Mikel Arteta was the first victim and the first beneficiary of the new law changes after Arsenal won the Community Shield 4-1 on penalties after a 1-1 draw against Manchester City.
Gunners boss Arteta was booked in the first half by referee Stuart Attwell for protesting a decision, part of the new clampdown on the touchline behaviour of managers.
But the fiery Spaniard was celebrating after the new law on timewasting and keeping the ball in play – meaning extended periods of stoppage time – allowed his side to equalise with 101 minutes on the clock.
“It is really good to do that,” he said. “It was going too far and now teams are going to have to think twice. We have to prepare to play 100 minutes. It is going to happen every single week.”
On his yellow card, Arteta added: “I cannot change my behaviour in three days and I can’t say tomorrow that we play with no offsides and what is the linesman doing? I try my best.”
Pep Guardiola felt the amount of stoppage time was excessive even before the initial eight minutes stretched to 13 after a clash of heads between Kyle Walker and Thomas Partey.
City’s treble-winning boss now also expects matches to regularly extend to 100 minutes and even longer.
“We have to get used to it,” he said. “I had the feeling, not because we were winning 1-0, but that not much happened to extend it for eight minutes.
“It’s a good question for the international board and people because they don’t consult with managers and players and we have to accept it with this amount of games.
“Now the games will be 100 minutes. Nothing happened today and there was eight minutes. They extend for goals. If the score is 4-3, you put 45 seconds on for seven goals, tomorrow morning I am (still) here playing.”
Young forward Cole Palmer, who was on as a substitute for the quiet Erling Haaland, appeared to have won it for City in normal time after a fine curling finish.
But Leandro Trossard’s shot deflected in – off Manuel Akanji – to earn Arsenal a 1-1 draw and take the game to a penalty shoot-out.
The Gunners scored all four of their spot-kicks, while Kevin De Bruyne fired against the crossbar and Rodri’s weak effort was saved by Aaron Ramsdale.
Fabio Vieira stepped up to hit the final penalty with Arsenal winning the shootout 4-1 to land the first piece of silverware of the campaign and go some way to lifting a mental block after last season’s disappointment at losing the title to City.
“It feels great. I don’t think it gets much better than winning a trophy at Wembley against the best team in the world, and especially the way we have done it,” added Arteta.
“It’s great if the players are convinced they can beat every team. I think we showed a real determination and fight to win the game.
“The reason why we are here to win trophies for this club and make it successful. I have seen so many happy and proud people.”
City lost last year’s Community Shield to Liverpool and although they did not do too badly over the rest of the season, Guardiola was still irritated by the defeat.
“(We’ve lost) three in a row,” he added. “We came here to win it. We were so close, but winning or losing, I know the position of the team.
“We would love to win today but sometimes you have to accept that.”
Bristol City Women 0-4 Man City Women: Hosts relegated as Fowler double inspires WSL leaders
Mary Fowler scored twice to set WSL leaders Manchester City on their way to a 4-0 rout of Bristol City, who suffered relegation as a result, on Sunday.
With Arsenal having drawn with Everton earlier in the day, Man City knew a victory would be enough to take the title race down to two teams.
That victory duly arrived in emphatic fashion, with all four of Man City's goals arriving in the second half.
Fowler's fantastic strike opened the scoring in the 62nd minute, with the Australia international doubling her tally soon after, paving the way for an Amy Rodgers own goal and Alex Greenwood's late header to seal a huge victory.
Arsenal are now out of the title race, with Chelsea - who have two games in hand on Gareth Taylor's team - the only side capable of catching Man City.
The Robins, meanwhile, will be playing in the second tier again next term.
Data Debrief: Bristol heading down with a whimper
Bristol City have failed to score in their last five games in the WSL, a run of 544 minutes without a goal.
They mustered just 0.09 expected goals (xG) to Man City's 3.4, with the visitors having now kept a clean sheet in nine of their 20 league games this season.
De Rossi demands more from 'tired' Roma ahead of crunch run
Daniele De Rossi acknowledged his Roma team may be tired, but he insisted they must not allow themselves to be embarrassed.
Roma fought back to draw 2-2 with last season's Serie A champions Napoli in a pulsating fixture on Sunday.
Tammy Abraham's late header secured a point for De Rossi's team, who took the lead through Paulo Dybala's penalty before going behind to goals from Matias Olivera and Victor Osimhen.
With Serie A set to have five teams in the Champions League next season, Roma occupy fifth spot with four matches remaining, but sixth-placed Atalanta are just two points behind with a game in hand.
There is also the small matter of a Europa League semi-final against Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen on the cards over the coming weeks, and De Rossi set the stall out.
"We drew, it is not a result to throw away, but it is not the result or the performance that we wanted," Roma coach Daniele De Rossi told Sky Sports Italia.
"At times you can steal the ball off Napoli, but we then gave it back again too many times. Napoli had a lot of chances in the first half, we did better in the second, but we have to do better.
"Look, we are tired, but we cannot start thinking that we’re tired and that means we can be embarrassed in the final few weeks of the season."
Roma host Leverkusen on Thursday before taking on Juventus on May 5, with a crunch clash against Atalanta – who are also into the Europa League semi-finals – set to follow after the away leg against Xabi Alonso's team.
Key to a successful end to the campaign for Roma will be keeping Dybala fit. The Argentine has been involved in the joint-most goals (12) in Serie A since the turn of the year, scoring nine and setting up three, level with Juve's Dusan Vlahovic.
PSG's latest Ligue 1 title arrives as Monaco lose to Lyon
Paris Saint-Germain have been crowned as Ligue 1 champions after Lyon overcame Monaco 3-2 on Sunday.
A 4-1 midweek win over Lorient ensured that one more victory would be enough for Luis Enrique's team to get over the line, but PSG failed to get the job done themselves when they faced relegation-threatened Le Havre on Saturday.
That game was the 700th match of the QSI era at PSG, and the club's 1,900th in France's top flight.
However, PSG's wait to win their third straight title did not last long, as less than 24 hours later, Lyon – who will face the Parisians in the final of the Coupe de France at the end of May – came out on top in a topsy turvy encounter with second-placed Monaco.
Substitute Malick Fofana was the matchwinner for Lyon, and ultimately the player who handed the title to PSG.
Wissam Ben Yedder had put Monaco ahead in the opening minute, but quickfire goals from Alexandre Lacazette and Said Benrahma turned the match on its head before half-time.
Ben Yedder netted his second to restore parity on the hour mark, and thought he had sealed his hat-trick when he volleyed in from a free-kick, only to have strayed offside.
With only a win good enough for Monaco to stay in the fight, the visitors were then caught out in the 84th minute, with Fofana racing onto Lacazette's throughball and finishing calmly.
After a dismal start to the season, relegation looked a real possibility for Lyon, but they are now, with three games remaining, still in with a shout of qualifying for Europe.
PSG on the other hand now have 12 Ligue 1 titles to their name, with 10 of those coming under QSI's ownership. Aside from the COVID-impacted 2019-20 season, five of their last six league titles have been secured before the start of May.
It also means Luis Enrique remains in the running for a treble in his first season at the club, with PSG taking on Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League semi-finals next week.
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