Inter Milan beat Juventus 4-2 after extra-time to win the Italian Cup; Erik Ten Hag's Ajax lifted the Dutch league title via a 5-0 home win over Hereneveen; Ukraine beat German club Gladbach to prepare for their World Cup qualifier with Scotland
Wednesday 11 May 2022 23:29, UK
Erik Ten Hag's Ajax lifted the Dutch league title while Inter Milan won the Coppa Italia after an extra-time double from Croatian forward Ivan Perisic earned his side a 4-2 victory over Juventus in Wednesday's final.
Ajax were crowned Dutch champions with an emphatic 5-0 victory over Heerenveen at the Johan Cruijff Arena on Wednesday, giving Manchester United-bound coach Ten Hag the perfect send-off.
The Amsterdam club, who have now extended their record number of domestic league title wins to 36, move to 82 points from 33 games, four clear of second-placed PSV Eindhoven with one more round of fixtures to be played.
Strikes from Nicolas Tagliafico and Steven Berghuis, and a Sebastien Haller penalty, all inside the opening 38 minutes, sealed the victory for Ajax, before Brian Brobbey and Edson Alvarez added two more late on.
It was the last home fixture for Ten Hag before he makes his move to the Premier League having been named last month by United as their new coach from the end of the season. Ajax finish their campaign at Vitesse Arnhem on Sunday.
Ten Hag ends his four-and-a-half-year stay at the club with a third Eredivisie title in a row having also led the team to the championship in the 2018/19 and 2020/21 campaigns.
Inter, who are still in the running to retain their Serie A title this term, started on the front foot against Juventus, racing into the lead after six minutes in the Stadio Olimpico as Nicolo Barella arrowed a stunning strike into the top corner.
Juventus responded well with Serbian striker Dusan Vlahovic denied by a superb save from Inter goalkeeper Samir Handanovic in a pulsating first half, before defender Alex Sandro levelled five minutes after the break.
Vlahovic then completed the turnaround less than two minutes later to spark wild scenes of celebration among Juve's players, but Hakan Calhanoglu's expertly-converted penalty took the match to extra-time.
Perisic then took centre stage, firing his side in front once more with another penalty, again emphatically converted, before making sure of a first Coppa Italia triumph since 2011 for Inter with a powerful finish into the top corner.
Massimiliano Allegri, who was sent to the stands for protesting against a decision late on, will become the first Juventus manager since 2011 to finish a season without having won a single trophy, with Juve fourth in Serie A and out of title contention.
Matheus Cunha and Rodrigo de Paul scored with close-range strikes to earn Atletico Madrid a 2-0 win at Elche on Wednesday, securing Diego Simeone's side a top-four La Liga finish and Champions League qualification for the 10th straight season.
With two games left and Real Madrid already crowned champions, Atletico climbed to third place on 67 points, six ahead of Real Betis in fifth and with a better head-to-head record.
They also leapfrogged Sevilla, who dropped to fourth on 66 points after they were held to a goalless draw at home by relegation-threatened Mallorca earlier on Wednesday.
Cunha opened the scoring in the 29th minute with a first-time strike following a fine individual effort by substitute Renan Lodi on the left wing.
Atletico had multiple chances to extend their lead before Antoine Griezmann played a brilliant one-two with De Paul, who found himself alone inside the box to tap home into an empty net in the 62nd minute.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian men's national team returned to action Wednesday for the first time since the invasion by Russia, beating German club Borussia Moenchengladbach 2-1 in a charity fundraiser.
The friendly was a chance for the Ukrainians to get back into form ahead of a World Cup qualifying playoff game against Scotland on June 1, but also just to show their team is still going, despite everything.
The squad for the unusual club-versus-country friendly was assembled from Ukrainian clubs whose league seasons were frozen in February - on the morning Russian troops invaded.
Ukraine has banned men of fighting age from leaving the country during the war, so the players needed special permission from the authorities to travel. Some have been touring Europe for weeks, first with the Dynamo Kyiv and Shakhtar Donetsk clubs playing fundraising games, then at a national team training camp in Slovenia.
The crowd of 20,000 contained many Ukrainians who roared their appreciation when winger Mykhailo Mudryk rounded the goalkeeper and scored in the ninth minute to give Ukraine the lead. Gladbach responded five minutes later with a powerful shot from Ireland youth international Conor Noss to level the score.
Mudryk had another good chance midway through the second half but could only tap the ball into the keeper's arms. Substitute Oleksandr Pikhalonok gave Ukraine the win in the 82nd minute with a low shot from just outside the box.
