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The readers of Outside of the Boot have cast their votes across Europe’s top 4 leagues across 10 different award categories with 4 nominees under each to pick the players who they believe deserved recognition the most. The La Liga 2013/14 End of Season Awards were the most closely competed one, with most categories lacking a clear winner. Note that no club has more than one representative in a particular product category.
CLASS ‘A’ AWARDS
These are the highest class of awards in Outside of the Boot’s End of Season Awards, recognising the top individuals in three distinct categories. These are the individuals who can be classified as the best in their respective category this particular La Liga 2013/14 season.
MANAGER OF THE SEASON | Diego Simeone
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Despite the La Liga title race being a closely fought affair, the Manager of the Season award was anything but. Diego Simeone dominated this particular award with 79% of the votes, blowing away the rest of the competition. Atletico Madrid have somehow managed to hold their own in the three horse race, led by Simeone, with the title in their own hands.
The Spanish La Liga giants, Real & Barca, have been stunned by Atletico’s consistency. Ancelotti & Martino finished 2nd and 3rd, but were nowhere near Atletico’s Argentinian manager.
PLAYER OF THE SEASON | Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid CF celebrates after scoring Real’s 2nd goal during the La Liga match between Real Madrid CF and Real Sporting de Gijon
Koke is another one from Atletico’s hard-working side that has impressed this season from the midfield area. He has had an incredible breakthrough season, showing an immense balance of attack & defence. Koke led the awards entirely, raking in 62% of the votes at the end of it.
Isco Alarcon was always going to find chances hard to come by but has impressed when called upon. Rafinha Alcantara, on loan from Barcelona) has done an exceptional job carrying Celta Vigo into the top half.
YOUNG PLAYER OF THE SEASON | Koke
This season has been the coming out party for Atletico Madrid youngster Koke
Player should have been 21 and below at the start of the season.
Koke is another one from Atletico’s hard-working side that has impressed this season from the midfield area. He has had an incredible breakthrough season, showing an immense balance of attack & defence. Koke led the awards entirely, raking in 62% of the votes at the end of it.
Isco Alarcon was always going to find chances hard to come by but has impressed when called upon. Rafinha Alcantara, on loan from Barcelona) has done an exceptional job carrying Celta Vigo into the top half.
CLASS ‘B’ AWARDS
The second level of Outside of the Boot’s End of Season Awards are the positional awards given to players across four distinct areas. Certainly, goes without saying, no players has been nominated for more than one positional category.
GOALKEEPER OF THE SEASON | Thibaut Courtois
Courtois: The rock at the back for Atletico
Young Thibaut Courtois has led Atletico Madrid to a hugely successful season. Displaying a fantastic command of his area and excellent reflexes, Courtois has dominated this category with 75% of the votes, safely beating Real’s Diego Lopez and an impressive Keylor Navas.
DEFENDER OF THE SEASON | Diego Godin
Godin: Leader of the backline at the Vicente Calderon
Diego Godin, alongwith his teammate Miranda, have had an incredible season with Atletico Madrid proving to be absolute rocks in Simeone’s defense oriented side. Special mention to Musacchio who got 7% of the votes for a wonderful season with Villarreal, well behind Real’s Sergio Ramos.
MIDFIELDER OF THE SEASON | Ivan Rakitic
Rakitic’s performance this season has his name mentioned in the transfer columns with much frequency
Croatian Ivan Rakitic has become of the most talked about midfielders in Europe after a fantastic season with Sevilla as he beat of Young Player of the Year, Koke, and Real Madrid’s expensive signing, Gareth Bale. As you can see, the awards were closely contested, with Bale actually leading at the start, only to be taken over by Rakitic & Koke.
FORWARD OF THE SEASON | Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo became the first player from a La Liga club to score 50+ goals in all competitions for four consecutive seasons. There was no doubt he would be voted as the Forward of the Season by our readers. Despite Costa carrying the Atletico team in terms of goals, he was no match for the Portuguese star.
CLASS ‘C’ AWARDS
The final class of Outside of the Boot’s End of Season Awards putting players head to head based on their age, youth football and also on the basis of managerial judgement.
Transfer of the Season: Gareth Bale (Real Madrid) – 75%
Experienced Player of the Season: Gabi (Atletico Madrid) – 57%
Homegrown Player of the Season: Koke (Atletico Madrid) – 45%
Atletico Madrid dominated the awards, winning 6 out of a possible 10; the next highest club were Real Madrid winning 3 of the awards. Sevilla were the only other club to have a representative. Koke & Cristiano Ronaldo both won 2 awards each while Koke, alongwith Aritz Adruiz, had the most number of nominations.
