Barcelona and Real Madrid renew their battle for Spanish supremacy as the 2015 La Liga season is set to kick off on Aug. 21. The two Spanish giants didn’t make too many moves over the summer, but their closest challengers did. Will that make for a more competitive championship race this time around?
Read on as we take a look at the top three champion contenders, as well as the only two teams with even the slightest shot of winning La Liga. We’ll also highlight the top games to watch out for, and the season headlines that will likely define the upcoming season.
Before starting their La Liga season, Valencia must first deal with Champions League qualification. Check out our Champions League play-off update here.
[sc:Soccer ]2015-16 Spanish La Liga Season Preview
The Top 3 Favorites
FC Barcelona
[sc:Soccer240banner ]Apart from the exit of legendary captain Xavi, defending champions Barcelona will be virtually unchanged for the first few months of their upcoming title defense, although not by choice. Due to their transfer ban, their new signings Arda Turan and Aleix Vidal will have to wait until January to feature for Barca.
Not that Barca are desperately in need of too much strengthening. Last season’s treble winners will still be led by their all-world attacking trio of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar, who combined for 81 of their 110 league goals last season. They also boasted a terrific defense that conceded just 21 goals.
Although that defense has been nowhere near as convincing this preseason – they conceded four goals each to Sevilla and Athletic Bilbao in consecutive games – Barca should have enough talent up front to be the favored for yet another title this season.
Real Madrid
After Carlo Ancelotti’s axing, Rafa Benitez is the latest to get a seat on Real Madrid’s game of managerial musical chairs. The Spaniard has an impressive resume which includes two La Liga titles with Valencia in the mid-2000s, but he’ll need to get on the good side of his star player, Cristiano Ronaldo, who wasn’t too pleased with the new boss earlier this summer.
Speaking of musical chairs, goalkeeper and club captain Iker Casillas was forced out to Porto during the summer (with right-back Danilo going the other way), while the David De Gea saga doesn’t seem any closer to a resolution. Thankfully, Sergio Ramos has decided to stay after his own transfer saga.
Despite all that drama, Ronaldo is still there, and if he’s able to get along with Benitez, last season’s La Liga top scorer (48 goals) should be ready to power Real toward another strong challenge for Barca’s crown.
Atletico Madrid
It was a busy, busy summer for the 2013-14 La Liga champions. A bunch of their key contributors from that title-winning side (Arda, Miranda and Mario Suarez) are gone, as is Mario Mandzukic. But they did bring in some up-and-coming talent (Luciano Vietto, Yannick Ferreira Carrasco) and more proven commodities (Jackson Martinez, the returning Filipe Luis) in preparation of another title run.
Their biggest moves of the summer, though, were keeping hold of top scorer Antoine Griezmann (22 goals), midfield maestro Koke and most importantly, manager Diego Simeone. With those three still in the fold, Atletico remain the only club capable of breaking the Big Two’s stranglehold on La Liga. But after they finished 16 points adrift of champions Barca last season, it certainly won’t be easy.
Sleeper – Valencia
Valencia finally returned to the top four in the La Liga table last season, which could see them make a return to the Champions League. (Although they have quite a tricky challenge against Monaco in the play-off.) In preparation for their European adventure, Valencia went on their biggest spending spree in ages.
They spent around 60 million pounds to make the loans of the talented Benfica trio (Rodrigo, Andre Gomes and Joao Cancelo) and Alvaro Negredo permanent over the summer. But with the exception of 19-year-old Santi Mina, they will essentially be the same squad that finished fourth in their first season under manager Nuno Espiritu Santo.
Youngsters like Rodrigo, Andre Gomes and Paco Alcacer are expected to continue developing this season, though, which make Los Che a possible top three contender.
Long Shot – Sevilla
Sevilla will get another taste of Champions League football after winning last season’s Europa League. They’ll be missing two of their top contributors – striker Carlos Bacca and right-back Aleix Vidal, who’s off to Barca – but as they are so used to doing, Sevilla have reloaded with a bunch of new pieces.
In come Steve Nzonzi and Gael Kakuta from England, Ciro Immobile (Italy’s leading scorer in 2013) as well as highly-rated Ukrainian winger Yevhen Konoplyanka, who came on a free transfer. In terms of talent, there’s not much separating them and Valencia in the race for fourth (or even third). Seeing as they haven’t reached fourth since 2009-2010, it’ll be a major success if Sevilla can climb those heights again this season.
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Key Games for the Season
El Clasico – Barcelona vs. Real (Nov. 22); Real vs. Barcelona (Apr. 10)
The two El Clasico dates of the season aren’t just the two biggest in Spain; they’re the biggest in Europe. This year will be no different, with the two super-teams eager to get one over on their fierce rivals.
Real actually have a significant edge over Barca in recent years. They’ve won five and drawn two of the last 10 Clasicos in all competitions.
Madrid Derby – Atletico vs. Real (Oct. 4); Real vs. Atletico (Mar. 2)
Coming a close third and fourth to the two Clasico games in terms of magnitude are the two Madrid derbies. Simeone has had Real’s number in the past couple of years, and held a seven-match unbeaten run (in all competitions) against his crosstown rivals. Unfortunately, it was snapped once again in heartbreaking fashion in the Champions League.
With a reloaded squad though, Simeone will have his sights set on starting a new streak, and he gets his first crack at it in October.
Season Headlines
How High Can Barca Fly?
There were doubters that said it couldn’t be done, but Messi, Suarez and Neymar proved them wrong as they learned to play on the same pitch with a single ball. Now with a full year’s worth of experience playing with one another, it’ll be fascinating to see how much better this all-time great attacking force can get.
Real Instability
After everything that’s happened/is happening at Real – a new manager, one captain (Casillas) leaving, another captain (Ramos) almost leaving, Ronaldo turning 30 and his growing unease over Gareth Bale as the new face of the team – the club has certainly not been short of headline-worthy news this summer. Whether they can make some positive headlines after a summer of instability remains to be seen, though.
Three-way Battle for Third
Atletico, Valencia and Sevilla – the third-, fourth-, and fifth-place finishers, respectively – were separated by just two points last season. And after all three got out their checkbooks this summer, there could be yet another tight race to be the best (of the rest) in Spain.
Writer’s Prediction
Messi, Suarez and Neymar prove to be unstoppable once again as Barcelona successfully defend their crown. A revamped Atletico jumps up to second, leapfrogging neighbors Real, who implode under Benitez. Sevilla takes a step up to fourth, while Valencia takes a step back and finish sixth.
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