The pinnacle of Spanish football has begun. It is the first la Liga in years without Sergio Ramos and Lionel Messi. With these two heavyweight names missing, La Liga has lost some brightness for sure. Everything will depend on how the top teams will fare this season.
For Real Madrid, there is no more Zidane. The captain of the ship is now Carlo Ancelotti who returned to the Spanish capital, a city he personally loves.
He is well aware that the level of the current squad is, in no way, comparable to the one he led to the 2014 Champions League glory.
Carlo also joked in his first press conference while returning that the only thing changes in Real Madrid are the coach.
He wasn’t wrong anyway. Real Madrid won’t have their long term CB duo in Varane-Ramos anymore. The depth in defence is gone, despite the arrival (the only arrival) of Austrian sensation David Alaba.
Gareth Bale is also back from his Tottenham loan to play his last season and Madrid will be hoping their marque signing Eden Hazard to finally step up. There are talks about Mbappe but the dream remains unattained for this season.
Before the transfer window closes, Real will try to offload players like Mariano, Jovic, Ødegaard or Isco. Carlo will most probably switch to 4-3-3 for Madrid this season and the trio of Casemiro, Modric and Toni Kroos remains vital.
Kroos and Ceballos will miss the first month of the season, so Valverde will get a chance to prove his worth again. Real Madrid basically again sitting tight in this financial crisis amidst a pandemic for another season.
For Barcelona, the post-Messi era finally starts. Barcelona ended up with the highest wage bill in the world sport a couple of seasons back. Add the impact of COVID-19, the club’s debts have risen to more than €1.3 billion (£1.1 billion). This resulted in the club being unable to hold their greatest ever player joined PSG.
That is why La Liga have made a huge cut to Barcelona’s salary cap, which will fall from €671 million in 2019-20 to less than €200 million for the new campaign.
Messi would have left today or tomorrow. Letting him go might turn out to be a good decision in this crisis. Fewer expectations will allow better rebuild and more create more opportunities for players like Griezmann and new inclusions like Depay.
Although Barca will miss the magic of Messi on the field, they still have good attacking options with Griezmann, Depay, Fati, Dembele. They also got new inclusions in defence in Eric Garcia and Emerson.
Finally, for the La Liga champion Atletico Madrid, much hasn’t happened there. Though there were talks about Griezmann coming back, nothing materialised. They signed one of the best centre defensive midfielders in the world in Rodrigo DePaul. He should perfectly fit in the formation of Simeone.
Also, Tripper staying this season is good news for the Atletico Madrid fans. It will be interesting to see how Llorente and Suarez again perform. But going into the new season, ATM is clearly the favourites to retain their title.
La Liga has lost its charm with the departure of Ronaldo in the past and now Messi and Ramos. But the difference between top teams and mid-level teams have decreased which may provide more competition.
Not only a new season, but a new era has started for La Liga and its fans. Apparently, something does not seem okay with the league losing its charm with the biggest stars. But it might be better for the league, in the long run, triggering more competition.