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  • London has several major football clubs. Why does Paris only have one?

    London has several major football clubs. Why does Paris only have one?

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    When European club competition was originally devised back in 1955, it was in the form of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, the predecessor to the UEFA Cup and Europa League.

    As the name hints, the competition was originally designed to promote European trade fairs, and had a strict ‘one club per city’ rule. On that basis, this week’s Champions League clash between Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain is, in basic terms, pretty much what you’d expect. On the basis of domestic titles won, this is the most successful club from each of Europe’s biggest two cities (discounting Russia) playing each other.

    But there are several complications.

    First, PSG might be France’s biggest club today, but back in 1955, they were 15 years away from being formed.

    Second, Arsenal are one of seven top-flight London clubs in 2024-25, and have often finished behind Chelsea and Tottenham in recent seasons. PSG, meanwhile, have been the only top-flight Parisian club for the last three decades.

    And when you look at the average attendances of the biggest clubs in both cities last season, the difference is stark.

    So how have western Europe’s two major cities managed to do club football quite so differently? Or, more to the point, how come Paris can only support one major club?

    The British clubs

    London is unique, in terms of boasting so many major football clubs. If we’re slightly generous with our definition of city boundaries, Madrid and Lisbon often feature four top-flight sides, Athens effectively has five this season, while Istanbul can offer six. But London’s seven is highly unusual, and a further three London clubs — Charlton Athletic, Queens Park Rangers and the old Wimbledon FC — have previously played in the Premier League since its formation in 1992. Millwall featured in the top flight between 1988 and 1990 too.


    London has a network of intense football rivalries (Marc Atkins/Getty Images)

    Paris, on the other hand, is highly unusual in contributing just one top-flight club. The standard approach for big cities — Rome, Milan, Manchester — is generally two. But while Paris is an outlier in European terms, it isn’t in French terms. In 2024-25, France’s top-flight features 18 teams from 18 different settlements.

    In keeping with many other major European cities, the first Parisian football clubs were formed by Britons. Sides with English-language names like the Standard Athletic Club and White Rovers came into existence in the final decade of the 19th century, and primarily featured British players. In comparison with Nordic, Mediterranean and central European nations, football was slow to develop in France. The authorities considered the rugby version of football to be more sophisticated, and association football was barely played in schools.

    The first Olympic football tournament was held in Paris in 1900, and won by Great Britain — or, in reality, by an East London outfit named Upton Park. They had no link to nearby West Ham and were an amateur side, as professional athletes were, at that stage, not allowed to compete in the Olympics. Britain had a hold over Parisian football already.

    Meanwhile, as noted by Chris Lee in his book Origin Stories, when France formed a cup competition in 1910, quality and interest was so low from within France that the tournament was an invitational event open to English sides. Therefore, while this was not the Coupe de France — which would be formed in 1917 — the first three winners of a major cup in Paris were Swindon Town, Clapton Orient (now Leyton Orient) and Fulham. They defeated Barnsley, Millwall and QPR respectively at the Parc des Princes, the same site PSG play on today, between 1910 and 1912.

    In that sense, you can reasonably argue that London was more influential than Paris in the rise of French football. While the key figure in France’s belated footballing development was Henri Delaunay, the man after whom the European Championship trophy is named, he was inspired after attending the 1902 FA Cup final at Crystal Palace between Sheffield United and Southampton.


    Scenes from the 1902 FA Cup final between Sheffield United and Southampton, an inspirational match for Henri Delaunay (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

    The French clubs

    So what about actual Parisian clubs themselves?

    Well, the other famous French football innovator of this time — and another with a major international trophy named after him — was Jules Rimet. He formed Red Star, a Parisian multi-sport club, in 1897. They are the only true constant of the last 125-odd years.

    When Ligue 1 was originated in 1932, Red Star were one of four Parisian clubs in the top flight. The others were Club Francais (as the name suggests, the first Parisian club formed by French players, and represented France at the aforementioned 1900 Olympics), Cercle Athletique de Paris and Racing Club de Paris.

    But these clubs struggled to grow. The Tour de France was created in 1903 and cycling was unquestionably the biggest sport in France. Rowing and gymnastics were also favoured, and rugby was still more popular. Football was, in contrary to what was happening in England, not the sport of the working class — it was favoured by the anglophile liberal metropolitan elite of the early 20th century. Paris was clearly the centre of that, but the game was treated as a pastime rather than to build a town around.


    Cycling became France’s most important sport in the 20th century, not football (AFP via Getty Images)

    Intra-city rivalries didn’t develop anywhere in France. With some early French competitions only accepting one club per region, combined with minimal public support and a reliance on local councils for income and building stadia, French clubs found that mergers were more conducive to success than city rivalries. Of the aforementioned four clubs, Club Francais were relegated from the inaugural Ligue 1 season and essentially ceased to exist after a merger in 1935. Cercle Athletique de Paris were also quickly relegated, managed another three decades and then also fell victim to a merger, becoming an amateur side.

    It was really only Red Star and Racing Club which survived.

    Red Star are more notable for being a left-wing club than a successful one, attracting a committed cult support and experiencing a turbulent time on the pitch. In the 21st century, they’ve competed at every level between the sixth and the second tiers.

    Racing Club, meanwhile, were briefly managed in the 1930s by Jimmy Hogan — referred to as ‘the most influential coach in football history’ by Jonathan Wilson in his history of football tactics, Inverting The Pyramid — and won a single Ligue 1 title three years after his departure in 1936. They suffered serious financial problems in the 1960s and tumbled through the divisions, but were revived by a famous French businessman, Jean-Luc Lagardere, in the 1980s. He was most notable for his stewardship of Formula 1 team Matra, who won the world championship in 1969.

    Lagardere threw money at the side, signings the likes of David Ginola, Luis Fernandez, Pierre Littbarski and Enzo Francescoli, and even appointed Artur Jorge as manager immediately after he’d led Porto to the European Cup in 1987. Lagardere was serious about Racing Club, although it attracted few supporters. After a desperate attempt to increase the profile of the club, and his brand, by renaming it Matra Racing, Lagardere eventually conceded defeat and withdrew his financial support. The club was relegated from Ligue 1 in 1990, and financial problems meant they were double-relegated to the third tier.


    David Ginola playing for Matra Racing in the 1980s (Marc Francotte/TempSport/Corbis via Getty Images)

    There’s a wider question about quite how football-crazy France is, compared to other European nations. The country didn’t really capitalise on the national side’s fine performance in finishing third at World Cup 1958. Then the national side didn’t qualify for a major tournament between 1966 and 1978. David Goldblatt, in his seminal book The Ball is Round, writes that, “While in Britain the new youth and musical cultures of the 1960s interacted with football, in France they stood as an alternative and an opponent. The counter-cultures of the late 1960s explicitly rejected football and its antiquated provincial hierarchies.”

    The lift-off moments were the national team successes on Parisian soil in 1984 and 1998, but the boosts to domestic football — and in particular, domestic support — were negligible. The heroes of those sides soon moved abroad, if they hadn’t emigrated already, in part due to high taxation rates in France.

    The modern clubs

    So where did PSG come from?

    Well, in a sense it was a new club, and in another sense it was another merger. While generally mocked for a relative lack of history — even before the Qatari takeover in 2011 — PSG are interesting in that they were born due to a crowdfunding campaign that attracted startup capital from 20,000 ‘supporters’ who were prepared to contribute to the foundation of a new club, although two wealthy businessmen were the figureheads.

    Slightly confusingly, PSG was originally a merger of Paris FC (a club only formed the previous year) and Stade St Germain, although two years after the formation of PSG, Paris FC split from the new club because the city’s mayor refused to financially support a club which technically played outside the boundaries of the city. Paris FC re-established themselves as an independent entity, retained the club’s players and Ligue 1 status, while PSG were relegated to the third tier and had to work their way through the divisions again.

    PSG’s first golden era came in the 1990s, when they were taken over by television giants Canal+, but attendances were always relatively modest considering the size of the city they represented. PSG, of course, are unlike any clubs in London in that they carry the name of the city, something they’ve been increasingly keen to take advantage of over the last decade. They’ve made ‘Paris’ more prominent on their crest, and like their name to be abbreviated to ‘PAR’ rather than ‘PSG’ on television graphics.


    PSG won the Coupe de France three times in the 1990s (Christian Liewig/TempSport/Corbis via Getty Images)

    Also worthy of mention is US Creteil, from the south-eastern suburbs of Paris. Formed in the 1930s, they played in the second tier regularly at the start of the century, and as recently as 2016, although even at that stage only attracted attendances of around 2000. They’re now back in the fourth tier.

    But Parisian football is at its strongest point for many decades. Red Star won the third-tier Championnat National last season and are competing in Ligue 2 alongside Paris FC — who are currently top of the table, and aiming for promotion to Ligue 1 for the first time since relegation in 1979. Paris FC also have a strong women’s side, who regularly finish third in the Premiere Ligue (formerly known as Division 1 Feminine) behind PSG and Lyon, and eliminated Arsenal in the Champions League qualifiers last season, although they were soundly beaten by Manchester City this time around.


    Red Star’s players celebrate winning the 2023-24 Championnat National (ANTONIN UTZ/AFP via Getty Images)

    But those two clubs are still struggling for support. Paris FC averaged 5,500 last season, the 13th-highest attendance of the 20 clubs in Ligue 2. Red Star attracted around 3,500. And the reality is that their dual rise owes little to local support, and more to what many would consider the twin evils of modern football: state ownership and multi-club ownership.

    Since 2020, Paris FC have been 20 per cent owned by by the Kingdom of Bahrain, who have seemingly been inspired by PSG’s Qatari-led dominance. Bahrain also act as the club’s main sponsors. “They join us for many objectives — mainly to help them to spread the image of Bahrain in France and Europe,” said director general Fabrica Herrault said in an interview upon the takeover.

    The situation at Red Star also feels familiar, and somewhat unsatisfying given their long history of being a left-wing club. In May 2022 they were purchased by a US investment firm, 777 Partners, who also own the likes of Genoa, Hertha Berlin and Vasco da Gama. That attracted serious opposition from supporters, and their protests led to the postponement of a league match two years ago.

    With a major fraud claim recently brought against 777, Red Star have been the subject of interest from another American, Steve Pagliuca, who owns Atalanta and is part-owner of the Boston Celtics. According to Bloomberg, Pagliuca “saw opportunities to invest in French football, where lower broadcast revenue has left clubs in need of capital.”

    Average attendances in French football are currently positive. Ligue 1 recorded its highest-ever attendance last season of 27,100, while Ligue 2’s figure was 8,650, the best figure for 15 years — although that was boosted by two traditional giants, Saint-Etienne and Bordeaux, unusually, being in the second tier. The Ligue 2 stadiums, in general, were still only 55 per cent full.

    In the capital, Paris FC’s 20,000-capacity stadium is only around a quarter full most weeks, while Red Star at least manage to make a modest 5,600-capacity ground in the northern suburbs look busy.

    And while the nature of these clubs’ ownership is relatively modern, this is the history of Parisian football. The financial investment arrives before the support — if the support ever arrives at all. Of course, PSG have won 10 of the last 12 Ligue 1 titles and attract an average attendance of over 45,000, although there have been waves of unhappiness from supporters in recent years, and there are sporadic reports that Qatar might consider rethinking its investment.


    Arsenal’s Ian Wright taking on PSG in March 1994 (Anton Want/Getty Images)

    In general, French clubs are still struggling to generate their own money. Ligue 1’s new television rights deal represents a 12 per cent decrease on the previous agreement, and that’s a joint agreement with DAZN and BeIN Sports, the latter being Qatar-owned and surely less likely to stick around if Qatar isn’t investing in PSG. Unlike in England, domestic football has never become appointment television viewing in France.

    If Paris FC continue their fine start to the campaign, next season there will be a top-flight Parisian derby in Ligue 1 for the first time since Racing Club’s relegation in 1990. But with seven top-flight sides, London boasts 42 derbies a year. The difference owes to many factors, including the historic structure of competitions and clubs’ reliance on local councils for funds.

    But more than anything else, it’s simply a reflection on wildly varying levels of interest in football.

    (Header photo: Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images)

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    The New York Times

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  • From Drake in pink to ‘Blokecore’: How football shirts became fashionable

    From Drake in pink to ‘Blokecore’: How football shirts became fashionable

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    Football shirts were once an item of clothing for a) players to wear at work, and b) fans to sport on the terraces in solidarity with the lads out on the pitch.

    Now, what must seem abruptly to the uninitiated, they have become the uniform for British music festivals and a source of inspiration for major fashion houses.

    Several moments signalled the shift to football shirts becoming mainstream during the 2010s.

    For example, Drake, the Canadian music artist, wore the 2015-16 season’s pink away shirt of leading Italian club Juventus, leading to an internet scramble from his fanbase. And two years later, the landscape changed completely again when Nigeria unveiled their kit for the 2018 World Cup finals.

    “After 2016, we’d seen quite a few years of blank kits,” says Phil Delves, a kit collector, designer and influencer. “Many people rightly refer to the Nigeria kit (in 2018) and the interest around that, and I think while the design itself isn’t the craziest design we’ve seen, everything was massively amplified because of the moment it arrived and the fact it was coupled with a major tournament.”

    Before Nigeria took to the pitch at that tournament in Russia, the shirt they wore as they did so had taken on a life of its own. Designed by American artist Matthew Wolff as a tribute to that African nation’s performance in reaching the knockout phase of the 1994 World Cup, in what was their debut on the global stage, the kit featured a green and white torso with triangle-patterned black and white sleeves.

    The bold and vibrant design in 2018 represented the nation’s history and an emerging ‘Naija’ culture centred on a hopeful view of the country’s future, embodied by a new generation of exciting players and a growing arts sector.

    Following the kit announcement, internationally famous music artists, including Wizkid, the Nigerian singer from whom Bukayo Saka has borrowed the ‘Starboy’ nickname, and Skepta, a rapper born and raised in London to Nigerian parents, wore the shirt.


    Nigeria’s jersey for the 2018 World Cup was a significant moment in the scene (Mark Ralston/AFP via Getty Images)

    At the same time, England were enjoying their most successful international tournament since making the semi-finals of the 1996 European Championship, and staunch and casual fans alike went shopping for retro kits to wear while watching the games.

    Shortly after that 2018 World Cup, serial French champions Paris Saint-Germain announced a collaboration with Nike’s Jordan Brand worth around €200million (£168m; $223m at current exchange rates). The striking black-and-white kits produced under the deal drew eyes from around the world as global superstars in football, including Neymar and recent World Cup winner Kylian Mbappe, played for PSG in the Champions League wearing a logo associated with U.S. basketball legend Michael Jordan.

    This was not the first time PSG had taken inspiration from other fashion sectors — their 2006-07 Louis Vuitton-inspired away kit was among the first of its kind — but it marked a period when the once-niche collaboration between fashion and football went mainstream.


    PSG’s Louis Vuitton-inspired away kit from 2006-07 (Pascal Pavani/AFP via Getty Images)

    “For us as a business, the summer of 2018 is a real turning point,” says Doug Bierton, CEO and co-founder of Classic Football Shirts. “We opened our first retail store in London, and we got to see first-hand the passion and hype.”

    Classic Football Shirts started life in 2006 when Bierton and co-founder Matt Dale went searching for a Germany kit from the 1990 World Cup for a fancy dress party. After purchasing the shirt from eBay, and an England one with Paul Gascoigne’s name printed on the back, the duo noted the dearth of authentic retro jerseys available online.

    Bierton and Dale set up a business to buy and sell football shirts, reinvesting their profits into new stock. Less than two decades later, Classic Football Shirts has more than 1.3 million Instagram followers, stores in major cities in the UK and the United States and expects revenues north of $50million in 2024.

    Following a $38.5million (£29m) cash injection from investment firm The Chernin Group in May, the company announced several other strategic investors this month. The new investors include actor and Wrexham co-owner Rob McElhenney, recently retired USWNT legend Alex Morgan and global sports and entertainment agency Wasserman.

    Bierton is as equipped as anybody to chart how the business has developed from a relatively niche collector industry into one of the most prominent subcultures within football and fashion.


    A model wearing a football shirt at the 2018 Paris Fashion Week (Christian Vierig/Getty Images)

    “It was much more underground,” says Bierton. “It was only after the 1994 World Cup and the advent of the Premier League that football shirts started being produced with any volume, so when we set up the company in 2006, there was a limited range to look back to. When we began, shirts from the 1980s were more fashionable — like, indie style, the skinny Adidas trefoil type.

    “People weren’t buying 1990s shirts from a fashion point of view because the baggy stuff wasn’t really on-trend. It was more ‘I want to get a David Beckham shirt because I’m into shirt collecting or just football in general’. But as the years go by, kids get older. People are harking back to different eras.”

    Still, diehard football fans are only a portion of the industry.

    Over the years, high-end fashion brands including Giorgio Armani, Dior, Stella McCartney, Yohji Yamamoto and Balenciaga have partnered with football teams to design special kits. Celebrities with no apparent ties to the sport, such as pop stars Rihanna and Sabrina Carpenter — the latter wore an England shirt over a Versace dress at the ‘Capital Summertime Ball’ festival in the UK during the recent Euros — have jumped on the hype train.

    With the rise of ‘Blokecore’, an internet trend popularised on TikTok where people of all ages and genders wear retro football shirts with casual outfits, there are no limits on who wears these kits or where.

    “We did a string of pop-ups in the autumn in the U.S. last year, and the turnout was insane,” says Bierton. “We had lines down the block in Los Angeles, New York and Miami.

    “It was unbelievable to see the range of stuff people were wearing. It was a combination of hardcore fans who loved the game and wanted a shirt to show their knowledge and passion and those who think football shirts are pretty cool to wear. We had someone ask a customer why they were wearing an old Sheffield Wednesday shirt, and they responded, ‘I don’t even know what Sheffield Wednesday is!’.”


    Some old football shirts are worth more than others (Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty Images)

    As the industry has grown, the chances of strolling into a charity shop and finding a rare shirt with a unique design have significantly declined.

    People are far more conscious of the cost of used football shirts, and resellers and larger third-party retailers have increased the prices to reflect the demand. In some cases, legitimate good quality shirts in adult sizes, like the Netherlands kit from their victorious 1988 Euros campaign, can fetch more than £1,000 ($1,300). An authentic USMNT “denim” pattern shirt, worn by the host nation during the 1994 World Cup, regularly demands prices above £500.

    Coupled with the increasing prices of contemporary shirts, which typically range from around £60 to £80 for the ‘replica’ version to more than three figures for the ‘player-issue’ versions produced for Premier League clubs, sales of fakes are now on the rise. According to Corsearch, a global leader in trademark and brand protection, the online market for counterfeit football shirts for Premier League clubs has risen to £180million per year.

    “In the past two or three years, there have been a lot more fakes knocking about,” says Jack Mcandrew, owner of Sound Trout, an online independent vintage retailer. “It’s due to social media and the influencers who have been wearing football shirts, in some cases even wearing fakes themselves without realising, indirectly increasing the demand and creating opportunity.

    “I’ve come across a lot, even from sellers who I know to be reputable. But because the shirts are so in demand and the quality is so high, people fall for them. It’s funny, because the factories that make the fakes aren’t even just doing the ones that are considered cool and coveted, like the Atletico Madrid home shirt from 2004-05 with the Spider-Man kit sponsor, they also do random generic ones.

    “I’ve had to be a lot more careful. If a shirt is from the 1990s and it’s in ‘mint’ condition, nine times out of 10 it’s probably too good to be true.”


    Authentic USMNT “denim” pattern shirts, worn during the 1994 World Cup, regularly demand prices north of £500 (Ben Radford/Getty Images)

    For independent store owners like Mcandrew, the growing counterfeit market means they have to be extra careful when buying shirts from online outlets or inspecting in person at car-boot sales.

    Classic Football Shirts, which operates a significantly larger operation with more than 160 employees, has staff responsible for sifting through fakes and procuring legitimate retro classics from all corners of the planet.

    “We’ve got a rigorous authentication process,” says Bierton. “This includes looking at labels and product codes and comparing them to shirts we have. We used to have a thick written manual, and now it’s computer-based, but we have a team of around 20-odd people working on the process. It gets more challenging, particularly with the quality of fakes now produced, but once you’ve worked here for a couple of months, you can usually tell the difference.

    “It’s still the case that over half the classic shirts are sold to us by people through the website. But there are crazy jobs within the company, basically hunters, whose role is to go out and find shirts in the wild for us. They go around the world, making connections to find old shirts.”

    As the trend has popularised, it has become more of an international industry. While there have always been collectors worldwide — Classic Football Shirts sold its first jersey to a Liverpool fan in Norway and has had interest from “hardcore” kit enthusiasts from South Korea since its inception — subcultures have developed reflecting specific interests within populations.

    “Particularly in the U.S., many fans are drawn to ‘hero printing’,” says Bierton. “It’s about players as much as teams. I think of the U.S. customers as similar to myself regarding Italian football of the 1990s. I wouldn’t necessarily support any of the teams, but I love the idea.

    “I would have a Parma shirt, a Sampdoria shirt, a (Gabriel) Batistuta, (Francesco) Totti or (Roberto) Baggio shirt. That’s the Premier League to a lot of fans from the States. They might like Thierry Henry, Wayne Rooney or Sergio Aguero. They tend to be more interested in the technical aspect in Asia, preferring the player-issue shirts.”

    The 1990s remain the golden era for long-time shirt collectors and those who have immersed themselves in the trend more recently. Manchester United and England tops with Beckham’s name printed on the back are among the most popular on Classic Football Shirts, competing with Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi ones.

    With the introduction of ‘icon’ cards on the Ultimate Team mode of the EAFC video game, legends of the era such as Zinedine Zidane and the original, Brazilian Ronaldo have maintained their relevance to younger generations, and their shirts remain some of the most coveted.


    Football in 1997 – when players’ shirts were definitely baggier (Alex Livesey/Allsport)

    “The ’90s is the high water mark,” says Bierton. “There’s much more freedom of expression in the kits. They’re bolder, and they’re baggy. It’s not ‘Fly Emirates’ on the front of the shirt; it feels pre-commercialisation. It feels like there is still something pure about these shirts.

    “There’s something about the 1990s and early noughties that has managed to capture the imagination of younger generations.”

    go-deeper

    GO DEEPER

    A 1989 Liverpool kit and Beckham’s underpants: Why U.S. investors have bet £30m on retro football shirts

    (Top photos: Getty Images; design: Dan Goldfarb)

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    The New York Times

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  • The full inside story of Kylian Mbappe’s Real Madrid transfer

    The full inside story of Kylian Mbappe’s Real Madrid transfer

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    Real Madrid have been trying to land Kylian Mbappe for years — and now they finally have their man.

    The 25-year-old Frenchman’s signing was confirmed on Monday, more than two years on from their previous attempt to bring him in.

    In May 2022, Mbappe dramatically turned down a move to Madrid, making a last-minute decision to renew his contract at Paris Saint-Germain instead. This time, things have gone much more smoothly, and there is great excitement among everyone at Madrid over the arrival of one of the world’s best players, especially with the squad that just won the club’s 15th European Cup/Champions League already brimming with young talent.

    But that doesn’t mean the free-agent transfer has been without intrigue — and nor was it totally unopposed.

    This is the full story of how Madrid finally signed Mbappe.

    The start of 2024 marked the beginning of the end.

    In early January, at Madrid’s Valdebebas training complex — where the club’s offices are also located — it was agreed that a final attempt to sign Mbappe would be made.

    Several meetings were held on the matter, but some senior figures at Madrid were not convinced it was a good idea.

    The thinking behind this was two-fold. First of all, there were concerns the club’s interests could be damaged again after Mbappe’s rejection two years ago. Others simply thought the time was not right — for both sporting and economic reasons.

    Some preferred to be more cautious with the club’s finances — which are in good shape, even with the extensive remodelling of their Santiago Bernabeu stadium, which will cost at least €1.3billion (£1.1bn; $1.4bn at current rates).

    Some thought the positive dressing-room atmosphere could be affected by Mbappe entering as the highest-paid player when the vast majority of his new team-mates had won more trophies for the club. Some thought Madrid could get by fine without him — especially with 17-year-old Brazilian Endrick set to arrive and the team already performing admirably.

    In short: there was a view that Madrid’s project was working really well without Mbappe.

    But club president Florentino Perez decided nonetheless that another attempt would be made, with the above factors taken into account. It was also decided that Mbappe would be given a deadline to respond to this new proposal, the terms of which would be lower than the one in 2022. According to sources familiar with those previous talks — like all sources cited in this article, they preferred to speak anonymously to protect relationships — Mbappe was offered a six-season contract with a €130million signing bonus and a salary of €26m a year.

    Mbappe took a first step of his own on January 3 when, without consulting PSG, he stopped to speak with reporters after PSG beat Toulouse in the Trophee des Champions — a game between the previous season’s winners of Ligue 1 and the French Cup, much like the Community Shield in England.

    “In 2022, I didn’t know my decision until May,” Mbappe said in reply to questions about his future — it being the start of a new year, he was now into the final six months of his contract and free to negotiate with interested clubs.

    “If I know what I want to do, I shouldn’t let the decision drag on. It wouldn’t make any sense.”

    Meanwhile, PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi said the club wanted him to stay: “He is the best player in the world, and the best thing for him is PSG. He is at the heart of the project. I ask everyone to leave Kylian in peace.”


    Mbappe with his Trophee des Champions winner’s medal (Christian Liewig – Corbis/Getty Images)

    Mbappe’s words were interpreted positively in the Spanish capital, where Madrid were already working on the detail of their offer. When what they were proposing reached the player’s entourage in the following days, the club made it known that his salary (the offer was for slightly more than Vinicius Junior and Jude Bellingham were getting) and signing fee would make him their best-paid player.

    Perez was in regular contact with Mbappe during this process, something that is unusual for Madrid’s club president. Ordinarily, his right-hand man, their director general Jose Angel Sanchez, conducts negotiations. Mbappe told Perez he was keen on the move. All the while Madrid insisted, through briefings to the media, that they had no interest in the player. But the reality was quite different — as The Athletic reported on numerous occasions.

    Sanchez travelled to Paris before Madrid took part in the four-club Supercopa de Espana tournament, which was played in Saudi Arabia from January 10-14. He returned full of optimism — another good sign, as he is usually cautious and very restrained.

    By the end of that month, everyone at Madrid believed a deal would be done. But still there was no definitive agreement. Some people close to Mbappe were not as clear on the move as he was.


    Perez, pictured at a Madrid game in January (Angel Martinez/Getty Images)

    As reported by The Athletic in mid-February, influential members of his entourage were unconvinced by the offer because it was below what he was making at PSG, and could earn from another potential suitor.

    In talks with Perez, the president outlined how signing for Madrid would take the player’s profile to another sporting and marketing level, which would help bring in further personal revenue. With a few exceptions such as Vinicius Jr, the split at Madrid over image rights is usually 50 per cent for the club and 50 per cent for the player, although the share for Mbappe is expected to be in his favour.

    Sources at PSG still felt it was likely that Mbappe would leave. They recalled how he had already decided last summer against taking up an option to stay for an extra year, and knew he had repeatedly expressed admiration for Madrid.

    But these sources also explained that PSG felt “protected economically”. They described an agreement in principle with Mbappe that would see the club compensated financially if he did leave following the expiry of his contract on June 30. They said it was a complex arrangement that covered several scenarios — including the France captain waiving certain loyalty bonuses he might otherwise have been entitled to. Mbappe himself has also talked of “all parties being protected” when he leaves, and discussions on this aspect are still ongoing.

    It remains to be seen exactly what agreement, if any, Mbappe and PSG make in this regard. But the French champions have always sought to stress that any departure for the forward at the end of the 2023-24 season would not be a ‘free transfer’ in their eyes.


    Mbappe and Al-Khelaifi, pictured after PSG’s Coupe de France win (Franck Fife/AFP via Getty Images)

    Then came a key development.

    On February 13, a Tuesday, Real Madrid played away against RB Leipzig in the first leg of a Champions League last-16 tie. Senior club figures travelled with inside information. They had been told Mbappe would inform PSG of his decision to depart at the end of the season.

    The news did not become public until the Thursday, but with the Madrid squad still in Germany, the club’s board informed head coach Carlo Ancelotti. Without being told whether or not Mbappe had actually signed a contract, the Italian was made to understand that he could count on having the striker in his squad for next season.

    About 10 days later, Mbappe was spotted on Spanish soil, but in Barcelona not Madrid, enjoying a few days off. One source told The Athletic he had gone to the capital first to sign his contract.

    Only this week, in early June, did two more sources share further information on the February talks. They said this was when Mbappe’s move was sealed.

    The final stages of negotiations were conducted in utmost secrecy. Madrid do tend to operate this way, but sources involved in the deal also said Mbappe’s mother and agent Fayza Lamari requested there be no leaks at all, in order for her son to be as protected as possible during his final months with PSG.


    Mbappe scored 44 goals in 48 games for PSG last season (Mustafa Yalcin/Anadolu via Getty Images)

    Some tensions between Mbappe and PSG followed, with manager Luis Enrique occasionally substituting him or leaving him out altogether. “We have to get used to playing without him,” the Spaniard said in March.

    After being replaced at half-time of a goalless draw away to Monaco, his first professional club, on March 1, Mbappe sat in the stands with his family instead of on the bench with team-mates. Watching the rest of the match just a few rows away were members of the PSG board, and reports said there was a heated conversation between them and his mum. Madrid and the player’s camp believe PSG penalised Mbappe by reducing his playing time. Sources at the French club dismiss this as untrue.

    The end was drawing near, but the fact both PSG and Madrid were still competing in the Champions League added to the strategy of total discretion. Three days after PSG were eliminated by Borussia Dortmund in the semi-finals, however, Mbappe made his decision to leave public.

    “I need a new challenge after seven years,” he said, while thanking almost everyone at the club (most notably, Al-Khelaifi was not mentioned), but they did not know it was coming.

    Mbappe wanted to make the announcement before PSG’s final home game of the season on Sunday, May 12. The club decided not to organise anything special for him, but the team’s ultras (with whom Mbappe had shared a barbecue on the Friday) dedicated a huge tifo to him.

    The following Monday, newspaper Le Parisien reported that, in the run-up to the game, Al-Khelaifi and Mbappe had an argument, with the former reproaching the latter for not mentioning him in his farewell video.

    A PSG source strongly denied this happened, adding that an agreement with Mbappe over the economic terms of his departure was almost done.

    Later that Monday, Mbappe was named Ligue 1’s player of the year for a fifth consecutive season. In his acceptance speech, he did acknowledge Al-Khelaifi, who in 2021, 2022 and 2023 repeated that his star player would not leave PSG for free.

    “The new chapter will be very exciting,” Mbappe said of his next move, without revealing the identity of his next club. “Maybe it’s not the time (for everyone) to find out.”

    The big reveal was always expected to come after the Champions League final, this past Saturday. Madrid did not want anything, not even the biggest signing they have ever made, to distract attention from something so important and difficult to achieve.

    Early on Monday, two days after the club won a record-extending 15th European Cup/Champions League title, The Athletic reported the announcement would be made this week.

    Now it is finally done — and fans can excitedly look forward to seeing Mbappe in that famous white kit.

    (Top photos: Getty Images; design: Eamonn Dalton)

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  • Fight for the Champions League’s future threatens an age of uncertainty in Europe

    Fight for the Champions League’s future threatens an age of uncertainty in Europe

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    A love story. Florentino Perez called it a love story. Speaking to reporters on his way out of Wembley Stadium after Saturday’s Champions League final, the Real Madrid president sounded like a man in thrall to the mystique, the allure and the romance of a relationship that has spanned seven decades and so many special times.

    “It’s a magnificent night, because this competition is the one we like the most,” Perez said after Madrid, 2-0 winners over Borussia Dortmund, were crowned European champions for the 15th time. “It was created by Santiago Bernabeu (the club’s president from 1943 to 1978) along with L’Equipe newspaper, and it made us important in the world. Some (clubs) leave and others come, but this competition is very much ours.”

    There is a beautiful story there: the all-conquering Madrid team that won the first five European Cups from 1956-60, inspired by Paco Gento, Alfredo Di Stefano and Ferenc Puskas; a sixth title in 1966, and then an unthinkable 32-year wait before three more around the turn of the century, won by a team illuminated by the homegrown Raul Gonzalez and embellished by the arrivals of Luis Figo and Zinedine Zidane before the Perez-driven galacticos project lost its way; their re-emergence over the past decade with a side initially built around Cristiano Ronaldo and other A-list talents, but now extensively rebuilt around the young talent of Vinicius Junior, Rodrigo, Jude Bellingham and, coming soon, a bona fide galactico in Kylian Mbappe.

    No club have contributed more to the game’s growth in the European Cup era. Equally, no club have grown more with the game. It is, on one level, a beautiful relationship, particularly when they are led by coaches such as Carlo Ancelotti and Zidane, whose personal history with the competition dates back to their illustrious playing careers.


    Perez wants to overhaul a tournament Madrid have dominated (Angel Martinez/Real Madrid via Getty Images)

    But it is a strange kind of love story when Perez appears intent on killing the Champions League as we know it.

    He has the European football landscape he dreamed of — a vast and enormously lucrative competition, so elitist that it now attracts talk of fairytales if the second-biggest club in Germany make it to the final — but it is still not enough. Nothing will ever be enough.

    One way or another, European football is approaching a tipping point.

    It has felt that way for several years now, as if the unprecedented financial advantages enjoyed by the biggest, richest, most powerful clubs in the biggest, richest, most powerful leagues just aren’t enough anymore.

    Perez wants the European Cup to be replaced by a Super League. Why? “We are doing this to save football at this critical moment,” he told Spanish television show El Chiringuito around the time of the failed Super League launch in the spring of 2021. “If we continue with the Champions League, there is less and less interest, and then it’s over. The new format which starts in 2024 is absurd. In 2024, we are all dead.”

    And now here we are in 2024. Perez is still pushing the Super League project, emboldened and encouraged by the outcome of the latest court case in Spain, and continuing to wage war on UEFA, the game’s governing body on this continent, which he has accused of running a “monopoly” on European football.

    UEFA, for its part, has responded to the constant demands for more matches by introducing a new Champions League format from next season: the so-called “Swiss model”, where 36 teams will play eight games each, not in a group format but in a notional 36-team “league” from which 24 of them progress to the knockout phase. This is what Perez has described as “absurd”. And he might well be right.

    It sounds… bloated, convoluted, unwieldy, all the things that European competition should not be. It looks like a forlorn, misguided attempt to go with the flow when what the game really needed was for UEFA to do the impossible by stemming and reversing the tide.

    It is designed to placate the demands of the biggest, richest, most powerful clubs.

    Some of us would say UEFA has acceded far too much over the past two decades in particular, creating a financial model that has created a chronic competitive imbalance between leagues and within leagues. Perez and others have already concluded next season’s reforms don’t go anything like far enough.

    Sitting at Wembley on Saturday evening, soaking up the atmosphere created by their supporters, it felt like something of a throwback to see Dortmund in the final again. If it felt that way the previous time they got there, in 2013, when Jurgen Klopp characterised them as a “workers’ club” against a commercial juggernaut in fellow German side Bayern Munich, it certainly felt that way when they played Real Madrid in this season’s showpiece.

    It was similar when Inter Milan reached the final against Manchester City last season. Inter have won the European Cup as many times (three) as Manchester United and indeed they have won it more recently, but they too seem to have been left behind in the modern era. The latter stages of the Champions League felt like their natural habitat in the 2000s. By 2023, reaching the semi-finals, never mind the final, seemed extraordinary.

    And that is Dortmund and Inter — never mind other former giants such as Benfica, Porto and Ajax (to say nothing of Celtic, Red Star Belgrade and the rest). The 21st-century financial landscape has put these clubs far beyond most of their domestic rivals but unable to compete financially with even mid-ranking Premier League clubs, let alone the Champions League elite.

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    What comes next for Borussia Dortmund?

    The European game is at such a strange point in its history.

    The football itself is frequently enthralling, highly technical and played at an astonishing speed, but the structure of the sport’s European model feels increasingly broken: by greed, by entitlement, by the biggest clubs demanding an ever greater share of revenue and ever more protection against underperformance. Attempts to preserve wild-card places for underperforming big clubs have so far been resisted, but that is clearly the direction of travel.


    Dortmund reaching the final feels almost like a fairytale in the modern game (Alex Pantling/Getty Images)

    UEFA’s solution, as always, is to give the elite more of what they want — but not enough to please most of them. The solution proposed by Perez and others is for the most powerful clubs to wrestle power from UEFA and to be allowed to do as they please.

    “To fix a problem, you have to first recognise that you have a problem,” Perez said in 2021, before making clear his belief that European football’s issue was not dubious ownership models, nor the spread of multi-club networks, a bulging fixture calendar or a chronic financial and competitive imbalance across the continent. The only problem he was interested in was the one that could be solved by “top-level games year-round, with the best players competing”.

    But Perez doesn’t necessarily mean “top-level games” between the best teams of the day. He wants the most marketable matches.

    If he feels short-changed by a Champions League campaign in which Madrid faced Napoli, Braga, Union Berlin, RB Leipzig, City, Bayern and Dortmund, you suspect he would be happier to have played Juventus and Liverpool (who didn’t qualify), Manchester United (who were knocked out in the group stage) and Barcelona (beaten in the quarter-finals).

    Provided his team still ended up winning, of course.

    Two great contradictions arise from the past decade of European competition.

    The first, much discussed elsewhere and not greatly relevant to this article, is that this period of Madrid domination, unprecedented in the Champions League era, has felt strange as far as the quality of their performances is concerned.

    It is undoubtedly strange that they have come to dominate an era while rarely dominating their matches against top-class opponents. It must leave Pep Guardiola wondering how on earth, beyond the small margins of knockout football, his City side have just one European Cup to show for their sustained excellence over the past seven seasons.

    The second contradiction — perhaps linked to the first, perhaps not — is that, in an era when the biggest clubs have enjoyed access to revenue streams that were previously beyond their wildest dreams, several of them have lost their way due to serious mismanagement.

    Barcelona, Madrid’s fiercest rivals, have flirted with financial calamity and have reached the Champions League semi-finals just once in the past eight seasons; Manchester United have reached just two quarter-finals in the past 13 seasons under the Glazer family’s miserable, directionless ownership; Juventus reached the final in 2015 and 2017 while in the midst of winning nine consecutive Serie A titles, but they have fallen away from the top tier of European football as ownership and management issues escalated.

    It is almost as if some of these ownership regimes became so fixated on driving up revenue streams and reimagining European football’s future that they lost sight of their own club’s present.

    That is not an accusation that could be levelled at the Perez regime.

    Obsessed as he might be by his Super League dream and his power struggle with UEFA, he has overseen Madrid’s evolution into a club that plays the transfer market shrewdly, always looking for the next big talents in world football (Vinicius Jr, Rodrigo, Bellingham, incoming Brazilian teenager Endrick) and always respecting experience and knowledge while recognising when it is right to let a fading A-list talent grow old at another club’s expense.

    Barcelona and Manchester United, from a broadly similar financial position, have spent enormous sums of money in a wildly erratic manner and allowed dysfunction to take hold. By contrast, Madrid have established a clear vision, made good appointments and built a winning environment.

    They have also without question ridden their luck at times in the Champions League. That needs to be emphasised: both the luck they have had in some of their winning campaigns (not least the last two) and the assurance Ancelotti and his players have shown in being able to ride it. In some of the individual success stories — Ancelotti, Nacho, Dani Carvajal, Toni Kroos, Vinicius Jr, Bellingham — there is so much to like.

    The most uplifting stories of the past few seasons in European football, though, have come away from the Champions League’s spotlight, with Europa League final successes for Villarreal, Eintracht Frankfurt, Sevilla and Atalanta, as well as the success of the initially derided third-tier Conference League, which Roma, West Ham United and Olympiacos have won in its first three years.

    The joy in those celebrations, particularly after Olympiacos beat Fiorentina in the Conference League final last week, was truly something to behold.

    It has shown there is still life and ambition among those clubs who have been conditioned to accept their place in the game’s 21st-century order and be grateful for whatever crumbs might fall from the top table.

    Former Juventus chairman Andrea Agnelli once infamously asked whether Atalanta truly merited a place in the Champions League while on their way to a third consecutive third-placed finish in Serie A. When it comes to outperforming expectations and resources over recent seasons, few clubs in Europe have been more deserving.

    Surely that is the lesson for European football to draw from the past decade: that, in 2024, there still has to be such a thing as upward mobility, that a club like Olympiacos can win a European trophy, that clubs like Atalanta, Bologna and Aston Villa can still reach the Champions League, that a club like Bayer Leverkusen can break Bayern’s monopoly of the Bundesliga. In an era when hope has been crushed — when Bayern have been able to sleepwalk their way to some of their 11 consecutive Bundesliga titles, often sacking coaches as they go — Leverkusen’s success under Xabi Alonso has been particularly inspiring.


    Olympiacos fans celebrated their own European triumph in huge numbers (Giorgos Arapekos/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

    But such love stories rarely seem to endure these days. It seems inevitable that, before long, Leverkusen will fall prey to those clubs higher up the food chain, seeing their best players whisked away, just as Klopp’s Dortmund team did, just like the Monaco team of 2016-17 or the Ajax of 2018-19 did. Maybe their manager, too.

    And at the very top of that food chain are Madrid, the sport’s apex predator, now champions of Europe for a 15th time, somehow re-establishing their dominance in an era when they felt threatened like never before.

    Leaving the stadium after Saturday’s final, it was hard to escape the feeling that European football, having allowed its problems to pile up over a long period of time, is entering a period of uncertainty and seismic change.

    This convoluted “Swiss format” will be the most inescapable change in next season’s Champions League, but, whether it has the desired effect or not, you can imagine the Super League mob clinging to its success or failure as irrefutable evidence of the need for radical reform.

    The game needs proper leadership. It needs someone to stand up and fight for tradition, for jeopardy, for the romance that runs through the history of European competition.

    Hearing his heartening words on his way out of Wembley, you might have imagined that person would be the 77-year-old president of Real Madrid, the man who talks fondly and reverently about the European Cup and his club’s enormous contribution to it.

    But no, Florentino Perez has a different perspective on that relationship these days. As love stories go, it’s increasingly complicated.

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    Real Madrid’s Champions League party: Speeches, cigars, Carvajal’s dad on horseback

    (Top photo: Visionhaus/Getty Images)

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  • 100 days until the Olympic Games – is Paris ready?

    100 days until the Olympic Games – is Paris ready?

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    Follow The Athletic’s Olympics coverage here.

    In 100 days, Paris will host the most famous sporting jamboree on the planet: the summer Olympic Games.

    There will be action across 32 sports watched by millions of visitors, as well as an unprecedented opening ceremony set to take place on the River Seine, which runs through the city’s heart. At least, that is plan A, anyway — Emmanuel Macron, the French president, confirmed an off-river contingency for the first time on Monday.

    Excitement has not quite taken hold in Paris yet. Decorations around the city remain discrete for a Games awarded to the French capital in September 2017. The City Hall has been plastered with Olympic regalia, but the focus of messaging has primarily been on practicality — “anticiper les jeux” (anticipate the Games), as posters on the Paris Metro, the city’s subway system, depict it.

    The past few years have seen plenty of focus on staging the Games, but there has been much more discussion about the practical impact. Authorities have battled and quarrelled to meet deadlines and targets. There have been fears around security, heightened by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the Israel-Gaza conflict, with the audacious, river-based opening ceremony — set to be the first time a Games has not opened in a stadium — a particular area of concern.

    Add in worries about transport disruption and the threats of strike action from unions with public sector workers, including police, demanding pay concessions for the extra work anticipated for the Games, and the build-up has been anything but smooth. Even ‘les bouquinistes’, the booksellers who maintain a 400-year tradition on the banks of the River Seine, erupted in protest at the prospect of temporary removal for the opening ceremony.


    Booksellers have lined the Seine for more than four centuries (Mohamad Salaheldin Abdelg Alsayed/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

    But now, the focus should turn to what else the Games has to offer before the Olympics begin on July 26 (although the men’s and women’s competitions for soccer and rugby sevens begin on July 24), with the Paralympic Games to follow from August 28 until September 8.

    “This is the French edition,” joked Emmanuel Gregoire, the mayor of Paris’ first deputy, when asked about optimism before the Games at a press briefing this month. “At the beginning, we have been talking only about problems — but we feel that the joy is growing.”

    The Olympic flame is now ablaze, lit on Tuesday on Mount Olympia in Greece before beginning its journey across 400 towns and cities in 65 regions of the French territories and landing in Marseille on May 8.

    “Paris 2024 begins on May 8, that’s kick-off,” said Pierre Rabadan, the deputy mayor in charge of sport, the Olympic and Paralympic Games, and the Seine. 

    Olympics


    The first torch runners with the Olympic flame in Olympia on April 16 (Socrates Baltagiannis/picture alliance via Getty Images)

    It has been a long journey to reach this point. Since Paris was awarded the Games, there has been a global pandemic — which first postponed the Tokyo Olympics and then forced it behind closed doors — conflicts in Europe and the Middle East, inflationary pressures, and screaming headlines about bedbug infestations hitting Paris.

    It is safe to say the world could do with a little bit of joy and maybe the Games can provide that.

    The question now is whether Paris is ready.

    Are the sporting venues ready?

    The permanent sites are ready. Paris is aiming to host a sustainable, green-focused Games, with 95 per cent of tournament venues either temporary or using already existing infrastructure.

    The new permanent sites — the ones built specifically for the Olympics — are nearly there. The only new sports venue within inner Paris, the Adidas Arena at Porte de la Chapelle in the 18th arrondissement, opened in February. The two-hectare site will host badminton, rhythmic gymnastics, para-badminton and para-weightlifting.

    The other two new sites, the Olympic Village and the Aquatic Centre, are in Saint-Denis, north of Paris and near the Stade de France, the national stadium. The Olympic Village was handed over to the organising committee in February and the Aquatics Centre opened this month.

    Olympics


    The Aquatics Center in front of Stade de France in February (Stephane de Sakutin/AFP via Getty Images)

    “I thought it was not possible, but we delivered them two weeks or one month before the (due) date,” said Rabadan. “So that’s a good point for two things. First, because we are not late and less pressure. Second, because we want to respect our budget.”

    Not everything is finished, however. The temporary and renovated venues are in the process of completion, while some training sites are not yet ready. Rabadan added: “Some of the renovations for training camps and venues, we are finishing. For example, we have a massive swimming pool in the north of Paris (20th arrondissement), Piscine Georges-Vallerey. That will open up at the end of April.”

    Redeveloped venues include the renovated Yves du Manoir Stadium, used for the eighth Olympiad in 1924, which will host field hockey competitions. Temporary sites are also being put together around famous landmarks, such as the Eiffel Tower (beach volleyball), the Place de la Concorde (which will become an urban park and host 3×3 basketball, BMX freestyle and skateboarding), the Champ de Mars (judo and wrestling) and the Hotel de Ville (archery, athletics, cycling). The Grand Palais, on the Champs-Elysees, will host taekwondo and fencing.

    Existing infrastructure is also being used and sometimes re-purposed, such as the home of tennis’ French Open, Roland-Garros (tennis and boxing), and La Defense Arena, which is home to rugby union side Racing 92 and holds major concert events but will host swimming and water polo.

    “We are exactly where we would like to be 100 days before the Olympic Games,” said Rabadan.

    What about other infrastructure, such as transport?

    The extension of Metro Line 14 is due to be ready. This will link Saint-Denis, the heart of the Games, with Paris-Orly airport. Capacity is being increased through more trains and other developments, such as an extension of the tramway to Porte Dauphine, which will allow access to Porte de la Chapelle. That is now complete. The group of new lines, named the “Grand Paris Express”, will not all be ready. The new lines 15, 16, 17 and 18 will open before 2030.

    “We’ve known for a very long time that the Paris Express could not be ready for the Games,” said Gregoire. “So it’s not a problem, but of course, it could have been better. But these lines don’t serve Olympic sites. The major aspect is we are guaranteed to have the 14th line in Paris. This will open in May or June.”

    “We will have 15 per cent more offerings of trains and metros during the Games,” said Rabadan.

    The Charles de Gaulle expressway, a new line that will speed up links between Charles de Gaulle airport and the Gare de l’Est, will not be ready. “It was supposed to be delivered for the Olympic Games,” said Gregoire. “But five years ago, we knew it would not be ready. It would be ready at the end of 2025-26.”

    More trains and more people will mean more cost. During the Games, transport fares will be doubled.

    Will the opening ceremony actually happen on the Seine?

    As it stands, athletes will parade outside a stadium for the first time, as part of a large flotilla of boats along the River Seine.

    The event will start at the Bibliotheque Nationale and conclude at the Trocadero, the site of the Palais de Chaillot, on the opposite bank of the river to the Eiffel Tower.

    It promises to be an eye-catching spectacle, but questions have been raised about feasibility — particularly given heightened security risks. Last month, following an attack at a concert hall in Moscow that killed more than 130 people, France raised its terrorist alert warning to its highest level.

    The complexity and uncertainty are mainly due to the large numbers set to attend and the challenge of securing the river. Initial hopes of more than a million in attendance were quickly dashed, but the capacity is still set to be more than five times that of the Stade de France (which can hold 80,000 people).

    As well as 10,500 athletes, around 600,000 people will attend the ceremony. Of those, 104,000 are paid tickets sold by the Olympic Committee, 220,000 are distributed across the organising parties (the state, city of Paris and Paris 2024), and 200,000 will be for those on barges or watching on balconies.

    Seine, Paris


    (Emmanuel Dunand/AFP via Getty Images)

    Other considerations have had some impact. Les bouquinistes, the booksellers who have lined the Seine in some capacity for almost 400 years, caused a bit of a headache when they refused to remove their box stalls, some of which are a century old, for the opening ceremony. This dispute has been resolved, albeit at a cost, after Macron intervened. “We lost 70,000 spectators to guarantee security,” said Rabadan.

    So is there a plan B? There have been mixed messages. This month, Paris city officials insisted the event will not be taken off the water. “We can reduce the impact and the facilities of the opening ceremony if the international risk becomes harder,” said Rabadan. “We can reduce it, the show, the number of people. But there is no plan B.”

    But on Monday, Macron said there were contingencies — potentially even off the river. Asked what would happen if security risks made the river procession too risky, he told BFM TV/RMC: “There are plan Bs and plan Cs. We have a ceremony that would be limited to the Trocadero so it would not cover the entire Seine. Or we could return to the Stade de France. This is what is traditionally done.”

    In a statement on Monday, city officials said: “While announcing alternative projects, the president reiterated his priority commitment to the ceremony on the Seine. This is an objective shared by all stakeholders.”

    If Paris can pull off the ceremony in full, it will be spectacular. The opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games will take place along the Champs-Elysées.

    What do we know about security plans?

    France’s interior minister, Gerald Darmanin, outlined this month that an “anti-terrorist” perimeter would be set up around the Seine one week before the opening ceremony. It will be several square miles in size and closed to traffic unless authorised, while 15 metro and tram stations will shut, too. Only four bridges will stay open. This will then ramp up again on July 26, with no entry permitted after 1pm. Those living inside this security cordon will need a QR code to enter. “If you have not registered, you will not be able to return,” said Darmanin.

    “The police need to check who they are in case they represent a threat to security,” added Gregoire. “They will have strong security measures days before. The idea is to maintain the possibility that neighbours can welcome friends and family. At the same time, to guarantee security.”

    Checks are underway for volunteers and torchbearers. This month, Darmanin told broadcaster LCI that they had “excluded 800 people, including 15 on ‘Fiches S’ (the list of the most serious threats)”.

    What about swimming in the Seine? 

    Paris wants to host the cleanest Olympic Games in history and plans to clean up the River Seine and use it to host events, such as triathlon and open-water swimming. Swimming in the Seine has been banned since 1923, but organisers hope they will be able to open three bathing areas in the river before 2025, a key legacy target of the Games.

    To help offset severe waste run-off during heavy rain, a new multi-million dollar storage basin is being constructed near the river, designed to store enough wastewater to fill 20 Olympic-sized swimming pools. Concerns have been raised about the suitability of the river in a worst-case scenario, such as after intense heavy rain. “You need a plan B in case it’s not possible to swim,” said reigning Olympic 10-kilometre open-water champion Ana Marcela Cunha, speaking to AFP last month. “The health of athletes must come first.”

    City officials insisted they are confident the river-based events will take place without hazard, but the risk of one leg of the triathlon (swimming, cycling and running) remains.

    “We know if there is a problem we can delay the event by two days,” said Rabadan.

    “We will finish all the work and the quality of water (will be suitable). Unless we have two months of continuous rain during the summer, we will be ready.” 

    How much will this all cost?

    Last month, credit rating agency S&P Global estimated that the Paris Olympics is “unlikely to do any lasting damage to France’s finances”.

    According to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), 96 per cent of the budget for organising the Games has come from the private sector, “namely the IOC, partner companies, the Games ticket office, and licensing”.

    A 2022 budget review by Paris 2024 cites a total of €4.38bn (£3.74bn, $4.66bn) for the Paris 2024 Organising Committee, with an IOC allocation of €1.2bn (including TV rights of €750m and partnerships contribution of €470m). Ticketing, hospitality and licensing will contribute €1.1bn, €170m and €127m and partnerships will bring in €1.226bn, according to the review. There will be a further four per cent of public funding to finance the organisation of the Paralympic Games.

    Macron, Paris


    President Macron views a model of the Aquatics Centre on April 4 (Gonzalo Fuentes/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

    The rest of infrastructure spending and modification should double that budget, according to reports, to around €8.8bn. It has risen from a reported €6.7billion, but that is still below London, Rio and Tokyo.

    This month, the former president of the French court of auditors, Pierre Moscovici, told France Inter that the Games “should cost” between €3bn and €5bn, although the true cost will not be known until after the Games have concluded.

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    World Athletics to pay track and field Olympic gold medalists prize money

    What’s the legacy vision?

    Paris wants to host the Olympics and Paralympics using predominantly existing infrastructure, but more broadly, an environmentally-friendly approach is central to these Games.

    This is defined by the cleaning of the Seine, but also by an increase in the number of bikes. There will be “10,000 more bikes” in Paris, according to city officials, with the network expanding to 1,400 kilometres (870 miles). Of those, there will be 60 ‘Olympistes’ — cycle routes dedicated to the Games and moving between venues.

    Paris is aiming for a 50 per cent reduction in carbon emissions compared with the averages of London 2012 and Rio 2016. They want to use 100 per cent renewable energy and intend to achieve this using modifications such as connecting all venues to the grid, therefore limiting the use of temporary diesel generators. They want all sites accessible by public transport and are even “doubling the plant-based food to reach a target of 1kg of CO2 per meal, compared with the 2.3kg French average”, according to Paris 2024.

    Paris


    Ugo Gattoni, artist of the Paris 2024 Official Poster (Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)

    Ensuring a lasting impact in disadvantaged communities is also on the agenda. Saint-Denis, in particular, is set to benefit, with the athletes’ accommodation planned to be turned into 2,800 homes after the Games, 25 per cent of which will be social housing. The area also stands to gain renovated pools, including the Aquatics Center, which will replace a 50-year-old 25-metre pool.

    This, along with cycling, will assist a sporting legacy. There will also be more access for disability sports. “Four years ago, only four sporting clubs (in Paris) could welcome young people with disabilities,” said Gregoire. “Before the Games, we are speaking of almost 50.”

    The other new arenas will be repurposed. The Adidas Arena will become the headquarters of the Paris Basketball Club, and will host concerts and schoolchildren.

    Fundamentally, though, Paris wants to breathe life back into the Olympic movement, which suffered due to the pandemic at the Tokyo Games.

    “The world needs some joy and if the Paris edition of the Olympic Games helps a little for that, that would be good for everyone,” said Gregoire.

    (Top photo: Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)

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  • Dani Alves – from 43 trophies to four years in prison

    Dani Alves – from 43 trophies to four years in prison

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    Dani Alves, who was this morning sentenced to four and a half years in prison in Spain after being found guilty of sexual assault, was, until very recently, one of global football’s golden boys.

    An exuberant, technical right-back, he was a major part of the Barcelona team that set new standards in the European game between 2008 and 2016. He played 126 times for Brazil and won 43 titles across his 22-year playing career — an astonishing number that makes him the second-most decorated footballer in history. Only Lionel Messi, his former team-mate at the Camp Nou, has more trophies to his name.

    That success, coupled with a relentlessly upbeat public persona, made Alves a hugely — almost universally — popular figure. It goes some way to explaining why his hearing, which took place over three days in a Barcelona courtroom earlier this month, was labelled “the trial of the year” in certain sections of the Spanish press. Despite its voyeuristic undertones, that epithet did capture just how spectacular Alves’ fall from grace has been.

    On December 9, 2022, Alves — 39 at the time — was on the bench as Brazil played Croatia at the World Cup in Qatar. Exactly six weeks later, he was arrested by Catalan police, accused of raping a 23-year-old woman in a private bathroom at a Barcelona nightclub on December 30, 2022.

    Those accusations have now been upheld by Catalonia’s High Court of Justice. “The court has no doubt that the vaginal penetration of the complainant took place using violence,” read a statement released by the court after this morning’s hearing.

    Alves has spent the last 13 months in a detention facility some 25km northwest of Barcelona; requests for provisional release were denied because he was considered a flight risk and there is no extradition arrangement between Brazil and Spain. After his prison sentence he will be on supervised probation for five additional years. He was also ordered to pay the victim €150,000 (£128,500; $162,700) in compensation, plus legal costs.

    Alves began his senior career at Bahia, one of the biggest clubs in Brazil’s north east. He moved to Spain at 19, joining Sevilla — initially on loan and then on a permanent deal after winning the 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship with Brazil’s under-20 side.

    At the start, some questioned whether Alves had the physical strength to compete in La Liga. His interpretation of his position, though, made the doubters reconsider. Alves was technically a defender but defending was not his speciality. He was a free spirit, a de facto winger in the mould of his boyhood idol, Cafu.

    Sevilla quickly worked out that they had to harness that energy rather than curb it. Alves was encouraged to get forward, to make use of his speed and skill in the final third. He helped the Andalusians to their first European trophy in 2006, setting up the opening goal in the UEFA Cup final against Middlesborough, and was similarly influential as they retained that title in 2007. A year later, he became a Barcelona player.

    His initial eight-season spell at the Camp Nou — he later made a short, largely forgettable return during the 2021-22 season — turned Alves into a superstar. He won six Spanish league titles, three Champions Leagues and 14 other trophies during that time, rarely missing a match. You would struggle to name another full-back who came anywhere near matching his influence and consistency over the same period.

    It helped that his arrival at Barcelona coincided with that of Pep Guardiola. The Catalan’s possession-centric approach suited Alves perfectly and revealed fresh nuances in his game. His combination play with Messi in particular was one of the trademark features of what many consider the best club side of the modern era.


    Alves, right, won 23 trophies with Barcelona (Shaun Botterill – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)

    Even after leaving Barcelona in 2016, Alves remained a prominent figure. He reached another Champions League final with Juventus at the age of 34 — “an extra-terrestrial,” Juve defender Leonardo Bonucci called him — and won two French titles with Paris Saint-Germain. When he returned to Brazilian club football in 2019, signing for Sao Paulo FC, 45,000 fans turned up at the Morumbi stadium to welcome him.

    That he never quite replicated his success at club level with his national team was probably to be expected. Alves played for Brazil during an extended period of flux and, bizarrely, only became a regular starter during the latter stages of his career. He would have captained the Selecao at the 2018 World Cup, only to be ruled out of the tournament due to injury. He did wear the armband the following summer, however, leading Brazil to a Copa America win on home soil.

    Alves’ attitude — chirpy, cheeky, apparently carefree — arguably won him even more admirers than his ability. A little personality can go a long way in a sport as overwhelmingly self-serious as football, and the Brazilian always seemed determined to take his onto the pitch with him rather than leave it in the changing room.

    Over time, Alves leaned into this persona, becoming a full-time cultivator of his own image. He dabbled in modelling, released a single and embraced social media. He seemed to a have tambourine or drum in his hand whenever he stepped off the Brazil team bus. He turned his description of his own character (“good crazy”) into a catchphrase. Whenever he signed an autograph, he drew a smiley face inside the capital D.


    Alves played for PSG between 2017 and 2019 (Aurelien Meunier/Getty Images)

    It has become a rite of passage for footballers to publish long first-person pieces on the Players’ Tribune website. Alves has contributed two of them: one about his modest upbringing and another reflecting upon the pain of missing out on the 2018 World Cup. “Dani Alves is not going to the World Cup,” read one emblematic line, “but he is still one happy motherf*cker.”

    Later, when he moved to Sao Paulo, the same website produced a seven-part documentary about Alves’ life. In one episode he talks at length about his iconoclastic fashion sense, mugging at the camera in a series of designer jackets. In another, he discusses his relationship with music. Episode three is about Alves reconnecting with his two children from his first marriage. Its title is The Family Man.

    That strand of Alves’ reputation now lies in tatters along with all the others.

    Earlier in February, the High Court of Justice of Catalonia heard testimony relating to Alves’ “slimy attitude” from the victim’s friend, who had been present at the Sutton nightclub on the evening of the incident. While the victim’s statement was delivered in private, her testimony — previously reported by The Athletic based on evidence from earlier hearings — gave a detailed account of Alves holding her against her will in a toilet cubicle and penetrating her without her consent.


    Alves was sentenced to four and a half years in prison (ALBERTO ESTEVEZ/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

    This morning, the court upheld that version of events, concluding that Alves had “abruptly grabbed the the complainant, threw her to the floor and, preventing her from moving, penetrated her vaginally, despite the fact that the complainant said no, that she wanted to leave”.

    In a statement, the court said that “injuries to the victim (made) it more than evident that there was violence to force the victim to have sexual relations”, and that “the accused subdued the will of the victim with the use of violence”.

    The defence lawyers plan to appeal the decision.

    The emphatic nature of the verdict, however, means that it will be hard to look at Alves in the same way ever again.

    (Photos: Getty Images; design: Eamonn Dalton)

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    The New York Times

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  • Mbappe is leaving PSG: Thank god that’s finally over

    Mbappe is leaving PSG: Thank god that’s finally over

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    Ice ages haven’t lasted as long as this.

    Kylian Mbappe to Real Madrid… it has been a thing for about a decade at least.

    The Athletic was not even in existence when the pair began courting each other. Twitter was still fun (and called Twitter), Taylor Swift hadn’t heard of American football and the closest thing we got to a global pandemic was from watching Contagion.

    It has been an inexorably long saga, the very worst kind of transfer saga in fact, with endless posturing, incessant lies and spin and thousands upon thousands of stories claiming that it is finally happening.

    Well now, once and for all, it surely is. Mbappe will leave PSG and you’d have to assume that next season, he will play in the Bernabeu (assuming another club doesn’t have the opportunity to pip them and he ends up at, say, Osasuna) and the football world can concentrate on talking about other stuff like, you know, football matches.

    The world’s best player will not rot in PSG’s reserves, believe it or not. He won’t be put on gardening leave either. Instead, he’ll play for the club he’s wanted to play for forever and Real Madrid will sign the player they’ve wanted to sign forever. Imagine that.

    If you think we have had it bad here, try living in Spain where the coverage has been akin to the kind we would get for the death of a royal family member in the UK.

    In recent months, since Mbappe did not take up the option to extend his contract until 2025, things have gone feral. On TV and radio, whether Real Madrid are winning matches or losing matches, whether Jude Bellingham is scoring goals or not, whether Carlo Ancelotti is staying as manager or leaving, Mbappe news trumps the lot.


    Do not fret, the saga is almost over (Franck Fife/AFP via Getty Images)

    Ancelotti will regularly face questions about Mbappe in press conferences, which you kind of expect. But Real Madrid players, Javier Tebas (the president of La Liga), even Xavi and Joan Laporta over at Barcelona, they have all been quizzed for their Mbappe opinions. Honestly, who cares? Other than the TV producers who need to quench an insatiable need for 24/7 rolling football coverage.

    Why would anyone want to know what Laporta thinks about another club signing another player? Just ask Nick Knowles what he thinks of the UK slipping back into recession while you’re at it. It’s pointless to the point of utter saturation, a stage we reached with this on/off transfer yonks ago.

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    Front pages have been dominated by Mbappe in Spain for ages, focusing unremittingly on ‘the decision’.

    “Mbappe will want to play for Real Madrid,” one Marca headline screamed in April 2020. Presumably “in 2024” was in the small print.

    “Mbappe takes the step” followed in September of that year, implying he was on his way to Madrid. Presumably just on holiday.

    “The game of the summer” was last year. Maybe they meant the Ashes.

    There has even been a saga within the saga, with Madrid feeling betrayed by Mbappe when he chose to sign his last extension with PSG. Madrid fans said they wouldn’t forgive Mbappe… for choosing to stay with his current employers. Grow up.

    The journalists were at it too. Mbappe’s decision to remain in Paris was called “the biggest mistake in his career”; even if he won the Champions League and another World Cup, it wouldn’t be enough. Oh, and the fact he wanted to stay in the fifth-best league in the world indicated “he holds himself in very low esteem”.


    Mbappe in 2022 committing his future to PSG for, well, another couple of years at least (Franck Fife/AFP via Getty Images)

    That does feel like a very Real Madrid thing, though; sheer indignation at any player in the world daring to turn them down. It’s a very special kind of attitude, one that has fuelled and exacerbated the dullest soap opera storyline since Ian Beale’s weight loss struggles on Eastenders.

    There has never been a moment when it did not seem as if Mbappe was heading to Real Madrid at some point soon. It has always been when, not if — even when he tweeted “LIES” about a report saying he wanted to join Real last summer. “I have already said that I will continue at PSG where I am very happy,” he added, while doing the David Brent long nose mime.

    To be honest, we say it’s a done deal, but no doubt we should be prepared for the next chapter. Which club will Mbappe join now that he has confirmed he is leaving PSG? Within minutes of today’s news breaking, an odds comparison website sent out an email (in such a hurried fashion that the email subject mistakenly read “Kylian Mbappe set to leave Real in summer 2024”) stating there was an “implied chance of 83.3 per cent” that Mbappe was off to Madrid, but also a 3.8 per cent chance he could go to Barcelona, a move that would involve more lever pulling than an octopus running a train station.

    But for now, it feels like it’s finally over. And when we see Mbappe, at last, holding aloft that famous all-white kit, we’ll all be relieved. Unless it’s Leeds United on a Bosman from PSG in 2034.

    (Top photo: Julien de Rosa/AFP via Getty Images)

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    The New York Times

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  • Champions League draw analysis: City thrilled, Barca-Napoli dream tie and predictions

    Champions League draw analysis: City thrilled, Barca-Napoli dream tie and predictions

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    The draw for the last 16 of the Champions League was made in UEFA’s Nyon headquarters this morning and Europe’s big guns will have largely liked the outcome.

    England’s two remaining representatives, Arsenal and Manchester City, were handed kind draws in Porto and Copenhagen, while Real Madrid were paired with RB Leipzig.

    Of the more established big guns, Barcelona face arguably the toughest task, having been paired with last season’s Italian champions Napoli.

    Here, our experts cast their eye over the draw and what could happen next.

    Which game are you most excited about?

    Oliver Kay: Napoli vs Barcelona. Both clubs are experiencing hangovers from last season’s title success, but what better than a tie like that to get them going? In terms of individual talent, tactical intrigue and the atmosphere expected in Naples in particular, this tie sticks out. Second choice: Paris Saint-Germain vs Real Sociedad.

    James Horncastle: Maurizio Sarri will be disappointed. The Lazio manager wanted the chance to coach at the Camp Nou. Nevertheless, Lazio vs Bayern Munich sees him face Thomas Tuchel, pitting a couple of cantankerous ex-Chelsea coaches against each other in the ‘Miroslav Klose-ico’. Inter Milan vs Atletico Madrid is also Simone Inzaghi vs ex-Interista Diego Simeone and looks delicately poised, particularly because last year’s finalists face one of the better vintages of Simeone’s Atleti.

    Laia Cervello Herrero: Barcelona vs Napoli. It could be an interesting match, especially given how Xavi’s team are faring. They are unpredictable and that makes the match more attractive. It will also be the first time in three years that we will see Barca in the knockout stage of the Champions League.


    Victor Osimhen and Giacomo Raspadori pose a threat to Barcelona (Francesco Pecoraro/Getty Images)

    Liam Tharme: PSG vs Real Sociedad. Two teams that will go toe-to-toe, playing out and pressing. Don’t expect this to be a typically cagey knockout game. PSG just about squeezed through their group — even if Group F was the hardest of the lot — and will need a statement performance. They have looked vulnerable when pressed high and La Real will certainly do that.

    Sebastian Stafford-Bloor: Peter Bosz against Borussia Dortmund. Now flying at PSV Eindhoven, Bosz lasted half a season at the Westfalenstadion in 2017 and the way his Dortmund side fell apart still impacts how he’s viewed. Bosz is a punchline to some and he will be thrilled to take his brilliant PSV side (16 wins from 16 in the Eredivisie) to Germany. Fascinating — and that’s without even considering the questions surrounding Edin Terzic’s future.

    go-deeper

    Key dates

    Round of 16: February 13/14/20/21 and March 5/6/12/13
    Quarter-finals: April 9/10 and 16/17
    Semi-finals: April 30/May 1 and May 7/8
    Final (Wembley): June 1

    Who will be happiest with the draw?

    Oliver Kay: Manchester City. No disrespect to Copenhagen, but that is the opponent all the group winners wanted. The Danish team were a real surprise package in the group stage, but they will find City a rather tougher proposition than their neighbours.

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    James Horncastle: City, as usual. I look forward to Stefan Ortega, Micah Hamilton, Oscar Bobb and Mahamadou Susoho helping the treble winners reach the quarter-finals. Serie A leads this season’s UEFA co-efficient sweepstakes and, alongside Ligue 1, still has a full contingent of teams across UEFA’s three competitions. The draws look tough for Italy’s representatives but in the Champions League, Barcelona are not what they used to be and Inter got the ‘right’ team from Madrid, too.

    Laia Cervello Herrero: City, without a doubt. They’ve been drawn with the lowest-ranked opponents and they still have the tag of reigning Champions League winners. They can already see themselves in the quarter-finals.

    Liam Tharme: Presumably City, even if they did draw in Copenhagen in the group stages last season. They have missed the big hitters and get the bonus of a chance to eliminate the team that went through in place of their city rivals — not that they needed to justify which of the Manchester teams is faring better.


    Manchester City were held in Copenhagen last year (Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

    Sebastian Stafford-Bloor: Bayern Munich. Tuchel will probably have two or three new players to weave into his first team at the end of the transfer window and this tie, against Sarri’s underwhelming Lazio, should offer a chance to grow into the latter stages of the tournament. Bayern’s worst-case scenario would have been a fast-paced, vertical opponent, and Lazio certainly aren’t that.

    Which ‘giant’ could be in the most trouble?

    Oliver Kay: Barcelona, although I would still put them as slight favourites to overcome Napoli. It’s a funny season. None of the heavyweights are performing particularly well, so it’s possible to imagine any one of Barcelona, Bayern or Real Madrid coming unstuck — plus PSG, whom I’m not going to categorise as giants.

    James Horncastle: The underwhelming Barcelona. Will Xavi still be in charge come February? Robert Lewandowski seems a shadow of himself. Of course, a lot can change in two months. But a Spalletti-less Napoli still has enough skill to win the ‘Maradona derby’.

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    Laia Cervello Herrero: Real Sociedad have shown a great level in La Liga and the Champions League and they have a chance against PSG, who are not having the best season.

    Liam Tharme: PSG, for all the reasons I mentioned above. Luis Enrique was brought in as a project coach — which is reflected in their summer signings, more youth and less galactico-y — but PSG have gone out in the last 16 in the past two seasons (though to bigger European clubs, in Bayern Munich and Manchester City). If they lose to Real Sociedad, it will probably be down to tactics.


    Luis Enrique is under pressure at PSG (Franck Fife/AFP via Getty Images)

    Sebastian Stafford-Bloor: The draw didn’t create too much jeopardy, but it’s probably Barcelona. Napoli are not what they were under Spalletti, but Xavi’s Barca have so little life in them — and so few goals. You can imagine them losing in Naples.

    Your predicted quarter-finalists

    Oliver Kay: Arsenal, Barcelona, PSG, Atletico, Dortmund, Bayern, City and Real Madrid.

    James Horncastle: Arsenal, Napoli, Real Sociedad, Inter, Dortmund, Bayern, City and Real Madrid.

    Laia Cervello Herrero: Arsenal, Barcelona, PSG, Atletico, Dortmund, Bayern, Manchester City and Real Madrid.

    Liam Tharme: Arsenal, Napoli, Real Sociedad, Inter, Dortmund, Bayern, City and Real Madrid.

    Sebastian Stafford-Bloor: Arsenal, Napoli, PSG, Inter, PSV, Bayern, City and Real Madrid.

    What would be your dream final from these teams?

    Oliver Kay: I’m not going to say an all-English final (too parochial) and I’m not going to say one English club and not the other. From a neutral perspective, in terms of what the clubs stand for, I like the idea of Real Sociedad vs Borussia Dortmund, but that’s not going to happen, is it?

    James Horncastle: Copenhagen against Real Sociedad. You asked for a dream final and this is the wildest fever dream. Jokes aside, I would like to see an outsider make it to Wembley on the 20th anniversary of Porto’s victory in Gelsenkirchen.

    Laia Cervello Herrero: Barcelona vs Manchester City. Although it is unlikely and it would be painful for the Catalans, I would like to see a final between Pep Guardiola and Barca.

    Liam Tharme: I would love to see Inter get to the final again, so wouldn’t be against a repeat of last season’s final, or perhaps against Arsenal, for another clash of styles.

    Sebastian Stafford-Bloor: City against Real Madrid. They bring out the best in each other; something always happens to make those games a spectacle. Adding Jude Bellingham seems unlikely to make it any less so, but the broader sub-plots are just so compelling. The contrasting historical and evolutionary dynamics have really made this into an absorbing rivalry between a symbol of the game’s past and a vision of its future.


    Jude Bellingham will be targeting Champions League glory (Angel Martinez/Getty Images)

    How will Arsenal view the draw?

    Arsenal will feel slightly at ease by drawing Porto for the round of 16, but should not be lulled into a false sense of security.

    They have missed most of the big names in the draw, including PSG, Inter and Napoli, but Porto are doing well in Liga Portugal. They have an identical record to Sporting Lisbon, with both clubs two points off league leaders Benfica and a game in hand against each other tonight (Monday). Last season, Arsenal drew Sporting in the Europa League round of 16, which was seen as a favourable draw, but the Portuguese side advanced via a penalty shootout.

    Even so, Arsenal have looked exceptional in this year’s Champions League and should be strong enough to progress. They had the best goal difference (+12) of any team in this year’s group stage and have looked more free-flowing in Europe than the Premier League.

    Mikel Arteta has not rotated his side as much as he did in the Europa League last term. A consistent team, mixed with the fact that European defences do not defend as deep or tightly as English ones, has allowed his attacking players to flourish on Champions League nights. These encounters should lift Arsenal’s confidence before they kick on into the business end of the season.

    And there is an intriguing sub-plot, as well: a reunion for Fabio Vieira with his boyhood club, the midfielder having signed from Porto in the summer of 2022.

    Art de Roche


    Fabio Vieira will return to his old club Porto (Glynn Kirk/AFP via Getty Images)

    How will Manchester City view the draw?

    It will be a great trip to a lovely city for the fans (albeit a bit pricey) and City should win.

    They only played each other last season and the game at Parken was a goalless shocker, but only after City had back-up left-back Sergio Gomez sent off in the first half.

    City have got their problems but we have seen time and time again, not just with this club but many others (often Real Madrid), that issues in December often count for very little by the time the last 16 rolls around in February.

    And even if City are still struggling with silly mistakes (which is basically what is costing them) there should still be a big enough margin for error given how strong they are compared to Copenhagen.

    Inter and PSG could have caused a bigger headache and, while you can never say never in football, City can be very pleased with this draw.

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    Sam Lee

    How will Real Madrid view the draw?

    They avoided Kylian Mbappe’s PSG, Inter and Lazio, but Real Madrid won’t consider Leipzig comfortable opponents. Far from it.

    Last season, Leipzig beat Madrid 3-2 in the Champions League group stage — a defeat that will not have been forgotten. And even though Leipzig have seen important players move on since, including Josko Gvardiol, Dominik Szoboszlai and Christopher Nkunku, they are doing well this season; third in the Bundesliga behind Bayer Leverkusen and Bayern Munich, comfortable runners-up behind Manchester City in Group G.

    That is why Carlo Ancelotti’s Real should not be overconfident — although, as always in European matches, they start as favourites. Even more so when bearing in mind that the second leg is at the Santiago Bernabeu, where the atmosphere always helps.

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    Guillermo Rai

    How will Barcelona view the draw?

    With Barcelona seven points behind Real Madrid in La Liga and with Girona still to play Alaves this evening, the Champions League is a huge deal.

    Falling short on domestic expectations means Xavi has to deliver in Europe — and returning some self-esteem to a club that last played in the knockout stages in 2021 would greatly help overcome the trauma of recent European failures.

    The draw could have been better, but it could have been way worse — especially with PSG in the mix.

    Barca and Napoli have met twice in knockout ties over the past four years. In February 2022, Xavi helped Barca past the Italians in the Europa League intermediate stage in his first season in charge. In 2020, Barca beat them over two legs in the Champions League last 16.

    This term, Napoli have struggled to match their dominating form of last season. Barca are struggling under Xavi, too, but this match-up will at least mean they can have realistic hopes of reaching the quarter-finals — which would also provide a huge financial relief.

    Pol Ballus

    (Top photo: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images)

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    The New York Times

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  • Moment brawl erupts between Newcastle & PSG fans before Champions League clash

    Moment brawl erupts between Newcastle & PSG fans before Champions League clash

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    A HUGE brawl between Newcastle and PSG fans erupted in Paris last night less than 24 hours before their crucial Champions League clash.

    Newcastle fans claimed PSG ultras stormed into a restaurant and threw chairs, smashed glasses and let off flares in front of terrified families and kids.

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    Newcastle fans have claimed they were attacked by PSG hooligans outside a restaurantCredit: Twitter
    Chairs were seen being thrown and glasses smashed as red flares were let off in front of terrified families and kids

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    Chairs were seen being thrown and glasses smashed as red flares were let off in front of terrified families and kidsCredit: Twitter

    Footage on X, formerly known as Twitter, shows a group of people – thought to be Newcastle fans – stuck inside a pub as chairs and drinks are thrown at the restaurant’s front entrance by both groups.

    Bright red flares just outside the front doors can also be seen plaguing the area making it hard to see through the smoke.

    According to @GeordieJord who posted the video, the Newcastle fans in the 30 second clip were sat outside a bar having a drink moments before the video started.

    It’s also believed there were children, women and families having a drink at the same place when the situation badly escalated.

    read more in fans clashes

    Many of the people seen throwing chairs at the glass windows have hidden their identities by wearing hoods and face masks.

    Throughout the chaos a voice can be heard pleading for the fighting to end.

    A man says: “Stop it, Stop, Stop it.”

    The clash happened less than 24 hours before their crucial Champions League group stage match that Newcastle need to win to have a chance to qualify for the knockout round.

    The teams are both still battling it out to qualify from Group F as all four teams can still go through.

    The clip has already got over 440,000 views and has several comments noting that similar issues occured in the return fixture when Parisians came to Newcastle.

    Back in October, Newcastle breezed past PSG, battering them 4-1 in their only win in Europe this year but before the game fans clashed and videos showed both sets of fans being aggressive and having to be quickly separated.

    Videos show bottles and flares being thrown back and forth between both sets of fans.

    Many of those filmed have their hoods up.

    Chants of “Who are ya?” could be heard as Newcastle supporters taunted the travelling Parisians on their way to the stadium.

    While police officers lined the streets and acted as a barrier between PSG’s away following and the Toon Army.

    When Newcastle played Borussia Dortmund in October nine people were reportedly arrested.

    There was a heavy police presence on the streets approaching the ground pre match and cops have now revealed eight men and a woman have been detained.

    Dortmund supporters were heard chanting in both German and English as fights reportedly broke out between rival fans, with cops attempting to keep them apart.

    The moment a chair was thrown at a glass window

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    The moment a chair was thrown at a glass windowCredit: Twitter
    The flares made it hard to see through the smoke as the brawl worsened ahead of tomorrow nights Champions League game

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    The flares made it hard to see through the smoke as the brawl worsened ahead of tomorrow nights Champions League gameCredit: Twitter

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    Georgie English

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  • Kheira Hamraoui suffered an attack of ‘violent jealousy’. Two years on, this story is far from over

    Kheira Hamraoui suffered an attack of ‘violent jealousy’. Two years on, this story is far from over

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    After moving back to Paris Saint-Germain from Spain in the summer of 2021, midfielders Kheira Hamraoui and Aminata Diallo had lots in common.

    Both France internationals, they followed the same Muslim faith, stayed in the same hotel in their first few weeks at the Paris club and shared a summer holiday to Tanzania. They were also in the same place at the same time when a brutal attack occurred in Chatou, west of Paris, on November 4, 2021.

    On that day, two years ago, the footballers’ lives took very different paths.

    On the journey back home from a team dinner, Hamraoui and Diallo were stopped by two masked men. One hit Hamraoui with an iron bar, targeting her legs, and the other held Diallo to the steering wheel.


    Lawyer Said Harir holds up images of client Hamraoui’s injuries in November 2021

    Reports soon emerged that Diallo was linked to the attack so she could take Hamraoui’s place in the PSG team.

    Follow live coverage of AC Milan vs Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League today

    In September 2022, 10 months on, Diallo and five men were arrested and charged with three counts of aggravated assault and criminal conspiracy. According to a police report, Diallo instigated the attack on Hamraoui, her motive being “violent jealousy”.

    One man admitted to beating up Hamraoui and another is suspected of pinning Diallo to the steering wheel. The men claim to have acted on the orders of an unknown person whom they have not identified. They said Diallo instigated the attack.

    Diallo has always maintained she is innocent.

    The story has received global media coverage, with claims and counterclaims on both sides. Le Monde reported the theory of a revenge attack based on the relationship between Hamraoui and Eric Abidal, the former France men’s international and Barcelona men’s director of football, which was initially investigated as a lead by police. The public prosecutor confirmed Abidal has never been implicated in the investigation but was heard as a witness.

    Police and psychiatric reports have been leaked, with French media reporting Diallo was found by one psychiatrist to have “undeniable personality disorders”. The player’s lawyer says that is “bull****”.

    Details have emerged, again through French media, of malicious anonymous phone calls made to PSG players. Diallo’s home and car in Paris were also tapped and she was recorded saying, “They missed her… break her face.” Her lawyer does not dispute she said those words but argues the phrases are taken in isolation without context.

    There has been what has been described as “collateral” damage too, with changes in the management at PSG and France’s national team thought to be further fallout from the incident. And, as well as criminal charges, Hamraoui and PSG are pursuing civil actions related to the case.

    Diallo


    Diallo playing for PSG in May 2022 (Aurelien Meunier – PSG/PSG via Getty Images)

    The aftershock has been felt far and wide.

    A man referred to in initial reports as “Cesar M” — Cesar Mavacala, Diallo’s former advisor — is under police investigation for charges including threatening PSG with violence and “obtaining the departure of players (Hamraoui) and sports managers (Didier Olle-Nicolle) from PSG by coercion”. There have been claims of organised gang fraud said to be linked to Mavacala’s case, and an allegation of sexual assault against former PSG coach Olle-Nicolle that is strenuously denied.

    Mavacala, who has never been a registered agent, is the partner of former PSG player Kadidiatou Diani and the sporting advisor of PSG and France striker Marie-Antoinette Katoto.

    “My client categorically denies any involvement whatsoever in the acts of which he has been unjustly accused,” Mavacala’s lawyer Sandrine Pegand told The Athletic.

    But at the centre of it all are the two former PSG team-mates, Hamraoui and Diallo, forever linked by the events of that night in November two years ago.

    Hamraoui, now 33, has written a book — ‘Kheira a contre-pied’, which roughly translates to “Kheira on the counter-attack” — and is filming a documentary about the case. She left PSG in May 2023, saying the club had “abandoned” her, and joined Club America in Mexico in September.

    “Would they (PSG) have done the same to me if I’d been a man?” she wrote in her book. “Certainly not… My story is very revealing of what women represent in the world of football today.”

    Diallo, 28, now plays for Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia. It is unclear when the investigation will end and too early to confirm if or when the case will go to a trial.

    “This period is very complex for her,’ says Diallo’s lawyer, Romain Ruiz. “On the one hand, she has all the pressure (of the case) and on the other hand, Kheira, she was a friend, said to the police: ‘Aminata did that to me and I’m sure of that’.”

    Hamraoui’s lawyer denies her client told the police she thought Diallo was behind the attack.

    The Athletic has spoken to those close to PSG, the players’ lawyers and the public prosecutor to unpick the tangled web of what has happened to Hamraoui, Diallo and Mavacala since November 4 2021.

    go-deeper

    GO DEEPER

    Eleven months since PSG’s Kheira Hamraoui was beaten with an iron bar, this is where we are

    Kheira Hamraoui

    When her PSG contract expired in May 2023, Hamraoui said in a social media post she was turning a page after two years of “an infernal storm” at a club that “abandoned” her and “did everything it could to make (her) leave”.

    In January 2022, two months following the attack, Hamraoui returned to the pitch for PSG but experienced a turbulent second half of the season. On February 11, during a PSG men’s game against Rennes, supporters held banners which read: “Aminata Diallo, we strongly support you”, and “Kheira Hamraoui, whose turn is it?”, referring to claims about the number of lovers Hamraoui has allegedly had.

    PSG


    (FRANCK FIFE/AFP via Getty Images)

    “The goal was to be sure that Kheira would no longer play at PSG,” says Hamraoui’s lawyer Julia Minkowski.

    “She has been psychologically assaulted for 10 months,” her agent Sonia Souid told L’Equipe in September 2022. “She has been dragged through the mud, threatened with death, insulted, harassed at her workplace by several team-mates.”

    Hamraoui had a year left on her PSG contract and was determined to honour it but felt the club were trying to force her out.

    “Perhaps PSG were unable or unwilling to deal with all the media attention for reasons other than sporting ones,” Hamraoui told AFP in September this year. “They chose the easy way out by trying to push me out before the end of my contract.”

    This was a marked change of tone from Hamraoui. In an interview with L’Equipe in June 2022, Hamraoui had said: “The vast majority of (players) supported me. I was also touched by the support of the whole staff and the club. My return would have been much more difficult if I had not been supported.”

    However, in Hamraoui’s book, in a chapter titled ‘PSG, an inhumane club’, she claims she could not appear in any club footage, she was not called up at the same time as her team-mates in June ahead of the 2022-23 season and was not informed of planned squad meetings. She says her physio appointments were delayed and she was initially not invited to complete compulsory medical tests in July.

    The 33-year-old also says she was given one T-shirt — not two — at the start of the 2022-23 season, when usually players receive new kit. Hamraoui claims that when the team went to Spain for a pre-season trip, the new sporting director Angelo Castellazzi told her to stay in Paris.

    Those close to PSG, who like others in this article wish to remain anonymous to honour the legal process, maintain they acted as responsibly and sensitively as possible. They acknowledge Hamraoui was always considered to be the victim of the attack and their priority has always been to support the player. They have fully complied with the police authorities and have refrained from commenting publicly out of respect for the judicial process. They believe Hamraoui was treated on an equal footing with her team-mates. She also appeared in some of the club’s social media posts during the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons.

    PSG changed the women’s manager, assistant coaches and sporting director after deciding to take the club in a different direction, appointing the former Lyon head coach Gerard Precheur as their new boss on August 1 2022. He left his role by mutual consent in September 2023 with the club citing “personal reasons” for his departure.

    The new coach and sporting director assessed the team and decided which players would stay. Midfielder Hamraoui was told she would no longer be part of the new project, and that the club intended to recruit players with different technical profiles. They signed other midfielders, including Jackie Groenen from Manchester United and Lieke Martens from Barcelona.

    Hamraoui claims Castellazzi told her agent that she would not be part of the team and she had to leave. But she turned down offers for a loan move from Manchester United, Juventus, Inter Milan, Roma and Parma to stay at PSG.

    She made only five league starts in the first half of the season. When the transfer window opened in January 2023, Hamraoui claims PSG’s sporting director informed her agent they were going to recruit other midfielders and she had to leave.

    But Hamraoui stayed, and in February the then-France manager Corinne Diacre surprisingly named her in the squad for the Tournoi de France, a friendly international tournament.

    On February 15, Hamraoui started in France’s 1-0 win over Denmark. It was her 40th cap, one year after her previous national team appearance.

    France


    Hamraoui playing for France against Denmark (JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER/AFP via Getty Images)

    Three days after a disappointing 0-0 draw with Norway in the final match of that tournament, France captain and defender Wendie Renard announced her withdrawal from the France squad with the World Cup only five months away.

    Renard said she could “no longer support the current system which is far from the requirements of the highest level. It is a sad day but necessary to preserve my mental health.”

    Diani and Katoto followed.

    “If profound changes are introduced, I’ll be back,” said Diani.

    “I am no longer in line with the management of the France team nor the values it promotes,” added Katoto.

    Diacre was sacked as France’s head coach on March 9 and was replaced by Herve Renard (no relation to Wendie) on March 30. On the same day, police interviewed Diacre as a witness concerning the Hamraoui case.

    Diacre, France


    Diacre (right) with Diani in July 2022 (FRANCK FIFE/AFP via Getty Images)

    Diacre said she was the target of intimidation in the spring of 2022 to remove Hamraoui from the national team. This was confirmed by Diacre’s lawyer Christophe Ayela and the public prosecutor.

    Hamraoui did not make France’s 2023 World Cup squad. After the announcement, she told radio station France Inter: “I’m very sad and angry. I see it as an injustice.” The once Champions League winner still dreams of returning to the national team for next year’s Olympics in Paris.

    “One day, we may find out what was behind my ousting,” Hamraoui told AFP. “I am convinced that if I had been Swedish, English or Spanish, I would never have been abandoned by my federation or my club, as I was after my attack. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: in France, we don’t like victims.”

    Hamraoui thinks she was dispensed with by PSG so the club could protect their reputation.

    “They wash their dirty laundry as a family, and try to hush things up or get rid of troublesome elements in order to save face,” she wrote in her book. “Nothing must show in public. On the other hand, I’m a woman, and the sad reality is that the club doesn’t give a damn about women’s football.”

    Sources from PSG firmly deny all of these claims. It is to be noted that the club invested in their women’s team much earlier than many others. In January, the women’s team will move into the new state-of-the-art training centre in Poissy alongside the men’s.

    A PSG spokesperson said: “Kheira Hamraoui explained in her own words in an interview with L’Equipe on June 15 2022 how she was touched by the support of the whole staff and the club (PSG) and how things would have been much more difficult if she had not been supported.

    “The club acted responsibly and sensitively to support and provide care while adhering to the proper legal process. The club’s priority was to support Kheira Hamraoui and maintain the best possible climate within the dressing room, despite the circumstances and legal proceedings.”

    Aminata Diallo

    “She’s in the middle of a media crisis,” says Ruiz. “People are saying that she is a witch, guilty, and what she has done to Kheira is a disgrace. She’s under pressure.”

    Following the attack, Diallo played 15 more times for PSG and her contract expired in the summer of 2022. She stopped playing solely to focus on the case, according to one of her lawyers, Mourad Battikh, and was charged in September last year.

    Diallo was put under strict judicial supervision but a judge accepted her lawyers’ request to modify her bail conditions to allow her to work abroad. In January 2023, she joined Liga F side Levante on a six-month contract but her 12-month option to extend was not triggered.

    In August this year, Diallo joined Al Nassr, the club Cristiano Ronaldo plays for, in Saudi Arabia.

    According to Ruiz, she decided to move to the Middle East for some “fresh air”, to experience a new league, be closer aligned with her Muslim values and escape the scrutiny from the French media.

    Diallo, though, is still on bail and is forbidden to enter into contact with the possible co-perpetrators or accomplices of the case, Harmaoui, witnesses or particular members of the PSG team and management. She could be summoned by the judge at any point.

    PSG


    Diallo on November 9 2021 (Johannes Simon – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images,)

    In June 2023, Diallo saw a psychiatrist — a requirement of French law in cases such as these, according to her lawyer Ruiz. She had three appointments, some of which lasted nine and a half hours, an occurrence her lawyer says he has never seen before.

    Dr Isabelle Teillet, the psychiatrist, noted, according to a report in Le Journal du Dimanche, Diallo “shows no particular psychopathological traits” but did present “undeniable personality disorders”.

    “That’s bull****,” said Ruiz. “The psychiatric report shows that it is not Diallo’s personality that the expert considers to be disturbed, but it is only on reading the file sent to her by the judge that she speaks of a ‘personality disorder’”.

    Another police report, quoted in Le Parisien, described Diallo’s hatred for Hamraoui as “a slow, downward psychological spiral that has become pathological”.

    “That’s real bull****,” Ruiz tells The Athletic. “The police are not doctors or psychiatrists. They are not really great investigators. My advice to them is to keep in their field.”

    Diallo’s lawyers want the recordings of Diallo’s conversations in her car and flat to be disregarded from the case. French media have reported she was wiretapped for six months from April 2022, when she was living in Paris. The judge’s decision will be heard on November 24.

    The recordings from after the assault appeared particularly damning. Diallo is heard saying: “She had nothing, brother. We don’t give a damn… Her attack, who cares… She didn’t even stay a day in hospital… She didn’t get anything, brother… They missed her… break her face.”

    Her lawyers confirm Diallo said these things but maintain her words are taken out of context. They argue the way in which the police acquired the recordings from her car and flat was illegal. “The police asked for authorisation but based on false hypotheses,” says Ruiz.

    It is a legal technicality but Hamraoui’s lawyer Minkowski believes the recordings are relevant.

    “That is why they want them out,” she tells The Athletic. “Usually, if you ask something to be out of a file, you have a good reason for that.”

    Cesar Mavacala

    Mavacala is Diani’s partner and advises Katoto — two of the three players who stepped down from the France national team before Diacre’s dismissal. He was also very close to Diallo and, although not a registered agent, was her advisor in 2022.

    He is also facing criminal charges: Mavacala is suspected of trying to gain a financial or other advantage by violence, threats of violence or coercion by claiming that Katoto would only extend her contract if Hamraoui left PSG at the end of the 2021-22 season.

    Hamraoui would not leave the club for another year, but Katoto signed a three-year contract anyway worth a reported €600,000 (now £521,000; $643,000) gross annual salary in July 2022.

    Mavacala denies any wrongdoing, and while the investigation continues he is under judicial supervision — similar to conditional bail — and banned from appearing at PSG’s headquarters, the women’s training centre and any football stadium. He is also forbidden to make contact with Hamraoui, Diallo and four former and current PSG employees.

    France


    Diani and Katoto playing for France at Euro 2022 (Sarah Stier – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)

    “He (Mavacala) represents other players of the team — even if he has no formal licence to be an agent,” says Hamraoui’s lawyer Minkowski, claiming: “He tried to negotiate these contracts with one condition: Kheira leaves the team.”

    Mavacala is also suspected of having been behind claims that led to the departure of former PSG head coach Olle-Nicolle. On May 24 2022, PSG suspended Olle-Nicolle by mutual consent after saying some of the club’s players were allegedly exposed to “inappropriate actions and comments”.

    The public prosecutor announced the opening of a judicial investigation for “sexual assault by a person in authority” in May 2022 but no charges were brought.

    PSG also launched a formal investigation and then released a statement on July 31 which said the club and Olle-Nicolle had “decided to end their collaboration by mutual agreement”. It added: “Paris Saint-Germain specifies that, following the internal investigation carried out on May 24, no fault or misconduct has been found against him.”

    On June 23 of this year, however, former PSG player Diani, Mavacala’s partner, lodged a complaint of sexual assault against Olle-Nicolle and the public prosecutor opened another investigation.

    Le Parisien reported that, in August 2021, Olle-Nicolle was alleged to have touched several players’ bottoms — including Diani’s — with a miniature baseball bat, and also put his hand on Diani’s bottom. Olle-Nicolle firmly denies all the accusations and said he knows nothing about the incidents.

    “The investigation into who is behind these unfounded accusations revealed the active role played by Ms Diani’s partner,” claimed Olle-Nicolle in a statement provided by his lawyer, Guillaume Traynard.

    “Didier Olle-Nicolle notes that the new complaint against him comes only a few weeks after he filed a civil action against Ms Diani’s partner, in the case in which the latter is under investigation for organised fraud.

    “He deplores the fact that this complaint is being used as a means of settling scores and condemns the attempt to manipulate the justice system, of which he is once again a victim.” Olle-Nicolle has subsequently filed a complaint with the public prosecutor for libel.

    PSG


    Olle-Nicolle in April 2022 (FRANCK FIFE/AFP via Getty Images)

    Diani’s complaint against Olle-Nicolle was filed on June 23, seven days before her PSG contract expired. She joined Lyon on a four-year deal on August 1.

    The police, L’Equipe report, believe Mavacala — Diani’s partner — threatened PSG with the public release of the sexual assault story if the club did not agree to his demands for Diani’s contract renewal. Mavacala’s lawyer Pegand denied this, telling L’Equipe: “Cesar Mavacala protests his innocence.”

    Regarding Diani’s complaint, Pegand told Le Parisien: “Like many victims of sexual abuse, the first option is to remain silent. So we had to encourage people to speak out and give my client the time she needed to bring her case before the courts.”

    “I was used…” Olle-Nicolle told L’Equipe in September 2022. “(I am) a collateral victim of the Hamraoui case.”

    So what happens now?

    Given there are now two main criminal cases (Hamraoui’s attack and the charges against Mavacala), the judge will conduct further investigations.

    “What the investigation has to now determine is whether Mavacala just jumped on the opportunity of the attack or if there were other things,” says Hamraoui’s lawyer, Minkowski.

    If there is a trial, it could be at least another year for a date to be set. It would be public with three judges. All those charged and civil parties seeking damages would also be present and questioned.

    Diallo’s lawyer says she maintains her innocence and will not plead guilty for a lesser sentence.

    “Since day one, the police have decided that it was Aminata Diallo,” Ruiz tells The Athletic. “They ended all of the leads that used to be real at the beginning of this case. That’s the reason why I feel the police do not do their jobs properly. It’s too late (now) to follow the other leads.”

    Diallo’s fear of going to prison and serving a sentence — which could be up to 10 years for criminal conspiracy — weighs on her shoulders.

    “It’s a big fear for her,” Ruiz says. “She doesn’t want to be sent to jail. Her main fear is that she can be found guilty of something she didn’t do.”

    Diallo’s lawyers say the police have still not found the person who ordered the attack on Hamraoui.

    As for Hamraoui, her lawyer believes it is too long for a victim to wait three years for a trial.

    This case is far from over.

    (Top photos: ANP/Getty Images; Aurelien Meunier/PSG via Getty Images; design: Eamonn Dalton)

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    The New York Times

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  • Athletic Club’s Raúl García Proves Elite Soccer Is More Than Egos And Money

    Athletic Club’s Raúl García Proves Elite Soccer Is More Than Egos And Money

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    Kylian Mbappé, the world’s most valuable soccer player, is unsettled. His future is up in the air, despite penning a bumper contract with Paris Saint-Germain in early May. Rumors say he’s not content at the Ligue 1 champion, with his wants not being met, although the forward has not publicly confirmed these frustrations.

    Meanwhile, 37-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo is unhappy at Manchester United. Desperate for playing time, especially with a potential World Cup swansong drawing ever closer, his decision to leave Old Trafford towards the end of a Premier League home game against Tottenham Hotspur has angered his manager and many on the outside looking in.

    These are two examples of extravagantly paid players taking center stage and not for the right reasons. Mbappé’s situation is delicate, with hyped media interest and criticism perhaps creating a distorted picture of reality. Notwithstanding this possibility, it’s hard to escape the feeling that a few top earners are concerned almost exclusively with themselves.

    Enter Raúl García. One of Spain’s flagship publications, El País, has released an upfront interview with the Athletic Club striker—in which he offered a contrasting perspective (Spanish) on how some professional players see the game and its money. And their livelihoods.

    García, 36, is a seasoned pro in La Liga and has the third most appearances in the competition’s history, with 563 games and counting. This season he’s playing a more supportive role for his side, with fellow forward Iñaki Williams assuming the goalscoring responsibilities in a team high on confidence and fighting it out to qualify for European competition next term.

    “You have to understand the moment we’re in,” a candid García told the outlet in a wide-ranging talk, adding: “There are people without employment, some people don’t have enough to feed themselves—I’d like everyone to live well.

    “I’d be delighted if they raised my taxes if the money goes where it should.”

    For some in Spain, salaries are low, with it not unheard of for people to earn less than €1,000 per month after tax. As per some sources, García is the top gross earner at his employer. Yet, going by his demeanor when opening up on his experience in the game, it does not seem to affect him much.

    A respected, if not glamorous, name, García helps pinpoint the three-tier financial disparity between many working people, top-league soccer players and the incomparable riches of Mbappé, Ronaldo, Neymar, et al.—the latter trio among those operating in a different stratosphere altogether. The hype surrounding the stellar players means they are almost labels in their own right, able to capture sponsors and brand partnerships galore.

    Offering some insight into the mind of many a professional player— so often commanding the attention of cameras and fans alike—García was frank in his assessment.

    “I’d like to take back my privacy. Football (soccer) generates what it generates, and we earn what we earn,” the veteran revealed.

    “I don’t distance myself from people. At times, I have to due to how they act around me. I consider myself a normal person.”

    On the role soccer players occupy more broadly, he added bluntly: “Players don’t have any importance in society. For me, a teacher has importance. Teachers try to educate, try to give values.”

    While he may not fully realize it, the Athletic Club attacker—with more goals for the Basque club than any other team in his career—is an appreciated player for one of the country’s most passionately followed sides. And he offers a timely reminder that some soccer players are pretty relatable.

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    Henry Flynn, Contributor

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  • Kylian Mbappe, PSG and Real Madrid: It’s complicated

    Kylian Mbappe, PSG and Real Madrid: It’s complicated

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    Kylian Mbappe wants out at PSG and Real Madrid are keen, but what’s really going on? ESPN’s Insider Notebook has the latest.

    Jump to: Xabi Alonso tipped as potential Real Madrid manager | Man Utd wary of Barcelona’s Dalot interest | Man City identify key area to rebuild

    Kylian Mbappe’s complicated relationship with Real Madrid

    Real Madrid aren’t considering yet another move for long-time top target Kylian Mbappe, sources told ESPN, after they were scorned by his last-minute U-turn that saw the star forward snub them to stay at Paris Saint-Germain last May.

    ESPN reported on Tuesday that Mbappe, 23, is pushing to leave PSG — just five months after signing a new contract — after his relationship with club executives broke down over what he views as broken promises regarding team tactics and recruitment. PSG sporting director Luis Campos has denied the reports, saying Mbappe has expressed no desire to leave in the January transfer window.

    Sources said Madrid are not planning on reigniting their longstanding interest in Mbappe, and while a move cannot be entirely ruled out should he become available, the LaLiga club are now focusing on other targets.

    – Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, MLS, more (U.S.)

    Mbappe was expected to join Madrid on a free transfer last June, bringing an end to a years-long saga which had seen him become a top priority for president Florentino Perez. Yet Mbappe’s late change of heart saw the France international spurn Madrid to extend his deal at the Parc des Princes did not go down well at the Bernabeu.

    Mbappe initially cited PSG’s “sporting project” as having convinced him to stay, but later said he had come under pressure from president Emmanuel Macron to continue his career in France. Sources told ESPN that Mbappe now feels that assurances he received about his role in the PSG team — he would like to play alongside a conventional No.9 and wanted an exit for teammate Neymar — have not been met.

    Madrid chose not to bring in an alternative after missing out on Mbappe, putting their faith in Brazil forwards Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo Goes to deliver alongside Karim Benzema. Vinicius, 22, has followed his winner in the Champions League final by scoring seven times in all competitions so far this campaign, while Rodrygo, 21, has contributed four goals in Madrid’s unbeaten start.

    In the long-term — and when the time comes to replace Benzema, now 34 — the club could revive their interest in Erling Haaland, after their pursuit of Mbappe and Benzema’s career-best form saw them drop out of the race to sign him this year. Haaland has made a spectacular start to life in the Premier League with Manchester City, scoring 20 goals in his first 12 games.

    Javier Tebas, the president of LaLiga, told ESPN the league would welcome a player of Mbappe’s calibre if Real Madrid were to press ahead with a move.

    “When I talk about Madrid, I do it thinking of most of their fans, who always are looking for exceptional players and top world quality. And Mbappe is one of those players,” he said.

    “I can see it’s difficult for the club because it hurts what he did to Madrid in the summer, but I don’t think fans are going to say no to adding such a player to their squad. If Mbappe comes, he will be applauded, cheered, followed … I am convinced.” — Alex Kirkland and Rodrigo Faez

    Real Madrid watch Xabi Alonso’s managerial progress

    Real Madrid will be watching Xabi Alonso’s performance as Bayer Leverkusen manager with interest, sources told ESPN, viewing the former Liverpool, Madrid and Bayern Munich midfielder as a potential candidate to take charge at the Bernabeu.

    Alonso, 40, was appointed by Leverkusen on Oct. 5 as the Bundesliga club look to turn around a dreadful start to the season in which they took just five points from their first eight league games. Madrid will be monitoring Alonso’s progress closely, sources said, as the LaLiga giants believe that he fits the profile of a possible future Real Madrid manager.

    The former midfielder had the opportunity to play for and learn from some of the most successful coaches of recent years including Rafa Benitez, Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti and Pep Guardiola. Alonso is a familiar face at Madrid, having followed his five-year spell there as a player by managing their under-14s through the 2018-19 season in his first coaching job. He went on to impress in his three years in charge of Real Sociedad’s B team, leading them in 2021 to their first promotion to Spain’s Second Division in 60 years.

    Madrid now want to see how Alonso develops in this next phase of his coaching career with Leverkusen, which is his first top-flight appointment. Alonso had an immediate impact, beating Schalke 4-0 in his debut last week, although a 3-0 home defeat to FC Porto in midweek left them bottom of Champions League Group B with two rounds of matches remaining. — Alex Kirkland and Rodrigo Faez

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    1:23

    Rob Dawson talks about Cristiano Ronaldo after the Manchester United striker scores his 700th career club goal.

    Man Utd fight off Barcelona interest in Dalot

    Manchester United will activate an extension in Diogo Dalot‘s contract to ward off interest from Barcelona, sources told ESPN. Dalot is into the final year of the deal he signed after joining from Porto in 2018 but United have an option to extend his stay until 2024.

    Barcelona are one of a number of clubs monitoring his situation, but the 23-year-old will not be available on a free transfer next summer.

    Dalot has established himself at the first-choice right-back since Erik ten Hag’s arrival as manager, playing 11 games in all competitions so far this season. The Portugal international is into his fifth season at Old Trafford and approaching 100 appearances for the club. He spent the 2020-21 campaign on loan at Milan but has since become a key part of the squad at United.

    He is also set to be part of the Portugal squad at the World Cup in Qatar alongside club teammates Cristiano Ronaldo and Bruno Fernandes. — Rob Dawson

    play

    1:47

    Janusz Michallik reacts to Manchester City’s 0-0 draw with FC Copenhagen in the Champions League.

    Man City’s focus on centre-midfield in transfer market

    Manchester City have made a central midfielder their priority ahead of next summer’s transfer window, sources have told ESPN.

    The club are looking at options to strengthen their midfield including Borussia Dortmund teenager Jude Bellingham. City spent an initial £42 million to sign England midfielder Kalvin Phillips from Leeds United last summer and they are set to invest again at the end of the season. There remain doubts over the futures of both Ilkay Gundogan and Bernardo Silva. Gundogan has entered the final year of his contract and could leave for free at the end of the season.

    Bernardo, meanwhile, is still a target for Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain. — Rob Dawson

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  • FC Barcelona Are A Europa League Team Without Lionel Messi, Whose Return From PSG Is Now ‘Improbable’

    FC Barcelona Are A Europa League Team Without Lionel Messi, Whose Return From PSG Is Now ‘Improbable’

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    FC Barcelona have once again shown that without their greatest player of all time Lionel Messi, they are a Europa League team at best.

    Though it is still mathematically possible for the Blaugrana to advance to the Champions League knockout phase, the club and their fans have pretty much accepted that last night’s 3-3 draw with Inter Milan has sentenced them to the Europa League for the second year running.

    In a phenomenon that never happened once on Messi’s watch since progressing to the first team as a teenager in 2004, Barca will fail to make it out of the group in back-to-back seasons and it is no coincidence that this has only happened since Messi joined Paris Saint Germain on a free transfer in the summer of 2021.

    “Barcelona without Messi is a Europa League level team. We’re here because in two consecutive seasons, we couldn’t beat Benfica, Inter or Bayern Munich on our own merit,” accepted Mundo Deportivo writer Xavier Bosch on Thursday morning.

    To add further insult to injury, SPORT now report that Messi’s potential return to Camp Nou in July 2023, when his €30mn ($29mn) two-term deal expires at the Parc des Princes, is ‘improbable’.

    The Catalan daily newspaper writes that Messi has been “bothered” by his name constantly being discussed by Barca’s higher-ups, including president Joan Laporta, in the media regarding the potential coup.

    “Today it is more likely that he will not return than a possible return [happening]. The circumstances do not exist,” SPORT says.

    “There has been no rapprochement or contact between the parties. None. It is clear that Joan Laporta would like it, but there is very, very little chance that Messi will return to Barcelona as a player.”

    Coupled with the disappointment of not advancing to the Champions League last 16, Laporta’s image would be further damaged by Messi also not donning the club’s colors once more in 2023/2024.

    Laporta promised that Messi would be renewed in 2021 when he was elected that year, which proved to be a fallacy. And should the Argentine renew his terms with PSG, he will also not get the chance to say goodbye to Culers that both parties deserve.

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    Tom Sanderson, Contributor

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