The Red Devils had a mixed year with the first half clearly being in their favour as opposed to the second.
Manchester United
Come January 2013, they were clear title contenders with positive FA Cup prospects along with a chance of lifting Europe’s ultimate club trophy; the UEFA Champions League. There is a stark contrast given their recent performances. They ended the year outside the top five and another home defeat on New Year’s Day saw them languish in seventh place, eleven points adrift of table toppers Arsenal. The departure of legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson and his right hand man David Gill clearly left a gaping void in the heart of United’s administration. David Moyes replaced the Great Scot and together with Ed Woodward, failed miserably in the summer transfer window. They only managed the signing of Marouane Fellaini and that too for an absurd price. The performances this season have been amusingly unpredictable where United have beaten Arsenal and mauled Bayer Leverkusen away from home but fail to muster a challenge against the likes of West Bromwich Albion and Newcastle United at Old Trafford. It will be interesting to see how they progress as the year goes by and the season comes to an end. They are out of the FA Cup and even though they may reach the final of the Capital One Cup, they will meet their noisy city neighbours and can only expect the worst. The Premier League seems to be a long shot and the Champions League, well that is a foregone conclusion. Betting on them to lift either will make anyone a richer man. Twenty years of dominance have turned its back on them and they may end up being another AC Milan or Liverpool. Only time will tell
Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester City
Chelsea won the UEFA Europa League and City won nothing and lost to Wigan Athletic in the FA Cup final, resulting in Roberto Mancini getting the sack. Roberto Di Mateo despite winning the Champions League in the previous season was shown the door by the Blues after a dismal run of form and interim coach Rafael Benitez left under acrimonious circumstances despite winning the Europa League. The Gunners finished last season in fourth place with the Reds finishing in seventh and below arch rivals Everton. Arsenal having lost their first game of the new season have been galvanised by the arrival of record signing Mesut Ozil and are riding high at the summit. The Reds meanwhile are enjoying their own streak of good form and find themselves in fourth place, six points behind Arsenal. Arsenal have their squad to thank where everyone has taken turns to contribute towards victories. Liverpool on the other hand have the one man goal machine in Luis Suarez who already has twenty goals and that too in fifteen games. Arsenal will be wary of City and Chelsea with both working under new managers with the latter having a much familiar face in Jose Mourinho. It may be harsh but it needs to be said that it will be a three horse race with Liverpool eventually losing out.
Everton and Tottenham
The Toffees may have barely felt the departure of their long serving manager David Moyes as they challenge for a top four finish. Roberto Martinez has been doing a wonderful job and will look to continue the good form his team has been displaying. Tottenham on the other hand have had a disappointing season albeit being in sixth position. The sale of Gareth Bale for a world record fee gave them the chance to strengthen the squad through multiple additions but the likes of Roberto Soldado and Erik Lamela have been quite disappointing. Andre Vilas-Boas lost his job and was replaced by Tim Sherwood. Emmanuelle Adebayor was restored to the starting line-up after being made to train with the reserves by the former Portuguese manager.
Spain
Barcelona ended 2013 on a mixed note having won the La Liga with hundred points, fifteen clear of Real Madrid in second. More importantly, they regained the title from their bitter title rivals. They were humiliated in the Champions League by Bayern Munich in a 7-0 aggregate thrashing and will face Manchester City in the last sixteen of this season’s competition. Real Madrid on the other hand did not have much to shout about and find themselves in third place behind city rivals Atletico Madrid who are level on points at the top with the Catalans.
Germany
Bayern Munich capped one of the club’s best ever seasons by winning five trophies in 2013. They won the Bundesliga, twenty five points clear of Borussia Dortmund and beat their title rivals 2-1 to lift the UEFA Champions League. They also won the DFB Pokal, the domestic cup competition and beat Chelsea to win the UEFA Super Cup. They topped it all up by lifting the FIFA Club World Cup held in Morocco. Dortmund on the other hand lost their German title to Bayern and also lost the likes of Mario Gotze and Robert Lewandowski to the German giants.
Italy
Italy saw the resurgence of Juventus who spent the 2006/2007 season in the second tier due to match fixing but the Turin giants came back strongly to win two back to back titles and top the current league table. AS Roma and Napoli have been revelations with the latter being transformed under former Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez. The once great Milan duo of Inter and AC find themselves out of title contention with the former in sixth and the latter in eleventh place.
France
Paris Saint-Germain ended the reigns of Marseille and Lyon thanks to the big money investment of the Qatar Investment Authority. The arrivals of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Edinson Cavani more recently marked their place as a powerhouse not only in France but also in Europe. When they looked to be dominating, in came AS Monaco from the second tier with cash to burn through the investment of Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev. Their power was displayed by the marquee signing of Radamel Falcao from Atletico Madrid. The duo battles it out to become France’s best team while Marseille and Lyon look to be out of sorts.
FIFA Confederations Cup
Brazil showed the world why they are the favourites to win the 2014 World Cup after comfortably beating Spain 3-0 in the final at the renowned Maracana. The Samba Boys beat the likes of Japan (3-0), Mexico (2-0) and Italy (4-2) and beat Uruguay 2-0 to reach the final. Spain despite winning all their games in the group had to scrape through to the final after beating Italy 7-6 on penalties. They were eventually outclassed by the hosts in a one-sided game of football. Tahiti became known to the world but also conceded twenty four goals in their group and managed to score just one and that against Nigeria in a 6-1 drubbing. Spain put ten past them while Uruguay helped themselves to eight.
Sir Alex Ferguson
The Scot (72) joined Manchester United in 1986 and led the club to twenty league titles and two Champions League wins. They also won the FA Cup, League Cup and Community Shield on numerous occasions.
He is responsible for the great careers of Wayne Rooney, David Beckham, Cristiano Ronaldo, Eric Canton and Roy Keane to name a few. Beckham and Ronaldo have reached stardom with the Scot to be thanked.
His retirement after winning the Premier League saw United lose a great custodian, the players losing a father figure and the whole of Europe losing a wonderful role model. On the up side, the likes of City, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool certainly felt relieved to be free from the tenacious Scottish Maestro.
Overall
It has been a year of great mystery for most of the big clubs. Manchester United have lost their place as England’s best and Barcelona were humiliated by Bayern on their way to becoming Europe’s best after quite some time. Challengers like Borussia Dortmund have lost out due to player exoduses. Manchester City now have the likes of PSG and Monaco to share their common interest to spend, spend and spend. Thank goodness for the Financial Fair Play rule. Brazil took out their frustration of being termed “not good anymore” on the reigning world champions Spain. Lionel Messi won the Ballon d’Or for the third year running but his problems with injurious and fitness may see him lose out this time to either Cristiano Ronaldo or Franck Ribery. Bayern winning five titles was by far the highest point and Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement was arguably the lowest not just for United fans but for all “true” football lovers.
