The football seasons are ending all around Europe, with some interesting and notable results!
Last weekend FC Twente won their first Dutch championship ever, upsetting the power of the usual greats of Dutch football; Ajax Amsterdam, PSV Eindhoven and Feyenoord.
In France, Olympique Marseille coached by the former French national team captain, Didier Deschamps, today won the French Championship for the first time since 1992 (not counting the one they were stripped for in 1993 for bribery) with a 3-1 victory over Rennes, while their closest rivals Auxerre lost points to Olympique Lyon. This also further upsets the balance in French football, where Olympique Lyon had won for seven seasons in a row until Bordeaux won last season.
French club football is entertaining and surely the league, such as the Dutch, is more varied than in some other countries where the leagues have only become a rivalry between 2-3 clubs, with the rest being mere spectators.
Such a league is the Ukranian league, where Shakhtar Donetsk and Dynamo Kiev always fight for the title. This season it was Shakhtar's turn as they defeated Dynamo Kiev 1-0 to take the title.
In Spain, Real Madrid is still trailing FC Barcelona by one point, with both teams winning against anyone they encounter. Today Cristiano Ronaldo was spectacular scoring 3 goals in Real Madrid's 4-1 victory against Mallorca. There are now really (and sadly if you are a fan of the Spanish league) only two teams in the Spanish league, with the rest just vying for the extra Champions League spots that Spain gets only because of Real Madrid's and FC Barcelona's exploits.
I must admit though that I am very happy that Valencia CF just made sure that they will be in the CL next season by winning 3-1 against Xerex, but one should not expect too much of them among the top of European football - in Spain they are only "the best of the rest of them"....
The German Bundesliga is often dominated by the southern German giants of Bayern Munich, who with a 3-1 win over Schalke 04 almost made sure they will be German champions this season. In fact, Bayern Munich will be going for "the Triple", as they will be playing the final of the German Cup against Werder Bremen, and the CL final.
The other CL finalists, Inter Milan from Italy also has all chances to win the "Triple", and took their first step by winning the "Triple" by taking the Italian Cup with a 1-0 victory against AS Roma, who is also their closest rival for the Serie A title. But also there Inter Milan is set to win: with two matches left they are 2 points ahead of the Romans, and will also be hoping to win their third title in Madrid on May 22nd.
In England the Premier League title is a struggle between Chelsea and Manchester United, with Chelsea very close to taking the title. In the meantime, Arsenal is sure of one of the CL spots, while Tottenham Hotspurs made sure that they will be in the CL next season by defeating Manchester City 1-0. It will surely be interesting to see the Londoners in Europe next season!
A lot of happy and some disappointed fans!
2 comments:
Erik,
regarding the dominance of Real and Barcelona this season, I think it is worth to notice the precense of spanish players in these teams - they have big stars from abroard, but they also have some of the best spanish players. Which in my opinion is good, as compared to the english situation.
//jim
It is not only this season.
But I agree.
But it is not about that - it is about the fact that the Spanish league is effectively a two-team league. Real Madrid and Barcelona dont really need to play the rest, and games with other teams are totally uninteresting. That is what makes the Spanish league second rate.
I agree with Arsene Wenger who recently said that he doesnt understand why any player would want to play in Spain (ok, I know it is only about money)
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