La Liga's Dominance in Europe Since 2000
Since the turn of the century, La Liga clubs have dominated Europe. In 2000, La Liga had 3 out of the 4 semi-finalists in the UEFA Champions League with Real Madrid, Valencia and Barcelona; Real Madrid went on to beat fellow La Liga side Valencia in an all Spanish final. In 2001, La Liga had 2 out of the 4 semi-finalists in the UEFA Champions League with Real Madrid and Valencia. Valencia went on to lose the final again this time to Bayern Munich. Meanwhile, in the UEFA Cup, La Liga had 2 out of the 4 semi-finalists with Deportivo Alavés and FC Barcelona, with Deportivo Alavés losing to Liverpool in the final. In 2002, had 2 out of the 4 semi-finalists in the UEFA Champions League with Real Madrid beating FC Barcelona in the semi-finals then beating Bayer Leverkusen in the final. In 2003 Real Madrid reached the semi-finals again but this time losing against Juventus. In 2004, Deportivo de La Coruña reached the semi-finals but lost to eventual champions Porto. In the UEFA Cup, La Liga had 2 out of the 4 semi-finalists. Valencia beat Villarreal in the semi-finals before beating Marseille in the final. In 2006, La Liga had 2 out of the 4 semi-finalists in the UEFA Champions League with FC Barcelona and Villarreal where Barcelona went on to become European champions again by beating Arsenal 2-1 in the final. Meanwhile, in the UEFA Cup Sevilla followed in Barcelona's footsteps by beating a Premier League side in a European final when they defeated Middlesbrough 4–0. With Barcelona and Sevilla, La Liga took home both European trophies on offer in 2006. Sevilla went on to defend their UEFA Cup trophy in 2007 by defeating fellow La Liga side Espanyol on penalties. Sevilla beat Barcelona 3–0 in the 2006 UEFA Super Cup but lost 3–1 to Milan in the 2007 UEFA Super Cup.
2007 was another successful year for La Liga, in the UEFA Cup they had 3 out of the 4 semi-finalists with Sevilla, Espanyol and Osasuna. Sevilla beat fellow Spaniards Osasuna 2–1 on aggregate, while Espanyol beat German high fliers Werder Bremen 5–1 on aggregate, to set up an all-Spanish UEFA Cup final. In a pulsating all-Spanish UEFA Cup final, Adriano gave Sevilla the lead only for Albert Riera to equalise for Espanyol, then in the second half Espanyol were down to 10 men which gave Sevilla an extra incentive to take the lead which they did in extra-time through Frédéric Kanouté. But a dramatic late equaliser in the second period of extra-time from Espanyol's Jonatas took it to penalties, which Sevilla won. In 2009 Barcelona won the Champions League for the third time, defeating Manchester United 2–0. In 2011 Barcelona would beat the same team 3–1 to win their fourth title. In 2010 Atlético Madrid won the first edition of the UEFA Europa League, defeating Fulham 2–1 after extra time. This was its first European trophy in 48 years.
Read more about this topic: La Liga Clubs In Europe
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