Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/919364
maltatoday SUNDAY 24 DECEMBER 2017 53 FOOTBALL Sports review The surprise of the trophy was caused by Sk Victoria Wander- ers of Gozo who made it to the semi-final of the trophy after eliminating St Andrews and Pembroke Athleta. They were finally defeated by Floriana in the semi-final. In the final match, Floriana were up against Sliema Wander- ers who were looking to retain the trophy. This was an impor- tant match for both sides as the FA trophy was their only path to play in Europe since the two teams failed to make it with the top four teams in the Premier League. During the match, Floriana showed more desire to win the match and managed to secure a 2-0 win over the Wanderers and thus sealed their place in the Europa League. Serie A Juventus dominated Italian football throughout these years and last season was not an ex- ception. Juventus led the table for a number of weeks and man- aged to put their hand on their sixth consecutive Scudetto in May. The Bianconeri also won another Italian Cup after beat- ing Lazio 2-0 on the 17th of May. Barclays Premier League Following a disastrous previ- ous season in which Chelsea failed to qualify for European competitions, they appointed Antonio Conte as their coach. The Italian coach had an excel- lent season at the helm of Chel- sea as they managed to finish first ahead of Tottenham and Manchester City. Chelsea also made it to the fi- nal of the FA Trophy, but were defeated 2-1 by Arsenal. UEFA Champions League Last year was also a memo- rable one for Real Madrid and Zinedine Zidane. The French coach managed to lead Real Madrid to their second consec- utive UEFA Champions League following a 4-1 win over Juven- tus in the final match. To top it all, the Spanish gi- ants also secured another La Liga title after finishing first ahead of Barcelona. International Football The limelight of International football was the Confederations Cup. This tournament is played between eight teams from all federations ahead of the World Cup. In this case a young Ger- man side proved too strong for all teams and secured the cup after beating Chile 1-0 in the final match. Another episode which shocked football fans especially Maltese ones was Italy's failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup after losing their play-off against Sweden in November. Juventus celebrating their 2016/17 Serie A title Real Madrid players celebrate winning the Champions League Antionio Conte lifts his first Barclays Premier League Cup and title Barcelona pile on more misery on Real Madrid in 3-0 'Clasico' win BARCELONA exploited a lacklus- tre Real Madrid to win the 'Clasico' 3-0 yesterday as goals from Luis Su- arez, Lionel Messi and Aleix Vidal propelled the Catalans to a 3-0 win and lifted them 14 points clear of their rivals in the standings. Suarez capitalised on a wide open space in Madrid's midfield to knock in a simple pass from Sergi Roberto following a breakaway move in the 54th minute. That opened the scor- ing after a tense but tight first half in the early afternoon sun at the San- tiago Bernabeu. Messi hammered in the second goal from the penalty spot 20 min- utes later after Dani Carvajal was sent off for blocking a goal-bound header from Paulinho with his arm after Real were again easily picked apart on the counter attack. Catalan defender turned winger Vidal hit the third in injury time to pile more misery on Madrid, who looked unrecognisable from the side that crushed Barca 5-1 on aggregate in the Spanish Super Cup in August. Real failed to capitalise on their chances in the first half as Karim Benzema's header came off the post and Cristiano Ronaldo was denied by the flailing leg of Barca goalkeep- er Marc-Andre ter Stegen. However, the European and Liga champions collapsed after the interval and Bar- ca took full advantage. "We are feeling very angry because it's a defeat that hurts a lot but we are not going to give up," Real coach Zinedine Zidane told a news confer- ence. "It's a complicated moment be- cause of the defeat and the three goals, I could say we don't deserve this but football is like this. This is a very painful defeat, we are all sad, especially me. But we will come back much stronger." Barca are nine points clear of near- est challengers Atletico Madrid at the top of the standings although Valencia could climb to second and close the gap to eight points later on Saturday if they beat Villarreal. Real are 14 points adrift but have a game in hand. Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde said it was premature to assume that his side had wrapped up the title or to count Real out of the running. "Of course not, the first round of fixtures hasn't even finished. We've got the advantage, but we don't focus on that," he said. "We're only focusing on our games, our points and our sensations." Instead of the usual late evening kickoff time, Spain's premier club fixture took place at 1200 GMT in a bid to capture a record television audience in Asia. It was also played in the backdrop of a political crisis in the country, coming two days after elections in Catalonia in which separatist parties won a majority. Real's supporters unfurled a giant banner before kickoff to boast of the unprecedented five trophies the team had won in 2017. The volume in the packed Bernabeu was cranked up when Ronaldo headed a corner in off the crossbar in under two min- utes but the offside flag halted the premature celebrations. Barca, the only unbeaten team in the league, took a less active role than they have in recent games at the Bernabeu, with their best chanc- es before the break falling to Brazil- ian midfielder Paulinho. They created a number of oppor- tunities after the interval, however, and could have punished Real even further than they did. Barcelona's Lionel Messi in action as Real Madrid's Mateo Kovacic slides Barcelona's Luis Suarez celebrates scoring their first goal