Manchester City on Sunday celebrated their English Premier League title triumph with a 1-0 win against Chelsea before captain Ilkay Gundogan lifted the trophy in front of their jubilant fans, while Leeds United slipped closer to relegation.
City clinched a fifth title in six seasons on Saturday when second placed Arsenal crashed 1-0 at Nottingham Forest.
Manager Pep Guardiola’s side marked their third successive title by winning a 12th consecutive league game as Julian Alvarez’s first-half goal extended their unbeaten run in all competitions to 24 matches.
Photo: EPA-EFE
That blistering streak has left Arsenal trailing as the Gunners failed to end City’s reign despite leading the table for much of the season.
“All Premier Leagues are special. Always it’s so difficult to win it,” Guardiola said. “We had to push Arsenal and wait if they dropped some points. They did. We were there. You never know how we are going to respond, but the team was outstanding.”
The fans’ celebrations were going strong by the time the City team bus arrived at the Etihad Stadium, which was surrounded by flag-waving supporters who set off blue smoke flares as they hailed their dynastic team.
City, seven points clear of Arsenal with two games left, would cement their status as one of English soccer’s greatest ever teams if they can add the FA Cup and UEFA Champions League to their latest Premier League conquest.
Guardiola’s treble chasers face Manchester United in the FA Cup final at Wembley on June 3, then take on Inter in Istanbul seven days later as they look to win the Champions League for the first time.
Manchester United were the last English club to win the treble in 1999 and City would relish the chance to emulate their rivals’ feat.
“You have to win the Champions League to be considered one of the best teams, but also it’s unfair to say if you don’t win it, the Premier League doesn’t make sense,” Guardiola said.
“Of course it makes sense, of course it’s important. It’s every day, every week. This club won five of the last six. It’s amazing.”
At the other end of the table, struggling Leeds lost 3-1 at West Ham United as Rodrigo’s opener was erased by goals from Declan Rice, Jarrod Bowen and Manuel Lanzini.
Manager Sam Allardyce’s side remain third bottom and are two points adrift of fourth bottom Everton, with both teams having just one game left.
Even if Leeds beat Tottenham Hotspur at home on the final day of the season, the Yorkshire club could still be relegated if Everton win their last game against AFC Bournemouth at Goodison Park.
Brighton & Hove Albion secured European soccer for the first time in their history with a 3-1 win against Southampton.
Taiwan’s Lin Chun-yi yesterday bowed out at the Malaysia Masters, defeated in the semi-finals a day after an epic quarter-final against the highest-ranked player left in the men’s singles draw. Lin lost to Weng Hongyang of China 21-13, 21-19 after a draining match against Japan’s Kodai Naraoka a day earlier in which the second game had 59 points. The 23-year-old left-hander had won his only previous BWF match against his Chinese opponent. However, Weng booked a place in today’s final after easing past the Taiwanese battler. He faces India’s H.S. Prannoy, who advanced when Indonesia’s Christian Adinata retired while trailing 19-17 in the
Kosovo Olympic authorities have asked the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to open disciplinary proceedings against Novak Djokovic, accusing the Serb of stirring up political tension by saying “Kosovo is the heart of Serbia” at the French Open. Djokovic wrote the message on a camera lens following his first-round win on Monday, the same day that 30 NATO peacekeeping troops were hurt in clashes with Serb protesters in the Kosovo town of Zvecan where Djokovic’s father grew up. “Kosovo is our cradle, our stronghold, center of the most important things for our country,” 36-year-old told Serbian media. Serbian authorities said 52 protesters were wounded
Unable to sleep the night before her first-round match at the French Open against second seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine checked her phone at 5am on Sunday and saw disturbing news back home in Kyiv. At least one person was killed when the capital of Kostyuk’s nation was subjected to the largest drone attack by Russia since the start of the war, launched with an invasion assisted by Belarus in February last year. “It’s something I cannot describe, probably. I try to put my emotions aside any time I go out on court. I think I’m better than
China has long been the sleeping giant of men’s tennis, but on Monday the giant stirred as Shanghai trailblazer Zhang Zhizhen advanced to the second round of Roland Garros. One of three Chinese men in the draw, Zhang became the first from the nation to win a main draw match at Roland Garros in 86 years after Serbian opponent Dusan Lajovic retired due to illness when trailing 6-1, 4-1. Compatriots Shang Juncheng and Wu Yibing bowed out in defeat, but 26-year-old Zhang has a big chance to go further when he takes on Argentine qualifier Thiago Agustin Tirante for a place in
RSS