Crystal Palace secured a first ever trophy in 120 years of existence by lifting the FA Cup, while the race for the Scudetto title heads into the final day in Italy.
What a fascinating season this has been for English football. Ordinarily, English domestic honours are divvied up between one of four or five sides.
Palace celebrates (Pic – Supplied)
This season has bucked that trend (which made up for a somewhat antiseptic title ‘race’). Newcastle United conquered Liverpool in the League Cup final, winning their first major trophy in 71 years. Oliver Glasner’s Palace went one better this weekend, beating Man City 1-0 in the FA Cup final to acquire their first piece of major silverware in 119 years of existence.
Strategically, the match played out as expected, with City monopolising possession while Palace looked to break effectively (City hogged a mammoth 79% of the ball). Palace enjoyed the luxury of an early goal, with Ebrahim Eze – who will almost certainly be leaving to pastures greener this summer – applying the finishing touches to a brisk Palace counterattack in the 16th minute.
Guardiola was left incensed later in the half, as Henderson palmed the ball away from Haaland despite being out of his area. VAR opted against the nuclear option, adjudging that Henderson hadn’t denied a clear goalscoring opportunity.
Henderson – who was very much the protagonist of this cup final – then got down smartly to save a Marmoush penalty.
Try as they might, City just couldn’t break down an obstinate Palace side. This is the first time in eight years that Guardiola will finish the season trophyless. I think that Guardiola must shake things up. His side’s brand of death-by-possession has become predictable and is too often exposed by robust counterattacking units.
Sure, Guardiola’s side certainly dominated the match, but let’s look at their season more broadly. City scored 96 goals when claiming last year’s Premier League title. This year – with two matches to go – they have only scored 67. Kevin de Bruyne- their chief architect for the last decade- is on his way out.
The club is rumoured to be in advanced talks with Florian Wirtz. The Leverkusen playmaker is one of the most exciting attacking talents in European football and could be precisely what this side requires. There are two issues to the Wirtz saga.
Firstly, Bayern look like they still might be in pole position for the talismanic German. Secondly, City could still miss out on Champions League football this season. They host Bournemouth- another rampant counterattacking unit- on Wednesday night. How is Guardiola going to motivate his side to get up for that match?
In other English footballing news, Arsenal showed plenty of grit to see off Newcastle United 1-0 at the Emirates this weekend. Declan Rice whipped in the winner with Beckham-esque elan, intensifying calls for Arteta to reassess the listless Odegaard’s captaincy.
Arteta will be pleased with the fact that they secured Champions League qualification this week, because there is chaos brewing just below them. Champions League qualification is going down to the wire this year, with five teams – separated by just one point- battling for those final two qualification spots (Chelsea host Forest in a match that could prove consequential).
Scudetto race heads to last day (Pic – Supplied)
Scudetto race heads to last day after dramatic penultimate round
Serie A picked up the European slack this year, giving us a title race that we can sink our teeth into. Napoli will go into the final day of Serie A action with a precious one-point lead over Simone Inzaghi’s treble-chasing Inter Milan.
Napoli are limping towards a 4th ever Scudetto crown, as they struggled to break down an obstinate Parma side (the match ended 0-0). Napoli must have thought that the 0-0 snoozefest was going to put pay to their title chances. Lazio had other ideas.
Inzaghi must be wondering how on earth his side bungled last night’s opportunity against Lazio. Yann Aurel Bisseck had a Jekyll and Hyde evening, giving the Nerrazzuri a 1-0 lead on the stroke of halftime. Chaos ensued in the 2nd half, as Pedri (of all people) equalised in the 72nd minute.
Denzel Dumfries appeared to have settled matters for the defending champs, reestablishing Inter’s lead with a fantastic header. But Bisseck’s evening suddenly took a nightmarish turn, as he gave away a cheap penalty in the 90th minute.
Former Barca star Pedri duly converted, sending shockwaves through the entire Inter camp. Added time brought more drama, with Arnautovic having a potential winner chalked off for offside. It was the type of insane melodrama that only Italian football can produce.
To further illustrate my point, all four managers were sent off over the course of the two fixtures! That’s about the most Italian thing I have ever seen.
Dortmund create history (Pic – Supplied)
Dortmund create history to steal Champions League place
I have probably been guilty of viewing this year’s Bundesliga through a myopic Bayern-Leverkusen lens. Bayern won comfortably this weekend while Leverkusen gave Xabi Alonso a suitably chaotic 2-2 sendoff away at Mainz.
This week, I have decided to focus on some of the other European contenders. Dortmund coach Niko Kovac has worked a miracle these past few months. He took over the Dortmund managerial reins in January, inheriting a mess of a situation.
But they have surged at just the right moment, collecting 22 from a possible 24 points to somehow claim a vital Champions League spot (they sat in 11th just seven weeks ago). They eased to victory this weekend, cruising past relegated Holstein Kiel 3-0.
Eintracht Frankfurt also punched their ticket to the greatest club competition in the world, winning 3-1 at SC Freiburg in what was virtually a Champions League knockout clash. Let’s spare a thought for RB Leipzig. They once again flattered to deceive, going down 2-3 at home to Stuttgart.
The result meant that RB Leipzig, for the first time in their brief history, will be without European football next season. It appears that their decision to fire Marco Rose in March was perhaps a bit of a knee-jerk one.
La Liga champions Barca lose while Real win
There’s little to talk about in La Liga, with Barca wrapping up the title with a 2-0 away win at Espanyol last week. Hansi Flick’s side looked a little worse for wear this weekend, losing 3-2 at home to Villareal.
It has been a great season for Barca, with Yamal, Raphinha and Lewandowski emerging as strong Ballon d’Or contenders. Los Blancos left it late at Sevilla, with Mbappe and Bellingham scoring in the last 15 minutes to give Ancelotti a win in his penultimate match as manager.
I just hope that the Bernabeu faithful give Ancelotti a rousing sendoff next week. There is arguably no fanbase in world sport that is as fickle and prone to recency bias as Real Madrid’s.
Player of the Week – Dean Henderson
I’m not sure what to make of Dean Henderson. The Englishman falls squarely into the Emi Martinez camp of goalkeepers: he is brash, cocky and likely to rile up rival supporters.
But you would love to have him on your team. Henderson was the difference-maker in this year’s FA Cup final, making a series of incredible saves (including that all-important penalty stop to deny Marmoush).
Perhaps Thomas Tuchel would do well to reassess Pickford’s ironclad grip on the England No.1 spot.
