CLUB SEASON WRAP UP AND WORLD CUP PREVIEW

Champions League:

The most important game in European club football, the Champions League final, came all the way down to penalties after a 1-1 draw through 120 minutes between Arsenal and PSG. As an Arsenal fan, I will try to write this without bias, but in all reality that is impossible for me. Deal with it or scroll to the next section on the page. Arsenal opened the scoring early with a 6th minute Kai Havertz goal. It was beautifully placed in the top corner from a very difficult angle. From them on, the world got to witness the best defence in the world go to work. Playing an open game with PSG gets you killed. Mikel Arteta and Arsenal know this, so they stuck to their

strength. DEFENCE. PSG could not get a sniff at goal all first half. Not only did Arsenal’s defence slow them down; PSG did not have any answers. Here is where my bias comes in: From the whistle for halftime as Arsenal were lining up a globally feared corner kick, every 50/50 decision that referee, Daniel Siebert, had to make went in PSG’s favor. A large criticism of Arsenal was their lack of intent to attack, however, it felt like anytime they won the ball, a foul was called. Less than a minute into the second half, Cristhian Mosquera received a yellow for taking too long on a throw in. PSG players delayed restarts many times unpuished. Then, Bukayo Saka received a yellow card for absolutely nothing. He only touched the ball. With that, just a few minutes into the second half, the right side of Arsenal’s defence was made to be more

cautious against the very dangerous Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. In the 65’, it worked out for PSG as Kvara was fouled in the box after getting by the out-of-position Mosquera and receiving a pass. It didn’t feel like Mosquera needed to make the tackle he did, but he has shown the ability to make special recovery tackles on multiple occasions this season. Dembele took and scored a great penalty and leveled things at 1 each. The next 60 mins of football were more display of Arsenal’s defensive dominance. Neither team had too serious of a chance and players began to tire out. PSG did a great job handling the counter attacking opportunities that Arsenal did have, bar the first one, but often had to sacrifice a body in attack to do so. Just before extra time was

finished, Noni Madueke of Arsenal beat PSG left back, Nuno Mendes, into the box and

appeared to be fouled. The reactions of Mendes and Joȃo Neves were pretty indicative of the fate they thought had approached them. However, Daniel Siebert waved to play on and did not even go for a check. I have watched the replay many time. Is it a 100% stonewall penalty evey single time? Maybe not. But we have absolutely seen them given for less this Champions League season and it was definitely worthy of a VAR check, especially given the circumstances. Once the match made it to penalties, it was up for grabs for anyone. The kicks took place at the PSG end and they went first. Goal. Viktor Gyökeres matched it. Desire Doue then made his. Eberechi Eze missed the tying attempt wide left. 2-1 PSG. Nuno Mendes’ attempt was saved by David Raya, leaving the door open for Arsenal to tie thing back up. Which they did, Declan Rice.

Hakimi then made his attempt for PSG. It was matched by Gabriel Martinelli. Beraldo of PSG makes his. 4-3. Then Gabriel Magalhães, after one of the best big game performances by a center back we have ever seen, skies his attempt. 4-3. PSG win and repeat as Champions of Europe!

Premier League (England):

Getting into the top leagues across Europe, England will be seen as big winners after they managed to secure nine spots in European competitions next year. Arsenal finally secured their first league title of the Mikel Arteta era to end the 22 year league title drought! In order: Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United, Aston Villa, and Liverpool all qualified to play in the Champions League, the most prestigious club tournament in Europe, next season. Aston Villa also won the Europa League, Europe’s second most prestigious tournament, with a dominant 3-0 win against Freiburg of Germany’s Bundesliga. Villa’s manager, Unai Emery, collects this win as his fifth career Europa League title (3 at Sevilla, 1 at Villareal). Bournemouth and Sunderland, in the 6th and 7th places, and Crystal Palace in 15th place, were the ones to qualify for the Europa League this year. Crystal Palace defeated Rayo Vallecano of Spain in the

Conference Leafue final; the third most prestigious tournament in European football. Palace Manager, Oliver Glasner is leaving however, and he is being linked to openings like AC Milan in Italy. Bournemouth had the best season in their history as they clinched a spot in Europe for the first time. It will not come without some setbacks, however. Coach Andoni Iraola, who looks to be one of the best young coaches in the world, had already arranged plans to leave at the end of the season. At the moment, Liverpool looks to be the most likely destination; although AC Milan have had their name attached to him as well. Many believe that Iraola’s fast and aggressive style of play would overwhelm the very defensive styles more commonly seen in

Italy. Bournemouth will also have players to replace. Argentinian fullback Marcos Senesi is reportedly off to Tottenham after a great season. Junior Kroupi, a sensational 19-year old attacker is also being linked with many big clubs for a very hefty price as he is one of the top young talents in the world. The entire roster is full of young and prime talent that could draw lots of interest from other teams an leagues. Surely they will hang on to a lot of them, especially with Europe now guaranteed. Bournemouth have been very good with scouting and recruitment over the last years and I completely expect more of the same from them. Sunderland, finishing 7th and qualifying for Europa League, had one of the greatest seasons ever for a newly promoted side. A team that made moves before the season that made their intentions clear; they accomplished more than they ever thought of. Rounding out the 9 teams, with a finish in 8th place, Brighton also qualified fro Conference League playoffs. They will look to repeat what Palace just accomplished next season. Players like Jan Paul van Hecke and Carlos Baleba could very well be sold this summer, so they could need to replace those names. The Premier League also saw a relegation battle go down to the last day. West Ham, although victorious on the final match day are the final team joining the Wolverhampton Wanderers and Burnley in England’s second division, The Championship, next season. As an Arsenal fan, it would have been great to see the other North London club go down in the year we won the league, but at least Ebere Eze will have games with guaranteed goals next season. Coventry City, Ipswich Town, and Hull City following a controversial playoff will be the three replacing

them in the Prem next season. Hull City were initially supposed to play against Southhampton for the final promotion spot, but after S’hampton were caught spying on other teams training sessions, they were disqualified and replaced by Middlesbrough, who they just beat, in the payoff game. Hull City won 1-0 and gave us the ‘fairest’ ending. Lastly, as an Arsenal fan, I would not feel like this article was complete without mentioning that Chelsea, with their very expensive squad, finished in 10th place, missed Europe, and could have some very big departures this summer. They brought in invincible coach Xabi Alonso to put the pieces back together. Many teams, including Liverpool and Manchester City will be going into next season

with new managers looking to shake something up.

Ligue 1 (France):

After another year of maximized rest and postponed matches, now back to back ChampionsLeague winners, Paris-Saint Germain also won the French Ligue 1 title once again. Their 12th title in 14 years. Behind them, Lens and Lille both qualified for Champions League. Lyon in 4th, qualifies for a Champions Legaue playoff spot where they can end up in either of the 3 European competition based on how they perform in qualifying. Marseille, after a drama filled season, and Stade Rennais in 5th and 6th qualified for Europa League. AS Monaco, in 7th, have got into the Conference League qualifying in a rather disappointing season to their standards. They narrowly beat out Strasbourg for the final spot. At the bottom of the table, Metz and Nantes will be relegated to Ligue 2. Nice, in 16th place, survived the relegation playoff and

will remain in Ligue 1. Troyes and Le Mans will be the two new clubs promoting and joining Ligue 1 next season.

LaLiga (Spain):

In the end, Barcelona were a comfortable 8 points clear of Real Madrid to win LaLiga this season. Real Madrid will look to overcome their second consecutive trophyless season with a new coach and an expectation of numerous arrivals and departures of players. Barcelona has also already begun strengthening their squad as they splashed 80 million pounds on now former Newcastle United attacker and England International, Anthony Gordon. Joining those two in the Champions League next season will be 3rd, 4th, and 5th place finishers in the league: Villareal, Athletico Madrid, and Real Betis. Villareal has hired Iñigo Pérez from Rayo Vallecano to lead

them next season. Europa League was awarded to 6th place Celta Vigo and 10th place CopaDel Rey winners Real Sociedad who got an automatic bid with their cup win. Lastly, Getafe achieved Conference League qualifying with a 7th place finish. The middle of the LaLiga table was absolutely insane. Everyone from 10th place Real Sociedad to 18th Place (relegation position) finished within 6 points of each other. Ultimately it was Real Oviedo, Girona, and Mallorca that were relegated. Girona finished just 1 point from safety and Mallorca was actually level with the two team above them, but were relegated on head to head and goal difference. Girona was just in the Champions League last season, so this is a bit shocking. Racing Santander and Deportivo La Coruña have already been promoted to LaLiga. Almería, Málaga,

Las Palmas, and Castellón will play in a promotion playoff to determine that last term to earn promotion.

Bundesliga (Germany):

Bayern Munich, for the 20th time since the turn of the century, won the Bundesliga title. Harry Kane had an unbelievable goal record and with a good performance in the World Cup, could very well be in contention for a Ballon D’or. Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig, and VfB Stuttgart will be joining them in the Champions League next season. TSG Hoffenheim and Bayer Leverkusen, in the next two slots, secured Europa League. Lastly, SC Freidburg will look to return to Europe through Conference League qualifying, following their Europa League final loss to Aston Villa this season. On the other side of the table, St. Pauli and 1. FC Heidenheim 1846 were relegated. Schalke 04 and SV 07 Elversberg from the 2nd division were promoted to replace them. That left VfL Wolfburg, 16th in the top division, and SC Paderborn 07, 3rd in the second division, to play a relegation/promotion playoff game. Over two legs, Paderborn won 2-1 and will join Schalke and Elversberg in the Bundesliga next season, while Wolfsburg will suffer relegation and look to fight their way back next season.

Serie A (Italy):

Internazionale, or Inter Milan, won the Scudetto again this season after finishing 2nd last year. They are on their way back to the Champions League with intent to make up for a disappointing exit this season. Joining them will be Napoli, AS Roma, and Como. A bit of a for that league to have two of the biggest names finish outside of the top 4. Those two being AC Milan and Juventus who finished 5th and 6th and will compete in Europa League next season. Milan, looking for a new coach, will also need some firepower in the attack as Rafael Leȃo has announced his plans to leave the club this summer. Below them, Atalanta in 7th will go into Conference League qualifying. At the bottom of the Italian table, it is Pisa, Hellas Verona, and Cremonese going down. They will be replaced by Venezia (who seem to be involved in relegation or promotion every year), Frosinone (my team for manager career on FC26), and Monza who just won the promotion playoffs. Italy as a country and a league will look to improve greatly as they are not considered as strong as past years and the national team has missed

out on yet another World Cup. Potentially an issue with the football brand being coached and promoted within the country.