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Each week, I’ll be putting together a wrap of the weekend’s sporting action, standout moments, and major talking points, with a focus on football, cricket, and rugby.

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Imagine your team needs to win to realistically keep their Champions League hopes alive.

Imagine you head in a winner in the dying seconds to keep that dream alive.

Pretty good feeling, right? Now imagine you’re the goalkeeper, and you’ve just become the first man between the sticks to score in the English Premier League since Asmir Begovic for Stoke City against Southampton back in 2013.

To go one step further, Alisson’s goal was the first-ever scored by a goalkeeper in a competitive game for Liverpool since their foundation in 1892:

SCENES IN THE 95th MINUTE AS ALISSON SCORES FROM A CORNER WITH A REMARKABLE HEADER TO WIN THE GAME FOR LIVERPOOL 😱

Football… 🥺 pic.twitter.com/PGszGJ2Ed6

— SuperSport 🏆 (@SuperSportTV) May 16, 2021

Utter madness.

Alisson now has as many Premier League goals this season as his Brazilian counterpart Willian.

You can watch the match highlights below:

By the way, in case you needed another reason to love Alisson’s late winner, consider that his father, with whom he was said to be very close, died in a tragic drowning accident in February.

The other most-talked-about goal from the weekend will be Youri Tielemans’ thunderstrike in the FA Cup Final, which helped Leicester overcome Chelsea at Wembley.

As far as cup-winning goals go, they don’t come much better than this:

The goal that secured Leicester’s first ever FA Cup trophy 🏆

Take a bow, Youri Tielemans 👏pic.twitter.com/FBs6Wrij27

— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) May 15, 2021

The goal was not without its controversy, with Ayoze Perez perhaps fortunate not to be blown up for handball in the build-up, and there was another tight call as the match drew to a close.

Ben Chilwell thought he had equalised for Chelsea against his old team, but it was disallowed for another one of those VAR ‘offside by centimetres’ calls.

May I present the latest exhibit of why you shouldn’t film yourself celebrating goals before VAR has been consulted:

I think cameras on mobile phones & everything being filmed etc has been bad for society. Not a fan.

But then again, occasionally along comes a proper f*cking gemstone. 😂…pic.twitter.com/ssd0wDUM9W

— Rob (@Goddardinho) May 16, 2021

After the match, there were emotional scenes as Leicester City owner Khun Top was embraced by the team.

Top’s father, Khun Vichai (or Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha), was killed in October 2018 when the helicopter carrying him and four others crashed, shortly after attending a match at Leicester’s stadium.

When Leicester ‘keeper Kasper Schmeichel noticed Khun Top, he made sure the owner was given his dues:

❤️ A special moment. #FACup pic.twitter.com/ajygWYur60

— SPORF (@Sporf) May 15, 2021

Compared to the hate we’ve seen from Manchester United fans toward the Glazers, and many other top clubs towards their owners, it makes a very nice change to see that genuine warmth between players, fans, and an owner.

Here are the full match highlights:

In other Premier League action, the Toon fought gallantly against Manchester City, going down 4-3 after leading twice, and Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds United hammered Burnley 4-0 as their magical return to the top-flight continues.

There were also wins for Southampton, Crystal Palace, Spurs, and Sheffield United, who shocked Everton thanks to a goal from 17-year-old Daniel Jebbison, just seven minutes into his full debut:

Striker’s instinct. 💥

Daniel Jebbison’s first Sheffield United & @premierleague goal. 💪🏾👏🏾 pic.twitter.com/WXhJu605L6

— Sheffield United (@SheffieldUnited) May 16, 2021

There was plenty of drama in the race for the La Liga title this weekend, with Luis Suarez scoring late on to secure the three points for Atletico Madrid.

With their crosstown rivals, Real Madrid, leading, and matches kicking off at the same time in the final two rounds of fixtures, Diego Simeone’s men were desperate to win.

Here’s Suarez, making Barcelona’s decision to let him go for free to a title rival look dafter by the day:

The goal that may have just won #LaLiga for Atletico Madrid and it just had to be Luis Suarez 💥

The title is heading to Madrid, but will it be the red or white half? pic.twitter.com/Jr70Ol08oR

— SuperSport 🏆 (@SuperSportTV) May 16, 2021

Real Madrid sealed a 1-0 win, and trail Atletico by two points with one round left to play. Should they end level on points, Real Madrid would take the title, due to a better head-to-head record with Atletico this season.

Barcelona took the lead through Lionel Messi, but slipped up and lost 2-1 to Celta Vigo, meaning they can finish no higher than third this season.

Still, Messi is the greatest player to ever live, and here’s some further evidence:

Escuchen a los que saben. pic.twitter.com/3VPdoFWfnZ

— kantinu (@kantinu) May 15, 2021

France’s Ligue 1 will also go to the wire, with Lille’s slip-up in a 0-0 draw with Saint-Etienne meaning they will need to win on the final day of the season to ensure they beat PSG to the title.

I’m sure neutrals around the world are rooting for that to happen, although PSG have momentum on their side, thumping Reims 4-0 last night.

Credit to Steven Gerrard’s Rangers team, who managed to go through the Scottish Premier League season undefeated. 32 wins and six draws from 38 matches, with a goal difference of 79 (Rangers scored 92 league goals while conceding 13), is still laudable, even if it comes in a league where the two Glasgow outfits are head and shoulders above the rest.

Here at home, there was much excitement for fans of the women’s game, with Hollywoodbets teaming up with SAFA to become the official sponsor of the National Women’s Soccer League, which will now be known as the Hollywoodbets Super League.

We are proud to announce that we are the official sponsor of the Women’s football league, which will now be called the Hollywoodbets Super League ⚽️💜 pic.twitter.com/oFxHShrj5W

— Hollywoodbets (@Hollywoodbets) May 16, 2021

This is great news for our local ladies, and should help ensure that Banyana Banyana go from strength to strength.

Turning to rugby, and Springbok fans look set to miss out on watching the team in action against the touring British & Irish Lions later this year, with SA Rugby announcing refunds for tickets purchased.

There is still an outside shot fans may be let into the stadiums, but planning is now underway for the matches to be played behind closed doors.

There is no such worry in the Super Rugby Trans-Tasman tournament, with Ozzie and New Zealand sides now duking it out.

The pick of the matches this past weekend saw caution thrown to the wind, as the Waratahs and the Hurricanes traded 112 points between them.

In the end, the ‘Tahs went down 48-64:

There was late drama in the Brumbies match against the Crusaders, with a missed conversion by Noah Lolesio seeing his side go down by two points.

Not that his teammates held it against him, and it was great to see them run over to console the 21-year-old:

Rate this from the Brumbies. Noah Lolesio narrowly misses a conversion that would have earned a 31-31 draw with the Crusaders. Whole team around him very quickly. pic.twitter.com/2llutXAMXd

— Charlie Morgan (@CharlieFelix) May 15, 2021

Again, I’m going to mostly ignore the PRO14 Rainbow Cup SA tournament, although I’ll make an exception for the Stormers pipping the Lions with some last-gasp heroics:

Something for the Capetonians who live in Jozi to harp on about, I guess.

The weekend’s golf saw local lad Charl Schwartzel tie for third at the AT&T Byron Nelson, with South Korean K.H. Lee victorious, but the most heartwarming story comes from the European Tour.

48-year-old Englishman Richard Bland, playing in his 478th event, finally managed his first win, beating 24-year-old Italian Guido Migliozzi on the first playoff hole to take home the British Masters.

When Bland made his professional debut, Migliozzi was just 18 months old.

That winning putt dropping must have been quite a weight off the shoulders:

Coach and Player. A dream finally realised.#BetfredBritishMasters pic.twitter.com/2QGxj77xWA

— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) May 15, 2021

As you can imagine, his family was pretty stoked, too:

“Can I have roast lamb on Tuesday?”

“You can have what you like!” 💬

A great family moment for the Blands.#BetfredBritishMasters pic.twitter.com/GtGoFpSGoZ

— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) May 15, 2021

Wonderful stuff.

It’s been very quiet on the cricket front this past week, but there are a few points worth touching on.

Firstly, the truth about Australia’s shameful Sandpapergate cheating scandal is finally starting to emerge – read more on that here.

Then there was spinner Simon Harmer’s fantastic return playing for Essex in the  County Championship. The offspinner took 9/80 in the first knock against Derbyshire, and followed it up with three more in the second, to finish with 12 for the match.

Kyle Abbott also shone, finishing with 10/85 in the match as his Hampshire side overcame Middlesex.

Both say they’re available to play for the Proteas, but having taken Kolpak deals, their return may not be popular with many.

Given that we find ourselves seventh in the world test ranking, I would say there’s little room for that sort of sentiment, and we need all hands on deck to fight back in the five-day arena.

To finish, here’s a very exciting name to watch for the future – Shaun Maswanganyi.

The 20-year-old sprint sensation from Soweto attended St Alban’s College in Pretoria, and now turns out for the University of Houston Cougars.

Competing at The American Outdoor Track & Field Championships this weekend, he ran the 100 metres in an incredible 9,87 seconds.

That would have been a new South African senior record, which is currently 9,89 seconds, but the wind-reading was an ‘illegal’ 3,8 metres per second, meaning it doesn’t count on that front.

Still, it was enough to see him take gold:

9⃣.8⃣7⃣‼️

WE HAVE NO WORDS FOR WHAT WE JUST SAW SHAUN MASWANGANYI DO. pic.twitter.com/SW6WJjAtYD

— American XC Track (@AmericanXCTrack) May 16, 2021

More from IOL:

He ran another superb time in the 200m final a few minutes later, winning the gold medal in 19.93 seconds – but again, the wind dashed his hopes of Olympic qualification at 3.3m/s.

In both events, he broke the meeting and stadium record, and was chosen as the American Freshman of the Year afterwards…

Unfortunately for Maswanganyi, his efforts have not led to a ticket to the Tokyo Olympics just yet. His 100m personal best of 10.06, which he ran in Pretoria last year, is just one-hundredth of a second outside the qualifying mark of 10.05.

His 200-metre personal best under wind conditions which qualify for Olympic times also falls short, but he does still have a number of events in which he can qualify for both distances, as well as South Africa’s 4x100m relay squad.

If the wind plays ball, you wouldn’t bet against him.

That’s it for the wrap, folks.

Register now with Hollywoodbets and score a R25 sign-up bonus.

You can also maximise your potential winnings with the ‘Refer a Friend’ bonus – for every successful friend that you refer to Hollywoodbets, they’ll give you a free R50 betting voucher.