The VAR officials from the Manchester derby got a weekend off, and Haaland's goal still stands

The derby's VAR officials sent on a break, but the goal still stands

Erling Haaland's wrongly allowed goal at Old Trafford brought the only punishment English football knows how to hand out - to the officials. Chief VAR official Matt Donohue and his assistant Blake Antrobus have been left off the list for this round of the Premier League, by decision of Howard Webb. The refereeing body "Pro Ref" has already admitted an "error of judgement": the player standing offside was moving towards the ball and impeded the United defender, so Donohue should have sent the referee to the monitor. The 1:0 for City stays on the record. The Red Devils got a phone call with an apology, which in the table is worth exactly zero points. Has anyone ever seen a system where the mistake is admitted and the consequence is borne only by the party that did not make it?

Yamal awarded himself the "Ballon d'Or" before the ceremony

"Mbappé and I are the best in the world, but I deserve the Ballon d'Or", said Lamine Yamal, opening football's oldest argument: trophies or numbers. The Barcelona teenager has 24 goals and 18 assists in 45 matches, a La Liga title and a World Cup with Spain. Kylian Mbappé has 42 goals and seven assists in 44 matches and finished top scorer in La Liga, in the Champions League and at the World Cup - and ended the season without a single major trophy. The trade-off is obvious: Yamal counts cups, Mbappé counts nets. The ceremony is on 26 October in London, and the self-belief is evidently already voting.

Barcelona passed a billion euros in revenue - and still finished in the red

The accounts for the 2025/26 season say Barcelona broke through the one billion euro revenue mark, the second Spanish club after Real Madrid to do so. Those same accounts also show a loss of 17.8 million euros after tax. The reason sits on Montjuïc and on the building site: the stadium renovation swallows everything. Licensing and merchandise sales brought in 189.5 million euros, up 39 million in a single year, hospitality revenue jumped by more than 30 million, and membership fees went from 31.6 to 40.1 million. The stadium came back in November with a capacity of 45,401 seats, passed 62,000 in March, and full completion is expected in 2028, with around 105,000 spectators. A club earning a billion and finishing in the red - that is not a financial condition, that is a way of life.

Shkëndija Aračinovo strings together wins and climbs the second division table

While Europe counts billions, in Čair it came down to one goal in the 87th minute. Dashmir Elezi took the ball at the far post and gave Shkëndija Aračinovo a 1:0 win over Skopje in the seventh round of the Second Football League. The match was held together by the two goalkeepers - Naumovski and Stolevski - with saves that cancelled out most of the real chances, including one cleared off the goal line itself. This is Aračinovo's third league win in a row, the fourth overall counting the cup triumph over Detonit by 3:1. With 13 points the team is third in the table. "We go for the win in every match", said Mile Todorov before the game - a sentence that usually means nothing, except when three wins follow it.

Italy and Spain are back in comeback mode

Inter were losing 0:2 at home again and again finished as winners - 5:3 against Udinese, the second such turnaround in a row. Roma remained the only side with a hundred percent record in Serie A after a 2:0 win in Turin, while Como beat Parma. In Spain, Betis turned the game around away at Villarreal for 2:1 and drew level with Real Madrid, three points behind Barcelona. Juventus, meanwhile, lost at Sassuolo to a last-minute goal, but Luciano Spalletti stays on the bench - the club said it has no intention of replacing him. Four rounds into the season and you can already see who has character and who merely has a favourable fixture list.