This year has been a bit more interesting with Atlético. Not a huge fan of Atlético, but I´m glad to see Real only in 3rd place! The league is still interesting for me because I like watching my team : Graná (Andaluces levantaos)
I stopped watching La Liga almost 5 years ago. It became TOO BORING with the Barça-Real dominance. Oh, so Atletico is now in 2nd place. But Barça will still win it. Hope the Premier League doesnt go down the drain like that too. Its perilously close. The other spanish clubs should simple QUIT La Liga, and form their own independent league. Lets see how Barça and Real can maintain their audiences and getting all tv money for themselves, facing only 2nd division clubs.
These teams I like to follow. Spain: Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Malaga, Betis Sevilla, Valencia, FC Sevilla, Athletic Bilbao. Celta Vigo and Deportivo because old good times. England: ManUtd, ManCity, Chelsea, Tottenham, Everton, Arsenal. Liverpool, West Ham, Newcastle, Aston Villa (old times). France: PSG, Marseille, Lyon, sometimes Bordeaux, St. Etienne. Germany: Bayern, Leverkusen, Dortmund, Schalke 04. Stuttgart, HSV, sometimes Werder, Wolfsburg (old times). Italy: Juventus, Lazio, Napoli, Inter, Fiorentina, Roma, Milan, Udinese. Parma, Sampdoria (old times). Palermo, Catania (sometimes, because of fan atmosphere). Netherlands: Ajax, PSV, Feyenoord. Portugal: Benfica, Sporting, Porto. Scotland: Celtic, Rangers (before).
Saturday, Sunday, maybe 5,6. Depends on team quality, opponent's strength. I can't watch every club, they play at the same time. Spanish league is later in the evening, 7PM, 8PM, sometimes lateer, 9 PM. How many matches you watch? I would watch this in a few days, but I won't be able to watch all, maybe they are in the same time, if some of them are not interesting, I choose more interesting. 18 matches in 4 days. Impossible to follow. It's noce when we have national championships on Wednesday and weekend time. Most interesting are in the B letters, 15 matches. This ia also hard to achieve. Real Sociedad - Barcelona 19.1. Malaga - Celta Vigo 19.1. Valencia - Real 20.1. Betis - Athletic 21.1. Ajax - Feyenoord 20.1. maybe Manchester City - Fulham 19.1. Chelsea - Arsenal 20.1. Tottenham - Manchester 20.1. Arsenal - West Ham 23.1. Wolfsburg - Stuttgart 19.1. Bayern - Greuther 19.1. Werder - Dortmund 19.1. I'll switch, depends which broadcast. Same time. Multitasking. Palermo - Lazio 19.1. Juventus - Udinese 19.1 Fiorentina - Napoli 20.1. Roma - Inter 20.1. Marseille - Montpellier 19.1. Bordeaux - PSG 20.1. Scottish and Portuguese best teams play against weaker opponents. I usually watch 5,6 league highlights. I like to watch Porto, Sporting, Benfica and Celtic, now we don't have Rangers anymore, so it's not interesting without Old Firm matches. Sporting - Beira Mar Porto - Pacos Moreirense - Benfica Celtic - Heart I would watch Southamerican matches, at least Brazil, Chile and Argentina leagues, but they are much later, time difference or they are not in broadcast. Also derby in Uruguay Nacional - Penarol, Copa Libertadores, Copa Sudamericana are interesting.
5-6 as well, I suppose. Changes a lot though, sometimes way more, some weeks only 1. Kinda impressive variety of leagues you follow, thumbs up. I mean I watch matches from this and that league, but focus more heavily on like two competitions (CL + La Liga).
6,7 European leagues are interesting. Majority of people follow these leagues. UEFA competitions are in February. People started to follow Russian, Ukrainian championship, new market for viewers, I don't follow these leagues, but people say that they can offer good football. Mexican league is interesting with several Southamerican countries: Brazil, Chile, Argentina. African Cup Nations is now, Cote d'Ivoire is in hard group, I don't follow this competition. Beside football, I am watching World Cup in handball, Australian Open, depends on time difference.
Yes its a top heavy top 2 league team and that's sucks. But other clubs are run in a terrible way and this isn't any different then EPL which is top heavy as well. Barcelona inability to accept change in the revunue model has doomed la liga to a being not viable.
Most european leagues are top heavy if not all leagues but some more than others. Premier League has at least five clubs at the beginning of the season that can content for the title on paper. In la liga you always know is between real madrid and barca. In bundesliga it just became a one team league with bayern a run away favorite to win it. Serie A has Juventus, Inter, AC milan but those clubs have history but presently they are all down with the exception of Juventus. And the overall quality of the league has dropped completely with not many world class players heading there anymore. La Liga needs a third or fourth team to step up to make it more marketable outside el clasico and make it more interesting. I thought Atletico Madrid was going to be that team but instead of getting stronger they got weaker. As things stand now premier league is the more marketable and deeper league even thought their best club cant compete with bayern, real madrid or barca. []__[]
It's hard for a third team to step up, when you are already 100 million € behind just after tv revenue. That's almost 30 million more than bayern made winning the champions league this year. Every year regardless of performance. And it's not that the other clubs in spain haven't tried. There is a reason for the gigantic mountain of debt spanish clubs are sitting on. There is just no way anyone is going to be able to compete with that without tremendous amounts of money thrown at them from an rich investor for example. I don't understand why the other clubs aren't running riot against it. Without them there is no league.
i'm not sure i would agree that atleti have gotten weaker. losing falcao is tough, but villa is an excellent signing. demichelis and baptistao are solid, as well.
Come on now. Falcao to Villa is a big downgrade. Villa's days of scoring 25+ league goals in a season are long over...
Not sure how you arrive at 5. Much less "at least 5". If Arsenal get Suarez its at most 4. But that's a big "if", both in terms of landing Suarez and in terms of competing for the title even if they do have Suarez. After all ... Arsenal were nowhere even close to the top last season, so I have serious doubts whether 1 player can make them a true contender. But yeah... its still a lot better than La Liga. Atletico and Valencia are probably half-a-dozen top players away from competing.
Man City, United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham have strong enough squads to win the league this year. []__[]
It's looks at though it may be turning into a four team race as new Valencia owner has worked out a deal to restructure the clubs debts. http://www.timescolonist.com/peter-...after-bank-restructures-club-s-debt-1.1118375
It could have been a 5 team race but unfortunately Er Glorioso was relegated to Segunda for the upcoming year and you could hear the sighs of relief that were emitted from the club directors of Atletico, Madrid, Barca, Valencia and cross town rivals Sevilla! Viva Er Beti!!
la liga for me is still going good, but comparing to 5 years back its still not that exciting like it used to be.. but now as new players come in clubs n some leave.. it will be interesting to see
yes, one different team winning it in the last 15 years and you use that as example of competitivity? And who finished in 2nd and 3rd place? Same Real and Barça...
Some people like a competitive league of mediocrity and some like to see the cream rise. While Real and Barca are consistently the best two in La Liga, and for that matter the best two in Europe, there are a number of other fascinating story lines that make La Liga my favorite in Europe. The top talent producing factory in Europe; it will be fun to see how many EPL teams start more Spaniards then Englishmen Despite the Barca/Real dominance, there is quality across the board, as evidenced by 3 of four Champions semifinalists and 2 of four Europa semifinalists were Spanish Fascinating traditions like Athletic Bilbao, who only use players from the Basque region. The passion of the fans and the history of football as a representation of the divisions across Spanish society Fun matches, as Gareth Bale says, even the weaker teams actually try to play football when they face the giants. You don't often see the boot and run and 10 men behind the ball that is so common in other leagues. The cantera philosophy of bringing up players from within the club system. The fact that they can be better than the majority of Europe without spending nearly so much money (Barca and Real excepted) There is nothing wrong with La Liga and it will continue to be a favorite of fans in the non-Anglophonic world. If La Liga can be this successful while Spain is in an economic crisis then it would be something to see if Spain gets itself out of the economic doldrums and can actually hold on to more of the fabulous talent that is produced there.