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Middlesbrough v Southampton: Championship playoff semi-final, first leg – live | Championship
Key events
30 min: Ayling goes close! The centre-back steps into some space in the Southampton half, slips through a challenge and shoots just wide of the far post from the right of the penalty area.
28 min: Ayling wins a free-kick off Azaz in a way that only Ayling can, with a bit of a flop. From it Boro apply some pressure on the edge of the box until Morris shoots well over the bar from distance.
26 min: Targett drifts a free-kick across the face of goal but none of his teammates can get on the end of it. Fry has to deal with a ball pumped down the middle and does so, heading back so his goalkeeper Brynn can have a touch.
24 min: As a few more Middlesbrough corners come and go, it becomes increasingly evident that Southampton have come to the Riverside looking for a clean sheet and not much more. Certainly in the first half.
22 min: Peretz flaps at the corner and just gets enough on it to prevent Malanda from getting his head on it for Boro.
20 min: Southampton find some respite in the form of a couple of throw-ins they can take their time over. Conway comes again for Middlesbrough, driving inside off the left and hitting a shot that’s blocked out for a corner by Harwood-Bellis.
18 min: Big chance for Boro! Brittain charges into the penalty area down the right and cuts the ball back for McGree but he can’t guide it on target from just outside the six-yard box.
16 min: Whittaker shifts the ball on to his left foot on the edge of the box and fires a shot over the crossbar. Larin again fails to hold the ball up against Fry. It’s all Middlesbrough.
15 min: Whittaker gets to the byline for Boro and wins a corner after Fellows skews a clearance the wrong way. Whittaker goes short, gets the ball back from Conway and the cross floats harmlessly out for a throw.
13 min: Southampton try to break again but it’s not sticking to Larin. They’ve not really had a kick in Middlesbrough’s half.
11 min: Half-hearted shouts for handball from the home supporters after Strelec tries to get on the end of Brittain’s cross and it bounces off a Southampton defender. Bit of a nervy moment for Saints but they escape.
9 min: Malanda wins the ball for Boro on the halfway line and Strelec carries it forward to the edge of the Southampton box. Ayling’s cross from deep is overhit and out for a throw.
7 min: Whittaker’s corner is an excellent outswinger and Strelec glances it over the bar. The Boro strikes shakes his head – decent chance, that.
6 min: McGree storms into some space in the final third for Boro but his pass to Conway is short and Southampton get back. McGree then wins a corner, sliding to shoot and Harwood-Bellis comes across to block.
4 min: Ayling looks for Whittaker with a ball down the channel but Peretz comes off his line to gather. Matt Targett, facing the club where he came through, sends a harmless cross into the Southampton box.
2 min: Boro venture forward down the right but Morgan Whittaker’s cross into the box bobbles safely through for a goal-kick. Boos for former Boro player Finn Azaz as he gets on the ball for the first time.
Kick-off
A very frosty handshake between the two managers – Kim Hellberg not even making eye contact with Tonda Eckert – and we’re under way!
‘Ten years on, take us back where we belong’ is the banner unfurled by the Boro fans as the players emerge from the tunnel.
Who’s ready for more playoff drama? We’re about to get under way at the Riverside.
As you can imagine both sets of fans are getting stuck in to ‘spygate’. There’s around 10 minutes till kick-off.
Championship playoffs: Aaron Bower was at the MKM Stadium for last night’s other semi-final first leg between Hull and Millwall … don’t let the headline put you off.
Tonda Eckert has been speaking to Sky Sports pre-match, often failing to suppress a smile, about accusations of spying against Southampton:
I believe the club has made a statement. That’s all I can say at the moment.
I believe when you arrive in this moment of the season it’s not coaches who win games, it’s the players. It’s going to be the same today. We are focused on ourselves and we have been all week. We know that we face a very good team today. It’s going to be a big challenge.
We’ve been consistent with confidence and humility. We always play to win, that hasn’t changed. We will try to do the same today.
Southampton charged with misconduct over ‘spying’ row
Louise Taylor
Southampton have been charged with misconduct by the English Football League and will face an independent disciplinary commission set to be convened “at the earliest opportunity”.
Middlesbrough remain furious after catching a man they maintain belongs to Tonda Eckert’s backroom staff allegedly spying on a vital training session before Saturday’s Championship playoff semi-final first leg against Southampton at the Riverside Stadium.
It is understood that Steve Gibson, Boro’s owner, will expect the south coast club to be punished severely. Under a rule introduced to deal specifically with spying in 2019, such cases are dealt with by independent disciplinary panels with the power to impose a wide range of punishments ranging from reprimands to fines, points deductions and, in extreme cases, expulsion from the competition.
Under EFL regulations Southampton would ordinarily have 14 days to respond to their two charges but, in a statement, the governing body said it had asked the disciplinary commission to “convene a hearing at the earliest opportunity”.
On Thursday Middlesbrough reported that a Southampton employee had been caught filming and making audio recordings of Boro’s manager, Kim Hellberg, taking training at their Rockliffe Park base near Darlington after being spotted hiding in bushes.
It is understood Middlesbrough possess compelling CCTV footage of an incident that concluded with the man they allege is a Southampton first-team analyst entering a toilet at the adjacent Rockliffe Hall hotel and re-emerging with a changed appearance.
Starting lineups: Injured Hackney misses out
Middlesbrough’s Hayden Hackney has not recovered from a calf injury in time to be involved for this one – he’s not even on the bench.
Middlesbrough XI (3-4-3): Brynn; Ayling, Fry, Malanda; Brittain, Morris, McGree, Targettl Whittaker, Conway, Strelec
Subs: Wildsmith, Gilbert, Browne, Silvera, Castledine, Hansen, Ibeh, Sarmiento, Hunt
Southampton XI (4-2-3-1): Peretz: Bree, Harwood-Bellis, Wood, Manning; Downes, Jander; Fellows, Azaz, Scienza; Larin
Subs: Long, Stewart, Quarshie, Archer, Edozie, Charles, Matsuki, Welington, Bragg
Preamble
Hello and welcome to Spygate 2.0. The buildup to this Championship playoff semi-final has been dominated by accusations that Southampton have been peaking through the bushes at Middlesbrough’s training ground this week – Saints have now been charged with misconduct by the EFL and will face an independent disciplinary commission “at the earliest opportunity”. The club have said they will be fully cooperating with the EFL throughout the process. Shades of Marcelo Bielsa, Leeds and Frank Lampard’s Derby in 2019 for sure. We’ll get into the weeds, or brambles, of that shortly.
It will certainly make for one hell of an atmosphere at the Riverside this lunchtime as Middlesbrough host Southampton in the first leg on the road to Wembley and the Premier League, with the return fixture at St Mary’s on Tuesday. Kim Hellberg’s Boro saw their push for automatic promotion fade away in the final weeks of the season while Saints have surged up the table under the 33-year-old Tonda Eckert and came close to breaking into the top two themselves.
Fetch your binoculars for kick-off at 12.30pm (BST) and get in touch via email as the action unfolds. Team news will follow.
He is expected to be deselected when his Upper Bann constituency association meets in June.
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Middle East crisis live: Iran could enrich uranium to weapons grade if attacked, senior lawmaker warns | US-Israel war on Iran
Iran could enrich uranium to weapons grade if attacked, senior lawmaker warns
Donald Trump said one of his central objectives in launching a war against Iran was to ensure Tehran does not develop a nuclear weapon.
Iran – which insists its nuclear programme is peaceful – is reportedly yet to hand over more than 400 kg of uranium enriched up to 60%, a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90%.
Now it looks as if the US could restart its war, Iran’s parliamentary national security and foreign policy commission spokesperson Ebrahim Rezaei warned that Iran could enrich uranium up to 90% purity if the country is attacked again.
“One of Iran’s options in the event of another attack could be 90 percent enrichment. We will review it in the parliament,” Rezaei posted on X.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the war with Iran will continue as long as the country has a stockpile of highly enriched uranium.
“It’s not over, because there’s still nuclear material – enriched uranium – that has to be taken out of Iran. There are still enrichment sites that have to be dismantled,” he told the CBS programme 60 Minutes. Asked how it should be removed, Netanyahu said: “You go in and you take it out.”
Key events
Israel sent Iron Dome anti-missile batteries and personnel to operate them to the UAE to defend the country during the war with Iran, the US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, said at an event in Tel Aviv, Israel.
“I’d like to say a word of appreciation for United Arab Emirates, the first Abraham accord member,” Huckabee said at the Tel Aviv conference. “Just look at the benefits. Israel just sent them Iron Dome batteries and personnel to help operate them.”
The UAE, which formally established ties with Israel in 2020 under the Abraham Accords and hosts critical US military assets, was among the Gulf countries targeted by Iran in its counter strikes after Tehran was attacked by the US and Israel in late February.
Iran could enrich uranium to weapons grade if attacked, senior lawmaker warns
Donald Trump said one of his central objectives in launching a war against Iran was to ensure Tehran does not develop a nuclear weapon.
Iran – which insists its nuclear programme is peaceful – is reportedly yet to hand over more than 400 kg of uranium enriched up to 60%, a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90%.
Now it looks as if the US could restart its war, Iran’s parliamentary national security and foreign policy commission spokesperson Ebrahim Rezaei warned that Iran could enrich uranium up to 90% purity if the country is attacked again.
“One of Iran’s options in the event of another attack could be 90 percent enrichment. We will review it in the parliament,” Rezaei posted on X.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the war with Iran will continue as long as the country has a stockpile of highly enriched uranium.
“It’s not over, because there’s still nuclear material – enriched uranium – that has to be taken out of Iran. There are still enrichment sites that have to be dismantled,” he told the CBS programme 60 Minutes. Asked how it should be removed, Netanyahu said: “You go in and you take it out.”
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported this morning that six people were killed and seven others injured after an Israeli attack on a house in Kfar Dounine last night. Since this report, the NNA said Israeli forces detonated a number of houses in a neighbourhood of the southern Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil.
Israel issues more forced evacuation orders for towns and villages in southern Lebanon
The Israeli military has ordered residents of towns and villages in southern Lebanon to evacuate immediately “by a distance of at least 1000 meters to open areas” in advance of attacks against the locations.
The affected towns and villages are: Arzun, Tayr Debba, al-Bazouriyeh and al-Hawsh, according to a social media post by the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, who claimed the attacks are being launched due to Hezbollah, the Iranian backed Lebanese militant group, violating the US-mediated ceasefire agreement Israel signed with the Lebanese state in mid April.
International law experts say Israel’s warnings are inconsistent and often overly broad and open-ended. Sometimes there is no warning at all before the airstrikes. More than one million people have already been displaced by the renewed Israeli war on Lebanon which started when Hezbollah launched missiles at Israel on 2 March after the US-Israeli bombing of Iran in late February.
In its latest update, the Lebanese health ministry said since 2 March Israeli attacks have killed at least 2,869 people, including many women and children.
A ceasefire meant to facilitate peace talks between Washington and Tehran came into effect in April. It has been largely observed, despite exchanges of fire and reports of strikes in the strategic strait of Hormuz, now under a double blockade by the US and Iran. It means only a minuscule number of vessels are passing through the waterway.
The US had presented a peace proposal a week ago, which, as my colleague Julian Borger notes here, was reported to consist of a one-page, 14-point memorandum of understanding that would reopen the strait while setting a framework for further talks on Iran’s much contested nuclear programme.
Iran presented a counter-offer sent to the US on Sunday which Donald Trump emphatically rejected, describing it as “totally unacceptable”. Tehran’s proposal reportedly included demands that the US lift its sanctions, end its naval blockade and called for an immediate end to the war with guarantees against any renewed attack on the country. It also called on Israel to end its war on Lebanon.
Trump says Iran ceasefire is on ‘massive life support’
We are restarting our live coverage of the US-Israeli war on Iran after Donald Trump said the ceasefire was “on life support” after rejecting Tehran’s peace proposal, calling it “totally unacceptable”.
Referring to the ceasefire in force since 7 April, Trump said: “I would call it the weakest, right now, after reading that piece of garbage they sent us – I didn’t even finish reading it.
“I would say the ceasefire is on massive life support, where the doctor walks in and says: ‘Sir, your loved one has approximately a 1% chance of living.’”
Shortly after Trump’s comments, Iranian parliamentary speaker Mohammad Ghalibaf, who has been chief negotiator in talks, wrote on X that his country’s armed forces were “ready to deliver a well-deserved response to any aggression”.
Trump is reportedly considering a resumption in major military attacks as he is frustrated with the stalled negotiations and the continued closure of the strait of Hormuz (to countries “hostile” to Iran), which has caused global energy prices to surge, including in the US where gas and fertiliser costs have soared.
Sources have told CNN that the US president is growing increasingly impatient with the division within the Iranian leadership making it hard for Washington to force Tehran into concessions on nuclear talks. Trump is unlikely to make the decision before he leaves to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping for his diplomatic visit to China later this week, the sources said.
Archibald exits as one of Britain’s most decorated track cyclists and arguably Scotland’s most decorated female athlete.
A relative latecomer to the sport, Archibald did not join Britain’s endurance squad until the age of 19 but won the European team pursuit title in her senior competitive debut.
Over the next 13 years, Archibald amassed 51 medals at world, European, Commonwealth and Olympic level, including two Olympic titles and a silver medal, Commonwealth gold, seven world titles and a world-leading 21 European titles.
It might have been more had she not had to withdraw from the Birmingham Games in 2022 and the Olympics two years later shortly before the events.
“I love racing my bike,” Archibald said. “And it’s been a true honour to race my bike alongside the best in the country.
“I’m not hoping for a grand legacy, but I hope I’ve made an impact on the individuals I’ve worked with.”
Currently training to be a nurse, Archibald has “fallen completely in love with the whole thing”, particularly because “it feels so special being someone people can trust when they need help”.
Great Britain Cycling Team performance director Stephen Park pointed out her “incredible legacy” as he paid tribute.
“Katie has described herself as ‘obsessed’ with the sport and her relentless drive in the pursuit of excellence combined with a deep passion for track cycling has led her to be one of Britain’s most decorated track cyclists,” he said.
“Katie has given cycling audiences some of the best moments of the sport’s history and we are incredibly proud of everything she has achieved both on and off the bike.”
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