Derby substitute Jack Marriott scored twice to help fire his side into the Sky Bet Championship play-off final after a 4-2 victory at Leeds.

Marcelo Bielsa insisted he never said he would walk away from Leeds if they did not win promotion to the Premier League this season.

The battle for promotion from the Championship reaches a crescendo this weekend with at least eight teams still dreaming of making it into the Premier League and two able to seal it right now. But how well prepared are any of the sides for what could lie ahead?

Spring is in the air. The cold hand of the previous year’s winter, which resulted in heavy snow and fixture cancellations as late as March was conspicuous by its absence but as April begins no one is taking the warm weather for granted just yet.

O'Neill was a hugely animated figure and was lectured by referee Jeremy Simpson after straying from his technical area and down the side of the pitch once too often.

Here's your morning bulletin.

Paudie O’Connor doesn’t want to be remembered for his one night in London against Arsenal. He’s far too ambitious to be pigeonholed into a cameo.

Leeds midfielder Pablo Hernandez salvaged Marcelo Bielsa's unbeaten start to the season with an equaliser in the 2-2 draw against former club Swansea.

It is a small mercy that Jana Novotna’s pomp predated clickbait. And that the industry around badness — which now rivals the business of controvassy — hadn’t been born.

Plenty of reasons have been propounded for Dimitri Payet’s meteoric rise from international underachiever to France’s outstanding player at Euro 2016 — but the best words to explain it probably came from Didier Deschamps.

Swansea have appointed Alan Curtis as their manager until the end of the season.

Premier League round-up

It was a remarkable thing to say about a summer that had just seen Diego Maradona reach his peak, but Jack Charlton wasn’t in Mexico to be entertained.

Slaven Bilic is the new manager of West Ham.

The story goes about Marcelo Bielsa, manager of Marseille, that back in Argentina, he had a football pitch built next to his home in the country.

Not so different from travelling with The Beatles. That was how Swedish midfielder Alex Kacaniklic described coexisting in a football team with Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

The future of Manchester United target Cesc Fabregas will be among the priority issues for new Barcelona head coach Gerardo Martino.

Gerardo Martino believes fellow Argentinian Lionel Messi had a say in his appointment as the new Barcelona coach.

Barcelona have reached an agreement for Argentinian Gerardo Martino to become their new coach.

Gerardo Martino last night emerged as the likely replacement for Tito Vilanova as Barcelona coach.

Barcelona forward Lionel Messi has spoken glowingly about Gerardo Martino following the emergence of his fellow Argentinian as the favourite to succeed Tito Vilanova in the Nou Camp hot-seat.

Friday night’s last ever Basque derby to be held at Athletic Bilbao’s Estadio San Mames should have been a celebration of La Catedral’s 100-year history, but instead turned into yet another low point in one of the club’s worst seasons.

Barcelona 5 Athletic Bilbao 1

It’s many years since Real Madrid fans have been as happy going into a new campaign.

Argentina midfielder Javier Mascherano believes it will be difficult for his country to prevent Spain from retaining the World Cup in two years’ time.

Javi Martinez has no intention of leaving Athletic Bilbao this summer despite speculation linking him with some of Europe’s top clubs.

Former Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp appears not to have ruled out the possibility of becoming manager of Russia.

Former England boss Fabio Capello and Harry Redknapp have been included on a wish list of candidates to become the new Russia manager.

The sideshow runs another night; there is a trophy still up for grabs and the shot of transient satiety that comes with it.

From Spain, all the old worries; from Italy, all the old strengths.

Will Cristiano Ronaldo be crowned king of Europe by claiming the tournament’s Golden Boot?

Radamel Falcao justified his golden boot billing by firing Atletico Madrid to Europa League glory last night.

Atletico Madrid 3 Athletic Bilbao 0

Athletic Bilbao striker Fernando Llorente believes his side’s stunning success over Manchester United has given them the belief they can claim the club’s first ever European trophy when they face Atletico Madrid in an all-Spanish Europa League final in Bucharest tonight.

Roy Hodgson left Wembley this evening after a “positive” four-hour meeting with the Football Association, thrashing out the contract that is set to confirm him as England’s new manager.

England fans’ spokesman Mark Perryman has backed the appointment of Roy Hodgson as Fabio Capello’s successor, but warned supporters to forget any prospect of winning a trophy for at least four years.

Barcelona moved swiftly to continue the philosophies developed successfully by Pep Guardiola by appointing Tito Vilanova as his successor.

Barcelona president Sandro Rosell has announced that Pep Guardiola’s assistant Tito Vilanova is to step up into the top job.

Barcelona have called a press conference for this lunchtime at which Pep Guardiola is expected to announce he will leave the club at the end of the season.

Athletic Bilbao 3 Sporting Lisbon 1 (Athletic Bilbao win 4-3 on aggregate)

Given the — justifiable — excitement over Marcelo Bielsa’s Athletic Bilbao at the moment, it would be easy to overlook just how significant a part Schalke 04 played in their thrilling meeting in the Europa League last Thursday.

It is rare in modern football to see something quite so startling as Athletic Bilbao’s two victories over Manchester United.

Conspiracy theorists suspect the Champions League draw is arranged in consultation with UEFA’s marketing department.

The shortage of Premier League fixtures on Saturday meant Swansea’s flattening of Fulham took centre stage on Match of the Day, with their manager Brendan Rodgers interviewed by Gary Lineker via video link.