This was the season that was in Spain...

Moment of the season
Cristiano Ronaldo's winner for Real Madrid at the Camp Nou in April. Barca had just equalised and a 95,000 crowd roared for a vital winner. There were 18 minutes to play in the biggest game in world football when Ronaldo, enjoying his best game yet against the Catalans, ran on to a through ball from Mesut Ozil and finished clinically past Victor Valdes. The man Spain calls 'Cristiano' didn't overdo the celebrations. He merely requested the same composure from his team-mates that he had displayed on a brilliant night for Madrid in

At Real Madrid, they're still coming down from the high of winning a 32nd league title last week. At Barcelona, they're on a comedown following Pep Guardiola's emotional farewell at Camp Nou, though Lionel Messi's 47th, 48th, 49th and 50th league goals of the season against neighbours Espanyol (who have again faded badly after Christmas) cheered them up.

Talk of Barça signing Gareth Bale, Thiago Silva and Rob van Persie this summer are aimed at lifting morale further, but of more immediate concern is the present. The goals pushed Messi five clear of Ronaldo in the race for the Pichichi with a

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Real Madrid didn't think they'd have to wait another four years as Barcelona formed the guard of honour to welcome them as champions of Spain, onto the rain lashed Bernabéu pitch. It was May 2008 and Madrid were feted by their main rivals before destroying Barça 4-1. The Catalans looked shot, their coach Frank Rijkaard a forlorn figure after the game.

The travelling media didn't grill him because they knew he was dead man walking. Instead, they felt sympathy for him. Rijkaard was not a bad coach, he'd been a great leader who delivered consecutive league titles and a second European Cup to

Pep Guardiola was late down to the press room deep in the bowels of the Camp Nou main stand. Very late. It was over an hour after the final whistle and the Camp Nou was empty.

The 4,800 ecstatic Chelsea fans had been the last to leave, singing "We're going to Germany" as they climbed the hundreds of steps down from the third tier. They'd had a great day and night, their pre-match confidence and chants of "Who needs Messi when we've got Kalou?" upheld by the defensive quality in their side on the biggest stage.

The home fans had left on the whistle, not whistling or booing their heroes, but by

"Scotland in the sun" was the dismissive sobriquet given to Spain's Primera Liga by those who saw a predictable two-horse race and little else to get excited about.

With five Spanish clubs occupying the final eight berths in the Champions League and Europa League this week, you hear less mocking. Spain could provide all four European finalists.

There's a whole lot happening below Spain's big two — who meet in a vital league game on Saturday at Camp Nou after Barca have faced Chelsea and Real Madrid have met Bayern Munich.

Nobody is pretending the Barca-Madrid duopoly is healthy. Atletico

The huge silhouette of the 18-storey Miguel Servet hospital appropriately dominates Real Zaragoza's La Romareda stadium.

For much of this season, Real Zaragoza have been the sick man of the Primera Liga and with just two wins from 16 league games by the turn of the year were adrift at the bottom with fans in uproar protesting against their president Agapito Iglesias.

He runs the club like his fiefdom and is being investigated for alleged financial wrongdoing including pocketing transfer fees. No club in Spain has seen so many players come and go as Zaragoza — there have been 39 this season

Barcelona fans packed the bars close to Camp Nou before Saturday's late game against the Basques of Athletic. They crowded around screens, raffish types near Collblanc, families and tourists on the other side of the stadium near Diagonal.

They hoped that an in-form Osasuna side who'd lost just two of their 15 home games could stop Real Madrid winning. Jose Mourinho's side had started to wobble, dropping points against Malaga and Villarreal which allowed a relentless Barça to reduce Madrid's lead from 10 to six points. There was a fair chance that they would fail in Pamplona against a side

Barcelona's brilliance deserves an unobstructed viewInterested countries were formally invited to enter their bid to host Euro 2020 last week.

The deadline isn't until May, but Spain hasn't registered an interest. A country in the middle of a severe economic crisis has more pressing issues than hosting a sporting event in eight years time, especially considering the cost of Madrid's failed bids to stage the 2008 and 2012 Olympics and Spain's failure (in a joint bid with Portugal) to land the 2018 World Cup.

Many of Spain's football stadiums last saw significant redevelopment for the 1982 finals, 30 years ago this summer. Then, Camp Nou got an