Opinion

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.

So there we have it! After a mammoth 144 games that included plenty of goals and drama, the curtain has been drawn on the league phase of the 2025-26 Champions League. Arsenal finished top of the table with a perfect record, while Manchester City secured automatic qualification to the round of 16 by the skin of their teeth. But three historic European giants have been eliminated already, in the form of Napoli, Marseille and Ajax.

There haven't been many periods of great optimism at Manchester United in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era, but for a brief moment at the start of 2019, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer made supporters believe again. He delivered eight successive wins after replacing Jose Mourinho as interim manager, including a stunning 3-1 victory at Arsenal in the FA Cup fourth round, bringing back the scintillating counter-attacking style Ferguson championed throughout his glorious 26-year reign.

Bayern Munich's unbeaten record in this season's Bundesliga is gone! The Bavarians were upset at the Allianz Arena by Augsburg, although the German champions are still eight points clear of Borussia Dortmund at the top of the table, meaning it's unlikely to adversely affect their chances of retaining their title. However, things are getting very interesting in England, where we thought Arsenal were almost home and hosed only to suffer a wobble that has made things very interesting, given Manchester City and Aston Villa are both closing in on the Gunners.

Arsenal are enjoying their best season in 22 years under Mikel Arteta, having established a seven-point lead at the Premier League summit while also winning all of their seven Champions League fixtures to top the league phase table. The Gunners also have one foot in the final of the Carabao Cup, and will be expected to reach the latter stages of the FA Cup.

The boos that greeted the full-time whistle at Anfield on Saturday were both loud and clear - albeit not to Arne Slot. "In my head," the Liverpool manager said, "it wasn't a boo." And maybe he's right. Maybe the visiting fans were saying 'Boo-urnley'?! Of course, this is no time for clumsy references or silly jokes. The situation at Liverpool is undeniably absurd (has a 12-game undefeated run ever been so poorly received?!), but it's no laughing matter as far as the supporters are concerned.

Back in the summer of 2023, Victor Osimhen was the most in-demand striker in world football. He'd just spearheaded Napoli's run to their first Scudetto in 33 years, netting 26 goals in 32 games to become the first African player ever to finish as Serie A top scorer, and had pretty much every elite club in Europe knocking on his door. For a 24-year-old with talent and drive, it seemed like the start of something truly special.

Arne Slot can't catch a break right now. Barnsley at home in the FA Cup should have made for a comfortable Monday evening for the under-pressure Liverpool boss. Dominik Szoboszlai had other ideas, though. Having earlier broken the deadlock with a thumping strike from distance before Jeremie Frimpong netted his first goal at Anfield with an equally emphatic finish, the Hungarian gifted Liverpool's third-tier opponents a goal just before the break with one of the most inexplicable errors you'll ever see on a football field.

Manchester United have appointed Michael Carrick as their caretaker manager from now until the end of the season to clean up the mess caused by Ruben Amorim’s sudden departure. And now the real work begins: searching for a long–term successor who can bring lasting success. Of all the available candidates out there, Thomas Tuchel is by far the most convincing.

Will Manchester United's misery ever end? It's only been 13 years since Sir Alex Ferguson brought the curtain down on his glorious 26-year reign, but it feels so much longer because of the ridiculously long list of false starts and poor decisions the club have made, with Ruben Amorim the latest manager to fail on the brief of bringing back the good times.

"I think he’s going to lift people off their seats," Manchester United CEO Omar Berrada said of Matheus Cunha during a summer interview with United We Stand and The Athletic. "He’s got a bit of a swagger about him that people are going to really like. Dare I say, [Eric] Cantona-esque." Talk about setting sky-high expectations!

It's never a good idea to pay much attention to football's annual awards ceremonies. These glorified popularity contests drag on for far too long and trying to wrap your head around the lack of logic involved in the voting process is an exercise in futility. However, it was impossible to ignore The Best FIFA Men's 11 for 2025 - because the omission of Raphinha made so little sense.

While still coming to terms with Liverpool's inability to defend a 2-1 lead with less than three minutes of stoppage time to go at Fulham on Sunday, Virgil van Dijk insisted that there was no reason for the Reds to approach their midweek clash with Arsenal with any sort of trepidation. "First of all, we will recover from this and, from Tuesday on, we will definitely look at the strength that they have," the Dutchman said of the Premier League leaders.

In the end, Ruben Amorim could not handle being told what to do by other people. Despite being the first man in Manchester United's history to be appointed under the title of 'head coach' rather than 'manager', he decided that he wanted the latter role. What he ultimately meant is that he wanted control, and he certainly did not want others meddling in his business.

Ruben Amorim has become the sixth Manchester United manager to be sacked in less than 13 years, with the Portuguese's hugely disappointing tenure coming to an end on Monday in acrimonious circumstances. Amorim lasted less than 14 months in charge at Old Trafford, making his stint the second-shortest of all the coaches to step into the Old Trafford dugout on a permanent basis.

Manchester United have finally put Ruben Amorim out of his misery. On Monday morning, the 20-time champions of England announced that the Portuguese had "departed his role as head coach" and that the decision had been "reluctantly" made to "give the team the best opportunity of the highest possible Premier League finish". Of course, the table doesn't make for particularly poor reading for United.

The jig is up for Ruben Amorim. After 14 unforgettable months as head coach, he has been sacked by Manchester United. He broke many records for the wrong reasons, lost a European final to Tottenham and was dumped out of the Carabao Cup by fourth-tier side Grimsby Town. Yet it is only now that those upstairs at Old Trafford have decided to pull the trigger.