Top 10 Performances from Around the World for Weekend of May 23-24
The end of the 2014-15 season has finally come around in many of Europe's top flights, with the last day being played out in the likes of Germany, England and Spain over the weekend.
Our usual round-up of weekend fixtures all over the world—our final one this season—sees teams from all of those nations included, as well as some from further afield. These performances might not all have had titles or European qualification resting on them, but plenty did. That, as well as scoreline, opposition and entertainment, were all factors in our placement as usual.
Here are the 10 most impressive performances from the last weekend of another fantastic season all-round.
10. Deportivo La Coruna
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The issue of relegation in Spain was decided on the final day, with Deportivo La Coruna managing an incredible second-half comeback in the Camp Nou to draw 2-2 with Barcelona and survive the drop on head-to-head.
Two goals down, Depor got themselves back on terms thanks to Lucas Perez and Diogo Salomao both scoring within nine minutes of each other, before a nervy last 10 minutes saw the Galician side hold on for the point they needed.
Depor came top of a three-way tie with Granada and Eibar, with the latter going down along with Almeria and already relegated Cordoba.
9. Leicester City
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Leicester City looked dead and buried in the Premier League back in March, but from the start of April they lost just one of their last nine games to finish in 14th place.
The end of the season saw the Foxes smash QPR 5-1, typifying both clubs' latter stage of the campaign in honesty.
New England call-up Jamie Vardy hit one, record signing Andrej Kramaric notched the last and Leicester fans had plenty to celebrate in between, most of all the fact that they were playing without pressure having already assured themselves of safety.
8. Genoa
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Serie A still has one gameweek left to run, but the penultimate weekend saw Genoa pick up an impressive win and three points by beating Inter Milan 3-2 at home to guarantee a top-six finish.
Juraj Kucka hit the last-minute winner in the game after Genoa had twice needed to come from behind during the first half-hour, making it four wins from five as they finish the campaign in great form.
Genoa could still finish in fifth, if they beat Sassuolo next weekend.
7. Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk
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The Ukraine Premier League has been wrapped up by Dynamo Kyiv, but second place—and a Champions League spot—is still to play for heading into the last game of the season after second-vs-third ended with a win for Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk.
Dnipro beat Shakhtar Donetsk 3-2 on Saturday, taking the points after a back-and-forth encounter was settled by Valeriy Luchkevych late on, with Shakhtar finishing with 10 men.
Two points separate the clubs heading into the last day, with Dnipro still in third and facing Hoverla, 12th in the 14-team league, on the final day.
6. Arsenal
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Arsenal warmed up for an FA Cup final by routinely beating West Bromwich Albion 4-1 at the Emirates Stadium, to close out what could end up as a fairly successful season.
The Gunners ended in third place, 12 points off the leaders, but opened up a five-point lead over fourth-place Manchester United after this confident and impressive display against the Baggies.
Theo Walcott netted a hat-trick and Jack Wilshere scored once as they prepared for their chance to win silverware in fine style. They play Aston Villa at Wembley on May 30.
5. Galatasaray
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Galatasaray took a huge step toward sealing the Super Lig title in Turkey on Sunday as they won a crunch match, the penultimate one of the season, to move six points clear of second-place Fenerbahce—who have two matches to play.
Yasin Oztekin and Wesley Sneijder hit the goals which mattered as Galatasaray put third-place Besiktas to the sword and claimed the points, winning 2-0.
They are away to Rizespor on the final day, who are 15th and safe from the threat of relegation. A point will seal the title for Galatasaray, though it will be theirs anyway if Fenerbahce do not win on Monday.
4. Athletic Bilbao
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Athletic Bilbao did it the long way round, but they have confirmed European football for themselves again next season after a massive final-day win took them up into seventh place in La Liga.
The Europa League beckons now whether they qualify through league placing or winning the cup—they face Barcelona in the Copa del Rey on May 30. All this comes after a dreadful first half of the season which saw Athletic in the relegation zone and out of the Champions League early on.
The league campaign ended with a resounding 4-0 over Villarreal, where Aritz Aduriz scored his 17th and 18th goals of the season.
3. Augsburg
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Over in the German Bundesliga now and Augsburg picked up a tremendous 3-1 win away to the in-form Borussia Moenchengladbach to guarantee themselves Europa League football next term.
Augsburg finished in fifth place, leapfrogging Schalke at the last, after three goals in the last 20 minutes saw them come from behind to defeat 10-man 'Gladbach.
On-loan Bayern Munich midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg netted the equaliser, with Tim Matavz and Sascha Molders doing the rest of the damage to cap a fantastic season for Augsburg.
2. Stoke City
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All kinds of records were broken for Liverpool on the final day of the Premier League—but not in a good way, as Stoke City tore them apart in the first half at the Britannia Stadium.
A five-goal half-time lead ended up being a 6-1 victory for the Potters, with Steve Nzonzi dominant throughout and scoring the pick of the goals after Mame Diouf had netted a brace. Jon Walters, Peter Crouch and Charlie Adam all scored once, as did Liverpool's Steven Gerrard on his final game for the club.
Stoke ended the season in ninth place.
1. Real Madrid
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Top of the charts for this weekend's performances is Real Madrid, who managed to lead early, fall behind, concede another lead...and then blitz Getafe in a 10-goal thriller.
A first-half hat-trick for Cristiano Ronaldo saw him end the campaign on 48 league goals, before he later made way for Real's youngest-ever player in Martin Odegaard. James Rodriguez was also excellent and scored a fine free-kick as Real went on to win 7-3 at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Despite the goals and points, Real finished second-placed in La Liga—but it was a tremendous and entertaining end to their season nonetheless.
