GM football fans. It’s Monday, Apr. 14 - MLS continues to explore changing its calendar, Salah breaks a Premier League record, and everything else you need to know. Forwarded this email? Sign up here.

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KEY FIXTURES

Premier League: AFC Bournemouth vs. Fulham, 20:00 / 15:00. Bournemouth are winless in six league games and risk a fifth straight home defeat for the first time in the Premier League. Meanwhile, Fulham have scored in 14 straight away league games. See Premier League results here.

La Liga: Atletico Madrid vs. Real Valladolid, 20:00 / 15:00. Atletico are third in La Liga and unbeaten in 17 home league games. Bottom-placed Valladolid have scored a league-low 19 goals and conceded a league-high 69 across 30 matches. See La Liga results here.

Results…

• Premier League: Chelsea 2-2 Ipswich | Liverpool 2-1 West Ham | Wolves 4-2 Spurs | Newcastle 4-1 Man Utd (Table)

• La Liga: Alaves 0-1 Real Madrid (Report) | Leganes 0-1 Barcelona (Report) (Table)

• Serie A: Inter Milan 3-1 Cagliari | Atalanta 2-0 Bologna (Table)

• Bundesliga: Bayern Munich 2-2 Borussia Dortmund (Report) (Table)

• Women’s FA Cup, SF: Man City 0-2 Man Utd | Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool

• MLS: See all results (More)

TOP TALKING POINTS

MLS Calendar Considerations

Major League Soccer is continuing to explore a shift to a fall-to-spring calendar to align with the international schedule. It would be one of the most significant decisions in the league’s 30-year history. The next phase includes “consultation with key stakeholders” for a transition plan.

The league currently runs from late February to October, followed by the playoffs. Advocates of the change say syncing with the international calendar would reduce player absences during the international breaks and align the transfer window with the European primary summer market. Conversely, a shift could cause issues for teams in the winter months, like Minnesota United and the Chicago Fire, who already contend with rough winter weather during parts of the year.

Any potential changes will not take effect until the 2027 season. Critics say this misses an opportunity, as many expected the shift to follow the 2026 World Cup, during which MLS plans a summer break.

Salah Breaks Record

With 45 goals and assists, Mohamed Salah has broken the record for the most goal contributions in a 38-game Premier League season. This comes just days after the Egyptian forward signed a new two-year deal with Liverpool.

Salah overtakes the previous record shared by Thierry Henry (2002-03) and Erling Haaland (2022-23), achieving 44 goal involvements. In the old 42-game format, Alan Shearer (1994-95) and Andrew Cole (1993-94) hold the record with 47. Salah is just two short, with six games to go.

Among Europe’s top five leagues, Salah has 13 more goal contributions domestically than the next in line—Harry Kane and Omar Marmoush have 32, albeit in five fewer games.

Dive deeper into Salah’s incredible stats here.

Betting Probe Continues

The betting scandal that saw Sandro Tonali and Nicolo Fagioli serve lengthy bans has expanded to 13 current and former Serie A players. United States midfielder Weston McKennie and Argentine forward Angel di Maria are among the players under investigation.

There is no evidence that the other players gambled on football matches. Instead, they are being investigated for using illegal platforms to play poker and bet on other sports. Importantly, the investigation concerns not what they bet on, but where they placed the bets. Text messages between the players, given as evidence in Tonali and Fagioli’s case in 2023, contributed to the findings.

Using unauthorised betting platforms is a criminal offence in Italy, though the penalty could be as little as €250. The players would only face potential bans if the Italian FA decides to open a new sporting investigation.

POLL

ON THE BALL

Europe

> Kylian Mbappe was handed his first red card in a Real Madrid shirt with a horror challenge on Alaves’ Antonio Blanco (Watch / UK link) | Barcelona retain their four-point lead in the La Liga title race with a 1-0 away win at Leganes (More)

> Aggie Beever-Jones’ 90+4 minute winner against Liverpool Women takes Chelsea Women through to the Women’s FA Cup final (Highlights) | Holders Manchester United have now reached a third successive FA Cup final with a 2-0 win over Manchester City (Match Report)

> Celtic were denied the Scottish title again after 10-man Rangers came back from two goals to snatch a last-gasp draw with Aberdeen (Match Report)

> Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund played out a 2-2 draw in Der Klassiker (More); Bayern are six points clear of the Bundesliga table after 29 matches (See Table)

> Inter Milan beat Cagliari 3-1 to move six points clear at the top of Serie A; Opta upgrades Inter’s chances of winning the league to 82.7% (More)

Americas

> Brian White scored a franchise-record four goals in Vancouver Whitecaps’ 5-1 win over Austin FC as they lead the Western Conference (More) | Charlotte FC lead the Eastern Conference, though Inter Miami are two points behind with two games in hand (More)

> Orlando Pride and KC Current lead the NWSL table after Matchday 4 following their respective away wins; San Diego Wave 0-2 KC Current (See Highlights); Seattle Reign FC 0-1 Orlando Pride (See Highlights); Full NWSL round up (More) | Denver, the NWSL’s newest expansion team, names Jen Millet as the club’s first president (More)

> Inter Miami and Lionel Messi are close to agreeing on a contract extension (More)

Rest of the World

> Cristiano Ronaldo scores an incredible volley to make it 2-1 in Al Nassr’s win over Al-Riyadh; it was his 933rd career goal (Watch/via X)

> The Women’s A-League top six has been confirmed as Melbourne City, Melbourne Victory, Adelaide United, Western United, Central Coast Mariners and Canberra United will feature in the 2024-25 Finals Series (More)

ROUTERS’ VOICE

Friday’s Poll: Do you think extra time should stay in European competitions?

🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 ⏰ Absolutely... (76%)

🟨 🟨 🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ 🙅‍♂️ Nope... (22%)

🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ✍️ Other... (2%)

Your punditry takes:

• ⏰ D.W: “Unfortunately, in European competitions, there can be a massive gulf between teams and scrapping ET will only encourage the underdogs to set up a totally defensive formation and also try every trick in the book to time waste, hoping to create an even playing field with a penalty shoot-out.”

• ⏰ M.G: “Penalties are always a disappointing way to end a knockout game. While it is impossible to keep teams on the field for extra time indefinitely, there should at least be some extra time to try and settle a match during standard play.”

• 🙅‍♂️ P.F: “Aggregate is the way to go. In the event of a draw, away goals, total goals scored, etc—should decide the outcome. Extra-time, in my opinion, is overkill.”

• ✍️ T.A: “How about reducing the number of players every 5 minutes during extra time to increase the likelihood of goals, and challenge the tactical nous of the manager on who to remove and when.”

EXTRA TIME

How to tell if your football shirt is fake.

Is Fifa holding back US football?

Meet the grandmas playing in their own World Cup.

Every country’s top Premier League appearance. (map)

The worst thing that can happen after scoring an own-goal. (via X)

Salah’s $1m watch stole the contract headlines.

How semi-auto VAR actually works.

Has the Premier League become boring? (stats)

A mouse stops an MLS match.

GAME FACE ON

Question: Which club holds the record for the most Premier League relegations? (since 1992)

Scroll below for the answer.

ON TODAY

Premier League

• AFC Bournemouth vs Fulham (20:00)

La Liga

• Atletico Madrid vs Real Valldolid (20:00)

Serie A

• Napoli vs Empoli (19:45)

Championship

• Hull City vs Coventry City (20:00)

*All time in UK. ET -5. CDT -6. PDT -8. MDT -7. CET +1.

Answer

Norwich City, six times. See the full list here.