UCL DECIDER: BARCELONA, BILBAO, VILLARREAL'S FATE NOW IN BALANCE
Barcelona faces a crucial Champions League test away at Chelsea, with both teams level on points. Athletic Bilbao visits Slavia Prague needing a win, while Villarreal seeks to translate domestic form to Europe against Dortmund.
This Tuesday in the Champions League, Barcelona will head to England for a big game against Chelsea. Athletic Bilbao needs to forget about their bad domestic form when they play in Prague, and Villarreal hopes to bring their A-game from La Liga to Europe.
After four games, Barcelona is sitting at 11th in their group. The five-time champs really need to beat Chelsea, who have the same number of points, to move closer to the top eight and avoid an extra play-off round in February.
Barcelona is travelling to London after crushing Athletic 4-0 at home on Saturday. Raphinha is back from his injury and could play on Tuesday night, according to Xinhua.
Frenkie de Jong is also back after missing Saturday's game due to a ban. Ronald Araujo might be back in central defence, too. Pedri is still out with a muscle problem, but Lamine Yamal played well on the weekend and shouldn't have groin problems.
Chelsea moved up to second in the Premier League on the weekend, so this game will be a good test for both teams.
Athletic needs to quickly recover from their loss in Barcelona. When Ernesto Valverde's team plays Slavia Prague, they need to avoid making the same defensive mistakes that gifted Barca their first three goals. Athletic Bilbao is currently one point away from the play-offs, so winning against a rival with only two draws is a must.
Valverde will probably put Gorka Guruzeta back in the lineup. Jesus Areso and Aitor Paredes might play in defence, but Valverde's choices are limited because Inaki Williams, Benat Prados, and Maroan Sannadi are injured.
Nico Williams is still dealing with pubalgia. Valverde might not risk starting him after he did at the weekend, since it is so close together. Williams scored the only goal when Athletic beat Slavia Prague in last season's Europa League, but Julen Agirrezabala really had to play well to save the win.
Villarreal has been doing great in La Liga. Marcelino Garcia Toral's team is currently third. But in Europe, they have only managed one draw and three losses.
Villarreal's last game was a tough loss against Pafos, and another loss against Borussia Dortmund would be bad. Marcelino is likely to make some changes to the team. Pape Gueye might play in midfield, and Georges Mikautadze might replace Gerard Moreno in attack for a rest.
Real Madrid, who have won many times, will face Olympiakos on Wednesday, hoping to stop their worrying slump. Atletico Madrid is feeling the pressure as they face Inter Milan in one of the most exciting games of the week.
ARSENAL POCKET INSANE £125.18M FOLLOWING CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL QUALIFICATION
Mikel Arteta's side has added £15.97m to their cash reserves, eclipsing the total earned by current champions PSG last year.
Arsenal have added another £15.97 million to their UEFA prize money haul after securing a spot in the Champions League final with a win against Atletico Madrid. They are set to face either Bayern Munich or the current champions, Paris Saint-Germain, in Budapest on May 30, aiming for their first-ever triumph in this prestigious competition.
Beyond that, there’s an additional £5.61 million up for grabs in Hungary later this month. But up to now, Arsenal have amassed an eye-watering £125.18 million in Champions League prize money this season alone. A place in next season’s European Super Cup also carries a potential reward of around £3.45 million. It’s been a remarkable European run under Mikel Arteta, with the team dominating the group stage by winning all eight matches.
From the very beginning, the club benefited from the initial distribution of TV revenue and the rankings pool, which together amounted to £49.6 million. Even before the knockout rounds kicked off, Arsenal had already secured £85.3 million in prize money.
That total doesn’t even cover the bonuses linked to their on-field success, as each of their eight victories in the group stage brought in roughly £15.8 million altogether.
By finishing first out of 36 group-phase clubs, Arsenal earned an extra £8.6 million, and progressing straight to the round of 16 as one of the top eight teams secured them another £11.3 million.
They continued their strong run by eliminating Bayer Leverkusen after a 1-1 draw away and a 2-0 win at the Emirates, which added £10.8 million more to their earnings.
Overcoming Sporting CP in the quarter-finals also brought a £10.8 million bonus. While Arsenal’s motivation isn’t just financial, this level of income certainly aids in meeting profit and sustainability rules and other financial fair play criteria.
It’s also likely to support their summer transfer budget, as sporting director Andrea Berta looks to build on Arteta’s squad.
Last season, Arsenal took home £98.63 million after reaching the semi-finals before falling to PSG.
PSG, who went on to win the title, collected about £124.62 million last year, so Arsenal have now already surpassed that figure.
Meanwhile, UEFA has set aside a record £2.13 billion in prize money for the 2025-26 Champions League season, highlighting the competition’s growing financial stakes.
JAN OBLAK CONFESSES ATLETICO WERE "AFRAID TO PLAY" AGAINST ARSENAL
Following their Champions League exit, skipper Jan Oblak analysed where Atletico went wrong and paid tribute to Griezmann.
Jan Oblak didn’t hold back after Atletico Madrid crashed out of the Champions League against Arsenal. He said straight up that the team just didn’t do enough to earn a spot in the final. Sure, he’s proud of how far the squad has come recently, but the way they went out still stings.
Oblak was pretty open about where things went wrong, especially after the first leg, when Atletico failed to take an advantage back to London. “I'm disappointed, just like all the fans. Honestly, I can’t find the words. We didn’t do enough to be in the final, and it’s just a tough moment. We had our chances to win, but we didn’t take them. All that’s left is to congratulate Arsenal.”
He didn’t stop there, either. Speaking to CBS Golazo, Oblak was even more direct about the team’s mentality, especially in the first half of both matches. He felt Atletico were hesitant, too respectful of Arsenal, and afraid to play. Both times, they fell behind before halftime and then tried to play catch-up, but it was always a little too late. “This has happened several times this season,” Oblak said, “and while we’ve managed to win those games before, not today when it mattered most.”
On the flip side, Oblak did give some credit to the young players and the growth the team’s shown, especially after a couple of big summers that saw a huge part of the squad change. “The last two seasons, we’ve switched out something like 15 players. A lot of young guys with not much experience came in. They did great in the cup, and they’ve held up in the Champions League too. In the league, we weren’t good enough for the biggest matches, but I’m proud of how the younger ones are growing. Still, when the goal is to win a title, and you don’t, you can’t call it a success. All we can do is look forward and hope we’ll be fighting for trophies next season.”
Saying goodbye to Antoine Griezmann made this exit even sadder for Oblak and the rest of the squad. Griezmann’s heading to Orlando City this summer, bringing the curtain down on his Champions League career with Atletico. “Everyone’s going to miss Griezi; he’s an incredible player and a great guy. The kind of person who’s always smiling, always positive, and does things on the pitch nobody else can. We’ll miss him a lot; the fans will miss him, but he deserves nothing but the best wherever he goes.”
At 33, Oblak is one of Atletico’s true leaders, right behind Koke for the captain’s armband. Alongside Jose Maria Gimenez and Marcos Llorente, he’s been a
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