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KEY FIXTURES

UEFA Champions League, Semi-Final, Leg 2, 20:00 / 15:00. Paris Saint-Germain vs. Arsenal, Agg 1-0. Arsenal could win five straight games away from home in major European competition for the first time in their history. However, PSG enter the fixture with a one-goal advantage, meaning that Opta’s prediction model gives them a 45.4% chance of winning the fixture–and a 24.6% chance of going to extra time. History is against Arsenal, given that only two teams have ever reached the UCL final having lost the first leg of their semi-final tie at home.

Results…

• Champions League: Inter Milan 4-3 Barcelona (Agg 7-6) (Report / Stats Report)

• Scottish Premiership Play-offs, QF: Partick 0-1 Ayr Utd

TOP TALKING POINTS

PL Race for Europe

The Premier League’s top five teams are set to qualify for the Champions League, and just four points separate the five teams who are ranked third to seventh. See each team’s remaining fixture difficulty here.

Manchester City (97.8%), Newcastle United (77%), and Chelsea (68%) are projected to join Liverpool and Arsenal (99%) in qualifying for next season’s Champions League. Nottingham Forest (42.2%) and Aston Villa (15.2%) are outside contenders to break in—but should one finish sixth, they’ll qualify for the Europa League.

Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur—currently 15th and 16th—could also reach next season’s Champions League. Both sides hold first-leg leads in their Europa semi-finals, and should either win the competition, they’ll qualify for next season’s campaign.

The FA Cup winner–either Man City or Crystal Palace–could also earn Europa League qualification. If City win, the spot will go to the next-highest team not already qualified. If Palace win, they’ll claim the place directly.

Dive deeper into how 10 PL teams can play in Europe next season here.

MLS Sponsorship Spike

The first quarter of 2025 has seen Major League Soccer's sponsorship revenue increase by double digits compared to the same period in 2024. Last year, total sponsorship revenue reached $665m. The approaching 2026 World Cup—co-hosted by the United States—and rising stadium attendance have driven a surge in lucrative sponsorship deals.

Lionel Messi’s arrival in 2023 coincided with Adidas renewing its league-wide partnership—a deal worth $830m through 2030. New agreements with major brands, including Audi, Sports Illustrated Tickets, and Michelob Ultra, have also helped push this year’s sponsorship numbers to record highs.

In February, the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) reported a 19% year-on-year increase in sponsorship revenue. A separate March report found that the NWSL was the largest contributor to the 12% growth in sponsorship across major North American women’s sports, reflecting the league’s surging popularity in recent years.

Leon Lose Appeal

Mexican club Leon lost its appeal against Fifa’s decision to remove them from next month’s Club World Cup. See previous write-up here.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected Leon’s attempt to overturn the ruling, which found the club ineligible due to shared ownership with another Club World Cup participant, Pachuca. Both clubs are owned by Grupo Pachuca, which said it was prepared to sell one of the teams to comply with FIFA’s rules—but that a sale could not be completed before the tournament.

The ruling allows Fifa to organise a one-off play-off match between Los Angeles FC and Club America to fill Leon’s spot. The winner of the game will face Chelsea in Atlanta on June 16, then Esperance from Tunisia in Nashville, and Flamengo of Brazil in Orlando.

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ON THE BALL

Europe

> Two Premier League fixtures have been rescheduled for Tottenham Hotspur (vs Aston Villa) and Manchester United (vs Chelsea) because of their potential participation in the Europa League final (More); Villa are unhappy, claiming ‘prejudice’ (More)

> Real Madrid want Trent Alexander-Arnold to join them for next month’s Club World Cup, and are negotiating an early contract release with Liverpool (More)

> Cristiano Ronaldo Jr, 14, has been called up for Portugal Under-15s national team for the first time (More); Watch Ronaldo Jr playing (More)

> Manchester City Women will take part in the inaugural World Sevens football tournament, joining Manchester United, FC Rosengard, PSG, Roma, Benfica, Bayern Munich, and Ajax (More)

> Hull City are investigating captain Lewie Coyle, who appeared to be involved in a bloody street brawl on Sunday (More) | Watford confirm the departure of manager Tom Cleverley (More)

Americas

> The NWSL has issued additional sanctions to Racing Louisville FC forward Ary Borges after her actions at the end of the match against Portland Thorns FC (More)

> The MLS has partnered with video game company EA Sports to broadcast four matches of the regular season through their mobile app (More)

> Former USWNT’s Carli Lloyd has apologised to her teammates for being an “emotionless machine” during her Hall of Fame induction speech (More)

> The Brazil Football Confederation (CBF) expect to name their new men's national team coach by the end of next week "at the latest” (More)

Rest of the World

> A-League’s Newcastle Jets have named former Australia defender Mark Milligan as head coach as they struggle in the league (More)

> Malaysia’s sports minister has called for the country’s clubs to be managed with genuine financial skills to boost investment and safeguard player welfare (More)

ROUTERS’ VOICE

Yesterday’s Poll: Who do you think will go through to the final in Wednesday’s Champions League match?

🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🇫🇷 Paris Saint-Germain (62%)

🟨 🟨 🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Arsenal (38%)

Your punditry takes:

• 🇫🇷 H.B: “I have been a Gooner for 78 years. I am far from being naive. We do not have the horses to go toe to toe with PSG for 90+ minutes. To begin, they are almost perfect at home and have been on the doorstep to winning this competition for many years. The prima donnas are gone, and Luis Enrique has made a very good team.”

• 🇫🇷 G.B: “Barcelona v PSG is a fitting final, two good young sides playing the beautiful game.”

• 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 J.M: “I am an Arsenal fan, so definitely some outright hope here. I think we did well enough in the first leg to have got a goal or two, and now we should be a slightly stronger team with Partey back in the squad, so I think we have a good chance of overturning the one-goal deficit.”

• 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 J.L: “Arsenal's form all season has been back and forth and with poor results the last few games, Arsenal is due for a return to the form that beat Real Madrid twice. PSG 1 - Arsenal 3.”

EXTRA TIME

Some Inter fans left the match early.

How David Kogan landed the role to regulate football.

Rebekah Vardy must pay Coleen Rooney’s legal costs.

Which Donnarumma will Arsenal face tonight?

Everything to know about Liga MX playoffs.

John Terry gets heated as Baller League coach.

What’s the landscape for women’s football in North America?

Premier League team of the week.

GAME FACE ON

Question: Only two teams have ever reached the Champions League final having lost the first leg of their semi-final tie at home. Can you name them?

Scroll below for the answer.

ON TODAY

UEFA Champions League, SF

• Paris Saint-Germain vs Arsenal (Agg 1-0) (20:00)

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

Answer

Ajax beat Panathinaikos 3-0 in the 1995-96 semi-final second leg.

Tottenham Hotspur beat Ajax 3-2 in the 2018-19 semi-final second leg.

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