Football Daily: Bigger Cup’s Bigger Draw serves up a buffet of possibilities

A Bigger Cup needs a Bigger Draw. Last year Uefa set out the tournament brackets from the quarter-final onwards, showing Real Madrid which particular jails they might need to escape to win the competition for the 15th time. This year Uefa have gone one better by doing the draw for the rest of the tournament at the last-16 stage. It’s a punch up the bracket for Manchester City, who can now empathise with every failed Bullseye contestant. Look what they could have won: Atlético Madrid in the last 16, then Arsenal or PSV Eindhoven in the quarter-finals, then maybe Liverpool in the semis.

Despite the frankly weird absence of City, who if you’re into the whole coefficient thing have been Europe’s second-best team over the last five years, the draw appears custom-designed to cause an increased flow of saliva in the mouths of football fans. Let’s start with the matches that will definitely happen. Plum last-16 ties include a Madrid derby, PSG v Liverpool, Bayern Munich v Bayer Leverkusen – who may be trailing in the title race but have never lost to Bayern under Xabi Alonso – and Club Brugge v Aston Villa. Yep, one of those clubs will play in the quarter-finals of Bigger Cup for the first time since either 1978 (Brugge) or 1983 (Villa). No matter how despicably unequal football becomes, an underdog story always finds a way to emerge. It’s the romance of Bigger Cup (yes, yes, we know Brugge reached the last eight in 1992-93 but they didn’t play in the quarter-finals. You’re ruining the moment with this pedantry)!

Then there are the fantasy match-ups, the ones that could happen – or, in the case of Feyenoord v Internazionale, might have happened had Milan not been such a shower the other night. Like those World Cup wallcharts that were among Football Daily’s best friends in childhood, the Bigger Cup bracket is an all-you-can-eat buffet for the imagination. Potential ties include Arsenal v Real Madrid in the quarter-finals; the winner of that tie facing Liverpool in the semis; Bayern or Leverkusen v Dortmund in the other semi-final. And, best of all, in the final, Club Brugge v Lille Real Madrid v Barcelona. They’ve never met in the final of a European competition. Chances are they won’t this season, but right now – all thanks to Bigger Draw – it’s a live possibility.

Join John Brewin for live Women’s Nations League coverage of Portugal 2-3 England (7.45pm GMT) and Dominic Booth for Premier League action from Leicester 0-0 Brentford (8pm GMT).

“Loco, loco. It was a mad derby, a crazy match. We were ahead, we were behind and then we managed to get a draw at the end of a pulsating game. To say that was my first derby wearing this shirt is fantastic. I really enjoyed it.” – Carlos Alcaraz (not that one) gets his chat on with Andy Hunter about the Merseyside derby and why he hopes to settle down at Everton.

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Manchester United will face Real Sociedad, Tottenham take on AZ Alkmaar in the Troy Parrott Derby and Rangers have a blockbuster tie with José Mourinho’s Fenerbahce in the Bigger Vase last 16. In Tin Pot, Chelsea face Copenhagen on their inevitable trudge to the trophy.

Staying with United, and CEO Omar Berrada has warned staff they could face the sack for leaking information in an email that (somewhat amusingly) was leaked.

Enzo Maresca will be without Noni Madueke for that tie, with the Chelsea winger out until the next international break with hamstring-twang. “Now it’s a bad run. We need to deal with that,” Maresca sighed. “The target for us is to finish top four.”

Jacob Steinberg has some transfer news. West Ham are keen on pinching Jonathan David on a free from Lille when his contract expires in the summer, although Juventus and Inter are also sniffing around.

“We are always looking for happiness” – Chelsea manager Sonia Bompastor has revealed she is in a long-term relationship with her assistant, Camille Abily.

Nathan Aké isn’t happy with Manchester City’s resilience. Up next? Only Liverpool. John Stones is expected to miss that game with leg-ouch, while Erling Haaland’s participation is in the balance.

And Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola has neatly sidestepped speculation linking him with the Real Madrid job. “You cannot control things that are spoken outside here,” Iraola trilled. “I definitely don’t pay any attention to these things.”

England play world champions Spain at Wembley next Wednesday but will start their Nations League campaign against Portugal on Friday. Sarina Wiegman is boosted by the return of Ella Toone after her calf-twang. The midfielder has also had to process the death of her father in September. “I was putting too much pressure on myself,” Toone explained. “When I put pressure on myself, I can’t play my best football. I didn’t know that until I got the injury – a blessing in disguise – and I stepped away from the pitch for a bit. It made me realise that was what I was doing and I needed help. I needed to ask for it.”

Wales also kick-off on Friday against Italy and face a daunting League A group also featuring Sweden and Denmark. “If you aren’t excited by the challenge, you are in the wrong environment,” roared Ceri Holland. “This is a challenge we are really excited for and we will learn some lessons that will be really crucial for Euro 2025.”

Meanwhile, interim manager Michael McArdle will take charge of his first game for Scotland, against Austria, but will have to do so without Erin Cuthbert, who has rib-ouch! Having been relegated from their League A campaign in 2023, the Scots are back in the Nations League top tier after an unbeaten campaign last time out.

You know the drill by now. It’s 10 things to look out for in the Premier League this weekend.

David Moyes is reunited with Manchester United at Goodison Park, and is currently faring slightly better than Ruben Amorim, as Ben McAleer writes.

Zambian football is being overshadowed by corruption allegations. Ed Aarons has all the details.

Newcastle United face a big decision – rebuild St James’ Park or move elsewhere? Louise Taylor looks at the £1.6bn question.

Can Pep Guardiola rebuild Manchester City? Possibly. Barney Ronay asks whether he can actually be bothered.

And MLS is back this weekend. To pique your interest, here’s Aaron Timms on the state of the game across the pond.

On this day in 1972, more than 50,000 fans turned out at Villa Park for a friendly – although in fairness, it was against Santos, who had Pelé in their team. Here we can see the Brazilian legend on the ball in a match Villa won 2-1.