Barca, PSG, and Benfica among those to enjoy title-winning weekend

Barca, PSG, and Benfica among those to enjoy title-winning weekend
By Euronews
Share this articleComments
Share this articleClose Button

It was a weekend of ‘‘champions’‘, with six European teams claiming their domestic league titles. Lionel Messi’s 41st league goal of the season

ADVERTISEMENT

It was a weekend of ‘‘champions’‘, with six European teams claiming their domestic league titles.

Lionel Messi’s 41st league goal of the season handed Barcelona a one nil win over defending champs Atletico Madrid – a result that saw the Catalan’s clinch their 23rd La liga title.

Luis Enrique’s men remain on track for the treble.

They play Athletic Bilbao in the Spanish cup final on 30 May, before facing Juventus in June’s Champions League final.

Paris St-Germain celebrated a third consecutive French first division title.

The capital club beat Montpellier on Saturday to pip Lyon to the crown with one match to spare.

After winning the Coupe de la Ligue last month Laurent Blanc’s men are hoping to become first club to win the French domestic treble when they play in the French Cup final at the end of the month.

For the first time in 31 years Benfica won back to back Primeira Liga titles – a goalless draw with Vitoria Guimaraes proved enough when closest rivals Porto also drew with Belenenses.

It has left the club with a record 34th topflight title.

Former Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur manager Andre Villas Boas guided Zenit St Petersburg to their third Russian Premier League title in five years.

Runners up the past two seasons Zenit clinch the crown with a 1-1 draw with FC Ufa and two matches to spare.

Basel won the Swiss Super League for an unprecedented sixth season in a row.

It was their 17th league title overall and ninth from the past 12 campaigns.

Dynamo Kiev meanwhile ended the five-year dominance of Shakhtar Donetsk by winning the Ukrainian League title.

Up and down

Making it onto the up list this week is Olympique Lyonnais forward Alexandre Lacazette, who has been voted the French Ligue 1’s best player for the 2014/2015 season.

So far he has scored a league leading 27 goals.

Southampton’s Sadio Mané joins Lacazette on the up list after he scored the fastest Premier League hat-trick in history.

ADVERTISEMENT

The Senegal international completed his hat-trick against Aston Villa in two minutes and 56 seconds.

On the down list this week are Boca Juniors.

The Argentine topflight club were thrown out of the Copa Libertadores, and fined the equivalent of 175 000 euros after their fans sprayed River Plate players with an irritant substance during the pair’s last 16 second leg tie in Buenos Aires.

On this day

They are the second most successful team in Europe’s elite club competition -nowadays the Champions League.

ADVERTISEMENT

But next year, when the final will be at their home stadium, they won’t be there. We’re talking about seven-time champions AC Milan, who have to wait at least two more seasons to have a chance to add to their European trophy cabinet.

They did however reach a milestone on this day 21 years ago in Athens.

On 18 May 1994, AC Milan dismantled Barcelona 4-0 in the UEFA Champions League Final at the Olympic Stadium in Athens. It was Milan’s fifth European Cup/Champions League title.

Against the bookmakers odds and without key players such as the injured Marco van Basten and suspended captain Franco Baresi the Italians, under manager Fabio Capello, dominated the match from the off.

Daniele Massaro scored a first half brace while Dejan Savićević and Marcel Desailly completed barca’s misery in the second.

ADVERTISEMENT

We might be wrong

It’s time to try and predict a few upcoming matches across Europe.

We might be wrong, but last week we got one of the two Champions League semifinals right.

Who knows we might produce the goods again.

Don’t forget to send us your predictions using #TheCornerScores.

ADVERTISEMENT

Coppa Italia: Juventus 1-2 Lazio

Serie A: Lazio 3-0 Roma

Süper Lig: Galatasaray 1-0 Besiktas

Bloopers

He’s not Manuel Neuer or David de Gea, but this up and coming goalkeeper could well feature in this summer’s transfer window.

ADVERTISEMENT

(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_GB/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.3"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));> [The Corner] He’s not Manuel Neuer or David De Gea, but this up and coming goalkeeper could well feature in this summer’s transfer window.Watch the full video on http://eurone.ws/NccTE

Posted by euronews on Wednesday, 20 May 2015

Check out our Bloopers clip above of this talented four-legged shot stopper.

Share this articleComments

You might also like

Brazilian soccer star Dani Alves goes on trial for alleged sexual assault

Barcelona and former Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero, 33, retires from football

'€1.35 billion': Barcelona President reveals extent of Spanish club's rising debt