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• Columbus Crew v CF Montreal: Nancy proud of resilient Champions Cup performance

  Wilfried Nancy was delighted with the spirit and grit his Columbus Crew team displayed as they sealed a 2-1 CONCACAF Champions Cup win over CF Monterrey.

  The Crew are in a great position to progress to the Champions Cup final after their first-leg win in midweek.

  Now, Nancy will turn his focus to a league clash with his former club CF Montreal, but he stressed his pride with his team for their performance against Monterrey.

  “I'm really proud of the guys,” said Nancy.

  “Because we did a really good game in terms of when we had the difficult moments, we were together. And when we had the ball, we tried to play our game and we had good opportunities also, and we were able to unbalance them.

  “We try to convince [the squad] that when we play high-level sport, it's a game of mistakes.

  The idea is no matter what happened, can we find a way to bounce back? So we work on that during the practice, but at the end of the day, you have to live this situation. And I think that we've worked upon in the past. So now they’ve been better and the chemistry is better. And they were able to sort it out.”

  The Crew are the reigning MLS Cup champions, though they have drawn their last three league fixtures.

  While Columbus sit fourth in the Eastern Conference, Montreal are three points back in 10th place.

  PLAYERS TO WATCH

  Columbus Crew – Cucho Hernandez

  Hernandez scored his 34th MLS goal (including playoffs) in the Crew’s draw on Saturday. Only the Philadelphia Union’s Daniel Gazdag (36) has more goals than Hernández since he made his MLS debut in July 2022.

  CF Montreal – Ariel Lassiter

  Lassiter put CF Montreal ahead against Orlando on Saturday with an 88th-minute goal, only to see the Lions equalize in stoppage time. It marked just the second time in club history that Montreal scored a go-ahead goal after the 75th minute but failed to win the match, also doing so against the Fire in 2017.

  MATCH PREDICTION: COLUMBUS WIN

  Montreal have lost 17 of their 25 away matches in all competitions (W5 D3) dating back to the start of last season, being outscored, 56-21, in those games.

  Columbus are unbeaten in 17 straight regular-season home matches (W12 D5) following a pair of draws with D.C. United and the Portland Timbers. The only longer run in club history was a 22-match streak in 2008—09.

  Columbus won both of their matches against Montreal last season after winning just two of the previous eight (D2 L4). Montreal (2-1 in August 2022) are one of two visiting teams to record a win at Lower.com Field since June 2022.

  OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

  Columbus Crew – 56.4%

  CF Montreal – 18.6%

  Draw – 25%

• Pochettino urges Chelsea players to have more self-belief

  Mauricio Pochettino has reminded his team to respect themselves as they prepare for another tough game against Aston Villa on Saturday.

  After being knocked out of the FA Cup by Manchester City last Saturday, the Blues were thrashed 5-0 by title-chasing Arsenal in midweek for their 11th defeat of the season.

  Chelsea still have an outside chance of finishing in the top seven as they sit just three points behind Newcastle United with two games in hand.

  Asked if his side are capable of putting the disappointment of their last two results behind them, Pochettino said: “Lack of belief, in the circumstances, sometimes happens.

  “We tried to realise how we need to behave when the game is tough when the demands are so high. We need to try and be more strong and to trust in the way that we play, in our philosophy, in the way we prepare the games.

  “We need to be positive, and we need to be strong and believe tomorrow we can have a good game, good attitude, good approach. We are going to compete again with another team, fighting for the top. We need to think we are Chelsea and respect ourselves."

• RFEF elects Rocha as new president

  The Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) has confirmed Pedro Rocha as its new president.

  Rocha has been elected as Luis Rubiales' replacement, despite being under investigation for corruption.

  He had been serving as interim president since Rubiales resigned in September over the scandal caused when he kissed player Jenni Hermoso following Spain's Women's World Cup triumph in August.

  In a statement released on Friday, the RFEF said: "Pedro Rocha has today been proclaimed the new president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), after having received the support of the majority of the assembly members of this institution that governs Spanish football.

  "The process followed the procedure agreed by the Electoral Commission, which met this morning, and the timetable that was established for these elections."

  Rocha has been under investigation since earlier in April, after the RFEF's headquarters was raided by police last month. The Spanish government announced on Thursday that it would be stepping in to oversee the running of the organisation.