Archive | May 24, 2015

Barca held in Xavi’s league farewell….

 

Xavi waves

Barcelona captain Xavi left the pitch to a standing ovation as his final La Liga game ended in a draw against Deportivo de La Coruna. The 35-year-old midfielder, who has spent 24 years with the club, was withdrawn with five minutes left and saluted by the whole of the Nou Camp. Lionel Messi’s brace had put Barca 2-0 up before Deportivo fought back. Lucas and Diogo Salomao earned a point for Deportivo who escaped relegation on head-to-head record with Eibar. Barcelona’s players wore special shirts to honour Xavi after he announced he will leave the Spanish champions at the end of the season to join Qatari side Al Sadd.

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Ronaldo scores season’s best goals tally of 61….

 

Cristiano Ronaldo, Martin Odegaard

Cristiano Ronaldo finished with a season’s best goals tally of 61 as his first-half hat-trick helped Real Madrid end their season by hammering Getafe. The Portuguese forward’s haul is one more than the 60 he scored in 2011-12. Javier Hernandez, James Rodriguez, Jese and Marcelo all found the net for the La Liga runners-up, who saw Martin Odegaard, 16, become their youngest La Liga player when he replaced Ronaldo. Sergio Escudero, Diego Castro and Medhi Lacen were on target for Getafe. Ronaldo also finished with 48 league goals – the most in his six seasons with Real Madrid – which was five more than Barcelona’s Lionel Messi. The 30-year-old was replaced in the second half by Norwegian Odegaard, who made his La Liga debut at the age of 16 years and 157 days. Odegaard joined Real from Stromgodset in January. Ronaldo’s hat-trick at the Bernabeu was also his eighth this season, but it was a campaign that ended without a trophy, increasing the pressure on Real boss Carlo Ancelotti. Ancelotti, who has one season to run on his three-year deal, is poised to discuss his future with the club next week.

 

Borussia Dortmund win in Klopp’s final home game in charge….

 

Jurgen Klopp banner

Borussia Dortmund secured a place in the Europa League with a victory over Werder Bremen in Jurgen Klopp’s final home game in charge. Klopp, 47, announced he would leave the Bundesliga club last month and his last game in charge will be next weekend’s German Cup final with Wolfsburg. Shinji Kagawa and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang put Dortmund two up but Levin Oztunali pulled one back. Henrikh Mkhitaryan made it 3-1 before Theodor Gebre Selassie’s late goal.

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Drogba exits Chelsea for second time….

 

Didier Drogba

Chelsea striker Didier Drogba is leaving the club for a second time. The 37-year-old first signed for the club in 2004 and has scored a total of 164 goals in 381 appearances. “I want to play for at least one more season and in order to play more football I feel I need to go to another club,” he told Chelsea’s website.  Drogba scored a late equaliser and the decisive spot-kick in the penalty shoot-out against Bayern Munich in the 2012 Champions League final. The Ivorian rejoined the Blues in 2014 when manager Jose Mourinho returned to the club, collecting his fourth Premier League winner’s medal this season.