Guendouzi celebrated in front of Lyon's fans, and the whole stadium exploded

Fenerbahce eliminated Lyon 2:1 on aggregate and returned to the Champions League after 18 years. But the result lasted exactly as long as the final whistle. Mattéo Guendouzi, a former Marseille player and public enemy number one for Lyon, showed the home fans his middle finger during the warm-up. At the end he spread his arms in front of furious opposition players, made a gesture associated with Marseille and shouted "Allez OM" at them. A general brawl followed, drawing in players and coaching staff alike. In the tunnel to the dressing room fans threw objects at him, and security barely separated the two sides. The question left unanswered: why did a man who knew exactly what he would provoke go ahead and do it anyway?

No Macedonians in the Champions League: AEK crushed Levski 4:0

The closest Macedonia will get to the group stage this season was Nikola Serafimov in a Levski shirt. He played the full match against AEK Athens and watched the scoreboard show 3:0 to the hosts after only 29 minutes. It finished 4:0, after a first leg that ended 0:0. With that went the last hope of having a Macedonian player in Europe's elite competition. That is neither a catastrophe nor a surprise, it is statistics: our players reach the qualifying rounds, and there they part ways with clubs whose budgets come from another galaxy. The word missing from the Macedonian football dictionary is not talent, it is continuity.

The draw in Monaco is today, and the list contains two debutants

Today at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco, the draw is made for the Champions League league phase. Of the 36 participants, the title is defended by Paris Saint-Germain, who won it in each of the last two seasons. Entering the elite for the first time are Sabah of Azerbaijan and Austria's LASK from Linz. Norway will have two representatives: Bodo/Glimt are joined by Viking, who knocked out Dinamo Zagreb 5:3 on aggregate. Norwegian football sends a team to the main phase for a third season running. A country of two and a half million people does what our region has failed to do for decades, and the difference is not the number of people but who builds a system and who builds only excuses.

Liverpool are not giving up on Barcola, and PSG want 145 million pounds

After Mohamed Salah's departure, Liverpool have a hole in attack that goodwill does not patch. According to The Athletic, the English club is still trying to sign Bradley Barcola from PSG. The 23-year-old Frenchman is ready to leave, because Luis Enrique kept leaving him on the bench in the biggest matches, including the Champions League final. Last season he played 49 matches, scored 13 goals and added seven assists. PSG want 145 million pounds, which Liverpool will struggle to pay after spending 446 million pounds on seven players last year. Barcola's contract runs for two more years and he wants out. That is usually exactly where the price starts to fall, and usually exactly where clubs pretend it does not.

Alvarez no longer says a categorical no to Arsenal

Julian Alvarez said openly that his goal is Barcelona, and Atletico Madrid said openly that they will not sell him to a direct rival. Between those two statements, space opened up for Arsenal. According to The Independent, the Argentine's position has softened, though he still wants to stay in Spain for family reasons and the way of life. Mikel Arteta has let him know the attack will be built around him. Atletico, who previously claimed they would not even discuss offers, are now hinting that around 150 million euros could change the tone. This summer Arsenal have already signed Christos Tzolis, Bruno Guimaraes and Ezri Konsa, and failed with Vinicius Junior. When a club that "does not sell" starts naming a figure, negotiations began a long time ago.