League Infighting

GM football fans. It’s Monday, Feb. 24 - French league infighting, a leaked Man Utd email and everything else you need to know. Forwarded this email? Sign up here.

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RESULTS

Premier League: Manchester City 0-2 Liverpool. Mohamed Salah has scored and assisted in 11 Premier League matches in 2024/25, the most by a player in a single season in one of Europe's big five leagues since Lionel Messi for Barcelona in 2014/15 (also 11) (Full Match Report). Newcastle 4-3 Nottingham Forest. Forest have lost three of their last four Premier League games, as many as their previous 16 beforehand (Full Match Report). Arsenal 0-1 West Ham. Arsenal’s defeat ended their 15-game unbeaten run in the league, while it was also the first time they’ve lost a Saturday 3 PM game in the competition since April 2022 against Southampton. See full Premier League results here.

More results…

• La Liga: Athletic Club 7-1 Valladolid | Real Madrid 2-0 Girona | Getafe 1-2 Betis (League Table)

• Bundesliga: Leipzig 2-2 Heidenheim | Bayern Munich 4-0 Frankfurt | Hoffenheim 1-1 Stuttgart (League Table)

• Serie A: Como 2-1 Napoli | Verona 1-0 Fiorentina | Empoli 0-5 Atalanta | Cagliari 0-1 Juventus (League Table)

TOP TALKING POINTS

Ligue 1 Owners Clash

A leaked video, published by Complement d’enquete and L’Equipe (only in French), reveals an argument between Paris Saint-Germain president Nasser Al-Khelaifi and Lyon owner John Textor–with Al-Khelaifi calling Textor a “cowboy”. The video call on July 14, 2024, was a meeting between Ligue 1 club owners.

The dispute centred on the allocation of Ligue 1's domestic broadcasting rights. Textor, who is in favour of the French top flight creating a direct-to-consumer streaming platform, accused Al-Khelaifi of dominating the conversation and being a “bully” and a “tyrant.” In response, Al-Khelaifi retorted: “John, stop talking, you don’t understand anything. I don’t know, cowboy, you’re coming, I don’t know (from) where, and you’re talking to us [sic].” Khelaifi subsequently left the call because Textor “didn’t understand” and was making him angry.

Following the meeting, Ligue 1 clubs voted to allow DAZN and beIN Sports to stream the games this season. The deal was worth €500m, half of what the Ligue de Football Professionnel had hoped for. This shortfall has intensified internal disputes, with Joseph Oughourlian, president of Lens, opposing the agreement and accusing Al-Khelaifi—also the group chairman of beIN Sports—of harbouring a conflict of interest.

Yesterday, Textor walked out before Lyon’s game against PSG with a cowboy hat. See the video here.

United Leaks Investigation

Manchester United have launched an investigation into the club’s leaks, a leaked email has revealed. Omar Berrada, the club’s chief executive, sent an email to staff warning that they are committing “gross misconduct” if they leak confidential information. Staff will be sacked if found guilty of doing so.

Berrada urged employees to remain cautious as journalists use different methods to reach out to the insiders for exclusive scoops. Reports suggest that the email has not been received positively by some employees, especially as the email followed news that Sir Jim Ratcliffe was teeing up another 200 redundancies at the club.

New reports, unconfirmed, suggest that INEOS will announce the 200 redundancies on Monday (Feb. 24) in a planned meeting with staff. It’s likely that the club’s scouting network, which consists of about 80 scouts, will face considerable cuts.

La Liga’s Close Race

Barcelona reclaimed the top spot of La Liga after Dani Olmo and Ferran Torres came off the bench to rescue a 2-0 win over Las Palmas. Hansi Flick’s side now lead on 54 points after securing five consecutive wins in the league. See the La Liga table here.

Real Madrid are level on points with the Catalan side—only second due to goal difference—after a 2-0 home win to Girona. See Luka Modric’s stunning goal here. Opta’s latest predictions continue to predict Carlo Ancelotti’s side as favourites to win the Spanish top flight title, with a 44.2% chance of winning. Barcelona are given a 40.5% chance of winning the league—still a dramatic increase from last week’s 32.3% projection.

Atletico Madrid are third-favourites after a 0-3 win away to Valencia. Opta predicts they have a 15.2% chance of winning–down from 17%. Diego Simeone’s side are just one point behind the league leaders.

POLL

ON THE BALL

Europe

> Tottenham Hotspur have emailed broadcasters to say that they do not want to be called “Tottenham” anymore; broadcasters will use ‘Tottenham Hotspur’ or ‘Spurs’ for short (More)

> A neutral foreign referee will officiate Monday’s (Feb. 24) Super Lig derby between Galatasaray and Fenerbahce following a request made by both clubs after several controversial decisions in the Turkish league this season (More)

> Napoli missed the chance to return to the top of Serie A in a shock 2-1 loss to Como; Inter Milan remain top with 57 points (More)

> Serhou Guirassy became the first player since Erling Haaland to score four goals for Borussia Dortmund in a 6-0 rout of Union Berlin in the Bundesliga (More)

> Robin van Persie has officially been appointed Feyenoord head coach on a deal through to the summer of 2027 (More) | Rangers have sacked manager Philippe Clement after 16 months in charge (More)

Americas

> MLS favourites Inter Miami drew 2-2 to NYCFC in their opening regular season game (Match Highlights); Columbus Crew, Philadelphia Union, Atalanta United and FC Cincinnati all won their first game of the season to be level at the top of the MLS table (League Table)

> Leon remains top of Liga MX after a 1-0 win over Tigres; Club America’s 0-2 win over Pumas leaves them trailing the leaders by three points; Sergio Ramos was named captain of Monterrey as they won 3-1 over San Luis (League Table)

> Boca Juniors secured a 2-1 win over Aldosivi in the Primera Division Apertura (More)

> USWNT (vs Colombia) and Japan (vs Australia) won their opening game at the SheBelieves Cup (See Sunday’s results here)

Rest of the World

> Coca-Cola and Fifa appear to have resolved a legal disagreement as the soft drinks company was confirmed as a sponsor for the Club World Cup (More)

> Western United go third in A-League after a 3-0 win over Adelaide United; Auckland FC are eight points ahead at the top of the league with a game in hand (More)

> Shanghai Shenhua defeated Changchun Yatai 2-1 at home in east China's Shanghai Municipality to begin the 2025 Chinese Super League (CSL) season with a victory (More)

ROUTERS’ VOICE

Friday’s Poll: Where will you watch your club's match this weekend? 

🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 ⬜️ 🏠 At home... (52%)

🟨 🟨 🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ 🏟️ At the stadium... (33%)

🟨 🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ 🍻 Pub/Bar... (10%)

🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ 😭 I'm going to miss it... (5%)

Your punditry takes:

• 🏠 M.N: “We have season tickets but will miss it for our 12-year-old’s game! But we did come to Guatemala to see the Sounders play to make up for it!”

• 🏠 W.D: “I'd normally be at Dana Gardens with the other Cincinnati toffees but eye surgery is keeping me home.”

• 🏟️ G.M: “I'm going to see Galway Utd v St Pats. They have Stephen Kenny as manager and million-pound Mason Melia, but will find it tough going out west!”

• 🏟️ JMc: Unfortunately, the success my team (Birmingham City) has enjoyed, plus our consistently high away following, means… gone are the days when 10/12 of us would have a weekend away trip… Blues would regularly have 3000+ travelling fans and that’s not feasible at this level. Tbh not many clubs would want their fans outnumbered, outsung and displaced even if they could make a bumper payday.”

EXTRA TIME

Champions League round of 16 draw…

… Europa League round of 16 draw…

… Conference League round of 16 draw.

How Amazon is quietly trying to reinvent pay-per-view.

Antony’s immense assist for Real Betis. (via X)

LAFC honour the Los Angeles Fire Department.

BBC’s Premier League team of the week.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s outburst following Duran’s red card.

Why Guardiola's tactics stopped working.

The first MLS goal of 2025 is a banger. (via X)

The Premier League’s UCL race explained.

Could Ademola Lookman take legal action over Atalanta coach’s criticism?

GAME FACE ON

Question: Can you name the six players to reach 50 Premier League goals in the least amount of games?

Scroll below for the answer.

ON TODAY

La Liga

• Sevilla vs Mallorca (20:00)

Serie A

• Roma vs Monza (19:45)

Major League Soccer

• LA Galaxy vs San Diego (00:00)

Turkish Super Lig

• Galatasaray vs Fenerbahce (17:00)

EFL Championship

• Sheffield United vs Leeds United (20:00)

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

Answer

Erling Haaland - 48. Andy Cole - 65. Alan Shearer - 66. Ruud van Nistelrooy - 68. Fernando Torres and Mohamed Salah - 72.