Europe

The shameful specter of racist abuse in Italian football reappeared on May 6 after Torino’s match against Juventus. Not a week after the footballing authorities abandoned their duty of care regarding Sulley Muntari, Medhi Benatia noticed racist comments being made in his ear by a technician during a live, on-air interview following the 1-1 draw. Stopping abruptly, he demanded to know who had referred to him as a “Moroccan piece of sh*t”. 

Alexis Sanchez doubled down on his message of hope to fans today after he scored in Arsenal's 4-1 thrashing of Stoke City. After hooking up with Mesut Özil in the first half to provide an assist, Sanchez scored easily himself in the second half before asking to be subbed off due to a thigh injury. But not before celebrating his goal with this cryptic message for fans:

With two games to spare, Chelsea have clinched the Premier League title, their second in the past three years. After finishing a meager 10th last year under Jose Mourinho, manager Antonio Conte injected new life into the club, and there was never much doubt that they would lift the trophy once the calendar turned.

Ajax did their level best to bungle away their place in the Europa League final. Lyon did their level best to crawl out of the hole they had dug for themselves. In the end, the distance was too great. The hole was too deep.

Facing a 4-1 aggregate deficit, Lyon girded their loins and went out and let Ajax get the first goal, courtesy of youngster Kasper Dolberg.

Ajax had a plan to make it interesting, though. They let Alexandre Lacazette get two goals in two minutes right before halftime, and the game was on.

Celta de Vigo came agonizingly close to scoring a vital second away goal that would've seen them advance to the Europa League Final. In the sixth minute of extra time, striker John Guidetti mishit a bouncing cross from ten yards out, and United cleared the ball out of the box before hearing a long awaited final whistle. Any shot on goal would've beaten United keeper Sergio Romero, who was out of position defending against the last-minute surge from Celta.

Manchester United extended their lead against Celta Vigo with a all-important goal from Marouane Fellaini. Henrikh Mkhitaryan found Marcus Rashford in space, and he delivered a perfect pass to Fellaini at the far post. A simple header from close range beat keeper Sergio Alvarez, who could only get a hand on the shot. Celta Vigo controlled possession early on, needing at least one away goal to advance. Their task just became much more difficult.

The Champions League final is set. Real Madrid beat Atletico Madrid 4-2 on aggregate. We all knew Real madrid would win. We pretended that Atletico Madrid had a chance, that they could really do this, but we were fooling ourselves.

Real Madrid is Atleti's big, mean older brother who's smart enough to give the little guy a little hope before ripping his heart out.

This time, Real allowed two early goals to bring the aggregate score to 3-2, and then Karim Benzema danced down the end line past three Atletico Madrid defenders and Isco finished the play, ending Atleti's hopes.

The race for he third and fourth places in the Premier League has been more exciting to watch than the race for first and second places this season. Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Arsenal fans alike watch nervously each weekend in hopes that their team takes home three points. Today, Arsenal traveled to St Mary's Stadium to face Southampton and earned a crucial three points.

After being on the pitch for nearly three minutes, Olivier Giroud secured Arsenal's over Southampton. A perfect string of passes found their way to an open Giroud who buried the free header. 

Olivier Giroud vs @SouthamptonFC (2017). pic.twitter.com/jVC5T56taZ

— ArsenalGoals (@ArsenalGoaIs) May 10, 2017