Cristiano Ronaldo won’t be forced to play in the Europa League next season. Juventus hammered Bologna 4-1 on the final day of the Serie A campaign on Sunday. Combined with Napoli’s 1-1 draw with Hellas Verona, the Old Lady was catapulted into fourth place to claim the final Champions League berth.
MANCHESTER, England — Sergio Agüero said goodbye to Manchester City in style as his double off the bench in his final match for the club helped them celebrate the Premier League title in style with a 5-0 thrashing of Everton at the Etihad on Sunday.
Agüero started on the bench as Pep Guardiola named a surprisingly strong starting team given they are playing in the Champions League final next week, but the Argentine could not be held back, helping condemn Everton to a 10th-placed finish.
Needing a win to be absolutely sure of being one of four Premier League Champions League qualifiers, Chelsea was garbage against Aston Villa on Sunday. But thanks to London rival Tottenham, the Blues clinched UCL qualification, backing into the top four to ensure Christian Pulisic will return to Europe’s premier club competition next season.
MADRID — A 14-year-old Atletico Madrid fan died after he hit his head on a wall while leaning out of a moving van in central Madrid on Saturday, emergency services said.
The boy suffered a cardiac arrest and despite efforts to revive him, he was declared dead an hour after the accident occurred at 9:20 p.m. local time, a source from the Madrid emergency services said.
The teenager was travelling with family and friends when the accident happened.
The 2020-21 season was a banner year for Americans abroad. USMNT players have been winning trophies all over Europe, including regulars at Barcelona, Juventus and Borussia Dortmund; in a week, we’ll see an American win the Champions League for either Chelsea or Manchester City. But Saturday was not a great day for keeping U.S. internationals in Europe’s top flights, with a number of Americans relegated to lower tiers or unable to gain promotion.
EIBAR — An acrobatic late strike from Antoine Griezmann saw Barcelona confirm their third-place finish in LaLiga on Saturday, as they crept past already relegated Eibar 1-0 in their last match of the season.
They end the campaign on 79 points, seven behind champion Atletico Madrid and five off second-placed Real Madrid.
"We didn't do the business in important games this season," matchwinner Griezmann said.
Let’s just go ahead and say it: Barcelona made the dumbest transfer of the year — maybe ever? — when it sold Luis Suárez to join rival Atlético Madid for the paltry fee of $7.7 million. Suárez, who won four league titles with Barça, left the the club in tears in September but ended the season with the the biggest, toothiest smile in Spain.
Forty-one — that’s all that really mattered for Bayern Munich in its season finale against Augsburg on Saturday. Sure, there were send-offs for beloved club players like David Alaba, Jérôme Boateng, Javi Martínez and coach Hansi Flick, but what Die Roten really wanted was to get Robert Lewandowski a 41st goal to break the Bundesliga single-season goals record, which had stood since 1972.
The goal finally came with the final kick of the match.
WOLVERHAMPTON — Wolverhampton Wanderers manager Nuno Espirito Santo is to leave at the end of the season, the club said on Friday.
The 47-year-old has been in charge since 2017, guiding Wolves back to the Premier League in his first season at the helm and then enjoyed consecutive seventh-placed finishes.
TAKE A BOW, NUNO
Paul Riley is the most successful head coach in National Women’s Soccer League history. With three championships and three more NWSL Shields, the opinion of the Liverpool native carries a lot of weight in women’s soccer. And his opinion on the differences between his current league and the top flight in England highlight how far the FA Women’s Super League still has to go.