Traveling España: Previewing Barcelona, Madrid, and the rest of Spain

By Kaushik Lakshman

Last week, we travelled to the Basque Country, Andalucia, and Valencia to take a look at how La Liga teams from those regions are looking ahead to the new season. In this part we will go through the two big cities of the country and also some of the other regions of the lovely country of España.
Barcelona

FC Barcelona - Defending League and European Champions, Barcelona will start the season as favourites to win it all again. It is funny to realise that the best team, a seemingly perfect one, has actually gotten better. With the signing of Alexis Sanchez and Francesc Fabregas, the Catalan outfit have addressed problems of depth in the squad. The Fabregas transfer being completed gives us nothing to look forward to in the coming transfer windows, but truth be told, he is an excellent player, and will be very influential in Barca’s upcoming season. Centre of defence is still a problem area for the team as Puyol is not getting any younger and there isn’t much quality depth. Word is that Barcelona is going to have Mascherano move to a semi-permanent centre back role or probably even tweak with the age old 4-3-3 formation to convert it into a 3-4-3, something that Barcelona legend Johan Cryuff will be proud of. Will they prove to be even more unbeatable this season? Will they lose the motivation to win? Will Real Madrid catch them at last? Will Barcelona walk away with another double/treble? Only one way to find out.

Espanyol - The other big Catalan club, famously spelt Espanyol, with the catalan spelling due to political pressure, are sometimes considered the true representation of Catalunya. But we live in a modern world where these wheels of politics are a thing of the past and it is clear that Espanyol play second fiddle to their more glorious neighbours, but they are no small club themselves. Finishing an incredible 8th place last season, Espanyol will look to build on a stronger squad considering two of their brightest players Callejon and Osvaldo will be plying their trade in the capital city of Madrid at Real and Atletico respectively. Led by veteran Luis Garcia Espanyol and coached by the excellent Pochettino, Espanyol will look for a similar finish this season and perhaps break into the Europa League spots.

Madrid

Real Madrid - The most glamorous club in the world will find itself once again having to chase an excellent Barcelona team who are arguably going through their best period in history. Legend has it that coach Jose Mourinho’s teams typically peak in their second seasons, and thus expectations are high. The obsessive chase from Florentino Perez of La Decima, the tenth Champions League trophy has resulted in a string of bad moves, and a lot of harsh lessons, but this current project appears to have the most long term vision in recent history. New signings Sahin, Varane, Coentrao, Callejon and Altintop will give the team more depth, more alternatives, more flexibility and will hope to relieve the team of key dependencies like Xabi Alonso. Evolution of certain key players like Benzema, and Di Maria should also play a key role in making this season a success for the Madridismo. It is no secret that they will be gunning for all three titles. Liga seems the most probable one. It is going to be a long season in the capital.

Atletico Madrid - The colchoneros have never too far behind their glorious neighbours in terms of offseason drama. One of the most terribly run clubs from top to bottom, this summer has been a very action filled one. Their best performer from the last four years Kun Aguero has left for Champions League football, not to the much predicted Real Madrid but the new big team from Manchester. David De Gea also takes his talents to Manchester but to the red half. That meant a lot of money coming in. The doubts were always there as to where this money would end up. At the face of it at least, it seems to have all been splashed out on Colombian forward Falcao who arrives from Porto. Osvaldo from Espanyol is also in its closing stages. Arda Turan, a turkish creative midfielder also makes his way to the La Liga. The team welcomes back Sergio Asenjo but must also take care of a few defensive needs if they are to improve on their performance from last season. Atleti is also flirting with a deal for Brazilian playmaker Diego who would be a wonderful addition to the team and league. As we have seen time and time again, Atleti seem to have the knack of messing things up even when it looks beautifully set up for them. With Manzano replacing Dr House Flores, will this continue?

Getafe - Popularly referred to as Real Madrid’s B team, the team that has been recently bought over by a Dubai company will look to again provide feeder facilities to some of the big clubs such as Real Madrid. They currently house Real’s starlet Pablo Sarabia and have signed striker Dani Guiza who returns to Spain after a spell in Turkey. They should in all likelihood finish higher than where they finished last time out, at 16th place. A thin squad has always prevented them from playing to potential. They are also known for having some of the worst attendance figures in home matches. Their new owners will hope that will change with the likes of Sarabia and Guiza coming in, but a better bet would be to install a Burger King outlet next to the stadium as it has been proven by statistics that most people don’t return because they get hungry watching the Burger King shirts but don’t have anywhere to go to after.

Rayo Vallecano - Rayo is traditionally the working class club of Madrid. Known for a fiery fanbase, and an intimidating atmosphere, they are in an absolute state of mess right now. Administration was the first step, but then came a player strike. Certain players did not train for a few days. Now it is said that Rayo asked the players to take a temporary pay cut, but the players did not oblige, and they will now have 5 players as well as their coach leave the club on these grounds. We all know the Liga’s finances are an absolute mess but this is very saddening. On footballing fronts, if they are left with a squad of respectable number, it will be a miracle if they manage to continue in the Primiera, especially since some of their brightest talents like Coke Andujar have left the club.

Rest of España

Sporting Gijon - Sporting is known for one of the best fanbases in all of Spain. La Mareona is the only set of fans that actually take the effort to travel to away games, are in the safe hands of the excellent Manuel Preciado. The Asturian team finished 10th this season and lost a couple of their stars in Jose Angel and Diego Castro but have made some very decent signings. They welcome Andre Castro and South American talents Oscar Trejo and Damian Suarez. With seasoned players such as De Las Cuevas and Eguren, Sporting have a great mixture of youth and experienced, enough to maintain their mid table finish, perhaps even push a bit higher. If not for anything else, for their wonderful fans, their players will be at their best every match.

Real Mallorca - From the lovely island of Mallorca, it is a pity that the football isn’t as pretty. How things have turned topsy turvy for the club in just one season is not a joke. From finishing 5th, and with a spot in the Champions League snatched away by UEFA due to finances, to finish just one point, one goal away from relegation, is a 180 turn. With a lot of players like Webo, Ayoze and Ruben departing the club, Michael Laudrup’s team is not looking at an exciting season. Whether others like De Guzman will stay at the club is still unknown and will definitely have an impact on the team. Staying in the Primiera is the aim for this club, as with the current financial condition, going into the infierno of Segunda is usually a one way ticket.

Racing Santander - When Indian businessman Ali Syed bought the Cantabrian club, much was expected in terms of stabilizing the club. Truth though is that, to put it mildly, it has hardly been good for the club. Experienced manager Hector Cuper will lead the club in a bid to finish around the 12th position that they obtained last season. The challenge looks tougher as the club really lacks creative players and some much needed injection of youth. Dos Santos’ loan spell at Tottenham is over and much depends on whether he returns. Players not getting paid, has overshadowed the football and resulted in key players leaving. Depending on who they can bring in, their season could end up from a dog fight for relegation or a comfortable mid table finish. Everything though, points to the former, at least as long as the province cannot find a suitable person to buy out from Ali Syed.

Real Zaragoza - Javier Iguirre’s team Zaragoza also narrowly escaped relegation last season and were saved after an inspired match at the Bernabeu. The club from Aragon has gone a long way in kicking out some old players and replacing them with some young blood. Some names coming in include Edu, Oriol, Mateos, Juan Carlos. There is also talk of Johnathan Dos Santos from Barcelona. Angel Lafita is by far their best player and fans will look for him to be driving the team this season. It must be very difficult for the fans to see the talented Ander Herrera move to Athletic, when it comes to departures. Nigerian Uche will be looked at for goals but the problem area will be defending. Zaragoza will look to stay up and potentially aim for a mid table finish.

That then, was the Tour de España for this season’s footballing teams in the top division. Hope you enjoyed it and are ready for this season’s La Liga as everyone else is. Some of the results may be predictable but nevertheless is still a joy to watch.