The blockbuster line up of games in the Premiership failed
to provide a goal in the first 175 minutes of stalemate.
Neither Liverpool nor Everton have much chance of making it
to the Champions League places now, and despite their city rivalry, Steven
Gerrard pointed out that the bragging rights over who finishes above whom don’t
really matter, and it showed as neither side managed to find the breakthrough.
In the later match between the newly crowned Champions of England
and the soon to be deposed Champions of Europe, Chelsea have a much better
chance of qualifying for Europe. Their
desire was shown to be slightly greater than that of the champions whose line
up was marked by a number of players making the required appearances to gain a
medal.
It took until the 87th minute for Chelsea’s
Player of The Season last year, and almost certainly this year, Juan Mata to
make the difference. Chelsea next face
Tottenham on Wednesday, and should they win that match, they will be guaranteed
Champions League football for the 11th season in a row.
Elsewhere in Europe there were more exciting matches,
particularly in Italy where Miroslav Klose showed that he still has the predatory
instinct of old by scoing 5 goals for Lazio against Bolonga, the first person
to do so in Serie A in 26 years.
Klose also stands alone as the only man to have scored more
than 5 goals in consecutive World Cups.
With the next tournament in Brazil just over a year away, it appears
despite his increasing age, Klose stands a good chance of making it to the
finals as part of a very strong German squad.
He only needs one goal to equal Ronaldo’s record of World
Cup Finals goals, and two more in any competition to surpass Gerd Muller as Germany’s
top international goalscorer.
Juventus secured their 29th legitimate Serie A title
with victory against Palermo, although the fans have not given up their claims
to the two titles they were stripped of for match fixing in 2004. The next challenge for ‘The Old Lady’ will be
to build on this domestic success and become a force in Europe once more.
Barcelona also demonstrated at the weekend just how
important Lionel Messi is to their team.
Two headed goals from David Villa and Alexis Sanchez were only enough to
have Barcelona level with Real Betis by the time Messi was introduced. However with his first touch, Messi bent a
free kick into the top corner, and his second followed soon after in a vintage
Barcelona move he started and finished off with a tap in.
Jose Mourinho looks certain to leave Madrid now with players
such as Pepe, thought to be in alliance with Mourinho due to their Portuguese
connection, coming out in support of dropped goalkeeper Iker Casilas after
Mourinho made a less than thinly veiled dig at the club captain, suggesting he
should have bought replacement goalkeeper Diego Lopez a year earlier.
Galatasary, helped by their luminary January signings Didier
Drogba and Wesley Sneijder, secured a record 19th Turkish League
title, while PSG missed the chance to secure the French Ligue 1 trophy, but are
still well positioned to do so in their next match. Ajax sealed the Dutch title, while Bayern
Munich and Dortmund played a dead rubber match in the German league in a dress
rehersal for the Champions League Final. With
Bayern already champions and Dortmund secure in second, the match was expected
to be a drab affair, however there was still some bad blood between the two
teams.
At the start of May all Europe’s major League titles have
been secured or look to be all but won, meaning there will be no drama to match
Manchester City’s last day title win last year.
There may be a few more Sunday’s like this weeks to endure before next
season begins.
No comments:
Post a Comment