Little changed on the final day of the Premier League season, as Arsenal held off Tottenham for fourth place and the final Champions League berth. With the season in the books, here's a supersized dose of Five Aside, with a note on the seasons of all 20 clubs. • Manchester United won the English title for a record 20th time, including its 13th championship in the Premier League era, five more than all other clubs combined. All 13 of those titles came under Sir Alex Ferguson, who finished his United career with an even 1,500 games managed.

Continue Reading...

Intracity rivals Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid meet in the Copa del Rey for the fifth time in history and first since 1992. Atletico has won the title in all but one of the four previous finals meetings with its rival. Real Madrid managed to win in 1975 only on penalty kicks. Ironically, Real Madrid lost all three finals against Atletico playing at its home stadium, and won the only final matchup between the two at Atletico Madrid’s stadium. Despite Real Madrid hosting Friday’s final, tickets for the event have been divided evenly between the teams.

Continue Reading...

Manchester City fired coach Robert Mancini on Monday, one year to the day after City won the Premier League title on Sergio Aguero's goal with the last kick of the season. Here are five notes on Mancini's tenure at the Etihad... • In Roberto Mancini's three seasons with Manchester City, the club won three trophies, ending droughts of at least 40 years in the league (previous title was 1968), FA Cup (1969) and Community Shield (1972). City also qualified for Champions League for the first time, doing so in all three of his seasons, though a group-stage elimination ensued each of the past two campaigns.

Continue Reading...

Barcelona celebrated the league title by defeating Atletico Madrid 2-1 Sunday after claiming the crown Saturday night. With three games left in Barca's season, let's take a look back at another record-setting campaign... Barcelona clinched its fourth La Liga title in the last five seasons yesterday with Real Madrid’s draw against Espanyol. This is Barcelona's 22nd league title, second-most to Real Madrid's 32. Spain's top division has been a two-horse race in recent history as Real Madrid and Barcelona have combined to win nine straight La Liga titles (Barcelona six, Real Madrid three).

Continue Reading...

Wigan stunned Manchester City 1-0 in Saturday's FA Cup final, as Ben Watson scored in second-half stoppage time to give the Latics the victory. Here are five notes on Wigan's upset at Wembley… * In its first FA Cup final, Wigan won the first major trophy in the club's 81-year history. Wigan is the first FA Cup final debutant to lift the trophy since Wimbledon shocked Liverpool in 1988. Wigan's only previous cup final of any kind was the 2006 League Cup, when the Latics lost 4-0 to Manchester United.

Continue Reading...

The 2013 edition of the world's oldest soccer competition, which started with 758 clubs in August, culminates Saturday with the final two playing to hoist the FA Cup at London's Wembley Stadium. Currently threatened with relegation after eight seasons in the Premier League, Wigan Athletic is in its first FA Cup final, against last season's Premier League champion Manchester City, which is in its 10th final and playing for a sixth title. A win would put the Sky Blues in fifth place on the FA Cup title list along with Newcastle and Blackburn.

Continue Reading...

Manchester United has announced that Everton manager David Moyes will replace Sir Alex Ferguson after this season. Here are five notes on the man who will follow a legend at Old Trafford ... … Like Ferguson, Moyes is Scottish and has been named the League Managers Association Manager of the Year a record three times. The 50-year-old Moyes is 21 years younger than Ferguson and has not won a trophy in his 11-plus seasons with Everton. Ferguson won 17 titles with Man United in that span. … Moyes’ best league finish with Everton was fourth in 2004-05, though the team failed to make it through Champions League qualifying the next season.

Continue Reading...

Chelsea and Tottenham drew 2-2 at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday, leaving the Champions League race nearly unchanged with two games remaining. Here are five notes on the tie: * Oscar opened the scoring in the 11th minute with Chelsea's 16th headed goal of the season, most in the Premier League. Emmanuel Adebayor tied the game a quarter hour later with a looping goal from 29 yards on the break. Adebayor now has 24 league and European goals since joining Tottenham last season, and that was his first from outside the penalty box.

Continue Reading...

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson announced Wednesday that he will retire at the end of this season, his 27th at the helm of United. Encapsulating his amazing career in numbers is a near impossible task, but that won’t keep us from trying… 38. Ferguson won 38 trophies with Manchester United, more than any other manager in the history of English soccer. Including his time with St. Mirren and Aberdeen, he lifted a total of 49 trophies as manager. 13. He won 13 English League titles, seven more than any other manager.

Continue Reading...

The four-team English League Championship playoffs begin Thursday to determine which team will join Cardiff City and Hull City in earning promotion to next season's Premier League and the accompanying prize of more than $100 million. Let's get to know the two teams that will be joining England's top flight next season, along with the four teams vying to join them: After being eliminated in the playoffs each of the past three seasons, Cardiff City won the league to secure automatic promotion to the Premier League.

Continue Reading...

Chelsea recovered third place in the Premier League as it beat 2012-13 champion Manchester United with an own goal from defender Phil Jones, who deflected a lefty shot from Juan Mata on the 87th minute. Jones’ own goal is the fifth of the season for Manchester United, tying the team in first place in that category with QPR and Southampton. Chelsea had more passes completed than Manchester United (CHE: 385 vs MAN: 361), and showed better ball protection, with a slight 51 percent edge on time of possession, although it had a lower passes completed rate (CHE: 80.

Continue Reading...

Juventus defeated Palermo 1-0 on Sunday to clinch its second straight Serie A title. Here are five notes on Juventus’ championship season ... * Juventus now has a record 29 Serie A titles, excluding the trophies revoked in 2004-05 and 2005-06. That’s 11 more than any other team, with AC Milan and Inter Milan tied for second with 18 apiece. No other club has more than Genoa’s nine. * Juventus isn’t resting on historical laurels. Since World War II, Juventus has 22 titles, seven more than any other club.

Continue Reading...