Al Fahaheel Overview

The number 10 shirt in the Argentina national team has never been merely a piece of cloth bearing a number. For decades it has been a symbol of genius, leadership and the making of glory, associated with names that carved out their place in football's memory, from Mario Kempes and Diego Maradona through to Lionel Messi, who turned it into an exceptional legacy that is hard to come close to.

Self-criticism, ambition and a refusal to be satisfied with oneself: three indispensable pillars in football, that sport which does not remember the past and places you before a new test every day. And it seems Ronald Araujo, the Liverpool defender, keeps these principles firmly in mind.

Manchester United have suffered a fresh blow concerning the future of their Portuguese captain Bruno Fernandes, after the midfielder rejected a second offer to renew his contract with the club. It is a development that threatens the continued presence of one of the team's most prominent stars at Old Trafford, and opens the door to the possibility of his departure for free at the end of the season, should the board fail to reach a new agreement with him.

The sacking of Michael Carrick from the Manchester United dugout did not come as a complete surprise within the club's corridors, even if it appeared to the fans a swift and harsh decision, especially as the man who had returned the team to the Champions League just a few months earlier had begun his new season amid a storm of negative results. But what was not visible to everyone was that the management was already moving to arrange the post-Carrick phase, and that Mauricio Pochettino had become the closest name to taking on the task, in negotiations that were not merely passing contacts but had reached the point of discussing the release clause in his contract with the United States national team.