This article is a continuation of La Liga: A tale of two cities (Part 1).
The emergence of a national league inside Spain was idea inspired in the late 20s. Interestingly, a number of clubs that exist today had been formed before the creation of La Liga. However, the primary competition before the league existed was the King’s
Cup, or Copa del Rey as we commonly refer to it.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Barcelona-c38604, Real Madrid and Athletic Bilbao are the only clubs which took part in the first season of the competition and these are the only teams which have never been relegated from the Spanish Primera.
Even in the initial days of La Liga, the fact that only a few clubs were superior to many did exist. It was La Blaugrana who managed to lift the first Spanish Primera Division trophy, which was contested by 10 clubs.
It is important to note that the first few seasons saw other teams compete for the silverware and a few were actually successful in claiming. However, it is important to note that real competition in the Iberian Peninsula hardly lasted a decade.
The Spanish Civil War took place in the mid-30s and the tournament was brought to a halt. After the war ended, La Liga was resumed and the 40s and 50s saw the league grow.
The domestic competition garnered more and more attention, its reputation across Europe also began to take shape. Atletico Madrid, then known as Atletico Aviacion, was the first club to assert dominance over other sides in the Iberian Peninsula.
However, the Real Madrid/Barcelona era was fast approaching and as soon as it did, fans and audiences saw a massive shift in power.
Although Los Blancos have the most illustrious history as a Spanish club, it was the Catalans who were initially a powerhouse. The Nou Camp outfit was considered the pride of a separatist state and as the Catalonians were suppressed by General http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Franco-c14050, they
used their football club to vent their anguish.
The latter part of the 40s saw the Azulgrana establish themselves as a threat for all of their opposing teams.
During the 50s, Barca’s stay at the top flight was shared by their traditional rivals. As both clubs reinvented the rules of the game, specifically the laws regarding the foreign players, they had paved their own ways to assert their hegemony over the rest
of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Spain-c3011.
The trophies were shared between the two clubs during the 50s, which Athletic Bilbao causing a minor hiccup in-between. It was during this memorable decade that Los Vikingos managed to triumph over 5 European titles, a feat that no other football has managed
to repeat to this day.
No matter how strong the team, no matter how influential its players, the record forged by the nine-time champions of Europe still stands.
Hence, it was easy for the onlookers to observe that a complete powerhouse was being formed.
The next decade was all about the Spanish capital-based outfit as they emphasized their hegemony over the Iberian Peninsula. They were able to win the Spanish La Liga trophy five times in a row on one occasion and three times in a row on two occasions.
To the joy of the Santiago Bernabeu faithful this continued on until the 80s.
To be continued….
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