When you work in the game it is easy to get cynical but this week I’ve been consuming all the #limbs I can find For the second time in a week, I’m welling up. This time in a cafe on Northcote High Street in Melbourne at 9am. I punched the air when Kieran Tierney curled that one in. But Kenny McLean. From the halfway line. As the ball sails over Kasper Schmeichel my hands involuntarily shoot to the sky. What a moment. The commentary is amazing. Before long I’m watching it on a loop. The unwritten rule of not talking over each other goes out of the window. In fact it’s better. You want the comms to feel like you feel. On BBC Scotland, Liam McLeod, Steven Thompson and James McFadden absolutely nail it. McLeod: “They’ve given it away.” Thompson: “SHOOT SHOOT.” McLeod: “He’s gonna shoot.” (McFadden is grinning wildly.) Thompson: “OH HE’S DONE HIM, HE’S DONE HIM, HE’S DONE HIM.” McLeod: “HAS THAT GONE IN? OOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOO THAT’S UNBELIEVABLE …” The fixed camera set on Thompson and McFadden is wonderous. Two grown men jumping up and down in unison like 10-year-old boys. They are just so happy. Continue reading...

We did not witness the making of history at Tynecastle Park. It remains far too early for that kind of thing. What this match did further emphasise is that Hearts are at least in with a serious opportunity of ending Scottish football’s four decade-long title duopoly. Make that eight points of a lead for Hearts over Celtic, whom they comfortably swatted aside here. Catch them if you can. Three second-half minutes were key, after an opening period that was closely contested. What was so notable after Hearts surged 3-1 ahead was how stress-free the remainder of the game was for the hosts. Alexandros Kyziridis scored Hearts’ second, cutting in from the left before thumping a right-footed shot past the motionless Kasper Schmeichel. Soon there was further euphoria in the stands, Dane Murray upending Cláudio Braga for a penalty that Lawrence Shankland tucked away. Brendan Rodgers, the Celtic manager, cut such a disconsolate figure; he hardly has his troubles to seek. Full report to follow Continue reading...

While a draw at Leverkusen changes little on paper, it could be vital for the beleaguered visitors and their interim coach A week is a long time in the Bundesliga but, for Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Mönchengladbach, if Sunday afternoon is anything to go by, this season promises to contain the lessons of several regular years. For Leverkusen, having had such an invigorating liftoff on Kasper Hjulmand’s debut with a win over Eintracht Frankfurt, it was a reminder of how much work there is still to do. But for Gladbach, it was confirmation that yes, there is at last the first shard of light at the end of the tunnel. Last weekend Gladbach – five times Bundesliga winners, not to mention double Uefa Cup champions in the glory years of the 1970s – were humiliated at home by Werder Bremen, beaten 4-0 and getting off lightly, with Werder’s own 3-0 home loss to Freiburg on Saturday underlining just what a bad defeat that was. After the firing of the former Leverkusen boss Gerardo Seoane and the trip to face the 2024 champions, the Monday morning mood could not be more different. Continue reading...

A brace from Alejandro Grimaldo helps Bayer Leverkusen overcome the sending off of captain Robert Andrich and Ezequiel Fernandez to beat Eintracht Frankfurt 3-1 in the Bundesliga, in new manager Kasper Hjulmand's first game in charge following the sacking of Erik ten Hag.

A penny for the thoughts of Christian Eriksen. Denmark could justify leaving the 33-year-old out of their squad for the meetings with Scotland and Greece on the basis he remains unemployed. Yet as Denmark huffed, puffed and failed to unpick a magnificently drilled Scotland defence, the issue of what Eriksen could have contributed was such an obvious one. Denmark in this form will not play at next summer’s World Cup. Steve Clarke’s Scotland were well worthy of their point. But for a lack of composure in front of goal, they would have departed Copenhagen with all three. The winners from this opening night of a truncated section were the Greeks, who swept Belarus aside, but Scotland richly deserved their full-time ovation from an appreciative support, while Denmark were booed off. Continue reading...

Beyond midnight, many miles beyond the borders of Europe, Temirlan Anarbekov was writing his name into Celtic infamy. The 21‑year‑old rookie goalkeeper had made the penalty shootout saves that guided Kazakhstan’s Kairat Almaty into the Champions League group stage. Adam Idah, Luke McCowan and Daizen Maeda each saw attempts saved by a keeper turned to in emergency. Kasper Schmeichel, his opposite number, could only offer congratulations as Celtic incurred the heavy cost of a poor performance over 210 goalless minutes before their lack of composure from the spot. Continue reading...

Ambitious Wrexham express interest in signing free agent Christian Eriksen but must convince him to step down to the Championship.

The Dane showed at Brentford how he will approach some issues, though handling the chair will, as ever, be key Early in Ange Postecoglou’s reign, Spurs fans chanted: “We’ve got our Tottenham back.” The Australian departed as a cult hero after a Europa League triumph but in Bilbao his team had played nothing like the “glory game” of club lore, instead hanging on for dear life. And that was a marked improvement on the sludge served up at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, amid 22 Premier League defeats. Is Thomas Frank the manager to return Spurs to the days of Bill Nicholson or Keith Burkinshaw? With the right players and a trailing wind, it’s not impossible. Before promotion to the Premier League, Frank’s Brentford played an attractive hybrid passing and pressing game, only to readjust to the division above with a style that at first seemed agricultural, a playing of the margins, though one that embraced attack rather than defence as the means of survival. Frank does not shun creative players; Christian Eriksen’s signing in January 2022 was a masterstroke, while Mikkel Damsgaard’s awkward running belies a playmaker of high quality and high output. Last season, Bryan Mbeumo, Yoane Wissa and Kevin Schade were in double figures for Premier League goals. No other team attacked with such fearlessness. Continue reading...

Watch highlights as Christian Eriksen scores the winning goal as Denmark edge out Northern Ireland 2-1 in a friendly match in Copenhagen.

‘Next season it has to be better,’ says departing Dane Thanks ‘really supportive’ fans after difficult season Christian Eriksen believes Manchester United were lucky to avoid relegation from the Premier League and has thanked the club’s fans for not causing “chaos” when performances were poor. A dire campaign saw United finish 15th in the Premier League, a record low, winning 11 games and ending with a goal difference of -10. They collected 42 points, 17 better than third-bottom Leicester, and Eriksen was frank in assessing his final season at the club. Continue reading...

Official blew before Morgan Rogers put ball in net for Villa Villa unhappy at selection of inexperienced referee Aston Villa will lodge an official complaint with the Premier League about why a more experienced ­referee than Thomas Bramall was not appointed for their game at Manchester United after the official blew before ­Morgan Rogers put the ball in the net. This meant the video assistant referee could not intervene to rule on whether the forward had illegally kicked the ball from Altay Bayindir’s hands – as Bramall judged – and Unai Emery claimed later that this was the “key moment” that cost Villa Champions League ­qualification. The incident happened in the 73rd minute with the game at Old Trafford goalless and as ­Newcastle were losing to Everton, Villa – despite having had Emi Martínez sent off – were heading for the ­Champions League. Bramall’s ruling caused a furious reaction from Emery and his staff. After this Amad Diallo and Christian Eriksen goals – each provoking sarcastic Emery gestures – gave United a 2-0 win. The visitors ended in sixth and so will play Europa League football next season. Continue reading...

Clubs’ tussle for supremacy in Germany may be at its end as the futures of Alonso and Wirtz remain uncertain Early on Sunday evening Bayern Munich’s players arrived a few at a time in a swish restaurant that had been opened just for them, as they prepared to commemorate a 33rd Bundesliga title (34 if you include the pre-Bundesliga crown of 1932) not quite as they had hoped, in their street clothes rather than their football strips. Bild even claimed that as Freiburg took the lead late in the first half against Bayer Leverkusen on the big screen in front of the Bayern squad (a game the 2024 champions needed to win to mathematically prolong the race) there was a loud exclamation of “Scheiße!” from at least one player who had wanted Bayern to officially finish the job themselves at home to Borussia Mönchengladbach next Saturday. It had not quite been the titanic end that anybody had hoped for, with Bayern letting in a 95th-minute Yussuf Poulsen equaliser that stopped them officially sealing it on Saturday, Harry Kane suspended so he couldn’t take part at all and Leverkusen getting a leveller in the fourth minute of stoppage time at Freiburg on Sunday which ended up meaning little to anyone apart from the hosts and their rivals for Champions League qualification. Continue reading...

The fine tidings for Manchester United are that they are now safe from relegation, the grim ones are that this occurred despite going down to a 15th defeat of a dismal Premier League campaign. Wolves’ winner was simple: on 77 minutes Pablo Sarabia, on as a substitute only 120 seconds before, placed a 20-yard free-kick sweetly to the left of André Onana, Christian Eriksen having committed the foul for the dead ball. Continue reading...

Denmark midfielder Christian Eriksen expects to leave Manchester United this summer and does not anticipate signing for another Premier League club.