Thursday’s briefing: Arsenal gear up for Man City clash after reaching last four

Arsenal are targeting Premier League victory over Manchester City after securing their passage to the Champions League semi-finals.

Bayern Munich and Real Madrid laid on a seven-goal thriller as the runaway Bundesliga leaders dumped the 15-time winners out of the competition 6-4 on aggregate.

However, it was a bad day for Liverpool striker Hugo Ekitike, whose World Cup dream is over because of injury, and for Manchester united defender Harry Maguire after he landed an extended ban.

Now for City

Mikel Arteta hailed Arsenal’s progression to the Champions League semi-finals as a massive boost for his side’s pivotal Premier League clash with Manchester City.

Arsenal made sure of their second successive last-four spot on Europe’s grandest stage for the first time in their history with a 0-0 draw against Sporting Lisbon at the Emirates a week after Kai Havertz’s stoppage-time opening-leg winner in Portugal and will now face Atletico Madrid.

Asked if the result can serve as springboard for Sunday’s showdown with Pep Guardiola’s side Arteta said: “One hundred per cent.

“This is a massive push to win the semi-final of the Champions League. It’s extremely tough and we know what we’ve done. We deserve it, fully deserve it as well and we’re going to enjoy it because we deserve it.”

Bayern prove the Real deal

Luis Diaz and Michael Olise fired Bayern Munich past 10-man Real Madrid and into a Champions League semi-final showdown with Paris St Germain in a dramatic conclusion to a pulsating tie.

Less than three minutes after Madrid substitute Eduardo Camavinga had been sent off, Diaz drilled home his side’s third equaliser before Olise struck in stoppage time to clinch a 4-3 win on the night.

The victory extended Bayern’s unbeaten run to 16 games in all competitions and sealed a 6-4 aggregate triumph, a first over the Spanish giants in a two-legged tie since 2012.

Real, who also had Arda Guler sent off after the final whistle at the Allianz Arena, led three times through Guler’s double and Kylian Mbappe’s 15th goal in this season’s competition, but Aleksandar Pavlovic, Harry Kane with his 50th of the season and Diaz all scored equalisers before Olise provided the finishing touch.

No go for Hugo

France boss Didier Deschamps has revealed that Liverpool striker Hugo Ekitike will miss this summer’s World Cup after suffering a season-ending injury against Paris St Germain.

The 23-year-old damaged his ankle during the first half of Tuesday night’s 2-0 Champions League quarter-final second-leg defeat by the holders at Anfield and the full extent of the injury became clear on Wednesday.

In a post on the France national team’s official X account, Deschamps said: “Hugo suffered a serious injury on Tuesday night against PSG. The severity of his injury will unfortunately prevent him from finishing the season with Liverpool and from participating in the World Cup.

“His disappointment is immense. Hugo will get back to his best, I’m sure of it. But I wanted to express my full support for him, as well as that of the entire staff. We know he will be fully behind the French team and we are all thinking of him.”

Ban no joke for Harry Maguire

Harry Maguire will miss Manchester United’s trip to Chelsea having been handed an additional one-match ban by the Football Association for his reaction to being sent off at Bournemouth.

The 33-year-old was shown a straight red card at the Vitality Stadium last month for a foul in the box on Evanilson, with Junior Kroupi scoring from the resulting penalty as the Cherries sealed a 2-2 draw.

Maguire sat out Monday’s 2-1 home defeat to rivals Leeds due to a sending off that has wider consequences with the England international now to also miss United’s trip to Chelsea on Saturday night.

The FA’s written reasons confirmed fourth official Matthew Donohue submitted an Extraordinary Incident Report Form, claiming Maguire shouted as he left the field: “You’re a joke. You’re all a f****** joke.”

The United defender insists he did not insult the fourth official, instead claiming he said “something along the lines of ‘it is a f****** joke’.”

What’s on today?

Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest will both attempt to book places in the Europa League semi-finals.

Villa take a 3-1 first leg lead into their home clash with Serie A Bologna, while Forest welcome Porto to the City Ground hoping to make the most of last week’s 1-1 draw in Portugal.

Crystal Palace fly the flag for English clubs in the Conference League when they head for Fiorentina boasting a commanding 3-0 advantage.