World Sports News in Brief

Liverpool and Chelsea grab top-four spots as Leicester crumble

Liverpool and Chelsea grabbed the final two Champions League places but Leicester City fell short of a top-four finish for the second successive season on a nerve-jangling final day of the Premier League season on Sunday (May 23).

Soccer Football - Premier League - Liverpool v Crystal Palace - Anfield, Liverpool, Britain - May 23, 2021 Liverpool's Georginio Wijnaldum. (Photo: Pool via Reuters)
Soccer Football - Premier League - Liverpool v Crystal Palace - Anfield, Liverpool, Britain - May 23, 2021 Liverpool's Georginio Wijnaldum. (Photo: Pool via Reuters)

Liverpool avoided any drama as they beat Crystal Palace 2-0 to finish in third spot. Chelsea lost 2-1 at Aston Villa but they were saved as arch-rivals Tottenham Hotspur twice came from a goal down to win 4-2 at Leicester City. Liverpool finished on 69 points with Chelsea on 67 and Leicester, who will enter the Europa League, on 66.

* Sergio Aguero came on in the 65th minute and scored twice in his final league game for champions Manchester City as they thrashed Everton 5-0 before being presented with the trophy on the pitch in front of 10,000 fans at The Etihad.

* Second-placed Manchester United beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-1 to finish 12 points adrift of City. It was Nuno Espirito Santo's final game as manager of Wolves.

* West Ham United will join Leicester City in the Europa League after finishing sixth - rounding off a superb season in style with a 3-0 home win over Southampton.

* Tottenham will be England's representative in the inaugural Europa Conference League although that will be scant consolation for the London club for whom Kane could have possibly played his last game on Sunday, with a big-money move likely.

* Bottom club Sheffield United bowed out with a 1-0 win over Burnley, while Leeds United claimed an impressive ninth place by beating relegated West Bromwich Albion 3-1. Arsenal finished one position higher with a 2-0 home win over Brighton & Hove Albion.

* Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero is close to agreeing a deal to join Barcelona after his contract expires at the Premier League champions, manager Pep Guardiola said. The 32-year-old scored twice in his final league match for City on Sunday as he helped them celebrate their title success in style with a 5-0 thrashing of Everton.

* Juventus climbed into the top four on the final day of the Serie A season to secure Champions League qualification after the Turin club beat Bologna 4-1 and other results went their way. Andrea Pirlo’s Juve side moved one point above Napoli into fourth place as Gennaro Gattuso's team could only muster a 1-1 draw with mid-table Hellas Verona.

* Napoli suffered a heartbreaking end to the Serie A season as they dropped out of the Champions League spots on the final day following a 1-1 draw against mid-table Hellas Verona on Sunday in what proved to be Gennaro Gattuso’s final game as manager. Gattuso’s side fell to fifth place after Juventus beat Bologna 4-1 to climb one point above them in the standings.

* AC Milan secured a long-awaited return to the Champions League on Sunday as two Franck Kessie penalties earned a 2-0 win over Atalanta to seal a second-place finish on the final day of the Serie A season. The victory saw Milan climb one point above the Bergamo club in the standings to 79 points behind champions Inter Milan.

* Inter Milan striker Romelu Lukaku was reduced to tears on Sunday as he kept a 16-year-old promise to his late grandfather by lifting the Serie A trophy. The Belgian striker is Inter’s top scorer this season and struck his 30th goal of the campaign in all competitions in a 5-1 win over Udinese at San Siro.

* Chelsea breathed a sigh of relief after claiming a top-four spot on the final day of the Premier League season on Sunday but they were given a scare with goalkeeper Edouard Mendy suffering an injury six days before the Champions League final. Mendy, an impressive performer this term, was replaced at halftime in the 2-1 defeat at Aston Villa after sustaining a knock while trying to save Bertrand Traore's goal.

* Lille clinched their first Ligue 1 title since 2011 as they beat Angers 2-1 away on Sunday, becoming only the second club since 2013 to break Paris St Germain's dominance. A goal by Jonathan David and a Burak Yilmaz penalty put Christophe Galtier's side on 83 points, one ahead of defending champions PSG, who had won seven of the eight previous titles and snatched a 2-0 win at Stade Brest.

* Sporting Braga staged an upset in the Portuguese Cup final on Sunday by beating Benfica 2-0 in an ill-tempered game in which three players were sent off.

* Elfyn Evans won the Rally of Portugal on Sunday to cut Toyota team mate Sebastien Ogier's overall championship lead to two points. The victory was the fourth of the Welshman's world championship career and he had led on the gravel roads since Hyundai's Ott Tanak retired on Saturday with a smashed suspension.

* Benign conditions greeted the early starters at the PGA Championship, but a stiffening breeze forecast for the afternoon should set the stage for a compelling final round on Sunday as Phil Mickelson attempts to become golf's oldest major champion. Mickelson, 50, tees off at 2.30pm local time accompanied by fellow American Brooks Koepka in the final heavyweight pairing at Kiawah Island.

* Belgian Victor Campenaerts won the 15th stage of the Giro d'Italia at the end of a breakaway, a 147km bumpy ride from Grado as Colombian Egan Bernal retained the overall leader's Maglia Rosa on Sunday. Campenaerts outsprinted breakaway companion Oscar Riesebeek of the Netherlands after the duo had pulled clear late in the stage, which saw Bernal keep the lead with a 93-second advantage over Briton Simon Yates.

* Burnley goalkeeper Nick Pope will undergo knee surgery next week, manager Sean Dyche said on Sunday, throwing his participation for England at next month's European Championship in doubt.

* Red Bull's Max Verstappen won Formula One's showcase Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday to lead the world championship for the first time in his career. The 23-year-old Dutch driver started the day 14 points behind Mercedes' seven times world champion Lewis Hamilton and ended it four clear of the Briton with 18 races remaining on the schedule.

* Canadian Denis Shapovalov said on Sunday he will not play at the French Open due to a lingering shoulder injury. The world number 14 lost to Norway's Casper Ruud 7-6(6) 6-4 in Saturday's Geneva Open final.

Reuters