In the year of Covid-19 the five big European leagues did not bring any surprises and their winners were teams that were among the big favorites. The Spanish league has been the tightest. He Real Madrid the alirón sang in the absence of a day. The rarest case was that of PSG, which the French Federation gave as champion when the championship ended, when there were ten days to go and they took twelve points from the second, Marseille.
Zidane’s flower
Madrid traced the advantage that Barça had
Zidane’s team, whose dismissal was close in the autumn, had an irregular march until the break, but after it recovered a defensive solidity based on the old guard (Courtois, Ramos, Varane, Casemiro, Kroos, Modric and Benzema) that it led to a two point advantage over Barça by winning the following ten games, also driven by always favorable decisions by VAR. The league, which Madrid has not won for three years, saves a year in which the great signing, Eden Hazard, has not worked, burdened by injuries. With Florentino Pérez more concerned in the remodeling of the Bernabeu than in renewing the squad, Madrid has the challenge of lifting a Champions League tie against City in Manchester (1-2 in the first leg at the Bernabeu).
Juve’s tyranny
The Turin team won their ninth consecutive scudetto
Juventus won their ninth consecutive scudetto with two days to go. The Agnelli family’s commitment to Maurizio Sarri, a highly controversial coach in Italy, did well. With the quality of the squad, it was a low-risk bet and the team was very similar in its game to that of Massimiliano Allegri, with whom he had won the last six leagues. Cristiano, with 31 goals, did not disappoint either. Like Madrid, Juve has to try to overcome the 1-0 against Lyon in the Champions League, a competition that is usually elusive to the Old lady.
Cycle change
Liverpool reigns in England thirty years later
Liverpool won their first Premier in thirty years with insulting superiority, with seven games to go and a single loss, against Watford, a team that later fell. With the same players who won the Champions League last year (Alisson, Firmino, Mané, Salah, Van Dijk…) and that heavy metal football brand of the house of Jürgen Klopp, the Reds can only blame themselves for a slip in their great season, but a very big one: their surprising elimination in the Champions League at the hands of Atlético in Anfield.
The change of coach
Hans Flick returned Bayern’s identity
Bayern has its closed preserve in the Bundesliga. He won it for the eighth time in a row, this time three days from the end after a faltering start that cost his coach, Niko Kovac, in November. His substitute, Hans Flick made an unstoppable Bayern after the break, protected by the goals of the eternal Robert Lewandowski.
Bayern, Bundesliga champion 2020 (Kai Pfaffenbach / Reuters)
The interrupted league
The French Federation canceled the league in April and made PSG champion
The French Federation ended the League on April 30, when the Covid pandemic was raging in Europe and football seemed like something very minor to everyone. However, the decision is still being discussed and benefited the powerful team of Neymar and Mbappé, who led OM by twelve points with ten days to go. It was the third consecutive league, but those of Thomas Tuchel, Ligue 1 already knows very little. They are only worth the volatile Champions.
