Football Daily Euro Leagues: Xabi's Leverkusen Farewell, & Carlo's off to Rio
Steve Crossman, Raphael Honigstein, Julien Laurens and James Horncastle are back with the latest episode of Euro Leagues.
The guys reflect on Xabi Alonso's time at Bayer Leverkusen, and what he'll be thinking about before returning to Los Blancos.
Xabi's arrival means Carlo Ancelotti's off to the Brazil national team. Could we see a return to the fold for Neymar? South American football expert Tim Vickery joins the pod with all the latest.
Bologna win their first trophy in over 50 years, beating AC Milan in the Coppa Italia final, and Sampdoria are relegated to Serie C for the first time in the club's history.
Timecodes:
00:40 Looking back at Xabi Alonso at Leverkusen, & what will life be like back in Madrid?
16:38 Carlo Ancelotti's off to Brazil
29:20 Bologna win Coppa Italia
36:35 Sampdoria relegated to Serie C for the first time
BBC Sounds / 5 Live / Radio 5 Sports Extra weekend commentaries:
Sat 1630 Men's FA Cup Final: Crystal Palace vs Manchester City (5 Live)
Sun 1330 Women's FA Cup Final: Chelsea vs Manchester United (Sports Extra 3)
Sun 1415 Premier League: West Ham vs Nottingham Forest (5 Live)
Sun 1500 Premier League: Brentford vs Fulham (Sports Extra 2)
Sun 1630 Premier League: Arsenal vs Newcastle (5 Live)
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Reuters
41 minutes ago
- Reuters
Oviedo back in LaLiga after 24 years
June 21 (Reuters) - Real Oviedo sealed their return to LaLiga after 24 years with a 3–2 aggregate victory over Mirandes in Saturday's promotion play-off. Oviedo triumphed 3-1 at home, overturning a first-leg deficit with goals from Santi Cazorla, Ilyas Chaira and Francisco Portillo. A packed Estadio Carlos Tartiere erupted as fans stormed the pitch at the final whistle. The club from the Principality of Asturias, in the northwest of Spain, will now join Levante and Elche in next season's top tier, replacing relegated Leganes, Las Palmas and Valladolid. "There's no way to describe what this means to us. These players are heroes, every single one of them. They deserve great recognition," Oviedo coach Veljko Paunovic told LaLiga TV.


The Sun
44 minutes ago
- The Sun
Santi Cazorla completes fairytale swansong with Oviedo as Arsenal legend scores to get boyhood club promoted to LaLiga
SANTI CAZORLA completed his fairytale swansong with Oviedo after netting to get them promoted back to LaLiga. The ace helped inspire a stunning comeback against Mirandes to seal a return to the top flight after a 24-year absence, prompting an incredible pitch invasion from fans. 7 7 7 7 7 7 The former Spain ace started his career with Oviedo's academy in 1996 before going on to star for Villarreal, Malaga and Arsenal. Cazorla, who almost lost his leg due to an infection after numerous Achilles injuries, rejoined them in 2023 after a spell in Qatar. Oviedo were in the second tier of Spain at the time, having last played in LaLiga in 2001 while even suffering relegation to the fourth division. Cazorla's first campaign back saw his side suffer heartbreak in the playoff final. But the minnows are now back in the big time after Cazorla inspired a stunning win against rivals Mirandes, who won the first leg 1-0. They doubled their advantage after just 16 minutes to leave Oviedo's hopes of promotion hanging by a thread. But Cazorla stepped up to score a penalty just before half-time, pulling his side back into the game. Oviedo then levelled the tie on the hour mark before Mirandes had a men sent off. And the hosts completed their stunning comeback in extra time as Oviedo fans flooded the pitch in tears of joy. Cazorla was all smiles at full time as he kissed wife Ursula, having returned to Oviedo out of pure love for the club. Gabriel urges Arsenal to complete £67m transfer for 'phenomenal' Brazil team-mate Rodrygo amid Real Madrid frustration 7 The playmaker even wanted to go unpaid, but league rules dictated he had to accept a minimum wage of £80,000 per year. It now remains to be seen if Cazorla stays for one more season in LaLiga, having undergone a total of 10 operations to leave him in daily discomfort. Two years of injury hell starting in 2016 saw a bacterial infection eat a 10cm chunk out of his right Achilles and ankle bone. A bit of Cazorla's hamstring and arm muscle was used to rebuild the tendon. And he previously declared a return to Arsenal as a coach could be on the cards, saying: 'Arsenal have never closed the door to me.' Cazorla scored 29 goals in 180 games during his six years at the Emirates while winning two FA Cups. He also played 81 times for Spain while winning successive Euros, but missed the World Cup victory in 2010 due to a hernia.


BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Fighting spirit lifts England U21s as they eye more history
England Under-21s have proved they have the fight to defend their European title. The mass brawl at the final whistle, coupled with a brilliant Euro 2025 quarter-final victory over Spain on Saturday, removed any doubt these Young Lions could be a soft touch. Charlie Cresswell promised pre-game there would be no lack of fight from England after their limp 2-1 loss to Germany and the Young Lions lived up to the billing. Cresswell was at the heart of protecting his team-mates, with players willing to fight for each other following a late challenge on Tino Livramento seconds before the final whistle. Similar scenes followed England's Euro 2023 final victory over Spain and the defending champions are not willing to let their title go quietly. They now face the Netherlands in the semi-finals on Wednesday after a performance full of class, style, guile and fight. "There's better ways to build camaraderie," manager Lee Carsley joked afterwards. "But we had something similar in the final [in 2023]. Emotions run high in those scenarios, you don't want anyone to get sent off or throw a punch. "You can see what it means to the players, we probably have to give them a bit of leeway. Thankfully it didn't go over the top, it's still not nice to see. We are always trying to encourage younger players to take up football but the passion was just a bit much."James McAtee, scorer of England's early opener, also epitomised the mood, the Manchester City midfielder ready and willing to dish it out. He said: "We were the two big teams in the tournament, so them kicking off, we can't just sit back and just let them do it. We have to give them a bit back, so I'm happy with the boys." Is it all coming together for England now? "I think there's still a lot more to come from the team. I said at the start of the tournament that the longer we can stay in I think the more joined up we'll become," said Carsley. The head coach has always been confident in his assertion England would start to find their feet and momentum in the competition as long as they qualified from the group. A win over the Czech Republic was followed by a draw with Slovenia and the defeat by Germany. Cresswell and Jay Stansfield produced standout performances while the substitutes also made an impact, especially Elliot Anderson after he came on soon after the break. "They are a really together group but I've been with together groups who have gone home quite early," said Carsley. "It was just a matter of time before it did click. I think our expectation of these players is always very high and I'm just glad that we've got into a position now where I feel that we've got a real good chance of pushing."Yet, despite saying he did not feel like an underdog going into the game against Spain, Carsley was reluctant to paint his side as tournament favourites now. He added: "We have to be humble. It's going to be a really difficult game, the semi-final. So we'll be fully prepared again. The Netherlands are another team we've watched for maybe six months now."We're fully aware of all their players, their strengths, their weaknesses. I've already got a few ideas on what we might change in terms of how we're going to build and attack them and you can guarantee we'll definitely be attacking them again." Making light of missing men Losing Liam Delap - the striker's £30m move from Ipswich to Chelsea saw him going with the Blues to the Club World Cup instead - robbed Carsley of a focal point up front. While it is easy to focus on the missing forward it created a clear problem, with England lacking a presence going forward and someone to finish off promising moves in the group continued to work good positions in the group stage - creating the third most chances in the tournament - but lacked the finishing touch. Marseille's Jonathan Rowe started up front in all three group games but failed to score and Stansfield was the only recognised out-and-out striker in the squad. The Birmingham striker scored 24 goals to help win the League One title last season and he does not have the physical presence of Delap yet he ran himself into the ground in Trnava. His selfless work opened space for others and he never gave the Spanish defence time to rest. The striker came off late on when it was clear he had nothing left in the Friday, Carsley spoke about taking more risks and being brave enough to potentially leave the gaps and that is exactly what he absence was key but he was not the only missing Bellingham's £33m move to Borussia Dortmund also saw him head Stateside with his new club, scoring against Mamelodi Sundowns a couple of hours before England kicked off in Trnava. Off the back of helping Sunderland return to the Premier League via the play-offs the midfielder would have undoubtedly been an asset for Carsley, as would Adam Wharton. The concussion Wharton suffered in Crystal Palace's FA Cup final triumph means he is another key man missing in this Taylor Harwood-Bellis, a winner in 2023, was absent with an ankle injury while Jarrad Branthwaite - also a champion two years ago - suffered a hamstring injury to keep him out. Despite the missing players, Carsley's band of brothers have shown they are ready to defend their title.