Nick Wright previews this weekend's clash between York City Knights and Hull FC
Alex Reid looks at whether the once ever-present appearance of English clubs in the later stages of the Champions League is set to become a thing of the past
Craig Dobson looks at QPR's decision to sack Neil Warnock and replace him with Mark Hughes
James Tompkinson reviews an excellent pre-season victory for the York City Knights against Yorkshire rivals Leeds Rhinos
La Liga: No one appeared particularly keen to win the league in Spain this season. Every time Real Madrid allowed Barcelona back into the title race, Barcelona decided it would be in their interests to lose. Barcelona’s form became so woeful that they almost relinquished a Champions League qualifying spot. Resultantly, Rijkaard has been replaced by Josep Guardiola, a Barcelona legend who carried the B team to success this season.
Real were deserved winners, despite the fact that they lost eight of their sixteen games after New Year. Schuster rotated the squad sensibly around a core group of players and has some exciting young players coming through the ranks.
This season’s title race was unexciting in comparison to previous years; however the relegation battle was a different story. On the final day, Recreativo, Valladolid, Osasuna and Zaragoza were all competing to avoid the final relegation spot. Ultimately, a ninetieth minute equaliser for Recreativo sent Zaragoza down.
Champions League: Real Madrid, Villareal, Barcelona (Q) and Athletico Madrid (Q)
UEFA Cup: Valencia, Sevilla and Racing Santander
Relegated: Levante, Murcia and Real Zaragoza
Highest Scorer: David Guiza – 27 (Mallorca)
Surprise Package: Villareal claimed second spot comfortably from Barcelona and have found a wonderful balance and fluidity to their play. Robert Pires has been reinvented since recovering from injury last season, playing in the hole behind the striker he picks out killer passes and his movement off the ball is essential to opening up the oppositions defence.
Zaragoza were possibly the biggest underachievers in European football this season. Having finished sixth last season and adding real quality in the transfer window (Roberto Ayala and Ricardo Oliveira) they finished the season 18th. This is a team that already had Diego Molito, Pablo Aimar, Andres D’Alessandro and Sergio Garcia on their books.
Welcome to England: Pretty much every striker in Spain has been linked with a move to England this summer (Eto’o, Fabiano, Molito, Kanoute, Ronaldinho, Robinho to name a few). However, Robinho and Fabiano are real possibilities at present, whilst the others remain wishful thinking and conjecture.
Dani Alves appears likely to join Manchester United, as Ferguson looks to strengthen the right back role. As Chelsea have already signed Bosingwa from Porto there should be little competition. Giovanni, dubbed as the successor to Ronaldinho at Barcelona, looks set to leave for pastures new. Tottenham currently lead the race.
Bundesliga: The final day of the season was all about farewells. Bayern had already won the league at a canter, answering some of their critics after last season’s embarrassment. The club has an embarrassment of riches at their disposal and had the title gone anywhere else it would have trumped last season’s failure.
The final game against Hertha Berlin was Oliver Kahn’s swansong. The German legend was playing in his 557th Bundesliga match and can only have been disappointed to have conceded a goal, having previously described such an experience as producing ‘a feeling of loneliness.’ Not only was it Kahn’s final game, but also Ottmar Hitzfeld’s (the manager of Bayern Munich) who was saying goodbye for the second time in four years. Despite this he became rather sentimental and broke down into floods of tears - the rest of the stadium quickly followed suit.
At the other end of the table, Nurnberg were relegated for a record seventh time following their failure to beat Schalke on the final day.
Champions League: Bayern Munich, Werder Bremen and Schalke (Q)
UEFA Cup: Hamburg, Wolfsburg, Borussia Dortmund and Hertha Berlin (Q)
Relegated: Nurnberg, Hansa Rostock and Duisburg
Highest Scorer: Luca Toni – 24 (Bayern Munich)
Surprise Package: Hertha Berlin: despite finishing tenth in the league, Hertha are in next year’s UEFA cup. The UEFA fair play ruling ensured that an extra German team would be granted a position in the competition and subsequently their final game against Bayern was merely handed over to Hitzfeld and Kahn to say their goodbyes. Needless to say that reckless challenges were avoided by Hertha’s players.
Welcome to England: Philipp Degen, the Swiss international right back, has already agreed to join Liverpool on a free transfer from Borussia Dortmund. There is a distinct possibility that one of the big four will move for Franck Ribery from Bayern. However, the chances of success are slim, Bayern are seemingly on an upward trajectory and Ribery was the outstanding contributor to this seasons success; he won the Bundesliga player of the year award.
Check back on The Yorker later in the week to see the review of the Italian and French leagues.
Think a bit of proof reading is required here:
"are real possibilities at presents" - should be present.
"Villareal claimed second sport comfortably" - obviously should be spot.
"Molito" - I assume you mean Milito, and there's two, Gabriel and Diego, Gabriel being the central defender at Barca and Diego a striker at Zaragoza.
You also state Barcelona missed out on a Champions League qualifying spot, that's a fairly poorly constructed statement, they missed out on the oppurtunity to enter straight into the group stages, foregoing the qualifying rounds.
Dani Alves isn't exactly likely to join Man Utd either, he seems fairly nailed on to join Barca now Zambrotta has left for Milan.
Sorry Ben, these are poor errors. However, the fourth point your raise is incorrect I feel. 'Barcelona’s form became so woeful that they almost relinquished a Champions League qualifying spot.' - This is true as they finished third by three points. The fifth point is mere speculation at present! Zambrotta may want CL football in the last few years of his career, Milan can’t provide this!
Zambrotta had officially signed for Milan the day I posted that comment!
http://www.goal.com/en/articolo.aspx?contenutoid=718458
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