Julian Alvarez has already put his recent injury scare behind him, returning to full training this week after a muscle issue kept him out of the club’s last two matches, though a start is off the table, as it has been confirmed he will start the game on the bench.

The clash at the Riyadh Air Metropolitano carries real weight in the early title picture. Real Madrid sit second in LaLiga on 15 points, three behind leaders Barcelona, while Atletico are fourth on 13 points, still very much within touching distance of the top of the table.

Diego Simeone’s side endured a rough patch in early September, losing 3-0 to Athletic Bilbao before falling 2-1 to Liverpool in the Champions League, but they’ve since responded with back-to-back wins over Real Sociedad and Osasuna, the latter a 4-0 rout that showed signs of life heading into this derby.

Real Madrid, meanwhile, arrive off a nervy 3-2 win over Elche settled by a stoppage-time winner from Carlos Espi, and Jose Mourinho will be chasing the club’s 126th win over their city rivals, as Atletico look to atone for a 3-2 home defeat to Los Blancos the last time these two met in March.

Atletico Madrid confirmed lineup

Simeone made late checks on Alvarez, Pablo Barrios, and Alexander Sorloth, all managing muscle issues, though Jonathan David was the winner of the race and was confirmed in the starting lineup.

Atlético Madrid confirmed starting XI: Jan Oblak; Marcos Llorente, Cristian Romero, Marc Pubill, Cristian Romero, David Hancko; Giuliano Simeone, Alex Baena, Johnny Cardoso, Alex Grimaldo; Kang-in Li, and Jonathan David.

Real Madrid confirmed lineup

Mourinho will again be without Eder Militao (muscle), Rodrygo (knee), and Ferland Mendy (hip), but is otherwise close to full strength. Denzel Dumfries will replace Trent Alexander-Arnold at right-back, while Jude Bellingham returns to the side and Vinicius Junior keeps his place up front despite just one goal this season.

Real Madrid confirmed starting XI: Thibaut Courtois; Denzel Dumfries, Ibrahima Konate, Dean Huijsen, Marc Cucurella; Federico Valverde, Aurelien Tchouameni; Arda Guler, Jude Bellingham, Vinicius Junior; Kylian Mbappe.

The feat in question was a so-called “perfect hat-trick,” meaning all three goals came with different parts of the body: one header, one strike with his right foot, and one with his left. Messi scored a record 36 hat-tricks across his 17 seasons in LaLiga, more than any player in the competition’s history, yet none of them checked all three boxes in the same match.

The three goals came in a wild afternoon at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán, where Sevilla had taken an early lead through Youssouf Fofana before Raphinha took over, scoring in each half to complete the turnaround and keep Barcelona’s perfect record intact through eight games across all competitions this season.

It’s the second hat-trick in seven games for the Brazilian, who had also scored three times just days earlier in a 7-2 rout of Racing Santander, taking his tally to 12 goals and putting him atop LaLiga’s scoring charts, further cementing his status as the man carrying Hansi Flick’s side through the opening stretch of the campaign.

The other Barcelona players to record a perfect hat-trick in LaLiga

Perfect hat-tricks have been a rare sight even across Barcelona‘s long history in the competition. Before Raphinha, the club had seen it happen only five times, with Julio Salinas, Iván de la Peña, Patrick Kluivert, and Luis Suárez the only other names on that list.

Kluivert stands out as the only other Barcelona player to have done it more than once, having pulled off the feat twice during his time at the club. Raphinha’s version arrives more than a decade after the last one, with Suárez the most recent Barcelona player to manage it back in 2015, making the Brazilian just the sixth player in the club’s history to check every box in a single match.

Messi’s hat-trick record still stands alone

The perfect hat-trick may have eluded him, but Messi’s overall numbers in that department remain untouchable. His 36 hat-tricks in LaLiga are not only a Barcelona record, they’re the most by any player in the competition’s history, comfortably ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo’s 34 for Real Madrid.

The Brazilian’s treble came in a 3-1 win at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán, where he canceled out an early Youssouf Fofana goal for the hosts before completing the turnaround in the second half.

The performance pushed Raphinha‘s tally to 11 goals through Barcelona’s first seven LaLiga matches of the season, the best start to a league campaign by a Barcelona player in more than eight decades.

It also matches the total Messi put up with Barcelona in 2017-18, leaving only Ronaldo‘s record of 13 goals in seven games, set with Real Madrid in 2014-15, still out of reach.

Closing that two-goal gap would hand Raphinha an outright record, and with Barcelona yet to drop a single point through seven league matches, he’ll have no shortage of chances to keep pace with that kind of scoring rate as the season continues.

The unstoppable form behind Raphinha’s numbers

Raphinha’s individual explosion is very much a reflection of the team around him. In LaLiga specifically, the Brazilian’s hat-trick pushed him to 12 goals in seven appearances, putting him five clear of Kylian Mbappé and Lamine Yamal, who are tied for second in the race for the Pichichi Trophy with seven goals apiece.

That run of matches without a loss also means Raphinha won’t have to wait long for another shot at Ronaldo’s record. Barcelona host Getafe on October 10 before a visit to Real Betis, and El Clásico against Real Madrid at Camp Nou on October 25, giving him a string of high-profile chances to find the two goals that would push him past the Portuguese’s mark.

Asked directly about his continuity following the World Cup final defeat to Spain, the coach revealed that matching everything the team has already achieved will undoubtedly be difficult, but he didn’t rule out trying, leaving the door open for a possible renewal and the start of a new cycle built around the next generation.

“We will try, whether we’re there or not,” Scaloni said about the national team’s future. He downplayed the significance of his own decision throughout the interview, instead steering the conversation toward the team and the next generation of players looking to break in.

That next generation was clearly on his mind. “They really deserve it, that’s our intention in the upcoming games: to give young players who can join our style of play a chance. Now an important, beautiful parenthesis opens, a time to trust in these kids who are knocking on the door,” he said, adding that age wouldn’t determine who stays and who’s brought in, only performance at the club level.

Whoever ends up leading that transition will be following one of the most successful spells in the program’s history. Scaloni has been in charge of Argentina since 2018, winning the 2022 World Cup, back-to-back Copa América titles in 2021 and 2024, and the 2022 Finalissima, while posting a 77% win rate across more than 100 matches in charge.

His current contract runs through December 31, 2026, and while a verbal agreement with AFA president Claudio Tapia to extend his stay through the 2030 World Cup was reportedly reached before this year’s tournament, the formal signing was pushed back until after the competition, leaving the door open for renewal talks that, according to reports out of Argentina, are already underway.

Scaloni reflects on coaching Lionel Messi one last time

On the eve of the last match in which he’ll coach Lionel Messi for Argentina — October 6 against Benín at the Monumental — Scaloni once again praised the forward, admitting that while the version of Messi he got to manage was brilliant and gave him plenty, he wishes he could have had him in his younger years.

“The Messi of 22, 23 years old was a unique player. He also played well with us, but I would have liked to have had him when he was young. He was unique, he is unique. He felt comfortable with us. We put everything we had at his disposal so that he and everyone else felt comfortable,” the coach said.

With Messi’s Argentina career set to end on October 6, Scaloni’s comments captured the strange duality of this moment for the national team: closing the book on its greatest player while its coach, the man who built the era around him, weighs whether to stay on and start writing the next one.

The call-up was part of a broader update to Argentina‘s roster for the September-October window, which saw six additional players from Argentine football included, bringing the full squad to 37 names.

Along with Otamendi, Thiago Almada, Santiago Beltrán, Tobías Andrada, Leonel Flores, and Tomás Palacios were also added to the list ahead of the games against Bolivia, Burkina Faso, and Benín.

It’s also worth noting that Messi, Rodrigo De Paul, and Giovani Lo Celso will only join the squad for that final friendly against Benín, skipping the earlier matches against Bolivia and Burkina Faso. From abroad, Equi Fernández, Santiago Simón, and Valentín Gómez were also added to the roster for this international window.

Nicolas Otamendi’s decorated Argentina career

Otamendi announced his international retirement just days after that defeat, closing out a career that spanned 139 appearances across four World Cups. Along the way, the defender won the 2022 World Cup, back-to-back Copa América titles in 2021 and 2024, and the 2022 Finalissima against Italy, cementing his place as one of the most decorated players in Argentina’s history.

Argentina’s full 37-man squad for the September-October friendlies

• Goalkeepers: Emiliano Martínez (Chelsea), Juan Musso (Atlético Madrid), Gerónimo Rulli (Manchester City), Santiago Beltrán (River Plate).

• Defenders: Agustín Giay (Palmeiras), Leonardo Balerdi (Roma), Cristian Romero (Atlético Madrid), Lisandro Martínez (Manchester United), Juan Foyth (Villarreal), Facundo Medina (Bayer Leverkusen), Nicolás Tagliafico (Lyon), Román Vega (Zenit), Santiago Simón (Toluca), Valentín Gómez (Real Betis), Nicolás Otamendi (River Plate), Tomás Palacios (Estudiantes de La Plata).

• Midfielders: Enzo Fernández (Manchester City), Alexis Mac Allister (Liverpool), Valentín Barco (Chelsea), Giovani Lo Celso (Real Betis), Exequiel Palacios (Ipswich Town), Rodrigo De Paul (Inter Miami), Nicolás Paz (Como), Franco Mastantuono (Fiorentina, on loan from Real Madrid), Matías Soulé (Roma), Giuliano Simeone (Atlético Madrid), Tobías Andrada (River Plate), Thiago Almada (River Plate), Equi Fernández (Bayer Leverkusen).

• Forwards: Nicolás González (Juventus), Gianluca Prestianni (Benfica), José Manuel López (Palmeiras), Santiago Castro (Roma), Julián Álvarez (Atlético Madrid), Lautaro Martínez (Inter), Lionel Messi (Inter Miami), Leonel Flores (Boca Juniors).

Medical tests carried out on Thursday confirmed the injury and ruled out the need for surgery, with Garcia expected to be sidelined for around three weeks. Notably, this is not the same knee that required an operation last season, a detail that has offered some relief to Barcelona’s medical staff given the less serious nature of the current issue.

The timing has actually worked in Barcelona’s favor. Garcia’s recovery window overlaps with the upcoming international break, meaning the Sevilla clash is set to be his only absence before he’s expected to be available again for the visit of Getafe at Camp Nou on October 10.

The injury comes at an inconvenient time given how well Garcia had been playing. Across his five starts this season, the goalkeeper had conceded just four goals while recording 11 saves, and his three clean sheets are tied for the most of any goalkeeper in LaLiga.

Confirmed Barcelona lineup vs Sevilla

In Garcia’s absence, Flick has turned to Dominik Livaković, who will make his Barcelona debut between the posts ahead of veteran Wojciech Szczęsny, the goalkeeper who had deputized for Garcia off the bench against Racing Santander just days earlier.

Barcelona confirmed its starting XI for the trip to face Sevilla: Livaković; João Cancelo, Pau Cubarsí, Andreas Christensen, Eric García; Pedri, Rodri; Lamine Yamal, Fermín López, Anthony Gordon; Raphinha.

Szczęsny starts on the bench alongside Alejandro Balde, Gavi, Gabriel Jesus, Xavi Espart, Karim Adeyemi, Gerard Martín, Dani Olmo, Marc Bernal, Jules Koundé, Abdelkarim, and Iker Rodríguez.

Argentina will face Bolivia on September 30 at the Mario Alberto Kempes Stadium in Córdoba, before closing out the window in Buenos Aires against Burkina Faso on October 3 (venue still to be officially confirmed) and Benin on October 6 at the Monumental.

Beyond marking Messi’s send-off, these games will also serve as the vehicle for several suspended teammates to finally clear their bans from the chaotic ending of the 2026 World Cup final.

At one point, it wasn’t clear those suspensions would even apply to these fixtures. The bans stemmed from a post-match brawl after Spain beat Argentina in the final, and under the original ruling they were tied to official competitive matches, meaning the suspended players risked carrying their punishments all the way into 2027 World Cup qualifying or the 2028 Copa América before getting a chance to serve them out.

According to the AFA, CONMEBOL classified Argentina’s upcoming friendlies as Level 1 fixtures, the designation that allows the suspended players to begin working off the bans they picked up following the tournament in North America.

The scandal behind the bans

The suspensions trace back to a post-match brawl following Argentina’s loss to Spain in the World Cup final, and FIFA handed down significant punishments for each player involved, on top of a $321,000 fine for the AFA as an institution.

Leandro Paredes received a 10-match suspension for grabbing Eric García by the neck, Nahuel Molina was hit with a seven-match ban following a clash with Rodri, Thiago Almada was given a one-match suspension, and assistant coach Roberto Ayala was barred from the bench for three games.

The Argentine’s brilliance came up as one of the central topics when Yamal sat down with Jorge Valdano for an extensive interview on Universo Valdano, which also touched on the Ballon d’Or race and his own performance at the World Cup.

“For me, he was the best player of the World Cup for everything he is and everything he generated. Nobody expected that a player at Leo’s age, even if it was Leo, could do things at that level,” Yamal said.

The numbers back up that admiration. At 39 years old, Messi scored eight goals across the tournament, including two assists in Argentina’s dramatic comeback win over England in the semifinal, and carried his team all the way to the final.

Yamal never directly criticized Rodri or FIFA’s decision, but by singling out Messi as the tournament’s true best performer, he left little doubt about who he believed actually deserved the recognition, regardless of which trophy his own national team ended up lifting.

Yamal admits he wasn’t satisfied with his own World Cup

Beyond his praise for Messi, Yamal turned surprisingly self-critical when reflecting on his own tournament, even though his contribution helped Spain lift the trophy in extra time.

“I didn’t come out happy after winning the World Cup. The injury thing is true, but it has nothing to do with it. If the World Cup happened again at another point, I’d feel the same way, even without the injury,” he told Valdano.

He went further, breaking down exactly what left him unsatisfied: “I did a lot of things people didn’t see. For the coach, it’s incredible to have a player who drags three defenders with him, but based on my performance, I know I could have done more”.

It’s a level of self-demand that stands out even for a teenager who just won the World Cup, and it helps explain why Yamal continues to push himself toward the Ballon d’Or conversation rather than settling for the trophy already in hand. If this is the standard he holds himself to after arguably one of the best seasons of his young career, there’s little reason to think he’s anywhere close to a ceiling.

The 23-man squad will report for the opening window of the 2026-27 UEFA Nations League, with matches against Turkey, Belgium twice, and Italy, and it leaves out 11 players who were part of France’s run at the tournament.

Several of the absences are tied to injuries. William Saliba, Marcus Thuram, and Jean-Philippe Mateta are all out with fitness issues, while Aurélien Tchouaméni was left out as a precaution, with Zidane opting not to rush his minutes after the midfielder himself only recently returned from a muscle injury at Real Madrid.

N’Golo Kanté’s absence, meanwhile, comes down to retirement rather than form or fitness. The 35-year-old announced he was stepping away from international duty after the World Cup, and Zidane pointed to bringing in fresh blood as part of his broader plan to evolve the squad going forward.

The rest of the omissions were simply Zidane’s call as he begins to stamp his own identity on the team. Lucas Hernández, Theo Hernández, Maghnes Akliouche, Lucas Digne, and Malo Gusto were all left out without an injury or retirement behind it, and the same goes for goalkeeper Brice Samba, who was passed over in favor of Guillaume Restes between the posts.

France’s full squad for this international break

• Goalkeepers: Mike Maignan (Milan), Guillaume Restes (Toulouse), Robin Risser (Lens).

• Defenders: Andy Diouf (Inter Milan), Jérémy Jacquet (Liverpool), Pierre Kalulu (Juventus), Ibrahima Konaté (Real Madrid), Jules Koundé (Barcelona), Maxence Lacroix (Chelsea), Adrien Truffert (Bournemouth), Dayot Upamecano (Bayern Munich).

• Midfielders: Eduardo Camavinga (Real Madrid), Rayan Cherki (Manchester City), Lucas Da Cunha (Como), Manu Koné (Roma), Adrien Rabiot (Milan), Warren Zaïre-Emery (PSG).

• Forwards: Bradley Barcola (Liverpool), Ousmane Dembélé (PSG), Désiré Doué (PSG), Estéban Lepaul (Rennes), Kylian Mbappé (Real Madrid), Michael Olise (Bayern Munich).

France’s upcoming UEFA Nations League fixtures

Zidane will kick off his tenure away from home, with France traveling to face Turkey in Kocaeli on September 25. Les Bleus then head to Brussels three days later, on September 28, to take on Belgium at their place.

The schedule flips for the second half of the window, with France hosting both remaining games at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis. Italy visit on October 2, before Belgium returns for a rematch on October 5, closing out Zidane’s first international break in charge.

The 26-man roster will report for Spain’s opening Nations League fixtures, with four matches on tap against Croatia twice, England, and the Czech Republic in Group 3 of League A.

Of the 26 players called up, 22 return from the World Cup-winning squad, but four champions were notably left off the list, one from each area of the field: goalkeeper Joan García, right-back Marcos Llorente, midfielder Gavi, and forward Borja Iglesias.

García’s absence is tied to a knee injury, while Gavi will miss out due to a suspension stemming from an altercation with Argentina’s Nahuel Molina and Leandro Paredes in the World Cup final. De la Fuente called up Josep Martínez and Fermín Lopez to fill those two spots, respectively.

Llorente and Iglesias, meanwhile, both announced their retirements from the national team shortly after winning the World Cup, prompting De la Fuente to turn to Dean Huijsen and Roberto Fernández as their replacements.

Spain’s full squad for this international break

• Goalkeepers: Unai Simón (Athletic Club), David Raya (Arsenal), Josep Martínez (Inter Milan).

• Defenders: Aymeric Laporte (Athletic Club), Pau Cubarsí (Barcelona), Eric García (Barcelona), Dean Huijsen (Real Madrid), Marc Pubill (Atlético Madrid), Pedro Porro (Tottenham), Alejandro Grimaldo (Atlético Madrid), Marc Cucurella (Real Madrid).

• Midfielders: Rodri (Barcelona), Martín Zubimendi (Arsenal), Mikel Merino (Arsenal), Pedri (Barcelona), Fabián Ruíz (PSG), Fermín Lopez (Barcelona), Álex Baena (Atlético Madrid).

• Forwards: Lamine Yamal (Barcelona), Mikel Oyarzabal (Real Sociedad), Yeremy Pino (Crystal Palace), Nico Williams (Athletic Club), Víctor Muñoz (Liverpool), Roberto Fernández (Espanyol), Ferrán Torres (PSG), Dani Olmo (Barcelona).

These four changes speak more to circumstance than any shake-up in philosophy from De la Fuente. Between an injury, a suspension, and two surprise retirements, the Spain boss was essentially forced into adjusting his roster, and had it not been for those factors, there’s a strong chance the group that conquered North America would have remained fully intact for this next chapter.

Despite the heartbreak for the English captain, the match ended with a visible show of mutual respect between the two, embracing on the pitch once the final whistle blew. Months later, Kane revisited that moment in an interview with Marca, reflecting on what he saw in Messi that day and throughout his career.

Asked about that embrace, Kane pointed to the specific trait he believes separates Messi from the rest: “He has always put the team ahead of himself, and I think that’s one of the reasons Argentina had the success they did“.

Messi’s numbers throughout the tournament backed up that reading of him as a team-first player. The Argentine captain finished the World Cup with 12 goal involvements (eight goals and four assists), second only to Kylian Mbappe’s 14, while pushing his career World Cup goal tally to 21, the second-highest total in the competition’s history, all while directing Argentina’s run to the final.

Looking back on how he handled the defeat, Kane made clear that showing respect in that moment mattered to him just as much as the result. “That day, after losing, I tried to keep my head held high and show respect for the other team. I think that was important, especially towards Leo, for how incredible he’s been in football for so many years,” he said, closing the chapter on one of the World Cup’s most talked-about individual moments.

Kane recalls the embrace and what he told Messi after the final whistle

Amid the immediate disappointment of England’s elimination, Kane still made a point of seeking Messi out on the pitch once the match ended, sharing a personal moment with the Argentine captain before either side had even left the field.

“I remember hugging him and wishing him good luck for the final. It wasn’t our World Cup in the end, but that’s what a World Cup is about: the best players facing off on the biggest stage, and of course, there’s always going to be a loser,” Kane said.

For Kane, the gesture was less about the result and more about recognizing what he’d just witnessed, a reminder that even in defeat, sharing the stage with a legend was something worth acknowledging in the moment rather than letting the loss overshadow it.

The first is the Supporters’ Shield, awarded to the club with the best regular-season record across the entire league rather than just a conference. Miami’s form has cooled at the wrong time to make a serious push for it, sitting third in the standings and nine points adrift of leaders Nashville SC after going winless in their last three MLS outings.

The more realistic target is the MLS Cup. Miami don’t need to top the table, or even finish first in the Eastern Conference, to get there, just crack the top eight to secure a playoff spot, with the eighth and ninth seeds meeting in a single wild-card game before the bracket opens up. From there, it’s simply a matter of winning it out, something the club have already proven they can do.

Inter Miami have lifted both trophies before, claiming the Supporters’ Shield in 2024 and the MLS Cup a year later, a run that also punched their ticket into this year’s Campeones Cup.

Winning the MLS Cup again in 2026 would send them back to the Campeones Cup in 2027, setting up a shot at a back-to-back title no club has ever managed, and handing Messi a fifth trophy with the Herons in as many seasons since his 2023 arrival.

Every trophy Messi has won with Inter Miami

Messi’s collection with the Herons started almost immediately. Just weeks after his 2023 arrival, he inspired a last-to-first turnaround in the Leagues Cup, capped by that unforgettable stoppage-time free kick against Cruz Azul in his debut, and Miami went on to lift the trophy without him ever tasting defeat in the tournament.

The following year, they set the all-time MLS record for regular-season points (74) to claim the Supporters’ Shield, only for a shock playoff exit to leave the bigger prize just out of reach.

That disappointment didn’t last long. In 2025, Inter Miami turned the page and won their first MLS Cup, finally translating their regular-season dominance into the league’s biggest trophy.

Now, with the 2026 Campeones Cup added to the résumé after Wednesday’s win over Cruz Azul, Messi has delivered a different piece of silverware in each of his three full seasons in Miami, and the club are chasing a fourth this year with the Supporters’ Shield and MLS Cup both still on the table.

Messi’s header also made him the fastest player in MLS history to reach 100 goals with a single club across all competitions. He got there in just 114 appearances, a tally that includes 55 assists for a combined 155 goal contributions with the Herons, according to Fabrizio Romano.

The mark shatters the previous record, which belonged to Josef Martínez, who needed 125 games to reach 100 goals with Atlanta United. That record had itself broken an earlier standard set by Robbie Keane, who scored 100 goals for the LA Galaxy in 156 appearances.

Messi’s run to the milestone continues to redefine what’s possible in MLS, and it comes at a moment when Inter Miami are still chasing more silverware in 2026. Since his arrival in July 2023, the Argentine has already delivered the Leagues Cup, the Supporters’ Shield, the MLS Cup, and now the Campeones Cup, cementing his status as the most decorated player in franchise.

Beckham, Casemiro, and De Paul make the case for Messi’s ninth Ballon d’Or

Messi’s milestone night with Inter Miami also reignited the conversation around this year’s Ballon d’Or, an award still up for grabs after neither Spain’s World Cup triumph nor PSG’s Champions League run produced a clear favorite. In the aftermath of the Campeones Cup win, several people close to Messi didn’t hold back on where they stand.

Speaking to Apple TV, club co-owner David Beckham didn’t hesitate when asked about Messi’s case, saying “he was the best player in this tournament at 39 years old“. Teammate Casemiro, who spent years facing Messi with Real Madrid from the other side of El Clasico before joining him at Inter Miami, was just as supportive in his own postmatch interview: “I can’t decide who wins the Ballon d’Or, but as his teammate, I certainly hope he takes it“.

Rodrigo De Paul went even further in comments to TUDN, saying “no one will ever do what he did in this World Cup at 39 years old“. The endorsement carries weight despite Spain lifting the trophy and Rodri walking away with the tournament’s Golden Ball, since Messi still finished with 12 goal involvements at the World Cup, second only to Mbappe’s 14, numbers his teammates keep pointing to as proof his Ballon d’Or case is far from a sentimental one.

Enzo Maresca confirmed his XI a little over an hour before kickoff, with the Argentine among the substitutes. It’s a rare absence for the World Cup winner, who has been a regular fixture in the side since his arrival.

The decision is purely tactical, with Maresca opting to rest several of his regular starters following City’s derby win over Manchester United. Fernandez will wait for his chance and could see minutes in the second half if needed.

The rotation also opened the door for Geronimo Rulli to make his Manchester City debut in goal, while Allan, the Brazilian midfielder signed from Palmeiras, will make his first appearance for the club as well.

Manchester City’s confirmed lineup

Maresca sent out a heavily rotated side for the Etihad Stadium clash, with several regulars given the night off ahead of a busy stretch of fixtures. The City boss turned to a mix of squad players and young talent, trusting the group to get the job done without leaning on his usual first-choice XI.

Manchester City’s starting lineup: Gerónimo Rulli; Rico Lewis, Abdukodir Khusanov, Vitor Reis, Nico O’Reilly; Ayyoub Bouaddi, Mateo Kovačić; Allan, Rayan Cherki, Rayan Aït-Nouri; Foyd Samba.

The Argentine opened the scoring with a header in the 24th minute, the same goal that made him reach 100 goals for the club, and later set up Casemiro for the clinching goal in the 81st minute. It marked the 48th trophy of Messi’s career and the fourth different title he’s won with Inter Miami since arriving in July 2023.

The celebration, however, had an awkward moment that stole some of the spotlight. Cameras caught Don Garber, the league’s commissioner, approaching Messi on the field during the trophy ceremony, only to get a cold reception.

Part of the tension appears to trace back to comments Garber made in a July interview with Daniel Roberts. Garber was asked about his relationship with Messi and recalled the aftermath of Argentina’s World Cup semifinal win over England, refereed by American official Ismail Elfath.

“After a game, the president of the U.S. Soccer Federation, its executive director, and I went down to the referees’ locker room, waited for Ismail, one of our referees, to come out, and thanked him for having refereed probably the toughest match of his career. I don’t think Leo was very happy during that match,” Garber said.

Garber went further in the same interview, acknowledging that Messi likely holds him personally responsible for how officiating went during the World Cup. “I’m not sure he sees me as the guy who picks the referees; I don’t, but he has to complain to someone. I accept it,” he added.

The All-Star Game suspension may be another factor

Garber’s comments about the World Cup may not be the only source of friction. The strain between the two also appears to stem from the one-game suspension MLS handed Messi and Jordi Alba in 2025 for skipping the All-Star Game without league approval, a decision that left Inter Miami’s ownership publicly frustrated and reportedly didn’t sit well with Messi either.

The two won’t have to deal with much more of each other going forward, though. Garber is set to step down as MLS commissioner on December 31, a role he’s held since 1999, with LAFC co-owner Larry Berg taking over starting in 2027.

Garber will stay on with the league as chairman, but Wednesday’s frosty exchange could end up being one of his last public moments with Messi before handing over the position.

That run hit a new milestone on Wednesday, when Messi scored his 100th goal for Inter Miami in the club’s 2-0 win over Cruz Azul in the Campeones Cup final, heading in a cross from Luis Suárez in the 24th minute to help lift the club’s first-ever title in that competition.

The goal came in just 115 appearances, making it the fastest Messi has ever reached the 100-goal mark with any club he’s represented, well ahead of the 188 games it took him at Barcelona and even faster than the 174 matches he needed to hit the same number with the Argentina national team.

The milestone naturally invites a comparison to Cristiano Ronaldo, who has been on a similar scoring pace since joining Al Nassr in December 2022. The Portuguese forward actually got there quicker, reaching 100 goals for the Saudi club back in May in just 113 appearances, two fewer than Messi needed with Inter Miami.

With Ronaldo now 41 and Messi 39, the parallel numbers are yet another reminder of how their decade-long rivalry continues to play out on separate continents, even this deep into their careers.

Ronaldo’s four-club milestone stands out against Messi’s more selective scoring resume

While Messi’s run to 115 games set a new personal best, the gap between the two forwards widens when it comes to the number of clubs where they’ve each reached triple figures.

Messi has now done it with just two clubs, Barcelona and Inter Miami, while Ronaldo added Al Nassr to become the only player in history to score 100 goals for four different clubs, joining Manchester United, Real Madrid, and Juventus on that list.

Messi’s path outside Barcelona, where he shattered every scoring record in the club’s history, has looked far more limited. His only other stint at a European giant came at PSG, where he managed just 32 goals in 75 appearances before moving to MLS.

Months later, the wound still hasn’t closed for Thomas Tuchel. In a trailer for the FA’s upcoming documentary on England’s tournament, titled “Reflections: England’s World Cup Journey,” the German coach opened up about the pain of that night, admitting the loss remains something he carries personally rather than something time has settled.

“That is a very, very difficult road to go down that can torture you, and you can try to kill me here, but it’s my scar. It’s not your scar. I have to live with it…I am in charge here, and I take these decisions. It’s the players’ scar, and it’s my scar, and I have to live with it and keep on going,” Tuchel told former striker Daniel Sturridge, addressing the wave of criticism aimed at him.

The admission didn’t stop there. “No one is more hurt than me. No one wanted it more. And you can now endlessly torture you and think if I would have done a different substitution, then we would’ve won the match. You just don’t know it,” he added.

England had been just minutes away from reaching their first World Cup final since 1966, holding onto Gordon’s goal deep into the second half. But Argentina refused to let the moment slip, leveling through Enzo Fernández in the 85th minute before Lautaro Martínez completed the comeback deep into stoppage time, sending Messi’s side through instead.

Tuchel breaks down Argentina’s frantic comeback

Beyond the emotional toll, Tuchel also used the documentary to dissect the tactical chaos of Argentina’s fightback, marveling at the risks Lionel Scaloni was willing to take once his side fell behind.

“The level of madness Argentina brought, one change after another after another, one attacking substitution after the next. They never would have made those changes if they weren’t 1-0 down. It was a 3-1-6. Who plays with a 3-1-6?“ he said, referencing the ultra-attacking shape Argentina finished the match in.

Tuchel also pushed back on the idea that his own approach was overly cautious, pointing to a similar situation England had faced earlier in the tournament against Norway. “We could have done it and maybe lost 2-1, and people would have said, ‘Is he crazy? He did it against Norway, he finished the game with five at the back. Why didn’t he finish the game (against Argentina) with five?’ That was simply my solution to the problem. I was trying to help,” he explained.

Tuchel’s reflections make clear the Atlanta defeat remains an open wound, one he continues to revisit. Still, the pain hasn’t shaken his position with the federation, and with the bronze-medal finish behind them, he remains focused on leading England into Euro 2028 while carrying that scar with him.

U.S. Soccer is set to officially announce Mauricio Pochettino‘s squad on Thursday ahead of upcoming exhibition games against Chile, Peru, Canada and Mexico, so the decision has not yet been confirmed publicly.

Pulisic’s absence is a striking decision on its own, given that the winger has already recovered from the two fractured bones in his right leg suffered during the USA‘s 4-1 round-of-16 loss to Belgium at the World Cup.

Since returning to full fitness, though, Pulisic has struggled to reclaim a starting role at AC Milan, coming on as a substitute in each of Ruben Amorim’s first four matches in charge.

Pulisic’s reportedly strained relationship with Pochettino could also be weighing on the decision. According to McIntyre, the two have had friction since Pulisic skipped the 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup, a tournament the U.S. narrowly lost to Mexico, in order to be fresh for the World Cup, only to get hurt in the tournament opener and go scoreless across four appearances.

That tension, combined with his current spell on Milan’s bench, could help explain why Pochettino may be choosing to leave him off this squad, though the exact reasoning behind the decision remains unconfirmed.

Pochettino reportedly turns to a wave of young talent

Amid Pulisic’s potential absence, Pochettino is reportedly turning to 16-year-old Cavan Sullivan, who could become the youngest player in the 113-year history of the U.S. men’s national team since Freddy Adu set the record in 2006.

The Philadelphia Union midfielder has been in red-hot form, recording five goals and six assists over his last seven MLS matches, part of a breakout season that includes 6 goals and 11 assists in 23 appearances as the Union have gone unbeaten in 10 straight games.

Sullivan is not the only teenager set to join the squad, as 17-year-old Red Bull New York midfielder Adri Mehmeti is also reportedly poised to receive his first senior call-up. Meanwhile, Yunus Musah is expected to return to the fold after last featuring for the national team in March 2025.

The USA will open the international window against Peru on September 26 in Orlando, before facing Chile on September 29 in St. Louis, and closing out the FIFA-expanded window against Concacaf rivals Mexico and Canada in early October.

Through the first six matchdays of the league season, Raphinha and Yamal have combined for 16 goals between them, with Raphinha scoring nine and Yamal seven.

That tally surpasses the previous benchmark of 15 combined goals set by Messi and Fabregas back in 2011-12, a mark that had stood as the high point for a Barcelona scoring duo through six matchdays for a decade and a half.

Barcelona pairs had hit 13 or more combined goals in the first six matchdays of a season on only four occasions in the club’s history before this one: Mariano Martin and Cesar in 1943-44 (14), Cesar and Basora in 1948-49 (13), Cesar and Marcos Aurelio in 1950-51 (13), and Messi and Fabregas in 2011-12 (15). Raphinha and Yamal have now set a new high mark within that exclusive group.

Wednesday’s rout provided the decisive push. Raphinha scored a hat-trick, converting two penalties in the 25th and 67th minutes and adding a clinical finish in the 42nd off an assist from Dani Olmo, while Yamal capped the scoring in the 89th minute after a driving run and pass from Karim Adeyemi, despite missing a penalty of his own and striking the post earlier in the match.

Barcelona’s historic start to the season

Wednesday’s rout was just the latest chapter in what has been a remarkable start to the campaign for Barcelona, who remain unbeaten and have barely broken a sweat scoring goals in bunches virtually every time out.

Between LaLiga and Champions League, the club has now put together its highest-scoring stretch through the first seven official matches of a season in 92 years, according to MisterChip.

Amid the rout, a heated moment between Ronaldo and Al Ain’s Matias Palacios stood out, reviving a flashpoint between the two players that dates back nearly two years.

The incident occurred with Al Ain already up 2-0, as Ronaldo pushed forward looking to get into the box. Palacios moved to close him down, and the contact between the two escalated into a physical exchange that ended with both players on the ground, with the referee choosing not to intervene or issue a card.

It capped off a frustrating night for Ronaldo, who had few clear chances to make an impact himself. He sent an overhead kick over the crossbar and later saw a free kick saved late in the match, unable to prevent what became one of Al Nassr‘s heaviest defeats since his arrival in Saudi Arabia.

The 2024 flashpoint between Ronaldo and Palacios

Tuesday’s clash was not an isolated case, either. Ronaldo and Palacios have a history of run-ins whenever Al Nassr and Al Ain meet, with the two players’ rivalry stretching back to a similar incident two years ago.

In November 2024, during another meeting between Al Nassr and Al Ain in the same competition, Palacios and Ronaldo were involved in a similar altercation, with the Argentine complaining about an alleged elbow before Ronaldo ended up holding onto him as the two grappled. That match had a very different outcome for Al Nassr, who won 5-1 with Ronaldo among the scorers.

Al Nassr’s upcoming AFC Champions League Elite schedule

After the defeat to Al Ain, Al Nassr will look to bounce back with seven matches remaining in the AFC Champions League Elite league phase. They host FK Neftchi Fergana on October 12, before facing Al Wasl on October 26 and traveling to Pakhtakor on November 2.

The schedule continues with a home date against Al Sadd on November 24 and a trip to Al Gharafa on December 8, before the campaign resumes in the new year with a home match against Al Shamal on February 8 and a closing fixture away to Shabab Al Ahli on February 15.

The record for scoring in 94 consecutive matches that Ronaldo’s side set earlier this month belongs strictly to domestic league play. The true world record for scoring in consecutive matches across all competitions, however, belongs to a different club entirely, and Al Nassr lost their chance to challenge it with the defeat in the UAE.

Al Nassr‘s streak reached 94 straight Saudi Pro League matches with at least one goal following a 1-1 draw against Al Khaleej on September 12. That mark surpassed the 93 consecutive league matches scored in by River Plate between 1936 and 1939, a record that had stood for nearly 87 years.

River Plate’s full record, though, extends well beyond league play. Between September 1936 and June 1939, the Argentine club scored in 96 consecutive official matches across all competitions, a run that included 93 league games, two matches against Peñarol in a joint Argentina-Uruguay tournament, and one cup match against Rosario Central.

Al Nassr’s clash with Al Ain marked their first match outside the Saudi Pro League since the streak began, giving them a shot at extending their run toward that fuller, all-competitions mark. Instead, Ronaldo and company were shut out for the first time since the streak started, ending any chance of closing in on River Plate’s 96-game record.

Al Nassr can still extend their domestic record

While the loss to Al Ain ended any shot at River Plate’s all-competitions mark, it has no bearing on Al Nassr’s domestic scoring streak, since that run is tracked exclusively within the Saudi Pro League and Tuesday’s match was a different competition entirely. The 94-game streak remains very much alive and will resume when league play returns.

Al Nassr’s next Saudi Pro League fixture comes on October 9 at home against Al Diriyah, followed by a trip to face Al Ahli on October 15, a fixture that will pose a far tougher test, and another home game against Neom SC on October 20, giving Ronaldo and company more opportunities to keep stretching their domestic record further away.

Julian Alvarez will miss the match as he continues his recovery from a muscle overload picked up in training last week. It marks the Argentine’s second consecutive absence, having also sat out Atletico’s 3-0 win away at Real Sociedad, and his fourth missed match out of seven possible so far this season.

Simeone confirmed the decision during the press conference: “Based on what we’ve discussed with the medical staff, he’s still in recovery, so he won’t be able to join us tomorrow“. The Atletico manager did not disclose further details on the severity of the injury.

With an eye on Sunday’s Madrid derby against Real Madrid, the priority for Alvarez and the club’s medical staff is managing his recovery so that he is available for that fixture rather than rushing him back for a match against Osasuna.

Alvarez isn’t the only absence for Atletico Madrid

Alexander Sorloth is also unavailable for the game with a calf injury, while midfielder Pablo Barrios has been left out of Simeone’s squad with a calf issue of his own, rounding out three key absences for Atletico Madrid heading into the match.

In their absence, Jonathan David is expected to lead the line, with Lee Kang-in and Ademola Lookman among the options to fill out the rest of the attack and midfield.

Simeone used his pre-match press conference to call for patience with his squad as it continues to take shape, pointing to the scale of turnover at the club this summer. “The team is a work in progress,” Simeone said. “This summer, seven players left and five came in“.

The Atletico coach has leaned on rotation through the opening weeks of the season, which has produced a mixed run so far: three wins, one draw and one loss in LaLiga, good for 10 points and fourth place after five matchdays, alongside a disappointing start in Europe, where Atletico Madrid opened their Champions League campaign with a 2-1 loss at Liverpool.

Ronaldo, wearing the captain’s armband, struggled to make an impact throughout and saw a late free kick saved, leaving him without a goal to show from the club’s heaviest defeat since his arrival in Saudi Arabia.

While Ronaldo went without a goal, the race for the competition’s Golden Boot already has three players tied at the top after the opening round. Aleksandar Cavric put on a show for Kashima Antlers, scoring a first-half hat-trick in a 7-1 rout of Newcastle Jets.

Prince Ampem, on loan at Shanghai Port from Eyupspor, also struck three times inside the opening 45 minutes as his side won a thriller away at Ratchaburi. That same wild match in Thailand produced the tournament’s third hat-trick, with Njiva Rakotoharimalala coming off the bench for Ratchaburi and scoring three times in the final 20 minutes, including a goal in stoppage time, in a losing effort as Shanghai Port ultimately won 6-4.

A tough opener given his history in the competition

The scoreless outing is a particularly rough way for Ronaldo to begin this campaign, given his track record in the competition. Across his first two seasons with Al Nassr, Ronaldo scored 14 goals and added two assists in 17 AFC Champions League Elite appearances.

Opening his third campaign with a blank and a lopsided defeat is, in that context, about as poor a start as he could have had to this year’s Golden Boot race, especially with Cavric, Ampem and Rakotoharimalala already three goals clear of him after just one matchday.

Ronaldo and Al Nassr will now have seven more matchdays to close that early gap, starting with a home fixture against FK Neftchi Fergana on October 12, as they look to rebuild both their group stage position and their captain’s Golden Boot chances.

The decision came after a conversation between Tapia and head coach Lionel Scaloni, with Messi himself accepting the proposal to close out his international career on home soil.

Announcing the news, Tapia said: “To all the fans of the national team, to all Argentines, I want to let you know that after a conversation with the head coach of the senior national team, Lionel Scaloni, we have made the decision to invite the best player in the world, the symbol of our national team, our captain Lionel Andres Messi, so that he can have the farewell he truly deserves on October 6, right here in Argentina“.

Tapia also revealed that the AFA will invite every member of Argentina’s 2022 World Cup-winning squad, along with their families, to be present for the occasion, though he did not confirm which players have accepted so far.

Describing the significance of the tribute, Tapia called it “the last tango of the best in the world,” adding that the match will be unforgettable for Argentine fans everywhere.

Argentina’s friendly schedule for the September-October window

Messi’s farewell caps a series of three friendlies for Argentina during the upcoming international break, all played on home soil. The Albiceleste will first host Bolivia on September 30 in Cordoba, before returning to Buenos Aires to face Burkina Faso on October 3 and closing out the window against Benin on October 6, both at El Monumental.

Argentina’s call-ups for this FIFA window

Lionel Scaloni made several changes to the squad he used at the 2026 World Cup ahead of this window of friendlies, handing opportunities to a number of new faces.

Among the standout additions are Roman Vega, Santiago Castro and Matias Soule, none of whom were part of the World Cup squad but have earned their call-ups on the back of strong form at their respective clubs.

Full list

• Goalkeepers: Emiliano Martinez (Chelsea), Juan Musso (Atletico de Madrid), Geronimo Rulli (Manchester City).

• Defenders: Cristian Romero (Atletico de Madrid), Lisandro Martinez (Manchester United), Juan Foyth (Villarreal), Facundo Medina (Bayer Leverkusen), Nicolas Tagliafico (Olympique Lyon), Agustin Giay (Palmeiras), Leonardo Balerdi (Roma), Valentin Barco (Chelsea), Roman Vega (Zenit).

• Midfielders: Enzo Fernandez (Manchester City), Alexis Mac Allister (Liverpool), Rodrigo De Paul (Inter Miami), Giovani Lo Celso (Betis), Exequiel Palacios (Ipswich Town), Nicolas Paz (Como).

• Forwards: Franco Mastantuono (Fiorentina), Matias Soule (Roma), Giuliano Simeone (Atletico de Madrid), Nicolas Gonzalez (Juventus), Gianluca Prestianni (Benfica), Jose Manuel Lopez (Palmeiras), Santiago Castro (Roma), Julian Alvarez (Atletico de Madrid), Lautaro Martinez (Internazionale), Lionel Messi (Inter Miami).

The most likely explanation behind the decision is squad management ahead of a decisive week. Real Madrid travel to face Atletico Madrid in the Madrid derby this Sunday, September 20.

Giving Bellingham a rest makes sense, as the English midfielder has carried a heavy workload this season, starting in all five of Real Madrid’s league matches so far and contributing three goals and three assists.

Resting him against a struggling Elche side gives Mourinho the chance to have him fresh for the derby without risking fatigue or injury in a fixture considered more manageable on paper.

The rotation comes with Aurelien Tchouameni and Yan Diomande stepping into the XI in place of the usual starters, while Real Madrid arrive at the match sitting fourth in the table with 9 points.

Real Madrid’s confirmed lineup vs Elche

Real Madrid remain without three regulars through long-term injury: center-back Eder Militao (hamstring), left-back Ferland Mendy (thigh) and forward Rodrygo (knee) were all left out of the squad entirely for this fixture.

This is Mourinho’s starting XI to face Elche: Courtois; Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Huijsen, Cucurella; Tchouameni, Valverde; Arda Guler, Vinicius Junior, Diomande; Mbappe.

Ange Postecoglou’s side arrived off the back of a solid run in the Saudi Pro League, sitting third in the table with five wins, one draw and one loss, but found no answers against a well-organized Al Ain outfit on their continental debut of the season.

The damage was done by Houssine Rahimi, who opened the scoring in the 25th minute after a defensive error and doubled his tally in the 63rd following a VAR review. Soufiane Rahimi made it 3-0 in the 72nd minute, before Giorgos Giakoumakis completed the rout in the 84th.

The result raises the question of how this defeat stacks up against the heaviest losses of Ronaldo’s career. The two worst by goal difference remain Manchester United’s 0-5 collapse against Liverpool in October 2021 and Real Madrid’s 5-0 defeat to Barcelona in November 2010, both five-goal margins that this loss does not match.

Instead, the 4-0 scoreline joins a longer list of defeats by four goals, alongside Manchester United’s losses to Brentford and Brighton in 2022, Real Madrid’s back-to-back beatings by Atletico Madrid and Barcelona in 2015, and Portugal’s 4-0 loss to Germany at the 2014 World Cup.

Ronaldo’s rockiest night yet in Saudi Arabia

Within his time at Al Nassr specifically, this is now the heaviest defeat of Ronaldo’s tenure at the club. His previous worst results in Saudi colors had come by three-goal margins: a 3-0 loss to Al Hilal in the Saudi Pro League in December 2023, and a 4-1 defeat to the same rival in the Saudi Super Cup in August 2024.

The loss to Al Ain surpasses both, marking the largest margin of defeat Ronaldo has suffered since arriving at Al Nassr in January 2023, and it comes at a particularly inconvenient moment, right as the club opens its bid for a deep run in the AFC Champions League Elite.

With seven more matchdays left in the group stage, Al Nassr and Ronaldo will have a chance to leave this rocky opener behind, starting with a home fixture against FK Neftchi Fergana on October 12.

The question arose after Simeone was told that Lamine Yamal had recently named himself and Kylian Mbappe as the two best players in the world at the moment. Rather than engaging with that framing, the Argentine coach pointed in a completely different direction. “Messi, without a doubt. After the World Cup he had, at the age he is, no doubt at all. Messi,” Simeone said.

The key factor behind that endorsement, as Simeone framed it, was not just Messi’s performance at the 2026 World Cup, where he helped Argentina reach the final before falling to Spain, but the fact that he produced it at 39 years old.

For Simeone, the combination of continued elite-level output at that stage of his career outweighs any case built around Yamal, Mbappe, or the rest of this year’s crowded field, which also includes Rodri, the 2025 winner, Harry Kane, and Ousmane Dembele.

Messi’s nomination marks his 17th career appearance on the Ballon d’Or shortlist, one behind Cristiano Ronaldo’s record of 18, with the last of his eight wins coming back in 2023.

The 2026 ceremony, the award’s 70th edition, will be held on October 26 in London for the first time, moving away from its traditional Paris venue as a tribute to Sir Stanley Matthews, the competition’s first-ever winner in 1956.

Yamal and Dembele had already staked their claims

Simeone’s remarks came just days after Lamine Yamal made his own case public. The Barcelona winger said he and Kylian Mbappe are “the best in the world” at the moment, but argued that he personally deserves the 2026 award more than his French rival, pointing to his season with Spain’s World Cup title alongside LaLiga and the Spanish Super Cup with Barcelona.

Ousmane Dembele, the reigning Ballon d’Or winner, made an equally bold statement of his own. “It is going to stay in the hands of a PSG player. I’m a competitor, so it’s my goal to win it again,” the Frenchman said, responding to comments from teammate Mbappe about their differing career paths before adding that he isn’t turning the pursuit into an obsession, given how open this year’s race remains.

The prize money is distributed at every stage of the tournament, not just to the eventual champion. In the group stage, clubs earn $50,000 for every win and $10,000 for every draw, on top of a base allocation simply for qualifying.

Progressing through the knockout rounds adds further bonuses: $100,000 for reaching the round of 16, $150,000 for the quarterfinals, and $250,000 for advancing to the semifinals.

The biggest payday, unsurprisingly, comes at the final. The AFC Champions League Elite champion earns $4 million, while the beaten finalist still walks away with $2 million.

Crucially, these amounts are cumulative rather than a single lump sum, meaning a team that wins the tournament collects money at every stage along the way, on top of additional revenue from the competition’s market pool, which is tied to each country’s broadcasting value.

A shot at redemption for Al Nassr and Ronaldo

For Al Nassr, the financial windfall would come with plenty of symbolic weight attached. The club fell just short of continental glory last season, losing the AFC Champions League Two final to Gamba Osaka despite an unbeaten run through the entire tournament. Now back in the top tier, a title this time around would not only avenge that heartbreak but also stand as Al Nassr’s most lucrative continental triumph yet.

The near misses run deeper than last season alone. In their most recent appearance in the Elite version of the competition, back in 2024-25, Ronaldo and Al Nassr were eliminated in the semifinals, falling 3-2 to Japan’s Kawasaki Frontale despite the Portuguese scoring eight goals across that campaign.

Between that setback and last season’s final defeat, a genuine continental title remains the one achievement still missing from Ronaldo’s trophy cabinet since joining the club in December 2022, adding extra motivation to this year’s revamped, higher-stakes campaign.

“I think everyone is exhausted. Even Al Hilal lost to Neom, so the fixture congestion is taking its toll. We’ve played around eight matches in less than a month. Does that mean we should blame the players? Some of these matches have also been less than three days apart, and that’s something that needs to be taken into consideration,” Postecoglou said.

The Al Nassr coach pointed to Al Hilal’s shock 2-0 loss to Neom, which snapped the Riyadh giants’ unbeaten run, as evidence that the packed calendar is affecting even the league’s strongest sides, not just his own squad. Postecoglou was careful, however, not to turn his complaint into an excuse for his team’s result, instead shifting the blame away from his players entirely.

“I’m not making excuses, but what I want to get across is that the players have not let us down,” he added. The comments come at a demanding juncture for Al Nassr, who close out their domestic assignments this week before shifting focus to the AFC Champions League Elite, where they open their campaign away at Al Ain on Tuesday, adding yet another fixture to an already crowded stretch of the calendar.

Postecoglou reacts to the result

Beyond the fixture congestion, Postecoglou also addressed the substance of the draw itself, acknowledging that his side had been below their best against a struggling Al Khaleej outfit and that the result left him far from satisfied.

“It was a difficult match. We expected it to be that way, especially after Al Khaleej took the lead. We tried to turn things around, we scored the equalizer, and we kept trying, but ultimately came away with a point. I’m certainly not happy with the result,” Postecoglou said.

The Australian’s frustration reflects the bigger picture facing Al Nassr, a squad now stretched thin by fixture congestion yet still expected to deliver results, even against sides fighting to avoid the relegation zone.

The record-breaking goal fell to substitute Abdullah Al-Hamdan, who curled home a stunning strike from outside the box in the second half to cancel out Al Khaleej’s early lead.

Beyond salvaging a point for Al Nassr, the goal extended the club’s scoring streak to 94 consecutive matches in the Saudi Pro League, one more than the previous all-time record.

That record had stood since the 1930s, held by Argentine giants River Plate, who scored in 93 straight league matches between September 1936 and June 1939. Al Nassr’s run dates back to December 8, 2023, a 4-1 win over Al Riyadh that followed a 3-0 defeat to Al Hilal, the last time the club had failed to find the net in the league.

Since then, Ronaldo and company have found a way to score in every single Saudi Pro League match they have played, eventually matching and now surpassing River Plate’s near-nine-decade-old mark.

Al Nassr begin their AFC Champions League Elite campaign

Saturday’s draw marked the final domestic test before Al Nassr shifts its attention to continental competition. Ronaldo and company will open their AFC Champions League Elite campaign away at Al Ain on Tuesday, September 16, looking to build on this week’s historic milestone.

Al Nassr’s return to continental competition also marks a step up in class. Last season, the club competed in the AFC Champions League Two, a tier below the Elite version.

In that run, Al Nassr arrived at the final having won all 10 matches it played, only to see that unbeaten run end at the worst possible moment with a 1-0 defeat to Gamba Osaka in Riyadh. This time around, Ronaldo and company will be measuring themselves against the continent’s top clubs from the very start of the campaign.

Al Nassr found themselves behind early at Al Khaleej Club Stadium and struggled to find a way back for long stretches, with Ronaldo himself missing a clear headed chance that could have leveled the score sooner.

It ultimately took a substitute to salvage a point, as Abdullah Al-Hamdan curled home a right-footed effort from outside the box in the 72nd minute, just moments after coming off the bench, to secure the 1-1 result and avoid what would have been Al Nassr’s second league defeat of the season.

While Ronaldo’s side stumbled, Martinelli made an emphatic statement in Buraidah. The Brazilian winger, who joined Al Hilal from Arsenal, scored his first goals for the club in some style, netting in the 18th, 43rd and 50th minutes to complete his first hat-trick since leaving the Premier League.

Ollie Watkins added a brace of his own either side of Martinelli’s treble, and substitute Sultan Mandash rounded off the rout in the 75th minute as Al Hilal cruised to a 6-0 victory. The result lifted Al Hilal to 18 points from seven matches, one point clear of Al Ittihad, while Al Nassr’s draw leaves them in third place with 16 points.

Ronaldo misses chance to close the gap in the Golden Boot race

In addition to letting a chance slip to pick up crucial points in the race for first place in the Saudi Pro League, Cristiano Ronaldo also missed a golden opportunity to get on the scoresheet.

Facing an Al Khaleej side that had yet to win all season, it looked like fertile ground for Ronaldo to add to his tally and cut into the gap atop the Saudi Pro League scoring race.

Instead, the Portuguese came away empty-handed and remains stuck on three goals through five appearances, still miles off the pace set by Ivan Toney, who leads the standings with 10 goals in seven matches for Al Ahli.

There is no fitness concern behind the call. Guler is healthy and eligible to play, but Mourinho chose to go with Yan Diomande alongside Vinicius Jr. and Jude Bellingham in the attacking line behind Kylian Mbappe, leaving the 21-year-old to watch the opening exchanges from the sideline as a rotation option.

Mourinho’s decision to leave the Turkish international out of the XI is somewhat eye-catching given that Guler had been a regular starter for Real Madrid. He also missed the club’s previous Champions League match against Inter Milan due to a one-match suspension, which had fueled speculation that he could return to the starting lineup against Rayo Vallecano.

The situation is different for Bernardo Silva, who was also absent from the Champions League opener through suspension but will start at the Santiago Bernabeu. In Guler’s place, the Portuguese manager instead handed Diomande his first start for Real Madrid, in what will be his fifth appearance for the club.

Real Madrid confirmed lineup

Mourinho will also have Marc Cucurella, Aurelien Tchouameni and Eduardo Camavinga available among the substitutes, while Rodrygo and Eder Militao remain out through injury.

Rodrygo is not expected back until early 2027, while Militao’s return is reportedly close, with the defender hoping to be available for the Atletico Madrid clash on September 20.

Real Madrid confirmed starting XI to face Rayo Vallecano: Thibaut Courtois; Denzel Dumfries, Ibrahima Konate, Antonio Rudiger, Alvaro Carreras; Bernardo Silva, Federico Valverde; Yan Diomande, Jude Bellingham, Vinicius Jr.; Kylian Mbappe.

The stakes are significant for both sides. Miami sit third in the Eastern Conference on 44 points, nine behind a Nashville side that occupies first place despite having just suffered its first MLS defeat since late July, a 2-1 loss to Toronto FC.

The Herons, for their part, have cooled off after their emphatic 7-1 rout of CF Montreal, following it up with back-to-back draws against Atlanta United and Chicago Fire that cost them valuable ground in the Supporters’ Shield race.

Miami still boast the most potent attack in the league, having scored a league-high 59 goals this season, while Nashville counter with the competition’s stingiest defense, having conceded just 19.

That contrast in styles, MLS’s most prolific offense against its most disciplined backline, sets up an intriguing tactical battle at Nu Stadium, with Messi’s ability to find space between the lines likely to be decisive.

Inter Miami confirmed lineup

Hoyos will have to make do without Mateo Silvetti, Santiago Morales and Tadeo Allende, all ruled out through injury, leaving the club with three absences to account for heading into kickoff.

Inter Miami confirmed starting XI: Dayne St. Clair; Ian Fray, Casemiro, Maximiliano Falcon, Fricio Caicedo; Rodrigo De Paul, Yannick Bright, Telasco Segovia; Lionel Messi, German Berterame, Luis Suarez.

Nashville SC probable lineup

Nashville are set to line up in a 4-3-3 of their own, with Warren Madrigal unavailable because of a lower-body injury, opening the door for Cristian Espinoza to retain his place alongside Sam Surridge and Hany Mukhtar up top.

Nashville SC probable starting XI: Brian Schwake; Andy Najar, Jeison Palacios, Maxwell Woledzi, Reed Baker-Whiting; Patrick Yazbek, Matthew Corcoran, Alex Muyl; Cristian Espinoza, Sam Surridge, Hany Mukhtar.

Ivan Toney has emerged as the outright leader of the Saudi Pro League scoring charts, and he added to his tally once again on Friday. The Al Ahli forward scored a brace as his side overturned an early deficit to beat Al Hazem 3-1 in Jeddah.

This has become a habit for Toney lately. Friday’s brace was his third consecutive brace, following identical two-goal outings against Al Riyadh and in the defeat to Al Qadsiah, and it added to a hat-trick he had already produced earlier in the campaign in a 4-0 win over Abha.

That level of production has carried him to the top of the scoring standings with 10 goals while several of the league’s biggest names, Ronaldo included, have struggled to keep pace.

Ronaldo, for his part, has needed time to get going. After sitting out the season opener, he scored his first goal of the campaign in the 83rd minute of a 4-0 win over Al Riyadh in Matchday 2.

Since then, however, the five-time Ballon d’Or winner has managed to find the net only three times in total, leaving him well off the pace Toney has set atop the Saudi Pro League‘s Golden Boot race.

How the Saudi Pro League scoring chart looks through Matchday 7

Toney’s brace against Al Hazem stretched his advantage at the top of the standings to a wide margin, with the Al Ahli forward now sitting on 10 goals through seven matches, six clear of the chasing pack.

George Ilenikhena, Steven Bergwijn, Sergej Milinković-Savić, Iker Kortajarena, Mateo Retegui and Youssef En-Nesyri round out the top seven, all tied on four goals apiece.

Ronaldo, meanwhile, sits in eighth place with three goals from just five appearances, a tally that leaves him firmly on the outside of the race Toney currently dominates.

The New York Red Bulls’ all-time leading scorer made his case in an interview with Deporte Total USA, leaving little doubt about where he stands. “I’ve made the mistake of writing off Messi and saying, you know, maybe someone else will win it. Impossible. He wins the Golden Boot easily. If he wants on a day, he can just score three or four goals. It’s very hard to compete with that,” he said, before adding on the MVP race: “The man’s just too good. He’s one of my favourite players ever. Yeah, he’s going to win it all“.

Should Messi claim MVP for a third straight year, he would become the first player in league history to complete such a run, adding to an already crowded trophy case that includes back-to-back honors in 2024 and 2025, at a time when he sits tied atop the Golden Boot standings with Petar Musa on 18 goals apiece, in the race for a third scoring title.

A strong finish from Inter Miami as a team could only help Messi’s case further. The Herons currently sit third in the Supporters’ Shield race with 44 points, nine behind leaders Nashville SC, while also remaining firmly in the mix to defend their MLS Cup title as the postseason approaches.

Wright-Phillips sees Evander as a strong MVP candidate too

Wright-Phillips did make room for one alternative name in the MVP conversation, even if he ultimately settled on Messi. “Earlier in the season, I was rooting for Evander because I think he’s a very special player. I think Leo Messi being in the league has, you know, hindered his shot,” he said of the FC Cincinnati playmaker.

He went on to suggest that, in a different landscape, the race might have gone the other way. “If Messi’s not here, Evander probably wins two in a row, but Messi wins MVP too,” Wright-Phillips said, underscoring just how difficult it has become for anyone else to break through while Messi remains in the league.

Even with that acknowledgement, Wright-Phillips made clear his prediction wasn’t close. Evander’s case may be real, but as long as Messi keeps producing at this level, the rest of the league’s biggest individual honors appear destined to run through Inter Miami’s captain once again.

“There is a part that is funny because we feel that, for some people, it’s good natured. There is also a part that is a little less funny because we know the damage that these kinds of people have caused in history. To be compared to people who murder people, or who have made millions and millions of people unhappy… I don’t think I’ve ever done that in my life,” Mbappe said in an interview with L’Equipe as part of the outlet’s Ballon d’Or coverage.

The Real Madrid forward acknowledged the joke comes from a place of humor within the game, adding that the comparison sometimes reflects a broader lack of historical awareness rather than any real malice.

The interview comes as Mbappe positions himself as one of the frontrunners for this year’s Ballon d’Or, having topped the scoring charts in LaLiga, the Champions League and the World Cup, putting him in direct competition with the likes of Rodri, Harry Kane and Lamine Yamal for football’s most prestigious individual honor.

How the meme started

The joke traces back to Mbappe’s rise to become the undisputed leading man at PSG, with fans jokingly suggesting he had engineered the departures of both Lionel Messi and Neymar from the club in order to cement his own status as the central figure in Paris. From there, the comparison snowballed into military-themed edits and the “Mobutu” nickname that has since spread widely across social media.

What started as a niche joke among supporters eventually found its way into the locker room, with teammates like Ousmane Dembele picking up on the bit rather than shutting it down, only fueling the trend further as it followed Mbappe from PSG to his new chapter at Real Madrid.

Mbappe sees himself as a strong contender for the Ballon d’Or

Beyond the meme talk, Mbappe used the same interview to make his case for the Ballon d’Or itself. “There isn’t a single player who had a better season than me,” he told L’Equipe, adding, “I believe I have chances“. The Real Madrid forward argued that his lack of collective silverware shouldn’t overshadow an individual campaign he considers unmatched.

Mbappe went further, revealing he has considered himself the best player in the world for years and would not have traded places with anyone else who has won the award, including Messi or Ronaldo.

Petr Cech, speaking in an interview with Kalshi Sports, was asked directly who he expects to win the award. “The winner of the Ballon d’Or? That’s a good question, but I think Messi has a good chance,” the former Chelsea goalkeeper said.

Messi’s case rests on a remarkable year, at 39 years old, that included leading Inter Miami to the MLS title, registering 45 goals and 30 assists across 49 matches, and driving Argentina back to the World Cup final with eight goals and four assists in the tournament. A win would give him a record-extending ninth Ballon d’Or, well clear of any other player in the award’s history.

Still, Messi faces stiff competition from a shortlist led by Harry Kane, who scored 73 goals for club and country during the review period, along with Kylian Mbappe, who topped the scoring charts in LaLiga, the Champions League and the World Cup, and Lamine Yamal, who won a domestic treble with Barcelona and lifted the World Cup with Spain.

Current betting odds still list Messi as an outside contender, but the ceremony, scheduled for October 26 in London, remains wide open with journalists yet to cast their votes.

Messi’s Ballon d’Or nomination history

Messi’s 2026 nod marks his 17th career Ballon d’Or nomination, second only to Cristiano Ronaldo’s record 18, in a streak that began back in 2007 and has continued nearly every year since.

Of those 17 nominations, he has converted eight into wins, first in 2009 and most recently in 2023, giving him more Ballon d’Or trophies than any other footballer ever. No other player has come close to matching Messi’s level of sustained excellence in the eyes of voters, with only Ronaldo’s five Ballon d’Or wins even approaching that mark.

A ninth trophy in October would only widen Messi’s lead over Ronaldo and the rest of the award’s history in terms of total victories, even as Ronaldo continues to hold the record for nominations.

According to Inter Miami insider Jose Armando, both players are still without the necessary visas to join the squad, with interim head coach Guillermo Hoyos noting that their arrivals need a few more days to be finalized.

Galarza, a Paraguayan midfielder, arrived on loan with a purchase option from River Plate, while Fillipi, a Brazilian forward, joined on a permanent transfer from Palmeiras. Both signings were brought in to add depth to Inter Miami’s squad as the club continues chasing silverware on multiple fronts this season.

Their absence comes at a pivotal moment, with Inter Miami looking for revenge after Nashville thrashed them 4-1 back in August, a result that also has major implications for the Supporters’ Shield race as the two sides battle for positioning in the league’s overall standings down the stretch.

Nashville currently sit atop the Supporters’ Shield standings with 53 points from 24 matches, while Inter Miami trail in third with 44 points from the same number of games. A win at Nu Stadium wouldn’t close that gap entirely, but it would deliver a psychological blow to the league’s frontrunners and keep Miami’s outside chances at the Shield alive heading into the season’s final stretch.

Inter Miami’s injury list adds to the squad crunch

The delay in getting Galarza and Fillipi onto the field comes as Inter Miami continue to manage its own list of absentees. Mateo Silvetti remains sidelined after undergoing surgery on a dislocated left shoulder sustained against Atlanta United, while Tadeo Allende is out for the remainder of the season following knee surgery performed in Barcelona.

There was better news elsewhere, as Micael, Gonzalo Lujan, Santiago Morales and Sergio Reguilon have all returned to full training with the group after their respective injury layoffs, giving the coaching staff a few more healthy options to lean on while the club’s newest arrivals wait to be cleared to play.

According to The Nassr Tribune, Coman continues his recovery from the hamstring injury he picked up during Al Nassr‘s match against Al Ittihad, when he was forced off in the 60th minute. An MRI scan confirmed the issue as a mild hamstring tear, with the Frenchman advised to take at least a week of rest before being reassessed.

Coman won’t be the only absentee for the trip, as Abdulrahman Ghareeb and Ayman Yahya will also stay behind and miss out on the match, further thinning Ronaldo’s supporting cast for the fixture.

The good news for Al Nassr is that Coman’s absence is expected to be short-lived, with the club’s medical staff targeting his return in time for the AFC Champions League Elite opener against Al Ain on September 15, a continental debut Ronaldo will be eager to have his full squad available for.

Logistics are also being managed with that fixture in mind: rather than flying back to Riyadh after facing Al Khaleej in Dammam, the squad will travel directly to the UAE, a decision made by Ange Postecoglou to cut down on fatigue and give his players extra recovery time before kickoff against Al Ain.

Postecoglou could rotate his squad against Al Khaleej

With Al Nassr eager to start their AFC Champions League Elite campaign on the right foot against Al Ain just three days later, Postecoglou is reportedly expected to manage his squad’s workload against Al Khaleej, limiting minutes for some of his key players, Ronaldo included, to ensure the team arrives at peak fitness for the continental opener.

Al Nassr came agonizingly close to continental glory last season, falling 1-0 to Gamba Osaka in the AFC Champions League Two final back in May. With Ronaldo and company now moving up to the more prestigious AFC Champions League Elite, the club is determined to put together a strong campaign in Asia’s top club competition after last season’s heartbreak.

According to OptaJoe, Paz’s two assists made him the youngest Argentine to set up multiple goals in a single Champions League match since Messi did the same for Barcelona against Basel in October 2008, when Messi was 21 years and 120 days old.

Paz, at 22 years and two days old, becomes the first Argentine to repeat that feat since Messi accomplished it 18 years ago, though Messi still holds the record as the youngest player ever to do it.

Messi’s last Champions League assist came on November 2, 2022, setting up Kylian Mbappe’s opener in a 2-1 win over Juventus that closed out PSG’s group-stage campaign.

The Argentine finished that tournament with 4 goals and 4 assists in seven appearances, and the round-of-16 elimination to Bayern Munich that followed turned out to be his final Champions League run before his move to Inter Miami closed the book on his European career, a stretch of history Paz now finds his name attached to nearly two decades later.

Como’s debut win goes down in the Italian football history books

Como’s 4-1 rout of RB Leipzig stands as more than just three points to open their maiden Champions League campaign, it’s the widest winning margin ever recorded by an Italian club in a European competition debut.

Martin Baturina got things started before setting up Tasos Douvikas, and Assane Diao and substitute Maxi Perrone rounded out the scoring in the second half, with Andrija Maksimovic’s strike serving as Leipzig’s only reply.

At the end of the match, Nico Paz revealed that his desire to make history with Como was behind his decision to stay in Italy, despite rumors linking him to Real Madrid. “It was for nights like this that I wanted to stay, I knew this is where I would grow the most, and I am really pleased with my decision. I made the right choice,” the Argentine said.

With that strike, Kane has now scored in eight consecutive Champions League appearances, a feat that places him among just four players in the competition’s history to ever reach that mark, joining Cristiano Ronaldo, who has done it on two separate occasions, during the 2013-14 and 2017-18 campaigns.

The other two members of that exclusive club are Robert Lewandowski, who also managed the streak twice during his career, and Ruud van Nistelrooy, whose own run helped define an era of Champions League goalscoring in the early 2000s.

Kane’s goal came in the 60th minute, rising to head home a cross from Michael Olise after Jamal Musiala had opened the scoring earlier in the match. The strike also extended his tally to 33 Champions League goals since joining Bayern in the summer of 2023, the most of any player in the competition over that stretch.

Kane still chasing Ronaldo’s all-time record

Kane’s run leaves him three matches shy of the outright record of 11 consecutive Champions League appearances scoring, a mark Ronaldo set between September 2017 and April 2018 that remains unmatched.

With Bayern set to continue their group-phase campaign in the coming weeks, Kane will have every opportunity to keep the streak alive and push closer to a milestone that has stood since Ronaldo’s historic run at Real Madrid.

If Kane keeps the streak alive, his next three Champions League opponents to test him are Viking FK away on October 13, Arsenal at home on October 21, and Atletico Madrid away on November 3, a run that would take him to 11 consecutive matches scoring and level with Ronaldo’s all-time mark.

Should he then find the net again away to Lille on November 25, Kane would move to 12 straight games and surpass Ronaldo outright as the player with the longest goalscoring streak in Champions League history.

Edul reported that Samuel’s exit is already resolved internally, with the departure set to take effect once the post-2026 cycle begins. This could turn out to be one of the factors weighing on Scaloni’s own decision about whether to renew his contract with the AFA, which remains unresolved.

Edul tied the coach’s continuity to whether he still has the energy and desire to rebuild a team and start a new stage of the project, a rebuild that would now have to happen without one of his most trusted lieutenants regardless of what Scaloni himself decides.

Samuel’s departure would mark the end of a partnership that delivered four titles, the 2021 and 2024 Copa America, the 2022 Finalissima and the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, along with a run to the 2026 World Cup final.

Whether or not Scaloni stays on, his technical staff will need to be at least partially rebuilt for whatever comes next, adding one more layer of uncertainty to Argentina‘s post-Messi era.

Samuel eyes a head coaching career of his own

Samuel’s departure from Argentina isn’t just about closing a chapter, it’s about opening a new one. According to reports, the former defender wants to launch his own career as a head coach once his AFA contract expires, with Europe identified as his preferred destination for a first opportunity in charge of a first team.

Before joining Scaloni’s staff in 2018, Samuel already had experience on the touchline, working as an assistant at Inter Milan during the 2016-17 season under Stefano Pioli and Stefano Vecchi, and later as part of Pierluigi Tami’s coaching staff at Switzerland’s FC Lugano.

Within the Argentina setup, he became known for his work on the team’s defensive structure and set pieces, a specialty that earned him the trust of Scaloni’s staff throughout an eight-year run that produced four major titles.

According to ESPN journalist Gustavo Yarroch, a renewal reportedly agreed upon verbally through 2030 has yet to be formalized, and the negotiation has grown complicated in recent days despite an optimistic outlook from AFA officials just a week earlier. Yarroch cautioned that no final decision has been made, but described the current climate as tense.

Compounding matters further, longtime assistant Walter Samuel is reportedly set to leave the coaching staff to pursue his own path as a head coach, which would force any renewal to also address a reshuffling of Scaloni‘s inner circle.

Scaloni himself hinted at his own doubts in the aftermath of the World Cup final loss to Spain, telling reporters he needed time to think things over. “I feel the need to think, because I no longer know if something this big can be done again. To continue, you need a lot of things, above all resetting yourself and rebuilding a group like this one, which is hard to put together again,” he said, adding that he would honor his 2026 commitments before deciding on what comes next.

The three reasons behind the uncertainty

Yarroch broke down three central factors clouding the renewal. The first concerns Scaloni’s own doubts about whether, after eight years in the job, he still has the energy and motivation to rebuild the team from scratch, a rebuild that becomes even more daunting with Messi no longer part of the equation.

The second involves money, as the AFA reportedly owes players and staff a significant amount in unpaid bonuses, a sticking point that has generated frustration given the federation is currently earning more revenue than ever before.

The third reason centers on the organization of Argentina‘s friendlies. Scaloni has long pushed for tougher opposition, a frustration reflected in this year’s own preparation schedule: a mooted friendly against France for the March window fell through after the finalissima against Spain was scrapped, and the AFA instead lined up matches against Guatemala, Venezuela, Mauritania and Angola, before closing out the send-off with a 5-0 win over Zambia and further tests against Honduras and Iceland in June.

That pattern appears set to continue, with Burkina Faso, Benin and Bolivia reportedly among the likely rivals for the next international window. Compounding the issue, the federation has reportedly missed its own self-imposed deadlines to officially confirm those matches, adding to Scaloni’s frustration even as the AFA continues to push for him to sign a new deal.

Instead, the Herons let the chance slip in a 1-1 draw against Chicago Fire at Soldier Field, a result that did little to change the shape of the Eastern Conference race at the top.

Chicago struck first in the eighth minute, with Robert Lewandowski rising to head home a cross from the left flank for his seventh goal since joining MLS, giving the hosts an early cushion that Inter Miami had to chase for the rest of the half.

The visitors found their equalizer early in the second half through a well-worked set piece: Messi delivered a corner kick toward the penalty spot, and Casemiro rose above the Chicago defense to plant a header off the right post and past goalkeeper Christopher Brady, leveling the score at 1-1.

The draw leaves Inter Miami on 44 points, nine behind a Nashville side that had every chance to open the gap further but failed to do so themselves. The two sides will meet head-to-head on Saturday, September 13, in what shapes up as a defining fixture for whatever remains of Miami’s Supporters’ Shield hopes, against the same Nashville team that beat them 4-1 earlier this season.

Where the Supporters’ Shield race stands

Nashville SC remains firmly in control at the top of the table, sitting on 53 points from 24 matches with a 16-5-3 record, a cushion that leaves the rest of the league playing catch-up. Vancouver Whitecaps sit second with 46 points from 23 games, while Inter Miami’s draw kept them in third on 44 points, level of games played with the leaders but nine points adrift.

Houston Dynamo trail closely in fourth with 43 points, and a chasing group of New England, LAFC and FC Dallas are all tied on 40 heading into the final stretch of the regular season.

With nine matchdays remaining, Inter Miami’s path to the Shield still exists mathematically, but Saturday’s head-to-head trip to Nashville now looms as close to a must-win if that gap is going to close in any meaningful way.

Ronaldo broke the deadlock in the 22nd minute, rising above his marker to meet an Angelo corner and powering a header that struck the post before crossing the line, a goal that took his career tally to 979 and kept alive his pursuit of the 1,000-goal milestone.

Abdullah Al-Hamdan doubled Al Nassr’s lead in the 58th minute with a right-footed finish into the top corner, capping a dominant display from a home side missing Joao Felix through suspension and Kingsley Coman through injury.

Abha refused to fold, and Nabil Fekir gave the visitors hope in the 75th minute, stepping up to a free kick from the left flank and catching goalkeeper Bento off guard by shooting directly on target rather than delivering a cross.

The result lifted Ange Postecoglou’s side level on 15 points with Al Hilal and Al Qadsiah heading into the next round, keeping Al Nassr firmly in the title conversation despite the earlier stumble.

Ronaldo climbs into the Saudi Pro League’s scoring picture

Ronaldo’s header moved him further up a crowded Golden Boot chase, though Ivan Toney remains well clear at the top. Despite Al Ahli’s 3-2 defeat to Al Qadsiah on Tuesday, Toney scored a brace in the loss, stretching his tally to eight goals and keeping him as the outright leader of the scoring charts.

Behind him, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, George Ilenikhena and Iker Kortajarena are tied for second with 4 goals apiece, while Ronaldo’s strike against Abha lifted him into a much larger group tied on 3, that includes Ruben Neves, Tijjani Reijnders, Alexandre Lacazette, Angelo, Darwin Nunez, and Moussa Dembele, among others.

The holdup comes down to paperwork: Gonzalez has yet to receive the work permit required to legally coach in the United States, and Inter Miami has stated he will only officially assume his duties once that documentation clears. Until then, the move remains agreed upon but not yet formalized on the touchline.

Inter Miami confirmed the agreement with Gonzalez in an official statement in late August, announcing that Hoyos would provisionally continue leading the first team until the new coach and his staff can arrive.

With no fixed date yet for when Gonzalez’s visa process will conclude, Hoyos remains the man in charge for Inter Miami’s upcoming matches, continuing to oversee a squad dealing with its own injury concerns while the club awaits the paperwork that will finally hand the reins to its intended long-term coach.

What’s next for Guillermo Hoyos?

Hoyos, 63, has left his own future at the club open for now. Speaking to reporters after a training session, he addressed Gonzalez’s looming arrival directly: “When Kily arrives we will surely get together and talk,” he said, adding that he remains available to the club and the incoming coaching staff to help during the transition period.

Inter Miami have not clarified what role, if any, Hoyos will have once Gonzalez takes over, but a club source told AFP that he continues to be held in “high regard” within the organization.

Inter Miami’s current season

While the coaching situation remains unresolved, Inter Miami’s on-field results have kept the club firmly in contention. The defending MLS Cup champions sit second in the Eastern Conference and third in the overall Supporters’ Shield standings, with a record of 12 wins, four losses and seven draws for 43 points. The attack has been prolific, with Lionel Messi’s 18 league goals leading an offense that has produced 58 goals through the season.

The cup competitions have told a different story. Inter Miami’s CONCACAF Champions Cup run ended in March at the Round of 16 stage after consecutive 1-1 draws, and the Leagues Cup campaign also finished early, with just one win in three league-phase matches.

The one remaining chance at silverware outside MLS comes on September 16, when Inter Miami host Liga MX champion Cruz Azul at Nu Stadium in the Campeones Cup final.

According to OptaJoe, Yamal had already moved to 21 goal involvements in the Champions League with his assist for Raphinha’s opener, the outright most by a teenager in the competition’s history, one ahead of the previous record of 20 held by Mbappe.

He then padded that tally further before full time, first with his own free-kick goal and later with a second assist, this one for Gabriel Jesus, finishing the night with 12 goals and 11 assists for 23 goal involvements in the competition.

At 19 years old, Yamal continues to accumulate individual records at a pace few players in the tournament’s history have matched, having also become the third-youngest player ever to score a free kick in Champions League history.

Yamal becomes Barcelona’s youngest-ever captain

Yamal added another layer to his historic night by wearing the captain’s armband for the first time in an official match, becoming the youngest player ever to captain Barcelona at 19 years and 58 days old, breaking a record held by Bojan Krkic, who led the team in a 2010 Copa del Rey match at 20 years and 56 days old.

The armband wasn’t planned to start the game: first captain Raphinha wore it before being substituted in the 71st minute, while second-in-line Pedri had already been withdrawn in the 63rd, and with Eric Garcia suspended and Frenkie de Jong injured, the responsibility fell to Yamal, the club’s fifth captain option this season.

Only two players have managed the feat at a younger age: Wayne Rooney, who scored a free kick for Manchester United against Fenerbahce in 2004 at 18 years and 340 days, and Marat Izmailov, who did so for Porto against Anderlecht in 2001 at 19 years and 33 days. Yamal’s effort narrowly edges out Mario Balotelli and Miralem Pjanic, who both scored their first Champions League free kicks in 2009 at slightly older ages.

The strike itself was a technical showcase: Yamal curled the ball with his left foot from roughly 20 meters out, threading it between two Feyenoord players in the wall who jumped and shifted to try to block the effort, before it dropped into the bottom corner. The goal made it 4-0 to Barcelona at the time and was his first of the new Champions League campaign.

The result added further gloss to what was already a dominant night for Barcelona, who put five past Feyenoord to open their 2026-27 Champions League campaign with three points, with Raphinha scoring twice and Karim Adeyemi and deadline-day signing Gabriel Jesus also getting on the scoresheet.

Yamal leaves Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi behind

The milestone also puts Yamal well ahead of the pace set by two of the sport’s greatest free-kick specialists. Cristiano Ronaldo did not score his first Champions League free kick until he was 24 years and three months old, netting a memorable strike from roughly 40 yards out against Arsenal in the 2009 semifinals.

Lionel Messi got there earlier, but still well behind Yamal’s timeline, scoring his first Champions League free kick against Dynamo Kyiv in December 2009 at 22 years and nearly six months old.

The gap is striking: Yamal reached the milestone roughly five years before Ronaldo and more than three years before Messi did, underlining how the Barcelona academy product continues to outpace two legends of the game.

The matches are being discussed as potential farewell games for Messi following his time with the senior national team after this year’s World Cup, though nothing has been officially confirmed by the AFA or the player himself.

The reported schedule has Argentina facing Bolivia on September 30, followed by Burkina Faso on October 3, with a possible third match against Benin, currently ranked 93rd in the FIFA rankings, on October 6.

The AFA is said to be negotiating all three fixtures as part of the same international window, with venues under consideration including El Monumental in Buenos Aires, the Estadio Mario Alberto Kempes in Cordoba, and a possible match in Rosario.

With Messi already having confirmed his retirement from the national team, what remains uncertain is whether these friendlies will actually serve as his long-awaited farewell in front of Argentine fans.

A series of home matches against lower-ranked opposition would give the AFA the perfect opportunity to give him that proper send-off, while also using the games to start looking ahead to the next generation of the national team.

Argentina want friendlies to be recognized as Category A

The federation has reportedly also consulted FIFA to ensure the friendlies are classified as Category A matches, a designation that would allow several suspended Argentina players to begin serving bans they picked up following incidents at the 2026 World Cup. Locking in that classification is seen as a key step before any of the fixtures can be finalized.

The suspensions stem from the fallout surrounding Argentina’s run to the final, when FIFA handed down sanctions to several members of the squad and coaching staff for their conduct in the tournament’s closing stages.

Leandro Paredes received the harshest penalty of the group, a 10-match ban, while Nahuel Molina was hit with a seven-match suspension of his own. Thiago Almada picked up a shorter one-match sanction, and even assistant coach Roberto Ayala was not spared, receiving a three-match ban along with a fine.

Without Category A status, none of those suspensions could begin to count down, since FIFA only recognizes bans as served in matches that meet that classification threshold.

Messi enters the match fresh off a historic achievement, having become the first player in MLS history to reach 30 goal contributions in three separate seasons, a mark he hit while setting up Casemiro’s opener in Miami’s 2-2 draw against Atlanta United in the last fixture.

Despite the individual milestone, Miami‘s results have cooled considerably since their 7-1 rout of Montreal, and the club now sits 10 points behind Nashville SC in the race for first place in the Eastern Conference.

Chicago Fire, meanwhile, arrive at the match sitting third in the East, five points behind Miami for second place, with a win Wednesday closing that gap to just two points and giving the Fire a game in hand on the Herons.

Gregg Berhalter’s side heads into the match off the back of a wild 4-4 draw at Toronto, a result that featured a brace from Maren Haile-Selassie and a goal from Robert Lewandowski, who has quickly established himself as one of the most efficient scorers in MLS since his move to Chicago.

Chicago Fire confirmed lineup

Chicago will be without Jonathan Bamba, Mbekezeli Mbokazi and Andre Franco, all of whom sat out the Toronto draw with lower-body issues. Zinckernagel leads the Fire’s attack this season and will look to combine again with Lewandowski and Haile-Selassie up top.

Chicago Fire confirmed starting XI: Chris Brady; Jeremy Dean, Jack Elliot, Noah Allen, Andrew Gutman; Anton Salestros, Dje Tah D’Avila, Robin Lod; Philip Zinckernagel, Robert Lewandowski, Maren Haile-Selassie.

Inter Miami confirmed lineup

Miami’s injury list remains lengthy, with Sergio Reguilon, Gonzalo Lujan, Micael and Mateo Silvetti all confirmed out for the trip to Chicago, forcing Guillermo Hoyos to once again patch together his backline and attacking rotation.

Inter Miami confirmed starting XI: Dayne St. Clair; Ian Fray, Casemiro, Maximiliano Falcon, Fricio Caicedo; Rodrigo De Paul, Yannick Bright, Telasco Segovia; Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, German Berterame.