The last time Nottingham Forest played a European quarter-final home leg, they were 5-0 down against Bayern Munich before they knew what had hit them. This may not be the team of Pearce and Stone, Cooper and Roy, but Forest’s dream lives on. Pack away the passports; it’s Aston Villa up the road between them and Istanbul.
When you plead your case to whichever higher being floats your boat, an opposition red card and a deflected goal within the first 12 minutes would make the first sentence of the prayer. Jan Bednarek’s studs-first challenge on Chris Wood looked worse with every replay. It is a different knee to the one that has plagued Wood this season; breath will still be held at the City Ground.
Such is the warping of priorities fuelled by a desperation to keep their seat at English football’s top table, Forest’s European knockout campaign has been a weird, slightly intangible entity. They had won away twice and lost at home twice, picked strong teams and changed teams.
This is Vitor Pereira’s privilege and his challenge: find a way of juggling daggers and firesticks without dropping anything. Staying up is non-negotiable, but wasn’t European adventure the one thing everybody dreamed of most? You do have to pinch yourself and remember that this is not normal around here.
Forest are on the verge of the unthinkable (Photo: PA)
But it’s tricky. Consider Forest’s own inherent mania, which has both fuelled their surges and checked its progress. How fitting that we are in mid-April and their entire season could still be the fourth best in their 161-year history or end in relegation back to somewhere they took 24 years to escape.
If they are to nip past Villa – and Forest will be second favourites – then Morgan Gibbs-White will be their kingmaker. In the first half on Thursday evening, Gibbs-White produced one of his best periods in a Garibaldi shirt. There is some competition for that honour.
Forest’s attack is still not close to clicking, not really. Igor Jesus waits for the ball more often than looking for it. Whichever two wingers start seem to either beat their man and find nobody with a cross or simply fail to beat the man at all. Possession is stodgy and stilted too often to unnerve high class defences.
Gibbs-White changes that. He dips into space and drops deep. He mostly plays the right pass at the right time and then he busts a gut to get close to goal. In the first 30 minutes, Porto gave him enough room for him to weave a dream.
And now he scores goals too. Since the turn of the year, Gibbs-White has scored eight times. More often than not he is Forest’s one-man band: scorer, creator, captain, leader by example. For all the mistakes made by this club last summer, keeping hold of him might just save them.
But speak to anyone at Forest and they will tell you that the secret weapon is the work rate. Gibbs-White orchestrates the press and leads it too. It is astonishing how often the ball appears magnetised to his position in the final third. It is a side of his game that too many outside Nottingham miss.
The England omissions have stung Gibbs-White. You can see why, given the players selected in the last squad who were inclusions on reputation rather than form. The World Cup place he craves may now be out of grasp.
England’s loss may be Forest’s gain. If there are still people to impress, Gibbs-White could not do more. He is leading Forest into unthinkable waters. At full-time, the scarves twirled in the City Ground like it was the glory days. And who knows; maybe it just might be again. Forest all over the world, starting with Birmingham.
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Fulham’s plans for next season are cloaked in uncertainty with a number of key players yet to commit to the club until Marco Silva’s future is unresolved.
Out of contract at the end of June, negotiations between Silva and the Cottagers are ongoing. The Portuguese has been at Fulham for nearly five years and supporters hope he will remain at the club while securing European football for 2026-27.
Players coming towards the end of their current deals include Harry Wilson, Raul Jimenez, Ryan Sessegnon and Samuel Chukwueze. The latter has been on loan from AC Milan this season, and Fulham have an option to buy the winger for around £25m.
However it is prize asset Wilson where the real dilemma rests, as Fulham, currently 12th in the Premier League, prepare for a vital west London derby at Brentford on Saturday. While the chase for European qualification intensifies, there is also an acceptance that the Cottagers would need to win at least five of their remaining six games.
‘Wilson leaning towards exit’
Inspirational Welsh international Wilson has enjoyed an outstanding campaign at Craven Cottage, scoring 11 goals. Nevertheless, there is widespread anxiety at the club over the possibility the winger will leave for free. The 29-year-old has been linked with a return to former club Liverpool as a potential replacement for Mohamed Salah.
“The club has made a significant offer to Harry, but it appears he is leaning towards a move closer to the north-west where he’s from,” a Fulham club insider told The i Paper. “A lot for him also rests on the possibility of Marco staying, so the club is trying to force something there.
“Harry has had his best season so far, particularly after being a more regular influence as a substitute. He is the player Marco really trusts, so a lot will depend on the manager.”
Fulham ‘actively looking’ at new striker
Jimenez is another influential attacker whose contract soon runs out. Fulham are weighing up whether to retain the popular Mexican international with doubt over the striking positions and, in particular, the role of Rodrigo Muniz. The Brazilian, who was signed from Flamengo for £7m in 2021, has managed just one goal in an injury-hit season.
The club source added: “If Marco stays, then another year from Jimenez is a possibility. Raul has had limited game time but has still scored goals and he is a great dressing-room influence. He could stay and be a big help to the younger players, such as Aaron Loupalo-Bi who is returning from Walsall on loan.”
Fulham are also still undecided over the future of Muniz. They previously turned down a £40m offer from Atalanta, but if a similar offer came in again insiders said “the club would probably bite their hands off”.
The i Paper also understands sporting director Tony Khan could sanction a big money move for a striker, in the region of £40m. Ricardo Pepi is still favourite to sign. Sources said the club is “actively looking to make something happen there after talks with PSV Eindhoven broke down recently.”
Khan keen to add to squad
Irrespective of Silva remaining at Craven Cottage or leaving, there will be money available from owner Shahid Khan to augment the squad for next term. Chelsea defender Axel Disasi, currently on loan at West Ham, is one player linked with the hop across London.
“There is definitely money to spend and the club is preparing to strengthen”, the source added. Fulham are understood to be in the market for a new goalkeeper and will consider a new right-back if Timothy Castagne departs. Joachim Anderson’s inconsistent season means a new centre-back is not being ruled out either, the source added.
“The club are still in the mix for Disasi, but that depends on how much Chelsea would want for him, the source said. “However, Calvin Bassey is very likely to stay and there is a desire to keep Ryan Sessegnon, especially as Antonee Robinson hasn’t been great this season.”
Why the next six games are key
Significantly, there is an immediate need for Fulham to recognise supporter ambitions. Brentford are five places above the Cottagers but only three points separate the local rivals, with Everton, Bournemouth and Sunderland among those clubs also challenging for European spots.
“A lot of this [transfer activity] depends on European qualification, so lots of pressure on the Brentford game at the weekend now as a result”, the source added.
“You have maybe eight teams chasing three places, and fans have looked at the likes of Crystal Palace doing so well in the Conference League and Nottingham Forest in European football this season, and thinking, why not us too?”
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Last Saturday, I went to Wigan Athletic for a match experience with a difference. Matt Harrison is a Wigan supporter who, at the age of 32, was diagnosed with Stargardt disease, a macular dystrophy that starts with blurred vision and blind spots.
It progressed to the point that Matt’s sight loss became extreme. He jokes that the last Wigan goal he saw was Ben Watson’s winner in the FA Cup final and the honesty catches me off guard: “Nice to go out with a bang, eh.”
I wanted to shadow Matt for the day to better understand the experience of being registered blind at football matches, the tools that are designed to help him, and the ways in which football can – and surely must – improve.
These are the things that I learned from one of the most fascinating days I have spent in a football stadium.
I am in awe of Matt’s dedication
Football is a large part of everything for Matt Harrison (Photo: Daniel Storey)
After we meet by the statue of Dave Whelan, Matt explains that this is a double-header weekend. He, his wife, two children and mum are attending today’s home match, staying over, and then going to the women’s game on Sunday. He lives in Nottingham and the family travel up and down the country for these matches.
Football, Matt says, was a large part of his everything. He met friends, found a wider family and bonded with strangers. When a scary diagnosis came, he was determined not to let his world shrink even further.
But it’s hard. Matt remembers what football looked like and that must be difficult to process. Football stadiums, particularly those that are unfamiliar and ancient, are not designed for those without sight to explore easily. So when Matt talks of double headers and ticking off new grounds, I am in awe and I hope that doesn’t sound patronising. Football supporters are great and he is better than most.
Put yourself in someone else’s reality
Matt using the small telescope device (Photo: Daniel Storey)
Walk a mile in someone else’s shoes. For Wigan vs Mansfield, Matt has provided me with glasses that convey his exact sight loss profile: large black areas in the centre of vision and then deep blurring around them. Matt also struggles with certain colours appearing the same and depth perception, things that cannot be adequately replicated.
He uses a small telescope device held up to his left eye (which has slightly better vision than his right) to get a clearer view of the ball. The small field of vision means that when a pass is played forward, he scans to the penalty area and waits for a chance to give himself the best chance of seeing a goal.
Pathetically obvious statement: it is nearly impossible for me. I can follow some of the sideways and backwards passing, but as soon as the next move becomes unpredictable I am lost. The exception, pleasingly, is Wigan’s winner. A penalty allows me to gain some focus on the ball and see which way it is aimed.
You really need the audio description
The audio commentary was not helpful enough (Photo: Daniel Storey)
To assist Matt, me (today) and other visually impaired supporters, football clubs have audio commentary in headsets. These are split into two forms: general match commentary and audio description commentary.
There is a crucial difference, as Matt is keen to reinforce. Radio commentary – which he loves at home – offers insight on the action. Audio description, most helpful for blind supporters, provides a frame of reference.
Matt needs to know where the ball is on the pitch (the old grid system – “Back to square one” – was actually very useful). He needs to know where passes have been directed. Good radio commentary contains deliberate periods of silence but, for Matt and others, when he’s at the match silence is darkness.
At Wigan, I don’t find the commentary helpful enough. Everyone is trying their best but it’s certainly not an ideal audio description. You hear random words uttered alone – “bodies”, “chance”, “movement” – and have no context for what they represent visually. It is frustrating and I am only playing at this for one afternoon.
Every club should have to provide it
The audio commentary occasionally cuts out and dips in volume. Matt’s batteries run out – it would be nice if fully recharged ones were used to avoid missing a couple of minutes, but replacements are at least included in the pouch.
And at least Wigan actually provide audio headsets with commentary. I can’t quite believe it when he tells me – probably my own privilege showing – but there are Football League clubs that do not offer the service. Matt has been in away ends behind the goal (and so basically unable to follow action at the opposite end) with nothing to assist him.
Given the money required to implement it and the money wasted across other areas of a club, that is a scandal that must be addressed. Every professional football club in England must provide a full audio description commentary as part of their charter to have their licence approved.
The crowd noise helps
Crowd noise was vital to the experience (Photo: Getty)
After the first 20 minutes, when I’m struggling to create any mental picture at all of what is happening in front of me, my brain begins to use other information that is usually football’s white noise (Matt told me that this would happen).
The referee’s whistle helps. Obviously it signals a break in play, but the severity or repetition of the sound can indicate the severity of a challenge or a melee between multiple players.
The crowd helps more. A jeer indicates that a misplaced pass or shot has missed its target by some distance. There’s a specific type of applause for a passing move, defensive certainty or a failed attempt. Certain subconscious shouts – “man on”, “offside”, “play it”, pressure him” – create synaptic links and produce small windows of context.
Technology holds the key to improvement
If the present is audio description (where provided), the future is far more ambitious and optimistic. Crystal Palace and Dundee United have trialled technology that provides a headset to stream match footage in real time with no latency issues. For Matt, that would provide a clearer picture with the real-life sound of the match in sync with his view.
Japan has also developed an AI-powered tool known as the “AI suitcase”, which uses a tracker in the ball and vibrates to tell visually impaired supporters where the ball is on the pitch. It was trialled during the regular NFL season in 2025 and offered a number of blind supporters at the Super Bowl the chance to absorb the game differently.
Either or both would be welcomed by Matt and others. There are possibilities to supercharge the experience. Inevitably these would occur at elite clubs first, but there is no reason why the 5G network can’t be strong enough in every ground to avoid delay issues with headset streaming.
Matt is keen to namecheck some clubs that do things very well. At Lincoln City, he was welcomed, talked through the headset system with his son and shown around the ground to ease accessibility. Cambridge United have the best audio description and the commentator made points to Matt by name to ease his experience. At Nottingham Forest, audio headsets were brought to his seat.
But elsewhere, far less help. Batteries die with no replacement provided. Stewards advise him to walk back to a ticket office in an unfamiliar location. “What do you want me to do about it?” is a phrase Matt has heard too many times. He’s been asked to sit in disabled bays rather than with his friends and family.
And that isn’t good enough. If you purport to care about supporters, you must help all of them. Matt shouldn’t have to battle for a good experience. A study by Unadev, a French blindness charity, revealed that 73 per cent of sports fans with some degree of sight loss don’t attend matches due to accessibility issues.
“It’s not that people don’t want to help,” Matt says. “It’s that they don’t think at all. And that makes you feel different and less valuable. We’re not asking for a lot here.”
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“For Matta, it is a small thing. I expect to have Matthijs next game.”
Ruben Amorim – remember him – had very little doubt that his star defender at the time, who had played every second of Premier League action until Manchester United’s clash with West Ham on 4 December, would only be temporarily absent.
Back then, Amorim was not even under pressure. Supporters still believed in his project. Five months on and a whole revolution has come full circle at Old Trafford, and the next leader of the uprising, Michael Carrick, is facing criticism after a disappointing home defeat to Leeds United.
The Dutchman is currently in rehab after suffering another injury setback (Photo: Getty)
What seemed like the smallest of niggles has kept Matthijs de Ligt out for the entirety of Carrick’s insurrection. Like his predecessor, Carrick has publicly declared the Dutchman was nearing a return to action on more than one occasion.
Plentiful times De Ligt has been “on the grass”, training with team-mates, only to set up camp back in the treatment room once more. He did not attend United’s mid-season training camp in Dublin last week, the club feeling De Ligt would be best off back at Carrington, receiving more treatment.
The bizarre, somewhat unexplained absence has led to all kinds of conspiracy theories flooding social media. What are the club hiding? Why are we never given a concrete return date? How does a player who was supposed to be absent for a few days remain jettisoned out in the cold for so long?
Had De Ligt undergone knee surgery or ruptured his ACL, we would have a much better indication of when he would be returning to action. Instead, given his injury is to the back, where a myriad of neurological complications make the diagnosis almost impossible, he can seem ready for action one day, then wake up feeling completely different the next.
Well-placed sources are keen to stress there are no setbacks, as is often reported, with this type of injury. United’s medical staff are aware that with back injuries, you have good and bad days.
Any condition related to the nervous system has these kinds of issues. Nothing especially aggravates the discomfort; it just happens this way with back injuries.
There is hope that the 26-year-old can return to action before the end of the campaign. With Lisandro Martinez facing three matches out through suspension, Harry Maguire already on the naughty step and a young Leny Yoro showing signs that the nerves are getting to him, even a few games from De Ligt would be a huge boost for United.
If he is not ready, De Ligt will not be rushed back, however. Sources are adamant that the club will take the long-term view, and if they have to wait until next season to make sure he is fully recovered, they will.
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Three weeks ago, Jonjo Shelvey picked up the phone to Eddie Howe.
Aware that he was about to call it a day as a footballer and move into management with Emirati third tier club Arabian Falcons, he had a proposal for the Newcastle United manager.
“We didn’t have a game so I asked if I could come back to Newcastle and watch his training and shadow him for a day, be a sponge basically,” Shelvey told The i Paper.
“When you’re a player you miss the little things but I’d like to go in and be around him, just pick his brain, even down to the little things like looking at what he’s got on his wall.
“He came back to me and said ‘Mate, whenever you want to come back to me, just give me a shout’. That sums him up as a person.”
Shelvey shares the story to offer a bit of insight into a man he calls “the best, most detailed manager I’ve ever come across”.
He is still plugged into the situation at Newcastle, the club he “didn’t ever want to leave”, and is bemused at the level of criticism being aimed at Howe.
“I can see it from both sides because it hasn’t gone well this season but the level of expectation is there because of him,” he says. “He deserves a little bit more than what fans are giving him.”
Lack of time on the training pitch, where Shelvey says Howe does his best work, might be behind this season’s struggles. He recalls one particular weekly session where Howe would work “for 40 or 50 minutes, just on shape”.
“He works a lot on patterns of play and when it comes to a game day they’re just drilled into you and you know that if things aren’t going well you’ve got those patterns to rely on,” he says.
“He’s not just this one dimensional, high pressing manager. A lot of his teams do tire out because of how much he demands but that’s just the way he works. I’ve not got a bad word to say about him.”
Eddie Howe has shaped Shelvey’s career (Photo: Supplied)
Shelvey is doing the media rounds to mark his retirement.
Hanging up his boots had been on the cards for a while but seeing it “in black and white” did give him pause for thought. His wife Daisy shed a few tears when it was made official.
Now he is ready to embrace life in the dug out at a club with aspirations of moving through the divisions and eventually competing in the Asian Champions League.
“This isn’t a publicity stunt, it’s not for the cameras,” he says.
Neither is his decision to stay in the UAE at a time when the country has been dragged into the conflict in Iran.
“I’ve not felt unsafe once,” Shelvey says.
“People are still going to the beaches, the malls, the restaurants. The first day when there was a bomb we just went out and went to the mall.
“We just got told ‘Everything’s fine’ and it was. I know a lot of people have gone home but I’m just like ‘Why?’ Trust them. The UAE has made us feel so safe.
“The only thing that’s been a bit annoying is the kids are off school for three weeks…”
Last year Shelvey caused controversy when he said that he would never move back to London or Essex because of the threat of crime. Even with the situation unfolding in Dubai he remains defiant.
“I don’t care about the backlash,” he said.
“One thing you know about me is I just say how I feel. It’s the truth – people don’t like it, so be it.
“I do feel like the UK isn’t what it was when I was growing up. I felt fine in Newcastle but in terms of living in London or Essex, where I’m from, I’d never, ever go back there.
“Even if my family have a big party and ask me to fly back for it I say ‘No’. You want to see us, you come out here. I don’t want to put anything at risk.
“My wife’s sister was walking in London along the street after work and the phone got robbed. Just kids coming past on a bike. There’s too many scumbags around.
“All it would take would be for me to be in London walking around with the kids, someone to say ‘Give me your watch’ and I’m the type of person to say ‘You’re not having it’.
“I didn’t want to do it anymore and I felt like a nice change. A bit of sun, enjoy the life.”
Liverpool 0-2 Paris Saint-Germain(Dembele 72′, 90+1) – PSG win 4-0 on aggregate
ANFIELD — Did you ever really believe? As Paris Saint-Germain fans bounced with flares in Stanley Park 90 minutes before kick-off, you knew that Tuesday night would require an energy that Anfield has seen plenty throughout history but too rarely this season. This has been a Liverpool campaign to reinforce reality on repeat, not play out fantasies.
Paris Saint-Germain are better than Liverpool because they might just be better than everyone. They are a band of glorious midfield conductors, scheming forwards and defenders who are perfectly prepared to defend. They won this tie in their own banlieue but they doubled down on it in Liverpool. They can be streetfighters and artists and anything else you want them to be.
Arne Slot’s strength lies in control, in assured measurement of his own emotions. He rarely offers public calls-to-arms and you can’t quite imagine him roaring a pre-match speech.
But on Tuesday Liverpool needed a dose of a Jurgen Klopp vibe. The Borussia Dortmund team bus welcome in 2016, 10 years ago to the day. The Trent Alexander-Arnold corner in 2019. The conversion from impossibility to possibility quicker than you could catch your breath and the sense, however much you understood it to be nonsense, that some form of magic was happening in front of you.
Ousmane Dembele shows his class with a delightful finish to send PSG into the semi-finals pic.twitter.com/LbmxBSr6XX
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) April 14, 2026
Liverpool certainly attempted the fast start, that whirl of direct passes and hasty restarts. There was electricity after half-time, when they built up a head of steam and Cody Gakpo added energy that no attacker had before him. They at least tried to rage against the fading light rather than acquiescing to it.
But this team struggles to play at double speed without being twice as careless and they make enough mistakes anyway. They were fragmented with the ball: passes played too late, runs made too early, touches rushed and inexact. The chances that came were mostly piecemeal, even if Anfield oohed and ahhed as it has to. Even a generous penalty decision was deemed so soft as to justify overrule.
And here’s the rub: PSG really can keep up the same pace and then they sprint a little faster and for longer, just to show off. Their pressing, revolutionised by Luis Enrique after the Messi-Neymar-Mbappe axis of fun but no work, is as relentless as if they had 13 on the turf. They force you into spaces and then block your path like school bullies in a corridor. These should be Liverpool’s standards too.
Slot can reasonably claim poor luck this season if this is to be his last here. His three biggest summer signings – Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike – started together on Tuesday after only 88 minutes on the pitch all season. Isak’s minutes would be managed, so of course Ekitike suffered a serious injury before half-time.
You fear it may not wash, not with Xabi Alonso potentially standing by. This tie was not lost on Tuesday but in the passivity of a week ago when Liverpool had their tummies tickled. That has been a theme of a season that undoes so much of the accumulated fine work and goodwill.
This always felt like an audition of something greater. It seems so unjust on a title-winning manager, one who achieved too much in his first season and too little in his second. But we are eight months into a season and it’s hard to see what this team is meant to be or how it should play.
And the gap to Europe’s elite is growing a touch too much when it matters. The new forward line needs curating. A new central defence might need buying, if Ibrahima Konate goes. There are questions about decision-makers away from the pitch. It is a monster job. And Slot might not be here to oversee it.
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WEMBLEY – From the phantoms of England’s past, to a near ghost-goal.
Before England’s vital win over Spain in World Cup qualifying, there were concerns it would be overshadowed by a pre-match ceremony honouring Euro 2022 winner Mary Earps. It came just months after her explosive autobiography and its tirades against Hannah Hampton and Sarina Wiegman, when she questioned the manager’s integrity and her successor’s attitude.
It was feared too that Earps’ return on Tuesday night risked piling unwelcome pressure on Hampton, who has looked short of confidence in the Women’s Super League. Instead, the Chelsea stopper’s remarkable 90th-minute save ensured England held firm at Wembley after Lauren Hemp’s early strike that just crept over the line.
Keira Walsh hailed an “unbelievable goalkeeper”. Fran Kirby, on BBC commentary, admitted Hampton had “come into this camp with a lot of question marks around her because of her form at club, the goals she has been conceding – but this is the moment for her confidence to grow again”.
What a start for England!
The European Champions lead the World Champions inside the first three minutes
Here was a night when the Lionesses put several demons to bed. Earps walked out to huge cheers and most significantly, Spain – beaten in last year’s Euros final but nevertheless world champions – were left frustrated, bruised, thwarted again.
It might all have gone so differently, as with so many aspect of Earps’ shock retirement a year ago. She stood accused of letting her teammates down, bowing out just months before the Euros having learned she would be playing understudy to Hampton in Switzerland.
Back on the ground where she played her own part in winning a European Championship four years ago, Earps reminisce about “my favourite memory of all time” and “the best thing I’ve ever done in my life”. She posed for photos with her parents; Leah Williamson sprinted towards her; no sooner had she appeared than Lucy Bronze had put an arm around her.
In the fallout from her book it should not have been forgotten that Earps is a Lionesses legend and one of the most influential players in women’s football history. Over eight years she won 53 caps, won one major tournament and reached the final of another, which included a famous penalty save despite defeat to Spain.
As FA chair Debbie Hewitt presented her with a bouquet of flowers and a framed shirt, it was a reminder that the gesture carried more weight for the stopper than most.
In 2023 she forced Nike into a U-turn over their failure to make women’s goalkeeping replica kits – she did more than any other to make keeping cool and it is fitting that the toxicity surrounding her departure has finally waned.
For Wiegman, the conflict between sticking with her history-makers and bedding in a future generation is one that has never really gone away. Lucia Kendall was given an experimental role as a deep-lying No 10 – a huge test for the 21-year-old against the world’s best midfield. An unfamiliar centre-back pairing of Esme Morgan and Lotte Wubben-Moy prevailed even as Spain dominated and peppered Hampton’s goal.
The Spanish dressing room must have been haunted by memories Zurich in July, when in unfathomable heat Hampton proved the heroine. Back then, England did not necessarily look like the best team in Europe but had the tenacity to see it out. They did so again.
Wiegman had urged fans beforehand to stick not only with her current players but with Earps too – urging supporters to applaud rather than jeer. She need not have worried. Both parties have moved on – and finally made peace.
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