An exciting final day of the 2020/21 Serie A has just ended, as Milan beat Atalanta 2:0 to secure 2nd place and Juventus beat Bologna 4:1 to reach the Champions League, after Napoli dropped points against Verona.
Lille knocking off heavy weights PSG to claim the French title was the biggest surprise to me.
What an embarrassment to PSG!! The most financially well-muscled club who had on board the most expensive players like Neymar and Mbappe !
Lille pulled off this title triumph for less than a quarter of PSG’s budget!! Their squad cost 147 euros (£126.5m), while PSG’s cost 640m euros (£551m).
Three years ago, Lille were almost relegated, only surviving after winning three of their final four matches.
Lille’s rise to the Championship title - Their standings in last 7 yrs:
2020-21: #
2019-20: #
2018-19: #
2017-18: #
2016-17: #
2015-16: #
2014-15: #
Lille’s success can be attributed to their astute underrated manager Christophe Galtier, some smart signings and a key signings from PSG’s own discarded youth academy players.
No fewer than four former PSG players played key roles in the Lille squad - goalkeeper Mike Maignan, midfielder Boubakary Soumare, and forwards Jonathan Ikone and Timothy Weah.
I also think Tuchel’s sacking in December was not the best of the decisions for PSG as the man proves his worth at Chelsea by lifting them in the top 4 at PL and qualifying for Champions League. Whereas Mauricio Pochettino failed to win the French championship for PSG and take PSG past Champions League semi-finals.
The 2020–21 Bundesliga was the 58th season of the Bundesliga, Germany’s premier football competition. It began on 18 September 2020 and concluded on 22 May 2021. The season was originally scheduled to begin on 21 August 2020 and conclude on 15 May 2021, though this was delayed due to postponement of the previous season as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bayern Munich were the defending champions and successfully defended their title, winning their record-extending 9th consecutive title and 31st title overall (30th in the Bundesliga era) on 8 May with three games to spare.