European roundup: Hamburg safe while Hull City go down

Hamburg SV avoided a first Bundesliga drop but must go through the torment again in a relegation playoff while Hull City were the fall guys in England.


ENGLAND

Hull City were relegated from the Premier League after two years in the top flight while Newcastle United survived the drop on a final day of drama as the season ended on Sunday.

Hull went down because they were held to a 0-0 draw at home by Manchester United while Newcastle survived after beating West Ham United 2-0 with goals from Moussa Sissoko and Jonas Gutierrez.

West Ham announced minutes after the final whistle at St James' Park that they were not offering manager Sam Allardyce a new contract after his four years at the club.

Liverpool suffered their heaviest league defeat since April 1963 when they crashed 6-1 at Stoke City with Steven Gerrard scoring their consolation on his final appearance for the club after more than 17 years and over 700 appearances in the first team.



SPAIN

On the final day of action in Spain's top flight, Atletico Madrid made sure of third place and a berth in the Champions League group stage thanks to a 0-0 draw at Granada.

Valencia twice had to come from behind to beat Almeria, who were relegated, 3-2 and clinch fourth and a spot in qualifying for Europe's elite club competition.

Sevilla, Europa League holders and finalists again this season, won 3-2 at Malaga to finish fifth, sending them into the continent's second-tier competition again next term along with sixth-placed Villarreal and Athletic Bilbao in seventh.

Second-placed Real Madrid, beaten to the title last weekend by Barcelona, thrashed Getafe 7-3 to finish a disappointing season where they failed to win a major trophy.

Eibar also went down despite a 3-0 win at home to already-relegated Cordoba.



GERMANY

Former European champions Hamburg SV beat Schalke 04 2-0 to avoid direct relegation from the Bundesliga and snatch a playoff spot against second tier Karlsruhe in a nail-biting season finale which saw Paderborn and Freiburg go down.

Surprise packages Augsburg secured fifth place and will play in the Europa League while last season's runners-up Borussia Dortmund also secured a Europa League spot after a 3-2 home win over rivals Werder Bremen in coach Juergen Klopp's last home match.

Champions Bayern Munich, who clinched a 25th German league title with four games to play, ended their campaign with a 2-0 victory over Mainz 05 and Bastian Schweinsteiger on target in his 500th competitive game for the club.



ITALY

Fourth-placed Napoli's chances of Champions League football next season were all but extinguished when they lost 3-1 at champions Juventus. With one match left, Napoli (63 points) are three points adrift of third-placed Lazio (66).

Their defeat ensured that second-placed AS Roma (67), who meet Lazio on Monday, will qualify at the very least for the Champions League playoff round.

Verona's Luca Toni, 38 on Tuesday, went top of the scoring charts with 21 goals by scoring twice in a 2-2 draw at Parma.



FRANCE

Monaco will play in the Champions League third qualifying round next season after securing third place in Ligue 1 with a 1-0 win at Lorient in the final round of matches.

Monaco, who reached the quarter-finals of Europe's premier club competition this season, finished with 71 points.

Paris St Germain, who were crowned champions last weekend, celebrated in front of their home crowd with a 3-2 win over Stade de Reims.



NETHERLANDS

Mark Uth scored twice in extra time as Heerenveen ousted Feyenoord from the Europa League playoffs in the Netherlands following a 2-2 draw.

The scoreline gave Heerenveen a 3-2 aggregate triumph and set up a playoff final with Vitesse Arnhem, who defeated PEC Zwolle 3-2 on aggregate.



AUSTRIA

Salzburg continued their recent dominance of the Austrian Bundesliga by beating Wolfsberger 3-0 at home to wrap up their third title in the last four seasons.