Crystal Palace stunned Manchester City on Saturday to win the FA Cup for the first time as Eberechi Eze sealed a 1-0 victory that piled on the misery for Pep Guardiola’s troubled side.

Eze’s early strike rocked City before Palace goalkeeper Dean Henderson saved Omar Marmoush’s penalty late in the first half of a dramatic final at Wembley.

While Eze’s clinical finish was the culmination of his remarkable rise from rejection by Arsenal, Fulham and Millwall as a youngster, it was Henderson who emerged as Palace’s hero with a series of superb saves.

City will protest that Henderson should have been sent off for a first-half handball outside his penalty area.

But Henderson made the most of that controversial moment to ensure Palace clinched the first major trophy in their 120-year history and a place in next season’s Europa League.

Beaten by Manchester United in their previous FA Cup final appearances in 1990 and 2016, Palace’s shock win was no more than they deserved as City once again imploded in a dismal season that will be their first without major silverware since 2016-17.

After winning the Premier League in the previous four seasons, City have endured a turbulent campaign that ranks among the worst in Guardiola’s storied managerial career.

Currently sixth in the Premier League, City host Bournemouth on Tuesday and travel to Fulham on May 25 as they try to salvage their wretched year by at least qualifying for the Champions League.

Guardiola had questioned his players’ hunger as they failed to keep pace with Liverpool in the title race and crashed out of the Champions League.

While desire might not have been an issue against Palace, City’s lack of direction in their second successive FA Cup final defeat was an alarming sign for the future as Guardiola was out-witted by Eagles boss Oliver Glasner.

Not for the first time, Guardiola sprang a surprise with his selection for a final as he picked an ultra-attacking line-up with no holding midfielder.

Source: France 24

Los Blancos cut the gap on the Catalan giants to four points ahead of Barcelona’s visit to neighbours Espanyol on Thursday, where they can wrap up the title with a victory.

Trailing for much of the game after Martin Valjent’s 11th-minute opener, two second-half goals for Madrid ensured their arch-rivals did not claim their 28th La Liga title just yet.

Madrid needed to win to deny Barca and Kylian Mbappe’s equaliser and Jacobo Ramon’s 95th-minute strike allowed them to do just that.

Los Blancos’ defeat by Barcelona on Sunday in the Clasico left the Catalans on the brink of the title but Carlo Ancelotti’s side showed fighting spirit in the final stages against Mallorca.

“The team played very well, it fought a lot, played with a lot of intensity and it was a totally deserved victory,” said Ancelotti.

“We are happy because we want to finish the season well and this game didn’t start well but afterwards we did very well in all senses.”

Madrid coach Ancelotti is departing to take charge of the Brazilian national team at the end of a disappointing season in the Spanish capital, and has two games left in his post.

The Italian’s Madrid side, riddled with injury problems, were without Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo Goes among other star names as Mallorca visited the Santiago Bernabeu.

“Having 12 players injured is very strange, we were able to overcome the absences with a good attitude, individually and as a group,” added Ancelotti.

The islanders, ninth, are hoping for European football for the first time since 2004 and put up a strong performance.

Madrid’s 18-year-old striker Endrick, whom Ancelotti may call up for Brazil in the future, came close early on but Leo Roman tipped his effort away.

Mallorca took an early lead when Valjent received the ball on the right of the box in an ocean of space.

The defender took his shot early and beat Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, making his 200th La Liga appearance.

Roman made a fine save to thwart England international Jude Bellingham as Madrid pushed for an equaliser.

The stopper, who also excelled for Mallorca in a recent narrow defeat at Barcelona, denied Mbappe and then Fede Valverde before the break.

Eventually Mbappe found a breakthrough for Madrid after 68 minutes, with some superb footwork to escape three Mallorca players trying to shut him down, and he drilled past Roman.

It was Mbappe’s 40th goal of a productive season on a personal level, although his team are set to end it without a major trophy and having been beaten four times by Barcelona across all competitions.

Source: France 24

Inter Milan beat Barcelona 4-3 after extra time in another rollercoaster encounter Tuesday to reach a second Champions League final in three years.

In the end it took extra time, two astonishing Barcelona fightbacks and 13 goals — some of them mesmerising — to separate the two sides and see Inter prevail 7-6 on aggregate.

Substitute Davide Frattesi was the extra-time hero for Inter, firing home in the 99th minute to leave the Barcelona players slumped to the ground and all his Nerazzurri teammates — including those on the bench — racing to celebrate with him.

Moments earlier, Frattesi had been encouraging the already loud San Siro crowd to make more noise and the atmosphere grew even more feverish after his strike.

Inter, which lost the final to Manchester City in 2023, will face either Paris Saint-Germain or Arsenal in Munich on May 31. PSG beat Arsenal 1-0 in London last week in their first match.

There was little sign of the drama to come at halftime, with Inter comfortably leading 2-0 after Lautaro Martínez scored and earned a penalty, which was converted by Hakan Çalhanoğlu.

But Barcelona had been in that position before, having gone 2-0 down early in the first leg last week before securing a thrilling 3-3 draw.

And Eric García scored nine minutes after the break before Dani Olmo headed in the equaliser six minutes later.

Raphina appeared to have secured the win for Barcelona when he put the Spanish side ahead two minutes before full time, tucking away the rebound after Yann Sommer had saved his initial shot.

However, 37-year-old Francesco Acerbi astonishingly leveled in stoppage time — with his first goal in European competition — to add another 30 minutes onto the tantalising encounter.

Frattesi had proved crucial off the substitutes’ bench before, both for Italy and Inter, and so he was again, controlling Mehdi Taremi’s pass and dummying round Pau Cubarsí before curling past Wojciech Szczęsny.

Barcelona almost leveled again but Sommer made a fingertip save to push Lamine Yamal’s shot past his post.

Source:  AP

Bayern Munich confirmed their return to domestic dominance by securing their 34th league title on Sunday after rivals Bayer Leverkusen drew 2-2 at Freiburg, but rescaling the summit of German football was harder than it looked. 

The Bavarians, who had won 11 consecutive Bundesliga titles in a record league run between 2013 and 2023, had seen Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen race to a domestic league and cup double last season without a single defeat in either competition. New Bayern coach Vincent Kompany had his work cut out with Bayern urgently looking for direction after a turbulent period under his predecessor Thomas Tuchel, who left the club at the end of last season.

Unlike some former Bayern coaches, including Tuchel, Kompany lacked experience coaching a big club with the former Belgium international having previously coached Anderlecht and Burnley.

Bayern bosses were prepared to take the risk and it paid off with Kompany quickly establishing control in the changing room.

Bayern were desperate for a good start in the current season in order to put an early marker down in the title race and they bagged four straight wins to kick off the campaign, before carving out a 1-1 draw against the reigning champions.

With Leverkusen no longer invincible this season and lacking last year’s consistency, Bayern gradually pulled away and by the 11th matchday had a six-point advantage, having shaken off Leipzig, Eintracht Frankfurt and Borussia Dortmund as possible title rivals.

The Bavarians were lethal in attack with Jamal Musiala and Harry Kane in top form but struggled with their backline throughout the season.

A string of injuries in recent weeks that sidelined several key defenders compounded the problem and Saturday’s 3-3 draw with RB Leipzig took their goals conceded tally to 32, an average of one goal per league match this season.

But Kompany’s team have been lethal up front, bagging 93 goals in 32 matches.

With 24 goals, Kane was once more Bayern’s guarantee in attack with the England captain looking set to become the first player in Bundesliga history to be crowned top scorer in both his first two seasons in the league.

Widely regarded as one of the greatest strikers of his generation, England’s all-time top scorer and second on the all-time Premier League scorers’ list, Kane had won a hatful of individual awards.

He had, however, no single team trophy to show for his efforts after 400-odd goals for clubs and country and with talk of a ‘Kane title curse’ developing over the years.

Kane had spent the majority of his professional career at Tottenham Hotspur, playing for the London club from 2009-2023 with some loan spells in between, prior to joining Bayern in a league record transfer worth 100 million euros ($114 million).

In England he had failed to win a trophy with Spurs, being Champions League runners-up in 2019, while also reaching consecutive finals at Euro 2020 and 2024 with the national team.

So his move to Bayern, Germany’s record champions and six-time European champions, was all about finally adding trophies to his goal-scoring records and fulfilling his title-winning ambitions.

While fans were unhappy with the club’s decision not to offer talisman Thomas Mueller a new contract, the 35-year-old, who will leave at the end of the season after 25 years at Bayern, did manage to reach the 500-league-match milestone before his departure.

He was only the fourth player in Bundesliga history to achieve that feat while playing for just one club and he has now extended his record-breaking haul of league titles to 13.

The Bavarians failed to get past the quarter-finals in the Champions League after their 4-3 aggregate loss to Italy’s Inter Milan last month and they also lost to Leverkusen in the German Cup round of 16, leaving the league title as their only possible trophy for the season.

But they would not be denied in the league as they kept second-placed Leverkusen at bay in the final sprint to the finish line.

(FRANCE 24 with Reuters) 

Paris Saint-Germain beat Arsenal 1-0 in the Champions League semi-final first leg on Tuesday, with Ousmane Dembele scoring early at the Emirates. PSG controlled the game to protect their lead and head into the May 7 return leg in Paris as favourites to reach their first-ever Champions League final.

Paris Saint-Germain seized the advantage in their Champions League semi-final against Arsenal as Ousmane Dembele sealed a 1-0 win in the first leg on Tuesday.

Dembele struck in the opening minutes at the Emirates Stadium and Luis Enrique’s side held on to the lead with a composed display that kept Arsenal at bay.

PSG will head into the second leg at the Parc des Princes on May 7 as favourites to reach the final against Barcelona or Inter Milan as they look to win the tournament for the first time.

But the French champions should take nothing for granted given their history of epic European collapses.

Arsenal’s first defeat in 18 home European matches was a painful blow to their own bid to win a first Champions League crown.

Mikel Arteta had labelled Arsenal’s run to the semi-finals a “beautiful story”.

The last chapter might make for frustrating reading, but they aren’t dead and buried just yet.

The Gunners had beaten holders Real Madrid 5-1 on aggregate to reach their first Champions League semi-final since losing to Manchester United in 2009.

They could not replicate the swaggering display that blew Madrid away 3-0 in the first leg, despite a frenzied atmosphere as kick-off approached.

When Arsenal’s players gathered for a pre-match huddle in the tunnel, Declan Rice implored his team-mates to give everything as he roared “if we don’t have the ball we die”.

A video message from Arteta played on the Emirates screens struck a similarly rousing chord as the Spaniard urged fans to raise the roof.

But PSG had already eliminated Premier League champions Liverpool in the last 16 and Aston Villa in the quarter-finals, after coming back from two goals down to beat Manchester City in the league phase.

Arsenal were the one English side they had failed to conquer, losing 2-0 in north London in October.

However, PSG were without the influential Dembele for disciplinary reasons on that occasion and Luis Enrique insisted his side were “more complete” seven months on.

Source: France 24

Hansi Flick’s Barca are a step away from reaching the semi-finals for the first time since 2019 and extended their unbeaten run to 23 matches.

The five-time winners took the lead against last year’s runners-up through red-hot winger Raphinha before Lewandowski reached 40 goals for the season with his double.

Teenager Lamine Yamal was an unstoppable force throughout and deftly prodded home Barcelona’s fourth as Dortmund collapsed.

Barca, who last lifted the trophy in 2015 are aiming to seal a final four clash against Inter Milan or Bayern Munich when they visit Germany next Tuesday.

“I think we played very well but we have one more game to go… we always want to play our football and we want to play it there and we will win,” Lewandowski told Movistar.

“If you have 4-0 in the first half (of the tie), in the second half in Dortmund you have to play the same or better.

“In the end it’s the Champions League, and we always want to play at our level.”

Flick selected his typical side, with only one decision to make — he opted for Fermin Lopez over Gavi in attacking midfield to support the dynamic forward trio.

La Liga leaders Barcelona seized control from the start, with Gregor Kobel saving well from Yamal and Lewandowski.

Spain starlet Yamal, 17, fired across the face of goal and then over as he ran riot, Dortmund unable to slow him down.

Barcelona took the lead after Karim Adeyemi needlessly gave away a free-kick in a dangerous area, pulling Jules Kounde back by his dreadlocks while trying to burst forward on the counter.

Lopez whipped it to the back post, with Inigo Martinez nodding the ball towards Pau Cubarsi, who turned it towards goal.

The young defender’s effort beat Kobel and was heading over the line before the tournament’s top scorer Raphinha slid in to make sure, claiming his 12th goal.

The Brazilian winger faced a nervous wait while VAR worked to confirm his 25th-minute strike was onside.

Yamal and Raphinha zipped forward in search of a second but could not get the final ball right, before Serhou Guirassy spurned a huge chance for the visitors to level.

With Dortmund’s first slick attacking move of the game, the forward, who has 10 goals in the competition, was played in but snatched badly at a bouncing ball with just Wojciech Szczesny to beat.

Whirlwind

Unsurprisingly Niko Kovac’s Dortmund came to regret Guirassy’s misses, with Lewandowski netting his 10th of the tournament early in the second half.

Yamal clipped a cross to Raphinha, who looped a header over to Lewandowski at the far post to nod home from virtually under the crossbar three minutes after the interval.

Lopez struck the post and lashed inches over as Barcelona searched for a third to kill the tie off.

It arrived after 66 minutes, with Lopez teeing up Lewandowski to drill home at the near post.

This was the former Dortmund striker’s 29th goal in 28 matches against his old club, and his 99th in a Barcelona shirt since joining in 2022.

“I am very happy, 99 goals for the club,” added Lewandowski.

“In my head I always have not just winning, but helping the team with my qualities, goals.

“I think strikers always have to think about goals.”

Yamal, who had toyed with Dortmund’s defence all night, deservedly got on the scoresheet as the visitors left themselves wide open and Raphinha sent the youngster through on goal.

The only worry for Barca was Yamal asking to be replaced in the final stages, although he was smiling as he was afforded an ovation.

Flick’s side are aiming for a potential quadruple this season and on this evidence, they will take some stopping.

Source: AFP

Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti said he “never thought about committing fraud” as he testified in court in Spain over tax evasion charges.

The former Chelsea and Everton boss is accused of failing to pay 1m euros (£830,000) in tax on his Real salary during his first spell in charge from 2013 to 2015.

Ancelotti began his second stint at Real in 2021.

Prosecutors are seeking a prison term of four years nine months and a fine of 3.2m euros (£2.7m).

The Italian is accused of paying tax only on his Real salary and omitting income from image rights on his tax returns.

“For me, everything was in order,” Ancelotti told the Provincial Court of Madrid.

Ancelotti said he was offered a net salary of 6m euros (£5.1m) by Real and that he left the structure of it to his financial advisors.

“I thought it was quite normal because at that time all the players and the previous coach had [done the same],” he said.

“For coaches [image rights] don’t mean the same as they do for players because they don’t sell shirts.”

Several high-profile figures in Spanish football have been charged with tax evasion in recent years.

Barcelona forward Lionel Messi was fined 252,000 euros in 2017 after initially being given a 21-month prison sentence.

In 2019 Real striker Cristiano Ronaldo accepted an 18.8m euro fine following an out-of-court settlement and Jose Mourinho was fined 2.2m euros relating to tax charges during his time as Real manager from 2011-12.

Source: BBC

Newcastle United secured their first domestic trophy for 70 years – and ended a wait for a major prize stretching back to 1969 – with a deserved Carabao Cup final win over Liverpool at Wembley.

The Toon Army were sent into ecstasy as goals either side of half-time by Dan Burn and Alexander Isak put them on course for a triumph that will lead to legendary status on Tyneside for manager Eddie Howe and his players.

Burn celebrated his first England call-up by meeting Kieran Trippier’s corner with a towering header in first-half stoppage time, before Isak pounced to finish clinically from Jacob Murphy’s knockdown after 52 minutes.

Liverpool, who were knocked out of the Champions League on penalties by Paris St-Germain in midweek, pulled a goal back through substitute Federico Chiesa in injury time.

Newcastle, however, survived a tense finish to clinch their first major silverware since the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1969 and first domestic success since the 1955 FA Cup.

Source: BBC