In recent seasons, Spanish football has almost certainly assumed the mantel of European top dogs. This is nothing new as such – Real Madrid and Barcelona are hardly merely recent additions to the European trophies roll of honour – but the standard of football, as exemplified in the national team’s success, has been raised to a level that has left fans and commentators gushing and fast running out of superlatives.
The Premier League season is finally upon us. We all have our own ideas about how the opening day will go. Even though we haven’t seen anyone kick a competitive ball since May we still feel that we have a pretty good idea of who will be winning and who will be losing on the opening weekend.
Once more we find ourselves at the dawn of a new football season, and that can only mean one thing – fans of the beautiful game the length and breadth of the country will be eagerly anticipating the big kick-off and, of course, daring to dream once again.
Do you know what you don’t see a lot of anymore? Players kissing the badge on their shirts, whether it be celebrating a goal or after a big victory. Is this a time honoured show of passion that we miss? Or is it not bothered with as our own cynicism won’t allow us to enjoy it anyway?
This summer we have been blessed by the proverbial footballing feast that has been on offer. A European Championships, an Olympics on home soil and now we find ourselves just a couple of weeks away from the start of a new season.