Daily Soccer Digest From May 1, 2026

Atlético Madrid dominated the territorial battle at the Metropolitano on 29 April — 18 shots to Arsenal's 11, 52% possession, 6 corners to 1 — yet the match finished 1-1. Arsenal take an away goal to the Emirates for the second leg on 5 May, where they have not lost a home UCL game all season (5W 1D) and beat Atlético 4-0 in the group stage.

Nottingham Forest, sitting 16th in the Premier League on 39 points, beat Aston Villa 1-0 on 30 April in the UEL semi-final first leg. Villa sit 5th in the PL on 58 points — 19 points above Forest domestically — yet the European contest was near-even on the stats sheet, decided by a single goal. Forest's full UEL campaign stands at 8W 3D 4L across 15 games.

Crystal Palace beat Shakhtar Donetsk 3-1 in the UECL semi-final first leg on 30 April despite managing just 29% possession and 10 total shots to Shakhtar's 15. Palace converted 7 of those 10 shots on target while Shakhtar — with 71% possession — managed only 1 shot on goal from 15 attempts. Palace were slight underdogs at average away odds of 2.01.

SC Braga defeated SC Freiburg 2-1 on 30 April in the UEL semi-final first leg, extending a campaign record of 13W 4D 2L across all 19 games — including qualifying — with 36 goals scored and only 13 conceded. Braga controlled the match with 59% possession and 13 shots (6 on goal) to Freiburg's 10 (2 on goal).

Rosario Central share top of their Copa Libertadores group with 7 points from 3 games — 2 wins and 1 draw — having not conceded a single goal across the entire group stage so far. Their 3-0 away win at UCV on 29 April maintained the clean-sheet group lead, with Independiente del Valle also on 7 points but behind on goal difference.