Rayo Vallecano, a working-class club from Madrid, is set to play in its first European final in the Conference League against Crystal Palace, despite internal conflicts with owner Raul Martin Presa over stadium conditions. Meanwhile, Crystal Palace faces injury concerns for key players ahead of their final.
For the first time in 34 years, UK viewers will have to pay to watch the Champions League final as TNT Sports restricts access to subscribers of its HBO Max platform, breaking from previous free streams.
Aston Villa and Crystal Palace’s runs to European finals are historic achievements, but symptomatic of a worrying trendThere will be no doubting Unai Emery’s supremacy in the Europa League if he is reacquainted with the trophy in Istanbul this month. A fifth title would add to the Aston Villa manager’s legend and it would show he can do it with an English club. The latter achievement, though, may be diminished in value. A greater concern lies in the way that Premier League clubs, gradually but discernibly, are dominating Europe’s smaller competitions in a way Uefa surely could never have intended.Villa will be the eighth English finalists from the last 22 teams to reach the Europa League’s showpiece. Should they win, it would be the first time since the first two years of the Uefa Cup, its predecessor with the same trophy, that sides from England have won the secondary tournament in consecutive seasons. They would build on Tottenham’s haphazard triumph of last May and while neither consistency nor relative excellence should be sniffed at their progress contributes to a concerning broader trend. Continue reading...
⚽ Updates from the 8pm BST kick-off; agg 3-1⚽ Villa v Forest – live | Scores | Email NiallThere is, of course, another big European tie tonight. With an English team guaranteed to reach the Europa League final, Palace are bidding to complete an unprecedented full set of three European finals featuring an English team this season.It’s been a busy week for this sort of thing … Continue reading...
