La Liga season preview: Real Madrid lose a superstar, Barcelona gear up for a defence but it's Atletico you should be watching
The Spanish season gets underway on Friday night and Ed Malyon thinks Diego Simeone's men have a chance of running their crosstown rivals and Barcelona close
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The era of Lionel Messi continues but the era of him and Cristiano Ronaldo, of a league boasting a near-decade-long monopoly on the world’s best players, is categorically over.
What Cristiano Ronaldo leaves behind is a lot of question marks, and that was before Real Madrid‘s 4-2 defeat by Atletico on Wednesday night in the European Super Cup.
Madrid were expected to go out and make a big move to compensate for the departure of one of the game’s greatest-ever goalscorers this off-season but have done no such thing. This is a squad that didn’t come close to winning La Liga last season, finishing third, and have got weaker. Whoever you think will step up and fill the enormous Ronaldo-shaped hole – readymade candidate Gareth Bale, young Spanish hope Marco Asensio or Brazilian starlet Vinicius Junior – will not come close. There will be times you watch Madrid run riot against Leganés or Valladolid and Cristiano will not be missed but there will be more moments, key moments, when his absence is felt keenly this year.
The highest-profile new arrival at the Bernabeu is arguably Julen Lopetegui, and his profile is only so high because of the way he took the job, resulting in his resignation as Spain’s coach on the eve of the World Cup. Those acrimonious few days in Krasnodar will always form the backdrop to Lopetegui’s story in the Madrid dugout and it is difficult not to feel as if he’s drawn the short straw – a job that no top coach wanted and an ageing squad with few major additions this summer.
Indeed, the traditional millionaires of Spanish football have been outspent by their historically thrifty rivals from across town, and Atletico are truly emerging as title contenders this year after keeping their key players and adding well to their squad.
Antoine Griezmann and Diego Godín turning down moves away is most significant, especially as Griezmann’s potential move away would have weakened Atleti and so strengthened Barcelona. Instead, Atletico keep their man and have a fully-fit Diego Costa alongside him, Nikola Kalinic as back-up and exciting wide pair Gelson Martins and Thomas Lemar freshly signed to add attacking impetus. Diego Simeone has also secured some of the best young talent in La Liga, signing Rodri and Jonny for below-market fees.
Atletico didn’t need a whole lot of help but they have it, they boast probably the best coach in La Liga and while Simeone was keen to play down their credentials this genuinely looks like a team that can take on a weakened big two.
“Expectations are high for this season, with demands coming from the squad we have,” Simeone said on Tuesday.
“After 18 months without being able to sign players, we now have six or seven new faces in the dressing room... but the arrival of good individuals does not guarantee a better team.
“Rodri, Lemar, Kalinic, Gelson are bringing their talent, but that comes from hard work too. We need to improve the structure of the team, then the individuals who come can help us improve.”
Have they improved enough to make up the 14 points they lacked on Barcelona last year? Possibly. But there is a feeling that Barca could regress slightly. They still boast Lionel Messi, of course, but have lost Andres Iniesta.
Life without one of the finest playmakers to ever kick a ball won’t be easy. Gone also are a clutch of fringe first-team players that varied in effectiveness from Paulinho – surprisingly good last season – and Lucas Digne to Andre Gomes and Aleix Vidal – expensive mistakes – as well as back-ups Gerard Deulofeu, and Yerry Mina.
Arthur comes in from Brazil with the hope that he can be a fix in midfield. Clement Lenglet arrives from Sevilla not yet a finished product but priced as if he is the real deal. Arturo Vidal is the veteran replacement for Paulinho whose knees still offer cause for concern and Malcom was, it appears, a desperate last-minute purchase. All in all, not a vintage summer at the Nou Camp.
Ernesto Valverde’s first season in charge of Barca does give them hope, however. They did not only win La Liga last season but won it comfortably. They doubled up their trophies with a 5-0 destruction of Sevilla in the Copa del Rey final but had their real objective taken away from them after a wild comeback in Rome. Messi has not forgotten.
“We have a squad to get excited about this year and the signings we have made make us better than we were,” he said on Wednesday night.
“Although last year was good with winning the cup and La Liga, we all hurt after our Champions League elimination.
“We promise to do everything possible so that beautiful cup will be back in this stadium.”
For Messi, who is now old enough that every time he does something we might fear it is his last, getting back to the summit in the Champions League is his number 1 objective and nothing else appears to come close. That obsession may well help Atleti, better prepared than ever, to mount their challenge.
Valencia have a squad that suggests they could at least hang around in the mix, and in Marcelino they boast one of the league’s best coaches but it is high time for them to establish themselves back in the top four. Real Betis will look to challenge Valencia as well as crosstown rivals Sevilla for what might be the final Champions League spot. Celta Vigo and Real Sociedad have outside chances of gatecrashing the European party.
At the other end of the table it’s a first-ever La Liga season for Huesca, who were promoted despite having the fifth-smallest budget in the second tier last season. Rayo Vallecano, Madrid’s most community-friendly club, are back in the big time after a two-year absence and back too are Valladolid, whose flowing football won them promotion via the playoffs and could surprise a few teams in the big time.
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