If you watched the Netflix docuseries Sunderland ‘Til I Die, you saw a famous old English club that looked like dying. Two straight relegations for the Black Cats put these giants of the Northeast in a precarious position, and the man often tasked with guiding the viewer through all this tumult and heartbreak was Nick Barnes. As the Sunderland commentator for BBC Newcastle, he calls every game for radio, but he’s also covered this club through thick and thin, many managers and even many owners. He’s seen it all.

And he’ll see one more thing this Saturday, when Sunderland travel to Wembley to face Sheffield United in the Championship playoff final — the $200 million game. Whoever wins will play Premier League football next season and travel to Anfield, Old Trafford, Stamford Bridge, the Emirates Stadium. Whoever loses will be back in the Championship, going to Swansea.

Either way, Barnes will be along for the ride. But first he joins The Football Weekend to take stock of it all.

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And as always, for kickoff times and storylines on all the other matches worth your time this weekend, check TheFootballWeekend.com.

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The FA Cup final is no longer the capstone to the English football season, the last match on the calendar with a weekend all its own. This one will have to share real estate with the Premier League, the promotion playoffs in the Football League, and of course everything going on beyond the shores of Great Britain.

But this remains a showpiece match nonetheless, and this edition has its narratives. There’s MANCHESTER CITY in their third-straight final, looking to salvage something from a season that’s been almost unbelievably poor by Pep Guardiola’s high standards. And then there’s CRYSTAL PALACE, a club without a trophy in its history besides the hardly major Full Members’ Cup. Twice the South Londoners have appeared in this final, and both times the Eagles took the lead. Both times, they ultimately lost to Manchester United.

Now they’ve got a chance at redemption against the other Manchester side, and here to preview it all ahead of kickoff on Saturday (11:30am ET, 4:30pm UK) is Jon Champion, who will be calling the game for ESPN in the United States.

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And as always, for kickoff times and storylines on all the other matches worth your time this weekend, check TheFootballWeekend.com.

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It’s a game that needs no introduction, but there’s plenty of narrative coming into this one. BARCELONA just lost the greatest cup tie of all time to Inter Milan in a Champions League semifinal. REAL MADRID are enduring a horror season by their standards, culminating with a Copa del Rey final defeat to their Catalan enemies that had them going ballistic on the referee.

That makes the two contestants in El Clásico a pair of wounded animals, though Barcelona have the consolation of that cup final victory and a very good chance to wrap up La Liga with a win here. Madrid have no such comfort, and all they can do is beat their greatest rivals to keep the title race alive. Which of these two can shake off the emotional baggage in time to win the biggest match in club football?

Here to help us answer that question ahead of kickoff on Sunday (10:15am ET, 3:15pm UK) is Dan Hilton of The Barcelona Podcast.

If you're enjoying the show, please leave us a rating and review! It will help spread the good word.

And as always, for kickoff times and storylines on all the other matches worth your time this weekend, check TheFootballWeekend.com.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.