European League round-up - La Liga 2008/09
To begin A Different League’s 2009/10 weekly La Liga coverage, we remind you what happened in Spain last season.
The 2007/08 La Liga season had passed with relative insignificance. An all-English Champions League final was the last game on the UEFA calendar, while Real Madrid cantered to victory in La Liga, eight points ahead of second-placed Villareal and a staggering 18 clear of great rivals Barcelona, in a year when vicious in-fighting and poor results replaced the usual flair and brilliance at the Camp Nou.
But with the sweet scent of victory lingering from a summer of national triumph, Spain held its breath once more in anticipation of one of Europe’s great showpieces - La Primera Liga.
Barcelona started their preparations for the season in May - parting company with manager Frank Rijkaard and welcoming former club captain Josep (Pep) Guardiola into the Catalonian cauldron.
The bickering squad of old was reshuffled, with Ronaldinho, Deco, Edmilson and Gianluca Zambrotta all falling victim to the Guardiola axe. Highly-rated Brazilian full-back Dani Alves arrived from Sevilla along with Seydou Keita and Gerard Pique, signalling the start of a new chapter in the Barcelona history book.
Three hundred miles away in Madrid, the newly-crowned champions also bid farewell to an array of established talent. Italian international Antonio Cassano, whose time in Spain had been marred by injury and personal disagreement with Fabio Capello, departed for Sampdoria on a free transfer, whilst Julio Baptista joined the exodus to the Italian Serie A, signing for A.S Roma on a four-year deal. Robinho joined Manchester City for a Premier League record fee of £32.5m, ending a summer of speculation over the unsettled Brazilian’s future.
Whilst Spain’s two battling titans prepared for another clash at the summit of the table, La Liga’s top six looked towards cementing their standing within the division. Villareal and Atlético Madrid, with one of the finest forward pairings on the continent in South Americans Sergio (Kun) Aguero and Diego Forlan, were preparing for a Champions League campaign, whilst Sevilla and Valencia looked towards securing European football.
For others, the 2008/09 season was to bring fresh hope and new promise. Numancia, Malaga and Sporting Gijón emerged from the purgatory of Spain’s Segunda Division, setting their sights firmly on survival in one of Europe’s fiercest and most prestigious leagues.
The opening weekend of La Liga was one of undeniable surprise. Barcelona managed little more than a whimper in a 1-0 defeat to newly-promoted Numancia while Real Madrid slumped to a 2-1 loss against Deportivo La Coruna. Atlético Madrid sat proud at the summit of the table courtesy of a 4-0 thrashing of Malaga - 50,000 fans inside the Vicente Calderon stadium bearing witness to a brace from Diego Forlan after John Heitinga had put Los Indios ahead in the 26th minute.
Despite labouring to a 1-1 draw with Racing Santander the following week, Barcelona found their form - and flair - in September and October, scoring 36 goals in the next eight fixtures, netting six apiece against Sporting Gijón, Valladolid and the now floundering Atlético, whose early momentum was long forgotten following consecutive defeats to Sevilla and bitter rivals Real Madrid.
By early November the league table had returned to familiar form: Barcelona led Villareal by a point, followed closely by Real Madrid and Valencia - who had occupied top spot for six weeks prior to a shock 4-2 home defeat to Racing Santander. At the foot of the table Athletic Bilbao, Numancia and Osasuna - who parted company with Coach Jose Angel Ziganda after an opening run of six winless games - struggled to get their campaigns into gear. Newcomers Malaga, having taken only one point from their first five fixtures, became the league’s surprise package, winning four consecutive games during October, elevating them to an unprecedented 8th position.
Despite Barcelona’s scintillating form, the Spanish winter was dominated by events in Madrid. A poor run of results coupled with a string of bizarre encounters with the Spanish press had left Coach Bernd Schuster teetering on the brink of departure. Following a 3-2 defeat to Sevilla - a third loss in four matches which left Madrid nine points behind leaders Barcelona in fifth place - Schuster was sacked. His replacement, ex-Tottenham and Sevilla coach Juande Ramos, was appointed on December 9 on a six-month contract, his first game in charge being a Champions League encounter with Zenit St. Petersburg in which Madrid eased to a 3-0 victory courtesy of superb finishes from Raul (2) and Arjen Robben.
If Ramos had allowed himself any pleasure from his opening win, his joy was to be short-lived. Madrid’s next outing would see them travel to the Camp Nou to face a seemingly invincible Barcelona side in the first El Clasico of the season, a match Bernd Schuster had declared to the press as “not possible to win before his departure from the club. Schuster’s ominous prediction proved correct as late goals from Samuel Eto’o and Lionel Messi saw Barcelona triumph 2-0 and extend their lead at the top of La Liga to eight points. Madrid boosted their injury-stricken squad with the signings of Lassana Diarra and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar in the January transfer window, the latter appointed as a replacement for the injured Ruud Van Nistelrooy.
By the half-way stage of the season the race for the La Liga title was beginning to look all but over. Despite three consecutive wins following defeat in El Clasico, Madrid were unable to close the gap on their rivals and led the chasing pack, alongside Sevilla, a massive 12 points behind Pep Guardiola’s brilliant Barcelona. His side had collected an incredible 50 points in the first half of the season, scoring a staggering 60 goals along the way.
Valencia occupied the final Champions League place with both Villareal and Atletico within touching distance of the coveted fourth position. Malaga built on their early run of surprisingly rich form and climbed to seventh in the standings - level on points with Atletico and just three away from Champions League qualification. At the bottom, Osasuna continued to struggle and were now joined in the relegation zone by Mallorca and Espanyol - who had sacked Coach Jose Manuel Esnal after less than two months in charge of the club.
Spring-time brought with it an unexpected stutter from the league leaders. Having scraped a 2-2 draw against a struggling Real Betis side in Seville a week earlier, Barcelona welcomed Espanyol to the Camp Nou on February 21 for the Catalan derby, a clash which saw the league’s top and bottom sides go head-to-head. After a goalless first half, Espanyol shocked their opponents (and the world) with two goals in four minutes straight after the restart, both from former Barca midfielder Iván de la Peña. Yaya Touré pulled a goal back for the home side but Espanyol held out to stun the 98,000-strong crowd and register their first win at the Camp Nou for 26 years, consigning Barcelona to their first defeat since August.
Barca’s next game was to be arguably the most exciting encounter of the season. They travelled to Madrid to face Atlético, whose inconsistency had led to the departure of coach Javier Aguirre a month earlier. Thierry Henry opened the scoring for the visitors in the 18th minute before their lead was doubled shortly after by Messi, his mesmerizing run outshone only by his cool finish. Atletico countered instantly though, Diego Forlan firing a thunderous 30-yard strike past a helpless Victor Valdes before Sergio Aguero equalized for the home side in the 55th minute. Barca went ahead again after Eidur Gudjohnsen broke free of the ever-fragile Atletico defence
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