English Premier League
Manchester United were crowned English champions for the 20th time in their history (13th Premier League title) with 4 games to spare as they beat Aston Villa 3-0 at Old Trafford. Robin Van Persie scored a hat trick that sent him to the top of the scorers list with 24 Premier League goals and looks the favourite to retain the golden boot.
Manchester City had 15 minutes to forget when they lost 3-1 away at White Hart Lane which handed United the opportunity to clinch the title. City were leading till the 75th minute through Samir Nasri’s 5th minute opener when Clint Dempsey equalised for Tottenham. Jermain Defoe came on as a substitute and scored to put the Spurs in front. Gareth Bale put the result beyond doubt when he capped a fine performance with the 3rd goal.
Liverpool snatched a late equaliser in injury time to secure a point as they drew 2-2 at Anfield against Chelsea. Oscar gave the Blues the lead on 26 minutes and Daniel Sturridge equalised for the Reds after 52 minutes. Chelsea were awarded a penalty and Eden Hazard stepped up to convert. Luis Suarez had a moment of madness and another of greatness when he first bit the arm of Branislav Ivanovic only to escape unpunished and scored in the 7th minute of added time to rescue a point. The FA after a review banned the Uruguayan striker for 10 matches.
Arsenal won 1-0 away at Craven Cottage after they beat Fulham 1-0. Per Mertesacker scored the only goal of the game. Both sides ended the game with 10 men as Steve Sidwell and Olivier Giroud were sent off for dangerous tackles.
Ryan Bennett and Elliot Bennett scored for Norwich as they beat Reading 2-1. Garath McCleary pulled one back for Royals. QPR were beaten 2-0 at home by Stoke City with Peter Crouch and Jonathan Walters scoring for the Potters. Sunderland continued their resurgence under Paolo Di Canio as they beat Everton 1-0 with Stephane Sessegnon scoring the only goal.
West Bromwich Albion drew 1-1 at home against Newcastle. Yoan Gouffran’s early goal was cancelled out by Billy Jones’ equaliser. West Ham United beat Wigan Athletic 2-0 at home with Matt Jarvis and Kevin Nolan scoring for the Hammers. Swansea and Southampton played out a goalless draw at the Liberty Stadium.
QPR and Reading look destined for the drop while Wigan and Aston will look more likely to fight for survival.
Cardiff will be the 2nd Welsh team in the Premier League next season after securing automatic promotion. Hull will be hoping to join them and need to win 1 of their 2 remaining games to secure automatic promotion. Watford are in the playoff places and there are 3 more to play for with 6 teams still able to grab a place.
Scottish Premier League
Celtic retained their Scottish title with 4 games to spare after beating Inverness 4-1 at Celtic Park.
Spanish Primera Liga
Barcelona need just 6 more points at most from their remaining 6 games to win the title and they continued their march with a 1-0 home win against Levante. Cesc Fabregas scored the only goal of the game.
Mesut Ozil scored a brace and Karim Benzema also scored as Real Madrid beat Real Betis 3-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu. Radamel Falcao scored the only goal of the game as Atletico Madrid beat Sevilla 1-0 away.
Barca lead the pack after 32 games with 84 points followed by Madrid, Atletico, Real Sociedad and Valencia on 71, 68, 55 and 53 respectively.
German Bundesliga
Bayern Munich thrashed Hannover 96 6-1 away thanks to a brace each from Mario Gomez and Claudio Pizarro. Franck Ribery also got on the score sheet and Lars Stindl scored an own goal.
Goals from Marco Reus and Robert Lewandowski helped Borussia Dortmund win 2-0 at home against Mainz while Bayer Leverkusen thrashed Hoffenheim 5-0 at the Bayarena.
Italian Serie A
Juventus need a maximum of 5 points to retain the Scudetto and they beat AC Milan 1-0 at home thanks to Arturo Vidal’s penalty. Napoli beat Cagliari 3-2 while Fiorentina beat Torino 4-3. Inter Milan also won as they beat Parma 1-0 at the San Siro.
French Ligue 1
Paris Saint-Germain beat Nice 3-0 at home while Marseille beat Brest 1-0 and Lyon beat Montpellier 2-1 away. PSG lead with 70 points after 33 games followed by Marseille and Lyon on 61 and 59 points respectively and look most likely to win the title.
Dutch Eredivisie
It is still tight as Ajax, PSV, Feyenoord and Vitesse Arnhem are all in with a chance to win the title. Ajax lead after 31 games with 67 points followed by PSV and Feyenoord on 63 apiece and Vitesse on 61 points.
Ajax were held to a 1-1 draw at home by Heerenveen while PSV beat AZ Alkmaar 3-1 away. Feyenoord beat Vitesse 2-0 at home.
Portuguese Liga
Benfica and Porto are still fighting it out with 4 games left with the former on 70 points and the latter on 66. Benfica beat Sporting Lisbon 2-0 at home while Porto beat Moreirense 3-0 away.
UEFA Champions League- Semi Final 1st Leg
The power in Europe seemed to shift from Spain to Germany as both Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund recorded remarkable semi final 1st leg wins against Barcelona and Real Madrid respectively.
A brace from Thomas Muller and 2 more goals from Arjen Robben and Mario Gomez helped the newly crowned German champions beat Barca 4-0 at the Allianz Arena. The visitors had 65% of the possession but failed to capitalise as Bayern made of the most of their chances.
Borussia Dortmund humbled Real Madrid 4-1 as Robert Lewandowski picked arguably the best stage to show the world why he is in such high demand. The Polish striker scored all 4 goals and Cristiano Ronaldo’s away goal may prove vital for Madrid.
Both German teams look favourites to progress and should be able to hold on in their away legs next week.
UEFA Europa League- Semi Final 1st Leg
Chelsea beat Basel 2-1 in Switzerland thanks to goals from Victor Moses and David Luiz who scored from the last kick of the game. Fabian Schar equalised for the hosts from the spot after a controversial penalty was awarded. The Blues look set to progress but need to ensure that they do not allow Basel to repeat their heroics at Tottenham.
Baroni Cristian missed a penalty but Egeman Korkmaz scored as Fenerbahce beat Benfica 1-0 in Turkey. They will take a slender lead to Portugal but Benfica will fancy their chances of progression.
