The Euro Roundup: Barcelona win La Liga

Barcelona wrapped of La Liga with four games to spare while the Serie A title race took another momentum swing.

Serie A

Juventus have dominated Serie A for most of the past decade, but the genius of Maurizo Sarri has brought Napoli back into the Serie A title equation this season. The Bianconeri and the Partenopei have traded top spot on a number occasions, with the latter seeming to take control of the title race with a 1-0 win away to Juve last weekend to pull within a point of the league leaders.

A week later, and Juve are firm title favorites again. The Old Lady took an early lead against Internazionale at the San Siro, and found themselves up a man when Matias Vecino was sent off shortly after, only to fall behind to a Mauro Icardi header and an Andrea Barzagli own goal. Juve scored two late goals, including Gonzalo Higuain’s first in over 700 minutes, to put the pressure on Napoli, who played Fiorentina the next day.

Sarri’s side, it seemed, cracked. They were reduced to 10 minute after only five minutes, and ended up losing 3-0 to one of Juve’s biggest rivals. The loss means the Bianconeri‘s lead at the top of the table is back up to four points, with only three games remaining.

Elsewhere, third-place Roma dispatched Chievo 4-1 to tighten their grasp on the Champions League places. An Edin Dzeko brace helped the capital side pull four points clear of fifth-place Inter.

La Liga

There have been a few manager causalities as La Liga comes to a close. Quique Sanchez Flores was let go by Espanyol after a disappointing campaign, while Sevilla sacked their second coach the season, a 2-1 defeat to Levante one loss too many for Vinzenco Montella. The Andalusians haven’t won since knocking Manchester United out of the Champions League in March. Joaquin Caparros, who brought Sevilla back to the Spanish top flight in 2001 in his last stint, takes over as caretaker.

Both clubs will be hoping to enjoy a similar revival to Real Sociedad’s. La Real sacked their coach of two years, Eusebio Sacristan, at the end of March after a 2-1 defeat to Getafe. Since then, caretaker manager Imanol Alguacil has gone unbeaten in five, recording big wins over Europe-chasing Girona and Atletico Madrid.

The caretaker manager may have earned the full-time job by winning the Basque derby on Saturday. It was Sociedad’s first derby win in their last five attempts, and their first home derby win since 2014. It means Real Sociedad close within two points of the final Europa League spot after having spent most of the new year worrying about relegation.

Bundesliga

The title race is long wrapped up in Germany, but the race for Europe continues to throw up a few surprises. Hoffenheim leapfrogged Bayer Leverkusen into the final Champions League spot with a 3-1 win over Hanover after Leverkusen had lost 1-0 to Europa League hopefuls Stuttgart.

RB Leipzig also saw their Champions League hopes take a blow as a heavy 3-0 defeat to Mainz left them five points behind fourth with just two games left to play. Borussia Dortmund missed out on a chance to go into second place as they drew 1-1 away to Werder Bremen.

It seemed Peter Stoger’s side were destined for a third-place finish after defeat to local rivals and current runners-up Schalke, but the latter’s draw to Mochengladbach opened the door for Dortmund to snatch second place. They failed to take their chance, and remain third with two games to go.

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Champions watch

Young Boys wrapped up their first title in 32 years and ended Swiss giants Basel’s stranglehold on the division. Basel had won the previous eight league titles, but Young Boys ended that run in style, holding a 13-point advantage over their rivals for much of the season.

https://twitter.com/FootballSwiss/status/990304659352014854

It took some late drama for Young Boys to acually secure the title, an 89th minute goal enough to win the league and kick off the party in Bern.

Over in Spain, Barcelona wrapped up their seventh league title in 10 years with a 4-2 win over Deportivo. The Catalans had a two-goal lead heading into halftime, but Lucas Perez and Emre Colak goals meant the title wasn’t properly secured until Lionel Messi completed his hat-trick with two goals in the last 10 minutes.

It’s the earliest the title has been won since the early ’90s and with four games to go, there’s a chance that Barcelona could finish the season unbeaten. A Clasico in the Camp Nou next week poses perhaps the last serious threat to that record.

Over in Scotland, Brendan Rodgers secured his second consecutive Scottish Premier League title with Celtic, who beat Rangers 5-0. The Hoops lead Aberdeen by 10 points with three matches left to play.