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Liverpool 0-2 Paris Saint-Germain (Dembele 72′, 90+1) – PSG win 4-0 on aggregate

ANFIELD — Did you ever really believe? As Paris Saint-Germain fans bounced with flares in Stanley Park 90 minutes before kick-off, you knew that Tuesday night would require an energy that Anfield has seen plenty throughout history but too rarely this season. This has been a Liverpool campaign to reinforce reality on repeat, not play out fantasies.

Paris Saint-Germain are better than Liverpool because they might just be better than everyone. They are a band of glorious midfield conductors, scheming forwards and defenders who are perfectly prepared to defend. They won this tie in their own banlieue but they doubled down on it in Liverpool. They can be streetfighters and artists and anything else you want them to be.

Arne Slot’s strength lies in control, in assured measurement of his own emotions. He rarely offers public calls-to-arms and you can’t quite imagine him roaring a pre-match speech. 

But on Tuesday Liverpool needed a dose of a Jurgen Klopp vibe. The Borussia Dortmund team bus welcome in 2016, 10 years ago to the day. The Trent Alexander-Arnold corner in 2019. The conversion from impossibility to possibility quicker than you could catch your breath and the sense, however much you understood it to be nonsense, that some form of magic was happening in front of you. 

Ousmane Dembele shows his class with a delightful finish to send PSG into the semi-finals pic.twitter.com/LbmxBSr6XX

— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) April 14, 2026

Liverpool certainly attempted the fast start, that whirl of direct passes and hasty restarts. There was electricity after half-time, when they built up a head of steam and Cody Gakpo added energy that no attacker had before him. They at least tried to rage against the fading light rather than acquiescing to it.

But this team struggles to play at double speed without being twice as careless and they make enough mistakes anyway. They were fragmented with the ball: passes played too late, runs made too early, touches rushed and inexact. The chances that came were mostly piecemeal, even if Anfield oohed and ahhed as it has to. Even a generous penalty decision was deemed so soft as to justify overrule.

And here’s the rub: PSG really can keep up the same pace and then they sprint a little faster and for longer, just to show off. Their pressing, revolutionised by Luis Enrique after the Messi-Neymar-Mbappe axis of fun but no work, is as relentless as if they had 13 on the turf. They force you into spaces and then block your path like school bullies in a corridor. These should be Liverpool’s standards too.

Slot can reasonably claim poor luck this season if this is to be his last here. His three biggest summer signings – Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike – started together on Tuesday after only 88 minutes on the pitch all season. Isak’s minutes would be managed, so of course Ekitike suffered a serious injury before half-time. 

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• Mark Douglas: Liverpool eye two replacements as Arne Slot pays price for £450m of mistakes
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You fear it may not wash, not with Xabi Alonso potentially standing by. This tie was not lost on Tuesday but in the passivity of a week ago when Liverpool had their tummies tickled. That has been a theme of a season that undoes so much of the accumulated fine work and goodwill.

This always felt like an audition of something greater. It seems so unjust on a title-winning manager, one who achieved too much in his first season and too little in his second. But we are eight months into a season and it’s hard to see what this team is meant to be or how it should play.

And the gap to Europe’s elite is growing a touch too much when it matters. The new forward line needs curating. A new central defence might need buying, if Ibrahima Konate goes. There are questions about decision-makers away from the pitch. It is a monster job. And Slot might not be here to oversee it. 

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England 1-0 Spain (Hemp 3’)

WEMBLEY – From the phantoms of England’s past, to a near ghost-goal.

Before England’s vital win over Spain in World Cup qualifying, there were concerns it would be overshadowed by a pre-match ceremony honouring Euro 2022 winner Mary Earps. It came just months after her explosive autobiography and its tirades against Hannah Hampton and Sarina Wiegman, when she questioned the manager’s integrity and her successor’s attitude.

It was feared too that Earps’ return on Tuesday night risked piling unwelcome pressure on Hampton, who has looked short of confidence in the Women’s Super League. Instead, the Chelsea stopper’s remarkable 90^th-minute save ensured England held firm at Wembley after Lauren Hemp’s early strike that just crept over the line.

Keira Walsh hailed an “unbelievable goalkeeper”. Fran Kirby, on BBC commentary, admitted Hampton had “come into this camp with a lot of question marks around her because of her form at club, the goals she has been conceding – but this is the moment for her confidence to grow again”.

What a start for England!

The European Champions lead the World Champions inside the first three minutes

Lauren Hemp gets the final touch #ITVFootball | @Lionesses pic.twitter.com/AW5HdZEl7w

— ITV Football (@itvfootball) April 14, 2026

Here was a night when the Lionesses put several demons to bed. Earps walked out to huge cheers and most significantly, Spain – beaten in last year’s Euros final but nevertheless world champions – were left frustrated, bruised, thwarted again.

It might all have gone so differently, as with so many aspect of Earps’ shock retirement a year ago. She stood accused of letting her teammates down, bowing out just months before the Euros having learned she would be playing understudy to Hampton in Switzerland.

Back on the ground where she played her own part in winning a European Championship four years ago, Earps reminisce about “my favourite memory of all time” and “the best thing I’ve ever done in my life”. She posed for photos with her parents; Leah Williamson sprinted towards her; no sooner had she appeared than Lucy Bronze had put an arm around her.

In the fallout from her book it should not have been forgotten that Earps is a Lionesses legend and one of the most influential players in women’s football history. Over eight years she won 53 caps, won one major tournament and reached the final of another, which included a famous penalty save despite defeat to Spain.

As FA chair Debbie Hewitt presented her with a bouquet of flowers and a framed shirt, it was a reminder that the gesture carried more weight for the stopper than most.

In 2023 she forced Nike into a U-turn over their failure to make women’s goalkeeping replica kits – she did more than any other to make keeping cool and it is fitting that the toxicity surrounding her departure has finally waned.

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For Wiegman, the conflict between sticking with her history-makers and bedding in a future generation is one that has never really gone away. Lucia Kendall was given an experimental role as a deep-lying No 10 – a huge test for the 21-year-old against the world’s best midfield. An unfamiliar centre-back pairing of Esme Morgan and Lotte Wubben-Moy prevailed even as Spain dominated and peppered Hampton’s goal.

The Spanish dressing room must have been haunted by memories Zurich in July, when in unfathomable heat Hampton proved the heroine. Back then, England did not necessarily look like the best team in Europe but had the tenacity to see it out. They did so again.

Wiegman had urged fans beforehand to stick not only with her current players but with Earps too – urging supporters to applaud rather than jeer. She need not have worried. Both parties have moved on – and finally made peace.

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Bournemouth are considering Rayo Vallecano boss Inigo Perez, Coventry manager Frank Lampard and Kieran McKenna as they plan for life after Andoni Iraola, who has decided to leave at the end of the season.

Iraola informed the club over the international break that he wanted to leave in the summer, having decided three years was a natural “end of the cycle” on the South Coast.

They made extensive efforts to persuade Iraola to stay over 15 months, offering a bumper three-year deal for him to commit his medium-term future to the club. They had hoped a successful January transfer window – with the club now complying with squad cost ratio (SCR) rules while also adding to their squad – would help persuade him that they could match his ambitions.

But in a move that sources acknowledge is a heavy “blow” to a club that have lost some of their best players over the last 12 months, Iraola will leave and seek another job. He is wanted both in the Premier League and his native Spain but he is yet to commit to another role.

It is a measure of Bournemouth’s stability in the Premier League that they are now regarded as one of the better roles for aspiring coaches.

McKenna, who has impressed at Ipswich, is a leading contender but The i Paper understands that Perez – a former coach of Iraola’s – is also on the shortlist. If they were to tempt him from Spain it would be a smooth transition given his style and manner are similar to Iraola.

But it’s understood that Lampard, who has led Coventry to the brink of promotion from the Championship, is also in Bournemouth’s thinking. Lampard has family connections to the club, with uncle Harry Redknapp having been manager and Jamie still close to many figures at the club.

McKenna has been a highly sought-after coach for many years, having been coveted by Manchester United prior to the appointment of Ruben Amorim in November 2024.

The Northern Irishman, who learned his trade on the United backroom staff, chose to sign a new contract with Ipswich, only to see his side relegated from the Premier League last season.

McKenna has again turned things around, steering Ipswich to second in the Championship this season, with Saturday’s East Anglia derby win over Norwich putting them within touching distance of another promotion.

Sources close to McKenna have told The i Paper that they see a move to Bournemouth as “the next logical step”, with the opportunity to work with the impressive sporting director Tiago Pinto of particular appeal.

Another manager thought to be keen on the vacancy is Marco Rose, who is out of work since leaving RB Leipzig and wants to work in the Premier League.

Where next for Iraola?

Iraola said it was the “right time” to step away from the club while owner Bill Foley paid tribute to his impact.

“Andoni has been instrumental in shaping the direction of this football club over the past three seasons. He brought intensity, innovation, and a clear philosophy that elevated AFC Bournemouth both on and off the pitch.”

He does not have a job lined up but the decision to announce his departure now is seen as an attempt to flag his availability to a managerial market where there remains plenty of uncertainty.

Manchester United have Iraola high on their shortlist and he is coveted by Crystal Palace. But sources close to the Spaniard believe he would be a contender at Liverpool and Newcastle if either decide to make a change. Arne Slot and Eddie Howe are under pressure after underperforming this season.

Sources have suggested to The i Paper that Manchester United were close to offering Michael Carrick the permanent role but Iraola’s availability may shift their thinking.

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• Michael Hincks:  Leicester City face a fate worse than relegation
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After veteran coach Ernesto Valverde announced he will be leaving Athletic Bilbao at the end of the season, rumours swirled in the Basque Country that Iraola, a club legend as a player, would return home to coach his boyhood team.

Several sources have indicated that Iraola is more likely to stay in England, if the right job presents itself. The 43-year-old has plenty of time to return home at a later date.

Bilbao would welcome Iraola back with open arms. There is a presidential campaign coming up in May, but the current incumbent, Jon Uriarte, is expected to win unopposed. He is understood to want to try to persuade Iraola to return now.

Edin Terzic is the other leading candidate and seen as a more likely appointment.

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There have been just four back-to-back relegations from the Premier League since its inception in 1992.

A fifth looms, and this could be the most depressing of the lot, with 2015-16 champions Leicester City four points from safety in the Championship with four games to go.

Unlike owner Khun Aiyawatt “Top” Srivaddhanaprabha, Jamie Vardy was there to witness this descent steepen on Saturday, the Cremonese striker helplessly watching on from the stands as his beloved former club lost to Swansea City.

Vardy was one of the heroes of that Premier League triumph. A club legend who may well have been in town to reminisce, to shoot interviews and recall that heady campaign, but any hopes of wider celebrations for this special anniversary have surely been extinguished. Leicester are their own party poopers.

Inside the King Power Stadium, as another relegation beckons, some supporters have called for louder and angrier protests against the club’s ownership.

The problem is, the majority of fans no longer have the energy. They clap for clapping’s sake before dreading the next 90 minutes.

On Saturday, they saw a shot hit the post, they saw a shot cleared off the line, and then saw 15 seconds sum up their season: a free-kick near Swansea’s box, a basic pass intercepted, and then a blistering counter-attack resulting in Zan Vipotnik scoring the game’s only goal.

It came as no surprise, and a damaging set of weekend results have cut Leicester adrift of both this Saturday’s opponents Portsmouth – in what is a crucial match on the south coast – and Oxford United.

Only Sheffield Wednesday, already relegated and on minus four points after being deducted 18 points, are below the Foxes, who themselves were docked six points and saw an appeal rejected last week.

Deduction or not, Leicester would still be in trouble. With those six points they would merely be 20th, a point behind Blackburn Rovers, who as the only Premier League winners to have since played third-tier football perhaps best recognise the path Leicester are on.

The modern game though is a far cry from the 1995 version, and even the one in which Leicester completed the 5,000-1 job. The gulf gets greater by the year, and now the Premier League has become the de facto Super League, the cost of relegation is both dear and dire.

No club wants to go down – as Tottenham Hotspur, Nottingham Forest and West Ham United are all fearing – and you certainly do not want to be two tiers away.

Particularly for a club of Leicester’s size. No Championship club pays their players more, a symbol of their desperation when trying to cling to their Premier League status, and now they could pay double the price.

Leicester’s decade of highlights and lowlights

• 2015-16 – Premier League champions
• 2016-17 – Champions League quarter-finalists
• 2017-18 – Ninth in Premier League
• 2018-19 – Ninth in Premier League
• 2019-20 – Fifth in PL + Carabao Cup semi-final
• 2020-21 – FA Cup winners
• 2021-22 – Community Shield winners + Conference League semi-final
• 2022-23 – Relegated to Championship (18th)
• 2023-24 – Promoted to Premier League as champions
• 2024-25 – Relegated to Championship (18th)
• 2025-26 – Relegated again?

A drop to League One would make their finances more unstable. Whether manager Gary Rowett will stay to pick up the pieces this summer is unclear, but what really matters is how the next decade will play out given Top’s apparent detachment.

This indifference has trickled down, and rather than sleepwalking towards a second straight relegation, Leicester have been awake to the fact this fairy tale ended years ago.

Now they are the cautionary tale, a warning of what could await those who have spent too freely without thinking, or caring, about the consequences, and while Leicester fans deserve better, they feel as powerless as Vardy to prevent it.

A change at the top does not look likely. Relegation does. And with apathy a mood far worse than anger, it is a sign they are resigned to their fate.

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A Manchester United midfield overhaul is beyond overdue. At least one central option will come in this summer, with Elliot Anderson the top pick to fill the quality void in an engine room that has held a footballing behemoth back for far too long.

The growing number of supporters who relish transfer activity more than the action itself are waiting with bated breath. The summer of squad upheaval, however, cannot end there. Not if the winds of change are to continue to flow through M16.

Life under Michael Carrick thus far had bordered on the utopian. Prior to the visit of old foes Leeds United on Monday night, no team had taken more points since the caretaker’s second stint in the Old Trafford hotseat started.

Ruben Amorim had his side meandering down the road to nowhere. In the blink of an eye, Carrick was leading this fallen giant back to the promised land of Champions League football, at a canter.

With Liverpool and Chelsea the meekest of challengers, a win over Leeds would have put United within touching distance of a top-five finish. Instead, the most surprising and, more pertinently, crucial of Leeds victories, a first since on enemy territory since 1981 in the league, gives the Whites breathing space at the bottom. All while blowing the race for Champions League qualification wide open.

The shock success also proved that a defence which looks this vulnerable without 33-year-old Harry Maguire in it, a stalwart who not so long ago the club were keen to flog as a surplus-to-requirements faded force, will continue to prevent United returning to anything like their former grandeur under any manager.

Lisandro Martinez is now set to miss three matches due to his sending off in the Leeds loss – the most bizarre of dismissals for pulling Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s hair – joining suspended Maguire on the naughty step.

Lisandro Martínez has been sent off for violent conduct pic.twitter.com/TFGLTZUiTB

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) April 13, 2026

With Matthijs De Ligt no closer to a return, United are left with the inexperienced duo of Ayden Heaven and Leny Yoro as their only fit recognised central defenders for Saturday’s crucial trip to Chelsea.

The club have high hopes for both. Yoro’s nervy showing against the brutish Calvert-Lewin provided the starkest reminder yet that he is not ready to be depended upon week in, week out.

Martinez made a heroic block to deny Leeds a third before half time, but he otherwise pulled out of challenges and looked at least a yard short of pace. With options depleted, Carrick perhaps had no option other than to deploy the half-fit Argentine.

Any conversation concerning Martinez, however, remains overshadowed by the perennial conundrum: will he be truly fully fit, at his optimum level, ever again? At least for a prolonged period?

De Ligt’s injury is a back issue nobody, even the club, seems to know much about, while his injury record before joining was rather chequered. Supporters again are left to ponder whether the Dutchman’s form earlier this term is as good as it will ever get.

United’s transfer hierarchy have looked at some potential central defensive reinforcements for next season. Nottingham Forest’s Murillo has the right blend of Premier League experience and youthful endeavour for co-owners Ineos. Bournemouth’s Marcos Senesi has been considered, but nothing more. United’s new data department has been credited with the uptick in transfer market performance of late. Now it is time for them to really earn their keep.

Eleven teams have conceded fewer goals than United this term, including Forest in 16th. No team this porous is ever going to win anything.

The defensive talent is there already, hence the laser focus on midfield investment. The issue is reliability. Without their first-choice pairing – Martinez at 100 per cent and Maguire – United can be pierced like wet tissue paper by a strikeforce without a league goal in seven hours before Monday’s pivotal success.

Going forward, there is plenty of be excited about. One left-sided winger will give United an attack to be feared. Anderson and Kobbie Mainoo can become a midfield pairing to build a successful team around.

Relying on a brittle Martinez and Maguire in his twilight years is a risk, at this juncture into Ineos’ red revolution, United’s hierarchy simply cannot take.

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Gateshead are used to problems piling upon problems, but this season was a special case. A failed takeover in May 2025 led to the chairman and vice-chairman leaving and sorry warnings from the club that they could not foresee how another year could be funded. Gateshead were barred from registering players until July and the manager had resigned.

The underlying issue: a home stadium that they do not own that is too big for them. The Gateshead International Stadium is between 90 and 95 per cent empty on a matchday. The club don’t have the money to sort that out or to move. The focus is always keeping the lights on.

With Alun Armstrong as the new manager, Gateshead actually started pretty well: three wins in their first five league games and 14th in the league on 1 October. Then they lost 4-0 to York City, 2-0 to Solihull Moors, 3-1 to Forest Green Rovers and the rot set in. And how.

The longest run of defeats in the history of English professional football stands at 18, set by Darwen in the Second Division in 1989-99.

Gateshead made 13 in the league but added three cup exits into the same equation. Armstrong left his position with former manager Rob Elliot replacing him, although Armstrong continued as head of football development. Elliot also lost his first five matches in charge.

“I was helping out anyway and I had a chat with the club and I knew it wasn’t right,” Elliot says.

“It wasn’t pretty for anyone. It just felt like all the moments were against us. When we lost to Brackley and we were X number of points behind, it seemed like all hope was gone.”

The relevant date is 17 February. At that point, Gateshead had taken 19 points from 29 league games and none from their last 39 available. They were marooned at the bottom of the National League table.

That night, they went to Halifax Town and won. Four days later, they went all the way to Truro City and won there too.

“After Brackley I said to the players that, for me, the mentality and the consistency of the performance were huge because the results will come if you nail down the performance,” Elliot says.

“And credit to them: the lads didn’t come away from it, they stuck to it and went and got two fantastic wins against Halifax and Truro.”

And then, just as they had kept on losing, Gateshead kept on winning.

It didn’t matter who they played or their league position. They beat York, Scunthorpe United and Halifax and drew with Carlisle United and Southend United; all of those are in the top eight.

Last weekend, Gateshead won 1-0 at Aldershot Town and confirmed their survival from relegation with two games remaining. It is hard to picture a turnaround so emphatic and astounding.

Since the day of the Halifax fixture, Gateshead have taken more points than any other team in the division and that followed a run of 16 straight losses. They took zero points from 13 league games and then 31 points from 15. You look through the annals and it is unprecedented.

“It has been a mad revival,” Elliot says.

“I think the scary thing is that they have done it at a canter really: three games to go and we didn’t even need to win to stay up. It probably hasn’t sunk in just quite what they have done. But it’s something we’re incredibly proud of.

“Also, if I’m being really honest, it’s the bare minimum I expect from them. I’m not saying we’ll always get 31 points from 15 games because that’s ‘winning the league’ form.

“But if the lads apply themselves, buy into the culture, the structure and the way we want to play, there’s so much more to come from the group. I don’t think they have maxed out what they are capable of.”

The club stepped up; Elliot is keen to point that out.

After the summer delays over transfer activity, they were able to move more quickly thereafter. Of the starting XI that won at Aldershot, seven arrived in January, February and March. Almost all were free transfers from a pool of those released by fellow National League clubs.

I joke to Elliot that he must wish that the season could carry on, given Gateshead’s form and the new mood around the place.

It’s fair to say that he sees it in a slightly different way. He’s knackered. The players are knackered.

This has been the longest three months of his life, he jokes. The manager has to absorb all of the pressure to let the players play. It’s tough. Everyone needs to spend some time around their loved ones.

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We end on an important point. Gateshead have been through a lot recently. The supporters have suffered, the small band of them who travel home and away more than the rest.

The problems haven’t gone away for good, even if the crisis has been averted. That is what must change now. Miracles are great, but you should never need them.

“I think it’s a great opportunity for everyone to sit down, look at where we were, where we now got to, and how we make sure we give the club the best opportunity to never ever get in that position again,” Elliot says.

“There’s nothing to say we won’t be pushing to stay up next year and fighting to stay up again, but we need to make sure on and off the pitch that we don’t get into the position of this season.

“It must be set up so that when the days happen that key people leave, the club keeps running smoothly. It’s been a brilliant ride, but we have to learn from the mistakes before it.”

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The pressure is rising on Newcastle United head coach Eddie Howe ahead of a huge clash with Bournemouth on Saturday that feels significant.

Three weeks without a game was supposed to see the Magpies brush off derby disappointment and launch themselves into a late charge for the European spots that they desperately need to help finance their summer overhaul. Instead it was a dispiriting case of more of the same.

Newcastle have six games left of a rollercoaster season. The run-in now feels very important for Howe’s future.

What are the problems?

Newcastle are not asserting themselves in games any more. Their ferocious press has long since dissipated and the edge that made them a nightmare to play against has been blunted.

Clearly they have failed to adapt to losing Alexander Isak, who was the focal point of the team last season. The £55m signing of Yoane Wissa has been an absolute disaster (a signing that, with financial rules structured the way they are, will weigh heavily on them for years) and Howe appears to have made a decision on Nick Woltemade as a forward in his system. Unbelievably, William Osula, who nearly left the club in September, is now the club’s first-choice striker.

Late goals and protecting a lead are both huge issues. An incredible 32 per cent of the goals they have conceded this season have been after the 80th minute and most have cost them. Inside the club they recognise the problem but have not been able to solve it.

Is he under genuine pressure?

For the first time in his reign it feels like there is genuine uncertainty about the manager’s future. Howe is not under any imminent threat but chief executive David Hopkinson’s “no stance” comment a fortnight ago was not said by accident.

“Frustration” was how one source summed up the mood on Monday. Everyone is feeling the pressure of a dreadful run of three dispiriting losses.

Defeat at Crystal Palace was certainly not make or break but it did add into the narrative that this season has been like Groundhog Day – the same problems, the same lack of solutions.

Of course there is mitigation: 11 goals conceded in stoppage time has cost them six points. They have let 25 points slip from winning positions. The margins have been razor thin. Howe is the lightning rod for criticism but his players – who he has defended publicly – have clearly let him down too.

As a manager he has been transformative at St James’ Park, the best the club has had in the modern era. But it is becoming clear that success does not represent a free pass. If results don’t improve and they finish around or lower than the position they currently occupy, the pressure will ramp up ahead of a huge summer when Newcastle have no choice but change course on recruitment and their trading strategy.

Internally there is a feeling in some quarters that the club “need more information” before a detailed end-of -season debrief that will map out what Newcastle do next.

That means the next six games are crucial, as are Howe’s plans to turn things around in the future. If they bring wins and positive performances the pressure dips. More of what we saw on Sunday and the questions – on the terraces and for the club’s decision makers – are not going anywhere.

What comes next?

The Cherries have been a nightmare for Newcastle in recent seasons and are unbeaten in seven meetings since Howe took over. Last year’s 4-1 defeat was particularly painful.

With supporter sentiment less sympathetic than it was then, Howe and Newcastle need a reaction. There were not many left in St James’ Park by the end of the Sunderland defeat but those who were there made their feelings known. It feels like a crowd on the edge.

While the team struggles on the pitch, the strategy is shifting off it. Recruitment meetings are ramping up in preparation for the summer with the suggestion Newcastle want to be “ready to go” from the start of the transfer window and Howe is involved in those talks.

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But this will not be a summer of bringing in top flight-ready players. Over £100m of striker talent sat on the bench told its own story on Sunday and while the previous strategy brought two Champions League campaigns and a Carabao Cup, with financial restrictions biting hard it might well have run its course.

“Sometimes you need to do different things,” one source admitted.

There is no doubt that change is coming at Newcastle, but whether Howe is around to lead it feels less certain than it once did.

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