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It was last weekend when it really sank in for Callum Wilson that he and Newcastle United are bound for the Champions League. Not, as might seem logical, Saturday’s Champions League final, the sort of occasion that may have prompted thoughts of progressing that far, or at least welcoming Inter Milan to Tyneside, but Sunday’s Sam Fender gig at St James’ Park. Wilson had been on holiday, “totally switched off”, before the Newcastle-supporting rock star exposed him to his new reality. “I went to the concert with my wife at St James’ Park,” he said. “There was a sea of black and white. And before he came out, he actually played the Champions League song and everyone was cheering and I was like ‘this is absolutely real’. I could see how much it meant to everybody. Hearing the anthem in the stadium, without actually walking out to play, was surreal. This is going to happen next season and I cannot wait to get started.” Amid the broader picture of Newcastle’s rise and the reasons behind it are endearing stories of players who carried themselves further than most envisaged. In 14 years of professional football, Wilson has never played in Europe. He was part of a winless team when the club was taken over in 2021 and his former Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe was appointed. He was one of seven survivors from Steve Bruce’s reign to make at least 31 Premier League appearances last season when Newcastle came fourth. Like Fabian Schar, Sean Longstaff, Joe Willock, Joelinton, Jacob Murphy and Miguel Almiron, he exceeded expectations. Wilson’s 18 goals were a career-best total in the top flight and exceeded by only four others: Erling Haaland, Harry Kane, Ivan Toney and Mohamed Salah. Newcastle, who failed to win any of their first 14 league games last season, lost only five of 38 this year. “It’s an incredible achievement what has happened,” Wilson said. “Seven or eight of the players who started the games at the back end of the season were also the ones who were fighting relegation in the previous two seasons. That shows what a good job the manager has done with the current squad. But it also shows where the club has got to with a few new good players around us. Now it is only going to get better if we keep investing in the right way and become a top-four team more regularly.” If a challenge was posed to each, to raise his game, to ensure he was not cast aside to make way for reinforcements, it was particularly direct in Wilson’s case. Alexander Isak became Newcastle’s club record signing. There was a high-class alternative in attack. “We brought in a £60m striker last summer and that was one of our first big signings,” Wilson said. “You use it as competition, as fuel. You know, with the way that the club is going, that if you don’t perform then potentially it could be your time done at the club.” Especially when there was a point where Isak seemed to have displaced Wilson. A burst of goals earned him a World Cup spot but he entered April with a solitary strike in 18 appearances for club and country and as a substitute. “We went to Dubai for a mid-season training camp and we had five days there when we didn’t play football and I got to sit back and think ‘yes, it has been a fantastic start to the season but it has turned out into a bad season,’” he said. “I was out of the team so I had to basically pull my finger out and start scoring goals again.” Which he did, in impressive fashion. A run of 11 goals in 10 appearances powered Newcastle into the Champions League. If it was a dramatic intervention, Wilson is not alone in pulling his finger out. “That’s what everyone is doing,” he added. “Players like Sean Longstaff, who has come through the academy, and now the manager is getting the best out of him and he looks a top player week in, week out. We wouldn’t change him for anybody now. I think it’s a good place to be at.” Whether Wilson remains there remains to be seen. His form would suggest so, but he will soon enter the last year of his contract. “My time at Newcastle has been amazing so far and long may it continue,” he added. “My agent and the club will be speaking on my future at some point and hopefully it will be with Newcastle.” If the Champions League provides one reason to stay, the Premier League is another. Alan Shearer is an admirer, helping persuade him to join. Wilson wants to rank next to Newcastle’s record scorer. “In terms of Premier League goals, behind Shearer at Newcastle, there aren’t many in front of me now,” he said. He is sixth, but only nine goals behind Peter Beardsley, both the man nearest to Shearer and still far behind him. “I’m trying to get second – it’s a long way to catch Alan,” Wilson added. But he will become the first player since Shearer to wear Newcastle’s iconic No. 9 shirt in the Champions League. Read More The year that sportswashing won: A season that changed football forever Bellingham gone but who’s next? Midfield merry-go-round will define summer Liverpool’s must-add midfielder and Haaland 2.0 to Man Utd: Transfer targets for every Premier League club Callum Wilson tuned up to secure England recall after Newcastle disappointment England’s future is about to be defined – and it’s out of Gareth Southgate’s control Qatar World Cup workers suffered ‘human rights abuses’, new Amnesty report finds

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“I’ve done my knee.” Keira Walsh knew it immediately, and then came the words to devastate the Lionesses and England’s chances of winning the World Cup as well. That’s how significant a blow losing Walsh is for any amount of time, let alone the tournament and potentially beyond. If England had one irreplaceable player, it would be Walsh. If Sarina Wiegman could have chosen any star to protect for the rest of the World Cup, it would have been their holding midfielder and pass master. The Lionesses now face a terrible wait to discover the extent of Walsh’s injury. It overshadowed England’s win over Denmark, and threatens to hang over the rest of their tournament in Australia. After losing Leah Williamson and Beth Mead to ACL injuries, it looks like England have suffered another, a cruel twist that came after Wiegman made two changes to her team and the Lionesses, for the first time this World Cup, looked to have clicked into gear. Walsh was at the heart of that at the anchor of England’s midfield - as she was during the Euros and in pretty much every England game since then, playing more minutes than any other member of Wiegman’s squad over the last year. She has qualities that no other player in the squad possesses, an ability to dictate the tempo of their play, to shoulder the responsibility of linking everything, a passing range that no one else has. She’s the player that in training her teammates can’t get the ball off. It’s why Barcelona, the best team in Europe, broke their transfer record to sign her. Without her player of the match display at Wembley, or pass through to Ella Toone for England’s opening goal, the Lionesses may not have beaten Germany to win the Euros. Since then, England have lost their spine and after the joy of last summer those are the pictures that threaten to define England’s year as European champions: Mead hobbling off in tears at the Emirates; Williamson wincing as her knee buckled against Manchester United; now Walsh reaching, her studs catching the turf, before being stretchered off against Denmark. It came as England looked to have steadied the ship and found their rhythm against Denmark, Lauren James scoring the goal that looked to have given the Lionesses lift off. There was a lot of noise England had to try and shut out, questions that weren’t answered in the win against Haiti, a clamour for Wiegman to do what she never does and change her starting line-up. That Wiegman did decide to twist indicated that something was not quite right - that England had gone almost six hours without scoring a goal made that perfectly clear as well. Yet with James and Rachel Daly brought back into the side, England looked to have been recalibrated. In the opening half hour, England’s standout feature against Denmark was the time and calmness each player had on the ball - a presence of mind that radiated from James but was set by Walsh. The Lionesses found what they never managed could grasp against Haiti. They took control and dominated possession. Everyone looked more comfortable and England were finally able to take a breath. Then Walsh went down and suddenly England were faced with another problem to solve: except this one doesn’t come with a quick-fix. Despite England’s goals drying up in recent months, Wiegman has had several attacking options in which to replace Mead - with James, Lauren Hemp and Chloe Kelly. The absence of Williamson has been felt off the pitch as much as on, but England have a ball-playing centre-back in Alex Greenwood. There isn’t a like-for-like replacement for Walsh, for her scanning, positional sense in front of the back four, or her discipline and calmness on the ball and off it. There is now a lot of responsibility placed on the shoulders of Georgia Stanway, a key player in her own right, but a midfielder who has a natural tendency to burst forward. As the new pivot of England’s midfield, Stanway will now have to control those attacking instincts. And in the second half in Sydney, while the devastating blow of losing Walsh subsided, England managed to see the game out. It wasn’t always pretty and the Lionesses certainly lost some of the fluidity they showed in the early stages, while Amalie Vangsgaard hitting the post with a late header was the let-off they needed. But that is tournament football and the victory puts England on the verge of the knockout stages - it could even be confirmed if China fail to beat Haiti later today. In doing so, England may have entered a new phase of their World Cup. The game has changed. Wiegman would not admit it, but this Lionesses team is simply not going to be anywhere near what it was when they won the Euros last summer. Mead and Williamson, even Fran Kirby, Ellen White and Jill Scott, were cracks that could have been covered up. England can still go far but losing Walsh reveals a gaping hole that can’t be filled. The Lionesses, like they managed against Denmark, now need to hang on and survive it. Read More England find World Cup balance but more adversity leaves one defining question BBC pundit slams Women’s World Cup pitches after Keira Walsh injury – ‘It’s not good enough’ England manager Sarina Wiegman reacts to ‘serious’ Keira Walsh injury England manager Sarina Wiegman reacts to ‘serious’ Keira Walsh injury England find balance but more adversity leaves one defining question Bethany England: The Lionesses’ overlooked attacking threat in profile

Follow live coverage as Bochum face Mainz 05 in the Bundesliga today. Bayern Munich remain the dominant force in German football and secured another title win last season, while they signed England captain Harry Kane over the summer to further boost their attacking prowess. Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig are their main challengers, but behind them a fierce battle for European football continues with Union Berlin, Bayer Leverkusen and Eintracht Frankfurt expected to be among the best of the rest once more. At the other end, Stuttgart and Augsburg will be aiming for better after they only just survived last season, while FC Heidenheim are this year in the top flight for the first time in their entire history. Follow live updates from today’s game in the live blog below.