In the last year, we have seen Atlético Madrid, Inter Milan and Lille win their respective league titles. A constant between all three was the way in which they won their titles. All three sides played with a defensive first approach leading to consistent and controlled victories throughout the season.
Filippo Inzaghi, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Miroslav Klose and Ian Wright were all exceptional goal scorers during their careers. All of them for the most part ‘lived’ inside the box and kept defenders on their toes. Over recent years these types of players have been dying out at the elite level.
Why you might ask? Well, there are a plethora of reasons as to why this could be.
Lionel Messi's recent departure from Barcelona has rightly shone a light on the financial state of La Liga- but surely the harbingers of impending monetary collapse for the Spanish top flight, pre- salary cap, were Real Madrid's Gálacticos. When Florentino Peréz went big after securing the presidency at the Bernabeu, and incredibly, in a sense, it was allowed to happen twice!
With the latest edition of the Olympics having ended in a quarter final exit for Great Britain's women's team, Australia prevailing by the odd goal in a 4-3 win to dash hopes of football coming home with a medal, what better time to look at the homegrown slice of history which helped ensure the beautiful game got a spot in the events list & the resulting twists & turns?
It’s an abstract question for sure. It’s the kind of question I imagine everyone thinks they know the answer to, an obvious answer, an answer so basic it doesn’t even necessitate real consideration. But I also imagine each of those obvious answers would be slightly different.