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KEY RESULTS
League Cup Final: Newcastle United 2-1 Liverpool FC. Newcastle have won their first major trophy since winning the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1968-69, while it’s the club’s first major domestic success since winning the FA Cup in 1954-55. With the win, Newcastle are guaranteed a spot in the Europa Conference League at a minimum. Meanwhile, Mohamed Salah has now played 11 finals for club and country without scoring a non-penalty goal. See full match stats here.
La Liga: Atletico Madrid 2-4 Barcelona. Atletico were 2-0 up with 70 minutes played but Barcelona’s late comeback means the Catalan side have won seven consecutive league matches. Watch Lamine Yamal’s winner here (US reader).
More results…
TOP TALKING POINTS
UEFA’s New Era
UEFA has officially handed New York-based agency Relevent Sports the global commercial rights to its men’s club competitions from 2027. The deal–which spans a six-season cycle–will likely see Champions League games appear on a wider range of outlets.
This move brings the prospect of Champions League matches being played outside Europe a step closer. Relevent has driven the idea of overseas matches being played in the US and even reached a legal settlement with Fifa to enable overseas matches to become a possibility. Relevent has also paved the way for Spain’s La Liga and Italy’s Serie A to begin playing competitive matches on US soil.
Additionally, Relevent’s chief executive Daniel Sillman told the Financial Times that high-profile European finals will feel more like “Olympic-type” or Super Bowl events, both in terms of “fan experience” and brand promotion beyond the advertising boards around the pitch.
Players Strike
More than 1,000 soccer players in Colombia have voted to strike after failing to reach an agreement with the country's football federation (FCF) and Dimayor league over working conditions. A total of 1,221 players from Colombia’s top two men’s divisions and the women’s league voted, with 87% backing the strike.
The global players' union, FIFPro, said an agreement on nine key points, including the players' statute, participation in TV rights revenue, and protocol against discrimination, was not reached.
In January, partial agreements were reached between the sides, but talks were set to continue through February on other key union demands. However, the second stage of negotiations did not satisfy the players’ union's requests. It has not stated when the strike action will take place.
La Liga’s Tight Race
Barcelona remain top of the La Liga table—with a game spare—after overturning a two-nil deficit against Atletico Madrid in a 2-4 win. Hansi Flick’s side now has a 69.2% chance of winning the Spanish top-flight title, per Opta’s latest predictions.
Real Madrid’s 1-2 win over Villarreal kept Carlo Ancelotti’s side in second-place on goal difference. Opta projects Real have a 28.1% chance of winning the title. Kylian Mbappe’s brace means he has now scored 31 goals in all competitions—one more than Ronaldo Nazario’s tally in his debut season for the club. He is six away from matching Ivan Zamorano’s debut season record set in 1992-93.
Despite only being four points behind Barcelona and Real, Atletico’s chances of winning the league have dropped to 2.8%—down from 27.3%.
POLL
Can Kylian Mbappe go on to eclipse Cristiano Ronaldo’s legacy at Real Madrid?
ON THE BALL
Europe
> Real Madrid have complained about scheduling, with Carlo Ancelotti confirming the team will refuse to play in future if players aren’t given a minimum of 72 hours rest (More); La Liga president Javier Tebas hit back on Ancelotti’s comments with a post on X stating that the league has made changes (More)
> Chelsea Women lifted the Subway Women’s Cup Final with a 2-1 victory over Manchester City (Match Highlights)
> Morgan Gibbs-White has received a late call-up to Thomas Tuchel’s first England squad, with Cole Palmer expected to withdraw (More / Full squad) | Prince William says the UK’s blackout—which stops football matches from being shown—at 3 PM on a Saturday is “irritating” (More)
> Dele Alli was sent off on his debut for Serie A side Como after just 10 minutes on the pitch (More); Dele posted a WhatsApp conversation with Ruben Loftus-Cheek–who he committed the foul on–after the game (More/slide 3)
> Doris Fitschen, four times Women's Euros winner with Germany, has passed away at age 56 (More)
> The New Saints have been crowned JD Cymru Premier, the Welsh top tier, champions for a record-extending 17th time (More)
Americas
> Vancouver Whitecaps make it four in four with a win 0-1 win over Dallas to keep them top of the Western Conference (Highlights) | Philadelphia Union lost their first game of the regular season 1-3 to Nashville (Highlights)
> Orlando Pride begin the NWSL campaign with a 6-0 win over Chicago Red Stars (Highlights); see the NWSL table after Matchday 1 (More)
> Three points separate first and fourth in the Liga MX Clausura, Club America continues to lead the table following a 1-3 win over Atlas (Table)
> US Soccer Federation president Cindy Parlow Cone was elected to the FIFA Council as the North American representative from CONCACAF (More)
Rest of the World
> A-League’s Matchday 23 goes down as the high-scoring single round in the competition’s 20-year history with 31 goals scored (More) | Despite three consecutive draws, Auckland FC remain top of the A-League table with a game to spare (Table)
> Cristiano Ronaldo, Sadio Mane and Jhon Duran scored in Al-Nassr’s 3-1 win over Al Kholood to take them third in the Saudi Pro League (Highlights) | Al-ittihad remain top of the table (Table)
ROUTERS’ VOICE
Friday’s Poll: Should the penalty rules be changed to allow goals when a double touch is clearly unintentional?
🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 👍 Yes... (68%)
🟨 🟨 🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ 🙅♂️ Nope... (30%)
🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ✍️ Other... (2%)
Your punditry takes:
👍 S.D: “After the controversy in the UCL Madrid derby, absolutely! Just as a penalty is re-taken if a keeper makes a save after stepping both feet off his line, a penalty should also be re-taken if a player double touches it when he shoots, especially if it is obviously unintentional.”
👍 R.G: “Either the goal should be allowed OR the penalty kick re-taken only if the ball goes in the net. Alvarez clearly slipped. To lose such an important game based on silly technicality that does not give any advantage to the shooter is soooo disheartening. As far as I'm concerned that was a huge injustice done for the Beautiful Game!”
🙅♂️ G.H: “Elite athletes should be expected to be able to execute a PK without a double-touch. Plus, one might argue that players will start to test the boundaries of 'accidental' to gain even more of an advantage in the PK, which is already over 0.75.”
🙅♂️ G.R: “These are professional players and regardless of conditions they are trained and skilled enough to be able to follow the rules as written. Even if accidental, it can clearly give the penalty taker an advantage by putting the keeper off by a double touch. Even if it clearly would not be saved, the two-touch kick is an advantage for the taker.”
EXTRA TIME
How blind penalties are taken.
Every US host city theme song for the 2026 World Cup. (Playlist)
Jamie Carragher’s son gets Malta call-up.
Why Olise ranks as Europe’s best allround attacker–and above Yamal.
14-year-old becomes the youngest NWSL player in history.
The story behind Dan Burn’s missing finger.
Are stadium designs too good to be true?
Prince William’s bizarre footballing superstition.
Mexico’s new kit is one of the best this year.
Real Sociedad’s mascot ‘arrested’ in London. (via X)
GAME FACE ON
Who Am I…
I have played for Manchester United, Real Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen, West Ham, Sevilla and LA Galaxy.
I am my country’s all-time leading scorer.
I currently play for Guadalajara, where I began my youth career.
Scroll below for the answer.
ON TODAY
Liga MX
Pumas vs Monterrey (00:00)
Pachuca vs Tijuana (02:00)
*All time in UK. ET -4. CST -5. PDT -7. MDT -6. CET +1.
Answer
Javier Hernandez.
The sun here helps a lot, and the city [Seville] is better than Manchester.
