{"id":601977,"date":"2026-05-24T21:16:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T21:16:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/601977\/"},"modified":"2026-05-24T21:16:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T21:16:09","slug":"bournemouth-denied-champions-league-spot-despite-tavernier-securing-point-at-forest-premier-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/601977\/","title":{"rendered":"Bournemouth denied Champions League spot despite Tavernier securing point at Forest | Premier League"},"content":{"rendered":"

All aboard Rayanair, the airline of choice projected on to a giant flag with which Bournemouth\u2019s players celebrated and one cherry-picked for their first European adventure. There was an inflatable plane bobbing around the away end and, for long periods, their unlikely Champions League dream was on. The Europa League will have to suffice. Andoni Iraola, whose name was serenaded on loop, will exit the stage having led Bournemouth<\/a> to sixth, their best finish, a record points tally of 57 and having secured European football for the first time in the club\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

It does not sound too bad. This result was quickly rendered redundant by Brighton imploding at home to Manchester United but Aston Villa\u2019s shock win at Manchester City and Liverpool\u2019s failure to beat Brentford denied Iraola the perfect ending.<\/p>\n

This draw at Forest, who led through a Morgan Gibbs-White free-kick, means Bournemouth completed the second round of fixtures unbeaten<\/a>, a run that goes back to last year. \u201cI think it\u2019s the most incredible achievement,\u201d Iraola said. A swell of Forest fans even applauded Bournemouth off.<\/p>\n

For Gibbs-White, it was a decent response to being left out of the England squad<\/a> despite 19 Premier League goal contributions, including 15 goals. Only Erling Haaland, Igor Thiago and Antoine Semenyo finished with a better goal return. One of those in Thomas Tuchel\u2019s 26-man squad, Elliot Anderson, departed the pitch midway through the second half to a standing ovation, this probably his final Forest game; City, despite Pep Guardiola\u2019s exit, are thought to be at the front of the queue for the midfielder.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know I have done more than enough to be in the squad,\u201d Gibbs-White said. \u201cI just got on the wrong side of someone\u2019s opinion. I have been on the wrong side of people\u2019s opinions throughout my career so I\u2019m only going to bounce back. We had a good conversation. I respect him for calling me and telling the news. I agreed with what he had to say. I\u2019m glad the season is behind us now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morgan Gibbs-White gives Nottingham Forest the lead. Photograph: Craig Brough\/Action Images\/Reuters<\/p>\n

At half-time it appeared the dominoes were falling into place and approaching the hour the Cherries\u2019 supporters sang of Bayern Munich and Barcelona but ultimately they will have to lower their sights to clubs such as Bayer Leverkusen and Besiktas.<\/p>\n

That should not prove too painful given their incredible journey to this point but that there was a tinge of disappointment at not qualifying for the Champions League says everything about their rise. Four years ago they were in the Championship and 17 years ago were on the brink of going bust.<\/p>\n

Quick GuidePremier League teams in Europe next seasonShow<\/p>\n

Champions League Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United, Aston Villa, Liverpool<\/p>\n

Europa League Bournemouth, Sunderland (Crystal Palace will also play in the Europa League if they win the Conference League final on Wednesday)<\/p>\n

Conference League Brighton<\/p>\n

Thank you for your feedback.<\/p>\n

No defender in the Premier League<\/a> covered more ground than Adrien Truffert this campaign and the Frenchman \u2013 surely one of the signings of the season since his \u00a311m move from Rennes \u2013 was the catalyst for Bournemouth\u2019s leveller. Rather than admire his pass to Marcus Tavernier, Truffert burst forward on the overlap, outmuscling Jair Cunha on the byline, from where the left-back pulled the ball back for an unmarked Tavernier to rifle in a first-time strike past Matz Sels.<\/p>\n

Now Bournemouth just needed results elsewhere to go in their favour to bag a spot in Europe\u2019s premier club competition. At first, things seemed to be going to plan, Curtis Jones opening the scoring for Liverpool in the second half, a goal soon relayed to the sun-drenched away end here. United were 3-0 up at Brighton. Ollie Watkins had levelled for Villa but, with an hour gone, all Bournemouth required was a winner for Guardiola\u2019s side. Earlier in the day the visiting fans had cheered Semenyo\u2019s first-half opener against Villa. \u201cI celebrated a little bit when City went to 2-2 but it was disallowed,\u201d Iraola said.<\/p>\n

Watkins\u2019s second goal at City, for a team who spent the early hours of Thursday morning partying with Prince William in Istanbul, was not part of the script. Bournemouth had chances to seize the lead, the substitute Ben Gannon-Doak fluffing his lines and earlier carving their Brazilian Rayan a shooting opportunity from the edge of the box. Sels saved smartly from Eli Junior Kroupi, arguably the jewels in this dynamic Bournemouth side, and Gibbs-White went close at the other end.<\/p>\n

Both teams have been on quite the ride, Forest cycling through four managers and reaching a Europa League semi-final, Bournemouth\u2019s ending in joy. \u201cI think I enjoyed every second with the fans, the players,\u201d Iraola said of the full-time celebrations. \u201cIt is so nice to finish like this. I\u2019ve seen a lot of Basque flags, I saw a lot of people who have supported me these three years. There is some champagne now in the changing room and the players will celebrate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Iraola\u2019s future is unclear, but he will remain in Bournemouth until July owing to his children\u2019s school term. Marco Rose, his successor, has meetings in Bournemouth on Monday, when the club have a staff celebration on the beachfront.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will take my time to make a decision,\u201d said Iraola, who is Crystal Palace\u2019s No 1 target but also has interest from Bayer Leverkusen. \u201cI want to continue as a head coach, we will see what we will decide. I don\u2019t know what\u2019s going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked whether he had absorbed the scale of his achievements, the 43-year-old replied: \u201cThat\u2019s probably one of the reasons why I\u2019m leaving, because it\u2019s been so nice and before maybe regretting it next year, I wanted to finish it here \u2013 because you cannot ask for more.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"All aboard Rayanair, the airline of choice projected on to a giant flag with which Bournemouth\u2019s players celebrated…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":601978,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-601977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=601977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601977\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/601978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=601977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=601977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=601977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}