There were yet more titles decided and trophies handed out this weekend, with some relatively long waits for league honours coming to an end in various parts of Europe. That makes up for a significant chunk of our agenda in this edition of our Last Weekend column.
By Neel Shelat
🏴 England: Chelsea 1-0 Manchester United
It was quite a weekend at the home of English football; Wembley Stadium, which hosted two fantastic matches. On Saturday, Notts County secured their return to the football league after a dramatic play-off final against Chesterfield that went all the way to penalties. Then, on Sunday, it was time for the Women’s FA Cup final.
A sell-out crowd of over 77,000 came together to set a world-record attendance figure for a domestic women’s club match. Playing in front of them were four-time winners Chelsea, who were seeking to defend their crown against a Manchester United side seeking to lift their first major honour.
The Red Devils thought they got off to a perfect start when Leah Galton put the ball in the back of the net less than 20 seconds after the first whistle, but it was ruled out for offside. They continued to look more threatening and dominant throughout the match, but they lacked the all-important cutting edge in front of goal.
Chelsea, on the other hand, had just that in the shape of Sam Kerr. The Australian international was on the scoresheet in each of their last two FA Cup final triumphs in the last two years, and she made it three in a row by turning in a ball across the box in the 68th minute.
Manchester United’s quest for a late equaliser was unsuccessful, so they had to resign to defeat in their first major final. They still have a chance to get one over on Chelsea in the WSL title race which is set to go right down to the wire, although they will need some help from elsewhere to do that.
🇪🇸 Spain: Espanyol 2-4 Barcelona
After Real Madrid won the Copa del Rey last weekend, Barcelona got one over on their old rivals by securing the title in LaLiga this weekend. Better yet, they did so at the home of their local rivals Espanyol with a comfortable win.
A Robert Lewandowski brace along with goals from Alejandro Balde and Jules Koundé saw the visitors go four goals to the good in under an hour, so they were in a commanding position. Espanyol’s late strikes through Javier Puado and Joselu were little more than mere consolation, with the home fans watching their side suffer their ninth defeat since the start of March having been dominated for most of the game.
Barcelona knew that a win here would mathematically seal their first La Liga title since 2018/19, so they began celebrating right after the full-time whistle. Unfortunately, their initial joy was interrupted quite rudely by a number of Espanyol fans storming the pitch and forcing the opposition players and coaching staff to escape down the tunnel.
We were fortunate that there were no seriously ugly scenes as a result of these tremendously stupid actions from the fans that stormed the pitch, but some commentators have pointed out that the fact that many first questioned Barcelona’s decision to celebrate rather than the fans’ actions might be symptomatic of a wider issue in Spanish football.
🇳🇱 Netherlands: Feyenoord 3-0 Go Ahead Eagles
We had a much more prolonged celebration in the Netherlands this weekend, where Feyenoord knew that a win over Go Ahead Eagles would hand them their first Eredivisie title since 2017.
Arne Slot’s men got to work quickly, opening the scoring just 15 minutes in and doubling their lead soon thereafter through Oussama Idrissi and Santiago Giménez, who has now scored in each of his last 10 domestic matches. A wonderful strike from Igor Paixão early on in the second half put the result well beyond doubt, so paper replicas of the silver plate began popping up all over the stands.
Indeed, Feyenoord would go on to lift the title and officially end Ajax’s streak at the end of the match. They thoroughly deserve to be the ones doing so too, having put together a run of 12 straight league victories to lift them head and shoulders above what was seemingly set to be a close title race with Ajax and PSV.
The Eindhoven-based outfit should comfortably finish second at the end of the season, but Ajax cannot afford to let up at all. AZ have overtaken them for third place at the moment after their match against already-relegated Groningen was abandoned due to fan trouble, so they still have some work to do to at least qualify for next season’s Europa League.
🇬🇷 Greece: AEK Athens 4-0 NFC Volos
The very dramatic and entertaining Greek Super League title race finally drew to a close this weekend as we watched the final matchday of the championship group, where AEK Athens comfortably secured their first league title in five years.
We knew that Olympiacos’ three-year winning streak was going to end when they were mathematically ruled out of the title race following defeat to Aris at the end of April, but for most of the season, it seemed that Panathinaikos were going to be the ones who replaced them at the top. In fact, they were eight points clear before the World Cup break, which marked the midway point of the regular season. But, it all fell apart for them right at the end.
On the fourth to last matchday, they hosted their title rivals with both sides level on points. After a goalless draw, they remained first by virtue of having a greater points tally at the end of the regular season since the two sides could not be separated based on their head-to-head record, so they were still in control of their own fate. Even a draw with PAOK was not a problem since AEK drew with Olympiacos on the same matchday, but on the penultimate weekend, there came an unpredictable twist.
Just one day before the must-win derby against Olympiacos, Panathinaikos reported a host of COVID cases in their camp including 14 among the players. The fixtures were initially suspended and set to be postponed with most expecting them to be moved to midweek, but they took place just a day later than what was initially planned.
So, last Monday night, Panathinaikos visited an empty Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium with a full-strength squad but with many of their starters reportedly infected with COVID, and they suffered a defeat after a very weak performance that effectively ended their title hopes. Having beaten Aris, AEK only needed a point against 6th-placed Volos on the final day, and they comfortably got more than that.
Matías Almeyda’s side will have the chance to do the double when they face PAOK in the cup final next week, although they will play in an empty stadium in Volos after a failed plan to host the fixture in Cyprus.
🏆 CAF Champions League: Espérance 0-3 Al Ahly
This year’s CAF Champions League final is getting ever closer as the semi-finals kicked off this weekend, fittingly, featuring four of Africa’s best teams. The two best-performing sides were pitted against each other as defending champions Wydad Casablanca took on Mamelodi Sundowns, but their first leg ended goalless despite the South African visitors ending the match with just nine players on the pitch.
They will have all to play for in the second leg, but the same probably cannot be said of Espérance and Al Ahly. The first leg of their tie was held in an empty stadium in Radès as a result of a CAF sanction for the events of the quarter-final, and the home side seemed to miss their supporters.
Ex-Brighton man Percy Tau gave Al Ahly the lead just eight minutes in, and although the home side saw more of the ball thereafter, they failed to make much of it. Meanwhile, the Egyptian champions-elect were able to pose a significant counter-attacking threat, and that is what effectively ended up sealing the tie.
Tau struck again early on in the second half, after which Mahmoud Kahraba got on the scoresheet in the 78th minute to give his side a three-goal lead. Al Ahly will surely be able to hold on to that in the second leg in Cairo, so a 13th CAF Champions League final absolutely is on the cards for them.
🇮🇹 Italy: Spezia 0-2 Milan
Napoli may have sealed the Serie A title early on, but there still is a lot to play for in the league. Right below them, there is an incredibly tight race for Europe which seems to have twists and turns on a weekly basis, and at the other end of the standings, the relegation battle is quite close too.
The Saturday evening clash between Spezia and Milan was set to have ramifications on both of those battles, as the hosts started three points from safety in 18th place while Milan had the chance to close the gap to Lazio down to a point as well as temporarily jumping over local rivals Inter to get into the top four.
Even though the second leg of their Champions League semi-final tie against their neighbours is scheduled for this Tuesday, Stefano Piolo made few changes to his line-up and fielded a very strong XI, underlining how important finishing in the top four is for Milan. The players put in a pretty disappointing performance, though, failing to really impose themselves against a Spezia side that was winless in nine games.
Having done well to keep the scores level as they entered the dying stages of the match, Spezia made the most of set-pieces to stage an upset. Przemysław Wiśniewski turned in a corner to give the hosts the lead in the 75th minute, and then Salvatore Esposito sealed the result by scoring from a direct free-kick in the 85th minute.
This result leaves Milan four points adrift of the Champions League spots, but it had a much more significant impact at the bottom. Spezia, whose only two wins in their last 18 games have come against the two big Milan clubs, jumped out of the relegation zone thanks to a superior head-to-head record against Hellas Verona, who lost to Torino. With just three matches left, Spezia’s battle against the drop is set to go right down to the wire.
Cover Image from IMAGO