Lyon Clinch French Title Again - News from around Europe
This year's Ligue 1 title race may have had a few more twists and turns than usual, but the grand finale was as predictable as ever. Lyon are the champions again, for the seventh season in a row, though things aren't quite as straightforwardly peaceful there as you might expect. Coach Alain Perrin has had a bumpy ride in his first season in what has been a much closer title race than any since 2003/04, when Paris Saint-Germain finished three points behind them.
The gap between Lyon and second-placed Bordeaux this year was four points, but it was still up for grabs on the last day, with Lyon needing a draw at Auxerre to be certain of the title. In the end, it didn't matter what they did, as the chasers were held to a 2-2 draw at Lens, despite twice going ahead in the second half, only to be pegged back both times within minutes of scoring.
That meant that Lyon's result wouldn't matter, but they won anyway and did so in pretty swift fashion, going 1-0 up in the first minute through Karim Benzema and 2-0 up in the ninth minute through Fred. Kim Kallstrom made it 3-0 in the second half before Frederic Thomas pulled one back for the home side to secure the title in style, and it must have been refreshing to be celebrating a title in May rather than February.
Unfortunately for Perrin's job prospects, his boss Jean-Michel Aulas has his sights set on the Champions League rather than Ligue 1 (as you might expect, he's getting bored of being French champions), while Benzema said afterwards: "We will have to win the Champions League next season. I hope that the team is even better next season." The question for Aulas is whether Perrin is the man to take them to that next level when he struggled to keep them where they are now...
Spain: It was the end of an era for Barcelona this weekend as Frank Rijkaard bowed out with an exciting 5-3 win over relegated Murcia. After falling behind early on, they blasted their opponents away with goals from Samuel Eto'o, Thierry Henry and a hat-trick from Man City target Giovani Dos Santos before the home side pulled back two late goals. Champions Real Madrid signed off their league campaign with a 5-2 win over Levante, with goals from Ruud van Nistelrooy (two), Sergio Ramos (two) and Wesley Sneijder.
Germany: Luca Toni finished a prolific first season at Bayern Munich with another hat-trick as the champions cruised to a 4-1 win over Hertha Berlin, with Franck Ribery getting the other goal. Werder Bremen secured second place (ten points adrift of Bayern) with a 1-0 win at Bayer Leverkusen despite Schalke's 2-0 win at Nurnberg. Wolfsburg won 4-2 at Borussia Dortmund, but still finished fifth after Hamburg went goal crazy, smashing seven past Karlsruhe with Jose Paolo Guerrero getting a hat-trick.
