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PASSING SHOT - Of cards and controversies
From controversial Christmas cards to censored TV interviews - the year saw it all.
From controversial Christmas cards to censored TV interviews - the year saw it all. If the year ended with Arsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho embroiled in a war of words over a seemingly harmless Christmas card, it was, by no means, the only controversy of the year.
One of the game's better referees, Anderas Frisk quit after Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho accused him of meeting with the Barcelona coach during their match. Roy Keane, who has been Manchester United's midfield marshal and Captain, was pulled up by his manager, Alex Ferguson for lambasting his team mates in an interview to MUTV. Incensed by this, Keane decided to terminate his contract at the club where he spent 16 years and join Celtic.
The UEFA Champions League witnessed the most exciting comeback by Liverpool to beat AC Milan in the final at Istanbul, and the UEFA Cup went to the unfancied Russian club, CSKA Moscow, (who were knocked out in the first round in the next edition).
England had a new champion in Chelsea, who with the enigmatic Portuguese Jose Mourinho at the helm won their first title in 50 years and with it, broke the near dynastic rule of Manchester United and, to a lesser extent, Arsenal over the Premiership.
The Spanish La Liga belonged to FC Barcelona. After a number of trophy-less seasons, Barca hit back with a vengeance. Ronaldinho, almost single-handedly brought the League Title back to Catalunya after a long wait. Barcelona were also involved in the match of the season with Chelsea.
As far as the other Spanish giant was concerned, it was a real forgettable year. The Galacticos were outplayed in every department of the game and in every major tournament.
Worse still, the club management had no clue of what to do. A huge shopping bill and frequent changing of coaches did not help.
The Serie A in Italy, though dubbed "boring" by critics and fans alike, witnessed the most exciting of all chases in Europe for the title. Juventus and AC Milan matched each other blowfor-blow with Juve finally coming out on top.
Though not as glamorous as its English and Spanish counterparts, it was the Dutch Eredivisie that gave us one of the most exciting teams of the sea son. In PSV Eindhoven, former South Korean coach Guus Hiddink built a solid unit. While they won their 14th League title, PSV also reached the semifinals of the Champions League.
Bayern Munich have always been synonymous with success in Germany, and it wasn't any different this season. Munich, lead by Micheal Ballack won the Bundesliga after a 2-year gap.
The international soccer scene was all about the World Cup qualifiers with most of the favourites from Europe going through. However, Africa will have a number of debutants at the World Cup. Ghana, Ivory Coast and Angola will all be playing in their first-ever World Cup.
Brazil won the bi-annual Confederation Cup and with it issued a warning to everyone ahead of the World Cup.
As we look back at a year filled with enduring moments, the standing ovation given to Ronaldinhio by the Madrid crowd was, perhaps the most special of them all. All through the bitter rivalry between Barcelona and Real Madrid, never has an opposition player received the kind of applause and adulation Ronaldinho did that night in Madrid.
And that is the beauty of this game - it never ceases to amaze us with its power.
