Soccer Monday: Leverkusen wins the double, Southampton promoted and Mbappe's last PSG trophy
Kick the week off with all the news from this past weekend
Happy Memorial Day!
It was a trophy-laden weekend across Europe. Bayer Leverkusen and PSG both won domestic doubles, while Man City was unable to do so.
Here’s a look at what happened:
3. Leverkusen closes dream season with the domestic double
Days after losing the Europa League final to Atalanta, it was Granit Xhaka’s early strike that helped Bayer Leverkusen win the German Cup with a 1-0 win over Kaiserslautern on Saturday.
Xhaka fired the ball in under the crossbar from distance in the 16th minute at Berlin’s Olympiastadion. It proved to be enough against second-division Kaiserslautern despite losing defender Odilon Kossounou to a second yellow card just before halftime.
Leverkusen won the Bundesliga unbeaten, an historic feat, while the only blemish was losing the Europa League final to Atalanta 3-0 last Wednesday in Dublin. That ended Leverkusen’s record 51-game unbeaten run across all competitions. It was its only defeat in 53 games this season.
“The whole journey, the whole season was wonderful,” Leverkusen manager Xabi Alonso said. “What we did this season is unbelievable.”
Bayern Munich were the last side to achieve a league and cup double in 2020, part of a treble that also included the Champions League.
The trophy also marked Leverkusen’s second German Cup after beating Hertha Berlin’s reserve team in the 1993 final. Leverkusen’s other trophy is the 1988 UEFA Cup.
2. Southhampton returns to the EPL
It’s been described as the richest one-off game in soccer.
Southampton secured an immediate return to the Premier League on Sunday by defeating Leeds 1-0 at Wembley Stadium in the Championship playoff final.
The game — worth $180 million in future earnings — is now guaranteed after Adam Armstrong’s 24th minute goal, helping Southampton back in the EPL alongside Leicester and Ipswich.
“I think we probably didn’t play our best game today, but we showed a different side,” said Southampton defender Jack Stephens. “A few people have doubted us this season — can we defend, can we dig in? I think we showed we can.”
Meanwhile, Leeds had finished third — three points above fourth-place Southampton — and missed out on automatic promotion after winning only one of its last six matches.
Southampton, it should be noted, is the club supported by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
1. PSG wins the double in Mbappe’s last game
Paris Saint-Germain defeated Lyon 2-1 on Saturday in the French Cup final, completing the domestic double in Kylian Mbappé’s last game for the club.
France winger Ousmane Dembele and Spain midfielder Fabian Ruiz scored for PSG in the first half, while Lyon defender Jake O’Brien tallied a consolation goal in the second half.
PSG won the league and cup for the first time since 2020 when it achieved a domestic treble by also lifting the now-defunct League Cup.
Mbappe celebrated with a big roar after the final whistle. The Associated Press described Mbappe’s post-game reaction this way: “With an equally big smile on his face, he hugged and high-fived his teammates. The ecstatic PSG staff lifted Mbappe and threw him in the air.”
“You feel a bit more the weight of things because you realize that it’s really over,” Mbappe said after the match. “When I said goodbye to the Parc des Princes, there were still some games left, so you are still focused on what awaits you. Now, I have nothing left with PSG.”
Mbappe, who is expected to sign with Real Madrid this summer, added, “I’m very happy to have been able to finish with a trophy.”
In other news: Manchester United won the FA Cup on Saturday after stunning defending champion Manchester City 2-1 in the final at Wembley. United’s first silverware of the season deprived crosstown rival City of the first back-to-back English league-cup doubles. United also qualified for the Europa League next season. … Barcelona ended its losing streak against the game’s most successful club on Saturday, beating Lyon 2-0 to clinch its third Women’s Champions League title in four years. World player of the year Aitana Bonmatí scored in the second half and former world player Alexia Putellas added a second deep in stoppage time for defending champion Barcelona in front of a record attendance of 50,827 for a final. … Al-Ain of the United Arab Emirates won the Asian Champions League on Saturday, coming back from a 2-1 first-leg deficit at Japan’s Yokohama F. Marinos two weeks ago to win 6-3 on aggregate. More than 20,000 home fans cheered on a 5-1 second-leg victory at Hazza bin Zayed Stadium. Al-Ain added to its 2003 title after losing two finals since then.