The Far Side: Champions League finalists all but decided; East Londoners West Ham down North Londoners Spurs to help West Londoners Chelsea

The first semi-final was between Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid. Unlike previous meetings between the two in the Champions League finals, this match turned out to be uncharacteristically one-sided. Real were on top right from start and Cristiano Ronaldo showed that he remains the man for the big matches for Los Blancos by scoring a hat-trick. He is the first to score consecutive hat-tricks in the Champions League knockout stages. Real go into the second leg at the the Vicente Calderon with a 3-0 lead.

Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates scoring their third goal. (Source: Reuters)

Similarly Juventus outplayed the free-scoring Monaco to send them to a first home defeat in this year’s Champions League. Giorgio Chiellini, Leonardo Bonucci and Gianluigi Buffon held firm for the Old Lady at the back to deny the likes of Radamel Falcao an Kylian Mbappe. This was accompanied by Dani Alves and Paulo Dybala wreaking havoc on the right midfield area. Alves provided the two goals that Gonzalo Higuain scored. Monaco need to score at least three in Turin to get into the Champions League final.

In the Europa League, Manchester United won the first leg of their semi-final clash against Celta Vigo 1-0 thanks to a brilliant Marcus Rashford free kick. The match, played in Spain, means United now have the away goal advantage when they host Celta at Old Trafford. Ajax’s young squad, meanwhile, smashed open the Olympique Lyonnaise defence to win their semi-final first leg 4-1.

Tottenham Hotspur’s title challenge may have well and truly ended after their loss to West Ham United. (Source: Reuters)

In the Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur’s title challenge seems to have been ended by fellow Londoners West Ham United. Manuel Lanzini’s free-kick was the only real highlight of a match that had more heavy tackles than goal scoring chances. But it was also the one factor that earned West Ham an unlikely three points. If Chelsea beat Middlesbrough on Wednesday, they will restore their seven point lead over Tottenham with just three games left to play.

Manchester United’s 25-game unbeaten streak in the league finally ended when they lost 2-0 to Arsenal. Jose Mourinho fielded a side comprising of players making returns from injuries and full professional debuts as he stayed true to his word of focusing on the Europa League. It was the first time ever that Arsene Wenger got the better of Mourinho in a league match. The result gave Liverpool some reason to breathe easy after they drew 0-0 at Anfield with Southampton.

In Italy, Juventus’ confirmation of a sixth consecutive Serie A title was delayed further after they managed only to draw with 10-man Torino 1-1. Palermo’s four-year stay in the Serie A finally ended when they managed a similar scoreline against Chievo Verona.

Barcelona broke open Villareal 4-1 with Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez all being on target. Their match was followed by Real Madrid meting out similar treatment to Granada, save for the fact that they also managed a clean-sheet.

FIFA Council elections get underway with a shadow of bribery scandals hanging over the perpetually murky world body. With Sheikh Ahmad Al Fahad Al Sabah, three of the four seats reserved for the Asian Football Confederation seems to have been decided already. The one seat that is contested is reserved for women for which four candidate will fight it out.