The Race for the Spanish La Liga

SteemSports Presenter: @feekayo

SteemSports Editor/Writer: @writingamigo

The Race for the Spanish La Liga kicks off on 20th August. This edition is the 87th edition of the competition. Last season saw Real Madrid win the league for the first time since 2012 and for the 33rd time in their history. They are the record winners with rivals Barcelona having won 24 titles. Barcelona has dominated the league in recent years winning 6 of the last 10 titles, Real Madrid has won 3, and Atletico Madrid has won 1.

The League has mostly been dominated by Real Madrid and Barcelona. These are 2 of the biggest clubs in the world. Real Madrid has won the Champions League a record 12 times and is the first team to retain the title in its modern format. FC Barcelona has won the Champions League 5 times while Atletico Madrid got to the 2014 and 2016 finals losing to cross town rivals Real Madrid both times. The Europa League has also been won by Spanish teams 5 times in the last 10 years with Sevilla winning 3 successive titles between 2013 and 2016.

Madrid won last season’s league on the last day after defeating Malaga 2-0. They won the league with 93 points, 3 more than rivals FC Barcelona. The league title was a show of amazing team work. Every Madrid player contributed to the win with Coach Zinedine Zidane’s heavy rotation paying off. Zidane rested his big players especially Cristiano Ronaldo for the small games and was able to keep him fresh for the title run in. This rest saw Ronaldo score very crucial goals against teams like Sevilla and Celta Vigo as Madrid held on to their 3 point lead till the end of the season. This rotation also paid dividends in the Champions League as Ronaldo scored 10 goals in the Knockout stages to help Madrid to the Champions League title. This saw them win their first League and Champions League double since 1958.

If rotation was key to Real Madrid’s success, it had the opposite effect on FC Barcelona’s season. They dropped points in the small games due to lack of squad depth. The Barcelona bench did not have enough quality, and even the first team sometimes struggled to win games. Their team play was sloppy, and they had to depend on Lionel Messi to bail them out again and again. They eventually fell short and were even thrashed 3-0 in the Champions League Quarter Finals. Atletico Madrid drew nine games and lost six finishing 15 points behind winners Real Madrid. Sevilla finished in 4th place trailing off after initially challenging for the title.

Despite winning the 2016 Europa League trophy, Sevilla had a below par league campaign, not winning a single away game all season finishing with 52 points. However, in the just concluded season, they looked really good at times and finished 4th and 20 points better than last season but with the exit of Coach Jorge Sampaoli to the Argentine National team, it is difficult to predict how they’ll perform in the coming season.

The usual big boys Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico have had very different experiences in the transfer market. Atletico Madrid has been slapped with a transfer ban preventing them from making any purchases till January 2018. On the plus side, they get to keep all their players. This means they will have more chemistry going into the new season. FC Barcelona has had an eventful window with the exit of former Coach Luis Enrique and the appointment of Ernesto Valverde. The club has however been able to bring in only one player, right back Nelson Semedo from Benfica. They have been linked to different players like Lucas Lima, Paulinho, Philippe Coutinho, and Marco Verratti. The biggest news of the summer sees Neymar departing for PSG. Neymar joined Barcelona back in 2013 and scored 105 goals and 59 assists in 186 games. He was a part of the MSN trident along with Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez. His departure leaves a hole in the squad that will be difficult to fill. Add this to the glaring midfield problem, and it is safe to say that the club is in a position where it has to spend if it has any ambitions of competing for titles next season. Neymar’s departure will see Barcelona bag a 222 million euro payout. The problem now is teams know Barcelona is desperate and they are flush with cash, so they have the power to demand as much money as they want. The transfer window closes on August 31st, and Barcelona needs to buy 2-3 world class players. They are presently being linked with Paulo Dybala of Juventus, Ousmane Dembele of Dortmund, Philippe Coutinho of Liverpool and Jean Michael Seri of Nice.

Champions Real Madrid has contrasting fortunes. They have had a quite fruitful transfer window. They have been able to preserve their core team while bringing in young talent. They have sold their bench players for large amounts of money. They have kept talent like Marco Asensio, Lucas Vasque, and Mateo Kovacic while adding Dani Ceballos, Theo Hernandez and Marcos Llorente to their fold. Sales of Alvaro Morata and Danilo and the loaning out of James Rodriguez has seen Madrid make a lot of money this window. This money can be used to finance the transfer of in demand French striker Kylian Mbappe who is rumored to have told his club Monaco of his intention to leave. Madrid is his preferred destination and Madrid have been scouting him since he was 14. The move will be huge for the club considering the talent of Mbappe. The only negatives are the sales of Morata and Rodriguez, two players who contributed to Madrid’s success last season. But considering the players brought in and the prospect of signing Mbappe, it is difficult to see Real Madrid slowing down anytime soon. They are presently the biggest club in the world and have a very bright future.