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That’s all we’ve got for today’s blog, which started as a buildup/matchday live number, then morphed into a clockwatch that took in men’s and women’s FA Cup action, plus some bits from Europe and those vital Scottish Premiership encounters.
You can scroll down to see how it all unfolded. For now, though, we bid you farewell and say thanks for tuning in.
Here’s the Scottish roundup to see things out.
Updated at 14.02 EDT
Oh my goodness what on earth has happened at the London Stadium?!
Two goals in added time from West Ham!! An unlikely extra-time now awaits …
And here’s that table. Three points between the three clubs. Six games to go.
ShareFT: Dundee 1-2 Celtic
They did it the hard way, but Celtic have eked out a vital three points thanks to Kelechi Iheanacho’s 82nd-minute winner. The Hoops were helped out by Ryan Astley’s late red card, which limited Dundee’s ability to stage any kind of fightback, but the impact of Iheanacho and Marcelo Saracchi off the bench has seen Martin O’Neill’s side to victory, after Yang Hyun-Jun’s early goal was cancelled out by a Simon Murray penalty.
The Scottish Premiership title tussle remains a three-horse race, with the Old Firm clubs winning when table-topping Hearts lost ground. O’Neill indulges in a clap of delight at the sound of the final whistle.
Into SEVEN minutes of stoppage time at Dens Park …
Raith Rovers have won the Scottish Challenge Cup with a 4-1 victory over Inverness in the final.
Elsewhere in Europe, Köln have fought back from 2-0 to be drawing 2-2 at Eintracht Frankfurt – that could be a crucial point for them in their fight against Bundesliga relegation.
In La Liga, Real Oviedo lead 10-man Sevilla going into half-time, while it’s Pisa 0-0 Torino in Serie A.
Chris Sutton has just obliged! “He was never gonna give that up, Astley,” he smirked on Sky. Well in, big man.
Dundee’s Ryan Astley has been sent off. He brought down Yang and was certainly the last defender. Things have just gone from bad to worse for the home side.
Insert Rick Astley-related ‘never gonna give you up’ joke here.
ShareGOAL! Dundee 1-2 Celtic (Iheanacho, 82)
Kelechi Iheanacho has worked the oracle for Celtic! It’s a fine turn and finish inside the box from the former Leicester striker, after a great cross from substitute left-back Marcelo Saracchi.
The away fans are in raptures … although there is a VAR check for offside. It’s not a long check, though, the goal stands!
Leeds have one foot in the FA Cup semi-finals after a penalty is dispatched by Dominic Calvert-Lewin to make it 2-0. Follow the denouement to that game here.
I’m surprised to see Daizen Maeda taken off as Martin O’Neill rings the changes. Chris Sutton, in the Sky Sports comm-box, is equally perturbed.
James Forrest is among those introduced.
Celtic, who are looking a bit panicked and frenetic chasing this game now, can ill-afford more dropped points. A 1-1 draw would leave them five points off the top with six games to go. You’d think that would reduce the title battle to a two-horse race.
73 minutes gone at Dens Park.
Staying in Scotland, and Raith Rovers have taken control of the Scottish Challenge Cup final against Inverness, scoring three unanswered goals to lead 4-1 after the sides had been level at half-time at Firhill. Dylan Easton has bagged two.
As an aside, how good is Ian Crocker on Sky Sports’ commentary of Scottish games? Such a great voice.
65 minutes gone, Celtic now pushing.
ShareGOAL! Dundee 1-1 Celtic (Murray, 57)
Dear oh dear, Celtic are made to pay for those missed chances! A Colby Donovan handball – and it’s a fairly obvious one – gave away a penalty to Dundee.
Simon Murray converts the spot-kick to level the scores at 1-1.
Celtic ought to have way more than their single-goal lead at Dundee. Tomas Cvancara has missed a couple of presentable opportunities, with the visitors having 11 shots on the Dundee goal so far, six of them on target. The Dark Blues are digging in.
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Tom Garry
This was Tom Garry’s full-time verdict on Charlton 0-1 Liverpool:
double quotation markIt’s a lovely story for Zara Shaw to get the winner, on her long-awaited return after a year out with knee injury. But that aside, the overwhelming feeling for Liverpool here is relief, because they were below their best for much of this game and really struggled to break down Charlton’s resolute five at the back. The WSL2 side fought hard and will now put their full focus on their promotion battle. That’s surely the message from their coach Karen Hills – a cup winner with Charlton as a player in 2005 – as her players and staff gather on the pitch for a post-match huddle.
It’s also HT at the London Stadium, which is currently the Ao Arena, as Tanaka’s goal gives Leeds the advantage.
What else have we got on the European football slate this early evening, I hear you ask? Well …
Celta Vigo have just nudged out Valencia 3-2 at the Mestalla to boost their hopes of securing Europa League – and possibly Champions League qualification – in La Liga.
In the Bundesliga earlier today, St Pauli were only able to draw 1-1 at Union Berlin, which means they are still firmly mired in a relegation battle. Köln are currently holding Eintrach Frankfurt 0-0 at half-time, a game St Pauli will desperately want Köln to lose, given the teams’ proximity in the table.
Pisa are leaning towards relegation from Serie A and are currently locked at 0-0 with Torino, albeit after just 23 minutes. Bologna beat Cremonese – another relegation candidate – 2-1 in the earlier game.
And, without straying into talking about the Austrian league, or the Jupiler Pro League, that’s you updated, for now.
It’s half-time at Dens Park, where Celtic lead Dundee via Yang Hyun-Jun’s eighth-minute strike.
Here’s how that result – if Celtic can see through the next 45 minutes – would leave the Scottish Premiership table. In a word: tight. In another word: exciting.
I keep forgetting tomorrow is a Bank Holiday as well as basically every other day in the past week.
So the kick-off times for Chelsea v Tottenham (1.30pm) and Birmingham v Manchester City (5pm, both BST) do not seem quite so silly as when I first saw them. Chelsea and City will be overwhelming favourites to join Arsenal and Liverpool in the Women’s FA Cup last four, for sure.
ShareFull time: Charlton 0-1 Liverpool (AET)
It’s a second successive appearance in the FA Cup semi-finals for Liverpool, some tonic for them after a fairly dismal WSL season. Zara Shaw’s goal deep into extra-time has proven enough on the day.
Updated at 12.13 EDT
Thanks Simon. Can Liverpool hold on against Charlton to see themselves through to the Women’s FA Cup last four? They’re into added time in extra time at The Valley …
Right then, I’m off. Dominic Booth is strapping himself into the drivers’ seat. Meanwhile Leeds have a 1-0 lead over West Ham in Ye Olde FA Cuppe, and Rob Smyth is in charge of that liveblog, here:
ShareGOAL! Charlton 0-1 Liverpool (Shaw, 115 mins)
Finally, and after an epic goalmouth scramble, a breakthrough! A corner comes in, a header at the back stick bounces into the post, the ball ricochets around for a while, another header loops onto the bar, and finally Zara Shaw turns it in!
Updated at 12.07 EDT
Half time in extra time: Charlton 0-0 Liverpool
Still no goal for Liverpool, though Charlton needed a goalline clearance in that mini-half to ensure that remains the case. Liverpool are 19-5 up on shots, but only three of theirs have been on target. Penalties are 15 minutes away, unless a goal is scored first.
An update from France, courtesy of the Associated Press:
Lyon’s hopes of qualifying for next season’s Champions League were further dented on Sunday after a 0-0 draw at Angers in Ligue 1 , extending its winless run in all competitions to nine matches.
Looking for a first win since mid-February, Paulo Fonseca’s players were devoid of ideas in a match that offered few chances for both teams.
Lyon has a tough schedule ahead with matches against leader Paris Saint-Germain and second-placed Lens in its remaining six Ligue 1 games. The seven-time champions are currently fifth, two points behind third-placed Lille.
In-form Monaco hosted fourth-placed Marseille later Sunday.
The top three in France qualify directly for the Champions League while the fourth-placed team enters the playoffs. On Friday, defending champion PSG increased its lead over Lens to four points by beating Toulouse 3-1. Lens endured an off night on Saturday and was well beaten by northern rival Lille 3-0.
The top of the table looks like this:
ShareScore after 90 minutes: Charlton 0-0 Liverpool
There’ll be extra time at the Valley, with Liverpool still searching for a breakthrough against second division Charlton.
PSV’s 27th Dutch title has felt inevitable for long enough that the club has already put on sale, complete with photographs of the items being modelled, celebratory T-shirts, hoodies, keyrings, mugs, cushions in multiple designs, caps, scarves and – this one is special – charcuterie boards. Plans have been announced for a six-hour title celebration on Tuesday.
Updated at 11.28 EDT
Liverpool now do have the ball in the net, with a really quite brilliant improvised contorting backheel volley, but it’s ruled out for offside.
ShareTom Garry
Tom Garry is at the Valley, where Liverpool are being held 0-0 by Charlton in the Women’s FA Cup quarter-final, with quarter of an hour to play.
The second-tier side Charlton are still refusing to let Liverpool have things their own way, in this closely-fought quarter-final at the Valley, where the sun continues to shine and the gusty wind continues to make aerial balls tricky to deal with. Gareth Taylor’s visitors are controlling most of the ball, playing almost all of this game in Charlton’s half, but as we creep into the final 15 minutes of normal time, they’re still only troubled Sophie Whitehouse a couple of times and the team with the best defensive record in WSL2 this season and holding firm at the back.
Updated at 11.06 EDT
Final score: Livingston 2-2 Hearts
Hearts are back on top of the Scottish Premiership, even after failing to beat the division’s bottom side. Here’s the league table:
The party has started in Eindhoven, who have won the Dutch title after Feyenoord failed to beat Volendam today.
PSV supporters celebrate their team winning the Eredivisie title after the draw between Volendam and Feyenoord. Photograph: Rob Engelaar/EPA
PSV Eindhoven were crowned Dutch champions on Sunday when their nearest challengers, Feyenoord, failed to win at Volendam.
The goalless draw left PSV, who had won 4-3 at home to Utrecht on Saturday, with an unassailable lead with five matches left in this season’s Eredivisie.
PSV advanced to 71 points from 29 games on Saturday, meaning Feyenoord had to win to keep alive their slim hopes, but the draw at Volendam left them with 54 points – 17 points adrift.
PSV Eindhoven supporters celebrate winning the Eredivisie title after the draw between Volendam and Feyenoord. Photograph: Rob Engelaar/EPA
PSV’s triumph set off immediate celebrations in the streets of Eindhoven, where fans had been waiting in expectation of Feyenoord’s failure to win.
It was a third successive league triumph for PSV, who have now won 27 league titles, bettered only by Ajax Amsterdam’s 36. (Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
Tom Garry has filed his report from Borehamwood, where Arsenal’s dire FA Cup weekend continued with defeat for their women’s team at the hands of Brighton.
Arsenal made a surprise exit at the quarter-final stage of the Women’s FA Cup for the second successive season as Brighton stunned the record 14-time cup winners at Borehamwood.
The shock result extends Arsenal’s decade-long wait to lift the Women’s FA Cup, just four days after they knocked Chelsea out of the Champions League to reach a European semi-final. Dario Vidosic’s side stepped up and their former Chelsea forward Fran Kirby provided two assists to help Brighton secure a memorable 2-0 victory.
More here:
Team news from the London Stadium:
West Ham: Areola, Walker-Peters, Kilman, Disasi, Diouf, Magassa, Potts, Fernandes, Bowen, Castellanos, Traore. Subs: Herrick, Pablo Felipe, Lamadrid, Soucek, Scarles, Kante, Golambeckis, Mayers, Ajala.
Leeds: Lucas Perri, Rodon, Bijol, Struijk, Bogle, Ampadu, Stach, Justin, Tanaka, Okafor, Nmecha. Subs: Darlow, Byram, Bornauw, Longstaff, Gruev, Aaronson, Gnonto, Piroe, Calvert-Lewin.
Referee: Craig Pawson.
The first men’s FA Cup quarter-final of the day starts in an hour, and Rob Smyth is all over it:
SharePSV Eindhoven win the Eredivisie title!
It’s all over at Volendam, who have held Feyenoord to a 0-0 draw and as a result PSV have retained their league title!
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Liverpool gave somehow failed to take the lead against Charlton, O’Sullivan volleying over the bar from four yards! She was falling over at the time, so it wasn’t completely straightforward, but file that under harder-to-miss.
ShareGOAL! Livingston 1-2 Hearts (Braga, 51 mins)
Hearts have taken the lead! “Shankland with an excellent header back across goal and he rises highest to head home from close range,” according to their account on X. “VAR checks for offside, but the goal is given!”
Claudio Braga of Hearts celebrates scoring his team’s second goal. Photograph: Zak Mauger/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 10.27 EDT
An email! It’s Jeremy Boyce, possibly suffering from a sugar rush after one Creme Egg too many. “Easter has often been a pivotal moment in the footie season, especially in a GeoPoliticsWorld Cup year, when everything needs to be done and dusted in good time for all the top (European) players to be totally exhausted from the hectic programme and unable to give of their best at the showcase event,” he writes. “There’s a collective football-shaped Easter egg hunt, some teams chasing glory, others salvation. Some running out of legs, others already on the beach. It’s not looking good for Jamie Vardy’s Cremonese, hovering near the drop zone, losing at home today, eating up their games but not finding any eggs, Serie B beckons. Up in bonnie Scotland it’s sadly looking as though Hearts might be running out of the physical and mental strength required to take their table-topping form into the final stages and break the Glasgow (mostly Celtic) hegemony. Erling Haaland found plenty of eggs yesterday. Arsenal have been hunting eggs everywhere, but have had them picked off one by one.
“Which brings us to this afternoon’s action at that hotbed of passion and positivity, The Lunnun Stadium, innit. We all know which eggs these teams are actually looking for, and it’s got little to do with Easter Sunday. A dilemma for both teams. A win would do wonders for confidence, until they get thrashed by City in the semi, or lose disappointingly to the Saints, in which case confidence shattered like a cheap chocolate flavoured ovoid object. A defeat would obviously dent confidence, but enable whichever to “concentrate on the League” (TM). The cheap chocolate egg of the Cup, or the Faberge diamond encrusted egg of Premier League survival. Which would you pick ? 3-2 Leeds after an extra time neither team wants, key players injured and out for the season, unwanted intervention of VAR. Should I get down the bookies’ now?” Er, might be best to swerve it.
ShareFinal score: Arsenal 0-2 Brighton
Arsenal, 14 times winners of the FA Cup and 17 times finalists, are out of this year’s competition! An excellent performance from Brighton, and deservedly rewarded. The second quarter-final between Charlton and Liverpool, is currently goalless in the 28th minute, with Chelsea playing Tottenham and Birmingham City facing Manchester City tomorrow.
Arsenal are pushing for something against Brighton, in the ninth of eight indicated minutes of stoppage time. Russo goes down in the penalty area, but nothing’s given.
ShareGOAL! Livingston 1-1 Hearts (Shankland, 24 mins)
Apologies, it appears to have taken about quarter of an hour for news of this goal to filter through to me. A bullet header, I’m told. Hearts are, as it stands, top of the league!
Lawrence Shankland of Hearts scores his side’s equaliser. Photograph: Neil Hanna/ShutterstockShare
Updated at 09.57 EDT
GOAL! Arsenal 0-2 Brighton (Hayes, 63 mins)
Brighton double their lead! It’s a corner from the left, good movement from Caitlin Hayes to give herself space at the far post, and an excellent header into the top corner!
The PSV Eindhoven captain Jerdy Schouten, who was a fixture in the Netherlands team before he sustained a hamstring injury towards the end of 2024 and returned to the international squad this season, starting their most recent game against Ecuador, has been ruled out of the World Cup after injuring a cruciate ligament against Utrecht yesterday. “When it happened, I actually felt immediately that something was wrong,” Schouten said. “You still have a glimmer of hope that it isn’t too bad, but unfortunately that turned out not to be the case. The blow is big right now, but I will move on quickly. Great things are about to happen for PSV again and I will do everything I can to be involved in everything.“
Jerdy Schouten of PSV is stretchered off during the Dutch Eredivisie match between PSV and Utrecht. Photograph: Soccrates Images/Getty ImagesShareGOAL! Livingston 1-0 Hearts (May, 5 mins)
There’s been a goal in the Scottish Premiership, and it’s bad news for Hearts as they try to return to the top of the table. “Fati crosses & it gets cleared only to the edge of the box as a lay off comes to May who drills it low!” according to Livingston’s X account. If you check out that account you can enjoy a video of the scorer pretending a shoe is a telephone.
Stevie May of Livingston scores the opening goal. Photograph: Neil Hanna/ShutterstockShare
Updated at 09.24 EDT
GOAL! Arsenal 0-1 Brighton (Haley, 48 mins)
A goal! And it’s an excellent first-time finish from Haley, who from a not hugely promising angle to the right of goal managed to wrap her foot around the ball and send it into the far corner!
Dresden police have launched a criminal investigation into disruption to yesterday’s German second-tier match between Dynamo Dresden and Hertha Berlin. This just in from Reuters:
Police officers stand in front of the K-Block section with Dresden fans during a stoppage in play in the Bundesliga 2 soccer match between Dynamo Dresden and Hertha Berlin. Photograph: Sebastian Kahnert/AP
Dresden police have launched criminal investigations following a German second-tier match between Dynamo Dresden and Hertha Berlin in which supporters from both clubs stormed the pitch.
The unrest began early in the match on Saturday with the repeated use of pyrotechnics in both home and away supporter sections, a police statement said.
Fans entered the field, prompting police to intervene, separate the groups, and secure the area. The match resumed after a 20-minute interruption.
“As part of the operation, the Dresden police initiated more than a dozen investigations for breach of the peace, dangerous bodily harm, property damage, insult and ticket fraud,” the statement said.
Dynamo Dresden expressed deep regret over the scenes at the Rudolf Harbig Stadion, with finance director Stephan Zimmermann apologising to uninvolved spectators.
“Our home games are known for their unique atmosphere. Images like those we saw tonight are unacceptable and massively damage not only our club, but football as a whole in Germany,” he said in a statement on Sunday.
Hertha Berlin won the match 1-0 after an 80th-minute goal by Marten Winkler, leaving the capital side in sixth place in the Bundesliga 2 standings while Dresden are 15th.
And it’s half-time in the Women’s FA Cup quarter-final between Arsenal and Brighton, which is resoundingly goalless.
The Dutch league title could be decided today: anything but a win for second-placed Feyenoord at Volendam would mean PSV, 18 points ahead at the top of the table, are champions. It’s currently 0-0, with 18 minutes played.
Updated at 09.49 EDT
No goals yet in the Women’s FA Cup quarter-final between Arsenal and Brighton, though it took a phenomenal save from Brighton’s Chiamaka Nnadozie to stop Holmberg putting the Gunners ahead with a header.