New Super League Season off with a bang!

In what could be the last Batalla De Titanes for now, with a World Cup nearly upon us, and hopefully FIFA 15 (with the return of League seasons) not too far behind, we celebrated with two cracking games of football to start the new campaign.

Current Champions Real Madrid got us started with a solid display against a disappointing Zenit in Madrid.
The BBC ( Bale, Benzema, Cristiano) combination up front again proving to be lethal - with Bale scoring a classic brace while his team mates came ever so close to adding to the Russian sides misery.

Over in Barcelona, SB and his team brushed aside the disappointments of last season and showed they mean business this time around. In what was meant to be an each way bet - Barcelona had it all their own way against what can only be described as a hopeless Arsenal, with Messi scoring 2 on their way to a brilliant 3 nil start to their season.

After the game, SB will very confident in his team's chances this season.
"We want to go undefeated all season." SB said

Its a bold statement from a boss who barely managed to hand on to his job following the most disastrous period of his career.

With such a great start to the season, we can be sure this will be much closer fought competition than the one horse race it turned out to be last time around.

"We want to go undefeated all season." Bold statements from a bold man.


 

FPA Introduces First Ever Rankings System

For years now, through countless editions of FIFA, the PS world has begged the question: just who is the better player - SB or JM.

Currently the only way to celebrate achievement is counting total trophies won, and of course this must and will continue. However The Fifa Players Association has acknowledged a rankings system must now also be introduced for a number of reasons.

• Firstly it provides a way to distinguish just who is achieveing better results on an ongoing basis. In the past unless you won a trophy, you really do not recieve any reward for a good season.
• We can now test head to head finishes and placings on all competitions between SB and JM - as ranking points are accumulated.
• This will prevent blowout seasons where certain players may have thrown away half a season when it became clear they had no chance of winning.
• Players will be deducted points in the League if they finish outside the Top 4. This keeps a season interesting even if a player is out of winning contention. 

While SB currently clearly leads the All-Time Trophy count with a total of 5 Stars across the three competitions we count (2 League Titles, 2 Cup and 1 Champions League). Two of those Stars were won just last season when he won the League and Cup double with Barcelona.
Prior to that it was the famous Treble season also with Barcelona.
In between it could be argued SB has done very little and it was a long, trophy-less era after the Treble.

JM has a very long way to go to catch his great rival on all-time achievements. He trails with only 2 Stars to his name (1 League and 1 Cup title). And although he has come so close on so many occasions, sadly JM has little to show for the hard work.

It could even be argued at times throughout his career he has been the better player - early 2014 for example, but this is an argument for another day.

Now a new Ranking systems will allow us to truly say who is the number 1 PS4 FIFA player on Earth. No disputes. Results will tell the story.

This is how it will work.
Both players will start with a clean slate of zero points from the new Super League season.
The points will carry over every year, through each new season, and through new editions of FIFA.

League:
1st Place: 1000 points
2nd Place: 500
3rd Place: 250
4th Place: 100
Outside 4th position: -250 points (this will not be deducted if player is already on zero)

Cup:
Winner: 1000
Runner Up: 500
Semi Final: 250

Champions League:
Winner: 1000
Runner Up: 500
Semi Final: 250

Batalla De Titans Super League: 
Winner: 500
2nd Place within 6 points: 400
2nd Place within 12 points: 250

World Cup:
Winner: 1000
Runner Up: 500
Third Place: 250

Miscellaneous Tournaments:
Winner: 200
Runner Up: 100

The Golden Awards...

In the aftermath of what was a very successful Batalla De Titanes: Super League season, we can now award the individual and team awards.

Golden Boot  (currently commercially termed "adidas Golden Ball") for best player;

• the Golden Boot - (Top Goal Scorer)

LIONEL MESSI (Barcelona)

Messi collects and kisses his well deserved Golden Boot award.

Messi was oustanding in this Super League, with a total of 27 goals to his name. This included a bunch of hat tricks and man of the match displays. With Barcelona next best being Neymar on 7 goals - it is clear without a doubt Messi carried Barcelona through the back half of the season.

Who knows what could have been if he had been able to find some of those 27 goals in the first half of the season.

Messi's closest rival to the Golden Boot award was of course Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo, on 17 goals.
However the biggest difference would be Ronaldo's contribution to the team, having gifted many a goal to his fellow team mates including Benzema (12 goals) and Bale (8 goals). Which is a clear reason why he was given our next award.

• the Golden Ball - (Player of the Season)

CRISTIANO RONALDO (Real Madrid)

Without doubt the best player on the planet this season - Real Madrid's Ronaldo

• the Golden Glove Award (for best goalkeeper)

DIEGO LOPEZ (Real Madird) 

Diego Lopez accepts his award via satelite.
His contribution to the Champion team was crucial to their success and has been acknowledged

• the Most Entertaining Team (award for the team that has entertained the public the most during the League season, as determined by a poll here at the FPA.

BAYERN MUNICH

A somewhat controversial choice - but theres no doubt they were great to watch in this league season



Real Madrid Win Super League

Its finally official, although we have known for quite some time, our winner of the inaugural Batalla De Titanes: Super League is goes to this seasons most consistent player - JM.

Most pundits agreed SB would enter this League season with the favouritism tag sitting safely in his left pocket, but it wasn't long into Round 1 of games when it all began to unravel for SB and his Barcelona men.

Its been a super disappointing season for SB, who will do well just to keep his job for next season, as it wasn't just the number of losses they managed to accumulate over the 1st half of the season in particular - it was the manner in which they occurred.

Although they definitely improved at the back end of the season, when it was clear the League was already won by Real Madrid. However it was the early struggles which most people will remember about this campaign for Barcelona.
It was clear SB had struggled early to adapt to a new system of play, or perhaps a hangover loomed over his players from last seasons double success. Whatever the case, SB refused to take responsibility for the poor forms and dismal performances of his team and for this has surely lost many fans.

On the flip side, our Champion, JM has had a season to remember. His Real Madrid team have stepped up under the new system, even burying a few demons by finally defeating arch nemesis Bayern Munich several rounds ago. And who can forget their biggest achievement this year - the biggest Clasico result in history - the 5 nil embarrassment of Barcelona.

Modric gets a chance to lift the Super League Trophy for Real Madrid

Despite this being a strange kind of year - with no official League or Cup tournament/league fixtures - we have still been treated to some lovely football at times and with the announcement of the return of Super League for another and perhaps final season - we can be assured another brilliant league prior to the World Cup in July.

Can JM and Real Madrid take the prize again - or will SB find a way to return to previous dominance.
We can't wait.

Real Madrid continue to celebrate