Le Journal

The scars remain and there is much to be fixed still but this was a step towards reconciliation. It was something of a statement too, and not just in the goals scored but the reaction to them. Nine days after Xabi Alonso’s sacking, six after their captain said they had hit rock bottom with Copa del Rey elimination and three after the protest of a generation, white hankies and whistles greeting the players and even the president, there were songs and support at last as Real Madrid defeated Monaco 6-1.Kylian Mbappé, Franco Mastantuono and Jude Bellingham all scored, while there was an own goal from Monaco’s Thilo Kehrer. More significantly still, the man who had been at the centre of the storm made three of the six goals and smashed in a superb strike of his own. And if Vinícius Júnior, who had stood accused before the game and stood with the MVP trophy at the end of it, wasn’t entirely ready to share his moment with fans yet, his first goal here since October saw teammates come to his side. He then hugged his new coach, Álvaro Arbeloa, who claimed that was the embrace of the whole of Madrid. Continue reading...

Mission accomplished for Arsenal. A seventh win out of seven ensured Mikel Arteta’s side will head straight into the last 16 of this competition as one of the two top seeds after Gabriel Jesus scored twice – including their 19th goal of the season from a corner – to see off last year’s beaten finalists.It means that as well as getting one back over an Inter team that they lost to 14 months ago, Arsenal have surpassed their longest winning streak at this level. While Manchester City’s surprise defeat in Norway in the earlier kick-off had removed any jeopardy about them progressing, this was more evidence of the ruthless streak Arsenal have developed under Arteta. The only blot on the copybook in a fourth successive away game in four different competitions was Petar Sucic’s equaliser in the first half after Jesus had given Arsenal an early lead, although this was all about the Brazil striker even after the substitute Viktor Gyökeres sealed the points late on with a classy finish. Continue reading...

To channel Bjørge Lillelien and his famous commentary on Norway’s win against England in 1981: Pep Guardiola, your Manchester City boys took a heck of a beating here on the shores of the Norwegian Sea, below the skies of the aurora borealis, and on the Aspmyra Stadion’s ­artificial pitch graced by this immortal Bodø/Glimt victory which downed a ­continental superpower.Jonas Gahr Støre was present to witness a win that came courtesy of Kasper Høgh’s two first-half goals plus Jens Petter Hauge’s curled peach after the interval, as Norway’s prime minister escaped Donald Trump’s curious obsession with the Nobel peace prize: another measure of how this result will never be forgotten. Continue reading...

Ceferin, as well as Fifa, intervened with the Israeli FAAida facility was set to be removed by security forcesA football pitch used by refugees in the occupied West Bank has been saved from demolition after an intervention by the president of Uefa, Aleksander Ceferin.A decision to stop plans to remove the pitch in the Aida refugee camp outside Bethlehem was taken by Israeli security forces on Tuesday after an international campaign for its preservation. Continue reading...