La Liga Standings Reflection

End of the Year Standings for La Liga

              La Liga is on its two week winter break and now is an exceptional time to look and reflect on the current league standings for the 2018-19 season. La Liga has been highly competitive as FC Barcelona and Real Madrid have already suffered multiple loses. The top 4 doesn’t appear how it normally does in the past few seasons.

The Top 4

              The top four teams in order from first to fourth are FC Barcelona (37pts), Atletico Madrid (34), Sevilla (32), and Real Madrid (29). Real Madrid has played one game less than the three teams that currently sit above them in the table due to their participation in the FIFA Club world cup. Real Madrid won the international club tournament. Which is a nice moral boost to a team that is not doing well in the league especially by their standards. The galacticos have already lost 5 times this season, last season the team suffered 6 loses and finished third. And in the previous two seasons before that Real Madrid didn’t even reach 5 losses in each of their league campaigns. Based on these numbers, if Real Madrid wants to seriously compete for the league title, they will have to go on a near perfect run in the second half of the season.

              FC Barcelona just acquired Jeison Murillo on loan from league rivals Valencia CF. The defender will compete and fill in the defensive duties due to injuries from Samuel Umtiti and Thomas Vermaelen. Vermaelen has been hurt since he joined the Catalan club. For the very high standards that is expected from Barcelona I would say that they aren’t playing at their best and have issues as well. Messi is phenomenal and Demebele is performing productive performances even with the hiccups off the pitch. Sitting at the top of the table while their arch rivals are in 4^th is a nice holiday gift Barcelona can give to their fans.

              Atletico Madrid are in second place and are quietly performing better as the season progress. Los colchoneros have only lost once this season in La Liga by the hands of Celta de Vigo. Atletico drew against Real Madrid and FC Barcelona, but that should not be a real surprise as Atletico Madrid have the most ties (7) among the top 4 teams. Which is a reason why they are in 2^nd instead of 1^st during the break. To me, they are the most credible challengers to Barcelona for the league title.

              Sevilla are in 3^rd and play a style that is attack minded and score goals. The Andalusian side has 30 goals scored as a team, second only to Barcelona’s 48. The team is well balanced and coached well. If Real Madrid continues to struggle, they will finish not only behind Barcelona and Atletico, but to Sevilla as well.

Relegation Battle

              The bottom of the table of La Liga is not too much of a surprise as newly promoted from the Segunda (second division), are holders of the last two places in the table. Huesca sits at the bottom of the table with 8 points and Rayo Vallecano is in 19^th with 13 points. Those two club will need a good run of games in the second half of the season with a few other factors to get out of the relegation zone.

              The surprise this season, in a shocker rather than impressive, is Villareal in 18^th with 15 points. They are in 18^th and final position that sends a team to the Segunda. Last season Villareal finished 5^th earning a spot in the Europa League competition. They do have a game in hand and are only one point away from safety. The team above Villareal is Athletic Bilbao. The Basque team is one of three teams to have never been relegated to the second division. The other two are FC Barcelona and Real Madrid. However, unlike the two heavy weights, Athletic Bilbao has not had the same success and has been accustomed to playing for survival in the last season. Bilbao is a side that normally fights for a top 5 finish, but has been giving their fans anxiety as they have bobbled around the relegation zone this current and last season instead of chasing for a spot in a European competition.

My Favorites

              Valencia CF jumped from 15^th to 8^th on their last game before the winter break. Los che have 10 draws, 10! They are tied with Athletic Bilbao for the most ties this season, and Bilbao is in a relegation battle. The difference is that Valencia has 4 wins and only 3 loses. They have less defeats than the teams above them except for the top 3 teams. Last season the team performed well securing the 4^th and final UEFA Champions League position with games to spare. This year has been average in almost every aspect. Hopefully in the second half of the season Marcelino’s side perform a lot better.

              Real Betis is a fun team to watch. I am not necessarily a fan of the team but do enjoy watching them play and have followed their captain, Joaquin, from his younger days when he was marked as the next golden boy for Spain. Their coach, Quique Setien, coaches his side to play an intelligent attacking style. His philosophical approach to the game can be described as the opposite of Diego Simeone from Atletico Madrid. Betis defeated Barcelona at the Camp Nou which put Setien in an exclusive category. He has defeated both FC Barcelona and Real Madrid at their stadiums. Real Betis defeated Real Madrid last season, they have yet to play in the 2018-19 campaign. Real Betis currently sit in 6th place, same position they finished last season. The way this season has gone Betis could push for a UEFA Champions League position. 

The Real Madrid-Barcelona Switch

   Barcelona and Real Madrid are Spain's two most historically successful soccer clubs that have captivated the interest of the world. The rivalry has extended beyond the Spanish borders and has always extended beyond the pitch. However, I am not here to discuss the social-political history these two clubs share-it is worth noting that the social-political interaction between these two clubs should not be ignored and is a significant subject matter when discussing these two teams. The reason for the exclusion of any past event or trauma that has affected the supporters and communities who follow Real Madrid and Barcelona is due to the topic I want to discuss. This is not to say I wont reference any past event, but by paying too much attention to the historical event will evade my main point and those events will not be described in detail that would serve justice to them.

    Now to get back to my topic, Barcelona and Real Madrid are not immune to the globalization of the sport. I am aware that soccer is the most globalized sport, but in this case I am referring to the two clubs and the transfer market. I am discussing the approach these two giants of the sport have towards their footballing philosophies. Real Madrid has the Galactico tag associated with them since they signed Luis Figo away from Barcelona. The Madrid club has the stigma of spending insane amounts of money on acquiring star players to come play at the Santiago Bernabeu. On other hand, Barcelona are known to have the famed academy, La Masia. The Barcelona academy has produced players such as Victor Valdes, Carles Puyol, Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta, Sergio Busquets, Gerard Pique, Pedro, Cesc Fabregas and of course Lionel Messi. There have been plenty of players that have graduated from La Masia in the past and have gone to have stellar professional careers. I am only referring the most recent notable players. In short, Real Madrid buys while Barcelona develops. I understand that this is not a true representation as Barcelona have spent quite a sum to bring players to play at the Camp Nou and to ignore Iker Casillas, Guti, and Raul coming from Real Madid's youth academy is a serious disservice to the truth.

   At the moment Real Madrid are having a horrendous season. They recently were eliminated by Leganes in the Copa Del Rey by losing 2-1 at home. Madrid are 19 points behind the league leaders, Barcelona, which is bad, but what solidifies Real Madrid's terrible season is that they aren't even in 2nd or 3rd!  At the moment everything is going great for Barcelona who are still undefeated in league play. Bare with me I am not here to analyse in depth the success and failure of these two teams. But, alas to my point, Barcelona has taken a page from their arch-rivals approach for success.

   Barcelona have spent large sums of money in purchasing Coutinho and Dembele. And let's not forget Paco Alcacer and Andre Gomes were purchased with price tags, even at the time, to be inflated and even more so now for how little impact these two players have had. Nelson Semedo, Samuel Umtiti and their most recent defensive signing Yerry Mina are a few of the defensive players Barcelona has spent to strengthen their much needed defensive line. I am not saying that the playing style has changed for Barcelona, but to be fair Ernesto Valverde was criticized early on by the Barcelona press for moving further away from Barcelona's philosophy. It is hard to continue nagging about a cultural sport philosophy when the team sits on top of the league table and is still without a loss to their record. At the moment Barcelona only has two new recent academy products on their roster, Sergi Roberto-who scored the final goal against Paris Saint-Germain in the historic comeback- and Denis Suarez. And there is no fault or wrong doing in any of this. A club such as Barcelona has to go into every season prepared to compete and win all that they can. Whether it be to bring up youth academy players to the senior side or dive into the transfer market, a team such as Barcelona has resources to improve and can use either one. And prior to this current on going season Real Madrid was arguably the better team the past two seasons. A quick reminder Messi, Iniesta, and Busquets are still current starters if available. But, Iniesta is 33 years old and Busquets will be 30 in the summer and the sad truth is that Messi wont play forever -as much as any soccer fan would love to see him play forever, it just isn't possible. 

   All of that is future thinking attached with quite a few "what ifs." At the moment no philosophy or future analysis can take away from Barcelona's current success. But, this is where Real Madrid can repay the favor and borrow Barcelona's approach towards the game. This is a suggestion that will most certainly go unnoticed, for Real Madrid executive board members have their agendas and don't read blog post from a random southern California dude. Real Madrid's season is pretty much done aside from a glimpse of hope in the champions league. Which is why the league is a great opportunity for those in white to start integrating a few of their younger players into the squad. Managed with precision and closely monitored manner, Real Madrid can stay competitive in La Liga and qualify for next years champions league in addition to maturing a few of their youth academy players. Zidane could give a few starts to the likes of Borja Mayoral, Marcos Llorente, and Jesus Vallejo. I am aware that Jesus Vallejo isn't a Real Madrid youth product, but the 20 year old Spanish center-back has the potential to play an important role, possibly a vital defensive backbone for the club's future. 

   Zidane isn't Real Madrid's Pep Guardiola, whether he stays on the bench will depend on champions league results and Real Madrid isn't known to have a ton of patience with their youth players, but if Real Madrid wants to get back to their pinnacle of success -which was six months ago; reveals the extremely high standard expected of Real Madrid- must begin by looking internally to see what they have and what they want to do. Real Madrid has the opportunity to build a team that can last for multiple seasons. Build from their in house structure and then buy players to supplement their squad. Real Madrid is a club that will always have players who's desire and dreams is to play for the Spanish giants. So taking the second half of this season, specifically in La Liga, to rotate a few young players into the starting eleven seems like an understandable approach. Then the upcoming summer is when they can buy players that will help improve the club.

  As stated earlier I am merely suggesting what Real Madrid should do to catch their rivals who play at the Camp Nou. Plenty of what I suggested seems nice, but I am aware that Real Madrid's problems are more complicated and the situation on their hands wont be fixed by simply looking into their youth academy. Many of the players who started the champions league final have giant contracts that run through 2020. Which makes it difficult for Madrid to buy a starting star quality player without being forced to sell one of their players first. Which is why my advice was to seek internally to avoid the complexity of the transfer market. Whether Real Madrid bounces back this season or rotates younger players, one thing is for sure, and that is Real Madrid will spend this summer. I think that Real Madrid has a unique opportunity to switch the whole Real Madrid-Barcelona stereotypes when it comes to their approach towards the game. Imagine Barcelona are the new big spenders while Madrid develop their players.

La Liga: A Two Horse race ?.....again.

    Valencia will host Barcelona at the Mestalla on Sunday November 26. Barcelona is leading the Spanish La Liga with 34 points while Valencia sits in 2nd place with 30 points. It will be an enticing match between first place versus second place.

    Valencia hasn't played well in their last two matches. Their opponents were the better aggressors in those matches, yet Valencia were able to win both those matches with a combined score of 5-0. Valencia have had the biggest turn around from any team from last season that was disastrous from the start. A lot of credit should be given to their new manager, Marcelino Garcia Toral, who reorganized the team on the field and changed the locker room mind set. Veteran players were sold and a few new players were brought into the squad. Valencia is well organized and attacks well on the counter. Barcelona will be without Gerard Pique and Luis Suarez due to suspension for accumulating yellow cards. Barcelona's head coach, Valverde, said that the team will appeal to the league to overturn the players' suspensions. Valencia are not immune to suspension as they will be without their head coach due to be seeing sent off on Sunday's match against Espanyol. There was a bit of confusion why the head coach was sent off and the team plans to appeal to the league on overturning their coaches suspensions. 

   Both teams are undefeated in La Liga heading into Sunday's match and at the moment Valencia seem like the only team that can slow down Barcelona as both Real Madrid and Athletico Madrid are 10 points behind and seem to have currently dipped in form. It is too early to call, but at the moment La liga looks a two horse race between Barcelona and Valencia. However, after Sunday's matchcomes to a conclusion it can either provide the answer to Valencia's title contender credentials or establish that this was truly a one horse race from the start.