Crystal Palace’s FA Cup joy, Serie A title race drama, more

The European soccer weekend is over, and there’s a lot to unpack this Monday. Let’s begin, shall we? The English FA Cup was settled on Saturday at Wembley as Crystal Palace rode their luck (and VAR) to defeat mighty Manchester City for their first-ever major trophy. Barcelona celebrated their latest LaLiga title with a 3-2 defeat to Villarreal that doesn’t take away from one of their most impressive league campaigns of the modern era.

In Italy, we got drama as the Serie A title will go down to the final day, with Napoli and Inter Milan separated by just a point with one game remaining — and the prospect of a one-game, winner-take-all clash if they somehow end the season level on points. We also got plenty to discuss and debate when it comes to Bayern Munich‘s season, Borussia Dortmund‘s remarkable top-four finish, PSG’s prep for the Champions League final and Arsenal locking down second place in the Premier League with one matchday remaining. Here are some musings and reactions to the most memorable moments of the weekend.

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Crystal Palace’s underdog tale makes them fitting FA Cup winners over Manchester City

OK: let me get this out of the way before the keyboard warriors get worked up. Palace keeper Dean Henderson probably should have been sent off for a denial of goalscoring opportunity, since he punched the ball away from Erling Haaland outside his own box. The fact that Haaland was going away from goal, and that it was by no means certain he would score, is irrelevant: it’s about denying the opportunity to score and if Henderson doesn’t punch it away, you reasonably expect Haaland to touch it past him and shoot on an unmanned goal. And with 10 men for more than an hour, it would have been hard to hang on. City missed a penalty, outshot Palace 23-7 and had an xG of 2.23 to Palace’s 0.74.

I get all that, and had it been a random league game, I’d say that Palace were lucky and that with better finishing, City would have had a deserved three points. But it’s not. It’s the FA Cup final, and games like this take on different meaning.

For Palace, it’s their first ever piece of major silverware. (No, I’m not counting the Full Members Cup they won in 1991 because that was a nonsense competition created to fill time while English clubs were banned from Europe and big clubs like Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool did not participate.) For Man City, it would have been their 16th piece of silverware in the past decade, but not enough to mitigate a thoroughly disappointing season; it’s probably less important than their two remaining league games, which will determine Champions League qualification.

It goes beyond all that.

Wage bill is the single biggest predictor of relative strength. City’s is more than three times that of Palace. Did good luck — or, at least, the absence of bad luck — play a part in their FA Cup win? Sure, that’s football. But it also came about because of planning and organisation and talent and, yes, consistency: they beat Fulham and Aston Villa — teams above them in the Premier League table — along the way.

Then there are the individual stories, of which there are plenty. From the budding star that is Adam Wharton, to Jean-Philippe Mateta coming back from his terrifying injury, to the speedster Daniel Muñoz, but two stand out for me. One is coach Oliver Glasner who, lest we forget, was winless and in the relegation zone after his first eight league games of the season. His honesty about the way his team played — sitting deep, absorbing pressure and leaning hard on the counter after taking the early lead — was refreshing and it showed the sort of tactical flexibility that his team are capable of. (Palace don’t play like this every week.)

The other is Eberechi Eze, a monument to resilience and self-belief. Released by Arsenal at 13. Released by Fulham. Released by Reading. Released by Millwall. Failed trials at Sunderland and Bristol City. All before his 19th birthday. Now, at 26, he’s an England international, an FA Cup winner and cooler than most of the guys who pull on a jersey every weekend. Yeah, the experts get it wrong — more often than we realize.

As for City, they might have won this game because they have superior individuals, but this was not a good performance. Haaland managed just three shots, the best one after six minutes, and the confusion with Omar Marmoush ahead of the penalty wasn’t a great look. The biggest threat, too often, consisted of Jérémy Doku doing his Lamine Yamal impression.

The few times Palace broke, you felt defending the transition was a struggle for the back line. And making 19-year-old Claudio Echeverri — who had never played for the club — your first substitute was plain weird from Guardiola, as if he was looking to make some sort of statement. Almost as weird as Guardiola hunting down Henderson to yell at him at full-time for handling the ball outside the box: also not a good look.

Man City still need to qualify for the Champions League — they face Bournemouth at home on Tuesday and Fulham away on the last day of the season — and logic says they’ll get it done, but very little has been logical about this City season.

Bernardo Silva‘s words sound frankly ominous: “In the bad moments you learn new things. Who you can go to war with first of all … Something has to change next year…”

If the “how” matters (and it does, at least to me), this was Barcelona’s most impressive title since Pep Guardiola’s first

There have been several better Barcelona sides since the 2008-09 one: the numbers speak for themselves. This team will finish with a maximum of 85 points, the 2009-10 team had 99, the 2012-13 one finished with 100. And, of course, in 2010-11 and 2014-15, they won the Champions League too. But in terms of achievement — and on the basis that the 2008-09 team, like this one, had a new coach that stubbornly and efficiently did things his own way and was vindicated — Hansi Flick’s 2024-25 is, for me, the most impressive.

The high-risk, high-reward high line is simply different from how most other European heavyweights play. Flick arrived on the back of his disaster at the 2022 World Cup and quickly got his players to embrace and thrive in his system. Game after game, training session after training session, he won people over. That matters, because this brand of football only works if everybody is on board. And he did it against a squad that was hit hard by injuries, especially in the first part of the season.

Back to front. Marc-André ter Stegen went down in September and, eventually, had to be replaced by a guy coming out of retirement (Wojciech Sczcesny). Ronald Araújo, supposedly their defensive leader, didn’t play until January, and was a shadow of himself when he returned. Alejandro Balde missed a month in the spring, Jules Koundé went down in April. Frenkie de Jong didn’t play until October; his replacement, Marc Casadó, saw his season end in mid-March. (The guy most thought would be his replacement, Marc Bernal, suffered a season-ending injury in August.) Gavi only made his first start in late October. Between injuries and registration foibles, their big signing Dani Olmo only started 13 league games. Oh, and the centerforward, Robert Lewandowski is 36.

All of this with a club in perpetual financial trouble, and unlike the previous teams, without the human cheat code that is Lionel Messi (though Lamine Yamal may get there one day). Oh, and they were were seven points back as recently as January, lest we forget. Talk about “bouncebackability” — something they showed coming from two goals down against Real Madrid and Inter (twice) while apparently not breaking a sweat.

So yeah, Sunday’s 3-2 home defeat to Villarreal doesn’t tarnish the achievement one bit; you can imagine what the team party was like after clinching on Thursday night.

There are 101 challenges facing this club going forward — many of them to do with the Bartomeu Era and Joan Laporta’s “levers” — but if you’re a Barca fan, you feel much better about the future with a coach who defies convention and has shown himself to be a superb leader of men and a set of players who are not just gifted, but willing to be guided to the promised land. Oh, and knowing that Yamal is still just 17 and his best years are ahead of him is a massive bonus too.

Twists, turns and controversy as Serie A goes down to the wire…

You want frayed nerves? Consider the fact that all four coaches in Inter vs. Lazio and Parma vs. Napoli were sent off.

You want twists? Consider that Inter, for a total of 38 minutes (split over two periods, in between the Lazio equalizers) were top of Serie A with a two point lead.

You like might-have-beens and what-ifs? Consider Marko Arnautovic‘s botched sitter that would have given Inter a 3-2 win; or the David Neres‘ penalty in Naples that was given and then overturned; or the Yann Bisseck handball that so infuriated Inter and led to Pedro‘s 90th minute injury time equalizer; or André-Frank Zambo-Anguissa hitting the post in what otherwise would have been a goal of the season contender.

The title race is “as you were” following Sunday’s games, but only after a riveting rollercoaster of emotion and intensity and a coda of recrimination over refereeing decisions. (Napoli lead Inter by a point with one game left.)

For what it’s worth, I thought the referees did OK in very difficult circumstances. Overruling the Mathis Lovik on David Neres’ penalty for the earlier Gio Simeone on Alessandro Circati foul was brave, and it could have gone either way. I have no issue with the Bisseck penalty, either: he does try to put his arm behind his back, but, when he jumps, the elbow comes out. (Hindsight being 20/20, there was no reason to jump and he should have just stood his ground.)

Nicolo’ Rovella’s shove on Bisseck early in the game could have been a penalty. Then again, these were intense, physical encounters in a frenzied atmosphere, forensic reviews of refereeing decisions serve little purpose. And, in Inter’s case, if Arnautovic sorts out his feet and converts from close range, this whole conversation becomes moot.

Serie A will thus be decided on Friday night, when Inter travel to Como and Napoli host Cagliari. If Napoli match or better Inter’s result, they will become Serie A champions for the second time in three seasons, and the legend of Conte will only grow.

(In case you’re wondering why these two games are being played Friday and not on Sunday, with the rest of Serie A, it has to do with Inter being in the Champions League final and Serie A rules stating that if teams finish level on points, a one-game playoff decides the champion rather than goal difference or head-to-head like in most other leagues).

It’s unlikely that Inter and Napoli will finish level on points — that would only happen if Napoli lose and Inter draw — but just in case, the date for the possible one-game playoff is Monday, so that Inter have time to prepare for the Champions League final in Munich the following Saturday.

Either way, Sunday night was a doozy. And we could well get more of the same on Friday…

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Quick hits

10. Uli Hoeness is right that Bayern did not have a “very bad season,” but he’s also wrong: It’s a classic “both things can be true” situation. The Bayern supremo said he didn’t think his team would finish 13 points ahead of Leverkusen and 25 ahead of Dortmund, and that Bayern have “rarely” won the league so convincingly. He didn’t say it, but part of the reason nobody expected Bayern to be this dominant was the seventh-choice pick as manager, Vincent Kompany. And yet, after the weekend’s 4-0 away win at Hoffenheim, the final numbers are in: you have to go back to 2018 to find a higher points total than the 82 they put together, while their 99 goals are the second highest in history. That’s a credit to Kompany, who may not be everyone’s cup of tea tactically, but showed he’s a tremendous man-manager, unfazed by the big stage and capable of dealing with both injuries and individual drops in performance. At the same time though, it’s not lost on anyone that Bayern have far and away the most resources in the league and will invariably be judged by what they do in the Champions League (which was disappointing). Most of all, this season under Kompany doesn’t feel like the beginning of a cycle, it feels like the end of a cycle. How quickly they get the rebuild right — and it only takes a few players — will impact how quickly folks come around to Hoeness’ point of view.

9. Arsenal beat Newcastle to lock up second place, but Mikel Arteta can’t let it turn into a negative: The worst thing that could happen to Arsenal now, after three straight second place finishes, is thinking Arteta can only take you so far, that there’s some magical mystical quality that divides winners and runners-up and that their boss is only good for bridesmaid fare. That’s as irrational as it is non-sensical. Arsenal have improved every season and you don’t judge that by league position: you judge it in the way they play. It’s especially silly after a year where — as Arteta pointedly underscored — they suffered a rash of injuries to key men (from Gabriel to Bukayo Saka to Kai Havertz) and still pushed on. It doesn’t mean he’s flawless (and hopefully one day we’ll understand whether the failure to sign a backup striker in January was down to him or somebody else), and it doesn’t mean second place is guaranteed next year, even with Josh Kroenke’s promises of investment. It does mean the track record is solid and this group is on board with their manager. You saw it Sunday against Newcastle. After a horrendous first half in which they looked demotivated and drab (and were only saved by some David Raya heroics), they stormed back with a very credible second half in a game which, let’s face it, was really just about pride. As for Newcastle, they will end the season with a Champions League spot unless they screw it up against Everton on Matchday 38. You can’t see Eddie Howe allowing that happen.

8. Niko Kovac and Borussia Dortmund get it done. Now the hard(er) part starts: The Dortmund manager held up his part of the bargain. He took over the team in 11th place and after Saturday’s 3-0 hammering of Holstein Kiel, marched them straight up the table into the 2025-26 Champions League. At the time, I said it was a reasonable (if difficult) goal, and Kovac needed to be held accountable. Job done, and he deserves the accolade, but the club can’t start thinking they’ve rid themselves of their dysfunctional decision-making just because they got it right with Kovac. The same accountability to which he was held has to now be applied to players (Julian Brandt springs to mind) and, especially, to the decision-makers upstairs (not just Sebastian Kehl, either) who put together this ill-assorted, underachieving mess.

7. PSV are champions amid a historic Ajax collapse, but how big a deal is it? Less than a month ago, Ajax were top of the table, nine points clear of PSV Eindhoven with five games to go. Francesco Farioli’s crew then contrived to take just two points from their next four matches — three of them against mid-table sides with little to play for — while Petr Bosz’ PSV won out, passing them in the table. On Sunday, in the final match day, both Ajax and PSV won, handing the title to Bosz’ crew. Credit to PSV, of course, but Ajax’s implosion merits an inquest, especially when it comes to Farioli, who only took over in the summer. Stuck in a tricky financial situation, they moved players out for some €70m and spent less than €13m on newcomers. They finished three places and 22 points better than 2023-24. Logically, you’d say there was progress and it was a good season, and yet the heartbreak of the collapse will lead many to conclude the opposite. Because in this sport, the heart often rules the mind.

6. Starters back for PSG as Ligue 1 concludes with Nice in Champions League thanks to goal difference: Luis Enrique played his best XI for the visit of Auxerre and while Paris Saint-Germain had to come from behind, the 3-1 win was ultimately pretty comfortable. You don’t want injuries at the stage of the campaign, sure, but you don’t want ring rust either. They’re in the French Cup final next Saturday and, of course, Inter is up in the Champions League final the week after that: the players don’t need any more rest. Elsewhere, both Nice and Lille won to finish on 60 points in fourth place: it could have been a three-way tie if Strasbourg hadn’t lost at home to relegation-threatened Le Havre, 3-2. Nice will get the Champions League spot based on the tiebreaker, which is goal difference. Regular readers will know I hate any tiebreaker that doesn’t involve a one-game playoff to settle matters on the pitch. (I’m not a fan of the head-to-head either.) But it is what it is and depending how things work out Wednesday in Bilbao, Jim Ratcliffe might have two clubs in the Champions League next season (though Nice, like this year, will have to be in a blind trust to avoid conflicts of interest).

5. Milan self-destruct as Claudio Ranieri shows the way in a neat summary of their seasons: For once, I agree entirely with Sérgio Conceição when he says Milan’s 3-1 defeat away to Roma (which ended their slim European hopes) reflected their season: bad decisions, mental errors and self-destruction. Santi Gimenez getting sent off after 20-odd minutes is beyond stupid, but maybe doesn’t even rank in Milan’s Top Ten of silly self-destructive individual moments this year. (Gimenez elbowed Gianluca Mancini away from the ball: in the VAR era, you can’t do that and it’s irrelevant that Mancini made a meal of it.) Milan need a major reset (without Conceicao) and maybe a season away from Europe will help facilitate that. As for Roma, Ranieri took a team on the verge of the drop zone and got them to within a point of the Champions League places. And he did it with humility and patience and whole lot of understanding the club, players and supporters. After the game, he addressed the stadium and simply thanked them for following him: “Your support is all the help we needed.” Nice words from one of the game’s true gentleman, but he’s wrong: it wasn’t just about the support, it was about the experience and calm he brought to Roma. He’ll be a very hard act to follow.

4. Nottingham Forest win underscores their regret for dropped points: OK, whatever happens Nottingham Forest’s season — going from 17th a year ago to fighting for a Champions League place — will stand out as monumental. That it came with a manager few believed in (Nuno Espirito Santo), a centerforward who is 33 and from New Zealand (Chris Wood), a goalkeeper who arrived as an after-thought (Matz Sels), wingers discarded from supposedly bigger clubs (Callum Hudson-Odoi, Antony Elanga) and an owner who gets mocked mercilessly (Evangelos Marinakis) makes it all the more remarkable. Sunday’s 2-1 win away to West Ham proved to be a nail-biter — and a bit fortunate, given the goals came from a keeper gift and a deflected shot — and it sets up a riveting final day clash with Chelsea at the City Ground. The only regret here is that Forest do not control their own destiny, all because of the late equalizer they gave up to Leicester City a week ago. But that’s what league campaigns are: a collection of moments, some of which end up being decisive.

3. Kylian Mbappé pretty much locks up the Pichichi, now for the Golden Boot? Late in the season, with so many verdicts in, there’s only so much to ratchet up the excitement, especially at the top end of the table. Real Madrid’s 2-0 win at Sevilla was strangely anti-climactic as well. Sevilla had avoided relegation, the players were relieved, though the fans were still grumpy with the car crash that passes for ownership at their club. Real Madrid felt like they were playing out the string, which may explain why, despite playing almost the entire second half with a two-man advantage, the goals of Mbappe and Bellingham only came towards the end of the game. (Actually, it wasn’t entirely anti-climactic: we did get to enjoy the rare treat of Luka Modric spraying the ball around for 90 minutes). Mbappe, back to his favoured left side in Vinícius‘ absence, scored again to bring his league total to 29, four more than Robert Lewandowski, which means he’ll almost certainly end the season the league’s top goalscorer. There’s another goal-scoring race to keep track of though, if that’s your thing: the European Golden Boot. Mbappe is half a point behind Viktor Gyökeres and two points ahead of Mohamed Salah (you get two points for each goal in a Big Five league, 1.5 per goal in what’s considered a mid-tier league, like Gyokeres in Portugal). Salah has two games left (including Monday night’s clash with Brighton) and Mbappe one, while Gyokeres’ season is over. I’m not even sure if the Golden Boot is on Salah’s radar, but it certainly is on Mbappe’s. So that’s one thing to add excitement to the last day of the season in England and Spain.

2. A big sigh of relief for Juventus after a win over Udinese, but they need one last push: The goals came in the second half courtesy of Nico Gonzalez and Dusan Vlahovic (bringing his seasonal total to 15, which is pretty good when you consider injuries and all the time he spent on the bench) so it wasn’t exactly straight-forward, but Juventus got the 2-0 win they needed to stay on track for that all important (to them) final Champions League spot. No time to rest on their laurels, though: they’re one point ahead of Roma heading into the final weekend, and while their away trip to Venezia to second-bottom Venezia may seem like a gimme, it’s anything but. They’re opponents’ fate isn’t sealed yet, and they’ve avoided defeat in nine of their last twelve games. Meanwhile Roma travel to Torino, who have nothing to play for and, you imagine, wouldn’t want to do crosstown rival Juve any favours. So yeah, they’re not out of the woods yet…

1. Leipzig and Red Bull screw it up again, with schadenfreude all around: Most won’t have even a smidgeon of sympathy because Leipzig (and the Red Bull organisation in general) are about as popular as termites in most Bundesliga households. (This still holds.) So yeah, why not rub it in when they let the lead slip not once, but twice at home against a Stuttgart team with next week’s German Cup Final on their minds and nothing to play for but pride? The home defeat cost them a place in Europe. That much ballyhooed S.O.S. strike force? Benjamin Sesko and Loïs Openda came off the bench and played a combined 17 minutes. Xavi Simons did start, but the buzz is that his bags are already packed. The “smartest guys in the room” need to have a major rethink this summer. (Maybe even see if Jurgen Klopp has something to contribute, big picture.) And it’s not just them. Salzburg are fourth in Austria, which means its unlikely we’ll see them in Europe next year either. Plenty out there will have enjoyed this campaign…