Hail Madrid & Cheers In Bavaria

All hail to the All-White of Spanish football!!! A dramatic 2-1 comeback against Osasuna ensured that Real Madrid clinched the Primera Liga title fir the second successive season (31st time in their club history).

For more than 80 minutes of play with no goals and the sending off of Fabio CANNAVARO, no one could have expected on what was in store for remainder of the match.

The home took a lead in the 82nd minute courtesy of Francisco PUNAL but not four minutes later, Arjen ROBBEN leveled the score to set up an intense finale.

If there was one player that Real can count on to score this crucial goal to wrap up their season, than it just had to be non other than Gonzalo HIGUAIN. After all he does seems to have the habit of scoring in crucial moment in recent games.

A quick counter attack with just a minute left before stoppage time, saw Pipita smashing the winner to spark a huge celebration among the players and coaching staff on the bench.

For some reason I do have some sentimental value towards this current Real team than the ones in the past.

For the latter part of the season, Javier SAVIOLA seems to be back in the groove and today his name was even on the starting line up. Gabriel HEINZE can claim another league crown after winning Premiership title with Man Utd last season. Both Fernando GAGO and HIGUAIN has been a major contributor for the current team and will play important role in the future.

Congratulation to all of them.

Lionel MESSI was on target from the spot Barcelona 6-0 win over struggling Valencia. But guess what? On Wednesday at the Santiago Bernabau, it will be Messi & Barca that will welcome Real on to the pitch with guard of honour. Ironic indeed.

However Inter Milan’s 2-1 defeat to city rival AC Milan means that the race for the Scudetto crown is wide open again. Already 2-0 down after goals from INZAGHI and KAKA, Julio CRUZ pull one back with a superb free kick but it wasn’t enough to salvage something out of the game.

Fiorentina’s completed their miserable week with a 2-1 defeat against Cagliari, after going out of the UEFA Cup semi-final against Glasgow Rangers. Mario SANTANA pull one back in the 53rd minute but it wasn’t enough.

With Milan’s 2-1 win over Inter, Fiorentina will drop out of the Champions League spot into fifth place.

In Turkey, Marcelo DELGADO scored the first goal courtesy of a penalty, in Besiktas 2-0 win over Ankaragucu.

Finally, Bayern München can put to rest their mid-week UEFA Cup disappointment after clinching their 21st Bundesliga title in their goalless draw against VfL Wolfsburg. This has to be a great moment for both Martin DEMICHELIS and Jose Ernesto SOSA.

Last season, Mico was nowhere to be seen and very much out of the picture under Felix MAGATH. The return of Ottmar HITZFELD saw him being reinstated back into Bayern’s line up, steering them to a near perfect season. Of course there was that recent player-coach bust up but in the end, even HITZFELD had to give in and could not afford to lave out his defense marshal.

SOSA was not used much during the start of the season but nowadays he has already become a permanent name on Bayern’s bench. He is slowly being integrated into the team and being just 22 years old, he has time on his side. The least I can say is that he faired better than Federico INSUA.

Congratulations to both of them and keep the beer flowing all the way to Bavaria.