As the Spanish La Liga season comes to the end, there is every chance that the team that have led the league for almost the whole of the calendar year are most likely to lift the title tomorrow (Sunday) evening. The purists would wish for the championship as a whole to benefit from some twists and turns on the final day but who said football is for perfectionists? It’s not even for the mega-buck spenders! Anyway, the events last weekend were as close to real drama and uncertainty as the title chase is likely to get when Barcelona host Valladolid at the Nou Camp and Real Madrid travel to Malaga. The championship produced some memorable moments last Saturday as Pep Guardiola’s team were winning at Sevilla and Real Madrid were level with Athletic Bilbao at the Santiago Bernabeu, but the last weekend should be the exciting climax to an epic tussle, but it just isn’t setting pulses racing. To say Real Madrid fans have all-but conceded the title wouldn’t be an exaggeration or anything close to that. Both teams are separated by a single point, and it will take more than just twists and turns for the champions to fail to retain their crown. Malaga and Valladolid at least have reason to put up a fight, with their Primera Liga future in doubt. But that may even make the games a worse spectacle. Barcelona should win, Madrid should win, Barcelona should be crowned champions at the Nou Camp. And Madrid end a second successive season without a trophy! Then, if Barcelona are going to win and Real win, what then is the league’s best hope of an exciting last day? Madrid are the rank outsiders of the two teams, and have come back seven times in their last ten matches. So, they going behind for an umpteenth time this season is never going to excite anyone. But Barcelona conceding a rare early goal at home would certainly create a memorable final match of 2009/10. The other option for the Catalan side, of course, is to do things a Chelsea: and certainly the blue and red side of Spain would fancy an 8-0 win very much indeed. It might be one of the clearest damnations of La Liga’s lack of strength below the top two this year, but it would at least sign things off with a flourish. Mourinho the missing link in Real Jigsaw? If he wins the Uefa Champions League with Inter Milan, Jose Mourinho will have nothing else left to prove to the football world other than cutting his contract short in Italy and sign for Real Madrid. The ‘Special One’ has never hid his desire to leave Italy, where he’s not one of the most liked coaches or people in general yet, love him or loath him, he’s a winner. He’s gone on record to admit how he would love to coach Madrid at one stage in his career and the Portuguese national team when he gets older. The Madrid dream could become a reality sooner rather than later, actually it could be as soon as next season. nku78@yahoo.com
