40/1 Featured RequestABet on offer with Sky Bet for this week's Champions League semi-final action
Sky Bet are offering a Featured RequestABet for this week's Champions League action.
The two fixtures included in the bet are Inter Milan vs Barcelona at the San Siro, and Paris Saint-Germain vs Arsenal at the Parc des Princes.
The RequestABet is for each team to have 2+ shots on target in each half, and for there to be 50+ booking points in each game.
The odds for that particular bet are 40/1, according to Sky Bet.
Inter and Barcelona combined to have 12 shots on target in the reverse fixture last week, while PSG and Arsenal had nine between them.
Additionally, there were 60 booking points handed out across the two fixtures in the first leg.
Sky Bet Featured RequestABet for the second leg of the Champions League semi-finals:
Each team to have 2+ shots on target in each half, and for there to be 50+ booking points in each game
40/1
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The Guardian
39 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Barcelona's rebirth and one last job for Szczesny: La Liga season review
The day La Liga 2024-25 began, Wojciech Szczesny was sitting on the beach in Marbella lighting up a cigarette, enjoying his retirement. The night it ended, he sat in the dressing room in Cornellà, 1,000km round the coast, and lit up a cigar instead. He had walked away in August, at 35 years old, unwanted and his heart no longer in it, or so he thought. Nine months on, here he was surrounded by kids half his age, a footballer again and winner of every trophy his new home country had to offer. He had not lost a single league match en route to becoming a champion. 'I've arrived where even my imagination wouldn't even dare to take me,' Szczesny had said when he retired. And if he hadn't dared imagine that, there was no way he could imagine this: a Copa del Rey, a Super Cup and a Champions League semi-final to go with the title. Summer had started with Kylian Mbappé finally arriving at the Santiago Bernabéu. Madrid had just won La Liga and the Champions League; now they had the world's best player too, beginning what Marca were already declaring 'a dominance never seen before'. They were going to walk it, which was perhaps part of the problem. As for Barcelona, their new face on the first day at a stadium which still did not feel like home was the star of Four Weddings and a Funeral, and that was probably just because someone misheard Joan Laporta say they desperately needed a huge grant. The team wore last year's kit, no deal reached on a new one; Dani Olmo was not out there because they could not register him; and Nico Williams was, but on the other team. So supporters whistled him, because it was his fault that Barcelona did not have the money to sign him and had to settle for the best player in La Liga instead. There were three 17-year-olds in the starting XI; three days later one of them, Marc Bernal, tore his ACL and did not play again. But Barcelona won then and every week for seven weeks. When they defeated Real Madrid 4-0 in the first clásico, it came as proof that maybe Barcelona really were going to be good after all. And that maybe Madrid really were not. Barcelona left the Santiago Bernabéu six points clear, having won 10 of 11 league games. But then came what the head coach Hansi Flick called 'shit November', and December was not much better, the advantage lost again. The league table from weeks 13 to 18 had Barcelona bottom, no wins in seven, and they were beaten three times in a row at home: by Las Palmas and Léganes – both would end up relegated – and then Atlético Madrid. Alex Sørloth striding, ice cool through the bodies left on the floor, the hitman finishing the job in the 95th minute. This too felt like a confirmation. Atlético had spent more than anyone, Julián Alvarez, Robin Le Normand and early-season revelation Conor Gallagher all arriving with Sørloth. It had taken a while to take shape, a few frank conversations too, but they were Spain's winter champions and genuine contenders. Maybe even favourites: a team with talent, strength and variety in depth, and an ability to score late goals that made it feel like maybe, just maybe, things would fall for them this time. Instead it all unravelled for Atlético, which it tends to do. Defeat to Leganés in January ended a run of 15 consecutive wins and began one of just two victories in 10. In a single week, they had that defeat to Real Madrid in the Champions League and lost 4-2 to Barcelona in La Liga despite going two up, conceding in the 92nd and 98th minutes. It was the first time they had lost a two-goal lead in 14 years, 725 games, under Diego Simeone. 'Football is brutal,' Szczesny said afterwards. So brutal that Atlético's coach had to escape to Argentina to clear his head. When he got back, they lost the Copa del Rey semi-final to Barcelona too, their season over in early April. Real Madrid, meanwhile, were back in it. 'I'm a bit confused because I keep hearing that we're playing badly, but we're top,' Carlo Ancelotti said with just a smidgen of sarcasm in early January. The truth was their play was even less convincing than the weekly videos they dedicated to the referees, and Barcelona were back on top within a month. By the time it all ended, it was hard to think of a genuinely good Real Madrid performance against a genuinely good team, unless Manchester City counted. 'Our season starts for real,' Ancelotti said that night, but it did not and the subsequent loss to Arsenal was just the way they were. At the end of the season, when Mbappé's former club had won the competition no sooner than he had left, an old Marca cover from another of PSG's European eliminations inevitably reappeared, showing the France forward with the headline: 'if you want to win the Champions League, you know what you have to do'. No one in Spain scored more goals than Mbappé, the best debut campaign a Madrid goalscorer has ever had, but his acceleration was late and unaccompanied. He admitted he had hit 'rock bottom' first, and his revival did not bring the trophies or the moments he came for. It was not all about him, of course, but his arrival had been part of the shift, a symbol. The season that was always going to be his had been a failure. 'When a player like me comes to a team, many things change,' Mbappé said, and not all of them were for the better. Madrid lost 12 times, their flaws never more clearly laid bare than in the clásico, which kept coming round and with the same result. When Barcelona put five past Madrid in January it did not just win them the Super Cup, it was the start of them taking back control in the title race too. On the way into the stadium that night, news came through the sports ministry would let them register Dani Olmo despite Barcelona missing the deadline, Laporta heading up to the directors' box where he told the president of the federation exactly what he thought, shouting, swearing and a few days later shrugging: 'I am the way I am'. Saudi Arabia was also where Iñaki Peña arrived a couple of minutes late to a team meeting, the excuse for Szczesny to make his first start. They also went on to win 16 and draw one of their next 17 league games, all the way to the title, won the Copa del Rey next, and got within 42 seconds (and the width of a post) of a first Champions League final in 10 years. Madrid did at least compete in the first clásico cup final for 11 years – once they had decided to actually turn up – but they were beaten again, the way they completely lost it at full-time saying something about their mental state which went beyond just the players. As ice flew the referee's way, Antonio Rüdiger's self-proclaimed madness no longer seemed so funny. When the fourth and final clásico of the season came two weeks later, it was a last chance for Madrid to salvage something. They went two up inside 15 minutes and Mbappé eventually scored a hat-trick but Barcelona scored four before half-time, the perfect storm. For 24 minutes Madrid did not get out of their half – yes, literally – and the league was as good as gone. Four days later, when Barcelona won at Espanyol, it really was. Barcelona won the double and a treble. The treble slipped through their fingers in the semi-final at San Siro, lessons to learn and promises made: Lamine Yamal vowed they would be back, which felt believable now in a way that 12 months earlier it could not have. Domestically, Barcelona had been too good and so much fun. In the cup meetings with primera teams there was a 3-2, a 4-4, a 5-0 and a 5-1. In the league, they went away to the teams that finished in the Champions League places and scored five at Villarreal, four at Madrid, four at Atlético, three at Athletic. Oh, and four more at Girona, who played in it this season. Barça beat Madrid in all four meetings, scoring four, five, three and four again. They reached 102 league goals and the last of them, the last of all 995 scored in this La Liga season, came from Dani Olmo on the final Sunday in May, which felt symbolic: he had been sitting in the stands when it all began, wondering if he was ever going to get on, and then went through it all again in January. The league said he should not, the federation did too, so did a couple of judges. The sports ministry, though, disagreed. Ultimately the system had been played. Barcelona had won it all, open-topped bus heading out across the city. On the top deck, in a straw hat and sunglasses, every bit the senior citizen, Szczesny lit up another cigar. Below them, Madrid, Atlético, Athletic and Villarreal took the other Champions League places. Athletic had missed what might have been the biggest moment in their history, playing a European final in their own stadium, and had to host thousands of Manchester United and Spurs fans instead – but qualifying for their first Champions League campaign in a decade was a monumental achievement. Villarreal's return was significant too, literally breaking the ceiling as they celebrated. The other European places went to three teams who made football fun, and to whom it meant the world. 'We're pissed off to lose but we enjoy playing and if you enjoy playing you're going to be closer to winning; this will help us in the long run,' the Celta de Vigo winger Alfon had said when they were beaten by Madrid in October, and by May he had been proved right. This was football the way it is supposed to be, all about belonging too. A young, fearless local team, full of Galician academy products and led by the youngest coach in the league had been expected to fight for survival but Iago Aspas, the greatest player in their history, scored the goal at Getafe that secured seventh on the final day, his tearful promise to return the team to Europe finally fulfilled eight years later. Thirteen kilometres away, Rayo Vallecano were made to wait a little longer for a fiesta of their own, players gathered round a phone at full-time, anxiously watching the end of Osasuna's game, but they returned to Europe 25 years later. They had been led there by Iñigo Pérez, the coach who only ever wears a T-shirt no matter how cold it is and who the British Home Office said could not make a significant contribution to English football so was forced to make history in Spain instead. From the moment a proper pitch invasion began and the goalkeeper Augusto Batalla lost his shorts, only 15 seconds passed. 'Vallecas entera, se va de borrachera,' the chant ran: the whole of Vallecas is going on the piss. 'My grandad used to say to me 'effort equals reward'. That's not always true, but I'm happy that tonight it is,' Pérez said. At the other end of the table, Sevilla an absolute car crash of a club, but somehow finished a point above relegation. Valencia had looked lost, relegation increasingly a reality, until Carlos Corberán arrived. Girona turned to the 38-year-old Cristhian Stuani in times of trouble and he scored five in the last seven to save them. Alavés gave away 11 penalties, let all of them in and managed only five home goals in 2025, three of those penalties. They missed a fourth with just about the worst spot-kick you will ever see, yet finally secured safety with a week to go. Real Valladolid had been down for ages by then: they lost 18 of their last 19 games, collecting a solitary point from 57, the most pitiful run in history. Fans at the José Zorrilla Stadium saw them score just 11 times all year, while the midfielder Mario Martín was sent off as many times as he won matches. They were joined in relegation by Las Palmas, seemingly rescued by Diego Martínez only to collapse again. The manager went from 19 points in nine matches to 10 in 20 and the second division. He was right: he did not have a magic wand after all. All of which left Leganés and Espanyol fighting to avoid the third relegation place on the final day. Three-nil up against Valladolid after an hour, Leganés were staying up, but then news filtered through of a very generous penalty in Cornellà. Javi Puado scored with Espanyol's first shot on target against Las Palmas; with their second, Pere Milla made them safe and his manager cry. 'You have no idea how much we have suffered,' Manolo González said. Back at Butarque, Leganés had an idea, the final 20 minutes played out to a surreal silence. 'It was like someone had died,' the Leganés coach Borja Jiménez said. His team had beaten Barcelona and Atlético but still gone down. Forty points had been enough to survive in nine of the last 10 seasons, but not this time. If you had never seen a grown cucumber cry, you have now. The season was virtually over, just one thing left to do. Four days later, Betis, who had come from what Manuel Pellegrini described as the worst days of his six-years in charge to being the best team in La Liga for much of 2025, had a historic European final to play in Poland. It was not to be: they became the first Spanish team to lose a final to a foreign side since Valencia and Alavés in 2001. But do not think that the only winners this season were the team with the retiree in goal, because there is always more. So pick out your tux, climb aboard your private jet and welcome to the 25th Spanish football awards. Or, if you did not win, you could just stay at home in a huff instead. Valladolid, where Juanmi Latasa and Luis Pérez sat on the bench watching the final minutes of another humiliating defeat, the former pointing out that this was 'shit' and the latter telling him to shut up. To which Latasa replied: 'You shut up, you're a fine one to talk, superstar,' at which point Pérez reached across and punched him. 'And they're friends,' the coach Álvaro Rubio said. Thieves broke into the trophy room at Rayo Vallecano. Police are looking for a man with a carpet. Ba-dum tish. Actually, they really did break into the training ground at Rayo Vallecano, and police really were looking for a man with 60 pairs of boots. It was the fourth time it had happened. Borja Iglesias, turning up to his presentation at Celta in a sky blue Seat Panda. The entire Villarreal team turning up in taxis for a Copa del Rey game at Pontevedra after their flight could not land nearby. They played 106 minutes in the pouring rain, took 21 shots, and lost 1-0. Ronaldo, running to lead the Brazilian FA. Because he did such a good job at Valladolid. When Valladolid played Getafe, Ronaldo was back in Brazil instead, not just playing tennis but broadcasting it all on Twitch. So the following week their fans decided they would do the same, setting up a 'court' in the north stand and hitting a great big yellow ball back and forth with two giant, cartoonish rackets. Rude Bellingham. F off? Or f you? And yes that really is the set of the nearest thing Spain has to Match of the Day emblazoning both across their set IN GREAT BIG CAPITAL LETTERS. The Alavés manager, Chacho Coudet, who pulled out a chocolate bar and offered it to a radio journalist. 'I'm still going to ask you the hard questions,' he was told. After all, it was only a Snickers. Madrid's Fede Valverde saying sorry for not having a go at referees. 46,731 people came to see Betis and Sevilla – and that was just for training the day before the derby. ABC went with a photo of Begona Navia-Osorio, 84, and 80-year-old Isabel Maria Rus-Velaquez, a pair of nuns from either side of Seville's great divide. It was, after all, 'a derby as God wills it.' It was kids day at Atlético, so they invited the children to have a go leading the chants over the megaphone at the south stand. And so one of them did, predictably offering a charming rendition of ¡Madridistas, hijos de puta! The Alavés supporters who came in hard hats, hi-vis vests, and safety specs, carrying measuring tapes in honour of lovable lump Kike Garcia, the striker they call el obrero del gol: the labourer of goals. Oscar. Just hope Espanyol's players brought their poo bags. Even the dogs want Nico Williams' autograph these days. Lamine Yamal's baby brother, 2-year-old Keyne, who hit Nico right where it hurts. That'll teach him for not joining Barcelona. On the day Jesús Navas retired, the greatest player in Sevilla's history unable to carry on through the pain any more, he lifted his shirt up for the fans to see. With his name folded over so that only the No 16 he wore in homage to the late Antonio Puerta was visible. The clock showed 91.08 in their game with Barcelona when the Getafe coach, José Bordalas sent on Ismael Bekhoucha for the most brilliantly on-brand debut ever. Bekhoucha ran on, immediately pushed Pedri, crashed into Alejandro Balde, pushed him, blocked a cross, celebrated in Balde's face, got a slap, went to ground, and used up a minute, sparking a confrontation on the touchline. So he got up again, bumped into Raphinha twice, went down and used up another 40 seconds. Which left just enough time to get the ball, lose it and give it large to Balde again before the whistle went. Seven minutes, three touches, no passes, a yellow card, and a great result. The perfect performance. Osasuna's Aimar Oroz, who waited as two fans did rock, paper, scissors to see which one of them got his shirt. Sign up to Soccer with Jonathan Wilson Jonathan Wilson brings expert analysis on the biggest stories from European soccer after newsletter promotion Vedat Muriqi, Mallorca's target man extraordinaire and Gladiator II extra. Augusto Batalla, the goalkeeper to whom Carlo Ancelotti recommended a high potassium diet so severe was his recurring, excruciating battle with cramp, and with whom concerned colleague Iñaki Williams pleaded with to depart for treatment, what with that dislocated shoulder. Despite being forever at death's door, he didn't once give in, playing every minute of every game and even finding the strength to lead Rayo Vallecano to a derby victory over Leganés by saving a last-minute penalty. Twice. Ante Budimir. It was a cold, wet January morning in Pamplona, and the car that was supposed to take 78-year-old Mari Carmen to hospital hadn't turned up, leaving her stranded on the street. So Osasuna's all-time top scorer, who just happened to be passing, took her instead. Conor Gallagher had just got the equaliser at Rayo Vallecano when he stopped and sat on the pitch, something not right. Teammates came to his side, the referee did too, a hush falling, everyone fearing that he had broken something. Which, as it happened, he had: his hair band. With about 20 minutes to go and Real Madrid beating Alavés 3-0, the Bernabéu started chanting for Carlo Ancelotti to bring defender Jesús Vallejo on for the first time in two years, so he did. Six minutes later, Alavés had scored twice and were pushing for an equaliser. Vallejo did not play another minute until the title race was over. 'If I say what I think they'll stick me in a cage,' the Espanyol manager Manolo González claimed, but luckily that never stopped him. The man who claimed 'the nearest thing some people have seen to a football is a shoebox', insisting 'I don't go to the surgeon and tell him how to operate on me because I haven't got a fucking clue, but saying ridiculous things comes free,' described his refusal to go all-out attack as 'not just driving straight off a cliff without braking', said he goes 'from heart bypass to heart bypass every week', reckoned he would apply hair gel to his bald head 'in case it brings good luck', and responded to one particularly wild evening by claiming: 'All that was missing was me falling pregnant.' 'One day,' he said, 'you're John Travolta, the next you're Manolo González.' The 38-year-old club legend Cristhian Stuani had not started a match for 10 months when coach Míchel made him captain for Girona's first ever Champions League game, and he did not start another for two months after it either, but a promise is a promise. It got amply repaid too. Diego Simeone literally running away when he realised he was about to cry live on TV the night he completed 700 games in charge of Atletico Madrid. Sebastian Haller or James Rodríguez. Or Barcelona not getting Nico. OK, OK, it's Ayoze Pérez. The Valencia keeper Giorgi Mamardashvili betting Vinícius Júnior €50 that he would save his penalty at the Bernabéu was a nice little bonus. Or it would have been if the Brazilian had paid up. Antonin Panenka was invited to take the honorary kick-off at Real Oviedo, so of course he … performed a back-heel. Coral Gutiérrez, Gran Canaria's Wueen of the Carnaval went one better, not just taking the honorary kick-off before Las Palmas' game against Alavés but doing it with a rabona. Oh, and Pedri. The Barcelona midfielder Gavi and the Real Betis defender Diego Llorente teaming up to stick it to the man, taking out the referee Jesus Gil Manzano. Accidentally of course. Paulo Gazzaniga's three penalty saves against Athletic Club. Athletic's Oihan Sancet against Girona keeper Gazzaniga, the next time they met. When Lamine Yamal bent the ball perfectly into Raphinha's path with the outside of his foot from 40 yards against Villarreal, the Brazilian neatly lifting it over the keeper. AS called it 'the assist of the century,' but he did it a bit more often than that. There were two in Mallorca in five minutes, spinning and sliding across the turf like a bowling ball, and the one he played for Dani Olmo against Espanyol might have been even better. Villarreal's Álex Baena created more chances than anyone, another ball released with the outside of the boot for Nicolas Pépé against Leganés the neatest of an endless flow of perfect deliveries. Antony and Isco became best mates at Betis because of moments like this. Adnan Januzaj and Fábio Silva only connected to score once for Las Palmas, but what a once. Fede Valverde's flick for Kylian Mbappé was nice. Antonio Blanco's cross for Kike García couldn't have been better placed, although Iago Aspas to Óscar Mingueza probably was. The best of the lot though came from a goalkeeper. Andriy Lunin, we salute you. All of those are candidates but there's only one winner, or there would have been had this moment of magic from Samuel L Jackson's golf partner, Oli McBurnie, not come back off the bar. So let's head to Cornellà, where César Azpilicueta finally ended his 18-year wait to score in La Liga, and like this: Also at Espanyol, Ivan Cardona ran from one area to the other, and then thought: why not? ; where Gio Lo Celso and Antony handed in their entries, just five minutes apart; and of course where Lamine Yamal did the Lamine Yamal again, this time to win the league. Everyone loves a goalkeeper scoring, so how about two of them scoring two games in a row? Always watch Eibar. On 5 April, Jonmi Magunagoitia headed home in the 95th minute for them against Real Oviedo; seven days later, Gaëtan Poussin scored against them for Real Zaragoza in the 92nd minute. There's something wonderfully soft about Fran Beltran's shot, gently guided in on the bounce against Valencia. Luka Sucic's first-time finish for Real Sociedad against Atlético was just as smooth. Hit quite a bit harder, every Fede Valverde goal is a belter: there were nine of them this season, scored from a combined distance of about 2,000km away. Seen live and from right behind, the one against Celta was the most ludicrous. Leaning back like that, the flash of the boot so fast, the ball bouncing up a touch too high, it should have flown out the ground rather than into the net. Then there's Simeone. No, not that Simeone. Not that one, either, nor even that one. Here's Gianluca Simeone. From inside his own half, to take third-tier Rayo Majadahonda to the playoffs. This turn and finish from Antoine Griezmann was so glorious, so graceful it earned him an ovation – from the opposition's fans. But the winner is this from Raúl Garcia against Rayo. Just look at that first touch. And the second's not bad, either. There was just one problem when Manuel Pellegrini celebrated a goal at Alavés: the shot didn't actually go in, so the Betis coach sheepishly folded his arms back up again and pretended it had never happened. Diego Simeone went running towards Alex Sørloth after his late winner at Montjuïc, only to turn round and run back again, like a man who suddenly remembered he had left the oven on. Ayoze Pérez does love a nice cup of tea. There's something in Lamine Yamal's signalling the postcode of Rocafonda, an act of belonging however big he gets. And Antoine Griezmann's shirt raising moment gave itself to something cinematic. In the end though, there was nothing like the collective embrace of an entire community when César Tárrega, from the town of Aldaia, scored the first goal at Mestalla after the floods that killed over 200 people in the Valencia region, a moment that meant so many different things to so many different people and a reminder that you are allowed to enjoy, to live. In fact, you're supposed to. Betis after the derby, except that wasn't actually a title, it just felt like one. Nor was the whole of Vallecas going on the piss in a battered blue bus; it was something better. Barcelona's Pedri, Dani Olmo, Iñigo Martínez and Eric García cycling up Avinguda Diagonal in the dark it is, then. Rayo-Leganes was a free-flowing festival of football in which from 93.37 to 104.41, the ball was in play for four whole seconds. The winner though is Villarreal-Celta, just about the silliest match you could imagine. Seven goals from seven different men, the score going from 0-1, to 1-1, 1-2 to 3-2, and then to 3-3. Celta had two one-on-ones to win it on 94 and 95 only for Villarreal to actually do so on 100, the game eventually concluded in a way that was appropriately absurd. Hugo Álvarez grabbed hold of Thierno Barry's shorts outside the box but forgot to let go and was dragged far enough to end up inside it and give away a penalty. With what should have been the last kick, Dani Parejo's effort was saved by Ivan Villar; with what actually was, he put away the rebound. 'It's hard to explain,' Celta's Borja Iglesias admitted but this was to be enjoyed, not explained. 'If we're going to lose, let it be like this,' he said. 'I dreamed of one day seeing Vigo like this and of a group of mates taking Celta into Europe,' Claudio Giráldez said, and he had made it so. Manuel Pellegrini might just be the best coach Villarreal, Málaga and Betis have ever had. Valencia announced the arrival of Carlos Corberan on 25 December and it turned out he really was their Messiah. There was no gabarra this time, but Ernesto Valverde took Athletic to the Champions League. And Iñigo Pérez is bringing Europe to the barrio, whether Europe's ready or not. But really, how can it not be Hansi Flick? Come back in five minutes and the answer will have changed again. The candidates are clear, but choosing a winner messes with your mind. In the end, it comes down to three Barcelona players, although had Isco and Antony been at Betis all year that list might just be a little longer. No one played like Pedri, no one can play like Pedri. Raphinha was a revelation. And Lamine Yamal is ridiculous. Where did those fans go with their rock, paper and scissors? Come on, hurry up. Oh, OK. Raphinha. 4-3-3: Joan García (Espanyol); Andrei Ratiu (Rayo), Dani Vivian (Athletic), Iñigo Martínez (Barcelona), Óscar Mingueza (Celta); Pedri (Barcelona), Isco (Betis), Álex Baena (Villarreal); Lamine Yamal (Barcelona), Kylian Mbappé (Real Madrid), Raphinha (Barcelona). Subs: Sergi Cardona (Villarreal), Fede Valverde (Madrid), Ante Budimir (Osasuna), Ayoze Pérez (Villarreal), Mauro Arambarri, Luis Milla (Getafe), Mikel Jauregizar, Iñaki Williams, Oihan Sancet (Athletic), Julián Alvarez (Atletico), Antony (Betis), Carlos Vicente, Kike Garcia (Alavés), Jules Koundé (Barcelona). Oh, and Alex Sorløth, of course. Asked how many lives he has as he seems to get killed every week but somehow he's still there, Carlo Ancelotti replies: 'One, and I try to enjoy it.' Which is a nice place to leave it.
The Guardian
39 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Kenza Dali: ‘I will tell my story after the Euros. A lot of lies have been told'
'I had hard times and this team really gave me back my love and motivation for football,' Kenza Dali says of San Diego Wave as she prepares to open up on a turbulent year. Over the course of a refreshingly honest conversation, the midfielder reveals why she left Aston Villa to move to the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) in January, details why she is enjoying working under Jonas Eidevall and discusses, for the first time, the grief that affected her participation in the Olympics. There is, however, one topic on which she is not quite ready to go into details yet. The 33-year-old, who has 76 caps for France, was one of three experienced stars – alongside the former captain Wendie Renard and Eugénie Le Sommer – left out when head coach Laurent Bonadei named his squad for the European Championship. Dali is clearly saddened by the situation but does not want a war of words to distract her compatriots as they prepare for the tournament. 'I will tell my side of the story after the Euros, for only one reason – it's because I have too much respect for my teammates to put the spotlight on a decision that is difficult to accept because I think there are a lot of lies,' she says. 'I really hope they do well. I have too much respect for the jersey to put out my side of the story now. I know it's going to be everywhere and they are preparing for the Euros and I don't want to disturb that. But it's difficult for me because I've been playing maybe some of my best football. It's really difficult to digest because there are a lot of lies in the story that's been told but I will tell my side after the Euros.' Dali has good reason to feel proud of her form since moving to California. She has been a key player for San Diego this season, helping them to a flying start. The Wave are second in the table, a vast improvement on their 10th-place finish last term, under the guidance of the former Arsenal manager Eidevall, who was appointed head coach in January. 'When I signed for San Diego a lot of people thought I was crazy,' she says. 'They were like: 'They had a terrible season last season, the environment isn't great' … I heard a lot of things. But I'm someone that wants to see with my own eyes and the work of the people behind the scenes has been incredible. The recruitment has been really, really good, and the appointment of Jonas was a massive difference too. 'The funny part is, I heard a lot about Jonas in England and not always nice things. When I joined San Diego, people were like: 'What is she doing? She's going with Jonas!' But I really enjoy the way he is working. He's really tactical. He really works a lot and San Diego's performances are credit to him. He built an identity in a short space of time. My relationship with him is great. I'm really enjoying every single minute.' Dali goes on to express how much she is enjoying coffee by the beach along the Pacific coast after her spells in England with West Ham, Everton and Villa. Her mood is good, which is a contrast to last summer as she competed at a home Olympics feeling upset following a family bereavement. 'I lost someone that I was really, really close to, a member of my family,' reveals Dali, who scored in France's group-stage victory over Colombia in Lyon to help them reach the quarter-finals. 'I don't want to say who but that really affected me personally. The Olympics were really, really difficult for me because this person used to be at all my national team games. 'I didn't want to play the Olympics because I was grieving and it happened two weeks before. My teammates convinced me to stay, Hervé Renard [France's coach at the time] was amazing to me. I ate with the team and participated with training and meetings and then I was going to see my family. So the Olympics were really tough.' And then she returned to her club. 'After the Olympics I got time off, because of my circumstances, and then I arrived at Villa. I was really happy to come back but the new manager [Robert de Pauw] didn't want me there,' she says. Sign up to Moving the Goalposts No topic is too small or too big for us to cover as we deliver a twice-weekly roundup of the wonderful world of women's football after newsletter promotion 'I still don't know the reason, but he made it clear that he didn't want me there. So I was like: 'Wow, this is a shock,' because I had been really looking forward to [returning to] Villa. 'I waited until the winter. Then they changed manager again [to Natalia Arroyo after Shaun Goater had briefly been in charge on an interim basis] and my contract was until the end of June, so I went straight to the club and said that I'm staying even if the offer from San Diego was massive [because], for me, Villa was home. But I didn't feel the club wanted me to stay. They didn't make me feel that I was a priority any more.' 'San Diego really put everything in for me to come and, after all that had happened for me, I really wanted to be in an environment that I was valued,' Dali adds. 'This is a completely honest answer that I've never shared, this is what happened. Jonas really wanted me. He explained to me his gameplan and where he sees me in his system, and he convinced me. I had other offers but I picked San Diego. I'm glad I did it because I'm enjoying my football again.' Dali, who helped France reach the Euro 2022 semi-finals, is not only enjoying playing for San Diego but, more broadly, playing in the NWSL: 'The massive difference is the fact that every team is playing for a title,' she says. 'In England you're starting the league thinking: 'I'm going to try my best to finish top five.' The top four never really change. In America, because of the salary cap and everything that is different here, I feel like everyone has the same level. But I love English football, England is the country of football. That's why it was really hard for me to leave. 'When I start a competition, I want to win as many games as I can,' she adds. 'I'd prefer to lose 5–0 but [know I] tried than to park the bus and concede three. This is not my vision of football. 'Our first objective here was to qualify for the playoffs but, as a group, we want so much more. We're kind of going step by step. It's a completely brand-new team. With 11 or more new players, what we're doing right now is unbelievable. I do think we have the team to compete for something big.'
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
Donnarumma says Italy's form unacceptable after drubbing by Norway
June 7 (Reuters) - Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma offered no excuses for his side's poor showing in their 3-0 defeat at Norway in the World Cup qualifiers on Friday, saying their form was not acceptable and the fans deserve better. Playing the first match of their qualifying campaign, Italy were stunned after a ruthless first-half performance by Norway, who put three past the visitors thanks to Alexander Sorloth, Antonio Nusa and Erling Haaland. Italy sit fourth in Group I, while Norway lead the group with nine points from three matches. Estonia, Moldova and Israel are also in Group I. "I have no explanation at the moment. You just have to go inside and realise the performance tonight. Our fans don't deserve this," Donnarumma told Italian TV channel Rai Sport. "We all have to come out of these games together, we need to examine our conscience." The four-times World Cup winners have not qualified for the global showpiece event since 2014. Italy manager Luciano Spalletti said his team were going through a difficult patch and that he would speak with the Italian Football Federation about the situation. "From us, it has to come from us first of all. We are Italy and these matches are not acceptable... We must be more united than before," said Donnarumma, who won the Champions League, Ligue 1, French Cup and French Super Cup titles with Paris St Germain in the recently concluded season. Italy next host fifth-placed Moldova on Monday.
