From Paul:
Well 48 hours later than usual and looking forward to a holiday...which won't happen. The final piece of the season..
...OK so the season is just about over in that everything has been decided. Malaga, Cadiz and Alaves went down. Alaves in the most painful way as Espanyol scored a last minute goal to save themselves. Everyone will miss Cadiz, who has some of the best fans around (they get behind their teams, yet make their opponents feel welcome at the same time) - we all hope to see them back soon.
Personally I won't miss Malaga, who year after year has sold their best players, so sooner or later it had to happen. As for Alaves, well, their president changed coaches like the wind and basically paid for being a dictator. A shame for their fans, but it is always painful going down.
Barca ran away with the title and Real Madrid has finished second. However, it says a lot that they confirmed their second place after losing 4-3 to Sevilla and only because Valencia lost 2-1 to Osasuna in their last game.
The Sevilla - Madrid game was amazing, 0-2 down after 25 minutes, Sevilla scored four in 17 minutes to go 4-2 up at the break.
Sadly the score in Pamplona (where Osasuna went 2-0 up against Valencia) conditioned the second 45, but it makes it clear that whoever takes over at Madrid (what bets they have interests in the construction industry???) has a lot of work to do.
Congrats to Osasuna, who finish 4th and have a Champions League play-off, but I fear that without Aguirre, who for some bizarre reason is joining Atletico Madrid next season, may be hard for them.
However now is probably a good time for a few personal awards:
Best outfield player: Ronaldinho
Best goalkeeper: Casillas
Best coaches: Aguirre, Rijkaard and Javier Clemente
Best ground: Camp Nou
Best game: Real Madrid 0 - Barca 3
Best youngster: Messi (Barca) Ustatriz (Athletic Bilbao)
I'm sure there are more, but they will have to wait...until next year,
cheers PAUL
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