MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Liverpool fans jeered as the defending Premier League champion dropped more points on Saturday.
A 1-1 draw with Chelsea at Anfield saw Liverpool move a step closer to guaranteed Champions League qualification — fourth in the table with two rounds left — but another unconvincing performance sparked a frustrated reaction from the crowd.
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Sunderland's Lutsharel Geertruida is challenged by Manchester United's Matheus Cunha and Joshua Zirkzee, right, during the English Premier League soccer match between Sunderland and Manchester United in Sunderland, England, Saturday May 9, 2026. (Owen Humphreys/PA via AP)
Liverpool's manager Arne Slot walks off the pitch after the Premier League soccer match between Liverpool and Chelsea in Liverpool, England, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)
Liverpool's Ryan Gravenberch, left, and Chelsea's Marc Cucurella go for the ball during the Premier League soccer match between Liverpool and Chelsea in Liverpool, England, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)
Chelsea's Enzo Fernandez (top) celebrates with team-mate Wesley Fofana after scoring their side's first goal of the game during the Premier League soccer match between Liverpool and Chelsea in Liverpool, England, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (Peter Byrne/PA via AP)
Chelsea's Enzo Fernandez (top) celebrates with team-mate Wesley Fofana after scoring their side's first goal of the game during the Premier League soccer match between Liverpool and Chelsea in Liverpool, England, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (Peter Byrne/PA via AP)
There were boos at the final whistle to mark growing unrest from Liverpool supporters in a season that has seen the team tamely surrender the title despite spending around $570 million in the transfer market.
There has been speculation about the job of coach Arne Slot, who insists there will be improvements next term.
“This season they (fans) will have their opinion and it will not change, but if we can have the summer that we are planning to have I am 100% convinced we will be a different team next season," he said. "Different in terms of results, different in how things look."
Third-placed Manchester United drew at Sunderland 0-0 while there were wins for Champions League-chasing Bournemouth and Brighton.
Manchester City met Brentford in the late game.
Liverpool can make certain of a place in the Champions League with a victory at Aston Villa next Friday. But it could find itself in fifth place by the time that game kicks off.
Villa was fifth and would leapfrog Liverpool by beating relegated Burnley on Sunday. The top five automatically qualify for the Champions League and English clubs could get a sixth spot if Villa wins the Europa League and finishes outside the top four.
The draw allowed Chelsea to break its six-game losing streak. Enzo Fernandez's bouncing free kick went in before halftime to equalize after Ryan Gravenberch's early goal.
Liverpool twice went close to a winner in the second half when Dominik Szoboszlai and Virgil van Dijk hit the woodwork.
Bournemouth and Brighton were still pushing for Champions League qualification after both recorded wins.
Sixth-placed Bournemouth won at Fulham 1-0 in a game in which both teams were reduced to 10 men.
Brighton was seventh and beat last-placed Wolverhampton 3-0.
Without injured striker Benjamin Sesko and Brazil midfielder Casemiro, United failed to find a breakthrough at Sunderland.
United managed just one shot on target in a dour match.
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Sunderland's Lutsharel Geertruida is challenged by Manchester United's Matheus Cunha and Joshua Zirkzee, right, during the English Premier League soccer match between Sunderland and Manchester United in Sunderland, England, Saturday May 9, 2026. (Owen Humphreys/PA via AP)
Liverpool's manager Arne Slot walks off the pitch after the Premier League soccer match between Liverpool and Chelsea in Liverpool, England, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)
Liverpool's Ryan Gravenberch, left, and Chelsea's Marc Cucurella go for the ball during the Premier League soccer match between Liverpool and Chelsea in Liverpool, England, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)
Chelsea's Enzo Fernandez (top) celebrates with team-mate Wesley Fofana after scoring their side's first goal of the game during the Premier League soccer match between Liverpool and Chelsea in Liverpool, England, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (Peter Byrne/PA via AP)
Chelsea's Enzo Fernandez (top) celebrates with team-mate Wesley Fofana after scoring their side's first goal of the game during the Premier League soccer match between Liverpool and Chelsea in Liverpool, England, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (Peter Byrne/PA via AP)
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungary's Péter Magyar took his oath of office on Saturday to become the country's new prime minister, kicking off a fresh political era after 16 years of Viktor Orbán's autocratic rule.
Magyar’s center-right Tisza party defeated Orbán’s nationalist-populist Fidesz in a stunning blow last month, gaining more votes and seats in parliament than any other party in Hungary’s post-Communist history.
The win, which gave Tisza a two-thirds parliamentary majority, will allow it to roll back many of the policies that gave Orbán a reputation among his critics as a far-right authoritarian.
In a speech to tens of thousands of supporters in a square outside the parliament building after being sworn in, the new prime minister told the crowd: “Today, every freedom-loving person in the world wants to be a little Hungarian.”
“You have taught the country and the world that it is the most ordinary, flesh-and-blood people that can defeat the most vicious tyranny,” Magyar said to roaring applause.
As Hungary's new leader, Magyar has vowed to restore democratic institutions and governmental checks and balances that were heavily eroded during Orbán's rule, and to clamp down on alleged corruption.
His administration is expected to transform political dynamics within the European Union, where the former prime minister had upended the bloc by frequently vetoing key decisions, most recently concerning support for neighboring Ukraine.
On Saturday, Magyar, a 45-year-old lawyer who founded Tisza in 2024, entered the sprawling neo-Gothic parliament building alongside 140 of his party representatives.
Tisza now controls 141 seats in Hungary's 199-seat parliament. Orbán’s Fidesz-KDNP coalition controls 52 seats, down from 135, while the far-right Mi Hazánk (Our Homeland) party holds six seats.
The 199 representatives took their oaths of office at around 11 a.m. Orbán was not among them for the first time since Hungary’s first post-Communist parliament was formed in 1990.
Magyar earlier called on Hungarians to attend an all-day “regime-change” celebration on Kossuth Square outside parliament to mark his inauguration and the end of the Orbán era. Many of those gathered waved Hungarian and EU flags and wore Tisza T-shirts.
In his speech, Magyar delivered a message of unity, and promised to help heal the deep social divisions he said Orbán's government had sown.
“Today is the fulfillment of the long journey that we have made together in recent years, the fulfillment of the common belief that Hungary is able to get back on its feet, is able to believe in itself and to once again be a common homeland for all Hungarians,” he said.
Hungary's new National Assembly has 54 women lawmakers, most from the Tisza party — more than a quarter of the total and the most in Hungary’s history.
One of them, Andrea Szepesi, an economist from Budapest, said it was “about time” that more women held seats in parliament. Under Orbán's rule, there were fewer women in government than in nearly all of the EU's other 26 nations.
“Finally, women are able to participate in this new, beautiful democratic system and the flourishing of the country,” Szepesi told The Associated Press.
Magyar has promised to repair his country’s ties with the EU, which Orbán had pushed to a breaking point, and to restore Hungary’s place among Western democracies, whose standing had been called into question as Orbán drifted ever closer to Russia.
The EU flag was raised on the parliament building’s facade Saturday afternoon for the first time since Orbán’s government removed it in 2014.
Unlocking about 17 billion euros ($20 billion) of EU funds for Hungary frozen during Orbán’s time in office over rule-of-law and corruption concerns is also among the new prime minister’s top priorities. The money is sorely needed to help jump-start Hungary’s struggling economy, which has stagnated for the past four years.
Another attendee of the celebration, 27-year-old web designer Áron Farsang, said he expects the new Tisza government to restore Hungary's democratic institutions and to “lead us back toward the European Union.”
“I would also really like it if we could get rid of the Russian influence as soon as possible,” he said. “I’m thinking about energy dependency and their general political style.”
Many of the nearly 3.4 million Hungarians that voted for Tisza expect Magyar to hold Fidesz officials and their business allies accountable for the perceived misconduct of the outgoing administration.
In his speech to the National Assembly, he called on Fidesz-appointed heads of government institutions, including President Tamás Sulyok, to resign no later than May 31.
Magyar plans to form a National Asset Recovery and Protection Office, an authority tasked with investigating and seeking to recover public funds misused during Orbán’s tenure. He’s also vowed to suspend the news services of Hungary’s public broadcaster — widely seen as a mouthpiece of Orbán’s party — until objectivity can be restored.
In his speech to lawmakers, Magyar referenced his intentions to hold former officials accountable for past abuses, saying voters had “given us a mandate to open a new chapter in Hungary’s history.
“We must understand, however, that there can be no new beginning without reconciliation. There can be no reconciliation without justice. And there can be no justice without confronting the past,” he said.
People gathered in front of the Hungarian Parliament after Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar took his oath of office in Budapest, Hungary, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar delivers his speech in front of the Hungarian Parliament, after taking his oath of office in Budapest, Hungary, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar applauds in front of the Hungarian Parliament, after taking his oath of office in Budapest, Hungary, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
Hungary's new Prime Minister Peter Magyar leaves the Hungarian Parliament after ceremony in Budapest, Hungary, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
Peter Magyar takes the oath as Hungary's prime minister during a ceremony in Budapest, Hungary, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
Peter Magyar takes the oath as Hungary's prime minister during a ceremony in Budapest, Hungary, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
Peter Magyar takes the oath as Hungary's prime minister during a ceremony in Budapest, Hungary, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
Peter Magyar takes the oath as Hungary's prime minister during a ceremony in Budapest, Hungary, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
General view of the Hungarian Parliament's main hall during the inauguration ceremony of Prime Minister Peter Magyar in Budapest, Hungary, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
Hungarian Prime Minister-elect Peter Magyar smiles before the inauguration ceremony at the Parliament in Budapest, Hungary, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
Hungarian Prime Minister-elect Peter Magyar gestures before the inauguration ceremony at the Parliament in Budapest, Hungary, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
Hungarian Prime Minister-elect Peter Magyar, center, arrives with fellow lawmakers at the Parliament building in Budapest, Hungary, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
A member of the Hungarian parliament guard wait in the morning before the inauguration ceremony of Prime Minister Peter Magyar in Budapest, Hungary, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
Members of the Hungarian parliament guard wait in the morning before the inauguration ceremony of Prime Minister Peter Magyar in Budapest, Hungary, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
Hungarian Prime Minister-elect Peter Magyar, center, arrives with fellow lawmakers at the Parliament building in Budapest, Hungary, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
Hungarian Prime Minister-elect Peter Magyar, center, arrives with fellow lawmakers at the Parliament building in Budapest, Hungary, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
