Marca, aka Real Madrid's propaganda outlet, is spending the next month counting down their picks for the top ten matches of the past decade, and it's not a huge surprise to find that eight of the ten choices involve at least one Spanish side. What is rather surprising is that three of their chosen matches involve Liverpool, the most of any club ahead of the pair of matches involving each of Real, Barça, and the Spanish national team. Moreover, two of the Liverpool matches they've picked are also the only two that don't involve a Spanish side.
While your Uniteds and Chelseas may have grown in stature within England and ramped up shirt sales in the far east, lists like this serve as a reminder--a perhaps needed reminder at times like these--of just how large a shadow the club continues to cast on the continent.
And so without further preamble, the number ten match of the decade as chosen by Marca: The 2001 UEFA Cup final v. Deportivo Alavés.