⚽ Discussion, news and buildup to all Sunday’s action
⚽ Live scores | Tables | Saturday’s reports | Mail us here

There’s some interesting debate raging below the line about the tempestuous meeting between Tottenham and Liverpool last night, where Xavi Simons and Cristian Romero were sent off but Micky van de Ven, whose challenge ended Alexander Isak’s involvement was not.

Thomas Frank was certainly of the view that Simons sending off was unjust. “I don’t like those types of red card because I think the game is gone if that’s a red card,” he told the BBC soon after the game finished. “I don’t think it’s a reckless tackle. I don’t think it’s exceptional force. We have the referee’s call and that was a yellow, so that’s why I don’t think that’s a red.”

Britain’s Anthony Joshua knocked out Jake Paul in the sixth round of their money-spinning heavyweight fight on a surreal Friday night in Miami, where boxing’s oldest realities converged with a new, attention-driven world

• Analysis: Jake Paul’s artless spectacle robbed boxing of its democratic dream

As rising seas salinise the soils of the Venice lagoon, scientists and chefs are turning to long-forgotten wild herbs

On the scrubby banks of the rural swathes of the Venice lagoon, an evening chorus of cicadas underscores the distant whine of farmers’ three-wheeled minivans. Dotted along the brackish fringes of the cultivated plots are scatterings of silvery-green bushes – sea fennel.

This plant is a member of a group of remarkable organisms known as halophytes – plant species that thrive in saltwater. Long overlooked and found growing in the in-between spaces – saltmarshes, coastlines, the fringes of lagoons – halophytes straddle boundaries in both ecosystems and cuisines. But with shifting agricultural futures, this may be about to change.

The Norwegian star was considering giving up acting to be a carpenter when Joachim Trier wrote The Worst Person in the World for her. Now the pair have teamed up again – but she refuses to get carried away by all the praise

One day in July 2021, Renate Reinsve got up, read the Guardian and promptly vomited. It was – mostly – a happy kind of hurl. The Norwegian actor was at Cannes, where The Worst Person in the World had premiered the previous evening. Joachim Trier’s film, which follows Julie, a young woman on a capricious yet uncompromising quest for meaning and happiness, was the first Reinsve had ever starred in. During the screening, she decided “this movie is great, but I am shit!” Hours later she was confronting the possibility that she might be one of the greatest actors of her generation. This newspaper’s verdict – “A star is born” – was, she said, “too much to process, so I just started puking. My whole image of myself and what I could do just changed instantly.”

Reinsve went on to win the best actress prize at the festival. Her performance would later be shortlisted for a Bafta and a slew of other awards (the film itself received two Oscar nominations). The accolades certainly helped on the self-esteem front, but the 38-year-old knew she mustn’t let the acclaim go to her head. “I was very overwhelmed and then I sat with it and was like: OK, I need to keep a distance to this somehow,” she recalls, sitting on the sofa in a cavernous hotel suite in Soho, London. “You can’t take criticism too personally and you can’t take praise too personally.” Such affirmation, I imagine, must become addictive. “Yes. And everything in life shall pass. So the aim was to keep everything a little bit even and keep the image I have of myself intact.”

Jewish leaders call for federal royal commission into Bondi beach attack that killed 15 people as huge crowd marks one week anniversary

• Victims of Bondi beach shooting

• Ten minutes of terror: how the Bondi mass shooting unfolded in real time – video

• Follow the latest live updates

Jewish leaders have called for a federal royal commission into the Bondi terror attack, as some members of the crowd booed Anthony Albanese on arrival at the commemoration marking one week since 15 people were killed on the first day of Hanukah.

The president of the NSW Board of Jewish Deputies, David Ossip, said it “cannot be disputed” that a federal royal commission was needed, to loud cheers and applause from the crowd of up to 15,000 people gathered at Bondi, where a minute’s silence was held at 6.47pm, the time the attack began.

The chancellor is pursuing a risky quest for European leadership, and last week’s setback over Russian reparations is unlikely to knock him off course

Friedrich Merz’s three-month bid to catapult Germany into the role of undisputed leader of Europe has come unstuck.

His call for Europe to hand Ukraine access to €201bn (£176bn) in frozen Russian central bank assets via a reparations loan was rejected at a decisive European Council meeting in Brussels.

• Tourists’ skipper ‘absolutely’ has energy to stay in role

• Head coach after defeat: ‘Sitting here 3-0, it didn’t work’

As Ben Stokes stressed his commitment to leading England after losing the Ashes inside 11 days, Brendon McCullum gave his first admission of regret. Poor preparation has been widely blamed for this failed tour of Australia and, in that regard, the head coach was prepared to hold his hand up.

Speaking after the 82-run defeat at Adelaide Oval that sees Australia 3-0 up with two Tests in Melbourne and Sydney to come, Stokes offered a simple “absolutely” when asked if he had the energy to continue as captain but played down England’s threadbare warmup period.

Former Manchester United player discusses culinary and cultural surprises, feeling more mature and how he learned Korean

Jesse Lingard says his Korean is decent, good enough to make himself understood when out for dinner and the shocks do not stop there. The former Manchester United and England midfielder was always going to throw himself into his K-League adventure with FC Seoul and now that it is over after two years, a new chapter beckoning when the January transfer window opens, the 33-year-old certainly has the tales to tell.

It was the little things as much as anything else, the cultural quirks. And the bigger ones, of course – such as the time he watched an octopus squirm in front of him before eating it. “The food is different, obviously, and I tried live octopus,” Lingard says. “It was moving. I was scared at first but it was all right.”

The feeling among fans is anticlimatic as ‘businessmen have appropriated the ball that used to belong to the people’

Jonathan Zamora was seven years old the last time Mexico hosted the World Cup in 1986. “I witnessed perhaps one of the most sublime moments in the history of football,” he says, retelling a story that has become a pillar of his life.

Zamora, a Mexican football fan, does not remember how his father, Antonio, got tickets to the 1986 World Cup quarter-final between Argentina and England at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City. But he does clearly remember the goals: first when Diego Maradona used his “hand of God” to push the ball past England goalkeeper Peter Shilton. And then the “goal of the century”, where the Argentinian went on a slalom run, dribbling past half the England team before scoring.

The winners and runners-up of this year’s RSPCA Young Photographer Awards have been announced with an image of a stag lit up in the darkness by Thomas Durrant, 17, from London, named the overall winner

PostNord’s decision to end service on 30 December comes after fear over ‘increasing digitalisation’ of Danish society

The Danish postal service will deliver its last letter on 30 December, ending a more than 400-year-old tradition.

Announcing the decision earlier this year to stop delivering letters, PostNord, formed in 2009 in a merger of the Swedish and Danish postal services, said it would cut 1,500 jobs in Denmark and remove 1,500 red postboxes amid the “increasing digitalisation” of Danish society.

Steps to help combat fraud in which criminals use AI-generated replica of a person’s voice to deceive victims

The voicemail from your son is alarming. He has just been in a car accident and is highly stressed. He needs money urgently, although it is not clear why, and he gives you some bank details for a transfer.

You consider yourself wise to other scams, and have ignored texts claiming to be from him and asking for cash. But you can hear his voice and he is clearly in trouble.

Restaurants, bars and shops are happy to be back after Storm Claudia – but there are fears for the future

“It was heart-wrenching,” says Andrea Sholl, recalling the Friday night last month when flood waters started rising inside Bar 125, the restaurant she and her husband, Martin, own in the Welsh border town of Monmouth.

The Sholls and a couple of colleagues were still clearing up after a busy evening serving diners when the building started to fill with water at about 1am.

Acute-on-chronic liver failure will be treated with device that cleans patients’ blood corrupted by toxins

The NHS is to trial a potentially life-saving new treatment for a deadly liver disease that causes the body’s vital organs to fail.

Thirteen major hospitals will use a device that cleans patients’ blood that has become corrupted by toxins as a result of them developing acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF).

A protest barring MPs from pubs is exposing deeper tensions between politicians and the communities they represent

Labour MPs heading back to their constituencies this weekend will do so with a sense of relief that another turbulent term in British politics is over. But those hoping to pitch up at their local pub for a restorative pint with colleagues and constituents may find festive cheer is in short supply. In fact, some may not be allowed through the door.

For the past few weeks, pubs across the country have been putting up signs declaring “No Labour MPs” in protest at changes to business rates announced by the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, in her latest budget.

From preparing safe topics to taking silly games, we ask the experts how to avoid falling out with your nearest and dearest – before, during and after the big day

• I threw a potato. Mum brandished a knife – would whole-family therapy save our Christmas?

Plan breaks in your schedule
Spending time with difficult family members requires careful planning, says Katie Rose, a therapist registered with the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and the founder of TherapEast. “If you’re going to stay with somebody for three or four days, find ways to politely give yourself a break. Go for lunch with friends who live locally, or book a ticket to a museum or a National Trust place so that you have ways of getting yourself out of the house.” Tamara Hoyton, a senior practitioner for Relate at Family Action, agrees that scheduling breaks is a good strategy. “Arrange a trip out, or offer to cook so that you’re away from the living room where everyone else is,” she says.

The conviction of Jimmy Lai in Hong Kong is another hostile act. How can Britain ignore Beijing’s provocations and human rights abuses?

The UK pushed hard to secure the release of Jimmy Lai, the newspaper publisher and British citizen who was a leading light in Hong Kong’s brutally suppressed pro-democracy movement. So, too, did press freedom and human rights campaigners. But the Beijing-appointed high court judges in the former colony convicted him anyway, finding Lai guilty last week on fake charges of trying to “destabilise” the Chinese Communist party (CCP). For Xi Jinping, China’s dictator-emperor, there is no greater crime.

Protesting to China’s ambassador, the UK’s foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, condemned the trial as “politically motivated”. She’s right, of course – but her angry words will make no difference. Beijing’s contempt for Britain’s views is as painfully obvious as the UK’s weakness and indecision in the face of Chinese hubris. The breaking of its solemn promise to respect Hong Kong’s freedoms after the 1997 handover typifies the arrogance and untrustworthiness of Xi’s CCP.

Simon Tisdall is a Guardian foreign affairs commentator

These types of relationships can be challenging – you need to have an honest conversation about what you both want

My partner and I are professionals in our early 30s. We’ve been together for five years, and long-distance for the last three, but have just moved back in together.

While we were long-distance, we both had difficulties in our work. She had important exams, and it’s taken a long time for me to get into my career. Over the last year, our relationship has become strained, and it feels as if we’ve grown apart. Now it feels as if we aren’t friends, let alone partners. This is complicated by our work shifts. Despite now living together, we still barely see each other.

Blue cheese and honey gougeres, roast squash soup with melting brie, mushroom and celeriac pithivier, roast miso brussels sprouts, and a caramelised pear and rosemary pudding

Christmas for me began as a summertime celebration in New Zealand, with long days and warm evenings. Twenty-plus years on, the wintry cosiness of a UK Christmas has taken hold. Now, my essentials include perfectly crisp roast potatoes with plenty of gravy, and sprouts (non-negotiable). Even my young niece and nephew love them, which is a small victory I’m quietly proud of.

• Williams hits Moore in OT after Bears steal onside

• Chicago erase 10-point deficit as Love exits concussed

• Eagles clinch NFC East despite miscues, late brawl

Caleb Williams threw a 46-yard touchdown pass to DJ Moore in overtime, and the Chicago Bears overcame a 10-point deficit late in the fourth quarter Saturday night for a 22-16 win over the Green Bay Packers, who lost quarterback Jordan Love to a concussion.

The Bears (11-4) extended their lead in the NFC North to one and a half games over the Packers (9-5-1) with two left to play and got some payback for a loss at Lambeau Field two weeks earlier. It was Chicago’s sixth win this season after trailing in the final two minutes and its most incredible – Green Bay had a win probability of 99%.

• Manager says the ban Xavi Simons faces is ‘too harsh’

• Slot says his ‘gut feeling’ on Isak injury is not positive

A frustrated Thomas Frank took aim at two decisions, both involving the use of the video assistant referee system, that helped swing proceedings in Liverpool’s favour during his Tottenham side’s stormy 2-1 defeat on Saturday night.

Spurs finished with nine men after Cristian Romero was dismissed while they sought an equaliser in added time. But it was the red card handed to Xavi Simons in the first half, upgraded from a yellow after the VAR had slowed down his late challenge on Virgil van Dijk, that infuriated Frank the most. He cut an animated figure on the touchline as Simons departed, and said later that John Brooks’s original decision should have stood.

Attackers wound 10 others in Bekkersdal after opening fire at tavern patrons and ‘randomly’ shooting in the street, police say

Gunmen killed nine people and wounded 10 others in an attack at a township outside Johannesburg, police said on Sunday, in the second mass shooting in South Africa in December.

Police initially said 10 people were killed but later revised the toll.

He’s achieved an Ashes feat that few others have. But he’s still missing an outright win in England

• Starc breaks England hearts again as Australia retain Ashes

While it took longer than expected on the fifth day in Adelaide, eventually it was done. A series won, the Ashes retained for another year and a half until they next go up for grabs in England. For Pat Cummins, this makes three consecutive Ashes series captained without giving up the urn. The feat leaves him in sparse but fine company: the others to do it are Joe Darling, Don Bradman, Richie Benaud, Mike Brearley, Allan Border and Mark Taylor.

It made things neater that Steve Smith missed this third Test, having captained the first two wins in Cummins’ absence, so that it didn’t feel like the full-time captain was swooping in to hoover up the stand-in’s lunch. Those situations can be odd, like Adam Gilchrist filling in to lead what was very much Ricky Ponting’s team, captaining two wins in India in 2004 before Ponting returned from injury once the series was decided. Who gets credit for the win?

Who was Santa, really? Aged eight, I devised a cunning plan to catch him in the act, involving a booby trap and a camera. Unfortunately, the joke was on me …

It was Christmas Eve, 1987. The cold war was beginning to emit its last frosty guffs, Thatcher had set her sights on gay children, and Michael Fish was keeping his head down. In England’s deep south, my sister and I conspired in our bedroom. We are twins: she got the brains; I, being the eldest by a full six minutes, was to inherit the estates and titles, except there were none because my idealistic pinko parents had spent their working lives in public service.

Earlier in the year, my sister had attempted to prove the existence of God. Worried about the health of her pet rabbit, Wodger, she penned him a letter pleading for help, with a rather clever “Please tick if you have read this” box at the end.