BARCELONA have been fined € 32,000 by UEFA for the racist behaviour of their fans at the Parc des Princes in Paris when the Spanish champions played Paris Saint-Germain in the quarter-final first leg of the Champions League. Barca’s fans used Nazi salutes and made monkey chant noises at the PSG team. They also caused significant damage at the stadium and used pyrotechnics. Further to the fine, Barca are also banned from selling away tickets to their fans for the next UEFA game they play.  The club also have to pay for the damage caused to the Parc des Princes.

The National League programme has finished and Boreham Wood have been relegated along with Kidderminster Harriers, Dorking Wanderers and Oxford City. Boreham Wood’s relegation was confirmed in a 0-0 draw with Ebbsfleet and was manager Luke Garrard’s last game in charge as he will leave the club in the close season. Gateshead, who were due to meet Solihull Moors in the promotion play-offs, are not able to play the qualifying game as they have failed to receive the required 10-year security of tenure required by the Football League. Solihull will now play Barnet in the semi-finals, while Bromley will meet the winners of Altrincham versus Halifax. 

Chelsea’s women took a step towards reaching the UEFA Champions League final when they won 1-0 at holders’ Barcelona in the first leg of the semi-final. Erin Cuthbert scored the winning goal after 40 minutes. The victory is being called the greatest Chelsea performance of the Emma Hayes era at the club. Meanwhile, the other semi-final saw a dramatic comeback by Lyon against Paris Saint-Germain. PSG led 2-0 thanks to a brace from Marie-Antoinette Katoto (40, 48) but three goals in seven minutes gave Lyon an unlikely win. The winning goal came from Amel Majri in the 86^th minute. The second legs are on April 27 and 28.

Ferencváros have clinched the Hungarian league title with a 0-0 draw at home to struggling Kisvárda. It is their 35^th title and sixth consecutive success. Fradi are currently 15 points clear of second-placed Fehérvar and still have five games to play. Manager Dejan Stanković’s side have lost four games in the league and have netted 71 goals and conceded 26. They are on a 13-game unbeaten run. Fradi have the leading scorer in the league in Barnabás Varga, who was signed from Paks June 2023 and has netted 19 goals. The 2023-24 season has seen crowds in Hungary rise by 12% to an average of almost 4,000. Fradi are the best supported with 10,000-plus at their Groupama Arena. It could be a double for the champions, too – they face Nyíregytháza in the semi-finals on April. The club also enjoyed a decent European run, reaching the knockout phase of the Conference League, narrowly losing to Olympiakos.

Leighton James, one of the best wingers of the mid-1970s, has died aged 71. James began his career at Burnley, making his debut in 1970. His performances as a tricky and speedy flankman soon attracted other club and he was signed by Derby County for £ 300,000 in 1975 and later played for QPR, Sunderland, Swansea, Bury and Newport County. He had three spells with Burnley, the last ending in 1989. James won 54 caps for Wales, scoring 10 goals. He also had a long career as a non-league manager.

THE quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League produced eight exciting games, but the outcome, while very interesting, produced no seismic events. As ever, Real Madrid are there, looking ominous and sniffing around for their next trophy, joined by Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and Paris Saint-Germain. The only major surprise was the defeat of Manchester City, but how can you call losing at the hands of Real Madrid a shock?

But there was no doubt the competition really came alive in the quarter-finals. There had certainly been something missing this season, a lack of a truly memorable 90 minutes and an absence of unpredictability. Now UEFA will, at least, have a big ticket name in the final in either Real or Bayern, while the other semi-final features the two underdogs (if that’s an appropriate term for one of the world’s richest clubs), Borussia Dortmund and Paris Saint-Germain.

Bayern and PSG are the two remaining teams that went into the 2023-24 competition as champions. They met in 2020 when Bayern won the Champions League by 1-0. This season, Bayern have had a mixed campaign, losing their grip on the Bundesliga, taking a shock exit in the DFB Pokal and also showing their coach, Thomas Tuchel, towards the exit months before the final game. They face a Real Madrid side that has lost just once in La Liga and is poised to win the title.

Sceptics believe Real are not an exceptional team, but their record in 2023-24 is outstanding and they do have some of Europe’s best players, such as Jude Bellingham, Vinícius and Rodrygo. They may have veterans like Luka Modrić and Toni Kroos, but their success is really built on the younger members of the squad. Both Bayern and Real disposed of English sides in the last eight – Bayern beating Arsenal 3-2 on aggregate, Real winning a penalty shoot-out against Manchester City. Real are the only team in the semi-finals who have not lost a game in the competition. Bayern’s only defeat was in the last 16 at Lazio, a 1-0 loss that was turned around with a 3-0 win in the second leg in Munich. 

Bayern and Real are regular participants in the penultimate round; Real will be playing their eighth semi-final in 10 years, four of which have been successful as they have gone on to win the Champions League. Real have developed the art of finding ways to maintain success in the competition, often with a team that has not been as effective in their domestic league. 

The other semi-final involves the 1997 winners, Borussia Dortmund and the team that is desperate to win the Champions League, Paris Saint-Germain. Dortmund, the best supported team by attendances in Europe, with an average of 81,365 people, are in the last four for the first time since 2013. Nobody really expected them to enjoy such a run this year, especially as they have come up against AC Milan, Newcastle United and Barcelona. Dortmund may be the second biggest club in Germany from a financial perspective, but they are not in the same bracket as Bayern, Real or PSG, which makes their performance in the Champions League all the more impressive. Nevertheless, they have a strong record of selling players in the market for healthy profits. In the past five years, for example, their net transfer activity has earned them almost € 500 million.

PSG no longer have that gilded edge after the loss of their “galactico” workforce. Their profile, perhaps due to a decade of frustration in Europe, has undoubtedly been lower in 2023-24, but they have uncovered some young players that may form the heart of their side in the future, such as 18 year-old Warren Zaïre-Emery, Randal Kolo-Muani and former Benfica striker Gonçalo Ramos. Since 2019, they have spent € 850 million in the transfer market and their squad value is over € 1 billion.

PSG have lost once in Ligue 1 and are 10 points clear of second-placed Brest. Kylian Mbappé has scored 40 goals in what will be his final season with the club. He is moving to Real Madrid in the summer. The four semi-finalists, unequivocally, come from Europe’s elite. The combined revenues of the quartet in 2022-23 totalled € 2.8 billion – in Deloitte’s Football Money League, all are from the top 12. With the exception of PSG, who have a capacity of 47,000 at their stadium, the others all draw crowds of over 70,000. 

There have been 23 winners of the European Cup/Champions League. The only candidate for number 24 is PSG, but are they strong enough to beat off the challenge of Dortmund and the winners of Bayern v Real? It could be that in a year when PSG have really been overlooked as potential champions, they could be the brightest of dark horses. Real Madrid may have something to say about that. More excitement is on the horizon.