Pep Guardiola suggested Man City’s academy is fostering numerous first-team bound players and labelled Adebayo Akinfenwa ‘a legend’ after their win over Wycombe.

Guardiola had admitted in the build-up to Tuesday’s game his hands were tied by a number of injuries to City’s first-team players, and watched on as the five debutants he named to face League One Chairboys played their part in a 6-1 hammering at the Etihad.

The margin of victory was sealed by 19-year-old Cole Palmer’s sensational curling effort in his first goal for the club late on, but left-back Josh Wilson-Esbrand also caught the eye when making City’s second goal before half-time on an encouraging night for the club’s young prospects.

“I just have to say thank you to the academy,” Guardiola said after the game. “They all do an incredible job.

“You have the feeling that we have not just one or two potential players but many of them. The academy gives them the right values to become good professional players and they have the talent.

“We have the feeling that we can count on them. We saw it today a little bit and we know how good they are. As manager of the first team, I can enjoy it, I can use them.”

Guardiola may not have known much about 39-year-old veteran striker Akinfenwa prior to the build-up to Tuesday’s encounter.

After a near-miss from a header and a typically lively attacking showing from the forward though, he was certainly aware of his threat come full-time and said he would use the experience to help his young guns prosper – with none of his back four born when Akinfenwa made his professional debut in 2001.

“They faced a legend of English football, it was an absolute pleasure to meet him,” Guardiola said of Akinfenwa.

“It’s not easy to do it but they did very well. We are going to review the game and show them how to solve the problems. But there was not one bad performance.”

Reacting, Akinfenwa tweeted that he is “humbled” by Guardiola’s comment.

Juventus produced a second-half fightback to earn their first Serie A victory of the season against Spezia.

Centre-back Matthijs de Ligt scored the winner from a corner six minutes after Federico Chiesa’s equaliser.

Spezia had produced their own comeback from a goal down through Emmanuel Gyasi and Janis Antiste, after Moise Kean’s low strike into the bottom corner gave Juventus a 28th-minute lead.

Victory moves Massimiliano Allegri’s side up to 12th in the table.

Manager Allegri billed the match as a “relegation six-pointer after two points from four matches had left Juventus in the bottom three.

Having failed to win any of their first four games for only the fourth time in the club’s history, Kean’s first Juventus goal since rejoining from Everton in August temporarily relieved some of the pressure on the visitors.

But Gyasi levelled with a looping strike five minutes later and, after a couple of good saves by goalkeeper Jeroen Zoet from Paolo Dybala at the end of the first half, Antiste’s deflected shot threatened to extend Juve’s miserable start.

Chiesa, rewarded for his persistence as the ball broke kindly for his goal, led the Juventus fightback and De Ligt stabbed home with 18 minutes remaining before a nervous-looking Juventus held on for a valuable first three points of the campaign.

Marco Asensio scored a superb hat-trick as Real Madrid reclaimed top spot in La Liga with an emphatic victory over Mallorca at the Bernabeu.

Asensio scored twice in five first-half minutes – either side of Lee Kang-in’s well-taken response for the visitors.

The Spaniard found the bottom corner to make it 4-1 10 minutes after half-time.

Karim Benzema had opened the scoring after three minutes and added a late fifth for Real, before Isco completed a 6-1 rout with six minutes remaining.

Atletico Madrid had moved top following a 2-1 win against Getafe on Tuesday and now sit two points behind Carlo Ancelotti’s side – with both teams unbeaten after six games.

A slip by defender Josep Antoni Gaya Martinez allowed the in-form Benzema to get Real off to the perfect start.

Asensio – who left Mallorca for Real in 2015 – doubled the advantage when Vinicius Junior’s cut-back was pushed into his path by the goalkeeper, and he then further extended Real’s advantage, finishing from a couple of Benzema assists for his second and third goals.

Benzema made it eight goals and seven assists in La Liga this season with a deflected second goal of the night, before Vinicius teed up substitute Isco to round off an impressive display by the hosts.

The Premier League could have a seven-week mid-season break in 2022-23 to accommodate the 2022 Qatar World Cup.

At a meeting on Wednesday, it was proposed the next campaign would stop after the weekend of November 12 before fixtures resumed again on 26 December.

The season is also set to begin a week earlier than normal on 6 August and finish a week later on 28 May.

That would therefore push both the Champions League and FA Cup finals into June.

The clubs were shown an outline calendar at a shareholders’ meeting.

The World Cup runs from 21 November to 18 December and global governing body Fifa has already stipulated that players must be released on 14 November.

That would have taken out seven rounds of Premier League games and the final two Champions League group stages matches from this season’s calendar.

It is understood Uefa is planning to complete the group stage of next season’s competition before the World Cup, which will create heavier fixture congestion. It would be similar to that experienced last term, which started late because of the effects of the shutdown in 2019-20.

The Qatar World Cup is being staged in November and December because temperatures can reach up 50C in the summer months.

The Monaco Grand Prix is to undergo a historic change of format next season by changing to a three-day weekend.

Traditionally, Monaco has been held over four days, with the first practice day on Thursday, and Friday a free day for Formula 1 teams and drivers.

But to add flexibility to F1’s calendar choices, the event will follow the same format as other races from 2022.

“Monaco will be three days, straight away,” F1 president Stefano Domenicali told CNN.

“So Friday, Saturday and Sunday instead of Thursday, hold, and then Saturday and Sunday. That’s the change we’re going to introduce next year.”

The traditional format was part of Monaco’s glamorous reputation. Parties would be held on boats in the famous harbour on Thursday night, leaving Friday free for guests to recuperate or take part in other events before the serious racing action started at the weekend.

F1 is planning a record 23-race calendar for 2022, as it was this year before coronavirus-related travel restrictions cut the season to an expected 22 grands prix.

This season’s calendar is still not finalised – there is still one vacant date on 19-21 November following the cancellation of the Australian Grand Prix. This is expected to be filled by F1’s first race in Qatar.

The Chinese, Canadian, Singapore and Japanese Grands Prix have also been cancelled this year because of the pandemic, but F1 is hoping all of them can return in 2022.

Domenicali said the 2022 calendar would be announced at a meeting of the FIA world motorsport council on 15 October.

He said there had been interest from Kyalami in South Africa for a return to the schedule for the first time since 1993.

While Domenicali confirmed “discussions” with Kyalami had taken place, the Italian added F1 had also “received other requests from countries in Africa”.

He said: “In this moment, I need to keep it confidential.”