For a while this week it appeared that a diminished Chelsea Loan Army might finally see their streak of scoring in every full week of the 2016-17 club season come to an end. Then Lewis Baker netted with his final touch in a Vitesse shirt to score the 126th goal of a mammoth campaign by the loan group, setting a new club record in the process.
Headliners
Vitesse finished the Eredivisie season with their first home match since their KNVB Beker victory over AZ a fortnight ago, and were celebrating their 125th birthday to boot. A 3-0 win over Roda ensured they would finish in 5th place, equalling their final placing of two years ago. It would ordinarily have seen them enter into the Europa League qualification playoffs but, having secured a place in the group stages due to their cup triumph, the place has been handed over to 9th-placed Heerenveen.
Baker’s performances have been a driving force in their impressive season, and he signed off a two-year stay in Arnhem with a delectable last-minute finish, his 15th of ’16-17 and 20th overall in the yellow and black.
Matt Miazga also completed ninety minutes, having established himself as the first-choice partner for captain Guram Kashia in defence, whilst Nathan and Mukhtar Ali were both unused substitutes.
England
Loic Remy was not in the Crystal Palace squad as they beat Hull to confirm their place in the Premier League.
Tomas Kalas started and played the full ninety minutes for Fulham in their 1-1 first leg draw against Reading in the promotion playoffs, with Lucas Piazon an unused substitute. The winner will face Sheffield Wednesday or Huddersfield, who drew 0-0 on Sunday; Izzy Brown hitting the crossbar during the first half.
Spain
Jeremie Boga and Victorien Angban started for already-relegated Granada in their 2-1 defeat to Osasuna. Angban played the full match whilst Boga was withdrawn midway through the second half.
Italy
Juan Cuadrado played 78 minutes as Juventus lost Roma to keep the Serie A title race open for another week at least.
Mario Pašalić played 78 minutes of Milan’s 1-1 draw at Atalanta.
Germany
Andreas Christensen played 90 minutes as Borussia Mönchengladbach drew 1-1 at Wolfsburg to officially end their hopes of qualifying for Europe next season. He’ll say goodbye at home to Darmstadt next weekend before heading back to Chelsea for pre-season.
Michael Hector continued on the right of a three-man defence for Eintracht Frankfurt in a 4-2 defeat away to Mainz.
Netherlands
Bertrand Traore played the full ninety minutes as Ajax beat Lyon 5-4 on aggregate to advance to the Europa League Final in Stockholm on May 24th, where they’ll face Manchester United. He played 45 minutes on the last day of the league season at Willem II on Sunday, where a 3-1 win wasn’t enough to secure the title ahead of Feyenoord.
PSV finished third, Marco van Ginkel playing 90 minutes in a 4-1 win over PEC Zwolle in the final game of his loan spell, but they’ve already (yet again) talked of keeping him permanently, and this summer might be the time the deal actually happens.
Danilo Pantic did not feature for Excelsior.
Belgium
Matej Delač was restored to the Mouscron goal for the visit of Genk but couldn’t help avoid a 2-0 defeat.
Cristian Cuevas was an unused substitute for Sint-Truiden.
Switzerland
Miro Muheim didn’t play for FC Zurich again.
Turkey
Kenneth Omeruo returned from suspension as Alanyaspor beat Karabukspor 4-2 to mathematically avoid relegation from the Super Lig.
Brazil
Gremio face Botafogo in Serie A action later on Sunday but Wallace is not expected to feature.
Colombia
There’s still no sign of Joao Rodriguez at Cortuluá.