Category World News

Who: Real Madrid vs Athletic Club

What: Spanish LaLiga
Where: Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid, Spain
When: Sunday at 9pm (19:00 GMT)

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Defending champions Real Madrid are in desperate need of all three points as they entertain Athletic Bilbao in LaLiga.

The Spanish giants’ defence of their Champions League title ended with a defeat to Arsenal on Wednesday.

And with Barcelona moving seven points clear at the top of LaLiga with their 4-3 comeback win against Celta Vigo on Saturday, Los Blancos can ill afford to drop points against a team that are proving tough to topple.

What is the latest on Ancelotti’s future?

Real coach Carlo Ancelotti has refused to speak about his future with the club after recent reports again linked him with a move to Brazil’s national team.

The veteran Italian manager was asked several times by reporters on Saturday at a pre-game news conference if he would leave the Spanish giant this summer, and each time he responded that he didn’t want to speak about it.

“At the end of the season, we will speak about this with the club,” he said more than once.

The 65-year-old is under contract with Madrid through June 2026.

What has happened to Real Madrid’s season?

Speculation regarding Ancelotti’s career plans once again spiked after Madrid’s exit from the Champions League.

Besides the Copa del Rey, Madrid is still in the fight to defend its LaLiga title and will also play in the Club World Cup this summer.

FT: #BarçaCelta 4-3

Raphinha leads the REMONTADA for @FCBarcelona! 🔥#LALIGAEASPORTS | #DesenlaceLALIGA pic. twitter. com/85zk1Fshis

What is the link between Brazil and Ancelotti?

Brazil have reportedly been after Ancelotti since last year as they seek an elite coach for the 2026 World Cup.

The South Americans fired Dorival Junior as coach last month.

What is Ancelotti’s record as a manager?

Ancelotti is the only coach to have won the Champions League five times — three times with Madrid (2014, 2022, 2024) and twice with AC Milan (2003, 2007).

He is also the only coach to have steered teams to domestic league titles in Spain, England, Italy, Germany and France.

Who is reportedly lined up to replace Ancelotti?

Former Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp and former Liverpool and Real Madrid midfielder Xabi Alonso are both considered top candidates to replace Ancelotti should he leave Madrid.

Klopp, however, is “very happy” in his current post at Red Bull despite rumours linking him to a return to management with Real Madrid, his agent said on Friday.

The German became Red Bull’s global head of football in January, taking care of a stable of clubs, including RB Leipzig, the New York Red Bulls and Bragantino in Brazil.

Alonso, Bayer Leverkusen’s coach, on Friday refused to shut down speculation he could be set for a move to Real Madrid in the summer.

“It’s not a good time to discuss the future. We’re at a very important moment in the season,” Alonso said.

Leverkusen are six points behind league leaders Bayern Munich with five games remaining.

How are Athletic Club fairing in LaLiga?

Athletic hold fourth spot in the Spanish top flight with 15 wins from 31 games.

No team have lost fewer games than the Bilboa-based club, who have suffered defeat on only four occasions.

📋✅ Our squad for the match!
🆚 @Athletic_en pic. twitter. com/a59FO36sqC

Real Madrid team news

Kylian Mbappe is serving a one-game suspension after his red card against Alaves.

Eduardo Camavinga returns from the suspension that ruled him out of the defeat by Arsenal.

Ferland Mendy and Andriy Lunin have a chance of returning from knocks, but Eder Militao and Dani Carvajal are out with knee injuries.

Athletic Club team news

Inaki Williams is likely to remain a sub due to an adductor injury.

This match has probably come too soon for Yuri Berchiche to return from a muscular problem.

🗒 𝗦𝗤𝗨𝗔𝗗 𝗟𝗜𝗦𝗧

Ernesto Valverde has called up 2️⃣3️⃣ players for tomorrow’s clash with @realmadriden at the Santiago Bernabéu.

ℹ️ Travel details 👉 https://t. co/VXWeD3nQkX#RealMadridAthletic #AthleticClub 🦁 pic. twitter. com/PTUplPO7Aq

Opponents of President Donald Trump’s administration have taken to the streets in droves across the United States to decry what they say are threats to the nation’s democratic ideals, including deportations of immigrants and mass firings of government workers.

The protests on Saturday ranged from rallies in midtown Manhattan and in front of the White House in Washington, DC, to a demonstration at a Massachusetts commemoration marking the start of the American Revolutionary War 250 years ago.

The protests come just two weeks after similar nationwide protests against the Trump administration drew thousands of participants.

Organisers said they’re protesting against what they view as Trump’s violations of civil rights and the US Constitution, including efforts to deport hundreds of immigrants and scale back the federal government by firing thousands of government workers and in effect shutter entire agencies.

In Manhattan, protesters rallied against continued deportations of immigrants from the steps of the New York Public Library.

“No fear, no hate, no ICE in our state,” they chanted, referring to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Thomas Bassford drove from Maine to Massachusetts to witness the reenactment of the Battles of Lexington and Concord and “the shot heard ’round the world” on April 19, 1775, that heralded the start of the US war of independence from Britain.

The 80-year-old retiree said he believed Americans today are under attack from their own government and need to stand up against it. “This is a very perilous time in America for liberty,” he told The Associated Press news agency, adding: “I wanted the boys [his grandsons] to learn about the origins of this country and that sometimes we have to fight for freedom. ”

Elsewhere, protests were planned outside Tesla car dealerships against billionaire Trump adviser Elon Musk and his role in downsizing the federal government while still others organised community-service events, such as food drives, teach-ins and volunteering at local shelters.

Some of the events drew on the spirit of the American Revolutionary War, calling for “no kings” and resistance to tyranny.

Boston resident George Bryant was among those who turned out in Concord. He told The Associated Press he was concerned Trump was creating a “police state” in America as he held up a sign saying, “Trump fascist regime must go now! ”

The Trump administration, among other things, has moved to shut down Social Security Administration field offices, cut funding for government health programmes and scale back protections for transgender people.

In Washington, DC, Bob Fasick said he came out to the rally outside the White House out of concern about threats to constitutionally protected due process rights as well as Social Security and other federal safety-net programmes.

LaLiga leaders Barcelona have fought back from 3-1 down to beat Celta Vigo 4-3 in a roller-coaster encounter as a stoppage-time penalty by Raphinha extends their lead over Real Madrid at the top of the table to seven points.

With the score tied at 3-3 after Celta’s Borja Iglesias netted a hat-trick, Saturday’s game in Barcelona seemed to be heading for a draw when Dani Olmo won a penalty deep into added time and Raphinha stepped up to score and seal the three points.

The result puts the pressure back on Real Madrid, who play fourth-placed Athletic Bilbao on Sunday. Celta Vigo are seventh with 43 points.

“This is football. We wanted to win this game, but we weren’t always at our best,” Barca substitute and goal scorer Dani Olmo told DAZN. “But the team came through in the end, and the crowd pushed us on right to the finish.

“It’s three points towards our objective, but we have to keep going. ”

Barcelona took the lead when Ferran Torres picked up the ball in midfield and found space to dribble towards goal, pulling the trigger from the edge of the box to beat goalkeeper Vicente Guaita for his 10th league goal of the season.

But Celta responded immediately when Pablo Duran put in a superb cross from the wing, and as Wojciech Szczesny sprinted off his line to collect the ball, the Polish keeper missed it to give Iglesias a tap-in into an empty net.

Barca fell behind seven minutes into the second half when Frenkie de Jong made an error and completely missed a long ball, allowing Iglesias to run through and beat Szczesny to grab his second goal.

Iglesias hat-trick for Celta Vigo

As Barca pushed forward to find an equaliser, a Celta clearance found Iglesias again, and he capitalised on the home side’s high line to sprint through on goal and beat Szczesny for a third time to claim his hat-trick.

A stunned Barcelona tried to recover quickly, and they got one back in the 64th minute when Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha combined to find Olmo, who scored five minutes after coming on as a substitute.

“He [coach Hansi Flick] told me we needed to play a little more calmer. We just needed to connect with each other better,” Olmo said about what Flick told him before he went onto the pitch.

Four minutes later, Barcelona levelled it at 3-3 when Lamine Yamal crossed the ball into the 5. 5-metre (6-yard) box, where Raphinha rose above the defence to head home.

A shell-shocked Celta looked to leave with a point, but Olmo earned a penalty when he was fouled in the box and the referee had no doubts when he pointed to the spot after a VAR check.

Raphinha then stepped up and blasted the ball into the top corner in the 98th minute for his 30th goal in all competitions this season.

“It’s a bittersweet feeling because we did a lot of things right,” Celta’s Pablo Duran said. “They’ve got such a high level, especially in the final third. They’re capable of these things.

Before he took office, US President Donald Trump said he would end the war in Ukraine “within 24 hours” of entering the White House.

But nearly 100 days into his presidency, he’s made little headway, as the fighting continues.

Now, Trump is threatening to walk away from efforts to broker peace, saying if the parties are too difficult to work with, “we’re just going to move on. ”

Will Trump’s threat push Russia and Ukraine to more urgently engage to end the conflict, now in its third year?

Presenter: Dareen Abughaida

Guests:

Vladimir Sotnikov, Associate professor of international relations, Higher School of Economics

Donald Jensen, Senior fellow, Foundation for Defense of Democracies

Iran and the United States have completed a second round of indirect nuclear negotiations, which Iran’s foreign minister has described as “constructive” and moving forward with further meetings planned in the coming week.

Abbas Araghchi and US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff held four hours of indirect talks at Oman’s embassy in the Italian capital, Rome, on Saturday, according to Araghchi.

“We succeeded in reaching a better understanding on certain principles and goals,” the diplomat was quoted by the semiofficial Tasnim news agency as saying. “The negotiations were conducted in a constructive atmosphere and are progressing. ”

There has been no readout yet of the meeting from the US side.

The delegations – led by Araghchi and Witkoff, a billionaire real estate executive whom US President Donald Trump has dispatched on numerous foreign policy missions – stayed in separate rooms in the embassy as Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi shuttled messages between them, according to Iranian officials.

Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the parties will hold more indirect, technical-level talks in the coming days, followed by another meeting with senior officials on April 26.

There were useful indirect talks today between Iran and the United States conducted by Oman Foreign Minister in a constructive atmosphere.

The two sides agreed to continue the indirect talks in few days at technical level to be followed by another round at their own level on…

“I hope that after next week’s technical sessions, we’ll be in a better position,” Araghchi said, according to Tasnim. “There’s no reason for excessive optimism or pessimism. ”

‘Negotiations to pick up’

Al Jazeera’s James Bays, reporting near the Omani diplomatic compound in Rome, said the Iranian response was “very positive” for a delegation that “had seemed pretty negative going into the talks”.

Next week’s planned talks mean “the pace of negotiations is going to be picked up”, Bays said.

The latest meeting comes a week after Iran and the US came together in Muscat for their first high-level discussions since Trump in 2018 unilaterally abandoned a landmark nuclear accord signed and brokered by world powers in 2015.

The Iranians “are looking for a kind of consistency when it comes to the current talks”, Al Jazeera’s Tohid Asadi reported from Tehran.

Will US accept civilian nuclear programme?

Western governments, including the US, have long accused Iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons – an allegation Tehran has denied, insisting its nuclear programme is solely for peaceful civilian use. On Wednesday, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, said Iran was “not far” from possessing a nuclear weapon.

Grossi was also in Rome on Saturday meeting Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani. Grossi’s nuclear watchdog would likely be central in verifying compliance by Iran should a deal be reached, as it did with the 2015 accord.

The US and Iran have had no diplomatic relations since shortly after Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution. After returning to office in January, Trump revived his “maximum pressure” sanctions campaign against Tehran, but in March, he sent a letter to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei calling for renewed negotiations – while warning of military consequences if diplomacy fails.

“I’m not in a rush” to use force, Trump said on Thursday. “I think Iran wants to talk. ”

On Friday, Araghchi said the US showed “a degree of seriousness” during the first round of talks but questioned Washington’s “intentions and motivations”.

Bays said the heart of the dispute remains whether Iran may maintain a civilian nuclear programme – or whether, as hardliners in Washington insist, it must dismantle its nuclear programme entirely.

US Vice President JD Vance has met with the Vatican’s top diplomats, discussing the politically fraught issue of migration months after Pope Francis rebuked the new US administration’s hardline immigration stance.

Vance, a Catholic convert, held what the Vatican described as “cordial talks” with Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin – the Holy See’s second highest official after the pope – and Paul Richard Gallagher, the secretary for relations with states.

“There was an exchange of opinions on the international situation, especially regarding countries affected by war, political tensions and difficult humanitarian situations, with particular attention to migrants, refugees, and prisoners,” the Vatican said in a statement.

The two sides also stressed “the common commitment to protect the right to freedom of religion and conscience”, the Vatican said.

In February, Pope Francis angered the White House after writing a letter to US bishops in which he condemned Trump’s plan to deport migrants en masse, describing it as a “major crisis”.

Trump’s border tsar told Francis to “stick to” religion.

Vance had been hoping to meet with the 88-year-old Francis, who is recuperating after battling life-threatening pneumonia and spending nearly 40 days in hospital.

The Vatican made no mention of any such meeting with the pontiff, who has resumed some official duties, and Vance’s entourage has not commented on the remainder of his programme in Rome.

Last year, Francis also made a rare foray into the US election season to call harsh anti-migrant attitudes “madness” and criticise right-wing US Catholic figures for overly conservative stances.