A host of former players would return, including defender Cedric Yambere and midfielder Younes Kaabouni. Such was the club’s desperate need to register names that former France international Rio Mavuba – a Bordeaux youth graduate who now coaches at the club – briefly came out of retirement to play for the reserves, as did ex-defender Paul Baysse.

Bordeaux were eventually able to field a team, albeit with just 14 players on the squad sheet. Played behind closed doors at the Stade Sainte-Germaine, a nondescript 3,000-seater in the outskirts of the city, the match ended with goalkeeper Lassana Diabate heading in a last-minute equaliser.

Another goalkeeper in Over Mandanda (the younger brother of former international keeper Steve) was brought on to play in midfield to see out a Coupe de France tie last month, which prompted an unsuccessful appeal against the 5-0 result from their ninth-tier opponents.

Endearingly eccentric as the Bordeaux story might be, the six-time French champions’ nosedive into amateur football has been a dramatic one.

A conflict between the two main groups of fans has meant many of the matches at lower-league grounds are played behind closed doors for security reasons.

The North Gate fans notably accuse the Ultramarines of being overly complacent with owner Gerard Lopez, the much-contested Spanish-Luxembourgish businessman who took over in 2021.

The 52-year-old would provide the funds to keep the club running, but has nevertheless overseen a three-tier drop all the while scarcely remedying what was already a critical financial situation.

Protests against his ownership have intensified, with fans gathering at the club’s old stadium last month for a day-long demonstration which was supported by former players and included mayor Pierre Hurmic among its speakers.

While many are relieved that the worst-case scenario was avoided this summer, the ire towards Lopez – who presided over financial debacles at Lille and the Lotus F1 team as well – does not look like letting up anytime soon.

One group of fans has sought to carve out some control in the club’s fate by setting up a Socios project – a fan ownership initiative inspired by Spanish and German football. With close to 3,000 members signing up and nearly a quarter of a million euros raised since August, the group hopes to act as a fan-led voice and a safeguard against future mismanagement.

“We want the club to be united,” explains Donatien Rodriguez, one of the co-founders. “But everything needs to go through a vote among the Socios. If I were one of the members, I don’t see why I’d be voting in favour of helping Lopez.”

The Girondins Socios have now turned their attention towards saving the women’s team, which has been left by the wayside.

The Girondines – who were playing in the Women’s Champions League only a few years ago – have paid the price for the mismanagement of the men’s team, and were excluded from the national-level leagues this summer.

BARCELONA are reportedly planning a mega transfer move for Erling Haaland to crown the grand re-opening of the Nou Camp.

Manchester City’s star man is in his third season at the Etihad.

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But after scoring copious goals and winning copious trophies, Haaland’s future in the north west remains unclear.

The striker has been linked with a move to Real Madrid ever since his early playing days.

And with Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Jr now at the Bernabeu, as well as close pal Jude Bellingham, it’s reckoned Haaland is starting to consider his options.

However, Sport claims it’s actually Real’s fierce rivals Barcelona who are plotting a major swoop.

The Catalans top LaLiga with eight wins from nine under Hansi Flick.

And despite their well-documented financial troubles, Barcelona continue to attract some of football’s biggest names.

Spain Euro winner Dani Olmo was the latest superstar to join this summer.

While they even managed to coax Wojciech Szczesny out of retirement following Marc-Andre ter Stegen’s major injury blow.

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Barcelona chiefs are now looking ahead to the future, specifically to 2026 for the planned re-opening of the Nou Camp.

The stunning stadium is set to hold 105,000 fans when it’s back in business.

And big-wigs are eager to unveil a huge superstar signing to go alongside it, with Haaland the top choice.

It’s reckoned president Joan Laporta is ready to go all out to make a move happen.

He is confident a deal can be made due to willingness on Haaland’s end.

But it remains unclear how Barcelona would afford him, with the Norwegian on a base salary of £375,000-a-week at City that rises as high as £850,000 with performance-related bonuses.

Fernando Alonso has an interesting perspective on the lack of safety cars. Does it hold versus an analysis of the first half of 2024 with the same cars? – Paul

There has not been a safety car in Formula 1 since the Canadian Grand Prix – so, not for nine races.

Fernando Alonso’s theory for why this is the case is as follows: “These cars are not easy to drive, but I think the problem of these cars as well is to extract the 100%.

“So if you drive at 90%, sometimes you are faster because you don’t put the platform in an inconvenient angle or ride heights. You are not pushing the limits, where everything falls apart.

“That’s why sometimes in the races, because we all drive at 90%, we have to take care of the tyres, the fuel economy, all these kind of things, we don’t see too many problems and we don’t see too many safety cars or accidents.”

Far be it from me to argue with Alonso – and I’m not going to. It’s quite possible this has been an influence in the lack of safety cars.

The thing is, though, that has been the case in races for quite a long time.

Because Pirelli tyres overheat if they are pushed hard, drivers have been managing their pace in races for years. With the odd very rare exception, drivers have not been flat out in races since Pirelli entered F1 in 2011.

As for the lack of safety cars, sometimes these things just happen and it’s a statistical quirk. Lots of factors are involved.

Take Singapore, for example. Lando Norris had two very near misses with the wall on his way to victory. Had he got either of those very slightly more wrong than he did, not only would he not have won, but there would have been a safety car.

On top of that, the last time there was a safety car also happens to be the last time there was a wet race – that, too, will have a lot to do with it.

Canada was mixed conditions. The safety car in Miami was caused by Max Verstappen dislodging a bollard as he began to struggle with his car.

There will be another safety car soon enough.

DANIEL MALDINI followed in the footsteps of his father and grandad by making his Italy debut last night.

The midfielder, who left AC Milan for Monza this summer, came off the bench in his side’s 4-1 Nations League win over Israel.

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And in doing so, the 23-year-old became the third Maldini to play for Italy after dad Paolo and grandfather Cesare.

Daniel got a 15-minute run-out in last night’s match after being left on the bench for last week’s 2-2 draw with Belgium.

And afterwards he admitted he was full of emotion, saying: “I’m happy that my parents came here, we’ll have a chance to talk when I get home.

“The dedication goes to my family and friends, to those who love me.

“Strong, positive emotions, I’m very happy to have come on and that the match went well.

“We were always in control of the match until their goal, then we were good at holding our own with our game and it showed.

“I hope to bring some quality, even if there is already too much. I try to help as much as possible.”

Fans were certainly left blown away by Daniel becoming the third Maldini to play for Italy.

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One said: “Family made for football.”

Another declared: “Italy has a monarchy.”

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One noted: “Three generations of greatness.”

Another added: “Football’s legendary family.”

Daniel has some way to go though if he wants to match the achievements of the senior Maldinis.

Grandad Cesare, who died in 2016 aged 84, was a defender who won 14 caps for Italy after making his debut in 1960.

A fine club career saw spells with Triestina and Torino sandwich 412 games for AC Milan, where he won four titles and a European Cup.

But even Cesare was outshone by son Paolo, who is considered to be one of the greatest players in history.

The versatile centre-back, 56, remained at Milan his entire career, playing a mind-blowing 902 times while winning seven titles and five Champions Leagues.

He is Italy’s third-most capped player in history with 126 appearances following his debut in 1988.

But he had retired from internationals by the time Italy won the World Cup in 2006, with his club career ending in 2009.

As for Daniel, he played 24 times for Milan before embarking on loans to Spezia, Empoli and Monza.

He joined the latter in July permanently and has since played eight times in all competitions.

NEW YORK — This is why the Yankees are paying Carlos Rodón $162 million over six years: to have a top-notch poker face. 

Rodon’s biggest challenge taking the mound for Game 1 of the American League Championship Series wasn’t navigating Cleveland’s dangerous lineup. Rodón’s greatest enemy was actually himself. 

When the veteran allows his emotions to take control over his outing, things can quickly get out of whack. It’s what happened in his first start this postseason against the Royals; he was amped too early and too often — sticking his tongue out and gaping after a first-inning strikeout — and allowed his focus to slip away from the task at hand. He was pulled after coughing up four earned runs in just 3.2 innings against Kansas City.

But he learned a lot in the week between his next playoff start. He studied Gerrit Cole, received advice from Andy Pettitte, and said he would be better his next time out. Even so, it’s one thing to do all the prep, but it’s another to actually execute on the mound — no less in a playoff start. 

Finally, in his team’s 5-2 win over the Guardians on Monday night at Yankee Stadium, the fiery left-hander put his career 11.37 postseason ERA in the rearview and pitched with authority. 

“The goal was to stay in control,” Rodón said. “Stay in control of what I can do, physically and emotionally. I thought I executed that well tonight.”

He was being modest. Rodón struck out nine batters and allowed just one run on three hits across six innings, and kept his emotions in check every time. But it was easy to tell this was a battle for Rodón. Being nonreactive isn’t exactly second nature for him. He seemed to be putting as much effort into controlling his emotions as he was into his pitch diet of fastballs, sliders, curveballs and changeups. Rather than acknowledge the crowd’s raucous energy with some of his own, Rodón rolled his shoulders back and kept his head down on the mound. The southpaw proceeded to register 25 swings and misses.

He was locked in, and it manifested. 

Rodón’s only blemish of the night came on a Brayan Rocchio home run to lead off the sixth inning. But there was no ensuing meltdown. There was no look of befuddlement as he watched Rocchio’s long ball sail over the left-field wall. He retired the next three batters and finished his outing by pointing his glove at Aaron Judge, who ran down a rocket off José Ramírez’s bat for the final out of the sixth. Rodón sent down the Guardians slugger all three times he faced him.

“I think he was very aware of what the last outing ended up being and just how the emotions got away from him early,” Yankees pitching coach Matt Blake said. “That was going to be a focus for him throughout the game. Each inning you could tell he was trying to stay steady and be neutral about it and just keep collecting outs.”

While Rodón went to work, the Yankees piled on. Juan Soto slammed his first postseason home run as a Yankee in the third inning, putting New York on the board with a 1-0 lead. Giancarlo Stanton added insurance in the seventh with his second home run of the postseason, which was his 13th career playoff jack since 2018. Stanton has a 1.244 OPS in five postseason games this October. But while Soto, Stanton and Aaron Judge all collected RBIs in the Game 1 victory, it was Rodón who stood out as the game changer.

“He was the driver tonight,” Stanton said of Rodón. “Juan got us going on the offensive side, but Carlos was holding them down and giving us a chance to score and add to it.”

Rodón didn’t achieve this picture of poise on his own. 

Days after the Royals detected that his emotions were running high and sent him packing in the fourth inning, Rodón sought out advice from Pettitte, the former Yankees southpaw and five-time World Series champion, on how to keep a good poker face on the mound. Pettitte, currently in an advisor role with the Yankees, won 63.3% of his postseason decisions in part by refusing to allow the opponent in on what he was thinking and feeling. Rodón said Pettitte’s advice left an impression. 

Then, while Cole dominated the Royals in Kansas City last Thursday, Rodón leaned on the dugout railing and closely watched his every reaction. Captivated, Rodón kept his eyes focused on Cole even as drama unfolded between Anthony Volpe and Maikel Garcia at second base. Rodón watched as Cole became agitated without letting the situation ruin what had been a strong outing. 

“You can tell he gets a little pissed off,” Rodón said of Cole. “But he kind of just keeps it in frame and gets back on the mound. They do end up scoring a run, but he keeps them to one run. The biggest thing I saw from him in the seventh, he didn’t react every inning. If you watched him come out, it’s just like a robot walking to the dugout. Then at the end of the seventh, it’s a big roar because he knows, I did my job. I think that’s one thing that resonated with me from that start.”

Rodón tried to be like Cole the robot against Cleveland and, for the most part, he was. His six innings of one-run ball weren’t just important for the Yankees, who took a 1-0 series lead over the Guardians to begin the ALCS, but an enormous response to the criticism manager Aaron Boone received for going with Rodón in the first place. With Cole slotted for Game 2 on four days’ rest, Boone was choosing between right-hander Clarke Schmidt or Rodón for the series opener. Cleveland was the third-best offensive team in the AL against left-handers in the regular season, so no one would’ve blamed Boone if he opted to start Schmidt in Game 1. 

But Rodón was signed by the Yankees for moments like Monday; a packed house of 47,264 in the Bronx, doing his part as the rotation’s lethal 1-2 punch alongside Cole, all while being accountable in front of the zoo that is the New York media.

The mental and physical flow Rodón realized in Game 1 was the elixir to the ghastly postseason ERA he brought into Monday night’s outing. This was exactly what the Yankees expected from Rodón when they made him the highest-paid pitcher in the 2023 free-agent class. After being limited to just 14 starts because of injuries last year, and posting a dreadful 6.85 ERA in the process, this was Rodón’s year to start earning his contract. He showed up to spring training noticeably slimmer, then stayed out of the trainer’s room all season, and bounced back with a 3.96 ERA across a career-high 32 healthy starts and 175 innings. 

Rodón’s 26-week stretch of being a workhorse in the regular season helped the Yankees get to this point, particularly when Cole missed the first two-plus months with an elbow injury. But Rodón can give the Yankees a bigger, more important lift by replicating this routine his next time out.

The Yankees are three wins from advancing to the World Series. Rodón can count on one hand how many more times he will need his poker face.

Deesha Thosar is an MLB reporter for FOX Sports. She previously covered the Mets as a beat reporter for the New York Daily News. The daughter of Indian immigrants, Deesha grew up on Long Island and now lives in Queens. Follow her on Twitter at @DeeshaThosar.

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Meet the nominees for the BBC Women’s Footballer of the Year 2024 – Barbra Banda, Aitana Bonmati, Naomi Girma, Caroline Graham-Hansen and Sophia Smith.

Voting closes at 09:00 GMT on Monday, 28 October 2024 and the winner will be announced on Tuesday, 26 November on BBC World Service and the BBC Sport website and app.

READ MORE: BBC Women’s Footballer of the Year 2024 – the contenders