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Perhaps it was almost as Todd Boehly envisaged: a Chelsea game in May, the new champions given a guard of honour after securing what may prove the first of a treble, cruising to victory over fallen rivals. Except Chelsea had to form the guard of honour – in perhaps the closest they came to a coherent formation for quite some time – and Manchester City were celebrating in the sunshine. The nouveaux riches were companion clubs for years but, since each came into extreme wealth, they have never been separated by a greater gulf. If money has talked, and one has spent largely well in recent seasons, the other spectacularly badly in the last 12 months, the consequence is that City’s fifth league title in six seasons was sealed the day before they condemned Chelsea to a first bottom-half finish since 1996. City have the luxury of having Julian Alvarez as a second-choice striker; the rested Erling Haaland’s deluxe deputy is a World Cup winner and he extended their winning run to 12 league games. But, in a season of ignominies for Chelsea, there were more. Pep Guardiola’s team felt suddenly altered on Saturday night, City’s coronation prompting him to rest nine of the starters against Real Madrid. But his second-string side are better than the club with a £600m makeover; indeed City have more than twice as many points as Chelsea. Chelsea had lost to a severely weakened City in the FA Cup and did so again in the Premier League. Over the season, Chelsea have met City four times, lost all four and failed to score in each. Alvarez has scored against them in three competitions, whereas Chelsea have only found the net against anyone in two. Of their quartet of defeats, this may have been the most respectable. Real Madrid had conceded four at the Etihad, like Liverpool and Arsenal before them. Chelsea only let in one as City chalked up a 16th consecutive home win in 2023; indeed, incongruously, the last team to stop them on their own turf was Frank Lampard’s Everton. But the context changed the minute Nottingham Forest beat Arsenal. This became an exhibition game for City, a chance for Guardiola to turn to nine substitutes and make them starters. Even Kalvin Phillips got a belated first start for City. Some 364 days after the previous time he figured in a Premier League starting 11, he headed against the base of the post, a first City goal eluding him. He was part of a makeshift midfield with Rico Lewis and Phil Foden; one is often a full-back of sorts, the other normally found in the front three. It was a reason why City were more open than usual, though it scarcely mattered. More damningly, gaps magically appeared in Chelsea’s five-man defence when City scored. Cole Palmer picked out Alvarez and the Argentinian was free to place a shot beyond Kepa Arrizabalaga. Palmer began in terrific style and the 21-year-old almost marked just his second Premier League start with a goal, Trevoh Chalobah clearing his shot off the line. Foden came close with an audacious lob while Alvarez had a second goal ruled out because of a handball by Riyad Mahrez, his supplier. Alvarez was terrific but if no one else has a second-choice striker of such stature, City can argue he is a £14m bargain. Chelsea, with as many league goals as Haaland has on his own, lack any kind of potent first-choice centre-forward, let alone a high-grade understudy. A side with a marked aversion to scoring had the opportunities to level after making a timid start. Stefan Ortega denied Raheem Sterling a goal on his return to the Etihad Stadium. Sterling was thwarted, too, by a brilliant goal-line clearance from his former teammate John Stones, even if he was then ruled offside. Sterling came off to a standing ovation, but from the home faithful; named Footballer of the Year and scorer of 31 goals in a season for City may have felt nostalgic for his old club. His season, like Chelsea’s, has been a harrowing affair. Chelsea’s other threat stemmed from two of their own. Conor Gallagher headed Lewis Hall’s cross against the post. Hall and Gallagher acquitted themselves well, two youth-team products faring better than many of the buys. Meanwhile, Noni Madueke was strangely demoted to the bench by Lampard; Trevoh Chalobah ended up at left wing-back, irrelevant experiments as Chelsea’s season peters out. Guardiola brought on some of the regulars, in Stones, Rodri, Haaland and Kevin de Bruyne, which meant they had to flee in the pitch invasion after the final whistle. At least, though, they had something to celebrate. Two years ago, Chelsea beat City three times in six weeks and defeated them in a Champions League final. But, as one closes in on a historic treble and the other has endured one of the worst campaigns a superclub has ever had, it feels far longer ago. Read More Man City vs Chelsea LIVE: Premier League trophy presentation delayed by pitch invasion Five titles in six years: Are Manchester City destroying the Premier League? Enzo Fernandez is Chelsea’s sole shining light to take into next season

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The Russian bullet struck the sergeant just above the left ear. The leader of the Ukrainian platoon was down. Headquarters radioed a battlefield promotion to the private who had called him “brother” — a man known as Courier. Courier knew the platoon's orders were to move forward through the forest, on the road to Bakhmut. He hesitated for 30 seconds near his mortally wounded commander. Maybe a minute. Then he decided: there would be no turning back as he howled “forward”. He fired toward a trench just ahead until he was sure the Russians inside would never shoot again. Then the men stumbled through the charred spindles of trees toward the village of Andriivka — the objective of the 3rd Assault Brigade since the start of Ukraine’s counteroffensive this summer, about 6 miles (10 kilometers) south of the city of Bakhmut. The sergeant, Gagarin, and other injured soldiers could only be evacuated after dark, because the Russians were also hunting downed Ukrainians. Days later, as he prepared for Gagarin's funeral, Courier predicted his own future, his pale eyes unfocused. “This forest is taking our friends away, and this is the worst,” he said. “And when I think about how far we still need to move forward ... most likely someday I will be the one to remain lying in the forest, and my friends will just go forward.” This stretch of dead forest — a couple dozen trees wide and a mile (2 kilometers) long — toward the equally dead village of Andriivka is one of countless like it on the road to Russian-controlled Bakhmut, which has now taken on huge symbolic significance in the Ukrainian counteroffensive. The Associated Press spent two weeks with the brigade for an intimate glimpse into the speed, direction and cost of the counteroffensive, through scenes witnessed in the forest and at rest, in helmet camera footage and drone video. A lot rides on their progress. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky is making his country's case to Washington on Thursday for more money and weapons, and must persuade his audience that the counteroffensive is working. The US Congress is currently weighing president Joe Biden’s request to provide as much as $24bn more in military and humanitarian aid. In an interview with “60 Minutes,” Mr Zelensky acknowledged the counteroffensive was slow, but added: “It is important that we are moving forward every day and liberating territory.” A study earlier this month by the Royal United Service Institute, a London-based think-tank, found that Ukrainian forces are averaging 700-1,200 meters of progress every five days. That gives Russian forces time to dig in and especially to mine territory as they pull back. The 3rd Assault Brigade, composed entirely of volunteers and considered one of Ukraine’s best and most experienced corps, has been fighting almost nonstop in the east since January, while less-experienced units received new training and modern weapons to fight in the south. The AP is identifying the men by their call-signs, which is both how they identify each other and a military requirement to report in-depth on the unit. Bakhmut fell to Russia in May, largely due to waves of attacks from mercenary Wagner fighters, including prison conscripts thought to have died by the hundreds. Ukraine has been trying to reclaim it ever since, hoping to deal a major psychological blow to Russia. But the soldiers sent to carry out the task are relying on largely Soviet-era armoured vehicles and older weapons. In the past month, the 3rd Assault Brigade had only been able to move a mile (2 kilometers), crossing mines and booby-trapped trenches and dodging artillery, drone-launched grenades and Russian forces within shouting distance. The questions now facing them were the same ones facing their country: Would they succeed, and at what cost? Andriivka was their goal, as important as any strip of land in Ukraine. And on 6 September, the day Courier left his commander's body behind, he and his men took over a trash-strewn trench in the middle of the forest and held it for four full days. On either side of them were mined fields that once grew wheat and now sprout only craters. During moments of rest, he leafed through a diary, written longhand by a Russian soldier: “I’ve been at war for four weeks already and I miss my mum,” Courier read. Courier asked one of the Russian prisoners who surrendered what he knew about the diary. The Russian replied: “I don’t know. I just got here today.” Maybe the author was the Russian whose body Courier propped up to protect himself from incoming fire. Or maybe he was one of the Russians who had shot Gagarin and been killed in turn a few minutes later. Courier didn't know. But by then, Gagarin was dead. And the forest kept claiming others. Shepherd, who was wounded in the leg in the morning and had to wait hours for evacuation from the battlefield, was a mask of pain. Chapa too. A grenade struck Spaniard’s helmet, and the resulting head injury would leave him helpless. Gary had no obvious injuries but was so shell-shocked he could barely make it through a conversation. Courier would go to western Ukraine and represent the platoon at Gagarin’s funeral. Gagarin, ironically named for the Russian cosmonaut who was the first human in space, was buried in his hometown of Polonne, a 550-mile (900-kilometer) drive from the battlefield. As military pallbearers walked uphill toward the churchyard, residents along the way stopped and knelt to honour the dead along flower-lined roads. One of the men carrying the casket remarked on the view from the village cemetery. “I’ve done this 56 times,” he said grimly. Social media feeds from the brigade show dozens of funeral announcements since the counteroffensive began. Gagarin’s mother sought out Courier, who was among the last to see her son alive. But he finds it hard to talk to civilians these days. “I feel like there is a gap between civilians and us now," he said. “When the war is over, I will probably just leave to fight elsewhere.” For Courier, war is complicated. He says he enjoys the dopamine rush, when he leaves the “horrible grinder," comes back to headquarters and jumps down from the armored vehicle. “You look at the sky and you look around, and you understand that you’re alive and nothing can kill you,” he said. "This is the moment. This is a feeling you cannot get anywhere else in life.” And yet he did not want to return to the strip of forest leading to Andriivka. His commanders ordered him to take 10 days’ leave, a break for a fighter whose anguish they sensed despite his outward calm. He would take the time to go fishing and clear his head. “Unfortunately, I’m only able to leave after going through hell,” he said bitterly. On the day of the funeral, 13 September, any man whole enough to fight was in the forest, including another sergeant in the platoon, Fedya. On 5 September, Fedya had been lightly wounded by a cluster munition, and the injury may have saved his life. Gagarin took his place in the assault, and that was the day he died. The last push started on 14 September. Men from other depleted units from the 3rd Assault Brigade joined in for the usual three- to four-day stint on the battlefield. After two months of inching their way forward through the stand of ash trees, maybe they would finally break through the woods to Andriivka. “How many more lives do we need to give?" Fedya asked. "How many more forests are there?” Fedya sees war as something to be perfected through a combination of study and experience. A 24-year-old with a smooth and unlined face, he wears his authority lightly, introspective but with little time or energy to spare on self-doubt or guilt. He dreams of war, and when he wakes, it is there waiting for him to move forward. “War is a science, and you have to get better at it and study. If you don’t, you have no chance of survival,” said Fedya. “The smarter you are, the more qualified you are, the better your chances of coming back alive.” On 14 September, they finally did it — more than three months after receiving the order to reclaim Andriivka. They broke through the shelling and the drone-launched grenades, firing at Russian forces who fled in front of them. The day was a blur. The Ukrainians pummeled the tiny village with artillery and then threw a smokescreen into its main street. Russian artillery hit retreating and surrendering Russian soldiers, whose bodies lay face down or curled on their sides. The last hundred meters was a mix of blood, metal, trash, spent cartridges and shredded armour. The Ukrainians went house to house, taking Russian prisoners and killing those who fought back. Even after the last of the Russian forces were expelled, Andriivka came under constant shelling, with buzzing drones on both sides. Fedya warned his men to shoot down the ones that hovered: They were the ones that dropped grenades. That night, Fedya dreamed he was cowering behind a shrapnel-pierced truck on the battlefield and was hit by artillery fire. The next morning, Fedya carried a Ukrainian flag to hoist in the reclaimed village of Andriivka. It was time to retrieve the bodies. There was the body of 19-year-old Riley, killed on the first day he ever fought. There was Zima. There were others, placed carefully into bags and carried back through the forest. The men left dozens of Russian bodies for later. Andriivka was now nothing but a pile of bricks and scorched trees with the smell of death. But it was in Ukrainian hands, and Fedya was ready to hand control to the next brigade to reclaim the next forest. He huddled in one of the few basements left and tried to explain to the incoming commander why the fight for this broken town was worth it. “Look at these fields, this forest. Everything grows again," he said. "The cities that we reclaim, they will be rebuilt. ... We will clear out all that’s left of the Soviet Union. ... The war could be the best thing to happen, in the sense that everything can start fresh.” Ukrainian officials said this month’s battle’s for the road to Bakhmut may have taken as many as three Russian brigades out of combat, as cited in an assessment Tuesday by the Institute for the Study of War. But Fedya was ready to leave. “I’m tired of this forest. I want to go home. I want to wash and sleep,” he said with a curse. “Until morning. And in the morning, I’ll come back.” Hinnant reported from Paris. Alex Babenko contributed to this story. Read More Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide 3 South Africa navy personnel die after they are swept off a submarine deck during supply operation Kenya's president is committing his country to lead a multinational force to Haiti to combat gangs Singapore police uncover more gold bars, watches and other assets from money laundering scheme

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