With the major European domestic leagues season 2015/2016 now in the books, what have we learned?
The more things change, the more they stay the same....
Of the seven (7) major leagues (i.e. Spain, Germany, England, Italy, Portugal, France and the Netherlands), there were six (6) teams which successfully defended their titles.
Spain - Barcelona continue to reign in Spain. As strong as Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid are undoubtedly (a UCL final matchup is nothing to scoff at), few would argue that Barcelona is the dominant force in La Liga. Everyone will talk about the MSN (as they should), but Barca also boast other players who are world class in their respective roles Pique - the ball playing centreback, Mascherano - the deep lying engine room, Dani Alves - the fullback who serves the goals up, Rakitic - the all action dynamo, etc.... Always great to see a three team race though.
Germany - Bayern Munich outlasted a Borussia Dortmund team who provided such a legendary performance that it would have been sufficient to win the league in almost any other season. Bayern own almost every record worth owning in Bundesliga history and boast a lavishly assembled team (i.e. Neuer, Vidal, Costa, Robben, etc.) with a sprinkling of world class academy products (i.e. Muller, Alaba, Lahm, etc.) so no surprise there. Oh and for the conspiracy theorists, it doesn't hurt that the best way to strength is to weaken the next best team (i.e. Gotze, Lewandowksi and coming soon Hummels). Dortmund versus Bayern in the DFB Pokal final, well worth a watch.
England - Leicester City, the exception proves the rule? Well to be fair, while few would argue that Leicester City didn't deserve the title this season, even fewer would argue it was made more than a little easier given the alphas (i.e. Chelsea and Manchester City) were abysmal. The names of Mahrez, Vardy and Kante are now well known to even casual fans, but the most impressive part of their championship has been their adaptability. Early in the season, wins came by scoring often then to the latter part it came on the back of clean sheets.
Italy - Juventus Hi5tory with five in a row. Few would have imagined after a 1-0 loss at Sassuolo and sitting firmly in the bottom half of the table - with Inter Milan, Napoli, Roma and Fiorentina all staking their claim for lo Scudetto - that in what was to be a rebuilding year (i.e. Tevez, Vidal and Pirlo as notable departures) a Scudetto could be won. An undefeated run in the league stretching from October to May with a solitary draw, can paper over many cracks. Kudos to Napoli as well who led by an Higuaín season for the ages pushed Juve all the way to April.
Portugal - Benfica won the league for a third straight season buoyed by a record setting pace, which saw Sporting Lisbon chase them all the way but eventually falling short. Some of the standout names may not be familiar to you yet but they will be (see Renato Sanches to Bayern, Joao Mario to insert "EPL club here" - both of whom can be expected to be playing for Portugal in Euro2016).
France - Paris Saint-Germain won the title so long ago it seems as if it was in 2015. Zlatan had a magical season but all PSG sympathizers would still cringe at the failure to advance beyond the quarters of the UCL. The title race was over very early, probably once Nabil Fekir went down injured in August to effectively derail Olympique Lyon, but even if Lyon were at full strength PSG probably would have still been a double digit winner.
Netherlands - PSV Eindhoven clinched an unlikely title on the last day of the campaign, when Ajax bottled it by failing to beat De Graafschap. PSV impressed in the UCL and will likely see their squad decimated in the offseason again (Depay and Wijnaldum left last season) with Bruma, Propper and De Jong potential targets but they . Ajax meanwhile will have an entire offseason to think of what might/should have been.
So what have we learned?
Well regardless of how it was done, be it at a canter, an improbable comeback, a runaway leader almost caught at the end, a fairytale, an epic title race or a last day collapse - to win the league is to be the best of the season, end of story. Well except for that UCL campaign in 2016/2017 season....
