Fernandinho's Manchester City legacy will be different to those fan favourites who have departed the Etihad Stadium over recent seasons but no less impressive.
The veteran defensive midfielder has signed a one-year contract extension until June 2022, which will take him past his 37th birthday.
Speaking after news of the contract was confirmed, Fernandinho said "the job is not yet done" in reference to City's failure to add a maiden Champions League crown to a third Premier League title in four seasons under Pep Guardiola when they lost 1-0 to Chelsea in Porto.
A haul of 12 major honours overall makes him one of the key figures in City's modern era and now the last remaining figurehead of the pre-Guardiola era.
Former City centre-back Nedum Onuoha shared a dressing room with the likes of Vincent Kompany and David Silva, who – along with the recently departed Sergio Aguero – are set to have statues erected outside the ground they graced with such distinction.
Fernandinho's arrival from Shakhtar Donetsk in 2013 for Manuel Pellegrini's maiden season in charge puts him in a slightly different category to those stars who ended a 35-year trophy drought with the 2010-11 FA Cup and a 44-year wait for a league title in 2011-12.
"He's been influential for the club, the amount of games he's played and his influence to this day," Onuoha told Stats Perform last month.
"Leagues had been won at the point [he signed] and he was being brought in to reinforce title challenges Those other people have a slightly different legacy because they weren't at City when City were dominant.
"He came in at a time to try and increase the dominance and improve the dominance. He's done it, he stayed for a long period of time and he has a huge, huge influence.
"That is something that you can't speak ill about because it's very easy for certain players to come in, see a club, feel it out, do well and go somewhere else.
"I don't think many people off the top their heads could name me a player who stayed at a club for 10 years and didn't come through their academy.
"So, for anybody who's stayed that long, it shows the performances have been great, the mentality has been great and they've been liked by the club and the fans.
"I don't think he'll get a statue but I'm pretty sure at some point people will, when he eventually leaves, people will make it abundantly clear that he was one of the most important players for City in this successful period."
Very much in keeping with the style of his club and current manager, Fernandinho's 13,896 successful passes are more than any other Premier League player since the start of 2013-14.
Over the course of that same time period, he has also won the most games (171 – one more than team-mate Raheem Sterling) and – in a nod to his penchant for the dark arts – conceded the most fouls (345) and collected the most yellow cards (52).
Although he was no longer a first-choice starter in 2020-21, Fernandinho has the third-most appearances under Guardiola in all competitions (211), while his influence after being handed the captain's armband cannot be quantified in numbers but was celebrated as a key factor in City regaining the Premier League and lifting the EFL Cup.
"I'm not sure we can disregard people like Kevin De Bruyne, who's been there for a lot years, as well Raheem Sterling who's been there for a lot of years," Onuoha said.
"There's a group of players in there who represent the core of the football club at this moment in time.
"Even though they might not necessarily be as vocal in a particular way as Fernandinho is, you know, they still have a voice because it's their club, it's their team.
"Fernandinho, because he's a bit older, he can speak in a different manner. Even if he'd been at the club for a year, he could still talk about all his years experienced elsewhere.
"When you have players who have that type of influence, who understand the game, understand the manager because they're closer in and age and things like that, it does make a big, big difference."
I was a mess – David Beckham lays bare pain he suffered after World Cup red card
David Beckham has revealed he still cannot forgive himself for the abuse his family suffered amid the fallout from his red card at the 1998 World Cup, which left him a “mess”.
A new Netflix documentary series titled ‘Beckham’ is set for release on Wednesday, looking back on the former Manchester United and Real Madrid midfielder’s career as well as his marriage to Spice Girls singer and fashion designer Victoria.
In episode two, titled ‘Seeing Red’, Beckham, now 48, reflected on the “stupid mistake” which changed his life after he was sent off for kicking the back of Diego Simeone’s leg during the last-16 clash against Argentina in Saint-Etienne.
England went on to lose after a penalty shootout and Beckham found himself centre of a backlash – including a pub hanging up an effigy of the midfielder, who received a hostile reception from rival fans around the country when he returned to action for United the following season.
In the documentary, Victoria Beckham said the continued abuse left her husband “absolutely clinically depressed” as the then 23-year-old tried to deal with the fallout alongside becoming a father for the first time in March 1999.
Beckham admitted the saga “took a toll on me that I never knew myself”.
He said: “I wish there was a pill you could take which could erase certain memories. I made a stupid mistake. It changed my life.
“We were in America (on holiday after the World Cup), just about to have our first baby, and I thought, ‘we will be fine. In a day or two people will have forgotten’.”
Beckham added: “I don’t think I have ever talked about it, just because I can’t. I find it hard to talk through what I went through because it was so extreme.
“Wherever I went, I got abused every single day – to walk down the street and to see people look at you in a certain way, spit at you, abuse you, come up to your face and say some of the things they said, that is difficult.
“I wasn’t eating, I wasn’t sleeping. I was a mess. I didn’t know what to do.”
Beckham added: “It brought a lot of attention that I would never wish on anyone, let alone my parents, and I can’t forgive myself for that.
“That is the tough part of what happened, because I was the one that made the mistake.
“It is only now that I am 47 years old, it is now that I beat myself up about it (still).
“When I have gone through difficult moments, I was able to block it out, but inside it killed me.”
Beckham spoke of the support he received from then Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson and the club as he looked to focus on his football.
“That was the only thing I could control – once I was on the pitch, then I felt safe,” Beckham said.
“Anytime I was kicked during that season, it was like the (opposition team) had got two goals.”
Beckham added: “As horrible as it was to look up to Victoria in the stand (getting that abuse), it was the one thing which spurred me on.”
The Netflix documentary also charts Beckham’s triumphant end to the 1998-99 season, which culminated with United having won the Premier League, FA Cup and a memorable Champions League final against Bayern Munich in Barcelona.
With Paul Scholes and Roy Keane suspended, Beckham played an integral role in United’s comeback win, which was secured by two goals in stoppage time.
Reflecting on the match, Ferguson said: “With David, that night there was something inside him saying, ‘I am not going to let this happen’. It was a personal thing that he had in him, that stubbornness and determination.”
Beckham’s former United and England team-mate Gary Neville was an executive producer of the Netflix documentary.
Neville recalled the way he and Beckham were “absolutely destroying teams” down the right flank for United.
“He was with his crossing. I was supporting him in a way which was to be fair, I would say I was a side dish really. Not the beef. I was the mustard on the side,” Neville said.
“I was subservient because I needed David to go and do something magical. He was practicing free-kicks and I was practicing throw-ins.”
Neville added: “It was telepathic on the pitch. Off the pitch as well, I knew where he was in his mind – it was not enough for him, he wanted to be more than a football player.”
Mykhailo Mudryk trying hard to adapt to Chelsea culture after difficult start
Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino says Mykhailo Mudryk is making a concerted effort to adapt to life in England and fulfil his potential as a “unique” player after an indifferent start to his career at Stamford Bridge.
The Ukrainian moved from Shakhtar Donetsk in January for a fee that could rise to £88million, but he has featured only inconsistently in the starting XI under successive managers and is yet to score his first Blues goal.
He arrived having missed a significant amount of playing time during the previous 12 months after the war in Ukraine caused the suspension of the domestic league, and at the time of Chelsea’s bid he had made only 44 professional appearances for Shakhtar.
It is the first time that the 22-year-old has lived outside of Ukraine, with Pochettino having previously made the point that young players in particular require time to settle into a new culture when moving abroad.
Mudryk has started each of Chelsea’s last three games and has shown flashes of promising in short bursts, including the beginnings of a burgeoning on-field relationship with new striker Nicolas Jackson.
And Pochettino said the winger is making the effort that he expects of his players to integrate as he waits for his expensively assembled side to gel.
“The life of these guys, when they are so young, (it) changed,” said the manager, whose squad with an average age of just over 23 is the youngest in the Premier League this season.
“You pay big money, big change form where they came. Also it’s not about to arrive and to perform when you are young.
“It’s about to adapt, it’s about to help them to settle. Then the most difficult thing is to understand what these guys need to settle and to feel comfortable and to express their talent.
“If you ask me about Misha, he’s a very talented player of course, but you need to go with him very slowly. Cultural and everything is completely different to Latin people, from different countries or part of the world.
“He’s now trying to be more open, to adapt and be more involved in every situation, not only on the field but outside also. I think he’s doing a massive effort to try to integrate himself and to understand better what it means to play like a team.
“He’s unique. I can’t find a player to say he is similar, I can’t remember one. It’s a good challenge for him, and it’s a good challenge for us.”
The manager again refused to blame injuries for his team’s slow start to the season, with as many as 11 players likely to be missing when Chelsea face Fulham at Craven Cottage on Monday in search of just their second league win of the campaign.
There were three players aged 19 or under with no first-team experience named on the bench when the team drew at Bournemouth two weeks ago, and since then Ben Chilwell’s name has been added to an extensive injury list after he limped out of last week’s win over Brighton with a hamstring problem.
“I cannot use the excuse of injuries,” said Pochettino. “The performances have been good. We cannot blame injuries, I think it’s not fair. We played well in every single game and we deserved more, but for different reasons, we didn’t score and we were not clinical enough.
“But we cannot blame injuries. Of course it’s a factor that we need to improve. When you have your whole squad, you increase the level of the team. You put pressure on the players that play because it’s another player waiting for your place. We’re not winning the games that we deserve, but not because of injuries.”
Atalanta and Juventus share stalemate as Atletico Madrid pull off crazy comeback
Juventus were held to a frustrating goalless Serie A draw by Atalanta with only one point still separating both sides in the table.
Nicolo Fagioli and Moise Kean tested Juan Musso in the first half, but Atalanta had plenty of opportunities after the break to earn a winner as Wojciech Szczesny got his fingertips to Luis Muriel’s free-kick before Teun Koopmeiners had two good shots in the closing stages.
Bologna sit three points below Atalanta in the table after they beat Empoli 3-0, with Riccardo Orsolini starring after earning his first Serie A hat-trick, helping his side to their second win this season.
Roma also earned their second win of the season as goals from Romelu Lukaku and Lorenzo Pellegrini secured a 2-0 win against Frosinone, while Alan Matturro’s own goal salvaged a point for Udinese, who drew 2-2 with Genoa.
Albert Gudmundsson’s brace gave Genoa the advantage before Matturro turned the ball into his own net in stoppage time and Sandi Lovric was dismissed just minutes later.
Angel Correa’s brace helped Atletico Madrid come from behind to earn a 3-2 win against LaLiga rivals Cadiz.
Atletico faced an uphill task after Lucas Pires and Roger Marti put the visitors in front.
However, Correa helped Diego Simeone’s side to three points either side of Nahuel Molina’s goal and they move into fourth.
View this post on InstagramThey sit four points clear of Real Betis, who beat Valencia 3-0 thanks to goals from Assane Diao, Marc Roca and Abde Ezzalzouli, while Jose Arnaiz Diaz and Ante Budimir’s goals were enough for Osasuna to beat Alaves 2-0.
At the bottom of the table, Granada came from behind to draw 3-3 with fellow strugglers Almeria.
Colombian forward Luis Suarez wreaked havoc, scoring a hat-trick within the final six minutes of the first half before Granada came back into the game with Myrto Uzuni scoring in the 86th minute to rescue a point.
Lyon’s winless run continued in Ligue 1 after they were beaten 2-0 by high-flying Reims.
Goals from Marshall Munetsi and Yunis Abdelhamid handed Lyon their fifth league loss of the season and they sit rock bottom of the table.
Reims’ win sees them close in on Brest, who missed the chance to go top of the table after drawing 0-0 with Nice.
Lille beat Havre 2-0 to go sixth in the table, while Toulouse returned to winning ways with a 3-0 win against Metz and Akor Adams’ brace helped Montpellier beat Lorient 3-0.
View this post on InstagramRennes ended their run of five consecutive league draws after beating Nantes 3-1 to move into sixth.
In the Bundesliga, Darmstadt earned their first win of the season after beating Werder Bremen 4-2.
Die Lilien scored twice in each half and held off a potential late comeback from Bremen with two quick goals in the second half.
Vincenzo Grifo and Philipp Lienhart’s goals were enough for Freiburg to beat Augsburg 2-0 in the other game on Sunday.
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