“Brentford will make a late call on Christian Norgaard ahead of the play-off final against Swansea.
“Denmark midfielder Norgaard pulled up injured prior to the semi-final second leg win over Bournemouth.
“Left-back Rico Henry has been ruled out of the Wembley showpiece with a hamstring injury.
“Josh Dasilva and Shandon Baptiste remain long-term absentees.
“Swansea will be without Wayne Routledge after the veteran wideman suffered a knee injury in the semi-final win over Barnsley.
“Routledge, who has made over 300 appearances in nearly 10 years at Swansea, is out of contract at the end of the season and may have played his last game for the club.
“Young midfielder Oli Cooper also misses out after suffering a knee injury in training.
“Defender Brandon Cooper had already been ruled out with an ankle sprain, but apart from that namesake boss Steve has a clean bill of health.”
Could Erling Haaland be playing for Manchester City, Chelsea or Manchester United in the near future? Maybe, but his latest quotes suggest it won’t be this summer.
The Norwegian has been a sensation at Borussia Dortmund so far, scoring 59 goals in 57 appearances. That included a double in the 4-1 DFB-Pokal final win over RB Leipzig earlier this month.
He’s been speaking to Jan Aage Fjortoft on Viaplay and had this to say:
“Well I have a contract for a couple of years, so I am respectful towards my contract. I am a simple guy. When I like something I just want to have more – when I score a goal, I always chase the next goal.”
And another... Photograph: Friedemann Vogel/EPA
As for securing Champions League football and a first trophy with Dortmund:
“It was a relief to secure that spot. It was really important. Like I have said before I am a big fan of the Champions League and I think everybody knows that. I have big dreams. I just won my first major trophy and it was a great feeling. So I want to win trophies.”
News from Brentford boss Thomas Frank ahead of Saturday’s play-off final against Swansea.
Team news: “From the last squad, the only doubt is Christian Nørgaard. We will assess him and take a decision later today. Rico Henry is out.”
On mood in the camp: “We are excited. I was thinking about it driving home from training yesterday that the atmosphere was calm and focused. There is that good focus with the understanding we are facing a Swansea team that has done a fantastic season.”
Thomas Frank. Photograph: Paul Dennis/TGS Photo/REX/Shutterstock
On Swansea: “We’ve played them twice, both 1-1 draws. Steve Cooper is one of the most talented managers in this country, and his experienced coaching staff, who have just performed and performed even better. It’s going to be unbelievably tight.”
On last year’s experience: “I think it is a plus, how big a plus you don’t really know. That experience from last year will help in a way but it is not like we are suddenly 20 per cent better. It might help in the decisive moments.”
On pre-match nerves: “We will all be a tiny bit more tense but that is a good thing. It is important that we do everything we can to be brave and make sure that we don’t regret anything when we look back. If we perform well then we can’t do more.”
On fans: “You saw in the game against Bournemouth how much the fans can help us; they had a massive impact on the result. We need the fans there to cheer us on throughout the game because this game will take twists and turns.”
Some departures to note.
Aston Villa are releasing Ahmed Elmohamady, Neil Taylor and goalkeeper Tom Heaton. The former Burnley stopper did not appear for Villa this season and has been reported to have agreed a deal to return to Manchester United.
Also, Ibrahima Konaté’s arrival at Liverpool means another central defender is on his way.
DaveOCKOP(@DaveOCKOP)
Ozan Kabak moved out of his house in Formby on Monday and said his goodbyes, after being informed Liverpool won’t trigger their option to buy him for £18 million following the end of his loan spell from German club Schalke. [@TheAthleticUK]
Another switch. David Tindall here again. You want content? Here’s the latest from Chelsea with a clip of Thomas Tuchel boarding a plane and, erm, all sorts.
Massimiliano Allegri is the Juventus manager once more. Now we are ready to begin again with Allegri, to build our future together with his enormous professionalism, his moral strength, with the brilliant ideas of a coach capable of shuffling the cards, both on and off the pitch. With his smile, a sort of ‘signature’. With his way of understanding football and life with simplicity, with his desire to play things down and with the commitment to enjoy every beautiful moment that being at Juventus can give and will give.
This here tweet means Max Allegri is going back to Juventus. That’s a map of the state of Minnesota.
To quote James Horncastle, writing for ESPN in 2019, this is why.
One day at the races, Allegri bet on a horse by the name of Minnesota. The odds of it winning were very long, so long that a friend joked it was about as likely to come in first as Allegri was to make it as a coach. Minnesota won, and Allegri not only collected his winnings, he went on to become one of the leading coaches of his generation.
Andy Hunter reports on Liverpool’s latest defensive recruit.
Some play-off content now. Steve Cooper, the Swansea manager, has been speaking. Cooper was the Welshman who coached England to winning the Under-20 World Cup in 2017. Now for the hundred bazillion million game that the TV commentators will keep mentioning the price of.
It’s my biggest game in club football, of course. But I haven’t thought about it being my biggest game in management. I just think about what it means to the football club and the supporters. It’s a proud city, a proud football club, we are very much together as a community because we haven’t got any clubs around us. Going up to Wembley is a real together club trying to do the business, and I’m very much focused on what’s in hand and what I can control.
You have to get the balance right between the magnitude of the game and what’s at stake. There’s no point in ignoring that because there’s so much to play for. But it’s a game and you still have to stick to your way of working, stick to the plan, give consistent messages so the players feel as comfortable and as clear as they can be. There’s lots of stuff around the game, but it’s a football match we need to be ready for.
The play-off final ten years ago announced Brendan Rodgers to the world when he took Swansea up.
Sid Lowe hears from the man who worked with Guardiola at Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester City. Great snippet on how long it took for Pep to realise Phil Foden was the genuine article.
More on Pirlo/Allegri here.
In other news, Liverpool have signed a defender, Ibrahima Konaté from RB Leipzig.
From Liverpool’s press release.
The 22-year-old defender has agreed a long-term contract with the Reds from July 1, subject to international clearance and a successful work permit application process, after finalising terms and passing a medical.
Konate said: “I’m really happy to be joining such a massive club like Liverpool.
“It’s a really exciting moment for me and my family and I am really looking forward to meeting my new teammates, the staff and getting started on this new chapter.
“Right now, my focus is on the U21 European Championships with France, but after this competition I know I will be joining one of the best teams in the world and that gives me a great feeling.”
Time for a toblerone so I’ll hand back to John Brewin...
Recent Champions League finals between sides from the same country. The smart money says Man City v Chelsea could go beyond 90 minutes.
Milan 0-0 Juventus (Milan won on pens)
Man Utd 1-1 Chelsea (Man Utd won on pens)
Bayern 2-1 Borussia Dortmund
Real Madrid 1-1 Atletico Madrid (4-1 after ET)
Liverpool 2-0 Tottenham
Thankfully, Wayne Rooney didn’t ‘Steve Morrow’ Paul Scholes.
United celebrate in 2008. Photograph: Owen Humphreys/PA
A nice lunchtime sports quiz sprinkled with a bit of football. No excuses for getting under 6 out of 10.
Sunday morning as Tuchel celebrates (see 12:05 entry).
“Guten Tag, Roman. Ich habe viele Toblerones gegessen vier insgesamt. Ich habe vier weissen ubrig, weil ich die weissen nicht gerne esse und habe die dunklen lieber.”
Another stat to mull over. Chelsea a ‘bogey’ team?
In his entire managerial career, Man City manager Pep Guardiola has lost more matches against Chelsea in all competitions than any other club (7). He has lost his last two games against the Blues, only losing three in a row against Real Madrid (2012-14) and Liverpool (2018).
Tuchel not a drinker but looks like he could demolish a few Ritter Sport if all goes well. A celebratory drive to Düsseldorf in his bare feet perhaps?
From our fun facts piece by Michael Butler:
After victories I’m prone to all kinds of messes: chocolate, peanuts, chips. Fast food only very rarely. Something special must have happened there. And it has to be dark, otherwise I can’t get fast food down.
Surely Phil Foden and Bernado Silva have to start if Pep reads his glossy Champions League Opta stat pack.
Since featuring in a 2-1 defeat to Lyon in September 2018, Manchester City’s Bernardo Silva is unbeaten in his last 26 UEFA Champions League matches (W23 D3) – the longest unbeaten run in the history of the competition. His team-mate Phil Foden is on the second-longest current run, unbeaten in 21 matches (W18 D3) since playing in a defeat to Basel in March 2018.
Phil and Bernie. Photograph: Getty Images
It’s not just the Simpsons that predicts the future. Just under 36 years before Manchester United and Villarreal were deadlocked after 90 minutes, here’s another big, fancied English team being held by Spanish minnows in a European final. Surely this Basora character should have gone for that tackle.
Barrie Tomlinson(@BarrieEditor1)
Thirty-six years ago: Drama at the final of the European Cup-Winners' Cup. Mr Gray and Mr Morgan help Roy off the field and the Player-Manager is in a lot of pain. It wasn't always easy being Roy of the Rovers. Sorry, Roy, for planning some tough storylines! pic.twitter.com/Z24IMNl5jh
Managerial vacancies now at three big clubs. And Tottenham.
Juve, Real Madrid and Inter all sifting through candidates. If the bookies are to be believed, it’s Antonio Conte (8/11) to Real and Mauricio Pochettino (4/11) back to Spurs. Massimiliano Allegri is also being heavily linked with a return to Juventus.
Talking of the Super League, Juventus have announced the departure of head coach Andrea Pirlo after just one season in charge.
Finishing fourth after nine successive titles just didn’t cut it. Here’s the goodbye on the official Juventus website. Are you sitting comfortably children?...
Thanks Andrea. These are the first words that all of us must pronounce at the end of this special experience lived together.
A few months ago Andrea Pirlo, an icon of world football, began a new adventure on the Juventus bench, his first as a coach.
To do this, first of all it takes courage, as well as awareness of one’s own means, especially in a period marked by many difficulties, with the world forced by the pandemic to reinvent its own rules day after day.
Andrea did it too: he started (and we are sure of this: his will be a brilliant career as a coach) a journey of transformation, seeking, and often managing, to bring his ideas and his experience as a champion on the pitch from the “Other side” of the barricade.
For the courage, the dedication, the passion with which he demonstrated every day, our thanks go to the ‘Maestro’, the coach and to Andrea, that really comes from the heart, as well as our good luck for the future that will surely be a wonderful one.
Well, no-one thought this was going to just Fade Away...
tariq panja(@tariqpanja)
Joan Laporta, who remains committed to the European Super League, is giving his first press conference this am since becoming Barcelona president for the second time. Here's a link: https://t.co/PHV8NfA6rZ
We’ve heard from Noel but nothing yet from Liam about the Champions League final. At least he didn’t miss this open goal after Wednesday night’s events in Gdansk.
Saturday night in the Estádio do Dragão will all be about mentality, and Ben Welch’s piece for the Blizzard, carried in these pages, hears from psychologists and players who share their tips for staying self-assured.
The rest of the Premier League will look on at City and Chelsea with gimlet eyes, but the transfer window is about to be prised open. Manchester United look like early market movers, though we probably say that every year.
What Manchester City have done is exactly what the owners said would happen.
When they came in and said they were determined to turn us into one of the biggest clubs in Europe and the world, all I was thinking was, I don’t care what you do, as long as that banner comes down at Old Trafford, the one showing how long we’d been without a trophy.
I remember meeting [City chairman] Khaldoon Al Mubarak at the start and telling him that and he was adamant, saying ‘oh no no no, it’s going to be much greater than that’.
I was like ‘whatever’ but my God they have been true to their word and it has just been an amazing journey that the club has been on.
It feels like quite a neat anniversary - we’ve had 10 years of the High Flying Birds and 10 years of City in the Champions League. Not only that but it’s my birthday on Saturday and I’m going to be in Porto, so it’s a big day all round.
And here’s the brilliant Barney Ronay on Kevin De Bruyne, the main man for Manchester City.
De Bruyne will turn 30 next month. He’s about to play his 494th professional game. To date he has three Premier League titles, an FA Cup and five League Cups, which is certainly a lot of League Cups. He has been player of the year in England, Germany and Belgium, but never above ninth spot in the Ballon d’Or.
This will be Manchester City’s second European final. Remembering Big Mal, Joe Mercer, the other Neil Young with those who were in Vienna in 1970, including City stalwart Tommy Booth.
Jacob Steinberg dove deeply into Tactics Tom ahead of the final. Great piece.
Saturday is also upon us, and it will be a tremendous day of red hot soccer. Brentford and Swansea, two teams who play the game the ‘right’ way will serve as an hors d’oeuvre for the evening’s events in Porto when they play in the EFL Championship play-off final. It will be a match when every kick can be measured by how much money it might cost, football divined right down to the pecuniary.
Talking of which, can Manchester City reach the holy grail of winning the competition their owners set out to win on buying the club in 2008 or will Roman Abramovich celebrate success for the second time, having set out a similar target five years before.
Setting aside such cynicism, both games promise so much with Thomas Tuchel seeming to have Pep Guardiola’s number so far this season and Swansea and Brentford drew both their games 1-1 in the regular season. Last year, of course, Brentford did a number on the Swans in the play-off semis only to lose to Scott Parker’s Fulham.
Two different matches, two rather different forms of jeopardy. We will try our best to keep you up to speed on the latest news, previews and voices throughout the day.
Join us.
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