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Player has scored four goals in last two games for City Aston Villa the next test for Premier League leaders Enzo Maresca has revealed he held heart-to-heart conversations with Phil Foden to help the midfielder back to his best. Foden has struggled over the past two years but has scored four goals in his past two games to give hope he can recapture the form that won him the a Professional Footballers’ Association players’ player of the year award in 2023-24. City travel to Aston Villa on Saturday lunchtime aiming to continue their perfect Premier League start under Maresca, with Erling Haaland fit after sitting on the bench for Wednesday’s Champions League win over AEK Athens. “Since we started I sat down with Phil two or three times, especially at the beginning,” said Maresca, who knew Foden from a spell as Pep Guardiola’s assistant. “Maybe love is not the right word to use but just to show him how important he is. “I said many times that I know Phil from years ago so I know how good he is. For different reasons the last few years he was not good enough but again I think when you have more players like Phil available you are a better team because at the end it’s a matter of improving players. If you improve the players you improve the team, so for me it’s my duty to try to help Phil to be again one of the best players in England. But it’s not just about one game – the season is very long.” Foden, 26, needs to remain consistent to keep his place in the team, with plenty of competition for the attacking roles, including from Rayan Cherki, who Maresca has described as “one of the best players in Europe”. City’s only competitive defeat under Maresca came against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League, and they have seven straight wins in the Premier League to sit three points clear at the top. Maresca is waiting to find out whether Matheus Nunes, Mateo Kovacic and Nico O’Reilly are available after missing the AEK game. “The mood is good, we are happy with our start but we are still hungry for more wins,” Maresca said.

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Austrian’s tactics need adapting to but Forest are in the bottom three and their owner is not the patient type Sitting 19th in the Premier League was not the plan for Nottingham Forest after the arrival of a highly acclaimed manager and a £45m striker to fuel their ambitions. The fates of Oliver Glasner and Liam Delap are intertwined and with the stark stats of zero home goals and a solitary point at the City Ground: it is not the dream start they were aiming for. As Delap prepares to return to Ipswich, where his career ignited, on Friday night, Forest are remaining calm. There is a desperation to get away from the short-termism that caused so many problems; 12 months ago, they were on their third head coach of a disappointing season. This summer they were ruthless with the removal of Vítor Pereira, who had done a fine job to escape the drop, because they saw an opportunity to upgrade with Glasner, hoping he could transform Forest like he did Crystal Palace. It cost plenty to acquire Glasner and Delap, which many fans believe should lead to instant results, but that is rarely the case in an industry as complicated as football. For the coach it is a case of learning the club inside out while influencing performance through an implementation of his carefully choreographed methods. For the striker he needs to rebuild confidence and that comes via goals. In Glasner’s first full season at Palace, they won one of their first 13 league matches but ended comfortably in mid-table and as FA Cup winners. It was similar at Eintracht Frankfurt, getting one victory in 10 but going on to win the Europa League. Learning the Glasner way is not straightforward for a team; it is different from what they have known. Playing three at the back is rarely the norm and nor is having two No 10s, all for Forest with the background of losing the club’s best player Elliot Anderson. The recruitment was measured, targeting positions that required strengthening and avoiding needless purchases, which dogged the club after promotion. Replacing Anderson became a priority but Glasner felt James McAtee could adapt to a deeper role in midfield alongside the shrewd free signing Xaver Schlager. Ousmane Diomande was a coup in defence and Glasner’s lure convinced Daniel Muñoz to follow him from Selhurst Park. Behind the obvious figures, there is plenty of underlying encouragement for Forest. Based on chances created and conceded, Glasner has had the best start of any Forest manager in the Premier League era. His team rank seventh, according to Opta, for expected goals (xG) but have scored the fewest – five – and are the biggest xG underperformers at -6.2. It is a huge discrepancy, missing out on almost a goal a game. It includes 62 shots at home that have come to nothing and if Glasner wants buy-in from the fans, that needs to change quickly. If every team had scored and conceded the goals measured by xG, Forest would be fourth. . It is understandable that Delap is yet to find his feet, after a disappointing year at Chelsea and lack of pre-season set him back. Forest tried to sign him before he went to Stamford Bridge and have great faith in him but he needs to improve his record of one goal every five league appearances. The striker is the ideal No 9, possessing pace, power and sharp finishing, but unless he is on peak form, turning that into guaranteed output is not straightforward. Delap has scored once for Forest but is putting in the effort through being the front line of defence, relentlessly pressing opposition centre-backs. He has shown plenty of quick thinking, demonstrated by his quick throw-in to set up a goal at Anfield, something almost replicated against Arsenal only for Chris Wood to miss the chance. Forest allowed Arsenal a single shot on target last Sunday – it just happened to be deflected in for a winner. Glasner can also point in that match to the absence of his captain, Morgan Gibbs-White, the team’s attacking fulcrum. “It feels very unfair,” Glasner said of the result. “We have to accept we are missing some bits. But the performance in many parts was very good.” In two full seasons at Selhurst Park, Glasner won two major trophies for a club that had gone almost 120 years without one. He has two European titles and his own distinctive formation and execution, something he has harnessed over 12 years in coaching, so he knows how long it takes to develop the complexities. The picture looks clearer after almost four months together. The hope at Forest is that the endeavour is rewarded with greater luck, the missing ingredient among well thought-out recruitment led by the chief football officer, George Syrianos, and his team and clever coaching. Syrianos is Glasner’s biggest advocate and told fans the manager would be given time. Friday will be Glasner’s eighth Premier League match at Forest, three more than Ange Postecoglou was permitted before being sacked this time last year by the owner, Evangelos Marinakis. Glasner, unlike the Australian, can show progress and will be justifiably confident points will come.

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Norwegian forward might look to Harry Kane for inspiration on the pitch, but when north London derby comes around, she needs no lessons on what the rivalry means “It means more than just three points. It’s for the whole club. It’s for the whole place. It’s for the whole of Tottenham.” One only needs to be in the presence of Tottenham Hotspur’s Cathinka Tandberg for a few minutes to feel the passion that emanates from her when it comes to this weekend’s north London derby. As a lifelong Spurs fan, the forward understands more than most the intensity of the rivalry that exists between her side and Arsenal, one that she cannot wait to experience once again on Saturday. “It will just be an incredible feeling,” she tells Moving the Goalposts. “I think you will feel a few nerves that you maybe don’t feel in a normal game but that’s good.” “All the Spurs fans hate Arsenal and Arsenal hate Spurs. That’s how it is. You want to show that you’re the best team. Simple as that. You just want to fight for the club, the badge and for the people around you.” It has been a significant 13 months for the 22-year-old who made her dream move to London in September 2025. After catching the eye as a goalscorer in the Damallsvenskan at first Linköping and then Hammarby, the Norwegian was signed by Martin Ho on deadline day to bolster the team’s attacking options. She made her mark on her first start, scoring a spectacular 40-yard goal against Everton. “I settled really well,” she reflects. “I’m really enjoying it and want to push myself forward. It’s been a tough start [to this season] and I haven’t really got what I wanted. But there’s loads of games left. I’m still young. I’m still improving and learning. I just have to trust the process and trust what I’m surrounded by.” “It’s a big difference from Sweden,” she continues. “You meet World Cup players week in, week out so you have to perform every week if you want results. I feel like my physicality has changed a lot. I’ve got stronger and fitter. Playing under Martin has made me think more away from the goals. I think more about how I play with the ball, how I press and all of those things that I maybe didn’t focus on before … it’s a bit like Harry Kane. The older he gets, he has developed his game as well. He needed to be deeper in the pitch because that’s how they wanted to play and then he has to be better with the ball. That’s a bit how I also need to be. I can’t only just stand in the box. I need to be good everywhere else.” Spurs have been transformed under Ho and finished fifth last season. However, with success, comes expectation, ambitions that Tandberg clearly shares but with a sense of perspective. “Tottenham has always been a Champions League club for me,” she says. “But I’m a fan so I can’t really talk for the other players. When I came to the club, I said that I want to get top three. But you also need to be realistic and to see where the team has been before. The transformation that Martin has done in a season is unbelievable. I don’t think anyone else could do that. That tells you everything about him. He’s one of the greatest coaches I’ve worked with and I think everyone that comes here, one of the reasons is because of him. We all trust him and the process.” That faith is currently being tested. After an unbeaten start, Tottenham have suffered back-to-back defeats, shipping six goals to both London City Lionesses and Chelsea. “You can call it a dip in form but I still feel like we also showed our qualities in those games,” Tandberg says. “It’s just about ourselves. We maybe need to change our mentality a bit, find that fire and dig a bit deeper when we play those top teams. I feel like maybe it’s good that it’s come because it had to at some point. It’s about how we respond. ‘We also have to realise where this team has been. Two years ago, it was a relegation club. We need to realise how quickly it has [changed]. But, of course, we have expectations and levels that we want to come to and we know that we can. I feel like we’re working so well … we just have to believe in everyone.” For Tandberg, putting that right against a struggling Arsenal in front a home crowd would be the perfect tonic. “I’ve always been a passionate player and I’ve been a supporter,” she says. “I play for the supporters because I just enjoy it and I know how it is to be in the stands. I think [that connection] is very important because we have their back and they have ours. To give them something back is important and to show that we see and hear them every time.” If you have any questions or comments about any of our newsletters please email moving.goalposts@theguardian.com. This is an extract from our free email about women’s football, Moving the Goalposts. To get the full edition, visit this page and follow the instructions. Moving the Goalposts is delivered to your inboxes every Tuesday and Thursday .

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Bayern Munich and England striker is odds-on favourite ‘I try not to think about it. Obviously it is hard not to’ Harry Kane would love to know now whether he has won the Ballon d’Or because the uncertainty and constant questions are driving his family to distraction. But the Bayern Munich and England striker accepts the suspense before the big reveal at the London Palladium on Monday night is part of the show. Kane is the odds-on favourite to win the prestigious individual honour after a prolific run of form. The 33-year-old scored 61 goals for Bayern last season and 12 for England. This time out, he has 10 for Bayern and six for England. He scored from the penalty spot in Wednesday night’s 2-2 Champions League draw against Arsenal at the Allianz Arena, although his stand-out moment was the inch-perfect through ball that set up Alphonso Davies to make it 1-1. Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal is the second-favourite for the Ballon d’Or and Kylian Mbappé of Real Madrid is next in the betting. “I think my wife would prefer to know and my family … it’s very stressful for everyone,” Kane said, when asked whether he would prefer to be told in advance of the ceremony. “I can see why they don’t tell people. They want everyone to go, all the big names, and there will be more people watching it if they don’t know so I can understand why. “From my point of view, of course I’d love to know to just kind of see and not have to wait throughout the whole night. But it is their decision, I can’t control that. We’ll have to just enjoy it and try not to stress out too much. I try not to think about it. Obviously it is hard not to. There are always rumours and stuff flying around so you try to stay away from it.”

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From experiencing racism growing up in Newcastle to becoming a derby hero and now a member of the executive team, the former striker has been on a remarkable journey “There were times where I feared for my life as a kid, being harassed and chased by different groups of people,” Shola Ameobi says. “There were situations where I had to sprint to get away from groups of lads who didn’t like me because of what I looked like.” Ameobi is recalling growing up in Newcastle during the late 1980s and 1990s, having moved from Nigeria aged six. There were, he says, “lots of moments” like that. “It was almost as if I had to hide myself to be able to do what I love to do. It wasn’t a very nice feeling, having to worry about getting from A to B. It was just part of my world. I had to be more aware of my surroundings and what I was doing.” Ameobi’s “A” was often the family home, situated within a few pitch lengths of Newcastle’s St James’ Park, and “B” was frequently the club’s then Benwell base, where he would head for academy training. “It built incredible resilience in me,” Ameobi says. “That really helped me in a sporting context in my career but also as a person, understanding that, irrespective of what people thought of me, what really mattered was the value I put on myself.” That young boy running in fear became the scorer of 79 goals in 397 appearances for Newcastle including seven against their local rivals, Sunderland. The likelihood is that some of those he fled from while wearing a club tracksuit subsequently cheered him. Since July, Ameobi has been Newcastle’s head of corporate affairs, after seven years as the loans coordinator. His role is to lead on “strategic external engagement” to ensure “we’re doing things that are valuable not only to us as a football club but to the region. We want to make this club the heartbeat of this city. But by being the heartbeat of the city, I think it’s making sure that we integrate well into everything the city is about, whether that’s civically, whether that’s through our sport or through our community engagement.” Ameobi’s job switch followed the 100-day review conducted by the CEO, David Hopkinson. At the end of a preliminary discussion, Hopkinson told Ameobi to take the weekend to consider things. But Ameobi, while grateful for the “level of trust and commitment”, pushed back, wanting to consider what the role would look like in practice. Six months and plentiful discussions later, he accepted. For Ameobi the leap to an executive position was not as huge as it might appear. He started his previous role in the Mike Ashley days and built that department “from nothing”, he says. “That’s really helped me understand how to business-plan and build a team.” Ameobi has been part of the Premier League’s Black participants advisory group since it formed in 2019. Its successes include implementing the No Room for Racism action plan in 2021 – this weekend marks the second of two match rounds this month dedicated to the initiative – and the pilot launch of the player to executive pathways scheme in 2022. The scheme is designed to help those from underrepresented groups into executive roles and Ameobi was part of the initial seven-strong cohort. “It gave me a really good framework,” he says. “It took us through, at a very high level, what the different streams of executive work look like, whether that’s finance, brand, the future of working, how organisations work. That gave me a little bit of confidence, if I’m honest, more than anything, to go: ‘Actually, a lot of the things I’m already doing actually translate into that world.’ “One of the biggest things was working in a pressurised environment, which is what I’ve done for 20 years, and learning how that can really help you in those moments when things get a little squirrelly, when they aren’t going as planned.” Completing the programme fuelled a fire in Ameobi that had flickered for two decades. In November 2006, having struggled with a hip injury for several years, he had career-saving surgery. The resulting time out was “the start of my thought process beyond the football pitch”. Whether he would return to playing at his previous level, or at all, was uncertain. So, Ameobi’s thoughts turned to: “How can I best be useful to my teammates and this football club? That’s when the cog started turning. “Football wasn’t always going to be there so who am I outside of the footballer? There were some really hard questions I had to answer during a very, very difficult time. There were some dark moments.” Ameobi navigated those moments with the help of a psychologist and by leaning on his family. “I’ve always been fascinated with leadership, right from an early age,” he says. “My father was a leader of a church, and he’s been the biggest influence of my life when it comes to leadership and how to lead well.” He cites the late Sir Bobby Robson, who gave him a professional debut aged 18, and Alan Pardew, who managed him at Newcastle and Crystal Palace, as footballing influences. The former “still to this day has such an impact on the way I think about the game, the way I think about the person more than what you’re doing”, while the latter “used me to channel my leadership within the dressing room and wider squad to help him deal with some of the issues we were going through”. Ameobi also holds a master’s in strategic leadership, and it is obvious from observing him at an event to celebrate the supporters’ group The Black Geordie Club that he is a natural with people. There is a presence to him, a warmth, that puts others at ease. Ameobi is unrelenting in wanting to use his position to improve society. He grew up watching Andy Cole at Newcastle, and memories of Tino Asprilla’s 1997 Champions League hat-trick against Barcelona bring the broadest of smiles. “That was the moment where time stood still. It was almost like I said to myself: ‘What’s wrong with you, Shola? You should be giving everything to be there.’ “You need to feel like you belong, you need to see yourself there, and I think that is so important when it comes to inspiration, and people who aspire to be great in whatever sphere. “I think it’s so important that those who are in those positions give back and share their experience, and share what helped them get to where they’re at. Being a young Black kid who has walked the walk throughout the club, from youth team to first team and now into this executive role, I want to show that anything’s possible for anybody. “Part of the reason that I want to continue to push myself is because, yes, I want to be successful, but I want to show that anything’s possible if you’ve got the hunger, irrespective of what you look like and where you come from. I want to be an inspiration to the next generation.”

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Title is club’s first-ever since 2023 founding St Louis clubs have won 11 Open Cups all-time Daniel Edelman nets winner in 5-4 win on penalties For much of the 20th century, winning the US Open Cup required a team to beat someone from St Louis. The Gateway City was home to many of the nation’s best teams during some ramshackle eras of soccer in the United States, with six different clubs combining for 10 trophy lifts. The most recent came in 1988, when St Louis Busch Seniors beat San Francisco-based Greek-American AC in the last throes of a tournament history dominated by amateur and semi-pro teams. MLS has won every Open Cup but one since starting play in 1996, and St Louis didn’t have an MLS club until 2023. From the beginning, club figures spoke of aims to restore the city to soccer prominence. Well, mission accomplished. St Louis City are US Open Cup champions, outlasting the Columbus Crew 5-4 on penalties away from home to end the city’s 38-year wait for a major US soccer title and earn a place in the field for the 2027 Concacaf Champions Cup. Daniel Edelman scored the decisive penalty, with backup goalkeeper Ben Lundt making a save on Columbus’ first attempt, himself having entered the match in the second half. Fittingly given their home city’s rich soccer history, City’s first trophy is also the nation’s oldest. Wednesday marked the 109th final in the history of the Open Cup, which was first held in 1913–14 and has run continuously save for a two-year hiatus during the Covid-19 pandemic. However, St Louis did so with MLS’s youngest manager – Yoann Damet, the 36-year-old Frenchman who was previously Wilfried Nancy’s top assistant in Columbus but was passed over for the top job after Nancy left. St Louis will be thankful that he was. Often two of the nation’s most aesthetically pleasing teams, Columbus and St Louis opened the final by minimizing risk. For the opening half-hour, St Louis carried a 60% share of possession but failed to muster a single shot. The hosts were a bit more incisive whenever they found the ball, working to advance upfield and trying to fashion chances for Brais Méndez, but failed to threaten Roman Bürki’s net. Referee Guido Gonzales Jr promptly blew his half-time whistle after the 45th minute. No need for stoppage time after that half, and few could argue. Both teams returned with intentions to sustain the caginess after the break. Columbus continued to dramatically tilt the field, taking 11 touches in St Louis’ box after half-time before the visitors managed a single one. Still, Bürki kept their sole on-target effort from rippling the net. The visitors responded by upping their fouling volume to further impede the Crew’s efforts. The 69th minute provided an inflection point as Columbus again entered the St Louis box, where Santi Rodríguez took a clattering from behind by Carlo Holse but saw the referee play the advantage. Méndez picked up the loose ball, strafed across the top of the box to his left, and played a through-ball to former Morocco international Anass Zaroury, whose shot was blocked by a fearless Bürki who took contact to his head from the wing-back’s knee, staying down as the play fizzled. As the former Switzerland international received medical treatment, the VAR had ample time to review and, ultimately, clear the potential penalty on Holse’s initial tackle. Ultimately, a six-minute examination led to Bürki exiting the match on a stretcher, leaving to a stadium-wide applause. Later, the CBS Sports broadcast relayed that Bürki was “OK” shortly after his departure, though he was taken to the hospital for an evaluation. In stepped Lundt, a backup since coming to MLS in 2019 – but one who had played shootout hero before for St Louis, winning their quarter-final shootout against Houston. Another injury, seemingly a leg muscle issue to promising Columbus midfielder Taha Habroune, brought Eric Bailly off the bench with captain Sean Zawadzki pushing into midfield to accommodate. The fourth official showed 11 minutes of stoppage time, perhaps cashing some rollover minutes from the first half on top of the lengthy delay as Bürki was examined. The Nordecke increased the volume of their support, but the game’s established physicality hardly waned for their efforts. St Louis seemed to fashion a clear look inside the box in the 10th minute of stoppage time, but US international Damion Downs took too heavy a touch to fashion a shot. A minute later, the whistle blew. Despite Columbus outshooting St Louis 16-3, both teams finished the 90 minutes without a goal to their name or a trophy to their claim. Another 30 minutes of brawling followed. Neither team ceded an inch in the opening minutes of extra time, exchanging hard challenges and failing to maximize their ensuing set pieces. After Timo Baumgartl started the sequence with a make, Columbus’ Santi Rodriguez sent his attempt to Lundt’s left only to be stifled by a strong left hand. The teams each converted their next three attempts, although Lundt nearly ended the sequence with a finger to Andrés Herrera’s effort in the fourth round. Edelman stepped up and made no mistake with his trophy-winner. The MLS schedule-makers did the finalists no favors as both teams played on the road this weekend, although St Louis enjoyed an extra day of rest. St Louis also entered the final at a known disadvantage, playing without striker Rafael Navarro. A front-runner for the year-end MLS Best XI, Navarro played for the Colorado Rapids through the quarter-final stage, cap-tying him for the remainder of the tournament. While Columbus was recently a contender on all fronts under Nancy, his departure at the end of 2025 forced the Crew into a stylistic reset. Rather than hire his top assistant, Damet, Columbus looked beyond the league and hired Henrik Rydström, a self-proclaimed acolyte of “relationism”. The Swede never adapted to MLS, quickly leading Columbus toward the bottom of the East before being shown the door in May after just 17 matches. His replacement, Laurent Courtois, was another Nancy disciple. Meanwhile, Damet is a frontrunner for coach of the year, is in line for a top-three finish in the Western Conference – and, now, is the Open Cup champion. In an era where fiction fixates on multiverses, Columbus will no doubt wonder what could have been had they opted for continuity and retained Damet. Their loss is St Louis’ gain, as the Western Conference club will hope this is the first of multiple trophies to be won under MLS’s youngest manager.

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‘A player off with really sharp pain is never good news’ Winger forced off 10 minutes into Arsenal’s 2-2 draw Mikel Arteta made no attempt to conceal his concern over the quad injury that forced Bukayo Saka out of Arsenal’s 2-2 Champions League draw at Bayern Munich, saying it did not “look good at all”. The manager was delighted with the fight that his players showed, Declan Rice earning a deserved point with an 82nd-minute equaliser. Arsenal had led through Eberechi Eze, who came on in the 10th minute for the stricken Saka, before Harry Kane took centre stage. The Bayern striker set up Alphonso Davies for 1-1 before giving his team the lead from the penalty spot. It was Saka’s setback that provided the sour note for Arsenal. He collapsed to the turf after a routine battle with Davies and walked off slowly after treatment. Saka was still moving in a very limited way as he left the stadium. “It doesn’t look good at all but we have to wait and see,” Arteta said. “They [the medics] are a bit concerned. A player who has to come off with a really sharp pain is never good news. Bukayo did not start the game against Lille last Tuesday, then he started at Nottingham Forest on Sunday and it happened very early in this game. The level of intensity that this game requires, as well, is something incredible. “You could see it on Tuesday night, the PSG-Barcelona game, what happened [with players getting injured]. This is man-to-man for 96 minutes in every action. There’s no breathing. The stress, the quality, the intensity, the level that you need … it’s unbelievable. It’s the highest level. And those things happen, unfortunately.” Arteta insisted that he wanted more than the draw. “We take it, although that doesn’t mean we are really happy about it as we prepared to win,” he said. “You could see that right from the beginning – the mindset, the purpose and the intention that the team has, to be very dominant, to come here and cause problems to Bayern. To press them and attack them. That’s certainly what we’ve done. We were the better team in the first 25 minutes, we got the goal … unfortunately we also got the injury of Bukayo, which was a big setback. “The team showed incredible composure, the spirit to keep going, to attack them. The finishers came in and made an impact, as well. After scoring the goal [for 2-2], you see the reaction of the team. We wanted to take the ball and go and attack them again to come and win the game.”

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Bernardo Silva opens scoring as Madrid win 4-1 Galatasaray sweep past Lille; 10-man Inter edge Shakhtar Real Madrid claimed a third Champions League victory in as many games by thrashing RB Leipzig 4-1 on Wednesday, with Kylian Mbappé and Yan Diomande among the goals for José Mourinho’s side. Bernardo Silva opened the scoring for Madrid from close range towards the end of a tight first half, with Arda Guler doubling the record 15-time European champions’ advantage soon after the interval. Mbappé bent home a third before Tidiam Gomis pulled one back for the German side and Diomande rammed a volley into the top corner to cap Madrid’s triumph late on. “We know every point is important to get into the top eight, we know we have to win as many games as possible – we’ve won three and there are five to go,” Mbappé said. The France forward, who hopes to win the Ballon d’Or next week, has netted in each of Madrid’s Champions League matches this season and has 12 goals in 12 games. “I’m doing well [but] I think I can do more,” he said. “I’m one of the few players who always has to demand more from himself ... right now it’s a good moment, but we have to keep going and I have to do more.” Lask launched an impressive comeback at Sporting to earn their first Champions League win of the season. The Austrian champions went behind when Luis Suárez scored from the spot after five minutes, but equalised 10 minutes later through Christoph Lang. The visitors then stunned the Estádio José Alvalade as Sasa Kalajdzic and Krystof Danek put them 3-1 up, the former rounding off a smart team move and the latter firing in at the near post. Suárez scored again for the hosts late on, but it was not enough. Galatasaray swept past Lille at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy, setting the tone with a goal after two minutes from Yunus Akgun. Lille levelled the score via Soriba Diaoune, who then put them 2-1 up in the 39th minute. Aleksey Batrakov made it 2-2 just before half-time, however, before an own goal from Nabil Bentaleb and Victor Osimhen, in action against his former club, sealed a 4-2 victory. Inter had Alessandro Bastoni sent off midway through the second half before Carlos Augusto’s late goal secured a 1-0 win at home to Shakhtar Donetsk , as the Italian champions got their first points of the league phase. Bastoni was sent off for two yellow cards in as many minutes, putting Inter on the back foot. Carlos Augusto saved the day in the 77th minute, capping a lightning-fast counterattack with a low finish. Real Betis , who beat Feyenoord 1-0 via a penalty kick from Isco, made it three from three in the Champions League to extend their strong start to the season. Betis had the lion’s share of the chances, but only broke the deadlock when Jeremiah St Juste was adjudged to have handled in the box. Isco stepped up and fired low into the right-hand corner for what proved to be the winner. Club Brugge defeated Lens 3-0 at the Jan Breydel Stadium in a ruthless home performance. The Belgians went 1-0 up through Hans Vanaken in first-half stoppage time before Joaquin Seys and Carlos Forbs secured the win in the second half.

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Manager apologises to fans after 4-1 defeat in Como Captain criticises ‘decision from the staff’ not to press Michael Carrick’s future as Manchester United manager is in the balance after a humiliating 4-1 Champions League defeat by Como on Wednesday night. Before Bournemouth’s visit to Old Trafford on Sunday his future may be discussed by Jason Wilcox, the director of football, Omar Berrada, the chief executive, and Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the co-owner who controls sporting policy. On a torrid night an “angry” ­Carrick insisted afterwards that he had not given his position any thought and was forced to defend himself against Bruno Fernandes after his captain questioned the manager’s tactics of not pressing against Cesc Fàbregas’s team. Carrick also criticised his side for not running. The defeat by Como in the third Champions League group game leaves United with only two wins all season from 11 games. ­Carrick’s side are in 13th place in the Premier League and were eliminated from the Carabao Cup last month. The 45-year-old was asked if he fears for his job. “Listen, I’ve not given my own position any thought,” he said. “[My thoughts are] for the supporters – I was one of them watching that and I wasn’t happy at all.” Carrick was then asked if he could walk away following the latest defeat in Europe. “No. It’s not about me right now and my feelings in that regard,” the manager said. “It’s more of as a team and as a football club, what we want to look like, what we should look like. And as I said, the results can come and go at times, but you got to do it in a certain way. And that wasn’t it.” 700 United sup­porters travelled. At the end around 200 remained and Carrick went to ­apologise to them, noticeably ­ignoring his players. After United conceded Nico Paz’s second-minute goal, Carrick’s men were unable to mount any resistance. By 57 minutes Como led 3-0, due to Tasos Douvikas’s strike and Paz’s second, before Jacobo Ramón completed the scoring for the Italian side on 76 minutes. Joshua Zirkzee netted in added time for the visitors. Fernandes openly challenged ­Carrick’s strategy during the match. “It’s a decision from the staff to not press man-to-man and sometimes leave space behind and try to get the ball, wait for them, but sometimes when you give space to these teams they get confidence,” he said. The captain was asked if Carrick’s tactics were wrong. “That’s on the manager and staff to see, not me,” he said. “Sometimes you have to be more brave under pressure, take the risk of pressing high and making them uncomfortable. As you saw with them, the centre-back was coming to mark me in my own half. We need to do that as a team but we were unable to.” Fernandes’s criticism was put to his manager after the match. “We actually half-pressed man-to-man the second half and then conceded a goal from that,” Carrick said. “Whatever system you play, whatever tactics you play, if you don’t run, and you don’t run forward, and you don’t run back, you ain’t going to win.” Carrick was asked how he can raise the mood before Bournemouth’s visit. “I’m bitterly disappointed, I’m frustrated; more than frustrated, I’m really angry. But you’ve got to move on. You got to deal with what’s next and see what that looks like. “At this moment in time, there’s a lot to do before that next game to get the team ready because that was a difficult night for everyone. I have to apologise to the supporters.”

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It is as if Harry Kane cannot get enough of tormenting Arsenal. The Bayern Munich striker has plenty of form from his Tottenham days. He remains the top scorer in north London derby history with 14 goals. He made an impact yet again here and yet it was not a night when he had the final word. That honour fell to Declan Rice, the Arsenal midfielder storming into the Bayern area in the 82nd minute to guide home a low finish that Kane would have been proud to call his own. Arsenal were hunting their latest statement result. Only once had they ever won away against Bayern – the 2-0 in the Champions League last 16 second leg in 2013, although it did not prevent an away goals exit. Mikel Arteta was an Arsenal player that night. When Eberechi Eze, who came on for the injured Bukayo Saka in the 10th minute, gave them the lead midway through the first half, their hopes surged. Enter Kane. He wore his playmaker’s hat; some of his passing was sumptuous and it was his assist for Alphonso Davies that helped Bayern to draw level. He wore his finisher’s one, too, scoring from the penalty spot to put his team in charge. It meant he had scored in 10 consecutive Champions League games; one short of Cristiano Ronaldo’s record. There is a reason why Kane is the favourite to win the Ballon d’Or on Monday. He now has 16 goals against Arsenal; he has only scored more against one club – Leicester, against whom he has 20. Rice loosened Bayern’s grip. It was a lovely goal from him and Arsenal even hinted at a late winner, Jurriën Timber drawing a tip over from Manuel Neuer in stoppage time. That would have been too much because Bayern shaded an absorbing tie in terms of clear chances created. But Arsenal made their point. They were value for it. Arsenal knew they were inside a fortress. Bayern had not previously lost a Champions League group or league phase match at their own stadium since the 3-2 reverse against Manchester City in December 2013, 40 games ago. The following 39 featured 37 wins and two draws. Arteta’s players were not intimidated. They bristled with assurance at the outset and Rice rewarded their never-say-die spirit. Bayern had wanted revenge for their 3-1 defeat at the Emirates Stadium in the league stage last season. They did not get it. Arteta’s idea was to go pretty much as strong as possible with his lineup. He made just two changes, Timber for Ben White and Noni Madueke for Eze, albeit the latter was not on the bench for long. Saka had tussled with Davies and it looked innocuous. The alarm bells rang when Saka grabbed his thigh and went to ground, waving his hand in the air. Was it possible for the Arsenal support to think that Bayern had been stripped of their fear factor in the line behind Kane? Michael Olise was suspended, Jamal Musiala was injured and Luis Díaz was a substitute. He came on in the 68th minute only to be forced off before the end. Bayern were without the midfielder Joshua Kimmich for personal reasons. Arteta moved Madueke over to his more natural position on the right wing when he introduced Eze on the left and Bayern will still be wondering how the latter was afforded so much space up the inside channel on that flank to put Arsenal in front. It was a fabulous ball from Martin Ødegaard, who was in the mood, full of sharp turns and urgency, and Eze had the time to let it bounce before shooting first time into the far corner. An offside flag killed the Arsenal celebrations and there was one of those weird waits before the video assistant referee ruled that Eze was in fact onside. Kane was booed by the Arsenal fans. Of course he was. He dropped deep to link the play and there was a moment in the 17th minute when he started a move with a pass from inside his own penalty area. There was a glorious ping over Gabriel Magalhães, who was the last Arsenal defender, for Ismael Saibari on 23 minutes, although his teammate could not control, and Kane’s fingerprints were all over the equaliser. He was on halfway when he sculpted the low through ball for Davies which took Timber out of the equation. The Bayern winger’s finish was clinical. Bayern had other chances in the first half, none better than the one for Serge Gnabry, the former Arsenal winger, in the 21st minute. It was Kane who began the attack, taking a quick goal kick – yes, really – and Gnabry was the man over on the right when the Bayern forwards worked it that way. Gnabry’s shot was too close to David Raya. Kane also saw Ezri Konsa produce a fine block to keep him out. It is never anything other than a pleasure to be at the Allianz for a showpiece match. All the staples were present and correct. The en masse scarf waving. The slightly slapstick oompah band notes. The fans at either end of the ground calling to each other. The non-stop drumbeat and songs from the Südkurve, who also bounced as one at times. The pre-game surprise had been the sight of Vincent Kompany in the Bayern dugout; the manager made a Lazarus-like rise from his sickbed and the action after the restart kept the blood pumping. Arsenal thought they had gone back ahead when Bruno Guimarães rose to meet Rice’s corner only for Neuer to produce an extraordinary save. The goalkeeper touched the ball up and on to the crossbar and away. Shades of Gordon Banks against Pelé. It was Raya’s turn next; his save to keep out Dayot Upamecano’s close-range header from Gnabry’s cross was of the highest order. It was interesting to watch Kane after the penalty was awarded for handball against Timber. Bayern had worked the ball back to their No 9 and, when he shot, Timber’s arm was outstretched. Kane went through his mental processes. He could see that Raya did not retreat to his line for what felt like an age. Kane delayed even longer. He was in total control. He stuttered before banging the ball hard into the right-hand corner. Bayern were close to putting the game to bed. Konrad Laimer dragged narrowly past the far post when well-placed but it was Arsenal who produced the sucker punch. Eze was dangerous throughout. And when the opportunity knocked for Rice after a pass from the substitute Viktor Gyökeres, he made no mistake.

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“We’ve conquered before, we’re prepared for more,” read the pre-match display held up by the Holte End. Even if few would really be ready for a full-on repeat of 1982, when Aston Villa conquered Europe, the current vintage are doing an outwards impression of Champions League contenders. The small blot here was that they would have ended the night top of the 36-team table until Peter Christiansen, with an acrobatic volley awarded by the video assistant referee, scored a consolation for Viking that the Norwegian champions’ second-half display merited. By then Ross Barkley and Emiliano Buendía had, in a first half of near-embarrassing dominance from Villa, virtually guaranteed the result before Henrik Heggheim’s own goal had Villa briefly looking down on the entire continent. Viking could reflect on another mini-milestone in a first visit to Premier League opposition since 2002, when they were beaten by Chelsea at Stamford Bridge before famously overcoming the odds in the return fixture, progressing to the second round of the Uefa Cup. They have largely been consigned to the wilderness since but the Norwegian champions, still pulsing with momentum after ending a 34-year wait for the title, had already shown they were a respectable proposition in the Champions League. Last week’s 3-3 draw with Bayern Munich had been richly deserved, even if Michael Olise’s red card had helped them over the line. Nonetheless this was expected to be a procedural affair for Villa, who had backed up the thrashing of Fenerbahce by purring to victory at Newcastle. Emery tasked the 18-year-old Ibrahim Mbaye with replicating the impact of Johan Manzambi, slightly injured, on the left. Pau Torres, Ross Barkley and John McGinn were other beneficiaries of the manager’s rotation. McGinn should have recorded an assist within four minutes but Nicolas Jackson, meeting his chipped cross unmarked, could only head into Arild Østbø’s arms. Three minutes later an almost identical chance for the centre-forward, this time laid on from the left by Buendía, brought the same result. Perhaps Viking, supported loudly by their contingent adjacent to Østbø’s goal, had happened upon one of Jackson’s less polished days. He was sharper in teeing up McGinn for a blocked effort in the 15th minute and there was a sense, despite a lack of genuine rhythm against opponents happy to sit in, that Villa would make an opportunity count soon enough. They almost managed it with a stroke of luck when a cross by João Gomes, the makeshift right-back, deflected on to the bar. It bred a more conventional opener when, from the second of two corners that followed, Mbaye delivered a left-sided inswinger and Barkley leapt highest to plant a firm header across Østbø at the near post. It was unclear whether Viking would be equipped to offer a response. The match was almost put beyond them immediately when Østbø parried from Alysson and, from the rebound, Buendía looped a header wide of the vacant goal. Just after the half-hour Buendía, completely free, charged on to a clever McGinn corner but allowed a save when Villa’s second seemed inevitable. In the event, it came soon enough. This time Buendía made no mistake after VAR suggested Alysson, tumbling after running into a penalty-box thicket, had been felled unnecessarily by the Viking captain, Zlatko Tripic. The spot-kick was awarded and converted after a review. That was surely that; Viking had barely offered a flicker of attacking threat. Corners won either side of the interval at least gave Villa something to defend. The richly promising midfielder Tobias Moi warmed Zion Suzuki’s midriff after half-time in a reminder the hosts had work to complete. Moi caused a bigger flutter when a goalbound sidefooter was blocked and Viking, cajoled by their joint managers Bjarte Lunde Aarsheim and Morten Jensen, looked a considerably more assertive proposition now. Villa could, in turn, benefit from space left in behind. Alysson found some and, holding off his man, flashed an angled effort just wide. Suzuki, now seeing semi-regular involvement, beat away a drive from Tripic as the hour mark passed but the rangy Alysson’s next escape down the right would end any faint Viking hopes. He had left Jesper Daland trailing and his attempted centre clipped Heggheim, who was chasing back to recover, and gave Østbø no chance. Jackson, still searching for his own cutting edge, blasted a decent opening over before seeing his name held up as Emery began working through his bench. One of the replacements, Alejandro Garnacho, saw an effort saved but Christiansen’s excellent finish would give Viking a lasting memory.

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PSG, pet project of the state of Qatar, expresses the dualism of the city, a place of deprivation where the centre is perfect Those who sought to bring down the Republic will have to answer for it. Tell you who would have loved this? Who would have been utterly engrossed scrolling the hashtag #Paris on Tuesday night as two things happened simultaneously, the harrowing of the Barcelona defence at the Parc des Princes, and the harrowing of Paris itself via tales of city-centre thuggery and end-of-days political doom‑mongering. The big man, Guy Debord himself. The Society of the Spectacle, you say? Actually, I think we’re past that now. Hold the society bit. We’ll just take the spectacle. The great Parisian Situationist philosopher wasn’t really one for managed fun. But it was impossible not to be bowled over by the extraordinary pre-match show for Paris Saint‑Germain versus Barcelona, Champions League Matchday Three. The wild pyrotechnics, the plumes of smoke, the full-wrap light show, the lime-green robo‑text spelling out every player’s name on the pitch. Although not the Barcelona names, sadly, for anyone with an unrealised desire to see the words “ANTHONY GORDON” projected in vast letters for the delight of a shrieking crowd. Admittedly, the Halloween‑themed tifo banner showing a masked Paris Saint-Germain serial killer-type literally butchering the Barcelona badge to death with his bloodied chainsaw was perhaps a bit much. As were the Barça Puta signs, which are now reportedly the subject of a complaint to Uefa. But it was a wild and all‑consuming spectacle, annihilating every other impulse in your head to a green thought in a green shade. And in the process capturing the profound sense of cognitive dissonance in the city. Just walking around the streets of central Paris earlier in the day generated its own mild whiplash. On the face of it this was still the same city of flâneurs and tourists and everyday bistro business, and not, repeat not, a civil war drama or some kind of emergent military caliphate. But the sense of dread was also tangible. You still got the occasional crunch of glass underfoot. Here and there charred bikes and scooters had been politely piled to one side. Even close to the Parc, away from the main hotspots, shopkeepers could be seen emerging warily into their doorways at the sound of a police siren. By Tuesday night, a total of 2,513 people had been taken into police custody after the events of the weekend. At least 420 rental bikes had been destroyed or maimed. Liberated high-value retail goods were already being sold on Vinted, a commendable show of entrepreneurial energy from the maligned younger generation. Not that you’d suspect these two worlds had any kind of overlap, lost in the booming triumphalism around PSG’s 4–2 win, one of the most beautifully luminous football matches you’re ever likely to see. Or indeed reading the coverage of an event that seems to have been treated in France like its own clear, clean space, floating above the flames, all the chat about the brilliance of Monsieur Dynamite, Désiré Doué, the wonderful television audiences on Canal+ TV, the whole of European football “kneeling before the machine” (are we sure this isn’t to do with anarchic rejection of social control?). “ Paris est insubmersible !” was the headline in Le Parisien. But is it? Remember when football used to reflect the world? Or just provide clues, a commentary, some kind of metaphor? This is no longer the case. At a time when even the most thunderous of commentators is struggling to summarise all this in suitably trite and damning terms, it was hard to avoid the feeling Paris Saint-Germain, the pet power football project of the state of Qatar, expresses this dualism perfectly. Sometimes you just have to let football tell you things. “People who want to cause trouble in the city centres next Saturday will be prevented,” Emmanuel Macron announced on Tuesday evening, speaking, as it happens, from Doha, where he met Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, ultimate owner of PSG. Macron is said to be considering deploying the French military to keep the peace on the streets before the next planned protests, although even here he may have to ask Qatar’s permission if he wants to deploy any of the French troops currently deployed working its missile systems, or embedded in the Doha security services. The key event Macron is tooling up for is this Saturday night, 24 October, the date the gilets jaunes social media feed has set for an even greater swell of disorder. And again this will be football adjacent, with PSG playing Lyon at home on Sunday, a top‑of‑the-table capital‑city clash played out against whatever wreckage is left, however many thousands of Dot bikes are savaged, whatever guerrilla skirmishes are still playing out in the Marais. What does this really have to do with football and the Ici C’est Paris brand appropriated by a state outreach project? Well, what are these demonstrations anyway? There have been many theories put forward as to what exactly is happening here, what is the spark, the kindling, the fire behind this disorder. School protests were the original line. Others have now roped in some kind of nebulous omni-cause, Instagram-activism, perhaps even a barbarian takeover, the decline of the west, savagery at the gates, of the type Donald Trump pretends to see. Do you need a single reason? Take a look around. Modern life is pretty alarming on a minute‑to‑minute basis. Disaffection, alienation, a sense of being transformed in real time into a passive economic consumer unit, a set of eyeballs, an avatar of consumption. French youth unemployment is close to 20%. Robots nobody wants are being lined up to take jobs that don’t exist. Why don’t these young people want to join a youth club? Why don’t they sign up for the Liberal Democrats? Why are they enjoying empowered disorder? Maybe because nothing is yours around here, not even the things thrust into your brain as digital distractions. So why not grab something when you can? Debord would have called this “a vicious circle of isolation”, lonely crowd, technologies based on isolation. On the other hand, what is PSG in Paris, other than the perfect expression of this? It often seems to surprise people that celebrations of PSG victories end up with riots and burnt-out cars. But Paris is both a beautiful and deeply dysfunctional city, a place of make‑believe and deprivation, where the centre is a perfect, performative relic, the suburbs shunted out to the ring roads, a life lived inside a box, noses pressed up against the glass, peering through your binoculars at the city of someone else’s love. Paris is the divide between overclass and churn expressed in a single city. It’s everything you might have had but never will. And PSG represent this like no other entity, a football club owned as an act of outreach by a staggeringly rich inherited monarchy, weaponised passion, borrowed culture, engineered spectacle, deeply cynical but also deeply seductive. Why are the Qataris splurging hundreds of millions into this project? Because they just really like high-pressing positional football? Qatar is the indentured labour state that employs Colin Kaepernick to promote its outreach projects. It will hymn its connections to the footballers of the banlieue , which is true and real and valuable, but not because of anything this political project wants or needs other than public relations. It is in its own way a perfect human lab experiment, synthesised beauty, collectivism, with a cold, cold hand at its heart. And this is why there weren’t two versions of Paris in evidence on Tuesday night, just the same one, the dark side and the shiny side, an engine of the same divisions, the same kind of violence, right down to the sight of kids in PSG training gear dodging the police or taunting the barricades at the Place de la République. And now we have Sunday night to come, more Ici C’est Paris , more PASSION. What kind of background will it be played out against? Does it matter under the lights? Will anyone notice? Le Monde has described these events as a very basic test of the republic, its ability to bend, to remain essentially itself, the state’s willingness to pit itself against its own people. Football, as ever, holds these answers already. PSG’s Qatari owners have spent the past 15 years flaunting this city like a global luxury brand, extending its reach, creating its own ideal of conspicuous consumption, spectacle, triumph, son et lumière , bread and roses. As ever, if you want to know how and why, football has the answers.

UEFA Champions League·3–1

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In the shadow of the Alps, a boat ride from George Clooney’s villa, Manchester United’s torrid season plunged into chaos and infighting just 11 games in. Michael Carrick’s status as United manager is now precarious because witnessed here by Lake Como was a humiliation of the three-time European champions by Cesc Fàbregas’s competition debutants. At the end about 200 of United’s 700 travelling fans remained. Carrick walked over to say sorry, raising his hands three or four times in supplication. But, markedly, he ignored his players, the manager later admitting to “anger” at what was witnessed. He was then embroiled in a wrangle with his captain after Bruno Fernandes stated “the staff” decided on a tactic not to press. Carrick’s riposte, deep in the stadium at the post-game media conference, was pithy. “We actually half-pressed man-to-man the second half and then conceded a goal from that,” he said. And so, after Lisandro Martínez called out Jason Wilcox last week following the 2-0 defeat at Atletico Madrid (for the director of football’s recruitment; the defender later apologised), we now have the spectacle of the manager and his captain at loggerheads. Whether the 45-year-old will be in place for the visit of Bournemouth on Sunday is the searing question because Carrick was unable to rouse his players when 1-0 down at half‑time after a dire start, and if he has a tactical plan this is a mystery. Carrick brushed away questions about quitting and fearing for his job, but the executive will surely discuss this. The manner of the defeat will be top of the agenda because by 57 minutes this was over: Como were 3-0 ahead, and Nico Paz had destroyed Carrick’s men with a scintillating display featuring two goals and the assist for Tasos Douvikas’s strike. When the Italian side attacked and defended it was as a unit drilled supremely by Fàbregas. Carrick, on this and the evidence of only two wins all term, is a coach struggling to match this. Como’s supremacy in the most famous victory of their 119 years came with only 62 total Champions League appearances by their players to United’s 242. Or, more simply, this was the Italians’ men against United’s boys at a sold-out Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia, where the visitors went down to a club whose tagline is “the most beautiful football in the most beautiful location”. For United, though, this was an ugly night in Lombardy. Disaster struck two minutes in. Carrick’s men snoozed, allowing a Paz curler from the right to beat Senne Lammens. This was a whole 60 seconds longer than Atlético were kept out, as United became the first English team to concede inside two minutes in consecutive major European matches. The opener came moments after Diogo Dalot spurned a simple opening to dizzy the hosts, so here was United, in microcosm, at each end of the pitch: a basic lack of quality. Mason Mount lined up alongside Andrey Santos in a midfield that had Matheus Cunha, Youri Tielemans and Bryan Mbeumo ahead, with Fernandes a false-ish 9. As Como hogged possession throughout, any United foray needed to threaten Jean Butez’s goal: Mbeumo’s corner from the right patently did not when failing to clear a first defender. After a near 24-hour deluge the rain finally stopped but Como’s blue wave continued relentlessly. United’s press was piecemeal, as Fernandes identified, maybe involving one or two, but never a group act. At the interval, Carrick had to earn his corn. In missing nine players because of injury, suspension or illness, there was mitigation. Matthijs de Ligt, partnering Harry Maguire in central defence, being thrown straight in for a first appearance in 325 days after a serious back injury illustrated Carrick’s straitened resources. Carrick’s move was to take off Cunha and Santos for Carlos Baleba and Amad Diallo in a reshuffle that took Tielemans into central midfield, Fernandes to No 10, and Mbeumo leading the line. The net result: Como’s second. Paz enjoyed a universe of time to thread in Douvikas, and he powered past Lammens. This was a mere four minutes into the second half and thoughts turned to the clock ticking on Carrick’s tenure, before Como scored twice more. First came Paz’s second, the Argentinian skating along the right and beating Lammens for 3-0. Then, on 76 minutes, Como waltzed through for a fourth time. Up rose Jacobo Ramón to head in Kaiki Bruno’s cross from the left and United’s disintegration was complete – Joshua Zirkzee’s stoppage-time goal not even a consolation. By the end Carrick seemed as broken as his team. Even if Carrick survives until Sunday, who knows how much longer he will remain after Bournemouth’s visit. He was let down in the summer market but at this club the manager usually pays, not the hierarchy.

UEFA Champions League·4–1

Matthijs de Ligt comes in for Manchester United, making his first appearance since November last year, as Michael Carrick makes four changes. Como make three changes, with Trevoh Chalobah missing out. Como: Butez; Yan Couto, Ramon, Kempf, Valle; Milla, Perrone; Da Cunha, Paz, Baturina; Douvikas. Subs: Ginelli, Sanchez, Caqueret, Dossena, Kaiki Bruno, Ricci, Smolcic, Liberali. Manchester United: Lammens; Dalot, Maguire, De Ligt, Mazraoui; Andrey Santos, Tielemans; Matheus Cunha, Bruno Fernandes, Mount; Mbeumo. Subs: Darlow, Heaton, Zirkzee, Diallo, Baleba, Thompson, Lacey, J Fletcher, T Fletcher, Amass, Kamason, Armer. Referee: Sven Jablonski (Germany).