Inter Milan claimed their second Serie A title in four seasons after beating AC Milan 2-1 at San Siro.
Goals from Francesco Acerbi and Marcus Thuram gave Inter the three points they required to be crowned champions, although they had to endure a nervous final 10 minutes after Fikayo Tomori pulled a goal back for the home team.
Inter wrapped up the title with five games to spare, standing 17 points clear of their city rivals, who needed a win or draw to delay celebrations.
But they were on the back foot after Acerbi’s 18th-minute header opened the scoring, before Thuram’s shot early in the second half put Inter well on the way to securing a 20th league crown.
Tomori’s effort set up a tense finish, though, in an ill-tempered clash, and there were red cards for Inter’s Denzel Dumfries and two AC Milan players – Theo Hernandez and Davide Calabria – during stoppage time.
Bologna, meanwhile, stayed firmly on course for Champions League qualification by beating Roma 3-1 at the Stadio Olimpico.
Bologna moved just two points behind third-placed Juventus – and seven clear of Roma in fifth – following a dominant display.
Oussama El Azzouzi opened the scoring after 14 minutes, and Joshua Zirkzee doubled the lead with a left-footed shot on the stroke of half-time.
Roma gave themselves a lifeline when Sardar Azmoun netted after the break, but Bologna kept the upper hand and sealed all three points through Alexis Saelemaekers’ goal midway through the second period.
And in Spain’s LaLiga, second-half goals from Youssef En-Nesyri and Isaac Romero delivered a 2-1 home victory for Sevilla over Mallorca, with Abdon Prats claiming a late consolation for the visitors.
Toronto FC v FC Dallas: Estevez wants cool heads from visitors
Nico Estevez says FC Dallas must put their trust in a long-term process as the Western Conference strugglers prepare to visit high-flying Toronto FC on Saturday.
Dallas sit 13th in the West with just two wins from nine matches this year, though they snapped a seven-game winless run by beating the Houston Dynamo 2-0 last week.
Just as Estevez refused to be too critical of his players during their poor run of form, he will avoid getting too high off the back of a single victory.
"As we always say, we're never too high and never too low. It's about taking the positive things that we did against Houston to carry through the week, having the same mentality," Estevez said.
"Also, with some of the things that we didn't do well, we'll keep improving on those.
"As we always say, it is a process and we're trying to keep growing throughout the season, while getting results."
Toronto, meanwhile, sit fourth in the Eastern Conference with 16 points from their first 10 MLS games under John Herdman.
They scored two late goals to overturn a 1-0 deficit and clinch a third straight victory against Orlando City last time out, leaving Herdman to credit his players for their resilience.
"We showed a good mentality to set the tone on how we wanted to approach it," he said.
"I thought the guys were brave from the front and stamped their physical dominance on the game. To see the shift they put in was exceptional. It was a complete performance."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Toronto FC – Prince Osei Owusu
Owusu has scored five goals for Toronto in MLS this year, his latest being a 90th-minute winner against Orlando last week. He has had 15 shots overall in 2024, converting 33.33 per cent of those.
FC Dallas – Petar Musa
Musa has scored in each of Dallas' last two matches, against the Colorado Rapids and Houston.
He has scored (three goals) or assisted (one) four of his team's seven MLS goals since the beginning of March, demonstrating his importance.
MATCH PREDICTION – DRAW
Toronto won their first-ever meeting with Dallas 4-0 in June 2007, but Dallas have only lost one of 18 subsequent regular-season meetings (11 wins, six draws).
Dallas, though, are winless in their last 11 games against Eastern Conference opponents across all competitions (five draws, six losses), dating back to a 1-0 win over Inter Miami last April.
Toronto have more league wins this season (five) than they managed through the entirety of 2023 (four), but Dallas have only lost one of their last four. A draw could be on the cards in Canada.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Toronto FC – 34.8%
FC Dallas – 35.6%
Draw – 29.6%
Saudi Pro League: Mahrez and Firmino on target as Al-Ahli tighten grip on third place
Riyad Mahrez and Roberto Firmino were both on target as Al-Ahli tightened their grip on third place in the Saudi Pro League table with a 4-1 win over Damac on Thursday.
Matthias Jaissle's team were four goals up within just 25 minutes as Damac folded, Ziyad Al Johani and Feras Al Brikan netting their first two before Franck Kessie was felled by Dhari Al Anazi for a penalty, converted by Mahrez.
Firmino then tapped home a fourth after being teed up by former Newcastle United winger Allan Saint-Maximin on the break, but Al-Ahli took their foot off the gas from there, Domagoj Antolic's second-half consolation rounding off the scoring.
Elsewhere, 10-man Al-Riyadh scored two stoppage-time draws to earn a dramatic 2-2 draw with Al-Fateh in Al-Mubarraz.
Goals from Djaniny and former Columbus Crew star Lucas Zelarayan put Slaven Bilic's hosts on the brink of victory, with Al-Riyadh playing almost half the game a player down after Khalid Al Shuwayyi's 54th-minute red card.
An astonishing collapse denied them, however, with Mohammed Al Shwirekh halving the arrears one minute into stoppage time before Didier Ndong headed in a left-wing cross three minutes later.
Thursday's other game saw Al-Hazm and Al-Akhdoud play out a goalless draw, keeping the hosts bottom of the table while Al-Akhdoud inched two points clear of the relegation zone.
Al Ittihad 1-2 Al Hilal: Holders into King's Cup final
Al Hilal overcame Sergej Milinkovic-Savic's red card as Saud Abdulhamid's late goal sealed a 2-1 victory over Al Ittihad in the King's Cup semi-finals.
Without Karim Benzema, Al Ittihad ultimately lacked the firepower to make their numerical advantage count in Tuesday's clash.
Former Lazio midfielder, who joined Al Hilal as part of their spending spree last year, received a straight red card in the 42nd minute.
Al Ittihad's Abderrazzaq Hamed-Allah cancelled out Micheal's opener, but Abdulhamid popped up with the winner in the 81st minute.
Al Hilal are 10-time King's Cup winners, having won their 10th title last season.
The Saudi Pro League leaders, who are still without the injured Neymar, will now face either Al Khaleej or Cristiano Ronaldo's Al Nassr in the final at the end of May.
Data Debrief: Malcom in the middle
Al Hilal might be missing their star Brazilian Neymar, but his compatriot Malcom is delivering when it comes to playmaking.
The former Zenit attacker set up both of Al Hilal's goals, creating three chances in total and registering a pass accuracy of 92.6 per cent, better than any of his team-mates.
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