Importance Score: 10 / 100 🟠
Key events
GOAL! Heidenheim 0-3 Bayern (Coman 37)
Nothing to see here.
Full time: Hearts 1-2 Aberdeen (AET)
Aberdeen will play Celtic or St Johnstone in the Scottish Cup final after a dramatic win over Hearts, who ended the match with nine men. Hearts gave so much to the game, particularly their quadragenarian keeper Craig Gordon, but they couldn’t quite hold on for penalties. The Palestine international Oday Dabbagh scored the winner in the 118th minute.
Match report: Arsenal 1-2 Lyon
Here’s Sophie Downey’s report from the Emirates, where Lyon took control of their Champions League semi-final against Arsenal.
Peep peep! The four Premier League games are under way.
“Got to love that ‘…such as ours’ in the Barcelona statement,” says Gary Naylor. “I’m sure they’d be writing the same noble sentiments in favour of the voiceless, defenceless players of Real Madrid had they progressed in the European Super League, Champions League. Amongst the many distasteful developments in the wake of Trumpism, the shamelessness of the most powerful people in casting themselves as victims, is one of the least welcome.”
Amen.
GOAL! Hearts 1-2 Aberdeen (Dabbagh 118)
Oday Dabbagh has nicked it for Aberdeen! Craig Gordon made another brilliant reflex stop but Dabbagh, the Palestinian forward on loan from Charleroi, poked the rebound into the roof of the net.
Cardiff department “Genuinely excited about seeing Rambo take charge,” writes Matt Dony. “Despite all he achieved, still feels like an underrated footballer. And a footballer with an excellent football brain. I hope he goes into management. I can see him thriving. (But then, eh, what do I know?) I mean, in terms of South Wales football, it’s not the most exciting news this week. But that’s hardly Cardiff’s fault.”
Hearts down to nine men
116 min: Hearts 1-1 Aberdeen It’s all Aberdeen now. Gordon makes another fine save and then Penrice clears the rebound off the line!
Now Hearts are down to nine men! Cameron Devlin has been sent off for kicking an Aberdeen player on the boot. He was trying to clear the ball after those two chances, didn’t realise there was a player coming on the blindside and caught him instead.
114 min: Hearts 1-1 Aberdeen Hearts, unsurprisingly, are flagging after being a man down for 70 minutes. Six more to survive, and then penalties.
GOAL! Heidenheim 0-2 Bayern (Laimer 19)
It’s been a bad week for Bayern, but it looks like they’re going to end it on a high. Konrad Laimer has made it 2-0 after a devastating through ball from Serge Gnabry.
On this day in 2000… Fernando Redondo sends Henning Berg for about 12 hot dogs.
GOAL! Heidenheim 0-1 Bayern (Kane 13)
Harold Kane, Esq. puts Bayern in front. It was a fine goal; he received Michael Olise’s pass on the edge of the D, turned and belted a left-foot shot into the corner.
105 min: Hearts 1-1 Aberdeen Craig Gordon, 42, has just made a quite brilliant save, low to his left, to deny Aberdeen’s Oday Dabbagh. Hearts are 15 minutes away from taking it to penalties.
On this day in 1989, Milan demolished Real Madrid in the European Cup semi-final.
Barcelona, who play Celta Vigo this afternoon, have released a statement criticising the scheduling of their fixtures.
We consider … that governing bodies of Spanish Football should be more considerate with teams, such as ours, who are taking part in all three competitions in the final part of the season.
This is not a new problem, and without making light of the difficulty of organised a fixture list with so many matches, FC Barcelona will continue to defend its interests in front of the national and international organising bodies of football so that the sporting calendar makes more sense.
As such, FC Barcelona will make a form complaint to the regulatory bodies of football with the aim of avoiding situations that may be to the detriment of the real stars in the world of football, the players.
Read more…
Full time: Arsenal 1-2 Lyon
Arsenal’s hopes of a first Champions League final since 2007 are fading after they lost the first leg of their semi-final at home to Lyon. Melchie Dumornay’s late goal gave Lyon a big advantage going into the second leg next weekend.
Full time: Hearts 1-1 Aberdeen
Yep, the semi-final is going to extra-time at Hampden. Hearts, down to 10 men since the 44th minute, defended really well to keep Hearts out.
Barcelona v Celta Vigo team news
Barcelona (4-2-3-1) Szczesny; Kounde, Cubarsi, Martinez, Martin; Pedri, De Jong; Raphinha, Fermin Lopez, Torres; Lewandowski.
Subs: Araujo, Christensen, Fati, Fort, Garcia, Gavi, Kochen, Olmo, Pena, Torre, Victor, Yamal.
Celta Vigo (3-4-2-1) Guaita; Rodriguez, Lago, Alonso; Duran, Beltran, Moriba, Carreira; Losada, Swedberg; Iglesias.
Subs: Alvarez, Aspas, Cervi, Dominguez, Gonzalez, Jailson, Lopez, Mingueza, Rustic, Rodriguez, Sotelo, Villar.
86 min: Hearts 1-1 Aberdeen James Penrice, one of the two non-Old Firm players in that PFA team of the year, almost puts Hearts ahead with a terrific curler that whistles just wide of the far post.
Champions League: Arsenal v Lyon
There’s been a third goal at the Emirates. If you want to know who’s scored it, you know what to do.
82 min: Hearts 1-1 Aberdeen The ten men of Hearts have defended admirably in the second half at Hampden. Extra time is looming like BOB in Twin Peaks.
Crystal Palace v Bournemouth team news
Crystal Palace (3-4-2-1) Henderson; Richards, Lacroix, Guehi; Munoz,
Wharton, Hughes, Mitchell; Sarr, Eze; Mateta.
Subs: Turner, Lerma, Nketiah, Franca, Clyne, Kamada, Esse, Chilwell, Devenny.
AFC Bournemouth (4-2-3-1) Arrizabalaga; Smith, Zabarnyi, Huijsen, Kerkez; Scott, Adams; Semenyo, Kluivert, Ouattara; Evanilson.
Subs: Dennis, Cook, Senesi, Brooks, Tavernier, Soler, Jebbison, Araujo, Hill.
Referee Sam Barrott (West Yorkshire)
There’s been another goal in the Champions League semi-final at the Emirates. Xaymaca Awoyungbo is following that one.
Everton v Manchester City team news
Everton (4-2-3-1) Pickford; O’Brien, Tarkowski, Branthwaite, Mykolenko; Gueye, Garner; Harrison, Doucoure, Ndiaye; Broja.
Subs: Virginia, Patterson, Keane, McNeil, Beto, Young, Coleman, Alcaraz, Iroegbunam.
Man City (4-2-3-1) Ortega; Nunes, Dias, Gvardiol, O’Reilly; Gundogan, Gonzalez; Silva, De Bruyne, Savinho; Marmoush.
Subs: McAtee, Lewis, Foden, Khusanov, Akanji, Doku, Grealish, Kovacic, Carson.
Referee Simon Hooper (Wiltshire)
West Ham v Southampton team news
West Ham (4-2-3-1) Areola; Coufal, Todibo, Kilman, Emerson Palmieri; Soler, Ward-Prowse; Bowen, Lucas Paqueta, Kudus; Fullkrug.
Subs: Fabianski, Cresswell, Mavropanos, Luis Guilherme, Rodriguez,
Soucek, Ferguson, Irving, Scarles.
Southampton (3-5-2) Ramsdale; Harwood-Bellis, Bednarek, Stephens; Walker-Peters, Downes, Fernandes, Ugochukwu, Manning; Onuachu, Sulemana.
Subs: McCarthy, Aribo, Smallbone, Stewart, Bree, Wood-Gordon, Archer, Dibling, Welington.
Referee Andrew Kitchen (Durham)
Brentford v Brighton team news
Brentford (4-2-3-1) Flekken; Kayode, Collins, van den Berg, Lewis-Potter, Norgaard, Yarmolyuk; Mbeumo, Damsgaard, Schade; Wissa.
Subs: Valdimarsson, Henry, Pinnock, Jensen, Mee, Ajer, Konak, Janelt, Nunes Gomes.
Brighton (4-2-3-1) Verbruggen; Hinshelwood, van Hecke, Dunk, Estupinan; Wieffer, Baleba, Minteh, O’Riley, Joao Pedro, Welbeck.
Subs: Steele, March, Gruda, Adingra, Cashin, Mitoma, Gomez, Ayari, Tasker.
Referee Tim Robinson (West Sussex)
Apologies, I was so busy peddling my dubious wares that I forgot to list the full PFA Scotland team of the year.
SPFL XI (4-3-3) Schmeichel (Celtic); Johnston (Celtic), Carter-Vickers (Celtic), Souttar (Rangers), Penrice (Hearts); McGregor (Celtic), Hatate (Celtic), Rankin (Rangers); Kuhn (Celtic), Maeda (Celtic), Dalby (Dundee United).
67 min: Hearts 1-1 Aberdeen
“Still all square,” writes Simon McMahon. “A Celtic v Aberdeen Scottish Cup final would result in fifth place in Scotland getting a European spot, which means that it would be likely that Dundee United finish their first season back in the top flight with a European ‘adventure’, if that’s what you can call a Conference qualifying round defeat in some European outpost in July. I’ll take it though. Oh, and ‘Big’ Sam Dalby has made the PFA Scotland Team of the Year, one of only two non Old Firm players to do so.”
Talking of Dundee United and European adventures, this podcast on the events of 25 April 1984 was so much fun to do.
Full time: West Ham 0-0 Man Utd
It’s finished goalless in Dagenham, a result that surely ends Man Utd’s hopes of winning the title. They are five points behind Chelsea having played a game more.
Heidenheim v Bayern Munich team news
Heidenheim (3-1-4-2) Muller; Busch, Gimber, Mainka; Schoppner; Traore, Beck, Dorsch, Kratzig; Pieringer, Conteh.
Subs: Eicher, Fohrenbach, Keller, Kerber, Niehues, Schimmer, Scienza, Siersleben, Wanner.
Bayern Munich (4-2-3-1) Urbig; Laimer, Dier, Stanisic, Guerreiro; Kimmich, Pavlovic; Gnabry, Olise, Coman; Kane.
Subs: Boey, Karl, Kim, Kusi Asare, Muller, Palhinha, Peretz, Sane, Vidovic.
Ramsey takes over as Cardiff manager
A bit of news from the Championship: Cardiff, who are second bottom of the Championship, have sacked their manager Omer Riza and put Aaron Ramsey in charge for the crucial final three games of the season.
WSL: West Ham 0-0 Man Utd (71 min)
Manchester United are having a frustrating afternoon at the Chigwell Construction Stadium, where the match remains goalless going into the last 20 minutes. Rachel Williams is about to come on for Man Utd.
Scottish Cup: Hearts 1-1 Aberdeen (HT)
The first Scottish Cup semi-final is level after a highly eventful first half at Hampden. Aberdeen went ahead through an unfortunate own goal from Hearts keeper Craig Gordon; Lawrence Shankland smacked the equaliser but the match changed just before half-time when Michael Steinwender was sent off for the denial of a clear goalscoring opportunity. A Dogso, in the peculiar parlance of our time.
Preamble
Hello, hello and welcome to an elite Saturday clockwatch. The E-word refers not to the quality of what you may read on this page over the next four hours, but the fact we’ll be focussing entirely on top-flight football. That’s because the EFL fixtures were all played yesterday, more of which here.
There are four 3pm kick-offs of the Premier League, three of them involving the race for European places. And Barcelona and Bayern Munich, leaders of La Liga and the Bundesliga respectively, are also in action.
Barcelona lead Real Madrid by four points with seven games to play. Bayern need 10 points from the last five games to end their drought and win a first Bundesliga title since 2023.
These are our featured games:
Premier League
Not the Premier League
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West Ham 0-0 Man Utd (WSL, 12pm)
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Hearts 1-1 Aberdeen (Scottish Cup semi-final, 12.30pm)
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Heidenheim v Bayern Munich (Bundesliga, 2.30pm)
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Barcelona v Celta Vigo (La Liga, 3.15pm)
We also have a dedicated liveblog for the first leg of the Women’s Champions League semi-final between Arsenal and Lyon. Join Xaymaca Awoyungbo for the latest.