RIP.
was brought to tears on Friday by a critical video published by Madrid’s in-house TV channel (RMTV). The video shows what RMTV says is a series of errors made by De Burgos throughout his career. “When a child arrives at school and his mates tell him that his father is a thief, it makes you sick,” said De Burgos before threatening strike action. “We are not going to continue to allow what is happening.” Madrid took no part in media activities before tonight’s final, prompting uncertainty that the game would go ahead, but have since have denied that they ever considered refusing to play against Barcelona. A statement from Madrid finally confirmed that they would play after 10pm on Friday night, just 24 hours before kick-off. The club accused the referees of “announcing supposed actions which are far from the principles of equality, objectivity and impartiality which should prevail a few hours before a footballing event followed by millions of people around the world”.
The stance taken by Real Madrid is frankly appalling. Even pointing out that their mouthpice TV channel devotes a significant amount of time to ref bashing, and how this impacts on peoples lives is somehow evidence of conspiracy against them.
Impending Bundesliga title-winners Bayern Munich have become Spurs. Discuss …
after his winning goal at Leicester, could he be set for a start on what could be a momentous day for the Reds? And Luis Díaz (£7.5m) loves scoring against Tottenham. He’s scored four times against Spurs (it would have been five had it not been for that VAR imbroglio), is in good form and could be a smart choice at the price.
Wolves face relegated Leicester, with Mattheus Cunha (£6.9m) back in favour and looking like a good value buy, while Bryan Mbeumo (£8m) and Yoane Wissa (£6.5m) were back at their telepathic best for Brentford in the 4-2 win over Brighton and could be worth backing to dent Nottingham Forest’s bid to qualify for the Champions League. Bernd Leno (£5m) is a decent option in goal as Fulham travel to Southampton and Reece James (£4.8m) may be a good shout as top-five chasers Chelsea host Everton.
I’m 12th in Guardian Sport’s 26-team league on 2,066 points by the way, so feel free to ignore my advice and post your own BTL. And here’s our team news and predicted lineups for the weekend, which may well inform your thinking.
My workings have it that if Cardiff and Plymouth Argyle both lose at home to West Brom and away to Preston, respectively, and Luton avoid defeat at home to Frank Lampard’s Coventry and Derby don’t lose at Hull, then both would be relegated to League One. Hull would be assured of safety if they beat Derby with one game still to play. Portsmouth’s 1-0 win over Watford last Monday means they are now safe.
Here at Guardian Towers, we like to please. Away from the glitz and glamour of the top leagues around Europe, the National League South has made headlines this week, where as many as six teams can still win the title. The league has confirmed that the trophy will have to be presented at a later date because, well, where the hell would they have it on standby? I’m not sure they could afford to rent a helicopter to fly the silverware in. The league table really is a sight to behold.
Here’s how Simon Burnton teed up the six-way title tussle:
The final day dawns for National League South with fully 25% of its teams capable of winning it. Truro City go into it above Torquay at the top because their goal difference is better by two (they have scored one more goal), Eastbourne Borough and Worthing are a further point back, and Boreham Wood and Dorking Wanderers are two behind them (with the division’s best and second-best goal difference respectively). Disappointingly none of the teams play any of the others on the last day, with the pick of the fixtures Truro’s against St Albans City, who need to do better than Salisbury (the two are level on points but Salisbury’s goal difference is better by one) to stay up. A few weeks ago it looked as if the title was Worthing’s to win: on 15 March they had won their past five, led the league by four and had a game in hand on every other side in the top 10. “We’re very hard to play against at the moment and I think we’re improving, we’re getting better,” their manager, Chris Agutter, said after they beat Hemel Hempstead Town that day. “We’re becoming more ruthless as well. We just need to keep working hard, and the results touch wood should keep going in the right direction.” Since then: two wins, two draws, three defeats. They end their season at Enfield, who could go down if Salisbury and St Albans win.
If you are at any of the potentially title-defining games later, do let us know which team’s scarf you’ll be wearing and what your plans are.
particularly last season when they finished fifth.
I love the frenzy around finishing fifth this year … they’re all brilliant, aren’t they? We finished fifth last year. Why is it such a disaster that we finished fifth? Around this time last year, I was asked to lose a game [against City]. And I was wrong for wanting to win it. We finished fifth but it’s not a good story. A better story is my tenure has been a disaster and it continues to be. I just think that the kind of hysteria that is surrounding what’s happening at the moment is all premeditated for a certain outcome. Hopefully we can defy that.”
email us with your thoughts on the match. If you’re heading off to watch any match today, let us know why it matters to you and what rituals you’ll be carrying out in advance?
We’ll be hearing from some of our correspondents, too, with Ewan Murray teeing up Dundee United v Celtic, who are set to win a record-equalling 55th Scottish league title and we hope to have snippets from reporters elsewhere, too. Yara El-Shaboury is at Stamford Bridge for the early kick-off between Chelsea and Everton – she’ll assess the mood before that one. But if you have any thoughts on Enzo Maresca and David Moyes, do let us know. Dominic Booth will be at Wrexham v Charlton at 5.30pm, with the Hollywood darlings potentially being promoted from League One this evening, and he’ll send us a missive later to tee that one up. And Harry Kane could finally get his hands on some silverware if Bayern Munich defeat Mainz. Surely he deserves some honours doesn’t he? I’ll bring you some fantasy football tips too – they might not be useful but they will at least remind you not to miss the deadline.
Source: theguardian.com
