For me the player of the year.

That omission being Wesley Sneijder of Inter Milan and Holland. The player who I felt should not only be nominated but also should have won the award. Inter Milan were *the* team of the last campaign. A tremendous season in which they won a treble (Champions League, domestic League and Cup), and Sneijder was the heart beat, the creative genius of the team.

At the world cup the Netherlands reached the final, once again Sneijder was the creative fulcrum of the team, even in the final they were so close to winning (still not sure how Arjen Robben managed to fluff his lines), and only ended up losing the game one nil in extra time. So for both club and country Sneijder drove his team to incredible achievements.

Whilst I don’t want to denigrate the achievements of Xavi, Iniesta and Messi all three play for a team that is more stuffed with talent than either Inter or Holland. It is easier to hit the high notes in a better team. For me (and I realise this is a subjective judgement) there is something special about a player who isn’t just one cog in an excellent machine (though I do enjoy that and more on Barcelona later !), but rather due to their individual brilliance and team play they elevate all of their team mates. It was this fantastic ability that, for me, makes Diego Maradona the best player that has ever been.

I am not for a minute saying Wesley Sneijder is at a Maradona level, but I do think the way he drove his respective teams to great heights, and made them more than the sum of their parts echoed Maradona. And further that as his club side won everything in a domestic treble, and he came within a rats whisker of winning the world cup then personally I’d say that makes him the player of the year by a nose. But even if he wasn’t the best it is certainly a travesty that he is not in the top three…

All three of those actually in the shortlist of course play for Barcelona. In a lot of the places where I read about football, listen to podcasts, and talk in person there has been some debate as to just how good this Barca team is, and whether or not they are the best side ever.

Quite a claim I reckon; and difficult for me to make any objective statement on. I have only ever seen TV highlights of the Alfredo Di Stéfano Madrid side of the 50s, and the Hungarian team of the same era. Ditto for the pre Munich United side, the Dutch side of the 70s, the Brazil 1970 team and most of the great Liverpool club sides, and I am sure there are many other “great” sides from before my time that I have not mentioned here.

Of sides I have actually seen play in real time, I reckon the best have been the Milan side of the late 80s early 90s, the treble wining United team, the West Germany side 88-92 and this Barcelona side (Spain too I guess but for simplicity I’ll keep it to just Barca !).

These were all good sides, and I realise I might being doing the “neophiliac” of plumbing for the most recent really good team I have seen. But for my money the current Barca team is better than any of those. Both the grounds of talent, and how entertaining they are. This side is simply stunningly, mesmerizingly good to watch.

I have often argued with my mate Kye about what is what you want from watching professional football on telly. His view is that he likes honest committed pros going in hard and one nil results. For me though if I want to see a load of useless cloggers booting the ball up in the air and running around aimlessly I can go to the local park and see that for free whenever I want (alternatively watch England on the telly!).

What I want to see when watching footy on the box is artistry and skill. People doing exceptional things, doing them well and doing them often. I think one of the newest and most irritating clichés in football at the moment is people saying:-

“If Messi/Barcelona had done that everyone would rave about it.”

Really, just a club...

Now here is the thing, the reason people rave about them doing it is they do it every week, you cant put it down to fluke or good fortune because they consistently do it over and over again. When Maynor Figueroa scored that goal from 60 yards it was great. But we all know it was more due to luck than design. Conversely when a Messi/LeTissier/Cantona/Bergkamp does it, we know they almost certainly meant it and can and will do it again. It is this consistency of brilliance of a couple of year period that makes this Barca team for me the best side I have ever seen.

That though isn’t to say I am an admirer of theirs without qualification. For all I love the way they play, think that La Masia academy ought to be a blueprint for how all teams develop young players and love the idea of democratic fan ownership of teams; there are also a lot of things to dislike about Barca.

First up (and probably the biggest thing for me) is the just insufferable smugness that seeps throughout Barca. The whole “Més que un club ” (More than a club) shtick just really irritates me. And their pious holier than thou stuff really falls down when you look at some of there on field antics. For all the wonderful football there is a massive amount of diving and ref haranguing by Barcelona.

And whilst it was great that they paid UNICEF to advertise the charity on their shirts; perhaps a more meaningful gesture would have been around wearing only sportswear not made in sweatshops. And in taking the 30 pieces of silver Qatar as a shirt sponsor they have surely undermined their credibility as a team with a halo.

All the same I love to watch Barca, and I guess they will benefit from the fact that next to Real Madrid they will always be the lesser of two evils! And the three Barca players have robbed Sneijder in the Ballon d’Or if you ask me.

Firstly I have always had a bit of an issue with this idea of the “divine right” of our “big four” to not only always qualify for the tournament but also to do well in it. A “dose of reality” is surely only a good thing.

Next I really don’t buy into the jingoistic we need to support English teams in Europe shebang. Why? I *hate* united, I hate them passionately and deeply; in many ways my principal allegiance in football is anti-united. So why would I support them when they play in Europe.

And I think we need to be really clear about this, all four of the English Teams in the CL richly deserved to be knocked out. Liverpool were awful in their group, Arsenal were demolished by the best club side in the world (and surely one of the contenders for the “all time” award), Chelsea were out fought and out thought by a team superior in every department over two legs.

And apart from the most dyed in the wool United fanatics can anyone say that Bayern didn’t deserve their result? I certainly would not, Bayern were great value over two legs.

I think it is certainly fair to say that our tops teams are relatively weaker than over the last couple of year. But for me this is a good thing. Whilst I enjoy watching European footy, I do so because of great teams playing each other. The truth is for me, as a neutral, Barcelona vs. Inter is every bit as much of an appealing prospect as Chelsea vs. Arsenal would have been, in fact probably more so.

And again as a neutral because of the relative weakness of our “big four” this years Premier League has probably been the most exciting one I can remember. Ups, downs, and the fact that with 5 games to go three different teams may well win the league, and a further 4 are properly in the reckoning to qualify for the champions league next year. Personally I will take an exhilarating domestic season over “our clubs” doing well in Europe every day of the week.

And I would invite you to compare and contrast our domestic season to that being “enjoyed” in La Liga. Where the “big two” dominance this season has made La Liga seem more like the SPL than in interesting and competitive league (I still love to watch Spanish Football though).

I also think rumours of the death of the EPL as a competitive force are greatly exaggerated. Firstly a big part of this has been financial, specifically the exchange rate between the euro and the pound. Whilst this may well continue (or even be exacerbated) there is also every possibility that the financial crisis in Greece, and the growing one in Portugal could make the Euro a much less attractive proposition.

Next I think there is likely to be some big spending, and some big stars heading the way of the Premier League this summer. Manchester City are clearly going to look to spend big and get some Marquee names.  The indications are that Chelsea (whose owner Abramovich is apparently in a better fiscal position than in recent years) are going tospend big in a playing staff restructure this summer.

So I for one shall be celebrating seeing some of the top teams in Europe duke it out for the Champions League title this season even though no English Club will be amongst