Highlights

Torino stayed in the mix for European football next season — perhaps even the Champions League — with a 3-2 victory over Sassuolo in Serie A action on Sunday, and the entire match was really dictated by Torino striker Andrea Belotti.

The 25-year-old Italian missed a penalty in the 17th minute, had an incredible bicycle kick saved in the 47th, equalized 1-1 for Torino in the 56th and then converted the club’s match-winner in the 82nd minute with ANOTHER bicycle kick.

Look how similar these two efforts are.

The 2018-19 Premier League title came down to the final match day. Manchester City, on 95 points, needed to take care of business away to Brighton and Hove Albion, who had ensured their own Premier League survival the previous weekend. At Anfield, Liverpool, on 94 points, needed to overcome seventh-place Wolverhampton Wanderers while simultaneously praying for a Brighton miracle at the Amex.

Here’s how the final day of action in the Premier League played out. 

SIMULTANEOUS KICK-OFFS AT ANFIELD AND THE AMEX 

Everyone knows the famous boxing photograph of a victorious Muhammad Ali towering over the vanquished Sonny Liston. It’s an image that screams pride, power and the futility of attempting to fight the sport’s GOAT. During today’s Europa League semifinal second leg between Chelsea and Eintracht Frankfurt, we got a recreation of that famous moment, except Ali was substituted for Kepa Arrizabalaga (who refuses to be substituted himself) and Liston for a soccer ball.

Last night, the Liga MX Clausura playoffs began with quarterfinal first leg matchups between top-seed León and Óscar Pareja’s Tijuana, while second-seed Tigres traveled to Estadio Hidalgo to play Pachuca. 

After setting a record when rattling off 12 straight victories to finish as superlíder, León expectedly took care of business in the first leg by posting three away goals on Xolos at Estadio Caliente. 

(This article contains Game of Thrones spoilers up to Season 8, Episode 4.)

Down two goals, three on aggregate, with 45 minutes to play, Tottenham Hotspur looked at Champions League death and said: “Not today.”

When everything looked bleak, with no hope of survival, Lucas Moura, the quick, crafty Brazilian winger, often overlooked, dragged Spurs back into contention with two goals in four minutes.

In the end he was left to perform for the Doping Control Officer. And the sad, silent song of Lionel Messi’s stream, deep in the bowels of an Anfield that had threatened to rupture, made the hour twice as long as he waited for the sun to go sinking. 

With Mohamed Salah ruled out of Tuesday’s Liverpool-Barcelona Champions League semifinal second leg with a concussion, maybe Jordi Alba thought he was in for a beautiful stroll across the lovely confines of Anfield. Maybe, looking across at replacement Xherdan Shaqiri, he thought, “Hell yeah, I might be marginally taller than this dude.” 

Or perhaps he thought he’d simply feed it to Lionel Messi (as has been the case on three occasions in LaLiga and twice in the UCL this season) and let him do the rest.