Black Stars captain Andre Ayewcouldn’t hide his emotions as Marseille fans gave him a standing ovation during their impressive 5-1 win over Le Havre in the French Ligue 1 on Sunday, January 5, 2025.
Returning to the stadium where he spent five memorable seasons, Ayew was warmly celebrated by the home supporters, who showed their respect for the former Marseille star.
Despite Le Havre trailing 5-0 with 15 minutes to go, Ayew gave his team a glimmer of hope by scoring a late consolation goal. He delivered a brilliant header into the top corner with just five minutes left in the game.
Andre Ayew showed great respect by choosing not to celebrate his goal against his former club, Marseille, which earned him applause from the entire Stade Vélodrome.
The goal was a special moment for Ayew, as it was his first at the stadium in nearly 15 years. His last goal there came in May 2015 during his time with Marseille. It was also his first goal of the 2024/25 season after nine league appearances.
With just two minutes remaining,Ayew was substituted. As he left the field, the fans gave him another standing ovation, a touching gesture that moved the 35-year-old to tears.
Ayew spent five seasons at Marseille after joining from Lorient in 2009.
Over the course of his time at the club, he played over 160 matches in Ligue 1, scoring 44 goals and cementing his legendary status at the club.
French club Marseille are in advanced discussions to sign Tottenham and Denmark midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg. The 28-year-old is reportedly ready to leave north London and is valued at around £17 million.
Negotiations are ongoing regarding the payment terms, but both parties expect the deal to be finalized soon. Hojbjerg joined Tottenham in 2020 from Southampton in a £15 million transfer during Jose Mourinho’s tenure.
Last season, Hojbjerg made 39 appearances for Tottenham, though he only started in 10 matches as manager Ange Postecoglou preferred Yves Bissouma and Pape Matar Sarr in central midfield. With his contract set to expire in 2025, Hojbjerg will be available on a free transfer if new terms are not agreed upon.
Tottenham have bolstered their midfield this summer by signing Archie Gray from Leeds and Lucas Bergvall from Swedish club Djurgardens.
Marseille, under the leadership of former Brighton manager Roberto de Zerbi, have been actively recruiting new talent. They recently signed forward Mason Greenwood from Manchester United and midfielder Ismael Kone from Watford. The club is also reportedly interested in acquiring Arsenal striker Eddie Nketiah.
Olympique de Marseille has finalized the signing of forward Mason Greenwood from Manchester United in a transfer deal worth up to €31.6 million (£26.6 million).
The 22-year-old, who emerged from Manchester United’s youth academy, has committed to a contract with the French club that will keep him at Marseille until 2029.
Greenwood’s tenure at Manchester United saw its highs and lows. After making his debut in 2019 and demonstrating significant promise by scoring 35 goals in 129 appearances, his time with the club was abruptly interrupted in January 2022 due to serious legal issues. Charges of attempted rape and assault were dropped in February 2023.
During a loan spell at Getafe last season, Greenwood managed to rejuvenate his career, scoring 10 goals and providing six assists in 36 appearances. Following a six-month internal investigation into his conduct, Manchester United and Greenwood mutually agreed to part ways in August 2023.
The decision by Marseille to sign Greenwood has not been without controversy, drawing criticism from various quarters, including the mayor of Marseille, due to the sensitive nature of the allegations previously leveled against him.
Despite the backlash, Marseille proceeded with the transfer, aiming to strengthen their squad with Greenwood’s addition. Manchester United has secured a substantial sell-on clause as part of the deal, maintaining an interest in Greenwood’s future performance.
Greenwood’s first opportunity to play in England as a Marseille player could arise on August 3, when Marseille is set to face Sunderland in a pre-season friendly at Bradford City’s Valley Parade, due to renovations at Sunderland’s Stadium of Light.
Mason Greenwood is nearing a transfer to Marseille, as the Manchester United outcast heads to France for a medical examination.
According to journalist Fabrizio Romano, an agreement has been reached for Greenwood to join the Ligue 1 team on a permanent basis.
Marseille has scheduled a medical for the 22-year-old, who is expected to sign a five-year contract thereafter. Manchester United will receive €30 million (£25 million/$32.7 million) from the deal.
Greenwood’s departure will mark the end of his career at Old Trafford, giving him a fresh start in France.
Despite some resistance to the transfer, including Marseille’s mayor calling Greenwood a “disgrace” and urging the club not to proceed, manager Roberto De Zerbi has pledged to support Greenwood if the move goes through. Some fans have also opposed the transfer.
Last season, Greenwood made 36 appearances for Getafe in all competitions, netting 10 goals and providing six assists.
His performances, despite the surrounding controversy, attracted interest from both Lazio and Marseille.
Greenwood is expected to clear the standard medical tests and meet new head coachRoberto De Zerbias he finalizes the deal. Once completed, Greenwood will begin preparations for the new season with Marseille.
The mayor of Marseille has advised Olympique de Marseille against signing Mason Greenwood from Manchester United, citing the forward’s alleged past behavior as “unspeakable.”
Sources informed ESPN that the clubs have reached a permanent transfer agreement for the 22-year-old, who spent the previous season on loan at Getafe.
Greenwood has not played for Manchester United since his suspension in January 2022, following his arrest on suspicion of rape and assault.
Greater Manchester Police confirmed that the case involved “social media images and videos posted by a woman reporting incidents of physical violence.”
“Greenwood’s behaviour is unspeakable and unacceptable,” Marseille Mayor Benoît Payan told French radio station RMC on Tuesday. “Hitting his wife … I saw images that deeply shocked me. Massacring his wife in this way is unbecoming of a man, and he cannot have his place on this team.
“The values of OM and Marseille are anything but that in fact. It’s a shame. I will ask [Marseille president] Pablo Longoria not to recruit Greenwood. I don’t want my club to be covered with the shame of someone who hits his wife.“
Everton have secured Senegal forward Iliman Ndiaye from Marseille on a five-year deal.
The Toffees paid an undisclosed fee for the 24-year-old, who transferred to Marseille from Sheffield United last summer.
Ndiaye netted four goals in 46 appearances last season, contributing to the French club’s run to the Europa League semi-finals.
“He is still young but has experience at European and international level and we feel he will be a really positive addition to our squad,” said Everton manager Sean Dyche.
Sheffield United “reluctantly accepted” a reported £20 million offer for Ndiaye, following his impressive performance of 14 goals and 11 assists that helped secure their promotion from the Championship in the 2022-23 season.
The Blades had signed Ndiaye from non-league side Boreham Wood in 2019.
The France-born forward, who spent time in the Marseille academy, later moved to Senegal, his father’s homeland.
Ndiaye becomes Everton’s third summer signing, joining after winger Jack Harrison, who returned on a season-long loan from Leeds, and central midfielder Tim Iroegbunam, who made a permanent move from Aston Villa.
“The main reasons I wanted to join were how big the club is, its history and the part I can play in helping the team in the forward direction it is going in,” said Ndiaye, who has made 20 international appearances.
“I’m so excited. I’ll be very proud to be part of the last season to play at Goodison Park, too.”
Everton’s director of football Kevin Thelwell said: “Iliman is a player we have admired for a long time and we are delighted to bring a much sought-after player of his quality to Everton.
Marseille has parted ways with manager Gennaro Gattuso after his five-month tenure, according to a source familiar with the decision, reported by The Associated Press on Monday.
Jean-Louis Grasset, the former assistant coach at Paris Saint-Germain, who returned from Ivory Coastduring the Africa Cup of Nations, is set to assume managerial duties at Marseille until the conclusion of the season, as per a source cited by ESPN.
Gattuso’s dismissal came on the heels of Marseille’s 1-0 defeat to 10-man Brest in the league, a loss that dealt a blow to the club’s aspirations of securing a European competition berth for the following season.
“We’ve hit rock bottom,” Gattuso told a postmatch news conference after Sunday’s defeat. “When you hit rock bottom, you have to take responsibility. It’s my responsibility. There is nothing else to say. The table? The truth is that we’re going to have to start looking behind us. We can no longer speak about Europe. We just need to take the necessary points to be calm in the standings.”
Marseille and Gattuso are currently engaged in legal proceedings to finalise their separation, with the club already searching for a successor, as per the individual familiar with the matter, speaking anonymously due to the club’s yet-to-be-announced confirmation of Gattuso’s departure.
French government strongly condemned the weekend’s violence near the Marseille stadium, describing it as “disgusting.” They reported that nine individuals were arrested following an attack on Lyon’s bus and an injury to their manager, Fabio Grosso.
The scheduled Ligue 1 match between the long-standing rival teams, who have a history of fan violence, had to be cancelled.
During the incident, Lyon’s manager, Fabio Grosso, was left with injuries, bloodied and disoriented as shards of glass struck him in the face and scalp when rocks were thrown at the team’s bus.
“We have seen just about everything you would not want to see,” Sports Minister Amelie Oudea-Castera told France 2 TV on Monday, adding that fans had also allegedly been chanting anti-gay and racist slurs inside Marseille’s Stade Velodrome.
“It was distressing, revolting, and disgusting.” Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin confirmed that nine individuals have been apprehended thus far in relation to the incident.
“I hope the highest possible prison sentences will be handed out to those fans who ruined the party for everyone,” he added on BFM TV.
Potential sanctions on the clubs would depend on the football authorities, he said.
Darmanin deniedthat authorities had failed to prepare for the risk, saying 500 police officers were present.
FourParis Saint-Germain players may face disciplinary action for reportedly engaging in an offensive chant directed at Marseille fans following their Classique victory on Sunday.
Ousmane Dembele, Randal Kolo Muani, Achraf Hakimi, and Layvin Kurzawa are alleged to have shouted derogatory remarks while celebrating their 4-0 win, saying, “Marseillais, go f*ck your mothers.”
A video shared on social media by Free Ligue 1 shows the four players chanting and jumping, while the rest of the PSG squad abstained from joining in.
In addition, PSG fans could also be subject to sanctions for alleged homophobic chants directed at the visiting team during the match.
According to L’Equipe, this offensive song persisted for nearly 15 minutes and falls within the French Football Association’s definition of discriminatory behaviour.
Olivier Klein, the inter-ministerial delegate for the fight against racism, anti-Semitism, and anti-LGBT hatred (DILCRAH), criticised both PSG and the FA for these incidents.
In a social media post, Klein said he was “very shocked by the unbearable homophobic chants heard at the Parc des Princes during [the game]”.
The government official said he will enter into discussions with the club and the French FA and plans to take legal action if possible.
The minister of sports and the Olympics, Amelie Oudea-Castea, later revealed that she has coordinated France’s discriminatory commission, who are expected to open an investigation into the chants.
PSG released a statement in response, pledging to “step up its prevention work in the fight against homophobia, and will be meeting all its partners on this vital issue in the coming days”.
She was first declared brain-dead after someone shot at her apartment with a Kalashnikov gun on Sunday night. She lived there with her mother in the Saint-Thys neighborhood.
She went to the hospital because she had a very bad injury on her head and she was in a lot of danger. She passed away on Tuesday morning, according to Marseille prosecutor Dominique Laurens.
The shooting happened near a pharmacy that the police know is a place where drugs are sold. The prosecutor said this in a statement.
The police found 23 bullet casings from a specific type of gun called a Kalashnikov at the place where everything happened. Ms Laurens said that after the gunshots started, the woman was hit by another bullet that was shot into the air without aiming.
According to the prosecutor, three more apartments in the building were also shot at, but none of the people living in those apartments were hurt.
Frédérique Camilleri, the police chief for the Bouches-du-Rhône department which includes Marseille, stated that drug gangs are using weapons of war without any control in order to gain control over new areas.
More police were being sent to the area, she said.
French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin called the incident a terrible event and assured police that they would receive extra help.
He opened a new building for France’s top police unit, Raid, in Marseille. Marseille has a long history of fighting and crime caused by drug gangs competing for control of certain areas.
However, the recent attacks are happening when the Mediterranean port city is already busy with hosting events for the Rugby World Cup and welcoming Pope Francis in September.
A man who was 55 years old was killed by a gunshot on Monday evening. This happened in a district located in the poor northern part of the city, which is known for drug dealing. The people who are thought to have committed the shooting were two individuals on a motorcycle.
There are two groups called Yoda and DZ Mafia that are believed to be responsible for many shootings in the northern parts of Marseille, especially in the tall buildings area known as La Paternelle.
According to the Marseille prosecutor’s office, there have been over 90 murders or attempted murders related to drug trafficking in France’s second largest city this year. Out of these incidents, 43 people have lost their lives and 109 others have been injured.
Smaller cities are also getting involved in the drug conflict more and more.
In the city of Nîmes, two people, one 18 years old and one 10 years old, were killed recently. The attacks were connected to the drug business.
A French policeman who is suspected of opening fire while Marseille was experiencing riots a month ago has admitted shooting a 22-year-old man in the head with a rubber bullet.
Hedi, an assistant restaurant manager, suffered severe injuries and disfigurement as a result of the “flash ball”.
Since the officer has been detained for weeks, colleagues in Marseille and elsewhere have expressed outrage.
On Thursday, the public defender requested that the court retain him in custody.
The officer’s attorney has filed an appeal for his release, but the prosecutor said that it was necessary to consider the possibility of “fraudulent collusion” among coworkers.
The suspect is one of four police officers who are being investigated for their alleged involvement in riots that broke out across France at the beginning of July.
After a 17-year-old named Nahel was fatally shot by a police during a traffic stop in Nanterre, close to Paris, they broke out.
Hedi, a North African immigrant who was hit in the head but survived, suffered headaches, lost vision in his left eye, and had to walk with a helmet on. He also lost a portion of his skull.
The officer, known only as Christophe, said in a statement to the court in Aix-en-Provence that he made the decision to fire once with his LBD launcher when he noticed two people in hood.
When asked by his attorney if Hedi was hit by the shot, the officer responded, “There’s no proof.”
Although the officer’s version was wholly nonsensical, Hedi’s attorney Jacques Preziosi later said that “finally we have a confession that he fired the LBD… until now everyone denied it.”
Olivier Véran, a government spokesman, called Hedi earlier this week to wish him well.
The 22-year-old has described to French media how he met his friend Lilian after finishing work at a restaurant early on July 2. Four members of a police anti-crime brigade (BAC) confronted them as they were walking along the riot’s edge.
We wished the officers a good night but soon discovered they were agitated and uninterested in speaking.
Hedi was shot in the head and collapsed on the ground while his friend was able to escape. He recalls being tortured for as long as five minutes while being dragged around the ground and beaten: “I felt something enormous in my skull that was burning me.”
One of the four police officers engaged in the Marseille incident was remanded by magistrates, which was a rare decision that has infuriated other cops.
In response to his imprisonment, an estimated 5% of officers have either used their sick days or worked on call.
According to Frédéric Veaux, the national police chief, cops shouldn’t be regarded like criminals or thugs.
“A police officer has no place in prison before an eventual trial, even if he may have committed faults or grave error in his work,” he stated.
While acknowledging the strong feelings among officers, President Emmanuel Macron declared that “no one in the Republic is above the law.”
The incident has once again brought attention to French police’s controversial use of “flash-ball” rubber bullets, which have resulted in numerous fatalities and life-altering injuries in recent years.
Mohamed Bendriss, 27, was shot in the chest during the protests in Marseille the same evening that Hedi was hurt. He had a heart arrest and passed away.
Although two marks on the scooter delivery driver’s chest and thigh that are consistent with the impact of a “flash ball” were discovered, prosecutors are still looking into whether an LBD was to blame for his demise.
Abdelkarim, his cousin, may lose one of his eyesight after being struck in the eye the previous evening.
During a protest in Nantes in April against the government’s pension reforms, a man lost a testicle.
As the visitors sprinted to a 2-0 halftime lead, Mbappe and Messi traded assists. Messi’s tap-in gave him 700 goals in senior football for Barcelona and PSG.
The pair saved their best for last, though, as Mbappe scored PSG’s 200th goal on a memorable night for Christophe Galtier’s team by volleying in Messi’s dinked pass to join Edinson Cavani in the feat.
The outcome put PSG eight points ahead of Marseille in the Ligue 1 standings, relieving Galtier of some of the pressure that had been mounting due to their lacklustre start to 2023.
200 – Kylian Mbappé has scored 200 goals for Paris in all competitions, matching Edinson Cavani’s record. History. #OMPSGpic.twitter.com/Tnee7KVFGm
PSG suffered an early setback when a tearful Presnel Kimpembe was carried off injured, but they hit the front 25 minutes in as Messi found space to send Mbappe through on goal, with the striker applying an unerring finish.
Red Devils march on to rd of 16 – Mangers reaction
Mbappe repaid the favour four minutes later, combining with Nuno Mendes on the break before teeing Messi up for a tap-in with a pinpoint low cross.
Messi should have had a second when he somehow blazed over from just six yards out, before Marquinhos fired narrowly wide of the bottom-left corner after beating the hosts’ offside trap.
Mbappe nodded Vitinha’s cross narrowly wide of the left-hand post six minutes after the restart, but the France star had his landmark goal four minutes later.
A flowing move ended with Messi scooping a wonderful ball into the path of Mbappe, who lashed a left-footed volley beyond Pau Lopez to effectively end the contest.
Alexis Sanchez and Marseille’s Vitinha went close to pulling one back, but Gianluigi Donnarumma denied both with sharp saves to preserve PSG’s clean sheet.
In memory of the late Brazilian legend, Edson Arantes do Nascimento, we provide a throwback to former Black Stars player Abedi Pele meeting Pele.
Abedi Pele was given the nickname “Pelé” due to his ability in football, which evoked comparisons to the Brazilian legend Pele.
Abedi began his career in Europe with French side Chamois Niort, subsequently joining Marseille before transferring to Lille on loan.
At club level, he was a key figure in Marseille’s dominance of the French league, resulting in four league championships and two European Cup finals appearances.
He won the France Football African Player of the Year Award three consecutive years, was the inaugural winner of the BBC African Sports Star of the Year in 1992, and the corresponding Confederation of African Football award twice.
Abedi made 73 appearances for the Black Stars of Ghana and scored 19 goals.
The ‘real Pele’
With 643 goals in 659 appearances for Santos, Pele is the club’s all-time leading scorer. He led Santos to the Copa Libertadores in 1962 and 1963, as well as the Intercontinental Cup in 1962 and 1963.
Pelé’s debut international encounter was a 2-1 loss to Argentina on July 7, 1957, at the Maracana. He scored his first goal for Brazil in the game when he was 16 years and nine months old.
The 18th of July, 1971, saw Pelé play in his final international game in Rio de Janeiro against Yugoslavia.
Edson Arantes do Nascimento, better known as World Pelé on the local scene visited Ghana on May 8, 1971.
Marseille head coach Igor Tudor revealed his players could not hear his instructions amid the last-gasp chaos that cost them a Europa League spot in Tuesday’s 2-1 Champions League loss to Tottenham.
The nine-time French champions were set to qualify for Europe’s second tier via third spot in Group D with scores locked at 1-1 entering stoppage time, with Sporting CP trailing 2-1 against Eintracht Frankfurt in the other game.
But Marseille ambitiously pushed forward chasing a winner, which would have seen them move above Spurs and advance to the Champions League last-16, rather than conserve third spot.
That move backfired as their backline was badly exposed when Tottenhambroke clear in the 95th minute with Harry Kane laying off for Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s winner, knocking Marseille out of Europe with the final kick of the game.
Tudor was seen running on to the field and attempting to bark orders at his players in the moments prior to the goal.
“They didn’t hear, because there was so much noise,” Tudor told RMC Sport.
“I told them to stay back, not to push on, but they didn’t hear. There was confusion in the last minute. It wasn’t about results, it was about telling them to stay put, not to go all up.”
OM defender Chancel Mbemba, who had put the hosts ahead before half-time, labelled the situation as a “lack of communication”.
“On the field, we didn’t know, but on the bench, people knew,” he said.
“It’s a lack of communication. We have the desire to push until the end, but we didn’t know. It’s a mistake.”
Goals from Clement Lenglet and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg saw Tottenham come from behind to advance to the Champions League knockout stages with a 2-1 victory at Marseille on Tuesday.
Spurs knew a point in France would be enough to send them through, but Chancel Mbemba’s powerful strike put them a goal down at half-time.
However, Lenglet nodded home from Ivan Perisic’s set-piece shortly after the break before Hojbjerg smashed home in injury time to seal Spurs’ place in the next round.
The victory means Spurs finish as Group D winners as they reach the knockout stages of the competition for the first time since 2019-20.
The hosts started well in front of their vociferous fans, Alexis Sanchez nearly giving them an early lead with a header that flew just past the post before Hugo Lloris punched away a fierce drive from the former Arsenal forward.
Largely pinned back by the hosts, Spurs were dealt another blow when Son Heung-min was forced off with a head injury, before Lloris was needed again to beat away a Jordan Veretout half-volley.
Mbemba gave Marseille the advantage in first-half injury time with a towering header into the bottom left corner, giving Lloris no chance as Spurs’ marking left a lot to be desired.
5 – Tottenham have now qualified for the knockout rounds in all but one of their six UEFA Champions League campaigns (2010-11, 2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-20 & 2022-23). Cleared. pic.twitter.com/ideH1koI1B
Spurs came out of the interval firing, and they were level in the 54th minute when Lenglet nodded Perisic’s excellent free-kick delivery into the back of the net.
Amine Harit’s long-range effort fizzed just over the crossbar as the French side pushed for a winner that would have sent them through, though Hojbjerg rattled the woodwork at the other end.
Sead Kolasinac missed a great opportunity when he headed wide late on, and Hojbjerg’s powerful injury-time finish off the post as Spurs countered put his side through as group winners.
What does it mean? Spurs battle back from difficult first half
Marseille were full value for their lead at the break. Buoyed by their loud home support, they had seven shots to Spurs’ two in the first half as the English side held just 30.5 per cent of the possession in the opening 45 minutes.
Antonio Conte’s side desperately needed to improve after the break, and they certainly did that with an impressive second-half spell that saw Lenglet equalise. They defended resolutely, before Hojbjerg won the game with his right-footed finish in the dying seconds.
Lenglet proves his worth at both ends
Lenglet’s crucial header to level the game will get the headlines, but his defensive performance might have been just as impressive.
The former Barcelona centre-back finished with the joint-most tackles (four) and clearances (four) for his team, while also winning six of his eight duels.
Son’s injury a big worry
While Tottenham will be delighted with their hard-fought victory, it was not all positive news as star player Son was forced off with a head injury.
In obvious discomfort as he was helped off the field, the incident will spark fears over his World Cup availability for South Korea, with their opening match against Uruguay in just 23 days.
What’s next?
Both teams are back in domestic action on Sunday, with Spurs hosting Liverpool while Marseille will play Lyon.
Christophe Galtier and Marco Verratti insisted there are no problems in the Paris Saint-Germain dressing room, after fresh speculation linked Kylian Mbappe with a move away from the Ligue 1 giants.
Despite signing a new contract with PSG in May, newspaper claims from Spain in the past week suggested Mbappe wanted to get away from the Parc des Princes.
The France international, who has appeared far from content at times this season, denied after Sunday’s 1-0 win over Marseille that he has asked to leave, and said he was in fact “very happy” in Paris.
Mbappe played the full 90 minutes of the Marseille game.
Head coach Galtier, who fumed at reporters on Friday after rumours of unrest within the squad, insisted the situation was under control.
“What’s going on with Kylian? I said at a press conference that I was very honest, and I am very honest, even if some people make me look like I am not,” the head coach told Amazon Prime Video.
“Nothing happens with Kylian. Obviously, I heard Kylian and heard not his discomfort, but the fact of really being in his preferred position, and that’s also why we looked for a different system.
“But believe me that everything is going well in the dressing room. I have players who have a big character and strong personalities, but who are very great professionals.”
Midfielder Verratti concurred with the PSG boss that there was no unrest in the ranks, after the reigning Ligue 1 champions ended a run of three successive draws across all competitions thanks to Neymar’s strike in first-half stoppage time.
“Everything’s fine,” said Italy international Verratti, who became the first outfield player to appear 20 times in the Classique – a tally only bettered overall by former Marseille goalkeeper Steve Mandanda (30).
“Sometimes in Paris, a small thing passes for a big thing, but we are used to it. We do a little abstraction, we try to be focused on the field. We play every three days, we don’t have time to think about these things.
“We knew it would be a battle [against Marseille]. It was a tough game, which comes after three draws; it was a game to win absolutely.
“We could also score a second goal. We had chances, and it would have been important not to suffer until the last minute. We managed to win, we are happy.”
Christophe Galtier angrily articulated his frustration about the latest Kylian Mbappe transfer speculation as the Paris Saint-Germain boss questioned why his point of view is never believed.
In his first season with PSG, Galtier has had to cope with reports and rumours of unrest within his squad, and this week saw newspaper claims from Spain that Mbappe is once again thinking about a future away from Paris.
That seemed improbable when the France striker signed a new contract in May, having been urged to do so by no less an authority than France’s president, Emmanuel Macron.
The 23-year-old turned his back on a possible free transfer to Real Madrid, but he has at times appeared unhappy this season, and now there are suggestions he would welcome a move away from PSG as soon as January.
Galtier has already scoffed at such talk, and he has claimed Mbappe’s focus is where it should be, on delivering results for the French champions.
Those results have tailed off at an unfortunate time, with a pair of Champions League draws against Benfica coming either side of a 0-0 stalemate with Ligue 1 strugglers Reims.
Ahead of Sunday’s Classique against Marseille, Galtier was asked how he coped with the incessant news cycle, the focus on the team, and situations such as that with Mbappe.
“You have to have experience and be a certain age to be able to manage these things,” he said, before launching into a tirade about media coverage.
“What I’d like to say is you never speak about football. You ask me lots of questions. I’m not talking about you individually, but you, the media.
“I’ve been here many times as the Paris Saint-Germain coach and I have a feeling that match after match, press conference after press conference, we have to speak for 10 or 15 minutes and for maybe one minute about football. It is topics away from football.
“Whatever I say to you, you don’t believe me, because you write the opposite and you say the opposite. Whether it is the written press, the radio, television, you say the opposite of what I say.
“So when I say that this [player] is well, they get on well, they are serious, they are professional, they have solidarity, it interests nobody. Other things are written.
“I am not here to comment on rumours. To answer your question about Kylian Mbappe, there is a rumour that came out before the game [against Benfica on Tuesday]. He had the best answer. He was named man of the match. He played well, he put in a great performance and showed solidarity.
“As for what is happening away from that, you have the right to talk about other things, but when you ask me questions I answer honestly. I have lots of faults, but I am very honest. When I say it, it is true. But when I say those things, nothing is written in the press, and you often see the opposite anyway.
“So to answer about Kylian Mbappe, have I spoken to him regarding the rumour, no.
“I am very proud to be the coach of Paris Saint-Germain and to be in charge of these players. Please, write that and let’s talk about football.”
Talking about football does not always make for comfortable reading either. Galtier has won just four of his 25 encounters as a coach against Marseille in Ligue 1 (D10 L11), a 16 per cent win-rate, and he only has a worse such ratio against Auxerre (D4 L1 in 5 games).
Previous clashes have been during his time in charge of Saint-Etienne, Lille and Nice, however.
As PSG boss, the expectations are different, and the leaders will be expected to get the better of a side who sit third heading into the weekend.
Galtier said PSG have been in a “very intense” spell of games, but he recognised the same applies for Marseille, who are also involved in the Champions League.
Sergio Ramos misses out through suspension this week after his red card against Reims, but Lionel Messi should be back from a calf injury.
Messi trained on Friday and barring any problems on Saturday he will be in Galtier’s squad.
“It’s the match that everyone looks forward to in the French league,” said Galtier. “When I wasn’t the Paris Saint-Germain coach, I was always excited to watch it. It is the Classique. Everybody is excited about it.”
Galtier, who hails from Marseille, was adamant the vibe in the PSG dressing room is one of unity rather than division.
“Of course we don’t all kiss each other every day, but things are going much better than elsewhere,” he said.
“It is going much better than you might write or imagine. Kylian Mbappe is doing very well.”
Bayern Munich routinely bring the entertainment in the German Bundesliga, and they have some huge games in September and October that you won’t want to miss. Harry Langer/DeFodi Images via Getty Images
The American football season is easy by comparison. Your team has either 12 or 17 games — depending on if you most closely follow college football or the NFL — and at a glance you can piece together the season’s hardest stretches, most important games, et cetera. Whether you’re a writer or a fan, you can make sense of the calendar. You can craft a battle plan of sorts.
The European football season, on the other hand, is endless. It starts before the American football season and ends months after it. When Tottenham Hotspur’s Antonio Conte and Chelsea’s Thomas Tuchel nearly came to blows after a wild and contentious derby match, there was no need to get excited and check the calendar for when the rematch occurs: It’s six months from now! Many things (including an entire World Cup) will happen between now and then!
Neither the matches nor the narrative machinations ever stop. Somehow, the transfer rumors never stop either. In other words, it’s a lot more difficult to craft a plan for the season, but you can at least create a set of guidelines to follow from week to week to get the most enjoyment out of the season. So, here are mine.
Each week I try to keep up with not only the biggest match-ups but also the most bitter match-ups, the most interesting players and the games involving teams that are either particularly fun, particularly weird or both. Here are the guiding principles I’m following this season.
Make sure your internal calendar doesn’t stop with the major rivalries
Each week indeed starts with some fence posts, so consider this a loose guide for the biggest and/or most intense matches of each week between now and the World Cup. It’s hard to pin particularly huge stakes to single games this early in a long season, but these matches will deliver plenty of bang regardless of the stakes.
Weekend of August 19-21: Liverpool at Manchester United (Aug. 22), AC Milan at Atalanta, PSG at Lille. The big match comes on Monday night, as Manchester United attempts to arrest its ridiculous and existentially awful start, but any Milan trip to Bergamo produces a wild atmosphere while PSG vs. Lille is a battle of the last two Ligue 1 champs.
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Weekend of August 26-28: Roma at Juventus, Marseille at Nice, Borussia Monchengladbach at Bayern Munich. Gladbach is Bayern’s perpetual bogey team — one Bayern win in their last five meetings — and we’ll get a great look at what Roma has to offer this weekend. But honestly, Nice vs. Marseille might be the headliner. Few matchups in Europe are more intense, for better or worse.
Weekend of September 2-4: Arsenal at Manchester United, Inter Milan at AC Milan, Barcelona at Sevilla. LaLiga’s slate is back-loaded a bit, with a lot of the biggest derbies of the first half of the season coming in January but Barca vs. Sevilla should deliver, and the Milan Derby always delivers.
– ESPN+ Viewer’s Guide: Bundesliga, LaLiga and more all season
Weekend of September 9-11: Tottenham Hotspur at Manchester City, Borussia Dortmund at RB Leipzig, Nottingham Forest at Leeds United (Sept. 12). Spurs vs. City and BVB vs. RBL are easy enough to explain, but if you want atmosphere, tune into the first Forest vs. Leeds Premier League match since 1999 and turn the volume up loud.
Weekend of September 16-18: Real Madrid at Atletico Madrid, Schalke 04 at Borussia Dortmund, Leeds United at Manchester United. Two of the most famous derbies in Europe plus, in Leeds vs. United, one of the most underrated (and, for most of the 2000s, dormant)? Yes, please.
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Weekend of October 7-9: Bayern Munich at Borussia Dortmund, Liverpool at Arsenal, Koln at Borussia Mönchengladbach, Juventus at AC Milan, Lens at Lille, Nantes at Rennes. Bayern vs. Dortmund has become the Bundesliga’s marquee match given that both teams end up at the top of the table, but Koln vs. Gladbach could be even more intense. We’ve got a couple of huge, regional French rivalries this weekend, too.
Weekend of October 14-16: Barcelona at Real Madrid, Manchester City at Liverpool, Juventus at Torino, Marseille at PSG. El Clasico and City vs. Liverpool in the same weekend? That automatically qualifies this as the biggest weekend of the early season.
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Weekend of October 21-23: Manchester United at Chelsea, Napoli at Roma, Sevilla at Real Madrid. By now, we should understand the stakes of the Serie A title race and whether Napoli or Roma, though intense, might or might not be a part of that. (We’ll also know what the stakes of United’s season are by now, too.)
Weekend of October 28-30: This is the one weekend of the early season that really doesn’t boast an obvious bellcow match.
Weekend of November 4-6: Arsenal at Chelsea, Sevilla at Real Betis, Bayer Leverkusen at Köln (Nov. 8), Lazio at Roma, Liverpool at Tottenham Hotspur, Inter Milan at Juventus, Lyon at Marseille. We finish up the pre-World Cup portion of the season with an absolutely massive set of matches. Goodness.
Understand the tightest races
It is folly to assign title significance to early matches: The season’s just too long, and we’ll wear ourselves out if we pay too much attention to the table too early. But we also head into each season with an understanding of which races might be tighter than others. It doesn’t hurt to acknowledge that.
AC Milan won Serie A last season in dramatic fashion last year over their cross-town rivals, Inter, and this year’s battle should prove to be just as entertaining from start to finish. Nicola Campo/LightRocket via Getty Images
The Italian Serie A title (the Scudetto). Juventus’ nearly decade-long title streak ended a couple of years ago and Serie A’s balance of power has been pretty blurry since. That’s bad for fans of the Old Lady, but it’s great for us. Inter and AC Milan have split the last two titles, Juve have added some fun, creative pieces this offseason, and both Napoli and Roma bring quite a bit of optimism into the 2022-23 campaign. Inter is the betting favorite at the moment, but no major title race could feature more teams or more plot twists.
Third and fourth place in the Premier League. For now, we’ll ignore Liverpool’s slow start (two draws from two matches) and assume that the title race again comes down to the Reds and Manchester City. But three other members of England’s Big Six — Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal and, of course, Chelsea — seem to very much have their acts together this season, and only two of them can snare Champions League berths.
Fourth place in the Bundesliga. It’s fair to assume that Bayern and Borussia Dortmund will snare two of Germany’s four Champions League spots, and despite a slow start, RB Leipzig remain a pretty solid favorite as well. But who finishes fourth? Will Bayer Leverkusen get going after a dreadfully slow start? Will defense-heavy (and intensely lovable) upstarts Freiburg and Union Berlin continue to thrive? Are Borussia Monchengladbach ready for a rebound? What about Koln or Eintracht Frankfurt? Right now, FiveThirtyEight gives 13 teams at least an 8% chance of securing a Champions League slot!
Premier League relegation. Two weeks into the season, nearly every team in the Premier League has shown at least a hint of promise. But three teams will go down, of course, and FiveThirtyEight gives 11 teams — more than half the league! — at least a 10% chance of doing so. Heck, Manchester United are at 8%! Someone with either a massive bank account or a very good plan will be playing second-division ball next year.
Second place in Ligue 1. PSG have been rampant out of the gate this year and might run away with the title once again. Fine. But the second-best team in the country could be almost literally anyone in the league. Monaco? Marseille? Lyon? Lille? Rennes? A promoted team like Toulouse (we’ll get to them in a bit)? You could convince me of any of these.
Sevilla will have to work hard to retain their top-four status in LaLiga this season. Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images
Fourth place in LaLiga. The top four leagues in Europe — Premier League, LaLiga, Bundesliga, Serie A — command 16 of the current 32 bids in the Champions League. Of last year’s 16 qualifiers, no one feels more vulnerable to me than Sevilla.* They were awfully poor down the stretch last spring, and clubs like Real Betis, Villarreal and Real Sociedad are all hinting that they might have their respective acts together this season. Granted, they hinted at the same thing last year and couldn’t maintain form, but Sevilla should be preparing for a huge challenge here.
*Leverkusen is certainly making a case, too.
The “Fun, young-ish and making a spirited run at a Champions League spot (or better)” contenders
Each season features a set of clubs that might always have high expectations but manage to bring a lot of up-and-comer energy to the table. They are usually (but not always) pretty young and typically quite fun to watch. Here’s my best guess at this year’s batch:
Napoli. They scored the third-most goals in Serie A last season, allowed the second-fewest and finished with a better goal differential than champion AC Milan. Forward Victor Osimhen is one of the most fun players in Italy while newcomer Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, a 21-year old Georgia international winger acquired from Dinamo Batumi, made the best possible first impression this past week, recording both a goal and an assist in his club debut.
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WEDNESDAY, AUG. 17
• Sheffield United vs. Sunderland, 3 p.m. ET
• Chelsea vs. Olympique Lyon, 9 p.m. ET
FRIDAY, AUG. 19
• Espanyol vs. Rayo Vallecano, 1:50 p.m. ET
• Gladbach vs. Hertha BSC, 2:20 p.m. ET
• Norwich City vs. Millwall, 3 p.m. ET
• Sevilla vs. Valladolid, 3:50 p.m. ET
Whether or not they win their first Scudetto since 1990, you will never regret tuning into a Napoli match. They are intense and wonderfully optimistic. (To say the least, their 5-2 win over Hellas Verona on Monday was proof of concept in this regard. Man oh man, were they enjoying themselves.)
Arsenal. Yes, Arsenal. I’m honestly not sure how to respond to liking the moves the Gunners make in a given offseason, but adding Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko — a pair of seasoned Manchester City title winners who are each somehow still just 25 years old — to one of the Premier League’s youngest and most high-upside rosters was fantastic business. Jesus has exploded for two goals and two assists in Arsenal’s first two matches (both wins), and the team is playing at a high level despite getting little from Bukayo Saka thus far.
This was the third-best team in England last season after a dreadful first three matches, and there’s legitimate reason to be optimistic that their five-season streak of Champions League absences might end soon, even if they’re going to have to beat out one similarly rich and organized team to get there.
Arsenal brought in Jesus, left, and Zinchenko, right, this summer and the Gunners are one to watch this season as a result. Xinhua via Getty Images
Real Betis. There’s nothing particularly young about this Betis squad — only one player under 25 started in Los Verdiblancos’ debut romp over 10-man Elche — but Manuel Pellegrini’s squad, led in attack by Juanmi, Nabil Fekir and Borja Iglesias, was maybe LaLiga’s most optimistic and exciting last year, and the Betis crowd is one of Spain’s best. Only a slow start kept them out of the top four last season.
Lyon. Like Arsenal, Lyon bring history and expectations to the table, but they’ve been stuck outside the top three for three straight years. Adding veterans Alexandre Lacazette, Nicolas Tagliafico and Corentin Tolisso to a lineup that features younger talents like winger Tete (22), midfielder Lucas Paqueta (24) and another newcomer, Johann Lepenant (19), could reap dividends. Tete looked particularly inspired in a season-opening win.
Basically everyone in Belgium. Do you enjoy the Bundesliga, but think its matches somehow aren’t chaotic enough? Say hello to the Jupiler Pro League! It featured easily the best title race of any of Europe’s top leagues, with Union Saint-Gilloise making a shocking post-promotion run to the regular season crown, but narrowly losing the playoff to heavyweight Club Brugge. It also features goals, goals, goals and more goals.
Through four matchdays, seven teams are averaging at least 1.8 goals per match, while Genk average 3.3. Royal Antwerp have raced out to 12 points, but Brugge, Genk, Gent and Anderlecht are all well-positioned for title runs. This is going to be absolute, wonderful nonsense from start to finish… and ESPN+ airs a selection of matches each weekend!).
Teams doing weird stuff
There is, at any moment, a dominant style of play in any sport. We’re heavy on three-pointers and layups in basketball at the moment, while the strikeouts-and-homers era in baseball is full-go. Soccer has been trending toward a modern combination of slow buildup, possession play and counter-pressing for a while now, but in an environment in which only the richest club teams can acquire the most possession-friendly pieces. That leaves everyone else to either try to win without the ball or piece together a more unique approach.
Among these five teams, only one has decent odds of a top-tier finish, but they are “Trying Things” and are worth watching because of it.
Brighton flummoxed Manchester United in their season opener, but you’ll enjoy watching how Potter’s side frustrate bigger-budgeted teams this season. Michael Regan/Getty Images
Brighton: possession without firepower. For two straight seasons, Graham Potter’s Seagulls have done as well as any mid-level team when it comes to crafting a possession-friendly approach without a heavyweight budget. They’ve lacked the high-quality finishing required to snare one of England’s European berths, but they notched top 10 finishes in both years, and their level of organization is maddening for most opponents.
Athletic Club: just impossibly annoying, year after year. Both Freiburg and Union Berlin nearly snared Champions League bids last year by deploying a defense-heavy style antithetical to our assumptions of “Bundesliga ball,” But let’s pay homage to a team that has been doing that forever. Athletic recorded yet another top-10 finish last season by allowing less than a goal per match. They almost never offer opponents good looks at goal, and while they aren’t as physical as they were in the “Butcher of Bilbao” days of the 1980s, they still don’t mind some bruises. They continue to execute this cup-friendly style as well as anyone, even if they never score nearly enough for a top-four finish.
Bayer Leverkusen: possession and counterattacks, simultaneously. Granted, the balance has been off so far this season — their defensive spacing has been woeful — but Gerardo Seoane’s squad crafted a particularly attractive style of play last year by combining elements of possession with a propensity for luring opponents into their half of the field in order to open up huge counterattacking opportunities. I assume they get back to a high level at some point soon. (For Seoane’s sake, they better.)
Udinese: haymakers, all the time. Twelfth place is just about the most forgettable spot in the table, but Udinese achieved 12th in memorable fashion last season, both scoring and allowing over a goal and a half per match. They were excellent at creating scoring chances in transition, and terrible at preventing opponents from doing the same. From a “styles make fights” perspective, they could suck anyone into a track meet. And despite a new manager (Andrea Sottil), their opening match — a wide-open 4-2 loss at defending champs Milan — suggests they’re still pretty open to such a style this season. That’s good news for us, at least.
Toulouse: NERRRRRDS. Looking for a Moneyball soccer team to adopt? Well, how about one associated with Moneyball godfather Billy Beane himself? In 2020, American investment firm RedBird Capital, with which Beane is associated, acquired this recently-relegated club and set about restoring it to glory through the power of analytics.
So far, so good. Toulouse handily earned promotion last season, hitting all the notes of a strong possession-and-pressing team, and while there’s only so much you can learn from one match, they controlled the field and held their own against likely top-10 French side Nice in a 1-1 draw to start the season. We’ll see if they have the depth to do any sustained damage, but if you’re looking to see where nerds want to take this sport, watch this club.
Teams with tantalizing new signings
The Transfer Industrial Complex never stops humming and cranking out rumors, even when transfer windows are closed and big matches are on the horizon. It occasionally produces thrilling results, too!
These five teams are particularly worth following this season, in part because of what the transfer market brought to town.
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Herculez Gomez says a switch to Man Utd would be even worse for Sergino Dest than staying on the bench at Barcelona.
Barcelona. Watching this storied club attempt to work its way out of debt by spending more, by mortgaging away future earnings in service of the present tense, has not been particularly appealing, especially considering the base of young talent Barca boasts and how good they could have pretty quickly become by building around that talent. That said, while adding attackers Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha, midfielder Franck Kessie and defenders Jules Kounde (who still isn’t registered) and Andreas Christensen doesn’t give them a starting XI that can compete with that of Manchester City, Liverpool, Bayern or probably Real Madrid, it probably makes them better. It definitely makes them worth watching.
Borussia Dortmund. This was the offseason in which BVB fully reinvested the funds from the transfers of both Jadon Sancho last summer and Erling Haaland this summer. New arrival Sebastien Haller is out for the foreseeable future as he deals with what turned out to be a malignant tumor — the club acquired 34-year old Anthony Modeste from Koln to fill that gap — but two young German internationals, forward Karim Adeyemi and defender Nico Schlotterbeck, have both already made a difference, with the former scoring in the DFB-Pokal and the latter already putting out many fires in the back.
Combined with the presence of teenagers Jude Bellingham, Youssoufa Moukoko and Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, BVB remain one of the most exciting and youth-dependent teams on the continent.
Dortmund said goodbye to Haaland this summer, but have an abundance of exciting young talent to enjoy all season long. Tom Weller/picture alliance via Getty Images
AS Roma. I’m including Roma more because of “vibes” than a volume of new talent. After winning the inaugural UEFA Europa Conference League last season, the club and its fans celebrated like they’d won the Champions League. Jose Mourinho even got another tattoo! Then they signed Paulo Dybala from Juventus and celebrated like they had signed prime Leo Messi. (They added Mourinho-friendly veteran midfielders Georginio Wijnaldum and Nemanja Matic, too.)
The attacking foursome of Dybala, Tammy Abraham, Lorenzo Pellegrini and Nicolo Zaniolo certainly looked the part in a season-opening 1-0 win over Salernitana that was much closer to 2-0 or 3-0 than 1-1. There’s still a hill to climb if Roma wants to join the crowded Scudetto race, but again, the vibes are strong.
Nottingham Forest. It was incredible watching the former European champions qualify for their first Premier League season since 1999. It’s been even more incredible watching them attempt to spend their way into staying there. After earning promotion with a lineup heavy on loan acquisitions, Forest have signed 15 players and counting this summer, though they’re on this list not because of the volume of signings; it’s about who they’ve signed.
Taiwo Awoniyi is one of the most positive and exciting young(ish) attackers in Europe. Emmanuel Dennis was too good for Watford and could pair beautifully with Awoniyi and holdover Brennan Johnson. Jesse Lingard is finally free of Manchester United, while Neco Williams, Omar Richards and Giulian Biancone are all exciting young fullbacks, too.
Forest have spent over $130 million and counting on roster upgrades, and you could see how this high-wire act could pay off. If they can survive this season and avoid relegation, they will have a roster loaded with upside players in a similar age range (21-25) who can grow in future seasons. But Steve Cooper’s got an incredible chemistry experiment to deal with in the meantime.
Fiorentina. Luka Jovic was one of the best goalscorers in Germany before what turned out to be an ill-fated move to Real Madrid. Fullback Dodo was one of Shakhtar Donetsk’s most exciting young players. They both join a team that finished ahead of Atalanta last season and was only two points out of fifth place in Serie A. The team wasn’t particularly impressive in a season-opening win over freshly promoted Cremonese — they needed a shaky stoppage-time goal to win, 3-2, despite a man advantage — but both Jovic and another newcomer, Rolando Mandragora, scored to save the day.
Make no mistake: This is an exciting team.
The players you’re going to be obsessed with after the World Cup
Just call them the “James Rodriguez All Stars.” The Colombian forward was coming off a decent, nine-goal season with AS Monaco in 2013-14 when he won the Golden Boot at the 2014 World Cup, scoring six goals and tossing in two assists. Within days, Real Madrid was spending big to acquire him.
Every major tournament produces breakout stars, and this one will be no different (even though pretty much everything else about this tournament is different). Here are 10 players I could see becoming highly sought if their respective national teams enjoy stronger-than-expected runs in Qatar.
Jonathan David, FW, Canada (Lille). He’s scored 28 league goals in the last two years, and Canada’s style suits him perfectly. It’s honestly somewhat surprising he’s still at Lille.
Jonathan David is in brilliant form for Lille and Canada will be expecting it to carry over to this winter’s World Cup, too. FRANCOIS NASCIMBENI/AFP via Getty Images
Mikkel Damsgaard, MF, Denmark (Brentford). I’m doubling down! Damsgaard was one of my favorites in last summer’s Euros and while he did not follow that success up with a standout club season, he’s got another chance after signing with the Bees.
Luka Sucic, MF, Croatia (Salzburg). The 19-year-old midfielder is already on the radar of clubs like Liverpool and played well in last year’s Champions League; he could do some serious damage next to Luka Modric & Co. in Qatar.
Ismaila Sarr, FW, Senegal (Watford). He couldn’t save Watford from relegation last year, but Senegal have a manageable World Cup group (with the Netherlands, Ecuador and hosts Qatar) and Sarr could be a major reason they advance to the knockout rounds.
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Piero Hincapie, DF, Ecuador (Bayer Leverkusen). The 20-year-old is asked to do a lot in defense for Leverkusen — arguably too much of late — but he could be Premier League-bound by next season… or in January if he does well in the World Cup.
Takefusa Kubo, MF, Japan (Real Sociedad). A product of Barcelona’s La Masia, Kubo signed with Real Madrid at 18 years old, but couldn’t break through. Now the winger is in a potentially excellent spot in San Sebastian: In his debut for La Real, he scored and created two chances from the right wing.
Takuma Asano, FW, Japan (Bochum). One reason to think Kubo might have a lovely World Cup: He’s got some veteran creators, like the 27-year-old Asano, around him. Asano is relentless up front, pressing well and constantly trying to stretch opponents’ back line. He’s perfect for Bochum… and could be perfect for your club next!
Luka Jovic, FW, Serbia (Fiorentina). Another promising youngster who couldn’t find his way at Real Madrid, Jovic scored in his Fiorentina debut last weekend. He’s scored more than 60 career goals, he’s already played for Crvena Zvezda, Benfica, Eintracht Frankfurt and Madrid, and he’s somehow still only 24.
Brennan Johnson is a gem for Forest on the wing and should complement Gareth Bale nicely out wide for Wales in Qatar this winter. Zac Goodwin/PA Images via Getty Images
Brennan Johnson, MF, Wales (Nottingham Forest). A rare holdover in a sea of Forest newcomers, the 21-year old led a promoted team in scoring in the not-particularly-youth-friendly Championship. He could be a difference-maker for both Forest and an otherwise veteran-heavy Wales squad.
Mohammed Kudus, MF, Ghana (Ajax). Injuries and club depth have hampered the 22-year old since he joined Ajax two years ago, but he has been a difference-maker for Ghana in that same time period, and his club career could take off soon enough, be it with Ajax or another team.
The last step to maximum enjoyment: Adopt a Champions League underdog
It’s pretty easy to find people complaining about how, as Europe’s richest teams have gotten richer, the early stages of the Champions League have grown more predictable, too. And to be sure, the complaints are pretty well-based in fact. But if we know that the sport’s heavyweights are going to advance mostly incident-free to the next rounds, then we can spend most of our early focus on the fun underdog stories.
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Germany’s top division is on ESPN+. Can Bayern Munich stay on top, or will the likes of Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig take over?
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Be it up-and-comers from power leagues (RB Leipzig, Atalanta and Lyon in 2019-20, for instance) or champs from lesser leagues (Ajax making the semis in 2018-19, FC Sheriff upsetting Real Madrid and nearly making the knockouts in 2021-22), they’re always out there. And they offer an element of discovery — fun, young players and coaches, interesting back stories, weird stadiums — to the event.
We’re midway through the final round of qualification, so we don’t yet know for sure who will be in the Champions League field of 32. The impeccably organized Bodo/Glimt — the team best known for beating Mourinho’s Roma twice last season and nearly wrecking their Conference League plans — might get there if they can finish off Dinamo Zagreb next week. And the winner of the PSV Eindhoven-Rangers tie will be very much worth your time and investment. We know that an increasingly impressive Celtic will be in the group stage for the first time since 2018. So will the recklessly optimistic Napoli. Oh, and Eintracht Frankfurt is worth the time investment for its obsessed and loyal fan base alone. Pick someone and follow their journey.
Adopt a Europa League and Conference League team, too
The stories are even richer here. The Europa League is where the next chapter of the Union Saint-Gilloise story might be written. Union Berlin, too. It’s where Bodo/Glimt might end up. The loser of PSV Eindhoven-Rangers will be playing its intensely watchable football there, as will AS Monaco.
While the Conference League group stage is a lot to take in, by the time of the knockout rounds we’ll have filtered out both the teams that don’t really want to be there as well as the teams that aren’t good enough to be there. Last year’s knockout rounds gave us outstanding ties like Leicester City vs. PSV, Roma vs. Leicester, Roma vs. Bodo/Glimt II and Feyenoord vs. Slavia Prague. It was quite rewarding, and you won’t regret following along.
A forest fire Tuesday ravaged 800 hectares of vegetation near the southern French city of Marseille, forcing the evacuation of over 200 people, officials said. There were no casualties thus far from the blaze that broke out west of Marseille, as 1,200 firefighters and water bombing planes were deployed to fight the flames.
Some 225 people, mostly tourists and campers, were evacuated by boat to a nearby fishing village and then taken by bus to makeshift shelters in the town of Martigues.
“We are braced for a difficult fight throughout the night,” said a spokesman for the firefighting service in the Bouches du Rhone department.
The fire broke out in the afternoon, sending out plumes of black smoke. It crossed eight kilometres in two hours, fanned by strong winds, the firefighting service said.
Seven water-dumping planes and a number of helicopters and other aircraft were deployed to back up 1,200 firefighters, officials said.
“We were in Martigues for shopping but now we cannot enter our home in La Couronne. All the roads have been cut off and the fire’s burning everywhere,” said Mylene Greffeuille.
“We’re very worried because my father is old and he is La Couronne,” near the fire, she said.
Part of a highway from Marseille to Martigues has been closed.
The question of whether ancient life could have existed on Mars centres on the water that once flowed there, but new research published Monday suggests that many of the Red Planet’s valleys were gouged by icy glaciers not rivers. The study in Nature Geoscience, which comes amid a flurry of new Mars missions trying to discover if the now-barren planet ever hosted life, casts doubt on a dominant theory that the planet once had a warm, wet climate with abundant liquid water that sculpted the landscape.
Researchers from Canada and the United States examined more than 10,000 Martian valleys and compared them to channels on Earth that were carved under glaciers.
“For the last 40 years, since Mars’s valleys were first discovered, the assumption was that rivers once flowed on Mars, eroding and originating all of these valleys,” said lead author Anna Grau Galofre in a statement released by the University of British Columbia.
But these formations come in a huge variety “suggesting that many processes were at play to carve them,” she added.
Researchers found similarities between some Martian valleys and the subglacial channels of Devon Island, in the Canadian Arctic, which has been nicknamed “Mars on Earth” for its barren, freezing conditions and hosted NASA space training missions.
The study authors said their findings suggest that some Martian valleys could have been formed some 3.8 billion years ago by meltwater beneath ice sheets, which they said would align with climate modelling predicting that the planet would have been much cooler in its ancient past.
“The findings demonstrate that only a fraction of valley networks match patterns typical of surface water erosion, which is in marked contrast to the conventional view,” said co-author Mark Jellinek.
Nature Geoscience noted that understanding climate conditions “in the first billion years of Mars’ history is important in determining whether the planet was ever habitable”.
The study authors said that icy temperatures could in fact have better supported ancient life.
“A sheet of ice would lend more protection and stability of underlying water, as well as providing shelter from solar radiation in the absence of a magnetic field – something Mars once had, but which disappeared billions of years ago,” the University of British Columbia statement said.
The research comes after NASA launched its latest Mars rover, Perseverance, to look for signs of ancient microbial life on the Red Planet.
If all goes to plan, Perseverance will reach Mars on February 18, 2021 and collect rock samples that could provide invaluable clues about whether there was ever past life on Mars.
However, the retrieval and analysis is not expected before the 2030s.
China has also launched its first Mars rover, which should arrive by May 2021.
