Vincent Kompany ended Burnley’s title-winning season with a 3-0 home victory over Cardiff and revealed why he chose to sign a new five-year contract at the Premier League-bound club.
The former Manchester City captain led the post-match celebrations and Championship trophy presentation having steered his club back to the top flight – where he intends to have “a bit of fun”.
It marked a remarkable first season in English management for the Belgian who was appointed following the Clarets’ relegation 12 months ago.
The final-day win came 24 hours after the highly-rated 37-year-old signed a new five-year contract that could keep him in charge at Turf Moor until 2028.
Kompany’s efforts have attracted the interest of potential suitors, with Chelsea the latest to be linked with interest in him.
“I still had three or four years left and it’s not something I went chasing but there is a pragmatic reason for signing the new deal,” said Kompany.
“For my pathway, this is the right decision, but it helps when we try and recruit players.
“When I’m trying to convince a player to come here it’s easier just after I have signed a new deal.
“We have had a massive advantage planning for next season, because we have known about promotion of a long time.
“But we were going to lose that if people were waiting for me to come out with a statement.”
On a day of rain-soaked celebrations at Turf Moor, former NFL legend JJ Watt, who this week became a minority owner in the club, carried the Championship trophy onto the field for its presentation to Kompany and his players.
The win saw Burnley hit the century mark in points, their 101 the highest recorded by any team in the division since Leicester won the league with one more, in 2014.
And it summed up a dominant campaign for a Burnley team who lost just one of their final 26 games and were beaten only three times over the entire league campaign, winning promotion with seven games to spare.
“We faced doubt at the beginning of this season and it will be the same next season,” said Kompany.
“It’s for us to use that to rally around. It starts now. The goal for me next year is to make our fans proud and have a bit of fun in the Premier League.”
The final-day win was also a fitting send-off for veteran striker Ashley Barnes, after nearly a decade at Turf Moor.
He struck after 31 minutes when Josh Brownhill’s cross was met by Cardiff defender Mahlon Romeo who simply chested the ball into the path of Barnes to bury an excellent first-time finish.
The visitors, who ended the season five points above the relegation zone, also contributed to Burnley’s opening goal, four minutes earlier.
Defender Andy Rinomhota kept the ball in play, as he tried to dispossess Anass Zaroury, by pushing it into his area with his hands.
That enabled Zaroury to cross the ball for Brownhill to score from close range, despite Cardiff protests.
Scott Twine wrapped up the scoring on 58 minutes when he lodged a superbly-hit right-foot free-kick from the edge of the box into the Cardiff net.
Cardiff manager Sabri Lamouchi is set to meet club owner Vincent Tan to thrash out his and the club’s future direction.
“We saw the big gap between them and us,” he said. “It’s about small details; experience, quality. Everything is on the table and we just need to know what the club and the owner want to do.”
Bristol City Women 0-4 Man City Women: Hosts relegated as Fowler double inspires WSL leaders
Mary Fowler scored twice to set WSL leaders Manchester City on their way to a 4-0 rout of Bristol City, who suffered relegation as a result, on Sunday.
With Arsenal having drawn with Everton earlier in the day, Man City knew a victory would be enough to take the title race down to two teams.
That victory duly arrived in emphatic fashion, with all four of Man City's goals arriving in the second half.
Fowler's fantastic strike opened the scoring in the 62nd minute, with the Australia international doubling her tally soon after, paving the way for an Amy Rodgers own goal and Alex Greenwood's late header to seal a huge victory.
Arsenal are now out of the title race, with Chelsea - who have two games in hand on Gareth Taylor's team - the only side capable of catching Man City.
The Robins, meanwhile, will be playing in the second tier again next term.
Data Debrief: Bristol heading down with a whimper
Bristol City have failed to score in their last five games in the WSL, a run of 544 minutes without a goal.
They mustered just 0.09 expected goals (xG) to Man City's 3.4, with the visitors having now kept a clean sheet in nine of their 20 league games this season.
De Rossi demands more from 'tired' Roma ahead of crunch run
Daniele De Rossi acknowledged his Roma team may be tired, but he insisted they must not allow themselves to be embarrassed.
Roma fought back to draw 2-2 with last season's Serie A champions Napoli in a pulsating fixture on Sunday.
Tammy Abraham's late header secured a point for De Rossi's team, who took the lead through Paulo Dybala's penalty before going behind to goals from Matias Olivera and Victor Osimhen.
With Serie A set to have five teams in the Champions League next season, Roma occupy fifth spot with four matches remaining, but sixth-placed Atalanta are just two points behind with a game in hand.
There is also the small matter of a Europa League semi-final against Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen on the cards over the coming weeks, and De Rossi set the stall out.
"We drew, it is not a result to throw away, but it is not the result or the performance that we wanted," Roma coach Daniele De Rossi told Sky Sports Italia.
"At times you can steal the ball off Napoli, but we then gave it back again too many times. Napoli had a lot of chances in the first half, we did better in the second, but we have to do better.
"Look, we are tired, but we cannot start thinking that we’re tired and that means we can be embarrassed in the final few weeks of the season."
Roma host Leverkusen on Thursday before taking on Juventus on May 5, with a crunch clash against Atalanta – who are also into the Europa League semi-finals – set to follow after the away leg against Xabi Alonso's team.
Key to a successful end to the campaign for Roma will be keeping Dybala fit. The Argentine has been involved in the joint-most goals (12) in Serie A since the turn of the year, scoring nine and setting up three, level with Juve's Dusan Vlahovic.
PSG's latest Ligue 1 title arrives as Monaco lose to Lyon
Paris Saint-Germain have been crowned as Ligue 1 champions after Lyon overcame Monaco 3-2 on Sunday.
A 4-1 midweek win over Lorient ensured that one more victory would be enough for Luis Enrique's team to get over the line, but PSG failed to get the job done themselves when they faced relegation-threatened Le Havre on Saturday.
That game was the 700th match of the QSI era at PSG, and the club's 1,900th in France's top flight.
However, PSG's wait to win their third straight title did not last long, as less than 24 hours later, Lyon – who will face the Parisians in the final of the Coupe de France at the end of May – came out on top in a topsy turvy encounter with second-placed Monaco.
Substitute Malick Fofana was the matchwinner for Lyon, and ultimately the player who handed the title to PSG.
Wissam Ben Yedder had put Monaco ahead in the opening minute, but quickfire goals from Alexandre Lacazette and Said Benrahma turned the match on its head before half-time.
Ben Yedder netted his second to restore parity on the hour mark, and thought he had sealed his hat-trick when he volleyed in from a free-kick, only to have strayed offside.
With only a win good enough for Monaco to stay in the fight, the visitors were then caught out in the 84th minute, with Fofana racing onto Lacazette's throughball and finishing calmly.
After a dismal start to the season, relegation looked a real possibility for Lyon, but they are now, with three games remaining, still in with a shout of qualifying for Europe.
PSG on the other hand now have 12 Ligue 1 titles to their name, with 10 of those coming under QSI's ownership. Aside from the COVID-impacted 2019-20 season, five of their last six league titles have been secured before the start of May.
It also means Luis Enrique remains in the running for a treble in his first season at the club, with PSG taking on Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League semi-finals next week.
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