Spain

With two matches remaining in Spain’s Segunda División, Albacete has assured itself of at least a spot in the LaLiga promotion playoffs following Saturday’s 2-0 away victory over Sporting Gijón. 

The first goal was scored by Eugeni from the penalty spot, and the second arrived in the 58th from 30-year-old Paraguayan attacker Javier Acuña. Acuña’s effort was from well inside his own half, but the pace and accuracy on the strike beat Sporting keeper Dani Martín, a 20-year-old who’s represented Spain at the youth levels.  

Real Madrid completed its worst season in nearly 20 years with a 2-0 defeat to Real Betis on Sunday at the Bernabeu. Los Blancos’ return of 68 points was its worst since the 2001-02 season and they finished farther behind Barcelona than any time in the LaLiga era. 

The season of futility, a massive failure to overcome the loss of Cristiano Ronaldo, resulted in a third-place finish, 19 points shy of Barcelona and eight points back of crosstown rival Atletico Madrid. The only redeeming quality of the season was ensuring Champions League play for next season.

PSG’s Kylian Mbappé scored two goals in a 4-0 rout of Dijon on Saturday to move within two of Lionel Messi in the race for the 2019 European Golden Boot. It took the span of 102 seconds for Messi to reassert his lead.

Messi scored in the 31st and 32nd minutes for his 35th and 36th goals of the season, wrapping up the LaLiga Golden Boot/Pichichi Trophy and giving the Argentine the inside track to the European honor.

The Camp Nou was just over half full on Sunday as Barcelona — already confirmed league champion — hosted Getafe in the penultimate game of the LaLiga season. Ernesto Valverde named a strong lineup for the meaningless match, giving the 57,000 in attendance the chance to voice their displeasure at the capitulation the team suffered last Tuesday at Anfield.

All Barcelona had to do was get one. One away goal and it would all be over for Liverpool. One simple goal from the team with the greatest goal scorer of this era, perhaps of all time.

But Alisson wouldn’t let it happen. 

What a difference a goalkeeper makes.

Last year, Liverpool’s Champions League run was ended by poor goalkeeping, Loris Karius undoing all the good work done by Jurgen Klopp’s side against Real Madrid. 

Real Madrid completed its penultimate home match of the season when recording a 3-2 victory over Villarreal on Sunday. With a Champions League spot already secure next year, los Blancos have nothing to play for, and that fact was mirrored in the stands at the Santiago Bernabéu.

One of the greatest midfielders of his generation, Xavi has announced that he'll retire at the end of the season to pursue a coaching career. The maestro spent 17 years in Barcelona before moving to Al-Sadd in Qatar in 2015.

As a graduate of Barcelona’s famed La Masia academy, Xavi made his first team debut for Barcelona in 1998 at just 18 years of age. Playing at Barcelona for over 17 years, Xavi was an integral part of the midfield three, playing brilliant through balls and very rarely losing possession.

Liverpool was dominating in the second half. Fullbacks were flying forward, midfielders were ripping shots and forwards were bamboozling defenders.

But only Barcelona had Lionel Messi.

More than ever before, Messi is carrying Barcelona this season. Unlike past Champions League-winning sides Messi has been a part of, he is both the primary goal scorer and primary goal creator. 

Barcelona and Liverpool both started the first leg of their Champions League semifinal with plenty of attacking intent, throwing caution to the wind in search of a go-ahead goal. It didn’t take too long to arrive, with a Luis Suarez goal vs Liverpool giving the home side a lead in the 26th minute. 

And the former Liverpool man had no problem celebrating his goal.

Often, players choose to refrain from celebrating a goal against a former club as a show of respect. It’s a nice gesture.