Barca beats Real, Red Bulls win MLS Cup rematch and new pope a Roma fan
Kick off your Monday with all the action from this past weekend
This is a great time of year. Teams are winning trophies, while others are trying to avoid relegation.
Nonetheless, there’s much to keep track of each May as the club season across Europe comes to an end.
In Italy, the tightest title race of Europe’s top five leagues, Napoli now has a one-point lead over Inter Milan with two rounds left to play. In Spain, the other league yet to crown a champion, Barcelona remains in the driver’s seat.
In MLS, the New York Red Bulls trashed the Los Angeles Galaxy in a rematch of last year’s MLS Cup Final.
Here’s a look at the biggest stories from this past weekend:
La Liga: Barcelona beats Real Madrid, inches closer to the title
Barcelona took another step on Sunday to securing the Spanish league title with a 4-3 win over Real Madrid in another thrilling edition of El Clasico.
Barca have no opened a seven-point lead over its second-placed rival with three rounds remaining.
Raphinha scored twice, while Lamine Yamal and Eric García added a goal each for Barcelona, which needs two more points to secure its 28th league title.
The Catalan club trailed 2-0 after Kylian Mbappe scored in the fifth and 14th minutes at Montjuic Stadium. The hosts evened the match just over the half-hour mark, and went on to lead 4-2 at halftime.
Mbappe, the league’s top scorer with 27 goals, completed his hat trick in the 70th, but Real Madrid wasn’t able to come back.
MLS: Red Bulls trounce the Galaxy in MLS Cup Final rematch
Emil Forsberg recprded two goals and two assists, Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting also scored twice as the New York Red Bulls beat the Los Angeles Galaxy 7-0 on Saturday night at home to extend the defending MLS Cup champions’ winless skid.
The Galaxy have gone an league-record 12 stright games without a win to start the season. Their last MLS win was a 2-1 victory over the Red Bulls on Dec. 7 to claim the 2024 MLS Cup title.
New York, meanwhile, tied the team mark for goals in a game that had been set in 2016 against New York City FC.
“I think the best thing was that we kept on going,” Forsberg said. “We kept on playing the way we wanted to play and I think that’s why we scored seven goals today. We played forward, we played fast, we tried to hurt them as much as we could.”
Forsberg joined Antony De Avila as the only players in Red Bulls history with multiple goals and assists in a league game.
Serie A: Pope Leo XIV outed as a Roma fan
The world’s 1.4 billion Catholics have a new pope — and it turns out he’s a big sports fan.
Soon after Cardinal Robert Prevost — now Pope Leo XIV — was elected to the papacy last Wednesday, the Chicago-born pontiff was revealed to be a White Sox fan.
Aside from his love for the Windy City’s baseball team, this new pope loves tennis and riding horses. Like his predecessor Francis, Pope Leo XIV also has a love for soccer.
In fact, he’s a big Roma fan, something that many across the Eternal City welcomed with pride. On Saturday, the newly elected pope was caught on video while on a trip to the Basilica of St. Mary Major, exclaiming, “Forza Roma.”
It also wasn’t lost on some fans that this new pope also bears a close resemblance to current Giallorossi manager Claudio Ranieri. In a post on X, the club said, “AS Roma joins in rejoicing with Rome and the world following the election of Pope Leo XIV, and wishes him all the very best for his papacy.”
In other news: Barcelona women’s team won its sixth straight Spanish league title by routing Real Betis 9-0 on Sunday. Claudia Pina scored a hat trick and Ewa Pajor added two goals for Barcelona as it clinched its 10th league title with one round to go. Pajor is the league’s top scorer with 23 goals. … Arsenal and Newcastle set up a Premier League showdown next weekend as the race for the remaining Champions League spots intensified Sunday. After a weekend of upsets and comebacks in the Premier League, the six-way battle to qualify for European club soccer’s top competition looks set to go down to the wire. With the top five qualifying for the Champions League next season, just six points separate second-placed Arsenal and seventh-placed Nottingham Forest with two rounds to go. … Marseille and Monaco sealed spots in next season’s Champions League while Ligue 1 champion Paris Saint-Germain beat last-placed Montpellier 4-1 with a Goncalo Ramos hat trick on Saturday. On the penultimate matchday of the season, Mason Greenwood’s 19th league goal in the 85th minute put second-placed Marseille back in the lead at struggling Le Havre. Amine Gouiri scored twice and Marseille won away 3-1.