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Third-place finish is ‘something to build on’: Carrick

MANCHESTER UNITED manager Michael Carrick said his side’s third-place finish in the Premier League was “something to build on” after they ended the season with a 3-0 win away to Brighton on Sunday. The former United midfielder was confirmed as the English giants’ new permanent head coach on a two-year contract on Friday after overseeing a dramatic improvement in form at Old Trafford since taking over following Ruben Amorim’s acrimonious exit in January. Carrick secured Champions League football with three matches to spare and United wrapped up third spot with last Sunday’s 3-2

48th minute when a low shot gave him his ninth goal of the campaign. The assist record came just a day after Fernandes was named the Premier League’s player of the season, having already won the cor responding football writers’ award. “It’s what he’s done so often,” said Carrick of Fernandes. “The creating and scoring of goals is what he has that gift for. “He has a natural instinct for creation and he did it again today.” – AFP

“We had a real focus that it wasn’t the end of the season, it was the next stage and today (Sunday) epitomised that with how well the boys approached the game… “It gives us a platform to build on for next sea son.” Fernandes set a new outright Premier League record of 21 assists in a single season by provid ing the corner from which Dorgu headed in to give United a 1-0 lead against Brighton. The Portugal international made it 3-0 in the

Premier League victory against Nottingham Forest. United made it 12 wins in 17 games under Carrick at Brighton, Patrick Dorgu opening the scoring in the 33rd minute before Bryan Mbeumo and captain Bruno Fernandes extended the lead either side of half-time. “We’ve finished strong,” Carrick told the BBC . “We had a good run and third place was kind of confirmed so I like the way we finished from that and carried it on.

Guardiola goodbye spoiled by Villa PEP GUARDIOLA bid an emo tional farewell to Manchester City as a 2-1 defeat by Aston Villa on Sunday brought down the curtain on a glittering decade under the Catalan. Guardiola made his entrance to a rousing reception alongside a giant banner bearing his face and the message “Game changer. History maker. City for ever.” Catalan flags were unfurled behind one goal, while at the other end the newly named and expanded Pep Guardiola Stand was in operation for the first time. The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss won six Premier League titles and City’s only Champions League among his haul of 17 major pieces of sil verware. “In the next years, if you see me in the streets in the (United) States or Europe or somewhere and you are a Man City fan, come to me and hug me. I will need it!” Guardiola said in a post-match address to the crowd. Bernardo Silva and John Stones were part of the squads that won all of those trophies and also received a fitting send off in their final game for the club after a combined 19 seasons of service. Silva was in tears even before kickoff as he led City out as cap tain for the day but there was lit tle on the line for both sides on the field. City fell short in their quest to chase down Arsenal at the top of the table as a 1-1 draw at Bournemouth on Tuesday saw the Gunners crowned champi ons. Villa were still in celebratory mood after winning their first trophy for 30 years on Thursday by claiming the Europa League but victory for Unai Emery’s men did ensure they finished in fourth ahead of Liverpool. – AFP

Como’s miracle complete Fabregas makes history, Roma reach Champions League spot, Milan and Juve miss out

C OMO qualified for the Champions League for the first time in their history yesterday, the lakeside club being joined by Roma in Serie A’s top four as AC Milan imploded in a 2-1 defeat by Cagliari. Milan’s loss left the seven-time kings of Europe out of the top four after a calamitous end to the sea son. Juventus also missed out on an eventful final day marred by fan violence that caused their derby at Torino to be delayed by more than an hour. That meant that Juventus will play in the Europa League next season, with the damage done in last weekend’s home loss to Fiorentina. Como’s 4-1 win at Cremonese, who drop down to Serie B, and Milan falling to a shock home defeat was enough for Cesc Fabregas’s side to cap their incredible rise from the lower leagues to Europe’s top table. Como will finish the season fourth, two points behind Roma whose 2-0 win at already-relegated Verona ensured third place and an end to their long absence from the Champions League. Roma have not played in Europe’s elite club competition since being knocked out by Porto in the last 16 in 2019, and a top-four finish came fol lowing goals from in-form Donyell Malen and Stephan El Shaarawy.

charge for next season has mounted following Milan’s sharp decline in form. “I don’t know about the future, right now my thought only goes to the lack of results. Naturally, the whole year must be evaluated, mistakes were made, but there is no point talking about it now,” concluded Allegri. Napoli fans said goodbye to Antonio Conte dur ing an uneventful 1-0 win over Udinese which gave their team a final position of second, 11 points behind new champions Inter at the end of the campaign. It will be a summer of changes in southern Italy with Bologna’s Vincenzo Italiano the man most cited as Conte’s replacement. “It’s been an honour, really special to coach Napoli … It’s been two great seasons, an excep tional experience,” said Conte, who is tipped to take charge of the national team. Napoli’s owner Aurelio De Laurentiis has enjoyed frequently tense relations with Napoli fans despite being the man who saved the club from bankruptcy in 2004, and who ended a 33-year wait for a league title. That 2023 Scudetto , one of the biggest stories of the century in European football, was followed up by another last season under Conte who after the match did a lap of the pitch to bid farewell. – AFP

Milan started the day in third and looked set to reach the Champions League when Alexis Saelemaekers scored in the second minute. But tap-ins in each half from Gennaro Borrelli and Juan Rodriguez left Milan out of the top four and back in crisis. Milan’s form has been dismal since beating champions Inter Milan over two months ago, a derby triumph which looked to have reopened the Scudetto race. Instead a paltry 10 points from their final 10 matches left Milan, and RedBird, facing a summer which is likely to be full of changes, even if owner Gerry Cardinale seems to have faith with coach Massimiliano Allegri. Prior to the season finale, Allegri had already described the team’s form since the turn of the year as “tragic”, a trend that ultimately cost them Champions League qualification. “Unfortunately, we cannot change the result now. When we lose five home games the way we did, we end up in this position,” Allegri told DAZN . “I don’t know what the reason is. We made mis takes, I made mistakes too,” Allegri added. “Certainly, I should have found the solution myself; I am the one responsible. We will need to be very clear-headed in evaluating the season properly.” Speculation over whether he will remain in

Como players and staffs celebrate after securing Champions League spot for 2026/27 season. – AFPPIC

SIDENETTING

Villarreal crush Atletico VILLARREAL claimed third place in La Liga with an emphatic 5-1 win over Atletico Madrid, who finished fourth, in the final match of the Spanish season. It was Marcelino Garcia Toral’s last in charge of the Yellow Submarine, and he guided them to a comfortable victory against an unin terested Atletico side. Finishing third is Villarreal’s highest placement in La Liga for 13 years. “It’s been six marvellous years of my life,“ Villarreal captain Dani Parejo told Movistar . “I am proud, happy with my work, I gave everything to this club.”

been really close (to tears). I cannot ask for much more,” Iraola told BBC Sport . “I have been so lucky to be in this moment with this group of players with this club. I think it is the perfect ending and I am so thankful.” Bournemouth, who were in the third tier of English football 13 years ago, will play in Europe for the first time in their history. Nuno apologises to fans WEST HAM manager Nuno Espirito Santo could not hide his “sadness” after the club were rele gated from the Premier League on Sunday’s final day of the season despite a 3-0 win at home to

Leeds. West Ham needed capital rivals Tottenham to lose at home to Everton in order to stay up and send Spurs down instead. Tottenham, however, won 1-0 to finish two points above relegated West Ham. “We are sad, we are disappointed but sadness is what we feel,” Nuno told the BBC . “We knew that our mis sion was tough, it was not in our hands. We did our part but it was not enough. We have to apologise to our fans and thank them for all their incredible support,” added the Portuguese coach, who praised his side for finishing the sea son with “character and dignity”. “We did our part, it didn’t happen,” he said.

‘Perfect ending’ BOURNEMOUTH’S qualification for Europa League after a sixth-place Premier League finish was a perfect ending, departing manager Andoni Iraola said, admitting that he once believed reaching Europe was almost impossi ble. The 43-year-old Spaniard, who said in April he would leave the club at the end of the season after taking charge in 2023, oversaw a dramatic rise that culminated in Bournemouth’s best-ever Premier League finish. “I am quite hard but I have