Sunday round-up: Semi-final action later, Palace, Copa del Rey

Morning all.

A very quick Sunday blog for you, starting with Arsenal Women who are in Champions League semi-final second leg action this evening. They’re in Lyon, 2-1 down from the first game and with a big job to do later on. Katie McCabe says:

You have to have it all, you have to have grit, perseverance, courage to step up in these games. We were frustrated at times in the first leg by the fine margins and not getting over the line.

The feeling the fans give us, at the Emirates last week and we have travelling fans coming over on Sunday, the energy they give us, it makes me feel very privileged to pull on this shirt. Playing in the semi-finals of the Champions League I can’t wait to embrace it.

It’s a tough ask, Lyon have such pedigree in this tournament, but as we saw in the first game, Arsenal are capable of making chances against them – with better finishing it might be a different story this evening. Fingers crossed for exactly that, and for a much fuller preview Tim has you covered over on Arseblog News.

This is non-Arsenal men weekend because our game against Crystal Palace was brought forward because of their FA Cup semi-final against Aston Villa yesterday. I watched most of this, and thought Palace absolutely deserved the win and to make the final. Villa were very Emery. I’m pleased for my pal Dan from HLTCO and I genuinely hope they go on and win it this season. The other semi-final takes place today between Nottingham Forest and Man City, and you don’t need me to tell you who I want to see win that one. Can we have a Murillo screamer in the 89th minute and for Pep to look aghast? Thanks.

In the Premier League today, Liverpool will clinch the title at Anfield when they face Sp*rs. I’m not getting ahead of myself here or anything, but let’s be serious. Arne Slot’s teamtalk will be ‘Lads, it’s Sp*rs’, and then Sp*rs will do Sp*rs things and Liverpool will be the champions.

Finally, I watched the extra-time drama in the Copa del Rey final last night. I am no fan of Barcelona, obviously, but is there a more wretched club in the world than Real Madrid? The pre-game histrionics about the referee, their self-entitled behaviour on and off the pitch, the fans, Florentino Perez, the lot. The way Antonio Rudiger lost his mind at the end was a genuine disgrace. I was delighted to see them lose. It’s been a terrible few weeks for them, some of which we are responsible for too and you quite literally love to see it.

Right, I’m gonna leave it there. Focus tomorrow turns to our Champions League semi against PSG, and we’ll have an Arsecast Extra for you in the morning too, so please join us for that.

Have a great Sunday.