The European soccer weekend is over, and there’s a lot to unpack this Monday. Let’s begin, shall we? The English FA Cup was settled on Saturday at Wembley as Crystal Palace rode their luck (and VAR) to defeat mighty Manchester City for their first-ever major trophy. Barcelona celebrated their latest LaLiga title with a 3-2 defeat to Villarreal that doesn’t take away from one of their most impressive league campaigns of the modern era.
In Italy, we got drama as the Serie A title will go down to the final day, with Napoli and Inter Milan separated by just a point with one game remaining — and the prospect of a one-game, winner-take-all clash if they somehow end the season level on points. We also got plenty to discuss and debate when it comes to Bayern Munich‘s season, Borussia Dortmund‘s remarkable top-four finish, PSG’s prep for the Champions League final and Arsenal locking down second place in the Premier League with one matchday remaining. Here are some musings and reactions to the most memorable moments of the weekend.
Crystal Palace’s underdog tale makes them fitting FA Cup winners over Manchester City
You want frayed nerves? Consider the fact that all four coaches in Inter vs. Lazio and Parma vs. Napoli were sent off.
You want twists? Consider that Inter, for a total of 38 minutes (split over two periods, in between the Lazio equalizers) were top of Serie A with a two point lead.
You like might-have-beens and what-ifs? Consider Marko Arnautovic‘s botched sitter that would have given Inter a 3-2 win; or the David Neres‘ penalty in Naples that was given and then overturned; or the Yann Bisseck handball that so infuriated Inter and led to Pedro‘s 90th minute injury time equalizer; or André-Frank Zambo-Anguissa hitting the post in what otherwise would have been a goal of the season contender.
Dan Thomas is joined by Craig Burley, Shaka Hislop and others to bring you the latest highlights and debate the biggest storylines. Stream on ESPN+ (U.S. only).
6. Starters back for PSG as Ligue 1 concludes with Nice in Champions League thanks to goal difference: Luis Enrique played his best XI for the visit of Auxerre and while Paris Saint-Germain had to come from behind, the 3-1 win was ultimately pretty comfortable. You don’t want injuries at the stage of the campaign, sure, but you don’t want ring rust either. They’re in the French Cup final next Saturday and, of course, Inter is up in the Champions League final the week after that: the players don’t need any more rest. Elsewhere, both Nice and Lille won to finish on 60 points in fourth place: it could have been a three-way tie if Strasbourg hadn’t lost at home to relegation-threatened Le Havre, 3-2. Nice will get the Champions League spot based on the tiebreaker, which is goal difference. Regular readers will know I hate any tiebreaker that doesn’t involve a one-game playoff to settle matters on the pitch. (I’m not a fan of the head-to-head either.) But it is what it is and depending how things work out Wednesday in Bilbao, Jim Ratcliffe might have two clubs in the Champions League next season (though Nice, like this year, will have to be in a blind trust to avoid conflicts of interest).
5. Milan self-destruct as Claudio Ranieri shows the way in a neat summary of their seasons: For once, I agree entirely with Sérgio Conceição when he says Milan’s 3-1 defeat away to Roma (which ended their slim European hopes) reflected their season: bad decisions, mental errors and self-destruction. Santi Gimenez getting sent off after 20-odd minutes is beyond stupid, but maybe doesn’t even rank in Milan’s Top Ten of silly self-destructive individual moments this year. (Gimenez elbowed Gianluca Mancini away from the ball: in the VAR era, you can’t do that and it’s irrelevant that Mancini made a meal of it.) Milan need a major reset (without Conceicao) and maybe a season away from Europe will help facilitate that. As for Roma, Ranieri took a team on the verge of the drop zone and got them to within a point of the Champions League places. And he did it with humility and patience and whole lot of understanding the club, players and supporters. After the game, he addressed the stadium and simply thanked them for following him: “Your support is all the help we needed.” Nice words from one of the game’s true gentleman, but he’s wrong: it wasn’t just about the support, it was about the experience and calm he brought to Roma. He’ll be a very hard act to follow.
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Which Premier League teams will secure UCL football on the final day?
Luis Miguel Echegaray assesses the race for the top five spots in the Premier League.
4. Nottingham Forest win underscores their regret for dropped points: OK, whatever happens Nottingham Forest’s season — going from 17th a year ago to fighting for a Champions League place — will stand out as monumental. That it came with a manager few believed in (Nuno Espirito Santo), a centerforward who is 33 and from New Zealand (Chris Wood), a goalkeeper who arrived as an after-thought (Matz Sels), wingers discarded from supposedly bigger clubs (Callum Hudson-Odoi, Antony Elanga) and an owner who gets mocked mercilessly (Evangelos Marinakis) makes it all the more remarkable. Sunday’s 2-1 win away to West Ham proved to be a nail-biter — and a bit fortunate, given the goals came from a keeper gift and a deflected shot — and it sets up a riveting final day clash with Chelsea at the City Ground. The only regret here is that Forest do not control their own destiny, all because of the late equalizer they gave up to Leicester City a week ago. But that’s what league campaigns are: a collection of moments, some of which end up being decisive.
3. Kylian Mbappé pretty much locks up the Pichichi, now for the Golden Boot? Late in the season, with so many verdicts in, there’s only so much to ratchet up the excitement, especially at the top end of the table. Real Madrid’s 2-0 win at Sevilla was strangely anti-climactic as well. Sevilla had avoided relegation, the players were relieved, though the fans were still grumpy with the car crash that passes for ownership at their club. Real Madrid felt like they were playing out the string, which may explain why, despite playing almost the entire second half with a two-man advantage, the goals of Mbappe and Bellingham only came towards the end of the game. (Actually, it wasn’t entirely anti-climactic: we did get to enjoy the rare treat of Luka Modric spraying the ball around for 90 minutes). Mbappe, back to his favoured left side in Vinícius‘ absence, scored again to bring his league total to 29, four more than Robert Lewandowski, which means he’ll almost certainly end the season the league’s top goalscorer. There’s another goal-scoring race to keep track of though, if that’s your thing: the European Golden Boot. Mbappe is half a point behind Viktor Gyökeres and two points ahead of Mohamed Salah (you get two points for each goal in a Big Five league, 1.5 per goal in what’s considered a mid-tier league, like Gyokeres in Portugal). Salah has two games left (including Monday night’s clash with Brighton) and Mbappe one, while Gyokeres’ season is over. I’m not even sure if the Golden Boot is on Salah’s radar, but it certainly is on Mbappe’s. So that’s one thing to add excitement to the last day of the season in England and Spain.
2. A big sigh of relief for Juventus after a win over Udinese, but they need one last push: The goals came in the second half courtesy of Nico Gonzalez and Dusan Vlahovic (bringing his seasonal total to 15, which is pretty good when you consider injuries and all the time he spent on the bench) so it wasn’t exactly straight-forward, but Juventus got the 2-0 win they needed to stay on track for that all important (to them) final Champions League spot. No time to rest on their laurels, though: they’re one point ahead of Roma heading into the final weekend, and while their away trip to Venezia to second-bottom Venezia may seem like a gimme, it’s anything but. They’re opponents’ fate isn’t sealed yet, and they’ve avoided defeat in nine of their last twelve games. Meanwhile Roma travel to Torino, who have nothing to play for and, you imagine, wouldn’t want to do crosstown rival Juve any favours. So yeah, they’re not out of the woods yet…
1. Leipzig and Red Bull screw it up again, with schadenfreude all around: Most won’t have even a smidgeon of sympathy because Leipzig (and the Red Bull organisation in general) are about as popular as termites in most Bundesliga households. (This still holds.) So yeah, why not rub it in when they let the lead slip not once, but twice at home against a Stuttgart team with next week’s German Cup Final on their minds and nothing to play for but pride? The home defeat cost them a place in Europe. That much ballyhooed S.O.S. strike force? Benjamin Sesko and Loïs Openda came off the bench and played a combined 17 minutes. Xavi Simons did start, but the buzz is that his bags are already packed. The “smartest guys in the room” need to have a major rethink this summer. (Maybe even see if Jurgen Klopp has something to contribute, big picture.) And it’s not just them. Salzburg are fourth in Austria, which means its unlikely we’ll see them in Europe next year either. Plenty out there will have enjoyed this campaign…
