Liverpool's title to lose, PSG snags Super Cup and Robinson named top USMNT player
Kick your Monday off with all the news from this past weekend
Happy New Year!
We kick off the first “Soccer Monday” of 2025 with plenty of goals, missed opportunities and, yes, even some silverware.
Title chances have come into fuller view as we enter a new calendar year — yet it’s the next four months that will determine who will be crowned the best club teams from across Europe.
In other words, there’s still plenty of soccer to be played. For now, we can only focus and examine the games from this past weekend. Here are the biggest storylines from the first weekend of 2025:
Premier League: Arsenal squanders another chance
Arsenal isn’t playing like they’re chasing anything. There is no urgency. No desire. No anything.
That’s the biggest takeaway after Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Brighton.
In fact, the Gunners haven’t created much offense for most of the season and as a result have been unable to take advantage of Manchester City’s sudden collapse.
They should win games against Brighton, who are currently in 10th place. Taking the point and moving on won’t get them the title.
Everyone wants a title race. Compare Liverpool (currently in first place with 40 points after Sunday’s 2-2 draw at home against Manchester United) to Arsenal (three points behind them in second place) and there’s no comparison. This is Liverpool’s title to lose in 2025.
Ligue 1: PSG captures French Super Cup
We’re in Super Cup season across Europe. In France, Ousmane Dembele tallied a stoppage-time winner as Paris Saint-Germain defeated AS Monaco 1-0 to win the Champions Trophy on Sunday at the Stadium 974 in Doha, Qatar.
The French international, left unmarked near the back post, met a low cross from the left by Fabian Ruiz in the second minute of added time for the goal.
PSG won the trophy — also known as the French Super Cup — for the third straight time and a record-extending 13th overall. PSG won the league and cup double last season, with Monaco finishing second Ligue 1.
“The result reflects our domination,” PSG manage Luis Enrique told reporters.
He added that fighting to get a foal until the end is “something very positive and that we must continue to value.”
USMNT: Antonee Robinson voted top male American player
It may not be a Golden Globe (which were awarded in Los Angeles on Sunday night), but Antonee Robinson was voted the 2024 U.S. Soccer Male Player of the Year.
The 27-year-old defender was rewarded on Sunday for a standout year, winning 55% of the weighted vote. He beat out nominees that included fellow USMNT stars Folarin Balogun, Ricardo Pepi, Christian Pulisic and Tim Ream.
Robinson, who plays for Premier League side Fulham, started 11 games for the USMNT in 2024, including all four of the side’s four clean sheets. Nicknamed “Jedi,” Robinson also had the game-winning assist in the CONCACAF Nations League quarterfinal win against Jamaica in November.
“It’s an incredible honor,” Robinson said. “Representing our country isn’t something you do for individual accolades. It’s always about putting the team first and trying to do my best for the boys and for the country, so to be rewarded for that is an amazing feeling.”
It marked Robinson’s first U.S. Soccer Male Player of the Year award, having previously been nominated in 2022.
In other news: Napoli moved three points clear atop Serie A after winning at Fiorentina 3-0 on Saturday. David Neres, Romelu Lukaku and Scott McTominay scored for Antonio Conte’s side, which won its fourth straight following consecutive defeats to Lazio a month ago in the Italian Cup and Serie A. … Barcelona’s request to register Dani Olmo and Pau Víctor for the rest of the season was denied again by the Spanish league and federation. The players were registered only through the end of 2024 and Barcelona failed to meet the league’s financial fair-play rules by the end-of-year deadline. On Saturday, the league and the federation said in a joint statement that even though Barcelona eventually was able to meet the salary-cap rules, the players can’t be registered again after already having been dropped because of the missed deadline. … Argentine midfielder Rodrigo Garro was charged on Sunday with involuntary manslaughter following a crash that killed a motorcyclist in his hometown of General Pico in Argentina's La Pampa province. The 30-year-old victim, Nicolas Chiaraviglio, died at the scene after his motorcycle was struck by a pickup truck early Saturday.