• Inter Miami star was booked for dissent
• Messi provided two assists in the match

Lionel Messi has been fined an undisclosed amount by Major League Soccer after grabbing the neck of a New York City assistant coach at the end of Saturday’s game between the sides.

The World Cup winner was caught on camera in a confrontation with NYC FC assistant coach Mehdi Ballouchy after the final whistle. Messi twice put his hands on the back of Ballouchy’s neck during the arguments. MLS said in a statement that their disciplinary committee had ruled that the Argentinian had violated the league’s “Hands to the face/head/neck of an opponent policy.”

When you have lost three games in a row, any win is a good win. And there is no such thing as a bad win by four goals. But equally, the context is unavoidable. This is a Southampton side who are doomed, who are letting in 2.41 goals per game, who have lost 14 of their past 17 league games and who have nothing to play for this season beyond trying to scrape together the three points that would take them above Derby’s record low of 11.

The Premier League’s unique selling point is supposed to be that anybody can beat anybody, but it’s hard to square that with this Southampton. “I’m frustrated,” said Ivan Juric, who pointed out his team had defended well for 20 minutes. “It’s a really tough situation.”

The birthday boy Ismaïla Sarr ended Crystal Palace’s wait for a home victory as Adam Wharton starred on his return from injury to deal a major blow to Aston Villa’s hopes of qualifying for the Champions League again.

It was a night when everything seemed to go Oliver Glasner’s way as Unai Emery saw his side succumb to a seventh defeat in their last nine away matches in the Premier League. Having found a way back into the game at the start of the second half thanks to an equaliser from Morgan Rogers after he had seen another goal disallowed for the narrowest of offsides, Villa were blown away as Jean‑Philippe Mateta and Sarr’s second on the Senegal forward’s 27th birthday sealed only a third league win of the campaign at Selhurst Park for Palace.

By now, Fabian Hürzeler’s refusal to engage with discussion around potential European qualification for his Brighton side has become something of a running joke. So when he deflected a question after this third successive Premier League win – the first time Brighton have managed such a feat since 2023 – he did so with a knowing smirk.

“Let’s wait for the next games,” Hürzeler said. “Then we can talk about this. I’m not a big fan to emphasise one victory or one loss too much. We have to work hard and go game by game and see what happens.”

Taliban’s ban on women playing cricket has led to calls for a boycott by the ECB, but Champions Trophy match proceeds

A day out from what is a must-win game for both Afghanistan and England, Jonathan Trott, head coach of the former, addressed the issue that is impossible to ignore during this Champions Trophy. The Taliban continues its brutal clampdown on women’s rights back in Afghanistan and Trott outlined the position his players find themselves in.

“They know the difference between right and wrong,” said Trott, drawing a distinction between a team that play their cricket in exile under the previous Afghan flag and the regime at home. “They are under no illusions about where they have come from and they’re very courageous. You see that in their cricket and that’s the one thing I’ve not tried to change at all. They know who they are playing for and representing.”

The night Leeds United’s season swung decisively, or just another evening in the most unpredictable league in football? Only in May will we know that answer for sure, but the scale of the celebrations from those associated with Leeds here perhaps told you everything you need to know.

The popular song aimed in Leeds’ direction when things are going wrong is to decry that Daniel Farke’s side are falling apart. But here, when it mattered most, this team showed that they are anything but one that capitulates in the crucial moments.

Title race and relegation over by February? The Premier League is rich, but there’s no jeopardy and no real sense of excellence, at least not on the pitch

Ladies and gentlemen we have now reached our cruising altitude. The pilot will be putting his feet up and drinking tiny cans of Sprite from here to the middle of May. Sit back, zone out. Stick on a bad film with Seth Rogen in it. You can even watch the football if you like. Just don’t expect much to happen for the next three months.

So much for that excitingly bumpy, turbulence-fuelled Premier League season, all perky upstarts, crumbling certainties and unexpected shifts of altitude, which really did seem to be shaping up just a few short weeks ago. As of game weekend 26 and Arsenal’s defeat against West Ham, followed by Liverpool strolling through Manchester City, the league has reached a stage of premature entropy.

• Slovenian opines about immigration and populism
• ‘We are all fed up with political correctness’

The president of Uefa, Aleksander Ceferin, has made an outspoken intervention in European politics, claiming “freedom of speech no longer exists” and “we are all fed up of political correctness”.

In a wide-ranging series of remarks Ceferin attacked European politicians over their handling of the Ukraine war and for “preaching to the world”. He even joked that the only “great thing” the EU has done is to mandate that bottle tops should not be detachable.

‘I’ve just tried to keep my head down and do my job,’ says the Bath tighthead after seeing off Scotland in Calcutta Cup

Not all heroes wear capes and Will Stuart is not the type you would expect to see in shining armour, but the time has come to recognise England’s unsung tighthead prop. Crisis? What crisis? It was not so long ago that the Rugby Football Union was wringing its hands at the dearth of tightheads across the country but quietly, under the radar, Stuart has emerged as England’s most consistent, reliable performer.

During Steve Borthwick’s first Six Nations in charge two years ago, he lamented that England were “not good at anything” and raised particular concern over the scrum, an area in which they had ranked last of all tier-one nations over the previous 12 months. Fast-forward to now and, under the tutelage of Tom Harrison, England’s scrum has developed into both a solid platform and a weapon they can employ to impressive effect.

• Sir Jim Ratcliffe also trims food offering at training base
• CEO apologises over U-turn on further redundancies

Sir Jim Ratcliffe will close the staff canteen at Old Trafford and replace the free lunches currently on offer with fruit.

Manchester United’s largest single minority shareholder will also implement a similar move at United’s Carrington training base, with only players receiving lunch for free. Non-playing staff there will be offered soup and bread.