Football: European Leagues roundup
Thomas Tuchel’s side gave the Citizens a reality check for the second time on the trot, following a narrow victory in the FA Cup lastfour stage.
Premier League tabletopper Manchester City (■0 points) and thirdplaced Chelsea (64) reached the 202021 UEFA Champions League nal in brilliant fashion midweek and were immediately involved in a dress rehearsal during round 35 of the ongoing Premier League season. After overcoming Paris Saintgermain 41 on aggregate in the CL seminals, Man City had the chance to seal a seventh English topdivision title. However, Thomas Tuchel’s side gave the Citizens a reality check for the second time on the trot, following a narrow victory in the FA Cup lastfour stage. Chelsea came from behind and stunned Pep Guardiola’s men 21 with a stoppagetime winner from Marcos Alonso. This result consolidated the Blues’ position in the top four. Meanwhile, secondplaced Manchester United (70), who brushed aside
AS Roma to book a Europa League summit clash against Villarreal, kept the title race mathematically alive after a 31 triumph at Aston Villa. Leicester City’s (63) woes continued ahead of its FA Cup showdown with Chelsea next week as it moved down to fourth following a 24 loss to Newcastle United. Defeats at the hands of Everton (55) and Leeds United (50), respectively, put a dent in the Champions League hopes of West Ham (5■) and Tottenham (56). Liverpool (57) came out on top against Southampton to move up to sixth, while Arsenal (52) snatched ninth, relegating West Brom in the process.
La Liga
Atletico Madrid (77 points) somehow managed to hold on to its spot at the pinnacle of the 202021 La Liga standings despite
providing both Real Madrid (75) and Barcelona (75) opportunities to move to the top. Following a disappointing 13 aggregate loss to Chelsea in the Champions Leagues semis, Zinedine Zidane’s team held fourthplaced Sevilla (71) to a 22 draw thanks to a late equaliser from Eden Hazard. A win would have handed the advantage to Los Blancos with just three gameweeks to go. On the other hand, Barca’s defeat against Granada halted its title chase and pushed it to third on headtohead record. Diego Simeone’s Atleti put behind the 12 loss to Athletic Bilbao and beat Elche away before playing out a goalless aair at Barcelona. Real Sociedad (56) sat rmly in fth after sixthplaced Villarreal (52) faltered 24 at home against Celta Vigo. Unai Emery’s El Subamrino Amarillo had trumped Arsenal to make the Europa League nal a few days ago. Six consecutive draws kept Real Betis (51) in seventh, while Celta (47), Bilbao (46) and Granada (45) are still alive in the race for the European positions.
Serie A
Inter Milan (■5 points) dethroned Juventus as the Serie A champion after nine years and claimed its rst Scudetto title since 2010 following a 02 victory over Crotone. Antonio Conte’s outt then thumped Sampdoria 51 to get closer to the 90point mark with only three rounds of games to go. Atalanta (72) moved to second after a 52 thrashing of Parma. However, the biggest talking point of the week was AC Milan’s 30 drubbing at Juventus. The defeat left Andrea Pirlo’s side (69) languishing in fth, increasing the possibility of Juve missing out on Champions League football next season. Stefano Piolimanaged Rossoneri (72) have recovered from two straight defeats to register two consecutive wins and occupy the third spot on the headtohead record. Napoli (70) grabbed fourth place following a 41 triumph against Spezia. Lazio (64) still has an outside chance to bag a CL spot, but Roma’s (5■) loss at Sampdoria put it out of the race. Meanwhile, Atalanta and Juventus will contest the Coppa Italia nal in the coming week.
Bundesliga
Bayern Munich (74 points) was crowned the 202021 Bundesliga champion after RB Leipzig (64) lost 23 to Borussia Dortmund (5■) during matchweek 32. Head coach Hansi Flick, who is set to leave Bayern at the end of the season and potentially join the
German national football team, guided his club to a ninth straight league title. The Bavarians celebrated the triumph by blanking Borussia Monchengladbach 60 at the Allianz Arena. Julian Nagelsmann, who will move to Munich in the 202122 edition, has all but sealed a secondplace nish for his current employer Leipzig. Dortmund moved to fourth, and within two points o Wolfsburg (60) in third, with a fth consecutive victory in the competition. Edin Terzic’s Die Borussen will also take on Nagelsmann’s Die Roten Bullen in the upcoming DFB Pokal summit clash. Eintracht Frankfurt (57) and Bayer Leverkusen (51) currently occupy the fth and sixth European spots in the points table, while Monchengladbach (46), Union Berlin (46), Freiburg (44) and Stuttgart (42) close out the top 10.
Ligue 1
Paris Saintgermain’s week went from bad to worse as it exited the Champions League and dropped two more points in the title race. League leader Lille OSC (79) now has a threepoint advantage over the threetime defending champion PSG (76) with just two matches remaining. The Mauricio Pochettinomanaged team’s hopes of at least completing a domestic double hit a huge roadblock when it was held 11 by seventhplaced Rennes (55). Les Parisiens has a tough couple of xtures coming up, including a Coupe de France seminal against Montpellier (50), which is currently eighth in the 202021 Ligue 1. AS Monaco (74), which also has a French Cup lastfour xture against fourthtier club Rumilly Vallieres, retained its third spot despite losing 23 at home to fellow contender Olympique Lyonnais (73) before edging past Reims 10 away. Lyon had thrashed Lorient 41 in its most recent encounter to keep its CL hopes alive. Marseille (56), Lens (56) and Rennes are battling it out to seal the Europa Conference League qualication position.