Finally, a New Name on the Trophy

FA Cup Final - Crystal Palace 1 Manchester City 0

Many American minds can’t comprehend why European football has so many cup competitions, or how fans abroad could take pride in anything but winning the league. Put it this way, we haven’t seen anybody excited about an American sports team finishing fourth since the Flint Tropics won the Megabowl. And the NBA In-Season Tournament hasn’t set the world alight as the league tries its hand at domestic cup competitions.

But show them the scenes at Wembley when Crystal Palace ended a 120-year trophy drought in FA Cup glory, and they might understand the allure.

For thousands and thousands of Palace supporters, their entire football-watching lives were made on Saturday afternoon as they watched their club lift England’s most storied trophy in delirious disbelief.

It’s one of the (many) great things about European football: there’s always so much more to contest and to be proud of than the lonely goal of a domestic title, which only one club will achieve annually. And those “secondary” goals aren’t secondary or consolatory. They’re simply different, and the visual evidence is incontrovertible: they mean something.

Eberechi Eze was the lone goalscorer for Palace, striking from a Daniel Munoz cross, and thanks to Dean Henderson, it was all they’d need. Henderson could have (should have?) been sent off for handling the ball outside the box in the match’s early going, but you’d be hard pressed to find anyone without a penchant for sky blue that wasn’t okay with the decision. The Palace goalkeeper denied Omar Marmoush from the spot in the 36th minute after Erling Haaland curiously deferred to the newcomer. We remember Pep being furious with Haaland for doing that in a far less consequential spot. We can only imagine what this does to the confidence of all involved.

Palace heroically saw out the second half in the longest 45 minutes in recorded history for their supporters, delivering a historic occasion they won’t soon forget. Eze said it best amid the celebrations: “Crystal Palace?!"

What a joy it is to see an unfamiliar name on an English trophy. No City, No Liverpool. Not even plucky FA Cup stalwart Manchester United. It restores the gravitas of the competition, seeing a club win a trophy that won’t collect dust in the shadows of the game’s larger prizes. Palace reminded us of the FA Cup’s meaning, and for that, we’re eternally grateful.

But not as grateful as we are that they completed Operation Anybody But City.

Aston Villa 2 Tottenham 0

Back to regularly scheduled Premier League programming.

Aston Villa continued their surge toward requalification for the Champions League, besting Spurs 2-0 in a nervy affair at Villa Park’s season finale. Ezri Konsa finally broke the tension in the 59th minute, and Boubacar Kamara sealed the points in the 73rd. They move provisionally into fifth with the win, but City have a game in hand which can again bump them out of the Champions League picture.

After the match, Emi Martinez bid a tearful goodbye to the Villa support, as he appears set to move on, bringing an end to an iconic era of Premier League shithousery. First Vardy, now this?!

What’s left to say about Spurs? They’re still 17th, but few will mind if they finally lift an elusive trophy on Wednesday.

Chelsea 1 United 0

Like clockwork, Spurs’ Europa League Final opponent joined them in losing in domestic competition. Marc Cucurella scored for Chelsea to keep their Champions League chase alive and well, dealing United their 18th league loss. Amorim’s side is now winless in their last eight league games.

My goodness, that’s dreadful. But a result on Wednesday nearly erases it.

Chelsea snares three crucial points in victory, temporarily sitting fourth—level on points with third-place Newcastle—pending the outcome of City’s game against Bournemouth today. However, the Blues might have the toughest draw of the bunch, visiting Forest next week in what is essentially the Flint, Michigan Megabowl.

Everton 2 Southampton 0

Everton bid Goodison goodbye in style, with Iliman Ndiaye scoring a brace to ensure it would be a happy occasion, marked by tears of fond memories rather than bitter farewells.

After 133 years, the Toffees will move across town to the docks and a magnificent new home that they hope can anchor a new era of Premier League stability under the steady hand of David Moyes. But they’ll leave behind decades of history, highs, and lows endured by generations of Everton supporters. They’re heading for pastures new, though the cozy hominess is irreplaceable, even if its replacement is overdue.

Fortunately, Goodison will endure as home to the Everton women. If bulldozers waited outside to raze the park, the tears may have flooded the River Mersey.

Not a great showing from Southampton. Shame to see them go big-time with complacency after notching that point against City last weekend.

West Ham 1 Nottingham Forest 2

Forest finally ended their skid right before sliding off the cliff, thanks in part to Alphonse Areola, who gifted Morgan Gibbs-White an 11th-minute goal to put the Trees ahead.

Anthony Elanga delivered a perfect free kick onto the back of Nikola Milenkovic to double the advantage in the 61st minute, a goal which took VAR far too long to confirm. Jarrod Bowen pulled one back in the 86th minute to put lumps in Forest-supporting throats, but Matz Sels protected the lead with a series of showstopping saves.

A win next week would see Forest leapfrog Chelsea, but they’ll need one more slip-up from Newcastle or Villa (or two from City) to return to the Champions League spots.

Brentford 2 Fulham 3

It doesn’t get much more midtable than this, but that didn’t stop Brentford and Fulham from putting on a show.

Raul Jimenez opened the scoring, netting in the second straight game and taking his season tally to 12. But the Bees answered quickly, with Yoanne Wissa assisting Bryan Mbeumo before scoring himself shortly before halftime to put Brentford ahead.

Two goals in three minutes, scored by Tom Cairney and Harry Wilson, restored the Fulham advantage and ended a run of consecutive losses.

Leicester City 2 Ipswich Town 0

In his 500th and final appearance for Leicester City, Jamie Vardy notched his 200th goal, ending his colorful Foxes career in style.

The clash of relegated sides offered little in consequence, so Vardy’s curtain call injected the occasion with meaning. Kasey McAteer sealed the points in the 69th minute to put Leicester three points ahead of Ipswich for 18th.

Arsenal 1 Newcastle 0

The weekend's most promising fixture was dampened before kickoff, when Newcastle announced Alexander Isak would miss the match due to a groin injury.

Declan Rice scored the game’s only goal, uncorking a fizzing first-time strike from outside the box that beat Nick Pope at the far post. The goal, in tandem with a shot-stopping masterclass from David Raya, spared Arsenal the indignity of falling out of second place after a season spent talking about title chases and European conquests.

Tensions nearly boiled over at full-time as Newcastle frustrations mounted at their inability to cross Raya’s goal line. The loss leaves the Magpies vulnerable, sitting level on points with Chelsea and Villa and a point ahead of City and Forest. Isak’s status for next weekend’s game against Everton is uncertain, adding to the anxiety.

Brighton 3 Liverpool 2

Brighton kept the faintest European hopes alive, coming from behind twice to beat Liverpool 3-2 at the Amex. Conor Bradley delighted those cynical about TAA’s departure with a marauding run into the box to feed Harvey Elliott for the opener in the 9th minute. The lead was brief, as Brajan Gruda teed up Yasin Ayari for a well-taken equalizer midway through the first half. Dominik Szoboszlai restored Liverpool’s advantage before halftime with a shot of dubious intent. We were willing to give the Hungarian’s magical right foot the benefit of the doubt, but he quite honestly admitted it was a cross.

Kaoru Mitoma helped the Gulls pull level once more, finishing a rebound shortly after entering the game. To the delight of the Amex, Jack Hinshelwood scored the winner from a Matt O’Riley cross after VAR overturned an offside call.

The result was perhaps the reflection of both a heavily rotated side and a few too many beverages in Dubai for the Reds. Still, the loss did little to dampen spirits in the away end, as the Liverpool support joined Brighton in celebratory scenes to Freed from Desire.

The hangover tour mercifully concludes next weekend with the trophy lift.

🏆🟡 Spoiling trophy day at Barcelona, Villarreal won 3-2, as Tajon Buchanan scored an 80th-minute winner to seal Champions League qualification for the Yellow Submarine. With that, our five Champions League representatives from La Liga are set: Barcelona, Madrid, Atlético, Athletic, and Villarreal.

Barcelona didn’t seem to mind the result.

🥈 Madrid will rue what could have been after Mbappe and Bellingham scored to deliver a 2-0 victory over struggling Sevilla. Too little, too late. Mbappe, though, will likely claim the competition’s Golden Boot, amassing 29 goals to Robert Lewandowski’s 25.

🥉 Atlético salted Real Betis’s Champions League wounds, winning 4-1 with Julian Alvarez scoring a brace, including this ridiculous free kick.

🟢 Betis has sealed a Europa League spot and can still end the season in Conference League triumph.

🇪🇺 Who joins them in the Europa League remains uncertain, as eighth-place Rayo Vallecano beat seventh-place Celta Vigo 2-1 to pull within a point. Osasuna, 2-0 winners over relegation-threatened Espanyol, are also lingering on 51 points.

🛟 Leganes won a must-have match against Las Palmas 1-0 to extend their survival campaign. Only Espanyol sits within their reach, and they both have easy draws next week: Espanyol hosts Las Palmas, while Leganes hosts Valladolid. Advantage, Leganes, but only just.

🏆 The Scudetto will come down to the final matchday, as both Napoli and Inter drew to keep Napoli’s lead at one point atop the table. That makes the weekend sound tame, but it was anything but.

⚫🔵 Inter looked set to claim the Serie A lead, leading 2-1 against Lazio heading into second-half stoppage time. But a late Yann Bisseck handball allowed Pedro to equalize from the spot for his second goal of the game, and the ageless Spaniard coolly converted. Marko Arnautovic had the ball in the back of the net in the 98th minute, but he was offside.

🥇 At Parma, Napoli were awarded a penalty in the 96th minute, which could’ve seen them go three points clear with one matchday remaining, but VAR overturned the decision after a foul in the build-up. The game was otherwise a dud, with neither side registering more than 0.4 xG. It matters little for Napoli, as they retain control of their destiny going into the league’s final day. They can seal the Scudetto in front of their supporters with a win over Cagliari on Friday while Inter concurrently visits a surging Como side.

Clear those Friday afternoon calendars!

🇪🇺 Some clarity in the battle for Champions League: a four-horse race is now three. Juventus clung to fourth with goals from Nico Gonzalez and Dusan Vlahovic against Udinese, but their advantage stands at only one point.

👋 Roma denied Milan any European competition next season, winning 3-1 after Santiago Gimenez was sent off in the 21st minute. The crowd at Stadio Olimpico paid stunning tribute to the retiring Claudio Ranieri, whose work with this Roma side has bordered on miraculous. He can pen beautiful final pages by ending the season with Champions League qualification, but he’ll need Juventus to stumble at Venezia. Now, that would be a miracle. Still, they will play some form of European football, that much is confirmed.

Leandro Paredes scored this banger of a free kick in the win.

👀 Thanks to the late Pedro spot kick, Lazio remain in the race, albeit two points behind. Though their place in Europe is not confirmed like Roma’s, they control their fate next week against relegation-threatened Lecce.

📉 Bologna bowed out of the Champions League race, losing 3-2 to Fiorentina after a late Moise Kean winner. They’ll have to settle for the Europa League spot clinched via their Coppa Italia triumph—no small consolation. La Viola can still return to the Conference League, where they just fell in the semifinal, but they’ll need a win over Udinese and a Lazio loss. Having beaten Lazio twice this season, they own the tiebreaker.

↘️ Let’s turn to the bottom half of the table, where Lecce and Empoli won and Venezia lost. Those results leave Lecce narrowly ahead of Empoli thanks to the head-to-head tiebreaker. Further up the table, neither Parma nor Verona is safe yet.

🛟 The bottom line: the final matchday will see five clubs battling for survival, and two of them (Empoli and Verona) will clash in a relegation six-pointer. Empoli holds tiebreakers over both Verona and Parma at present.

With the title decided and relegation all but confirmed, the final day in the Bundesliga centered on the battle for European places.

🥉 Third-place Frankfurt visited fourth-place Freiburg and went down 1-0 early. In tandem with a Dortmund win and a 3-point swing in goal difference, a loss would see them fall out of the Champions League picture entirely. But they leveled the score in first-half stoppage time, and then two goals in three minutes sealed their passage into Europe’s premier competition.

⚫🟡 The loss deepened Freiburg’s already negative goal difference and condemned them to Europa League play, as Dortmund capably dispatched already relegated Holstein Kiel 3-0. The Black-and-Yellow won seven of their last eight Bundesliga matches, drawing only against Bayern, to complete an incredible and unlikely ascent into the Champions League.

After 26 matchdays, before that unbeaten run, they were 11th, ten points off the pace.

🔴⚪ The other battle of the day featured Mainz and Leipzig vying for a Conference League appearance. Mainz saw three first-half goals ruled out against Leverkusen before finally breaking through via Paul Nebel in the 35th minute. Patrik Schick scored a brace to put the visitors ahead, but a Jonathan Burkardt penalty put Mainz back on terms and into Europe.

For Leverkusen, the draw brings an end to the Xabi Alonso era and also turns the page on Jonathan Tah, Florian Wirtz, and Jeremie Frimpong’s time at the club. The incoming manager will face a daunting task and a cupboard suddenly devoid of elite talent.

🔴🐂 Leipzig needed to better Mainz’s result, and they failed to do so, falling 3-2 at home to Stuttgart. It’s the club’s worst-ever Bundesliga finish and the first time they’ll go without European competition since their promotion in 2016.

👀 Stuttgart, meanwhile, still has an opportunity to achieve Europa League football with a win over Arminia Bielefeld in the DFB Pokal Final on Saturday.

🇪🇺 Here’s the nearly final distribution of European places:

• Champions League: Bayern, Leverkusen, Frankfurt, Dortmund

• Europa League: Freiburg, DFP Pokal Winner (Stuttgart or Bielefeld)

• Conference League: Mainz

🛟 Heidenheim had almost no chance of achieving safety on Saturday, needing a win, a Hoffenheim loss, and a massive goal differential swing. Bayern did plenty of dirty work for them, but Heidenheim couldn’t hold up their end of the bargain, and they’ll play Elversberg over two legs starting Thursday for a chance at survival.

Auf wiedersehen, Bundesliga! Danke for a crazy battle for European places.

And the award for best final day in the major European leagues goes to….Ligue 1, easily!

🤯 Staring down relegation, Le Havre battled Strasbourg relentlessly, winning a penalty kick in the 98th minute. With survival on the line, Abdoulaye Toure stepped up and delivered a panenka to salvage his club’s Ligue 1 status from the grips of death. Unbelievable.

📉 Lost in the dramatics of Le Havre’s near-death experience was Strasbourg’s slide. After 12 matches unbeaten, they lost consecutive matches to Angers and Le Havre to fall all the way to 7th. That could, however, become a Conference League spot should PSG win the Coupe de France on Saturday against Reims.

😞 Oh, and speaking of Reims, for every scene of jubilation on the final day, there’s one of devastation, and Reims were the unlucky losers, falling 2-1 to Lille and into the relegation places once the panenka heard round France hit the back of the net. A Coupe de France victory and European qualification might ease the sting of the drop should they lose the relegation playoff against Metz. What a weird season that would be.

4⃣ 5⃣ Lille’s win over Reims could only guarantee their place in the Europa League, as they entered the day behind Nice on goal difference, and Nice put 6 unanswered past Brest, including a brace from Gaetan Laborde.

🔴🔵 Rounding out the European places is Lyon, who leapfrogged Strasbourg with a 2-0 win over Angers. Playing in his last game for the club, Alexandre Lacazette scored a brace to end on a heroic note, disrupted only by the burglary of his home during the game. It was also starlet Rayan Cherki’s last match as a Lyon player, with his departure part of a significant summer overhaul.

Currently, Lyon is headed for Conference League play, though a PSG win in the Coupe de France could catapult them back into the Europa League.

🇪🇺 Let’s recap the European places:

• Champions League: PSG, Marseille, Monaco, Nice (Qualification)

• Europa League: Lille (and Lyon if PSG wins the Coupe de France)

• Conference League: Lyon (or Strasbourg if PSG wins the Coupe de France)

🥈 With qualification already sealed, Marseille beat Rennes 4-2 with braces from Mason Greenwood and Adrien Rabiot, capping a chaotic campaign. Greenwood finished with 21 Ligue 1 goals.

🥉 Third-place Monaco suffered a 4-0 drubbing at Lens in Lens manager Will Still’s final match at the club. Neil El Aynaoui scored twice.

🥇 The champions beat Auxerre 1-0, with Kvaratskhelia scoring twice to complete a successful half-season in Paris. He could still win Ligue 1, Serie A, Coupe de France, and the Champions League in one season.

🇫🇷 Au revoir, Ligue 1! We will miss you.

🇵🇹 With a 2-0 win over Vitoria SC, Sporting claimed the Portuguese title on the league’s final day. Pedro Goncalves and Viktor Gyokeres (duh) scored for the back-to-back champions. Benfica drew 1-1, further simplifying matters. What a title race in Portugal.

🇳🇱 Collapse complete. A Jordan Henderson goal put Ajax ahead of Twente in the 28th minute, and for a moment, they had a glimmer of hope as Sparta Rotterdam equalized against PSV early in the second half. But goals from Luuk de Jong and Malik Tillman extinguished those hopes and sealed an improbable Eredivisie title for PSV.

Ajax blew a nine-point lead in four games, and not everyone took it well. Their manager, Francesco Fariolo, departed the club in the aftermath. His rumored replacement? Erik Ten Hag. Get the gang back together! Surely you still have some of the Antony transfer fee kicking around?! How about spending it on…Antony?

🇹🇷 Galatasaray clinched the title in Turkey with two matches to spare, beating Kayserispor 3-0 with Victor Osimhen (who else?) opening the scoring. It’s their third consecutive title, leaving Jose Mourinho to settle for second.

🇩🇪 Hamburg clinched automatic promotion to the Bundesliga last week, but a loss over the weekend ceded the title to Koln, who will join them in Germany’s top flight after a one-year absence.

🇺🇸 The Hell is Real Derby saw Eastern Conference leaders Cincinnati draw with Columbus 1-1, with Kevin Denkey opening the scoring. Elsewhere, Messi and friends continued to flounder, losing 3-0 to Orlando, while LA Galaxy remain winless after a 2-2 draw in El Traffico against LAFC. Marco Reus scored a brace, including this free kick.

🇧🇪 The Belgian Pro League will see the title decided on the final day, as leaders Union Saint-Gilloise and second-place Club Brugge both won. One point separates them. Ex-Spur Jan Vertonghen made his last home appearance before retirement in Anderlecht’s loss to Brugge.

🇦🇷 Independiente beat Boca Juniors 1-0 in Torneo Apertura quarterfinal action. River Plate is the highest remaining seed.

🇲🇽 It took a twisting path to get there, but in the end, the two best teams in Liga MX will meet in the Clausura Final. Toluca won 3-0 over Tigres on Saturday to advance 4-1 on aggregate, while Club América won 2-1 on Sunday to even the score on aggregate and advance on away goals.

🇧🇷 First-place Palmeiras beat third-place Bragantino 2-1 on the road with two goals in six minutes to remain atop the table. Their advantage over Flamengo is four points, while Bragantino drops to fourth with the loss.

🇸🇦 A 1-1 draw against Al-Taawoun confirms that Al Nassr will miss out on AFC Champions League Elite competition next season. Ronaldo has scored in bunches since moving to Saudi Arabia, but silverware has eluded him as successfully as free kick goals.

Europa League Final - Tottenham vs. Manchester United (3:00 PM ET WED)

Here it is. The most consequential match in history between sides placed 16th and 17th in the Premier League.

We’ve truly never seen anything like it. A victory on Wednesday instantaneously alleviates all the pain of a horrific season, rendering it less a memory and more a bad dream. The victor will take their place among the league’s largest clubs in the Champions League, where you might’ve thought they’d end up before the campaign began. With that place comes a material financial windfall for two clubs in need of one (particularly United).

A loss will force the unlucky club to confront the reality of the season they just endured, with no silver linings available to line the empty trophy case. Last we checked, clubs like United and Tottenham don’t celebrate avoiding the drop.

Also on the line: Ange’s flawless second-season trophy record.

The stakes could not be higher. We can’t wait.

Crystal Palace vs. Wolves (3:00 PM ET TUES)

It’s time for the FA Cup Final participants to play their games in hand. We wouldn’t fault Palace if they sat in the center circle and enjoyed some bubbly for ninety minutes. But they still have a chance, albeit a small one, of finishing the season in the top half. Then again, who the hell cares? They just won the FA Cup and are playing Europa League football next season.

Manchester City vs. Bournemouth (3:00 PM ET TUE)

Manchester City must recover from disappointment quickly because both remaining matches are of cup-final magnitude. A loss would leave them on the Champions League periphery going into the final day. Though neither Bournemouth nor Fulham (their next opponent) have anything left to play for, they are not easy draws for a side suddenly facing a crisis of confidence after dropping points at Southampton and losing to Palace.

🇫🇷 More high-stakes football on the way, and it’s of our favorite variety: promotion/relegation. Reims can assuage some of their weekend heartbreak by starting on the right foot in the Ligue 1 Promotion/Relegation Playoff on Wednesday at 2:00 PM ET. They’ll travel to face Metz in the first leg ahead of their Coupe de France clash with PSG this weekend.

🇩🇪 On Thursday at 2:30 PM ET, Heidenheim hosts Elversberg in the first leg of the Bundesliga Pro/Rel Playoff.

🇮🇹 We have first legs of the promotion semifinals in Italy’s Serie B on Wednesday at 2:30 PM ET. US Catanzaro hosts Spezia, while Juve Stabia hosts Cremonese. The relegation playoff is on hold in that division, as Brescia might incur a points deduction that sends them down.

🇺🇸 We’ve reached the Round of 16 in the US Open Cup, and just one non-MLS club remains. Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC head to Philadelphia to try to score an upset on Wednesday night at 7:30 PM ET.

🇲🇽 The first leg of the Liga MX Clausura Final takes place on Thursday night at 10:00 PM ET with Toluca visiting Club América.

🇦🇷 River Plate hosts Platense at 7:30 PM ET to round out the Torneo Apertura Semifinals.

👀 Italian newspaper La Stampa is reporting that Jurgen Klopp has agreed to fill the Claudio Ranieri-sized vacancy on the Roma touchline next season. If true, it would be an unbelievable—and we use that word literally—coup for the club and for all of Serie A.

The question is, is it true? His agent says no.

🤝 Closing in on done deals:

Matheus Cunha to United and Jeremie Frimpong to Liverpool.

🆕 Transfer Rumblings

Manchester City have exited the Florian Wirtz sweepstakes due to the total cost. They’re reportedly interested in Forest’s Morgan Gibbs-White.

Liverpool have begun negotiations for Bournemouth left-back Milos Kerkez, while Madrid prefer Benfica’s Alvaro Carreras for that position. Phew, another dust-up avoided?

Bayern remain in pole position for Leverkusen free agent Jonathan Tah, as Barcelona interest hasn’t materialized due to financial uncertainty.

Liam Delap is in discussions with Manchester United. His reasonable £30 million release clause for a homegrown English striker makes him a remarkable bargain. Doesn’t sound very Manchester United. Are you sure we can’t interest you in Victor Osimhen?

Como are set to support Cesc Fabregas after an incredible 10th-place finish in their debut Serie A campaign. They’re rumored to be exercising the €30 million release clause for Spanish starlet Yeremay from Deportivo La Coruna.