Europe’s most attractive and glamorous domestic football league, La Liga, shall kick-off this weekend. Sportspundit carries on looking at what’s in store for the clubs in a three part series, this time exploring the race to finish in European places…..
Top Four
Real Madrid and FC Barcelona are going to eat up the top two places in La Liga in 2009-2010 and we have discussed that already.
So we have two more places to fill for the Champions League. And we have (at least!) four teams fighting for the third and fourth positions.
Andalucian giants Sevilla finished third last season followed by Atletico Madrid in fourth. This was the second time in four years that the Rojiblancos has finished in the top three and fourth time in four seasons that they have finished in the top five. This season Manolo Jimenez’s side would be looking to finish third again and perhaps they might also think themselves to be good enough to fight for the title.
Sevilla have made three major additions to their squad. Didier Zokora has been signed from Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur for 10 million euros to shore up the defensive midfield, Sanchez has arrived from Espanyol for 4 million euros to slot into the right-back position and striker Alvaro Negredo has been signed from Spanish giants Real Madrid for 15 million euros. Sevilla already have top notch players like Jesus Navas, Diego Capel, Frederic Kanoute and Luis Fabiano and with the addition of the summer signings plus the rise of Argentine youngster Diego Perotti, the Andalucian outfits should be able to retain their third place in the table.
If there is any side that can beat Sevilla to the third spot and perhaps even threaten the Real Madrid-Barcelona duopoly, then it’s Atletico Madrid. Atleti have not been very active in the transfer market in the summer but the arrival of young goalkeeper Sergio Asenjo is certainly a huge thing. In Diego Forlan and Sergio Aguero Atletico have perhaps the best striking duo in Spain and in Europe, and it would be on their shoulders that much of the success of the ‘second club of Madrid’ in 2009-2010 would depend. But Atletico’s main problem is their defence and if they can sort that out, then they could well go and do better than a fourth place finish in the league.
The Rest…..
Valencia and Villarreal are the other two ‘genuine’ contenders for a top four finish. Valencia have failed to finish in a Champions League position for two successive seasons and for a club that at the start of the season won the Spanish Primera Division title twice in three years as well as the UEFA Cup it is nothing less than a disaster. Good thing for the Ches is that they have managed to hang onto their star players, namely David Villa, David Silva and Juan Mata, and although key central defender Raul Albiol has left for Real Madrid, Valencia do retain the nucleus to challenge for a top four finish.
Villarreal can do so too but they have lost their main ‘player’ for the past four or five years. Coach Manuel Pellegrini parted company with the club in the summer and decided to take reigns at Real Madrid instead. This is indeed a huge blow for the Yellow Submarine, who under the Chilean have played marvelous passing and slick football. Villarreal do have many good and some very good players, but the departure of Pellegrini signals the end of an era and 2009-2010 could be an uneasy and perhaps transitional season for the team from Vila-Real.
Deportivo la Coruna and Malaga did have their chances of finishing among the top four in La Liga last season but neither side has the depth in squad or the necessary consistency to take the leap. Depor and Malaga would still fancy themselves for Europa League places, though, but should Sevilla and Atletico finish in the top four along with Madrid and Barcelona, then Valencia and Villarreal would eat up the fifth and sixth places, leaving Depor and Malaga to end up as also-rans at the end of the season.