Well, that sums up this season. Within the last couple of days, Europe has been concluding their soccer season with the Europa League and Champions League finals taking place on Friday and Sunday, respectively. All this happening at around the same time the next season should regularly be starting, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the schedule has been shuffled.
Europa League
The Europa League final featured Italian powerhouse Inter Milan against Spanish slayers Sevilla with Sevilla coming out on top. In the previous round, Sevilla tackled the red version of the struggling Manchester giants, who were previously thought to be favorites to win the competition. It was United who scored first, a spot kick by newfound specialist Bruno Fernandes put them ahead before Sevilla equalized before the half time whistle. In the second half, former Manchester City player Jesus Navas found Luuk de Jong with a ball that met the back of the net, which turned out to be the winning goal. Inter Milan completely mauled through their semi-final tie, running riot against Russian side Shakhtar Donetsk with a 5-0 thrashing, Lukaku scoring 2 of the goals and one for both Lautaro Martinez and Daniolo D’Ambrosio.
The final served us a five-goal feast, Sevilla getting the better of Inter in a tight 3-2 win. Interr drew first blood within 5 minutes through Lukaku, who has been enjoying the most fruitful season of his career. Before Sevilla’s Dutch Matador scored 2 in 21 minutes to put them on the front foot. Inter fired back through veteran Diego Godin to equal the playing ground but could do nothing(literally) about Sevilla’s winning goal, an impressive overhead kick from Diego Carlos deflected off Lukaku who was caught by surprise, before entering the goal and handing Sevilla the Europa League Trophy.
Champions League
As for the most prized club trophy in Europe, that had two financial and attacking superpowers in French champions PSG and German Champions Bayern Munich. PSG went through RB Leipzig in the semi-final rounds with a comfortable and somewhat predictable 3-0 win, with Angel Di Maria having arguably his game of the season, with a goal and assist to his name. Bayern locked horns with unlikely semi-finalists Lyon, who pulled through an impressive win over the blue version of the struggling Manchester giants, Manchester City. Bayern also had a comfortable win, which was a big step down to the number they amassed against Barcelona in the previous round(8). Gnabry added 2 goals to his seasons’ tally that night, with hotshot Lewandowski rounding up the night with a goal.
The build up to the final was nothing short of exciting, as these were two of Europe’s most deadly attacking teams, sharing reputable, upcoming and some Ballon D’or worth names like Neymar, Lewandowski, Mbappe, Di Maria, Muller, Davies, Kimmich and Coutinho. Everyone expected it to be a highly eventful game for those reasons exactly, but as it turned out, it was a rather silent night. There were a few sparks here and there, Neymar’s chance and Lewandowski hitting the post a while later and some other moments that could’ve been. Bayern came out victorious with a subtle 1-0 win, the telling moment coming in the 59th minute via highly decorated Kingsley Coman as he headed home a cross supplied by Niklas Sule. PSG created various chances to even the playing ground but failed to finish any of them, resulting in Bayern Munich being crowned champions of Europe, and deservedly so.
So with the season done, Sevilla are the current kings of the Europa League and Bayern Munich the kings of the Champions league and technically, Europe as a whole. We await the beginning of next season, and it won’t be long, some pools and qualifying rounds for next season’s European competitions have already begun with others set to begin this week, and we shall see who comes out on top at the other end of the upcoming season, challengers or holders.
