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Adrien Rabiot, Mario Balotelli, Yacine Brahimi, Enock Kwateng and Max Kruse are all available on free transfers this summer

By Martin Laurence for WhoScored

Given the money in the game these days, allowing a valuable player’s contract to run down to expiry never sits well with any fans. But one club’s loss is always another’s gain. Aaron Ramsey has already agreed a deal with Juventus on a free transfer and Ander Herrera is expected to join PSG for nothing after his departure from Manchester United. With Vincent Kompany the latest player to leave England on a free, here are a few players who could move in the opposite direction when their current deals expire.

• Sarri expects talks with Chelsea after Europa League final
• Manager linked with Serie A return but ‘happy’ at club

Maurizio Sarri would rather be sacked immediately than have his future at Chelsea hinge upon the result of next Wednesday’s Europa League final, with the Italian under the impression he will hold talks with the club’s hierarchy in the aftermath of their meeting with Arsenal.

The head coach is only 10 months into a two-year contract, which includes an option for a third year, worth £5m a season but has found his position under constant scrutiny despite steering Chelsea to a third-place finish in the Premier League, the Carabao Cup final and a place in next term’s Champions League. His relationship has been strained with a vocal section of a sceptical fan-base, unimpressed at the style of football the team have played, and he has admitted his contact with the owner, Roman Abramovich, has been fleeting.

• Midfielder Groenen arrives from German side FCC Frankfurt
• 24-year-old made team of tournament at Euro 2017

Manchester United have made their first major signing before their debut season in the Women’s Super League, having agreed a pre-contract with the Dutch international Jackie Groenen.

Related: Stoney and Turner braced for Manchester United’s WSL challenge

While the old format never produced a same-nation final, this will be the seventh since 2000, as England steps into the void left by Spain. But there is no point weeping over lost romance

Richard Scudamore retired too soon! No sooner had the Premier League’s executive chairman picked up his parachute payment and left the building than his most famous daft idea became reality. The 39th game, the extra helping of Premier League razzle dazzle featuring two top-flight sides facing off in some far-flung location for prestige and promotional purposes, is actually happening next Wednesday in Baku, except people will insist on calling it the Europa League final. Three days later the same thing will happen again in Madrid. Even Scudamore never proposed a 40th Premier League game, but that is what the Champions League final between Liverpool and Spurs is going to resemble.

Related: Amnesty: Don’t let Azerbaijan hide human rights abuses behind football

All you need to know about the nine venues for the tournament in France, including history lessons and the hitches along the way

Click on each image for caption information

• Gyan: ‘A presidential request cannot be disregarded’
• President urged Gyan ‘in the national interest’ to make U-turn

Asamoah Gyan has made a rapid U-turn on his decision to retire from Ghana duty and will now play at the Africa Cup of Nations after being told by the nation’s president it is “in the national interest” that he reconsiders.

“A presidential request is one that cannot be disregarded,” said the former Sunderland striker in a statement. “I have taken the request of His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in good faith and will make myself available for selection by coach Kwasi Appiah to help win the AFCON trophy.”

Amnesty International has increased the pressure on European football’s governing body, Uefa, by saying Azerbaijan must not be allowed to “sportswash its appalling human rights record” by staging high-profile football matches.

Baku’s Olympic Stadium is hosting the Europa League final between Arsenal and Chelsea next Wednesday and is also the venue for four games in next year’s European Championship.

Borussia Dortmund have signed the striker Thorgan Hazard from Bundesliga rivals Borussia Mönchengladbach for £22.5m.

The younger brother of the Chelsea star Eden had been linked with a move to Stamford Bridge or Liverpool but has chosen to remain in Germany.

Caleb Dokter, who plays for the Western Christian Boys Soccer team, scored the somewhat unconventional goal during his team's 10-0 victory over Missouri Valley in the top division of Iowa's High School Athletic Association. Journalist Travis Chinn, who filmed the effort, said that 'this might be the goal of the year' and added that the one-sided game was stopped with 36 minutes left 'because of the mercy rule'. 

• Watch more from the amazing world of sport

Plus: long-serving kit manufacturers, football on the big screen (part IIII) and clubs that compete in the most different sports

“This season’s Champions League final will be contested by two teams who have gone a combined 87 years without a domestic league trophy,” notes Paul Hawkins. “What’s the longest ever gap between a team winning a domestic and a European title?”

Ásgeir Ingólfsson has very helpfully crunched the numbers and scoured the internet to bring us what we think is the definite answer on this one. “In the European Cup/Champions League, Liverpool won it in 2005, 15 years after their last domestic championship – a record either they themselves (29 years and counting) or Tottenham (58 years and counting) will smash in Madrid. Although we did come really close to a team who had never won a league title claiming it with Leverkusen in the 2002 final.

The World Cup and an ongoing gender discrimination lawsuit against the US Soccer Federation will coalesce into a summer of the highest stakes for the USWNT

When the US women’s national team takes the field in France in June, they will be fighting for their football lives on the world’s biggest stage. But off the field, an even bigger battle will be plodding along: the players’ lawsuit over equal pay.

The Women’s World Cup kicks off next month and an ongoing gender discrimination lawsuit against the US Soccer Federation will coalesce into a summer of the highest stakes for the USWNT.

Cardiff City’s chairman, Mehmet Dalman, has called for radical regulation of football agents in the wake of the death of the Argentinian striker Emiliano Sala after likening the mentality of some of them to the wild west.

Dalman was particularly critical of Willie McKay, who played a key role in Sala’s transfer from Nantes to Cardiff, including arranging a private flight that crashed into the Channel, even though he was not a licensed agent and was acting on behalf of his son Mark.

Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain are “playthings of a state” who should be kicked out of European competition for violating Financial Fair Play rules, the La Liga president has said.

Javier Tebas, who has run Spanish football’s top league for the past six years, also warned English clubs they would be making a huge mistake if they backed a proposed new European Super League as it would “ruin” domestic football.

• Manchester City midfielder has given up rest time
• Nations League finals are in Portugal in early June

Fabian Delph is to report early for the England squad following the completion of Manchester City’s record-breaking season in an attempt to prove form and fitness before next month’s Nations League finals.

Gareth Southgate welcomed 12 players from Everton, Leicester, Burnley, Stoke, West Ham, Southampton, Manchester United and Bournemouth to St George’s Park on Tuesday as preparations began for the two-game tournament in Portugal.

Arsenal say it is “completely unacceptable” that Henrikh Mkhitaryan is unable to travel to the Europa League final in Baku because of fears over his safety and have urged Uefa to ensure that such a situation is never repeated.

Related: Why did Uefa hand Azerbaijan hosting rights for the Europa League final?

The England forward Nikita Parris has joined the European champions Lyon after leaving Manchester City.

Parris, the all-time leading scorer in Women’s Super League, spent more than four years at City before confirming this month that she would leave at the end of her contract.

• New Scotland manager says he won’t do the chasing
• ‘I only want players that are 100% committed’

Steve Clarke says he will welcome back players who have previously called time on their Scotland careers but they will “have to un-retire themselves” because he won’t be chasing them.

Speaking at his unveiling as Scotland manager, Clarke told the BBC he hopes his vision will persuade the likes of James McArthur, Allan McGregor and Scott Brown to think again about retiring from international duty.

We thought Manchester City would pip Liverpool to the title, but we also said Watford would go down

What we said: “Pep Guardiola’s talented side look well placed to become the first team to retain the Premier League title since Manchester United did it in 2009.”

The best players, greatest games and standout signings – plus those that didn’t work out, and what needs to change

Ed Aarons: Virgil van Dijk. Raheem Sterling runs him close but in terms of impact and influence, the big Dutchman has been peerless.

Photo editor Jonny Weeks reviews a tumultuous football season through some of its best, weirdest and most defining images

On an average weekend, The Guardian receives around 12,000 photographs from Premier League matches via its staff, agency and contributor photographers. That’s almost half a million images per season. Some capture extraordinary joy and despair; some bear witness to defining moments in the title race; some owe greatly to the creativity of the men and women behind the lenses; and some, like this first one from August, feature the rare but always amusing sight of a referee nearly getting thwacked by a ball.

Who can’t wait to get out? Who sees trains? And who lost 6-0?

Which team suffered the heaviest defeat of the season?

Cardiff City

Bournemouth

Fulham

Chelsea

Which team lost 10 London derbies?

West Ham

Fulham

Crystal Palace

Arsenal

Three players shared the golden boot with 22 goals each. Which continent are they from?

Europe

South America

Africa

Asia

Which team won the majority of their points from away matches?

Tottenham Hotspur

Crystal Palace

Huddersfield Town

Fulham

Who scored 37.1% of his team’s goals – the highest percentage in the league?

Glenn Murray

Aleksandar Mitrovic

Jamie Vardy

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

What is the missing word in this quote: "It is like a **** that, every day in 10 years, sees the train cross in front at the same time. If you ask the **** what time is the train going to come, it is not going to know the right answer. In football, it is the same. Experience, yes, but hunger, motivation, circumstance, everything is so important."

Player

Farmer

Conductor

Cow

Four clubs had stints at the top of the league. Liverpool were top for 141 days; Manchester City were top for 125 days; and Chelsea were top for nine days. Which club was top for one day?

Manchester United

Leicester City

West Ham

Southampton

A 38-year-old set up a goal for a 35-year-old in October. Which team were they playing for?

West Ham

Brighton

Newcastle United

Watford

Who said: “We are going to make much more points in the second part of the season than we did in the first part”?

Mark Hughes

Claudio Ranieri

David Wagner

José Mourinho

What was the state of play in the title race at the start of 2019?

Liverpool and Manchester City were level on points and goal difference

Liverpool were two points clear

Liverpool were four points clear

Liverpool were seven points clear

Two managers started their reigns by going unbeaten for 12 league games. Ole Gunnar Solskjær and …

Unai Emery

Maurizio Sarri

Brendan Rodgers

Ralph Hasenhüttl

Which club started the season with three defeats and finished it with three victories?

Burnley

Southampton

Brighton

West Ham

There are currently five English managers in the league. How many of them finished in the top half?

None

One

Two

Three

Who was talking about what when he said: “I can't wait to get out of it, if I'm honest. I think we'll be far better out of the bloody thing”?

Sean Dyche on the Europa League

Mauricio Pochettino on the League Cup

Jürgen Klopp on the FA Cup

Neil Warnock on the European Union

What did Harvey Elliott do this season?

He became the youngest referee in Premier League history

He made two appearances and picked up two red cards

He became the youngest player in Premier League history

He scored five goals without starting a game

Southampton, Manchester United, Huddersfield and Leicester did it once. Who did it twice?

Chelsea

Fulham

Newcastle

Watford

Who was the top scoring Englishman in the league this season?

Harry Kane

Callum Wilson

Jamie Vardy

Raheem Sterling

Who has joined a group of players that contains Henning Berg, Ashley Cole, Gaël Clichy, Robert Huth, Nicolas Anelka, Kolo Touré, Carlos Tevez and N'Golo Kanté?

Raheem Sterling

Riyad Mahrez

Alisson

Virgil van Dijk

Huddersfield only won three games all season. Which team did they beat twice?

Fulham

Tottenham Hotspur

Wolves

Southampton

1 and above.

You are the Fulham of football quizzes

2 and above.

You've been relegated

5 and above.

You've avoided relegation – but only just

3 and above.

You've been relegated

4 and above.

You've avoided relegation – but only just

6 and above.

You've avoided relegation – but only just

7 and above.

A solid, midtable finish

8 and above.

A solid, midtable finish

9 and above.

A solid, midtable finish

10 and above.

You've earned a place in the Europa League

11 and above.

You've earned a place in the Europa League

12 and above.

You've earned a place in the Champions League

13 and above.

You've earned a place in the Champions League

14 and above.

That's a top-four finish

15 and above.

That's a top-four finish

16 and above.

You've been pipped to the title – just like Liverpool

17 and above.

You've been pipped to the title – just like Liverpool

18 and above.

You've been pipped to the title – just like Liverpool

0 and above.

You are the Huddersfield of football quizzes

19 and above.

You are the Manchester City of football quizzes!

Once upon a time, not so very long ago, football was a game in which two teams battled for the ball and, when they had it, tried to score a goal. Teams had different ways of doing that. They used strength and they used pace and they used skill. They tried different shapes. They tried to win the ball back in different parts of the pitch. The ball could be capricious and hard to tame, but pretty much everybody agreed that it was safer not to let your opponents have too much of it.

Related: Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City can be judged with England’s very best | Richard Williams

Early afternoon at Stamford Bridge and the man who could yet prove to be the only new face in Chelsea ranks next season was still pinching himself to be here at all. Christian Pulisic has had six months to contemplate life in the Premier League, having pushed to see out the season in fruitless pursuit of the Bundesliga title with Borussia Dortmund. “I’m still trying to take it all in,” he said. “It’s been a huge dream of mine, to play here in England. So to be here is incredible.”

Pulisic’s arrival is one of the few certainties at a club in flux. The likelihood is he will never play alongside Eden Hazard, a player vigorously courted by Real Madrid and with a parting of the ways seeming inevitable. Doubt persists, too, over the identity of the head coach. Maurizio Sarri has secured Champions League football and steered the team into next week’s Europa League final, but it says everything about his uneasy relationship with club and support that should Juventus offer to buy out his contract Chelsea’s resistance may be perfunctory.

Our cartoonist on the FA Cup final fallout, Pep Guardiola’s treble and press box invaders

• You can now buy your very own print of this strip
• Take a look through David’s archive of cartoons

With no European football for the first time in 56 years and unrest off the pitch, the Belgian club’s appointment of their former defender as player-manager is a remarkable stunt

On Sunday, on as dark a day as imaginable in Anderlecht’s history, Belgium’s record champions stunned the world with the appointment of their biggest international icon of the last 25 years. Enter Vincent Kompany, stronger than any PR machine the club could possibly have built.

The name Anderlecht suddenly hummed around the football world again. Missing out on European football for the first time in 56 years and the last game of a disastrous season against Gent, another painful defeat, suddenly did not matter any more to the long-suffering fans.

Organiser’s reaction when it emerged some tickets booked together are not next to one another left a lot to be desired

Following the still simmering fury over Uefa’s choice of Baku for the Europa League final and its corporate-heavy ticket policy for both its showpiece men’s competitions, Fifa has given us an outstanding proverbial ‘hold my beer’ moment.

Just 18 days before hosts France open the Women’s World Cup against South Korea at Parc des Princes a number of fans have found that tickets purchased at the same time are not next to one another. Families and friends heading to the tournament face being split up.

Gareth Bale did not even get to say goodbye. If, that is, he is even going – and there is no guarantee that the Welshman will leave the Santiago Bernabéu. The message from Real Madrid could hardly have been clearer, right up to the final day of the season when the manager, Zinedine Zidane, left the Welshman on the bench, but that does not necessarily mean he will depart. Nor will he accept any offer and so far there have been none. Instead there is an increasingly bitter stalemate with no easy solution.

Related: Real Madrid end season with damning defeat and Bale again stewing on bench

Arsenal manager Unai Emery has said he respects Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s decision not to play in the Europa League final but conceded it is ‘bad news’ for his side. The Armenian’s safety was a concern because of the dispute between his country and Azerbaijan, the host nation of next week’s final.

Teammate Alex Iwobi added that it is ‘very upsetting’ Mkhitaryan will miss out of the opportunity to guarantee Arsenal a spot in the Champions League, but added: ‘We’re going to fight and hopefully win the trophy, not just for us but for him.’

• Why did Uefa hand Azerbaijan hosting rights for the Europa League final?
  

Manchester City celebrated their historic domestic treble with an open top bus tour through the heart of their home city. Celebrations culminated with an emotional speech from outgoing captain Vincent Kompany, who hailed City as 'the best club in the world' before leaving to become player-manager at Belgian team Anderlecht

• Vincent Kompany leaves Manchester City to become Anderlecht’s player-manager

Manchester City legend Vincent Kompany is leaving the club after 11 years to become player-manager at Anderlecht, where he played between the ages of six and 20.

The announcement of his departure came just one day after he captained City in their 6-0 FA Cup final victory over Watford, which secured a historic domestic treble for the club.

Kevin De Bruyne, Kompany’s team-mate and compatriot, said: 'The legacy he left behind is great, not only for City but the Premier League, and I think everyone should appreciate what he’s done for English football'.

• Vincent Kompany: five of his best games for Manchester City
  

Pep Guardiola was infuriated in the immediate aftermath of Manchester City’s historic domestic treble when asked by a journalist if he was being accused of 'receiving money' through separate payments from the club’s Abu Dhabi owners.

City had just trounced Watford 6-0 but Guardiola’s celebrations were soon marred when the subject was raised of previously reported leaks concerning alleged payments to his predecessor Roberto Mancini to keep within Uefa’s financial fair play regulations. 

The club have long strongly denied any wrongdoing but this past week it has been suggested that Uefa may impose a one-year ban on their competing in the Champions League, following an investigation.

After the victory at Wembley, Guardiola said: 'I said yesterday, we are not guilty until it’s proven'.

He added: 'I listen to my chairman [Khaldoon al-Mubarak] and my CEO [Ferran Soriano], they give me the arguments for why we are under investigation and I trust them. They tell me we fair and we absolutely follow the rules, I believe them.'

• Man City furious after Uefa investigation is sent for final judgment
  

Massimiliano Allegri said on Saturday that it was Juventus who decided he would not coach the club next season, despite leading them to a record-extending eight straight Serie A title. Allegri had tears in his eyes as he looked at the Juventus players, who were all sat in the front rows

• Massimiliano Allegri to leave Juventus at end of season

The FA has rebooted its Respect Campaign this season to protect grassroots referees in England but many continue to suffer both mental and physical abuse. There are some horrifying stories but hope remains: as of 2019-20 season a new sin-bin system will be rolled out across all grassroots leagues for anybody caught abusing a referee, with other initiatives also in the pipeline. 

Michael Butler meets four referees, as well as the FA, to find out just how bad the abuse has got, what is being done about it and if that is enough for the men and women in the middle. 

Bayern Munich had to work to win the Bundesliga at last but as two great heroes depart, questions remain over the manager

For two minutes and 40 seconds, it was on. The last-day drama in the Bundesliga title race that all neutrals – OK, all non-Bayern Munich fans – and Borussia Dortmund supporters had hoped for had legs for a brief spell at the beginning of the second half, after Sébastian Haller prodded in an equaliser for Eintracht Frankfurt at the Allianz Arena. It was the season in microcosm. It didn’t last.

Before the window was up, Kevin Trapp could do no more than parry Thomas Müller’s hit from the edge of the area and David Alaba raced in to snaffle the rebound and devour any remaining nerves. At 1-1, with Bayern needing a point to guarantee the title should Dortmund win at Borussia Mönchengladbach, where they were in the process of cruising to a 2-0 victory, there was room for doubt. After Alaba’s intervention, this time, there would be no stopping Bayern.

Juve, Milan and others said goodbye to key players and staff but struggling clubs are still battling not to say so long to Serie A

“No more tears, I’ve shed enough already,” insisted Massimiliano Allegri on Saturday. Nobody in the audience was fooled. Juventus had announced one day previously that his time as manager was coming to a close. Allegri could scarcely get through the first sentence of a press conference called to honour his achievements before he had to break off into a hum as he fought to compose himself.

There was no such attempt to hold back the emotion one day later, as he stood and hugged Andrea Barzagli for what felt like an eternity in front of the dugouts at the Allianz Stadium. The player had just completed his final home appearance for Juventus, as he prepares to enter retirement.

It’s nearly a year since the former England captain joined MLS. DC United are almost unrecognisable from the shambles he found when he arrived

For years, DC United had targeted June 2018 as a turning point. It was the moment everything would change for one of American soccer’s most storied institutions, which had fallen on tougher times in recent years. And, as it happened, the opening of a new $400m stadium last summer did coincide with a dramatic upturn in fortunes for the club. Bricks and mortar cannot explain what has happened at DC United over the past year, though.

Whether by design or not, the opening of Audi Field coincided with the arrival of Wayne Rooney, something that will go down as the most significant moment in DC United’s recent history. The former England and Manchester United striker was always likely to make an impact in MLS, such is his undoubted quality, but few predicted the cultural change he would bring to his new club.

• Australian loses out to winner Ada Hegerberg
• Pernille Harder comes second in global fan vote

Matildas captain Sam Kerr narrowly missed out on adding another accolade to her impressive list of individual honours, placing third in the prestigious BBC women’s footballer of the year award for 2019, behind Denmark’s Pernille Harder and winner Ada Hegerberg.

Ballon d’Or holder Hegerberg, who scored a hat-trick to propel Lyon to the Champions League title at the weekend, came out on top of the vote conducted amongst fans across the world.

Kylian Mbappé surprised the Ligue 1 awards ceremony audience on Sunday night by hinting that his future may lie away from Paris Saint-Germain.

Despite pledging his future to the club following yet another early Champions League exit in March, when they were knocked out by Manchester United in the last 16, the striker cast doubt on his intentions for next season. When collecting his Ligue 1 player of the year award he spoke of wanting “more responsibility” in the future, adding it would be either at PSG or “somewhere else”.

• Wednesday’s ACL game will be coach’s last in charge
• ‘An undisputed legend of the club,’ say Victory

Melbourne Victory have never known life without Kevin Muscat but soon will after the four-time A-League champion agreed an exit from the club. Muscat, the club’s foundation captain and longest serving coach, has decided the time is right to leave the A-League powerhouse and will depart after Wednesday’s Asian Champions League match with Sanfrecce Hiroshima.

That dead rubber is now transformed into an era-ending occasion, with Muscat, captain Carl Valeri and marquee Keisuke Honda to sign off. Other players will also leave this off-season, but none with Muscat’s gravitas.

Loren Morón and Jesé teamed up to hand Real Betis a famous victory at the Bernabéu as Real Madrid’s disappointing season ended with a whimper.

Related: Antoine Griezmann’s exit may lead to summer exodus at Atlético Madrid | Sid Lowe

• Uefa announces its ticket pricing and policy for Euro 2020
• One million tickets will be priced at €50 or less

Uefa has announced its ticket pricing and policy for next summer’s Euro 2020 tournament, which is to be staged in 12 different cities across the continent.

Related: Women’s football: how girls are moving the goalposts

It’s common to bemoan the ending of a football match in such fashion, but not in Perth on Sunday night

Seven kicks. A championship season 140 matches long spanning seven months came down to seven kicks. Sport can be grotesquely cruel.

Those seven kicks formed the A-League grand final penalty shootout after 120 minutes of combat between Perth Glory and Sydney FC ended in stalemate. A record crowd of 56,371 saw five of those seven kicks find the back of the Optus Stadium net. Crucially, they saw two of them repelled by goalkeeper Andrew Redmayne to steer the Sky Blues to a fourth championship trophy.

With young players joining grassroots clubs and England’s Lionesses preparing for their World Cup run, the sport is finally getting the recognition it deserves

‘Izzy, to me, to me,” the cry comes from many voices. Izzy, two brown pigtails flying out behind her, passes the ball to her friend, who turns with it, neatly avoiding the opposition player on her heels. She passes to Holly in the blue boots. But then, as Holly turns and passes, the ball is lost in a tangle of players.

Suddenly the red team have it. It’s down the other end of the pitch in two passes. The midfielder crosses to a player in bright white socks and pink boots who, finding herself with space all around her, turns, aims and effortlessly shoots the ball into the back of the net over the outstretched hand of the keeper. “Yeees!” comes the cry from her teammates, who jog back to the centre of the pitch, pride evident in their faces.

Manchester City manager admits to exhaustion after team’s treble – but knows his burden will grow until he wins the European Cup

The Champions League: Manchester City’s final frontier. After a clean sweep of domestic trophies in a staggering 2018-19 campaign, and after claiming five of the last six competitions available in England, only Europe needs to be conquered by Pep Guardiola and his juggernaut team.

The manager knows it. At a Lionel Messi-led Barcelona, Guardiola guided his boyhood club to European Cup wins in 2009 and 2011. The Catalan has managed seven times in the continent’s blue riband club tournament since and failed to win it again: once with Barça, three with Bayern Munich and three with City.

You had to admire Uefa’s steadfastness in the face of unfortunate timing. The decision to award the hosting rights for the Europa League final to Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, was made public in September 2017, just a few weeks after entirely unrelated revelations about a huge underhanded campaign to whitewash Azerbaijan’s international reputation.

The so-called Azerbaijani Laundromat scandal came to light thanks to bank leaks that showed about £2bn had been funnelled out of oil-rich Azerbaijan between 2012 and 2014 through various European financial institutions and companies, including some registered in Britain. It was primarily an elaborate money-laundering scam but some lolly found its way into the pockets of lobbyists and politicians who were encouraged to help polish the reputation of Azerbaijan.

Today’s fluff is enjoying a more leisurely start to the day

Juventus are planning to go shopping in London for a Max Allegri replacement. The Italian champions intend to stop off at Not White Hart Lane first and ask Tottenham if they can have Mauricio Pochettino. Daniel Levy, Tottenham’s gnarly negotiator of a chairman, will direct them towards a storage cupboard where he keeps Jacques Santini, Juande Ramos and Tactics Tim. Juve can choose from Jacques Santini, Juande Ramos and Tactics Tim. In fact they can have them all if they’re feeling adventurous. But they’re unlikely to be allowed to return to Turin with Pochettino as their new manager.

Related: Giroud signs new contract at Chelsea before possible transfer ban for club

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Yesterday, 4.10pm The last line of the Fiver reads: BANNED UNDER A FORMER REGIME, THE ‘HOW WE WORK’ FIVER CAME PERILOUSLY CLOSE TO A COMEBACK

Max Rushden, Barry Glendenning, John Brewin and Mark Langdon discuss Manchester City 6-0 Watford, the price of supremacy, the Women’s Champions League, a rare crestfallen goalscoring keeper and botched Panenkas

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We look back at the FA Cup final, which Manchester City won 6-0, casting Watford aside like a team which wasn’t assembled by one of the greatest football managers in history at great expense. We discuss the line of questioning pursued by the Associated Press’s Rob Harris, which angered Pep Guardiola, and the implications of living with a team this much better than the rest.

Who gave up? Who couldn’t believe it? Whose eyes don’t lie?

Who said: "Three for me and two for them, two. So respect man, respect, respect, respect"?

Pep Guardiola

José Mourinho

Jürgen Klopp

Zinedine Zidane

"It was the right decision. He made a big mistake and paid with the club, so then he had to pay with the team ... When you are young, you can make mistakes. The most important thing is that you need to understand very well, after every mistake. So now, for me, the issue is closed"

Mauricio Pochettino

Unai Emery

Brendan Rodgers

Maurizio Sarri

"Ips ... Isspw ... Isspitch ... Isswitch ... OK, I give up"

Daniel Farke

Aitor Karanka

Marcelo Bielsa

Steve McClaren

"I have had enough. At the minute, how I've programmed myself now, I just think that I've got five or six more years left in football and I just can't wait to see the back of it, seeing how things are done in the game at the minute"

Raheem Sterling

Paul Pogba

Danny Rose

Álvaro Morata

"We scored a perfectly good goal to make it 2-0 and the game is done and dusted. We won the game, but the officials cost us two points today ... You go on about VAR this and VAR that, help the officials out. Clearly they need help. We play in the Premier League, the best league in the world, the most watched league in the world. So give them all the help they need because clearly they cost us two points today. It's a joke"

Neil Warnock

Charlie Austin

Glenn Murray

Jamie Vardy

"Mo Salah, you little dancer!"

Jurgen Klopp

John Aldridge

Graeme Sounness

Jamie Carragher

"I prefer the sex ... by far"

Roy Hodgson

Mauricio Pochettino

Jürgen Klopp

Pep Guardiola

"I've got three very questions for you: How long you would you like on your contract? What would your salary be? And where would you like the statue?"

Gary Neville

Gary Lineker

Alan Shearer

Jamie Carragher

"It’s 10 past 10, most of the children are in bed ... these boys are fucking mentality giants – it's unbelievable. If you have to fine me, fine me. I'm not native so I don't have better words for it."

Mauricio Pochettino

José Mourinho

Jürgen Klopp

Ole Gunnar Solskjær

"I wouldn’t believe a word he says. I don’t believe he does. The guy is a talented boy, but the number of times I’ve seen him in games not running back. He’s a big problem for United. And my eyes don’t lie to me."

José Mourinho

Roy Keane

Gary Neville

Graeme Souness

1 and above.

Oh dear

2 and above.

Oh dear

3 and above.

Oh dear

4 and above.

Respectable

5 and above.

A respectable score

6 and above.

That's an impressive score

7 and above.

That's a very impressive score

8 and above.

That's a very impressive score

9 and above.

You were brilliant but just missed out – like Liverpool

0 and above.

Oh dear

10 and above.

You've almost done too well there

Today’s tittle-tattle gives it to you straight

Manchester City’s good-tempered collective post-treble party will finally end in a comedown when Leroy Sané is bundled out of the door. But to where? Not sure. Pulitzer, please!

BREAKING NEWS: Eden Hazard is for the off from Chelsea!

Watford finished 48 points behind Manchester City in the league but previous finalists have overcome bigger challenges

During Wimbledon’s famous 1-0 victory over Liverpool in 1988, Dave Beasant became the first goalkeeper to do what in an FA Cup final?

Make an assist

Save a penalty

Get sent off

Come off injured

Who scored the decisive goal when Wigan Athletic beat Manchester City 1-0 in the 2013 final?

Ben Watson

Callum McManaman

Shaun Maloney

James McCarthy

West Ham were in the Second Division when they beat Arsenal in the 1980 final and they remain the last side from outside the top flight to have won the Cup. How many teams from outside the top flight have reached the final since?

One

Two

Three

Four

Southampton were in the second tier when they beat Manchester United the final. What was the year?

1968

1972

1976

1980

Sunderland finished sixth in the Second Division in the 1972-73 season. They also won the FA Cup, shocking the holders in the final. Who did they beat?

Arsenal

Liverpool

Leeds United

Newcastle United

Cardiff City are the last side from outside the top flight to reach the Cup final. They were beaten 1-0 by Portsmouth, which makes Harry Redknapp ...

... the last manager to win the FA Cup as a player and manager

... the oldest FA Cup-winning manager

... the last English manager to win the FA Cup

... the only English manager to have won the Cup with two clubs

Arsenal went into the 2014 final as strong favourites but needed extra-time to beat Hull City. What made the game particularly difficult for Arsenal?

They had a man sent off after 20 minutes

They were 2-0 down after eight minutes

They were forced into making three substitutes in the first half after an injury crisis

They had two goals wrongly ruled out for offside

Manchester United needed extra time to overcome Crystal Palace in 2016. Who was in charge of Palace and attracted considerable attention for his dance moves after they took the lead?

Tony Pulis

Alan Pardew

Roy Hodgson

Sam Allardyce

Despite finishing 13 places and 38 points behind Manchester United in the 1994-95 season, which team beat them in the FA Cup final?

Everton

Aston Villa

Coventry City

West Ham United

Ipswich Town were underdogs when they beat Arsenal in the 1978 final. What happened to Roger Osborne while he celebrated his goal?

He lost his shorts

He pulled a muscle and limped around the pitch for the remaining 15 minutes

He got a nosebleed that did not stop for 45 minutes

He fainted and had to be substituted

Tottenham beat second-tier QPR in the 1982 final but only after ...

... a last-minute winner

... two fortuitous penalties

... a replay

... a penalty shootout

Which side has made the most appearance in finals without lifting the trophy? Their most recent final was in 1969 – the same season they were relegated from the First Division.

Birmingham City

Brighton & Hove Albion

Leicester City

Luton Town

1 and above.

Oh dear. You were knocked out in the first round

2 and above.

Oh dear. You were knocked out in the third round

3 and above.

Are you concentrating on the league this season?

4 and above.

Are you concentrating on the league this season?

5 and above.

Are you concentrating on the league this season?

7 and above.

Are you concentrating on the league this season?

6 and above.

Are you concentrating on the league this season?

8 and above.

You had a good run, but lost in the quarter-finals

9 and above.

You had a good run, but lost in the quarter-finals

10 and above.

You had a great run, but lost in the semi-finals

11 and above.

You came close, but lost in the final

0 and above.

Oh dear. You were knocked out in the first round

12 and above.

Underdog? You are the big dog of FA Cup quizzes

Plus: winning runs that didn’t deliver a title, late-blooming international stalwarts and Bob Crompton’s Wembley drought. Mail us or tweet @TheKnowledge_GU

“What is the earliest goal scored in a league season that went on to win goal of the season?” wonders Tom Kingsbury. “Similarly for individual club goal of the season winners, has there been a winner from the first goal/match?”

“A quick Wikipedia reveals that Gerry Francis (possibly) used the powers bestowed on him by his glorious mullet to win goal of the season in 1975-76 with an opening-day strike for eventual league runners-up QPR against eventual league winners Liverpool in a 2-0 victory,” writes Mike Coxon.

Your weekend roundup of the best photography from England’s top flight

• View the Dozen archive

Emphatic win against Watford showcased Pep Guardiola’s men at their well-grooved best, full of invention and good habits

Welcome to the new order. Domestic games: played 51, won 43. Domestic trophies: three out of three. Five-goal hauls: 11. Defeats since Christmas: one.

Scan the history books, fan back to the big city clubs of Victorian times, linger on the red-shirted eras of the last 50 years. English domestic football has never seen anything quite like this single-season hit from Manchester City. It turns out we really do all live in a sky blue world now.

Manchester City’s FA Cup final demolition of Watford may have been boring for some but research shows TV audiences seem to prefer high-quality entertainment over shocks

There was a moment late in Saturday’s FA Cup final when Manchester City turned the Wembley pitch into the world’s biggest rondo. Ping. Tap. Dink. Tap. Ping. Donk. Watford did not touch the ball for almost three minutes as City strung together 76 passes. It brought to mind Leeds United’s 39-pass move against Southampton in 1972 during a 7-0 win, a rare voyage into the ethereal by Don Revie’s side, which was described by the giddy BBC commentator Barry Davies as “almost cruel”. Yet for City this was merely a routine act in an almost routine 6-0 victory.

It was both brutal and boring, the footballing equivalent of watching a matador slowly drawing blood from a calf. If ever a game illustrated the vast financial chasm between the rich and the rest, this was it. Much of football’s charm lies in its unpredictability: the notion that one team can not only buck the odds on any given Saturday, but that it happens more often than in other sports. Increasingly at the top level that seems like a tall tale told to the gullible.

Leeds fell short against Derby but it was a reminder of the joys brought by football’s great nonconformist

Fail again. Fail better. When Pep Guardiola was planning for his second life as a manager he went to meet various hand‑picked tactical super-brains. Among them was Marcelo Bielsa, recently resigned as manager of Argentina. Bielsa invited Pep to his home in Rosario. They had a barbecue. Then they sat and talked about football for 11 hours.

Yes, 11. It is just such a brilliantly macho interpretation of the basic idea of having a bit of a chat. Why not 12 hours? Why not 36? Why not five weeks glued to the garden loungers?

The Manchester City captain talks frankly about the wrong path he nearly took as a teenager, ‘lunatic’ politicians and life after football

It is 10am on an early spring day when I pull up at the electric gates of Vincent Kompany’s home. In the drizzle, the Manchester sprawl has given way to the leafy streets of Cheshire, where long driveways announce the grand houses of the affluent. Kompany answers the door in a black T-shirt and jeans, having just finished a workout. It’s March, and Manchester City’s battle-hardened captain and central defender is only now returning to fitness after a six-week layoff for a calf injury. “I wasn’t feeling great today, so an extra session in the gym is the way to get through it,” he says, a towel draped around his neck, his gentle Belgian accent blending with Manc vowels.

At 6ft 4in, Kompany’s stature is reassuring rather than intimidating. He makes green juice in a whizzy little machine that the players are testing. “Sometimes I have a berry one as a treat,” he says, tidying up. We take them into his home office, where we talk for the next two hours. A whiteboard marked out with a football pitch stands against one wall. On the top row of his bookshelves, trophies line up like toy soldiers; below them are biographies of Mandela, Gandhi, Obama; histories of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the country that Kompany’s father, Pierre, left as a political refugee in 1975; biographies of Sir Alex Ferguson and Kompany’s teammate Sergio Agüero.

Three years ago Louis Lancaster was coaching youth players at Watford. Now he is taking Taiwan up the Fifa world rankings

By Chris Evans for The Set Pieces

It was the hardest decision of Louis Lancaster’s life. The ambitious coach was on the cusp of starting an exciting new chapter of his career in Asia, but it would come at a price. For Lancaster to take up his new post as assistant manager at Chinese side Shanghai Shenxin, he would need to leave behind his seriously ill father. By jetting off to start his job, he knew he might never see his dad again.

“My dad wasn’t well when I left and I potentially wasn’t going to see him again. So, I asked him: ‘What do you want me to do – do you want me to go?’ He knew how passionate I am about football; he had introduced me to it. He said ‘you’ve got to go’ but I knew I might not see him again. I left on 12 July and my dad passed away on 2 August. I didn’t even come back for my dad’s funeral.”

Just as political enthusiasts found themselves casually deploying the lexicon of international trade after the Brexit vote, so football supporters are having to brush up on their international relations. After becoming familiar with the internecine struggles of the Arabian gulf these past few weeks, attention now turns to the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh and the implications for a showpiece final next week.

At base, it’s a question of safety. Henrikh Mkhitaryan will not travel with his Arsenal teammates to Baku, Azerbaijan, for the Europa League final because – as an Armenian – he believes he will not be safe in the city. Azerbaijan customarily refuses entry to Armenian nationals and while its Football Association (and Uefa) insist “Micki” is welcome and every necessary preparation has been taken to protect him, neither the player nor his club are inclined to accept this argument. As a result, he is staying in London and rightly so. No game of football is worth endangering a person’s safety. To suggest, as the Azerbaijani ambassador to the UK has done, that the midfielder is playing politics with his decision is an inexcusable provocation.