Spain

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.

FC Barcelona Femení continued its monstrous season with a casual 8-0 victory against Athletic Club on Wednesday. This was the sixth time this season that Barcelona scored seven or more goals in a single game.

This Barcelona team is putting up statistics unheard of in the soccer sphere. After 27 league games, the Catalan side has won all 27, scored 136 goals and conceded five. Those are like video game numbers put up by an expert gamer who put the difficulty setting on amateur. 

The Covid-19 pandemic had many sporting casualties in 2020. While nothing compares to the immense (and ongoing) loss of life, U.S. soccer fans were denied the opportunity to pay NFL-level prices to watch preseason friendlies between indifferent European clubs in the International Champions Cup. Similarly, the less-promoted but far-more-interesting Women’s International Champions Cup was canceled in 2020. 

Playing in its first UEFA Women’s Champions League Final, Chelsea was embarrassed by Barcelona in Gothenburg, Sweden, on Sunday evening, 4-0.

Barcelona had advanced to the 2019 final before getting crushed by four first-half goals from Lyon, but the Blaugrana accomplished the same feat against the Blues to capture the club’s first-ever UCL title on the women’s side.

Matchday 37 of Europe’s best title race arrived on Sunday with the added spice of simultaneous kickoffs across Spain. At the Wanda in Madrid, leader Atlético welcomed 11th-place Osasuna. In Bilbao, second-place Real Madrid accepted the challenge of ninth-place Athletic Club. At the Camp Nou, Barcelona said hello to eighth-place Celta Vigo.

Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane has told his players he will leave the LaLiga club at the end of the season, Spanish media reported late on Saturday.

Radio station Onda Cero said Zidane informed the players about his decision before last weekend's 2-2 LaLiga draw at home with Sevilla where Real missed the chance to top the table.

Newspaper Marca said he addressed the team on May 8, a day before that game.