GM football fans. It’s Thursday, Apr. 24 - Champions League qualification latest projections, the Concacaf Champions Cup semi-finals, and everything else you need to know. Forwarded this email? Sign up here.

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KEY FIXTURES

Coppa Italia, Semi-Final: Bologna vs. Empoli, Agg 3-0, 20:00 / 15:00. Bologna, who have a three-goal advantage, enter this fixture off the back of defeating league leaders Inter Milan in the Serie A. Meanwhile, Empoli have been free-falling in the league standings–they sit inside the relegation zone following a streak of 17 top-flight matches without a win. The winner of this fixture will play AC Milan in the final.

Results…

• Premier League: Arsenal 2-2 Crystal Palace (Report)

• Coppa Italia, SF: Inter Milan 0-3 AC Milan (Agg 1-4) (Report)

• WSL: Chelsea 4-0 Crystal Palace (Report)

• La Liga: Getafe 0-1 Real Madrid | Athletic Club 1-0 Las Palmas | Celta Vigo 3-0 Villarreal | Alaves 1-0 Sociedad (Table)

• Serie A: Cagliari 1-2 Fiorentina | Genoa 0-2 Lazio | Parma 1-0 Juventus | Torino 2-0 Udinese (Table)

TOP TALKING POINTS

UCL Qualification Projections

Manchester City are the most likely to join Liverpool and Arsenal in next season’s Champions League, according to Opta’s latest projections. Pep Guardiola’s side are given a 95.1% chance of finishing in the top five.

The prediction model also gives Nottingham Forest (80.1%), Newcastle (77.6%), and Chelsea (29.7%) the next-highest chances of qualifying. Meanwhile, following their 2-1 loss to City on Tuesday, Aston Villa are now the outsiders to earn a top-five place—Opta gives them a 17.3% chance.

With four and five matches remaining, Villa, City and Chelsea face the toughest remaining fixtures based on the average league position of upcoming opponents—see table here. Forest, just one point behind third-place City and with a game spare, are expected to have the easiest run of fixtures in the league.

Concacaf Champions Cup Semi-Finals

The first legs of the Concacaf Champions Cup semi-finals will begin this week. The second leg matches will be played on April 30 and May 1.

Vancouver Whitecaps will host Inter Miami on Thursday (Apr. 24) in the first leg at 22:30 ET (3:00 BST). Vancouver lead the MLS Supporters’ Shield standings, while Miami is third in the Eastern Conference, with a game in hand. These sides have only met once, during MLS Matchday 15 of the 2024 regular season, when Miami won 2-1.

Liga MX clubs Tigres UANL and Cruz Azul meet in the other semi-final. Cruz Azul, one of the competition’s most decorated clubs, have won six CCC titles, second only to Club America’s seven. The result of this fixture will be confirmed shortly after publication–see here.

The winner of the CCC will earn $5m and qualify for the 2025 Fifa Intercontinental Cup and 2029 Fifa Club World Cup.

Arsenal’s ‘Visit Tottenham’ Campaign

Arsenal supporters are protesting the club’s ‘Visit Rwanda’ sponsorship amid growing concerns over human rights violations in the country. The £10m-a-year deal, renewed in 2021, is set to expire at the end of this season.

Activist group Gunners for Peace unveiled a billboard outside the Emirates Stadium that reads ‘Visit Tottenham’ (see here), mocking the partnership by suggesting fans would rather visit their North London rivals than support Rwanda’s regime. The group also posted a satirical video targeting Spurs–watch here.

Earlier this year, both Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich also faced criticism for their sponsorship deals with Visit Rwanda. PSG renewed their deal last week, despite continued calls to end the partnership.

POLL

ON THE BALL

Europe

> Eni Aluko has accused Ian Wright of blocking opportunities for female pundits by 'dominating' women's football coverage (More) | American billionaire Christopher Sarofim is set to be announced as a new investor in Everton (More) | Reading FC have agreed terms with a buyer over the sale of the club, and the EFL has extended the deadline to complete a deal to May 5 (More)

> Rangers have confirmed for the first time that they are in negotiations with American investors, including the San Francisco 49ers, about a possible takeover of the club (More)

> All Serie A matches on Saturday have officially been postponed due to Pope Francis’ funeral (More)

> Vinicius Jr is in talks with Real Madrid over a new deal as his contract is due to expire in 2027 (More)

> Former Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich will break his silence over the sale of the club in a new book to be released this summer (More)

Americas

> Alex Morgan, former U.S. women's striker, has shared family photos of her newborn son Enzo (More)

> NWSL’s Bay FC hopes to attract a league record of 40,000+ fans when they play Washington Spirit on August 23 at Oracle Park, home of Baseball’s San Francisco Giants (More)

> Former Brazil coach Tite is pausing his professional career for an undetermined amount of time to deal with physical and mental health issues (More)

Rest of the World

> South African footballer Sinamandla Zondi, 22, died after collapsing in the warm-up before a second-tier match, his club Durban City said; the cause is unknown (More)

> A former member of the Fifa Council, Mamoutou Toure, has been released from jail in Mali after almost two years in detention for alleged corruption (More)

> Neom Sports Club secured promotion to the Saudi Pro League for the first time as they beat Al-Arabi 3-0 (More)

ROUTERS’ VOICE

Yesterday’s Poll: Do you think bench interference is serious enough to void a result or call for a rematch?

🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 ⬜️ 🤕 Yes... (46%)

🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 ⬜️ 🙅‍♂️ Nope... (46%)

🟨 🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ✍️ Other... (8%)

Your punditry takes:

• 🤕 G.S: “Deliberate interference of a match by someone from the bench is an attempt to steal a result. It’s unfair to the other team and even more unfair to the fans, who bought tickets!”

• 🤕 H.L: “Absolutely, there needs to be serious consequences. It’s like cheating. And if there’s no consequences, it’s only going to happen again or something worse…”

• 🙅‍♂️ J.M: “Not something like a bit of time-wasting (just add the time on). It is far more egregious when a dreadful refereeing decision costs a team a result than when a sub or a coach wastes a bit of time.”

• 🙅‍♂️ J.G: “Voiding the match or calling for a rematch would set a dangerous precedent that would cause significant problems in the future.”

• ✍️ W.D: “The two choices offered (rematch or voided result) are too extreme. Rather, a mandatory extra amount of x minutes should be added before the referee can end the game.”

EXTRA TIME

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What it takes to impress Mourinho—really.

GAME FACE ON

Question: Leicester have been relegated from the Premier League for the fifth time, level with West Bromwich Albion (also five relegations). Who are the only team with more?

Scroll below for the answer.

ON TODAY

La Liga

• Leganes vs Girona (18:00)

• Osasuna vs Sevilla (18:00)

• Atletico Madrid vs Rayo Vallecano (20:30)

• Real Betis vs Real Valladolid (20:30)

Coppa Italia, Semi-Final

• Bologna vs Empoli (Agg 3-0) (20:00)

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

Answer

Norwich City (6).

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