Spanish league season highs and lows
Highs and lows of the Spanish league season, which finished on Sunday:
Highs and lows of the Spanish league season, which finished on Sunday:
TEAM OF THE SEASON:
Goalkeeper: Pablo Cavallero (Celta Vigo).
Defenders: Carles Puyol (Barcelona), Roberto Ayala (Valencia), Ivan Helguera (Real Madrid), Juanfran (Celta Vigo).
Midfielders: Claude Makelele (Real Madrid), Xabi Alonso (Real Sociedad), Zinedine Zidane (Real Madrid), Javi de Pedro (Real Sociedad).
Strikers: Roy Makaay (Deportivo Coruna), Ronaldo (Real Madrid).
BEST TEAM
Real Madrid deserve the award for the fearless attacking style they displayed throughout the season. Real Sociedad pushed them all the way in the title race but they could not compete with the firepower provided by 23-goal striker Ronaldo, backed by the shrewd touches of Raul, the pinpoint crossing of Luis Figo and the elegant creative work of Zinedine Zidane.
Real were less assured in defence but they were saved time and again by goalkeeper Iker Casillas, while Ivan Helguera emerged as an outstanding centre-back, capable of leading the Real backline for years to come.
BEST MATCH
Real Madrid 2 Atletico Madrid 2, first division match at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium on January 19.
Real saw their run of six successive league victories come to an end after a heart-stopping derby clash with Atletico.
Atletico took the lead after 11 minutes as Javi Moreno struck with a penalty and worse was to follow for the home side when Ivan Helguera was sent off for a dreadful tackle on the goalscorer a minute later.
Real made light of that double setback, however, taking the lead with two Luis Figo strikes, the second a penalty a minute before halftime.
The numbers were levelled just past the hour when Jose Antonio Garcia Calvo was sent off for a foul on Figo and the game appeared to be up whenl Roberto Carlos won another penalty nine minutes from time.
Figo saw his hat-trick attempt saved by Mono Burgos, though, and five minutes into injury time Demetrio Albertini clinched a deserved point for Atletico with a 25-metre free kick that squeezed past Iker Casillas and in at his top right-hand corner.
BEST GOAL
Goal of the season came from young Real Betis defender Fernando Varela in his side's spectacular 3-0 win over Barcelona in late September, a virtuoso effort that was reminiscent of Diego Maradona's classic against England in the 1986 World Cup.
Picking the ball up on the right wing well inside his own half, Varela began a mesmerising weaving run in which he beat six Barca players on his way infield towards the area.
He then steadied himself, looked up and unleashed an unstoppable shot that flew high into the net beyond the reach of keeper Victor Valdes to make it 3-0.
BEST PLAYER
Roy Makaay kept Deportivo pushing for the title right up until the penultimate weekend thanks to a 29-goal haul that made him Spain's top scorer and earned him the Golden Shoe award for Europe's top marksman.
The powerful Dutch striker, who is likely to leave Depor before the start of the new season, was far and away the most effective striker in a country featuring the likes of Ronaldo, Raul and Patrick Kluivert.
BEST YOUNG PLAYER
Real Sociedad's Xabi Alonso was little known outside San Sebastian before the start of the season but the 21-year-old is now one of the most coveted talents in the Spanish game.
Unhurried in possession and a fierce tackler, the stylish midfielder played an instrumental role in Sociedad's transformation from relegation strugglers to title contenders and looks to have a brilliant career ahead of him.
BEST COACH
Raynald Denoueix joined Real Sociedad this season after more than 20 years coaching the youth ranks and then the first team at Nantes.
The scholarly-looking 55-year-old brought renewed confidence to the side with his rigorous methods and simple but attractive style of football.
The change was effected on a shoestring budget and although the Basque side finished the season without the title their second place was an extraordinary achievement for a side that had spent the three previous years fighting relegation.
WORST PERFORMANCE
Barcelona 0 Sevilla 3, in the Spanish first division on December 15.
It is difficult to choose just one dreadful performance from Barcelona during Louis van Gaal's second spell in charge but this one was particularly bad.
The Catalans went into the match having lost their two previous games to Real Sociedad and Rayo Vallecano and they could not have got off to a worse start. Midfielder Javi Casquero put Sevilla ahead after French defender Philippe Christanval had conceded a penalty just five minutes into the game.
Sevilla's second came as a result of some comedy defending. Keeper Antonio Notario punted the ball forward, Mariano Toedtli beat a flat-footed Frank de Boer to the header and Roberto Bonano flapped the ball into his own net.
Barcelona tried to fight back but were caught out on the break and Toedtli tapped in the third.
The 54,000-strong crowd at the Nou Camp, who had whistled Van Gaal throughout the game, booed the players off the pitch. Close to tears, club president Joan Gaspart stood alone in the VIP box for five minutes after the match as fans jeered and waved thousands of white handkerchiefs in his direction.
After the game he said he had no intention of sacking Van Gaal, nor of resigning himself, two events that were to happen later in the season.
WORST TEAM
Rayo Vallecano were the worst team not primarily because they finished bottom of the table but because they contrived to make a difficult situation even worse by sacking their coach just as the team looked to be regaining their confidence.
Fernando Vazquez was shown the door in January with Rayo in 18th place in the table but the team fared even worse when Gustavo Benitez took over. The Rayo board clearly recognised their error as they sacked Benitez nine games later and then tried -- and predictably failed -- to persuade Vazquez to return to his post.
Reserve team coach Antonio Iriondo took over for the rest of the season but by then the team were so demoralised that they almost looked defeated before they took to the pitch.
Rayo's season was all the more disappointing because the team can actually perform well as they showed in their 1-0 win over Barcelona and their narrow 3-2 defeat to champions Real Madrid.