It is exactly one week to the European Championships and time for the predictions to start flowing in. Given last season’s total change of guard in Europe’s strongest leagues, it will be a great feat to correctly predict the nation that will emerge as European champions.
On paper Spain and Germany are considered favorites to win it all, but so were Barcelona and Madrid for the Champions League. To the shock of book makers, a Chelsea side that seemed to be in disarray as they endured their worst Premier League season in years emerged to win the title that club owner Abramovich has been obsessed with since he took over.
While Barcelona was also faltering domestically, Madrid was on hand to end their three – year La Liga title grip. As Barca finally relinquished their title, three other title holders in Europe’s greatest leagues followed suite.
In England, big spending Manchester City finally wrestled the title from their illustrious Manchester rivals in what was the most dramatic of seasons. As City celebrated their first title in 44 seasons, Montpellier held off the challenge of wealthy PSG to win their first ever French title against all odds. While the combination of Middle Eastern billionaire owner and proven Italian manager worked for City in overcoming United’s pedigree, PSG with same combination was held off by a Montpellier side operating on one of the lowest annual budgets in top flight football.
Juventus overcame Milan to win their first Serie A title in nine years! Fans in Stadio Olimpico wildly celebrated their 30th title although two of these titles are not recognized by the Italian football federation. As the number of titles won by the Old Lady of Italian football continues to be debated, in Bavaria there was no debate about who had cost Bayern their 23rd Bundesliga title and 5th Champions League trophy. Robben’s penalty misses led to horrific boos from his club’s fans as he featured in a recent friendly for Netherlands against Bayern Munich.
Bayern’s loss was Dortmund’s gain, as they emerged as the only club in one of the recognized most competitive leagues to retain their league title. Juventus and Bayern had invested heavily in a season designed to be special for various reasons and expectations grew tremendously as both made great starts. For Juve, it was a first season at the new Stadio Olimpico stadium while Bayern was hosting the Champion’s League finals. Emotions at the end of the season couldn’t have been more different for both sets of fans.
Like Chelsea, will the European Championships be won by an England team apparently in disarray after parting ways with their coach, mounting injuries and a Rooney suspension? Could this be Italy’s year, parallel to their 2006 World Cup triumph when Juventus emerged as champions and Serie A was hit by a match-fixing scandal? France re-shaping their image after a disgraceful world cup has started to show tremendous character in beating favorites Germany and overcoming a two goal deficit to beat Iceland. But this could be the year when Europe’s nearly men and last world cup’s loosing finalists arrive; after all, in van Persie and Huntelaar they boast two of last season’s most prolific European strikers bar Ronaldo. Have your say on who will emerge 2012 European champions.
