The football season is fast approaching and during the next nine months there is sure to be drama and entertainment across all the European leagues; the following is a preview of the upcoming La Liga season.
Frontrunners
Barcelona go into the season as defending champions, having strolled to the title last season. Despite that, many saw last season as disappointing for Barcelona, as they lost the Copa Del Rey final and were eliminated in the Champions League semi-final by eventual winners Liverpool, this after a 3-0 first leg lead. In a bid to further strengthen the side, Frenkie de Jong has officially joined the club after a reported £67m deal with Dutch side Ajax was agreed last January, whilst in one of the most controversial moves of the summer, Antoine Griezmann has joined the club from Atlético Madrid for a reported £107m; this move may well face legal action. They have also signed Brazilian goalkeeper Neto from Valencia, with Jasper Cilessen heading in the opposite direction.
In their first season without Cristiano Ronaldo since 2008-09, Real Madrid endured an absolute disaster of a season last year and went through three different managers. They started with Julen Lopetegui who lasted just 10 games and was sacked after a 5-1 humbling to Barcelona in El Clasico. He was replaced by then reserve team manager Santiago Solari, but he only lasted until mid-March and was sacked in the wake of a shocking Champions League last 16 elimination by Ajax; then Los Blancos went back full circle in re-appointing Zinedine Zidane, who had resigned less than a year before. In a bid to close the gap to Barcelona and near neighbours Atlético Madrid, they have embarked on a spending spree – signing Eden Hazard, Ferland Mendy, Eder Militao and Luka Jovic for reported total transfer fees of €258m (£238.2m); Rodrygo also joined in a reported €45m (£40.5m) deal with Brazilian club Santos. In order to partially offset such lavish spending, they sold Theo Hernandez, Marcos Llorente and Raul de Tomas, whilst Mateo Kovacic joined Chelsea on a permanent deal worth a reported €45m (£40.5m) having spent last season on loan with the English club.
Atlético Madrid finished last season as runners-up in La Liga, 11 points behind champions Barcelona. They have lost star player Antoine Griezmann to the Catalan side in a very acrimonious move which has angered many Atlético Madrid fans; in a bid to replace him they have signed teenage talent Joao Felix from Benfica for an outrageous reported fee of €126m (£116.3m). They have also signed Marcos Llorente from city rivals Real Madrid and Kieran Trippier from Tottenham Hotspur, but lost Lucas Hernandez and Rodri to Bayern Munich and Manchester City respectively.
Champions League contenders
Valencia made it to the Champions League last season for the second year running, and will surely be aspiring to do the same again this year. In order to ensure they achieve qualification, they have signed goalkeeper Jasper Cilessen from Barcelona (with Neto heading in the opposite direction), Russian midfielder Denis Cheryshev from Villareal and striker Maxi Gomez from Celta Vigo, spending a reported total of around €55.5m (£51.2m).
Last season, Getafe pushed Valencia very close for Champions League qualification, and will be hoping to go one better and actually qualify this season. In a bid to achieve their goal, they have signed forwards Enric Gallego and Jack Harper from Huesca and Malaga respectively, as well as full-backs Raul Garcia and Allan Nyom. It remains to be seen whether this will be enough to earn them Champions League qualification.
Another club who competed very strongly with Valencia for Champions League qualification was Sevilla, who finished level on points with Getafe last season but were pipped by them on head-to-head record. After Pablo Machin was sacked by the club in March, Joaquin Caparros had taken over until the end of the season – but he has now returned to his original role as the club’s Director of Football and Julen Lopetegui has been appointed as the club’s new manager; whether he will have more success than he did with Real Madrid remains to be seen.
One other club who last season achieved qualification for European competition was Espanyol, who made it to the Europa League qualifying rounds. They, too will be going into the new season under a new manager, however, as manager Rubi left the club to join Real Betis (who parted company with Quique Setién by mutual consent), and will be replaced by David Gallego – who was previously in charge of Espanyol B and was even for a brief period of time Espanyol’s first-team manager before.
Promoted teams
Osasuna will be returning to La Liga for the first time since the 2016-17 season, after they won the Segunda Division title. They will go into the new season under the management of Jagoba Arrasate, who took charge of the club in June 2018 and helped them win promotion back to La Liga during his first season in charge. Arrasate was previously in charge of fellow Spanish sides Real Sociedad and Numancia, and during his time at the latter he led them to the promotion play-off final but lost out to Real Valladolid 4-1 on aggregate.
Granada will also be returning to La Liga, after a two-year absence. They finished runners-up in the Segunda Division, and will be managed by Diego Martinez. Martinez was engaged by Granada in June 2018 after he had departed from his managerial post at Osasuna, his first ever job as manager of a senior team.
Whilst Osasuna and Granada were in La Liga just over two seasons ago, the last of the promoted teams – Mallorca – have spent a far longer time outside La Liga, having last competed in the Spanish top flight back in 2012/13. Achieving promotion last season meant they made it back-to-back promotions as during the 2017/18 season they were in the third tier of Spanish football. One cannot underestimate the influence of manager Vicente Moreno, who took over a team who had just been relegated to the third tier back in June 2017 and guided them to two successive promotions.
The promoted teams will be replacing Rayo Vallecano, Huesca and Girona, last season’s relegated teams.
OPENING DAY FIXTURES:
Friday 16th August
Athletic Bilbao v Barcelona (21:00 kick-off)
Saturday 17th August
Celta Vigo v Real Madrid (17:00 kick-off)
Valencia v Real Sociedad (19:00 kick-off)
Mallorca v Eibar (20:00 kick-off)
Leganes v Osasuna (21:00 kick-off)
Villareal v Granada (21:00 kick-off)
Sunday 18th August
Deportivo Alaves v Levante (17:00 kick-off)
Espanyol v Sevilla (19:00 kick-off)
Real Betis v Real Valladolid (21:00 kick-off)
Atletico Madrid v Getafe (22:00 kick-off)
Comentários