A misdemeanor marijuana charge against San Francisco 49ers linebacker Reuben Foster in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, was dismissed Friday afternoon.

The Tuscaloosa County District Court confirmed Friday that the second-degree charge, which stemmed from a Jan. 12 arrest, had been dismissed on the condition that Foster pay court costs, which amount to a $100 bail bond fee.

The Tuscaloosa District Attorney’s office told ESPN that Foster also completed a court-ordered diversion program, which included taking substance-abuse classes, and had several months of clean drug screen results.

The dropped marijuana charge comes two days after Foster had two felony charges related to domestic violence against him dismissed by Santa Clara County (California) Judge Nona L. Klippen. Foster rejoined the 49ers on Thursday afternoon as they held their third organized team activity.

Foster still faces a misdemeanor charge in California for possession of an assault rifle, a charge that was initially tied to the Feb. 11 incident at his home in Los Gatos. While Klippen dismissed the charges related to domestic violence, she reduced the gun charge from a felony to a misdemeanor.

A pretrial hearing for that charge has been set for June 6 at noon ET. Foster legally purchased that gun in Alabama, and because it does not violate any federal laws, Klippen reduced the charge to a misdemeanor.

Depending on what becomes of that charge, Foster could still face punishment from the NFL. The league has repeatedly said it is monitoring the situation and will continue to review all new developments.

Saturday’s Champions League final between Real Madrid and Liverpool promises to be a battle of contrasting styles. Los Blancos are a methodical group who rely on individual heroics, while the Reds follow a team-oriented system that emphasises sacrifice.

Each approach has its shortcomings. Madrid is sometimes too dependent on Cristiano Ronaldo’s scoring, and Liverpool is known to power down in the final 15 minutes of matches due to its exhausting pursuit of the football.

Neither side has looked particularly convincing en route to Kyiv, with Madrid nearly blowing a 3-0 aggregate lead to Juventus and Liverpool conceding unnecessary goals to Roma.

Here’s a look at each side’s biggest concern:

Exploiting Marcelo’s blindspot

Zinedine Zidane has a lot of confidence in his players – he’s resisted the temptation to bolster his squad in consecutive transfer windows – and perhaps none more so than Marcelo. Despite playing in a more limited position, the Brazilian left-back is allowed to roam free, join the attack, and score goals.

“He’s a top player with a lot of experience. He’s won pretty much everything there is to win in football and he’s a cornerstone of the Real Madrid team,” Zidane said recently.

While modern-day football often cries for a marauding full-back of Marcelo’s quality, his ambitiousness can come at a cost. When he is caught high up the pitch, opponents can exploit the space he leaves behind. And there is no one better suited to accept the invitation than Mohamed Salah.

Related: UCL final marquee matchup: Salah’s trickery vs. Marcelo’s positioning

The speedy Egyptian routinely got the best of Marcelo when the two faced off in the Champions League in 2016. Salah was playing for Roma at the time and was nowhere near the clinical inside-forward that he is today. But he still beat Marcelo in foot races, and on some of Salah’s forays into the attacking third, the left-back was nowhere to be seen.

Salah made Aleksandar Kolarov pay for taking similar gambles in the first leg of last month’s semi-final tie against Roma. A pair of perfect passes sprung Salah free as the Serbian international scrambled to get back into position, and Liverpool scored twice. The Giallorossi played a high line on that day as well – something Madrid has tried and failed to do in both the Champions League and La Liga this season – so Los Blancos should be wary.

Taking away Liverpool’s trump card

What manager Jurgen Klopp has achieved with such a utilitarian midfield is stunning. Georginio Wijnaldum, Jordan Henderson, and James Milner have combined for great success, pressing on cue to retrieve possession and unsettle the opponent. But on an individual basis, they pale in comparison to Luka Modric, Casemiro, and Toni Kroos. If Zidane adds a fourth midfielder into the mix – namely Isco – there’s a real sense that Madrid will overrun Liverpool in the middle of the park.

Another big difference between Madrid and Liverpool’s previous opponents is that Zidane doesn’t encourage the kind of open football that the Reds thrive on. He likes his team to be more deliberate in the build-up. There’s not the same urgency as Klopp’s Gegenpressing and less probability of error. Madrid takes a more balanced approach to football: Modric reads the pitch for answers, Casemiro acts as the equaliser, Kroos slows down the tempo, and Isco invades space.

Related: UCL final marquee matchup: Can Henderson tame Isco’s wobbly wizardry?

By dictating the rhythm of the game and lessening the margin of error, Madrid’s midfielders can weaken the efficiency of Liverpool’s press and allow star players like Ronaldo the time to express themselves.

Zidane’s squad is also strong enough to absorb blow after blow before striking on a counter-attack of its own. With a narrower formation than most, Madrid usually clogs up the centre of the pitch, making it difficult for teams to find a breakthrough. And Liverpool has struggled mightily this season against opponents that sit back, dropping points in matches in which it dominated possession. Zidane could frustrate the Merseyside outfit by refusing the invitation to play expansive football.

If Madrid wins a third Champions League in a row, no one will remember if it was pretty or not.

(Photos courtesy: Getty Images)

The New York Giants have shaken up their equipment room less than two weeks after settling with three sports memorabilia collectors who accused quarterback Eli Manning and several members of the organization of providing bogus “game-worn” equipment that was sold to unsuspecting fans.

Longtime team employees Edward and Joseph Skiba and Ed Wagner Jr. were let go, multiple sources told ESPN. Joseph Skiba was the team’s equipment director. Edward Skiba, his brother, was the assistant equipment manager. Wagner was the equipment/locker room manager. He had worked for the Giants his entire adult life, according to a 1999 story by The New York Times. His father also was an equipment manager for the team.

The Giants declined to comment on the shakeup.

Joseph Skiba, who was a defendant in the original lawsuit, was asked by Manning in an email to get “2 helmets that can pass as game used.” Skiba later testified that he gave Manning two non-game-used helmets in that instance. The point of contention became whether helmets that were bought by collectors in other years were game used or not.

Skiba was not liable in the civil suit that was settled May 14, according to the judge’s summary judgment.

Skiba, who was accused of making the fake Manning helmets that were sold to collectors by Steiner Sports (the company with which Manning is under contract to provide game-worn jerseys and helmets for sale), had almost all the claims against him dismissed. The judge agreed with his counsel’s arguments that he never profited from the exchange of helmets, nor did he ever directly represent the items as game-used to consumers.

However, owner John Mara said in a deposition that he considered what Skiba did stealing from the team. The Giants did not represent the Skibas in the case, which stretched five years.

In one of the court filings, Manning’s lawyer accused memorabilia collector Eric Inselberg of being “engaged in a decades-long memorabilia scheme” in which he obtained, without permission, game-used Giants equipment, including Manning’s, from the Skibas as well as a local dry cleaner.

Wagner also was listed in the original plaintiff’s complaint, although he was eventually cleared of any liability in the civil case against Manning, the Giants and Steiner Sports.

The Giants are generally considered one of the more stable franchises, and turnover in the equipment room is rare. The Skibas had been with the organization since they were college students.