Welcome to the end of the European Football season.
There were new champions in three of the top-five leagues,
major surprises in Turkey and Italy, and some new ground broken in France.
Here’s Tifo’s round-up
Let’s start with the bits that everyone knows.
Eintracht Frankfurt beat Rangers in the final of the Europa League on penalties and, in the Europa
Conference League, Jose Mourinho’s Roma held on to a one-goal lead to beat Feyenoord in the final.
In the Champions League, Villarreal knocked out Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals
and Real Madrid, despite losing at home to Sheriff Tiraspol in the group stages,
conjured miraculous escape acts against – in order – PSG, Chelsea and Manchester City,
before beating Liverpool 1-0 in the final, courtesy of a
miraculous Thibaut Courtois performance and a second-half goal from Vinicus Jr.
Real also won La Liga in Carlo Ancelotti’s first season after returning,
and were – again – led by the goals and performances of Karim Benzema,
who may yet win the Ballon d’Or. Real Betis won the Copa del Rey, beating Valencia on penalties,
and Xavi Hernandez left Al Sadd mid-season to return to Camp Nou and manage Barcelona.
In England, Manchester City survived a final day that tilted one way
then the other, with two Ilkay Gundogan goals proving enough to beat Aston Villa
and keep Liverpool at bay – Jurgen Klopp still won a domestic double, though,
winning both the league and FA Cup finals on penalties. Mohamed Salah was vital to that
success and, individually, he shared the league’s Golden Boot with Tottenham’s Son Heung-min.
Newly-promoted Brentford survived comfortably, and their form in the second half of the
season was partly inspired by the returning Christian Eriksen, who recovered from the
cardiac arrest he suffered at last summer’s European Championship to resume his career.
Fulham and Bournemouth will be back in the Premier League next year,
they secured automatic promotion from the Championship, and Nottingham Forest
will join them after winning the playoff final, beating Huddersfield 1-0 at Wembley.
In Germany, Bayern Munich won their tenth Bundesliga in a row, with RB Leipzig defeating
Freiburg on penalties to win the first trophy in their history. Felix Magath briefly re-emerged to
save Hertha Berlin from relegation, guiding them through a playoff against Hamburg, but Schalke
and Werder Bremen are both back in the top-flight, having spent just one season in the second tier.
Over in France, Paris Saint-Germain galloped away with Ligue1 and, after their title was confirmed,
they announced that Kylian Mbappe was not leaving the club after all.
In the Coupe de France, Nantes won their first silverware since 2001.
During that game, in which Nantes beat Nice 1-0, Stephanie Frappart accomplished her
own achievement, becoming the first woman to officiate the French cup final, having
previously been the first woman to take charge of a Ligue 1 match and a Champions League tie.
A surprise in Italy, as AC Milan captured their first Scudetto since 2011. Last
season’s champions, Inter Milan, won the Coppa Italia, defeating Juventus 4-2 after extra-time.
Ajax won the title in the Netherlands during Erik ten Hag’s last season, but lost the Dutch
cup final to PSV. In Scotland, Celtic reclaimed the Scottish Premiership, but Rangers captured the
Scottish Cup, beating Hearts after extra-time just a few days after losing that Europa League final.
Porto survived the mid-season loss of Luis Diaz to reclaim the Primeira Liga title in Portugal,
losing just a single game all season to hold off Sporting Club.
And in Turkey, a season of surprises: with all three Istanbul teams underperforming,
Trabzonspor became champions for the first time since 1984.
And in Belgium, Union St Gilloise led the league courtesy of 26 goals from Deniz Undav – he’s
joining Brighton & Hove Albion next year – but fell short of a first championship
in almost 90 years, with Club Brugges prevailing in the playoffs
and clinching a hat-trick of successive titles.
But perhaps one of the biggest shocks in all of European football this season
came in the final of the Women’s Champions League, with Lyon beating previously undefeated Barcelona
3-1 in Turin. Lyon have been the dynastic power in women’s football for much of the last decade,
but Barcelona won their domestic title with 30 wins from 30 games played – and just 11
goals conceded – but Lyon pulled off the upset. In time, Amandine Henry’s opener,
which flew into the top-corner from 35 yards, might just make the Puskas Award shortlist.
Some consolation for Barcelona though: twice in
2022 they set world-record attendances for a woman’s football match. In April,
91,648 supporters packed into Camp Nou for a Champions League semi-final against Wolfsburg,
beating – by a few hundred fans – a record set against Real Madrid a few weeks before.