🚨 Højlund rescues Man United, Chelsea breeze past Astana, Postecoglou raging with Werner and much more

Plus all of the other stories making the news in the world of football...

Good morning everyone and welcome to the latest edition of the Daily Briefing - your essential morning round-up delivered straight to your inbox! Thanks for reading, and enjoy :-)

Today’s top stories:

• 🎧 LISTEN: The Debrief Podcast

• Bukayo Saka wins the UEFA Player of the Week award

• Plus more from Roma, Liverpool and Manchester City

African Player of the Year

• The finalists for the African Player of the Year have been announced by CAF:

Arsenal

• Bukayo Saka has won the UEFA Player of the Week award. 1st: Bukayo Saka 2nd: Antoine Griezmann 3rd: Michael Olise 4th: Marco Bizot

• Bukayo Saka now has 14 G/A in 14 Champions League games.

• Myles Lewis-Skelly was incredibly happy after Arsenal’s win over Monaco. “I’m over the moon. I've come a long way,” he told reporters. “I just want to thank everyone for giving me the opportunity. Hopefully it's the first of many and I can push on from here. I look up to Bukayo, he has everything. I've learned a lot from him and I want to keep learning.”

• Mikel Arteta’s ‘big player’ could leave Arsenal after latest development.

AS Roma

• Saud Abdulhamid became the first Saudi Arabian player to score in European competition after netting in Roma’s 3-0 Europa League win over Braga. Claudio Ranieri told reporters: “He was great in training, super fast… why not give him a chance? He’s very good and it’s great to have Saud in the squad.”

• Ghisolfi: ‘Roma transfer strategy linked to new coach’

Chelsea

• Professional outing from young guns sees Chelsea ease past Astana.

Conference League

• Vikingur Reykjavik vs Djurgården (1-2)

• Astana vs Chelsea (1-3): Two goals in the opening 18 minutes from Marc Guiu and an Aleksandr Marochkin own goal set the Conference League leaders on their way, and once Renato Veiga added a third on 39 the game was all but over. Marin Tomasov pulled one back before the break but it was more like a training game for the Premier League outfit [pictures from TNT Sports]:

• Copenhagen vs Hearts (2-0)

• Dinamo Minsk vs Larne (2-0)

• Istanbul Başakşehir vs Heidenheim (3-1)

• Petrocub vs Real Betis (0-1)

• Noah vs APOEL (1-3)

• Fiorentina vs LASK (7-0)

• Legia Warsaw vs Lugano (1-2)

• HJK vs Molde (2-2)

• Olimpija vs Cercle Brugge (1-4)

• Omonia vs Rapid Vienna (3-1)

• Pafos vs Celje (2-0)

• The New Saints vs Panathinaikos (0-2)

• St. Gallen vs Vitória SC (1-4)

• Gent vs Bačka Topola (3-0)

• Shamrock Rovers vs Borac (3-0)

• Mladá Boleslav vs Jagiellonia Bialystok (1-0)

Cruz Azul

• Cruz Azul have submitted an official bid for Facundo Torres and it’s expected to be accepted by Orlando. The player has already decided that the move represents the next step for his career.

Europa League

• Roma vs Braga (3-0)

• Hoffenheim vs FCSB (0-0)

• Viktoria Plzeň vs Manchester United (1-2): The visitors made life difficult for themselves after an horrendous André Onana error gifted Plzeň the opener on 48 thanks to Matěj Vydra. Substitute, Rasmus Højlund, came up trumps when it mattered for Man United, his goals in the 62nd and 88th minutes proving decisive [pictures from TNT Sports]:

• Malmö vs Galatasaray (2-2)

• Union Saint-Gilloise vs Nice (2-1)

• PAOK vs Ferencváros (5-0)

• Olympiacos vs Twente (0-0)

• Ludogorets vs AZ Alkmaar (2-2)

• Bodø/Glimt vs Beșiktaş (2-1)

• Porto vs Midtjylland (2-0)

• Maccabi Tel-Aviv vs RFS (2-1)

• Ajax vs Lazio (1-3)

• Elfsborg vs Qarabag (1-0)

• Slavia Prague vs Anderlecht (1-2)

• Rangers vs Tottenham (1-1): Hamza Igamane had Ibrox rocking just after the restart with a sublime finish, but Rangers were pegged back by Dejan Kulusevski’s 75th-minute equaliser which completed the scoring [pictures from TNT Sports]:

• Real Sociedad vs Dynamo Kyiv (3-0)

• Lyon vs Eintracht Frankfurt (3-2)

Liverpool

• Good news for Arne Slot as both Federico Chiesa and Diogo Jota are back in training for Liverpool.

• Liverpool player ruled out for the rest of the year after picking up a thigh injury.

Manchester City

• Manchester City released a club statement on Thursday, regarding racist abuse directed at Kyle Walker in the aftermath of the defeat against Juventus. ‘Manchester City strongly condemns the racist abuse that Kyle Walker was subject to online following last night’s fixture. We refuse to tolerate discrimination of any kind, regardless of whether that be in stadiums or online. We will be offering Kyle our full support following the disgusting treatment he has received.’

• “Something quite spectacular” could befall Man City says Collymore.

Manchester United

• Rúben Amorim was asked about Dan Ashworth leaving Man United ahead of the team’s Europa League tie on Thursday. “One person leaving doesn’t change anything,” he said to reporters. “Since the first day I felt great support from the ownership, from Omar and Jason. This is football and sometimes these things happen.”

• 12 games, 9 starts and 9 goals for Rasmus Højlund in Europe since joining Manchester United in 2023.

• Rasmus Højlund spoke to TNT Sports after his Europa League brace won the match for Manchester United against Plzeň: “It’s getting better and better under Rúben Amorim. We still need more time. It's about getting our routines together and its getting there. But it still needs practice and time. I know it sounds odd, but we don't get enough time on the training ground.”

• Rúben Amorim was delighted to see some tense moments between Amad and Højlund after the game: “A very good sign,” he said to reporters. “We need to feel something... If we need to fight each other, it’s like a family. When you don’t care, you do nothing. When you care, you fight with your brother, father or mother.”

• Rúben Amorim became only the third Manchester United manager to win his first two matches in European competition. He is in a select group with Sir Matt Busby and Sir Alex Ferguson.

• Emmanuel Ziro is stood with Sekou Koné at Old Trafford after signing for Manchester United’s Academy side earlier this week.

• The agreement for 17-year-old left-back Diego León between Man United and Cerro Porteno is almost done. The final fee will be around $5m plus add-ons.

• Barcelona monitoring the sale of Man United hero with decision down to Rúben Amorim.

Real Madrid

• Real Madrid have confirmed that Kylian Mbappé suffered an injury to his left thigh during the match against Atalanta and an assessment by club staff will determine how long he will be out for.

• Jude Bellingham playing active role in Real Madrid deal for world-class player.

Saudi Arabia

• Al Hilal CEO Esteve Calzada spoke about the rumours linking his club with Cristiano Ronaldo and sharing the World Cup stage with Lionel Messi: “That sounds like science fiction,” he told English media. “Cristiano is not our player, he's not a free agent now, so it's difficult and not nice to talk about that.”

Tottenham Hotspur

• Despite getting a point in the Europa League, Spurs’ draw vs Rangers means that the North Londoners still haven’t won in their last five games in all competitions.

• Ange Postecoglou clearly wasn’t happy with Timo Werner’s performance in the match [pictures from Hayters]:

• Injury expert shares pessimistic update on Tottenham ace.

UEFA Team of the Week