📅 Friday, May 31, 2024
🇩🇪 Marco Reus turns 35, 🇩🇰 Daniel Wass turns 35, 🇩🇰 Joachim Andersen turns 28.
There is nothing major from the top European leagues on Friday. We look forward to the Champions League final the following day. However, there are some international friendlies scheduled: Mexico vs. Bolivia and Costa Rica vs. Uruguay.
📅 Saturday, June 1, 2024
🇺🇸 Alexi Lalas turns 54, 🇲🇽 Javier Hernández turns 36, 🇲🇦 Youssef En-Nesyri turns 27.
🇪🇺 🏆 Champions League final:
🇩🇪 Borussia Dortmund ( 0 ) – ( 2 ) 🇪🇸 Real Madrid:
Given the history of both clubs in the competition, their domestic seasons, and their paths to the final, Real Madrid were the heavy favorites to win the title. Dortmund put up a strong fight, as many teams have against Real Madrid in this tournament, but the outcome remained unchanged, with Real Madrid prevailing as expected.
Dani Carvajal headed in the opening goal of the game from a Toni Kroos corner kick in the 74th minute. From that point, Dortmund fell apart. A defensive passing error then allowed Vinicius Junior to double the lead for Real Madrid in the 83rd minute.
Real Madrid secured their 15th UEFA Champions League title against Borussia Dortmund, who were aiming for their second.
The last time Borussia Dortmund played in a Champions League final was in 2013, also at Wembley Stadium, where they were defeated after conceding twice. Eleven years later, they returned to Wembley for another final, but the result was the same. This time, they couldn’t score at all while conceding twice.
📅 Sunday, June 2, 2024
🇦🇷 Sergio Agüero turns 36, 🇯🇵 Takashi Inui turns 36.
🇮🇹 Atalanta ( 2 ) – ( 3 ) Fiorentina (italian serie a):
The five goals were scored in the first half, with Fiorentina getting the larger portion, leading 3-2. Andrea Belotti scored twice. This fixture was postponed in March when Fiorentina’s general manager Giuseppe “Joe” Barone fell ill and later died. Fiorentina came into this match following a midweek UEFA Conference League defeat to Olympiacos and made up for it by closing out their season with a victory in Bergamo. There was nothing significant at stake for both clubs, but Atalanta, with a win, would have moved up a position to finish in 3rd, above Juventus.
🇳🇱 NAC Breda ( 4 ) – ( 1 ) Excelsior (eredivisie promotion playoff – second leg):
It looked like Excelsior had recovered from a 6-2 first-leg defeat to hold on to their place in the Eredivisie when Troy Parrott scored his third goal of the match, bringing the score to 4-0 in Excelsior’s favor. However, Excelsior conceded 8 minutes later in the 58th minute, which ended up being the goal that allowed NAC Breda to secure promotion from the Eerste Divisie and relegated Excelsior through a 7-6 aggregate score.
After a 6-2 first-leg defeat to NAC Breda, Excelsior had their work cut out for them in the second leg to keep their Eredivisie status. The backing of home support and numerical parity in the second leg wasn’t enough for them to fully recover the four goals needed to maintain their place in the Eredivisie.
🇫🇷 Metz ( 2 ) – ( 1) Saint-Etienne (french ligue 1 promotion playoff – second leg):
Metz were down 2-1 from the first leg, and despite going down a man in the 6th minute after Pape Diallo picked up a red card, they managed to get the two goals needed to put themselves in the lead by the 25th minute. Unfortunately, Saint-Etienne found a goal 10 minutes later to make it 2-1 for the game and even the score of the tie. There wasn’t a winner through regulation time, and extra time was needed. The game was on the brink of a penalty shootout until Ibrahima Wadji, who had entered the game in the 102nd minute, scored the game-winning goal in the 117th minute for Saint-Etienne to clinch promotion and relegate Metz.
🇵🇹 AVS Futebol SAD ( 2 ) – ( 1 ) Portimonense (primeira liga promotion playoff – second leg):
AVS Futebol SAD, with a 2-1 lead from the first leg, expanded their lead at home by adding two more goals to win the tie with a 4-2 aggregate score. This result promotes them to the Primeira Liga while relegating Portimonense.
