Finals Week

Many finals took place this past weekend as the European season draws to a close. Wembley housed the FA Cup final and the Championship Playoff, while the across the continent, the DFB Pokal and the Coupe de France had their culminations. 

FA Cup Final: Manchester City 1 – 2 Manchester United 

For the second season in a row, Wembley hosted a Manchester derby for the FA Cup final. Form showed this year’s result would likely be similar to the last, with a City win. But that was not the script over the weekend. Ten Hag and his United team set up with a concrete game plan which was perfectly executed for the majority of the game. The first half was the best Man United have looked all season. They set up with a very solid defensive line with Lisandro Martinez and Aaron Wan-Bissaka now available and Amrabat, Mainoo and /McTominay made up the midfield three, while Bruno Fernandes was taken away from the more physical battles and used as a sort of false 9 up top. They frustrated City in their final third, who again, looked tired as they struggled to create clear chances just as they were in the semi final. And when the opportunities came to break, United took total advantage sending bodies forward before City could get bodies back and as a result, scored twice in ten minutes. The winning goal being a superb move involving 5 players (including three Carrington academy graduates) – Rashford, Garnacho, Wan – Bissaka, Fernandes and the goal scorer Mainoo. City were marginally better in the second half, as Doku came on to inject some much needed urgency and directness into the game, a few good chances were created but not taken, Haaland hit the bar after a well struck shot and Julian Alvarez missed a really good chance after coming on for an poorly performing De Bruyne. And Onana’s goalkeeping provided assurance for United’s backline with some good saves, apart from Doku’s goal late on, which he should’ve kept out. But in the end, it was United’s day. An incredibly well coached game from Ten Hag inspired his players with belief and allowed them to perform to their best ability against the best team in the country. The manager’s received a ton of scrutiny pretty much since the moment he arrived in Manchester and is now rumoured to leave the club, so if this was to be his last game, it’s a great way to go out. As for City, they obviously weren’t their best, maybe the long season and the climax of winning the league last weekend left them a little hangover. Whatever it was, they’ll want their get-back at the Community Shield in August.

DFB Pokal: 1.FC Kaiserslautern 0 – 1 Bayer Leverkusen

Xabi Alonso and Leverkusen bounced back from having their season-long unbeaten streak broken by Atalanta in the Europa League final in the cup final on Saturday evening. Throughout the whole game, the gulf in class between them and their opposition was clear, Kaiserslautern does play in the Bundesliga 2 after all. All credit should go to them though, as they earned their way to the final and slayed some giants along the way. They beat FC Koln, Nürnberg and Hertha Berlin – who all play in the top flight – on their way to the final. The first and only goal of the game came early on from a Granit Xhaka wonder strike; Edmond Tapsoba played a ball into Patrick Schick down the left channel, it was cut out but not cleared, giving Florian Wirtz to pick up the ball and touch inside before he was tackled. Xhaka hit the loose ball first time, curling it around the Kaiserslautern keeper, Julian Krahl into top left corner of the goal. From there, Leverkusen continued to create chances, particularly down the left channel, where Wirtz and Grimaldo operated. It was relatively smooth sailing until Odilon Koussounou made a really poor challenge after a heavy touch, prompting the ref to send him off with a second yellow card. The German champions weathered the storm in the second half, Alonso brought on Adli and Stanisić on to begin the second half to sure up the ship. The underdogs managed to carve out a few good looks on goal after striker Ragnar Ache was brought on off the bench, but no clear cut chances presented themselves as Leverkusen made sure to shut down shop and began to find chances on the counterattack as Kaiserslautern legs started to tire. The Champions held on to complete a historic double. A legendary season for this Leverkusen side. 

Coupe de France: Paris Saint-Germain 2 – 1 Olympic Lyonnais 

PSG also completed a double this weekend after the hotly contested, physical and fast-paced final of the French Cup on Saturday. It was end-to-end from the beginning, very open in the midfield, chances on goal being had about every couple of minutes. PSG started with immediate urgency, seeing pretty much all of the clear cut chances in the first half; and their early energy was rewarded after 20 minutes when Ousmane Dembélé headed in an inch perfect cross from Nuno Mendes that had Lyon keeper Lucas Perri in no man’s land. The pressure continued from the Parisians and they found another, with this time Dembélé being the provider as he found Fabian Ruiz at the back post to tap in the second goal. PSG’s wing players were giving Lyon problems all gam, between Barcola, Dembélé and Mbappé – who started at the striker position – often operated on the left channel in order to come inside on his right foot. Play was quick and intense, often being switched from wing to wing, having Lyon looking seemingly a step behind the pace throughout the first half. In the second half, Lyon came out more assured, seeing more of the ball in PSG’s final third, but they still struggled to create many real chances on goal until Jake O’Brien headed in a corner kick after 50 minutes. A half chance from Lacazette from a Lyon counterattack was well defended from Hakimi and from then on PSG began to ice the game. Vitinha was instrumental in the second half, especially; winning balls in the midfield, finding pockets of space and displaying great passing range all night. PSG sured the game up well, and Kylian Mbappé wins a trophy with the team in what was probably his last game for the club.

Championship Playoff Final: Southampton 1 – 0 Leeds United

It was exuberance for Southampton and agony for Leeds at Wembley after the two met for the coveted place in the Premier League on Sunday. Adam Armstrong’s first half finish was the decider after a well played passing move from the Saints. Flynn Downes played a really clever first-time pass round the corner to find William Smallbone, who poked a good nutmeg pass through the legs of the oncoming Ethan Ampadu to put Armstrong through, he then finished across Meslier’s goal with class and poise. Leeds will definitely feel hard done by as they looked the most likely to score after the Armstrong goal. Chances from Rodon, Summerville, Gnonto and Dan James all came in the second half barrage on the Southampton goal but were also met with adequate defending and pressure from the Saints backline. Dan James’ chance in particular will be the one that lurks in the minds of Leeds fans after this game, after a well played one-two with Summerville James hit the bouncing ball onto the underside of the bar, McArthy was well beaten and Leeds were inches away from an equalizer. Southampton held on for about 20 minutes after due to addition of 12 minutes after the 90. Around the 102nd minute Adam Armstrong mistook the referee whistling for a free kick as the full-time whistle, and he prematurely ripped his shirt off in celebration. Thankfully for his sake, there was no twist in the tale and soon after the full-time whistle actually blew sending Southampton back to the top flight after a season long hiatus. For Leeds, it was heartbreak as they look on to another long season in the extremely difficult EFL Championship.