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Real Madrid host the first leg of their Champions League semi-final against Manchester City as they continue to chase another European trophy. Carlo Ancelotti’s side have already progressed beyond two English clubs in the knockout rounds, showing all of their competition-winning acumen in beating Liverpool and Chelsea. But the Spanish capital club know they will face a significantly stronger side with the Premier League leaders in town. Manchester City are in outstanding form and desperately covet the continental crown that has so far eluded them. Here’s everything you need to know. When is Real Madrid vs Manchester City? Real Madrid vs Manchester City is due to kick off at 8pm BST on Tuesday 9 May at the Bernabeu in Madrid. How can I watch it? Viewers in the United Kingdom can watch the first leg live on BT Sport 1, with coverage on the channel from 7pm BST. Subscribers can stream the game via the BT Sport app or online player. Team news Real Madrid are dealing with a couple of defensive issues, with Eder Militao suspended for this fixture and Ferland Mendy still battling a calf injury. Luka Modric should, however, be fit to start after overcoming his hamstring issue to feature in the Copa del Rey win on Sunday. Kevin De Bruyne returned to the starting Manchester City side against Leeds in a timely boost for Pep Guardiola, though Nathan Ake’s second half substitution during that encounter is cause for concern. The Dutch defender’s hamstring injury could rule him out. Predicted line-ups Real Madrid XI: Courtois; Carvajal, Rudiger, Alaba, Camavinga; Valverde, Modric, Kroos; Rodrygo, Benzema, Vinicius Jr. Manchester City XI: Ederson; Walker, Dias, Akanji; Stones, Rodri; Silva, De Bruyne, Gundogan, Grealish; Haaland. Odds Real Madrid win 9/4 Draw 47/17 Manchester City win 5/4 Prediction A draw leaves things intriguingly poised ahead of the second leg. Real Madrid 2-2 Manchester City Read More Why Man City vs Real Madrid is the ‘real’ Champions League final The six types of Pep Guardiola full-back, and what each says about Man City’s evolution Pep Guardiola ready to stare down his managerial nemesis once again

In the days before Manchester City’s most important match of the season, Pep Guardiola has been trying to strike a difficult balance. Surprisingly, his focus is not on how to play against Vinicius Junior, despite the way the forward scorched the Catalan’s side last season. Instead, Guardiola wants to make sure his players do not dwell on how last season’s semi-final ended, for fear of it inhibiting their performance, but he also doesn’t want to suppress their desire for revenge either. With the Premier League champions in unprecedented form, some within the team want to subject Real Madrid to the heartbreak that City endured last May. Madrid, meanwhile, are intent on reasserting why they are the greatest. Carlo Ancelotti has been seeking to nurture their talent in that understated way of his. It’s just about the only thing with this Champions League semi-final rematch that’s understated. All around the Bernabeu, there is the sense of the game building up to the be-all and end-all of the season. It is little wonder it is being described as the “real final”. After all, this is by far the more difficult side of the draw, with arguably the two best sides in Europe. It has the high stakes that lend it the grandeur of previous “real finals”: Internazionale-Barcelona 2010, Barcelona-Bayern Munich 2015, Liverpool-Barcelona 2019 and perhaps Bayern Munich-Madrid 2001. It’s also what many think, and psychology is a key part of this. Those within Madrid firmly believe City are the best team in Europe – other than them – and overtures are already being made to try and bring Erling Haaland to the Bernabeu at some point in the future. Some of the Real hierarchy have been left gobsmacked by Haaland. Ancelotti has been discussing with his staff how to limit the striker’s impact. But Haaland still doesn’t dominate their mindset as much as state-owned clubs like City influence the thinking of Florentino Perez. The driving force for the Madrid president in the last half-decade has been ensuring his club can compete with such political projects. On the flip side, Madrid are the kind of grand football institution City feel they must overcome. To win the Champions League by beating three of the competition’s most historically successful clubs – Bayern Munich, Madrid and AC Milan – would be a highly symbolic moment. But there is still something deeper to the Spanish giants, though. Madrid were Guardiola’s great rivals at Barcelona. They so often won the top European competition that eluded the Catalans, and are the club that subjected Guardiola to some of his worst evenings. What happened last season between City and Real Madrid was, for Guardiola, an extension of his history at the Camp Nou. In addition, there was the semi-final in 2014 when Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale eviscerated Pep’s Bayern. All of this is firing up everyone involved. And yet it is that very shared history which means we are long past the point where we can cast this as the football establishment against new money, a grand old institution against a modern state project. Both, after all, came together for the Super League project two years ago. There’s a familiarity on a few levels. This is the third time City and Madrid have met in four seasons. Two have been in the semi-finals. It’s what happens when the pool of teams at the continent’s top end shrinks, as both of these clubs have played their part in ensuring. It is another reason this is seen as “the real final”. This season has made it feel like the only potential champions are English sides, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain (at a stretch) and Madrid. As these names have fallen, it has looked more and more like it will be City’s year. Such is their strength in depth that they are always in contention – this year, last year, next year – in a way rarely seen in football history. Haaland’s goals epitomise this. They also point to how some new elements will decide a tie with increasingly familiar themes – or, at least, new spins on familiar themes. In seeking to maximise the force of Haaland, while marrying the player’s singular goalscoring brilliance with his own obsession with collective control, Guardiola has gone back to his roots. He has reconfigured Johan Cruyff’s “box” from Barcelona’s 1992 season, which also happened to be the first Champions League the club had ever won. It has at once released Haaland while keeping him a key part of a coherent collective. That is going to be very hard for Madrid to undo in the way they managed last season, although Bayern showed one vulnerability is pace on the flanks that Ancelotti has in abundance. This is where Vinicius is so dangerous, and would require more compromises within Guardiola’s system. City may have to double up on the Brazilian. Vinicius has gone up another level after winning last season’s Champions League. Many within the game believe he is the most effective footballer in Europe right now. Others, of course, believe it is Haaland. And Madrid certainly can’t afford to forget about him. It wasn’t like City struggled to create chances against Madrid last season, they just didn’t have anyone to finish them. It let Madrid back in, for the mother of all of those comebacks. There is little surer than Haaland, though. There is little surer than the idea these are the two best teams in Europe right now. It is why this is being cast as the true final. Since both are so much better than the Milan clubs, the showpiece will feel a fait accompli. That is often the danger with such games, though. You forget what is to come, and put so much into the grand showdown before. This semi-final is after all built on countless recent memories, that could play a part in deciding it. Read More Pep Guardiola ready to stare down his managerial nemesis once again Is Real Madrid vs Manchester City on TV? Kick-off time, channel and how to watch Champions League semi-final Ex-England boss Fabio Capello labels Manchester City ‘the best team in world’ Man City not motivated by revenge against Real Madrid says Guardiola The sporting weekend in pictures

It wasn’t all that long ago that Thibaut Courtois was bemoaning being only the seventh-best footballer on the planet. Not the seventh-best goalkeeper - he had top spot in that award sewn up - but seventh overall. His case was as routine as it was sensible: we’ve won everything, I’ve played a huge part, I should be considered as one of the greatest - or, in his eyes, the greatest. Ultimately his reasons counted for plenty, just for the wrong player: teammate Karim Benzema picked up the Ballon d’Or in October. Since then, Courtois has suffered the indignity of being No1 for perhaps the biggest underperformers on the grandest stage - Belgium at the World Cup - but with Real Madrid he continues to be in the spotlight with pivotal performances and in the running for major honours. While a domestic title is out of his grasp this term, retaining Los Blancos’ European crown is very much on the cards. But to do that, he’ll have to face the biggest test of all for any goalkeeper this year, a challenge which, if passed, might well ensure his name is deservedly even higher up the rankings when awards season rolls around again: stop Erling Haaland. “I see the Ballon d’Or as impossible to win. You win La Liga and you win the Champions League, your team wins thanks to your saves... and you only finish seventh. At least they created the trophy for best goalkeeper. With a huge difference, the best goalkeeper in the world,” Courtois noted late last year. “What I’m not happy about is that [I] was not included in the final podium for the Ballon d’Or. I still don’t understand what those who choose this award are based on. “Without a good goalkeeper you don’t win a trophy. And in football awards, sometimes we forget that. People vote faster for a striker who scores goals than by a goalkeeper. Too bad. But we will continue to show that goalkeepers are really important.” There are some who, rightly or wrongly, are already proclaiming the Real Madrid vs Manchester City semi-final to be the real final. AC and Inter Milan will offer their own arguments against that in time, but there’s no doubt as to which clubs have the better squads, the greater expectation...the best and most in-form strikers. And Haaland sits above all of them this season, even above Benzema, after smashing in 51 goals in 46 games. Courtois, meanwhile, has been a busy performer at the Bernabeu. Rarely a team which chases wins by being defensively solid first, Los Blancos have only the fourth-best goals against record this season. Courtois isn’t an ever-present, having had a couple of injury issues this term, and he’s unlikely to be thrilled with his own performance last time out either. A 2-0 defeat to Real Sociedad saw him embarrassed by a wayward backpass, Take Kubo given an easy tap-in, before being beaten at his near post by Ander Barrenetxea for the second. The 30-year-old is no stranger to critics and says he’s held to a higher regard and commented on more harshly for the exact reason that he’s one of the best in the world. He’ll need to be, for this double-header. Haaland has recently been playing an increasing role in the build-up play for City, feeding others running in behind and linking superbly in the deep areas. That means that the threat to Real’s hopes of reaching the final will come from multiple angles of course, but it’s still Haaland who will be the primary danger, Haaland who - if the tie is tight and chances are sporadic - will be most relied-upon to bury the one or two which fall his way. Courtois has proven himself one of the world’s top stoppers, over and over. His reach is immense, his bravery and quick feet off his line an important aspect of his game and his mental strength is as impressive as his shot-stopping capacity. But he isn’t infallible. He, like all players, has bad games, or even just occasions where he’s not quite at his best. The last-16 first leg at Anfield was a case in point, with an error-strewn outing ultimately not proving too costly due to Real’s strength at the other end of the pitch. And here once more it could prove the same. Real Madrid, with Benzema, Vinicius Jr, Luka Modric and all their other offensive-minded stars will fancy themselves to win a shootout across 180 minutes, if that’s what it comes to. Ultimately, going through to the final in Istanbul is all that matters. But for Courtois individually and his simultanoues grand plans of proving he can be not just the best goalkeeper but the very best footballer in the world, one task will go a long way to achieving both objectives. The problem is, as has already been shown on more than 50 occasions this season, stopping Haaland is a notoriously difficult thing to do. Read More Why Man City vs Real Madrid is the ‘real’ Champions League final Pep Guardiola ready to stare down his managerial nemesis once again Is Real Madrid vs Manchester City on TV? Kick-off time, channel and how to watch Champions League semi-final The six types of Pep Guardiola full-back, and what each says about Man City Football rumours: Chelsea could use Christian Pulisic to lure Victor Osimhen Why Man City vs Madrid is the ‘real’ Champions League final

As Pep Guardiola sat down to begin working on the “Johan Cruyff box” that has only further released Erling Haaland in the last few weeks, one of the Catalan’s main concerns was the equation of marrying the Norwegian’s movement with maintaining control in the Champions League. They don’t always seem to fit. Even though he is now blessed with the best goalscorer in the world, “maintaining control in the Champions League’’ governs Guardiola’s thinking in almost everything, and has done for the last few seasons. The Catalan wouldn’t publicly admit that, of course, since he feels it feeds into an unhelpful public narrative about his “obsession” with the competition. That is precisely how senior figures at Manchester City have privately described it, though, and some feel it goes even further. They don’t just think Guardiola wants a third Champions League. They believe he wants the record for the most in history, as should befit someone viewed as perhaps the greatest coach of all time. There is also how much emotional energy he has put in, too. You only have to watch the footage of him theatrically crumpling to the ground as Real Madrid’s Vinicius Junior tears down the wing after one minor slip in last season’s semi-final. There is naturally a significant amount of ego in this, but that isn’t said as a criticism. The intensity of the job means elite managers must almost by definition be self-absorbed. It’s close to a prerequisite of getting to the top and staying there. An inherent pride is why so many coaches stay wedded to a style even as the wider game moves past them, because it becomes about proving they still have it. It happened to Arsene Wenger. It happened to Jose Mourinho. It happened to almost everyone, except the figure whose record Guardiola is actually chasing. Carlo Ancelotti also happens to be the manager fittingly standing in the Catalan’s way. The Italian is aiming to extend his record with a fifth Champions League, as Guardiola looks for a long-awaited third. You could understand a certain amount of frustration at that, since it all seems to come so easy to Ancelotti at the same time as Guardiola endures so many long nights of the soul in the Champions League. Last season’s semi-final was another. The Real Madrid manager is frequently asked about the secret of all this by football people, and the answer is instructive. “You have to have no ego,” Ancelotti says. “Listen to your players, ask their opinion, trust them.” Even that seems to go against a lot of the system-led management that the Guardiola era has fostered. It is not the only way Ancelotti has defied the supposedly defining trends of the modern game. Far from obstructing managers like Guardiola, the Italian was supposed to be rendered obsolete. That isn’t just tactical theorising, either. It seemed the reality of their last few roles, especially at Bayern Munich. When Ancelotti succeeded Guardiola at the German club in 2016, the players were staggered at the drop-off in intensity and preparation. It all seemed so lax and lacking in tactical ideas. The seams began to come apart, leading to Ancelotti’s early sacking. This was the way of the game. System prevailed, all the more so when it was intensely applied. If you wanted to go to a higher level, you needed an idea that amplified the whole. Any stars had to subsume themselves to that. Ancelotti instead seemed to be following many other managers from the previous era in receding from the top end of the game. His jobs showed that. He went from the Champions League latter stages to just trying to get into the competition at Napoli and then floating around mid-table with Everton. And yet here he is back at the summit, with an historic Champions League record that Guardiola so wants, as well as the trophy itself. That has all come without wanting to leave any greater imprint on the game. All Ancelotti wants to do is get by, as they got past City last year, to ensure he has four Champions Leagues and Guardiola still only has two. It illustrates that, rather than both representing dividing lines in football history, they represent opposite approaches in a game that still has a lot of blurred lines. That applies to the jobs they both came into most recently. They weren’t the same. The current City football project was specifically constructed for Guardiola, according to his ideals. It is almost the perfect football setting for him. There would be a football symmetry if he was to win the Champions League again by finalising the most modern team with “the box” that won Barcelona their first European Cup in 1992. There was none of this lofty philosophising with Ancelotti’s last appointment. There was a grand project, sure, as the Madrid hierarchy decided they were going to play 4-3-3 for the next decade. Far from being the perfect fit for that, though, Ancelotti was brought back because club president Florentino Perez couldn’t get anyone else. It was little more than a compromise. So, while City were made for Guardiola, Madrid had to make do with Ancelotti. It just so happened he was able to work very well within those constraints. He could adapt superbly to what he was given, which was one of the best young squads in the world. This is another area where the picture is clouded. It isn’t completely wrong to say Ancelotti looked left behind. He didn’t excel at either Napoli or Everton. But he didn’t have what he has now at Madrid. It points to one of many contrasts in this game, one that may decide where the Champions League ends up. It is idealist against pragmatist, as well as collective control against individual moments. Similarly, while Guardiola sets a club’s entire identity, Ancelotti just makes it feel better about itself. The 4-3-3 wasn’t his idea so he just works to make it better as and when required. He knows how to talk to players, enabling them and ensuring they always feel involved. Ancelotti is also said to be the best in the world at the timing of substitutions. Some of that comes from an instinctive feel for how a match is going, “the sense of a game”. It could be seen in last year’s dramatic semi-final comeback, not least when Ancelotti consulted Marcelo and Toni Kroos on the sideline. This is exactly what he meant when he spoke about no ego and listening to players. There’s another blurred line here, though. Ancelotti still had sufficient pride to stop a question at a recent press conference and point out that he does a lot more than man-management. His record speaks to that. It is one that Guardiola would love to claim as his own. This semi-final may go someway to deciding that. Guardiola's "box" may actually bring his career full circle, as it could represent the completeness of his tactical idea and bring a first Champions League title since Barcelona. Such sophisticated re-interpretations of the past have moved football into the future. It's just that one of its most historic figures, in Ancelotti, remains a key part of it. Read More Why Man City vs Real Madrid is the ‘real’ Champions League final The six types of Pep Guardiola full-back, and what each says about Man City’s evolution Is Real Madrid vs Manchester City on TV? Kick-off time, channel and how to watch Champions League semi-final

A month ago, Pep Guardiola considered the prospects of the player who had made most appearances for him as a full-back and concluded he could not play full-back in a Pep Guardiola team. Or not this team and this system, anyway. “He cannot do it,” Guardiola said. And perhaps that, for Kyle Walker, would have been that, the beginning of the end, a player whose time at Manchester City was ended by a tactical shift that rendered him redundant. Since then, however, Walker has started four of City’s last five games and subdued Gabriel Martinelli in a title decider. In the other biggest match of City’s season so far, he could be the specialist selected for another unenviable task: halting Vinicius Junior, the scorer in last season’s Champions League final, the scourge of Trent Alexander-Arnold. He has the pace – “he will be the fastest in the room at 60,” Guardiola said – to stand out but Walker is an anomaly in other respects. He is the only senior specialist full-back left in City’s squad. They have knocked a player they own, and one who felt the definitive Guardiola full-back, out of the Champions League, after loaning Joao Cancelo to Bayern Munich. But then the definition of a Guardiola full-back has altered over his managerial career. He is indelibly associated with passing midfielders and false nines, but his willingness to experiment, reinvent and revolutionise has been most apparent on either side of the defence, as the six types of Guardiola full-back show. 1. The attacking full-back So far, so conventional? Perhaps not quite. Guardiola may be a trailblazer even there, an advocate of ultra-attacking full-backs when many another manager first looked for solidity in the back four. His Barcelona pairing of Maxwell and Dani Alves could overlap while his midfielders dominated possession. Alves reached double figures in assists in La Liga in three successive seasons for Guardiola, peaking with 15 in 2010-11. Had Jesus Navas opted to stay at City in 2017, it would have been as the second-choice right-back, with Guardiola taking a winger and converting him into a full-back. 2. The full-back as midfielder Given the Bundesliga’s emphasis on pressing and quick transitions, Guardiola became more concerned about counter-attacks during his time at Bayern Munich. It was one reason why he revisited football’s past and formations from the game’s history; either the 2-3-5 used from the end of the 19th century or the W-M system that was invented in the 1920s. Instead of getting his full-backs to overlap, he got them to come infield, to play as old-fashioned wing-halves, taking up positions in front of the centre-backs. It helped that Philipp Lahm and David Alaba had the skillsets to play as midfielders; indeed, Guardiola would often use Lahm, with his footballing intellect, ability to take the ball under pressure and find a teammate, as an actual midfielder. Cancelo has been a variant on the theme at City: a midfielder earlier in his career, he has come infield – most effectively from left-back – and his more ambitious range has made him a playmaker from the base of the midfield. Whereas Rodri, the actual holding midfielder, was more of a metronome, alongside him, Cancelo tried the defence-splitting pass. 3. The midfielder as full-back A reason why Guardiola’s squads tend to feature relatively few out-and-out full-backs and why he can be picky when buying them is that few seem to meet his demands. They tend to include having the ability on the ball of midfielders; perhaps it is unsurprising some actually are midfielders. Joshua Kimmich was a case in point for Bayern. At City, first Fabian Delph and then Oleksandr Zinchenko were moved from midfield to full-back – the Ukrainian was more of a left winger or a No. 10 – with both directed to play the half-back role, to double up as the second defensive midfielder in possession. It has become a more permanent shift, at club level anyway, for Zinchenko, but when Delph went to Everton he reverted to being a midfielder. Kimmich has the ability to operate in a host of roles but is now established at the heart of Bayern’s midfield. Guardiola’s most extreme example of the midfielder as a full-back, albeit a brief one, was when Bernardo Silva spent a couple of games playing as an auxiliary left-back. 4. The defensive full-back It wasn’t how Walker was described when he joined City. He had spent 2016-17 as a flying wing-back for Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham. Guardiola decided his extreme pace was better deployed as an insurance policy, as the man to stop the counter-attacks and as the counterpart to the left-backs, whether Cancelo, Delph or Zinchenko, who were directed into midfield. In effect, Walker was often the right of three centre-backs, though that arguably led to another evolution. 5. The centre-back as full-back When Cancelo was exiled and Walker benched, it felt as though Guardiola was abolishing the notion of the full-back altogether. He has fielded teams featuring five players – including Rodri – who operated at centre-back for their countries in the World Cup. It helps that a manager obsessed with the Cruyffian idea of a left-footed centre-back to open up passing angles in the build-up has two, each accomplished in possession, in Nathan Ake and Aymeric Laporte. Ake has proved particularly accomplished in a hybrid role: half centre-back, half left-back. Manuel Akanji has been the other unexpected beneficiary of Guardiola’s change in thinking this season. If the Switzerland international had been positioned on what became the right of three, he played as an out-and-out right back against Bayern Munich, charged with halting Leroy Sane, and then as a pure defensive left-back against Arsenal, subduing Bukayo Saka. It was as though the purist in Guardiola had gone full pragmatist, looking for a player who was big, quick, defensively diligent and reliable, almost regardless of his ability on the ball. 6. The centre-back as full-back and midfielder If Cancelo felt the man who gave City an added dimension in the past, now John Stones is. If much of Guardiola’s tactics since leaving Barcelona has been a quest to find someone who is both the fourth defender and the second holding midfielder, the tweak this year was to reinvent Stones from a centre-back to a right-back who moved alongside Rodri in possession. Then, against Bayern, came another twist: Stones started as a centre-back but stepped forward, leaving Ruben Dias, Ake and Akanji to form a back three behind him. Stones’ extraordinarily high pass completion rates makes him dependable in possession, while having the defensive nous. He has often been preferred to his friend Walker. But perhaps the prospect of Vinicius will prompt Guardiola to pick Stones as a conventional centre-back and Walker as an old-fashioned right-back. Read More Why Man City vs Real Madrid is the ‘real’ Champions League final Pep Guardiola ready to stare down his managerial nemesis once again Is Real Madrid vs Manchester City on TV? Kick-off time, channel and how to watch Champions League semi-final Ex-England boss Fabio Capello labels Manchester City ‘the best team in world’ Man City not motivated by revenge against Real Madrid says Guardiola Real Madrid handed Luka Modric fitness boost ahead of Man City clash

What the papers say Christian Pulisic, 24, is one of the stars likely to be offloaded by Chelsea this summer with the Daily Mail saying he could be used to lure another big name to Stamford Bridge. The United States forward could be used as part of a deal to persuade Napoli to sell Nigeria striker Victor Osimhen. Paris St Germain are poised to make a bid for Crystal Palace winger Michael Olise, 21. The Daily Mail reports that the Ligue 1 giants will make a summer swoop for the France Under-21 international. Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka, 30, is a target for Bayer Leverkusen, according to the Daily Mirror. The German club tried to sign the Switzerland international last summer and The Sun reports the Gunners are keen on a potential deal involving Leverkusen winger Moussa Diaby, 23. Blackburn’s teenage star Adam Wharton is attracting the attention of Newcastle, reports the Daily Mail. Senior officials from the Premier League club have been to watch the 18-year-old midfielder. Social media round-up Players to watch Moussa Dembele: Aston Villa, Leeds and West Ham have been linked with a move for the French forward, 26, from Lyon. Matteo Guendouzi: Marseille’s former Arsenal midfielder, 24, has emerged as a possible replacement for Declan Rice at West Ham. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live

Manchester United announced Everton manager David Moyes as the successor to Sir Alex Ferguson on this day in 2013. Following a couple of days of intense speculation and false starts, United confirmed Moyes was to leave the Toffees at the end of the 2012-13 season after signing a six-year contract at Old Trafford. The Scot edged out Jose Mourinho to the coveted post and had the support of Ferguson, who had just spent almost 27 years in the United hotseat and remained on the board as a non-executive director. Outgoing chief executive David Gill claimed it was a “dream job” and Moyes, far from viewing it as the poisoned chalice some claimed, felt it represented an opportunity he simply could not turn down. “I know how hard it will be to follow the best manager ever, but the opportunity to manage Manchester United isn’t something that comes around very often,” said Moyes. “I am really looking forward to taking up the post next season.” As it was obvious Moyes would get the job by lunchtime the day before, there was no surprise in the announcement but there was a frenzy beforehand which even included two messages posted on United’s official Facebook page that needed to be hastily taken down. “It is a great honour to be asked to be the next manager of Manchester United,” added Moyes, who officially took up his post at United on July 1 after 11 seasons at Everton. “I am delighted Sir Alex saw fit to recommend me for the job. I have great respect for everything he has done.” Moyes was sacked after just 10 months in charge with United seventh in the Premier League and having been eliminated from the Champions League at the quarter-final stage by Bayern Munich. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live

Southampton boss Ruben Selles does not know what the future holds after a 4-3 defeat at Nottingham Forest left them on the brink of Premier League relegation. Saints were on the wrong side of a seven-goal thriller at the City Ground and they will lose their top-tier status at the weekend if they fail to beat Fulham or results go against them elsewhere. In contrast, Forest climbed out of the bottom three with a vital win which came courtesy of Taiwo Awoniyi’s brace, Morgan Gibbs-White’s penalty and Danilo’s brilliant team goal to give realistic hope that they can avoid the drop in their first season back in the top tier for 23 years. Carlos Alcaraz, Lyanco and James Ward-Prowse goals ensured the Saints were always in the game, but they are now staring the drop to the Championship in the face. Selles, who took over from Nathan Jones on a deal until the end of the season, would like to stay at the club, but says that is not for him to decide. “I try to do my best and as I said before I expected to win more football matches,” he said. “It’s a decision that the club needs to make. I would be happy to be here for the next 10 years as I have said many times. It's a decision that the club needs to make. I would be happy to be here for the next 10 years as I have said many times Ruben Selles “But it is not for me to make that decision. I can only work every day and of course, in the situation we are in right now, it’s so much uncertainty for everybody. “We just need to handle it in the best way possible, whatever happens, and then continue facing forward whatever it is. “And if it is facing forward – if it’s together then it’s better. “The club will present an agenda for the coming days or weeks on how it is going to deal with that if it happens. That is for the club to respond. “I can tell you what we are going to do for the next weeks, we are going to just keep working as much as we can and keep the situations for the future for the people that need to be responsible for that.” Forest took full advantage of defeats for Leeds and Leicester to move up to 16th, three points above the drop zone with three games to play. Boss Steve Cooper says the fight against the drop is not over, but that this could be a huge moment. “We feel like we are playing OK and we have won two games in three,” he said. “You always want consecutive wins and where we are that is not easy to do, so to win two in three is a real positive thing. “It just gives us a little bit more confidence and momentum to just go into the next one. For sure we are going to need more points and more positive results. “It is a massive win tonight and an important one, but it will be even bigger if we build on it. “That has to be the plan from now. We will start the cycle of putting one game to bed and preparing for the next one. “No days off and the work ethic has to be at its maximum in giving the players everything they need to be ready for the next game.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Sampdoria suffer relegation for first time in over a decade after Udinese loss Alex Sanderson confirms interest in bringing Luke Cowan-Dickie to Sale Sharks Lionel Messi cherishes ‘special honour’ after winning Laureus award in Paris

Former Michigan State receiver Keon Coleman is arguably the biggest fish to catch in the transfer portal, but where would the WR thrive if he landed?The spring transfer portal window in college football was just about to close when Michigan State star wide receiver Keon Coleman announced his dec...

Everton stunned Brighton with a 5-1 win on the south coast that moved the Toffees out of the relegation zone on a day that left Southampton in deep trouble and edged Leicester closer to the drop. Just three matches, all with big implications at the bottom, produced 21 goals as sorry Leicester went down 5-3 at Fulham, dropping into the relegation zone along with Leeds as Nottingham Forest climbed out with a 4-3 win over basement boys Southampton. The biggest smiles were on Everton faces as fans celebrated only their second league away win of the season, and one of the more unlikely results of the campaign, as they took out some of their considerable frustrations on Europe-chasing Brighton. A quick break saw Abdoulaye Doucoure poke Everton in front after just 34 seconds, and the Mali midfielder made it 2-0 just before the break as he met Dwight McNeil’s cross with a stunning strike. Alex Iwobi was trying to set up Doucoure for a hat-trick six minutes later but when he over-hit his pass, McNeil picked up the loose ball and struck a cross which went in off Jason Steele for an own goal. Brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi made four changes at the break and his side were much improved, but Everton hit them on the break in the 76th minute when McNeil rounded Steele, celebrating the fourth goal before he even applied the finish. Although Alexis Mac Allister got one back soon after, finally beating the superb Jordan Pickford, there would be no denying Everton a huge win as McNeil added an emphatic strike in stoppage time. That puts the Toffees 17th, two points clear of the bottom three but still one behind Forest, who took a step away from the trapdoor by pushing Southampton all but through it. Taiwo Awoniyi scored twice in four minutes midway through the first half to put Forest in control, first sweeping home Brennan Johnson’s low cross, then rifling in a volley when Southampton failed to clear. The visitors were back in it soon after when Carlos Alcaraz slotted home but the two-goal Forest lead was restored from the penalty spot by Morgan Gibbs-White after Ainsley Maitland-Niles caught Johnson. Lyanco’s 51st minute header restored Southampton belief and the visitors were on top until Forest broke away with 17 minutes left and Danilo lifted the ball over Alex McCarthy. James Ward-Prowse converted a stoppage-time penalty but there was no avoiding a defeat that leaves the Saints eight points adrift with three to play. The goal rush had started earlier in the day at Craven Cottage, where Fulham tore into Leicester to end their three-game unbeaten run and leave them second from bottom. Leicester, who started the day outside the relegation zone on goal difference alone, were ripped apart in the first half as Willian, Carlos Vinicius and Tom Cairney gave Fulham a commanding 3-0 lead before the break. Cairney then got his second early in the second half before Leicester finally woke up, too late to change the outcome. Harvey Barnes pulled one back but Willian’s second made it 5-1 before Barnes scored again and James Maddison added a late penalty to at least limit the damage to Leicester’s goal difference. Read More Everton have never doubted themselves in battle against relegation says Sean Dyche Dwight McNeil’s brace boosts Everton’s chances of Premier League survival Roberto De Zerbi believes Brighton deserve a European place Ruben Neves: It would need a catastrophe for Wolves to go down now James Tarkowski: I don’t regret joining Everton Erik ten Hag a big fan of David Moyes ahead of United’s trip to West Ham

Nottingham Forest took a huge step towards Premier League safety with a dramatic 4-3 win over Southampton, whose impending relegation to the Championship could be confirmed at the weekend. Forest climbed out of the bottom three thanks to Taiwo Awoniyi’s brace, Morgan Gibbs-White’s penalty and Danilo’s brilliant team goal to give realistic hope that they can avoid the drop on their first season back in the top tier for 23 years. They took full advantage of defeats for Leeds and Leicester to move up to 16th, three points above the drop zone with three games to play. Southampton’s situation is far bleaker and, despite goals from Carlos Alcaraz, Lyanco and James Ward-Prowse to keep them in the game, their 10-year stay in the top flight will end if they fail to beat Fulham on Saturday, while results elsewhere could also send them down even if they do win. It was a thrilling end-to-end encounter at the City Ground that completed a bumper Bank Holiday goals bonanza as the 21 goals scored on Monday are a Premier League record for a three-game matchday. This clash was always going to have a massive say on who goes down and the Forest fans received the memo, delivering a spine-tingling atmosphere before kick-off. And after an edgy start in the driving rain, where Southampton were the better team, two goals in three minutes from Awoniyi lifted the roof off the City Ground. The first came in the 18th minute after a devastating attack at speed, where after a quick free-kick, Danilo’s long ball set Brennan Johnson free on the right and his first-time cross was perfect for Awoniyi to fire home from 10 yards out. The Nigeria international soon doubled his tally, and in some style too, as he hit an instinctive volley on the turn after Danilo’s improvised pass in the area. Southampton had folded and were in danger of being blown away but gave themselves a lifeline in the 25th minute as Gibbs-White’s loose ball allowed a quick break that saw Stuart Armstrong play in Alcaraz and the Argentinian converted from close range. There were a few dicey moments as Saints pushed for a leveller, but Forest crucially restored their two-goal lead just before the break. Johnson nipped in to take the ball away from Ainsley Maitland-Niles and was on the end of a kick, with referee Michael Oliver taking his time to deliberate before pointing to the spot. Gibbs-White made no mistake from the penalty, sending his effort down the middle to give Forest a big half-time advantage. Southampton knew they were in the last-chance saloon and came out firing, reducing the arrears in the 51st minute. Lyanco climbed highest from Ward-Prowse’s corner to power a header that was too hot for Keylor Navas to handle. That totally changed the complexion of the game and Forest were suddenly hanging on as Saints chased an unlikely equaliser. Another Lyanco header from a corner caused chaos in the Forest six-yard box as Navas came under a barrage of dangerous set-pieces. But the hosts eased their nerves in the 73rd minute with a brilliant team goal converted by Danilo. Johnson surged down the right, centred for Gibbs-White, whose delightful deft flick teed the Brazilian up and he made no mistake for his third goal in three games. Felipe had another goal chalked off in stoppage time and then Saints were given a lifeline as Sam Surridge fouled Romeo Lavia, with Ward-Prowse sending the late penalty straight down the middle. But Forest held on to leave Southampton staring into the abyss of the second tier. Read More Dean Smith dismayed by Leicester’s heavy loss at Fulham Everton have never doubted themselves in battle against relegation says Sean Dyche Dwight McNeil’s brace boosts chances of Premier League survival as Everton hammer Brighton Everton stun Brighton to boost survival hopes as Southampton on the brink Frank Lampard insists Chelsea need to develop a ruthless streak in attack Ryan Mason more concerned with Tottenham than other clubs

Everton boss Sean Dyche insisted his side never doubted themselves after a thumping 5-1 Premier League victory over Brighton lifted the Toffees two points clear of the relegation zone. It was Everton’s first away league win in 14 attempts and could not have come at a more opportune time, with just three matches now remaining to secure their top-flight safety. Abdoulaye Doucoure’s strike after 33 seconds laid down what retrospectively ultimately felt like an emphatic opening statement as both he and Dwight McNeil went on to scores braces on either side of the half. Dyche said: “People will be out there thinking right, OK, there’s life in that team but we’ve never lost sight of that. “It just reminds the players that their work ethic, their commitment to the cause, their commitment to the group is really important because I know there’s quality. “I’ve always believed there’s quality. I’ve said it many times, but talking about it doesn’t win you a game. It’s the collective mentality to go and deliver everything you’ve got. “We were very frustrated not to come away with all three points (against Leicester) but we got a reward for carrying on that mentality in their performances tonight.” Doucoure netted his second when he volleyed the ball home after 29 minutes before McNeil’s cross further buried Brighton, with it deflecting off Jordan Steele, who had stooped to save but instead felt the ball bounce off the back of his leg and in. Alexis Mac Allister clawed one back before McNeil’s first but the Brighton burial was not complete until McNeil fired home the visitors’ fifth in the embers of second-half stoppage-time. Victory meant Dyche’s side are safe for the time being, with league leaders Manchester City up next followed by encounters with Wolves and Bournemouth. “They’re very high feeling the feel-good factor,” he added. “But it’s only another step. I said that after Arsenal, and sometimes people forget that. There’s three more big steps we’ve got to take.” Brighton head coach Roberto De Zerbi, meanwhile, suggested his side’s performance revealed they were not yet ready to go toe-to-toe with the best in the business, though he was unspecific about whether he was looking at England’s top four or more broadly to the other side of the Channel. It could still be possible for Brighton to secure European football with a seventh-place finish, but De Zerbi’s men would feel more satisfied with a higher position. He said: “Of course we can lose the game. We can lose against Everton, but I’m disappointed for the first half because it was tough. “We showed we are not ready yet to compete and to achieve the big target but I am speaking about mentality, not other things, not other parts of football. “It’s not easy because playing in the last period, three games in a week is difficult if you are not used to playing so many games but if we want to improve, if we want to fix our target higher, we have to improve very fast.” Read More Dwight McNeil’s brace boosts Everton’s chances of Premier League survival Dwight McNeil bags brace as Everton ease past Brighton in battle against PL drop James Tarkowski: I don’t regret joining Everton Everton showed character needed to avoid drop in Leicester draw – Idrissa Gueye Brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi believes Moises Caicedo can play anywhere Alexis Mac Allister: Brighton’s aim should be to fight for a European place