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Key events
El clásico: Real Madrid’s Fede Valverde was taken to hospital to have stitches after a second confrontation with teammate Aurélien Tchouaméni in two days, as the club’s collapse into chaos continues.
Players held an emergency meeting and Real have opened disciplinary proceedings after a physical fight, with blood being spilled and Valverde being taken for treatment.
It is the latest episode in a catalogue of problems at the club; they will almost certainly end a second successive season without a trophy, Álvaro Arbeloa will not continue as coach, and the dressing room divide widens by the day. Real travel to Barcelona for the clásico on Sunday.
Valverde and Tchouaméni almost came to blows during an argument in training on Wednesday which continued into the dressing room, with teammates intervening to separate the pair as they pushed each other. Then, 24 hours later, the sports newspaper Marca revealed that on Thursday Tchouaméni and Valverde fought, resulting in Valverde falling and hitting his head, opening up a gash.
Valverde was taken to the medical department at Valdebebas and from there to the nearby Hospital Blua Sanitas Valdebebas, where he was given stitches. Cameras caught the 27-year-old’s car going back and forth from the training ground, although the Uruguay midfielder was not visible inside.
More from Sid Lowe below including Valverde’s statement and Real Madrid’s medical assessment on his injury.
Championship playoffs: Middlesbrough believe they caught a Southampton analyst hiding in the bushes and allegedly recording their training session on Thursday morning, in a remarkable repeat of the 2019 Marcelo Bielsa “spygate” affair.
Boro have reported the incident to the English Football League as spying on opposition training is in breach of their regulations. The EFL is investigating the alleged misconduct and have requested Southampton’s observations regarding the matter.
The individual, thought to be part of Tonda Eckert’s backroom team, was spotted by a member of Middlesbrough staff at the beginning of their session at Rockliffe Park, 48 hours before their Championship playoff semi-final first leg.
Boro are aware of the details of the Southampton employee allegedly involved. It is thought the individual in question logged video and photographs on his phone, potentially focusing on Boro’s set pieces, but refused to identify himself after being confronted.
Read Ben Fisher’s full story below.
Championship playoffs: Four decades on from the birth of playoffs, Millwall, Hull City, Middlesbrough or Southampton are fighting to join Coventry and Ipswich in the top flight. Matt Furniss at Opta has crunched the numbers to see who is most likely to go up.
Football League: Forty years ago, the playoffs did not exist and fascinating archives reveal how a format that even one winning manager wanted abolished came to be.
Despite the complaints – and an initially indifferent reaction from the media – the end-of-season drama quickly took hold. In 1986-87, promoted Charlton had battled to stay in the First Division and were forced to fight for their lives again after finishing fourth-bottom.
Charlton beat Ipswich 2-1 on aggregate in the semi-final, then faced Leeds in a final that could not be separated over two legs, each winning 1-0 at home. The competition was proving popular, with crowds of about 30,000 packing Elland Road for both Leeds home games. A replay at Birmingham’s St Andrew’s followed – a playoff to decide the playoffs, if you will.
The score was level after 90 minutes and Charlton looked doomed when John Sheridan scored in extra time. But Shirtliff struck twice in four delirious minutes. It remains the only playoff final to go to a replay, after that idea was dropped.
On the journey home, the Charlton coach hurtled down the M6 until the players, starving, demanded to stop. They pulled into a service station and tucked into cheap fast food. “I’m thinking: ‘We’ve just managed to stay in the First Division and we’re all eating chips and god knows what in a services,’” Shirtliff, now 65, says, chuckling. “Every time I think about it, I think: ‘What would they be doing now?’ They’d probably be in five-star restaurants or in a hotel with their own chef cooking for them.”
Read more from Sam Cunningham below.
Europa Conference League: Crystal Palace followed Arsenal and Aston Villa to become the third English team to make a men’s European final this season. Here is Ed Aarons’ verdict from Selhurst Park.
There were ecstatic celebrations as Palace’s players completed a lap of honour in front of their adoring supporters who are still having to pinch themselves over the events of the past 12 months. Glasner may be set to leave after what will be the 60th game of a marathon season but whatever happens after this, he will always have a special place in the club’s history. One of the loudest cheers of the night came when the stadium announcer confirmed that Nottingham Forest – who controversially replaced Palace in the Europa League – had been thrashed 4-0 by Aston Villa in their semi-final.
The captain Dean Henderson, admitted that the sense of injustice has been driving the FA Cup winners. “It’s pretty incredible really to even get into a European competition with Crystal Palace, let alone reach the final,” he said. “We’ve got to deliver something special. We’ve got to get back what we deserve.”
Europa League: John McGinn has warned that the job is not done yet and that Villa are not ‘nearly men’ in Istanbul.
We didn’t want to leave these games with any regrets, and I think we’ve done ourselves massive justice. We’ve had low moments. It’s a demanding club to play for but what we’ve done in the last few years is exceptional. The margins are so slim. If we lost, we’re the nearly men.
When we go to Istanbul, we need to make sure we’re not the nearly men. I’m normally quite calm before games, but today I was nervous. Tonight was up with one of the best performances I’ve seen from a Villa team for a long time.
I wasn’t nervous in terms of the team turning up. We’ve turned up in big games, maybe just not in big semi-finals. The injuries Forest have had may have helped decide it, but we needed to capitalise – and we did. The club’s been through some massive lows, but such a massive group deserves success. Hopefully we’ll bring it.
Europa League: In the end, it was a rout, Aston Villa sailing into their first European final since 1982. There were fist pumps from Prince William high in the Trinity Road Stand after Emiliano Buendía’s penalty approaching the hour put Villa in command of the tie and then pure delirium as John McGinn buried two near-identical first-time finishes inside three minutes to kill the game.
In between serenading Unai Emery, who is hunting a record fifth Europa League title, and drinking in the celebrations, Villa supporters could think about booking flights to Istanbul, where Villa will face Freiburg in search of their first trophy since lifting the League Cup in 1996.
Villa had the “benefit of Buendía’s ice-cold mind,” wrote Will Unwin, who was at Villa Park to watch as the Argentinian kept his head as tempers raged around him.
Aston Villa settled sooner and an integral element of that was Buendía, a classy No 10 unfazed by swimming in a cauldron. He knows if he plays his own game, then good things will follow. Forest may have hoped to intimidate him but he was always eager to take the ball to feet, even with Elliot Anderson and others snapping at his heels.
Buendía encouraged the vociferous Villa fans to make more noise by throwing his arms up in the air during the first half, knowing the part they could play. It worked as the decibels grew, but creating the opener was a more successful method of testing the 129-year-old foundations. Receiving the ball on the edge of the box, Buendía weighed up his options and took the most difficult route, dazzling through two defenders before calmly slipping a pass to give Watkins the easiest of finishes.
Read the full analysis below.
Preamble
The 2025-26 season may be ticking towards its end but there is still a whole lot to be decided. Championship playoffs begin with Hull v Millwall tonight before Middlesbrough take on Southampton in tomorrow’s lunchtime kick-off. The latter may be extra spicy given Boro made a formal complaint to the EFL alleging a man they believe to be a Southampton member of staff was spying on their training session yesterday.
In the Premier League, Manchester City hope to bounce back from their draw at Everton against Brentford. Arsenal will be keen for their title rivals to slip up before they face West Ham, who are facing the drop, on Sunday. There is also Women’s FA Cup action with Liverpool taking on Brighton before Chelsea host the newly crowned WSL champions, Manchester City. Plus some big rivalries ignite with the Old Firm derby at Celtic Park and el clásico returns at Camp Nou but Barcelona will be the least of Madrid fans’ worries, with a teammate rift causing spilled blood in the dressing room. More on that later.
There was plenty to chew on last night too. Vibrant and victorious Villa demolished Nottingham Forest’s hopes of charging into the Europa League final and edging closer to ending a 30-year major trophy drought. They will face Freiburg in the final in Istanbul on 20 May.
In the Conference League, Oliver Glasner’s chances of bowing out at Crystal Palace with a second trophy in two years were substantially enhanced with a 5-2 aggregate semi-final win. The Europa League place denied them last year is now in sight, with Rayo Vallecano as their opponents in the final in Leipzig on 27 May.
So much reaction to get to, so much buildup to be across. To get you in the mood, here are our 10 Premier League things to look out for.
As always, if you have any thoughts, questions, predictions, complaints or anything else you want to share, then send them my way via email which you can find at the top of this blog. How do you expect your club to fare this weekend? And has the season gone as expected? I want to know.
The family of Shaun Burton, say they are “devastated” by the loss.
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Key events
In the opening half an hour against Cape Verde, Mikel Oyarzabal, the centre-forward, did not get a single touch.
Kyle Green gets in touch: “Your highlighting of Lalas and his absurdity is something that has prevented me from wanting to watch the coverage on Fox. While every channel has its pros and cons I just can’t.
“I’m 45 and probably the youngest of anyone who remembers him as a player instead of an opinionated insert insult here. As for the match this could be more competitive than it looks on paper Spain need a win the pressure is on them. Saudi Arabia could hold out for a draw and see what happens in their last match. “
News from the England camp, and it seems to be good news on Declan Rice.
“I’m ready and fit, raring to go. I was feeling a little bit of neural pain in my hamstring, which I was managing from after Christmas with Arsenal for a very long time. Obviously, not a lot of people would have known that. It was all behind-the-scenes stuff but it was a smart decision.
“In the end, that last 20 minutes is probably where you pick up the most, and it’s where you play a 70-minute match. But that last 20 is where you really feel your body going for it. And I think it was a smart decision because the last few days I felt really, really good.”
Alex Reid has penned today’s weekend special Football Daily.
Portugal v Uzbekistan on Tuesday enticingly pits the incredibly nice, incredibly 41-year-old-superstar-tolerant Roberto Martínez against Fabio Cannavaro, who’s won a Ballon d’Or as a player and the Chinese Super League as a coach. While the fixture following that game really does see the dream of Thomas Tuchel – in his first international job with England – taking on Queiroz, who is in charge of his ninth national side with Ghana.
The expected formations are 4-2-3-1 for Spain, and 5-3-2 for the Saudi Arabians.
The Saudi team features two Donis changes: Ali Lajami, a defender, and Nasser Al Dawsari, a midfielder, are preferred to Mohammed Abu Al Shamat and Mohamed Kanno. You may recall Salem Al Dawsari, the Saudi captain, as the man who scored the winner against Argentina.
An entertaining read, even for those of us who have just seen the clips.
In a conversation where his co-panelist is casually reminiscing about his days playing alongside Messi or exchanging shirts with Ronaldo Nazário at the World Cup, what exactly is Lalas going to talk about – coming on as a second-half substitute for Earnie Stewart in a friendly against Scotland in 1998? Helping the Kansas City Wizards finish last in the 1999 MLS Western Conference? Did Lalas enjoy an elite playing career? No. But does he do the background reading that could compensate for his relative lack of standing in a conversation with titans like Henry and Zlatan? Also no. But is he charming or funny or charismatic or otherwise magnetic on screen? Eh, no.
For the record, I once interviewed Alexi Lalas on the challenge of playing against Romario in the 1994 World Cup. He had this to say:
“He could kill you in so many different ways. If you remember from that World Cup, he scored so many types of goals. That ranged from solo adventures to an outside-of-the-right-foot half-volley off a corner kick. Romario was both the most difficult to play against and the best that I have faced.
“Roberto Baggio was doing his thing, but in terms of consistency and living up to the hype, he [Romario] was the best. As with all stars, there was a moment when the fans sit up in their seats, and that was a feeling I got with Romario. When it got close to him and the potential for his involvement in a play was there, everybody sat up in their seat. They knew that something spectacular would be happening.”
Saturday’s match reports here.
The Saudi Arabia coach, and Blackburn legend, Georgios Donis, spoke about the challenges facing his team: “Spain is not the same team when Yamal or Williams are on the bench.
“While they still have plenty of possession, they lack the individual one-on-one penetration when these two are missing. I’m not saying it’s a problem for Spain, but when those players are missing, they play in a different way. We saw this very clearly against Cape Verde.
“We are playing against one of the best teams in the world, and it’s very important that when you play against these kinds of teams, you should enjoy the experience and respect the opponent, but not too much.
“It is very hard for any team playing against Spain to have any time in possession. So what we must do is to be more in control of our movement and compact, and when the ball goes through the lines, be able to defend dynamically.
“It’s nice to see miracles in football, and we’ve seen favourites losing against underdogs. Of course, it’s great for Saudi football to have a great memory of the result against Argentina, but we aren’t drawing anything from that.
“I think we’ll feel more pressure in that [Cape Verde] game than we will against Spain.”
The Spain coach, Luis De La Fuente had this to say in his Saturday press conference: “This generation of footballers is highly competitive and really fired up… It’s going to be a completely different story,” he said at his pre-match press conference on Saturday. There is no drama or crisis. The bottom line is simply that we need to win tomorrow.”
Four changes for Spain: Lamine Yamal, Pedro Porro, Dani Olmo and Alex Baena also come into the side with Marcos Llorente, Fabian Ruiz, Ferran Torres and Gavi dropping out.
The teams – Lamine Yamal starts
Spain: Simon, Porro, Cubarsi, Laporte, Cucurella, Gonzalez, Rodri, Yamal, Olmo, Baena, Oyarzabal. Subs: Raya, Joan Garcia, Pubill, Grimaldo, Eric Garcia, Llorente, Merino, Torres, Fabian, Gavi, Pino, Williams, Zubimendi, Munoz, Iglesias.
Saudi Arabia: Al Owais, Abdulhamid, Tambakti, Lajami, Al Amri, Al Harbi, Nasser Al Dawsari, Al Khaibari, Al Juwayr, Al Buraikan, Salem Al Dawsari. Subs: Al Aqidi, Al Kassar, Majrashi, Yahya, Al Shehri, Al Boushal, Kadesh, Al Johani, Al Ghannam, Al Hajji, Al Hamdan, Mandash, Kanno, Thakri, Abu Al Shamat.
Referee: Raphael Claus (Brazil)
Perhaps one of the Saudi -players can write themselves into this high-grade selection?
Perhaps it can be their goalkeeper.
Madrid screening of Spain v Saudi Arabia cancelled due to heat
The public screening of Spain’s World Cup match against Saudi Arabia in Madrid on Sunday has been cancelled because of extreme heat forecast for the Spanish capital, officials said.
The match, due to kick off at 6pm local time on Sunday, had been scheduled to be shown on a giant screen installed by the Spanish football federation (RFEF) at a fan zone in Plaza de Colón in central Madrid.
Madrid city council and the federation decided to cancel the screening after national weather agency AEMET issued an orange heat warning – the second-highest level – for the Madrid region, with temperatures forecast to reach 40C.
“The decision has been taken with the aim of protecting the health of attendees, event staff and support services involved in the event,” Madrid city hall said in a statement, apologising for any inconvenience.
Officials urged supporters to watch the match indoors in air-conditioned spaces and avoid prolonged exposure to the heat.
Large parts of Spain are experiencing unusually high temperatures for June as a mass of hot air from North Africa moves across the Iberian Peninsula.
A total of 13 of Spain’s 17 regions are on orange alert for heat on Sunday, while the northern Basque Country bordering France is on red alert, the highest level.
Authorities advised residents and visitors to take precautions during the heatwave, including drinking water regularly, staying in cool environments, limiting outdoor physical activity during the hottest hours of the day and taking extra care of vulnerable people. AFP
Can Saudi Arabia repeat the magic of 2022?
Argentina arrived in Qatar on a 36-game unbeaten run. When Lionel Messi opened the scoring from the penalty spot after 10 minutes, a comfortable afternoon seemed in the offing. Saleh al-Shehri and Salem al-Dawsari had other ideas, Argentina had three goals disallowed for offside in the space of 13 minutes and the greatest comeback in Saudi Arabia football history was made. Argentina went on to lift the trophy, while defeats to Poland and Mexico meant the Saudis did not reach the knock-out stage.
Unai Simon over David Raya is a controversial choice for De la Fuentes. The Arsenal keeper could lay claim to being Europe’s best this season.
“Those at the Champions League final had a few more days, so I got there on the Wednesday night,” Raya says. “I arrived a bit before Fabián [Ruiz]. I was saying hello to some of the others in reception when he arrived. I went to say congratulations; that was almost the first thing I did. I couldn’t really talk [to him] after the final; I just didn’t have it in me. The next day we talked about the game properly. Just two mates chatting … I was happy for him that he could lift the trophy for a second time.”
A high pressure game for the European champions, as Sid Lowe reports.
“If we had scored one, the game would have changed,” Martín Zubimendi said. Immediately after the game, De la Fuente had offered a simple analysis: when the ball doesn’t want to go in it doesn’t want to go in, he insisted. Spain had racked up 27 shots, after all. Ferran Torres had hit the bar and seen another clear opportunity saved. Vozinha, the 40-year-old goalkeeper who stopped that, saved six more and was named the man of the match. “There’s nothing to reproach the team for,” Rodri said. “We generated chances but couldn’t put it away; the good thing is they created almost nothing.”
We wait to see what role Lamine Yamal will play today. His coach would surely like to be able to use him.
The worst mistake we could make would be to compare him to anyone. He is the midst of a process. He has exceptional footballing maturity and lives it all with total naturalness. He has great serenity and strength. We have to let him follow his path but those players who have something different are ready for that. They’re geniuses, like Dalí [who] can paint a picture, or Michelangelo. They’re different. What is exceptional to us, isn’t to them. In those extremes, they feel comfortable. Why? Because they are different. What we think is exceptional, they consider normal.
Preamble
Spain’s campaign did not get off to a flying start, and Luis de la Fuentes may wake up in the night to visions of Cape Verde’s Vozinha. He will have Georgia on his mind ever since Monday. Saudi Arabia are no pushovers and gave Uruguay a scare in their opening match. Memories of downing Argentina four years ago still abound, and so Spain might beware. They can ill afford to go into the final game with Uruguay at a disadvantage. All eyes on Lamine Yamal, whose fitness situation remains opaque, though Spain need their other forwards to come to the party.
Kick-off 5pm UK, 1pm ET, 2am AEST. Join me.
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