Can't Spell Scudetto Without S-c-o-t-t?

We begin with the crescendo of the Champions League chase, in which five teams entered the day with a chance at three spots. With one noteworthy and controversial exception, the final day didn’t quite muster the expected theatrics.

Fulham 0 Manchester City 2 

City’s path into Europe was quite straightforward: win or draw. Despite sitting under a downspout of disappointment this season, Pep’s side coalesced to dry their sorrows and generate the necessary results over the last two weeks.

Ilkay Gundogan opened the scoring, and Erling Haaland scored a 72nd-minute penalty to seal their safe passage into the footballing elites’ promised land. In their worst campaign in years, they finished trophyless, yes, but they also finished third, just three points out of second. If that’s the worst they can muster, then they need to take lessons at being crap from their Manchester neighbors.

Then again, those 116 charges are still lingering, aren’t they?

Newcastle 0 Everton 1

Newcastle could hardly have asked for a better setup, controlling their destiny at home with Alexander Isak back in the lineup, against an Everton side mentally in Ibiza.

But they fully bottled it on Sunday. We thought Roland Garros would be the only big moment for a Carlos Alcaraz this month, but Everton’s went ahead and scored the match’s only goal. The 1-0 defeat left the Magpies to watch their fate decided by the ongoing matches elsewhere.

Fortunately for them, few heroics emerged further down the table.

Forest 0 Chelsea 1

The nerviest affair of the day saw Forest on the front foot in a 0-0 first half in front of a tense crowd at the City Ground. But their first-half aggression produced no goals, and the visitors drew first (and only) blood through a Levi Colwill tap-in at the far post in the 50th minute.

Forest threw bodies forward, creating several golden chances for Chris Wood, but the Kiwi striker couldn’t capitalize. If you told Forest fans before the season that Wood would amass 20 goals, they would’ve jumped at that incredible return. But at season’s end, they will have wished he saved a few of them for Sunday.

This Forest side wrote 75% of a fairytale story for this season, but as the winds of pressure pummeled them, the Trees began to shake and their roots loosened their grip on the soil. They never rediscovered their belief in the season’s final weeks, and they were duly pipped by clubs who had been there before.

One such club: Chelsea.

Their squad, formed from ungodly riches, couldn’t stomach another season outside of Europe’s premier competition. Despite a dearth of experience among those expensive players, they found their way across the line under the tutelage of Enzo Maresca, who saved his job in the process.

United 2 Villa 0

With Forest failing to grasp their opportunities for the last month, it was really Villa who felt like the odd man out, having shown elite form in the season’s final stages. But they couldn’t find one more result against a messy and wounded United side playing only for pride.

Complicating matters was Emi Martinez’s first-half red card for a thoughtless challenge on Hojlund. Left with a mountain to climb with ten men, Villa still almost found the breakthrough—and perhaps should have. With the score still 0-0 in the 73rd minute, Bayindir failed to gather the ball at the edge of the box, bobbling it as Morgan Rogers poked it away and found the net with the ensuing finish. But before the net bulged, the official blew the whistle for a Rogers foul. Because the whistle blew before the goal, VAR couldn’t award it to Villa, even though the foul was erroneous.

Minutes later, Amad Diallo headed home a Bruno Fernandes cross to give United the lead, which they doubled with a Cristian Eriksen penalty. The spot kick was the last memory of Eriksen’s career in red and also the fatal blow to Villa’s Champions League hopes. They controversially finish sixth, ruing what might’ve been had the whistle not blown a beat too early on Rogers’ goal.

That decision could prove devastating, as a Villa side already walking a tightrope financially will miss the lucrative account padding of those Champions League nights.

As for United, the win boosts them up the table to 15th, sparing the blushes of a 16th-place finish. Phew, that would’ve been embarrassing, huh?

Tottenham 1 Brighton 4

Onto the best of the rest. Brighton went down 1-0 early to Ange’s still-celebrating Spurs. But they put four unanswered past the hosts, led by a Jack Hinshelwood brace, to finish 8th.

A tearful and pensive Ange watched the final minutes unfold, though it’s possible he was awash in the regret of one too many Fosters over the last few days. Questions about his future are still swirling, but we can’t help but chuckle at the hilarious irony of 17th-place Spurs enjoying a stress-free final day—already safe in Champions League qualification—while the league’s best sides endured the pressure cooker to join them.

Bournemouth 2 Leicester City 0

The Cherries finish in ninth place, marking just their second-ever top-ten finish. Antoine Semenyo scored a brace to deliver the victory over relegated and Vardy-less Leicester.

Bournemouth will look very different next season. Dean Huijsen is already off to Madrid, Milos Kerkez looks a safe bet for Liverpool, and Antoine Semenyo and Andoni Iraoli will surely have suitors. But it’s the last one, Iraoli, who will matter most. There’s a reason he’s a sought-after candidate, and should he stay put, there’s no reason to believe Bournemouth can’t continue to threaten for top-half finishes and maybe even Europe.

We bid the Foxes bon voyage in the Championship. They found a way to bounce straight back up last time, but you sense it might be harder this time with no foundation, managerial or otherwise, to build from.

Wolves 1 Brentford 1

Bryan Mbeumo scored the opener for the Bees, netting for the 20th time this season. Only Ivan Toney had done so for Brentford before him. But the lead would not stand, as Marshall Munetsi equalized in the 75th minute.

Wolves season ended in success the moment they raced clear of relegation with their well-timed unbeaten run, though they still finish 16th in the table. They’ll have a Matheus Cunha-sized void in their lineup next season, but they’ll also have a commensurately sized wad of cash to spend in his absence.

Brentford finish 10th, which is oh so very Brentford. Have we seen the last of our favorite underrated Premier League attacking duo, Mbeumo and Yoanne Wissa?

Ipswich 1 West Ham 3

Ipswich Town exited stage left with a whimper, losing 3-1 to an unimpressive West Ham side to end the season.

James Ward-Prowse, Jarrod Bowen, and Mohammed Kudus scored for Graham Potter’s team, which desperately craved positive momentum to close the year. Potter finished with an abysmal points-per-game record as the Hammers continue to circle the relegation drain in the absence of managerial stability. They’ve spent heavily in recent years, funded in part by a massive Declan Rice windfall, but we wonder how much dry powder is left to bolster the club’s Premier League foothold.

Farewell, Ipswich. Delapless, your road back to the top flight looks rocky, but they played admirable football at times this year, and Kieran McKenna seems a steady hand at the wheel despite the setback.

Southampton 1 Arsenal 2

It sure is a good thing Southampton found that miraculous point against City. Without it, they would’ve shared the Premier League’s most unwanted record with Derby County, as they failed to win any points from the remaining fixtures.

The outgoing Kieran Tierney scored in his final game for Arsenal, and Championship-suited Ross Stewart gave the Saints life, equalizing shortly after halftime. Putting a bow on another season of unmet expectations, captain Martin Odegaard provided the 90th-minute winner for Arteta’s side, pulling them within ten points of Liverpool.

There’s nothing to be ashamed of in this campaign; it’s just that—in the context of the other trophyless seasons—the weight of an empty trophy cabinet looms larger than ever. It has to change next year, or the Arteta era will be the one that never truly began.

Saints appointed 30-year-old managerial phenom Will Still in the season’s aftermath. The side will lack age both on the bench and on the pitch; Adam Lallana has retired from professional football.

Liverpool 1 Crystal Palace 1

We dreaded the sight of another awkward guard of honor, but we were delighted when Liverpool flipped the tradition on its head, awarding the FA Cup Champions with one of their own. A deserving tribute to our Anybody-But-City heroes.

Liverpool also gave Ismaila Sarr a guard of honor to the goal. He found himself in an amount of personal space not seen since social distancing, slotting past Alisson in the ninth minute.

Ryan Gravenberch, who had shifted to center back, saw red in the 68th minute for a clumsy last-man challenge on Daichi Kamada. Nonetheless, the Reds pressed on, eager to ensure that being shorthanded wouldn’t mean being emptyhanded. Mo
Salah equalized in the 84th minute, snaring a share of the record for the most goal contributions in a Premier League season. 

All that was left to do was—finally—lift the Premier League trophy in front of their fans. The cameras and Trent made the day all about Trent, so we’ll leave that topic alone.

Finally, our hearts go out to all affected by the senseless act of violence in the parade’s aftermath yesterday. YNWA.

And on that sad note, we turn the page on the Premier League season and begin suffering our immediate withdrawals that the Club World Cup simply won’t salve.

🏆 The Serie A race ended with a maestro’s flourish, as Antonio Conte’s Napoli refused to relinquish their grip on the Scudetto, inspired by virtuoso performances from their two best players. Scott McTominay, the Serie A MVP—yes, that Scott McTominay—put one hand on the trophy with an acrobatic finish that elicited a roar so loud it could be heard in Manchester.

Later, Romelu Lukaku added the finishing touches with the quintessentially Big-Rom goal, thoroughly bullying the Cagliari defense with size and speed before netting.

Soon the trophy was theirs, adding a sixth major title to Antonio Conte’s growing tally. This was the manager’s masterstroke, reuniting with Lukaku and eliciting world-class performances from the likes of McTominay to coax an underdog side to the top of Italian football. At the beginning of the season, models gave them less than a one percent chance of winning. For any other manager, that statistic is their CV. For Conte, it’s just another line on a lengthy list of achievements.

Still couldn’t win a trophy with Spurs though.

🥈 Inter’s 2-0 win over Como was for naught, despite galvanizing goals from Stefan de Vrij and the outgoing Joaquin Correa. Losing the Scudetto by a solitary point will surely sting, but there is a well-known cure for that pain: it’s a giant trophy with two big ears, and they can claim it by beating PSG this weekend.

A footnote on Inter’s disappointing victory: Pepe Reina’s last act as a professional footballer resulted in a red card in the 45th minute. We imagine that’s not the storybook finish the 42-year-old had in mind. The man made his debut in 2000! We had barely shaken our fear of Y2K when Pepe Reina first took his place between the sticks for Barcelona.

4⃣ For a few brief moments, Juventus saw its Champions League dreams slip away. They trailed Venezia after two minutes before bouncing back through two goals in rapid succession from Kenan Yildiz and Randal Kolo Muani. Ridgeciano Haps gave them another scare, equalizing in the 55th minute, but a Manual Locatelli spot kick ensured their reservation in Europe.

🔴🟠 The Juventus victory left a surging Roma side—amassing more points in 2025 than any team in Europe—on the outside looking in despite a 2-0 win at Torino. We can do nothing but salute the legendary job done by Claudio Ranieri in his brief hiatus from retirement. He took Roma from the doorstep of relegation to the Europa League. Rome will never forget it.

📉 Lazio collapsed out of Europe with a 1-0 loss to Lecce despite the relegation-threatened side playing the whole second half with ten men. Oof. Their loss was Fiorentina’s gain, as they beat Udinese 3-2 with an 82nd-minute winner from Moise Kean to leap back into the Conference League.

🛟 Now, to the relegation fight. Parma ensured their safety with a shock 3-2 victory at Atalanta. Jacob Ondrejka scored the second goal of his brace in the 91st minute, as Atalanta let two Daniel Maldini goals in two minutes go to waste.

Verona won their massive relegation six-pointer against Empoli, a trial by combat if ever there was one. Domagoj Bradaric was the hero in the 69th minute. A loss could’ve left Verona in trouble, but instead, their win condemned Empoli to the drop. That shock Lecce win over Lazio also confirmed their stay in Serie A, while Venezia’s loss to Juventus sealed their fate in Serie B.

Grazie, Serie A. Now that is a final day.

🏆 Barcelona punctuated a remarkable season with a 3-0 win at Bilbao, led by a Robert Lewandowski brace. Ageless wonder.

🥈 Madrid also finished strong, beating Sociedad 2-0 thanks to an Mbappe brace, capping an incredible debut season for the Frenchman that feels a little like a catastrophic failure in the absence of trophies. Anyway, have fun with those expectations, Trent!

The win delivered a rousing Bernabeu send-off for Luka Modric and Carlo Ancelotti. Toni Kroos greeted Modric as he came off the pitch as if welcoming him into the footballing afterlife, leaving us to wonder why the Bernabeu is still so damn dusty after all those renovations.

🥉 The best striker in the world is Alexander Sorloth when he comes on as a substitute after the 60th minute. In his limited time on the pitch, the towering Norwegian notched a hat trick to rout Girona. He scored 20 La Liga goals as a bit-part player.

🟡 With Champions League qualification secured, Villareal pulled level on points with Athletic after a 4-2 win over struggling Sevilla, buoyed by a Pape Gueye brace.

🇪🇺 Celta Vigo confirmed their place in the Europa League, beating Getafe 2-1 led by their stalwart Spanish strikers Borja Iglesias and (Liverpool legend) Iago Aspas. Their victory left Vallecano to claim the remaining Conference League spot with a 0-0 draw against Mallorca, and they'll do so happily; the qualification ends a 24-year European drought. On the outside looking in: Osasuna.

🛟 The only major drama of the weekend concerned the relegation fight, but Espanyol quickly neutralized it, beating Las Palmas with goals from Javi Puado and Pere Milla. Not only did they survive, but with the win, they finished 14th. Unfortunately for Leganes, that meant their 3-0 victory over zombie Valladolid was meaningless, as they’ll join them and Las Palmas in relegation.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 The best dramatics in England this weekend came at England on Saturday, where Sunderland won promotion with a 95th-minute goal from Brighton-bound Tom Watson.

After eight long years, the Black Cats are back in the top flight. Scenes.

Charlton Athletic will ascend into the Championship, winning the promotion playoff final on Sunday with an incredible free kick from Macaulay Gillesphey.

🇩🇪 Stuttgart abruptly ended Arminia Bielefeld’s Cinderella story, racing to a 3-0 lead within 28 minutes and ultimately winning the DFB Pokal 4-2. Playmaking talisman Enzo Millot scored a brace to send Stuttgart to Europe.

🇫🇷 Bradley Barcola scored a first-half brace, and Achraf Hakimi added a third to clinch Coupe de France glory for PSG against Reims. A nice little tune-up for Saturday. Their victory bumps Lyon into the Europa League and Strasbourg into the Conference League. The tune-up for the second leg of their relegation playoff was not so nice for Reims.

🇵🇹 Sporting was the victor at Benfica’s expense yet again, as Viktor Gyokeres equalized from the spot in the 101st minute of regular time in the Taca de Portugal Final. Conrad Harder and Francisco Trincao scored in extra time to double Sporting’s trophy haul and Benfica’s devastation.

🇧🇪 Union Saint-Gilloise ended a 90-year wait, clinching the Belgian Pro League title with a 3-1 win over Gent. Promise David scored a second-half brace to cement the achievement.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Aberdeen scored a shock upset over Celtic, winning the Scottish Cup in penalties. Oddly, both regular-time goals were own goals.

🇮🇹 Cremonese and Spezia advanced to the Serie B promotion playoff final. They’ll meet in the first leg on Thursday.

🇩🇪 Heidenheim are staying up! A dramatic, 95th-minute winner from Leo Scienza won their place in next season’s Bundesliga.

🇳🇱 AZ Alkmaar beat FC Twente 3-2 to seal a spot in next season’s Conference League. Ibrahim Sadiq scored the 93rd-minute winner.

🇺🇸 We have signs of life from Inter Miami, who rallied from a two-goal deficit in the 87th minute to draw 3-3 at Philadelphia. This Messi free kick cut the lead to one before Telasco Segovia equalized on a feed from Messi in the 95th minute.

🇨🇦 Vancouver extended their unbeaten run to 14 matches in a 3-2 win over Real Salt Lake, with Brian White scoring a brace.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Hey, Arsenal’s trophy case isn’t completely empty these days! The Arsenal women stunned Barcelona 1-0 to win the Women’s Champions League.

🇦🇷 Platense beat San Lorenzo 1-0 to advance to the Apertura Final, where they’ll meet Huracan, who were winners in penalties over Independiente.

🇲🇽 Toluca won the Clausura Final, beating America 2-0 with goals from Luan and Alexis Vega. The win ends a 15-year drought.

🇧🇷 Second-place Flamengo scored a crucial 2-0 upset at first-place Palmeiras, cutting their advantage to just one point.

🇸🇦 Summing up his Saudi Arabian experience, Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 25th league goal in a 3-2 Al Nassr defeat, clinching his second straight golden boot. He noted in an Instagram post after the match that the game marked the end of that chapter with his contract set to expire.

🇪🇺 Chelsea and Betis meet in the Conference League Final on Wednesday at 3:00 PM ET. They’ll be playing only for silverware, as both sides have already sewed up European qualification. The resurgence of Antony has made this an intriguing tilt.

🇫🇷 Reims hosts Metz in the second leg of the Ligue 1 Promotion/Relegation Playoff on Thursday at 2:30 PM ET. The sides are tied on aggregate.

🇮🇹 Leg one of the Serie B Promotion Playoff Final kicks off at 2:30 PM ET on Thursday, with Cremonese hosting Spezia.

🇺🇸 We’re shifting into the part of the year when the Americas own the footballing calendar, and, true to form, MLS will deliver the bulk of the midweek action. Western Conference leader Vancouver hosts third-place Minnesota at 10:30 PM ET Wednesday, while Messi and friends look to return to the winner’s circle against lowly Montreal at 7:30 PM ET.

🇧🇷 It’s the final matchday of CONMEBOL Libertadores group play, and we’re watching Group A, where the top three teams are separated by a point. Last year’s champions, Botafogo, face elimination, as they sit in third place. They host first-place Universidad de Chile in a likely must-win game, while second-place Estudiantes has the easier task of hosting last-place Carabobo, who have amassed just one point to date.

🤝 Closing in on done deals:

Florian Wirtz has reportedly chosen Liverpool, and the club is closing in on an agreement with Bayer Leverkusen to ink one of the most promising talents in world football. Corner taken quickly was an all-time surprise, but snatching one of the Bundesliga’s best players from under Bayern’s nose might be Liverpool’s best ever magic trick.

First, it was Hansi Flick. Then Raphinha. Now comes the most important one of all: Lamine Yamal is set to put pen to paper on a contract extension with Barcelona. There is no signing the club can make that is more critical than this one. My man is about to be able to buy some more new sunglasses.

The Scudetto winners are about to add a touch of world-class talent: Kevin De Bruyne is reportedly set to sign Napoli, continuing his talismanic career in Italy. De Bruyne and McTominay? It’s almost unfair.

Ansu Fati, Lamine Yamal before Lamine Yamal, could be approaching the end of his Barcelona career, with a move to AS Monaco nearing. However, it may only be a loan with a purchase option. So…get ready to do this again next summer. Remember when he played for Brighton? That was wild.

Now that Benfica’s season is over, Madrid are set to swoop quickly for Alvaro Carreras.

🆕 Transfer Rumblings

Looks like Alejandro Garnacho will have to find a new club, after Ruben Amorim told him…he’ll have to find a new club…in front of his teammates. Ah, good. Yes, scapegoat another young and talented player. It’s going so well for you.

After missing out on Wirtz, Bayern sense that the attacking ranks might be getting crowded at Liverpool. They’re reportedly interested in Cody Gakpo, with Kaoru Mitoma also a candidate to play left wing.

Manchester City have added Lyon’s Rayan Cherki to their watchlist for a playmaking attacker alongside Morgan Gibbs-White. With Jack Grealish excluded from the final matchday squad, he’s likely on the outs.

Eintracht Frankfurt are pursuing Jonathan Burkardt, Ritsu Doan, and Jobe Bellingham, who visited the club in the aftermath of Sunderland’s crowning day at Wembley. Apparently, promotion won’t help them keep hold of the younger Bellingham, who is also exploring tracing his brother’s footsteps to Dortmund.

Chelsea have been linked to French strikers Hugo Ekiteke (of Frankfurt) and Emmanuel Emegha (of French Chelsea). So, they’ll probably sign them both? And neither will work out? Related: Christopher Nkunku will leave the club.