Why Barcelona will win La Liga once again

Part I: Why Real Madrid will fail to be the best in Spain this year

Real Madrid is the adversary that will hope to challenge Barcelona’s dominance throughout Spain and Europe this year, but just like the last Galactico era the Madridistas will fall short of Florentino Perez’s immediate expectations. Real Madrid are settling in under new manager Manuel Pellegrini, but it will take some time before Madrid can play the exquisite football we all know they are capable of.

Despite spending more money on Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, and Xabi Alonso, Karim Benzema was the best signing Real Madrid made this summer. Real do have Raul, the world-class talent that will forever go in history as one of the true greats, but in all sincerity the Spaniard is getting older and less effective in La Liga as time goes on.  Benzema, still only 21-years-old, will be the leading goal-scorer at the Bernabeau this season. The French prodigy has all the facets that will make him the next Raul, and his niche for clinical finishing will help Madrid win difficult games.

Real Madrid will surely be a great team, but the keyword is will. Madrid’s Starting XI will look something along the lines of this:

Iker Casillas

Sergio Ramos   Metzelder   Pepe    Marcello/Arbeloa

C. Ronaldo  Diarra/Xabi Alonso   Kaka   Marcello/Granero

Benzema         Raul/Higuain

Time is the biggest factor working against Real Madrid. While most managers would do anything to have a line-up like this, Pellegrini will have the difficult task of immediately turning his group of players from a great squad into an unbeatable squad. While this group will inevitably win trophies, this year will not be the year.

If Pellegrino decides to start Ronaldo, Kaka, and Xabi Alonso together in the midfield, then they will all be forced to deal with a new brand of Spanish football that they are not accustomed to. While this side will easily defeat the quality Getafe’s and Espanyol’s at the Bernabeau, they will not able to settle in fast enough to dominate the hostile Bilbao’s, the Valencia’s, and the Sevilla’s when they travel for the first time.

Because all the new Galacticos will not be able to get three points away from home as often as Barcelona will, they will inevitably fall behind in the title race. While the second half of the season will prove fruitful for Los Blancos, the initial struggles the new players will have adapting to La Liga will leave too much of gap for Madrid to catch up with Barcelona. Real Madrid will challenge for the title, but in the 2010-11 campaign, not the 2009-10 campaign.

Part II: Why Barcelona will repeat their Spanish success

Pep Guardiola, Barcelona manager and former Barca player, understands that his club’s philosophy to play quick, beautiful football can only work if there is the right chemistry between players in the dressing room. Samuel Eto’o, despite being one of  the hardest working strikers on the planet, decided this summer that he wanted to put himself before the team by asking for wages around an exorbitant £250,000-a-week. No matter how good a player is, if he refuses to follow the successful principles of Barcelona then he needs to go for the sake of the team.

While football analysts may question the logic of Barcelona’s decision to sell Samuel Eto’o and give £40m to Inter Milan in exchange for Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the reality is that this transfer does not matter as much for the Blaugrana as it does for the world of football.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic is not known for being a hard worker, but in all honesty Ibra is a luxury for the Catalan powerhouse. Barcelona scored by far the most goals in La Liga last season. Thierry Henry has finally settled in to Spanish football, and Barca’s youth starlet Bojan Krckic is maturing into one of the best Spanish strikers in recent memory. And of course Barcelona still has the ever-improving Lionel Messi.

While Madrid supporters are right to say that Karim Benzema and Raul or Higuain can be as effective as Zlatan and Theirry or Bojan, when the Real Madrid midfield is placed against the Barcelona midfield there is no comparison.

Real Madrid’s best midfielders (with the exception of Lassana Diarra, Wesley Sneijder, and Arjen Robben) are all going to be new to the modern style of La Liga. Xabi Alonso will probably not have too much trouble adapting because of his previous experience in Spain, however, Kaka and Ronaldo will be facing more skillful and technical opposition.

Barcelona has the best central midfield partnership in the world (which Spain are lucky to have as well) between Xavi and Andres Iniesta. The club also has two of the best African defensive midfielders (besides Michael Essien), Keita and Yaya Toure. Xavi and Iniesta will continue to wear down opposing defences through Xavi’s precise passing and Iniesta’s ability to slice past defenders in tight spaces forces the opposition to expend all of its energy. While Barcelona normally are able to dominate the opposition from kick-off, Xavi and Iniesta provide an outlet so Barcelona can save energy for the crucial last twenty minutes.

While Xavi and Iniesta are the artists of the Barcelona offence, Yaya Toure and Keita are able to physically frustrate their opponents at their position at defensive midfield. When Barcelona does lose the ball, Keita and Toure press the opposition endlessly so that the Blaugrana can win it back and allow Xavi and Iniesta to go on and engineer that Barca build-up.

While Barcelona’s offence is vital to its success, the secret to the Barcelona defence is that it maneuvers with an attacking mind-set as well. Led by fiery captain and centre-back Carlos Puyol, Barcelona’s defence consists of centre-back Gerard Pique, the best right-back in the world Dani Alves, French left-back Eric Abidal, and recently acquired Brazilian left-back Maxwell.

Carlos Puyol is not best as a forward, but he thinks he is. Whenever the opportunity arises Puyol tries to have an effort on goal, and it is this defensive, yet attacking mindset that causes such problems for other clubs in La Liga. Dani Alves also shares this attacking prowess with Puyol, however, Alves’ pace and technical ability makes him one of the most dangerous players in the world when he goes forward. Maxwell is also attack-minded as a wing-back, and Guardiola hopes to duplicate Alves’ effectiveness on the left side this upcoming campaign. Gerard Pique is the Xavi of Guardiola’s defence, as his ability to distribute is second to none for a centre-back. Pique is also a young Spanish defender who continues to improve, so only expect better from him this season.

Barcelona ended their 2008-09 campaign by winning the treble (Champions League, La Liga, Copa Del Rey), and there are no signs that the Blaugrana will slow down. The Starting XI will most likely look something like this:

Victor Valdes

Dani Alves  Puyol   Pique   Maxwell/Abidal

Keita/Toure

Iniesta                Xavi

Messi                                           Bojan/Henry

Ibrahimovic

The footballing philosophy of Pep Guardiola is a glorious thing to watch when executed well, and the well-balanced Barcelona squad will only continue to improve over time.