Blackburn boss Jon Dahl Tomasson was pleased to lay on the entertainment in front of a gathering of former Ewood Park favourites for the club’s 5,000th league game.
A total of 35 attempts on goal were shared by both teams as Sammie Szmodics’ brace secured a 2-1 triumph over bottom-of-the-table Middlesbrough.
Matt Crooks replied in an incredibly open game, but Tomasson insisted afterwards that he would “rather try and win 5-3 than 1-0” every week.
Former Premier League-winning defender Colin Hendry and 89-year-old Bryan Douglas, who played in the 1958 and 1962 World Cup finals for England, were among the luminaries paraded onto the pitch before kick-off and ex-Denmark striker Tomasson said: “It was good to see us win the club’s 5,000th game and to see all of the legends before the game.
“I hope they enjoyed it and all the fans did too. It was great to see that amount of chances and we should probably have been 3-0 up at half-time, so it was frustrating not to convert more of the opportunities.
“We then scored a difficult one early in the second half but Middlesbrough got one back, which I think the referee and his assistant will be disappointed by when they look back at it because
their player was totally alone three metres from goal and was offside.
“It was then a tough period for us.
“Their goal changed the momentum after all those chances we had missed, but we play football for the fans because they pay a lot of money and you have to give them something back, so I would rather try and win 5-3 than 1-0.”
Midfielder Szmodics’ brace took his tally for the season to four, with Tomasson confessing that such a haul is a boost after a summer in which Rovers lost attacking duo Ben Brereton Diaz and Bradley Dack.
He added: “Sammie went close to his first hat-trick in a Rovers shirt and he’s started this season on fire for us. That’s important because we haven’t got a proven goalscorer in the squad, so everybody needs to chip in.”
Boro more than played their part in an absorbing and pulsating contest, but have now collected just one point from their opening six games and, including last season’s two-legged play-off defeat to Coventry, have failed to win any of their last 11 league matches – a sequence that equals the club’s longest outside of top-flight football since January 1925.
Manager Michael Carrick insisted, though, that the mood in his squad remains “good”.
“The changing room was quiet after the game, but it’s not a horrible atmosphere by any stretch of the imagination,” he said. “The mood is good.
“We’re not hiding from the fact that we need to get results, but there’s spirit and inner-belief in the group. It’s easy when people are telling me that I’m fantastic and the players that they are fantastic, but we knew a tough time would come at some point.
“Then, it’s how you deal with it and overcome it and, although this was an open game that probably suited them, I think we have controlled a lot of the other matches and it wouldn’t have taken much to tip the scales and turn the results in our favour.
“There were chances everywhere in this game and I thought we were right in it in the second half, but we are having to come back from setbacks too much at the moment.”
Outgoing Brighton boss De Zerbi not walking into new job
Roberto De Zerbi insisted he does not have another job lined up after overseeing his final game as Brighton and Hove Albion boss on Sunday.
One day after surprisingly announcing De Zerbi's departure, Brighton ended their Premier League campaign with a 2-0 home loss to Manchester United.
That meant they slipped below rivals Crystal Palace to finish 11th in the table, their first bottom-half placing since finishing 16th in 2020-21.
De Zerbi has been linked with several big clubs since leading Brighton to European qualification last season, with Bayern Munich, Milan and Napoli touted as possible landing spots for the former Sassuolo and Shakhtar Donetsk coach.
However, De Zerbi says he has not reached an agreement with any other club, telling reporters: "There isn't any club – no-one offered me anything. At the moment, nothing.
"I hope to work in the Premier League again. I don't know where or when, but it was an honour to work in the Premier League."
Sunday's defeat was De Zerbi's 70th Premier League game in charge of Brighton, with his top-flight win percentage of 37 per cent (26/70) the highest of any boss in the Seagulls' history.
Battling a lengthy injury list for much of 2023-24, Brighton made a total of 143 changes to their starting lineup throughout the course of the campaign, with only Manchester City in 2019-20 (144) ever making more in a single Premier League season.
Asked by BBC Match of the Day if there was a particular reason for his exit, the Italian added: "We didn't find the agreement to move on. I want to keep my way.
"I know very well what I want to do and I know I am a coach and I have to accept the policies of the club.
"They gave me an incredible chance. They gave me the possibility to know incredible people, to play and to work in the Premier League, to play in the Europa League. They gave me the opportunity to know this club, this city, these fans and that I cannot forget."
Ipswich Town boss Kieran McKenna and Nice coach Francesco Farioli have both been tipped as possible contenders to replace De Zerbi, with Brighton having a reputation for excellent succession planning under owner Tony Bloom.
Asked about the search for a replacement on Sunday, Bloom said: "We always try and have a plan. We have got a plan. We now need to execute that plan."
Mateta 'finishing everything that comes to him' as Palace rout Villa
Jean-Philippe Mateta is "finishing everything that comes to him", according to his Crystal Palace team-mate Eberechi Eze.
Palace thumped fourth-placed Aston Villa 5-0 at home on the last day of the Premier League season to seal an unlikely top-10 finish, with Mateta scoring a hat-trick and Eze adding two goals of his own.
They ended the season with a seven-match unbeaten run under Oliver Glasner, who made a huge impact after replacing Roy Hodgson in February.
Mateta has been a huge beneficiary, as since Glasner's first game in charge on February 24, he has scored 13 Premier League goals, which is more than any other player in the competition.
He ended the campaign with 16 top-flight goals, putting him level with the likes of Bukayo Saka and Jarrod Bowen in the scoring charts. Only Andrew Johnson has netted more for the Eagles across a single campaign in the competition, when he netted 21 in 2004-05.
"He is what I'm playing for," Eze said about Mateta, per Palace's official website.
"He is finishing everything that comes to him, which makes our life a lot easier when I'm playing for him, so it's good.
"I did come close [to a hat-trick myself], but the most important thing is putting in good performances. We're all going to flourish, we're all going to have games where we score.
"We're preparing the work and we're doing the work before we go on to the pitch, so we're enjoying it, that's the main thing."
The match also saw Mateta become just the second Frenchman to score in seven home Premier League home appearances in a row, after Thierry Henry for Arsenal between May and October 2004.
Eze has also finished the season with a flourish, ending the campaign with 11 goals and four assists.
Mateta is among those who have called for him to earn a place in the England squad for Euro 2024.
"Of course it's an honour [to play for your country]," said Eze. "It would be a great experience.
"I think it is a dream for any player to play in any big tournament. But the main thing, I'm being realistic. It is what it is: if I get a call, I get a call.
"But the main thing is doing what I need to do for my club, and that's the performance."
Villa are the first side to concede five or more goals in their first and final matches of a top-flight season since Manchester City in 1962-63, having been beaten 5-1 at Newcastle on the opening weekend.
But they were magnificent in between those two losses, enjoying a campaign to remember as they qualified for the Champions League, confounding pre-season expectations.
"Thank you to our supporters because even today they were with us," said Villa boss Unai Emery after Sunday's loss.
"We achieved our objective on Tuesday [when UCL qualification was confirmed] and we did everything we could with our supporters in Villa Park on Monday [in the 3-3 draw with Liverpool].
"They were travelling here to be with us, supporting us so we are disappointed with the result, but we have to accept it.
"We have to be happy and share with our supporters the whole season, not just today. Every match is very important and we lost, but we’d achieved our target.
"We have to accept it and keep going forward. Now it’s time to rest and try to follow our players with their national teams and prepare as best as possible the next season.
"We have to enjoy the season we did and we’re very excited for the next season, but we have to take our time now."
Metz 0-2 Paris Saint-Germain: Ligue 1 champions make history with unbeaten away run
Paris Saint-Germain ended their Ligue 1 campaign with a comfortable 2-0 win at Metz on Sunday, courtesy of early goals from Carlos Soler and Lee Kang-in.
The Ligue 1 champions, who rested several key players, ended the season with 76 points, nine ahead of Monaco in second place.
Luis Enrique's team also became the first side in Ligue 1 history to go unbeaten on the road through the entirety of a campaign.
PSG rested several key players, including Kylian Mbappe, ahead of the Coupe de France final on Saturday against Lyon.
The visitors made an excellent start with Soler, who was teed up by Lee, breaking the deadlock with a shot from outside the box seven minutes in.
Lee subsequently doubled the lead five minutes later, becoming the first South Korean player to score and deliver an assist in the same Ligue 1 match since Hwang Ui-jo for Bordeaux in 2019.
Metz had their chances late in the match and went close on several occasions, but could not find a way back into the contest, and they will now face a relegation play-off against Saint-Etienne.
Data Debrief: History boys
PSG are the first team in Europe's top five leagues to have gone an entire league season without trailing for a single minute in an away match in the 21st century.
Their tally of 76 points trails only Saint-Etienne (77 in 1968-69, 81 in 1969-70, counting three points for a win) when it comes to a points total over the course of an 18-club league campaign.
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