The title race went down to the very last day in both Spain and Italy. In the end the expected teams triumphed, as both Guardiola’s Barcelona and Mourinho’s Internazionale defended their crowns. It was an eventful season in Europe for both these leagues too, as Inter captured the European Cup for the first time in forty-five years, and Atletico Madrid picked up their first European trophy since 1972, and only the third European trophy in their history.
2009-2010 La Liga Champions FC Barcelona
Real Madrid president Roman Calderon was so desperate for his club to overtake Barcelona that he oversaw 256 million Euro worth of spending on new players. In came Xabi Alonso, Raul Albiol, Karim Benzema, and two of the last three winners of the Ballon Dor, Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo. Anything less than winning everything would have been seen as failure for new coach Maunuel Pelligrini. That they won nothing was seen as a disaster. Yet Real Madrid finished with ninety-six points, twenty-five points more than third place Valencia, and more than any team had ever achieved prior to that season. They scored one hundred and two league goals, the second most in the history of the Spanish League. Ronaldo had a wonderful campaign, scoring twenty-six goals in twenty-nine matches, as did Gonzalo Higuaín who netted twenty-seven. But it wasn't enough. Barcelona were just better. They only lost one league game in the entire season. They beat Madrid home and away with relative ease, despite not playing particularly well in either match. Messi scored an embarrassingly good thirty-four goals, running away with the European Golden Boot.
Yet it would also prove to be a slightly disappointing campaign for the Catalan club, as they were knocked out of the Champions League at the semi-final stage by Inter Milan, and defeated in the last sixteen of the Copa Del Rey by eventual cup winners Sevilla. The other two Champions League positions were taken by Valencia and Sevilla. The latter’s place was only booked thanks to a 93rd minute winning goal in their final match of the season against Almeria, finishing one point ahead of a prematurely celebrating Mallorca. The award for most schizophrenic team would have to go to Atletico Madrid. Despite being awful for much of their campaign, they managed to make two cup finals, the Europa League and the Copa Del Rey. They lost the latter to Sevilla, but won the former by beating English club Fulham in extra time thanks to goals from Diego Forlan. The most remarkable thing about their Europa League triumph was that they managed only two normal time victories from their fourteen matches in Europe. In the League they only finished ninth, making them only the third best team in Madrid (Getafe finished sixth).
2009-2010 Serie A Champions Internazionale
Italy had familiar champions in Inter Milan, who continued their post Calciopoli dominance by capturing their fifth Scudetto in a row. It was far from straightforward however, as Roma took the title race down to the wire, thanks to an extraordinary twenty-three match unbeaten run. It was a case of what might have been for Claudio Ranieri’s team, as they were left to rue a horrible start, in which they lost five and drew two of their first ten matches. Roma were also runners-up to Inter in the Coppa Italia, losing 1-0 thanks to a goal from Diego Milito. The 30 year old Argentine also scored both goals in Inter's 2-0 victory over Bayern in the Uefa Champions League final, as Inter became only the sixth team in European football history to complete a Continental Treble (the other teams being Celtic in 1967, Ajax in 1972, PSV Eindhoven in 1988, Manchester United in 1999, and Barcelona in 2009). Jose Mourinho, also became only the third manager, after Ernst Happel and Ottmar Hitzfeld, to win the European Cup with two different clubs in what prove to be his final season with Internazionale.
Third place went to AC Milan who, despite having a more successful campaign than many had expected, parted company with their manager Leonardo. Fourth place, and the final champions league position, was surprisingly taken by Sampdoria after Juventus had a disastrous season, losing fifteen times. In the end, they finishing seventh, and barely scraped a Europa League place. Top scorer was 32 year old Antonio Natale, who netted 29 goals, seven more than second place Milito (a feat made all the more remarkable by the fact that he played for Udinese, a team who finished fifteenth and only scored fifty-four goals.)
Conor Hogan - Conor Hogan is from Clonmel in the Republic Ireland. He has a first class honours bachelor's degree in Humanities from St. Patrick's ...
