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• Premier League clubs agree in principle to new spending cap

  Premier League clubs have voted in favour of the competition potentially creating a spending cap, according to widespread reports.

  The Premier League will now work on the studies and legal analysis required to possibly introduce a cap model from the start of the 2025-26 season onwards.

  This would replace the current Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR), under which Everton and Nottingham Forest have both been deducted points this season, while Leicester City have been charged with a breach.

  At a meeting on Monday, 16 clubs voted in favour of the Premier League performing the required analysis. The model will then be presented to club's at the annual general meeting in June, for another vote.

  According to reports, Manchester United, Manchester City and Aston Villa voted against the introduction of a spending cap, which would be tied to a multiple of whatever the lowest-earning side receives via the league's centralised broadcast and commercial deals. Chelsea were said to have abstained.

  The cap would form part of the Premier League's "squad cost" rules, which will eventually replace the PSR.

  While Everton have secured their safety despite suffering two points deductions worth eight points, Nottingham Forest remain in a relegation battle having been docked four points.

  Forest will soon find out the result of their appeal, while Everton were set to have their appeal against the second of their deductions heard in the coming weeks.

  Leicester, who have been promoted from the Championship, could face a points deduction next season, having been charged with a breach of the Premier League's regulations during the 2022-23 campaign.

  Chelsea, meanwhile, seemingly got around the rules due to their ownership selling two Stamford Bridge hotels to another company within their group.

• 'We need tactics, but also luck' – Tuchel says Bayern up against Madrid 'aura'

  Thomas Tuchel has warned his Bayern Munich team they will not only be facing Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-finals, but also going up against Los Blancos' European "aura".

  While Tuchel will leave the Allianz Arena having suffered the ignominy of overseeing Bayern's first failure to win the Bundesliga title since 2012, he could yet bring Europe's top prize to Bavaria.

  Bayern reached the last four with a 3-2 aggregate triumph over Arsenal, but they face a daunting task against the team that eliminated holders Manchester City in the last round.

  Bayern are winless in their last seven games against Madrid, losing six and drawing one, and Los Blancos have won on their last three trips to the Allianz Arena – the longest winning streak ever recorded by a visiting team at Bayern in European Cup/Champions League history.

  Coming up against Madrid in a competition they regard as their own, Tuchel believes, presents an additional challenge. 

  "When you're playing against Real Madrid, you're also up against the aura and the legend that surrounds them," Tuchel said at Monday's pre-match press conference.  

  "Obviously we need tactics, but also some luck. You can achieve a lot with tactics. The approach is the car, and the players drive it.

  "We need to find a good balance and moments where we have solutions. The players also need freedom to bring it to life. 

  "But obviously we also need some luck in the game. We need to coax out that luck a bit as well."

  Bayern versus Madrid is already the most played fixture in European Cup/Champions League history, taking place 26 times with 24 of those coming in the knockout stages.

  Tuchel believes the tie would have been a fitting final, adding: "The semi-final already feels a bit like the final. My approach is to line up like a final. 

  "We won't approach it with the background that there's still a game to play. We want to play the game in isolation. We have the freedom, we'll put everything in tomorrow and then we'll see."

• Emotional Thiago Silva confirms Chelsea departure but vows to return 'in another role'

  Thiago Silva will leave Chelsea at the end of the campaign, but hopes to return down the line in another role.

  Silva, who joined Chelsea as a free agent after leaving Paris Saint-Germain in 2020, has made 151 appearances for the club and helped them win the Champions League, Club World Cup and Super Cup.

  The 39-year-old, however, will not be staying at Stamford Bridge for a fifth campaign.

  In an emotional interview with the club's media channels, the Brazilian said: "Chelsea means a lot to me. I came here with the intention of only staying for one year and it ended up being four years.

  "Not just for me but for my family, too. My sons play for Chelsea so it's a source of great pride to be a member of the Chelsea family.

  "I hope my sons can continue with their careers here at this victorious club that many players wish to be a part of.

  "I think everything I did here over the four years, I always gave my all but, unfortunately, everything has a start, a middle and an end.

  "It's an indescribable love. I can only say thank you."

  However, Silva is set on returning to the club once his playing days are over.

  He added: "That doesn't mean that this is a definitive end, I have to leave the door open so that in the near future I can return, albeit in another role here.

  "Obviously, when I started here, it was during the pandemic, so there weren't any fans in the stadium, but through social media it became something very special to me and then when the fans started coming back, and life was getting back to normal, I started to feel a lot of affection and respect for my story and for my start here.

  "So, it is already hard saying goodbye in the most normal of circumstances, but when there is a mutual love, it's even harder. But once a Blue, always a Blue."

  Silva has worked under a variety of managers during his time at Chelsea, including Mauricio Pochettino, Graham Potter, Thomas Tuchel and Frank Lampard, who brought him to the club.

  "The way in which I came here, with the support of the club, I got to be a leader of the club having arrived as the new guy," Silva continued.

  "It's always difficult to integrate, but bit by bit, I became part of the group and Lampard played a big part in that, so I am grateful to him for that.

  "Not even in my wildest dreams did I imagine that I could achieve such great things and win one of the best professional titles, the Champions League, at one of the biggest clubs in the world.

  "Goodbyes are for those that leave and don't come back. I intend on coming back one day."

  Silva will be hoping to bid farewell to Chelsea on a high note by propelling them to European qualification.