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GM football fans. It’s Monday, Feb. 9 - Barcelona officially withdraw from the Super League, Argentina introduce a rule that would’ve barred Messi from playing for his country, and everything else you need to know. Forwarded this email? Sign up here.
KEY RESULTS
Premier League MD25: Liverpool 1-2 Manchester City. Following Erling Haaland’s stoppage-time winner, he has now scored at 23 of the 24 grounds he has played at in the Premier League, failing only at the Stadium of Light. Arsenal 3-0 Sunderland. Since the turn of the year, Viktor Gyokeres (6) has scored more goals across all competitions than any other Premier League player. The Gunners are six points clear at the top. Manchester United 2-0 Tottenham. United have won four Premier League games in a row for the first time since February 2024. Bruno Fernandes registered his 200th goal involvement in his 314th game, with only Wayne Rooney (295) taking fewer matches to reach that landmark for United in the Premier League. See the Premier League table here.
Results…
Premier League: Bournemouth 1-1 Villa | Burnley 0-2 West Ham | Fulham 1-2 Everton | Wolves 1-3 Chelsea | Newcastle 2-3 Brentford | Brighton 0-1 Palace; see the BBC’s team of the week (More)
La Liga: Barcelona 3-0 Mallorca | Valencia 0-2 Real Madrid (Table)
Serie A: Sassuolo 0-5 Inter Milan | Genoa 2-3 Napoli | Juventus 2-2 Lazio (Table)
Bundesliga: Bayern Munich 5-1 Hoffenheim | Wolfsburg 1-2 Dortmund (Table)
Ligue 1: Lens 3-1 Rennes | PSG 5-0 Marseille (Table)
Championship (Results)
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TOP TALKING POINTS
Super League Withdrawal
Barcelona have withdrawn from the European Super League (ESL) project, leaving just Real Madrid as the only club still signed up to the proposal. The ESL was launched in April 2021 by 12 clubs, including six Premier League sides, but collapsed within 72 hours after fan backlash forced English clubs to withdraw–read more on the proposal here.
While Barcelona has signalled its intention to withdraw from the ESL for some time, the statement marks a further step in the project’s decline. Despite this, Real Madrid are still pursuing legal action and are seeking “substantial damages” from Uefa, arguing that Uefa and Fifa acted in an anti-competitive manner to block the ESL.
Organisers of the ESL attempted to rebrand as the “Unify League” in 2024 to address the controversial aspects of the initial ESL league. This included no permanent clubs and a merit-based qualification. The move has ultimately failed to gain support.
New National Team Rule
The Argentine Football Association (AFA) will refuse national team call-ups to players who move abroad before signing a professional contract with an Argentine club. This move would’ve prevented the likes of Lionel Messi from playing for Argentina, as he joined Barcelona’s youth system from Newell’s Old Boys aged 13.
The regulation is intended to discourage players from moving abroad before signing a professional contract, as clubs in Argentina feel they’re developing players for free. This is because if a player leaves before signing a professional deal at 16, their club receives only a small training compensation payment, not a transfer fee. The problem was brought to light after 16-year-old Lucas Scarlato left River Plate for the Italian club Parma in January, accelerating AFA’s crackdown on these types of transfers.
This move is rare in football but is legally permissible as national teams are in control of their own selection policy. Similar restrictions exist in other sports, such as English rugby, where players based abroad can be ineligible for national team selection.
Championship Promotion Race
Championship leaders Coventry City drop points again in a 0-0 draw with relegation candidates Oxford United, to leave the current leaders just one point in front of Middlesbrough. See the Championship table here.
Frank Lampard's side have now won just four of their last 13 Championship matches and, having been 10 points clear in December, will drop to second on Monday (Feb 8) if Middlesbrough beat Sheffield United. Coventry’s next league fixture will be against Middlesbrough on 16 February.
Elsewhere, despite a 2–0 defeat to fifth-placed Millwall, Wrexham remain sixth and firmly in the race for the final play-off spot as they chase a historic fourth straight promotion. Preston sit seventh on goal difference, Bristol City are one point behind Wrexham, Derby County and Birmingham City are two back, while Watford and QPR trail by three.
POLL
Is it a good idea for national teams to refuse call-ups to players who leave their home country before signing a pro contract there? (related to story two above)
ON THE BALL
Europe
> Gary Neville says the decision to overturn Rayan Cherki's late goal from the halfway line in Manchester City's win over Liverpool erased one of the moments of the season (More / US link)
> NBA superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo has announced he has joined the ownership group of Chelsea Women (More) | Arsenal Women beat Manchester City 1-0 at home to break the WSL leaders' 13-match winning run (Match Report); full WSL round-up (More)
> Bayern Munich maintain a six-point Bundesliga lead following a 5-1 win over Hoffenheim, including a Harry Kane brace and a Luis Diaz hat-trick (More)
> Turkey midfielder Kenan Yildiz has extended his contract with Juventus through June 2030 (More)
Americas
> Lionel Messi scored a solo goal as Inter Miami drew 2-2 with Barcelona SC in a preseason friendly (More); watch Messi’s solo goal (More)
> Minnesota United FC have signed former Real Madrid midfielder and Colombian captain James Rodriguez (More)
> Guadalajara go flawless in their opening five Liga MX Clausura matches with a 2-1 away win over Mazatlan; see the Liga MX table (More)
Rest of the World
> The oldest pro footballer in the world, Kazuyoshi Miura, started for Fukushima United FC in their season opener (More)
ROUTERS’ VOICE
Friday’s Poll: Should teams use ‘dark arts’ tactics if it improves their chances of winning?
🟨 🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ 👍 Yes (29%)
🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🙅♂️ Nope (67%)
🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ✍️ Other (4%)
Your punditry takes:
👍 E.P: “The team's job is to win. It's unrealistic to expect anything from them beyond that. If we're concerned about the dark arts tactics and their impact on the game, it should fall on the officials to do a better job of adjudicating the rules and the rule makers to revise the rules to limit the benefit derived from employing these types of tactics.”
🙅♂️ D.W: “Definitely not, it is a testament to where the game has evolved that we are even asking this question. Turn the clock back to the year 2000, when Paolo Di Canio deliberately caught the ball, whilst playing for West Ham against Everton, due to the Everton goalkeeper, Paul Gerrard, lying injured. This is sportsmanship at its finest and how the game should be played. Unfortunately, more and more 'dark arts' are creeping into the professional game, which has already started to filter down to youth and school levels.”
✍️ J.S: “Go ahead and use them, but the match referees should be aware of such tactics and punish them with yellow cards, even to the point of second yellows. Also, whenever a ref or assistant sees someone doing this stuff, he or she needs to begin immediately counting out loud and add whatever time is wasted to the end of the half or match. That's part of what added time is for, but it's so rarely applied.”
EXTRA TIME
Don’t miss Szoboslai’s incredible free-kick against City. (US link)
Why Madonna was watching a Spurs’ Under-14s match.
The new Canadian club inspired by Athletic Club.
Re-ranking every Premier League team off current form.
NWSL’s most anticipated matches ahead of the new season.
Wrexham’s Hollywood takeover, five years on.
Visiting Britain’s most miserable football club. (video)
Messi’s Argentina kit font through the years.
GAME FACE ON
Question: Fill in the missing players from the sequence…
Robbie Keane. Darren Bent. –––––––. –––––––. Harry Kane.
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.
Everyone loves to chat s***, don’t they? I don’t pay attention to it.
Answer
Rafael van der Vaart. Emmanuel Adebayor.
The sequence: Tottenham Hotspur’s last five number 10s.
