TW3 #13

Big prizes dished out this week, a parade or two rained on in the process.

First, to Munich where the unthinkable happened - Bastian Schweinsteiger missed a penalty. Even odder was that Arjen Robben, rather than the normally ultra-reliable Schweinsteiger, took a spot-kick in extra-time. Playing up to Dutch stereotypes, Robben missed which allowed Chelsea the opportunity to take the game to a penalty shoot-out. That Petr Cech guessed correctly at all five can't have been coincidence, but after Juan Mata had missed Chelsea's first effort, it looked like being Bayern's day, but Cech pushed Ivica Olic's tame effort away and Schweinsteiger hit the post after seeming to change his mind midway through his run-up. Didier Drogba, who had taken the game to extra-time with a thumping header two minutes from the end, beat Manuel Neuer with the decisive penalty to give Chelsea a first European Cup.
It had an air of inevitability about it. The game itself, for all the personal trauma for Robben, Olic and Schweinsteiger, resembled Steaua Bucharest against Barcelona in the 1986 final with Chelsea content to sit deep and play on the counter. Bayern, like Barcelona in the semi-finals, just couldn't find a way through and attempting to sit on 1-0 - Daniel van Buyten replacing Thomas Muller - backfired badly.

Ricardo Vaz Te ensured West Ham's stay outside the English Premier League was a short one, bagging a winner two minutes from time at Wembley against Blackpool. York City's Matty Blair proved the winner in the Conference play-off final at the same venue 24 hours later to make his team the 92nd entrant into the professional leagues. We'll have more on that soon.

Second-half goals from Edison Cavani and Marek Hamsik denied Juventus a league and cup double in Italy, rather spoiling Alessandro del Piero's last game in the black and white. It also spoiled Juve's unbeaten season. They'd only once ended 90 minutes behind, in the semi-final second leg against Milan, but that only served to send the game to extra-time where Mirko Vucinic sent them through on aggregate. This was the first time the final whistle blew with them trailing. Sporting CP were beaten by a fifth-minute Marinho goal for Académica in the Portuguese Cup final and Hearts took the honours in Scotland after a thumping 5-1 win over city rivals Hibernian, Rudi Skacel with two.

PSG did what they had to do to try to wrest the Ligue 1 title away from Montpellier's clutches by winning 2-1 away at Lorient. Trailing to Kevin Monnet-Pacquet's opener, Javier Pastore and Thiago Motta ensured the points went back to Paris. It proved futile though as a John Utaka double for MHSC sealed a comeback win after Olivier Kapo had given Auxerre the lead. A side built for €2m had beaten the side that spunked almost 20 times that amount on Pastore alone. Dijon were thumped 5-0 by Rennes and go down, their cause not helped by red cards for Younousse Sankharé and Chaher Zarour. Caen, 3-1 losers to Valenciennes, are the other side to be relegated.

Vitesse will play Europa League football next season after beating RKC in the play-off. VVV Venlo retained their place in the Eredivisie, a 2-2 draw on Sunday enough to complete a 4-3 aggregate win over Helmond Sport and Willem II are back, promoted after a 2-1 win over Den Bosch following a goalless first leg.

The last round of games in the Chilean Apertura saw Universidad de Chile finish top, a 4-0 win over Huachipato enough to seal the position after a bit of a wobble. They'll play eighth-placed Cobreloa in the first round of the play-offs. O'Higgins and Deportes Iquique finish second and third, five points adrift. Deportes Tolima will finish top of the Colombian Apertura as they are five clear of the field after the penultimate round of fixtures. Robin Ramirez snatched a late draw with Deportes Pasto this weekend. Behind Tolima, there's a real log-jam for the rest of the top eight places with five points covering second to tenth and 11th-place Atlético Nacional still have a chance to crack the eight.

It was quite a week, all told. Next week sees the focus shift to matters promotion as several second divisions reach a conclusion.

Marking your card #9

As one door closes, another opens so the old saying goes. That's as true this week in football as it is in life.

The final round of Ligue 1 dominates Sunday and the cheeky upstarts of Montpellier need a point from a trip to Auxerre - already relegated - to seal a first ever championship. They may not even need that should PSG lose to Lorient, and with Lorient desperate for points to avoid relegation that can't be ruled out. Anyone from 12th-placed Valenciennes down are in a spot of bother. Ahead of Auxerre, Dijon are on 36 points, with Brest, Caen and Ajaccio two ahead of them and Sochaux, Lorient and Nice a point further clear. Valenciennes are on 40 and should be OK as it would take an extraordinary set of results to relegate them. The fixtures in this eight-way relegation battle are:
Evian v Brest
Lorient v PSG
Lyon v Nice
Sochaux v Marseille
Toulouse v Ajaccio
Valenciennes v Caen
Of the clubs in trouble, only VA and Caen face off directly. Their futures are in their own hands. Everyone else will have a radio pressed to the ear in the time-honoured fashion.

There were lots of cup finals in midweek - Basel completing a double in Switzerland and Fenerbahce thumping Bursaspor with a superb display in Turkey the picks - and more finals follow this weekend. The last two places in next season's Eredivisie are up for grabs as Willem II and Den Bosch - 0-0 in the first leg - and Helmond Sport and VVV - VVV lead 2-1 after the first - complete their ties. Vitesse, 3-1 up from the first leg, play RKC for the final Europa League place. Sporting CP and Académica contest the final of the Taca de Portugal, there's the Coppa Italia final between Juventus and Napoli - that should be a cracker - and Endinburgh rivals Hibernian and Hearts take part in the Scottish Cup final in Glasgow. There's also the small matter of the Champions League final. Bayern are at home to Chelsea, the game being played at the impressive Allianz Arena in Munich although without the usual number of Bayern fans, but both sides are missing key players through suspension. Bayern are the bookies favourites and by a fair chunk which is probably representative.

While all these competitions come to an end, the Brazilian national championship kicks off this weekend. After months of increasingly tedious and pointless state championships, Serie A gets underway. Two of the promoted clubs kick us off, Portuguesa away to Palmeiras and Sport Recife at home to Flamengo. Champions Corinthians start on Sunday at home to Fluminense, last year's runners-up Vasco da Gama are at home to Grêmio and favourites Santos are away to Bahia.

Elsewhere in South America, Newell's continue to lead in Argentina and take on third-placed Tigre this week. Boca, in third, are away to traditional rivals Racing Club. Universidad de Chile have lost the last two in the Primera División de Chile. They need to get back to winning ways and take on Huachipato, in seventh, this week. O'Higgins are poised to take advantage of any slip as they take on rock-bottom Cobresal.

England sees two particularly massive games at Wembley over the weekend. First up is the clash between West Ham and Blackpool for the chance to play in next season's Premier League. This will be hyped beyond all recognition as a consequence of so much money suddenly being made available to the winners, but no less important is the Conference play-off final for the right to play in the Football League. Former league sides York City and Luton Town are going for this one and while the numbers may be smaller, it's no less important for the two clubs. You lose funding for your youth teams after dropping out of the league and both have been down there a while - eight years in York's case - and getting back up is a big deal. They've played each other four times this season already, York winning three with one draw, but none of that will matter come 3pm on Sunday. That's where we're going. Come on York (impartiality be damned).

We will also have spies in Radom in Poland where Radomiak travel to take on neighbours Bron needing a win to secure promotion from the regional leagues to the national II Liga - the third tier of Polish football.