Rounding Up La Liga
FC Barcelona did what everyone expected: wrap up the League title with two games to spare. They are the Winners. Now there is no point of brainstorming further regarding the Champions League title. On one hand Manchester United won its 19th title and on the other, Barcelona held their third successive La Liga title following the 1-1 draw away at Levante. So football fanatics are going to see a clash of Titans on 28May. Hold your breath.
Barcelona initially cleared the path of winning La Liga almost stampeding Real Madrid this season accelerating their pace to a level where they rested their stars in the mundane 0-0 draw against Deportivo La Coruna at Camp Nou. Relegation- endangered Deportivo were undeniably contented to see Messi watching from the sidelines.
Real Madrid again proved that they can only trail the Catalans in terms of competition. Of course Ronaldo did exceedingly well this season becoming the Highest Goal-Getter with 38 goals but his efforts ultimately didn’t pay off for his club. As usual they became the second best club of Spanish Football. Though their Portuguese Star equalled the all time League record of Athletic Bilbao's Telmo Zarra in 1951 with a brace in Real Madrid's 3-1 victory at Villarreal. Naturally the comparison was drawn between Messi and Ronaldo regarding who is actually the Great man playing.
The season started brilliantly for Barcelona, the 5-0 against Real Madrid may be the first individual performance La Liga has ever seen. Some teams defend with position but Barcelona defends with possession. Teams are praised for stopping Barca scoring; Barcelona is never praised for stopping the opposition scoring.
Usually La Liga is regarded as a ‘two horse race’ and the universal debate of whether La Liga is basically a ‘Real vs. Barca Liga’ rose once more. Barcelona won their 21st League title, their third in a row and fifth in seven years. Of course there is still a Champions League final to come on but the players and support staffs are having fun. ‘Now it’s time to eat a lot, dance a lot, laugh a lot and celebrate a lot’, as Pep Guardilo said. He also added ‘This has been a hard title’ supporting the statement of Catalans that this has been the toughest League they have had to win since Guardiola took over in 2008. The twist of the League came from the Clasico match where Real Madrid stumbled badly.
This is Barcelona’s third successive Spanish League title. Only four coaches have achieved this before: Heleno Herrera, Miguel Munoz, Enrique Fernandez and Johan Cruyff. Since Guardiola took over in 2008, Barcelona have won thrice whereas, Cruyff’s ‘Dream Team’ won four in a row. So Guardiola still has chances of proving his superiority over the coach of the ‘Dream Team’.
This season Guardiola’s Catalans knocked the Capital club (under the mentorship of Mourinho) out of the race of winning the trophy in Day 32. The Match ended 1-1 with penalty goals respectively coming from the Giants- Ronaldo and Messi. Messi is the second highest Goal-Getter this season followed by Rossi and Villa with 18 goals.
Rossi has scored some breathtaking goals this season but the one which made Guardiola & co. really sit up and take notice came right under their noses. In an away match against Espanyol, the Villarreal striker created a moment of magic as he cut inside from the left and beat keeper Kameni from an impossible angle with a fierce left footed drive. It was unstoppable. The best part is that Rossi can even play as a lone striker or in the midfield so there are chances of seeing this man in some top European club in the next season.
The Minnows of La Liga fought by far this year. The recurring taint of being last benchers encouraged them to fight and prove their presence in the League. Teams like Villarreal and Valencia have played well this season though they have miles to go before they match the standards of Barcelona and Madrid.
