Arsenal won their second consecutive and record 12th FA Cup, beating Aston Villa 4-0 in what amounted to a relaxing Saturday stroll. These are the very best images from the Gunners’ historic day…
Author: Brooks Peck
Lionel Messi’s first Copa del Rey final goal was as stunning as Dani Alves’ haircut
Lionel Messi opened the scoring in the Copa Del Rey final between Barcelona and Athletic Bilboa with a typically spectacular solo goal in which he completely baffled four or five defenders along the way. He later help set up Neymar to score Barca’s second goal before halftime.
Meanwhile, Dani Alves decided that this was a proper occasion to present his personal tribute to the poop emoji.
Aston Villa’s best FA Cup final moment: the decision to have booze delivered to the dressing room win or lose
Arsenal dominated Aston Villa in the FA Cup final, winning 4-0 to lift the trophy for a record 12th time. Though Villa were simply outgunned (puns!) from the start, they put in a dismal performance that made one pre-match decision their best of the day.
According to the day’s official running order, which was shared on Twitter by BBC commentator Guy Mowbray, Villa chose to have beer (eight crates) and champagne delivered to their dressing room after the match win or lose. Arsenal, meanwhile, opted to have their booze shipment sent to the team bus only if they won and the referees had a modest haul of 15 beers sent their way.
Andre Villas-Boas, Zenit players pose for the classiest team photo ever taken
To celebrate winning their fifth Russian Premier League title, Andre Villas-Boas and the Zenit Saint Petersburg players dressed up like old fashion military generals and posed for a rather absurd team photo.
There really isn’t too much more that can be said about this spectacular image other than: Andrei Arshavin looks like an adorable lawn jockey.
Chelsea fan mistaken for player signs autographs outside the team’s Bangkok hotel
Chelsea are in Bangkok as part of their post-season tour and the Thai fans couldn’t be happier, though some of them aren’t entirely sure what they’re so happy about. Chelsea supporter Ryan Weston had his Thai counterparts thinking he was a member of the squad and signed autographs for them outside the team hotel.
Ryan had a line of people waiting for him to pose for pictures and sign their Chelsea gear, which he did with the number 29 (which isn’t currently used by anyone in the first team squad).
In the Thai fans defense, offseason tours often include new faces, so many of them probably thought he was an up and coming prospect from the youth academy. But still, this is a bit sad. And a bit funny.
Football Shirt Friday: Barcelona, PSG, Liverpool, and Wolfsburg’s tribute to Junio Malanda
Sepp Blatter, uniter of the world, wins again and everyone gets what they truly want
If there’s one thing that the last few days have proven, it’s that the world loves Sepp Blatter. And by winning yet another term as FIFA president, we all get to love him in our own special way for four more years.
FIFA attempt to distract from crisis with fire, lies, and yodeling
A little more than 24 hours after seven FIFA executives were hauled out of their luxurious Zurich hotel rooms and threatened with extradition to the United States for an assortment of crimes, football’s world governing body held a supremely bizarre opening ceremony to their 65th congress.
Perhaps afraid of getting pinched for his own crimes against humanity, 2014 World Cup opening ceremony scourge Pitbull stayed away from this event, but in his place was an assortment of oddities.
FIFA 16 to feature women’s national teams for the first time
Just before the start of the Women’s World Cup, EA Sports has announced that FIFA 16 will finally feature women’s national teams for the first time ever. Twelve teams (Germany, USA, France, Sweden, England, Brazil, Canada, Australia, Spain, China, Italy, Mexico) will be playable in Match Day, an offline tournament mode, and in online friendly matches. The women’s teams will only be playable against other women’s teams.
Carlos Bacca goes from bus driver’s assistant at 20 to Europa League final hero at 28
Colombian striker Carlos Bacca was in tears on the bench when the final whistle sounded on Sevilla’s 3-2 win against Ukrainian underdogs Dnipro in the Europa League final. His two goals proved decisive in delivering the Spanish club’s second consecutive Europa League title and fourth in the last 10 years, giving them more Europa League/UEFA Cup titles than any other club in the tournament’s history (Juves, Inter, and Liverpool all have three each).