Haji Wright hit a hat trick as Coventry returned to the top of the Sky Bet Championship with a 3-1 home victory over in-form promotion rivals Middlesbrough.

Coventry had relinquished a 10-point lead at the top of the table to their opponents, but a dominant performance at the Coventry Building Society Arena saw Frank Lampard’s side go back to the summit and move one step closer to the Premier League.

Following three games without a win, the Sky Blues reignited their title bid and ended Middlesbrough’s six-match winning run.

Wright made it to 13 goals for the season with his hat trick and his coach Frank Lampard was full of praise for the USMNT forward.

“Haji keeps his head down, he’s been working hard and we know what Haji can be like when he’s in that form. Really pleased for him and he has to take that forward.

“Especially with a high-level game, you have to score in critical moments and we did today. Everybody worked and Haji did the business.”

Wright struck a post with the first action of the game but was not to be denied a second time when he tapped in just his third goal since October to settle any home nerves.

Middlesbrough put in a rare lacklustre attacking display as they failed to register a shot on target in the first period.

Wright doubled the hosts’ advantage 10 minutes after the break before Riley McGree got Boro back in the contest, but the United States international completed his treble with his 13th goal of the season from the penalty spot after Matt Targett handled inside the area.

Coventry’s fast start almost brought instant rewards as Tatsuhiro Sakamoto curled a cross on to the head of Wright, who guided the ball against a post.

Boro players threw themselves in front of further efforts from Frank Onyeka and Jack Rudoni, but the visitors began to settle down, Morgan Whittaker firing over with their first sight of goal after a chaotic opening.

But the hosts hit the front in the 21st minute.

Rudoni tiptoed his way into the area and flashed a teasing ball across the face of goal and Wright was on hand to poke it past Sol Brynn.

The Sky Blues went in search of a second when Ephron Mason-Clark darted into the area, but he guided his effort the wrong side of a post.

It took 40 minutes but the Teesiders finally woke up and started to test Coventry for the first time.

Targett whipped a searching ball beyond the back line, but Whittaker could only head it against Jay Dasilva and behind.

Chances were beginning to come at each end, Mason-Clark timing his run perfectly to break the offside trap but shooting straight at Brynn minutes before the break.

Twenty seconds after Hayden Hackney had forced Carl Rushworth into his first save, the keeper sent a high kick over the top for Wright, who latched on to the long ball and finished past Brynn.

Coventry were seemingly comfortable, but Boro served a reminder they still carried a threat as Aidan Morris fired against a post from distance.

And Middlesbrough did get themselves back in the match, Callum Brittain breaching the back line and sending in a cross which McGree diverted home to set up a nervy last quarter for Coventry.

But those nerves were soon settled as Josh Eccles’ cross hit Targett’s hand and Wright stepped up to seal his hat trick and the points from the spot.

“There’s so many points to fight for. We’ve got ourselves in this position, it’s game on,” Lampard added.

“There is so much to play for and we absolutely can’t get carried away. We have to focus on ourselves. No one can rest. It’s about action, but we have to recognise the effort we put into this game to stick to a plan and deliver that. West Brom will be a different challenge.”

The last time Diego Simeone lined up an Atlético Madrid side in the Champions League, he was in touching distance of that coveted top-eight finish which would have earned his club a succulent €18.2 million bonus and saved them two deeply unwelcome and risky extra knockout matches.

Exactly three weeks later, when the Argentine coach lines Atleti up against Club Brugge on Wednesday for the first leg of their playoff to reach to round of 16, it’s arguable that the future of the most successful coach in Los Rojiblancos’ history is in real jeopardy.

Here’s why: Atleti have stunk the house out in 2026.

Evidence? Two wins out of six in LaLiga, the last three without scoring — two of which were against relegation teams. Now Atleti are 15 points behind the leaders Real Madrid.

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In the Champions League, that top-eight finish was begging them to gobble it up, earn the aforementioned €18.2 million bonus and avoid dangerous knockout matches — but Atleti fluffed their lines, took one point from six, and were left with their noses pressed against the window marked “Elite.”

Worse, the embodiment of that embarrassment was one of their most humiliating European performances, losing 2-1 to Bodø/Glimt in Madrid.

Had they beaten the novice Norwegians 4-0, Atleti would have finished in the top eight and barged Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City off the high table in the process. It would have been a huge boost; invaluable to club coffers and allowed vital respite for tired players. But, despite leading 1-0, Atleti collapsed against Bodø/Glimt — humbled by a club from a 48,000-population city in its debut Champions League campaign.

Set against that is Simeone’s team winning 5-0 and 4-0 against Real Betis and Barcelona, respectively, in the Copa del Rey. Results that grab your attention and, temporarily, demand respect. But Atleti, with the consistency of their competitive mentality about as strong as a wet paper bag, backed up their thrashing of Betis in Seville by losing 1-0 at home to the very same team three days later for the equivalent LaLiga fixture.

And that stirring dismantling of Hansi Flick’s Spanish champions in the Copa semifinal first leg? That was immediately followed by a performance of craven surrender when Atleti faced third-bottom Rayo Vallecano (15 places and 23 points lower than Simeone’s team) but slumped to a 3-0 defeat — registering their worst loss to Rayo since 1981.

It’s revealing when most the damning words for such Jekyll-and-Hyde performances, which would make any team, not just Atleti, look extremely badly coached and inefficiently led, come from your own goalkeeper. But Jan Oblak, clearly still stunned and fuming at the quality of his teammates’ display against previously hopeless Rayo (in the relegation zone before kick-off) didn’t hold back on Spanish TV on Sunday afternoon.

“After this, it looks like we’ve tossed any chances of winning the league away,” he said. “You can’t lose matches in this manner.

“You can’t put in that kind of match display. Performing like this it’ll be difficult for us to be competitive.

“You can’t pick and choose matches in which to perform. You need to play to your maximum all the time and we haven’t done that here. Congratulations to Rayo — they were much better than us — we deserved to lose.”

Note the “will be extremely difficult for us to be competitive.” Oblak was referring to challenges to come in the Champions League and Copa del Rey semifinal second leg. They are some deeply pessimistic words from a guy who is playing his 102nd Champions League match on Wednesday.

What made matters worse was that his coach, Simeone, immediately argued that the big Slovenian was talking rubbish: “I don’t agree with what Oblak said. The team doesn’t choose matches; we played poorly, and when the rival plays better, and is superior they beat you.”

Well, that’s alright then Diego! It’s only that your team plays poorly and the rivals are better. Phew! No problems there. What a chancer.

Somehow, Simeone still gets away with trotting out that kind of banal nonsense. It’s a great mass-hypnosis act to argue that the only problem you have is playing poorly and being out-done by your opponent and, using that tactic, somehow turn attention elsewhere. Those are the very pieces of evidence which, at any other club, gets you sacked.

To put things in context, particularly given that Atleti are alive and kicking in two knockout competitions, let’s look at where Simeone’s team is currently, compared to the last decade in LaLiga. Only twice in the last 10 years have Atleti been worse statistically than they are right now.

Those were after Matchday 24 in 2020 and Matchday 24 in 2022 — the first just as the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, and the second at a time when Simeone subsequently admitted that he began to believe that his time was up.

A few months after that 2022 trough, the Argentine was asked by Diario AS: “In those weeks before the last World Cup, did you feel like the cycle was ending?”

Simeone responded: “Without a doubt, it was the worst part of all my years at the club. I’m not stupid. I saw, just like you, that the team was playing badly, that it lacked identity, commitment, effort, and that its passing didn’t inspire confidence.”

Rather like now, in fact. Reliable word has it that, ath the time, the Atleti directors were getting ready to say: “Thanks for the memories!” and “Adiós!” to Simeone until his team revolutionised itself, upped its performance level and started surging up the table.

Fast-forward to today, and Simeone remains a hot topic around Atleti’s ownership, media and fans.

He’s the longest-serving coach of a Spanish club in history but — after a blitz of trophies when he arrived, when the side was buzzing with vitality, standards were higher, and Simeone was able to coach his defence into extreme stinginess — the club’s habit of lifting silverware has been traded for settling for being a cash-cow.

No trophies in the last five years, just one in the last eight — but, for example, €85 million filling the coffers from the revamped Champions League cash-printing machine last season when Atleti made it to the last 16.

It was after that otherwise disappointing season finished that Simeone admitted to Spanish radio in June 2025: “One or two friends advised me that this was the time to leave Atlético.”

Why? Well, there’s a new broom coming at the club. Atlético Madrid are in the process of drastic ownership change, thanks to share purchase from US investment company Apollo Sports Capital — and their financial stake will have been based on actuarial calculations about the future, not on Simeone’s once-glorious past.

Simeone has a new, sceptical, boss in the shape of Mateu Alemany, who’s widely understood to be weighing up the candidacy of both Villarreal‘s Marcelino and Atleti legend Fernando Torres, who is currently in charge of their B-team.

What hasn’t changed, what never changes, is that the club feeds off Champions League progression and the vast financial injection they require that to bring them.

Maybe this season brings a trophy-lift for Simeone; someone, who so often “Houdinis” his way out of a bind.

Alternatively, should Simeone’s team “play badly” and be “out-performed by their rival” in Bruges this midweek, it’ll be treated far more seriously than the unpalatable but oh-so “seen-it-all-before” defeats to Bodø/Glimt, Betis and Rayo these past few weeks.

Simeone’s reputation and job are on the line.

José Mourinho was never going to fade away quietly. That reality will feel like a recurring nightmare for Real Madrid as they prepare to face Benfica with their UEFA Champions League ambitions on the line.

Having turned the “Special One” into the “Normal One” during three fractious years at the Bernabéu between 2010-13, Madrid know enough about Mourinho to expect a sting in the tail when they compete with his Benfica team for a place in the round of 16 over the next eight days.

Mourinho has already returned to haunt his former club this season by overseeing last month’s incredible 4-2 league-phase victory for Benfica — sealed by goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin‘s memorable headed goal in stoppage time — which dragged Madrid into the playoffs and kept the Lisbon team in the competition. The two clubs were then paired together to meet again on Tuesday at Estadio da Luz ahead of next Wednesday’s second leg in Madrid.

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But with Mourinho tipped to succeed Roberto Martínez as Portugal coach following the 2026 FIFA World Cup, every Champions League tie could now be the 63-year-old’s last. And this matchup could not be a more fitting occasion for Mourinho to delay his Champions League farewell — a game in the competition that made him against the club that broke him.

Is Mourinho the type of personality who would take great satisfaction from taking revenge against Madrid, 13 years after leaving the Bernabéu, by knocking them out of the Champions League? Absolutely.

It’s true that, since his three years as Madrid coach came to an end in 2013, after winning just one LaLiga, Copa del Rey and Supercopa, Mourinho has won more major honors than most coaches. But he has always been the type to measure himself against the best rather than the rest.

He won a Premier League title with Chelsea in 2015, the UEFA Europa League with Manchester United two years later — he also won League Cups while at Stamford Bridge and Old Trafford — and the UEFA Conference League with AS Roma in 2022. But the really big stuff on Mourinho’s CV came before he walked into the Bernabéu and engaged in the dual battle of managing a skeptical dressing room at the same time as taking on Pep Guardiola’s Lionel Messi-inspired Barcelona team.

Before he took charge of Madrid, Mourinho was a serial winner — Champions League titles with FC Porto and Inter Milan (the later as part of a treble), domestic cups galore in Portugal, England and Italy, and six league titles in eight years with Porto, Chelsea and Inter.

He amassed 17 trophies in those eight years, but just nine in the 16 years since with Madrid, Chelsea (again), United, Tottenham Hotspur, Roma and Fenerbahce. The rot set in at Madrid.

At the Bernabéu, there were bust-ups with powerful and influential senior players including Iker Casillas and Sergio Ramos, and he also lost his air of invincibility during a bruising rivalry with Guardiola. Having previously commanded a sense of undying loyalty from big players at Porto, Chelsea and Inter, Mourinho lost that connection at Madrid and it never returned, with similar clashes with star players — Eden Hazard (Chelsea), Paul Pogba (Man United), Dele Alli (Spurs) — during subsequent managerial roles at other clubs.

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Did José Mourinho get lucky with Benfica’s playoff qualification?

Gab Marcotti and Julien Laurens break down the dramatic finish to Benfica’s clash with Real Madrid, where goalkeeper Anatoly Trubin stunned everyone by scoring a last-minute header to send Benfica through to the Champions League playoffs.

Sources who worked with Mourinho during his two spells at Chelsea say he was a changed character in his second period in charge. His time at Real Madrid left permanent scars and made him a more abrasive, unpopular character in both the dressing room and the boardroom. Mourinho has also been unable to revive his record as a winner of the biggest trophies, despite working for some elite clubs and, as a consequence, his jobs have become less attractive with each spin on the managerial merry-go-round.

Publicly, Mourinho has said that his time at Madrid was a high point. He told Portugal’s Channel 11 in 2019: “Real Madrid was my best experience because of what I learned as a coach, as a man, from the lessons I took in my career and in my life. It’s the best memory of my career, it was fantastic.” But the reality suggests something different.

It was the biggest job of Mourinho’s career, but it ended with a lack of fulfillment and the levels of success expected by him and Real, his time at the Bernabéu will always carry an air of “what might have been.”

But no matter where he has been, Mourinho has never lost the ability write his own headlines, and the 4-2 win against Madrid last month was classic Mourinho. Had he not ordered his goalkeeper Trubin to go forward in a final roll of the dice, Benfica would have failed to score the crucial goal to take them into the playoff round, and there would be no doubleheader with Madrid to look forward to this week.

Mourinho has not coached a team at the Bernabéu since leaving in 2013 — he guided Inter to Champions League glory against Bayern Munich at the stadium in the 2010 final — so his return to Madrid for the second leg next week will evoke all kinds of emotions, both for Mourinho and the home supporters.

So there is every reason for Real Madrid to be wary about their reunion with Mourinho. He might just have one last moment in the Champions League spotlight.