With another year -- and another decade -- behind us, we decided to go back and name a "Team of the Year" for each of the past 10 years. This isn't another "team of the season" exercise, either: We wanted to know who the best club teams in Europe's Big Five leagues were for each calendar year of the 2010s.

The main criteria: points per game and goal differential per game. Points tell us how successful a team was at winning matches (duh), and goal differential gives us a better sense of how dominant a team actually was. Champions League trophies will also be considered but are not decisive; otherwise, this would just be a list of all the teams that won the Champions League, and you've already got Wikipedia for that.

Let's get to the list!

Jose Mourinho is going to be mad, isn't he? Despite winning the Champions League, Serie A and the Club World Cup in the 2009-10 season, Inter Milan don't win the Team of the Year award. Why? Well, from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, they weren't even the best team in their own country. Hell, they weren't even the second-best team in their own country. Roma finished 2010 averaging 2.13 points per game, and AC Milan collected 1.92 -- Inter were down at 1.83.

Barcelona, meanwhile, claimed an absurd 103 points in 39 games (2.64 per match), scoring 113 goals and conceding 24. Yes, they actually lost to Inter over two legs in the Champions League, but two games is not enough to close the gap built up over the year, especially given the razor-thin margin of those games. Also, Barcelona got their revenge on Mourinho with the 5-0 win over Real Madrid in November of the same year.

Blame Rafa Benitez if you must. After taking over for Mourinho, his Inter won 1.53 points per match for the remainder of 2010. That's tied for 31st in Europe -- behind the likes of Palermo, Everton, Getafe, Rennes, and Freiburg -- and the reason we chose Barcelona as the Team of the Year.

The dominant team of the beginning of the decade rightfully earns a second straight Team of the Year prize, but this choice was closer than you might think.

In 2011, Barcelona won their third straight La Liga title and their second Champions League in three years. After cycling through a number of big-name strikers, Pep Guardiola finally achieved a perfect balance along the front line, with David Villa cutting in from the left and scoring the goals, Pedro doing the dirty work from the right and Lionel Messi playing centrally in his rightful place as the sun to Barcelona's solar system. In 2011, they averaged 72% possession; no one else on the continent was north of 62.

"They're the best in Europe, no question about that," said Sir Alex Ferguson after his Manchester United lost 3-1 to Barcelona in the Champions League final. "In my time as a manager, I would say they're the best team we've faced."

And yet, Ferguson also said "great teams do go in cycles and they're at the peak of the cycle they're in at the moment." He was right. Guardiola would leave the club just a year later, but the shifting of the guard had already started in 2011. Over the calendar year, Mourinho's Madrid won 91 points in La Liga to Barcelona's 90. But one point isn't enough to overcome Pep and co's trophy haul.

Barcelona, led by Lionel Messi, were our most dominant team of the decade, winning the Team of the Year award four times in a 10-year span. (Photo credit should read JAVIER SORIANO/AFP via Getty Images)

So, they didn't win the Champions League and they didn't win La Liga, but they still were the best team of the year? Well, it's not going to be Chelsea, who did win the European Cup but who were also 14th in Europe in terms of points per game. Mourinho got his Madrid a La Liga title -- something the club hadn't won in four seasons and wouldn't win again for another five -- but they weren't as good as the Catalan club.

In 2012, Barcelona led all clubs in points per game (2.64) -- next best were United and Madrid, tied at 2.38 -- and they were the only team to outscore their opponents by more than two goals per match (2.08). These teams weren't quite as memorable as other Barca vintages -- the tail end of the Guardiola era and the first half of the late Tito Vilanova's only season as manager -- but 2012 is the sweet spot that combines Messi's two best seasons as a pro. That year, he scored 59 league goals in 38 league games, the best mark in Europe by a margin of 19 freaking goals. He also threw in 13 assists (tied for fourth most) and led the continent in both dribbles and through-balls completed. Need I say more?

Finally, a new name and, along with it, perhaps the most dominant year on this list. In 2013, under Jupp Heynckes and Guardiola (sensing a theme yet?), Bayern Munich played 33 Bundesliga matches. They won 30, drew three and lost none for an insane 2.82 points per match. They scored 96 goals and allowed 19. They were fractionally behind first-place Real Madrid in goals scored per game (2.92 to 2.91), and they were the only club to allow fewer than 0.60 goals per match. Their per-game goal differential was 2.33; no one else even broke 2.00. They'd caught up to Barcelona's possession machine -- both clubs hung right around 67% -- and they also led everyone else in shots conceded, passes completed into the opposition box and touches in the opposition box.

Oh, and did I mention that they won the Champions League?

One other quick note: If you want to see a complicated reaction from your favorite Arsenal fan, you should tell 'em that the Gunners led all Premier League teams in points won in 2013. If only the season started on Jan. 1...

In Guardiola's first full calendar year in charge at Bayern, they dropped down to 2.60 points per game. Pathetic. They still led all of Europe in PPG: Juventus were second with 2.57, and Real Madrid were third with 2.36.

Ultimately, it comes down to Madrid or Munich. While Bayern racked up points at a higher rate, Real led all clubs with a 2.22 per-game goal differential. Guardiola's side, though, were the only other team above 2.00 (2.11). Madrid had the best attack in the world (3.06 goals per game), and Munich had the second-best defense (0.54 goals allowed per game). To put a finer point on their relatively equal best-ness: they each attempted exactly 18.86 shots per match, tied for the most in Europe.

Now, if only there were a way to break the tie... oh right, there is. Real Madrid completely vaporized Bayern Munich, 5-0, across the two legs of the Champions League semifinals. They'd go on to win the final against Atletico Madrid, 4-1, in extra time, spurring on an incredible five-year stretch of European dominance that redefined the club's place within the sport's 21st-century hierarchy. Cristiano Ronaldo scored 17 goals and assisted on five more in the 2013-14 Champions League. That's 22 goals in which he was a direct factor; no other player in the competition had more than 10.