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LONDON. — Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said sealing a place in next season’s Champions League, on the day fans returned to Anfield for a 2-0 win over Crystal Palace, was a dream come true.
Liverpool and Chelsea grabbed the final two Champions League places but Leicester City fell short of a top-four finish, for the second successive season, on a nerve-jangling final day of the Premier League season yesterday.
Chelsea lost 2-1 at Aston Villa – a result that could have been curtains for them in the top-four battle.
Yet, they were saved as arch-rivals Tottenham twice came from a goal down to win 4-2 at Leicester City.
Harry Kane was on target for Tottenham to win the Premier League Golden Boot award for the third time with 23 goals while Gareth Bale struck twice late on.
Liverpool finished on 69 points with Chelsea on 67 and Leicester on 66.
Sergio Aguero scored twice on his final league game for champions Manchester City as they thrashed Everton 5-0.
Second-placed Manchester United’s second-string side beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-1 to end 12 points behind City.
Despite a difficult season defending their Premier League title due to a number of long-term injuries to key players, Liverpool’s 10-game unbeaten run to finish the campaign saw them finish third behind Manchester City and Manchester United.
Fans were shut when Liverpool ended a 30-year wait to win a league title last season due to coronavirus restrictions and the 10 000 crowd on Sunday was the biggest for at Anfield for 14 months.
“Finishing the season in third is incredible. I can’t believe it. Credit to the boys, I can’t believe how it worked out in the last few weeks,” said Klopp.
“Outstanding, (the) best I could’ve dreamt of. We wanted this feeling, this game, this atmosphere.”
Klopp could afford the luxury of withdrawing Georginio Wijnaldum to a standing ovation on his final Liverpool appearance late on after Sadio Mane struck twice.
Wijnaldum is out of contract and has been strongly linked with a move to Barcelona.
“Gini Wijnaldum is leaving the club and we all love him to bits,” added Klopp.
“We will miss him so much, with football it’s normal that people leave, but I will miss him so much.”
Wijnaldum won both the Champions League and Premier League during his five seasons at Liverpool.
“I’m fighting against tears right now,” said the Dutch international.
“I have to start a new adventure. I knew I went to a big club. I remember that I was sitting in the living room and the manager said when I come to Liverpool we would win prizes. I am happy it went that well.
“It would have been really painful to leave the club without any.”
Thomas Tuchel admitted Chelsea were “lucky” to qualify for the Champions League.
Tuchel’s side were on the brink of missing out on a top-four finish in the Premier League in the closing stages of a dramatic conclusion to the season.
They trailed at Villa Park as goals from Bertrand Traore and Anwar El Ghazi were followed by Ben Chilwell’s strike for Chelsea.
With top-four rivals Liverpool and Leicester both winning as the clock ticked down, Chelsea were heading for disaster.
But Leicester conceded three times in the final minutes of a 4-2 defeat at the King Power Stadium, ensuring Chelsea would finish in fourth place — one point above the fifth-placed Foxes.
Blues boss Tuchel conceded Chelsea’s lack of cutting edge in the first half and two sloppy goals gifted to Villa would have meant they had only themselves to blame if a top-four place had gone to Leicester instead.
“We had enough chances. We did not score, conceded two cheap goals and it was a defeat in the end. We are lucky to escape today,” Tuchel said.
“We did not hit the target, the last touch was not precise enough. It was a very strong last half an hour and we had two big chances to score. We fought, tried everything but forgot to score.”
Despite a rocky run of three defeats in their last four games in all competitions, Tuchel is confident the boost of finishing in the top four will be a major lift ahead of Saturday’s Champions League final against Manchester City.
If Chelsea had missed out on the top four, they would have had to beat the Premier League champions in Porto to qualify for Europe’s elite club competition.
That pressure has been lifted and Tuchel said: “A loss never feels good but tomorrow I will take a lot of satisfaction. We reached the objective and congratulations to everyone.
“We are still a young team, players fighting for their first trophies and now we arrive in Porto with full confidence.” — AFP.
Online Reporter