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GM football fans. It’s Friday, Mar. 20 - Lionel Messi reaches 900 career goals, Uefa is planning to relax VAR rules next season, and everything else you need to know. Forwarded this email? Sign up here.
KEY FIXTURE
English League Cup Final (Mar 22): Arsenal vs. Manchester City, 16:30 GMT / 12:30 ET. This is the first League Cup final in history played between the top two teams in the country. Arsenal are unbeaten in their last six meetings with Man City in all competitions (W2 D4), having lost 15 of their previous 16 against them (W1). However, Pep Guardiola’s side have won all five of their League Cup games this season by a 2+ goal margin. See all the match facts for this fixture here.
Results…
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TOP TALKING POINTS
Messi Reaches 900
Lionel Messi has scored his 900th career goal, becoming only the second men’s player in history to reach the milestone. Messi scored his goal during Inter Miami’s 1-1 draw with Nashville SC in the 2026 Concacaf Champions Cup Round of 16 second leg — watch Messi’s goal here. Miami were eliminated as Nashville progressed on the away goals rule.
The majority of Messi’s goals came at Barcelona, where he scored 672 goals, around 7% of the club’s goals in history, in 778 appearances — watch his first goal for Barcelona here. His other goals have come with the Argentina national team (115), Inter Miami (81), and Paris Saint-Germain (32). Data from Opta shows that Messi has scored 755 goals with his left foot, 111 with his right foot, and 30 times with his head. Four goals are counted as ‘other’. Messi has also found the net against Sevilla (25), Athletic Club (24), and Atletico Madrid (23) the most in his career, as well as Real Madrid 17 times.
Cristiano Ronaldo, who currently has 965 goals, is the only other player to have surpassed 900 career goals. Messi’s minutes per goal ratio is better, scoring once every 104 minutes compared to Ronaldo’s 111.
Brazilian legend Pele claimed to have scored more than 1,000 times, but statisticians at RSSSF said he has scored 778 official goals. However, some groups, including Brazilian club Santos, strongly dispute this. See the list of footballers with over 500 career goals in football history here.
UEFA Considers VAR Changes
UEFA will meet with Europe’s top leagues after the World Cup to discuss a less intrusive use of VAR across the continent. Europe’s football governing body is determined to persuade the leagues to adopt a more consistent and light-touch approach to VAR, writes Matt Slater at The Athletic.
Uefa’s stance comes as Fifa has led an initiative, approved by football’s lawmakers, to expand the remit of VAR so that the technology will be used to check second yellow cards and review corners from next season. Uefa’s referees’ chief, Roberto Rosetti, however, believes that “we have forgotten the reason why VAR was introduced.” Last month, he said that football should not go in the “direction of microscopic VAR interventions.” His aim will be to discuss with leagues how VAR thresholds should be used and create “one technical language” so the application of the technology is consistent.
Uefa is also considering whether to drop country protection earlier in the Champions League, whereby teams from the same nation don’t play each other in the early stages of the competition. It’s thought this is a way to dilute the Premier League’s early dominance. Elsewhere, Uefa is exploring the potential use of a direct-to-consumer streaming platform in a small market, similar to the Premier League’s approach in Singapore.
FIFA’s New Women’s Rules
FIFA has introduced a new regulation whereby women’s national teams competing in its tournaments must have at least one female head coach or assistant coach. This rule has been implemented immediately at international level, with the Under-20 Women’s World Cup in September the first to be impacted.
The decision comes as only 12 of the 32 head coaches at the 2023 Women’s World Cup were women, a proportion that Fifa feels doesn’t reflect the rapid growth of the women’s game globally. England's Sarina Wiegman was the only female coach remaining after the round of 16 of the tournament. “There are simply not enough women in coaching today,” Jill Ellis, Fifa’s chief football officer, said. “We must do more to accelerate change by creating clearer pathways, expanding opportunities, and increasing the visibility for women on our sidelines.”
Should a team be unable to meet the requirements set by the new regulation, especially if the reason is financial, then Fifa would step in to help. Teams are also not expected to replace male coaches currently in post.
POLL
Who do you think is the better goalscorer: Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi?
ON THE BALL
Europe
> Chelsea manager Liam Rosenior says the club has found the mole leaking team news to the media, and he confirmed it was not a player or staff (More) | Premier League clubs have agreed to extend the £30 cap on away tickets for another two seasons (More)
> Tottenham (16th) and Nottingham Forest (17th) face each other in Matchday 31 of the Premier League on Sunday (Mar 22); see every Premier League fixture (More) and table (More)
> The Madrid derby takes place on Sunday (Mar 22) as Real Madrid, four points behind Barcelona, aim to maintain pressure on the La Liga leaders (More) | La Liga president Javier Tebas says Spanish clubs are “more effective at spending” than Premier League clubs (More)
> The French national team has released their squad that will face Brazil and Colombia for their international friendlies ahead of the World Cup (More)
Americas
> A New Jersey congresswoman has introduced a bill to block immigration enforcement from conducting raids within a mile of Fifa World Cup matches (More)
> MLS has confirmed that it will play a shortened “sprint season” in early 2027 before switching to a schedule that aligns with the European calendar (More) | See all the upcoming MLS fixtures this weekend (More)
> NWSL’s Orlando Pride will host Denver Summit to open Matchday 2 of the regular season on Friday (Mar 20); see every NWSL fixture (More) and standings (More)
> USL Championship’s Eastern Conference leaders Louisville City play Rhode Island, while Western Conference leaders Oakland Roots travel to Phoenix Rising (Fixtures); see Conference Standings (More)
> Brazilian Serie A club Santos have sacked manager Juan Pablo Vojvoda after a 2-1 defeat to Internacional (More); Neymar scored Santos’ only goal with a penalty (Watch)
Rest of the World
> Iran will “boycott the United States” but “not the World Cup”, the Iranian football federation president Mehdi Taj said (More)
> The president of Africa’s football governing body has defended its integrity after Senegal’s government accused it of corruption after it stripped the country of its Afcon title (More)
> The Philippines have beaten Uzbekistan 2-0 in an Asian play-off to secure their Women’s World Cup spot (More)
ROUTERS’ VOICE
Yesterday’s Poll: Do you think it was fair that Senegal's AFCON win was overturned because they left the pitch in protest?
🟨 🟨 🟨 🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ 👍 Yes (42%)
🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🙅♂️ Nope (53%)
🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ✍️ Other (5%)
Your punditry takes:
👍 L.P: “Senegal forfeited the match as soon as they walked off the pitch. They should have been disqualified there and then. It is ridiculous that it has taken until now to reach the decision.”
👍 R: “The Senegalese government states that their team earned the win ‘in accordance with the rules of the game.’ They forget that the competition rules also play a part in determining a winner. Leaving the field of play in protest is a breach of the rules. So much for being ‘in accordance.’”
🙅♂️ S.D: “Senegal was wrong to have its players walk off the pitch. By rule, all of the players who left the field without permission should’ve received a yellow card. And the referee should have forfeited the game right then and there. But the referee did not. Morocco did not appeal. Those rulings were made while the game was going on, and once the game ended, the result should have stood. This is a terrible precedent.”
🙅♂️ M.A: “We all want our teams to win, but the bigger issue is precedent. If Afcon results can be overturned beyond a reasonable window, it opens the door for decisions driven by pressure rather than sporting merit. This becomes a governance issue, where outcomes can be influenced after the fact, especially when the stakes are highest. Acting 57 days later shifts it from officiating to retrospective governance. At that point, results risk becoming conditional rather than final.”
EXTRA TIME
What City vs Madrid looks like on a 1984 Kodak camera.
The greatest comeback in football history.
Is the Premier League still on for a fifth Champions League spot?
The best stats from this Champions League week.
An in-depth look at South Korea’s World Cup kits.
Erling Haaland invests in new chess championship.
GAME FACE ON
Question: One male player each from France, Mexico, and Sweden has scored over 500 career goals — can you name all three players?
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.
I’ve never seen Neymar as a top, top player.
Answer
Karim Benzema. Hugo Sanchez. Zlatan Ibrahimovic. (Source)
