liverpool? No. So coming here and living the life I did, dedicating everything to it, which is what I had to do for the people, is really special. The way people in England see it, you either love Liverpool or hate Liverpool. Obviously it was very easy for me to fall in love with the club and the people. It is a super special story. Could it have been more successful? Yes. With me? I don’t know. We did absolutely everything. I am very self-critical but I do not reflect on this in a critical way. We had really good times with super football moments, real development, tough moments, overcoming all of them. OK, maybe not always in time, but I look back with a smile.

You made several predictions at your first press conference – telling fans to turn from doubters to believers and saying you’d have to work in Switzerland if you didn’t win a trophy in four years … That went down well in Switzerland! My skiing holiday will not be there. I’m sure people think I planned to say those things. I just wanted to survive the press conference. My English was not that great. I’d been talking to people about why they changed from Brendan [Rodgers] to me , what happened in not becoming champions in 2014 and what it meant being so close. I realised everyone was doubting what Liverpool does and no one liked the team. Not even the team liked the team. The players were not comfortable in their skin. The four years comment was, not to buy time, but I know how football works. If you do not arrive early enough where people want to go then it will not happen.

• Premier League: 10 things to look out for on the final day
• Farewell to Emma Hayes | And you can drop Yara an email

Some related Messi content. A look at the MLS’s top earners.

Talking of forgotten footballers, whatever happened to Christian Benteke? Well, we’ll tell you what: he’s only the joint-top scorer in the MLS this season having found the net 11 times for DC United. That’s one more than Messi. How and why? It’s all here in Joseph Lowery’s latest MLS power rankings.

The title race reaches the finish line, it’s the end of an era at Liverpool and Spurs face two trips in quick succession

Only the most grim-faced of churls would refuse to recognise the progress Mikel Arteta’s outstanding Arsenal side have made this season. The very fact a title win is on the table this weekend says more than enough and now they must make sure that, just in case West Ham cause an almighty stir at the Etihad, they do not taint it with unnecessary regrets. When Everton pitched up in London on the final day two years ago the home side cruised to a 5-1 win; nostalgia buffs among the support might prefer the 4-3 rip-roarer in 2002 that rubber-stamped the double winners’ season and ended with a Premier League trophy presentation. Even if the latter scenario is an outside bet this time, Arteta will expect his players to block out any noise – including dispatches from Manchester – and put an opponent to the sword one last time, making sure they at least do their bit. An opportunity to make dreams come true may yet present itself. Nick Ames

Arsenal v Everton (all games Sunday 4pm BST)

Brentford v Newcastle

Brighton v Manchester United

Burnley v Nottingham Forest

• Wagner in charge of Norwich since January 2023
• Club likely to appoint younger head coach

Norwich City sacked David Wagner hours after they were thrashed by Leeds in Thursday’s playoff semi-final second leg, with the club keen to embark on a fresh approach. Defeat abruptly ended Norwich’s hopes of a return to the Premier League.

Norwich were always minded to make a change this summer and an abject performance in a 4-0 defeat triggered action from the hierarchy. They are likely to appoint a younger head coach.

• Brazil gets 119 votes to 78 for Belgium-Netherlands-Germany
• Infantino says legal threats over Club World Cup are ‘futile’

Brazil was declared the host of the 2027 Women’s World Cup at the Fifa congress, beating the joint bid of Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany to become the first South American country to hold the tournament. Brazil’s bid received to host the 10th edition of the competition the backing of 119 member associations, compared with 78 votes for the European bid.

“We knew we would be celebrating a victory for South American women’s soccer and for women,” said the president of the Brazilian Football Confederation, Ednaldo Rodrigues. “You can be sure, with no vanity, we will accomplish the best World Cup for women.”

As the Premier League’s final day looms with Manchester City top we look at the key results and controversy that may cost Gunners

Arsenal played three games between 23 and 31 December and did not win any. At the time a 1-1 draw against Liverpool at Anfield seemed a decent result: Mo Salah cancelled out Gabriel Magalhães’s early goal, but the Gunners weathered the storm in an intense game and the result meant they were top for Christmas. Five days later Arsenal enjoyed 74% of possession against West Ham at the Emirates and had 30 shots to the visitors’ five, including Bukayo Saka’s strike against a post – but the Hammers won 2-0. Some suggested the ball went out of play before Tomas Soucek opened the scoring but there was no conclusive VAR evidence. Konstantinos Mavropanos’s goal meant Hammers had scored from two of only three shots on target. Three days later Arsenal were defeated 2-1 by a Fulham side who had lost their previous three league games by an aggregate score of 8-0. Saka gave Arsenal the lead but Raúl Jiménez and Bobby De Cordova-Reid got the goals that prompted Arteta to call it “the worst performance we’ve had this season, that’s for sure”. Eight points dropped in a week.

Property experts believe Leeds is becoming an increasingly fashionable home for bright young professionals priced out of London but, as compelling as their arguments are, the city lacks one vital magnet: a Premier League football team.

Or at least it does at the moment. If the outstanding Crysencio Summerville, Wilfried Gnonto, Archie Gray and company play as intelligently and incisively as this in the Championship playoff final at Wembley on Sunday week that deficiency will surely be rectified.

• Prominent club figures think it would be wise to keep manager
• Some of board undecided but unanimity needed to sack him

Mauricio Pochettino has the support of key figures at Chelsea before an end-of-season review that will determine his future.

The manager has been under pressure for much of his first campaign at Stamford Bridge but is on increasingly strong ground after guiding his young side to within touching distance of Europa League qualification thanks to a four-match winning run.

• ‘They can score three or four in five or six minutes’
• Manchester City manager upbeat before Villa showdown

Gareth Taylor has backed his side to score enough goals to overhaul ­Chelsea on the final day of the ­Women’s Super League season. ­Manchester City are level on points with the champions but their title rivals have a better goal difference of two. City make the trip to Aston Villa while Chelsea visit Manchester United.

Taylor, however, is confident his side can recover from the disappointing 2-1 home defeat to Arsenal 11 days ago to turn on the style against Carla Ward’s Villa side, despite the absence of Khadija Shaw, the WSL’s top scorer, through injury. Lauren Hemp is fifth in the scoring charts. “You’ve seen with this team, they can score three or four goals in the space of five or six minutes,” he said. “They are more than capable. That doesn’t mean you’re able to go and do it on the weekend, there are many factors that go into that. It’s about me constantly realigning them with what we have to do. The more we’ve done that this season the better we’ve been.”

• Manchester City goalkeeper injured in win at Tottenham
• Brazilian understood not have been concussed in collision

Manchester City’s goalkeeper Ederson will miss Sunday’s final Premier League game and the FA Cup final after sustaining an eye socket fracture against Tottenham.

The Brazilian was forced off during the victory at Spurs on Tuesday which put the club on the verge of an unprecedented fourth successive title. Scans have confirmed Ederson sustained a small fracture to the right eye socket in a collision with Cristian Romero.

Not watching the television when rivals were in action helped in focusing on promotion for a club – and town – that is reborn

Three weeks from the end of a Championship promotion race whose pace and tension were almost unparalleled, Ipswich held meetings across all their departments. They were close to an achievement that, to most outsiders, seemed unthinkable and it was time to brainstorm for the smallest possible gains that could push them over the line. One of the ideas implemented was simple but effective: turn off televisions around the club whenever Leicester, Leeds and Southampton, the parachute-funded clubs battling to supplant Kieran McKenna’s team, were playing. Nobody needed to waste emotional energy on rivals’ fortunes when Ipswich had control of their own destiny.

Ipswich did not blink. Their staff resisted temptation to obsess over what they could not control and, having confirmed second place, they will spend the summer preparing for a first Premier League season in 22 years. There will be plenty of goodwill towards a club where the air still feels a little bit different; an institution whose historical achievements still linger in the consciousness, and whose manager has become one of Europe’s rising stars. They now face their biggest challenge of all: ensuring a smooth-sailing ship does not run aground on rocks that are crueller and more jagged than in their last top-flight spell.

The Football League chief, Trevor Birch, on the record numbers below the Premier League, even if financial losses are a concern

It’s the time of year for celebrations. Up and down England and Wales, from Fratton Park to the Racecourse Ground (AKA STōK Cae Ras), Pride Park to Portman Road, mass jubilation has burst from the terraces as the structure of the football pyramid shifts once more. It’s a unique celebration and Trevor Birch, the former striker, accountant and administrator who is now the chief executive of the English Football League, has witnessed more than most.

“I think I’m qualified to comment, given I’m probably averaging about 75 to 80 games a season,” says Birch, whose life in football has led him to be present at many of the moments that have shaped the modern game. “Derby, I was there for that. There were 30-odd thousand people there which was extraordinary, and over 20 thousand at Portsmouth. Both of those clubs have been in administration so it was great to see these clubs vibrant again, with brilliant supporters. It’s a rejuvenation that the pyramid makes possible.”

There has been no shortage of stunning games during manager’s spell at club. Here are 10 of the most memorable

Chelsea secured their inaugural FA Cup on a historic day with a 1-0 victory over Notts County. The final was held at Wembley Stadium for the first time and drew a record crowd of 30,710. They were firm favourites and it was a sole strike from Ji So-yun that proved the difference. Lifting the trophy would kickstart the winning haul under Hayes, the first of 13 major pieces of silverware she would pick up with the club.

The forward on growing up fast in Bristol, her surprised delight at World Cup call and the lure of new challenges

The Brighton forward Katie Robinson has had a big 12 months, but it has not always been straightforward. There was the high of making Sarina Wiegman’s England squad for the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, but there have also been lows, as Brighton have dealt with managerial upheaval.

Despite this tumult, the 21‑year‑old has caught the eye of several clubs and with one game remaining in the Women’s Super League season, against Arsenal, a big summer lies ahead.

• Klopp says ‘these people are not able to use it properly’
• Liverpool manager may not give Sunday’s pre-game team talk

Jürgen Klopp has said he would scrap video assistant referees for the simple reason that Professional Game Match Officials Ltd is “not able to use it properly”.

The Liverpool manager gave a damning assessment of the referees’ body at his final pre-match press conference, when asked whether he would vote to keep or scrap VAR at next month’s Premier League annual general meeting. Liverpool are understood to be in favour of retaining VAR but their outgoing manager has a differing view owing to how it has been implemented in the Premier League.

• Tuchel will take charge of final Bayern game on Saturday
• Confirmation will add to speculation over Old Trafford move

Thomas Tuchel has confirmed he will leave Bayern Munich after Saturday’s final Bundesliga game of the season, at Hoffenheim. Tuchel revealed in his pre-match press conference on Friday that he had failed to reach an agreement to extend his stay at Bayern, who missed out on the domestic title for the first time in more than a decade.

The 50-year-old’s announcement will fuel speculation about a potential move to Manchester United, with the future of Erik ten Hag unclear.

NSW police allege Ulises Dávila, Kearyn Baccus and Clayton Lewis were involved in a scheme ‘for yellow cards to occur during certain games’ in late 2023

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Macarthur FC has said it is “shocked” after three of its players were arrested and charged in Sydney in relation to an international investigation that uncovered an alleged betting corruption scandal.

New South Wales police said on Friday they had arrested and charged the three A-League footballers in early morning raids across the city following an investigation by the organised crime squad which began in December and was assisted by the UK gambling commission.

• Manchester United left-back has not played for three months
• Ten Hag says Harry Maguire has ‘fair chance’ for Cup final

Luke Shaw’s availability for this summer’s European Championship is in greater doubt than ever after the Manchester United manager, Erik ten Hag, said the left-back was struggling to be fit for the FA Cup final after a setback.

Shaw has not featured for United for three months, after coming off with a muscle problem during their victory against Luton in February. His England colleague Harry Maguire has not played since United’s draw with Burnley at the end of last month and Ten Hag offered a mixed update on the pair.

Raccoon runs through pitch during game between New York City FC and Philadelphia Union before being captured in trash can

Four men, including one with a trash can, were temporarily thwarted in their efforts to capture a wayward raccoon who invaded the soccer pitch during a game between New York City FC and the Philadelphia Union at Subaru Park on Wednesday night.

The adult raccoon ran almost the length of the pitch, and swerved into the penalty box, as Major League Soccer staff attempted a capture. The furry fugitive was ultimately caught by one of the trash can men, but not before match commentators at the game in Chester, Pennsylvania, signaled their approval.

• Miami lead MLS in payroll with $41.7 on salaries
• Argentinian also has estimated endorsements of $70m

Lionel Messi’s annualized pay from his MLS contract with Inter Miami is just over $20.4m in his first full season, exceeding the payrolls of all but four teams in the league.

Messi joined Inter Miami last summer and has a base salary of $10.4m and annualized compensation of $20,446,667, the MLS Players Association said on Thursday in its first salary release of 2024.

Leaky Old Trafford roof was almost a too perfect sign of neglect by owners who love the money but don’t seem to like the club

In February, the NFL players’ union carried out its second annual survey of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and let’s just say it wasn’t pleasant reading. Tampa Bay players reported that the changing room was “not clean, constantly smelly and has a persistent bug issue”. The sauna was described as “dirty and/or mouldy”. This barely a decade after an MRSA outbreak infected three Buccaneers players, two of whom never competed again.

In addition, players complained about being forced to pay $90 (£72) for childcare on match days (most teams offer this for free), being charged $1,750 a season for the privilege of having their own hotel room on away trips and being made to sit at the back of the plane while club staff travelled first class. Most of the blame for this state of affairs was laid squarely at the team’s ownership, whom the survey ranked 29th out of the 32 NFL franchise owners, and who go by the name of the Glazer family.

Angst suffered by Spurs supporters about doing Arsenal a favour was a rarity. It’s already time to move on

Son Heung-min is running through in the 87th minute at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. A draw does virtually nothing for Spurs, but it hands Arsenal a great advantage in the title race. Did I, a Spurs supporter, want him to score? The honest answer is – with apologies to Ange Postecoglou – that I’m not totally sure.

Most of my natural instincts were willing him to slot it into the gaping chasm to Stefan Ortega’s left. But it wasn’t categoric, and after the Manchester City substitute keeper blocked Son’s effort, I didn’t have that empty sensation normally reserved for missed one-on-ones.

German’s tenure has been littered with big lows but supporters will always cherish the big highs and a unique connection

It was a lovely spring afternoon in Liverpool. The sun was out, the temperature was high and, around Anfield, so were spirits. There were smiles and laughter among the thousands in the nearby streets, cafes and pubs that they carried into the stadium, where soon there were also chants and songs from the masses, rising to a pitch during an enthralling encounter with Tottenham the hosts ultimately won. All in all a great day and, being among it, the very real sense that this, then, is what the fifth stage of grief looks like.

Because acceptance is very much the mood among most Liverpool supporters when it comes to Jürgen Klopp’s impending departure. All were shocked when, in January, he announced he was going at the end of the season and each, in their own way, has gone through the various phases of losing a loved one in the following four months. It has been tough but it’s safe to say that collective emotions have centred on recognising that Klopp wasn’t kidding when he said he was running out of energy. The big German with the big grin is, quite clearly, not the man he once was.

Burnley went 119 league games without a red card under Sean Dyche. They’ve picked up seven in 37 games this season

By Richard Foster for The Football Mine

For only the second time in Premier League history, the three promoted clubs are going straight back from whence they came. Bolton, Barnsley and Crystal Palace were relegated after one season in 1997-98 and, barring an epic swing in goal difference that conspires to send Nottingham Forest down, the same fate will befall Sheffield United, Burnley and Luton this year.

All three clubs have sunk to perilous lows over the campaign. The Blades have plumbed new depths by becoming the first club to concede more than 100 goals in a Premier League season. Swindon conceded 100 in 1993-94 – a 42-match season – a total that Sheffield United surpassed in their 1-0 defeat at Everton at the weekend. They have shipped 54 goals in 18 home matches – including losing 8-0 to Newcastle, 6-0 to Arsenal and 5-0 to both Aston Villa and Brighton – at an alarming rate of three per game. Everton, who sit 15th in the table, have only conceded 49 all season.

What makes the situation most striking is Arsenal’s apparent willingness to allow the Dutch star’s contract to run out

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“Miedema … still Miedema … magnificent Miedema.” A line of commentary that could be used to sum up most of Vivianne Miedema’s 125 goals in an Arsenal shirt. In her seven-year career in north London in which she appeared 172 times, the Dutch international has broken records left, right and centre, unstoppable on the pitch and a quiet, determined force off it.

In this instance, the commentator was describing a strike against Everton in 2022. Having turned Karen Holmgaard inside out, she instinctively unleashed her wand of a right foot to send the ball nestling into the back of the net. It was not the first time, nor the last, a defender would be undone in this fashion.

Manager, who is leaving Chelsea after 12 years, remains a fearless advocate of the women’s game but never lost her human touch

It was a rainy Saturday evening a few weeks ago and Chelsea were playing Barcelona in the Champions League semi-final. I made the journey from east to west London and emerged out of Fulham Broadway station to join my friends outside the Kona Kai cocktail bar opposite a busy Stamford Bridge.

Once we had squeezed past some punters and climbed up to assume our position in the Matthew Harding Stand, it hit me: I was sitting in a sold-out stadium. All around me fans were chanting and waving blue flags in support of Emma Hayes and the Chelsea team she had built brick by brick. If ever there was a moment when I fully appreciated her impact, it was then.

Jürgen Klopp has given the media plenty to work with during his nine years at Liverpool, including poking fun at them during press conferences. From complimenting a translator's "erotic voice" to being unaware of his own player's child being born, here are a few of his most memorable moments.

• For good and bad, Jürgen Klopp gave Liverpool fans the time of their lives

Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou raged over the 'fragile foundations' he said had been revealed at the club over the last 48 hours. Large sections of the fans cheered their 2-0 defeat to Manchester City which dented the title hopes of arch-rivals Arsenal. Postecoglous admitted that 'the last 48 hours revealed a fair bit, and that's all right. That's just means I’ve got to go back to the drawing board with some things'.

• ‘He saves us – otherwise Arsenal are champions’: Guardiola hails Ortega

• Ange Postecoglou’s Spurs project is a magnificent act of misdirection

Manchester City striker Erling Haaland scored twice in the second half against Tottenham to send the three-time defending champions two points clear of second-place Arsenal with one game left to play. Reserve goalkeeper Stefan Ortega was the unexpected hero, coming on to replace Ederson before making two big saves. In Sunday's final round of matches, Guardiola's side host West Ham, while Arsenal entertain Everton. City's win also meant Aston Villa secured fourth place and qualification for the Champions League ahead of Tottenham in fifth

• Manchester City edge towards Premier League title after Haaland sinks Spurs

Old Trafford flooded with water at the end of Manchester United's game with Arsenal on Sunday, leaking through the roof and cascading through the stands. Footage also shows the roof in Arsenal's dressing room leaking water on to the players. The Glazers, Manchester United's long-time owners, have often been criticised by fans for their apparent reluctance to invest in updating and adequately maintaining the increasingly ageing stadium.

After losing to Chelsea in last year's FA Cup final, Manchester United Women stormed to a 4-0 win against Tottenham this time around to claim their first major trophy. The team celebrated on and off the pitch with the usual singing and champagne spraying.

Arsenal made sure the Premier League title race will go to the last day of the season with a 1-0 victory at Manchester United. Leandro Trossard struck in the 20th minute to put Arsenal back on top of the table and ensure the Gunners will take their title fight with defending champions, Manchester City, to the final round of matches.

‘Live the final day’: Arteta dreams of title after win at United sets up climax

Arsenal keep up title pressure as Trossard sinks Manchester United

The managerial merry-go-round has started to spin, there are concerns in Atlanta and the rich keep getting richer in Miami

Welcome back to the Guardian’s MLS Power Rankings, where I have a beef with your specific team and your specific team alone.

Now, as a reminder, these aren’t your standard, run-of-the-mill power rankings. We’re still ranking teams from worst to first. But along with the rankings, we’re diving deep into a handful of teams from around the league who are doing particularly interesting things.

• Bruce Mwape accused of touching female worker’s breast
• Incident said to have happened at last year’s World Cup

Zambia’s coach, Bruce Mwape, has been accused of intentionally touching a Fifa contractor on the breast during last year’s Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. A few days before that, similar claims were made against him by a player, the Guardian can reveal.

Fifa is investigating allegations made in August that Mwape – who remains in charge of Zambia and is expected to lead them at this summer’s Olympic Games – rubbed his hands over the chest of a player after a training session before their historic victory over Costa Rica at the end of July in Hamilton. It has been revealed that before the tournament Mwape – who has previously denied the accusations – was the subject of an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct by a number of players in the squad that had been referred to world football’s governing body by the Zambian Football Association (FAZ).

Fans started their preparations four days before games and would release pigeons to celebrate goals, this book extract reveals

Football in Albania is a national obsession. Yet between the late 1960s and Stalinism’s slow, lingering death in 1991, it became more than mere fixation. In a country where the 1967 rewriting of the constitution denied people their freedom of faith, football became the new religion, with pilgrims from Gjirokastër to Shkodër, Lezhë to Sarandë, filling stadiums every Sunday afternoon in worship of their new, auxiliary gods.

In those moments of ordered chaos, Albanians appeared free from the trials and injustices of their moribund, regime-subscribed lives, transported – via the vehicles of football and shared human experience – to a higher plain; a vista of harmony and liberty.

Efforts to cut down on time-wasting are laudable. But there are flaws in the new scheme that need to be tweaked before a worldwide rollout

Lionel Messi was not happy. It was a little over 40 minutes into Inter Miami’s trip to Quebec to take on CF Montréal this past Saturday and the star-studded Eastern Conference leaders were 2-0 down. But it was not that Miami were losing that had vexed Messi. He just wanted to be on the pitch.

Miami had won a free kick 30-yards from goal, slightly right of centre – prime Messi territory. Yet he was not allowed to take it. He’d received treatment on the pitch a minute earlier after being fouled by Montréal defender George Campbell. Due to a new set of rules adopted this season to crack down on time-wasting, Messi had to wait on the sideline for two minutes before being allowed to re-enter the game.

• Atalanta 0-1 Juventus
• Serbian’s early goal sets up Turin club to lift trophy for 15th time

Juventus beat Atalanta 1-0 to win a record-extending 15th Coppa Italia as an early strike by Dusan Vlahovic earned Massimiliano Allegri’s side their first trophy in three years.

Juve, who hold both the record for most Italian Cup finals played (22) and won (15), had not lifted any silverware since they won the competition in 2020-21, when they also beat Atalanta in the final. Allegri became the first coach to win the Coppa Italia five times, after Sven-Göran Eriksson and Roberto Mancini lifted the trophy on four occasions.

• NSW, Queensland and Western Australia to host all matches
• 2023 Women’s World Cup co-hosts placed only a bid for tournament

The Matildas will get another chance to thrill local football fans on home soil with Australia named as the host nation for the 2026 Women’s Asian Cup. The decision was confirmed at a meeting of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) executive committee in Bangkok on Wednesday, after Australia was the only member nation to submit a bid to host the tournament.

The 2023 Women’s World Cup, co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, was a huge success with the Matildas making it all the way to the semi-finals before losing the third-place playoff to Sweden. The AFC’s women’s football committee made a strong recommendation for the 12-nation Asian Cup to also be held down under for the second time, and the executive committee agreed.

• Dutchman will join Jürgen Klopp in leaving Anfield this summer
• Lijnders: ‘I am moving to another exceptional club’

Pepijn Lijnders is to become head coach at Austrian club Red Bull Salzburg following his departure from Liverpool.

Lijnders, who had initially worked as assistant coach under Brendan Rodgers at Liverpool, will leave Anfield along with Jürgen Klopp at the end of the season.

Vinícius Júnior scored twice as the newly-crowned La Liga champions Real Madrid thrashed visitors Alavés 5-0 on Tuesday after the hosts had paraded the trophy in front of the home fans before the game.

Jude Bellingham and Vinícius scored a goal each inside 30 minutes before Federico Valverde put Real 3-0 up at the break, unleashing an unstoppable shot into the roof of the net in first-half stoppage time.

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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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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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.

There is no shame in losing to the champions and Tottenham manager has made the same failure taste much better

The open-top bus parade begins at Monday lunchtime. Thousands of fans are expected to line the streets to pay tribute to Ange Postecoglou and his team as they wind their way down the High Road, before a civic reception at Tottenham town hall. There, captain Son Heung-min will end 16 long years of silverware famine by hoisting aloft the Denying Arsenal The League Trophy, and frankly few men have done more to earn it.

Of course Spurs have never made things easy for themselves and there were plenty of heart-stopping moments during that crucial defeat by Manchester City on Tuesday when it looked like they might salvage a draw, or even a disastrous win. To come through in the end was a genuine team effort, key players standing down when it mattered most: that reliably unreliable defence, Pierre-Emile Højbjerg failing to plug the gaps in midfield, Son gloriously fluffing that one-on-one chance in the closing stages.

Multiple approaches are needed to stem vitriol aimed at officials but it is clear that examples need to be set at the top

“Szymon Marciniak you son of a whore”. “Don’t come to Germany for your safety.” “How much money did you get?” “FUCK YOU MARCINIAK YOU DISGUSTING BASTARD #RMAFCB.”

This is a snapshot of X and Instagram after Bayern Munich crashed out of the Champions League last week. Marciniak’s crime? Blowing for offside too early, which meant that a possible Matthijs de Ligt equaliser could not be reviewed by the VAR. Even a freeze-frame image could not confirm whether De Ligt was onside or not. But that didn’t stop Bayern’s manager, Thomas Tuchel, saying the referee’s decision “felt like a betrayal” – or the bile on social media.

The club has been awarded a 999-year lease on the Den and its surrounds, bringing down the curtain on a fraught few years

Bermondsey has always been a fluid, ever-changing kind of place, shoved up into a bend of the Thames, surrounded on all sides but also oddly isolated.

For hundreds of years that whole strip of land south of the city was an interlude of leisure and licentiousness. In his biography of London Peter Ackroyd mentions “bear pits, stew-houses and pleasure gardens”, plus a flourishing grassroots industry of cutpurses and dandy highwaymen, a place where “flashy women come out to take leave of thieves at dusk and wish them luck”.

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Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Nedum Onuoha and John Brewin as Manchester United and Chelsea get important wins in their hunt for European football next season

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On the podcast today: the race for fifth/sixth and Europa League football next season is still alive – Chelsea could still catch Spurs and only Manchester United winning the FA Cup would earn Newcastle a spot.

Plus: serial runners-up, long gaps between winning the same competition, terrible penalty shootouts and more

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“Granit Xhaka is unbeaten in his first 47 games for Bayer Leverkusen,” notes Scott Campbell. “Have any players attained a longer unbeaten streak upon joining a new club?”

At first Bayer Leverkusen’s success was one of the stories of the season. It’s fast becoming one of the stories of the century: they are 50 not out, three games away from completing an unbeaten season in all competitions. Granit Xhaka, their summer signing from Arsenal, has played in 47 of those 50 matches. The last time he lost at club level was last May, when Nottingham Forest officially ended Arsenal’s title challenge.

I have been forced to adjust to a reality where I can no longer be an elite athlete but I have tried to find something positive in it

• Moving the Goalposts: sign up for our free newsletter

Everyone goes through change in life. It is just about how you respond. They can be big changes; they can be small, but it is about how you handle it yourself.

Over the last few months, I have been through the biggest change of all. Since being diagnosed with a heart condition – arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy or ARVC, a disease that causes irregular heartbeats – last year at just 27, I have had to learn to navigate a world where I can no longer be a professional footballer. I have been forced to adjust to a reality where I can no longer be an elite athlete and where I can’t play a sport I have been a part of since I was three. I have had to accept the reality of my condition and everything that comes with it.

Our pick of the best rants, musings and carefully worded statements from the Premier League and beyond this term

Our cartoonist on the Premier League doing strange things to mascots (and people) as it nears its finale

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Manchester United’s Aoife Mannion joins Faye Carruthers and Suzanne Wrack to discuss her team’s 4-0 FA Cup final win over Spurs and more

A big weekend of football calls for a star guest. This week, Faye Carruthers and Suzanne Wrack are joined by Manchester United’s Aoife Mannion to discuss her team’s 4-0 Wembley win over Tottenham. Then Chris Pauros joins Faye and Suzy to preview the final weekend in the WSL and the league’s record scorer, Vivianne Miedema, saying goodbye to Arsenal. They also look at the England squad announced by Sarina Weigman.

To sign up for our bi-weekly women’s football newsletter – all you need to do is search ‘Moving the Goalposts sign up’ or follow that link. Here’s an extract from the latest edition.

Arsenal can still improve, Erling Haaland perplexes and Thomas Frank feels the love from his players

Though Arsenal have enjoyed another fine campaign, the likelihood is that they will again finish second, victims of the almost unbeatable combination that is state wealth plus Pep Guardiola. And regardless of whether they finish as champions or runners-up, they must improve next term – not easy given they’ve followed an 84-point season by racking up 86 with three still to play for. However, on five occasions this term, Arsenal have failed to score in a league game – as well as in the FA Cup against Liverpool and the Champions League at Bayern Munich – which is to say that, unlike Manchester City and unlike Liverpool in 2019-20, they lack superstars able to override poor performances with individual brilliance, finding crucial goals where there appeared to be none. This is not an issue easily resolved, but Jürgen Klopp found a way, completing an already excellent side by adding Alisson and Virgil van Dijk to his back five; Mikel Arteta must now do similarly to Arsenal’s attack. Daniel Harris

Match report: Manchester United 0-1 Arsenal

Match report: Tottenham 2-1 Burnley

Match report: Nottingham Forest 2-3 Chelsea

Match report: West Ham 3-1 Luton

They won’t win any trophies or player of the season awards, but these players have been integral to their teams this season

By Ben McAleer for WhoScored

Having scored just six league goals last season, Dominic Solanke has really stepped up this season with 19 – the best return for any Bournemouth player in a Premier League season. The appointment of Andoni Iraola has proven a blessing for the 26-year-old, who is finally realising the potential he showed when breaking on to the scene with Chelsea. Alexander Isak and Ollie Watkins have earned high praise for their performances; Solanke warrants just as much adulation.

Atmosphere against Arsenal showed that whether supporters want manager to stay or go, backing for team remains strong

At the picnic benches behind the Stretford End where fans enjoy a pre-game bite the atmosphere is as serene as Erik ten Hag’s perma-calm media persona before Manchester United’s kick-off against Arsenal.

The manager has remained unruffled despite the 24-7 speculation about his job, but in the next few weeks his future will be decided by Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the Ineos chairman’s key lieutenant, Sir Dave Brailsford, and the acting chief executive, Jean-Claude Blanc.

The outgoing manager deserves another WSL title but her replacement will inherit a lot of quality young players

Many will look at Emma Hayes’s 12 years as Chelsea manager and think her lasting legacy is six – potentially seven – Women’s Super League titles, five FA Cups and two League Cups but for me her impact has been felt far beyond west London. By turning Chelsea into the benchmark for others to follow, she has forced up standards throughout the women’s game.

People forget that the early years were difficult for Hayes, with Chelsea narrowly avoiding relegation in her first full season, but there was always a clear plan of how to improve. Her spell managing in America at Chicago Red Stars, where I was in the squad, I think was pivotal in her career and shaped what she wanted to do at Chelsea. At the Red Stars we arguably had the most talented group of individuals but we were not the best team and I think she realised it was imperative she recruited the right characters, not just the best players. I think this resulted in a big shift in Hayes’s outlook.

Captain hails belief and togetherness that has powered an often written-off squad to the Champions League final

Emre Can is not the most obvious example in the Borussia Dortmund team but he is an example nonetheless; a player who has experienced rejection, who has had to battle to re-establish himself.

It is probably easier to see the narrative strand in, say, Jadon Sancho, who was pushed out of Manchester United in January and sent back to Dortmund after his falling-out with the manager, Erik ten Hag. Sancho’s poor form and rock-bottom confidence made it easier for United to sanction the loan.

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.