A look at the established names - and underdog stories - that captivated fans around the world this European football season.
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00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:01 Real Madrid have been crowned European champions,
00:04 bringing an amazing European club season to an end.
00:08 It's been a campaign full of exciting storylines.
00:12 Let's take a look back at why this campaign will go down
00:15 in history as a season for the underdogs.
00:17 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:20 Hello, and welcome to Football Now.
00:26 There are plenty of international tournaments
00:28 ahead, but the 2023-24 season of club football is over.
00:34 Spanish giants Real Madrid were crowned champions
00:37 of Europe at Wembley Stadium.
00:39 Goals from Dani Carvajal and Vinicius Junior
00:42 secured Los Blancos a record 15th Champions League trophy.
00:47 [SPEAKING SPANISH]
00:50 [SPEAKING SPANISH]
00:52 [SPEAKING SPANISH]
00:53 [SPEAKING SPANISH]
01:23 As well as lifting the European Cup,
01:24 Real Madrid were crowned winners of La Liga for the third time
01:28 in the last five seasons.
01:30 But across the continent, there was a mix of familiar
01:32 and surprise league champions.
01:35 In France and England, it was business as usual,
01:37 as PSG and Manchester City each collected another title win.
01:41 In Italy, Inter Milan wrestled back the Serie A title
01:44 from Napoli, who had a dreadful season following
01:47 the departure of Luciano Spalletti last summer.
01:51 Sporting Lisbon were Portuguese champions for only the second
01:54 time in 20 years.
01:55 We will keep an eye on their coach, Ruben Amorim,
01:58 as his name has been linked with top jobs across Europe
02:01 this summer.
02:02 Over in Holland, PSV won the Eredivisie for the first time
02:06 since 2018.
02:07 And in Germany, perhaps the biggest shock of all,
02:10 was Bayer Leverkusen not only winning the Bundesliga
02:13 for the first time, but managing to do so
02:15 without losing a game.
02:17 Xabi Alonso's invincibles will go down in the history books.
02:20 I mean, Bayern had won 11 Bundesliga titles in a row,
02:23 and it really hurt the Bundesliga's attraction,
02:27 maybe not so much domestically, but abroad.
02:29 It's hard to follow a league where it feels like there's
02:32 no competition for the title.
02:34 There's this sense of inevitability about Bayern
02:37 and the Bundesliga, and the fact that Leverkusen,
02:40 rather than Dortmund, which everyone expected,
02:41 was able to break that streak at some point is astonishing.
02:44 And Xabi Alonso, yeah, I think he has a huge role to play.
02:47 I also think the reinforcements they made to their squad
02:51 last summer, and it wasn't many, because they already
02:53 had a very good team, but just those little gems
02:56 that they signed to complete the squad, especially
02:59 Grani Csaka, I think has been enormous help to them.
03:03 He really kind of pulled everything together.
03:05 So yeah, I would say that signing those last few missing
03:09 pieces also helped them.
03:11 Having also won the German Cup, it
03:14 could have been an invincible treble for Leverkusen
03:17 if they hadn't come unstuck against Italian revelation
03:20 Atalanta in the Europa League final.
03:23 The side from Bergamo went 61 years
03:26 without winning a major trophy, but defeated Leverkusen, Marseille,
03:30 and Liverpool on their way to glory in Dublin.
03:33 It means that Italy will have eight teams competing
03:37 in European football next season.
03:39 Yes, it's under the tree, but it's also hard work,
03:43 very hard work.
03:44 Attack, attack, attack, run, run, run, sweat, sweat, sweat.
03:50 It reflects very well how hard it was
03:55 to get there for Atalanta.
03:57 We've seen Bologna, there is another surprise,
04:00 Fiorentina that made it to the Conference League finals.
04:05 But in this moment, I think it's mostly
04:08 because of the single teams are working very well
04:12 and that Serie A is coming back to play European final.
04:15 The end of the season means the end
04:17 of an era for some of football's most famous names.
04:20 There are a number of players and managers
04:23 retiring or leaving their clubs.
04:25 We've certainly seen some emotional goodbyes
04:28 over the last couple of weeks.
04:30 Legendary midfielder, Tony Cruz, bid goodbye to Real Madrid
04:34 during the Champions League final.
04:36 He will represent Germany for the last time at Euro 2024
04:39 before hanging up his boots for good.
04:42 Borussia Dortmund legend, Marco Reus,
04:44 also said his goodbyes at Wembley.
04:46 He's been loyal to the club for 12 years,
04:48 despite receiving plenty of interest from elsewhere.
04:51 Legendary manager, Jurgen Klopp,
04:53 said an emotional goodbye to Liverpool
04:55 after nine years at Anfield.
04:56 Klopp returned the Reds back to their best,
04:59 winning eight trophies during his spell in charge.
05:02 He also picked up a Carabao Cup
05:04 in his final season at the club.
05:06 Italian international, Leonardo Bonucci,
05:08 called time on a trophy-filled career
05:10 after playing his last club game in May.
05:13 He's won 23 honours for club and country
05:15 since bursting onto the scene in 2005.
05:19 Elsewhere in Italy, Claudio Ranieri
05:21 bid an emotional farewell to Cagliari
05:23 and possibly his managerial career.
05:26 Ranieri will be forever remembered
05:28 for guiding Leicester City
05:29 to a fairy tale Premier League title win in 2016.
05:33 Yes, it's been great to look back
05:35 at such an amazing European football season.
05:39 We've had surprises, shocks and stellar moments
05:42 that will live long in our memories.
05:44 Now it's time to look forward
05:46 to an exciting summer of international football.
05:49 Let us know your thoughts using the hashtag
05:51 #FootballNow202324.
05:54 That's all we have time for from our studio here in Doha.
05:57 We'll see you next time.
05:58 Bye for now.
05:59 (UPBEAT MUSIC)
06:02 (upbeat music)