What a weekend! The Premier League’s top two, Arsenal and Man City, lost, but the bigger news around City was charges against them of breaching financial rules dating back as far as 2009. We also saw more chaos for Liverpool and Real Madrid, big wins for Barcelona and Bayern Munich, and Napoli get closer to a first Serie A title since 1989-90.
– Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, more (U.S.)
There was also another disappointing PSG performance, but perhaps the best story was Sebastian Haller finally scoring his first goal for Borussia Dortmund.
It’s Monday, and Gab Marcotti reacts to the biggest moments in the world of football.
A nightmare 24 hours for Man City: Defeat at Spurs and Premier League FFP charge
On Sunday, Manchester City lost 1-0 away to Tottenham, a result that meant they could not take advantage of league-leading Arsenal’s loss to Everton the previous day. More than that, Pep Guardiola made a string of unorthodox choices — leaving out Kevin De Bruyne, profoundly changing the formation, only sending on Ilkay Gundogan minutes from the end — and Erling Haaland somehow recorded zero shots on goal and zero touches in the opposition box, first since his arrival in Manchester.
– Man City charged for FFP breaches over nine years
Guardiola was probably bracing himself for the usual overthinking accusations, which routinely dog him when he changes things up and it doesn’t work, when the Premier League announced Monday it was charging the club with more than 100 breaches of financial rules dating back to 2009. If found guilty, they could face a range of punishments, including fines, points deductions and even relegation.