Middlesbrough send demand to 35,000+ fans before Hull City play-off final | OneFootball

Middlesbrough are taking on Hull City in Saturday's Championship play-off final at Wembley Stadium

Middlesbrough are set to take on Hull City in Saturday's Championship play-off final, with a place in next season's Premier League on the line.

Coventry City and Ipswich Town won automatic promotion to the top flight, and will be joined in the Premier League by either Boro or the Tigers.

Kim Hellberg's men lost 2-1 on aggregate to Southampton in their play-off semi-final, but have been awarded a place in the Wembley Stadium final after the Saints were kicked out.

Tonda Eckert's men were found guilty of spying on one of Boro's training sessions in the build-up to their semi-final first leg, and also admitted to spying on Oxford United and Ipswich during the regular season.

In contrast, Hull beat Millwall 2-0 on aggregate in a play-off clash that wasn't surrounded by off-field controversy, with Mohamed Belloumi and Joe Gelhardt both scoring in the second leg.

Middlesbrough send clear demand to supporters as Championship play-off final excitement builds

Middlesbrough were in the automatic promotion race until the last day of the Championship campaign, but ultimately had to settle for a play-off spot.

In contrast, Hull clinched a top-six finish on the final day of the regular season, thanks to a 2-1 victory over Norwich City, while Wrexham slipped out of the play-offs via a 2-2 draw with Boro.

The most recent meeting between Sergej Jakirovic's men and Hellberg's side in the regular season witnessed the Tigers run out as 1-0 winners at the Riverside Stadium on 29 December, thanks to Darko Gyabi's goal.

In the reverse fixture, which took place in early December, Middlesbrough thrashed Hull 4-1 at the MKM Stadium, with goals coming from David Strelec, Alex Gilbert, Morgan Whittaker, and Riley McGree.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, Boro posted on their official X account: "Turn London red! Kim Hellberg's side will be wearing red for Saturday's showpiece occasion, and we want you to do the same as we descend on the capital.

"Make it a sea of red across London and wear your colours with pride."

Middlesbrough fans are likely to take their club's advice, as they hope that their support can help bring Premier League football back to the Riverside Stadium for the first time since 2017.

Meanwhile, according to Hull City kits on X, the Tigers will also be wearing their home kit colours, amber and black.

Intriguingly, the FA's guidance on colour blindness suggests that red versus orange is a kit clash, while amber sits between yellow and orange on the colour spectrum.

Boro and Hull have both endured non-ideal build-ups to the Championship play-off final

The Championship play-off final is one of the most hotly anticipated events in English football's annual calendar, but the build-up to the Wembley clash has been dominated by Southampton's spying antics.

Middlesbrough were, of course, one of the victims of the Saints' law-breaking, whereas Hull didn't know who their play-off final was going to be until Wednesday, when it emerged that Eckert's side had lost their appeal against being kicked out of the play-offs.

Consequently, neither the Tigers nor Boro have been able to prepare for the Wembley showpiece in the way that they would have liked, despite the obvious importance of the fixture.