Record-Breaking Stadium Plans

GM football fans. It’s Wednesday, Mar. 12 - Manchester United’s new stadium plans, Paul Pogba’s ban lifted, and everything else you need to know. Forwarded this email? Sign up here.

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KEY FIXTURES

UEFA Champions League, Last 16, 2nd Leg: Atletico Madrid vs Real Madrid, Agg 1-2, 20:00 / 15:00. Atletico have not lost a home Champions League knockout-stage fixture in 28 years and have lost just once in their past seven home games against Real in all competitions. Aston Villa vs Club Brugge, Agg 3-1, 20:00 / 15:00. Villa are unbeaten in their last 15 home matches and have progressed from 12 of their 14 European ties after winning the first leg. Club Brugge, meanwhile, have never won away to English opposition in 14 attempts. Arsenal vs PSV Eindhoven, Agg 7-1, 20:00 / 15:00. Arsenal have won each of their last four European home games without conceding and could become just the second English team to score 10 goals across a two-legged UCL tie after Man City (10-2 against Schalke in 2018-19). See the UCL bracket here.

Results…

Champions League: Liverpool 0-1 PSG (Agg 1-1 / PSG on pens 4-1) | Barcelona 3-1 Benfica (Agg 4-1) | Leverkusen 0-2 Bayern (Agg 0-5) | Inter 2-1 Feyenoord (Agg 4-1)

TOP TALKING POINTS

United’s New Stadium

Manchester United plan to build a new stadium rather than redevelop Old Trafford. The new £2bn stadium is expected to be a 100,000-seater ground–taking United’s capacity up from 74,140. The club, currently £1bn in debt, are yet to say how they plan to fund the stadium.

Conceptual images suggest the new stadium is expected to have three giant towers based on the ‘Red Devil trident’ and a glass ‘umbrella’ over the top. A wraparound scoreboard also features–similar to Real Madrid’s upgrade–along with a three-storey museum and canal-side restaurants. It’s reported to take around five years to build.

The new stadium will not be funded by public money, though the wider regeneration of the land surrounding Old Trafford will be. United claim the entire project has the potential to create 92,000 new jobs, will involve the construction of 17,000 homes and bring an additional 1.8 million visitors to the area annually. It’s expected to generate £7.3bn per year for the UK economy—though it is unclear how the club arrived at this figure.

See the images here and models of the new stadium design here.

Pogba Ban Over

Paul Pogba’s 18-month ban from football officially ended yesterday. Reports suggest that Pogba, who turns 32 on Saturday, aims to play in Europe and is not likely to sign anywhere until the end of the season. He posted a video on social media of his training sessions.

At this time of the season, the 2018 World Cup winner can only sign for sides in Major League Soccer, whose window closes on April 23, or in Japan's J1 League, whose closes on March 26. While it’s thought Pogba has spoken to Inter Miami co-owner David Beckham, he has reportedly rejected offers from Saudi Pro League and Brazilian Serie A and has received interest from Ligue 1's Marseille, Serie A's Fiorentina and a number of La Liga sides.

Pogba was handed a four-year suspension after testing positive for DHEA, a banned substance that can raise testosterone. His suspension was reduced to eighteen months after an appeal.

German Football Raid

German federal police have raided the homes of 31 suspects linked to Rot-Weiss Essen’s ultras attack on Hansa Rostock supporters. The raids occurred yesterday morning, and police found two ball bombs and a hand grenade.

The incident occurred before the third-division clash on October 26, 2024. A train with over 700 Rostock supporters hit an emergency stop and was met by approximately 200 masked Essen fans. The train–which sustained around €118,000 in damages–was pelted with rocks and fireworks. It’s unclear whether the incident was deliberately arranged. It was filmed and shared via social media platform X here.

Like many European countries, Germany has experienced more incidents of fan violence in recent years. A report found that fan violence in Germany costs the economy €44m annually, and first-to-third-division football matches in cities lead to 21.5% more acts of violence than would be expected on those days.

POLL

Would you take Paul Pogba at your club now that his ban is over?

Leave your initials if you'd like to be featured in tomorrow's edition.

ON THE BALL

Europe

> Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk has unveiled a new youth tournament starting in September (Watch)

> Barcelona and Osasuna disagree over when their postponed match should be played in the season; the Catalan side oppose March 27 as key South American players would be on international duty (More)

> Arsenal are investigating “sexually inappropriate comments” allegedly made by a supporter towards Liverpool’s Taylor Hinds during the two sides’ FA Cup quarter-final (More) | Manchester City will build a training facility for their Women's Super League side at the City Football Academy training centre worth up to £10m (More)

> Former heavyweight world champion Tyson Fury and Wayne Rooney co-manage the England Soccer Aid side at Old Trafford in June (More); see the Soccer Aid line-up (More)

Americas

> Neymar has come under fire after missing a semifinal with Santos due to workload management–which they lost–but was seen at Carnival last week (More)

> Fifa has been accused of reneging on a commitment to ensure workers’ safety on World Cup projects by refusing inspectors access to observe conditions inside Mexico’s Azteca Stadium (More)

> Palmeiras president Leila Mejdalani Pereira said CONMEBOL's punishment of Cerro Porteno for racial abuse against Palmeiras U20 player Luighi was too lenient (More)

Rest of the World

> A boat has capsized in southwestern Congo and killed 25 people, many of them football players (More)

ROUTERS’ VOICE

Yesterday’s Poll: Do you think football should have an all-star match like other sports?

🟨 🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ 🤩 Absolutely... (15%)

🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🙅‍♂️ Nope... (83%)

🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ✍️ Other... (2%)

Your punditry takes:

🤩 R.C: “Would be really cool to see players that don’t play together do just that. Imagine if we had the opportunity to see prime Messi and Ronaldo together.”
🙅‍♂️ J.M: “I think there is too much tribalism between fans and between players of different teams to have them supporting/playing in an all-star team. Who is picking the team anyway? There is going to be very little consensus (due to the aforementioned tribalism) about who deserves a place.”
🙅‍♂️ S.R: “International soccer IS the All-Star match. The best players in the world playing for national pride and glory is the greatest level of competition possible. No made-up All-Star game can top international play.”
✍️ D.J: “I don't have a problem with it as long as a) it doesn't interrupt existing fixtures/scheduling for players (if they're still actively playing), and b) any money raised goes to a good (non-FIFA) cause, such as a charity.”