European Football: Iberian Dominance Looms?

This weeks European results have shown a dominance of sides from the Iberian Peninsula. In the 8 matches in the Europa League and the Champions League there were 6 teams involved from Spain and Portugal. In comparison there is only one Italian side left and two English sides.

The results of the matches were also ominous for the rest of Europe. The Champions League results were Real Madrid hammering Spurs 4-0 and Barcelona disposing of Ukrainian champions Shaktar Donestk in a 5-1 demolition.





In the Europa League is where the less heralded but equally one sided dominance of the sides from the Iberian Peninsula can be seen. FC Porto, Benfica and Braga represent Portugal in the last eight with Villarreal being the sole Spanish outfit remaining in the tournament.

Porto smashed a much fancied Spartak Moscow side 5-1 with star striker and former Liverpool target Radamel Falcao getting an impressive hatrick. Rumours are that Inter Milan are looking for a replacement for current manager Leonardo with Porto manager Andre Villas-Boas on the top of their wanted list.  



Porto's rivals Benfica also registered an impressive 4-1 win over Dutch side PSV Eindhoven. This is impressive considering key players such as Ramires, David Luiz and Angel Di Maria have all left the club this season.



The third and final Portuguese side left in the tournament are a less illustrious yet equally dangerous Braga side. They are responsible for Liverpool's exit from the Europa league, ending the Champions League hopes of Sevilla and Celtic before being knocked out at the group stages despite beating Arsenal 2-0. They were up against Manchester City's conquerors Dynamo Kiev and grabbed a credible 1-1 draw in the Ukraine, giving them a good foundation to go through to the last four.



Villarreal are possibly the favourites for the trophy following their impressive defeats of Italian side Napoli and Germans Bayer Leverkusen they defeated FC Twente of Holland 5-1, virtually guaranteeing their place in the semi-finals.



Looking at these results, I wouldn't bet against two Spanish sides making the final four in the Champions League and an all Iberian quartet in the semi-finals of the Europa League. These results clearly show that both trophies are likely to end up in Southern Europe, I'm not sure whether it will last but it's good to see sides playing more expressive and creative football succeeding on Europe's biggest stages.

Who Is The 2010 Team Of The Year?

Its getting towards the end of the year and its time to make the tough decisions. On this occasion its going to be the team of the year... Who's your choice?

Spain

In 2010 Spain became World Champions playing their brand of Tiki Taka football which no-one seems to figure our whether it is entertaining or extremely monotonous. One thing we do know about this side is that with their classy tidy passing they have a grit which allowed them to see of Hollands rather violent challenge in the final...

Barcelona

Well they have won only won La Liga this year but they have made a scintillating start to the 2010-2011 season. This season they have managed to hammer rivals Real Madrid 5-0 in an explosive performance at the Nou Camp. So far this season they've scored 51 goals in 16 games conceding only 9 goals. They are the favorites win La Liga and also the Champions League, with many touting this side as the best ever the world is at the feet of manager Pep Guardiola and his boys...

 
Inter Milan

Well Inter were the most successful club side in 2010 winning the treble (Champions League, Serie A and Coppa Italia). This team had it tactically spot on under Jose Mourinho who managed to get the underperforming Italian giants out of their European slumber. They won the Champions League the hard way beating both Chelsea and Barcelona in the knock out rounds no easy feat I'm sure you'll agree.

The side was dubbed defensive but I feel with Sneijder, Eto'o and Milito they were one of the most effective counter attacking sides I've seen in a very long time.

Germany

Everyone's second favorite team in the World Cup, they played with a flair and attacking freedom which many deemed not very German. The side was young with the likes for Muller, Ozil and Khedira all impressing. The highlights of this team was its demolition jobs on England (4-1) and Argentina (4-0) both sides who were tipped to challenge for the trophy. Hopefully we will see more of them in Euro 2012.

 Chelsea

The won the Premier League and FA Cup in the same season for the first time. They had the best striker in the league Didier Drogba who managed to get 29 Premier League goals. They also scored a record 103 goal on their way to winning the league with an amazing goal difference of +71 the closest to them was Manchester United with a difference of +58, need I say more?

Decision Time...

Who was the best team of 2010?

• Spain
• Germany
• Barcelona
• Inter
• Chelsea

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Cult Player Profile : Luis "Lucho" Enrique

Time to talk about Luis Enrique Martínez García who i feel is a forgotten man in European football. He was an attacking midfielder with an eye for goal. He was getting goals from midfield at the highest level long before anyone had even heard of Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard or Paul Scholes.

He started his career at Sporting Gijon where in his first season where he was on the scoresheet 17 times in 45 appearances. This is an impressive record for any midfielder never mind for a 19 year old who's just broke into the first team.

His rise wasn't overlooked by the leading sides in Spain and Enrique was bought by Real Madrid. He was relatively successful during his time at the Bernabeu winning the Spanish League, the Spanish Cup and Spanish Supercup. In total he played 213 games for Real and scored 18 goals, not the best return rate but this was only the start. He left Madrid under a cloud of controversy he ran down his contract and moved to Madrids bitterest rivals Barcelona managed by Bobby Robson on a free transfer, a bit like Sol Campbell but worse...

After his move to Barcelona Luis Enrique really showed what he could do. He was part of a side that won back to back league titles and back to back Spanish Cups. He also experience success in Europe winning the UEFA Cup Winners Cup and also a UEFA Supercup. Ultimately spent 8 seasons at the Nou Camp before he retire. In those eight seasons he played 300 games in all competitions scoring a 109 goals that's a record of slightly over one every 3 games. His best season was his second at the club when he played 47 matches scoring 25 goals, most strikers would be proud of a season like that. What made him loved by the Barca fans more than anything was the 5 goals he scored against his former club Madrid in "El Classico".



Another thing about Enrique was that he was very versatile he played in ever position during his career except for centre back and goalkeeper. He ended his career at Barcelona and revered as a legend at the club. Now that's the end of his club career time to move onto his international one.

Luis Enrique was capped by Spain 62 times scoring 12 goals. He played 3 World Cups, Euro 96 and won and an Olympic Gold Medal in 1992.

One of his most famous moments was in the 1994 World Cup. Everyone talks about the infamous elbow US player Tab Ramos received from Brazilian Leonardo, but Luis Enrique was on the receiving end of one from Italian defender Mauro Tassotti. The incident led to Enrique losing a pint of blood and Tassotti avoiding a red card, but receiving an eight match ban. In 2008 he was quoted as wanting Spain to "take revenge" against Italy in a fixture between the two countries having not forgiven the Italians for the incident in USA94.

Enrique retired from football in 2004 citing that he could no longer reach the high standards he set himself and went on to participate in marathons in Australia. He has recently returned to Barcelona and is now the coach of the Barcelona B Team much like the current Barca manager Pep Guardiola, so who knows what the future holds for Luis Enrique...

Ronaldo The Greatest Striker Of The Modern Era?

 

 I was recently reading an article about a much maligned and ridiculed Brazilian called Ronaldo. Jokes about his weight and idiotic behaviour were the order of the day. Currently playing for Corinthians in the Brazilian top flight he has been forgotten by European Football. Now this is a lesson for the kids who've grown up with large doses of Cristiano Ronaldo about the "real Ronaldo".

He started his career at Cruziero after the legendary Jairzinho spotted him for the club. He was snapped up by the club only to be sold on to Dutch giants PSV Eindhoven who already had previously had a certain Romario on their books. In his time playing in Holland he scored 42 goals in 46 games, just short of an amazing goal a game record. With this kind of form it wasn't long before he was gaining the attention of major clubs from around Europe.

In 1996 Barcelona came calling and Ronaldo gladly accepted the opportunity to strut his stuff in La Liga. He played for one season in Spain scored 34 goals in 37 games on his way to a Uefa Cup Winners Cup medal and winning the prestigious World Player of the Year Award. This was an amazing feat for an 20 year old but his time at Barcelona was only short and a move for Italian club Inter Milan was his next course of action.

When Ronaldo moved to Serie A it was widely acknowledged as the best and toughest league in the world. He only won a solitary Uefa Cup whilst playing for Inter but what I find impressive was the number of personal accolades he received during his time at the club. He became World Player of the Year for a second time, won the Ballon D'or widely recognised as the premier trophy for an individual player, what was stunning about these feats was that they were achieved in the same year...

Following his success with Inter he moved to join the Galacticos of Real Madrid, this is where I feel his fortunes changed for the worse. He won during his time at Madrid, the Pichichi (the La Liga top scorer award) and the La Liga but had no European success. In my mind his hattrick against Manchester United in the Champions League at Old Trafford really sticks out.  During this time at Madrid due to the party culture and lack of discipline at the club he became overweight and injury prone.

Now I've explained his club successes I have move on to his international career.He made his debut in 1994 against rivals Argentina. He was then included in the 1994 World Cup winning squad although he didn't play this was an achievement in itself at 17 years old. He then went on to play in the 1998 World Cup in France in which he scored 4 and provided 3 assists to help Brazil reach the final. On the eve of the final he suffered a fit but still decided to play and ended up on the losing side.

Ronaldo went one better and won the World Cup in 2002 in Korea and Japan finishing top scorer after scoring twice in the final against Germany. This was his peak for his country, he did play in the 2006 in Germany this was important as in this tournament he became top scorer in World Cup history scoring 15 goals beating Gerd Mullers record of 14 goals.

Now I understand that he has declined since those heady days at the top of international and club football but which player hasn't Pele played in the MLS of his day by the end of his career, Cryuff never won a World Cup and Zidane got sent off in the World Cup Final, I feel we should lay off Ronaldo and appreciate how good he actually was, like we do for the three mentioned, instead of making him the butt of our jokes.