John Brewin

The semi-finals are set after a dazzling meeting between Real Madrid and Bayern Munich. But there was plenty more to talk about in the last eight Bayern Munich’s thrilling 4-3 win over Real Madrid on Wednesday, which gave them a 6-4 victory on aggregate and set up a semi-final meeting with PSG, was a stone-cold classic. If either of the semis is as good as Real and Bayern’s quarter-final, this season will have been blessed. Arda Güler showed off his brilliance on Wednesday, first with his presence of mind after Manuel Neuer’s mistake led to the opening goal and again from a free-kick in the 29th minute. Güler’s goals gave Madrid hope, but Harry Kane made another difficult finish look routine before Luis Díaz and Michael Olise’s late goals settled the tie. Bayern’s wing wizards were crucial in defeating the 15-time champions. This game had it all. That includes controversy, with a post-match scuffle set off by Madrid players enraged by Eduardo Camavinga’s dismissal for two quickfire yellow cards. Neuer, the hero of the first leg, had his blushes saved by his Bayern teammates, though one save from Kylian Mbappé was him at his best, combining reflexes with brute strength. Fine margins decided a battle of the giants.

Defender thought to have medial knee ligament damage Argentine may still recover in time for World Cup Tottenham’s deepening relegation concerns appear to have been heightened by the loss of their captain, Cristian Romero, for the remainder of the season. Romero was reduced to tears as he left the pitch after 70 minutes of Sunday’s 1-0 loss at Sunderland, following a coming together with the striker Brian Brobbey that led to the Argentinian clattering into his own goalkeeper, Antonin Kinsky. Romero, it is believed, has sustained medial knee ligament damage that will take around eight weeks to heal.

⚽️ Premier League updates from the 8pm BST kick-off ⚽️ Live scores | Latest table | Join us on Bluesky | Mail John Here’s the talk from the managers ahead of the Premier League weekend. Just wondering how much Danny Dyer we will see this Friday night. Sunday versus Leeds bordered on the overkill.

This week’s quarter-finals provided some classic action as this season’s competition hurtles towards its conclusion Bayern Munich had not won at the Santiago Bernabéu since May 2001, when they beat Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-final on their way to becoming European champions. Tuesday night’s match changed all that. The 29th Champions League meeting between the teams lived up to its heavyweight billing, though Bayern, superior on the night, may rue their failure to extend their 2-1 lead. Real Madrid meanwhile could point to Manuel Neuer making nine saves – not bad for a 40-year-old. “We won’t win the competition without more of these kinds of performances,” said Bayern’s manager, Vincent Kompany, of his keeper. Big trophies are rarely won without great goalkeepers and Neuer continues to play like an all-time great. Bayern’s second goal was a trademark finish from Harry Kane, who made the difficult look easy. The goal will also have calmed England fans’ fears that their captain will arrive at the World Cup suffering from his usual summer malaise. A word too for Luis Díaz and Michael Olise, Bayern’s brilliant wingers whose performances brought back memories of the club’s modern greats Franck Ribéry and Arjen Robben. Kompany’s team were commanding in Madrid, but may fear the backlash from the 15-times champions, the kings of comebacks.

Sign up now! Sign up now! Sign up now? Sign up now! Arne Slot tries his best not to choke up when he talks of last year’s meeting between Liverpool and PSG. “I hope every fan around the world was hoping this game wouldn’t stop because it was incredible,” he blubbed in March 2025. His team had just lost on penalties to the soon-to-be Bigger Cup winners. “It was the best game of football that I was ever involved in.” If the Slot regime comes to its end this summer, with a significant groundswell of opinion among Kopites nodding in that direction, then it is curious he keeps returning to an infamous European night at Anfield which may well prove the beginning of the end. A few days later, Liverpool deservedly lost a Fizzy Cup final to a much more inspired Newcastle. Things have never quite been the same since, despite a 20th league title being claimed in April. With Aaron Ramsey having been without a club since the end of last year and now retiring, it looks like we’ve moved from players announcing their retirement who we weren’t even aware were still playing to players announcing their retirement who were already retired but weren’t aware of it themselves”​ – Noble Francis. Dear Arsenal, how do you sustain this insane consistency in blowing your chances? Every. Single. Time. Players come and go. Managers stay and leave. The only constant is the fans’ anguish. What wizardry will you wield now to hand over the title to Manchester City?”​ – Krishna Moorthy. Re Thursday’s letters. John Groom is correct that not many Aussies use flamin’, but you don’t have to be Stefan Kuntz, Danny Sh1ttu or Christian Fuchs to know our modern alternatives aren’t always printable” – Rowan Sweeney. No-one says flamin’ anymore John, but most of us still have a flamin’ sense of humour” – Greg Wyatt.