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European Rewind: Juventus clinch title, Guardiola wins home finale and more

Juve getty

It's been a long and difficult road but Juventus are finally, legitimately, champions of Italy again.

Six years after Calciopoli threatened the very existence of the Turin-based club, Juventus wrapped up their first Serie A title with a game to spare thanks to a 2-0 win over Cagliari and are only one game away from completing an unbeaten season. Juventus were pushed over the top courtesy of Inter Milan's 4-2 defeat of AC Milan at the San Siro.

Miko Vucinic put the visitors up in the sixth minute and an own goal late in the second half gave Juventus the easy victory. Cagliari are safe from relegation and failed to put up much of a fight. When news came that the title's was heading back to Juventus the estimated 15,000 traveling fans invaded the field for a raucaous celebration.

Now the only title races still in doubt are in England and France.

Pep Guardiola bid farewell to the Camp Nou for the final time as Barcelona manager on Sunday as the home side were dominant in a 4-0 win over Espanyol. Lionel Messi took his league goal-scoring total to 50 on the season as the Argentine striker scored all four goals. This is the first time in Guardiola's four year reign that he will not take home the La Liga title but will have a shot at a trophy later this month in the Copa del Rey final against Athletic Bilbao.

Here is a closer look at the key results from around Europe.

England

Chelsea notched their fourth FA Cup title in six years on Saturday with a nervy 2-1 win over Liverpool at Wembley. The Blues were dominant for the opening hour with Ramires scoring the opener and Didier Drogba doubling the advantage early in the second half.

Liverpool came to life in the final 30 minutes when Andy Carrol capitalized on a defensive error and came perilously close to an equalizer. The English striker thought his point-blank header had crossed the line but replays showed Petr Cech's unbelivable save kept the ball out by milimeters.

Manchester United and Manchester City each notched comfortable 2-0 wins in their penultimate league games. Newcastle's loss to City coupled with Arsenal's and Tottenham's draws sets up a final weekend in which four teams could have a shot at the final two Champions League places.

PREMIER LEAGUE SCOREBOARD

Arsenal 3, Norwich City 3
Newcastle United 0, Manchester City 2
Aston Villa 1, Tottenham Hotspur 1
Bolton Wanderers 2, West Bromwich Albion 2
Fulham 2, Sunderland 1 
Queens Park Rangers 1, Stoke City 0
Wolverhampton Wanderers 0, Everton 0
Manchester United 2, Swansea City 0

MONDAY

Blackburn Rovers vs. Wigan Athletic, 3 p.m.

SPAIN

Valencia wrapped up third place in La Liga over the weekend with a thrilling 1-0 victory over Villarreal. Jonas scored deep into stoppage time to give the home side a narrow win. In the end, a draw would have been sufficient as Malaga fell 2-1 to Atletico Madrid and Levante fell to Mallorca. Malaga need a win against Sporting Gijon in the final weekend to clinch fourth spot or else Atletico Madrid will sneak in with a victory over Villarreal. 

Villarreal, on the other hand, is still very much in a relegation fight in 16th place and only one point clear of the drop. 

LA LIGA SCOREBOARD

Athletic Bilbao 0, Getafe 0
Atletico Madrid 2, Malaga 1
Barcelona 4, Espanyol 0
Granada 1, Real Madrid 2
Mallorca 1, Levante 0
Osasuna 1, Real Sociedad 0
Real Zaragoza 2, Racing Santander 1
Sevilla FC 5, Rayo Vallecano 2
Sporting Gijon 2, Real Betis 1
Valencia 1, Villarreal 0`

GERMANY

What should have been a weekend of celebration for Borussia Dortmund turned into something darker as fan violence in Cologne grabbed the headlines. When FC Koln was officially relegated after a 4-1 defeat to Bayern Munich, smoke bombs were thrown and Arsenal-bound striker Lukas Podolksi had to be escorted into the locker room by police officers.

Dortmund did celebrate their title in fashion with a comprehensive 4-0 victory over SC Freiburg. Hertha Berlin was given a lifeline in the form of a relegation playoff after a 3-1 victory over TSG Hoffenheim.

BUNDESLIGA SCOREBOARD

Borussia Dortmund 4, SC Freiburg 0
FC Augsburg 1, Hamburg SV 0
FC Koln 1, Bayern Munich 4
Hannover 96 2, Kaiserslautern 1
Hertha Berlin 3, TSG Hoffenheim 1
Mainz 0, Borussia Monchengladbach 3
Nurnberg 1, Bayer Leverkusen 4
VfB Stuttgart 3, VfL Wolfsburg 2
Werder Bremen 2, Schalke 04 3

ITALY

For Inter Milan, Sunday's 4-2 defeat of their cross-town rivals was about much more than pure pride. The game was a thriller as Milan equalized and subsequently took the lead on either side of halftime thanks to Zlatan Ibrahimovic before Inter staged a magnificent comeback. Diego Milito score the last two goals of his impressive hat trick and Maicon put the result beyond all doubt with a magnificent strike.

Inter Milan are in sixth place and three points behind Udinese. Should Udinese lose to Catania and Napoli drop points against Siena, Inter Milan would move into third place with a victory over Lazio on the final day.

SERIE A SCOREBOARD

Lecce 0, Fiorentina 1
AS Roma 2, Catania 2
Siena 0, Parma 2
Atalanta 0, Lazio 2
Bologna 2, Napoli 0
Novara 3, Cesena 0
Palermo 4, Chievo Verona 4
Udinese 2, Genoa 0
Cagliari 0, Juventus 2
Inter Milan 4, AC Milan 2

France

Most of this round's Ligue 1 action has yet to be played but Sunday produced one of the more thrilling games of the season. Paris Saint-Germain kept their title hopes alive with a 4-3 victory over Valenciennes. PSG were down 2-0 before rattling off four unanswered goals in the span of 45 minutes and held on for a victory. They temporarily move ahead of Montpellier, who face a difficult test against Stade Rennes tonight.

SUNDAY

Evian Thonon Gaillard 2, AC Ajaccio 1
Lyon 1, Brest 1
Valenciennes 3, Paris Saint-Germain 4

MONDAY

AJ Auxerre vs. Bordeaux, 1 p.m.
Lille vs. Caen, 1 p.m.
Lorient vs. Dijon FCO, 1 p.m. 
Sochaux vs. AS Nancy Lorraine, 1 p.m. 
St Etienne vs. Marseille, 1 p.m. 
Toulouse vs. Nice, 1 p.m. 
Stade Rennes vs. Montpellier, 3 p.m. 

The Netherlands

Feyenoord Rotterdam wrapped up Champions League play for next season with a nail-biting 3-2 win over Heerenveen. The home side took a 1-0 lead in the second half but Feyenoord scored three goals in the span of 11 minutes to regain the advantage and held on for the victory. If Feyenoord had slipped up, PSV Eindhoven would have moved into second thanks to a 3-1 win over Excelsior.

SUNDAY

ADO Den Haag 3, De Graafschap 5
AZ Alkmaar 1, FC Groningen 0
Excelsior 1, PSV Eindhoven 3
Heerenveen 2, Feyenoord Rotterdam 3
NAC Breda 3, RKC Waalwijk 2
Roda JC Kerkrade 1, FC Utrecht 3
SC Heracles Almelo 1, NEC Nijmegen 2
Vitesse Arnhem 1, Ajax 3
VVV Venlo 4, FC Twente 2

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What do you think of the weekend's results? Are Juventus worthy champions? Sad to see Guardiola leave the Camp Nou? Disapointed by the violence in Germany?

Share your thoughts below

 

Comments

  1. yeah, I’ve heard way more man u fans use losing one of their players to injury (*gasp*) as an excuse, than anybody saying “City will now steamroll through the league for the next 20 plus years.”

    not that you’re doing that, k bone; you seem pretty cool. but on other boards that shall not be named, that seems to be the excuse all round.

    kevin’s right: man u spent a lot of money to accumulate depth, but certainly haven’t got a good return on it (yet!).

    Reply
  2. They lost a really important player in Tevez for a long long time. Losing vidic was a blow, I admit, but injuries/other stuff happens to every team. That’s why you accumulate depth.

    Reply
  3. With all of the hype around England and Spain, what Juventus has accomplished this season should not be over shadowed. Undefeated (assuming they don’t lose their final game) during their domestic campaign. If they win the Copa Italia then this should go down in history as one of the greatest seasons any team has had. Ever.

    Congratulations, Juventus!

    Reply
  4. I hate to admit it, but City deserve to win the title this season. Even if United somehow pull it out, it would be pretty weak. I’m very encouraged for next season though, despite every critic in the world saying City will now steamroll through the league for the next 20 plus years. If that United team, one of the weakest in memory, can lose the title to a stacked and ridiculously wealthy City team on goal difference, without their captain and one of best defenders in the world in Vidic, then I’d say next season United should be right up there with City again, assuming they buy the players that they need. No way would City have won this title if Kompany had been injured as long as Vidic. In a small way I’m glad they won’t win the title because hopefully it’ll force the Glazers to spend some serious money to challenge…

    Reply

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