Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich and Benfica claimed their respective league titles on Saturday, while Real Madrid got closer to securing second spot in La Liga with a win over Sevilla.
In tennis, Elina Svitolina won her first WTA title after returning from maternity break, by winning the Strasbourg Open final against Anna Blinkova.
Nicolas Jarry won the Geneva Open ATP event, beating Grigor Dimitrov in the final.
Here’s a look at the key stories from international sporting events through the day for 28 May, 2023:
Bayern Munich win Bundesliga
Despite a record 11th straight Bundesliga title win, Bayern Munich’s immediate future has been thrown into serious doubt after the shock sackings of CEO Oliver Kahn and sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic.
Manager Thomas Tuchel revealed the decision had been pre-meditated, regardless of the result of Saturday’s matches.
“I’ve known since yesterday” Tuchel said, saying “the two of them were responsible for the journey we’ve been on together.
“I’m trying to process it now.”
The drama continued after the sacking, with Kahn taking to Twitter and complaining he had been banned from the club’s title celebration.
Kahn congratulated the team on their win, but said “I would love to celebrate with you, but unfortunately I can’t because the club has prohibited me from doing so.”
Bundesliga: Bayern Munich win 11th straight title as Borussia Dortmund collapse on final day
PSG win Ligue 1
Paris Saint-Germain clinched a French record 11th league title on Saturday as Lionel Messi scored in a 1-1 draw away at Strasbourg.
Messi’s opener was cancelled out by a Kevin Gameiro equaliser, but the result gave PSG an unassailable four-point lead over second-placed Lens with one match of the season remaining.
PSG moved ahead of the previous record of 10 titles set by Saint-Etienne in 1981 and which they equalled a year ago under former coach Mauricio Pochettino.
It is PSG’s ninth title in the last 11 seasons, a period in which they have dominated French football under Qatari ownership.
PSG started the penultimate weekend of the season six points clear of nearest rivals Lens with just six points to play for, and with a far better goal difference.
In the end, they needed only the draw to be officially confirmed as champions with a game to spare, as Lens eased to a 3-0 win over already-relegated Ajaccio.
Kylian Mbappe set up Messi to put PSG ahead just before the hour mark with his 16th Ligue 1 goal this season.
Ex-Paris striker Gameiro equalised with 11 minutes left, bundling in the rebound after Gianluigi Donnarumma had saved from Morgan Sanson.
The draw ultimately suited both teams as it enabled Strasbourg to guarantee their top-flight survival.
Svitolina wins Strasbourg WTA
Former world No 3 Elina Svitolina completed a winning return from maternity leave on Saturday by lifting her 17th WTA trophy in Strasbourg.
The Ukrainian, who returned to action last month after more than a year away, swept past Russian Anna Blinkova, 6-2, 6-3.
Blinkova, ranked 66, could find no way past an aggressive and determined Svitolina, who reclaimed the Strasbourg title she won in 2020.
The 28-year-old Ukrainian, who fell to 508th in the world but benefits from a protected ranking, broke serve three times in the first set which she sealed with a ace in just over half an hour.
Svitolina raced to a 3-0 lead in the second set and was 4-1 up before Blinkova, 24, showed signs of a fightback, saving three match points at 5-3, before falling after one-hour 32 minutes as the Ukrainian won her first title since Chicago two years ago.
The two players did not shake hands at the end, simply giving each other a sign with their rackets.
Svitolina resumed competition in early April in Charleston. Before that she had not played since the Miami tournament in March 2022.
The native of Odessa, who finished in the top 20 seven seasons in a row, had put her career on hold, saying she was “mentally exhausted” and distressed by the war that Russia is waging on her country.
In October, she had her first child with husband, French tennis player Gael Monfils.
At Roland-Garros, where she has never gone past the quarter-finals, she will face Italian Martina Trevisan, 29, a semi-finalist last year, in the first round next week.
Jarry wins Geneva Open
Outsider Nicolas Jarry beat Grigor Dimitrov in straight sets in the Geneva Open final on Saturday to bounce into next week’s French Open bolstered by a clay court title.
Chilean Jarry, the world No 54, beat Dimitrov 7-6 (1), 6-1 to claim only the third singles title of his career.
Bulgarian world No 33 Dimitrov was Jarry’s third impressive scalp in three days at the Parc des Eaux-Vives.
He knocked out top seed and world No 4 Casper Ruud – the 2021 and 2022 defending champion – in the quarterfinals. The Chilean No 1 then beat Alexander Zverev in the semis.
“It was a very awesome week. Since the beginning my only mistake was one game against Casper,” Jarry told reporters.
The 27-year-old will move to a career high ranking of number 35.
Former world No 3 Dimitrov missed the chance to claim his first title since winning the ATP Finals on his debut in 2017.
The 28-man Geneva tournament serves as a last-chance tune-up before the second Grand Slam of the year in Paris.
Benfica win Portuguese league
Benfica won the Portuguese Primeira Liga for a record-extending 38th time by beating Santa Clara 3-0 on Saturday, four years after they last lifted the trophy.
Last season’s champions Porto finished second after they also beat Vitoria Guimaraes 3-0, but they needed Benfica to lose to have a chance of retaining the title on the final day.
Goncalo Ramos, Rafa Silva and Alejandro Grimaldo struck for the hosts at the Estadio da Luz in Lisbon, as Roger Schmidt’s side saw off bottom-of-the-table Santa Clara with ease.
Benfica, who blew a chance to lift the title last weekend by drawing with Sporting Lisbon, made no mistake this time.
Only a defeat would have foiled their title challenge and Ramos headed home from inside the six-yard box after seven minutes to put his side on the right track.
Despite selling midfielder Enzo Fernandez to Chelsea in January after his triumphant World Cup campaign with Argentina, Benfica have had a strong campaign and also reached the Champions League quarter-finals.
Silva hit the second for Benfica at the end of a razor-sharp break, exchanging passes with Joao Mario and then firing home with the aid of a deflection.
Former Barcelona defender Grimaldo netted the third from the penalty spot after an hour and produced an emotional celebration, in his last game for the club before he joins Bayer Leverkusen.
Porto did their job at home against Guimaraes with goals from Mehdi Taremi, Otavio and Evanilson, but ultimately fell short, finishing two points behind the new champions.
Rodrygo leads Real Madrid to win
Rodrygo hit a brace to earn Real Madrid a 2-1 win over Sevilla in La Liga on Saturday, sending his side four points clear of third-place rivals Atletico Madrid.
Madrid were without injured winger Vinicius Junior, who drew global support during the week after he was racially abused by Valencia fans last weekend.
Carlo Ancelotti’s team were also missing injured duo Karim Benzema and Marco Asensio in attack.
Rodrygo was Madrid’s only fit regular starting forward. After Rafa Mir gave the Europa League finalists, who face Roma on Wednesday, the lead, Rodrygo made his chance count with two goals, the first from a free kick.
“It’s hard to choose. They were both nice goals, maybe the second a little bit more but scoring from a free-kick is always special,” Rodrygo told DAZN.
“We always practice them and talk about it before, whoever is the most confident takes it and I took the ball.”
Ancelotti took off Rodrygo with 10 minutes remaining.
“I was a bit annoyed with him because I wanted to score one more, a hat-trick, but it’s OK, he told me that like this we would win,” said Rodrygo.
Sevilla coach Jose Luis Mendilibar rotated many of his usual starting players at a rain-soaked Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan stadium to prepare for the final against Jose Mourinho’s side.
With text inputs from AFP
Updated through the day
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