Mitch Freeley

Plenty went on in European football over the weekend, with sides wrapping up league titles and title races threatening to go to the wire. We have attempted the dissect the major talking points from the big leagues over the weekend. As ever, you can follow all the action from France, Italy, Spain and Germany via beIN CONNECT. 

Juventus get over the line

Juventus made it eight consecutive league titles on Saturday evening, following a 2-1 win over Fiorentina. After bowing out of the Champions League to Ajax, Max Allegri’s side turned their attention to wrapping up an eighth straight Scudetto. It certainly didn’t start well for the Bianconeri as Viola defender Nikola Milenkovic opened the scoring however goals in either half from Alex Sandro and an own goal from Germán Pezzella (assisted by Cristiano Ronaldo) settled the contest. 

Now, the postmortem can truly begin for the Juventus hierarchy as they attempt to make sense of what happened in the Champions League. The first order of business should be their midfield, which looked one dimensional in the second leg against Ajax. With Aaron Ramsey joining from Arsenal in the summer, Juve has gone some way in addressing the issue, however, Max Allegri may have to sell the likes of Paulo Dybala, Juan Cuadrado & Miralem Pjanić to fund for any big money signings in the summer. 

Mpabbe shines as PSG party in Paris

Kylian Mbappé further underlined his credentials as one of the best strikers in the World today as he bagged a hat-trick against former club Monaco, as PSG celebrated their latest Ligue 1 title triumph with a 3-1 victory on Sunday evening. The tie would also be an emotional one for PSG fans, who honoured the service men and women who fought bravely to halt the fire which engulfed the Notre Dame cathedral earlier in the week. 

Thomas Tuchel’s side didn’t even have to kick a ball to confirm a sixth league title in seven seasons as second-placed Lille dropped points away to Toulouse. Still, it was all about  Mbappé who bagged his 28th, 29th & 30th goal of the season for the Parisians. Whilst Tuchel will also be pleased to see that both Neymar and Edinson Cavani returned to first-team action after missing the majority of the second half of the season through injury. Now PSG will turn their attention to the Coupe de France next weekend where they face Rennes in the final a competition that they have won in the last four consecutive seasons. 

Champions League race warming up in Spain

With Barca essentially wrapping up the La Liga title a few weeks ago, the attention has turned to the race for Champions League football in Spain. With five rounds left in the season, the fourth, fifth and sixth places are just separated by two points. 

For now, Getafe is in the box seat in fourth place, but have Valencia and Sevilla right behind them. The Madrid based side further bolstered their Champions League rivals Sevilla with a comprehensive 3-0 win. Whilst Valencia strengthened their claim with an impressive 2-1 away to Real Betis. With Getafe having to play both Real Madrid & Barcelona in their final games the momentum has certainly shifted to Valencia who is now undefeated in four games in all competitions.  

Midweek will see the biggest test to Los Che’s Champions League ambitions a tricky away tie to second-placed Atletico Madrid a side who have only lost once in their last seventeen home La Liga games.