UEFA Season Review 7/10
Top 5 Leagues, fourth-placed everything.
The season 2020–21 finished in all top five leagues, and it is, I believe, my duty, to reflect upon it. Today, we shall decide on everything in the fourth place, the team, player, Manager, forward, midfielder, surprise team, and surprise player.
Let us Begin.
Best Team #4
Atletico Madrid
Atleti were great until April. That is the simplest summary of their season. Until April, they were creating enough chances, were defensively solid, and knew how to win, like any other Simeone side.
In the end, their season was just good enough to hand them the La Liga ahead of Real Madrid and Barcelona. Suarez, Oblak and Koke had nice seasons, like they almost always do, and others were good enough to support them to glory. There isn’t any superstar in this team, but it functions impeccably.
Best Player #4
Harry Kane
I was not convinced of Harry Kane, until this season. He has been phenomenal and much like most critics, I have been slapped across my face. Top goalscorer, top assist provider and according to whoscored, best rated premier league player. Not according to me, but it's pretty close.
37 goal contributions in the league alone are harder than many people think, due to a certain duo. No, he did not win any trophy, but he is at Tottenham, what do you expect?
Best Forward #4
Romelu Lukaku
Lukaku has improved quite a lot under Conte. His goal scoring has mostly been great throughout his career, and now the aspects that were subject to major criticism previously have improved significantly. Martinez has been helpful and I do acknowledge the importance of him, but Lukaku was clearly better even when Martinez wasn’t on the field.
Best Midfielder #4
N’Golo Kante
Kante just missed out on the top ten players, and in retrospect, he probably deserved it more than, say, Suarez or even Bruno. The champions league winner was tireless and a composed presence. Yes, I know I have said ‘composed presence’ for every midfielder but that is also one of the most important traits of a midfielder.
Back to Kante, he was even better than he usually is. I am pretty sure he beats the stamina of Leeds players’. That is a huge accomplishment.
Best Manager #4
Christophe Galtier
The manager of Lille, which accomplished the biggest shock of the year by winning Ligue 1 ahead of PSG. Lille, at least from my perspective, does not have any standout players, and they just kept winning. Sounds familiar? Yeah, they were the Atletico of Ligue 1. that is also the description of a team that relies heavily on the manager to provide both tactical and clutch decisions. Not that other teams just go out there and kill everyone in their way, they too rely on their manager, but Lille, more than most.
Take Pirlo for example, he probably just ended all team meetings by saying pass to Ronaldo. That is exaggeration, but you get what I mean.
Surprise Player #4
Jude Bellingham
Birmingham City FC retired the number 22 in the honour of a 16 year old. No, he is not dead, that kid is Bellingham. He is exactly 360 days older than me. No, I will not be playing for Dortmund just yet.
We all knew he had some potential. But to control Champions League knockout rounds in the midfield, in his teens? That is some Xavi and Iniesta stuff. He controlled games as they came, had flawless vision and in most cases, his physicality is great, perhaps because he played primarily in English lower leagues.
Surprise Team #4
Sheffield United
Not in a good way. They finished bottom, after being one of the most refreshing sides in recent history just the previous season. Wilder got it a bit wrong, and I am a bit sad, however, there’s Leeds, who I absolutely love. It has been a wild ride for Sheffield, and I hope to see them in the premier league again, and soon.
This is an opinion, and let me know yours in the comments! Not included defenders and goalkeepers because I found them very hard to rank. I felt I shouldn’t rank them at all. If you want to let me know your rankings of the same, again, let me know in the comments.
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That’s it then!
