La Liga Weekly

That’s a bit better from Barcelona. All but through in the Champions League and a good win over Valencia in the league. Who needs away wins in domestic football when you can just beat people at home? And what’s another league title between friends anyway? It’s all about the Champions League. Let Real Madrid have the league, they’ve spent enough money, they deserve it. This may be the attitude needed by the Catalan press to deal with near daily declarations [...]

Surely that’s it now? Surely Saturday night was the night the La Liga race was lost for Barcelona? Their situation was already on a knife edge before the match. They knew they had to be perfect for the rest of the season but once again it was their away form that has let them down. So imperious at home, so underwhelming away. Barcelona will not be champions of Spain this season. Their latest away disappointment came on Saturday night in [...]

The Champions League is almost with us again and defending champions Barcelona take on Bayer Leverkusen next Tuesday in the first leg of the last sixteen round. Barcelona go into the match as raining World and European champions and face a Leverkusen side weakened by injury and division in the camp. This should be the ideal tie for Barcelona who are who looking to become the first side to retain the Champions League since its inception twenty years ago. Barcelona [...]

So often great teams are defined by who leads them. Whether it’s Steven Gerrard dragging Liverpool up by his bare hands against Milan in Istanbul or Franz Beckenbauer calmly and decisively leading West Germany to victory in the 1974 World Cup despite going a goal down inside the first minute to the great Dutch team of that era. All teams who win at the highest level need one man who will do whatever it takes to win and get the [...]

Local derbies rarely pass with little incident. In the early kick off on Sunday in England, the two Manchester sides produced one of the most memorable local derbies in recent memory. Or at least since the 6-1. In Spain it was the turn of Espanyol and Barcelona to put on a show. If what followed might not be worthy of the tag “classic”, it can certainly be described as important. Both in terms of what that point means to each [...]

On Saturday night Barcelona once again stood at the top of world football. Once again they went toe to toe with their greatest advisory and once again they come out victorious, standing tall above the rest of world football. This was more than just another El Classico. This seemed different, a genuine turning point in modern Spanish football. Real Madrid went into this match on top of the league and for the first time too, on top psychologically. Cracks has [...]

For better or for worse Spanish football these days seem to be defined by only two matches. This weekend we see the first of these matches, the first El Classico. For the past three seasons Barcelona have got the better of Real Madrid both in terms of the El Classico and over the course of a season. This season feels different however. Maybe this will finally be the season that Real Madrid strike back and take first blood in their [...]

For certain clubs in Europe, spending big money is nothing new. Man Utd, Barcelona, Real Madrid & the two Milan clubs are examples of clubs for which out spending and out achieving the teams around them is par for the course. For others, success comes as a result of a rich sugar daddy pumping vast sums of money into the club and elevating them above their natural state. The problem comes when the money runs out and said club is [...]

In every great civilisation there comes a tipping point, a point where the Empire has grown too bloated and too large and it must crumble down and burn to the ground. It happened in Greece, in Rome and it is happening to football today. Just as the Romans put on bigger show after bigger show in the Coliseum as it’s time as a super power came to an end, now it’s football’s turn to reach that disgusting end. Wages can’t [...]

For some players, transfers happen out of the blue. In Mikel Arteta’s case that was literally true. He left behind the blue boys of Liverpool and moved down the road to the red of north London in a transfer that moved very quickly and to the surprise of many. Everton of course were not happy.  They didn’t want to sell but they were left with no choice once the player asked to leave. Other transfers take a far longer time [...]

Wenger’s Demise Echoes Cruyff’s Final Years At Barcelona. For even the greatest clubs with the greatest managers, sometimes things just naturally come to an end. This is true in other aspects of life too. Even after Winston Churchill helped fight off the Nazi’s and raise the nations spirits with his brilliant war time addresses, he still lost the next election. The public wanted a new approach, one that looked forward to the future rather than one that was built on [...]

The Barcelona dominance of European football over the past few seasons (3 out of the last 6 Champions League finals have been won by them) has highlighted both their quality as a football team and the winning mentality of the club. And yet despite this dominance from Barcelona, the other Spanish teams have failed to make a big impact on the competition. Real Madrid famously failed at the last 16 stage repeatedly until finally making the semi finals last season. [...]