GM football fans. It’s Wednesday, Mar. 05 - Serie A race to play in the United States, the FA releases a report on Arne Slot, and everything else you need to know. Forwarded this email? Sign up here.

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Champions League, Last 16, Leg 1: Bayern Munich vs. Bayer Leverkusen, 20:00 / 15:00. Leverkusen are unbeaten in their last six matches against Bayern Munich across all competitions (W3 D3) under Xabi Alonso–and they’ve kept a clean sheet in three of their last four against them. Benfica vs. Barcelona, 20:00 / 15:00. Benfica and Barcelona have already met in the UCL this season, with nine goals being scored in an eventual 5-4 win for Barcelona (see highlights). Paris Saint-Germain vs. Liverpool, 20:00 / 15:00. Both sides hold a 13-point lead in their respective domestic leagues, although PSG are still unbeaten in Ligue 1 across 24 games this season. Liverpool topped the UCL league phase table with seven wins from eight.

Results…

The Italian top flight could see regular-season matches played in the United States within one to two years. Serie A’s commercial and marketing director confirmed it wanted to be the first foreign league to stage competitive regular-season matches on US soil.

Fifa has previously opposed allowing competitive games to take place outside a host country. However, a legal settlement between Fifa and Relevant Sports–a Miami-based match promoter which has driven the idea of matches being played abroad–has forced the global governing body to reconsider its position. Last May, Fifa set up a working group to explore the impact of playing competitive domestic matches overseas.

Spain’s top division has been attempting to play a La Liga game in the US for more than half a decade. Barcelona’s league fixture against Atletico Madrid earlier this season was scheduled to be played in Miami–the plans were “put on hold” due to the time constraints involved in switching the game from Catalunya to North America.

The FA has revealed what Liverpool manager Arne Slot said to referee Michael Oliver that led to him being shown a red card. The incident occured at full-time of Liverpool’s 2-2 draw at Everton last month. See the incident here.

According to the FA’s report, Slot allegedly shook the referee's hand and said, “If we don’t win the league, I’ll f****** blame you”. Slot asserts that he in fact said, “if we don’t win the league, I will have you to thank for that”. Ultimately, the FA argued that any word discrepancy didn’t make a material difference to the sanction. Slot was handed a two-game ban plus a £70,000 fine.

The report also read: "It was alleged that AS' [Arne Slot’s] manner was confrontational and aggressive. It was alleged that he initially used abusive words whilst shaking the Referee's hand including that the Referee had 'f****** given them everything' and that AS hoped that the Referee 'was proud of that performance'.”

Liverpool are 13 points ahead of second-place Arsenal, who have a game in hand, in the Premier League. They have 10 matches left in the season.

Premier League club owners have been indirectly assessed through the NFL Players’ Association’s latest report card. The report card reveals how players perceive their ownership–there is no equivalent system in football. Among those reviewed were the Glazer and Kroenke families, who own Manchester United and Arsenal, respectively.

The report, based on feedback from 1,695 players, ranked the Tampa Bay Buccaneers—owned by the Glazers—among the lowest for ownership. Players scored the Glazers a ‘D+’ for ownership, which placed them 27th out of the 32 NFL teams. Incidentally, yesterday, Manchester United fans were urged by a supporters’ group to wear black to Sunday’s anti-Glazer protest to symbolise how the club is “slowly dying”.

The Kroenke family–who own Arsenal FC and the Los Angeles Rams–were given a ‘C’ for ownership from the Rams players. The players said that owner Stan Kroenke "moderately contributes to a positive team culture", giving a rank of 19th out of 32.

Shahid Khan–who owns Fulham and Jacksonville Jaguars–ranked the highest amongst the Premier League owners. His players gave him a ‘B+’ for ownership, while the Jaguars received a mixture of ‘A’ and ‘B’ grades throughout their report.

> Andrea Berta has emerged as a candidate to become Arsenal's next sporting director; the 53-year-old left Atletico Madrid in December (More) | Manchester City’s Nathan Ake has been sidelined after foot surgery (More)

> Reports suggest that referee Michael Oliver will not be involved in any Premier League games this weekend. However this is part of normal rotation and not due to initially failing to send off Millwall’s goalkeeper for his tackle on Jean-Philippe Mateta (More)

> Lyon manager Paulo Fonseca risks a seven-month ban after trying to headbutt a referee seeking to watch the VAR screen during a Ligue 1 match (Watch/via X)

> Real Madrid want to renew Jude Bellingham’s contract which runs until 2029 (More) | Singapore billionaire Peter Lim rejects claims that he’s put La Liga side Valencia CF up for sale (More)

> San Diego FC will take steps to discourage fans from engaging in the homophobic chant (More) | MLS releases its Team of the Matchday 2 (More)

> The United Soccer League (USL) has announced its 2025 national broadcast schedule (More)

> A new system for reporting sexism and misogyny at football matches is to come into effect (More)

> Benni McCarthy, former first-team coach at Manchester United, becomes Kenya’s new manager on a two-year deal (More)

Yesterday’s Poll: What do you think about the Champions League Round of 16 fixtures this week?

🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🍿 Blockbuster... (81%)

🟨 🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ 🥱 Boring... (15%)

🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ✍️ Other... (4%)

Your punditry takes:

A cringe-worthy football executive meeting. (video)

Comparing two Ballon d’Or contenders before tonight’s game.

Jamie Carragher addresses his AFCON comments on CBS. (via X)

Ranking the best football anthems in the world.

… and Hibernian’s iconic Sunshine on Leith. (via X)

The historic Shrovetide football match.

… and the painter behind King’s Charles’ football.

The women’s Puskas award has been settled.

How Liverpool have avoided injury in Premier League title race.

Why hamstring injuries are becoming more common.

Understanding how Baller League’s draft will work.

Question: Chelsea and Arsenal have only met once in the Champions League–in the 2003-04 quarter-finals. Chelsea progressed to the semis 3-2 on aggregate with a 2-1 win in the second leg, but who scored the winning goal?

Scroll below for the answer.

Champions League

Women’s Super League

*All time in UK. ET -5. CST -6. PST -8. MST -7. CET +1.

Answer

Wayne Bridge. See the match highlights here.