SPORTS

Footballers of the weekend: Suarez shines again in Europe

May 16, 2016 12:48 IST

Luis Suarez bagged a hat-trick to lead Barcelona to a 3-0 La Liga win at Granada that allowed the Catalans to retain their league title.

Manchester City secured fourth place in the English Premier League and Arsenal edged out local rivals Tottenham Hotspur to finish second.

Napoli sealed second spot in Italy's Serie A after Gonzalo Higuain bagged a hat-trick to break a 66-year goal-scoring record and help his side sink Frosinone.

Check out the top footballers of the weekend…

Suarez 'tricks' Barcelona to La Liga title

IMAGE: Luis Suarez of Barcelona celebrates scoring during the La Liga match against Granada on May 14, 2016. Photograph: Denis Doyle/Getty Images.

Luis Suarez notched his third hat-trick in five games as Barcelona won 3-0 at Granada to clinch their 24th La Liga title.

Suarez finished the season as La Liga's top scorer with 40 goals, breaking Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi's grip on the honour since 2009.

Barca ended with 91 points, one ahead of Real Madrid.

At the other end of the table, Sporting Gijon beat Villarreal 2-0 to prevail in a gripping three-way battle to avoid relegation as Getafe and Rayo Vallecano dropped into the second tier. They joined Levante, who had been relegated two weeks previously and finished bottom on 32 points.

Newcastle stun Spurs, dump them in third behind Arsenal

IMAGE: Olivier Giroud of Arsenal celebrates. Photograph: Julian Finney/Getty Images.

Manchester City secured fourth place in the Premier League and Arsenal leap-frogged their arch-rivals Tottenham Hotspur to finish second on the final day of the season.

City drew 1-1 at Swansea City to earn the point they needed to book the last Champions League qualifying spot, Arsenal crushed Aston Villa 4-0 and Spurs were routed 5-1 at relegated Newcastle United.

Champions Leicester City drew 1-1 at Chelsea to end the campaign 10 points clear at the summit with only three league defeats all season.

The game between Manchester United and Bournemouth was abandoned after a security alert at Old Trafford.

Chiellini marks landmark outing with goal

IMAGE: Giorgio Chiellini of Juventus FC celebrates. Photograph: Valerio Pennicino/Getty Images.

Giorgio Chiellini marked his 400th Juventus appearance with a goal and Paulo Dybala scored twice as the Serie A champions rounded off their campaign with a 5-0 thrashing of Sampdoria 5-0 on Saturday.

Napoli sealed second spot after Gonzalo Higuain bagged a hat-trick to break a 66-year goal record and help his side floor Frosinone 4-0.

The hat-trick took Higuain's tally for the season to 36 league goals, which broke the record for most goals in a Serie A campaign set by Gunnar Nordahl for AC Milan in 1949-50.

Napoli secured the second Champions League berth while AS Roma finished third.

Carpi's stay in the top flight ended after only one season and they will be joining Frosinone and Verona in Serie B next season despite ending the season with a 2-1 win at Udinese.

Bayern celebrate Bundesliga title, Stuttgart relegated

IMAGE: Bayern Munich's players celebrate with outgoing manager Pep Guardiola. Photograph: Daniel Kopatsch/Getty Images.

Former champions VfB Stuttgart were relegated for the first time in 41 years after losing 3-1 at VfL Wolfsburg in the top- flight season finale.

Werder Bremen needed an 88th-minute goal by Papy Djilobodji to beat visiting relegation rivals Eintracht Frankfurt 1-0 and keep their spot in the Bundesliga, with their opponents going into a playoff against Nuremberg, third in the second division.

Bayern Munich forward Robert Lewandowski took the honours as the league's top scorer with 30 goals after netting in the champions' 3-1 victory over relegated Hanover 96.

Ibrahimovic bids farewell to Parc des Princes

IMAGE: Paris St Germain's Zlatan Ibrahimovic holds his children at the end of the match. Photograph: Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic closed his Ligue 1 account with two goalsas champions Paris St Germain thrashed Nantes 4-0 at home.

Lucas Moura and Marquinhos scored the other goals as LaurentBlanc's side ended the season with a record points haul of 96.

Olympique Lyonnais fell to a surprise 4-1 defeat atrelegated Stade de Reims, but pipped Monaco to second place on goal difference.

Toulouse avoided relegation on the final day after comingfrom behind to beat Angers, with Gazelec Ajaccio dropping into Ligue 2.

Recommended by Rediff.com

NEXT ARTICLE

NewsBusinessMoviesSportsCricketGet AheadDiscussionLabsMyPageVideosCompany Email