The European soccer weekend was jam-packed with drama and talking points, but where to begin?
How about Manchester City claiming the FA Cup over Chelsea with a 1-0 win that offered more drama postgame regarding Pep Guardiola's future than any fireworks at Wembley? Meanwhile, Chelsea's announcement regarding Xabi Alonso coming in as manager feels like a big win for a Blues team in need of inspiration.
In Italy, Juventus are limping to the finish line and run the risk of missing out on the Champions League next season, which isn't good news for a team that needs the financial boost from competing in Europe's top club competition. In LaLiga, Real Madrid got a win thanks to Vinicius Jr., though the club has some huge decisions to make this summer, including the identity of their next permanent manager. Will it be Jose Mourinho? Should it be Jose Mourinho?
Elsewhere, we had talking points galore around Liverpool, Borussia Dortmund, Paris Saint-Germain, the dramatic Scottish Premiership title race, and much more.
It's Monday morning, so what better time for some musings? Let's get into it.
- FA Cup reaction: Semenyo lifts Man City over Chelsea
- Ogden, Kirkland: Why Chelsea acted now in hiring Xabi Alonso
- Lindop: Liverpool's latest loss a reflection of awful season
Manchester City win FA Cup as Pep speculation continues
It shouldn't be a thing, because he has publicly denied it in every way possible, but it is. And yet it has taken on a life of its own because pretty much everyone you talk to in football says it's somewhere between "very likely" to "certain" that after 10 trophy-studded seasons, Guardiola will leave Manchester City.
After beating Chelsea 1-0 to win the FA Cup on Saturday, it felt like it was as much about looking at Guardiola's body language for any potential clues to his future as it was about celebrating the fact that this was their second title of the season (and they could still win a third come next weekend, when the Premier League is decided).
Having denied it previously, all Guardiola said was that he had another year left on his contract and that this wouldn't be his last trip to Wembley. As I see it, we're reading far too much into it, as neither statement means he won't walk away in a couple of weeks' time.
Gab Marcotti and Julien Laurens discuss the potential of Enzo Maresca taking over the reins from Pep Guardiola at Manchester City next season.
I have no clue what's going to happen, but I'm pretty certain of two things. The first is that if he has made a decision, he hasn't shared it with his players or the club, and he's not going to, either: no need to throw a spanner in the works with the league title still at stake. The second is that even if his mind is made up, it could still change. We've seen it before, at Barcelona -- twice. And his decade of service means whatever he chooses to do, the club will back him. They'd be silly not to.
As for the game itself, it was a tight affair the way finals sometimes are. Chelsea opted to keep things tight with a back three and hit on transition. Ordinarily it would make little sense to play a formation you've only used a couple of times, and certainly, fielding no wingers when you've been stockpiling them is further evidence that you've strayed from your blueprint. But given the circumstances, you can give a pass to Callum McFarlane, Chelsea's third coach of the campaign. This isn't his team, so he might as well do what he thinks is best to win a single game.
The upshot was that Chelsea managed a single shot on target in the entire game, but also that City struggled to create chances. Partly because there were a lot of bodies to work through, partly because -- until Rayan Cherki came on at halftime -- there was a bit of a creative deficit. (Starting Omar Marmoush in his place was probably not the right call from Guardiola.)
Chelsea made it into a game of fine margins, and the margins ended up favoring City as Antoine Semenyo's brilliant flicked finish made all the difference. So too, Chelsea fans might say, were the three penalty appeals, all of them involving Abdukodir Khusanov.
As I see it, the first, on João Pedro, was a nothing-burger: Khusanov gets ahead of him. The second (also on Pedro), is a bit more dubious, but he does go down easy. The third, on Jorrel Hato, probably should have been given. But take all that and project against everything else we saw -- Mateus Nunes hitting the post, the Semenyo header, the Erling Haaland chance, Robert Sánchez's superb save off Cherki -- and City were worthy winners. Now they can focus on winning the Premier League title, which, of course, would also require an Arsenal slip-up.
Mark Ogden joins the 'ESPN FC' crew with the news that Xabi Alonso could be in charge of Chelsea in time for their next home game on Tuesday.
Chelsea did get a boost postgame with the announcement that Alonso would be taking over next season. Needless to say, this is an absolute coup. Forget the Real Madrid stint; he was the most in-demand coach under the age of 50 in the world, and for Chelsea to have secured him in a summer when so many big clubs have job openings (or potential job openings, from Manchester United to Liverpool to Spurs) landing him is huge.
Of course, it will only work if the club was clear with him on the medium-term plan and if it can make the internal politics work. (You don't want another Enzo Maresca situation.) Otherwise, it will be like buying a Ferrari and trying to drive it on moonshine rather than high-octane gasoline.
Juventus crash at home to Fiorentina, leaving their Champions League qualification hanging by a thread
As regular readers will know, playing in Europe's top club competition is particularly important when it comes to Juve, who are still working under severe financial restrictions after the previous regime's overspending. The situation is grim, too, because Juve were one of four teams contending for the remaining two Champions League spots (Napoli beat Pisa 3-0 to lock up their slot) and the other three -- Roma, Milan and Como -- all won, while Luciano Spalletti's crew contrived to lose 2-0 at home to Fiorentina. It will now come down to the last week of the season, when they face Torino away in the derby.
The reason to fret is that Juventus don't control their own destiny. They and Como are two points behind Milan and Roma, which means they'll need to rely on their rivals stumbling against Cagliari and Verona, respectively, teams with nothing left to play for.
As inevitably happens in these situations, the result outweighs the performance. With stakes this high, it's all folks are going to focus on. But it's worth noting, I think, that it's not as if Spalletti got many things wrong or Juve played badly. Fiorentina's first goal came courtesy of a Michele Di Gregorio blunder (not his first this season), the second was an absolute worldie from Rolando Mandragora. Throughout the game, Juve took 26 shots, for an xG of 1.98. They also had a couple of goals disallowed in marginal situations.
This is a variance sport, and in this particular game, things didn't break Spalletti's way. None of this, of course, is much consolation, and with one game left, likely doesn't matter. The sight of three forwards (Loïs Openda, Jonathan David, Arkadiusz Milik) as unused subs on the bench underscores mistakes of transfer markets past and present coming back to haunt you, like the ghosts who visit Scrooge at Christmas.
Spalletti had initially signed a contract that would only be extended if they qualified for the Champions League. The club needlessly opted to give him a deal through 2028 in April. I said at the time that it was foolish, and I stand by it. But that doesn't change the fact that even if they don't make it into the top four, they're trending in the right direction, which is why they should keep Spalletti around. It's just that they'll probably have to make it work on an even tighter budget next season, which is why waiting until the end of the campaign to give him a new contract would have made much more sense.
Vinicius Jr. delivers, and Real Madrid now have decisions to make
Julien Laurens and Gab Marcotti debate whether Real Madrid will appoint Jose Mourinho as their next manager.
Vini scored the only goal in Real Madrid's 1-0 "party-pooper" win at Sevilla (the home fans were set to celebrate staying up and the return, in ownership form, of Sergio Ramos) and confirmed his good form heading into the World Cup. It was his 16th league goal of the season (as many as Lamine Yamal) and his 12th from open play (four fewer than Kylian Mbappé who, of course, plays centrally).
In a season that turned dysfunctional for Real Madrid, Vini seemed to thrive in the chaos, scoring 15 times in his last 22 appearances in all competitions. It's good news for Brazil and good news for Vini, too, given he's a free agent at the end of next season.
The club will have a huge call to make. The question is who will make it, and based on what? Florentino Perez's outburst last week did little to quell fan unease, and you want to consider the next manager's wishes. So much is pointing toward Jose Mourinho, who, according to the Madrid press, is ahead of Mauricio Pochettino and Didier Deschamps in the pecking order.
Gab Marcotti explains why Bernardo Silva moving to Real Madrid after he departs Manchester City would "make a lot of sense."
Mourinho himself has said that while he has had no direct contact with Real Madrid, his agent, Jorge Mendes, has, adding that "we're all adults." It's rare to hear someone speak so openly in these situations. Rare ... and a bit suspicious.
Mourinho has a big contract extension offer on the table from Benfica. You can't help but wonder if his words ("I'll make a decision next week") aren't more about leverage than anything else right now because, frankly, there is no possible reason why Real Madrid should rush into a decision, whether it's for Mourinho or anyone else -- let alone two guys like Pochettino and Deschamps, who won't even be available until after the World Cup.
Quick hits
10. Bayern Munich's record-breaking season is all about goals: As in the fact that Harry Kane (who notched a hat trick in the 5-1 demolition of Koln on Sunday) ends the campaign with 36 league goals in 31 appearances (just 25 of them from the start). Overall, he has 58 goals in 50 games with the German Cup final against Stuttgart on May 23 still to come, which means he has a shot at surpassing Luis Suárez's mark of 59, making it the highest total for anyone not named Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo. Kane was the tip of Bayern's attacking spear on a side that was front foot all season.
Their 122 league goals not only pulverized the Bundesliga record of 101, but it came close to the overall record for a Big Five league, held by the Torino side that notched 125 in 1947-48 ... and they did it in six more games. Just as impressive is the fact that Bayern last failed to score in a game in the Club World Cup quarterfinal against Paris Saint-Germain last July 5, a run of 55 games. There will be some change this summer as the club says goodbye to Leon Goretzka, Nico Jackson and Raphaël Guerreiro, but with Tom Bischof, Lennart Karl and a fully fit Jamal Musiala, they have the luxury of in-house solutions who are going to only get better. Which means any newcomers are going to be long-term opportunities or upgrades, rather than replacements.
Hansi Flick speaks after Robert Lewandowski's final appearance for Barcelona at Camp Nou.
9. Camp Nou says goodbye to Robert Lewandowski and hello to possibilities: When Barcelona signed him, they were in financial meltdown and president Joan Laporta was famously mortgaging the future and pulling his levers. Like many, I was highly skeptical that shelling out €45 million for a guy on the brink of his 34th birthday and then making him your highest-paid player made any sense. Three LaLiga titles in four years -- and 119 goals in 191 appearances in all competitions -- would suggest he held up his part of the bargain.
That said, Lewandowski's biggest contribution now is probably that he's leaving, freeing up a massive salary slot that Barcelona hope can be used to find a replacement while remaining within LaLiga's strict financial guardrails -- a result, lest we forget, of the previous regime's profligate spending. It's a shame he failed to score in Barcelona's 3-1 win over Betis on Sunday night because that would have been the perfect send-off. Still, as this season showed, he's moving on at the right time. And with his head held high.
8. Why Bruno Fernandes equaling the Premier League assist mark stands apart: Assists are a bit of a funny stat. It's not just that you can be credited with one for doing very little -- like rolling the ball 3 yards to someone who unleashes a 30 yarder into the top corner or beats three defenders and then scores -- because that happens with goals, too. After all, a deflected tap-in counts as much as a volley from the edge of the box. It's more that there seems to be such variance. Top scorers at top clubs tend to top the charts year after year. Assist guys? Not so much. Bruno Fernandes and West Ham's Jarrod Bowen are the only players in last year's top 10 to be there again this year.
Yet when somebody hits 20 in a single season -- as Fernandes did Sunday when he set up Bryan Mbeumo in Manchester United's 3-2 win over Nottingham Forest -- you have to take notice. It equals the mark set by Thierry Henry in 2002-03 and Kevin De Bruyne in 2019-20. But what sets Bruno's achievement apart is that the other two played on successful, free-scoring teams, with plenty of talent around them. That's not what United are right now, and certainly not what they've been in recent seasons.
Steve Nicol praises the performances of Bruno Fernandes after the Manchester United midfielder equalled the record for assists in a single Premier League season.
7. Roma win derby and Gasperini takes giant leap forward: He came to Rome as an outsider, called in by outsiders (like the Friedkins). One year on, Gian Piero Gasperini is on the brink of being king of Rome -- or at least minor nobility. He hasn't managed to recreate the magic we saw at Atalanta just yet, but he has done just about everything else, from pushing the side into the Champions League places to taking on resident icon Claudio Ranieri (and winning), to winning the trust of both the ownership and the fanbase.
Of the four Champions League contenders for the final two spots, Roma had the toughest task, a derby against Lazio, with all the usual pitfalls that represents. They won 2-0 thanks to two set piece goals from Gianluca Mancini, the emotional heartbeat of the team, and they did it after weathering some significant pressure from Lazio in the first half. Let's not get carried away: this isn't Atalanta 2.0 -- far from it. Rather, it's a mix of youth and veterans who found a game changer in January in Donyell Malen. But assuming they get over the line next week, Gasperini will have time (and resources) to work to build something.
6. Stuttgart make it over the Champions League line: It turned out to be a lot nervier than it should have been. An hour into Saturday's finale, Sebastian Hoeness' crew were 2-0 up at away to Eintracht Frankfurt, while Hoffenheim (level on points at kickoff) were getting destroyed away to Gladbach and Bayer Leverkusen (three points back at the start of the day) were losing at home to Hamburg. And then ... it changed. Two distractions led to two Frankfurt penalties that leveled things up, while Bayer Leverkusen got an equalizer and pushed for the winner. Suddenly, two more goals -- one for Leverkusen, one for Frankfurt -- would see the Champions League spot slip through the fingers. Unlikely? Sure, but stranger things have happened.
It didn't pan out that way, and I'm glad it didn't. Stuttgart deserve the spot for the sort of rebuilding on the fly the club and Hoeness have done over the past few seasons. For the second straight year they're in the German Cup final and unlike last season, their league form held up. The Champions League can now provide a financial platform to kick on.
5. Borussia Dortmund are ready to reset: Their season ended with a 2-0 win at Werder Bremen on Saturday, which means they finish second (after two consecutive years out of the top three, that's a step forward), albeit a whopping 16 points behind Bayern (but eight points ahead of everyone else, so, yeah ... glass half full or glass half empty?) Out of the German Cup straightaway, and out of the Champions League in the playoff round, things got anticlimactic rather quickly.
What's next? A reset, rather than a reload. Julian Brandt, Niklas Süle and Salih Özcan are gone; Ramy Bensebaini, Karim Adeyemi and Emre Can will likely move too, and they'll put their faith in youth once again. Teenagers Samuele Inácio and Luca Reggiani started on Saturday. Joane Gadou, 19, is on his way from Salzburg, while Jobe Bellingham (20) and Carney Chukwuemeka (22) are already there. Manager Niko Kovac has brought stability, which is no mean feat! Now he'll need to figure out how to challenge while developing youth.
4. Business as usual in Scotland as Hearts suffer the cruelest ending: We don't often talk about Scotland in this column, but the sort of season Hearts enjoyed thoroughly merits it. They were three minutes (plus time added on) from becoming the first side other than Celtic or Rangers to win the Scottish title since 1985, when Aberdeen (led by some guy named Alex Ferguson) did it against all odds. A draw away to Celtic would have sufficed, but Daizen Maeda beat the offside trap by millimeters to break a 1-1 deadlock and put Celtic ahead, before they added an empty net goal in garbage time to make it 3-1. The fact that a few days earlier, Celtic had needed a controversial penalty deep in injury time to beat Motherwell made it only more cruel. (Had it not been for those three points against Motherwell, Celtic would have needed a win by three clear goals.)
There was a ton of drama in this game (and after, with a pitch invasion) and you don't want to minimize Celtic's achievements. Club legend Martin O'Neill twice came out of retirement at 74 years of age after the departures of Brendan Rodgers, and then Wilfried Nancy, to keep the title chase alive. But given the imbalance of resources in Scotland, it's fair to say everybody (other than Celtic fans, and possibly Hibernians supporters) wanted to see Hearts pull it off, if only to show that it was possible. Well, it's still possible next year. Tony Bloom and his eggheads, plus some smart recruiting, plus some great leadership from coach Derek McInnes took them to the brink. That's what brains, competence and a bit of investment can deliver.
3. Milan gut it out, but is Champions League enough reason to keep Max Allegri? Regular readers will already know how I feel about this. The answer's no, because you don't make decisions like this based on the thinnest of margins. You don't keep your coach as a reward for hitting minimum objectives (with the help of rivals losing at home, something over which you have no control) -- you do it based on where you think he can take you with the resources you can give him.
On that basis, Milan's performance in the 2-1 win at Genoa, against an opponent with nothing at stake, had little to offer beyond the result. Milan managed just two shots in the first 50 minutes of the game, for an xG of 0.10. It all changed when Genoa's young playmaker Alexsandro Amorim hit a horrendous backpass to the keeper. Christopher Nkunku trundled on to it, was taken down in the box and converted the penalty. Zachary Athekame added a second before Genoa pulled one back in garbage time ... and that was that. Still not convincing, still outplayed, but still alive for that Champions League spot. For some, that's good enough. Will it be for Gerry Cardinale, Milan's owner?
2. Paris Saint-Germain might yet become kings of Europe, but they won't be kings of Paris: That honor will go to "noisy neighbours" (literally, their stadiums are across the street from each other) Paris FC, who beat them two out of three times this season including Sunday night's 2-1 comeback victory, with Alimami Gory scoring deep in injury time.
I doubt PSG will care very much about that mythical title -- the rivalry isn't quite there yet -- certainly not compared to Ousmane Dembélé coming off with a muscular issue, 12 days before the Champions League final. Scans Monday will reveal whether it was just a scare or whether there is legitimate reason to be concerned. One more thing on the rivalry: Paris FC denied the league's request to have the trophy ceremony to honor PSG's title on the pitch at full time. Instead, they had a mini-celebration in a corner of the ground, in front of their own fans. Given the Parc des Princes, PSG's own stadium, is a three-minute walk away, you wonder why -- with a bit of coordination -- they couldn't just have had the party there.
Julien Laurens says Liverpool should have gone for Xabi Alonso instead of keeping Arne Slot, after Alonso agreed to become the next Chelsea manager.
1. After Liverpool were swept away by Aston Villa, when does Arne Slot's honesty become an issue? Once again, Slot was left holding the can, and while we've said many times he's not the only one to have royally screwed up Liverpool's 2025-26 campaign, he's the only one who has to face the media. That he speaks so bluntly ("We crumbled ... we struggled to control their pace, intensity and quality") is admirable but does him no favors. However, it's hard to argue with him. Against an opponent with one eye on the Europa League final in midweek, Liverpool offered little and crashed to their 20th defeat in all competitions, their worst campaign in 33 years. You want accountability, and Slot is certainly accountable. The problem is, you want more than just accountability from your coach, and he shouldn't be the only one held to account, either. Mo Salah will get criticized for his social media posts, but it only echoes how a lot of those who love Liverpool feel.
As for Aston Villa, you run out of superlatives to describe the job Unai Emery has done this season, given the financial restrictions, given the departure of Monchi, and given some of the injuries during the stretch run. On Friday, he threw us another curveball. Conventional wisdom would have suggested resting his starters ahead of the Europa League final. Instead, he did the opposite, playing something close to his best available XI in an effort to generate momentum and swagger ahead of the clash with Freiburg. He was rewarded with a huge three points, a Champions League spot and some stunning goals (John McGinn's being the best of the bunch). You can't really ask for more.
