
After the soap opera of the ‘Spygate’ controversy, the Championship play-off final served up on-pitch drama on Saturday as Oli McBurnie struck in stoppage time to send Hull into the Premier League.
Harry Kane took his season tally with Bayern Munich to an incredible 61 goals as the England captain’s hat-trick fired Bayern Munich to a 3-0 DFB-Pokal final win over Stuttgart.
Charlton will play in the Women’s Super League next season after the first ever play-off tie came down to penalties and their goalkeeper Sophie Whitehouse saved four spot-kicks in a shootout victory over Leicester.
Hull are heading back to the Premier League for the first time since the 2016-17 season after McBurnie poked home in the fifth minute of time added on to settle a tense play-off final against Middlesbrough at Wembley.
The Tigers only made it into the Championship play-offs on the final day of the season and then, after seeing off Millwall in the semi-finals, had to begin their preparations for the final not knowing who they would be facing until Southampton’s expulsion was announced.
There had been threats from their owner Acun Ilicali had the club failed to earn promotion on the pitch but hopefully all that is now behind us as things were settled the old-fashioned way on the pitch.
The final will not live long for the quality on the pitch – McBurnie’s goal was only the second shot on target in the entire match, both of them for Hull, but nobody clad in amber cared about that amid emotional celebrations.
Harry Kane took his season tally to an incredible 61 goals for Bayern Munich as his hat-trick powered them to a 3-0 DFB-Pokal final win over Stuttgart.
With the World Cup looming, Kane continued his incredible scoring exploits with all of his goals coming in the second half of the match – the first an unmarked header, the second a neat spin and strike, and the third coming from the penalty spot late on as Bayern won the cup for a 21st time.
Kane’s heroics came in a week when there has been much speculation over the 32-year-old’s future as he nears the final 12 months of his contract, with reports linking him with Barcelona.
Asked about his future after the match, Kane told Sky Sports Germany: “It’s not the time to talk about that now, but there’s no panic. We wanted to hold conversations until the end of the season and we’ve got a World Cup still to play. But everyone knows how much I enjoy it here. That situation is calm.”
Martin O’Neill refused to rule out extending his latest stint at Celtic after they beat Dunfermline 3-1 to add the Scottish Cup to the Premiership title they won last weekend.
The 74-year-old has galvanised Celtic during two spells in charge of the club this season – stepping in after the departures of both Brendan Rodgers and Wilfried Nancy this term – bringing silverware in what appeared to be a season of turmoil.
When asked about his future, the former Republic of Ireland boss said: “I’ll have to have a think. I think in the next week, I’ll meet up with the owner (Dermot Desmond), see what he’s saying. He hasn’t said anything to me, so I don’t know whether that’s good news or bad news.
“I will genuinely have a wee look at it to see. But I would be thinking that the football club, to go forward, to go forward properly, would probably be looking at somebody younger. I would have thought that in the last few weeks they would be looking at options.”
Charlton will play in the WSL for the first time next season after goalkeeper Sophie Whitehouse made four shootout saves to win their play-off 2-1 on penalties and relegate Leicester.
The Addicks keeper was brilliant in sweltering conditions at the Valley, where a Charlton women’s record crowd of 3,979 were in attendance to watch the WSL2 hosts confirm their passage to the top flight after normal and extra time ended goalless.
The WSL is expanding to 14 teams from next season and Charlton were disappointed not to have already clinched one of those places after spending the majority of their campaign in the two automatic promotion spots.
But having left it to the inaugural play-off, they triumphed thanks to spot-kicks from Amalie Thestrup and Ellie Mason Whitehouse denied Noemie Mouchon to secure their place in the top flight for the first time since 2008 and the first in the WSL era.
The final day of the Premier League season will determine whether or West Ham or Tottenham join Wolves and Burnley in dropping down to the Championship, with the Hammers needing both victory at home to Leeds and for Everton to win at Tottenham to avoid the drop.
Only two points separate Brighton in seventh place and Sunderland in 10th as the fight for European football goes to the wire, while it will also be a day of farewells for the likes of Pep Guardiola, Mohamed Salah, Bernardo Silva and John Stones.
Bolton and Stockport will face off at Wembley in the League One play-off final.


