Chapter 33: The Europa League That Ended (Part I)
When the news of Boca Juniors taking the lead in organizing the charity match came out from various channels, it immediately attracted a lot of attention, and people couldn't help but find that Boca Juniors deserved to be the club that reacted first after the earthquake, and its approach was also positively responded to by the stars.
Soon, an Argentine veteran team and an active all-star team were put together, and the veteran team was led by the famous son of the wind, Caniggia, Batistuta and others. The current All-Stars are led by Veron, Milito, Messi and others, of course, there will be no missing Santo Tiago.
The charity match is scheduled for May 27, half a month after the earthquake, and the reason why it is set at this time is not only to meet the time of the current players, but also to press after the end of the major leagues, and because the Candy Box Stadium, which is the host venue, can only be used after the end of the Arab League.
Throughout the end of the 07-08 season of world football, there is a feeling of chaos.
Let's talk about La Liga first, the 2007-08 season was a failed journey for Barcelona, the Dream II dynasty fell apart after two years of casting, and the result of the third-line battle was still empty-handed, coach Rijkaard was announced to be sacked before the end of the season, and the Dream II core led by Ronaldinho may also leave in the summer, leaving only a ruin at Camp Nou.
One superstar a year is the policy of Real Madrid's meritorious president Florentino, and the current Real Madrid president Calderón has not inherited the legacy of his predecessors, but it is Barcelona boss Joan Laporta who has learned defeat from his sworn enemy. Originally, Yaya Toure, Milito and Abidal have all become indispensable mainstays for Barcelona this season, but the introduction of Thierry Henry is indeed debatable. The fourth superstar has become an unstable factor in the Barcelona dressing room, and the Frenchman has not performed too well on the pitch anymore, most of the time, Barcelona still rely on Messi, Eto'o and even Bojan to play the world.
Of course, if the introduction of Barcelona is still acceptable, then the sale is really a big problem, in the summer of 2006 Barcelona let go of Larsson, who won the double, and then purged Van Bommel to Bayern Munich. In the summer of 2007, Barcelona let go of the Parisian hero Belletti, attacking defender Van Bronckhorst, and the only pure winger Gyuli, so in fact, the founder of the Dream II dynasty has already gone halfway through the two summers, and when these pragmatic players have left, the run-in pain brought by the arrival of new players has made Barcelona suffer.
What's even more fatal is that during the run-in period between the old and the new, Barcelona also suffered from injuries.
Puyol's injury at the end of the 2006/07 season was just the beginning of a massive injury run at Barca, with Samuel Eto'o injured in the Gamble Cup, Messi injured at the Mestalla, Toure injured in the Africa Cup of Nations, Ronaldinho, Deco and Thierry Henry all the same, and towards the end of the season, Dos Santos and Milito went down again.
Originally, all Barcelona fans still hoped that Rijkar would turn the tide with his excellent tactical thinking and arrangement, but the advent of internal friction became the last straw that broke the camel's back.
Don't be surprised, the tradition of infighting has been around at Camp Nou for a long time, with Samuel Eto'o's bombardment of the goalkeeper Barça dressing room at the end of last season becoming completely public, even though Laporta has vowed to publish a so-called Ten Commandments. But the new season's locker room consumption has increased unabated, Rijkaard's weak character has fueled the arrogance of the players to a certain extent, Edmilson's black sheep goal, Deco's nightclub door, Ronaldinho's fake injury goal, Eto'o's strike goal, how can such a chaotic locker room have the so-called cohesion?
There is no doubt that Barcelona will suffer a sea change in the summer of '08, Rijkaard has packed his bags and left Camp Nou, and the next thing to go is a large number of old courtiers led by Deco, Eto'o and Ronaldinho.
With Pep Guardiola taking over the handicap of Barcelona, the former Camp Nou Kings will also reshape a new team, and the success of the summer signings will determine Barca's future next season, and it is the pockets of Laporta and Soliano that need to be watched at this time. Of course, it is also questionable whether Laporta will continue to be president of the club, and lawyer Giralt has collected nearly 3,500 signatures so far, and in the coming week, Girarte will try to collect more signatures, as long as the number of signatures reaches 5,800, Laporta's dismissal will be inevitable.
On the other hand, its arch-rival Real Madrid, with the best half-season record in 20 years, a new record in season points, and the most goals scored in Europe's top five leagues, after the end of Calderón's second season, Real Madrid, which is on the right track, has created a series of glories. What is even more exciting is that Real Madrid has successfully completed its metabolism, and it is believed that a group of young people represented by Robinho and Higuain will bring more trophies to the White Army.
In the mid-to-late 80s, Real Madrid won five consecutive La Liga titles, and the 89/90 season was the last time the Blancos successfully defended their title before this season. In the case of the departure of many core players such as Xiaobei and Carlos, Schuster led Real Madrid to successfully defend the title for the first time in 18 years, and the Germans achieved a great feat that even Bosque and other meritorious coaches could not conquer.
With Fabio Capello building a strong team spirit and establishing an unshakable position at the heart of Real Madrid, Schuster's success can be regarded as a matter of chaos.
Real Madrid's galaxy superstar is only Raul alone, but with the contribution of all players in defense and the joint efforts of the midfield counter-attacking masters, the most civilian Real Madrid in recent years has created a myth that even Zidane, Figo, Ronaldo and others are beyond reach. In '07 this season, Real Madrid have won all their home games in all competitions, winning 17 of their 19 home games in the league.
While successfully defending his title, Schuster also wrote his name into the annals of Real Madrid. Real Madrid have won the title with 85 points this season, which is a new league record since La Liga was expanded to 20 teams, the previous record was 84 points set by Barcelona in the 04/05 season.
What's even more exciting is that Real Madrid has a brilliant record against strong teams this season, beating Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Villarreal and other giants, while Real Madrid in the transfer market on the other side has always given people a sense of wrongdoing, but this season the Whites have made several amazing deals.
Sneijder was the speed of the Rockets, with the Dutchman scoring nine league goals in a single season, the most in all of La Liga. Robben was questioned for a while, but Peter Pan played a crucial role in the sprint to the end of the season, and his presence ensured that Real Madrid did not collapse due to Robinho's declining form. Although Pepe and Heinze have been plagued by injuries, the two have still solved the stubborn problems that have plagued Real Madrid for many years, and Casey's first Zamora award is also thanks to the contributions of two new signings.
After successfully achieving two consecutive titles, the Spanish media began to think of the new dynasty of Real Madrid, but in all fairness, this Real Madrid team is still a long way from the dynasty.
Sure enough, the defeat in the Champions League proves that Real Madrid does not have the ability to conquer the world now.
The Blancos missed out on the quarter-finals for the fourth consecutive year in the Champions League, the worst record in the club's history. If it wants to make a breakthrough in the European competition, Real Madrid must not only tap its own potential, but also seek a breakthrough in the transfer market. It is said that less than 24 hours after the end of La Liga, Real Madrid finalized the transfer of Argentine central defender Garay, which also marks the official start of the summer strategy of the White Army.
The 07-08 Premier League season has come to an end, but the past nine months have been extraordinary for the Premier League. The toughness of the foreign war allowed the Premier League to surpass Spain to the top of the UEFA league coefficient table; The transfer market not only won the bid and was worth the money, but also the overall pride; In the Forbes list of European giants, the top five teams also occupy three spots in the Premier League. The Premier League is in the midst of a glorious era, with the Premier League leading the race for honour in Europe's top league.
In the 60s of the last century, UEFA introduced a league ranking system to assess the strength ranking of European leagues, and after nearly half a century of testing, the system has been recognized by all parties.
The reason why there are four major European leagues is precisely because the four major leagues of England, Spain, Italy and Germany have been at the top of the list in the past.
This season, Premier League teams have continued their strong run in the Champions League, with four teams reaching the quarter-finals and three clubs reaching the semi-finals, with Manchester United holding on to half the side and meeting Chelsea in the final to make the Champions League final its first English derby.
The Premier League club has been involved in the Champions League finals for four consecutive seasons, and the semi-finals of the past two seasons have staged three English games against Lu Bu, which undoubtedly marks the overall rise of the Premier League.
The Premier League has been an active player in the transfer market in recent years, leading the league in terms of spending money in particular, and they still narrowly led last summer.
Liverpool threw out 36 million euros to buy the European standard king Torres, although the price is the same as Robben, but after a season, the cost performance is higher and which is lower. Torres contributed 33 goals in a single season and broke the record set by Ruud van Nistelrooy in his debut season in the Premier League with 24 league goals in 2001/02, while Arjen Robben scored only five goals in the whole season.
According to the German transfer market website, the total price of players in the Premier League is around 2.8843 billion euros, while the total price of players in La Liga is 420 million less than that of the Premier League. And last summer, the Premier League's total transfer spending also reached 640 million euros, 140 million more than La Liga. And unlike La Liga, which relies on Real Sa to support the façade, in addition to Manchester United and Liverpool in the Premier League, the middle and lower teams are also quite arrogant in the transfer market.
Like Sunderland chairman Quinn let Keane auction 50 million euros in the transfer market last summer, Manchester City also threw out 66.85 million euros, according to statistics, there were 12 clubs that spent more than 30 million euros on Premier League buyers last summer, and only Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur could reach this standard in 06.