Stuttering La Liga finish tops in European football
Wene Owino | Friday May 23, 2014 15:27
As the top leagues in Europe were witnessing a quick march to the title, Spain experienced a spectacle of three punch-drunk contenders staggering in slow motion to the finishing line.
Then against all expectations, Real Madrid sprawled on the ground. Though its bitter rivals Barcelona and Atletico Madrid landed on the deck, they had enough kinetic to crawl on their bellies to the finishing line.
By the time Atletico throttled Barcelona for the all-important 1-1 draw to get the La Liga title, the three giants had been tormented, hurt and frustrated by the runs in the last stages of the campaign. Real Madrid was pummelled by relegated Valladolid in a sorry record of one win in the four last matches.
Barcelona and Atletico failed to win in their last three outings but still fought for the title in the last game.
But tomorrow, the stuttering finishers will complete the inevitable formality of making sure that all the major world soccer crowns are in Spain. The winner of the UEFA Champions League title will be decided by a duel between Atletico and city rivals Real in Lisbon. Last year, it was an all-German affair between Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich but this time, Spain has done better by producing an all-Madrid final.
Though Spain has made history by collecting the last two European Cup of Nations and the World Cup plus the Europa League title through Sevilla with Champions League coming tomorrow, but what occurred in the last three weeks of La Liga told a story.
Definitely, all the three top sides in Spain would not have even smelled the title if they were in Italy where Juventus broke the points record with a very sure-footed match to the crown. The Old Lady collected an unprecedented 102 points while Atletico won La Liga with 90.
If the La Liga sides were in Germany, they would have been left by the wayside as early as March when Bayern lifted the crown.
In England, Manchester City won its last five matches to lift the title while in Italy, Juventus had a 100 percent record in the last seven games.
But as fate would have it, the leagues that produced the steadiest finishes have been locked out of European glory by relative Spanish paupers like Atletico and Sevilla.
Spain’s increasing monopoly of the European football is once again exemplified by the fact that current Europa League champions, Sevilla, finished fifth in La Liga with 63 points.
Of the eight clubs that contested the semi-finals of Europa League and Champions League, only two were not from Spain.
That means there were two all-Spain semi-finals in European club football this year before the all-Madrid duel in Lisbon tomorrow.
Perhaps this may be a case where football ‘prophets’ are not being honoured at home.