League Champions Across Europe
Real Madrid and Barcleona Contest Spanish Primera Liga Title Race
As Spain's league title race between Real Madrid and Barcelona draws to a conclusion, league winners across Europe await them in next season's UEFA Champions League.
The results of Sunday’s games in Spain will bring the winner of the Primera Liga to the UEFA Champions League competition for next season. In another very close competition, Real Madrid and Barcelona are neck and neck with Sevilla outsiders in third place, two points behind. Real hold the upper hand courtesy of having achieved better results in the two head to head games with Barcelona and so a home victory over Real Mallorca will confirm them as Champions for the first time since 2001.
Elsewhere the Champions have been crowned and the draw for the first two qualifying rounds will take place on 29th June in Switzerland.
Italy Serie A:
In Italy, the decisive winners of Serie A were Inter Milan who finished twenty one points ahead of Roma in second place. AC Milan who had started the season with a points deduction as punishment for last season’s match fixing scandal finished a distant third but focused their attention on the Champions League winning the Final against Liverpool.
England Premier League:
Manchester United and Chelsea battled to the final weeks of the season over the Premier League title but Sir Alex Ferguson denied Jose Mourinho’s side a third successive league title. While Chelsea flagged in the final weeks of the league season Manchester United maintained their form in spite of numerous injuries to win the title with a few games to spare, avoiding a crucial title decider at Stamford Bridge in the penultimate game of the season.
Scotland Premier League:
Scottish champions Celtic retained their title although Gordon Strachan’s side wavered a little in the final weeks of the season before they finally won it with a late goal at Kilmarnock with four games to play. Their Glasgow rivals, Rangers, finished runners-up and had the satisfaction of beating the champions in one of their last games.
Portugal Liga:
A close contest in Portugal had Porto, Sporting Lisbon and Benfica going into the final day of the season with hopes of being victorious. In the end it was Porto who held their nerve as all three won their final game. A home win against Alves gave Porto the Liga title.
Germany Bundesliga:
Another final day close encounter occurred in Germany where VfB Stuttgart came from behind to win their last game and claim the Bundesliga title. Stuttgart won their last eight games to move ahead of Schalke and Werder Bremen but such was the closeness of the contest that at different stages on the final day, both Stuttgart and Schalke had their hands on the trophy.
Holland Dutch League:
In Holland the final day also brought to a conclusion the closest contested league title race. AZ Alkmaar, Ajax and PSV Eindhoven were separated only by goal difference going into the final game. PSV secured a comfortable to win on goal difference from Ajax while AZ failed at the final step, only securing a draw.
France Ligue 1:
The French title race was similar to the Italian contest – a one horse race. Lyon finished seventeen points ahead of their nearest rivals, Marseille, and claimed their sixth successive title.
