Premier Cup

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The Premier Cup was a one-off football tournament held to mark the coronation of Queen Alexandra on 1 August 2019. Contested between eight English football clubs, the tournament lasted for over four weeks, beginning on 18 May 2019 and ending on 2 June 2019.

Consisting of a total of sixteen clubs, in alphabetical order, the teams that competed in the tournament are:

In total, the tournament consisted of four stages, namely the round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals, and finals along with the third-place playoffs, all of which are one-legged occasions. Meanwhile, the clubs that compete in the tournament are drawn against one another at random via a televised lucky draw, and their fixtures in the round of 16, quarter-finals, and semi-finals are played simultaneously. Meanwhile, the finals were held at Wembley Stadium, London while the third-place playoffs were held at Old Trafford, Manchester.

Similar to most football tournaments, penalty shootouts were used to break any potential deadlocks while a player who has accumulated two cumulative yellow cards or simply a red card is declared ineligible for the next match and must therefore wait out the suspension period before being allowed to return.

Having been planned for at least several months in advance, the tournament resulted in the delays of the 2019 FA Cup Final, the 2019 Scottish Cup Final, 2019 Copa del Rey Final, and the 2019 UEFA Champions League Final, all of which were otherwise rescheduled to take place after the tournament had ended so as to ensure that the competing clubs could focus solely on the tournament.

Venue

Draw

For the round of 16, the clubs competing in the tournament were randomly grouped into eight groups of two via a lucky draw held on 14 May 2019. The results of the draw, which was televised live on multiple channels including BBC Sport, Sky Sports, and beIN Sports, are as follows:

Round of 16

On 18 May 2019, the round of 16 fixtures took place. In this, a brace from Georginio Wijnaldum saw Liverpool easily dominate Scottish champions Celtic with Arsenal managing a similar huge victory over Kilmarnock. Meanwhile, both Manchester clubs successfully prevailed over their Spanish opponents, with Manchester United particularly managing a narrow 2-1 win over Real Madrid. Elsewhere, Spanish champions Barcelona were stunned by a 2-3 loss to Valencia whereas Atlético Madrid, via a brace from Diego Costa, defeated Sevilla 3-1 while Chelsea narrowly defeated Tottenham Hotspur 3-2 as Rangers instead defeated Aberdeen 1-0.

Quarter-finals

On 22 May 2019, the quarter-final fixtures took place. In this, the tournament's first penalty shootout took place as Manchester United defeated Chelsea 5-4 on penalties following a 1-1 draw in which David De Gea successfully denied Álvaro Morata's attempt while his counterpart Kepa failed to save an attempt from Marcos Rojo. Meanwhile, Valencia easily demolished Rangers 6-0 via a brace from midfielder Daniel Wass whereas in the two remaining high-stakes matches Manchester City saw off Atlético Madrid in a 2-0 win while Liverpool managed a narrow 1-0 win over Arsenal via a late goal from forward Roberto Firmino.

Semi-Finals

On 26 May 2019, the semi-final fixtures took place. In this, against expectations, Valencia defeated Liverpool 5-3 on penalties following a 1-1 draw where errors by Liverpool's Fabinho and Jordan Henderson allowed Valencia, who otherwise successfully converted all five of their attempts, to emerge victorious. Meanwhile, local rivals Manchester United and Manchester City also competed against each other for a spot in the finals with The Citizens ultimately defeating The Red Devils 2-1 in injury time via a goal from defender Nicolás Otamendi who scored the tiebreaking goal after an earlier goal from Sergio Agüero was countered by a goal from Manchester United's Anthony Martial who successfully converted a corner from Alexis Sánchez to initially make it 1-1.

Finals & Third-Place Playoffs

On 2 June 2019, the finals and the third-place playoffs took place. In the finals held at Wembley Stadium, London, Valencia staged a memorable upset to defeat Manchester City 3-1 with Kevin Gameiro, Carlos Soler, and Michy Batshuayi scoring a goal each while Manchester City found a consolation goal late in the 86th minute through Kevin De Bruyne.

Meanwhile, on that same day, at Old Trafford, Manchester, Manchester United contested the third-place playoffs with Liverpool in which a goal right before half-time from Alexis Sánchez saw Manchester United mark a narrow 1-0 win over Liverpool to ultimately secure third place at home ground.

Aftermath

In the aftermath of the tournament, the top scorer award was notably shared by Valencia players Daniel Wass and Kevin Gameiro, both of whom had scored three goals each, while the top assister award was shared by at least four players namely Manchester United's Alexis Sánchez, Liverpool's Joël Matip, as well as Valencia players Ezequiel Garay and Dani Parejo. Meanwhile, over the course of the tournament, only two players were ever sent off with them being Manchester United's Ashley Young and Sevilla's Wissam Ben Yedder.

Having been positively likened by some media commentators including BBC Sport's Gary Lineker to a "mini World Cup with all the prestige, size, and entertainment", the tournament was met with a positive overall reception as critics mostly pointed to Valencia's surprise triumph as the highlight of the tournament whereas both Real Madrid and FC Barcelona exited the tournament early following losses to Manchester United and eventual winners Valencia who also staged a memorable upset by defeating Liverpool following their previous demolition of Rangers who were the only Scottish side to survive the round of 16 whereas others including dominant champions Celtic were eliminated early on.

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