Welcome back to On the Continent, a newsletter filled with more European football than a Danish bakery has pastries. Speaking of Denmark…

ii. If you’re looking for a good read today, be sure to check out our friend Rory Smith’s new piece on Lamine Yamal, the man (lad?) who might just be football’s first Gen Z star. You can find that here. 📖

iii. A few recent top-notch goals from around the world:

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Antoine Semenyo’s finish in City’s win again Palace yesterday? Great, but the assist from Phil Foden? Otherworldly.

🇪🇸 This ref cam footage of Marcus Rashford’s sensual free kick from the weekend is very much worth your time.

🇧🇷 Lastly, please enjoy this absolutely filthy shimmy and strike from Santos’ Gabriel Bontempo in the Copa do Brasil. You just love to see it.

iv. KIT WATCH: Juventus’ new home jersey is a good reminder that black and white will never not look excellent.

Also: German side Wolfsburg updated their crest, and the first comment on this post really describes it better than we ever could. 🤩

v. Lastly, we appreciate you GFOPs and we value your opinion so much. It’s massively helpful for us and our partners to hear from you, so we’d love if you could spare three or four minutes to take this new, quick survey for us. To sweeten the deal: those who participate will be entered to win a $150 gift card to our Men in Blazers shop. 🙌

Cheers,
Tommy Stewart

P.S. Introducing the collab of the week: Real Betis 🤝 Mr. Bean

Celtic vs. Hearts (Saturday, 7:30 a.m. ET, Paramount+)

In his third reign as Celtic manager and second of this season, 74-year-old Martin O’Neill thought he’d seen it all in football, but Kelechi Iheanacho’s 99th-minute penalty to beat Motherwell 3-2 yesterday may end up being his defining moment. The wise Irish master was a “feel good” appointment, but he’s now reinvigorated the club with a resilient collective attitude that was evident in the shared ecstasy between fans and players yesterday. Like Robin Swallows in “Austin Powers,” O’Neill’s Celtic simply refuse to die.

The goal takes the Bhoys to a winner-takes-all finale at Celtic Park on Saturday vs. league-leaders Hearts, who are looking to break the Old Firm’s 40-year vice grip on the Scottish Premier League. Their manager Derek McInnes has cultivated a siege mentality ahead of one of the biggest games in the country’s history, claiming his side are “Up against everybody” after disputing VAR’s decision to award Celtic the late penalty yesterday.

Hearts had just defeated Falkirk 3-0, keeping them a point ahead of the country’s most successful club, so avoiding defeat takes them to a first title in 66 years, while O’Neill’s team need a win to make it a fifth SPL on the spin. Forget “Braveheart”, the Loch Ness Monster or “Trainspotting,” Scotland’s greatest story could be concluded this Saturday. 

More: So then, who’s going to win the Scottish Premier League?

Lazio 0-2 Inter Milan 🏆

Before becoming Inter Milan’s manager last June, Cristian Chivu was already a club legend, having been a key figure in José Mourinho’s 2010 treble-winning squad. After steamrolling Serie A before convincingly beating Lazio 2-0 in the Coppa Italia final yesterday to complete the domestic double, the Romanian is now surely in the pantheon of the Nerazzurri’s all-time club legends.

The victory at the Stadio Olimpico was a microcosm of Inter’s season: their back three were impenetrable, Dumfries and Dimarco were relentless on the wings, and captain Lautaro Martínez bagged his 22nd goal of the campaign. Serie A’s top scorer made sure to give his manager his flowers for their success this season, saying “We’d give Chivu a 10 out of 10, because he helped us so much." Not exactly Dante, but it’ll do. 

Meanwhile, AC Milan Are in Trouble 👀

Even when AC Milan briefly threatened to put up a fight for the Scudetto, manager Max Allegri always maintained his side’s only goal this season was to secure a Champions League place. Having spent most of the season occupying the second spot, after losing their last two matches, the Rossoneri have slipped down to fourth, leaving them level on points with Roma and just two ahead of Como. Christian Pulisic hasn’t scored in a career-high 17 league matches, and with two games to play, there’s now a very dangerous possibility his side could miss out on the UCL for a second year on the spin.

Barcelona’s 2-0 El Clásico win against a spiraling Real Madrid on Sunday made it two titles in two years since Hansi Flick arrived at the Camp Nou in 2024. The German manager’s father tragically passed away earlier that day, and his bittersweet tears and poignant words about “family” were a reminder of football’s beautifully remedial power. Marcus Rashford’s picture-perfect free kick did his precarious future at the club no harm, simultaneously sealing his place in the heart of Barça fans while putting him up to 28 goal contributions for the season. 

For Los Blancos, the match was like attending the wedding of their mortal enemy and an ex. They might be the biggest club in the world, but as 1,000,000 Valverdes fight 1,000,000 Tchouaménis, a fan petition for the club to get rid of Kylian Mbappé hits tens of millions of signatures (and counting), and monolithic president Florentino Pérez conducts unhinged press conferences, it feels like the last days of Madrid. Thankfully, the Darth Vader to Pérez’s Palpatine, José Mourinho, looks set to make a return to the club, ensuring a drama-free future…

Elsewhere in La Liga, the duality of football can be found in Seville, where neighbors Real Betis and Sevilla’s trajectories have passed like ships in the night. Los Nervionenses are accustomed to winning European trophies, but as they try to focus on a relegation battle, Manuel Pellegrini’s Betis are blasting out the Champions League anthem for the first time since 2005 after beating Elche 2-1 yesterday.

More: Somehow things are even wilder at the bottom of the table, where eighth and 19th place are separated by just five points with two matchweeks to go.

There’s an uprising of underdogs across the continent this season, and Denmark’s latest fairytale could’ve been penned by Hans Christian Andersen himself. Aarhus Gymnastikforening, better known as AGF, have tasted relegation three times since 1986, which until Sunday, was the last time they won the Danish Superliga. 

On the outskirts of Copenhagen, they had to beat Steve Cooper’s (remember him?) Brøndby, a club with intense ultras who they share a bitter rivalry with, to secure their first title in 40 years. After the comfortable 2-0 win, Jakob Poulsen and his coaching staff stormed the pitch to celebrate with their traveling support, who set off a sea of red flares and made it rain Carlsberg, knowing that they were a part of history. The 42-year-old only took charge of his former side last year, and with his name already secured in Aarhus folklore, next on the agenda is Champions League qualification.

Bayern Munich might have sleepwalked to their 13th Bundesliga title in 14 years last month, but with a final round of fixtures to come this weekend, there’s still more jeopardy in Germany than a Colin Jost spin-off. RB Leipzig secured third place last weekend, meaning Stuttgart, Hoffenheim and Bayer Leverkusen, who are within three points of each other, are all in contention for fourth, but there’s an outside chance the Bundesliga could earn a fifth UCL spot this season.

At the other end of the table, Wolfsburg, Heidenheim and St. Pauli are all level on 26 points and face a nerve-wracking weekend that will see two of them banished to the second division and one offered a lifeline via the relegation play-offs. If the stakes weren’t high enough already, St. Pauli and Wolfsburg play each other in a final-day death duel that could directly decide their opponent’s fate.

More: Bundesliga’s incredible final-day relegation showdown.

Congratulations to Dan Breen who was the first to correctly answer that Sergio Busquets has won the most El Clásico matches in history. Your patch is in the post, Dan! 📮

👋 We’ll see you again tomorrow. In the meantime, you can send us your stories or questions to [email protected].

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