Football Update: Preview of the Spanish La Liga ahead of its start
The arrival of Mesut Ozil to Real Madrid took the Los Blancos spending to over 60 million pounds and that is not an inconsiderable amount even by the standards set the English high rollers Man City.
Florentino Perez is once again delusional that money can but success.
In addition to Ozil, Perez has also secured the services of Angel Di Maria from Benfica, Sami Khedira from Stuttgart, Ricardo Carvallho from Chelsea and Pedro Leon from Getafe.
Assembling a squad through the cheque book was a tactic that did not work last season for the club, as an enviable star cast featuring the likes of Ronaldo, Kaka, Benzema, Vander Vaart and Raul failed miserably to catch the Catalan Artisans.
However, one thing that stands out this season is the presence of a coach that has charisma, glamour and above all the tactical shrewdness.
Pellegrini was perhaps perpetually overawed by the magnitude of the task that faced him, while Jose Mourinho is a man for the big occasion, he is a man that is never shy of the limelight and in fact is a headline hogger.
The Spanish La Liga starts on the weekend and the big question ahead of the start is: Can Jose Mourinho dislodge the reigning Champions Barcelona?
Before his arrival to the Santiago Barnabeau, Mourinho said that not winning the Champions League or the La Liga would be a calamity fro the club and indeed it would be after Real made Mourinho the most expensive manager in the world, expected to be earning a whopping 11 million pounds a year.
Mourinho’s counterpart and his main rival Josep Guardiola is not intimidated by Mourinho’s arrival to Spain and is in fact relishing the challenge to take him on.
When asked about his opposite number, Guardiola said that no matter who manages Real Madrid, they will always be a scary team. Barcelona was not a far superior team to Real Madrid last season, as they only won the league by 5 points and even failed to qualify for the final of the Champions League. He says that it’s a pleasure to have Mourinho in the league, as the best managers only make the league better and Mourinho is certainly one of the best managers in the world.
For starters, Mourinho has been able to guide Real through the pre season undefeated but its nothing to boast about as two wins against LA Galaxy and newly promoted Hercules and two unimpressive draws against Standard Leige and Bayern Munich is hardly anything to write about for a club of Real’s pedigree.
However, these friendlies gave the spectators a hint of how Mourinho is likely to field his troops on the pitch.
One of the most apparent changes looks to be that Cristiano Ronaldo is likely to be playing in the hole behind the two strikers, a role that will give him freedom on the pitch just like Messi enjoys at Barca, Sneijder enjoys at Inter and Lampard enjoys at Chelsea.
Rhe sad thing about the whole episode is that there appears to be no other team that is likely to challenge the top two.
There was a yawning 25 point gap between Real Madrid and Valencia last season and the signs are the gap is not likely to decrease.
In the last 6 seasons, Real Madrid and Barcelona have occupied the top two spots on every occasion apart from when Villareal surprised all and sundry with a second place finish, three seasons ago. However, those days are gone when Valencia and Deportivo La Coruna used to challenge for the title.
Barcelona start their campaign with an away game against Racing Santander, while Real will travel to Mallorca for their opening game.
The first El Classico of the season will take place on November the 18th and only then will we see the two titans clashing. It will be the showman of the technical area in Guardiola pitting his wits against the box office superstar Jose Mourinho. Expect Fireworks.
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