Football Special Report: Why the La Liga is the Best Domestic Competition in the World
La Liga, or the Spanish Primera League, started on 28th August, amidst high expectations and speculations. Although, there is not much hype in Asian countries, about La Liga, especially because of the difference of time zones, due to which English Premier League is the most watched competition. Still, La Liga remains the best domestic league in the world, due to many reasons.
First of all, the European success by clubs in Spanish Primera Division is unprecedented. Real Madrid is the most successful club in the history of football, with the most number of Champions League trophies. During the first decade of new millennium, Madrid won the Champions League twice. Apart from this, Madrid’s archrivals in Spain, the Catalan giants, Barcelona, also won the competition on two occasions.
This is only the success of Spanish clubs in the major European trophy. In the UEFA Cup, or the UEFA Europa League, other Spanish teams have been tremendously successful. Sevilla won the trophy twice, under Juande Ramos, while Valencia and Athletico Madrid have also been successful in Europe, in this decade. The success achieved by Spanish clubs speaks a lot about superiority of their league over other leagues in the world, as no other league has been this much successful in Europe, especially in recent times.
Another important statistics about La Liga is that many players won the most prestigious FIFA World Player of the Year title, while playing in La Liga. In this decade, Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo and Luis Figo won it while playing for Real Madrid. On the other hand, Lionel Messi and Ronaldinho won it while playing for Barcelona. In addition, there were only three instances when the award went outside Spain, but all these players came to Spain afterwards. These players were Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka and Fabio Cannavaro. This tremendous achievement speaks volumes about quality and superiority of Spanish league.
The rivalry between Barcelona and Real Madrid is at its peak in the new season. This rivalry is not a typical football rivalry; rather it is a rivalry representing different ideologies. Barcelona represents the Catalans mainland, which are at odds with the forces of Madrid, the capital of Spain. This rivalry is ages old, which is fought in the football field every year. This year the battle would be stronger than before, as both teams have the strongest squads in the whole of Europe. Both these teams have actually built their squad keeping in front the strengths and weaknesses of each other.
This rivalry would get stronger, as the rivalry between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi would also heat up. Both these players are struggling hard to achieve the title of best player of this generation, while both have already won the FIFA Player of the Year award. During this season, Ronaldo would represent Madrid, while Messi would lead the troops of Catalunya. Both players have a big fan following, all over the world, due to which this battle would be watched by millions all over the world.
Apart from that, the battle between Pep Guardiola, the manager of Barcelona, and Jose Mourinho, the manager of Real Madrid, would also be intense. In 2009, Guardiola surprised everyone for winning an incredible treble, while Mourinho repeated the same thing for his club Inter Milan in 2010. Therefore, he was immediately hired for the Madrid’s job. Now, he would face Guardiola directly, with an aim to challenge his team’s superiority in La Liga, in recent years. Mourinho is a great tactician, while Guardiola likes to play an extremely attacking game. The forthcoming battle would be very interesting to watch.
There are many quality players in La Liga, playing for different clubs. The success of La Liga has been evident in the recent World Cup, where Spain won the tournament, while Diego Forlan of Athletico Madrid won the Golden Boot, for being the best player. All other European leagues are lagging behind Spanish league right now, in terms of better football and superiority. This is what makes La Liga one of the most intense and interesting leagues in Europe as well.
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