THE SOCCER REPORT
Manchester City win the Premier League, Bundesliga down to final day
May 14, 2019, 3:46 pm
Leroy Sané is a back-to-back Premier League champion with Manchester City. Credit Nike, Inc.
UEFA Champions League
🏆 The 2019 #UCLfinal is set! 🏆 Tottenham 🆚 Liverpool #UCL— UEFA Champions League (@UEFA Champions League) 1557350034.0
FC Barcelona and Ajax were in the driver's seat after their first leg leg semi-final wins but it will be Liverpool and Tottenham who headline the final in Madrid. Liverpool, without top attacking players in Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino, overcame an 0-3 deficit with a four-goal win at Anfield - shocking Lionel Messi's Barcelona who had an embarrassing night. Young Ajax, meanwhile, were up on the scoreboard at home before Tottenham fired up a comeback to take the series on away goals and advance to their first UCL final.
Semifinals - second leg results:
- Liverpool 4-0 FC Barcelona (4-3 agg.)
- Ajax 2-3 Tottenham Hotspur (3-3 agg., Tottenham advance on away goals)
UEFA Europa League
🏆 The 2019 #UELfinal is set! 🏆 Chelsea 🆚 Arsenal #UEL https://t.co/7GRc8uErR5— UEFA Europa League (@UEFA Europa League) 1557438625.0
The Europa Legue final will also be headline by two Premier League clubs as Arsenal and Chelsea found their way to the final. Arsenal had no problem doing away with Valencia while Chelsea left it up to a dramatic penalty shootout win at home in what will likely end up being Eden Hazard's final home match for the club.
Semifinals - second leg results:
- Valencia 2-4 Arsenal (3-7 agg.)
- Chelsea 1-1 Eintracht Frankfurt (2-2 agg., Chelsea advance 4-3 on penalties)
English Premier League
Back 2 Back Premier League Champions! 🏆🏆 We reigned and we retained! 💪 🔵 #mancity https://t.co/stX3wPtV4P— Manchester City (@Manchester City) 1557676184.0
After falling 0-1 early at Brighton and Hove Albion, Manchester City stopped any dramatic finish with four unanswered goals to crown themselves the 2018/19 Premier League Champions. City are the first champions to repeat in over a decade since rivals United in the 2008-09 season.
Final top six: 1. (C) Manchester City (95), 2. Liverpool (97), 3. Chelsea (72), 4. Tottenham (71), 5. Arsenal (70), 6. Manchester United (66)
Top scorer: 22 - Mohamed Salah (Liverpool) / Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Arsenal) / Sadio Mané (Liverpool)
Most assists: 15 - Eden Hazard (Chelsea FC)
Spain's La Liga
One day left in the Spanish league as three teams vie for the last Champions League spot.
Top six: 1. (C) - FC Barcelona (86), 2. Atlético Madrid (75), 3. Real Madrid (68), 4. Valencia (58), 5. Getafe (58), 6. Sevilla (56)
Scoring leader: 34 - Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona)
Assists leader: 13 - Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona) / Pablo Sarabia (Sevilla)
German Bundesliga
Bayern Munich were held at Leipzig but still depend only on themselves to win the title on the last weekend. Dortmund need to win combined with a Bayern loss to finish as champions.
Top six: 1. Bayern Munich (75), 2. Dortmund (73), 3. RB Leipzig (66), 4. Monchengladbach (55), 5. Bayer Leverkusen (55), 6. Eintracht Frankfurt (54)
Scoring leader: 22 - Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)
Assists leader: 14 - Jadon Sancho (Dortumund)
Italian Serie A
After 615 games and 18 years at Roma, Daniele de Rossi will play his final game for the club this weekend 👏 https://t.co/lbRWl6bJh8— ESPN FC (@ESPN FC) 1557824412.0
Top six: 1. (C) - Juventus (89), 2. Napoli (76), 3. Inter Milan (66), 4. Atalanta (65), 5. A.C. Milan (62), 6. Roma (62)
Scoring leader: 26 - Fabio Quagliarella (Sampdoria)
Assists leader: 10 - Alejandro Gomez (Atalanta) / Dries Mertens (Napoli) / Suso (A.C. Milan)
French Ligue 1
Top six: 1. (C) - PSG (88), 2. Lille (72), 3. Lyon (66), 4. Saint-Étienne (62), 5. Montpellier (58), 6. Marseille (55)
Scoring leader: 30 - Kylian Mbappé (PSG)
Assists leader: 13 - Teji Savanier (Nimes)
Dutch Eredivisie
Robin van Persie walked off to a guard of honour and standing ovation after his final game as a footballer 👏 https://t.co/3kqDPzppZQ— ESPN FC (@ESPN FC) 1557750600.0
Top three: 1. Ajax (83), 2. PSV Eindhoven (80), 3. Feyenoord (62)
Belgian First Division A
Championship Round: 1. Genk (50), 2. Club Brugge (47), 3. Antwerp (39), 4. Standard Liege (36), 5. Anderlecht (31), 6. Gent (29)
Portuguese Primeira Liga
Top four: 1. Benfica (84), 2. Porto (82), 3. Sporting CP (74), 4. Braga (64)
Scottish Premier League
Championship: 1. (C) Celtic (84), 2. Rangers (78), 3. Kilmarnock (64), 4. Aberdeen (64)
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Major League Soccer
East top seven: 1. Philadelphia (23), 2. D.C. United (23), 3. Montreal (20), 4. NYCFC (18), 5. Atlanta (17), 6. Toronto (16), 7. Columbus (16)
West top seven: 1. LAFC (27), 2. LA Galaxy (22), 3. Seattle (22), 4. Houston (19), 5. FC Dallas (17), 6. Minnesota (15), 7. Real Salt Lake (13)
Scoring leader: 12 - Carlos Vela (LAFC)
Assists leader: 6 - Alejandro Pozuelo (Toronto FC) / Diego Valeri (Portland Timbers) / Nicolas Lodeiro (Seattle Sounders FC) / Carlos Vela (LAFC)
Liga MX
Clausura 2019 quarter-finals results:
- (1) Leon vs. (8) Tijuana (Leon win 5-2 agg.)
- (2) Tigres vs. (7) Pachuca (2-2 agg., Tigres advance on higher seed tiebreaker)
- (3) Monterrey vs. (6) Necaxa (1-1 agg., Monterrey advance on higher seed tiebreaker)
- (4) Cruz Azul vs. (5) Club America (America win 3-2 agg.)
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National Women's Soccer League
Standings: 1. Houston Dash (10), 2. Utah Royals (9), 3. Chicago Red Stars (8), 4. North Carolina Courage (8), 5. Portland Thorns (8), 6. Washington Spirit (7), 7. Seattle Reign (3), 8. Sky Blue FC (2), 9. Orlando Pride (1)
Scoring leader: 4 - Crystal Dunn (North Carolina) / Samantha Kerr (Chicago)
Assists leader: 3 - Yuki Nagasato (Chicago)
Liga MX Femenil
#NOTA: @TigresFemenil son Campeonas de la #LIGAMXFemenil, vencieron 3-2 a Rayadas en el global y consiguieron el se… https://t.co/I4FO8oG8Vl— LIGA MX Femenil (@LIGA MX Femenil) 1557805414.0
Tigres UANL crowned themselves champions of Mexico's top women's division after a 2-1 win at rivals Monterrey. The title marks a second for Tigres, making the northerners the club with the most championships in the four season history of the league - both wins coming against their cross-town rivals.
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Tuesday, May 14
2:00 p.m. - [English Championship playoffs semifinal] West Brom vs. Aston Villa (ESPN+)
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Wednesday, May 15
12:30 p.m. - [Eredivisie] De Graafschap vs. Ajax (ESPN+)
1:45 p.m. - [English Championship playoffs semifinal] Leeds United vs. Derby County (ESPN+)
1:45 p.m. - [Serie A] Lazio vs. Atalanta (ESPN+)
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The Houston Astros have some big decisions to make this offseason and deciding whether to re-sign Alex Bregman is only part of the equation.
Following the Astros being eliminated by the Tigers, GM Dana Brown said the club may have to get “creative” this offseason, and exploring the trade market could be a real possibility.
With so much salary already committed to Rafael Montero, Jose Abreu, and Lance McCullers for the 2025 season, it's hard to believe the club will be spending a bunch of money in free agency.
Which also means they may elect to let Justin Verlander and Yusei Kikuchi come off the books permanently and sign elsewhere.
(For the purposes of this video, we're going to be talking about the pitching specifically. If you want to hear our thoughts on the outlook for the offense, be sure to watch our video from last week. You can find it here.)
If the Astros do consider making a trade this offseason, which pitchers would make the most sense to deal? Let's start with Framber Valdez. The club should be able to get a big haul for Framber, and he's projected to make around $18 million this season.
Framber is also a free agent after 2025, so his time in Houston may be coming to an end in the near future anyway.
Typically, we wouldn't consider the possibility of the Astros trading Framber one year before free agency. History tells us they let players walk after the final year of their contract. They didn't trade Bregman before the 2024 season, and we know what happened with George Springer, Gerrit Cole, and Carlos Correa.
But the Astros are in a different place now than they were a few years ago. The current version of the Astros aren't nearly as deep as those other teams.
The 'Stros don't regularly win 100 games like they used to. They're just another contending team over the past two seasons. But fortunately for them, they're in the AL West. So they should have a great shot to win the division once again.
But as currently constructed, they're not the dominate team they were a few years ago. Trading Valdez could bring some young talent into the organization and safe the club money that could be reallocated to other parts of the team (outfield, first base). They should be looking for a trade similar to what the Brewers received for Corbin Burnes.
If the Astros don't plan on offering Framber a long-term deal, then why not get something for him while they still can?
Astros owner Jim Crane would probably argue that he wouldn't want to trade away his best pitcher in what could be Kyle Tucker's final year with Houston. Which is a fair point, and why this probably won't happen, considering their history with players in the final year of their contracts. But based on everything laid out above, it might be time for a change in philosophy.
Another player they could look to move is Ryan Pressly. Would he be willing to waive his no-trade clause for the right situation? Pressly is 35 years old and in the last year of his contract. He's set to make $14 million this season, and one could argue that it's time for Bryan Abreu to take over the setup role. Pressly has done some amazing things for this organization, but $14 million for a seventh inning guy is hard to justify. And just to be clear, we're not letting Josh Hader off the hook. Pressly had a lower ERA than Hader in 2024. But good luck finding anyone that would trade for Hader's massive contract.
This is one video you don't want to miss as we evaluate the Astros pitching staff heading into 2025, and explore some trade possibilities that could improve the roster in the short and long-term!