Season 2017-18 for football leagues and cups across the world have come to an end.Here is a look at how it fared in world's top five leagues and in India.
La Liga.
FC Barcelona looked favourites from the word go and made a double by winning La Liga and Copa Del Ray.They secured their the league title with four games remaining by beating Deportiva La Coruna(4-2).They lost the opportunity to win the title unbeaten as they lost to Levante (5-4) in the penultimate game.Real madrid didn’t start convincing but picked up along the way for a third position in the league and a hatric Champions league title.The end of the season also saw their coach Zidane step down after a successful stint.Diego Costa’s come back into Atletico Madrid worked well for both as they won the second spot in the league and the Europa title.Valencia was the fourth team to qualify for the Champions league.Villarreal and Real Betis booked themselves a Europa league group admission while Sevilla managed a Europa 2nd qualifying round.All the three promoted teams Levante,Girona and Getafe stayed afloat while Deportivo,Las Palmas and Malaga got relegated.Messi top scored with 34 goals and had most assists(12).His fellow player Luis Suarez and Villareal’s Pablo Fornal equalled him in assists.Atletico Madrid’s Jan Oblak had the most clean sheets (18).
Premier League
Premier league started with the promoted clubs Brighton,Hove & Albion,Huddersfield and Newcastle United joining in.Holders Chelsea started their title defence losing to burnley 2-3 in an exciting match after trailing 0-3.Chelsea looked good for a Champions league spot initially but ended up qualifying only for the Europa league with a fifth position.Chelsea won the FA cup by beating Manchester United in the final by a solitary goal. Manchester city looked favourites by around the quarter of the league and went on to a double winning both the premier league and the EFL cup.They could have secured the league title at their home stadium in a derby with Manchester United but lost the match.They were eventually assured of the title as Manchester United lost to the then relegation prospects West Bromwich Albion.They also finished with record points(100),record goals(106),record wins(32),longest winning streak (18) and highest goal difference (+79).Manchester united had to settle for a second position both in the PL and the FA cup.Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur were the other teams who qualified for the Champions league.Arsenal saw their longest serving manager Arsene Wenger step down as they earned the Europa league group spot.Burnley managed a Europa 2nd qualifying round spot.Liverpool's Mohammed Salah was the top scorer and Player of the season with 32 goals and 10 assists while Degea had the most clean sheets (18).Southampton’s Sofiane Boufal won the goal of the season for his goal against West Bromwich Albion.Stoke City,Swansea City and West Bromwich Albion got relegated.
Juventus assured themselves of a seventh consecutive scudetto when they drew with Roma in the penultimate game of the season.Napoli led the table for sometime and gave Juventus a tough fight but lost it in the last lap.Juventus also won the Coppa Italia by beating AC Milan 4-0 in the final.Napoli,Roma and Internazionale also qualified for the Champions league while Lazio and Milan managed a Europa group stage and Atalanta a Europa 2nd qualifying round.Promoted teams Hellas Verona and Benevento got relegated back to Serie B while SPAL managed to stay in Serie A.Inter Milan’s Icardi and Lazio’s Immobile were the top scorers with 29 goals while Lazio’s Luis Alberto was the top assist provider with 14 assists.Napoli’s Pepe Reina had the most clean sheets(18).
Bundesliga
Though there wasn’t much separating the top five in the points table as about 10 matches were over,Bayern Munich was not looking really challenged even then.They secured their sixth consecutive title by beating Augsburg 4-1 as five matches remained.Other teams who qualified for the champions league spots were Borussia Dortmund,Schalke 04 and 1899 Hoffenheim.Leverkusen managed a Europa group stage entry while Leipzig was assured of Europa 2nd qualifying round.Eintracht Frankfurt won the Dfb Pokal after three decades and assured themselves of a Europa group stage.Promoted teams Stuttgart and Hannover managed to stay in the bundesliga while Hamburger got relegated for the first time ever along with Kolñ.Bayern Munich players Lewandoski & Müller ended the season as the top scorer and the top assist provider with 29 goals and 14 assists respectively.Sven Ulreich had the most clean sheets (12) but from fewer matches(29) than Dortmund’s Bürki,Schalke’s Fährmann & Stuttgart’s Zieler with the same number.
Ligue 1
PSG broke the bank to bring in Neymar while the title holders Monaco preferred to sell their best players.The on-field quarrels between Neymar and Cavani didn’t affect PSG’s game and they looked invincibles from the beginning.Monaco closed in for a very short period but that was it.PSG secured the title in style with 5 games remaining by thrashing the existing champions Monaco 7-1.PSG ended the season with a triple winning both Coupe de France and Coupe de la Ligue.Monaco and Lyon booked themselves a Champions league spot while Marseille and Rennes qualified for the Europa group stage and Bordeaux managed a Europa 2nd qualifying round.Promoted teams Strasbourg and Amiens managed to stay in the top tier while the other promoted team.Troyes got relegated along with Metz.Paris Saint Germain player Cavani scored the most goals (28) and while PSG’s Neymar and Marseille’s Payet had the most assists (13).PSG’s Aerola had the most clean sheets (17).
Indian Super League
ISL season started with a dull draw between last season’s finalists ATK and Kerala Blasters.Title holders Atk ended the season in the second last position.
Bengaluru topped the league table with a record 40 points but lost the final to Chennaiyin who won their 2nd title and secured a spot in AFC Cup qualifiers.Goa’s Coro won the Golden boot scoring 18 goals and 5 assists while Bengaluru’s Sunil Chhetri was the Hero of the league with 14 goals and two assists.Pune’s Marcelo and Bengaluru’s Udanta were top assist providers with seven assists each.Jamshedpur’s Subrata Pal was awarded the golden glove for 7 clean sheets and the least goals conceded(15) from 18 matches.Vishal Keith,Gurpreet and Karanjit also had the same number of clean sheets but conceded 19,17 & 22 goals respectively.
I-League
I-League title contest went down to the wire between Minerva Punjab,promoted team Neroca,Mohun Bagan and East Bengal.The last three matches of the season saw all these teams in play at the same time.Minerva won the league beating relegated Churchill brothers by a solitary goal in their last match and also sealed AFC champions league qualifiers & AFC Cup group slots.The top scorer of the league was Mohun Bagan’s Dipanda with 13 goals while his team mate Shilton Paul had the most clean sheets (8).
Santosh Trophy
Kerala won their 6th Santosh trophy with an unbeaten run in the tournament.They defeated Bengal in the finals on a Penalty Shootout 4-2 after 120 minutes of play ended in a 2-2 draw.Kerala’s Goal keeper Midhun turned hero for them with two saves in the shootout.Goa’s Victorino and Kerala’s Jithin were the top scorers with 5 goals.