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UEFA's strict rules
😬 Mbappe hacked | Champions League draw revealed | England squad disappointment
GM football fans. Route One here, and we’re covering Chelsea’s struggle with UEFA, Shakhtar Donetsk’s travel arrangements and much more. Enjoy Route One? Share us with a friend on WhatsApp with this link.
WEEKEND STATS
Premier League, Arsenal vs Brighton. The Seagulls have won three of their seven Premier League visits to Arsenal but failed to win in seven league away games against London sides last season. Newcastle vs Spurs. Newcastle vs Tottenham is the most played fixture in Premier League history to have never finished 0-0, an active streak that currently stands at 58 games. Manchester United vs Liverpool. While United enjoyed an FA Cup victory over Liverpool at Old Trafford last season, they have struggled in the recent league clashes, with just one win from their last 12 top-flight meetings with Liverpool. Full list of Premier League Matchweek 3 fixtures here.
Plus…
FINANCIAL FAIR PLAY
Chelsea face challenging bid to meet UEFA’s financial rules
Chelsea are facing a challenge to comply with UEFA’s stricter financial rules, per The Times.
The European governing body has now confirmed that it does not allow clubs to register income from selling assets to sister companies. The same rule applies in the English Football League, but not in the Premier League.
Yet, the sale of two hotels from Chelsea FC Holdings to a sister company has been the club’s best bet for easing its financial position against the Premier League’s profitability and sustainability rules (PSR).
It gets worse: UEFA’s new “football earnings” rules - which has replaced its Financial Fairy Play system this season - means that clubs will only be able to lose around £34.5mn over the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons.
But the Blues have made an £89.8mn loss for the 2022-23 season and had no Champions League income last season having earned £81mn from Europe the year before. And without the ‘sale’ of its hotels to itself, Chelsea will have an uphill battle offsetting this loss.
Any punishment or settlement won’t affect Chelsea in this season’s Conference League, but it would be applied before next season - though club chairman Todd Boehly has publicly said the Blues will comply with UEFA’s rules.
POLL
Do you think the new Champions League format will be more exciting?Leave your name/initials if you'd like to be feature in Monday's edition. |
HEAD START
🏴 Carsley names his first England squad. Lee Carsley has called up uncapped quartet Noni Madueke, Angel Gomes, Morgan Gibbs-White and Tino Livramento for England's Nations League games against the Republic of Ireland and Finland. Jack Grealish, Harry Maguire and Nick Pope have been recalled, but Marcus Rashford, Kyle Walker and Ivan Toney are among those left out.
🐦 Mbappe’s Twitter account hacked. Kylian Mbappe’s X (Twitter) account was hacked on Wednesday night, with posts hailing Cristiano Ronaldo as football’s greatest player, ruling out a return to PSG, and mocking Chelsea and Manchester United. The posts have been deleted but there’s a thread of the hacked Tweets here.
💵 Guardiola personally gifts £10k to City staff. Pep Guardiola has given a bonus of £10,000 to each of Manchester City’s support staff who works in the first-team building. It has been reported that around 60 to 70 people work in the building, including chefs, receptionists, physiotherapists, kit men, baristas and security staff.
UKRAINIAN PREMIER LEAGUE
Shakhtar Donetsk to keep travel plans secret
Ukraine’s Shakhtar Donetsk have been forced to keep their movements top secret after a hotel they were due to stay was bombed, per The Telegraph.
The squad was booked into the Aurora Hotel for their upcoming Ukrainian Premier League game against Kryvbas on Sunday, but it was destroyed by a missile attack on Monday.
Shakhtar Donetsk currently play their domestic home matches on the western border and have been unable to host European games in their homeland for nearly two and a half years.
A complete turnaround
In 2014, the club’s home city of Donetsk became the front line as war erupted in the country’s eastern Donbas region. The club was forced to relocate to Kyiv.
When war intensified two years ago, FIFA suspended foreign players' contracts so they could leave the country and the domestic league was suspended.
Without income from tickets or sponsorship, Shakhtar relied on transfer income - including the sale of Mykhaylo Mudruk for £70mn to Chelsea - and support from the club’s billionaire owner to start signing players again.
Now acting as footballing nomads due to the risks of their location being revealed, chief executive Serhii Palkin told the Financial Times that he dreams of Shakhtar “going back” to its home city.
AROUND THE FOOTBALL WORLD
🇮🇹 Serie A: Andrea Pirlo has been sacked as manager of Sampdoria (More); Napoli sign Romelu Lukaku for £30mn (More)
🏴 England national team: Kieran Trippier, 33, announces his retirement from international football after 54 caps (More)
🇪🇸 Spanish national team: Jesus Navas, 38, retires from international football after 56 caps and three trophies (More)
🏴 Scottish Premiership: Celtic have agreed a club-record £11mn transfer fee for Augsburg midfielder Arne Engels (More)
WEEKDAY RESULTS ROUND-UP
La Liga, Las Palmas 1 - 1 Real Madrid. Los Blancos have missed out on four points in their opening three league games; Kylian Mbappe is yet to score in the league, despite 17 shots and 3 big chances. La Liga, Girona 4 - 0 Osasuna. Girona earned their first win this season, with former Spurs winger Bryan Gil opening the scoring in the 34th minute. Conference League, Chelsea 1 - 2 Servette (Agg 3-2). Despite losing on the night, Chelsea qualify for the Conference League group stage on aggregate. Conference League results here.
ROUTER’S VOICE
Yesterday, we asked you: Do you think Mbappe will improve Real Madrid or struggle?
🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 💪 Mbappe will improve Madrid... (57.1%)
🟨 🟨 🟨 🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ 🤕 He'll struggle more than expected... (43.9%)
Your punditry takes:
💪 M.M: “World class talent with a world class manager that specialises in superstar management. They’ll be fine.”
💪 J.T: “Carlo Ancelotti will make him a better team player and as a consequence Real Madrid better.”
🤕 S.V: “It’s not that Mbappe will struggle, but Real Madrid will feel the impact of losing Kroos. He was the foundation of their midfield and it’s too difficult to replace that.”
EXTRA TIME
Can you spot the joke at the end of UEFA’s new UCL promo?
Neal Maupay takes a dig at his now former club Everton.
Who is the best Deadline Day signing in Premier League history?
Five unforgettable Transfer Deadline Day stories.
How Olympiakos won two European trophies in one year.
Evra talks about the time he and Gary Neville came to blows in training.
A club has spelt their own name wrong on merchandise.
The value and direction of Italian football.
GAME FACE ON
Question: Nicolas Jackson’s header after 98 seconds at Wolves was Chelsea’s earliest Premier League goal since who scored against Stoke City in September 2017 after just 82 seconds?
Clue: Euro winner.
Scroll below for the answer.
ON TODAY
Championship
Luton vs QPR (20:00 BST)
Bundesliga
Union Berlin vs St. Pauli (19:30 BST)
Serie A
Venezia vs Torino (17:30 BST)
Inter Milan vs Atalanta (19:45 BST)
Ligue 1
Lyon vs Strasbourg (19:45 BST)
*EST -5. PST -8. CET +1. CST +8. JST +9.
Answer
Alvaro Morata. The Spaniard netted a hat-trick in Chelsea’s 4-0 win over Stoke City in the 2017-18 season.
As far as I'm aware he wasn't available for selection and nothing has changed in my two weeks here.