Tajon Buchanan, Cyle Larin and Alphonso Davies all came off the bench this weekend to make goal contributions for their respective teams.
Here’s a look at Canadians in Europe over the weekend.
-
Tajon Buchanan, Villarreal
Tajon Buchanan and Villarreal’s win on Saturday over relegation-threatened Levante was a momentous one, but it got overshadowed two days later. The victory ensured that the Yellow Submarine will once again play Champions League football next season, marking the first time ever that the club had qualified for Europe’s top club competition in back-to-back seasons. Then on Monday, even bigger news.
It wasn’t a matter of if, but when for Villarreal when it came to Champions League qualification. The Yellow Submarine headed into Saturday’s match 15 points clear of fifth-place Betis with five matches remaining. A single point won or a single point dropped by Betis would result in a top-four place secured.
The hosts would open the scoring in the 38th minute thanks to a gift from Levante. A long ball was played forward for Georges Mikautadze, but it was well out of reach. Matias Moreno attempted to play it back to his goalkeeper, Mathew Ryan, but he got very little on the pass and it allowed Mikautadze to pounce on it and chip over Ryan and into the back of the net to make it 1-0.
Levante, desperate for points to avoid the drop, pulled even in the opening minutes of the second half. They were full value for it. Pablo Martinez whipped a picture-perfect cross to the far post where Carlos Espi was there to head home past Arnau Tenas to make it 1-1 in the 51st. But the parity wouldn’t last long.
Ten minutes later, the hosts would take the lead back and never look back. Villarreal broke out from the back with Santi Comesana finding Alberto Moleiro down the left side. Running at goal, Moleiro cut back inside and unleashed a fine curling shot from just outside the area that Ryan had no chance to stop. It was 2-1 in the 62nd.
Mikautadze bagged a second in the 68th. Streaking down the right, Nicolas Pepe got a step on his man and sent a ball across the face of goal. Moreno just couldn’t intercept the pass and, on the doorstep, Mikautadze poked home and made it 3-1.
Brampton, Ont. winger Buchanan got in on the act in the 87th. Buchanan had entered the match only three minutes earlier, coming on for Gerard Moreno. Receiving a pass from Pepe, Buchanan weighed his options and moved slightly forward before hammering a right-footed shot past a diving Ryan from just outside the 18-yard box.
The goal was Buchanan’s seventh of the season and his first since a 2-1 win over Elche on Mar. 8. Buchanan is now one goal away from matching his career-best league total. The 27-year-old Syracuse product scored eight goals in 2021, his third and final season in Major League Soccer with the New England Revolution.
Pepe would add a goal in the 90th as Villarreal wrapped up a 5-1 victory. The win made a finish outside of the top four mathematically impossible. The victory was the Yellow Submarine’s third in four matches.
As it turns out, Villarreal will be returning to the Champions League without Marcelino. The club announced on Monday that their manager’s second stint with the team will be over at season’s end. Despite the top-four finish, the move can’t be considered much of a surprise.
Villarreal’s Champions League campaign was a disaster. The Yellow Submarine did not win a single game, finishing with one point in eight matches. The team scored just five goals during the league phase. Only Kazakh side Kairat finished below them in the 32-team table on goal difference.
A fresh voice will lead the room next season. An early favourite for the job is Rayo Vallecano boss Inigo Perez.
--
Cyle Larin, Southampton
It’s difficult to call Southampton’s return to the Championship anything other than a success, but Tonda Eckert’s side will feel like automatic promotion slipped through their fingers. Saints headed into Saturday’s season finale at Preston North End already assured of a playoff spot after an 18-match unbeaten run. An immediate return to the Premier League is still in reach for Southampton, yet it could have already been sealed.
Ipswich Town, another team relegated from the Prem last season, sewed up the second automatic promotion behind champions Coventry City with a 3-0 win over QPR. Had Saints not drawn their past two matches, with Bristol City and Ipswich, it could have been them entering the final matchday knowing that a win would mean an automatic return. Still, there was something to play for as Southampton visited PNE.
Saints got on the board in a hurry. In the Preston half, Welington dispossessed Canada’s Daniel Jebbison near the touchline. Coming to the byline, the Brazilian cross the ball into a mass of players where Taylor Harwood-Bellis was first to it and headed home in the 12th minute to make it 1-0.
The scoreline would stay that way through the rest of the first 45. After the break, Saints would strike quickly again. Just two minutes into the half, Cameron Archer found Ross Stewart near the penalty spot. Marked by two defenders, Stewart patiently turned one way, then the other before making himself enough room to turn and shoot with his low drive beating Daniel Iversen to make it 2-0 in the 47th.
Lewis Dobbin would pull one back for the visitors in the 60th before Brampton, Ont.’s Cyle Larin, who came on in the 68th, put the match to bed in the 90th. With Samuel Edozie drawing away all the PNE backline’s attention, Larin found himself alone at the far post where he was able to calmly tap in Edozie’s cross to make it 3-1. The goal was Larin’s eighth Championship marker in 16 appearances in what was a wildly successful loan spell from Mallorca. All indications are Saints intend to make the loan a permanent one this summer.
With the victory, Southampton finishes fourth in the table on 80 points, level with Middlesbrough but ahead on goal differential. That means Boro will be Saints’ opponents in the semis. Southampton will visit the Riverside on Saturday before hosting the return leg on Tuesday. The winners of that tie will meet the victors of the Millwall-Hull City matchup on May 23 at Wembley for a spot in the Premier League.
--
Alphonso Davies, Bayern Munich
With the Bundesliga already wrapped up and the second leg of their Champions League semi-final tie against holders Paris Saint-Germain set for Wednesday, the plan for Bayern Munich heading into Saturday’s match with last-place Heidenheim was simple: nobody get hurt. Not being embarrassed wasn’t part of the plan and maybe it should have been. Vincent Kompany’s team had to scratch and claw to avoid their worst defeat of the season and only barely escaped without a loss.
You’d have to forgive Bayern if they had one eye on the PSG match. Last Tuesday’s first leg was an all-time Champions League classic. It was 90 minutes of brilliant skill and end-to-end action with the defending champions pulling out a 5-4 victory. With the action switching locales to Munich this week, Bayern will feel confident of overturning the one-goal deficit. Still, more respect paid to Saturday’s opponents, Heidenheim, could have gone a long way in helping to avoid disaster.
The visitors opened the scoring in the 22nd minute. From a corner, Bayern thought they had dealt with the danger, but the ball was put right back into the area by Marnon Busch. Budu Zivzivadze had managed to stay onside and get in behind the Bayern backline, poking past Jonas Urbig to make it 1-0.
Heidenheim were 2-0 to the good under 10 minutes later. Busch sent a through ball into the area that was misjudged by Jonathan Tah. The Germany defender’s momentary indecision kept Eren Dinkci onside. Dinkci latched onto the pass, dinked around Urbig, who came off of his line, and scored into the open net in the 31st as a wave of shock came over the Allianz Arena.
It would take a bit of the spectacular for Bayern to pull within one just before halftime. Awarded a free kick in the 43rd from about 23 yards out, Leon Goretzka stood over the dead ball. The Germany midfielder struck a sublime shot with his right foot that goalkeeper Diant Ramaj could only watch bulge the back of the net. Goretzka barely acknowledged the goal and just jogged back to midfield.
Trailing 2-1 at the half, Kompany was forced into a quadruple change he didn’t want to make with all of Harry Kane, Michael Olise, Luis Diaz and Joshua Kimmich called into action. Kompany clearly intended to give those players the day off until the circumstances changed. The fresh blood paid off in the 56th.
After a period of sustained pressure from Bayern, Olise swing in a corner. Standing at the near post, Goretzka outmuscled Hannes Behrens for position and bundled the ball over the line for his second goal of the match. He was slightly happier with this goal, actually showing some emotion in celebration.
With Bayern’s go-ahead goal looking inevitable, the visitors had one last trick up their sleeves. Coming out from the back, Arijon Ibrahimovic found Zivzivadze, who rifled a fantastic shot past a stationary Urbig to make it 3-2 in the 76th. Was the upset still on the cards? No, it was not.
Edmonton’s Alphonso Davies would come into the match as Kompany’s final substitution a minute later for Tah and would figure into Bayern’s late, late equalizer. In the 10th minute of what was supposed to be five minutes of stoppage, Heidenheim desperately cleared a Bayern corner from the area. The came to Davies, who headed into the path of Olise. The France winger skipped forward before ripping a left-footed shot that hit the post before ricocheting off of the back of Ramaj and in. While the goal could have been given as an own goal, it was credited to Olise, meaning that Davies earned an assist. The helper was Davies’ fourth on the season.
