Upsets

A promotion/relegation playoff between Le Mans (third-place finishers in the Championnat National, France’s third division) and Gazélec Ajaccio (18th-place in Ligue 2, France’s second division) was decided in the most extraordinary of circumstances on Sunday. 

The first leg, played at MMArena in Le Mans last Friday, finished 2-1 in favor of Gazélec. Accordingly, the Ligue 2 side was heavily favored to retain its division two status ahead of today’s return leg at Stade Ange Casanova.

With a 3-1 victory over Sassuolo today, Atalanta B.C. has confirmed a third place finish in Serie A and direct qualification to next season’s UEFA Champions League group stage. In the 112-year history of the Italian club from Bergamo, Lombardy, this is a first on both accounts. 

61-year-old manager Gian Piero Gasperini — with a fraction of the wage bill of the clubs that finished around them — created an attacking juggernaut that scored a league-best 77 goals (yes, seven more than Cristiano Ronaldo’s Juventus), led by Duván Zapata, Josip Ilicic and Alejandro “Papu” Gómez. 

Coming into a game with the impossible on its to-do list, Liverpool down three goals on aggregate returned home and dominated Barcelona 4-0 to return to its second consecutive Champions League final with a 4-3 aggregate victory on Tuesday at Anfield.

Just six days ago, this Barcelona team was on the other side of the beating, thrashing Liverpool 3-0 in Barca.

With Mohamed Salah ruled out of Tuesday’s Liverpool-Barcelona Champions League semifinal second leg with a concussion, maybe Jordi Alba thought he was in for a beautiful stroll across the lovely confines of Anfield. Maybe, looking across at replacement Xherdan Shaqiri, he thought, “Hell yeah, I might be marginally taller than this dude.” 

Or perhaps he thought he’d simply feed it to Lionel Messi (as has been the case on three occasions in LaLiga and twice in the UCL this season) and let him do the rest. 

Monday featured yet another onslaught of goals in the early workings of a game in Europe. This time Chelsea and Burnley combined for four goals in the first 25 minutes of action at Stamford Bridge.

Both teams were looking for a much-needed win with Burnley fighting against relegation and Chelsea fighting for a top four spot. Ultimately, following a 2-2 draw, both teams got some help in their respective causes. For Burnley, the point all but secures the club's participation in the Premier League for a fourth straight season.  

Leeds United suffered a huge blow in its chase for automatic promotion to the Premier League this afternoon. After a season of dominant performances in the Championship, the business end of the campaign hasn't been so kind to the West Yorkshire giants.

In the wake of Manchester United’s Champions League exit, we were treated to a plethora of listicles analyzing who should be shown the door at Old Trafford. After today’s historic 4-0 defeat to Everton, it’s clear that a much easier question is simply who stays. 

The match was a masterclass in the various United shortcomings that’ve gripped the inter webs over the last year or two: How does the third-richest club in the world boast a center pairing of Chris Smalling and Phil Jones? Does Anthony Martial not give a shit to the point of constipation? Who is Fred?