The La Liga season has started pretty much the way that we expected. Real Madrid has gone perfect in their first 5 games of the year. In being the only team that has won all of its first five games they are obviously leading the league. It’s Barcelona at the second spot, their draw against Rayo Vallecano in the first week of the season keeps them from tying Real Madrid at the top. We could stop there, and say this will be a two team race the rest of the way. After all, we have to go back to the 2003-2004 season to find where another team besides Real Madrid, Barcelona, or Atlético de Madrid won the league. There may actually be one surprise this year!
Who Can Be The Surprise Team This Year In La Liga?
Villarreal were going to be our surprise team this year, before they went ahead, and lost to Real Betis. Athletic de Bilbao pulled off an impressive 4-1 win, they’re going to be one of those teams that’s going to be battling for European spots. The problem with some of these “middle tier” teams is that they aren’t consistent enough to mount a campaign that can see them realistically contend for the La Liga title.
We would still have to pick Villarreal as our surprise team that could be fighting for the top spots with the top three teams that have dominated La Liga for years. If anyone can do it though, it has to be Villarreal. They are the best coached, and the deepest team out of the aforementioned middle tier squads in La Liga. You’ll probably sense from our tone that we’re not overly confident in the Yellow Submarine, but they are our sleeper pick because there aren’t too many options out there.
Can Real Madrid Keep Up The Pace ?
One of the real storylines that we’re going to be following throughout the entire year is Real Madrid’s consistency. With Carlo Ancelotti at the helm it seems that the team just found a way to win. See last year’s Champions League campaign for proof. The lack of a second string number 9 is what has us doubting whether the team can keep winning consistently. So far so good, but this team has really struggled with Benzema. The French striker is injured again, and we can’t help but wonder if the team’s going to be able to stay consistent. Especially with the calendar tightening up with Champions League games coming up in the middle of the week again.
Xavi’s First Real Title Run
With the amount of money that Barcelona spent this offseason people in Catalonia are expecting this team to contend for the La Liga title. After a shaky start against Rayo Vallecano the team has bounced back nicely. The best news for Barcelona may very well be that Robert Lewandowski is finding the back of the net with ease in his first season in the Spanish game. It was really important for Barcelona that the investment they made in the Polish international paid off in the first year, and it’s looking like that’s going to be the case.
There’s an argument to be made that, Barcelona has a deeper squad than Real Madrid, and they could use that in their favor to find more consistency throughout the year. The problem for Barcelona is that they have to face Bayern Munich in the Champions League. We really won’t know what this team can really do until they face adversity. If they get embarrassed by Bayern Munich like they have in the last few years that could lead to the season spiraling out of control quickly.
