Key events
The first of the day’s games have just kicked off. Those being in Serie A, with Como v Genoa and Venezia v AC Milan under way. Venezia need a win to climb out of the bottom three.
Sid Lowe on the morning after a classic Copa del Rey final
Sid Lowe
The clásico never lets you down. Well, almost never. When they drew 0-0 in 2019, it was the first time in 17 years and it hasn’t happened in the seventeen games since. And this one was good even for Barcelona v Madrid. In terms of atmosphere there might never have been one better: in league games, a pathetically small amount of away fans travel or are even allowed to, and they had actually only met in seven Copa del Rey(/Republica/Generalisimo) finals before. 70,000 made for a fantastic occasion at La Cartuja and, bloody hell, what a match. The first half was a smooth, hugely impressive destruction of Madrid by Barcelona. Is Pedri the best player in the world? (If he’s not, is Lamine Yamal? Did you know he was only 17?) In the second, Madrid revived and went at them – why has this been seen so rarely this season? – Barcelona managed to come through it.
They also might have won it earlier … Somehow you kind of knew that Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea would end up centre stage, didn’t you? (Confession time: the first version of Friday’s preview piece, necessarily ditched amid all the storm and the shifting story, rewritten three times, had opened on how he, not the actual players had become the star of this show.) Talk about pressure standing there in front of the VAR screen!
Eventually Barcelona did win it 3-2. The celebration from Jules Koundé was wild too, whipping off his hair band and wailing and taking a running jump through the corner flag. And then all the madness at the whistle, which as much as anything didn’t makes sense. It was after 2.30am when the referee’s official report came through and it was finally confirmed that there had been three red cards at the end: for Lucas Vazquez, Antonio Rüdiger and Jude Bellingham. Bit by by the footage was coming in too. Rudiger, in particular, absolutely lost it; trying to tear the ice packs of his knees and throw cubes at the ref, and having to be held back, doing a Drogba. (Here’s a question: what would actually happen if players weren’t held back?). Maybe Rüdiger has too often – hands up here, guilty as charged – been seen as funny, a cartoon character. A huge ban should follow, although he apologised on Sunday morning. “Barcelona won, football won”, AS’s front page said on Sunday morning.
There has been a certain satisfaction in how Madrid reacted and actually competed– which may feel like a low bar, and it is, but it says something about the way this season has gone. Ultimately, they had been beaten. Four points behind in the league, they could end the season without a major trophy. They had two penalties given and taken away by an offside flag, a goal too from Bellingham. But while that makes it feel like the margins are fine – and they are – or like Barcelona take risks with that high line, it actually says something about how well they do it. (Pau Cubarsi was superb too). They do a lot well in fact, and could yet win a treble. They have played Madrid three times this year and scored 4, 5, and 3. There’s another clásico on 11 May. Woof.
Liverpool v Tottenham WSL team news
Liverpool: Laws; Fisk, Clark, Bonner, Hinds; Kerr, Nagano, Höbinger; Holland, Román Haug, Smith.
Subs: Micah, Parry, Evans, Fahey, Matthews, Kapocs, Enderby, Bartel, Daniels.
Tottenham: Kop; Morris, Hunt, Bartrip, Neville, Rybrink; Oroz, Holdt; Na, Vinberg, England.
Subs: Heeps, Radbourne, Nildén, Grant, Ahtinen, Csiki, Gunning-Williams, Ayane, Thomas.
Tom Garry
One final question for Tom to answer:
If you have any questions for our women’s football correspondent Tom Garry please do drop those in, too.
Tom, is Chelsea’s utter dominance of the English women’s game a good thing – because it should raise the standards and being our clubs closer to the quality of the continental giants – or a bad thing because it dilutes interest in women’s football?
It’s important to remember that, while Chelsea have been winning the WSL relentlessly, the title race has still gone down to the final day of the season four times in a row, so while they’ve been deserving champions each time, it has been. I’d be a lot more concerned if a team was winning the league by a 10-point margin and it was getting boring, but none of their past four title races have been dull, and the one before that, in the Covid season of 2019-20 when the league title was awarded to Chelsea on a points-per-game basis, they were actually second in the table at the time when the pandemic broke out, so it has been quite close. If they start to run away with it like Celtic’s men’s teams then that’d be a different story.
Thanks for all your questions.
Now, the team news from first of today’s WSL games is about to drop …
Tom Garry
Assuming Arsenal and Chelsea are knocked out, when can you see an English club winning the WCL again (Arsenal won its equivalent in 2007, I think)? – Carrie Krowiak.
You’re right, only one British women’s club has ever won a European title and that was the quadruple-winning Arsenal side of 2007, and there has only been one other season where a British team has reached the final, when Chelsea lose to Barcelona in Gothenburg in 2021.
Overall, that’s a relatively poor record, given the professionalisation of the women’s game in England especially. Others have come close, Manchester City and Birmingham City both made the semi-finals in modern times, for example, but the so-called ‘big four’ in the WSL will know they need to perform better in Europe.
I do think there’s a chance there could be an English winner in 2026, though, as I would expect Arsenal and Chelsea, in particular, to strengthen significantly in the transfer market this summer, and I would be quite surprised if there has not been at least one English winner by 2030, just because of the frequency with which you’d expect those two to make the latter stages.
Tom Garry
Who’s going to win the Women’s Champions League? – John Preston.
Hi John, I can’t see past Barcelona, given their current form. Alexia Putellas looks back to her best again and Caroline Graham Hansen is in good form. They look confident and I believe they’ll win three in a row. The final being staged in Lisbon, which is relatively close to Barcelona, should mean they’ll be backed by a vast number of supporters at the final too, so a lot’s in their favour. They’re a great team.
Tom Garry
Is the growing wealth of the Women’s Super League really stopping young players from getting chances at their clubs? And if so, could it harm England? – Freya Cash.
Thanks for your question, Freya. Yes, that is a concern, we don’t want to see the WSL repeat some of the same mistakes that the men’s game has made in England, but it doesn’t necessarily have to harm England as long as young English players are getting plenty of competitive football at a level that challenges them – which could be on loan in the WSL or the Championship.
It is quite encouraging there could be (if my maths is correct) 14 English players in the matchday squads for today’s Champions League semi-finals, and that’s with stars such as Lauren James out injured. I’d prefer that number to be higher, and it was only nine years ago that Manchester City won the WSL with nine English players in their regular starting XI alone, but that was before we started seeing bigger transfer fees for foreign stars. I can only see the trend of overseas signings increasing, to be honest.
Tom Garry
Chelsea are so dominant in England, but how do they bridge the gap to Barcelona? Is it a coaching problem or personnel? – Georgina Wright.
Thanks for your questions, Georgina. I think there is a significant gap between Chelsea and Barcelona in terms of technical ability on the ball, but it’s not insurmountable. Personally, I believe it’s predominantly a personnel issue rather than coaching – we cannot escape the fact that Barcelona’s midfield three of Bonmati, Putellas and Guijarro is the best in the world. Chelsea are dominant in England because they have the strongest squad overall, with world-class depth, but if we look at the best XIs in isolation, you’d choose Barcelona’s over Chelsea’s.
In the longer-term too, the young players that Spanish clubs, and Barcelona in particular, are developing have such a high skill level, the rest of the world has a lot of catching up to do, and I can see this Barcelona team continuing to dominate for as long as they keep this core of their starting side together. That said, over 90 minutes, I do think Chelsea are capable of beating them, as they showed in last season’s semi-final first leg, and that comes down to tactics. There are some small areas of weaknesses in this Barcelona team, particularly defensively, but Chelsea have to be better with the ball than they were last Sunday.
Tom Garry women’s football Q&A
Right, time to get into a Q&A session with our very own Tom Garry, ahead of the Women’s Champions League semi-final second legs later today …
Another piece of reading from yesterday, as Jonathan Wilson marks a red (and blue) letter day for Crystal Palace.
Bournemouth versus Manchester United doesn’t have very much riding on it. Ruben Amorim suggested he would field a strong lineup (insert joke) despite the fact United have the Europa League semi-final first leg against Athletic Bilbao lurking around the corner on Thursday. He may be desperate to end United’s woeful recent record against the Cherries, with Andoni Iraola’s side looking to complete a league double over the league’s fallen giants.
Amorim also accepted that allowing Marcus Rashford and Antony to leave on loan in January has cost United a few goals. You wouldn’t expect them to score a hatful at the Vitality Stadium this afternoon, that’s for sure.
It’s great to see so many comments dropping in below. If you have any questions for our women’s football correspondent Tom Garry please do drop those in, too.
Can Nottingham Forest end the Big Six’s dominance of the FA Cup final by springing a surprise against Manchester City at Wembley today? Ever since Portsmouth played Cardiff in 2008 there’s always been at least one team from the traditional ‘Big Six’ in the cup final, with only Wigan (2013) and Leicester (2021) winning it from outside that cabal.
For City, it’s a chance to rescue some silverware from a disappointing season, but Forest may feel this is their year, as they eye an incredible cup and Champions League qualification double.
As an aside, City have failed to sell out their allocation for today’s semi-final, with Pep Guardiola calling for grounds other than Wembley to host the games. Preferably some in the north, maybe.
Another Liverpool comment incoming, this one from Aintmuch in the comments section:
Outside Rotterdam nobody expected Slot to do this. We know his magic, know he could do this. Feyenoord is a historic club but when he took over, Feyenoord was on its arse, no money, no confidence, just the name and the fans. He changed the mentality and with no bravura just got to work with the players that were there. [Be]cause he has a vision and knows how to inspire players.
And thats exactly what he did at Liverpool too. Great players, why spend a billion. The team that was looking tired last season, he got them inspired again. Salah in one of hist best seasons. Nobody is talking about missing Klopp, maybe thats his biggest compliment cause Klopp was great. And look at Gravenberch, back on his feet again. Such an amazing player.
Now, keep Slot for three seasons and then send him back. Oranje needs him to win the World Cup in 2030.
The first Copa de Rey clásico final in 11 years did not disappoint last night.
And with four minutes left and the time long after midnight in Seville, with everyone readying themselves for a penalty shootout, Jules Koundé found a scorching winner for Barcelona to send their fans into raptures.
Sid Lowe was our man on the ground in Spain as Real Madrid’s difficult season took yet another body blow. They couldn’t go trophyless this term, could they?
There are lots of excited Liverpool fans in the comments below, but plenty of goodwill for Arne Slot’s side and the club’s fans from other fans too. I can’t imagine much work will get done on Monday in Merseyside if the team do lift the trophy today.
Congratulations to Liverpool, a City full of lovely lovely people whom I’ve met on many occasions at Anfield and Goodison Park. I hope the Liverpool fans celebrate long into the night, and if no one is working tomorrow on the Red side of the City, it was a very long night ;).
Here’s some morning reading for you previewing the two biggest games of the day:
Arne Slot will not be going crazy even if Liverpool win the title today. The Dutchman would every right to celebrate vociferously – he’s done a wonderful job to turn the Reds back into league winners without a significant signing. But that’s not his style … others around Anfield I’m sure won’t be holding back today.
“I enjoyed it a lot when Feyenoord won the title – but I don’t go crazy,” Slot said. “It wasn’t like I ran three times around the stadium. I was just very, very happy inside and I shared my emotions with the people around me and the fans. But I will never be the one who is the loudest nor the weirdest in the moment. I’m not like that.”
On the achievement itself, Slot said: “It is for other people to judge. It would be a bit weird to judge myself, but I can judge the performance for my staff and the medical staff – and they should get a lot of credit over the course of the season.”
Today’s main headlines
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Liverpool will be crowned Premier League champions (a 20th league title and second in the post-1992 era) with a point or more at home to Spurs
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Chelsea and Arsenal Women both face uphill tasks to overcome first leg deficits in the Women’s Champions League semi-final second legs
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Manchester United are looking for their first win against Bournemouth since the 2022-23 season – and just their fifth away victory in the league this term
Don’t forget, matchday.live@theguardian.com is the address to use to get in touch!
Where to begin? Well, Liverpool will dominate today’s blog for sure, but it’s worth recapping everything that happened yesterday on a sizzling Saturday of football. There were ups and downs galore.
Crystal Palace stormed into the FA Cup final with a dash of Ebere Eze genius and two Ismaïla Sarr goals, Barcelona lifted Spain’s Copa del Rey after a thrilling extra-time victory over Real Madrid, there were Premier League wins for Newcastle, Chelsea, Brighton, Fulham and Wolves, Celtic claimed a 55th (yes, really) Scottish league title and there was an almighty changing of the guard in Welsh football as Wrexham sealed promotion to the Championship – a third successive promotion for them – and Cardiff dropped into League One.
Did I miss anything there? Probably. It was one heck of a day.
Preamble
Good morning and welcome to the second of our matchday live blogs, teeing up all the day’s action and bringing you insight from our various reporters across the grounds, as well as reaction from yesterday’s action. Today all roads lead to Anfield and a likely 20th league title for Liverpool – if they can get at least a point against Tottenham Hotspur. At the same time (4.30pm BST) Manchester City and Nottingham Forest lock horns in the FA Cup semi-final to see who will meet Crystal Palace at Wembley next month. What a win it was for the Eagles over Aston Villa yesterday by the way …
There’s also Bournemouth v Manchester United in the league at 2pm, plus the Women’s Champions League semi-final second legs (Chelsea 1-4 Barcelona and Lyon 2-1 Arsenal is how they stand on aggregate) plus a smattering of other games. We’ll be having a Q&A with our women’s football correspondent Tom Garry later on.
Get your questions and emails in wherever you’re soaking in today’s football. On Friday we had Liverpool fans touching base from Bolivia. It’s certainly a seismic day Reds all across the globe.
