On the final day of the regular Championship season, Levi Colwill and Tino Anjorin both came off the bench early in the second half as a much-changed Huddersfield Town side held on to a 2-0 lead at home over Bristol City. That victory saw them move ahead of Nottingham Forest into third place in the table, meaning they will face the sixth-placed side in the play-off semi-finals as the top seed. Huddersfield also go into the play-offs in good form, with this being their sixth win in seven games.

That was helped by some late drama involving Nathan Baxter, as mid-table Hull City hosted Forest. Baxter made a final double save to keep the score goalless but couldn’t prevent the visitors from taking an injury-time lead from the penalty spot. That would have secured third place for Forest, but Hull somehow went straight up the other end to equalise in the 94th minute, meaning their opponents finished fourth.

Huddersfield will face Luton Town in the play-off semi-finals after the Hatters beat a Reading side featuring Baba Rahman on the last day of the season to secure sixth place. It was a tight game at Kenilworth Road and Baba can count himself unlucky to be on the losing side, as Luton were gifted the only goal of the game by a huge goalkeeping error on the stroke of half-time, It was a game of little consequence for Reading, though, as they had already secured their Championship survival.

Ian Maatsen and Jake Clarke-Salter were both in the starting line-up for Coventry City as they secured their highest league finish for 16 years with a 1-1 draw at Stoke City. It could have been even better, as Maatsen looked certain to have scored the winner with a header, but the ball was somehow cleared off the line, although the Sky Blues will be happy with a 12th-place finish.

Jamie Cumming’s season came to an end as MK Dons were beaten in the League One play-off semi-finals. They travelled to Wycombe Wanderers in the first leg and a string of first-half saves from Cumming set the tone as the home side took control, the Dons losing 2-0 by the end after former Chelsea midfielder Josh McEachran was sent off. Cumming was almost a spectator in the second leg in Milton Keynes, but his side could only win 1-0 after spurning a number of chances, meaning they were eliminated on aggregate.

Conor Gallagher was part of the Crystal Palace side which inflicted Premier League relegation on Watford. Palace’s 1-0 home win over the Hornets ended any chance of them escaping the drop with three games remaining. Gallagher played the first hour of a game Palace dominated, leaving them needing five more points to set a new club record in the Premier League.

There was a painful defeat for Billy Gilmour, who featured throughout for already-relegated Norwich City as they were beaten 4-0 at home by West Ham United in front of a frustrated Carrow Road crowd.

It was a similar story for Armando Broja and Southampton, as they failed to recover from a disappointing start to lose 3-0 away at Brentford. That seventh defeat in 10 Premier League games saw the Saints slip to 15th in the table, but they remain eight points clear of the relegation zone.

In Turkey, Michy Batshuayi went agonisingly close to opening the scoring early on in the Istanbul derby between Besiktas and Fenerbahce. Batshuayi stepped up when home side Besiktas were awarded a ninth-minute penalty for handball, but saw his effort come back off the foot of the left-hand post. Thankfully a team-mate managed to find the net with a second first-half penalty, but the game ended in a 1-1 draw, leaving Besiktas six points from European qualification with two games left in the Super Lig.

Ethan Ampadu was sent off in a fierce relegation face-off in Serie A. Venezia travelled to Salernitana in a game rescheduled from January due to Covid and went behind to an early VAR-awarded penalty. They equalised in the second half but went behind again, with Ampadu receiving two quick bookings in the closing stages as Venezia suffered a record 10th consecutive defeat and Salernitana moved out of the relegation zone for the first time this season with a 2-1 win.

Emerson Palmieri was part of the Lyon side which twice came from behind with 10 men at Metz only to concede in the last minute to lose 3-2 in Ligue 1, effectively ending their chances of securing European qualification for next season.

Bryan Fiabema came on in the second half for Rosenborg at Stromsgodset, but it was too late to change things as his side lost 3-0 after conceding three times in the first half.