In the last 10 years, only four times there was the third club standing between Real Madrid and Barcelona. The Spanish giants are always competing for the title, which is a bit boring for the rest of the country, but at least it’s a two horse race, unlike Ligue 1 or Bundesliga, where PSG and Bayern hardly have any competition. Out of those four times when Barca or Real didn’t finish in one of two first places, it was Atletico Madrid who won the title. And considering this year’s teams, transfers and form, it seems that the same trio will again be on the top of the table in May 2024.Back in business: the 2023-24 @LaLiga season kicks off today! 😍✨ pic.twitter.com/CNcUChe0S3— 433 (@433) August 11, 2023 Barca, Real and othersAs the current champion, Barcelona has the nod in the title race against Real Madrid. In terms of transfers, the Catalans lost ‘only’ Busquets and Jordi Alba as free agents, but gained Illkay Gundogan, Oriol Romeu and Inigo Martinez (so far), making them stronger than last season. However, they still have only 13 players registered, just days before the new season, but president Joan Laporta is confident he will resolve the problem. Their biggest loss is yet to be announced, and that is Ousmane Dembele, who is expected to move to PSG, and the Catalans are trying to bring a worthy replacement – Bernardo Silva, but that will be a tough one, considering Barca’s financial plight. Laporta already stated that defending La Liga title is the main goal, while the Champions League results come second.All ready for the start of La Liga https://t.co/tf1HO2HzAH pic.twitter.com/sgUEBXb3Tr— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) August 10, 2023 Real Madrid came out of the season with only Copa Del Rey trophy to show for. Not good really, since it was just a trophy with which president Florentino Perez could say to the fans that the season is not a total waste. But in reality, it is, considering that even the Champions League was not won. That puts more pressure on Real to win the league this time around, and they have managed to strengthen the squad further by forking out 103 million euros for Jude Bellingham. But unexpected problems arose when a big offer from Al-Ittihad took away Karim Benzema. The main goalscorer was seen as a ‘transition period’ striker, who would allow Real to save 100+ million this season and use them to get Kylian Mbappe for free in 2024. Packed at all other positions, Madrid giants are now in problem: their only true number 9 is Joselu, a former Stoke and Newcastle player, who was brought in to be Benzema’s backup. They have a fantastic Vinicius, but he is not a true striker. So Real’s big decision is soon coming up – biting their tongue and offering PSG a large amount of money to get Mbappe now, or play the season with Joselu in charge and get the Frenchman on a free in 2024. If Perez decides to bring in Mbappe now, Real automatically becomes La Liga and the Champions League favorite number 1. But hey, that’s not the end! One of the most influential player of the Royal club, Thibaut Courtois has ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee and is likely to miss the majority of the season. The accident happened on Thursday in training and the 31-year-old Belgium international will have surgery in the coming days, leaving a huge gap to fill in. Will it be the reserve keeper Andriy Lunin or will they have to sign somebody new? And who? David De Gea is the best keeper currently available. Too many questions just couple of hours before La Liga kicks in….The scream of pain was chilling: Courtois’ season is as good as over after a severe knee injuryAtletico Madrid and its fans are used to be in the third spot and always on a tight budget, which prevents them from challenging Real and Barca each year. Instead, they lean on Cholo Simeone’s defensive works, good signings and hope that both clubs can have a bad year once in a while in order for them to be champions. And this season already ‘smells’ like that. Last year started as a disaster, but by the second part of the season, the Argentinian who is in his 12th season as coach found the solution and never looked back. The 43 points they accrued in the second half of the season was their second best tally in a 20-team league, and five more than Barcelona’s 38. This summer’s transfer dealings suggest that Atletico will be third at the table, at least, and will wait for a potential crisis from either Barca or Real.Bernardo’s ultimatum to Barcelona: You have until the end of the weekThe battle for the positions leading to UEFA competitions is wide open between a couple of clubs: city rivals Seville and Betis, Real Sociedad, Villarreal and Osasuna. As always, there will be the team from the ‘golden middle’ who will challenge these teams and even make it (just like Osasuna did in 2023), but these clubs are favorites. Real Sociedad is the team which finished 6th, 5th, 5th and 4th last season, and they earned the right to be the favorites for that spot again, but the tricky part is that they are now playing both La Liga and the Champions League, with a tight budget. If they are worn down by the end of the season, Villarreal are there to step in. This season, they will still have former Barca boss Quique Setien, but he will have to do without some serious ‘fire power’ as players like Nicolas Jackson (Chelsea), Pau Torres (Aston Villa) and Samuel Chukwueze (Milan) left the building. Still, this club always finds a way to come back again and find other good players, so at least Europa League is expected again. City rivals Betis and Seville are always there around the fourth spot and this season, Seville, the Europa League winner will play in the Champions League, which will stretch their modest and a bit old squad. Betis finished the season in 6th place and the experienced former City boss Manuel Pellegrini remains their greatest strength (apart from the fanatic following), but if the former Real forward Isco discovers his old form, they will surely be a great challenger to Sociedad.🚨 Agreement in principle FOUND between Yassine Bounou and Real Madrid on personal terms. 🤝🇲🇦Sevilla want €20m for the goalkeeper. 💰(Source: @SportsZone__ ) pic.twitter.com/2tk2FrgLSL— Transfer News Live (@DeadlineDayLive) August 11, 2023 The Golden middleFor majority of these clubs there will be no fear of relegation, and some of them will even make a leap towards European competitions, just like Osasuna did last season. On the other hand, it’s reasonable to assume that clubs like Girona and Valencia should be more than happy to finish in this group. The last season newcomers Girona have beaten all odds and finished in 10th place, and they even narrowly missed out on European qualification, but this year, it will be much tougher for the coach Michel to repeat that success. They lost experienced Oriol Romeu to Barcelona and will need to be smart on the transfer market again and find a bunch of loanees (like they did in 2022) which will help them through the season.Players with most goals in La Liga the last five seasons 🇪🇸👏2⃣3⃣ Robert Lewandowski (2022/23)2⃣7⃣ Karim Benzema (2021/22)3⃣0⃣ Lionel Messi (2020/21)2⃣5⃣ Lionel Messi (2019/20)3⃣6⃣ Lionel Messi (2018/19)Who’s next? pic.twitter.com/1cNAeov4Dx— Stats24 (@_Stats24) August 9, 2023 Valencia, a six time La Liga champion with eight Copa del Rey trophies, two Fairs Cups (which was the predecessor to the UEFA Cup), one UEFA Cup, one UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup, and two UEFA Super Cups nearly escaped relegation last season, and current transfer dealings are not suggesting anything can change in 2023/24. This famous club is in the owner Peter Lim’s claws for years, and even the fans’ protests cannot do anything to move him away. Former player Ruben Baraja came during the season and managed to keep them in La Liga, but they will need reinforcements in order to remain in the ‘golden middle’. So far, there are no indications that something like that will happen, as only Cenk Ozkacar and Pepelu arrived for a combined sum of 10 million euros, while the experienced Edinson Cavani left and the perspective Yunus Musa was sold to AC Milan for 20 million. As things stand, Baraja will be left (again) with a bunch of youngsters, hoping it will be enough for another season is the Spanish top division.Allergic to the Metropolitano: Joao Felix eager for a Saudi moveRayo Vallecano held a comfortable 11th position last year, but three key players have departed and without Fran Garcia, Alejandro Catena and Santi Comesana (all first team regulars last season), it will be difficult for the club to repeat success from 2022. Athletic Bilbao is in this group too, but since they remained with the more-less same squad, and what’s the most important thing, with Nico Williams still in the team, they could try to dethrone Osasuna from the Conference League spot and play some European football in 2025. Celta Vigo finished in 13th spot last season, and they are at the bottom of the ‘golden middle’ pack. Rafa Benitez is the biggest addition this year, but the Spaniard wasn’t so successful in his last two gigs (Chinese Dalian and Everton) and Celta bosses are hoping that he will be his old again. So far, the team’s biggest star (apart from Aspas) is youngster Gabri Veiga, who has a release clause of 40 million euros, a bargain for clubs like PSG or Chelsea, and if he is sold near the end of the transfer windows, trouble is on the way. Finishing ninth in La Liga in 2022/23, Mallorca should be strong defensively again, but upfront, they lost Kang-in Lee (6 goals 6 assists) to PSG, so it will be interesting to see if his replacement is as good as the South Korean. With another creative player in the team, they should’t have any problems being the in top 10 in 2024.You don’t see this very often: Atletico Madrid and Diego Simeone disagree over who comes or goesLooking to beat relegation (again)Last year’s final day of La Liga was a thriller on a couple of stadiums. Clubs like Almeria, Getafe and Cadiz all allowed themselves to be in the relegation fight until the last day of the season, and some fans were near heart attack phase, since the survival was secured with some last minute penalties (like ). Unluckily for them, those fans could brace for another season of hope and fear regarding their club’s status in the Spanish elite. Considering the current dealings in the transfer window, they are more-less in the same situation, and should be in the relegation fight along with the newcomers from Segunda – Las Palmas, Granada and Alaves. Considering the strength of those teams and current in/out transfers, it’s safe to say that these six clubs will be in the mix for the last three places, while some other clubs could find themselves with them unexpectedly (Valencia, Girona).LA LIGA Matchday 1Friday20:30 (2.55) Almeria (3.40) Rayo Vallecano (2.95)23:00 (2.00) Sevilla (3.50) Valencia (4.20)Saturday 18:00 (1.65) Real Sociedad (4.00) Girona (6.00)20:30 (2.60) Las Palmas (3.10) Mallorca (3.15)22:30 (3.45) Athletic Club (3.50) Real Madrid (2.20)Sunday 18:00 (2.15) Celta Vigo (3.30) Osasuna (3.90)20:30 (1.85) Villarreal (3.70) Betis (4.70)22:30 (7.00) Getafe (3.90) Barcelona (1.60)Monday20:30 (2.20) Cadiz (3.20) Alaves (3.80)22:30 (1.35) Atletico Madrid (5.30) Granada (10.5)***odds are subject to change***
