Post by Zamoraaaah on Jun 5, 2009 7:04:09 GMT
Guillem Balague's La Liga Team of the Season
Can you believe it`s that time again already? It`s been a memorable season for so many reasons, but after 38 weeks, countless goals, previews, reviews arguments and debates – we’ve got to narrow it down to 11 players and a manager who have stood out for us. I`ve picked a crop of players from six different clubs: some familiar faces and a couple of rising stars.Goalkeeper
DIEGO LOPEZ (Villarreal)
After working his way through the youth ranks at Real Madrid and serving as understudy to Iker Casillas, his move to Villarreal in 2007 has allowed him to mature into one of the best Spanish keepers around. At 27 years of age he has just enjoyed the best season of his career, earning him his first full international caps while catching the eye of clubs like Manchester United. Fabio Capello said privately that if it was his choice he would have been the number one goalkeeper at Real Madrid. What Capello saw in him back then, the rest of us are starting to see now...
Defenders
DANI ALVES (Barcelona)
The €35million fee Barcelona paid to Sevilla meant that he has been burdened with the tag of being the most expensive full back in the history of the game. It affected his early form at the Camp Nou, and he looked a bit lost tactically speaking, but was very quickly back to his best. Almost as much of a winger as a defender and with a work ethic that is more Germanic than Brazilian, the entire right flank of the pitch is his own - and with Messi playing in front of him, it must be terrifying for any opposing defender.
PEPE (Real Madrid)
When Real Madrid paid €30million for him, the rest of Spain thought they had gone mad. One year on and he was easily the best centre-back playing in La Liga. Still relatively young for a central defender, he managed to make the more experienced Fabio Cannavaro look a better player alongside him. Quick and powerful and with a tremendous leap that his father helped create by strapping weights to his legs and jumping in the surf at the beach where he grew up in Brazil. A real shame that one moment of madness should rob him of the recognition he deserves. He will learn, mature and improve.
IVAN MARCANO (Racing Santander)
Quite possibly the revelation of the season. Last year it was all about Garay at Racing, this year its about 21 year old Marcano. He`s tall, strong and versatile: regularly playing at centre-back but a more than capable left back as well. One of the reasons why 12th-placed Racing have only conceded 48 goals this season (less than top six sides Villarreal, Valencia, Atletico and Real Madrid) and his performances have attracted interest from bigger clubs. He`s a good lad by all accounts as well, with a good head on his shoulders - he`s been studying as a telecommunications engineer while playing football. Keep an eye out for him this summer with the Spanish U21s in Sweden.
ROBERTO CANELLA (Sporting Gijon)
La Liga watchers in England first became aware of him this season after his impressive performances at left-back for Gijon have seen him linked with a move to Aston Villa. A product of Sporting`s youth academy, he was key to their promotion last year and despite his young age, immediately looked at home in the top flight. He has a good touch, technique and positions himself well - and he`s quick... very, very quick! He`s worked his way through the Spanish international youth sides and is destined to replace Joan Capdevila in the national team one day.
Midfielders
XAVI (Barcelona)
He has followed up his stunning performances at Euro 2008 - earning him the title of UEFA player of the tournament - with an equally impressive domestic season. When he picked up his award in the summer he said: "Without my team-mates, I am nothing." That sums him up: he is a team player, he wont win a match on his own, but he dictates Barcelona`s tempo, pulls the strings from midfield, and is always there to receive the ball from his team mates. Selfless, intelligent, calm, professional. Class.
ANDRES INIESTA (Barcelona)
The fact that is seems almost impossible to say the word Iniesta without saying Xavi is testament to the way these guys work and sums up what they are all about. Xavi and Iniesta. The brains and the vision in the first Spanish club top do the treble. Yet to always talk of them in the same breath is to do them both a disservice; separately they are two of the best in the world right now and for me, Andres Iniesta is the very best player in the world on current form. His versatility is astonishing and now this modest and model professional has added goalscoring to his vision, workrate and speed of thought. And at just 25 he could get even better.
LASSANA DIARRA (Real Madrid)
Of course, fans in England know all about him - and there can`t be too many players who Real Madrid will sign from Portsmouth that will go on to become one of the most important squad members at the Bernabeu. To call him a midfield destroyer overlooks his more than capable passing but, as we approach the dawn of a new Galactico era at Real Madrid, Lassa Diarra could provide the bite and stability in midfield that Makelele once did.
Forwards
LIONEL MESSI (Barcelona)
As his coach Pep Guardiola says: "What Messi does is the most difficult thing in the world - dribbling, finding a pass." Yet this season, his first free of injury, he has added another dimension to his game; he has became a real team player: tracking back and passing more than ever. He is about so much more than dribbling and taking people on - he has learned where he can harm teams and is exploiting it. Personally, I did have a few doubts about him in the really big games, but as we saw in the Champions League final, he has now proven himself on the biggest of stages. It is amazing to think he is just 21 years old and we can only wonder at just how good he can become. As Guardiola said: "Every year he takes a new step forward; he is like a sponge assimilating ideas."
DIEGO FORLAN (Atletico Madrid)
The top goalscorer this season in both Spain and Europe must feel like saying "I told you so!" Since leaving England he has scored 102 goals in 172 appearances in La Liga, been the Pichichi twice in four seasons and his 13 goals in the last 10 games in the Spanish league have propelled Atletico into the Champions League for next season. Not many in England were too sad to see him leave, but now there are quite a few who would love to have him back.
DAVID VILLA (Valencia)
Look at his record this season: 28 goals in 33 appearances in La Liga while playing in a side that really struggled at times while going through a major institutional crisis. Yet David Villa, arguably the most in-demand player on the market, who almost every fan of every club wants to sign, continued working hard at doing what he does better than anyone else in the world: scoring goals.
Coach
PEP GUARDIOLA (Barcelona)
It had to be really didn`t it? In this, his debut season as a top-flight coach he leads his former club - where he was already revered as a living legend - to achieve something that no other Spanish club has ever done. Not even the great Real Madrid sides of the 1950`s managed to win the Spanish league title, the Copa del Rey and the European Cup in the same season. And all of this achieved by playing some of the best football many of us will ever be privileged to see. It has not been easy, he has made the odd mistake, but he has worked tirelessly and meticulously to achieve his goal. It really could not have gone any better for Pep Guardiola.
Can you believe it`s that time again already? It`s been a memorable season for so many reasons, but after 38 weeks, countless goals, previews, reviews arguments and debates – we’ve got to narrow it down to 11 players and a manager who have stood out for us. I`ve picked a crop of players from six different clubs: some familiar faces and a couple of rising stars.Goalkeeper
DIEGO LOPEZ (Villarreal)
After working his way through the youth ranks at Real Madrid and serving as understudy to Iker Casillas, his move to Villarreal in 2007 has allowed him to mature into one of the best Spanish keepers around. At 27 years of age he has just enjoyed the best season of his career, earning him his first full international caps while catching the eye of clubs like Manchester United. Fabio Capello said privately that if it was his choice he would have been the number one goalkeeper at Real Madrid. What Capello saw in him back then, the rest of us are starting to see now...
Defenders
DANI ALVES (Barcelona)
The €35million fee Barcelona paid to Sevilla meant that he has been burdened with the tag of being the most expensive full back in the history of the game. It affected his early form at the Camp Nou, and he looked a bit lost tactically speaking, but was very quickly back to his best. Almost as much of a winger as a defender and with a work ethic that is more Germanic than Brazilian, the entire right flank of the pitch is his own - and with Messi playing in front of him, it must be terrifying for any opposing defender.
PEPE (Real Madrid)
When Real Madrid paid €30million for him, the rest of Spain thought they had gone mad. One year on and he was easily the best centre-back playing in La Liga. Still relatively young for a central defender, he managed to make the more experienced Fabio Cannavaro look a better player alongside him. Quick and powerful and with a tremendous leap that his father helped create by strapping weights to his legs and jumping in the surf at the beach where he grew up in Brazil. A real shame that one moment of madness should rob him of the recognition he deserves. He will learn, mature and improve.
IVAN MARCANO (Racing Santander)
Quite possibly the revelation of the season. Last year it was all about Garay at Racing, this year its about 21 year old Marcano. He`s tall, strong and versatile: regularly playing at centre-back but a more than capable left back as well. One of the reasons why 12th-placed Racing have only conceded 48 goals this season (less than top six sides Villarreal, Valencia, Atletico and Real Madrid) and his performances have attracted interest from bigger clubs. He`s a good lad by all accounts as well, with a good head on his shoulders - he`s been studying as a telecommunications engineer while playing football. Keep an eye out for him this summer with the Spanish U21s in Sweden.
ROBERTO CANELLA (Sporting Gijon)
La Liga watchers in England first became aware of him this season after his impressive performances at left-back for Gijon have seen him linked with a move to Aston Villa. A product of Sporting`s youth academy, he was key to their promotion last year and despite his young age, immediately looked at home in the top flight. He has a good touch, technique and positions himself well - and he`s quick... very, very quick! He`s worked his way through the Spanish international youth sides and is destined to replace Joan Capdevila in the national team one day.
Midfielders
XAVI (Barcelona)
He has followed up his stunning performances at Euro 2008 - earning him the title of UEFA player of the tournament - with an equally impressive domestic season. When he picked up his award in the summer he said: "Without my team-mates, I am nothing." That sums him up: he is a team player, he wont win a match on his own, but he dictates Barcelona`s tempo, pulls the strings from midfield, and is always there to receive the ball from his team mates. Selfless, intelligent, calm, professional. Class.
ANDRES INIESTA (Barcelona)
The fact that is seems almost impossible to say the word Iniesta without saying Xavi is testament to the way these guys work and sums up what they are all about. Xavi and Iniesta. The brains and the vision in the first Spanish club top do the treble. Yet to always talk of them in the same breath is to do them both a disservice; separately they are two of the best in the world right now and for me, Andres Iniesta is the very best player in the world on current form. His versatility is astonishing and now this modest and model professional has added goalscoring to his vision, workrate and speed of thought. And at just 25 he could get even better.
LASSANA DIARRA (Real Madrid)
Of course, fans in England know all about him - and there can`t be too many players who Real Madrid will sign from Portsmouth that will go on to become one of the most important squad members at the Bernabeu. To call him a midfield destroyer overlooks his more than capable passing but, as we approach the dawn of a new Galactico era at Real Madrid, Lassa Diarra could provide the bite and stability in midfield that Makelele once did.
Forwards
LIONEL MESSI (Barcelona)
As his coach Pep Guardiola says: "What Messi does is the most difficult thing in the world - dribbling, finding a pass." Yet this season, his first free of injury, he has added another dimension to his game; he has became a real team player: tracking back and passing more than ever. He is about so much more than dribbling and taking people on - he has learned where he can harm teams and is exploiting it. Personally, I did have a few doubts about him in the really big games, but as we saw in the Champions League final, he has now proven himself on the biggest of stages. It is amazing to think he is just 21 years old and we can only wonder at just how good he can become. As Guardiola said: "Every year he takes a new step forward; he is like a sponge assimilating ideas."
DIEGO FORLAN (Atletico Madrid)
The top goalscorer this season in both Spain and Europe must feel like saying "I told you so!" Since leaving England he has scored 102 goals in 172 appearances in La Liga, been the Pichichi twice in four seasons and his 13 goals in the last 10 games in the Spanish league have propelled Atletico into the Champions League for next season. Not many in England were too sad to see him leave, but now there are quite a few who would love to have him back.
DAVID VILLA (Valencia)
Look at his record this season: 28 goals in 33 appearances in La Liga while playing in a side that really struggled at times while going through a major institutional crisis. Yet David Villa, arguably the most in-demand player on the market, who almost every fan of every club wants to sign, continued working hard at doing what he does better than anyone else in the world: scoring goals.
Coach
PEP GUARDIOLA (Barcelona)
It had to be really didn`t it? In this, his debut season as a top-flight coach he leads his former club - where he was already revered as a living legend - to achieve something that no other Spanish club has ever done. Not even the great Real Madrid sides of the 1950`s managed to win the Spanish league title, the Copa del Rey and the European Cup in the same season. And all of this achieved by playing some of the best football many of us will ever be privileged to see. It has not been easy, he has made the odd mistake, but he has worked tirelessly and meticulously to achieve his goal. It really could not have gone any better for Pep Guardiola.
