By Alessandro Schiavone in Lille Friendly game: Brazil 1-1 Tunisia Goals : Mastouri 23' (T), Estevão 44' penalty (B) Lucas Paquetà missed a penalty as Brazil were held to a 1-1 draw by Tunisia in a friendly in Lille. Having replaced friend and Newcastle rival Bruno Guimaraes on the hour-mark, the West Ham midfield cog blazed over having previously converted 10 in a total of 11 spot-kicks and all seven for the Hammers. The last and only time he failed to guide home from the cl

By Alessandro Schiavone at Johan Cruijff Arena, Amsterdam Netherlands 4-0 Lithuania Goals : Reijnders 16', Gakpo penalty 58', Simons 60', Malen 62' Xavi Simons showed glimpses of his former inspirational RB Leipzig self as he awoke from a first-half slumber to get on the scoresheet in the Netherlands's 4-0 trashing of Lithuania in Amsterdam. With qualification to the World Cup already secured thanks to a 1-1 draw in Poland last week, the confidence-shot Xavi was given a rare

By Alessandro Schiavone at Stade de Luxembourg Luxembourg 0-2 Germany Goals: Woltemade 49', 69' (G) Less than a week after scoring in Brentford's 3-1 win over Nick Woltemade's Newcastle United, Kevin Schade was lucky to have him as the Magpies behemoth netted a double to save Germany's blushes in a 2-0 win over Group A basement side Luxembourg. It was an unconvincing victory with the Germans making hard work of it all in the first-half when the Brentford winger was still on t

By Alessandro Schiavone in Metz Metz 2-1 Nice Goals: Ali-Cho 35' (N), Hein 53' & Diallo 84' (M) Having had their Sundays off after featuring in respective 2-2 draws a day beforehand, Tottenham Hotspur's Pape Matar Sarr and Arsenal's William Saliba may have taken in a Ligue 1 cracker on television. And it was Pape Sarr's former team Metz who continued their fine resurgence after coming from behind to see off Nice 2-1 to make it three impressive wins on the spin. Nice, where Sa

By Alessandro Schiavone in Arnhem Eerste Divisie Vitesse Arnhem 0-4 Cambuur Not sure a midfield trio of Nemanja Matic, Martin Odegaard and Mason Mount added to the other eight players would turn the tide at Vitesse Arnhem right now. Bottom of Eerste Division, Vitesse had to be really on it to cause a shock against promotion favourites and second-in-the-table Cambuur. Yet despite producing a couple of goal chances early on in the game and keeping the door shut for 21 minutes,

By Alessandro Schiavone at Stadion Galgenwaard, Utrecht There's a famous saying that goes: 'Never go back to a place where you have been happy'. And maybe, just maybe there's a truth to that for Sebastien Haller who has gone from Utrecht juggernaut [51 goals in two-and-a-half seasons between January 2015 and summer 2017 for the club] to ghost. Less than three months after sealing a return home on a permanent basis, it's highly likely that Sebastien Haller already regrets that

By Alessandro Schiavone in Prague Christian Norgaard has sung the praises of false attacker Mikel Merino who took his tally for 2025 to a staggering 18 goals for club and country with his double against Slavia Prague. Those numbers would be nothing out of the ordinary or mind-blowing if the Spaniard was a classic centre-forward. But it's easy to forget that the ex-Real Sociedad star is a midfielder by trade. Norgaard, who made his first start for Arsenal in the Czech Republic

By Alessandro Schiavone at Fortuna Arena, Prague Champions League Matchday 4 Slavia Praha 0-3 Arsenal Goals: Saka 32' (penalty), Merino 46', Merino 68' There are 18 bridges in the city of Prague. But Slavia always knew they would be in for one hell of a ride to bridge the gap with Premier League big hitters Arsenal. Because, whether it's on the pitch or in the bank, the chasm between the two sides is evident. And how it showed. Mikel Arteta, who handed Max Dowman his Champio

Exclusive by Alessandro Schiavone The dice appears to be well and truly loaded in Arsenal's favour this season according to a West Ham legend. A 2-0 win over Burnley at Turf Moor saw Mikel Arteta's men extend their victorious streak to nine games and open up a seven-point gap at the top of the Premier League. Remarkably the Gunners haven't conceded a goal since their 2-1 away win at Newcastle in late September. There's been a surge of optimism and wind in their sails since th

By Alessandro Schiavone in Paris Ligue 1, Matchday 10 Paris FC 3-3 Olympique Lyonnais Goals: Tolisso, Sulc 2x (L), Camara, Kebbal, Marchetti Arsenal flop Ainsley Maitland-Niles had a face like thunder at the end of the game. The reason? His Lyon side cocked up a 3-0 lead to draw 3-3 with Paris FC under the watchful eye of club minority shareholder and Red Bull global head of sport Jürgen Klopp in the stands. With French football high society in the shape of Emmanuel Petit and