The Euro Roundup: Barcelona’s unbeaten streak ends
The Bundesliga ends with a bang, while Barcelona’s unbeaten streak comes to an end.
La Liga
The big game in Spain this weekend was El Gran Derbi between Sevilla and Real Betis. Quique Seiten has been one of the managers of the seasonr, leading Real Betis from mid-table to the European places and could have helped the Beticos secure their first league double over Sevilla in over two decades.
Sevilla were looking to avenge the humiliating and highly-entertaining 5-3 home defeat in the previous encounter against Betis and to secure European qualification themselves by avoiding defeat at the Benito Villamartin. It was Betis who started the better, going a goal up within the first five minutes through a Marc Bartra header. However, Sevilla fought back in the second half and managed to snatch a 2-1 lead.
The away side’s first goal came through the boot of substitute Wissam Ben Yedder, who made it 20 for the season in all competitions. Simon Kjaer then tapped home at scrappy corner to give Sevilla the lead. They weren’t able to hold on, however, as Loren Moron made it 2-2 in the final 10 minutes. The draw was good enough for Sevilla to secure a spot in the Europa League next, while Real Betis remain in fifth.
La Liga witnessed its biggest shock on Sunday as Barcelona’s long unbeaten run came to end in Valencia against 16th placed Levante. Although on paper Levante should have been a easy win, the frogs have been difficult customers since the arrival of Paco Lopez. The Spanish manager took over with the club looking a near certainty to go down and now has them sitting 11 points off the relegation zone they had occupied for much of the season.
It was a crazy, nine-goal thriller with a heavily rotated Barcelona side looking disorganized defensively and relying on the magic of Philippe Coutinho in Lionel Messi’s absence. The Catalans were down 2-1 at halftime and then shipped another three goals within the first 10 minutes of the second half to trail 5-1. A second-half brace from Coutinho to complete his hat-trick (Levante’s Emmanuel Boateng also scored a hat-trick) and a Luis Suarez penalty had brought Barca within one goal of saving their unbeaten run, but it was too little, too late and Levante took their biggest three points of the season.
It’s the first time Barcelona have lost in the league this season and ended a unbeaten streak stretching back to April last year.
Bundesliga
The Bundesliga finished with a bang in more ways than one. Bayer Leverkusen squandered their chance to play in the Champions League, failing to take advantage of Borussia Dortmund’s loss by losing their own game. Wolfsburg secured a relegation playoff place at Hamburg’s expense. Fireworks and flares were thrown onto the pitch after the latter’s first relegation since the Bundesliga was established in 1963.
Hamburg until this weekend were the only club in the league to have played every season in Germany’s premier division. It was a source of great pride among the club’s supporters with a big clock in the north stand of the stadium counting every minute they have been in the top division, something the traveling Borrussia Mochengladbach mocked with a clock of their own counting down the time until Hamburg went down.
It’s a sorry end for what has been a declining club. Hamburg were once a giant in Germany, winning three Bundesliga titles, two German cups and the European Cup in 1983. Since then, the club has slowly slipped down the table, going from tile challengers to survival experts. The club survived through a relegation playoff in 2015 and 2016 and only secured survival last season through a final day win over Wolfsburg (who survived themselves through the relegation playoff).
I’is perhaps fitting that it was a Wolfsburg win rather than Hamburg loss that sent the fallen giant down. Wolfsburg, who won the Bundesliga in 2010 and faced Real Madrid in a Champions League quarterfinal just two years ago, will now attempt to survive the drop through a playoff for a second consecutive season.
Next: Premier League 2017-18 awards
Serie A
Juventus secured their seventh consecutive scudetto with a draw away to Roma, a result that also meant Roma secured Champions League soccer after Inter lost to Sassuolo. Inter will need to beat fourth-place Lazio on the final day to qualify for the Champions League next season.
The weekend marked the end of Europe’s most intriguing and tightest title race and one must wonder where Napoli go from here. Maurizio Sarri’s side had topped Serie A for much of the first half of the season before coming over a patch of inconsistent form earlier this year. Despite this, Juventus dropped plenty of points in their final round of league fixtures, including a home defeat to Napoli that seemed to hand the Partonepei a the advantage. Sarri’s side faltered following that win, however, losing to Fiorentina and drawing with Torino to hand Juve the title.