To a normal football eye, the 2019/20 season was a tricky one. It still continues to be full of surprises, but the course of action with which the season had to be concluded was one-of-its-kind. Due to the global pandemic, the unthinkable unfolded in front of us, as football paused precisely at the time it should’ve peaked in Europe.
The way football paused with vehement sadness, its re-start made fans equally joyful. For fans, football became an excuse from all the chaos that COVID-19 circulated throughout the globe, despite being locked inside their own homes.
For clubs, the uncertainty of not knowing when football would resume came to an end. While some clubs found it hard after the re-start to gain momentum, some clubs managed to persist, and eventually emerged out of the challenges.
Playing matches within 72 hours, enabling the five substitute rules, and following strict health guidelines – European football somehow found its way to make a conclusive ending. Four out of five top European leagues got a winner, and Ligue 1 decided to scrap everything to start fresh soon. The abnormality continued even if we take out the pandemic’s effects. After several years, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A were relatively competitive, while Liverpool made EPL seem like a one-horse race. This piece will be entirely about the European Elites that managed to emerge victorious in a twisted season.
Worth the wait for Liverpool
For a league that has proclaimed itself the most competitive than the rest, this season was poles apart from a rational conclusion. The EPL season was all about Liverpool achieving new feats. Jordan Henderson lifted the first-ever PL trophy for Liverpool, concluding a wait that lasted some 30 years. With only three losses during the season, Liverpool were viciously dominant and, at one point, seemed like they were going to lift the Golden Trophy as their maiden PL triumph. However, that streak was broken by Watford, a team that fell into relegation as the league came to an end.
Liverpool were slender and ruthless, losing only three matches on their way to glory. The club created history by registering most consecutive home wins in Premier League with 24 successive wins at Anfield. Similarly, Jürgen Klopp’s men produced a long list of records, one, in particular, being the biggest point gap at any point (25 points between Liverpool and second-placed Manchester City). The list goes on and on, but Liverpool’s project under Jürgen Klopp, which started in 2015, finally put a meaningful domestic yield.
Similarly, for the Reds, the season brought €37.9 million profit from player transfers. The Kops spent just €8.55 million and earned €46.45 on the market. Domestically, everything went as they’d have imagined for Liverpool, and if they’d somehow managed to hold on against Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid, they’d still be in a perfect spot.
Real Madrid’s resurgence?
Los Blancos ended their 2018-19 season in the worst way possible. Real Madrid let Barcelona win the Liga yet again and fell against young Ajax in their favorite competition – the UEFA Champions League. However, Madrid hinted at a proper winning intent from the initial days of the season.
Securing big names like Luka Jović, Eden Hazard, and Ferland Mendy in the summer window, Real Madrid went on all-out for the win. Surprisingly, neither Jović nor Hazard were significant contributors in Madrid’s resurgence, and instead, it was Karim Benzema who stepped up to the occasion for the Whites. The attack entirely starred the Frenchman who scored 21 league goals, second only to Lionel Messi in the Pichichi race.
Similarly, Real Madrid’s major flag-point was their solid defense under the direct involvement of Sergio Ramos. Although Ramos had a more prominent role to play in the side and acted as a clutch goal-scoring leader, he ensured the team did the basics. Just for the facts, Ramos scored 11 league goals and was the second-highest scorer for Madrid.
Madrid’s resurgence under Zidane to lift the league after two years is incomplete without another resurgence story – the revival of Thibaut Courtois. Once benched by Keylor Navas, the Belgian finally stood his ground to prove he was worthy of Bernabeu’s reception. Courtois kept 18 clean sheets this season, making Madrid the least-conceding side in the league to glory.
Real Madrid, despite lying in the second position for the most of the season, ascended to the top spot in Matchday 30. As rivals, Barcelona dropped crucial points on several occasions after the re-start. Los Blancos are happy about the triumph and have a greater task in hand to achieve as they travel to Etihad with a 2-1 deficit. It’s up to Zidane and his men if they manage to pull-off something against Guardiola’s City to advance at the European stage.
It has always been Bayern’s Bundesliga
German Bundesliga offers exceptional football quality-wise, and there’s always something going on. Exceptionally good tacticians, blooming young talents, and lightening-quick transitions – Bundesliga offered them all. Bayern’s dominance in the league, however, creates an illusion of Bundesliga being just a one-team league. The rise of Mönchengladbach, RB Leipzig’s fiery performances under Julian Nagelsmann, and Dortmund’s talent throng – trust me, Bundesliga is more exciting than it seems.
Bayern Munich lifted their 29th German league this season, and as the first league that re-started, Bundesliga and Bayern impressed many. Despite a disastrous start under Niko Kovač that saw them slump into the seventh place at some point, Bayern eventually managed to win the league yet again. While Bayern’s evolution was apparent throughout the journey, the likes of Dortmund, Leipzig and Mönchengladbach slumped in their road, losing points in crucial phases of the season. Bayern took advantage of their rivals’ weak performances with Joachim Löw’s former assistant, Hansi Flick, who made the comeback possible after coming as an interim manager initially in November.
Now that Bayern have signed Flick as their permanent man, what makes this season even more valuable for Bayern is the team that they’ve built on their own. The side looks extremely propitious with a blend of talent and experience. The side accommodates Bayern’s long-standing poacher Robert Lewandowski while having a young Alphonso Davies run in the wider areas. With this lethal organization and a boost provided by Bundesliga triumph, it is going to be tough for Frank Lampard’s Chelsea at Allianz later this week.
Juventus cannot lose, can they?
Juventus – 83 points. Inter Milan – 82 points. Atalanta B.C. – 78 points.
Maurizio Sarri’s search for a domestic league title finally came to an end with Juventus this season. Despite tough competitions from Antonio Conte’s Inter Milan and Gian Gasperini’s Atalanta, I Bianconeri somehow found a way to escape, and escape with the title. In short, from Paulo Dybala’s COVID infection to tough title-race, Juventus had a tough time making things happen under Sarri.
In a season that saw Atalanta getting all the fuss because of their rise and the level of intensity that Gasperini’s side brought to Serie A, Juventus performed just good to stay at the top, extending their title streak to nine consecutive titles since 2011/12. Led by Cristiano Ronaldo and Paulo Dybala to glory, Juventus managed to score 83 points, despite having less expected points (xPts) than Atalanta. This makes it further evident, no matter what happens, Juventus are the Italian flag-bearers for quite sometime now.
The Champions now have a job to do at the European stage, against Lyon, as the French come into the second leg with a 1-0 advantage over Sarri’s side. Will Italian Champions escape this as well? We’re here to see…
For real, the season concluded in a hurry. Everything happened quick, and the teams that managed to live with the pressure emerged a top. For a dynamic season like this, where football acted more than just a sport and made people feel normal in the pandemic, we got worthy champions that put themselves for the fight and courageously won it.