🇪🇸 Girona’s Artem Dovbyk emerged as the La Liga top scorer in his debut season with the club and in the league.
🏴 Southampton secured promotion to the Premier League.
🇳🇱 Go Ahead Eagles secured a spot in the Europa Conference League.
🏴 Manchester United clinched the FA Cup championship.
🇩🇪 Bayer Leverkusen claimed the DFB Pokal title.
🇫🇷 PSG emerged victorious in the Coupe de France final.
🇵🇹 Porto secured their third consecutive Taca de Portugal championship.
🇪🇸 Real Valladolid and Leganes secured direct promotion from the Segunda Division, with Real Valladolid clinching the division title.
🇮🇹 Empoli and Udinese secured safety, while Frosinone faced relegation.
🇳🇱 Excelsior and NAC Breda are set to meet in the Eredivisie promotion playoff final.
📅 Friday, May 24, 2024
🇺🇾 José Nasazzi would’ve been 123, 🇫🇷 Eric Cantona turned 58, 🇺🇲 DaMarcus Beasley turned 42, 🇦🇷 Rodrigo De Paul turned 30.
🇪🇸 Girona ( 7 ) – ( 0 ) Granada (spanish la liga)
Fortunately for Artem Dovbyk, Girona hosted relegated Granada for their final match of the season. Dovbyk, with 21 goals, was trailing in the Pichichi trophy race by two goals. He converted two penalties and scored another from open play to reach 24 goals, as Girona concluded their season with a 7-0 home win over Granada.
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📅 Saturday, May 25, 2024
🇮🇹 Gaetano Scirea would’ve been 71, 🇦🇷 Daniel Passarella turns 71, 🇺🇲 Carlos Bocanegra turns 45.
🏴 FA Cup final: Manchester City ( 1 ) – ( 2 ) Manchester United
Just like last season, the FA Cup final featured a Manchester derby. Manchester City aimed to retain their crown, while Manchester United sought to reverse the previous year’s outcome. Expectations and odds remained similar, but this time the result was different. Manchester United ended the first half with a 2-0 lead and held on to win their 13th FA Cup title, defeating Manchester City 2-1. City was aiming for their 8th title.
🇩🇪 DFB-Pokal: Kaiserslautern ( 0 ) – ( 1 ) Bayer Leverkusen:
Kaiserslautern are two-time winners of the German Cup, with their latest title in 1996, while Leverkusen had won it once in 1993. Now, Leverkusen has two titles as well.
A numerical disadvantage for the entirety of the second half did not stop Bayer Leverkusen from claiming the DFB-Pokal title and completing their domestic season unbeaten with a double. Granit Xhaka’s strike from outside the box in the 17th minute ended up as the only goal of the game, securing Leverkusen a 1-0 win over Kaiserslautern.
While Leverkusen comfortably won the league title in the first division, Kaiserslautern was not far from the relegation zone in the second division. Expectations were for a blowout win for Bayer Leverkusen, but after Odilon Kossounou received his second yellow card in the 44th minute, reducing Leverkusen to 10 men, the odds shifted slightly.
🇫🇷 Coupe de France: Lyon ( 1 ) – ( 2 ) Paris Saint-Germain:
Two goals in the first half was enough for Paris Saint-Germain to beat Lyon, and pick up their first Coupe de France title since 2021 to extend their record in the competition to 15 titles.
🇪🇸 Osasuna ( 1 ) – ( 1 ) Villarreal (spanish la liga):
Villarreal came from a goal down to earn a point at Osasuna in their final game of the season, but Sorloth couldn’t expand on his goal tally to finish the season as top scorer. Alexander Sorloth (23 goals) looked to improve his tally to hold on to the top spot and win the Pichichi trophy when Villarreal faced Osasuna. Unfortunately for Sorloth, his game came to an early end when he picked up an injury that led to his substitution in the 17th minute.
🇪🇸 Real Madrid ( 0 ) – ( 0 ) Real Betis (spanish la liga):
Real Madrid said goodbye to Toni Kroos in a goalless draw at home against Real Betis. The lack of goals also meant that Jude Bellingham ended the season with 19 league goals, missing his last opportunity at home to improve his tally.
🇳🇱 FC Emmen ( 0 ) – ( 3 ) NAC Breda (eredivisie promotion play off semi final – first leg):
FC Emmen, with an away goal advantage after a 1-1 draw in the first leg against NAC Breda, played the second leg at home. However, NAC Breda bounced back, winning 3-0 and advancing to the promotion playoff final.
🇳🇱 Excelsior ( 7 ) – ( 1 ) ADO Den Haag (eredivisie promotion play off semi final – first leg):
Excelsior built on their 2-1 victory in the first leg with a dominant 7-1 home win in the second leg, defeating ADO Den Haag with a 9-2 aggregate score to advance to the promotion playoff final.
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📅 Sunday, May 26, 2024
🏴 Sir Matt Busby would’ve been 115, 🇮🇹 Luca Toni turns 47, 🇨🇴 Juan Cuadrado turns 36.
🇪🇸 Sevilla ( 1 ) – ( 2 ) Barcelona (spanish la liga):
Barcelona said goodbye to Xavi and concluded their season with a 2-1 away win over Sevilla. Robert Lewandowski opened the scoring, putting Barcelona up a goal in the 15th minute by scoring his 20th league goal of the season. The winning goal came from Fermin Lopez in the 59th minute.
🇵🇹 Porto ( 2 ) – ( 1 ) Sporting CP (taca de portugal):
Before picking up a red card in the 29th minute, Jerry St. Juste scored the opening goal to give Sporting CP a lead in the 20th minute. The lead was canceled five minutes later when Evanilson scored the equalizer for Porto. Despite the numerical advantage from the 29th minute onward, Porto had to go through 120+ minutes to become Taça de Portugal winners for the third year in a row. Mehdi Taremi scored from the penalty spot in the 100th minute to give Porto a 2-1 win over Sporting CP.
🇮🇹 Empoli ( 2 ) – ( 1 ) Roma (italian serie a):
Relegation-zoned Empoli picked up an unlikely win against Roma, a side that had beaten them 7-0 in the reverse fixture. The opening half ended 1-1 after Houssem Aouar scored at the end of the half for Roma to cancel out the lead that Matteo Cancellieri had given Empoli in the 13th minute. Second-half substitute M’Baye Niang scored the only goal of the second half in the third minute of added time to give Empoli a 2-1 win against Roma, a result that pulled them out of the relegation zone. This was Empoli’s first win in their last five league games.
🇮🇹 Frosinone ( 0 ) – ( 1 ) Udinese (italian serie a):
With Empoli’s win, Frosinone had to avoid defeat at home against Udinese to avoid relegation, while Udinese needed a win to do the same. Second-half substitute Keinan Davis scored the game’s only goal in the 76th minute, allowing Udinese to pick up a crucial win on the road. This victory saved Udinese from relegation and confirmed Frosinone’s relegation on the day.
🇪🇸 SEGUNDA DIVISIÓN STANDINGS:
1| Real Valladolid – 72 points
2| Leganés – 71 points
3| Eibar – 68 points
🇪🇸 Racing de Ferrol ( 2 ) – ( 2 ) Leganés (segunda división)
🇪🇸 Sporting Gijon ( 1 ) – ( 0 ) Eibar (segunda división)
🇪🇸 Real Valladolid ( 3 ) – ( 2 ) Villarreal B (segunda división)
Direct promotion from the Segunda Division is reserved for the top two teams, while the third place will be part of the four teams that will go into playoffs to fight for one promotion spot. The final round of the season started with Leganés at the top on 70 points, Real Valladolid on 69 points, and Eibar on 68 points.
Leganés lost the top spot but still secured direct promotion, while Real Valladolid took the top spot to secure promotion as division winners. Eibar remained in third and will have to play in the promotion playoff with Espanyol, Real Oviedo, and Racing Santander. Leganés gave up a goal lead on two occasions to finish the season with a 2-2 draw against Racing de Ferrol. Real Valladolid also gave up a goal lead to trail by a goal before recovering with two goals in added time to win 3-2 against Villarreal B. Eibar conceded a goal in the 84th minute to suffer defeat on the final day against Sporting Gijón.
🇳🇱 Utrecht ( 1 ) – ( 2 ) Go Ahead Eagles (eredivisie conference league playoff):
A game for a spot in the UEFA Conference League for the coming season required more than 120 minutes to find a winner. Utrecht was on their way to a 1-0 win and securing UEFA Conference League football until an own goal in the first minute of added time snatched their lead, allowing Go Ahead Eagles to equalize and force extra time. With three minutes remaining in extra time, Joris Kramer scored the game-winning goal for Go Ahead Eagles, securing their qualification for the Conference League.
🏴 Leeds United ( 0 ) – ( 1) Southampton (english championship final):
Southampton became the third and final team to be promoted to next season’s Premier League, joining Leicester City and Ipswich Town. Adam Armstrong’s goal in the 24th minute was the game’s only goal, securing Southampton a place in the Premier League at Leeds United’s expense.
