Tuesday’s soccer news starts with the Europa League final. Timmy Chandler’s Eintracht plays James Sands’s Rangers with the guarantee that one USMNT player finishes the 2021-22 season with a UEFA trophy. Eintracht’s run, in particular, has taken on significant resonance with the club not qualifying for Europe next season through league position after finishing 11th in the Bundesliga. The Europa League winner gets a spot in next season’s Champions League group stage.
While Rangers finished in 2nd-place in the Scottish Premiership, the Europa League’s Champions League group stage spot is also an added bonus. The Premiership champion is the only Scottish team that joins the Champions League in the group stage. 2nd-place Rangers would enter the 2022-23 Champions League in the third qualifying round if they don’t lift the Europa League trophy.
“To reach a final is always a good feeling, but you will have a better feeling if you win the final, that’s all we have to do,” Rangers manager Gio Van Bronckhorst said. “We haven’t achieved anything yet; I think we deserve to be in the final, but I also know that we have to give another good performance on the night to get the trophy. They say it’s 50/50 because it can go either way, but I’m confident that we can put on a performance to give us the best possibility to win it.”
Moving to the soccer scores, Duane Holmes subbed out in the 86th minute of Huddersfield Town’s 1-0 home win over Luton to advance to the Championship promotion final 2-1 on aggregate. Jordan Rhodes scored the only goal on the night in the 82nd minute with Huddersfield goalkeeper Lee Nicholls making six saves to keep the clean sheet. Huddersfield Town advances to play the winner of Nottingham Forest vs Sheffield Wednesday, with the promotion final set for May 29 at Wembley.
“It was a difficult and tough game,” Huddersfield Town head coach Carlos said. “I can’t tell you that I enjoyed it, because it was a game that was difficult to manage. It was difficult to find solutions that allowed us to be better on the pitch…. It was clear that the bigger chances in the first half were for Luton, not for us. In the second half we did some adaptions that allowed us to press better, and the game was balanced until the end.”
Weston McKennie wasn’t in the squad for Juventus’s 2-2 home draw with Lazio in Serie A. Dusan Vlahovic put Juve up in the 10th and Alvaro Morata doubled the lead in the 36th. Juventus gave up an own-goal in the 51st and Lazio equalized six minutes into stoppage time. Juventus closes out the 2021-22 season at Fiorentina on Saturday and will finish in 4th-place.
“Tonight’s draw is the emblem of the season,” Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri said. “It would have been nice to secured a victory.”
Football365’s Ian King on what makes the playoffs special in England. The Athletic’s Sebastian Stafford-Bloor explains the situation with Hamburg. ESPN’s Graham Hunter looks at coaching changes this season in La Liga.
WEDNESDAY’S SOCCER TV
Europa League final on CBS Sports: Eintracht vs Rangers at 3pm. Copa Libertadores on beIN Sport: Palmeiras vs Emelec at 6pm, Colon vs Olimpia at 8pm, and Alianza Lima vs Fortaleza at 10pm. beIN en Espanol has Nacional vs Velez Sarsfield at 6pm and Deportes Tolima vs America Mineiro at 8pm. Liga MX on TUDN: Atlas vs Tigres at 10pm ET.
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Photo by Mike Egerton – PA Wire via ZUMA Press – ISIPhotos.com
