GM football fans. It’s Monday, Apr. 28 - Liverpool win the Premier League, Uefa considers changes to the Champions League, and everything else you need to know. Forwarded this email? Sign up here.

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KEY RESULTS

FA Cup, Semi-Finals: Nottingham Forest 0-2 Manchester City. City have qualified for the FA Cup final for the 14th time in their history. Four of those have come under Pep Guardiola, with only Chelsea (5) reaching more finals in the competition since Guardiola took charge of the club. Crystal Palace 3-0 Aston Villa. Palace recorded their 10th clean sheet in all competitions in 2025, the most of any Premier League side since the turn of the year. Meanwhile, Villa have lost seven of their last nine games at Wembley Stadium. Crystal Palace and Manchester City will meet in the final at Wembley on 17 May.

Results…

• Premier League: Bournemouth 1-1 Man Utd | Liverpool 5-1 Spurs (Report) (Table)

• Serie A: Inter Milan 0-1 Roma (Report) | Napoli 2-0 Torino (Report) | Juventus 2-0 Monza | Atalanta 1-1 Lecce (Table)

• WSL: Liverpool 2-2 Spurs | Palace 1-7 West Ham | Everton 2-3 Brighton | Leicester 0-1 Man City (Table)

• MLS results (More) | NWSL results (More)

TOP TALKING POINTS

Liverpool Crowned Champions

Liverpool have secured their second Premier League title and 20th English top-flight championship. The Reds are now level with Manchester United as the joint-most successful side in English top-flight history.

Arne Slot becomes just the third manager in Liverpool’s history to win the title in his debut season in charge, following Joe Fagan (1983-84) and Kenny Dalglish (1985-86). He also joins an elite group of managers—Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti, Manuel Pellegrini, and Antonio Conte—who won the Premier League in their first season.

Mohamed Salah has 28 goals and 18 assists, contributing to 59% of the team’s points tally—46 of 78 points. With four matches left, Salah is just one goal contribution away from matching the 47-goal involvement record set by Alan Shearer and Andy Cole during 42-game seasons.

Dive deeper into Liverpool’s Premier League winning stats here.

Champions League Changes

Uefa is considering major changes to the Champions League format for next season as it aims to refine the expanded tournament, according to German outlet Bild. The Club Competitions Committee could decide on the changes during a meeting on May 30.

One proposal would give the teams that finish in the top eight after the league phase home advantage in the second leg of knockout ties. Arsenal complained about playing Real Madrid–and soon Paris Saint-Germain–away in the second leg despite finishing in the top eight, whereas their opponents did not. A study, which tracked 320 two-legged matches, found no evidence to support an advantage either way.

A second change could reinstate the ‘same country protection rule,’ preventing clubs from the same association from facing each other before the quarter-finals, as was the case under the old format.

Finally, UEFA is considering abolishing extra time in knockout matches and moving directly to penalty shootouts, driven by concerns over player workload.

EFL History Made

Wrexham, owned by actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, have secured promotion to the Championship for the first time in 43 years. It marks the first time any club has achieved three consecutive promotions across England’s top tiers. Watch Wrexham fans celebrate their promotion here.

Reynolds and McElhenney bought the North Wales club for $2.5m in 2021. In 2022-23, Wrexham were promoted back to the EFL after 15 years, led by manager Phil Parkinson. Last season, they were promoted following a second-placed finish in League Two. Explore Wrexham’s history in detail here.

In related news, Birmingham City have set a new League One points record with 105 points, breaking Wolves’ 103 points in the 2013-14 season.

POLL

ON THE BALL

Europe

> Barcelona beat Real Madrid 3-2 to win the Copa del Rey trophy (Highlights / or Read Report); Watch Kounde’s extra-time winning goal (Watch) | Antonio Rudiger could face a long-term ban for throwing ice bags at the referee (More / Watch Incident)

> Barcelona Femeni reach their fifth successive Women’s Champions League final after defeating Chelsea Women 4-1 (Agg 8-2) (Highlights) | Arsenal Women reach the final after an 18-year wait with a 4-1 win over Lyon (Agg 3-5) (Highlights)

> Harry Kane will miss Bayern Munich's match against RB Leipzig, in which they can win the Bundesliga title, next Saturday, due to suspension (More)

> Paris Saint-Germain’s unbeaten run in Ligue 1 came to an end after their 3-1 home defeat against Nice (More)

> Celtic have won their 55th domestic league title following their 5-0 win away at Dundee United (More); see the numbers behind their dominance (More)

> Crystal Palace Women have been relegated from the Women’s Super League with two matches left to play (More)

Americas

> FC Cincinnati maintain top spot in the MLS Eastern Conference, a point ahead of Columbus Crew; Cincinnati’s Kevin Denkey scored a Goal of the Year contender (Watch); Vancouver Whitecaps are four points clear of the Western Conference (Conference Standings)

> Two stoppage-time goals from North Carolina Courage handed Kansas City Current their first defeat in 2025, taking them level on points with Orlando Pride after six matches in the NWSL (Highlights); see the NWSL table (More)

> Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti is set for more talks about taking over as Brazil coach before the 2026 World Cup qualifiers (More)

Rest of the World

> Cristiano Ronaldo scored in Al Nassr’s 4-1 win over Yokohama F. Marinos of Japan in the quarterfinals of the AFC Champions League Elite (More); Ronaldo scored his 934th goal in his career (More)

> Auckland FC celebrated becoming A-League Premiers in their inaugural season by defeating Perth Glory 1-0 (More)

ROUTERS’ VOICE

Friday’s Poll: Should leagues use play-offs or goal difference to decide the title when teams finish level on points?

🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 ⚔️ Play-offs... (51%)

🟨 🟨 🟨 🟨 🟨 ⬜️ 📊 Goal difference... (46%)

🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ✍️ Other... (3%)

Your punditry takes:

• ⚔️ L.K: “I'm an American, and we love our playoffs. But how cool is it that two teams tie at the top and have a one-game winner-takes-all? Imagine the television viewership for that (and not just domestically, worldwide). I know I'll watch a Serie A winner-takes-all game.”

• 📊 D.B: “Play-offs are a gimmick for more games and more commercials. If you have extra games to determine wins, you reduce the value of scoring goals during regular games, which reduces the value of regular games. Play-offs might be exciting, but if you value the regular season, GD is the way to go.”

• ✍️ C.S: “Teams that usually win by one goal, like Atletico Madrid, are obviously at a disadvantage. A playoff, however, wouldn't be perfect. If a team plays flawlessly from August to March but hits an injury bug in April and May, that team would be at a huge disadvantage. I think H2H could be a good option, but again, if that team had an injury bug for that game, then obviously it's not the most fair decider.”

EXTRA TIME

Slot sends his appreciation to Klopp.

Whose honours are better—Man Utd or Liverpool’s?

Mbappe’s first-ever direct free-kick goal.

Under-9s keeper takes on the whole team.

Patrice Evra to make fighting debut at 43.

Next season’s longest away trip.

Ian Wright responds to Eni Aluko’s criticism of him.

GAME FACE ON

Question: Which player has won 5-0 for both Barcelona and Real Madrid in El Clasico?

Clue: Danish.

Scroll below for the answer.

ON TODAY

Serie A

• Udinese vs Bologna (17:30)

• Hellas Verona vs Cagliari (19:45)

• Lazio vs Parma (19:45)

EFL Championship

• Leeds United vs Bristol City (20:00)

*All time in UK. ET -5. CDT -6. PDT -8. MDT -7. CET +1.

Answer

Michael Laudrup starred in 5-0 Clasico victories for both teams in 1994 and 1995.

Want more? Try our daily football Wordle – guess the name of a current or former player in six tries. Play it here.