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Sunday saw Barcelona and Internazionale crowned champions of
Spain and Italy respectively; in my view, both clubs were worthy winners of
their league titles.

Let’s start with Barça. After a historic 2008/09 season which
saw them win an unprecedented six trophies, it was inevitable this year would
be a letdown. There would be no way Pep Guardiola could inspire his group of
players to do it all again. However, their surprising defeat in the Copa del
Rey aside, the Blaugrana actually came close to another impressive trophy haul.

They narrowly lost to Inter in the Champions League semi-finals
and made sure they would not end the season empty handed by winning La Liga on
the final day with a record points total.

At the centre of their latest contest was a duo that has to rate
as one of the best of all-time; Xavi Hernandez and Leo Messi. These two players
have an understanding which led to a large percentage of the goals netted by
Barcelona this season.

The Spanish midfielder finished the season as the king of
assists, and what can be said about Leo? Wow! 46 goals in all competitions this
season, and he is not even an out-and-out striker. Simply incredible.

I will express my sympathy for Real Madrid manager Manuel
Pellegrini. His team set new marks for points and goals scored but the
Merengues finished the season empty-handed. Even with Cristiano Ronaldo at his
best, they could not overtake Barcelona on the final stretch in the race for
the league title. The “Chilean Engineer,” as he is known, will now have to find
a new job as Jose Mourinho is expected to waltz into the Santiago Bernabeu
before the start of the new campaign.

Which leads me to Internazionale. They were the best team in
Italy this season and were worthy champions. For the good of Italian football,
I would have liked Roma to win, since it isn’t healthy for one team to claim
five straight titles.

However, the Nerazzuri were better, faster, and stronger, and
deserve to celebrate another Scudetto. Diego Milito was simply outstanding in
the last month of the season and it is fitting that he has been selected by
Diego Maradona to represent Argentina at the World Cup. Inter’s other top
performers like Walter Samuel, Lucio, and Wesley Sneijder will be there. They
will go to South Africa as treble winners since I believe Inter will beat
Bayern Munich in the Champions League final in Madrid.

As far as Jose Mourinho is concerned, he has proven once more
that in the present day he is the best coach on the planet. Give him the
resources, and he will give you success. Guaranteed. He now has collected 16
trophies in 10 years in management. Statistics like these do not lie.

One final word about England’s FA Cup final. I grew up watching
these games on television and always considered them to be a showpiece of the
football season. Having watched this last weekend’s match between Chelsea and
Portsmouth from afar once more, I became disillusioned with everything this
game is supposed to represent.

There were empty seats, the fans were lethargic, and the pitch
was embarrassingly poor. It didn’t look like the home of football. It didn’t
even look like a field that should host a final of any sort.

CNN Sport correspondent
Pedro Pinto will anchor CNN International’s coverage of the FIFA World Cup in
South Africa.

He wrtes for NEXT every Monday