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Records are but an accreditation of a player's talent. Regardless of what club it's made with, which league, and what circumstances, it adds a feather to the player’s cap. And more importantly, etches his name in the folklore. The same applies for the milestones set collectively by a team.
Like any other season in Europe’s top-flight, the recently concluded one too witnessed several records being made and some old ones being broken. The Premier League produced a winner with a three-digit point tally for the very first, while the champions of Serie A extended their hegemony by another year.
Then we also had this Barcelona great pick up another Golden Boot, and it to top it all off, Champions League’s favourite child enjoyed under moment under the sun.
So as we bid adieu to another rollicking season in Europe’s club football, let’s look back at the top 6 records made this season.
#6 Benevento set longest losing streak for a promoted side with 14 defeats
Benevento secured a fairytale promotion to Serie A last year, but their first ever sojourn in Italy’s top-tier wasn’t as much. In fact, the Campania outfit were off to the worst possible start when they lost each of their opening 14 league games!
Rooted at the foot of the table without a point and 34 goals conceded, Benevento set an unwanted record for losing the most number of games from the start by a promoted side. And in all of Europe’s top 5 leagues. They surpassed Manchester United’s record of 13 defeats on the bounce set in 1932, when they gained promotion to British top tier.
Benevento were widely regarded as the worst team in modern Serie A, and the ugly streak came to an end on matchday 15 when they held AC Milan to a 2-2 draw. Their first win, however, didn’t come until December, when they beat Chievo in the 19th game.
Benevento went on to pick 5 more wins thereafter, but a relegation always loomed large. And the chickens finally came home to roost on matchday 34 when a return to Serie B was confirmed.
#5 Messi picks up record 5th Golden Boot
Barcelona’s potentially historic domestic season ended up being just another title-winning season with a shock 5-4 loss to Levante in the penultimate matchday. But Lionel Messi did write another piece of history when he picked up his 5th Golden Boot.
The Argentine wizard surpassed Ronaldo’s haul of 4 and wrote his name into the books once again when he became the most prolific player for the most number of times in Europe.
Messi bagged 34 goals in 36 league games this term, two more than the next best, Mohamed Salah. That also includes 4 hat-tricks, the most for a player in La Liga this season, whilst also jointly finishing atop the assist charts with 12. The incredible tally includes some important goals against Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Sevilla et al, as he was once again crucial in the Azulgrana’s title triumph.
This was also Messi’s 5th Pichichi trophy, and now trails the legendary Telmo Zarra on the all-time list, who collected 6 of them during his playing days.
And for those curious to know, Ronaldo came second in the league with 26 goals, but having played 9 games fewer.
#4 Juventus equal Lyon’s record of winning 7 consecutive league titles
This was perhaps the toughest and most fiercely contested race in the Serie A in the last decade. Napoli came within inches of a historic triumph, but a late implosion meant Juventus continued to hegemonize the league.
The Bianconeris picked up an unprecedented 7th straight Scudetto, and in the process, also drew level with Lyon, who until then, held the record for 7 consecutive league titles outright.
The Ligue 1 outfit are no longer the force they once used to be, but the turn of the millenium witnessed an epoch of dominance by the Gones. From 2001 to 2008, they were crowned the undisputed French champions, setting the record for the longest league triumphs on the bounce. It was something many presumed unassailable, but Juventus have drawn parity with their latest title.
The gulf in quality and squad depth between them and the chasing pack holds them in a good stead to pick a record-setting 8th next year.
#3 Salah rewrites Premier League record books with 32 goals
Unlike the other leagues where the record for most goals scored in a season easily tame the 40-goal mark, that of the Premier League was a modest 31. But when you consider that the biggest of the names gracing the league have struggled to surpass it, you understand it’s no mean feat.
Alan Shearer, Thiery Henry, Cristiano Ronaldo and Luis Suarez held the record for 31 goals in a single Premier League campaign. Until a certain Mohamed Salah came along and blew it out of water.
The Egyptain set the league alight with his eye-catching exploits for Liverpool, and romped to his first Golden Boot. In the process, he also surpassed the barrier having struck 32 times, setting a new milestone and also one that would take an extra-ordinary effort (like his, in this season) to beat.
It’s truly remarkable when you consider that even the likes of Didier Drogba, Dennis Bergkamp, Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Wayne Rooney, Sergio Aguero etc, some of the greatest in the league, could never do it what he did. But the icing on the cake here, is that Salah did it in only his first full season in the EPL!
#2 Manchester City romp to EPL title with record wins (32), goals (106) and points (100)
Boy oh boy, that was some season for Manchester City! Pep Guardiola’s swashbuckling side successfully brought the Premier League trophy back to the blue half of Manchester after 4 years. But when you consider the manner in which they did it, it was worth the wait.
Widely touted to be one of the greatest sides ever in the division, the Skyblues smashed records after records each week. They not only surpassed Arsenal’s record of 14 wins on the trot with 18 of their own, but also clinched the competition with records number of wins. City’s 32 bested the 30 victories by Chelsea last year.
They also set a new record for 106 goals scored, bettering the Blues side of 2009/10 who struck 103 times. But its the 100-points tally that truly takes the cake.
No side ever accrued more than the 95 points by Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea of 2004/05, but City surpassed that mark with a game in hand, before the victory on the final matchday over Southampton clinched triple digit figures.
Pep’s side now join the elite group of Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus as the only teams in Europe’s top 5 leagues to secure 100 points in a league season.
#1 Real Madrid win the Champions League for a third successive time
Until 2016, a feat like this seemed unthinkable. Since the inception of Champions League in 1992, no team had ever even won the competition twice in a row until Real Madrid broke the hoodoo last year.
It was a watershed moment for the club and the fans alike, for it’s an incredible record in itself. But doing it for three years on the trot? You got to be kiddin’, right?
Except, Los Blancos weren’t.
With another disappointing domestic campaign, the Spanish giants were hinging onto this competition to salvage something from the season. And given their glorious history and recent dominant run, one wouldn’t have bet against them going all the way again.
Having beaten the champions of France, Italy and Germany along the way, the Merengues came up against a blistering Liverpool team in the finals. But as you may have seen last weekend, no challenge is big enough for this side, as they romped to a 3-1 win, clinching the Champions League for the third time in as many years.
Real Madrid were the first team since Bayern Munich in 1976 to do the threepeat, but no one has done it in the Champions League era. And no one would, in years to come, considering the competitiveness of the league.
