Former Manchester City defender Benjamin Mendy will "receive the majority of his unpaid salary" from the Premier League club, a judge has ruled.

The France defender, who was charged with rape and sexual assault in August 2021, took City to an employment tribunal to claim around £11m before tax in unpaid wages after he was suspended without pay from September 2021 until he left the club in June 2023.

The 30-year-old was cleared in 2023 of a series of rape and attempted rape charges made against him.

Judge Joanne Dunlop ruled City were entitled to withhold Mr Mendy’s salary for the periods during which he was remanded in custody which accounted for approximately five months of the 22 months he was not paid.

A Football Association suspension meant he was unable to fulfil his contractual obligations when he was not in custody and the judge said the club was not entitled to withhold Mendy's pay during this time.

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Ian Kennedy
Reporter, BBC Radio Merseyside Sport

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At one point we were thinking a draw wouldn’t be the worst result in the world in terms of the format of the competition, but Liverpool really did come on strong in that second half.

Leverkusen were well organised, they were dangerous going forward, but we just didn’t see a lot of that apart from a little spell when the game was 3-0 and Kelleher had to make a couple saves.

Liverpool were really impressive in that second half. Luis Diaz got the hat-trick, I thought Curtis Jones played really well and also Ryan Gravenberch in midfield.

Slot didn’t have to make changes at half-time, he kept the same team, whatever he said obviously had the desired effect.

The first goal was just sublime and it was so important in the context of just how tight the game had been. The through ball from Curtis Jones was just a dream and the finish, the little dink from Diaz, was a thing to behold.

After the second goal there was not really a way back for Leverkusen, Gakpo getting the header in, and it was a bit of an exhibition after that.

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Liverpool's hat-trick hero Luis Diaz, speaking to Amazon Prime: "The most important thing is the three points in this edition of the Champions League so we can keep progressing in the competition.

"Things have gone so well with the new manager, it wasn't easy for him to come in and fill Jurgen Klopp's shoes. Hopefully, we'll have something to show for it at the end of the season.

"We have top-quality players all over the pitch and I really enjoyed playing in that position today. I'm just happy to be on the pitch.

"I need to go and find that ball now because I need to keep it somewhere special at home."

Phil McNulty
BBC Sport chief football writer

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When Jurgen Klopp made the shock announcement in January that he would be leaving Liverpool in the summer, only one name played across the lips of the huge majority of supporters.

Xabi Alonso was the chosen one, a Champions League and FA Cup winner with Liverpool who had become Europe's hottest young coaching property by leading Bayer Leverkusen towards the Bundesliga and German Cup double in an unbeaten domestic season.

In the background, however, Alonso had made it known he would not be one half of what seemed to be a football marriage made in heaven, choosing instead to remain in Germany rather than take the road back to Anfield.

Step forward Arne Slot, the 46-year-old quietly building a stellar reputation at Feyenoord, regarded as having the ideal personality and footballing philosophy to take on what many regarded as the impossible job of succeeding the iconic Klopp.

Read the full piece.

Former Liverpool defender Stephen Warnock has been impressed with how Arne Slot has set his Reds' side up for both the league and Europe.

Tuesday's win over Bayer Leverkusen means Liverpool stay at the top of the new Champions League format standings with a maximum 12 points from four games.

"It has been really impressive how Slot has tactically approached the Premier League and Champions League so far," Warnock told the BBC Radio 5 Live Football Daily podcast. "He doesn't allow teams to get a two goal lead so he would rather be cagey in the first-half and grow into the second. That means they can have a bigger effect on the game.

"Slot knows they have the capabilities to run over teams and the quality within the final third to be dangerous. The tweaks in the midfield at half-time always have a huge impacts on games and I have seen him do it a few times now."

Listen to the full discussion on BBC Sounds

Phil McNulty
BBC Sport chief football writer

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Xabi Alonso's emotional return to Anfield ended in heavy defeat with Luis Diaz scoring a hat-trick as Liverpool maintained their flawless Champions League record by overpowering Bayer Leverkusen.

Alonso remains a hugely popular figure at Liverpool after winning the Champions League in 2005 and was heavily touted to succeed Jurgen Klopp this summer until he decided to stay in Germany.

Arne Slot was eventually appointed and his outstanding start continued as Liverpool once again recovered from a sluggish first half to overwhelm Leverkusen, who had controlled them comfortably before the break.

Luis Diaz broke the deadlock after 61 minutes with a deft lofted finish over keeper Lukas Hradecky from Curtis Jones' pass, Cody Gakpo adding the second two minutes later from Mohamed Salah's cross - the goal initially ruled out for offside before being given after a Video Assistant Referee review.

Diaz was on target again with a close-range finish seven minutes from time to give the scoreline an emphatic appearance that did not seem likely in the low-key, uneventful first period.

And there was still time for the Colombian to smash home a rebound to take home the match ball after substitute Darwin Nunez had his effort blocked, completing his first hat-trick for Liverpool.

The win means Liverpool stay at the top of the new Champions League format standings with a maximum 12 points from four games.

Read the full piece.

Stephen Warnock
Former Liverpool defender on BBC Radio 5 Live

It's more the way they are rolling over at the moment, there doesn't seem to be that defensive solidity, that organisation that we often look at Manchester City and praise them for.

They are tough to play against but we look at the form throughout the season this season and they have conceded a lot of goals. I think the fear element has gone out of a lot of teams now because teams used to look at Manchester City and say 'if we go at them, we leave ourselves open, we leave ourselves vulnerable, we will get beat 3-0'. But suddenly teams are saying 'we'll go for the game and if we get beat 3-0 at least we have had a go'.

Then you start to get a bit of progression in your game and you start to create opportunities and you think 'hang about, we can hurt these, we can cause them problems'. Maybe there is an element of that coming into the game as well.

Manchester City supporter Rachel Herdson spoke on the Football Daily podcast about the club's defeat to Sporting. She said: "The second half, the first two minutes completely killed us off. The fact that Pep has insisted on playing a really high line throughout the game has meant we haven't got that defensive solidarity anymore, we don't look organised at the back.

"We obviously are missing Rodri but the concern is how open we look at the back, the fact we are insistant on playing this high line with no recovery pace because [Kyle] Walker is not playing and we are heavily dependent on his pace.

"Three defeats in a row now, it's going tell us a lot about our mentality and how we bounce back. Nothing has been lost tonight. I think we have made it more difficult for ourselves but I'm slightly concerned going into the weekend against Brighton."

Noel Gallagher's commentary on TNT Sports has got us thinking, which celebrity fan would you most like to hear commentate on your team?

And what do you think of figures like Gallagher being used in commentary for live games after the Oasis star's appearance caused much debate on social media, external?

Let us know via all the usual channels.

Shortly after Gallagher declaring he "didn't expect it to be so easy for us" with Manchester City 1-0 up in the first half, Sporting's comeback began and Ruben Amorim's side eventually ran out 4-1 winners.

However, he went on to exude calm from a City perspective post-match despite a third successive defeat for Pep Guardiola's side in all competitions.

"Not a lot of City fans will have thought we were going to come here and win," he added.

"I go every week and stand on the terraces, I know what the chat is. We're not in a great place at the moment but we're not going to panic.

"We've won four leagues in a row, we're going to ride this out and we'll be there in the shake up at the end."

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Oasis star Noel Gallagher caused quite a stir on social media when he joined the commentary team on TNT Sports for last night's Champions League match between Sporting Lisbon and his beloved Manchester City.

Speaking pre-match, Gallagher provided some interesting insight into Pep Guardiola, who he has built a close relationship with since he arrived in Manchester in 2016.

"He [Guardiola] is a good friend," he said.

"He means everything. I think when he eventually leaves and when people look back on what Manchester City is it will be with this guy in mind. He changed the game in the country as well.

"The guy is like a wizard. The players are completely under his spell, they'd run through a brick wall for him.

"He inspired young coaches who all want to be like him. He changed the way young coaches see the game.

"He'll get carried out of the stadium on a shield. I personally think he will stay one more year. He's not going to stay for another seven or eight years. It feels like the end of an era is coming. I think everybody is ready to give him what he deserves in a great send off."

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So we know when Ruben Amorim and Pep Guardiola will next meet, but how long will their Manchester rivalry last?

One notable Manchester City fan [some might say] thinks Guardiola's trophy-laden reign at the Etihad is coming to an end...

Pep Guardiola has not said much, so far, about newly-appointed Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim, apart from stating the obvious.

But, even in doing that, the Manchester City boss couldn't resist making what some may interpret as a sly dig about United's lack of Champions League football.

"Yes, he will be United manager and we will face him two times in the Premier League and maybe the FA Cup," said Guardiola after Tuesday's defeat to Amorim's Sporting side. "In the Champions League, it is not possible."

For the record, City will host United at the Etihad in the Premier League on 15 December, with the return fixture at Old Trafford currently scheduled for 5 April.

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Simon Stone
BBC Sport's chief football news reporter in Lisbon

Ruben Amorim said after the match that the memories he has played such a significant part in creating at Sporting will stay with him for the rest of his life.

He knows, we all know, that Manchester United have to be a lot better than Sporting if they are to compete at the level their history demands, but reality has left them some way off.

Many of the plaudits being offered to Amorim were also offered to Ten Hag. It didn’t help because ultimately the Dutchman failed to even make United contenders for major honours, just as Ralf Rangnick, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Jose Mourinho, Louis van Gaal and David Moyes did before him.

Sporting were a well-drilled outfit against City. They maximised their chances and secured a deserved and memorable victory. But they did it with 27.3% possession and nine shots compared to City’s 20. If a United manager delivers those statistics - as many have done against City in the last 10 years - eventually he will be criticised.

“It is [this result] misleading,” said Amorim, in his final answer of the news conference, delivered in English, just as he promised, if Sporting won.

“We were very lucky in this game. But the feeling with my players, the way they celebrated the win with the fans, was very special. I take this to the Premier League. When I arrive there it will be a different world, with different pressure. I will try to be the same. It will be fun - very fun - and I am ready for the challenge.”

That challenge begins at Ipswich on 24 November. The quest is to deliver many more nights like this one.

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Simon Stone
BBC Sport's chief football news reporter in Lisbon

Let’s deal with the reality of where Ruben Amorim finds himself now.

He was joking before the game when he said a Sporting victory over City would make United feel another Sir Alex Ferguson was arriving.

There was a huge amount of added interest in the game in Manchester. Those of a United persuasion, fans and club officials alike, were delighted with what they saw. To some, it made a mockery of City’s private insistence that Amorim was not a name on their wish list for when Pep Guardiola eventually leaves.

But nobody, Amorim said, should read too much into events at the Jose Alvalade Stadium.

“I already said previously you cannot transport one reality into another,” he said. “At Manchester United you cannot play exactly like this. You cannot play so defensively and so there we will have to adapt. Clearly it is really difficult to beat this team and to beat Pep Guardiola. And he is not a worse manager than me.

“It will be a completely different world, a different team, we won’t have that much time to train and we will begin from a different starting point."

Amorim’s observations about his defence are worth further examination. The most obvious difference being widely analysed is that Amorim plays three central defenders. Against City, that turned into a back five for long stretches of the game.

Yet that is one of the attractions. Inside United they believe labelling Amorim as someone who plays with three central defenders is too simplistic.

If Amorim sticks to the formation, does he have the personnel to make it effective?

If not, will he have to compromise to the extent Erik ten Hag did, where his eventual team bore no relation to the style he was supposed to be bringing with him from Ajax.

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Andy: 'You know City have what it takes'. Of course. They’ve won four leagues in a row adding a Champions League too. One thing is for certain, they’re still the team to conquer. We all have that sinking feeling that they will eventually bounce back.

Simon Stone
BBC Sport's chief football news reporter in Lisbon

Ruben Amorim summed it up perfectly.

His last Sporting home game, after four and a half years helping transform the club, pitted against a Manchester City side which cast a decade-long shadow over his new Manchester United team by virtue of the total domination that was once theirs.

"It was written it had to be like this," said a delighted Amorim after Sporting had condemned Manchester City to their third defeat in a week and their biggest loss since September 2020.

Amorim was repeatedly pushed to the front of the Sporting squad as they made a well-deserved lap of honour to take the acclaim of fans it had been said turned against the 39-year-old but it turns out still love him.

A reluctant hero on the basis he has said he didn't really like attending the public ceremonies that have accompanied Sporting’s two Portuguese title wins, the first of which ended a 19-year wait, Amorim was eventually tossed in the air by his players.

They clearly have a huge amount of admiration for the man who will be their boss for one more game, at Braga on Sunday.

After that, he heads to England. For a new challenge. And what a challenge it is.

Read Simon Stone's full analysis here

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