The day's 5️⃣ stories: Farewells at the Bernabéu, all of La Liga at stake | OneFootball

Saturday, May 23 arrives packed with farewells, nerves, news, and football...

So, let’s go over the five biggest stories of the day...

Farewell day at the Bernabeu

📸 OSCAR DEL POZO - AFP or licensors

Real Madrid face Athletic Club in their final La Liga match. All in front of the Santiago Bernabeu. And at that stadium, there will be three important farewells for Los Blancos.

On the one hand, a legend like Dani Carvajal is leaving, having lifted 27 trophies as a Real Madrid player. On the other, David Alaba is departing the club after being key in one of the Champions Leagues won by Real Madrid, and he leaves with 11 titles under his belt; but in addition, Álvaro Arbeloa is also saying goodbye after doing a great job in Real Madrid’s youth ranks, and he will leave Valdebebas to embark on a new adventure.

Everything still at stake in La Liga

📸 Alex Caparros - 2026 Getty Images

This Saturday, the Europa League spots in La Liga will be decided, with Celta and Getafe fighting for them; the Conference League spot, with Getafe, Rayo and Valencia all in contention; and relegation, where Mallorca, Girona, Elche and Osasuna are looking to stay in the top flight for at least one more year.

The scandal over Tuchel’s England squad list

📸 Alex Pantling - 2026 Getty Images

The outrage in England has been very evident in recent hours. The absences of players such as Cole Palmer, Phil Foden, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Harry Maguire, among others, have opened the floodgates to massive criticism across Britain.

The German-born manager explained that this is a squad built to form a team rather than gather the biggest talents, so it remains to be seen how it works out for him during the World Cup.

Enrique Riquelme gets his Real Madrid candidacy ready

Enrique Riquelme, the businessman who will go up against Florentino Pérez in the Real Madrid presidential election, is going through crucial days as he puts the finishing touches on presenting himself to Los Blancos with a candidacy that, according to 'MARCA', will include a coach and a sporting director.

Mikel Merino: "Even the surgeons had doubts.."

📸 BEN STANSALL - AFP or licensors

Mikel Merino has confirmed that he will be available both for the Champions League final with Arsenal and for the World Cup with Spain.

But in the meantime, he told 'MARCA' about his recovery process, during which even the surgeons had doubts.

He summed up the process like this: "Did I suffer? A lot, although for a short period. Above all, when they gave me the news and all your expectations and hopes come crashing down, especially because of the long recovery times. But I quickly turned it around, leaned on my wife, we looked at the positive side, and since then I’ve handled it pretty well."

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.

📸 Angel Martinez - 2026 Getty Images