| In partnership with |
|
GM football fans. It’s Thursday, Oct. 23 - The latest Champions League projections following Matchday 3’s conclusion, La Liga’s president condemns the cancellation of the league’s abroad match, and everything else you need to know. Forwarded this email? Sign up here.
KEY FIXTURES
UEFA Europa League (Oct 23): Go Ahead Eagles vs. Aston Villa, 17:45 BST / 12:45 ET. Aston Villa will be confident in extending their third straight win in this season’s Europa League, having previously achieved five wins and one draw against Dutch opponents. Nottingham Forest vs. Porto, 20:00 BST / 15:00 ET. While Porto are one of seven teams who boast a 100% record in the league phase, Forest are still searching for their first European victory of the season. Forest will at least take some comfort from the fact that Porto have only come out on top in 10 of their previous 49 encounters with English opposition. Celtic vs. Sturm, 20:00 BST / 15:00 ET. Celtic are winless in this year’s competition, but they have lost just one home match so far this season in all competitions, alongside four wins and two draws. The visitors have lost one and won one of their opening two games in the competition. See every Europa League fixture here.
Results…
TOP TALKING POINTS
Champions League Projections
After Matchday 3 of the Uefa Champions League, Arsenal are 21% favourites to win the competition, according to Opta’s prediction model. The update follows Mikel Arteta’s side beating Atletico Madrid 4–0, their ninth consecutive win at home at this stage of the competition, with an aggregate score of 27-0.
Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City have both climbed one place in the projections, with 15% and 12% chances, respectively. Liverpool, favourites at the start of the season, are now fourth at 11% despite their 5–1 away win over Eintracht Frankfurt. Bayern Munich, joint-top of the league phase on goal difference with PSG, sit fifth at 9%.
On Tuesday, 43 goals were scored across the nine games of Matchday 3, despite the goalless draw between Kairat and Pafos. It was the third-highest single-day total in competition history, behind 29 January’s 64-goal final matchday, when 18 matches were played. Dive deeper into where Tuesday’s goal tally ranks historically here.
UEFA Piracy Crackdown
UEFA has become the first sports governing body to join the world’s largest anti-piracy coalition. The U.S.-based group, called the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), aims to reduce piracy, including the threat of illegal streaming of sporting events.
European football’s governing body joins over 50 media companies, including Amazon, Apple TV, and Netflix, in a bid to protect itself from revenue loss due to digital piracy. Last year, Uefa was part of an anti-piracy operation which led to an illegal streaming network with 22 million users being taken down following 112 searches, and 102 suspects were identified.
The European Intellectual Property Office says 12% of EU citizens, roughly 54 million people, access or stream sports content from illegal online sources annually. ACE reported 185 billion visits to pirate sites in 2023, costing the global economy an estimated £22bn ($28bn).
Overseas Cancellation Condemned
La Liga president Javier Tebas has condemned the cancellation of the overseas match between Barcelona and Villarreal in the United States, calling the decision “narrow-minded”. The decision to cancel the game came from his league and promoter Relevent on Tuesday after widespread backlash against plans to stage a domestic league fixture in Miami–read the previous write-up here.
"Today, Spanish football has lost an opportunity to advance, project itself globally, and strengthen its future," Tebas wrote on X. He added that La Liga would continue to defend Spanish football “against those who seek to destroy it.”
Tensions between Tebas and several clubs have intensified. Following Tebas’s criticism about Real Madrid TV on Tuesday, club captain Dani Carvajal reiterated his stance on abroad matches via Instagram: “Mr. Javier Tebas. Failing to comply with the regulations is adulterating the competition.” Barcelona coach Hansi Flick also said his players were "not happy" with the initial decision.
POLL
Do you think Expected Goals (xG) is a useful stat?
ON THE BALL
Europe
> Liverpool are expected to escape a fine despite “multiple breaches” of a Premier League multi-ball rules (More); dive deeper into what multi-ball rules are (More)
> Wrexham secured their first home Championship win of the campaign in a 1-0 victory over Oxford United (Match Report); see every Championship result (More)
> Portuguese side Porto have dismantled one of the biggest ticket-scalping networks in football (More)
> Serie B club Juve Stabia have been placed under judicial administration after alleged mafia infiltration (More)
Americas
> Fox will broadcast a record 69 matches from the 2026 World Cup, the most in American network TV history (More) | NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani has said that Fifa’s dynamic pricing model for the World Cup threatens “to price out the very people that make this game so special” (More)
Tickets: The MLS play-offs are here — and nothing beats seeing it live. Tickets are moving fast on TicketSmarter, so grab yours before they’re gone. Get tickets now.*
> MLS play-off Wild Card fixtures, Chicago vs. Orlando City & Portland vs. Real Salt Lake City to conclude shortly after publication (Live Results); see a deep dive into the MLS play-offs, incl. dark horses, players to watch (More)
> The MLS Disciplinary Committee has fined Charlotte FC forward Wilfried Zaha for applying hands to the face/head/neck of an opponent (More)
> Conmebol Libertadores semi-final between Flamengo and Racing to conclude shortly after publication (Live Result)
Rest of the World
> Achraf Hakimi and Mohamed Salah lead the contenders on the 10-man shortlist for the 2025 African Footballer of the Year Award (More)
> Dazn is preparing to bid for global broadcasting rights for Champions League games from 2027 in another significant move into football by Saudi Arabia (More)
ROUTERS’ VOICE
Yesterday’s Poll: Would Wenger’s new offside rule make football better?
🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🤩 Yes (69%)
🟨 🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ 🙅♂️ Nope (27%)
🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ✍️ Other (4%)
Your punditry takes:
🤩 P.H: “Absolutely. Having a leaning shoulder, elbow, or some other ancillary body part creates an offside, which is frustrating to fans and doesn't impact the game. Reform is needed, and this seems reasonable.”
🤩 T: “Etymologically speaking, 'off-sides' means being on the 'wrong' side of the defensive line. By that alone, it means if a player is not past OR even with said defensive line, they should be considered 'on side’. This ruling would, I expect, stop flow-changing delays.”
🙅♂️ C.D: “Perhaps in a professional environment, with VAR, but at the grassroots level, it seems like it leads to even more confusion. As a referee and referee instructor/mentor, I can't fathom how I'll be able to teach this to a newbie.”
✍️ J.K: “I think the point of offsides is to keep a player from getting in behind too early, putting them closer to the goal. I like the idea of not being offside if your head, chest, or knee are past the defender, but the rest of your body is even. The tweak I’d make is that if your foot is past the defender, you’re offside because then you are actually stepping behind the line prematurely.”
EXTRA TIME
The story of the fastest sacking in English top-tier history.
Can Hearts finally topple Scotland’s duopoly?
Why San Diego’s debut season is a great American story.
What football can learn from NFL's international games.
Spain’s World Cup home kit leaked.
The funniest CBS moments from UCL MD3. (video)
1 Premier League referee debates 20 football fans. (video)
The quickest VAR monitor check you’ll ever see.
GAME FACE ON
Question: Which player is the odd one out?
Dennis Bergkamp. Michel Platini. Robert Lewandowski. Francesco Totti. Luka Modric.
Scroll below for the answer.
Daily Wordle: Guess the football-related word, from player names to classic phrases, in six tries or fewer. Play it here.
If you don't believe you can win, there is no point in getting out of bed at the end of the day.
Answer
The odd one out is: Robert Lewandowski. The rest of the players on the list primarily wore the No. 10 shirt for their club.
