1983: Aberdeen beat Real Madrid in the Cup Winners’ Cup final
1986: Peter Reid goes awol after FA Cup final misery
1996: Eric Cantona wins the FA Cup final against Liverpool’s Spice Boys
1999: Jimmy Floyd-Hasselbaink tilts an epic title race Man Utd’s way
2001: Internazionale 0-6 Milan (NFT)
2003: Jesper Gronkjaer changes the face of football history
2013: Wigan stun Man City in the FA Cup final
Arne Slot is planning to turn Trent Alexander-Arnold’s Anfield departure into a positive for Liverpool, the head coach has said. The right-back will leave Merseyside this summer for Real Madrid on a free transfer, meaning the Dutchman will need to find a way of replacing him.
Conor Bradley is set to start Sunday’s Premier League meeting with Arsenal at Anfield as preparations continue for next season with the title secured. Slot might have to look outside the club for someone to challenge the Northern Ireland international for the right-back berth.
Look, if you don’t love Big Dunc, I’m not sure we can be friends. This is sogood.
Napoli are three wins away from only the fourth Scudetto in their history.But the relationship between fanbase and manager feels coldly transactional.
“With the clear proviso thatallfanbases have a level of entitlementand very vocal idiots, it has been entertaining hearing (some) Arsenal fans explain furiously how Liverpool don’t deserve the league, and Arsenal have been better, and so on and so on,” writes Matt Dony. “It’s enormously childish, but I almost hope Arsenal win today, purely to see the frothing-at-the-mouth on Twitter later on. Arteta’s post-match comments would be for the ages.”
Are Arteta’s Arsenal becoming a cult? I don’t say that pejoratively – plenty of great teams are – but it does feel like something has changed in the past few weeks. All managers present a distorted reality when it comes to refereeing decisions, but when that extends to performance I think it’s a dangerous sign.
One example. In his first year at Man Utd, Erik ten Hag was a Dutchman to the core, bracingly honest, happy to admit when United were crap. But in his second season, as the pressure mounted, he started defending the indefensible. Whatever happens with Mikel Arteta, and he probably just needs a holiday, he’s still massively in credit overall. When he took over, Arsenal were an irrelevance. The existence of this entry shows that’s not the case any more.
The next big thing
Nothing in sport stirs the soul quite like the emergence of a brilliant young talent. Which relatively unknown teenagers have caught your eye this season? Let us know BTL or by emailingmatchday.live@theguardian.com.
The first person to say ‘Lamine Yamal’ gets a life ban.
Miguel Dantas profiles Porto prodigyRodrigo Mora, whose release clause of £59.5m already looks like value for money.
A 1-1 draw between Benfica and Sporting means the Portuguese title race will go the final day. Francisco Trincao’s early goal for the leaders Sporting was cancelled out in the second half by Kerim Aktürkoğlu.
Both teams have 79 points after 33 games – but Sporting, who won the return fixture 1-0, are top by virtue of the head-to-head record. If they win their last game at home to Vitoria de Guimaraes on Saturday, they will be champions. Benfica play away to Braga knowing they need to better Sporting’s result.
Plenty go get through this morning. Let’s start with the fallout from an exceedingly busy Saturday.
Dias rips into Southampton but Guardiola disagrees
Watkins sinks Bournemouth to boost Villa’s top-five hopes
Brentford ‘dreaming’ of Europe after Schade sinks Ipswich
‘Immense’ Keane puts big dent in Fulham’s European hopes
Welbeck reaches goal milestone in Brighton’s win at Wolves
Arsenal runners-up after resisting Man Utd fightback
Chelsea’s invincibles enjoy coronation after late winner
EFL: Stockport slam ‘worst decision in 15 years’ against Leyton Orient
Scottish Premiership: Celtic surge 20 points clear after beating Hibs
European round-up: Sørloth hits four-minute hat-trick for Atlético
Hello and welcome to matchday live, our Ronseal-inspired weekend blog. For the next few hours we’ll have all the build-up to a big day of action in England, Spain, Italy and beyond.
There are five Premier League matches, including Newcastle v Chelsea and Liverpool v Arsenal, as well as aclásicothat could decide who wins La Liga. And the top two in Italy, Napoli and Internazionale, play this evening. Nicky Bandini will join us later to discuss the Serie A title race.
We’ll also reflect on yesterday’s action, including Chelsea completing an unbeaten WSL season and Manchester City failing to score at the Premier League’s bottom club Southampton. And we’ll hear from Simon Burnton, who is at Wembley for Non-League Finals Day. Whitstable, my local team if you’re into that sort of thing, meet AFC Whyteleafe in the FA Vase final at 12.15pm; Aldershot and Spennymoor contest the FA Trophy final at 4.15pm.
These are some of today’s key matches.
Premier League (2.15pm kick-off unless stated)
Newcastle v Chelsea (12pm)
Man Utd v West Ham
Nottm Forest v Leicester
Tottenham v Crystal Palace
Liverpool v Arsenal (4.30pm)
La Liga
Barcelona v Real Madrid (3.15pm)
Serie A
Torino v Inter (5pm)
Napoli v Genoa (7.45pm)
EFL playoffs
Wycombe v Charlton (League One, 6.30pm)
Chesterfield v Walsall (League Two, 3.30pm)
Let us know your thoughts on theclásico, the Premier League top five race or anything else by emailingmatchday.live@theguardian.comor posting BTL.