The year 2008 will be long remembered in Spain after the eternally underachieving national team finally came good, winning the European Championships on June 29 after Fernando Torres’ goal sealed a 1-0 victory over Germany in the final.
It was their first title in 44 years — following their European championship success back in 1964 — and it was fiesta time as the champagne and sangria flowed throughout the country.
“This is a happy day for Spain, we’ve won this tournament in style and we’re very happy. Now we will start expecting to win on this sort of stage,” outgoing coach Luis Aragones said.
On the domestic front champions Real Madrid started the year seven points clear of Barcelona after Julio Baptista’s goal sealed a 1-0 win over their rivals in El Clasico at Camp Nou days before Christmas.
Under German coach Bernd Schuster Real showed German-like efficiency to cruise to a second successive league title in May and finished a mighty 18 points ahead of Barca with Villarreal sandwiched in between.
Barcelona lost both matches against Real and on May 7 had to suffer the ultimate humiliation performing the guard of honor to salute Real as champions at the Santiago Bernabeu and then lost 4-1.
However, the tables were to turn and by the end of the year with new Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola, a former Barcelona captain, revitalizing the club to steer them to the summit of La Liga with a ten point gap over Sevilla and 12 points over sixth-placed Real.
Barcelona won a heated Clasico on Dec. 13 at Camp Nou with Samuel Eto’o and the irrepressible Lionel Messi scoring in the final seven minutes.
Last season’s hero Schuster could do no right and defeats to Valladolid, Getafe and Sevilla saw him lose his job four days last month with Juande Ramos taking his place.
It was a turbulent year for Valencia who finished outside of the top four when the season finished in May but are currently riding high in La Liga.
Valencia sacked Dutch coach Ronald Koeaman on April 21 with the club in mid-table obscurity and Unai Emery was recruited from Almeria.
Emery has revived Valencia’s fortunes and they lie fourth going into the new year.
Atletico Madrid returned to the Champions League for the first time in 11 years as they secured fourth spot at the end of last season.
Atletico old boy Fernando Torres was handed an emotional return when Liverpool were drawn in the same group but injury prevented the homecoming.
All the Spanish representatives — Barcelona, Real, Atletico and Villarreal — made it through to the knockout phase of the Champions League.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
Japanese players are moving to English soccer in record numbers and more look set to follow with clubs attracted by their quality, strong work ethic and value for money. Kaoru Mitoma is the standout talent of five Japanese players in the English Premier League, with eight more in the Championship and two in League One. Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo, the captain of Japan, believes his compatriots are “being held in higher esteem” by English clubs compared with the past. “The staff at Liverpool ask me about lots of Japanese players, not necessarily with a view to a transfer, but just saying this or
Taiwan yesterday survived Bosnia and Herzegovina to win their Davis Cup World Group I tie at the Taipei Tennis Center. The tight series started on Saturday with world No. 123 Jason Tseng losing 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 to Mirza Basic in the opening singles matchup. However, teammate Tony Wu kept the tie even, dominating world No. 86 Damir Dzumhur 6-2, 6-1. Yesterday, 24-year-old Ray Ho and partner 25-year-old Hsu Yu-hsiou kept up the momentum, making short work of Basic and Nerman Fatic, winning 6-3, 6-4. Tseng then suffered another defeat, losing 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 to Dzumhur in a brutal match that lasted more than two