Michael Carrick used to look up to Roy Keane. When he was a youth teamer at West Ham, Carrick would analyse the way the Manchester United captain walked out of the dressing room at Upton Park. The first time he faced Keane on the pitch, Carrick watched him ‘clatter’ his team-mate Joe Cole. And yet he was never intimidated by him. And maybe that is why Keane is waging a war of words with United's interim boss.

With the Lionel Messi-Cristiano Ronaldo duopoly now disappearing into the rearview mirror, the battle for the Ballon d'Or hasn't felt so open for the best part of 20 years, with countless players beginning the campaign believing they have a chance of claiming the most prestigious individual prize football has to offer. Ousmane Dembele emerged from a career plagued with inconsistencies to win the Golden Ball in 2025, and he was among a crowded field of contenders as the 2026 race got going.

Cristiano Ronaldo got on the scoresheet and Joao Felix was the star of the show as Al-Nassr earnt a fourth straight Saudi Pro League victory in a 3-0 win at Al-Kholood. The win puts Jorge Jesus' side just three points off leaders Al-Hilal and saw Portuguese duo Ronaldo and Felix at the centre of things, as the 40-year-old opened the scoring from close range before Mohamed Simakan headed home a Felix corner and Kingsley Coman struck from the spot to make the result safe.

Another transfer window and another highly-rated prospect is on their way to Chelsea. The club's youth policy has struck again, with the west Londoners landing 17-year-old full-back Yisa Alao from financially troubled Sheffield Wednesday. Despite his very limited experience at senior level, the teenager provoked a transfer tug-of-war between three Premier League giants, but it is the Blues who have emerged victorious.

GOAL takes a look at the biggest transfer news and rumours from around the world.

When the Women's Super League fixtures for the 2025-26 season were released, this Sunday's clash between Manchester City and Chelsea was pinpointed as a big one. That feeling only intensified through the first few weeks of the campaign, as the two teams in blue marked themselves out as the best in the division, winning 12 of their first 14 games combined to sit in the two spots at the top of the table. However, what has transpired in the last three months has made this weekend's meeting feel much less decisive.

The Champions League league phase ended in insanity, with Benfica nicking a place in the knockout stage from under the noses of Marseille with a last-gasp header from goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin. There was no such drama at the Emirates as Arsenal maintained their 100 percent record with a 3-2 win over Kairat Almaty, even if the Kazakhstani side gave a fine account of themselves, and Premier League strugglers Liverpool once again proved that they're a very different side in continental competition by routing Qarabag to finish third.

The Champions League league phase drew to a predictably chaotic conclusion on Wednesday, with all of the matchday eight fixtures kicking-off at the same time. The net result was numerous positional changes over the course of 90-plus minutes of madness, though the highlight was undoubtedly Anatoliy Trubin scoring a last-second header to keep Benfica in the competition.