Sunday Morning Hot Links
What a final weekend of soccer so far! Let’s recap what has happened so far:
Arsenal stunned Barcelona 1-0 to win their first Women’s Champions League Final in 18 years. Barcelona had been looking for their 4th Women’s Champions League title in the last five years.
Sunderland is back in the Premier League for the first time since 2017 after they snatched a win in the 95th Minute in the Playoff Final against Sheffield United. Down 1-0 in the 75th Minute, Sunderland scored in the 76th Minute before 19-year old Brighton-bound substitute Tom Watson slotted a ball into the bottom corner in the 5th Minute of Extra Time. Sheffield United sees their Wembley losing streak extend to eight games, their last win at Wembley coming in 1925.
It’ll be the fourth stint in the Premier League for Sunderland this century.
BBC: Why can’t Sheffield United win a Promotion Final?
ESPN’s Bill Connelly: Congratulations, You’ve Been Promoted to the Premier League! Now What? (Featuring a few nice paragraphs on Leeds United)
Despite a 3-0 win for Jeff Luhnow’s C.D. Leganes, Espanyol beat Las Palmas 2-0, so Leganes will be in La Liga 2 next season.
Aberdeen beat Scottish giants Celtic on penalties to win their first Scottish Cup in 35 years. Aberdeen had lost their previous four meetings with Celtic by a combined score of 17-2.
Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim will make a public apology at Old Trafford after today’s season finale.
The Sunday Times: Cole Palmer to Jamie Vardy: 16 Goals that Explain the Premier League Season.
Manchester City legend Kevin DeBruyne is off to Napoli to discuss a potential move to the Serie A champions.
What To Watch: Sunday
7:00am: Charlton Athletic vs Leyton Orient in the League One Promotion Final. Paramount+. The winner will join Birmingham City and Wrexham in the EFL Championship next season.
It’s the final day of the Premier League season and England will get five teams in the Champions League next season (six if you count Tottenham getting in due to winning the Europa League). Qualifying for the Champions League is worth about £100 million, while “settling” for the Europa League brings in about £30 million. Liverpool and Arsenal are already in. Here are the games to follow for the other spots, with every single game starting at 10am Central on some NBC or NBC-adjacent network/streaming:
3rd Place Manchester City at 10th Place Fulham. City is on 68 points, two points and four goals better going in than 4th Place Newcastle United.
13th Place Everton at 4th Place Newcastle. Newcastle are 12-2-4 at St. James’ Park while Everton are 5-6-7 in away Premier League matches. Newcastle are on 66 points and a +22 goal differential.
5th Place Chelsea at 7th Place Nottingham Forest. This is the Spicy Game of the Day. Chelsea (66 Points) are 7-4-7 on the road in the Premier League, Nottingham Forest (65 Points) are 9-5-4 at The City Ground. The winner most likely makes it into the Champions League.
6th Place Aston Villa at 16th Place Manchester United. Do Amorim’s men try to salvage at least a little bit of face for the misery of the season in front of the home fans, or do Aston Villa put their feet on their necks?
There’s a chance that England can get one more European berth next season, whether it’s in the Europa League or Europa Conference League, and that’s not counting Crystal Palace, who will be in the Europa League thanks to their FA Cup win over Manchester City. So keep an eye on 8th Place Brighton (58 Points) at Tottenham, and 9th Place Brentford (55 Points) at Wolves.