European catch-22

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Head Start

VAR winners and losers revealed

We hadn’t covered VAR for a long time.

But, this is the second time this week because… we have another thing to share and we couldn’t help ourselves.

This season, VAR has had a big impact…

• It has overturned 97 on-field decisions and has only been rejected once. 

• It has awarded 28 penalties - 26 were scored.

• And it has led to 31 goals and disallowed 46. 

Of course, with so many decisions, there will be some winners and some losers.

Fortunately, since the start of the season, ESPN has been keeping track of VAR’s impact on each team in the Premier League.

And the results - well - are telling.

It turns out that Aston Villa and Fulham are the biggest beneficiaries of VAR (with 5+ decisions in favour of them) and Wolves have drawn the short straw with -6 decisions against them. 

Here’s where it gets interesting… 

Nottingham Forest - you know, the club that released that statement about VAR - are second-best beneficiaries of VAR… with +4 decisions in favour of them.

Interestingly, first and third in the league - Arsenal and Liverpool - have had more VAR decisions against them this season.

While decisions impact results differently, it goes to show that VAR isn’t for or against any particular team…

… or, in Forest’s case, not a Luton fan. 

That said, we can’t wait for the Champions League VAR to replace the current system. 

Plus…

The 3 PM Saturday black-out will be relaxed as Sky plans to screen kick-offs for 1,000 EFL live games in 2024/25 (More)

A leading Premier League figure wins anonymity in alleged teenage sexual abuse case (More)

Jack Grealish has been fined £666 for speeding in his Range Rover (More) 

Manchester United will receive a bonus if loanee Jadon Sancho wins the Champions League with Borussia Dortmund (More) 

European Stats Zone

Real Madrid 2 - 1 Bayern Munich | 4 - 3 agg

Champions League semi-final 2nd leg | Highlights

→ At Wembley, Real Madrid will play their 18th Champions League final, at least seven more than any other team (11 for AC Milan and Bayern München).

→ Bayern Munich have lost 11 UEFA Champions League matches against Real Madrid, the most one side has lost against another in the competition’s history.

Bayer Leverkusen (2) vs (0) Roma

Europa League semi-final 2nd leg

→ Bayer Leverkusen have the chance to break Benfica’s 48-game unbeaten record against Roma tonight.

→ Roma have only won one of their last five games in all competitions.

Olympiakos (4) vs (2) Aston Villa

Europa Conference League semi-final 2nd leg

→ The only English club that Olympiakos have knocked out of a major European competition were Arsenal in the last 16 of the Europa League. 

→Aston Villa’s form has been erratic, losing three of their past five games in all competitions.

All European fixtures can be found here.

Financial Fair Play

Chelsea’s European catch-22

If your team was offered European football next season, you’d take it. 

Right?

But, what if it means you’ll probably face a fine or be excluded from future European competitions… would you still take it? 

Well, if you’re a Chelsea fan, that’s the dilemma you’re in. 

Why? Because The Blues are now in contention to qualify for European football next season but that means they’ll be subject to UEFA’s rules.

And UEFA is far stricter when it comes to financial fair play than the Premier League and… 

… most importantly, UEFA has closed a loophole that Chelsea have exploited this season. 

Let’s deal with the first issue. It’s simple: 

• From next year, UEFA will allow clubs to have lost a maximum of £34.4 million over the 2022/23 and 2023/24 seasons…

• … but Chelsea made an £89.9 million loss last season. 

Hmmm. That’s not an easy problem to fix.

To comply with the Premier League’s financial fair play, the Blues have relied on…

… “selling” a £76.5 million hotel to itself. This hasn’t been approved by the Premier League yet and UEFA is unlikely to accept this.

… spreading the cost of player transfers over the length of their contract. But UEFA has restricted spreading contracts over five years - a shorter duration than Chelsea would hope for.

So, Chelsea fixing their problems on the pitch might cause them more problems off it.

As the saying goes… be careful what you wish for.

Route One End-Of-Season Awards

Next up… Transfer-mational Signing of the Season.

(Shout-out to reader James M. for this category suggestion).

It goes without saying… but we’ll say it anyway… this category is for the best signing of the season.

Hit reply to this email and let us know if you have anyone else in mind.

Off The Pitch

🍔 Dine and Dash couple brought to justice after going viral for restaurant fraud (More)

🛬 A Boeing cargo plane lands nose down in Istanbul in the latest setback for the planemaker (More)

🧬 After more than three billion doses, the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine is being withdrawn as demand shifts to updated vaccines that deal with new variants (More)

📲 Social media companies are told to hide ‘toxic’ content from children (More) 

😆 Netflix has edited out Kim Kardashian getting booed at Tom Brady’s Roast (More)

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 John Swinney has been officially sworn in as Scotland’s seventh First Minister (More) 

🌳 Renewable energy passes 30% of the world’s electricity supply (More)

💁‍♀️ The men-only Garrick Club in London has voted to allow women members for the first time in its history (More)

Around The Football World

🇦🇷 The napkin which 13-year-old Lionel Messi signed to go to Barcelona is up for auction with a starting price of £300,000 (More)

🇺🇸 Manchester United have been named the world’s most valuable football club, with 20 Major League Soccer teams in the global top 50 list (More)

🇪🇸 Getafe are hoping to keep Manchester United’s on-loan forward Mason Greenwood for at least another season, while The Telegraph reports that two Premier League clubs have enquired about signing him (More)

🇲🇾 Footballers in Malaysia have been advised to hire bodyguards after three players have been attacked in different circumstances in one week (More)

🌍 Britain will send its largest-ever deployment of officers to work with their German counterparts to help police the Euro 2024 tournament (More)

Extra Time

Are Bayern Munich wrongfully denied an equaliser in added time?…

… and apparently the linesman apologised to De Ligt.

Jadon Sancho serenades teammates with Adele after beating PSG.

Manchester City 2024/25 away kit is a 1999 remake of Kappa’s iconic kit.

Who remembers Lucas Moura’s iconic hat-trick against Axaj in the Champions League? 

Does Kylian Mbappé go down as the greatest PSG player of all time?

Long read: How Brighton’s transfer mastery broke Premier League profit record.

Game Face On

Question: Who is the only manager to have won the Champions League, World Cup and European Championship?

Scroll below for the answer.

On Today

FOOTBALL

Europa League: Atalanta vs Marseille (20:00 BST, TNT Sports 3)

Europa League: Bayer Leverkusen vs Roma (20:00 BST, TNT Sports 2)

Conference League: Olympiacos vs Aston Villa (20:00 BST, TNTN Sports 1)

League 2: Milton Keynes vs Crawley Town (20:00 BST, Sky Sports Football)

*EST -5. PST -8. CET +1. CST +8. JST +9.

Answer: Vincent Del Bosque.

“If you eat caviar every day it is difficult to return to sausages.”

-Arsene Wenger