Gunners finish 2nd, City secures 4th
Print Edition
OLIVIER Giroud scored a hat-trick as Arsenal overwhelmed relegated Aston Villa 4-0 yesterday to pip arch-rival Tottenham Hotspur to second place in the Premier League table.
French striker Giroud put Arsenal ahead after five minutes with a neat header from Nacho Monreal’s cross. News of Newcastle’s third goal against Spurs caused a huge cheer at the Emirates Stadium and Giroud added Arsenal’s second goal 12 minutes from time before completing his hat-trick with a fine left-footed finish.
Mikel Arteta added the fourth in stoppage time.
Tottenham, the closest challengers to champion Leicester City over the last few weeks, lost 1-5 at Newcastle United to finish third. Manchester City sealed fourth place and a spot in next season’s Champions League after being held to a 1-1 draw at Swansea City. The point was all City needed in manager Manuel Pellegrini’s last match to ensure to finish in the top four.
Elsewhere, Liverpool finished eight after a 1-1 draw at West Brom; and Chelsea and Leicester ended 1-1 as well.
Suarez stars for Barca
In Spain, Barcelona left it late — very late — but finally rescued its season by pulling off five straight victories to clinch its second straight Spanish league title on Saturday.
There was as much relief as joy when Barcelona defeated Granada 3-0 in the last round, with a hat-trick by league top scorer Luis Suarez. That meant Barcelona finished one point ahead of Real Madrid, which fell short despite winning its last 12 league games.
Barcelona avoided what would have been a disastrous title loss after it led fierce rival Madrid by 12 points with nine rounds to go. Real Madrid defeated Deportivo 2-0 with two goals by Cristiano Ronaldo, but it needed Barcelona to stumble in order to clinch its first title since 2012.
After the final whistle in Granada, several hundred fans from both teams came onto the pitch as players struggled to find their way off.
In Germany, Pep Guardiola was showered with beer and praise during Bundesliga title celebrations following his last home game as Bayern Munich coach on Saturday. Bayern, which had already secured an unprecedented fourth straight league title, signed off by beating relegated Hannover 3-1 for its 28th win from 34 games.
After lifting the trophy in front of 75,000 fans, Bayern’s players engaged in the customary beer showers, dousing any victims they could find with huge tankards of wheat beer.
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