There is no doubting that in the past two decades we have witnessed some fantastic sides, brilliant matches and individual performances that will live long in the memory and if you support Manchester United, you certainly have witnessed something of a golden period – with no fewer than 12 League titles that sees the Red Devils surpass Liverpool as the most successful side in England. Fergie has certainly had his challenges, notably in Arsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho, but has always managed to come back time after time to recapture their crown.

One of the great aspects of the Premier League, since its inauguration, has been the array of players plying their trade from all corners of the globe in English football, which has made the League richer for their presence within it. We have been privy to some of the very best players in the world, although it is fair to say we have witnessed some absolute shockers as well. It is fair to say that it is not necessarily down to their lack of ability, but for one reason or other their spell in England was simply a disaster.

This article is a celebration of the latter and the top 20 ‘waste of spaces’ that the Premier League has ever seen:

Click on Tomas Brolin to unveil the top 20

After another busy round of fixtures in Spain, here is a round-up of the league that includes 13 of the shortlist of players to win the Ballon D’or.

The Big Two

No La Liga conversation is complete without reference to Real Madrid and Barcelona, and this is where our review starts. Despite surprise package Levante topping the table for the first few rounds of La Liga, their bubble has now been burst somewhat and all attention is back on the top two. Real, under the Special One are in scintillating form, scoring for fun and managing to keep clean sheets to boot. Both Higuain and Benzema are on fire, giving Mourinho the dilemma of his life when picking his starting striker. Add to this the form of Ronaldo and the resurgence of one Kaka, and the fact that Real can now offer solutions when Xabi Alonso is effectively man marked during games, they are looking more than a match for Barca.

Of course they went into the first Classico and mauling one point ahead of their fierce rivals, so Barca will not be unduly worried. However, one thing that Real have in their locker this season is the ability to grind out a 1 – 0 win – something that was lacking last season during games where teams effectively parked the bus in front of their goal and closed down Alonso. This was shown on the weekend where Sociedad literally played with a back five at the Anoeta, yet Madrid scored early courtesy of Higuain and held on for a hard fought win. Not a vintage Madrid performance but one that shows how far they have come under Mourinho.

Regardless of Los Blancos topping the table by as point, most people’s favourites for the La Liga crown is reigning champions Barcelona, who looked back to their best at the Camp Nou, with Messi making a clear signal to fans and the media with his goal celebration after his hat trick – the prolific striker had failed to score in 3 games yet after being played in his preferred position down the centre not the dreaded wing for the game, with Barca putting a grand total of 5 past a hapless Mallorca.

The Surprise of the season

Most people thought that the team wearing blue and red stripes would be the ones to top la liga throughout the season, and they have been for the past few rounds – yet it was Levante not  Barcelona doing this. Levante have been everyone’s surprise of the season and have looked to be living some sort of footballing fairy tale thus far, before this weekend being unbeaten, even being able to claim a victory over Mourinho’s men at the Ciudad de Valencia.

In players such as Sergio Ballesteros, Valencia have a core of seasoned professionals who offer much more to the team than their average age would suggest, and new coach Martinez settling into life at Levante quicker than anyone could have expected.

However this weekend the bubble was somewhat burst with a 2 – 0 defeat at the hands of Osasuna. Several things were said after the game – Martinez praised his players for their unbeaten run, the media inevitably predicted a rapid slide down the table to mimic that of Espanyol last season and it was noted that due to their small squad who are mostly the wrong side of thirty, a couple of injuries and suspensions will have serious effects on the team from Valencia. Yet should they take the lead, especially at home, Levante are dogged in their defending and whilst they are probably not going to finish in the European places, they should manage to avoid the relegation fight they were involved in last tie round.

The best of the rest

Valencia – after a  slightly slow start, Valencia are picking up pace, and have been fast climbing the table. They now occupy 4^th place after the weekend’s victory and have their eye on the third place that is currently held by local rivals Levante. After losing their three best players – Villa, Silva and Mata over the last couple of seasons, huge amounts of credit has to be given to long-time coach – well for a league famous for waving white handkerchiefs at Managers, being at the helm since 2008 is a long time – Unai Emery, who has weathered all of this and still managed to keep Valencia widely viewed as the ‘best of the rest’.

Sevilla – Currently sitting in 5^th place, there is now a gap opening up between the top four and the rest after a shock victory for Granada at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan. In a season full of surprises, this can be put down to a bad day at the office for Sevilla who next up face  a flailing Mallorca side and will expect to bounce back and take all three points.

Atletico Madrid – one side who expect to e doing much better are the second best team in Madrid, Atletico, who fully expect to be sat in the top four. However, after a poor start to the season they sit 10^th, with a sizeable gap between themselves and the champion’s league places. After a good victory against Zaragoza, Atletico will be looking to this as a kick-start to their season.  With few goals scored this season and fan protests calling for Aragonez to return, the pressure on Gregorio Manzano has been alleviated slightly, yet improvements are vital.

Malaga – the Andalucians were the team that, after a huge influx of money then players, not to mention coach Manuel Pellagrini were everyone’s favourites to break into the top four this season. However this, so far, has not come to pass, and Malaga have been struggling, and were so lucky against Espanyol receiving a penalty for a very dubious handball and do not seem to be gelling quite in the way they should be.

The relegation Battle

Getafe sit rock bottom and after a heavy loss last weekend things look no brighter with local rivals Atletico up next. A shock victory for Granada gave them much needed points, yet the newly promoted Andalucians need to improve their form and fast if they don’t want to go straight back down.  The final club to occupy a spot in the bottom 3 is Racing, and the victory by a single goal over Betis cannot be underestimated in importance. Hector Cuper and his team will be looking to now climb the table, starting with the away tie at Granada next round.

Whilst Betis and Rayo have made decent starts, only 4 points separate both these promoted sides from the relegation zones, and they are still in danger and will be looking over their shoulders until a real gap is formed.

Villarreal – after a vital 2 – 0 win over Rayo this weekend, despite the missed penalty from skipper Marcos Senna, the yellow submarines have shot up the table and out of the relegation zone to 13^th.  With an European campaign still to worry about, not to mention keeping their head above the relegation zone, Garrido has his work cut out for him.

The bottom half of the table is so tight, with only 5 points separating rock bottom Getafe and 11^th placed Rayo, so anyone who has a poor run of form or can piece together a run of victories can drastically change their fortunes so early on in the season.

Game of Next round –  Levante v Valencia

3^rd play host to 4^th in a real test of Levante’s credentials. A must see.

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Andres Guardado:

After signing one Mexican starlet last summer, in the form of Javier Hernandez, Sir Alex Ferguson reportedly declared interest in ‘little pea’s’ international team-mate Andres Guardado. The winger instead remained at Deportivo la Coruna for a fourth consecutive season, but now faces an important career decision following the club’s relegation from La Liga. The Guadalajara-born midfielder possesses near faultless ball control, is adept at bringing the ball out of defence quickly to link up with the forwards and has a fearsome left-footed long shot. It is not known whether Guardado has a clause in his contract allowing him to leave following the club’s demotion, but would represent excellent value for money at 24 years-of-age.

Roberto Soldado:

Soldado netted 18 goals in 26 La Liga appearances last season following his 10million Euros return to his hometown in Valencia. Originally a product of the Real Madrid youth system but struggled to force his way in to the first team before signing a permanent deal with local rivals Getafe in 2008. He was signed by Valencia as a direct replacement for Barcelona-bound David Villa and was a major contributor as the club finished the season in third. It is worth mentioning that Soldado scored 6 in four Champions League appearances last term, and at 26 years-old, has all the attributes required to compete at a top-6 level.

Royston Drenthe:

The left-back/winger first came to prominence at the 2007 European Under-21 Championship where he provided the driving force behind Holland’s successful campaign on home soil. A 14million Euros move to Real Madrid followed but Drenthe struggled to assert himself under any of the three managers he worked under and was loaned-out to newly promoted Hercules when Jose Mourinho arrived at the Bernabeu last summer. Although his adopted club failed to secure a second season in Spanish football’s top-flight, the 24 year-old performed capably, displaying flashes of the electric speed and skill he once exhibited for the Dutch youth team. He fell out of favour towards the end of his tenure due to a dispute regarding the team’s management, and has now returned to his parent club in Madrid who would be willing to accept minimal bids for a player who still has lots of promise.

Giuseppe Rossi:

The American-born forward is best remembered in England for not quite breaking in to the Manchester United first-team, and an ineffectual stint on-loan at Newcastle, but much like Diego Forlan before him, has flourished at Villareal since leaving the Premiership. He has scored consistently over the past four seasons in Spain and has since broken in to the Italian national set-up, but was most prolific this year, finishing the season on 32 goals, 18 in the League. Spurs manager Harry Redknapp was rumoured to have bid around £30million for the striker in January, and any interested parties should consider a fee of around that much to tempt the Yellow Subramines to sell.

Deportivo began the final matchday of the season in 17th, but were sent plummeting into the bottom three by Real Zaragoza’s 2-1 win at Levante.

The Spanish manager said his team was unfortunate in the last month of the season, in which they collected just five points of a possible 18.

“To summarise what happened today, I think that we were very unlucky. Neither the fans nor the players deserve this relegation,” Lotina said.

“With 43 points we are going to the second division. I do not think we deserve this.”

“Bad luck and circumstances have been the cause of our decline. Everything in the last month went against us. We thought we were safe. We have not had a drop of luck.”

Having won the La Liga crown in 1999/2000 and finished in the top half of the table in the previous three seasons, Deportivo’s relegation to the Segunda Division represents a considerable fall from grace.

Lotina said he took the majority of the blame: “I take a great deal of the responsibility. What we need now is the full support of the entire club and to return to the first division as soon as possible. The more responsibility the coach takes, the better,” he said.

“Everyone who has supported us has been great. It will be difficult when we begin our season in the Segunda.”

Next season will mark Deportivo’s first appearance in the Segunda since the 1990/91 campaign, when they finished second to gain automatic promotion to the top flight,

Promoted last season, Levante are six places and three points better off than Zaragoza, but are safe from the relegation mire.

But Mallorca, Real Sociedad, and Osasuna – 13th, 14th and 15th respectively – are all one point worse off than Levante.

They are level on 44 points, two points clear of the relegation zone.

Mallorca are at home to Atletico Madrid, who must win if they are to have a chance of finishing in a Europa League qualification spot.

Osasuna host Villarreal, a team already assured of fourth place and a route into the Champions League qualification rounds.

Sociedad are at home to Getafe, who are just one point clear of the relegation zone in 16th place.

Level with Getafe on 43 points, but beneath them in 17th place courtesy of an inferior goal difference, are Deportivo La Coruna.

Deportivo won the La Liga title in 2000 and reached the Champions League semi-finals as recently as 2004, but could find themselves in the second tier next season, unless they pick up points at home to third-placed Valencia.

In other matches, Real Madrid fans could be in for a goal glut when Cristiano Ronaldo, soon to be confirmed as winner of the Pichichi award for the league’s leading scorer, takes to the field against already-relegated Almeria.

Sporting Gijon travel to Hercules, who have also already been consigned to the Second Division, while champions Barcelona are away to Malaga.

In the fight to secure a Europa League berth, fifth-placed Sevilla are away to Espanyol, while sixth-placed Athletic Bilbao also away against Racing Santander.

Sevilla and Bilbao are level on 55 points and need to win if they are to keep ahead of Atletico.

Guardiola kept Lionel Messi and Xavi on the bench for the entire match, while striker David Villa did not even appear among the substitutes.

Barcelona had 82 percent of the possession during the clash and Guardiola was pleased with the performance from his second-stringers, even though they failed to find the breakthrough goal.

“I am delighted with the result; we just lacked a bit of balance,” Guardiola told Spanish newspaper AS.

“Even with regular starters, it would not have been easy playing against 10 players tucked back and trying to exploit the space on the counter.”

Barcelona travels to Malaga for the final game of the La Liga season on Sunday, with a marquee match-up against English champions Manchester United in the Champions League final on May 28 the main focus.

A decision is expected on Sunday with the Spain international potentially facing a five-match ban if found guilty.

But Guardiola has thrown his support behind the 22-year-old after he denied the claims.

“I totally agree with Sergio Ramos in that only Busquets and Marcelo know what happened. I totally agree with him. Only they know,” he said.

“I wait on UEFA who have been presented with the allegations and on Sunday they will make their decision.”

“All I will say is that I have known Sergio for a long time and if he tells me something I believe him because I know him.”

The alleged incident occurred during Barcelona’s fiery 2-0 win over Real in their UEFA Champions League semi-final first-leg on April 27.

Barcelona will be presented with the La Liga trophy on Sunday when they welcome Deportivo La Coruna.

Guardiola said his team was aiming for victory, even if the title was wrapped up.

“They should know that Barcelona will go out to win the game whoever is playing on the pitch. I have no doubt about that,” he said.

“We don’t want to be responsible for circumstances that arise in this competition for other teams. Don’t think that we won’t go out to win the game tomorrow. We will go and fight until the end.”

His team comes up against a side still in a relegation fight, only three points clear of the bottom three with two games remaining.

Guardiola urged Barcelona fans to come and celebrate with the players, who he said deserved the recognition they would get on Sunday.

“It’s true that when you spend so long working towards something, you forget about it when you achieve it. We will continue training, and we will continue to celebrate after tomorrow’s game,” he said.

“We are going to play a good game and hope that the fans come. You can’t celebrate alone, you need other people too.”

Real have second spot sewn up but they travel to meet fourth-placed Villarreal who need to claim full points if they are to have any chance of catching Valencia and securing automatic Champions League qualification.

Although Jose Mourinho’s team have little to play for but pride, they still want to finish the season with two more wins.

“The coach has asked us to finish the league by winning our games and we will try to do that,” said star striker Cristiano Ronaldo, who has scored 36 goals for the season, just two behind the all-time record of 38 set by Athletico Bilbao’s Telmo Zarra in 1951 and Real’s Hugo Sanchez in 1990.

Villarreal are five points behind Valencia and are already guaranteed fourth spot and a place in the qualifiers, which looks like their most likely path to glory with Valencia needing only a point from their home clash with mid-table Levante to be sure of third.

Most of the action centres on the tussle for fifth and sixth place, and the Europa League places that go with them.

Athletic Bilbao are in fifth on 54 points, trailed by Sevilla (52), Atletico Madrid (52) while Espanyol (49) are also still in the mix.

Espanyol travel to Real Zaragoza, who need a win to escape the bottom three, while Bilbao will be looking to rebound from their 2-1 loss at Deportivo on Tuesday.

Atletico have the easiest match of all four Europa League contenders, taking on the already-relegated Hercules at home.

Getafe are just one point outside the drop zone, but will have to beat an Osasuna side who are riding a hot streak of form.

Osasuna have picked up three big wins in succession – posting a 1-0 win over Valencia on May 1 before thrashing Zaragoza 3-1 a week later and then coming from 2-0 down to beat Sevilla on Wednesday.

Sporting Gijon are still an outside chance to go down, and they play host to Racing Santander, while only pride will be on the line when Almeria – who are already relegated – tackle mid-table Mallorca.

Athletic Bilbao – who could have all-but stitched up a Europa League spot with victory – took a third-minute lead when striker Gaizka Toquero finished crisply past former team-mate Daniel Aranzubia in the Deportivo goal.

But led by playmaker Juan Carlos Valeron, Deportivo found a way back into the match on 22 minutes when Adrian Lopez’s shot was deflected into his own net by Athletic midfielder Carlos Gurpegi.

Fernando Llorente hit the crossbar with a trademark header shortly before half-time, while the two sides traded efforts when the second half got underway.

But Deportivo was to claim all three points when Athletic defender Castillo only succeeded in sliding an Adrian cross past goalkeeper Gorka Iraizoz as he attempted to clear.

The win puts Deportivo three points above the relegation zone with two games of the season remaining.

Elsewhere, Cristiano Ronaldo took his goal tally in all competitions this season to 49 courtesy of another hat-trick – this time in a 4-0 win over struggling Getafe at the Bernabeu.

Ronaldo’s treble was completed with of a 90th-minute penalty, with Karim Bezema having poked home in the 77th minute with his first touch of the game to put Real 3-0 up.

Real remain second and five points behind league-leaders Barcelona, while Getafe are just one point above the drop zone.

Atletico Madrid failed to do themselves any favours in their bid for Europa League football next season after losing 2-1 at Racing Santander.

Atletico took an 11th-minute lead through Mario Suarez, but goals either side of half-time from Swedish duo Kennedy Bakircioglu and Markus Rosenberg handed Racing the win.

They move to ninth on the table, while Atletico are in sixth and have Sevilla lurking just goal difference away.

In a match that meant little for either end of the table, Julio Baptista and Eliseu struck to propel Malaga to a 2-0 home win over Sporting Gijon.

Brazilian playmaker Kaka also got on the scoresheet for Real, as did defender Sergio Ramos, who powered Madrid into the lead after 21 minutes with a header, while Alvaro Negredo scored both goals for Sevilla.

The result means Real trail Barca by five points and have three matches remaining, although Barca have four games to play and take on Espanyol at the Nou Camp on Sunday.

Elsewhere on Saturday, Athletic Bilbao climbed into fifth place – which would guarantee them a place in next year’s Europa League – with a 3-2 win over Levante at home.

Goals from Gaizka Toquero, David Lopez and Fernando Llorente had Bilbao cruising at 3-0 just after the hour mark but late strikes from Christian Stuani and Victoriano Nano ensured some anxious moments for the hosts in the closing stages.

Atletico Madrid’s grip on sixth place looks tenuous after they were thrashed 3-0 at home by Malaga, who had goals from Rondon, Julio Baptista and Enzo Maresca to thank for their fourth successive league win.

On-loan Spurs midfielder Giovani dos Santos scored a brace to help Racing Santander take a big step towards La Liga survival with a 3-2 win at Hercules, who look certain to face the drop.

Almeria were not so fortunate, and their 2-0 loss at Getafe confirmed a relegation that has looked likely for much of the campaign.

Sporting Gijon had a late penalty from David Barral to earn them a 2-2 draw at home against Deportivo La Coruna, while Valencia moved six points clear of third-placed Villarreal – who play on Sunday – with a 3-0 home win over Real Sociedad.

Roberto Soldado scored twice for the hosts, and Brazilian striker Jonas scored the other.