A Change of Direction - The Football World From My Window

The 2007/2008 European football season is over. Manchester United conquered Europe, winning their domestic league and also the Champions League 50 years after the Munich Air Disaster, beating Chelsea on penalties on a dramatic night in Moscow. Real Madrid retained their trophy in a La Liga that, for many, failed to satisfy - at the top of the league anyway. Villarreal qualified automatically for the Champions League and provided the sternest test to Bernd Schuster's men, but in truth it was Madrid's title more or less from the moment they beat Barcelona 1-0 at the Camp Nou back in December.

Meanwhile Barcelona now face massive upheaval and turmoil after a dreadful year by their very high standards, with Frank Rijkaard gone and Ronaldinho, Samuel Eto'o, Deco and many others sure to follow him out of the exit door. In Italy, Inter Milan retained Serie A after being pushed all the way to the last day of the season by AS Roma, before sacking Roberto Mancini and drafting in a certain 'Special One' to try and take them to new heights, namely the success in Europe they so desperately crave. While Inter won their third straight Scudetto, neighbourhood rivals AC Milan fell apart domestically, and an aging but nevertheless talented squad failed to even qualify for Europe's elite competition, finishing 5th behind Juventus and Fiorentina who took the two remaining Champions League berths.



PSV, Celtic and Porto continued dominance of their respective leagues while in Germany, Bayern Munich are back at the helm thanks largely to the contributions of an Italian and a Frenchman. In France, Olympique Lyonnais were taken further than they have been before in their hunt for Le Championnat in an exciting tussle with Laurent Blanc's Bordeaux, but in the end Karim Benzema and co hung on for a seventh straight league title before making it a double with victory in the French Cup Final. And Zenit St. Petersburg won the UEFA Cup, triumphing over Rangers' brand of anti-football (who am I to criticise, it almost worked. Almost.)



Indeed its been a compelling season in Europe, and one that many fans will remember for years to come.

Now we are left with a summer of endless transfer speculation (Who isn't already bored of the Ronaldo saga) and Euro 2008, which is being extensively covered by the boys over at the Euro 2008 blog created by The Offside. However, at Just-Football, we are temporarily heading in a new direction.


As editor-in-chief and more or less the sole author of the site, I myself am undertaking a change of path this summer, heading to South and Central America for a few months to do some research/travelling/wandering and pondering. And so for the foreseeable future I hope to bring you tales of the football world from my own window, delving into the heart of the vibrant, exciting, passionate beast that is Latin American football. What wonders will I witness while I am out there, who knows. What I do know however, is that there is a huge lust for and interest in the beautiful game in this part of the world, and as such I hope to be able to see first-hand what makes Latin America a hotbed of football fervour. Hopefully I can report to you many an exciting tale. We will continue to keep an eye on the football world as a whole and provide analysis as often as possible, but in the coming months Just-Football will almost certainly develop a Latino-centric flavour!


Stay tuned, and Hasta el Futbol Siempre!!