Soccer
Thursday’s briefing: Villa win Europa League and Southampton lose appeal
Aston Villa secured their first trophy in 30 years with an emphatic 3-0 Europa League final win over Freiburg.
Southampton lost their appeal for expulsion from Saturday’s Championship play-off final, while David Seaman has called for Mikel Arteta to be honoured with a statue if the club follow up their Premier League triumph by winning the Champions League.
Classy Villa cruise to Europa League glory
Aston Villa ended their 30-year wait for a trophy as they strolled to an emphatic 3-0 victory over Freiburg in the Europa League final in Istanbul.
The Prince of Wales was in attendance to see his beloved side win their first silverware since the League Cup in 1996.
Villa’s quality shone through with a pair of unstoppable strikes at the end of the first half from Youri Tielemans and Emiliano Buendia.
Villa started to flex their muscles and Morgan Rogers added a third which sparked jubilant scenes on the final whistle.
Southampton play-off appeal dismissed
Middlesbrough will play Hull in Saturday’s Championship play-off final after Southampton lost their appeal against their expulsion for ‘spygate’.
An independent commission imposed the penalty after Saints admitted three spying charges, including observing a Boro session ahead of the semi-final first leg.
The commission also reinstated Middlesbrough and denied Southampton the chance of a shot at promotion to the Premier League, worth an estimated £200million at a minimum.
Saints chief executive Phil Parsons called it “manifestly disproportionate” to any other sanction handed down in the history of the English game, but their appeal was rejected.
Arteta deserves statue if Arsenal win Champions League, says Seaman
Former goalkeeper David Seaman believes Mikel Arteta should be honoured with a statue outside the Emirates Stadium if he completes Arsenal’s “best season” by winning the Champions League.
The Gunners’ 22-year wait for the Premier League title is over, which sparked wild celebrations, among the players and staff at their training base, as well as thousands of supporters at the Emirates.
Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp, Tony Adams, former managers Arsene Wenger and Herbert Chapman, and the club’s president Ken Friar, are all immortalised with bronze statues outside the ground.
And when asked if Arteta could also be recognised if Arsenal see off Paris St Germain in the Champions League final on May 30, Seaman said: “If that does happen, it is going to be the best season in the club’s history, so why not?
“I just feel this team can get better and better. The club has never won the Champions League before and that would be one hell of a double. It is a big ‘if’, but it would be epic.”
Haaland: Man City ‘should be angry’
Erling Haaland has urged Manchester City to use the pain of missing out on the Premier League trophy for a second successive year to fuel next season’s title challenge.
Arsenal were crowned champions after second-placed City were held to a 1-1 draw at Bournemouth.
“The whole club should use this as motivation now,” said Haaland. “We should be angry, we should feel a fire inside our belly because it’s not good enough. It’s gone two years now, it feels like forever.”
What’s on today?
Arteta is due to speak for the first time since Arsenal won the Premier League when he faces the media at the club’s London Colney headquarters.
