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• Former Arsenal and Man Utd striker signs deal until 2027
• Van Persie leaves Heerenveen to rejoin hometown club

Robin van Persie has been appointed the new manager of Feyenoord, with the former Manchester United and Arsenal forward signing a deal until 2027.

The 41-year-old, who won the Premier League title with United in 2013 and FA Cup with Arsenal in 2005, leaves Heerenveen to take over at De Kuip. Van Persie collected seven victories from his 23 games in charge at Heerenveen, leading the club to ninth place in the Eredivisie.

Spaniard on the ‘pain and anger’ of his sacking at West Ham and rejecting an immediate return to management

“And then suddenly they sacked me.� Julen Lopetegui is running through the reasons to be cheerful – safety secure, 17 shots at the Etihad and the physical stats, an identity emerging, a winter window and a kinder calendar coming – when he uses one of only two English lines in as many hours, delivered as if the final page of a story. The other, not entirely incidentally, is “no comment�, and a smile accompanies both. Five weeks from his sacking at West Ham, the anger and hurt has subsided, on the surface at least. The period of mourning, as he puts it, is over.

“My father died and, although you can’t compare them, personal and professional mourning came together,� Lopetegui says. Offers arrived, but it was too soon. Instead he headed to Mexico, where he is building a hotel with his brother Joxean, a former pelota player, and as he arrives at another hotel, this time in Madrid, it is clear getting away from it all was good for him. Heading in, he bumps into Rafa Benítez and conversation begins, back to football again. “Slowly, you start to feel that enthusiasm,� Lopetegui says. “You step back, see things clearly, get closer to reality.�

National supporters will see their heroes play against each other when Manchester City meet Liverpool on Sunday

The rivalry between Manchester City and Liverpool has grown in recent years thanks to the coaching of Pep Guardiola and Jürgen Klopp turning it into a battle for the title over numerous seasons. The fixture has become significant around the world but in one north African nation it has a new edge as their rising star and their national hero come face-to-face.

Omar Marmoush arrived in Manchester in January after City paid £59m to buy him from Eintracht Frankfurt. The Egypt forward built his reputation in Germany and has added to it in the Premier League after a hat-trick against Newcastle followed some promising performances to indicate he is up to Guardiola’s high standards. Marmoush is a beacon in a disappointing season for City but has some way to go to match his compatriot Mohamed Salah, the man leading Liverpool towards a second Premier League title. From Alexandria to Zagazig, eyes in Egypt will be on the Etihad on Sunday as the country’s heroes do battle.

Leeds, Sheffield United and Burnley are all vying for Premier League returns but fans will ask if it’s really worth it

Tibetan Buddhist monks will spend months working in cold conditions, icing their fingers, enduring significant discomfort, to create gorgeously detailed sculptures out of yak’s butter. And then they will destroy the sculptures, leaving them out in the sun to melt.

For anybody connected with a Championship club, the sentiment will be familiar. At some level, most clubs exist to feed those higher up the pyramid. So why would a fan emotionally invest in a young star, even a local one, knowing he is unlikely to hang around for more than two or three years? And if a team are promoted, at least half the side will probably have to be upgraded to offer even a chance of survival. When the gulf between divisions is so vast, everything is fleeting, team-building an act of permanent evolution. What monks do to convey the understanding that life is transient and that the artefact is far less important than the act of creation, Daniel Farke and Chris Wilder are doing because football’s economics demand it.

• City manager rules out Jamie Carragher’s defender claim
• ‘It’s not true. He was crazy to play but had a knee problem’

Pep Guardiola was stunned into silence by Jamie Carragher’s ­suggestion that Erling Haaland missed Manchester City’s defeat at Real Madrid because he did not want to face Antonio Rüdiger. The Norwegian was an unused ­substitute in Spain after telling Guardiola he was unfit to take any part because of a knee injury suffered against Newcastle.

Haaland is a doubt for Sunday’s home game against Carragher’s ­former club Liverpool. Carragher said on CBS’s Champions League coverage on Wednesday that the striker might be suffering from “Rüdiger-itis� and that is why he told Guardiola he was not available for selection.

Unai Emery recently graded Aston Villa’s season as a seven out of 10, acknowledging while their progress in Europe has been eye-catching, they badly needed to kick-start their Premier League campaign to bank another Champions League adventure. Approaching the 89th minute, Villa’s season appeared to be stalling, a third consecutive draw incoming. Then the Chelsea goalkeeper Filip Jörgensen made a mess of a routine save, allowing Marco Asensio’s lukewarm volley from Marcus Rashford’s cross to squirm through his gloves.

Rashford’s half-time arrival proved inspired given he also laid the ball on for Asensio to cancel out Enzo Fernández’s early strike. This was a big result for Villa after taking four points from their previous five matches and one that squeezes the order towards the top. Chelsea can vouch for that. Villa are now seventh, a point behind fifth-placed Bournemouth and sixth-placed Chelsea, though those above and below Emery’s side have at least one game in hand.

• 'I never felt we were at the level required,’ says manager
• West Ham’s Graham Potter: ‘A really positive day for us’

A “very, very angry� Mikel Arteta conceded that Arsenal’s performance as they slumped to defeat against West Ham had not been up to the standard required to win the Premier League and said his players must “feel the pain� before their trip to Nottingham Forest in midweek.

Jarrod Bowen’s 50th Premier League goal sealed three points for Graham Potter’s side as the substitute Myles Lewis-Skelly was sent off in the second half. It leaves Arsenal still eight points behind Liverpool, with Arne Slot’s side having an opportunity to extend their lead when they face Manchester City on Sunday.

Arne Slot’s side have spurned chances and need to restore scoring touch in time for Manchester City on Sunday

The path to Munich suddenly looks more complicated for Liverpool, with Paris Saint-Germain and potentially Real Madrid standing in the way of a Champions League final appearance. Scant reward for finishing top of the 36-team group stage. Sunday is an opportunity to make the road to a record-equalling 20th league title run smooth in comparison, as perhaps it already should be.

Liverpool encounters with Manchester City have been often decisive in Premier League title races and the latest could be no different, although only where Arne Slot’s team are concerned. There is an end-of-an-era feel to Pep Guardiola’s side, wounded by an early exit from the Champions League on Wednesday and desperate to react against adversaries intent on taking their Premier League crown. Deepening City’s malaise, however, would be secondary to rediscovering title-winning form for Slot and in effect ending Arsenal’s faint hopes of bridging the gap in the process.

• Barça beat Las Palmas 2-0 and Atléti stay on their heels
• Inter move top of Serie A with Napoli to play on Sunday

Dani Olmo and Ferran Torres came off the bench to rescue a 2-0 win for Barcelona at Las Palmas on Saturday that sent them back to the top of the La Liga table after a game that is unlikely to live long in the memory.

Barcelona now lead on 54 points, one ahead of Atlético Madrid. Real Madrid are third on 51 but have a game in hand and will host Girona on Sunday.

• Austria 1-0 Scotland; Italy 1-0 Wales
• Hayley Ladd makes 100th appearance for Wales

The interim Scotland manager, Michael McArdle, began his tenure with a disappointing 1-0 Nations League defeat away to Austria, with Lilli Purtscheller’s strike on 14 minutes deciding the Group A1 clash.

McArdle’s new-look squad engineered a chance in the eighth minute but Kirsty Hanson was thwarted by the Arsenal and Austria keeper Manuela Zinsberger, who also saved a long-range Martha Thomas shot.

The time when club officials from Madrid, Milan and Munich start ­scoping logistics for accommodation in the Bournemouth area is delayed for now. Beating Wolves could have taken Andoni Iraola’s team up into fourth but next season’s Champions League remains a dream some way from being realised.

Under a different kind of pressure – expectation – Bournemouth lost to an organised, muscular and determined Wolves, the talismanic Matheus Cunha ­scoring the winner. Even before Illia Zabarnyi’s disputed red card, the Bournemouth machine had shown defective signs, previous ­football from the gods deserting them. If ­officialdom took public blame, Wolves deserved credit. “It affects the game, absolutely,� said Iraola of his defender’s dismissal. “Physically it becomes difficult to keep the quality.�

• Hibernian 2-1 Celtic; Rangers 0-2 St Mirren
• Philippe Clement calls Ibrox defeat ‘not good enough’

Hibernian did what Bayern Munich could not as Josh Campbell’s first-half double earned David Gray’s in-form side a stirring 2-1 home win over the Scottish Premiership leaders, Celtic. But they remain 13 points clear after their Old Firm rivals Rangers could not capitalise on Celtic’s dropped points – the Ibrox side were booed off after a 2-0 loss to St Mirren.

Celtic were widely lauded for their display in Tuesday’s 1-1 draw in the Allianz Arena as they exited the Champions League after conceding in stoppage time.

Fulham spurning another chance to cement themselves as contenders for European qualification needs to be placed in perspective given that this disappointment came against ­opponents who have mastered the art of playing away from home.

No one will relish hosting Crystal Palace at the moment. Not only are Oliver Glasner’s side unbeaten on their travels in the Premier League since October, they are also on a run of five consecutive 2-0 away wins in all competitions after their calculated dismissal of a blunt and irritable Fulham.

Some afternoons come like a kick in the teeth. Not only did Ipswich suffer a fourth successive home defeat in a game that never felt as one-sided as the scoreline ultimately suggested but fourth-bottom Wolves inflicted on Bournemouth only their second defeat in 16. After weeks of bubbling along in touch with the last safe spot, Ipswich find themselves five points adrift and survival is becoming an ever more distant prospect.

There was no sense in which this was an undeserved win for Spurs, some sort of smash-and‑grab to offend notions of dignity and propriety, but equally it was not entirely convincing. Not for the first time this season, there was a feeling that if only Ipswich had been able to seize their opportunity, it might have been very different.

Fabian Hürzeler said his only ­disappointment was not winning by more after seeing his side thump Southampton at St Mary’s.

The Seagulls ripped Southampton apart throughout with goals from João Pedro, Georginio Rutter, Kaoru Mitoma and Jack Hinshelwood ­taking them to within three points of the top six. But for some wasteful finishing and a brilliant performance from the Saints goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale, the scoreline might have been even more impressive for Hürzeler’s Europe-chasing side.

A late fightback does not camouflage the extent of Manchester United’s frailties or reprieve at Goodison Park. It was a fightback that could have been rendered redundant but for referee Andrew Madley overturning his decision to award Everton a 96th-minute penalty. The video assistant referee did not show the full offence on the pitchside monitor. No wonder Alejandro Garnacho patted the match official on the back afterwards.

Ruben Amorim’s team produced a dire first-half performance. Beto and Abdoulaye Doucouré took advantage to set Everton on course for a fifth win in seven league games under David Moyes. The hosts remained comfortable until United captain Bruno Fernandes curled in a 72nd-minute free-kick. Amorim’s side, improved by the introductions of Garnacho and Chidozie Obi, suddenly sensed an escape and levelled through Manuel Ugarte’s first goal for the club.

Telling Núñez off in public feels unnecessary at this late stage, like shoehorning a needless car chase into a film’s third act

Stop getting Darwin Núñez wrong! At the very least, can we please stop comparing him unfavourably with Andy Carroll. This should be taken as a general cease-and-desist plea from those of us with an interest in preserving the Carroll legacy. But it also feels like an important note of distinction in a week when Arne Slot has unexpectedly made Núñez into a person of interest in the Premier League title race by dwelling on his now-famous miss against Aston Villa.

There may be sound internal reasons for this. Slot is very shrewd. The season has so far been an exercise in control and smart judgment. But from the outside, telling Núñez off in public feels unnecessary at this late stage, like shoehorning jeopardy into the third act of a generic Hollywood movie, the needless car chase four-fifths of the way through Paddington 5: Paddington Harder.

A lack of conviction in front of goal and defensive problems were evident in the Nations League draw in Portugal

For at least 15 minutes on Friday night, almost everyone watching England’s Nations League game in Portimão could sense that a goal for Portugal was coming. Everyone except, it seemed, Sarina Wiegman. Jess Carter had replaced Lucy Bronze as a ­precaution at half-time but the head coach felt no need to make another substitution until the 84th minute. By then the damage was done, and the Lionesses were hit by an all-too-familiar feeling of ­frustration after a game they knew they should have won.

In isolation, a draw away against a Portugal team ranked 22nd in the world would be a touch ­disappointing but not cause for great alarm. The problem, though, is that it is not an outlier, and three themes have ­continued to crop up in the past 18 months: England’s inconsistency, their profligacy in front of goal and the concerning ease with which ­opponents are creating chances against a defence that had once looked almost impenetrable.

Saudis have viewed secret plans for renovation of iconic home or costly new-build and could give go-ahead in weeks

They are early drafts and were circulated between only a chosen few but senior Newcastle United executives have been scrutinising architects’ drawings of both a Plan A and a Plan B.

These currently secret documents relate to a potential redevelopment of St James’ Park and the possible construction of a 70,000-capacity stadium in nearby Leazes Park. The consensus is that the former option would take at least five years to complete and the latter a minimum of seven.

Sunday’s clash between declining champions and their likely successors is a far cry from recent title battles

There has been something pleasingly old-fashioned about the Premier League title race this season. It may be a modern phenomenon that the side top of the table have lost only one of 26 games, and that the side in second have lost two, but after the years of champions habitually racking up 90 points and more, the general fallibility has been refreshing.

Liverpool are still on course for 89 points but they are not implacable, remorseless winners in the way Manchester City so often were. They reached a peak in their 2-0 home win over Real Madrid at the end of November and, although they were comfortable winners over City the following Sunday, there has been a sense since of a side, if not quite clinging on to the mountain top, then at the very least not striding quite so confidently along the ridge.

Former Manchester United goalkeeper on Cantona, Keane, his double-agent dad and the hurt of Old Trafford misery

“There’s no doubt that I was born with a special talent,� Peter Schmeichel says as he avoids wasting time with false modesty. After a remarkable career in which he won the Champions League, five Premier League titles and three FA Cups with Manchester United, as well as the European Championship with Denmark in 1992, Schmeichel speaks with the conviction that characterised his performances in goal.

Yet during our revealing and surprisingly moving hour together, Schmeichel also explores the complex layers of his family history and tangled character as one of the world’s great keepers and now, at 61, a much more reflective man.

The Zambian FA’s president Andrew Kamanga was re-elected unopposed after eight nominees were disqualified

Zambia’s victory at the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon remains one of football’s most compelling stories. Returning to the country where most of the Chipolopolo squad had been killed in a plane crash almost two decades earlier en route to a World Cup qualifier in Senegal, Zambia defeated Ivory Coast, the heavy favourites, in the final on penalties to become African champions for the first time. But you won’t find any trace of that famous triumph at the Football Association of Zambia’s headquarters in Lusaka.

“If you walk into Football House today, you will never find a single picture of what is our greatest achievement,� says Godfrey Chikumbi, a journalist and the vice-president of Mansa Wanderers in Zambia’s northern Luapula province. That, he says, is down to Andrew Kamanga, who in 2016 succeeded Kalusha Bwalya, one of the few surviving members of the 1993 squad, as president of the FA (Faz).

• Atalanta manager says: ‘I didn’t want to offend anyone’
• Striker called manager’s comments ‘deeply disrespectful’

Atalanta’s manager, Gian Piero Gasperini, said he never intended to offend Ademola Lookman by saying the striker is “one of the worst penalty takers he has ever seen� after their home Champions League defeat by Club Brugge.

Belgian side Club Brugge stunned Atalanta 3-1 in the second leg of their playoff tie to dump the Italian side out with a 5-2 aggregate win and reach the last 16. Lookman, Atalanta’s hero last season when they won the Europa League, pulled back one goal for the Italian side when they were 3-0 down.

• ‘It’s incredibly brave,’ says former Barcelona defender
• England play Portugal in Nations League on Friday

Lucy Bronze described the Spanish players who were involved in the trial of Luis Rubiales as “incredibly brave� and said England players stood with them in their fight for change, on the day the former head of the Spanish football federation was found guilty of sexual assault.

Speaking before England play Portugal on Friday and Spain on Wednesday in the Nations League, and shortly before the verdict, Bronze, who was a teammate of several of the players who participated in the trial during her time at Barcelona, said: “I am good friends with a lot of the players involved around it. From my point of view, knowing them, it’s been incredible that these players have had to go through that.

• Chief executive reflects on the three years since invasion
• ‘Fifa forgot about us … their door is always closed’

Shakhtar Donetsk’s chief executive, Serhii Palkin, has accused Fifa of failing to support Ukrainian football in the three years since Russia undertook its full-scale invasion of the country.

Ukraine’s domestic league has managed to play on after an initial six-month pause but resources are scarce and the long-term outlook remains uncertain. Palkin claimed the world governing body had kept its doors “closed to us� and he repeated previous entreaties for the creation of a fund to help maintain a sport that has endured severe physical and financial damage. He also urged Fifa and Uefa to hold firm on their commitment to bar Russian teams from international competitions amid an increasingly precarious geopolitical climate.

America’s top circuit has grown and thrived thanks to mechanisms it now no longer needs

Ever since its foundation in 1996, Major League Soccer has faced questions about its place within the world of American sports and global soccer. What is the relationship between MLS and the top football leagues of Europe? Is it a retirement league for aging superstars, a development league for those on their way to bigger things, or a home for the lateral career move, a kind of footballing purgatory? Where should it sit in the American sporting calendar, and what should be the competition’s relationship to the surrounding culture: is MLS an American sporting league whose sport happens to be soccer, or a soccer league that happens to take place in America?

There are questions of direction as well. What is the correct tempo for the competition’s growth, and what kind of league should expansion aim to create? Is this a league that wants to compete with the best of the best, or simply seeks to serve a gap in the domestic market? Aspirationally, is MLS a “world league� in the mold of the Premier League, a league that serves as a center of gravity for playing talent throughout the western hemisphere, or something more modest?

Shamrock Rovers are one win from history in Europe while League of Ireland clubs are thriving after Covid and Brexit

Something special has been brewing in Irish football. On Thursday, Shamrock Rovers have the chance to become the first Irish side to reach the last 16 of a European competition since 1980 when they host Molde in their Europa Conference League playoff second leg, with a 1-0 advantage.

On Sunday the League of Ireland’s attendance record was smashed, as more than 33,000 people watched Bohemians v Shamrock Rovers at the Aviva Stadium. Last month Mason Melia, a teenage St Patrick’s Athletic striker, was signed by Tottenham for an up-front fee of €1.8m (£1.5m), tripling the transfer-fee record from the League of Ireland (Liam Scales’s €600,000 move to Celtic in 2021).

• Gasperini calls him ‘one of the worst penalty takers’
• Striker’s spot-kick saved as side were beaten by Brugge

The Atalanta striker Ademola Lookman said comments by his coach, Gian Piero Gasperini, describing him as “one of the worst penalty takers� he had ever seen after Tuesday’s Champions League exit were “deeply disrespectful� and hurtful.

Club Brugge stunned Atalanta 3-1 in the second leg of their playoff to dump the Italian side out with a 5-2 aggregate win and reach the last 16. Lookman pulled back one goal for Atalanta when they were 3-0 down. However the London-born Nigeria forward, who has scored 15 times this season, then had a penalty saved by Simon Mignolet, after which Gasperini said Lookman was not supposed to take the spot-kick.

Might we eventually look back on Francisco Conceição’s winning goal as one of the pivotal moments of this season?

Francisco Conceição was dead, as he recalls it, but the chance wasn’t, the cross from his teammate Andrea Cambiaso only cleared to the edge of the box. Randal Kolo Muani tamed the ball and retained it as he was assailed by five Inter defenders who arrived one at a time like henchmen in a Hollywood movie: allowing him to overcome each of them in turn.

He evaded Hakan Calhanoglu with a half-step backwards, leaving the Turkey captain to fall under his own momentum, held off Nicolò Barella, dragged the ball back under his boot to spin away from Henrikh Mkhitaryan, flicked it across Francesco Acerbi with the outside of his boot and then poked it with a toe beyond Carlos Augusto and into the path of Conceição.

Ante Budimir’s career has taken him on a long and winding road. But now he is in the record books at Osasuna

Mari Carmen was 78 and late. It was a January morning in Pamplona, cold and wet, and the taxi that was supposed to take her to hospital hadn’t turned up. Standing in the street watching time and traffic pass but no cabs, she was getting a bit worried when she saw a young man she thought she recognised. She, after all, is an Osasuna supporter and he is their striker. Although, like her, he wasn’t having the best of times back then; he was halfway through the season, well into the winter, and had scored just once, when she approached. “Excuse me,� Mari Carmen said. “Are you Ante Budimir? Could you do me a favour? Could you take me to the hospital?�

So he did, and there was the selfie to prove it. Mari Carmen knew her family would never believe her but, originally from tiny Carcastillo 50 miles south, recently widowed and having moved to the capital for health reasons, a tumour returning, that was definitely her in the front seat and that was definitely him alongside her. The picture eventually appeared weeks later when her daughter Myriam posted a cartoon strip to thank the many people who had helped her mum over a couple of difficult, lonely months, in which it felt like everything was going wrong at once. “Good on Osasuna for signing people before stars,� she wrote.

Since Bundesliga statistics have been recorded, never have a Bayern Munich team been so restrained. Yet it paid off

“We played almost perfectly,� reflected Xabi Alonso with, as per usual, not so much as a hint of grandstanding, and it was impossible to disagree. Bayer Leverkusen left the field after Saturday’s Topspiel with plenty of respect, and admiration for their continued excellence. They also left the arena with the feeling that for all their accomplishment, there is every chance the Bundesliga title is going back south to its perpetual home at Bayern Munich.

The gap at the top remains at eight points and while a league season should never be distilled to the contents of one game what we took from this was so persuasive, so emphatic without the knockout blow actually being delivered, that the only feeling a neutral could take away was one of incredulity. Since Bundesliga statistics have been recorded never have a Bayern team been so mute. They had no shots on target and the two efforts they did have were not especially notable; a blocked Harry Kane shot and a tame header from the substitute Leon Goretzka that went well wide.

A jury found the Chelsea footballer not guilty of racially aggravated harassment after she called a police officer 'stupid and white'. Police bodyworn camera footage, released during the trial, showed PC Stephen Lovell dismissing her claims and calling her 'little missy' as she and her partner Kristie Mewis were giving their version of events to him. Kerr explained that she had felt they were 'taken hostage' by a taxi driver as he locked the doors and drove them to a police station after she vomited out the vehicle window.

• Sam Kerr found not guilty of racially aggravated harassment of police officer

• Sam Kerr trial: how a drunken night out revealed questions of race, power and privilege

The former Spanish football federation boss Luis Rubiales has told a court that he asked the footballer Jenni Hermoso if he could kiss her before doing so after the Women’s World Cup final in 2023.

Rubiales is accused of sexual assault and then attempting to coerce Hermoso, with the help of three other former football federation officials, into publicly saying the kiss on the lips at the awards ceremony in Australia had been consensual. He has denied the charges, saying the kiss was consensual, while Hermoso has said it was not.

The ensuing scandal eclipsed Spain’s first Women’s World Cup victory and spurred efforts by Spain’s female players to expose sexism and achieve parity with male counterparts

• Luis Rubiales tells court he asked Jenni Hermoso if he could kiss her

The Liverpool manager, Arne Slot, said there 'wasn't a lot to be happy about' after his team's loss against Plymouth Argyle in the FA Cup fourth round. 'Credit to them. Good gameplan. They worked incredibly hard,' Slot told reporters in the post-match press conference.

• Stunned Liverpool sent crashing out of FA Cup in major upset at Plymouth

A Watford Women's player was sent off after she, about to take a corner, removed the flag due to a puddle and was told by the referee to return it. Annie Rossiter did so before taking it out again and receiving a red card following an exchange with the official. Watford ultimately lost 3-2 to Lewes in their National League Southern Division game. 'I feel like the game was probably spoiled by some officiating decisions,' said Watford head coach Renée Hector

Aston Villa and Arsenal will fancy their chances of progress, while Liverpool will face a challenge to oust in-form PSG

Villa produced probably their worst performance of the season in losing the meeting of the sides in the group stage, Brugge winning 1-0 with a penalty awarded after Tyrone Mings, not realising a goal-kick had been taken, picked up the ball. Villa may be grateful for that: had they taken a point from that game they would have been facing Bayern in the last 16. That said, as domestic form has stagnated, the victory over Bayern, a repeat of the scoreline from the 1982 European Cup final, probably represents the high point of their season so far. Domestically this hasn’t been a great campaign for Brugge either. They lie eight points behind Racing Genk but for them too the Champions League has provided salvation. They sneaked into the playoffs with three wins but then were much the better side against Atalanta, winning home and away.

The conviction of the former Spanish FA president for sexual assault sends a powerful message not just about consent, but about how seriously women are taken

The verdict delivered to the disgraced former president of the Spanish football federation Luis Rubiales is a victory, but one that leaves a bitter aftertaste.

The 47-year-old was found guilty of sexual assault on Thursday for a non-consensual kiss planted on the Spain forward Jenni Hermoso during the 2023 World Cup final medal ceremony. The result is a fine of more than €10,000, a ban from going within 200 metres of Hermoso or communicating with her and €3,000 in compensation to the striker.

There is some certainty now that Guardiola’s greatest City side is formally over after a weak Champions League defeat

Rage, rage against the dying of the sky blue light. Or, alternately, don’t rage at all. The scoreline read 3-1 by the end, but for long periods on a lovely soft February night at the Bernabéu this felt like an act of extended sporting cruelty, an opportunity to sit back and watch the players of Real Madrid pulling the wings very slowly from an aubergine-shirted butterfly.

The key executioner was Kylian Mbappé, who barely seemed to sprint, or wrinkle his shirt, let alone dig into the outer reaches of his talent en route to a clean, crisp, almost uncontested hat-trick.

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A Bigger Cup needs a Bigger Draw. Last year Uefa set out the tournament brackets from the quarter-final onwards, showing Real Madrid which particular jails they might need to escape to win the competition for the 15th time. This year Uefa have gone one better by doing the draw for the rest of the tournament at the last-16 stage. It’s a punch up the bracket for Manchester City, who can now empathise with every failed Bullseye contestant. Look what they could have won: Atlético Madrid in the last 16, then Arsenal or PSV Eindhoven in the quarter-finals, then maybe Liverpool in the semis.

Spurs are on the slide, Terland and Shaw show scoring prowess and Chelsea confirm they are mentality monsters

Arsenal will steal the headlines, with five goals, a clean sheet, Chloe Kelly making her second debut and a 56,784 crowd, but the plight of Tottenham is the bigger talking point. Spurs have lost as many games as they did across the whole of last season (seven) and only bottom-placed Crystal Palace have conceded more goals. Last term they were a team full of promise, an FA Cup final the reward for the progress made under Robert Vilahamn. This season they look a shadow of that side. The loss of the loanee Grace Clinton and Celin Bizet, both to Manchester United, has weakened their midfield but does not justify the apparent aimlessness of the players that remain. Vilahamn said they needed to stay true to the way they want to play – building out from the back – without conceding as many goals (31 in 14 games). He said he wanted to “make sure we have an identity that we follow�. The question is, do the players maintain their belief in that identity? Suzanne Wrack

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Three minutes, 35 seconds. That was all it took for Manchester City’s fragile hopes of a Bigger Cup comeback at the Bernabéu to be extinguished as Pep Guardiola’s side were exposed to their kryptonite – a very fast forward running on to a long ball. Kylian Mbappé jogged away from Rúben Dias and John Stones, and lifted the ball over Ederson with a single, devastating touch. Stones hobbled off injured moments later, and he may as well have taken the rest of his team with him. Mbappé wasn’t finished; the Real Madrid forward added another two beautifully taken goals in a merciless individual display. He has now scored seven Big Cup goals against City – the same as Lionel Messi – and for three different clubs to boot. In a competition that has, in the last decade, become essentially Real Madrid v Everyone Else (with Madrid leading 5-4 since 2015-16) the other 15 sides still in the perspex bowl for Friday’s last-16 draw must contemplate how to beat the defending champions, who have found a way to get the best out of their new superstar striker.

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

The last 16 beckons, and there were plenty of storylines to digest. We hand out honours and dishonours from the latest round of action

Feyenoord

Our cartoonist looks at respite for Spurs, Moyesmentum on Merseyside and why it’s time to find some joy

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• David’s new book, Chaos in the Box: buy it now

How Tabitha and Temwa fought preconceptions in Malawi to make it to the top of women’s football

Tabitha and Temwa Chawinga’s rise to international football stardom began on the humble, dusty football pitches of Rumphi, a district in northern Malawi. Their journey, filled with challenges and perseverance, reflects the determination and dreams of two sisters determined to break barriers in a male-dominated sport. And how they have succeeded.

Growing up in a society where girls were often discouraged from dreaming beyond traditional roles, the Chawinga sisters were passionate about football from a young age. “We used to play football with boys. I did whatever the boys did and that laid the foundation for my football career,� Tabitha recalls.

Plus: more beautiful league tables and the three players you can find in the artwork of Oasis’ debut album

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“In 1999, to celebrate their centenary, Barcelona drew 2-2 with Brazil at Camp Nou. What other teams have played against nations and when was the first recorded club v country clash?� asks Masai Graham.

When The Knowledge was growing up, the phrase “club v country� usually referred to Ryan Giggs pulling out of another Wales friendly, so we were pleasantly surprised by the volume of answers to this question.

Who could possibly be miserable when both Barcelona and Brazil are present? Not when Barcelona were lining up with Figo, Patrick Kluivert and Pep Guardiola – the future manager was replaced by a 19-year-old Xavi Hernández at half time – and Brazil turned up with former Barça alumni Ronaldo and Romario in their attack.

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Paul Watson, Nick Ames, Ewan Murray and Jim Burke to discuss the latest Champions League playoff games, Everton’s new ground and much more

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On the podcast today: heartbreak for Celtic as they come within minutes of a famous result in Munich, only for their resistance to be broken in stoppage time. The panel reflect on an heroic performance from Brendan Rodgers’ side, with cameos from Ewan and Jim. The panel also discuss whether Bayern’s defensive frailties beg the question of Vincent Kompany’s managerial reputation and ask … if extra time was scrapped, would we miss it?

Patient buildup from deep, Guardiola style, can no longer be an unthinking default so perhaps going long again is the answer

In 2021, I tried to take advantage of the October international break to go to a game as a fan. No sooner had I booked trains and hotels, though, than it emerged Sunderland had accumulated enough Northern Ireland internationals for their League One game against Oxford to be called off. So I did the only reasonable thing you can do in the circumstances, got in touch with the doyen of the non-league scene in the north-east, Harry Pearson, and invited myself along to whichever game he was going to.

We ended up at Seaham Red Star v Ashington in Northern League Division One, the ninth tier of English football. I’ve no idea what the score was, although I know Ashington had Steve Harmison’s brother Ben playing at centre-back and an Alice-banded dribbler on the wing, the Pitman Grealish. But most striking was that everybody passed out from the back. The difference from 25 years earlier, when I’d worked the turnstiles at Whitley Bay, was barely credible. I mentioned it to Harry, who explained that it had become entirely normal: the Guardiolisation of English football was universal.

Ambition for the women’s team – like the men’s – seems based on hanging in there until the big money starts rolling in

A couple of years ago it was reported that Daniel Levy, the man in charge of Tottenham Hotspur, was lobbying to abolish promotion and relegation to and from the Women’s Super League. Levy’s vision was of a steady-state league, with no mobility and therefore no real jeopardy, where the same teams competed for the same stuff every season. How we laughed. As it turned out, he needn’t have gone to the trouble. It pretty much ended up happening anyway.

For Tottenham at least, a season that began replete with possibility has buffed down to a blunt point. Marooned in mid-table, eliminated from both cup competitions, safe from relegation and well out of the Champions League race, their last nine games – starting with the north London derby at the Emirates on Sunday – are essentially pure content, dead rubbers, puff football. Will they put in a strong run of results and finish in fifth? Or will they falter and slump to seventh? Tune in to find out!

Three months after club predicted an annual profit of up to £160m, more job losses are pending to tackle financial crisis

When Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s minority investment in Manchester United was announced on 24 December 2023, many fans thought it an early Christmas present. Presented as a locally born lad and lifelong fan, he was a multibillionaire and was putting some of his hard-earned (but not hard-taxed) money into the club.

Ratcliffe’s investment gave him control of the football operation and in the mind of many fans the post-Ferguson slump in major trophies was coming to an end. Enterprising Mancunians started selling Muga (Make United Great Again) baseball caps, the club defeated Manchester City in the FA Cup final and the good times were about to roll again … until they didn’t.

Football journalist combined Caledonian charm and natural effervescence with a body of work that few could match

There wasn’t so much a twinkle in his eye as a bursting supernova of mischief and uncertain possibilities. Patrick Barclay has left us, at 77, and, as Hamlet said of his father, we shall not look upon his like again. Or, if we do, we will be gladly entertained.

When Paddy’s death was confirmed on Friday, the sad news not only inspired the attention of more than two million pairs of eyeballs on various chattering sites – irredeemably lachrymose, no doubt – it was among the 10 most-read articles on the Guardian’s website, testimony to the stature of one of the industry’s charismatic football sages.

Rodri has beaten Vinícius Júnior and Erling Haaland to top our ranking of the most talented players in the world this calendar year

• How all the judges voted | Rodri heads 2024 list | Our methodology | The top 100 female players in the world
• 2023 edition | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012

The Manchester City midfielder becomes the sixth player to top our ranking of the world’s best 100 male footballers

• The 100 best male footballers in the world 2024

One of the worst things about seeing Rodri in agony on the pitch against Arsenal in September – and the subsequent news that he had ruptured an anterior cruciate ligament – was that in the buildup to the injury he had criticised the workload being put on players. It was as if he knew something bad was about to happen.

In April, after an epic 3-3 draw at Real Madrid the Manchester City and Spain midfielder said: “I do need a rest.� He added: “Let’s see how we speak, how we live the situation. Sometimes it is what it is. I need to adjust. It [rest] is something we are planning, yes.�

Aitana Bonmatí finishes top of our rankings for a second consecutive year, with Caroline Graham Hansen second and Sophia Smith third

• Bonmatí on top of world again | How every judge voted | Video top ten | 2023 list | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018
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The Spanish midfielder wins for a second consecutive year on a fast-moving list that sees 15 players appearing for the first time

• The top 100: check out the full list for 2024

Aitana Bonmatí emulates her Barcelona and Spain teammate Alexia Putellas and takes back-to-back wins in the Guardian’s 100 best female footballers in the world list.

The double Ballon d’Or winner received votes from all 99 of this year’s judges, finishing 667 points clear of her club teammate Caroline Graham Hansen, the Norwegian climbing to her highest ranking after a superb individual year for both club and country.

From Franco Mastantuono to Estêvão, we select some of the most talented players born in 2007. Check the progress of our classes of 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 … and look at the editions from further back

We pick the best youngsters at each club born between 1 September 2007 and 31 August 2008, an age band known as first-year scholars. Check the progress of our classes of 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 … and look at the editions from further back

From Warren Zaïre-Emery to Endrick, we select some of the best players born in 2006. Check the progress of our classes of 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018

• Next Generation 2023: 20 of the best Premier League talents

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

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

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

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

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