La Liga Debut

This year, there was actually very little suspense surrounding UEFA's Champions League awards.

Yang Yang had led Liverpool to the Quadruple Crown, dominating the entire European football world. He was universally recognized as the best player, and no one believed the award would go to anyone else.

Unless UEFA wanted to ruin its own reputation.

The Best Goalkeeper award went to Manchester United's Van der Sar. The Dutch veteran had shattered Chelsea goalkeeper Čech's myth and risen to become Europe's best.

By comparison, whether it was Liverpool's Reina or Barcelona's Valdés, both were considerably less consistent and had no chance of competing with Van der Sar.

The Best Defender award went to Chelsea center-back Terry. That was a somewhat surprising result, but the same principle still applied: Liverpool's defenders were slightly inferior in terms of defensive consistency, while Barcelona's main strength lay in midfield passing and possession. None of their defenders could match Terry.

The Best Midfielder award was different, however. The competition had been fierce, and in the end Barcelona's Xavi defeated Liverpool's Gerrard and Xabi Alonso, as well as his teammate Iniesta, to claim the award and become the best midfielder in the Champions League last season.

As for the final two awards—the Best Forward award and the most prestigious Best Player award—both went to Yang Yang, who had previously played for Liverpool but now represented Real Madrid.

Yang Yang went up to accept the awards one after another. During his speeches, he specifically thanked the players of his former club, Liverpool. He said he would always remember his life and matches at Liverpool, and would also cherish the friendship he shared with the Liverpool players.

Although Yang Yang had never mentioned it publicly, Gerrard himself understood it perfectly well. Yang Yang might have wanted to leave, but