Vidal and Buffon: two players who break records
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The Chilean midfielder of FC Barcelona and the Italian goalkeeper of PSG are uninterrupted champions since 2012
Arturo Vidal and Gianluigi Buffon are two of the names that make up the select list of players who hold the most consecutive titles in the five major European leagues: England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France. In season 18-19, which is about to end, both won their eighth consecutive pennant in what local leagues.
Leer en español: Vidal y Buffon: dos jugadores que rompen records
On the one hand, Buffon did it in Serie A from 2011-12 until 17-18 and those seven awards added this year, in a less stellar role, that of Ligue 1 with Paris Saint Germain. On the other hand, the case of Vidal is much more striking, because he has achieved it with a better distribution and in three countries, something unprecedented. Therefore, in Latin American Post we will focus more on the South American player.
As did a very complete work in this regard, as they mention that Vidal, with a minor or greater contribution, always leaves something in the teams in which he has played. Since 2012 we must also add to its 8 league titles the two Copa America achieved with the National Team of Chile (2015 and 2016), even though he still lacks something very important: the Champions League, which he could have won with Barcelona, if they would not have lost 4-0 against Liverpool.
The order is Serie A with Juventus (2011-12, 12-13, 13-14 and 14-15), in the Bundesliga with Bayern Munich (2015-16, 16-17, and 17-18) and now, the Liga de España with FC Barcelona (18-19).
Prior to this milestone, 'King Arthur' and Buffon shared the honor of winning seven league titles along with four other youngsters: Claudio Marchisio and Andrea Barzagli (already champions eight times in a row, but on the same team) and Stephan Lichtsteiner (who this year broke his streak by going to Arsenal). For all of them, the glorious cycle began in 2011-12.
As reports that three other already retired players were awarded seven trophies in a row (officially) in the five top European leagues. They are the Brazilian Juninho Pernambucano and the French Sidney Govou and Grégory Coupet, who achieved it with only one club, in this case, Olympique de Lyon from 2001-2002 until 2007-2008.
Read also: Soccer players who returned home to succeed
Zlatan and a record that was not official
The previous paragraph emphasized in the 'official way' precisely by the case of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who on the field won and celebrated seven consecutive leagues and in two different countries: Italy and Spain. However, coincidentally, the first two of an impressive run in which he reached up to 11 league titles, the scudettos achieved with Juventus in 2004-2005 and 2005-2006, were canceled by the secretariat for alleged ruse.
Ibrahimovic had to start the streak again and got five in a row: three with Inter (2006-2007, 07-08 and 08-09), one with FC Barcelona of Spain (2009-2010) and, back to Italy, one with AC Milan in 2010-2011. The 11-12 interrupted the streak, and then, in France, winning consecutively with PSG from 12-13, 13-14, 14-15 and 15-16. It would have been a very difficult record to overcome.
The maximum record is for…
As it usually happens in these cases, the maximum number of leagues won in a row is held by Belarusian Vitali Rodionov, a 34-year-old forward who scored 12 consecutive with BATE Borisov in his country. BATE was the king of Belarus between 2006 and 2018 and, in that journey, Rodionov was the top performer.
The second place, to which Vidal, Buffon, Barzagli (if he does not retire at the end of this campaign) and Marchisio will aim at the 19-20, is in turn the Serbian midfielder Ljubomir Fejsa, who was crowned in the league for nine years since 2008-2009 with Partizan of Belgrade (3), Olympiacos of Greece (2) and Benfica of Portugal (4) until 2016-17, closed As.
Anyway, the fact that Vidal is the only one who has achieved it in three different countries, and in elite leagues, gives almost a world record to the South American. To expose the importance of the fact, MSN compared it with Cristiano Ronaldo, who with Juventus added another title of the many of his career, although those achievements with Manchester United (England), Real Madrid (Spain) and now in Italy (Juventus ) have not been consecutive for so long.
Recognized merit
Infobae stressed that Vidal's record is meritorious, because they refer to long-term championships, which require perseverance. His record started after leaving Bayer Leverkusen, his first club in Europe, and then Juventus.
Although 'King' Arturo is four titles away of Rodionov's record, his achievement is more meritorious for the diversity of cultures and the caliber of the three leagues. At this point, Vidal has already been awarded eleven domestic tournaments in his career, as well as Ibrahimovic, since his three times championship in Chile with Colo Colo must be added. Even Lionel Messi only has two leagues less than Arturo, 9, and all are with Barcelona and obviously not consecutive.
Performance timeline (source: As Chile )
11-12: 33 games, 7 goals and 4 assists (Juventus)
12-13: 31 games, 10 goals and 9 assists (Juventus)
13-14: 32 games, 11 goals and 5 assists (Juventus)
14-15: 28 games, 7 goals and 4 assists (Juventus)
15-16: 30 games, 4 goals, 7 assists (Bayern)
16-17: 27 games, 4 goals and 3 assists (Bayern)
17-18: 22 games, 6 goals and 2 assists (Bayern)
18-19: 30 games, 2 goals and 6 assists (Barcelona)
LatinAmerican Post | Onofre Zambrano
Translated from "Vidal y Buffon: dos jugadores que rompen records"
