The Swede, who almost lost a leg at 23, on recovery, success and being the youngest ever Champions League coach Elena Sadiku’s modesty very briefly breaks. “I was pretty good,” she says. “I am not going to lie.” The point is perfectly contextual rather than needlessly arrogant. Sadiku’s extraordinary – and extraordinarily complex – relationship with football will reach its latest peak on Tuesday, when her Celtic team host Twente in the Women’s Champions League. Sadiku, who will not turn 31 until November, will break the record set by Julian Nagelsmann as the youngest coach in the male or female version of European football’s premier club competition. Continue reading...

From Villa’s emotional win to a Dortmund blitz, we hand out honours (and dishonours) from the the second round of action Aston Villa - There wasn’t a dry eye in the house – among home fans anyway – as Aston Villa celebrated beating mighty Bayern Munich. For the German giants, who suffered a first group-stage defeat since 2017, Vincent Kompany’s coaching experience at this level could be in question. But credit Villa’s manager. Just as in the Premier League at Burnley last season, Unai Emery did a number on Kompany, and of the two World Cup-winning keepers, it was Emi Martínez who outshone Manuel Neuer on Wednesday night. Just as in 1982’s European Cup final, Villa beat Bayern 1-0. The goal came from a player who (sort of) shares his surname with Birmingham’s most famous pop group. Jhon Durán’s beautiful, first-time finish caught Neuer roaming. “I never saw where the goalkeeper was,” admitted Durán. He was almost sold in the summer, but has scored six times this season, five as a sub. The Colombian, once of Chicago Fire, is a brilliant finisher, a true wildcard to throw into what was already a dangerous forward line of talented Englishmen in Ollie Watkins, Jaden Philogene, Morgan Rogers and Jacob Ramsey. Villa Park swelled with pride and emotion in England’s second city. Continue reading...

Aston Villa beat Bayern Munich 1-0 at Villa Park in the Champions League. The Aston Villa striker Jhon Durán’s scored the only goal of the night by lobbing an out of position Manuel Neuer from range. Speaking after the shock win, the Aston Villa manager Unai Emery said: 'I can feel now proud of our work.' Unai Emery says Aston Villa targeted Manuel Neuer in triumph over Bayern Continue reading...

Jhon Durán clinched Villa Park win with long-range lobManager alerted players to German’s habit of playing high Unai Emery said Aston Villa targeted Manuel Neuer’s sweeper-keeper habits after Jhon Durán lobbed the Bayern Munich goalkeeper to record a famous Champions League victory. Durán, on as a substitute in place of Ollie Watkins, scored a superb late winner to beat the six-time winners by a single goal, a replica of their 1982 European Cup final triumph against the same team in Rotterdam. Continue reading...

Updates from the 8pm BST kick-off at Villa ParkLive scoreboard – Wednesday’s latest | Email Taha Rio Ferdinand’s getting all worked up and excited over on TNT. The players are on their way out, led by two World Cup winners: Emi Martínez and Manuel Neuer. Villa Park is rocking. Just a few minutes now … get your cup of chamomile/whatever suits ready. Continue reading...

Neuer: ‘right time to end this chapter’ after 124 capsIlkay Gündogan also ended Germany career this week The Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer announced his retirement from international football on Wednesday, after playing 124 times for his country since 2009. The 38-year-old Bayern Munich star helped Germany to win the 2014 World Cup, and also won the golden glove for the tournament’s best keeper. “Today marks the end of my career in the German national football team,” Neuer wrote on Instagram. Continue reading...

Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer announces his retirement from international football, having won 124 caps.

At least 1% of ticket sales will be donated to communityOrganisation hopes other countries will follow this lead The Football Association of Wales has become the first national association to join Common Goal, committing at least 1% of ticket sales from World Cup qualifiers to community and environmental projects across the country. Players, managers and clubs pledge part of their income back into the game and members include Jürgen Klopp, Julian Nagelsmann, Oliver Glasner, Dani Olmo, Vivianne Miedema and Serge Gnabry. Werder Bremen and Sporting Gijón of the Bundesliga and La Liga 2 respectively are among the teams signed up to the organisation. Continue reading...

Spain’s wonderkid, who had to take schoolwork to Germany, also garnered praise for his workrate against France Julian Nagelsmann said Germany weren’t going to kick him out of his socks, but, well, they were going to put their foot in. Adrien Rabiot promised that they were going to take him out of his comfort zone, apply the pressure. He looked good, and there was eulogy implicit in the Frenchman’s words, but if he was going to beat France, he would have to “do more”. And so Lamine Yamal did that, and there, curling in an absurd shot that, still 16 but not scared, taking Spain into the final and making him the youngest ever goalscorer at a Euros or a World Cup, ahead of some guy called Edson Arantes do Nascimento. That and all this. At the end of the semi-final, Rodri, the Spain midfielder who is something like the Spain manager, said he had taken Lamine Yamal aside and congratulated him. “I am very, very proud of him,” Rodri said. Continue reading...

This Germany team could not emulate side of 2006 in a tournament intertwined with complicated nationalism For much of Germany’s Euro 2024 quarter-final against Spain, it had seemed like a modern rewrite of their 2006 World Cup quarter-final against Argentina. In both games the technically more accomplished Spanish-speakers took the lead about five minutes after half-time, before the doughty Teutons ground their way back, taking advantage of some debatable substitutions, equalising in the final 10 minutes with a left-wing cross that was headed on to the goalscorer. A German victory on penalties seemed inevitable, the only question whether Manuel Neuer would ostentatiously consult notes scribbled on hotel notepaper and secreted in his sock before each kick as Jens Lehmann had 18 years previously. Continue reading...

Musiala shot hit Cucurella’s hand in 2-1 loss to Spain‘I told the players we didn’t deserve this’ Julian Nagelsmann insisted that he did not feel that Germany had been robbed despite not being awarded a late penalty that might have seen them go through against Spain, but he did say that the handball rule should be revised. He also told his players that they had not deserved to be knocked out and called Germany’s togetherness at the tournament a lesson for society. Continue reading...

Germany’s second summer fairy tale is over but Spain’s goes on, Stuttgart stunned at the last. With 65 seconds of extra time remaining, with penalties inevitable and players pulling up all over the pitch, barely able to walk, Dani Olmo clipped in a glorious ball and there, deep in the penalty area, was Mikel Merino. A turn of the head, a twist of the neck and Spain were on their way. Still they had to survive a scare – how could it be otherwise? – when Niclas Füllkrug headed past the post a minute into added time at the end of it. And then, four minutes beyond the 120, with the very last kick of the game, the very last kick of Toni Kroos’s entire career in fact, they had to face one last ball into their box. Manuel Neuer was up for that. So though was Unai Simón, clutching firm to the ball and to Spain’s place in the semi-final of Euro 2024. Continue reading...

Hosts face Spain in quarter-final worthy of Euro 2024 finalGündogan: ‘We’re looking forward to it with a smile’ Ilkay Gündogan believes Germany can look forward to their quarter-final against Spain “with a smile” having already changed the mood in the country and fulfilled their objectives at Euro 2024. The midfielder said that the challenge now is seek perfection in order to apply the “ice on the topping” by continuing in the competition. To help them do so, their head coach Julian Nagelsmann revealed he had a plan to stop Spain dominating through Rodri, to deal with Lamine Yamal, who Gündogan insisted Germany did not plan to kick,and that the takers have already been named should the tie reach a penalty shootout. Continue reading...

Teary forward shows his value in game of inches despite clamour for Nagelsmann to replace him with Füllkrug Where were you the night a European Championship last- 16 match was suspended for 23 minutes because of a thunderstorm? Let me put that another way: where were you when Germany advanced to the quarter-finals with a swagger in their stride before a buoyant home crowd? A businesslike dispatch of Denmark – albeit with a helping hand from the motion-sensing microchip inside the match ball partly made of sugar cane – brought great communal rejoicing and a ruthless display provided a compelling argument for why the hosts will be hard to stop from here. The Germany roadshow, which has taken in Munich, Stuttgart, Frankfurt and now Dortmund, continues apace, returning to Stuttgart on Friday. This was a peculiar, unforgettable evening and when the referee, Michael Oliver, restarted play after the weather delay, dropping the ball at the majestic feet of Toni Kroos, suddenly it was the 35th minute all over again. It was a freakish occasion when those in the cheap seats could feel smug, those in row A not so much. Some Germany supporters in the iconic 25,000-strong Südtribüne had sought safety in the concourses as conditions worsened under doomed black skies. Continue reading...