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What were these, the year 2005, like for European club football? At the beginning of the year, probably not many believed or thought that two main European trophies would be won by Liverpool and Moscow. But once again, the Champions League cup (for the fifth time!) lies at Anfield (so this fact means that the cup will forever remain in Liverpool), while the UEFA Cup traveled to Russia for the first time. Meanwhile, the hopes of London and Turin, whose aspirations in the Champions League were dashed by the same Liverpool, and like Chelsea, the Spanish and German "victims," dominated their respective leagues.
Although the thrilling journey of Liverpool through the Champions League and even more impressive final allowed them to hold on to this prestigious trophy for a lifetime, they finished fifth in the Premier League, trailing Chelsea by 37 points. Although in reality, according to all existing UEFA rules, Liverpool's players could not defend their title (they needed to finish at least fourth), this unprecedented case caused a real stir. UEFA eventually allowed the club to defend their title, albeit starting from the first qualifying round. Perhaps it was good, because with our own eyes, we saw this club on our own "lawn." And even scored a goal. And just five minutes before we were leading...
In the Premier League, Chelsea triumphed. The club had not won this title in 50 years, but Roman Abramovich's money and Jose Mourinho's talent helped create a team that not only won the Premier League title, but also improved the league's record of points won. However, they were surpassed by Liverpool, who could add the Club World Cup title from Japan to this title last week. They were only defeated in the final by Sao Paulo from Brazil.
Not long before that fateful night in Istanbul, Turkey, in the battle for the Serie A title, the Italians lost a very important battle against one of their main rivals, Juventus. It was already the 28th Scudetto for Juve.
Meanwhile, Barcelona from Spain won their first league award in six years. The team continues to perform excellently. Until the 2001/2002 season, this team had never won the French league. Now they have won their fourth title. Meanwhile, other French clubs - Rennes and Auxerre - were able to celebrate the UEFA Intertoto Cup.
Rennes was the third winner of the Intertoto Cup, but their efforts in the domestic championship were overshadowed by Bayern Munich. Although Lyon led the Bundesliga for a long time, the Munich club picked up pace at the very end of the championship, managing to both equal and surpass the Gelsenkirchen club.
CSKA started their season in Russia rather pessimistically, but probably inspired by the success of the UEFA Cup, they finally overcame their main competitors. They beat Sevilla in the UEFA Cup, but in the Portuguese Championship, they could not resist Benfica, who also took the title from struggling Sporting.
PSV finally "stole" the title from their main rivals Ajax in the Netherlands last year. Since the 2001/02 season, these two teams had been sharing 1-2 places in the Dutch league constantly. Similarly, Standard "stole" the title from Anderlecht in Belgium, while PAOK won against their main competitors Aris in Greece. Turkey already won its 16th trophy.
In the past 13 years, Rosenborg lost its first Norwegian championship title, Skonto ended its domination in Latvia after 14 years in a row (a world record!), and Litex ended its reign. FC Pyunik and FC Sheriff from Armenia and Moldova respectively have yet to be beaten in their championships for five years. Meanwhile, Glasgow, by winning the title in the Scottish league in the final minutes, further improved their own record of national championship wins. Now they have a total of 51.
These years were eventful for Lithuanian football. Panevezys finally ended Zalgiris' winning streak in the championship, leaving this club only with the country's league cup. Meanwhile, FK Suduva repeated their 30-year-old victory and, bringing back head coach A.Gabris to the team, finished just two points ahead of Vilnius' Vėtra club and after several years of hiatus will again participate in the UEFA Cup competition.
