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As this new, distended ­Champions League format entered its mean­dering middle stage it had been tempting to wonder exactly what was at stake for Arsenal. They did not exactly put anyone straight with a bland, low-key performance but the night produced what they had come for.

Even if their European hopes were never going to live or die by this result, Arsenal moved a giant step towards continuing their campaign beyond January.

In the seconds after John McGinn gave Aston Villa the lead, the scoreboards in opposite corners malfunctioned, flickering to display a 3-0 scoreline against Bologna courtesy of a supersonic hat-trick from their captain. For a moment it was pure fantasy but Unai Emery’s team really are top of the reformed Champions League, the only side with a 100% record so far having played three matches. Nine points, three clean sheets, Real Madrid, Milan and Paris Saint-Germain are looking up the table with a touch of envy.

McGinn inadvertently scored the first directly from a free-kick before Jhon Durán, handed a rare start, added a second with his seventh goal of the season. Everybody was on cloud nine, then? Not quite. Durán’s instinctive, hooked finish to convert Morgan Rogers’s dinked cross proved his final touch and, after being replaced by Ollie Watkins, he thumped a padded seat in the home dugout and then booted the back of another chair.

“In this cup and in this place anything can happen,” Vinícius Júnior said, barely audible in the midst of the madness after yet another night in which it had. Real Madrid gonna Real Madrid. One hundred and 43 days after they met at Wembley, the Champions League finalists faced each other again and Borussia Dortmund scored twice in four minutes midway through the first half, the quickest team to come here and take a two-goal lead in almost 20 years, so Real Madrid went and scored five even faster. “We went in at half-time shitting ourselves but we listened, we said get one, we’ll come back again,” the Brazilian revealed, and so it was.

Madrid had gone into the dressing room 2-0 down, goals from Donyell Malen and the Reading-born Jamie Bynoe-Gittens giving Dortmund a lead they deserved. A banner before the game announced that this was Madrid’s crown and Madrid’s cup, which it always was and always will be, but at that stage it you wondered if it might just be Dortmund’s night. History, though, has warned otherwise so many times, the ridiculous now routine, and here it was repeated. Madrid win, which is what they do, and ultimately they had deserved it too; their superb second half yielding five goals and underlining their candidacy for the trophy they like to think of as their own.

• Bachmann errors help Farke’s side to 2-1 win
• Cardiff beat Portsmouth to climb out of bottom three

Leeds moved up to second in the Championship as two goalkeeping blunders by Watford’s Daniel Bachmann helped them to a 2-1 win at Elland Road. The Austria goalkeeper was at fault for both Leeds’ goals as they raced into a 2-0 lead inside the opening seven minutes through Largie Ramazani and Brenden Aaronson.

Kwadwo Baah pulled one back for Watford, who were much improved in the second half, but Leeds held on for back-to-back home wins in the space of five days. Daniel Farke’s side extended their unbeaten league run to six matches and have now lost one of their first 11, while Watford slipped to a fifth straight league defeat on the road.

• German company to replace Nike from 2025-26 season
• Slot says Liverpool can get better despite flying start

Liverpool expect to make more than £60m a year from a new kit deal with Adidas that will come into effect from the start of the 2025-26 season.

The German sportswear ­company will become Liverpool’s kit ­supplier when Nike’s five-year contract expires. In a tender process for a five‑year contract Adidas, which last ­supplied the Anfield club’s kit between 2006 and 2012, won against Nike and Puma.

• Greek billionaire was given five-match ban last week
• Written reasons for ban outline ‘disgusting’ incident

Evangelos Marinakis was banned for five matches after the Football Association argued successfully that the Nottingham Forest owner had spat towards match officials in a “flagrant display of disrespectful behaviour”.

Marinakis, who denied the charge, was found guilty of improper conduct by an independent regulatory commission over the flashpoint that occurred after Forest’s 1-0 Premier League defeat against Fulham at the City Ground last month.

• Celtic manager says coverage of side has been unfair
• ‘It’s an opportunity for people to beat you with a stick’

A defiant Brendan Rodgers believes Celtic’s detractors cannot wait to “beat them over the head with a stick” in regards to their struggles against the best in Europe.

Celtic’s 7-1 mauling at Borussia Dortmund at the start of October served as the Scottish champions’ ­latest harrowing occasion when ­facing elite opposition. Rodgers clearly believes Celtic are not afforded proper context when it comes to performances against superior, and richer, Champions League clubs.

• Manchester City player injured against Belgium in March
• ‘Never ever before was I so disappointed. I didn’t like it’

Pep Guardiola has stressed the importance of John Stones staying fit by revealing he has “never been so angry” as when the Manchester City defender was injured during ­England’s friendly against Belgium in the spring.

Stones sustained a muscle problem 10 minutes into the 2-2 draw at ­Wembley on 26 March, ­causing his withdrawal. It came after he played all of the 1-0 defeat against Brazil three days previously.

• Palace failed to win any of their first eight league games
• Graham Potter among candidates to replace Austrian

Oliver Glasner’s position as Crystal Palace manager is under mounting pressure after his side equalled the club’s worst start to a Premier League season, with the Austrian’s fate expected to be determined by results before the next international break.

The 1-0 defeat against Nottingham ­Forest on Monday means Palace have failed to win any of their first eight games of a top-flight campaign for the first time since 1992-93.

• England midfielder outlines importance of friendlies
• 25-year-old praises Tuchel after England appointment

Georgia Stanway says the defence of England’s European title begins now as they prepare to face Germany in a friendly at Wembley in a repeat of the Euro 2022 final.

The midfielder, who plays for Bayern Munich and is in line to face several of her clubmates on Friday, says England will use their four upcoming friendlies to “hit the ground running” before the finals tournament in Switzerland next summer, having qualified automatically with their results in July.

Our resident cartoonist on the societal collapse that followed England naming a GERMAN! as their new manager

• You can get copies of David’s cartoons in our Print Shop

Ferguson’s legacy at Old Trafford is assured but revelations over his earnings for ambassadorial duties leave a sour taste

Wayne Rooney had stolen the show in a 2-0 Manchester United win. The visit of the Premier League champions to Aberdeen in the summer of 2008 provided the kind of carnival occasion always guaranteed after Alex Ferguson’s defining move from Pittodrie to Old Trafford. This particular friendly was to mark the 25th anniversary of Ferguson leading Aberdeen to Cup Winners’ Cup glory. Friendly it was … until post‑match media duties.

Frank Gilfeather, a household name in the north east, asked Ferguson about the potential impact of Carlos Queiroz’s recently announced exit from United to take over as the Portugal head coach. Ferguson, hitherto unaware Gilfeather was in the room, shot a glance so vengeful it made the four horsemen of the apocalypse look like cartoon characters. After a pause of three seconds – which felt like three months – Ferguson answered the question in perfectly articulate terms. As the press conference concluded a group of us dived towards Gilfeather, desperate to know the basis for Ferguson’s extraordinary reaction. Gilfeather had reported throughout Ferguson’s spell in Aberdeen and, it was always assumed, had a decent relationship with the managerial icon.

The club want a girl in every England youth team by 2027 and hope to bring in six-figure fees for their young talents as they did with Naomi Layzell

Bristol City have outlined a plan to become “the destination of choice” for England’s most talented young women’s players’ and drive revenue through player sales, in a new and unique-looking women’s club strategy for the next three years.

The Women’s Championship club, founding members of the Women’s Super League in 2011, say they want to inspire their community by providing a pathway to play for England. They believe that recent rises in transfer fees in the global women’s game will make their philosophy of developing youngsters and selling them on a feasible model for the first time in women’s football.

Faye Carruthers, Suzanne Wrack, Chris Paouros and Tom Garry to discuss the weekend’s WSL action and look ahead to the internationals. Plus, FA’s women’s technical director, Kay Cossington, joins for an exclusive interview

On today’s podcast, the panel reviews a weekend full of drama. Chelsea showcased their five-star quality, and our discussion centres around whether Johanna Rytting Kaneryd is currently the best winger in the world. Additionally, Arsenal kicked off the post-Jonas Eidevall era with a much-needed win, but do they still face lingering problems?

Manchester City came from behind to take the top spot in the league. Meanwhile, Leicester defeated Everton to achieve their first victory of the season, and just how pleased was Nikita Parris to score against her former club, Manchester United, while playing for Brighton.

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Season previews are a funny old game. Think back to the summer, all that hope, those words now coming back to haunt their writers. And the managers, too. Back in August, Oliver Glasner was the adept, urbane, Big Vase-winning, Österreichisch meister of in-game management. He had locked down Crystal Palace’s defence and mounted a canvas for Eberechi Eze and Michael Olise’s artistry. Adam Wharton, meanwhile, was the second coming of Paul Scholes, equally strawberry blonde but better at tackling. The summer’s Euros began with nationwide calls for Gareth Southgate to push the Wharton button. Jean-Philippe Mateta was a goal machine. He showed that off at Big Sports Day, too. What could possibly go wrong?

While I completely share your cynicism over Inter Miami’s ‘qualification’ for Fifa’s Bigger Club World Cup (yesterday’s Football Daily), I wonder if before you wrote your ‘31 of the best teams in the world and …’ line, you’d noticed that RB Salzburg (one appearance in Big Cup’s last 16 in the last five years) had somehow qualified as well” – Gordon MacLeod.

Yesterday’s Football Daily reported that the MLS Supporters’ Shield is given out to the ‘best team in the regular season’. Alas, no. It is given to the team that accumulates the most points in the regular season. Surely these are the same? Alas, no. A wildly unbalanced schedule in which, for example, Inter Miami play weak teams like Chicago and New England twice while playing zero times against 10 other teams in the league makes it rather tough to say who the best team is. Credit to Inter Miami, they are very good. But the MLS schedule is silly, almost as silly as Gianni Infantino” – Patrick Connolly.

I can’t be the only wearisome old git who read the 25-year-old link from Noble Francis (yesterday’s Football Daily letters) and pined for better days. Yes, we always had irksome gum-flapping, but all of it then – the bleeding David Beckham thing, Alan Shearer trying to recall the steps to ‘Saturday Night’ on Neil Lennon’s head – lack the underlying air of constant crass, commercially-driven connivance we get today. Perhaps the only canary in that coalmine was the mention of Ronaldo being persuaded to play a game after having a fit. Mind you, that was in a Fifa competition, so I’m sure it was all above board” – Jon Millard (and no other wearisome old gits).

This is an extract from our daily football email … Football Daily. To get the full version, just visit this page and follow the instructions.

• Gulf kingdom is sole bidder for 2034 tournament
• Trade union claims ‘epidemic’ of migrant worker abuse

Fifa has been accused for a second time of failing to engage with concerns over human rights risks in Saudi Arabia, two months before the Gulf state is expected to be confirmed as a World Cup host.

The Building and Wood Workers’ International, a trade union that has worked with Fifa on governance reforms and previously signed a memorandum of understanding with the governing body, says it has been ignored in attempts to discuss the exploitation of foreign workers in Saudi.

• Uruguayan will compete in Challenger doubles event
• Player will team up with Federico Coria of Argentina

The former Uruguay footballer Diego Forlán, who played for Manchester United and Atlético Madrid among others, will compete in doubles at the professional Uruguay Open tennis tournament in November, organisers said on Tuesday.

The 45-year-old former striker, a semi-finalist at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, has switched to tennis since his retirement in 2018, playing on the international senior tour.

It’s not the moments or the music, the joy in how he plays. It’s something simpler with ‘the eternal solution’

Ferenc Puskas played pregnant, teammate Amancio Amaro liked to say. The day he arrived at Real Madrid in 1958, he was 31 years old, 18kg overweight and, banned by Fifa for defecting after the Hungarian uprising, hadn’t played football for two years. He couldn’t possibly go on a pitch like this: signing me is all well and good, he told the club’s president Santiago Bernabéu, but have you seen me? “I was the size of a large balloon,” he recalled and the coach, Luis Carniglia, didn’t know what to do with him either. That, Bernabéu replied, was their problem not his. As it turned out, blessed with a left foot like no other, 242 goals followed, the only problem that he hadn’t come sooner.

Most called him Cañoncito pum! (Little Cannon Bang!), although Alfredo Di Stéfano called him little cannon big belly. That summer Puskas trained wrapped in plastic and woolly jumpers. By the season’s end, he had scored the goal that took Real Madrid to the European Cup final; a year on, he scored four in the final but gave Erwin Stein the match ball. Old when he came, supposedly finished, he helped Madrid reach three more. He scored a hat-trick in 1962 and played in 1964 but when the 1966 final arrived, eight years after he had, it was over. Left behind while they travelled to Brussels, he was in a makeshift cup team facing Betis three days before and 1,000 miles south.

Oliver Glasner absolved Dean Henderson of blame after the Crystal Palace goalkeeper’s second-half blunder handed Nottingham Forest a hard-fought victory. Henderson allowed Chris Wood’s first-time strike to slip through his despairing dive to extend Palace’s miserable start to the season.

The game was in the balance when Wood tried his luck from 20 yards following Trevoh Chalobah’s weak headed clearance from Àlex Moreno’s hopeful ball. But Henderson was slow to get down and then allowed Wood’s shot to squirm under his right arm, just six days after he returned to England’s starting lineup for their Nations League win in Finland.

Aston Villa are grateful for their No 1, West Ham have problems and Eddie Howe is under the pump

Curtis Jones’s all-action display against Chelsea was all the more impressive, given that the Liverpool midfielder and his partner have a newborn daughter at home – and he slept in the spare room before Sunday’s game. Called in to cover for Alexis Mac Allister, who picked up a knock on Argentina duty, Jones brought energy to Arne Slot’s midfield in an outstanding box-to-box display. He kept Cole Palmer quiet, might have won two penalties with runs into the box (the second was overturned by VAR) – and was in the right place again to poke home a second-half winner. Jones’s form will be a big boost for Slot with a brutal run of fixtures set to test the depth of his squad. The 23-year-old is surely overdue an England senior debut, having been part of the recent Nations League squad. Jones is the kind of dynamic midfielder Thomas Tuchel may be looking for, and more game time for Liverpool could convince the interim manager, Lee Carsley, to bed in a player he called “one of the most talented I’ve worked with”. Niall McVeigh

Match report: Liverpool 2-1 Chelsea

Match report: Wolves 1-2 Manchester City

Match report: Liverpool 2-1 Chelsea

Match report: Bournemouth 2-0 Arsenal

Match report: Fulham 1-3 Aston Villa

Match report: Manchester United 2-1 Brentford

As fans lose control of the sport and clubs they love to mega-rich owners, they turn instead on a familiar enemy: officials

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Another weekend, another slew of wearying arguments about VAR and refereeing. At Bournemouth, Arsenal fans called the referee Robert Jones “a cheat” and chanted that the Premier League was “corrupt”. On social media, the outrage was even greater. Fans have always complained about referees, of course, but traditionally they called them “blind” and dismissed them as “wankers” or “bastards”. Then came the “You’re not fit to referee” song; the cries of systemic corruption, though, are relatively new.

Perhaps this is just the world we live in, one of distortions and paranoia, shaped by a diverse range of populist cynics from José Mourinho to Donald Trump, social media nurturing conspiracy theories which sprout from the fertile ground left as Covid retreated. Or perhaps there is something more complex going on.

This is an extract from Soccer with Jonathan Wilson, a weekly look from the Guardian US at the game in Europe and beyond. Subscribe for free here. Have a question for Jonathan? Email soccerwithjw@theguardian.com, and he’ll answer the best in a future edition

Rytting Kaneryd keeps Chelsea on top, Parris punishes United while Arsenal move on with life after Eidevall

The issues that plagued Arsenal under Jonas Eidevall will not go away overnight, but two wins from two under interim manager Renée Slegers will do a lot for the confidence of the team. “It is what we wanted, we knew we had these two games ahead of us and we wanted to win them both and we have to be happy with it,” said Slegers. A 2-0 win at West Ham, a team that beat them in the corresponding fixture last season, will feel cathartic for Arsenal. It took until the 71st minute for them to break the deadlock and the goal came via a penalty. That opened the game up enough for the visiting team to grab a late second. The difficulties Arsenal have had breaking down low blocks remains, though. There are positives – the introduction of four substitutes around the hour mark made the difference, a sign that Slegers will not sit and wait for something to happen when things are not working. SW

Match report: West Ham 0-2 Arsenal

A surprise signing from Genoa, the striker has immediately integrated in Bergamo thanks to his manager’s brilliance

Mateo Retegui is not afraid to make a snap decision. When Roberto Mancini phoned to ask if he would consider representing the Italian national team last March, the striker “didn’t have to think about it. I just said yes right away”. Born and raised in Argentina, he had never lived in Italy nor did he speak the language, yet within days he marked his international debut with a goal against England in Naples.

A choice that shifted his whole life’s trajectory. Twenty-three years old and playing for Tigre on loan from Boca Juniors, Retegui was hardly at the forefront of most European scouts’ minds. He scored 23 goals across all competitions in 2022, yet domestically there were doubts as to his ceiling. His parent club had declined their option to bring him back at the end of the year, while the Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni was indifferent to Retegui declaring for Italy.

Pierre Sage’s men have won five matches in a row with Rayan Cherki and Malick Fofana to the fore

By Eric Devin for Get French Football News

Whisper it, but are Lyon back? If not to the scintillating level of their record run of titles, then are they at least a reasonable facsimile of the team that took Ligue 1 by storm in the second half of last season, going from relegation candidates to a sixth-placed finish?

In the early going, their summer transfer window looked to be full of missteps, with Saïd Benrahma, Georges Mikautadze and Moussa Niakhaté struggling for form, the trio having cost the thick end of €70m.

Brighton and Brentford lead the way as the age of the managerial big beast has been superseded by the dawn of data

It feels as if the days of sacking a manager for a run of defeats then scrolling through the Filofax to find numbers for Big Sam, Big Mick, Massive Moyesy or Huge Harry are coming to an end. There will always be a time and place for managerial heritage but clubs are increasingly mining statistics to help find the best fit for their strategy, players and even brand.

In the Premier League there are no job adverts and applications will not be accepted. Instead the search will start long before the paperwork for the latest P45 begins.

Pep Guardiola has stressed the importance of players prioritising their clubs by revealing that he has 'never been so angry' as when Manchester City's John Stones was injured in England’s friendly against Belgium earlier this year. Reflecting on the situation Guardiola said 'if it's a friendly game, you cannot come back injured. I'm sorry. You are focused. In a friendly game you cannot come back injured when you're playing quarter-finals of the Champions League'

• ‘Never so angry’: Guardiola underlines Stones’ value by recalling fury at England injury

A number of free, week-long football camps are taking place in Scotland throughout the 2024-25 season, with children from all socio-economic backgrounds invited during the school holidays. A free lunch is also provided as the initiative aims to help tackle the rising issue of holiday hunger and ease the pressure on parents while their children are not in school. The programme is projected to reach more than 850 participants at 33 regional locations during the October half-term period. Motherwell captain Paul McGinn, who took part in a coaching session with Motherwell Community Trust, said: 'This week might be a catalyst for these kids to go on to play football for the rest of their lives or pick it up as a hobby, which will make a massive difference to their physical and mental health'

Mario Engels scored an incredible goal from beyond the halfway line for Heracles, making it 2-1 in their home game to Ajax in the Dutch Eredivisie. Goals from a trio of former Premier League stars – Davy Klaassen, Bertrand Traoré and Wout Weghorst – would seal a dramatic comeback win for Ajax

After Thomas Tuchel's appointment as England men's manager, Pep Guardiola said the German's nationality is irrelevant. "I don't like to criticise for just the fact you were born in a place," said the Manchester City manager. "He is recognised for his talent and I wish him the very best," Guardiola added of Tuchel. "I would like to support him unconditionally."

Arsenal's Mikel Arteta says he understands "it can feel sad for some people not to have an English manager" after Thomas Tuchel's appointment by the Football Association. "But I think I would take a lot of pride that a lot of people, a lot of managers, would do anything to become the England manager," Arteta added. "As a foreigner that's related to how we are treated in this country. How much we love the passion, the respect, the history and how things are done in this country."

• Mikel Arteta suggests he would be open to managing England in the future

The Guardian's chief sports writer, Barney Ronay, explains why it does – and doesn't – matter that England's new head coach, Thomas Tuchel, is not English. On one hand, international football should be a demonstration of a country's use of systems and resources, including coaching. On the other, the appointment of a highly competent foreign manager like Tuchel is in fact very in keeping with the English system – just look at the Premier League, where the best talent is brought in to deliver the best spectacle. Tuchel has managed at Chelsea, PSG and Bayern Munich but has often fallen out with his superiors – his England reign is guaranteed to be entertaining.

• ‘A huge privilege’: Thomas Tuchel confirmed as new England manager

A 1-0 defeat by Kyrgyzstan rocked North Korea while South Korea are on course for their 11th successive qualification

In June 2009, South Korea had qualified for the World Cup by the time Iran came to Seoul (and produced that protest) but Park Ji-sung’s late strike secured a 1-1 draw. It was a goal more celebrated by the North Korea players watching in their hotel in Riyadh before their game with Saudi Arabia.

“Park Ji-sung gave us the best-ever assist,” the DPRK striker Jong Tae-se told me in an interview with the Guardian a few months later. “He gave us a great chance. It was so exciting. We knew that we only needed a draw and I had faith that we could do the job in Saudi Arabia.” It ended 0-0 and North Korea made it to South Africa and as well as the delight in Pyongyang, there was happiness in Seoul.

The former Liverpool assistant on a tricky start to life at Red Bull Salzburg, his coaching methods and Arne Slot

After four months as Red Bull Salzburg’s head coach Pepijn Lijnders has experienced a wide range of emotions. Jürgen Klopp’s former Liverpool assistant won six and drew two of his first eight games but has since overseen a challenging period that has included three heavy defeats. Not that it has lessened his determination. This job has, after all, been a long time in the making.

From the moment it was announced in January that Klopp and Lijnders would leave Anfield at the end of the season, the Dutchman was open to offers and a few clubs were invited to his house in Formby to explain their ideas. Salzburg were among them and it was not their first attempt to lure him.

Can the Inter Miami talisman win the league’s top individual honor despite missing much of the campaign? It depends on your definition of valuable

In a development that will only come as a shock to newborns and extraterrestrials, Lionel Messi’s MLS performances have been absolutely stellar this season. He has been a key part of the Inter Miami team at the top of the standings, has produced all manner of goals and assists, and has generally lived up to the hype every time he has stepped on the field.

It’s slightly more surprising that if his spectacular run ends with winning MLS’s Most Valuable Player award (MVP), it would be unprecedented in North American men’s sports and nearly unheard of in the most famous domestic men’s leagues in Europe – with one very notable exception.

• France captain links ‘fake news’ to PSG wages dispute
• Swedish prosecutors have not named Real Madrid star

Swedish prosecutors say a rape investigation had been opened in ­Stockholm without mentioning Kylian Mbappé, following media reports that the France captain and Real Madrid player was the suspect.

Citing documents it has seen, the Swedish public broadcaster SVT reported that the French footballer is “reasonably suspected” of rape – the lower level of suspicion under Swedish law.

We head to Italy’s capital for the latest instalment of a series where writers delve into their banks of calcio nostalgia

By Martin Dunlop for The Gentleman Ultra

Here we go; the almost impossible task of picking a Roma five-a-side team and keeping most people happy. Roma, like many Italian sides, are a club with a rich history of top-class players who have each brought their own unique skills and styles of play to an adoring public.

I would argue, reasonably confidently, that three of my five selections will not spark much debate. I have chosen only one midfielder, which means legends such as Agostino Di Bartolomei, Giuseppe Giannini and Daniele De Rossi miss out. However, my midfield choice brings energy, dynamism, and a creative spark that I feel would flourish on a five-a-side pitch. I’m confident that if my attacking duo rediscover their old spark, this team would be competitive against any side put in front of them.

From revelling in the FA’s supposed desperation to poking fun at angry fans, the German media is having a field day

Germans don’t really do irony, it is often said. But reactions to the news that Thomas Tuchel has been appointed England manager have been so steeped in caustic ribaldry to suggest they understand it very well.

“No other football nation has caused England more pain in recent decades than Germany,” Sven Haist, the London-based sports correspondent for the Süddeutsche Zeitung, pointed out. Now the nation’s longing for the ultimate crown of the sport “is supposed to be fulfilled by – of all people – a German coach”.

• Jiménez and Huerta fire El Tri to 2-0 win over rivals
• Mexico beat US for first time since September 2019

Raúl Jiménez scored on a 22nd-minute free kick and set up César Huerta’s goal in the 49th as Mexico stopped a seven-match winless streak against the United States with a 2-0 victory on Tuesday night in Mauricio Pochettino’s second game as the American coach.

Mexico had five losses and two draws against the US dating to September 2019.

Australia have regrouped under coach Tony Popovic to claim four points against China and Japan and kickstart their Asian qualification campaign

If you had offered the Socceroos four points from the October international window and second place in their World Cup 2026 qualification group three months ago, they’d likely have had your arm off with the speed they’d try to shake on it. That’s at least once they’d gone through the motions of talking about how they go into every game trying to win.

If you’d asked them much the same three weeks ago, though advancing the prospect of securing a 3-1 win over China in Adelaide before emerging from Saitama with a 1-1 draw against a previously perfect Japan – results that would see them take hold of an automatic Asian qualification place in Group C – they’d probably have dropped the niceties.

• Team protesting after 16-hour diversion from Benghazi
• Libyan Football Federation insists it was not deliberate

Nigeria have pulled out of their Africa Cup of Nations qualifier in Libya and were heading home on Monday, their captain William Troost-Ekong said, in protest at being diverted and abandoned for hours in an airport far from the match venue.

The Super Eagles were due to play the hosts Libya in the city of Benghazi, where they hoped to seal a qualification berth for the finals in Morocco next year. But after being stranded for more than 16 hours at an airport 250km (155 miles) away from their intended destination, the Nigeria players said they would not fulfil the fixture.

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

The two Americans were on our list five years ago but their paths show the professional game is rarely straightforward

Career paths are rarely straightforward, whether in football or any other area of life. Circumstances often change. Injuries and illnesses happen, there are often changes in leadership which have an impact on the individual while personal lives also play a part.

Career paths are therefore very difficult to predict. Looking down the list of our 2019 Next Generation, which we have now followed for five years, there were no guarantees any of the players would become household names. OK, Alex Holiga, who covers the Balkans for us, was confident that Josko Gvardiol would make it big – which he has – but apart from him, and perhaps Ansu Fati, Eduardo Camavinga and Jérémy Doku, there were no certainties.

A remarkable year for the youngster. Made his Bundesliga debut on 18 January and has not looked back since. He now has 23 first-team appearances and has established himself as a starter and one of the most talented young players in Europe. “I’m still learning a lot tactically,” he said in August. “There is a very big difference between youth and professional football. Making the right movements and creating space for myself and others is what I still need to learn the most.

A tumultuous year for the young American who was caught in the crossfire of a feud between his own family and the USMNT coach, Gregg Berhalter, after the World Cup, during which he played a mere 52 minutes of the US’s four games. Injuries have once again hampered him but he is back to full fitness now and a US return seems likely too after talks with Berhalter.

The fury of the newspaper’s star sports writer about a German managing England means a central point gets lost in translation

Well, that kicked off a bit didn’t it? By now it seems fairly clear we all need a break from people having feelings about The Germans, and specifically about the morality or otherwise of a German being employed as manager of the England men’s football team.

Except, perhaps not quite yet. How about it? Once more, this time with feeling? At the very least, as the tide retreats on all that free-floating anxiety, it is probably worth taking a look at the reaction itself, which is, as ever, the part that seems to stick.

Manager’s resignation suggests the decision came from him as bad results and a toxic atmosphere took its toll

It is sad to see a journey that started with such promise end in a whimper. That is the reality of Jonas Eidevall’s Arsenal tenure, which was bookended by matches against Chelsea – his opening game a thrilling 3-2 victory and his final one a blunt 2-1 defeat that epitomised problems that just would not go away.

The announcement on Tuesday that Eidevall had resigned as head coach was not surprising, but it was unexpected. With only one win from three Women’s Super League games and a bruising 5-2 defeat against Bayern Munich in the Champions League before the game against Chelsea, the feeling was that the writing was on the wall for the 41-year-old. Win or lose and Eidevall’s future looked uncertain. However, with an international break two games away and a winter break further ahead, Arsenal pulling the trigger immediately felt unlikely.

Legal battle between Manchester City and the Premier League highlights the game’s existential crisis – is it too late to save it?

Don’t look up! As the families of Westeros squabble, the undead gather beyond the Wall. As senior monks jockey to be the new abbot, viking longboats mass on the horizon. As the left bicker interminably over infinitesimal doctrinal differences, right-leaning billionaire tech-bros fund the march of quasi-fascistic populism.

The problem with existential threats, from the climate crisis to Conquistadors to Covid, is that they always seem distant, somehow unreal. People are always predicting the end of the world, which makes it easy to dismiss the doom-mongers. When we’ve had so many warnings of the apocalypse, why should anybody listen now? But some day one of those prophets is going to be right. Nothing is eternal.

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With a minimum of 25 matches still to be played before the 2024 winners of the biggest prize in American men’s soccerball are identified, Sunday’s announcement that Inter Miami will be handed the “host nation” spot that is up for grabs at next summer’s all-singing, all-dancing and newly bloated Fifa Club World Cup came as something of a surprise. At least it did until it became apparent that it was a decision made by the tournament organisers. We implore you to fasten your seatbelts, reader, because Gianni Infantino is at it again. While the shiny-domed Fifa chief is invariably up to something when it comes to commercial opportunism and the cause of personal advancement, his declaration that Miami had “qualified” for the tournament via a process for which there were no obvious criteria beyond having Lionel Messi in their squad seemed a little cheeky, even by his snakebelly-low standards.

Quoted before Saturday’s game against Brentford, Erik ten Hag said of Manchester United fans: ‘We are on the same page and in the same boat.’ Presumably that’s the Titanic and, in the meantime, Erik can rearrange the deck chairs so at least some of those fans can avoid the water cascading down from the Old Trafford roof” – Adrian Irving.

Aston Villa having their best start to a season after eight games in 26 years, or ‘not since the 20th century’ as Big Website puts it, sounds an awful lot better than Aston Villa having made their best start to a season since John Gregory was in charge (and said he would have shot Dwight Yorke if he’d had a gun), Julian Joachim was top scorer, Villa won nothing and even finished outside the European places. It depends on the way you look at it and all that” – Noble Francis.

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Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Wilson and Sam Dalling as Liverpool beat Chelsea 2-1 to stay ahead of Manchester City at the top of the table

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On the podcast today: Liverpool’s first big test of the season and they pass it with a relatively scare-free 2-1 win over a much-improving Chelsea.

Match the footballers and coaches to the shiny silverware

Below, we’ve listed the trophy hauls of players and managers – with players first. The lists do not include losing final appearances (except Olympics), individual prizes, or trophies a selected player won as a manager (and vice versa) …

Plus: the biggest age difference between scorers, swift strikes, more tattoos and generational international talent

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“When Celtic and Aberdeen meet on Saturday, both will have 100% records going into the match, with seven wins from seven. Has there been a later meeting between two teams with perfect records?” tweets Mike Slattery.

Saturday’s game at Celtic Park has a simple sales pitch: The Irresistible Force v The Irresistible Force. There are few precedents for opponents both having a perfect record after seven games apiece, and in fact we couldn’t find any in the men’s game.

ARSENAL P16 W16 D0 L0 F80 A10 PTS 48
EVERTON P13 W13 D0 L0 F46 A9 PTS 39

Game may be in rude health at the top level, but cases of Solihull Moors and Liverpool Feds offer a stark contrast

In harsh contrast to the upcoming England vGermany fixture at Wembley, the ever-nearer possibility of the first million-pound transfer fee, and the six-figure salaries some players enjoy at the top of the Women’s Super League, the news earlier this month that the entire coaching staff and several players of the women’s team at fourth-tier Solihull Moors had resigned over alleged neglect of the team’s entire programme served as an important reminder that all is not as rosy as it may seem in the English women’s football pyramid.

Last weekend’s headline WSL fixture between Arsenal and Chelsea attracted a crowd of 45,860 and was broadcast live on BBC One, but that will have felt a world away for a club such as Liverpool Feds, who are positioned just outside the top-30 women’s clubs in the country within the pyramid. As a third-tier club, currently sixth in the Women’s National League Northern Premier Division and competing with men’s Premier League-backed brands such as Nottingham Forest and Wolves, Liverpool Feds are run entirely by volunteers. The club was formed in 1990 and currently have close to 200 players, of ages ranging from six to 60, including a walking football section. But their women’s first team is unable to pay players’ expenses, let alone pay players or staff wages.

Faye Carruthers, Suzanne Wrack, Tanya Oxtoby and Sophie Downey discuss the weekend’s WSL action and last week’s WCL games. Plus, Tom Garry reports from St George’s Park as England’s squad is announced

On today’s pod: the panel dives into the big news out of north London as Arsenal manager Jonas departs following a tough start to the season at the Emirates. Emma Hayes was on hand to witness her successor, Sonia Bompastor, lead Chelsea to a decisive 2-1 victory over the Gunners on their turf.

Meanwhile, Manchester City moved to the top of the table with a gritty comeback win over Liverpool. Is Bunny Shaw the best striker in the world? And Manchester United dominated Spurs with a commanding performance. Have they had a good start to the season, after all?

Our resident cartoonist pays homage to the tribunal defence teams that make football what it is today

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Journalist Javier Cáceres asked many of the game’s biggest names – from Guardiola to Pelé and Bobby Charlton – to draw their favourite goals: the results are revealing

Like the best stories, the biggest adventures and football itself, this begins in a pub. In 2005 the journalist Javier Cáceres flew from Berlin to Santiago to interview Leonel Sánchez in a bar called Munich where the former international had his own stein with his name on. Sánchez, the son of a boxer, joint-top scorer at the 1962 World Cup, was one of Chile’s greatest players and among the hardest too. Once leader of the team they named the Blue Ballet, what he did that day over a beer would, two decades on and purely by chance, bring together footballers from around the world in a unique collection of art.

In the Battle of Santiago, between Chile and Italy – memorably introduced by David Coleman as “the most stupid, appalling, disgusting and disgraceful exhibition of football, possibly in the history of the game” – it was Sánchez who broke Humberto Maschio’s nose and hit Mario David. But he then scored in Chile’s quarter-final against the Soviet Union, the radio commentator Julio Martínez embedding it in the collective conscience with shouts of “Divine justice!” Of Sánchez’s 260 goals, beating Lev Yashin meant the most. Yet as he described that moment, Cáceres couldn’t picture it. So he handed Sánchez a pen and asked him to draw it.

Champions League conqueror is a fiery tactical zealot but narrative has always been that England need a winner

Well, at least we know now why Lee Carsley spent last week addressing the nation’s media in the style of a low-comedy adulterous 1950s sales executive explaining in flustered detail exactly why or indeed why not he might or might not be on the verge of finally leaving his wife.

The news that the Football Association has been engaged in advanced discussion with Thomas Tuchel over the vacant England head coach role does explain the riddle-me-this tone of the interim choice while discussing the immediate future.

The former England and Manchester United defender’s foundation is now having an impact far beyond the south London estate where he grew up

Whenever Rio Ferdinand needs inspiration, he remembers his mother. Growing up on the Friary Estate in Peckham, south London, Janice St Fort “was always known for helping other people”. “If one of the mums on the estate was in trouble, she would come down and say: ‘What’s going on?’” says the former Manchester United and England defender. “She was a doer – someone that people could lean on.”

Ferdinand is proudly reflecting on the achievements of his foundation, which his mother helped to establish in 2012 and has been taken to new heights since her death seven years ago. Working with disadvantaged communities and aiming to provide opportunities and pathways to employment in a number of fields, the Rio Ferdinand Foundation is estimated to have provided support to more than 10,000 young people from the UK, Ireland and beyond.

Spain’s cult hero on the injury layoff that revived his career, not taking football too seriously and Chelsea’s resurgence

“Before it was Ronaldinho and now it’s people like … well, me,” Marc Cucurella says, and then there is laughter. With him there is a lot of laughter. All of a sudden the Chelsea defender is a European champion and cult hero, and you can see why. There’s the hair: massive, as the song says, and in the right light still a bit red, celebratory dye not entirely washed out three months after Spain won Euro 2024. There’s the playing style that helped take them there, “one people empathise with”. And there’s the personality. What was it Erling Haaland said? “He’s a funny man.”

A very funny man.

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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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.