The Athletic FC ⚽ is The Athletic’s daily football (or soccer if you prefer) newsletter. Sign up here to receive it straight to your inbox.
To welcome! We want to know when to stay and when to go. Coming today…
🤔 Should Guardiola leave Man City if they win the title?
📮 Sancho sends a message to Ten Hag
👕 The Shirt Design That Led to Chaos and a Lawsuit
🧀 A cheese dish (Cheddar) you should stay for
Guardiola & Glory: Should Pep quit if City win the title?
Long-time managers decide to resign? That’s a thing for 2023-24. Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp and USWNT-linked Chelsea side Emma Hayes will both end eight- and 12-year stints at their respective clubs at the end of the campaign.
But should Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola, the second-longest serving manager in the Premier League behind Klopp, follow suit? If City finish the season with a fourth consecutive Premier League title, Michael Cox believes they should.
Why would now be a good time?
A fourth consecutive league title is a rare new record for Guardiola, uncharted territory for a man accustomed to making history. After competing in the Champions League last season, what new terrain remains to be innovated?
There would be satisfaction in bowing out as untouchable. Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013 after guiding Manchester United to their 20th league title, while Bob Paisley called it quits after winning a record sixth title with Liverpool.
Staying could also pose risks to Guardiola’s legacy. What if his former assistant Mikel Arteta propelled him to the title with Arsenal? And what about these 115 accusations linked to financial irregularities between 2009 and 2018 which weigh on the club?
Why continue?
Guardiola could, of course, continue his relentless quest for success, collecting every Premier League record in sight until his status as England’s greatest footballer can no longer be challenged. There is no better club, with its infrastructure and resources, to achieve this than City. He has one year left on his contract, but we must not stop there.
Football would become more and more pragmatic; four central defenders would gradually become seven, players under 6 feet (183 cm) would be phased out.
City could start a season slowly to make it interesting and give false hope to those around them, before embarking on an inevitable 15-game winning run after Christmas. Guardiola would go on to heap pre-match praise on coaches inspired by his style – before beating them 4-1 – and praise them again at full time.
If I were Pep, I’d happily stick around and cement my legacy as one of the league’s greatest. But as a football fan, I would love to see him step out of his comfort zone. Trying your hand at international management would be intriguing, or trying to take on the challenges of a lower league team would be even better. Either way, an exit this summer would bring even more chaos and unpredictability to the top of the Premier League.
Sancho Stars: Were you watching, Erik?
There would have been interested observers in the red half of Manchester to watch Borussia Dortmund’s 1-0 victory over Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League semi-final.
Jadon Sancho, signed by United for £73 million ($91 million) in 2021, has spent four months excluded from the first team this season. The 24-year-old was banned from the senior team in September following a very public dispute with manager Erik ten Hag – as always, it’s complicated – and joined Dortmund on loan in January.
Against PSG, Sancho is reminiscent of the player United signed three years ago. He was the standout player on a pitch that also featured Kylian Mbappe. Sancho played with flair and confidence, completing seven dribbles in the first half – more than any player in a Champions League match this season. And, sadly, more than he managed in any United game.
This took place against the backdrop of Ten Hag, the man who sacked Sancho, fighting for his future at United after a turbulent season. Their on-loan striker has one foot in a Champions League final while United look destined for the Europa League.
Dortmund take a narrow lead into next week’s second leg in Paris thanks to Niclas Fullkrug’s first-half goal. By the way, how about his touch to recover Nico Schlotterbeck’s pass in the air? Gorgeous.
Nicolas FULLKRUG!
A classic goal number nine gives Dortmund the lead 😮💨#UCL | 📺 @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/McDgHgBENA
– Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) May 1, 2024
DORTMUND FRÈVE FIRST ⚡
Schlotterbeck sends a perfect ball upwards 👌
Füllkrug makes no mistake 🎯 pic.twitter.com/GJ2jytxpbd– CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) May 1, 2024
Team talk: How are Barcelona under Xavi?
Shirt that caused chaos: design led to cancellation of semi-finals
Have you ever heard of a jersey design that got a match canceled? You have it now. The controversial kit (above) helped Moroccan side RS Berkane advance against USM Alger of Algeria in the Confederation Cup semi-final – without a ball being kicked – and l The case was brought before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
All this happened when RS Berkane was allowed by the African Football Federation (CAF) to wear an outfit including the map of the Western Sahara territory, over which Morocco and Algeria have long-standing political tensions.
The kit was confiscated by Algerian customs, RS Berkane refused to wear replacement jerseys and CAF ruled that USM Alger had breached competition rules. USM then refused to play against a team wearing these jerseys in the second leg and RS Berkane achieved a 3–0 victory each time.
Cheese course
Some restaurants save the cheese dish for last – in the UK at least – so here’s our latest story for you. It’s a cracker!
Cheddar FC, in the 10th tier of English football, face the daunting task of playing 11 matches in 24 days due to postponements caused by flooded pitches earlier in the season. They have two centre-backs ruled out of the campaign with concussion and interim manager Matt Huxtable has had to name himself on the substitutes’ bench on at least five occasions.
One would imagine that they find Guardiola and Klopp’s complaints about the Premier League fixture schedule rather irritating.
Catch a match
UEFA Europa League semi-finals: Olympique Marseille vs Atalanta, 3 p.m. / 8 p.m.; Paramount+/TNT Sports 3; Roma vs Bayer Leverkusen, 3 p.m. / 8 p.m.; Paramount+ / TNT Sports 2
UEFA Europa Conference League semi-finals: Aston Villa v Olympiacos, 3 p.m. / 8 p.m.; Paramount+ / TNT Sports 1; Fiorentina vs Club Brugge, 3 p.m. / 8 p.m.; Paramount+ / TNT Sports 5
Premier League: Chelsea v Tottenham Hotspur, 2:30 p.m. / 7:30 p.m.; Peacock Premium/Sky Sports main event
(Top photo: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)