14/08/2026

FRIDAY | AUG 14, 2026

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SPORTS Guimaraes makes Arsenal debut BRUNO GUIMARAES made his first Arsenal appearance as the Premier League champions were held to a 1 1 draw by Como in their final pre season friendly at the Emirates yes terday. Guimaraes, signed for a reported £75 million (RM390m) from top flight rivals Newcastle last week, was introduced at half-time after Myles Lewis-Skelly’s opening goal for Arsenal had been cancelled out by Martin Baturina. Starting in midfield, Lewis-Skelly capitalised on an error from Como goalkeeper Jean Butez to slot the hosts ahead in the 33rd minute at Emirates Stadium. He then made a heart sign to the crowd as he celebrated before tap ping the club badge on his shirt on his way back to the centre circle. The England international signed a five-year contract with Arsenal last summer but his long term future has come under scru tiny since he fell behind Riccardo Calafiori and Piero Hincapie last term to become Mikel Arteta’s third choice left-back. While he started only five Premier League games across the course of the campaign, he enjoyed an end-of-season resurgence in his natural role of centre midfield. Arsenal, however, are well stocked in that position after sign ing Bruno Guimaraes to join Declan Rice, captain Martin Odegaard and World Cup winners Martin Zubimendi and Mikel Merino. Guimaraes meanwhile received a warm welcome from the home fans but the Gunners were unable to find a winner after Baturina fired past Kepa Arrizabalaga for Como’s equaliser before halftime. “He only had three training ses sions, but he looked good,“ said Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta of Guimaraes. “He was really pushing to play some minutes today. “I think he wanted to get his debut and the feeling of playing in front of our fans immediately. “And, yeah, you sense immedi ately, I believe, a strong connection at play that is going to make us bet ter.” Gunners midfielder Mikel Merino, looking ahead to the Community Shield, told the club’s social media channels: “It’s another final and we want to win, we want to give the fans more happiness. “But especially for us, we want to compete. Wearing this shirt and this badge means a lot and that’s about giving everything and playing to our best capacity.” Arteta left out Bukayo Saka, Rice and Zubimendi despite their returns from World Cup duty this week, but there were first pre-season cameos for Eberechi Eze, David Raya, Merino and Noni Madueke. The two sides played out a pen alty shootout after the game with Arsenal winning 4-3 as new signing Christos Tzolis powered in the deci sive spot-kick. – AFP/The Independent

Anderson reveals Devils attempts to lure him MANCHESTER CITY midfielder Elliot Anderson has revealed that Manchester United players tried to con vince him to make the switch to Old Trafford instead. Anderson completed a £116 million (RM603m) move from Nottingham Forest to the Etihad Stadium earlier this summer. The agreement was announced while he was representing England in the World Cup in North America. and stuff like that, but I had a decision to make and I chose City.” He was then asked if he was close to being per suaded to make the move to Old Trafford, and simply answered: “No.” United have since moved on to other targets, with Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans moving to the club for a combined £85 million (RM442m) fee.

As it stands, he will be lining up alongside World Cup winner Rodri in the Man City squad, although the Spaniard has been heavily linked with a move to Barcelona. It’s something that Anderson is looking forward to, with him keen not to get involved in transfer specula tion. “He’s one of the best midfielders in the world so I think anyone would love to play alongside Rodri,” he said. “I’m not too sure what’s happening and I’m not get ting involved in that, but it would be nice, yes.” After an extended break due to his involvement in the World Cup, Anderson has returned to Man City training. The club are building up to the Community Shield clash with Arsenal at the weekend. – Express Newspapers

For Anderson, concentration is on impressing with City. The big price tag brings big expectations on the 23-year-old as City look to reclaim the Premier League title in their first season under the guidance of Enzo Maresca. “I’m feeling comfortable,” he said. “I want to show everyone what I can do and try not to focus on it too much. But I’m sure over the season I can show people what I do best.”

City beat off competition from rivals United for the transfer, with the Red Devils identifying Anderson as a target in their midfield rebuild. He has now revealed that some members of Michael Carrick’s squad tried their best to help their club complete the transfer Speaking about conversations with United players while on holiday, Anderson said: “I was just golfing in Portugal and bumped into a few and had a nice chat

United edge past Leeds Naussair hits sudden-death winner at Croke Park as selfie hunters spark early whistle N OUSSAIR MAZRAOUI scored the decisive sud den-death spotkick as Manchester United beat Leeds United 5-4 in a penalty shootout. offside before hitting the crossbar with a curling effort five minutes from time.

The 90 minutes then concluded in bizarre fashion when two young fans ran onto the pitch to take sel fies with Fernandes. When security failed to inter vene immediately, at least three other pitch invaders joined them. Referee Neil Doyle blew for full time before play could restart, sending the game directly to a pen alty shootout. New signing Youri Tielemans slotted home his penalty for United, but Fernandes uncharacteristically missed. Sudden death arrived after Leeds defender James Justin also struck the woodwork. Naussair then stepped up to fin ish the job, securing pre-season sil verware for the Manchester club. United manager Michael Carrick praised his young squad after resting several key stars. Lisandro Martinez, Kobbie Mainoo, and Marcus Rashford watched from the sidelines after returning late from World Cup training camps. Carrick confirmed he was hold ing the trio “in reserve” for tomor row’s friendly against former boss Ruben Amorim and AC Milan in Wroclaw. The match in Poland is highly anticipated, potentially marking Rashford’s first appearance in a United shirt since December 2024. ”I really enjoyed the whole night,” Carrick said after the game. “It felt like a proper game… we’re the lucky ones to be involved in that. “The young boys did ever so well,” the United manager added. “It was a good challenge for us and nice to win, of course. Lots of posi tives.” – The Independent/Agencies

A sold-out crowd of over 80,000 packed into Croke Park for the 1-1 pre-season draw. It marked a his toric occasion, serving as the first association football match at the home of the Gaelic Athletic Association since 2009. United struck first in the 16th minute through forward Joshua Zirkzee. The goal came from excel lent work by Bryan Mbeumo, who spun away from Jaka Bijol inside his own half and charged down the left flank. Mbeumo drew out new boy Tarik Muharemovic before slipping a pass to an unmarked Zirkzee, who finished first-time. Mbeumo dominated the open ing half and almost doubled the lead when his curling, deflected shot struck the underside of the crossbar. Leeds drew level in the 29th minute with their first real chance of the match. Former United winger Daniel James drove at goal and drew two defenders before laying the ball off to Brenden Aaronson, who applied the finishing touch. A flurry of halftime changes fol lowed, including a debut for United’s 18-year-old winger Tynan Thompson. Leeds should have gone ahead six minutes into the second half when Joe Rodon’s low cross found Harry Wilson, but the summer sign ing shot straight at Senne Lammens. United captain Bruno Fernandes entered on the hour mark, seeing one goal ruled out for

United’s Joshua Zirkzee (left) battles for the ball with Leeds’ Ao Tanaka during their pre-season friendly at Croke Park in Dublin, Ireland yesterday. – REUTERSPIC

Uefa push for key Fifa reforms to curb presidential power

█ BY MIGUEL DELANEY

federations. That is partly connected to plans for how the presidency would be rotated among the continental bodies, much like the European Union and similar multinational institutions. It would essentially mean Fifa could never again have another president with the power of Infantino or his predecessors. The idea would also be complemented by greatly bolstering the administration around the presidency, so that it would be more like a strong civil service. Uefa and their allies are said to be focused on a change of leadership and governance at Fifa, as the bare minimum in this crisis. – The Independent

the first time they had been able to meet in a group in person since the Fifa crisis broke. Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin is understood to have held several meetings, with the presence of Confederation of African Football chief Patrice Motsepe viewed as especially significant given CAF’s previous backing of Infantino. Among the subjects understood to have been discussed in Salzburg are plans for an independent review of Fifa’s governance, and the drawing up of a policy document to outline the future structure and ideals of the body. Some sources see it as instructive that this only goes so far as Fifa, rather than the continental con

THE Uefa-led alliance is exploring plans for the Fifa presidency to be rotated between the confedera tions so as to reduce the power of the office, should Gianni Infantino eventually be forced out. The top level of the game remains locked in a civil war from the Fifa Forward Enterprise plan, that has since evolved into an attritional conflict to get the Swiss-Italian official out. As Infantino digs in, however, the Uefa and their allies have already been making plans for the future. Many of the game’s leaders gathered in Salzburg this week for yesterday’s Uefa Super Cup, marking