It’s been a case of ‘Home or Away’ for La Liga’s big teams in a spellbinding year, in which Barca have swept the board domestically and won the title by 14 points, leaving the European conquests to Real and Atletico Madrid.
And there are no prizes for guessing who’s dominated the headlines, as the box office duo of Leo Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo starred week after week. The two scored 60 league goals between them, with Barca’s Argentine winning that contest 34 to 26.
Cristiano, however, has bagged an eye-watering 15 in the Champions League. These two will be the biggest attractions at World Cup 2018 for sure.
A double for Ernesto Valverde’s stars is just reward for a season in which they went unbeaten until the penultimate game. Meanwhile, the European torch has been carried by the Madrid teams, Atletico winning the Europe League and Los Blancos taking on Liverpool in the Champions League final.
Fans didn’t need to look further than Barcelona for the best football bets in a first half of a season when Messi and Co. took the league away, with only Atletico putting up some sort of a fight. Antoine Griezmann led the way for Diego Simeone’s side, scoring 19 times in the league; but with Luis Suarez also bagging 25 for the Catalans, ultimately there was no contest.
And it was the final season for a true Barcelona legend. Andres Iniesta has bid a fond farewell to the Camp Nou after 16 phenomenal seasons as one of the best midfielders in world football. The 34-year-old actually joined his childhood heroes 22 years ago, and in a tearful send-off, he said: “I thank you for all the love and respect that you’ve given me since I arrived as a child. I now leave as a man.”
The other half of Barca’s double, the Copa del Rey, was a one-sided affair as Valverde’s men destroyed Sevilla 5-0 with two goals from Luis Suarez. Nonetheless, there was Champions League misery for La Liga’s finest as they crashed out 3-0 to Juventus. I’m sure they’ll be cheering Los Blancos on against Liverpool next week though!
Zinedine Zidane guided his team to third, behind Atletico, but there has been some momentum gathering at the Bernabeu.
Moreover, there has also been some joy—at last—over at the Mestalla where Valencia enjoyed its best season in a while, guided to the fourth Champions League place by Marcelino.
Villarreal ended up fifth after sacking Fran Escriba back in September. Javier Calleja inspired the Yellow Submarine to a better second half of the season. Now, they are joined by Real Betis and Sevilla in the Europa League.
While Sevilla were hammered in the Copa final, they did dump Manchester United out of the Champions League, so it was a rollercoaster ride at the Ramon Sanchez Stadium.
The relegation places have been decided for some time, with Malaga and Las Palmas suffering a wretched year. But the biggest surprise was the demise of Deportivo La Coruna, and coach Clarence Seedorf will do well to hang on to players like Florin Andone.
Performance of the season has to go to Levante. After the promoted Valencia club struggled all season against relegation, a late surge saw them survive, culminating in a betting advice busting 5-4 win against the Champions.
Take a bow, boys!
Who’s Hit the Big Time?
So as Depor, Las Palmas and Malaga face a fight to bounce back from the Segunda Division, three places have been freed up in the top flight.
Rayo Vallecano makes their return at the second attempt, and are joined by minnows Huesca—with a 5,500 ground capacity—making a first appearance at the top table. And there’s still a chance for play-off hopefuls Sporting Gijon, Real Valladolid, Real Zaragoza and Cadiz.
Early Transfer Rumours
It’s that time of the year again!
The speculation surrounding the future of Atletico Madrid’s superstar Antoine Griezmann is rife, but the French striker is remaining coy about his future. Lionel Messi says he’ll be delighted if Griezmann joins him at the Camp Nou. I bet he will!
Meanwhile, Real Madrid are being linked with a return to La Liga of PSG’s sensitive star Neymar. And fans at the Mestalla will be delighted to learn that Simone Zaza is happy to stay at Valencia but less so that Rodrigo is wanted by Bayern.
Rafa Benitez has said he’s open to a reunion with Griezmann’s outgoing team-mate
Fernando Torres. The two had a great relationship at Liverpool, and now that it looks like Rafa will be staying at Newcastle next season, Fernando could be leaving the sunshine to head for the cold Northeast of England. Each to his own I guess!
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