Barcelona are back; back in form, back in the Champions League places in LaLiga and back looking forward to facing neighbours Espanyol again.
After a 4-2 win against Atletico Madrid last time out, following a transfer window widely considered to be a success, the Blaugrana are on the up.
Still a huge 15 points off the pace set by bitter rivals Real Madrid, there will be no title tilt, but Barca can this week focus on their local foes.
A few short weeks ago, Espanyol might have wondered if this could be their opportunity to turn around a dismal run in their biggest fixture.
Now, Xavi – whose coaching career at Barca began with a 1-0 home win over Espanyol – takes his team to Cornella-El Prat with the players full of confidence, as Stats Perform finds.
Record-setting derby dominance
Xavi was actually in the Barcelona team the last time they lost a Derbi Barceloni in LaLiga. So, is that a positive omen for Espanyol? Probably not. The reason the retired midfielder was involved is because that result came all the way back in February 2009.
Since that 2-1 Camp Nou reverse, Barca have gone 23 without defeat against Espanyol, tying the longest unbeaten run in any derby in LaLiga history. Anything other than an Espanyol win on Sunday would surpass Real Madrid's 2000-2013 sequence against Atletico for the outright record.
In this stretch, the Blaugrana have recorded 18 wins and five draws, meaning they now have 101 victories against Espanyol in LaLiga. Only Espanyol again, against Madrid (104), have ever lost more matches to any one opponent in the competition.
As a player, Xavi had a role in 21 of those successes – his most against any team in LaLiga – with the 2009 result one of only two Espanyol wins against the great midfielder.
Blaugrana back in form
Xavi's coaching career will do well to come close to matching his playing achievements – both in this fixture and as a whole – but there have been promising signs in recent matches.
Having beaten Deportivo Alaves before Atletico, Barca are looking for a third LaLiga win in a row. They last achieved such a run in April 2021 (six matches).
By contrast, Espanyol have lost their previous two and are winless in four, putting 11 points and nine places between themselves and Barca. At the end of 2021, just two points and two places had separated the pair, with Espanyol ninth and Barca seventh.
Four-midable or four-tunate?
As much as another victory on Sunday would be treasured, the success against Atletico was a real statement win for Xavi, seeing Barca net four in a single match for the first time since the season-opening 4-2 defeat of Real Sociedad.
Barca had been the last team to score four against Atleti in LaLiga, too, with Xavi in the line-up for the 4-1 triumph in December 2012.
In each of those games, however, the scoreline has not quite told the whole story. In 2012, Barca outperformed their 1.13 expected goals by 2.87. This time, they far exceeded their 0.63 xG – that difference of 3.37 the largest for any team in a LaLiga match this season.
Whether Barca can be quite so clinical on a consistent basis moving forward is another matter. Jordi Alba's outrageous volley from a Dani Alves pass was worth just 0.05 xG.
Best form of attack is...
With Alves scoring as well as assisting Alba and Ronald Araujo also on the scoresheet, three of Barca's four goals against Atleti came from defenders. Only Villarreal can match their eight such strikes this season.
Alves, the fourth-oldest player to net in LaLiga this century, will not add to his tally this week, though, after becoming the first Barca player since at least 2004-05 to score, assist and be sent off in the same league match.
But Espanyol will still have to contend with Adama Traore, who might have also been playing in defence had he joined Tottenham as a wing-back instead of returning to Camp Nou in a natural attacking role.
Traore impressed on his second Barca debut with an assist for Gavi, meaning he has two goal involvements in three games in Europe's top five leagues – as many as in his previous 25 appearances. Espanyol have been warned.
Aaron Rodgers will soon make a decision on his Green Bay Packers future after winning his fourth NFL MVP award and second in a row.
Rodgers seemed set to leave the Packers as the reigning MVP last year as he pushed for a move – and that scenario could yet play out after the quarterback won again for 2021.
But the 38-year-old does not intend for another saga to follow this offseason.
While there is no guarantee Rodgers will be returning to Green Bay, he at least plans to make a prompt call.
Speaking after his MVP recognition, the controversial QB – in the spotlight this season for his vaccine status as well as his future plans – said: "I have not made any decision yet."
Rodgers added: "I'll make a decision in due time and not a ton of time. I'll give the team plenty of time to do what they got to do.
"And I think that time is coming. There will be a decision in the near future. And I'm not going to keep a lot of people waiting."
Fellow great Tom Brady has retired since exiting the playoffs, like Rodgers, in the NFC Divisional Round.
After losing to the sixth-seeded San Francisco 49ers, the possibility of a similar decision remains for Rodgers.
"I talked at length at various times about being comfortable walking away and just not playing," he said. "And I don't want to create more questions than I probably already have, but I don't fear retirement and I don't fear moving on.
"I'm very proud of what I've accomplished, proud that I've accomplished it in Green Bay over the last 17 years, and I'm excited about the future, whatever that ends up being or looking like.
"I'm also still highly competitive and still a bitter taste from the Divisional game. So [there is] definitely a lot to weigh."
Maria Sakkari is handling the pressure of playing as top seed in a WTA Tour-level tournament for the first time, as she put herself to within one win of the final at the St Petersburg Ladies Open.
The Greek world number seven saw off a stern test from Elise Mertens on Friday, winning 7-6 (9-7) 6-2 to reach the semi-finals.
Sakkari had to salvage three set points in the opener, but eventually came out on top in the tie-break at the first time of asking.
Even with a comfortable lead in the second set, she failed to take the first three match points on offer, but got the fourth over the line to progress to her first semi-final of the season.
Sakkari, 26, previously reached the St Petersburg semi-final in 2020, where she lost to Elena Rybakina.
"When you're down in the score, you try to play more aggressively and [Elise] was playing really good in the last couple of games," Sakkari explained.
"She came up with good serves and solid shots from the baseline. I just fought hard."
Next up
Irina-Camelia Begu stands in the way of Sakkari and a place in the final.
The unseeded Romanian overcame two-time grand slam champion Petra Kvitova in the last 16 and defeated Tereza Martincova 6-4 6-2 in her last-eight tie.
It took just 85 minutes for Begu to secure her place in a fourth semi-final of her career at WTA 500 level or higher, but the first since 2017 in Moscow.
Kontaveit continues remarkable indoor run
World number nine Anett Kontaveit will face Jelena Ostapenko in the other semi-final, after ousting Tokyo 2020 gold medallist Belinda Bencic 7-6 (9-7) 6-2.
After her defeat of Bencic, second seed Kontaveit has now won 18 successive matches at indoor tournaments. She is the first player since Justine Henin in 2010 to go on such a streak.
Last year, the Estonian won titles in Ostrava, Moscow and Cluj-Napoca, which form part of this run.
Ostapenko, meanwhile, beat Aliaksandra Sasnovich 7-6 (7-5) 4-6 6-3 to take her place in the last four. The 2017 French Open champion has only lost to top-10 players so far in 2022 (Paula Badosa and Barbora Krejcikova).
Wayne Rooney said his "judgement was affected" when explaining comments he made about wanting to injure an opponent while playing for Manchester United against Chelsea in 2006.
The Reds Devils' all-time leading goalscorer, now manager at financially stricken Championship side Derby County, recounted how he changed his studs to the "long metal ones" as he wanted to "hurt someone" when recalling his mindset ahead of the game at Stamford Bridge.
Former Blues captain John Terry, an ex-England team-mate of Rooney's, later tweeted to say: "@WayneRooney is this when you left your stud in my foot?", although the addition of laughing face emojis suggested there were no hard feelings.
Rooney has provided an explanation of his comments to the Football Association and said how he believes his mental health was behind his feelings to want to hurt an opponent.
The Derby boss actually suffered a broken metatarsal in that match following a challenge with Paulo Ferreira.
"I think, as I said, I've been very open about my state of mind. And as I've said, a couple of nights ago, that was a feeling," he told a news conference ahead of Derby's Championship clash with Middlesbrough.
"I didn't go onto the pitch and say, 'right, I'm going to hurt and injure someone'. That was a feeling I had.
"And obviously, I had a tackle with John Terry, which was a good, honest, 50-50 tackle between two players, no issues, and obviously the FA have asked for my response to that. And I've given them my response. So, there's not really much to say on that.
"I gave them my response yesterday, so they haven't responded.
"It's obviously private what I've said to the FA, but I'm sure if you look at how I've said things on that, I'm sure you'll have an idea of what I've said.
"There's not really much more to say. I've given my response to the FA, as asked, and I'll wait for what comes back from them.
"I spoke to people to try and help me get through that [period], which was the toughest part really at the start.
"In doing this documentary ['Rooney' – the Amazon Prime Video film], I had to be open and honest and some very hard subjects personally for me to talk about.
"I've been getting media exposure since I was 16 and I've been judged on many things.
"Sometimes it was my own fault, but I wanted to give my point of view of feelings I had, when you're down and you're struggling inside. Your judgement is affected.
"Seeing some of the young players' decisions they're making over the last couple of years, and seeing them get judged and not knowing what the causes of that is, whether they're struggling as well."
Saturday sees us pass the halfway point of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, with six medals on the line in China's capital.
More drama awaits in the snowboarding as the first mixed team snowboard cross takes place at the Olympics, while Japan's Kobayashi Ryoyu looks to cement his place as the world's premier ski jumper.
One of the more intriguing non-medal events of the day will see the United States and Canada face off in the men's ice hockey, the first time that the two nations have met since Canada beat their rivals 1-0 in the semi-finals at Sochi 2014.
Here, Stats Perform previews each of the day's medal events.
Biathlon
Norway's Johannes Thingnes Boe already has two medals from these Games, but is aiming to arguably win his most important one on Saturday in the men's 10km sprint, the only one that eluded him at Pyeongchang 2018.
He will likely face fierce competition from France's Quentin Fillon Maillet, who won gold in the individual biathlon on Tuesday, while Sweden's Sebastian Samuelsson could also be one to keep an eye on.
Samuelsson currently leads the World Cup standings and finished ahead of both Boe and Fillon Maillet in consecutive sprint events in Ostersund earlier in the season.
Cross-country skiing
The women's 4x5km relay takes place on Saturday, with Norway hoping to successfully defend their title from Pyeongchang.
Norway has won two of the last three golds in this race, with Sweden taking the win at Sochi 2014.
Skeleton
Women's skeleton is celebrating its 20th year on the Olympic programme, and Germany's Tina Hermann will be hoping to replicate the success of compatriot Christopher Grotheer, who won the men's gold on Friday.
Hermann won the test event at this track in October, and sits in third place on a time of two minutes, 4.57 seconds after the first two heats on Friday.
Australia's Jaclyn Narracott is in first place heading into the final two heats on two minutes, ahead of another German, Hannah Neise.
Ski jumping
The men's large hill event qualifying saw Norway's Marius Lindvik and Halvor Egner Granerud take first and second respectively, and both will be fancied in Saturday's final.
Granerud was the 2020-21 overall World Cup winner, but he and his compatriot will have to look out for Japan's Kobayashi Ryoyu, arguably the favourite for gold. The 25-year-old won the recent Four Hills Tournament as well as the normal hill event in Beijing.
According to the Beijing 2022 website, the large hill at the National Ski Jumping Centre has a height of 446 feet, "with the landing funnelling straight into a large stadium which can be used for football matches in the summer."
Snowboard
History will be made as the first mixed team snowboard cross medals will be handed out at the Olympic Games.
Pairs made up of one male and one female competitor will face off in quarter-finals, semi-finals and a final on Saturday, with current world champions Australia among the favourites along with the United States.
There will be 15 teams competing from 10 nations, with Australia, Canada, France, Italy and the United States having two teams.
Speed skating
Haavard Lorentzen will look to defend his title from 2018 but faces strong competition in the men's 500m. The 29-year-old set an Olympic record in Pyeongchang and became the first Norwegian to win gold in the event since 1948.
Canada's Laurent Dubreuil recorded the fastest time in the 500m last year and is currently at the top of the World Cup standings, while South Korea's Cha Min-kyu will aim to make amends for missing out four years ago when Lorentzen beat him by 0.01 of a second in the final.
Europe dominated the Winter Olympics medal table after Friday's successes were shared out, with no nation picking up more than one gold and Germany holding on to top spot.
Snowboard halfpipe champion Ayumu Hirano was the only non-European to earn podium-topping honours, as he delivered Japan's second gold in Beijing.
Hirano competed in skateboarding at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, and said that stood him in good stead for his mission on snow, as he fended off rivals including Shaun White, who finished in fourth.
"Experiencing something that is different from snowboarding helps me mentally and how I manage my emotions," Hirano said.
"Skateboarding helped me substantially in that sense. This event was a huge challenge for me, but that experience itself gave me a lot of confidence, looking back over the last four years. Skateboarding helped make me stronger."
American success dried up for 24 hours, after a golden day for Team USA on Thursday, and they slipped to sixth after missing out on the medals front.
Germany consolidated first place, now with seven gold and two silver medals, after Christopher Grotheer led a one-two in men's skeleton, ahead of team-mate Axel Jungk.
Norway sit second, with Marte Olsbu Roeiseland an emphatic winner of the women's 7.5km sprint biathlon and Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo taking bronze in the men's 15km classic cross-country, behind Finnish winner Iivo Niskanen.
Klaebo, a 25-year-old who has four Olympic gold medals to his name, including three from 2018 in Pyeongchang, did not mind his first experience of a lower position on the podium at the Games.
"For me it's the first [Olympic] medal in distance and I think this one is as good as a gold medal for sure. So really, really satisfied," he said.
Netherlands struck gold in speed skating again, this time in the short course 1,000 metres discipline as Suzanne Schulting successfully defended her title. After setting a world record to win her quarter-final, Schulting did not need to go so quickly in the final.
She was runner-up in the 500m earlier in her Beijing campaign, and said on Friday: "I was really happy with the silver. But when I was at the medal plaza and stood on the medal podium, I was like, 'I really want to have that gold one'. So it was kind of motivation for today."
Behind third-placed Netherlands sat Sweden, who landed a second speed skating gold through Nils van der Poel, and then Austria, completing an all-European top five on the medal table, with the USA and China sixth and seventh after relatively quiet days.
Medal table:
1. Germany (G7 S4 B0, Total: 11)
2. Norway (G6 S3 B5, Total: 14)
3. Netherlands (G5 S4 B1, Total: 10)
4. Sweden (G5 S2 B2, Total: 9)
5. Austria (G4 S6 B4, Total: 14)
6. United States (G4 S5 B1, Total: 10)
7. China (G3 S3 B1, Total: 7)
8. Russian Olympic Committee (G2 S4 B6, Total: 12)
9. Italy (G2 S4 B4, Total: 10)
10. Japan (G2 S2 B4, Total: 8)
Ayumu Hirano finally secured gold in the men's snowboard halfpipe as boarding legend Shaun White narrowly missed out on a medal at his final Winter Olympic Games.
Hirano could only manage silver medals at Sochi 2014 and at Pyeongchang in 2018, and he sat in second place again behind Australian rival Scotty James heading into his third and final run.
The Japanese star executed a perfect 1440 triple cork followed by a back-to-back 1260 and a frontside 1440 to earn a score of 96.00 and his first Olympic title.
James finished in second with a score of 92.50, while Swiss athlete Jan Scherrer claimed bronze with 87.25.
White turned back the clock with a second run that scored 85.00, but on his final attempt, the 35-year-old attempted an ambitious jump that he was unable to land, ending his medal hopes as he finished in fourth place.
An emotional White, who confirmed before Beijing 2022 that these would be his final Games, said: "Snowboarding, thank you. It's been the love of my life."
Hirano was delighted with his victory, and claimed that the anger he felt for receiving a lower score than James for his second run spurred him on to pull off a near-perfect final run.
"I did what I wanted to do right at the end," Hirano said. "I wasn't able to accept the second run's score, but I managed to express my anger well at the end."
Schulting confirms speed skating dominance
Suzanne Schulting won gold in the short track speed skating 1,000m on Friday, retaining the title she won four years ago in Pyeongchang, becoming the first woman since 1998 to win consecutive Olympic titles in short track speed skating.
Having broken the world record in her quarter-final (one minute, 26.514 seconds), Dutch star Schulting narrowly beat South Korea's Choi Min-jeong in a time of 1:28.391.
Belgian Hanne Desmet took bronze after a collision between Italy's Arianna Fontana and Kristen Santos of the United States.
"I became really confident out there after skating a world record," Schulting said after her win. "I was focusing on what I had to do and on my technique. It's insane."
Bittersweet day for Shiffrin
It has been a Games to forget for Mikaela Shiffrin. The American was fancied to take multiple medals away from Beijing, but skied out in both the giant slalom and slalom events, and even cast doubt on whether she would compete further after those disappointments.
However, she took to the slopes for the women's super-G on Friday, and though she did not medal, did at least finish the race.
"It felt really nice to ski that today," Shiffrin said after finishing in ninth. "There's a lot of disappointment over the last week. There's a lot of emotions. [It was] not really easy to reset and know if I was up for the challenge today.
"The track itself is beautiful, and it's sunny, and the snow is amazing. Coming back out and getting the chance to race again was just the perfect thing to do, actually.
"It's possible to feel both proud of a career and sad for the moment you're in."
The super-G was won by Swiss athlete Lara Gut-Behrami, with Austria's Mirjam Puchner claiming silver and another Swiss competitor Michelle Gisin taking bronze.
Germany make no bones about skeleton
It was a German one-two in the first completed skeleton event at Beijing 2022, with Christopher Grotheer and Axel Jungk claiming gold and silver respectively in the men's event.
Grotheer was comfortable in the end with his time of four minutes, 1.01 seconds putting him two-thirds of a second ahead of his compatriot (4:01.67), with China's Yan Wengang taking bronze (4:01.77).
Elsewhere, Iivo Niskanen of Finland claimed his third Olympic gold after winning the men's 15km classic in cross-country skiing, ahead of the Russian Olympic Committee's Alexander Bolshunov and Norway's Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo.
An exhausted Niskanen fell into the snow after crossing the line in a time of 37 minutes, 54.8 seconds.
Marte Olsbu Roeiseland of Norway claimed her third medal of the Games with gold in the 7.5km women's sprint in biathlon, hitting all 10 targets on her way to finishing ahead of Sweden's Elvira Oeberg and Italy's Dorothea Wierer.
In the women's ice hockey, the United States and Canada both comfortably secured their semi-final places with wins over Czech Republic and Sweden, with Canada thrashing the Swedes 11-0.
Theo Hernandez has signed a new long-term deal with Milan that will run through to the end of the 2025-26 season.
The France international has been a key figure for Milan since joining from Real Madrid in July 2019, earning a reputation as one of the finest attacking full-backs in European football.
Hernandez has been linked with Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain, but the defender – who had been due to be out of contract in July 2024 – has now put pen to paper on fresh terms with Milan.
The Serie A club said: "AC Milan is pleased to announce that Theo Bernard Francois Hernandez has renewed his contract with the club until 30 June 2026.
"Theo joined the Rossoneri in the summer of 2019 and immediately showed his qualities on the pitch, earning the admiration and affection of AC Milan fans all over the world."
Hernandez has featured 105 times for Milan across Serie A, the Coppa Italia, Champions League and Europa League since making his debut in September 2019, putting him level with Franck Kessie for the most appearances over that period with the Rossoneri.
He has had 37 goal involvements in all competitions (19 goals, 18 assists), a tally bettered only by Zlatan Ibrahimovic (45) among Milan players since Hernandez's first outing.
Indeed, only three defenders in Europe's top five leagues have been directly involved in more goals across the same stretch – Achraf Hakimi, Robin Gosens (both 39) and Trent Alexander-Arnold (45).
Hernandez's new contract is reported to be worth €4.5million a year, a big increase on his previous salary.
Sweden's Nils van der Poel set a new world record as he claimed his second gold of the Winter Olympics in Beijing.
Speed skater Van der Poel won the 5,000m race earlier this week and on Friday he outclassed his opposition in the 10,000m event.
Van der Poel smashed his own world record as he recorded a time of just 12 minutes and 30.74 seconds. That cut over two seconds from his previous best, which was set last year.
It gave Van der Poel a 13.85-point cushion over his nearest rival, Patrick Roest of the Netherlands.
In the process, Van der Poel also became the 10th man to win the 5,000m and 10,000m races at the same Games.
To make his triumph even more unique, Van der Poel's time was set at sea level, whereas most of the world records now set take place at indoor ovals at altitude.
Indeed, the last world record set in the Olympic 10,000m race was by Jochem Uytdehaage of the Netherlands, back in 2002.
Previously, five other speed skaters had set world records while winning 10,000m Olympic golds.
Van der Poel is the 23rd different winner of the event in the Olympics - it is the event held most at the Games without an athlete winning on more than one occasion.
Remarkably, there was even time for a slip-up in Van der Poel's record-setting run.
"With eight laps to go I felt like 'OK, I've got the gold within control, now I just need to not f**k it up,' which I almost did with two-and-a-half laps to go," Van der Poel said.
"I put my right blade really straight out, I stumbled a little for sure.
"With four laps to go it was like, 'OK, now I can also go for the world record'. I felt like, 'Yeah, I have this in my body on a good day,' and it played out that way."
This was the sixth gold medal for Sweden in the event, but the first since 1988. Sweden's six gold medals trail only the Netherlands (seven).
Roest became the third speed skater representing the Netherlands to win an Olympic medal in four different events, after Ireen Wust (five) and Rintje Ritsma (four).
However, Van der Poel's margin of victory was the largest since Johan Olav Koss triumphed by 18.70 seconds in 1994.
Pep Guardiola has braced Manchester City for an assault by Liverpool on their Premier League supremacy.
City's lead stands at nine points after 24 matches, although second-placed Liverpool have a game in hand, and the manner of the Reds' 2-0 win over Leicester City on Thursday spoke of their continuing belief.
A dip over the Christmas and New Year period cost Liverpool substantial ground in the title race, but they are looking sharp again for Jurgen Klopp, setting up the prospect of a tantalising final few months of the season.
City and Liverpool are due to meet on April 9 at the Etihad Stadium, and that could yet be a pivotal moment in the title race.
"If we want to fight to win the Premier League, we will have to win an incredible amount of points against these opponents that we've faced in the last seasons many, many times," City manager Guardiola told a news conference on Friday.
"The margin against Liverpool is nothing. We have to win a lot, a lot, a lot of games. We have to get more than 90 [points] - 95, 96 to be champions.
"I'm pretty sure of that right now."
Reigning champions City have reached 60 points through 24 games, and if they carry on at that rate they are on course to hit 95 points for the season, while winning every game would take them to 102 for the campaign.
Liverpool can post a maximum of 96 points if they win their 15 remaining fixtures, and Guardiola does not expect the Reds to drop many.
Guardiola, whose team face Norwich City at Carrow Road on Saturday, spoke about Liverpool's threat amid a broader point on how he expects his City players to perform week-in, week-out.
He says he was raised in a culture at Barcelona, since he was a youth player, to take nothing for granted, no matter how sunny the outlook might seem.
"I was born in Barcelona and I grew up in the academy. They taught me everything and the best way, even there, is [to think] that everything can go wrong," Guardiola said.
"We've made an incredible run so far in the Premier League, and now Liverpool is there behind the corner. That shows how difficult our opponent is, how good it is.
"It's not about the mentality, because these players have showed in the last years they're not scared. [The aim is] to face every single game with optimism and being positive, but knowing that of course we can lose by being bad and drop points.
"This is not the issue, it is how you behave in the moment when you are losing games."
He recalled a moment in City's midweek win over Brentford when Kevin De Bruyne rushed back to help out John Stones in defence, pointing to that as an example of how to give everything.
"You can lose. Of course you're going to lose, nobody wins always," Guardiola said.
"But it's the way you lose. You can lose in different ways. Many times when we lose, we lose as a great team, and you become a great team with the way you lose, not the way you win, and we have to continue this way."
Guardiola spoke once more about Riyad Mahrez, who has scored in each of his last seven appearances for City across all competitions. The last player to score in more consecutively for the club was Sergio Aguero in the 2013-14 season (eight games).
Asked whether Mahrez was in the prime of his City career, Guardiola said: "No, last season was his best moment. He can still do better this season to reach the level he reached in the last four, five, six months of last season. Last season was outstanding, the way he played and produced."
Guardiola has a win rate of 88 per cent against English managers in the Premier League (P66 W58), the highest of any manager to take charge of five or more such games.
His four games against Englishman Dean Smith, Norwich's former Aston Villa boss, have all been won by an aggregate score of 13-2.
However, Norwich have won seven points from their most recent three Premier League games this season, just one fewer than they had taken from their previous 12 fixtures (W2 D2 L8).
Smith is looking to become the first Norwich manager to go unbeaten for four Premier League matches since Chris Hughton in February 2013.
The visitors have other ideas, with Guardiola's City having won nine and drawn two of their 11 away games in the league since an opening defeat to Tottenham.
It is close to perfection, but Guardiola pointed out that is an unattainable goal in football.
"A team will never be perfect," said the former Bayern Munich and Barcelona head coach.
"As a human being, we are imperfect. Perfection doesn't exist in sports, especially in football."
Aston Villa winger and Jamaica international, Leon Bailey, is in contention to return to the team’s line-up ahead of its match-up with a resurgent Newcastle on Sunday.
The 24-year-old, who moved to the club from Bundesliga outfit Bayer Leverkusen last summer, has not featured for the team since December when he was forced to leave the field after sustaining a thigh injury against league leaders Manchester City.
Aston Villa manager Stephen Gerrard had insisted that the player would not be rushed back into action but confirmed earlier this week that Bailey was back in full training and likely to feature soon.
“He’s back in the group and back in full training. He’ll continue to be pushed in the coming days. He has an outside chance of being involved at the weekend, but we’ll assess that in the coming days,” Gerrard said.
Bailey has had a stop-start season to life with the Villans after sitting out the early weeks of the club’s campaign with injury issues and then picking up a thigh injury, during a high-octane cameo against Everton in September.
He has a goal and two assists in nine Premier League games this term and has started on four occasions.
Carlo Ancelotti said "everyone's feelings are positive" regarding Karim Benzema's availability for Real Madrid's Champions League last-16 tie against Paris Saint-Germain next week.
Benzema has missed Madrid's last two games after picking up a muscle injury against Elche last month, and remains a doubt for Saturday's LaLiga trip to Villarreal.
However, speaking at a media conference ahead of that game, Ancelotti indicated that the 34-year-old – who has scored 24 goals in 28 games in all competitions this season – could be fit for Tuesday's clash in the Parc des Princes.
"We have good feelings, he is having good feelings," he said. "We will see if he will train on Sunday or Monday with the team. Everyone's feelings are positive, but it will be decided on Sunday or Monday.
"The most important thing is the player's health. If there is a risk, we are not going to take it. We have to evaluate but if he plays on Tuesday, it is because there is no risk."
Ancelotti also said he hopes PSG star Neymar will be fit for the Champions League fixture, adding: "I hope Benzema and Neymar can be there, the best players. If the best are there, we'll have the most entertaining game possible."
The former PSG boss was also asked about Gareth Bale. The Wales international has played just three times this season after returning from a loan move from Tottenham, and has not featured since playing in a 1-0 win at Real Betis in August.
"We have a very good working relationship," Ancelotti explained.
"He's training hard. He's committed to the cause. He has not been playing of late, but seeing him in training I can confirm he is ready to play, and I do know that when he gets that opportunity, he will produce the goods.
"I'll be asked now 'why hasn't he played?' Looking back, he's had some trouble to be fully match fit after having picked up an injury. But these last 15 days or so the intensity has increased and I'm sure he's ready to play. Obviously it is my call to decide when."
Ralf Rangnick has challenged Cristiano Ronaldo and Manchester United to find their scoring form after blaming poor finishing for a dip in results.
United were unable to satisfactorily bounce back from the shock FA Cup exit at the hands of Middlesbrough as they drew 1-1 with the Premier League's bottom club Burnley on Tuesday.
Rangnick's side had 64.1 per cent of the possession at Turf Moor and 22 goal attempts. Five of those were on target, but Burnley goalkeeper Nick Pope was in excellent form, while United also had two goals disallowed.
Ronaldo started on the bench, but came on to make his 100th career appearance as a substitute.
He did not have the desired impact, however, having just nine touches, getting none of his three attempts on target.
Ronaldo has failed to score in any of his last five appearances in all competitions – the last time he had a longer run without a goal at club level was a run of seven games in December 2008 and January 2009.
Rangnick, though, insists United's players must all take the onus to improve and capitalise on the chances they are creating.
Ahead of Saturday's meeting with Southampton, interim manager Rangnick told a news conference: "It's not only about Cristiano. He should score more goals, it's obvious.
"We have created a lot of chances, but we didn't score enough goals based on how many chances we created. I think 70 minutes [against Burnley] was very close to the game plan, but now it's about rewarding ourselves and getting the results we should have deserved."
On Friday, reports surfaced suggesting United's players had been unimpressed with Rangnick's training sessions.
However, the former RB Leipzig boss shrugged off such talk.
"I don't know about those articles," he said. "The way the team has developed is obvious and that is due to the training, including all the analysis and the important training games, a lot of little games to increase fluidity and get better in possession of the ball.
"It's important that the players realise that there has been a good development in the last couple of weeks, that we controlled the games. But if we concede a goal, we should stick to the game plan and not all of a sudden lose shape and composure.
"This is the most harmful part, that we didn't stick to the game plan, we didn't have the same positioning on the pitch. When we analyse the games, this is what we have to do better. Not lose composure, shape. In those 15 minutes against Burnley we lost that shape."
United face a Southampton team who beat Tottenham 3-2 in their last outing, though the Red Devils are unbeaten in their last 11 Premier League games against Saints, winning five of those fixtures.
Indeed, Southampton have won just two of their 22 Premier League away games against United (D4 L16), losing the corresponding fixture 9-0 last season, and Rangnick has only overseen one top-flight defeat since replacing Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Ronaldo scored on his last Premier League appearance against Southampton, in a 3-0 win in December 2004. If he scores this weekend, it will be the third-longest gap for a player between goals against a specific opponent in the competition (17 years and 70 days), after Ryan Giggs against Norwich City (18y 84d) and Paul Scholes against QPR (17y 120d).
"We are fully aware that this will be difficult," Rangnick said of the game.
"I watched the game at Spurs during the week, they really deserved to win, tactically played a very high level. It will be a challenge, but I’m sure we will be up for the challenge. We need top performances for the whole game."
A Ukrainian skeleton star defied demands for politics to be kept out of the Winter Olympics by holding up a "NO WAR IN UKRAINE" sign to television cameras on Friday.
Vladyslav Heraskevych, 23, is competing at his second Games and was in 17th place after the third run of four in the men's event.
Immediately after getting off his sled, Heraskevych walked towards the cameras and revealed his small banner, with its message set against a background of the Ukraine national flag.
It remains to be seen what action, if any, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) takes against Heraskevych.
His political statement comes at a time when tens of thousands of Russian troops are said to have gathered on the Ukrainian border, amid concern of conflict and a possible invasion.
NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday: "This is a dangerous moment for European security. The number of Russian forces is going up. The warning time for a possible attack is going down."
The IOC is clear on its apolitical standing, however, and rule 50.2 states: "No kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas."
Those who breach the rule "may be subject to the IOC's disciplinary proceedings", the IOC said.
Russian president Vladimir Putin was among the world leaders who attended the Beijing 2022 opening ceremony.
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