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• Pair attempted to wrest spot kick off Cole Palmer at 4-0 up
• Manager warns it is ‘last time I will accept this behaviour’

A furious Mauricio Pochettino said it was “a shame” that Nicolas Jackson and Noni Madueke took the gloss off Chelsea’s 6-0 win over Everton by trying to snatch a second-half penalty off Cole Palmer.

Pochettino, who confirmed Palmer is the side’s designated spot-kick taker, admitted the incident sent out the wrong image about his team’s mentality. Chelsea’s head coach wants his players to focus more on the collective and he warned Jackson and Madueke that they will be dropped if they do not learn from their behaviour.

Turkmenistan’s champions lay claim to a world record but some suspect details lie behind their dazzling winning run

It’s not often that a football world record goes from Wales to Saudi Arabia only for Turkmenistan to also have a claim. In March, Al-Hilal surpassed the achievement of 27 consecutive top-tier wins set by The New Saints of Wales in 2016. The 18-time Saudi champions have now extended that streak to 34 and look unstoppable at home and abroad.

The same can be said in central Asia where Arkadag FC have won every competitive game in their history. The 2023 league title was lifted in December with 72 points from 24 matches. Throw in seven cup victories and six from six so far this season and it comes to 37 and counting. Yet the world record resides in Riyadh, over a thousand miles to the west.

We ask whether the teams’ Premier League defeats had been coming, where the problems lie and what the managers must reflect on

Arsenal: Mikel Arteta’s decision to disrupt the formula that has served them so well since the turn of the year backfired spectacularly against an Aston Villa side who came to the Emirates Stadium with a clear gameplan. Kai Havertz looked threatening during the first half as he consistently broke through the lines from his midfield position but Gabriel Jesus was unable to provide the cutting edge in attack as Arsenal faded badly after the break. By contrast, Ollie Watkins was a constant menace and unsettled the usually assured Gabriel Magalhães, while John McGinn and co were able to control possession for Villa against an ineffective Arsenal midfield. But of most concern was how panic seemed to spread among Arteta’s players as they chased the game and were eventually overwhelmed. EA

• Barcelona take 3-2 lead into Tuesday’s second leg at Camp Nou
• ‘We need our fans to be loud because PSG will make us suffer’

Barcelona are ready for a battle against Paris Saint-Germain in the return leg of their Champions League quarter-final, Xavi Hernández said on Monday, adding that his players are willing to suffer in order to advance.

Barça beat PSG 3-2 in the first leg in France last week but Xavi said his side would need to be nearly flawless to reach the semi-finals for the first time in five years.

• Winger liked posts on X criticising Manchester United coach
• Argentinian withdrawn at half time in 2-2 draw at Bournemouth

Alejandro Garnacho has been ­spoken to by Erik ten Hag after the ­Manchester United winger liked tweets that criticised his half-time substitution at Bournemouth and suggested he had been “thrown under the bus” by the head coach.

Garnacho quickly removed his likes on the two messages, which the club believe shows contrition, and any further action will be decided internally.

• League seeking clarity in case of last-day relegation battle
• Appeal over two-point penalty will be ‘resolved urgently’

The Premier League is seeking to have Everton’s appeal against their latest points deduction heard before the end of the season in an attempt to bring some clarity to any final-day relegation battle.

Everton were docked two points last week for breaching Premier League profitability and sustainability rules (PSR) by £16.6m up to June 2023. The club, already deducted six points for a financial breach of £19.5m up to June 2022, faces another hearing into whether it can exclude £23.46m in stadium interest payments from its PSR calculations for 2020-23. That case will not be heard before the end of the season, raising the possibility of a relegated club taking legal action should Everton suffer a third points deduction that would have left them in the bottom three instead.

Leverkusen won first Bundesliga because of their brilliance – under their coach now only victory feels inevitable

In other contexts, it might have been seen as tempting fate, daring to anger the football gods. Leverkusen was set for a day of celebration like never before. Approximately 10,000 people lined the streets to greet the team bus leading up to the Bay-Arena with Bismarckstrasse renamed Xabi-Alonso-Allee for the day with its new moniker plastered on street signs.

Yet Bayer Leverkusen weren’t just expectant. They were ready. Unlike Borussia Dortmund, who had stumbled agonisingly on the final day last season when their chance to dethrone Bayern Munich arose, they never felt like dropping the ball. On Sunday, they only needed to beat Werder Bremen to make mathematically sure of the title.

Even a VAR-inflicted 1-1 draw against Villarreal did not spoil the Basque club’s celebrations after a first major trophy in 40 years

They had been down to Seville 907km away, 100,000 of them, and come back with their first major honour in 40 years, finally won well after midnight. They had made a victory parade of the traffic jam home, the Roman road known as the Silver Route turned red and white. And they had taken the trophy to the tree of Gernika, symbol of their people. There was the impromptu street party, a police fine imposed for the mobile disco heading through the old town, the whole band playing, and the gabarra, which is only a barge but is everything: a river cruise they had longed for. Then there were the six-hour queues to see the Copa del Rey, if only to check this was real.

For seven days they had celebrated. And on the eighth day there was just one thing left for Athletic Club to do, the perfect close to the week of their lives: bring everyone back to San Mamés, bring the Copa del Rey too, and beat Villarreal. After 40 years waiting, six final defeats – 1985, 2009, 2012, 2015, 2020, 2021 – it was just right. Even the man supposed to mess it up for them said so. Marcelino García Toral, the visiting coach on Sunday night and Athletic’s manager when they lost the last two of those finals, thanked “destiny” for the chance to be there. “I know what this means,” he said.

Reaction after Roma player’s fall – and fans’ patience in stands – shows Italian football now better equipped for such incidents

It was easy to fear the worst when Evan Ndicka fell. The Roma defender was away from the play, with no opponents in his immediate vicinity, as he doubled over and then collapsed with a hand on his chest. Twelve years to the day after another footballer, Piermario Morosini, died after suffering cardiac arrest during a Serie B match, the dread of a possible repeat was immediate and overwhelming.

Daniele De Rossi was one of the first to see what happened, turning and yelling for the medical team. Roma’s goalkeeper, Mile Svilar, and an opponent, the Udinese striker Lorenzo Lucca, were quickest to reach Ndicka and by their gestures confirmed that urgent treatment was required. Others signalled for quiet from the crowd and fans at the Bluenergy Stadium swiftly acquiesced.

Ligue 1 gave the clubs a rest before their European fixtures. Should their needs be prioritised over those of smaller clubs?

By Luke Entwistle for Get French Football News

This was no normal weekend in Ligue 1. Elsewhere in Europe, there were scenes of joy in Leverkusen as Xabi Alonso’s side ended Bayern Munich’s run on 11 straight titles, while at Anfield and the Emirates, there were scenes of despair as Liverpool and Arsenal ceded crucial ground to Manchester City in the race for the Premier League title. It was a little quieter in France.

In late March, the LFP, Ligue 1’s governing body, decided to postpone three of this weekend’s fixtures. As part of an initiative to bolster French sides’ chances of progressing in Europe, PSG, Marseille and Lille had their games postponed until after the current round of European knockout fixtures.

• Abderrazak Hamdallah struck at end of Saudi Super Cup final
• SAFF says it is ‘shocked with the disgraceful scenes’

The whipping of a player by a spectator after the Saudi Arabian Super Cup final has been condemned by the country’s football federation and players’ union.

Al-Ittihad’s Morocco forward Abderrazak Hamdallah was struck by the spectator at the end of the match which Al-Ittihad lost 4-1 to Al-Hilal in Abu Dhabi last Thursday.

Despite vindication over police and media lies that followed the disaster, families and survivors lament lack of accountability

• Hillsborough: the 97 people whose lives were cut short

On this spring day, 15 April, the clocks move round to 35 years since that terrible afternoon in 1989, when 97 people were unlawfully killed attending a prestige football match at Sheffield Wednesday’s home ground, Hillsborough.

English football will remember its deepest shame as a different age, the appalling crush on unsafe terraces with fenced-in “pens” for supporters, at a stadium nevertheless deemed suitable to host an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest. A last disaster, after which clubs were finally forced by law – and given public money – to make their grounds safe, then sold their TV rights to Sky and grew rich on supporters’ subscriptions.

City have not been at their overwhelming best this season, but they remain immune to the typical anxieties of a title run-in

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There are still only two points in it: Manchester City 73, Arsenal 71, Liverpool 71. It’s not over yet. If the three keep pace for the next five games, it will still be the first season since 1971-72 in which three different sides go into their final game of the season with a chance of winning the title. The hope for anybody seeking a dramatic run-in is that this weekend was just the beginning of a final month of twists and turns. But the sense is that the race has taken a decisive shift towards City and a fourth successive title for Pep Guardiola’s team.

It’s not just that City swept Luton aside 5-1. You’d expect that; they beat them 6-2 in the FA Cup in February. Nor was it just the fact that Liverpool lost at home to Crystal Palace, the opponent Jürgen Klopp had beaten more than any other, or that Arsenal lost at home to Aston Villa, managed by their former manager Unai Emery, each detail twisting the knife in a little further. It was the way they lost, coming after the way Arsenal had played in drawing against Bayern Munich in the Champions League and the way Liverpool had played in losing to Atalanta in the Europa League.

Manchester United have had to wait five years for a first win over Chelsea, but when it came it came in style, two goals in the opening 25 minutes enough to earn them a 2-1 win and a place in a second successive FA Cup final at Wembley at the expense of the holders.

It will be the first time a team that isn’t Arsenal, Chelsea or Manchester City lifts the trophy since 2005, when Charlton beat Everton 1-0 at the Boleyn Ground, after Tottenham booked their place in the final deep into extra time against Leicester.

On a night when Jordan Pickford’s distribution deteriorated and Jarrad Branthwaite added to Sean Dyche’s gloom by going off injured, nothing summed up the extent of Everton’s collapse more than the fact that the players who tried hardest to stop Cole Palmer scoring were wearing blue.

Such is the nature of life at ­Stamford Bridge for Mauricio ­Pochettino, whose side are three points off sixth place after their most emphatic win in the Premier League this season. Some teams cruise through 6-0 thrashings, but not ­Chelsea. They are sometimes brilliant, always enigmatic and still, despite fleeting signs of progress, prone to moments of inexplicable immaturity.

• Liverpool manager unhappy with first-half display in 1-0 loss
• ‘If we play like we did then, how should we win the league?’

Jürgen Klopp said Liverpool would not win the Premier League on the evidence of their dismal first-half showing against Crystal Palace after their title hopes were hit by a first home league defeat of the season.

Liverpool, comfortably beaten by Atalanta in the Europa League on Thursday, produced another lethargic display in the first period at Anfield and were punished by ­Eberechi Eze’s stylish winner for Palace, who gave their survival prospects a huge lift.

• Man appears to make gesture after Wanderers v Sydney FC derby
• Salute is illegal in NSW with maximum jail term of 12 months

Football Australia and New South Wales police are investigating a spectator who appeared to perform a Nazi salute during the A-League derby clash between Western Sydney Wanderers and Sydney FC on the weekend.

The man, standing in the Wanderers’ active supporter bay at Allianz Stadium, was filmed by Network Ten cameras at full-time in Saturday’s match, which was won 2-1 by Sydney FC.

Beth Mead and Alessia Russo both scored twice as Jonas Eidevall was banished to the stands as Arsenal consolidated third place

2 min: Short corner taken and only just cleared by City’s defenders. Arsenal’s backline immediately assumes possession, with Catley making a bust down the wing. City are sat deep in a back five.

1 min: Both teams take the knee and we are underway at a chilly Meadow Park. It gets windy up in Herts. Arsenal immediately go on the attack.

This match was not won by a moment of great quality, but it was not a game of great quality either, and Tottenham hardly cared as they celebrated coming back from a goal down to qualify for the first women’s FA Cup final of their history. Against Manchester City in the quarter-finals they conceded early, equalised late and won on penalties and it looked like they were ­following a similar template on Sunday until Martha Thomas won it with two ­minutes of extra time remaining.

After an entertaining start the quality dropped as the pressure rose, and in 30 additional minutes the closest either side had come was when Jutta Rantala’s free-kick was tipped on to the underside of the bar in the 99th minute.

Ross County delivered a body blow to Rangers’ Scottish Premiership title hopes in Dingwall with their first ever win over the Ibrox side.

When Jack Baldwin scored an own goal after 15 minutes it already looked a long way back for the home side, but two goals in three minutes soon after the break from Simon Murray and George Harmon turned the game on its head before Josh Sims added a third after 69 minutes. James Tavernier, the Rangers captain, netted a penalty in the 89th minute following a VAR intervention, but the spirited home side held on for a momentous 3-2 win which also boosts their efforts to avoid relegation.

Adam Wharton shines on Merseyside, Mateo Kovacic displays City’s depth and Erik ten Hag gets tetchy

Joachim Andersen was named Sky’s man of the match at Anfield and with good reason. But while the Danish centre-back won header after header and made clearance after clearance, and while the front three of Jean-Philippe Mateta, Eberechi Eze and Michael Olise caused repeated problems on the break, there was one figure who stood out in midfield for his calmness: Adam Wharton, perhaps the brightest of the hugely promising generation brought through by Tony Mowbray at Blackburn. The 20-year-old moved to Palace in January for an initial fee of £18m and has played at least some part in every Crystal Palace game since. No other Palace player came close to his pass completion rate of 88% and, while they rode their luck to an extent in the second half, they’d have had to ride a lot more had it not been for his distribution, which helped prevent Liverpool building up a head of steam. Jonathan Wilson

Match report: Liverpool 0-1 Crystal Palace

Match report: Arsenal 0-2 Aston Villa

Match report: Manchester City 5-1 Luton Town

Match report: Bournemouth 2-2 Manchester United

Match report: West Ham 0-2 Fulham

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Philippe Auclair and Barney Ronay as both Arsenal and Liverpool lose in a potentially pivotal weekend in the Premier League title race

Rate, review, share on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Audioboom, Mixcloud, Acast and Stitcher, and join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and email.

On the podcast today; will this be the weekend that hands Manchester City another Premier League title? No-one was prepared for both Arsenal and Liverpool to lose on Sunday.

Conceding early and failing to take chances have been recurring themes and were on show in defeat to Crystal Palace

A corner, nine minutes after half-time. A clutch of players jump together. The ball drops eight yards out. Darwin Núñez pivots. All he has to do is keep it low. All he has to do is get it on target. He does keep it low, he does get it on target. But the ball hits the right knee of Dean Henderson, the Crystal Palace goalkeeper, and bounces wide for a corner. Was that the moment the title was lost?

It wasn’t, of course, in part because no season ever truly comes down to just one moment – and Liverpool anyway could yet come back. Even after that chance, in this game, there were other glorious opportunities that dribbled away. Diogo Jota hit Nathaniel Clyne with the goal otherwise open. Curtis Jones, sent through one on one, sliced wide. Harvey Elliott had a header saved. Mohamed Salah had an effort blocked by Tyrick Mitchell.

The world’s three best players had stinkers, but it did not detract from a pair of breathtaking Champions League games

This week I travelled 3,000 miles to watch the three best footballers in the world so you didn’t have to. All three of them were terrible. And it was great.

The Champions League quarter-finals were great. The early morning budget airline flights worked. All four teams were excellent in different ways. Just being allowed to report on Real Madrid v Manchester City, followed by Paris Saint-Germain v Barcelona the next day, walking through those city spaces while four sets of fans had a moment in the spring sunshine was a privilege, and a reminder of the many good things that are still there – warmth, collectivism, open borders – all of this only slightly overshadowed by Islamic State saying it wanted to machine-gun everyone.

Manager discusses bravery, his future at Kenilworth Road, and the moment that convinced him his team can survive

When Arsenal went top of the Premier League against Luton last week, it wasn’t their fans who were celebrating. Comfortable in their two-goal lead, the home crowd were slipping out before the end and the stadium was empty soon after the whistle. But not entirely. Clustered in the south-east corner, nearly 3,000 Luton fans stayed to serenade their beloved manager. Oh for someone who looks at you the way a Lutonian looks at Rob Edwards.

It was Luton’s eighth Premier League defeat in 10 games and their 19th of the season. The Bedfordshire side sat 18th in the table, three points adrift of Nottingham Forest. And yet nothing can sour the love. “In this situation, if they turned, it would be really, really tough,” Edwards said after the game. “It gives me a lot of belief, that they’re with us.”

Slovakia has just elected a president who, like the country’s prime minister, opposes military aid to Ukraine and is seen as pro-Moscow

It is easy to forget that in June 2021 the Ukrainian Football Association was ordered to remove the words “Glory to the Heroes” from its European Championship shirt after Russia – yes, that Russia – had complained it found the slogan to be upsettingly aggressive and militaristic in tone.

Eight months later the same Russia, no doubt still averting its nose from all things militaristic, would invade Ukraine’s eastern border and start a war that has killed at least 11,000 Ukrainian civilians and tens of thousands of its own soldiers. They did at least get the slogan changed, so there’s that.

Al-Ittihad’s forward Abderrazak Hamdallah was struck by a spectator at the end of the match in which Al-Ittihad lost 4-1 to Al-Hilal in Abu Dhabi.

Hamdallah appeared to throw his water on the audience member before they quickly retaliated.

• Saudi FA and players union condemn whipping of player by spectator

Bayer Leverkusen sealed their first ever Bundesliga title with five games to spare after thrashing visitors Werder Bremen 5-0. After the final whistle hundreds of fans rushed onto the pitch to celebrate with the players. Fans outside the stadium were also celebrating, ecstatic to be victorious 'after all the runner-up finishes'.

• Bayer Leverkusen clinch historic Bundesliga title with rout of Werder

Jürgen Klopp admitted Liverpool must improve if they are to win the Premier League title after their 1-0 defeat to Crystal Palace on Sunday. 'Of course you have to ask these questions. What does it mean for the title race? And stuff like this. I'm not dumb. And the answer is pretty easy. If we play like in the first half, why should we win the league?' he said. But despite having dropped five points in their last two Premier League games either side of a shocking 3-0 defeat to Atalanta in the Europa League, Klopp remains confident his side can regain their form and continue their challenge for the title alongside Manchester City and Arsenal. 'If we can win football games, then we will see how many we can win and then we will see what... we have to be around when the other guys now struggle, if they struggle. That's how it is.'

Xabi Alonso was showered in beer by his Bayer Leverkusen players during a press conference after Sunday's 5-0 win over Werder Bremen which sealed the club's first Bundesliga title.

Emma Hayes quoted poetry and said she would follow advice she gave her son on how to avoid playground confrontations when asked on Friday about her touchline spat with Arsenal’s head coach, Jonas Eidevall. Hayes appeared to push Eidevall as they shook hands after Arsenal’s defeat of Chelsea in last month’s Continental League Cup final and accused him of “male aggression” – a comment criticised by the Swede on Friday as “very irresponsible”. “My son said to me after the game: ‘Mummy, when you push someone in school you’re asked to go and take time out.’ And I said to him: ‘You know what darling, you can’t meet aggression with aggression, all you can do is tell the teacher, all you can do is go and explain to the teacher why you think something’s unfair.’ “I said: ‘Even if the players go to the teacher, even if the parents go to the teacher, that’s all you can do. You cannot meet aggression with aggression.’ And I thought it was a really good conversation to have with my son after the final.”

• Hayes quotes poetry and chat with son after Eidevall calls her ‘irresponsible’

Liverpool have suffered a shock home 0-3 defeat to Atalanta in their Europa League quarter-final. Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp rang the changes at half-time, bringing on Mohamed Salah, Dominik Szoboszlai and Andy Robertson but it was Atalanta who struck again in the 60th minute before sealing a historic victory with a third goal seven minutes from time. 'We played a bad game. We deserved to lose,' Klopp said

• Liverpool left needing miracle after Scamacca double for Atalanta

Hired on a caretaker basis to the end of this season, De Rossi’s unique relationship with Roma gives him an obvious appeal

Daniele De Rossi insisted he had not yearned for these moments. Interviewed by Dazn before Saturday’s Rome derby, he gave us a glimpse of vulnerability he might not have allowed in his playing days. “No, this little bit of anxiety you have beforehand, I really didn’t miss that,” he said candidly. “But that’s the beauty of our sport and our city.”

More than 20 years have passed since De Rossi took part in this derby for the first time, coming off the bench in a 2-0 win for Roma. He played 30 more, and it is easy to see why some nervousness may persist. De Rossi endured some of the lowest moments of his career against Lazio, including a red card for punching Stefano Mauri in 2012 and defeat in this fixture’s only-ever major cup final at the end of the same season.

Nice, Lens, Rennes and Marseille all had eyes on Champions League football but Paulo Fonseca’s side are clear favourites

By Eric Devin for Get French Football News

The Ligue 1 table has been nip and tuck in its first season with 18 teams, Paris Saint-Germain, of course, the notable exception. Even though they have drawn four of their last six league matches, they still have a 10-point lead at the top of the table but below them, everything has been much tighter.

The two teams at the bottom of the table, Clermont and Metz, have remained competitive throughout the campaign and are rarely outclassed. The four sides above them – Nantes, Le Havre, Lorient and Montpellier – continue scrapping to avoid the relegation playoff, even if Montpellier’s win over Lorient this weekend has given them room to breathe. And as closely fought as the relegation battle has been, the jousting for Champions League spots has been even more intense.

• Bilbao win 4-2 on penalties to clinch 24th Copa del Rey crown
• Final had finished 1-1 after goals from Rodríguez and Sancet

Forty years and it all came down to a single kick. At 00.51 in the morning in Seville, Alex Berenguer stood by the penalty spot, handed one shot, one opportunity to seize everything they ever wanted. Across four decades and five consecutive defeated finals, Athletic Club had been close but never as close as this and they were not going to let go, not now. Berenguer skipped to one side, ran towards the ball, smashed it into the bottom corner of the net and just kept on running: over the advertising boards, across the track, and towards the thousands and thousands of fans celebrating their first major trophy in a generation.

Unmoor the barge they dared not name. Athletic’s traditional, almost mystical mode of transport when it comes to celebrating titles, its picture seemingly on every wall in the city, its mere mention provoking nostalgia and longing, can finally set sail again. Take it down the Nervión river and past San Mames for the first time since 1984. Back then, a million people lined the route; now, there may even be more. “There were ten commandments in the dressing room: one was not mentioning the barge; now I want to experience it for myself,” Nico Williams said. “It’s been 40 years, let’s see if it still floats,” joked Unai Simón.

• Cheikh Sarr of Rayo Majadahonda given two-match ban
• Goalkeeper was sent off after going into crowd to confront fan

Spanish football’s commitment to combatting racism has come under fire after its football federation handed a two-match ban to a goalkeeper who went into the stands to confront a man who had allegedly racially abused him.

The accusations of racism – the latest to rock Spanish football in recent weeks – were launched on Saturday as Rayo Majadahonda took on Sestao River Club in a third-tier match in northern Spain. As the match ticked into its final moments, the Rayo Majadahonda goalkeeper Cheikh Sarr, who was born in Senegal, said he heard racial slurs being hurled at him.

The Revs are in trouble, Dean Smith has things rolling in Charlotte and the champions have a headache up front

Welcome back to the Guardian’s MLS Power Rankings, where I have a beef with your specific team and your specific team alone. Unlike Cucho Hernández, we’re strapped in and ready rock.

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.

• Trabzonspor supporters fought opposition players after defeat
• Two Fenerbahce players suspended and given minor fines

Trabzonspor will play their next six home matches without spectators while two Fenerbahce players have been handed one-match bans over a post-game brawl last month, the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) ruled on Wednesday.

Trabzonspor supporters stormed the pitch and fought with security forces and Fenerbahce players after their team suffered a 3-2 home defeat at Papara Park, the latest in a number of incidents that have dogged the Turkish league this season.

• Sevilla manager Sánchez Flores and Marcos Acuña targeted
• Getafe forced to partially shut central stand for three matches

Getafe have been ordered to partially close their central stand for three matches by the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) following the racist and xenophobic abuse suffered by the Sevilla manager, Quique Sánchez Flores, and the player Marcos Acuña in the La Liga game on Saturday.

The referee Iglesias Villanueva stopped the match in the 68th minute as part of La Liga’s protocol against racism after he heard fans in the stands calling the Argentinian defender a “monkey” and the Spanish coach a “gypsy”. The club have also been fined €27,000 ($29,000).

Team Garuda’s World Cup dream is alive as regional rivals struggle to build on transformational manager’s work

The two biggest metropolises in Vietnam feel different. Way up in the north, Hanoi sometimes seems more similar to a Chinese city than Ho Chi Minh City over 1,000 kilometres away in the south of the long thin nation. In the formerly named Saigon with its tropical south-east Asian air, residents shake their heads at the perceived coolness of the capital’s winters and people. They do share a few things however: mental traffic, an insistence that they have the best Vietnamese food and a love for football. Anyone who has witnessed the impromptu street parties in either city that celebrated the national team’s successes on the international stage over the past few years would agree.

And they share their disappointment at the growing realisation that such parties look to be a thing of the past. The national team was, not long ago, the best in south-east Asia – a football hotbed home to 650 million people – but is highly unlikely to come even close to a first World Cup in 2026, even with Asia’s increased automatic allocation of eight. Instead, a fall at the first hurdle is imminent. It wasn’t supposed to be like this when Philippe Troussier took over in February 2023. The Frenchman was to oversee the next step in the country’s football evolution from a regional power into a consistent continental force. Instead, he received his marching orders in March after 10 defeats in the last 11 games.

Manager once mocked for a throwaway line has his team shooting for the Champions League and admirers on his tail

The calendar showed 1 April, but there was nothing fishy about a league table that showed Bologna in fourth place. Thiago Motta’s side have held that spot for more than a month, even if it was striking to see after Monday’s 3-0 win over Salernitana that they had closed to within two points of Juventus in third. The gap was 20 at the start of February.

April Fools’s Day in Italy is known as Pesce d’Aprile – April Fish. The tradition is for children to stick paper pesci on people’s backs and see how long they go unnoticed, but journalists have been known to mark the occasion with made-up stories, as happens in other countries. Bologna supporters must hope the headlines now linking their manager to Juventus turn out to be fake news.

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.

Although fans thought the shared success would never end, the DFB can use the new Nike deal money to benefit the grassroots

The partnership between Adidas and German football has been a commercial and sporting success for both sides for decades. It is a shared history of advancement. In 1954, the country recognised itself in the national team, and in Adidas too. Back then, Adolf “Adi” Dassler was the equipment manager; his screw-in studs were innovative and gave Fritz Walter, Max Morlock and Helmut Rahn a foothold in the rain of Berne.

Later, Dassler built up a world-class company. Today, clubs such as Arsenal and Ajax regularly take up residence in a small town that doesn’t even have a railway station. The national team will also be preparing for the European Championship in Herzogenaurach. Dassler is the German version of rags to riches.

Like VAR, profitability and sustainability rules have created cynicism and not tackled the real problem of clubs’ huge financial losses

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Everton FC, the grand old team, edged closer to a first relegation since 1951 on Monday. Pretty much. The whole business may not actually be resolved until after the season finishes or could bleed into next season. But put all that to one side and the picture is crystal clear. If you squint. From a certain angle.

The Premier League’s profitability and sustainability rules (PSR), rightly or otherwise, are turning into something of a laughing stock. Rules which had previously never led any club to receive a sporting sanction have seen two docked points this season. Everton have been punished on two occasions, in fact, although their first punishment was reduced on appeal and their second, a two-point deduction for a £16m overspend, could yet be shrunk too. Nottingham Forest are also appealing their own four-point sanction.

Emotional scenes at Anfield remind us that the Three Lions’ first foreign manager grasped the role is meant to be fun

The cross stuff. Has it gone yet? Is it safe to open the curtains? Will the people of England once again be free to go about their business without being harassed by purple-faced flag-botherers waggling their purple-flag outrage? Purple – infamously – being the wokest of all the colours, never more so than when displayed on the woke crown jewels worn by the disdainfully woke Queen Elizabeth II.

The first thing to say about the England flag controversy – and don’t worry, we shan’t dwell long – is that it is so evidently and unapologetically a fuss about nothing, an object lesson in how right-leaning media can basically conjure a whirlpool of feverish anger out of thin air. Play a tune loudly enough and eventually all the usual suspects will get up and boogie: Crumpled of Ashfield, the guy who got out-jumped by Diego Maradona, some frowning factotum from the Daily Telegraph who suddenly seems to care an awful lot about preserving Plantagenet heritage and is definitely not being triggered by a piece of breathable fabric for money.

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It speaks volumes about the title race and the exacting standards to follow that Manchester City have set anyone hoping to beat them in it, that both Liverpool and Arsenal’s largely unexpected defeats on Sunday have been labelled in some quarters as “chokes”. While the sight of both sides blowing a one-point lead over the course of 24 hours is never going to be up there with those of Greg Norman throwing away an apparently unlosable Masters or Jana Novotna mentally disintegrating after double-faulting in what should have been the knockings of a Wimbledon final against Steffi Graf, there were several tell-tale signs at both Anfield and the Emirates that, even though all three title-chasers still have six games to play, the players and fans of both sides felt deep down that a marvellous opportunity had been blown for another season at least.

Perhaps Arsenal fans will now appreciate the true meaning of the word Emery” – Krishna Moorthy.

In regards to your letters from Christian Goldsmith (and 1,057 other pedants) on Friday, can I be one of 1,058 pedants to offer congratulations that you’ve acquired a reader, or converted a reader into a pedant? Either way, congrats” –Guy Stephenson.

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Nicky Bandini, Will Unwin and Sid Lowe after two belting Champions League quarter-finals first legs

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On the podcast today; Real Madrid and Manchester City scored lots of very good goals in a game that finished 3-3, and the panel debate whether it’s notable that Erling Haaland didn’t get one of them.

In shining a light on how female players were mocked and marginalised, documentary serves as a vital history lesson

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Last Friday night, Keira Walsh led England out in front of 63,000 fans under the iconic Wembley arch. It was by no means the biggest occasion for this generation of Lionesses or for many women’s teams around the world, but it was the latest in a series of showpiece events that have helped propel women’s football to new heights.

Crowds of this size are becoming the norm, globally. Attendance records have been broken across multiple continents – whether that be at last year’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, or at a sold-out Dasharath Rangasala in Kathmandu for Bangladesh’s 2022 SAFF Championship win, or the record crowd for a friendly in Atlanta for the USA’s SheBelieves Cup opener just this fortnight. Whether in Europe, Africa, South America or beyond, the game is attracting the audiences it lacked for so long.

Plus: the most far-apart country clash in the Euros, an excruciating marriage proposal and more

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“During the international break, St Kitts and Nevis played a pair of friendlies against San Marino, who went in at 210th in the Fifa world rankings. Their next international will be a World Cup qualifier against Costa Rica, who are currently ranked 147 places higher than San Marino. I’d bet the farm on this not being the biggest gap in the rankings between consecutive international opponents: so what is?” asks Jack Hayward.

Stephan Wijnen gets the ball rolling from the recent Euro 2024 qualifiers. “The Netherlands played against France and Gibraltar on 24 and 27 March 2023. France were No 3 in the rankings at that time, with Gibraltar at No 200. That is a gap of 197 places. With 210 countries on the rankings that seems hard to beat.” From the same campaign, Carl O’Reilly points out the Republic of Ireland’s back-to-back games with Gibraltar (then No 201, on 19 June 2023) and France (No 2 on 7 September 2023), for a difference of 199 places.

Our cartoonist takes a delve deep into history, to the present day

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Kai Havertz inspires Arsenal again, Jarrad Branthwaite stands tall and Manchester City prioritise fresh legs

If emotion is carrying Liverpool towards a glorious farewell to Jürgen Klopp, then Old Trafford required cooler heads. Harvey Elliott’s point-rescuing contribution as substitute stood out because, for all his energy, he played with intelligence, seeking to progress the ball and tempting Aaron Wan-Bissaka into conceding a penalty. The likes of Dominik Szoboszlai and even usual pass-master Alexis Mac Allister had allowed a red mist to consume them. Luis Díaz, Mohamed Salah and Darwin Núñez – a modern “Crazy Horse” yet more madcap than Emlyn Hughes – were also guilty of impetuousness. On the sidelines, Klopp himself looked in danger of exploding, particularly after Kobbie Mainoo was granted space to score. With so little time in between matches, minds as tired as the legs, little wonder nerves are fraying. Liverpool must hope Manchester City and Arsenal develop the same anxieties that allowed what should have been an easy win at Old Trafford to slip away from them. John Brewin

Match report: Manchester United 2-2 Liverpool

Match report: Tottenham 3-1 Nottingham Forest

Match report: Aston Villa 3-3 Brentford

Hundreds of Munitionette teams played in Britain during the first world war – and their story is being told on stage

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Much as followers of men’s football of a certain age and type sometimes struggle to comprehend the fact that the sport existed before Italia 90, recent aficionados of the women’s game can be rather blank about its history pre-Canada 2015.

Even those aware that women’s football was banned by England’s Football Association for 50 years until 1971 are often startled to learn that it thrived during and immediately after the first world war. And they will certainly have their eyes opened by Wor Bella, a play to be staged at Clapham’s The Bread & Roses Theatre and Newcastle’s Theatre Royal this month.

The teenage signing from Everton captured the imagination at Old Trafford with a storybook debut hat-trick

For all the adulation modern footballers receive, most will never comprehend the impact they have on young people. Sure, you get 21st-century icons such as Jack Grealish or James Maddison, who cut through all that silly public scrutiny on their hair or fashion choices and manage to connect with young supporters, but the vast majority can never truly know what they mean to fans.

I’ve worked in football journalism for almost a decade and met a fair few figures who could be deemed idols. Going to a José Mourinho press conference as a student on work experience was surreal. Making my first visit to the Old Trafford press box felt like a landmark as a boyhood Manchester United fan, as was shaking hands with Ole Gunnar Solskjær after covering a United pre-season friendly in Norway.

Striker sees parallels between run to the final five years ago and his current club’s European adventure amid domestic woe

Harry Kane emerged from the Emirates with the look of a man who had enjoyed himself. “I think they have a soft respect for me, the Arsenal fans,” he laughed, a glimmer of mischief crossing the striker’s face as he remembered the cacophony that had accompanied his every move upon returning to enemy territory. The jeers were never louder than when he stepped up to the penalty spot, blocking out the noise to roll calmly past David Raya and give Bayern Munich the upper hand.

Bayern felt they had just about departed with it, even though Leandro Trossard’s equaliser set up a titanic rematch in Munich next Wednesday. Kane’s demeanour could be explained by the fact Bayern, a soft touch domestically of late, had shown a resilience that has deserted their Bundesliga campaign. It had clearly encouraged him, suggesting that well-documented dream of a Wembley final for the England captain may not quite be a thing of fantasy after all.

We look at a club playing 195 miles from home, the rebirth of two former Premier League players and a title race for the ages

There are less than two weeks to go in National League South’s regular season, with many players having one eye on their summer holidays. Truro City, however, are in the midst of nine games in 17 days, thanks to the weather. This week they have matches on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. Their home games are taking place 195 miles from Truro at Gloucester City’s ground because Truro’s shared pitch at Plymouth Parkway (a mere 54 miles from Truro) cannot accommodate them after heavy recent rainfall. This prompted an earlier move to Taunton’s Wordsworth Drive but constant deluges caused problems there, too, and their rivals still have six games to play themselves. It also rains up north, leaving the North West Counties Premier Division side Colne with 10 games in 19 days. Three of their home games will be hosted by other clubs, but the good news is they face Padiham in the Lancashire Cup semi-final on Wednesday and if they win that they earn another match.

The words were audible in our women’s game but as president of Brann, I argue they are within freedom of expression

Have you ever been fined for expressing something that is clearly within international legislation on freedom of expression? We have. In a Women’s Champions League match in Bergen this year.

For a short period of our game against St Pölten in January our supporters chanted “Uefa mafia” after not being awarded a free-kick. Big deal? Apparently so as we were fined €5,000 (£4,275) by Uefa for it. In women’s football, that is a lot of money and about 10% of the prize money for winning the match.

Oslo community club KFUM will make their Eliteserien debut next week after an incredible rise through the divisions

Football’s ability to conjure ridiculous stories is legion, but even so the one about the YMCA club in Norway’s Eliteserien is ridiculous. Yet that is exactly where KFUM-Kameratene Oslo find themselves: on Tuesday, they make their top-flight debut with a home game against HamKam.

Though KFUM remain a local community club – their ground holds only 3,000 and is accessed via a zebra crossing – their rise has been meticulously planned. “We have learned year by year,” says Tor-Erik Stenberg, the general manager. “Small changes to be more and more and more professional.” So they began by giving players amateur contracts, then moved training from evening to daytime, then focused on better marketing, and so on; this season, fortified with the funds to improve more than one aspect, they have added a match analyst, expanded their medical department, and taken the team abroad for warm-weather training.

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.