Since the 1950's Spanish football has been thoroughly dominated by just two clubs – Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. The knock-out format of cup competitions may throw up a surprise winner here and there but La Liga has for a long time been considered a two-horse race. These two clubs have won Spain's Primera Division 52 times between them, with Real's 31 championships leading the way. Barca however just pip Real on total tournament wins with 75 and hold all the current bragging rights, with their recent tournament wins setting them apart in Spain, Europe and the World. So it's no surprise that … [Read more...]
Athletic Club: A model for all to follow
I must confess, I knew very little about Athletic Bilbao before I witnessed their footballing master class against Manchester United in the Europa League earlier this year. How glad I am that I flicked over to Channel 5 that night to gaze in awe as the Basque side put English football’s finest to the sword. Quite a spectacle it was. … [Read more...]
The top 5 La Liga goals of 2011
As 2011 draws to a close and all is quiet on the La Liga front until matches resume again in 2012, we've taken the chance to look back at a selection of our favourite goals from the year gone by. We've selected what we believe in our opinion are the best 5 goals from the La Liga Primera division in 2011. So why not check them out and let us know what you think by commenting below? … [Read more...]
How to level the financial playing field in La Liga
The first thing you usually hear when someone mentions La Liga to you is the response: "oh, well, it's just Barcelona and Real Madrid competing every year for the title". And while those two teams are undoubtedly the best in the planet, most football fans would agree that La Liga is not the deepest league. Serie A and the English Premier league have more teams capable of doing well in Europe and going after world class players. Outside of Malaga and the Big Two, we don't see great players going into other teams. Instead we see players like Juan Mata, David Villa, David Silva, Sergio Aguero and … [Read more...]
Barcelona Steal Plaudits in Exciting El Clasico
‘Underdogs’ Barcelona once again proved that Jose Mourinho has plenty more to do before he can finally overthrow the La Liga monarchy as his Real Madrid crumbled to a 3-1 defeat. Karim Benzema may have scored the quickest El Clasico goal after just 23 seconds but Barҫa scored 3 more to give Pep Guardiola and the Catalans the bragging rights once again through Alexis Sanchez, a deflected Xavi strike and a Cesc Fabregas header; yet the result could have been quite different had Cristiano Ronaldo not missed two glorious opportunities for Real, the very reason Mourinho used as his excuse for … [Read more...]
Poker giants Bwin tip Real Madrid for La Liga glory
Read Madrid's fine start to the season continued last weekend as their 4-1 victory over rivals Atletico Madrid put them three points clear at the top of the table with a game in hand over Barcelona. The majority of bookmakers now make Real Madrid 4/7 favorites to claim the La Liga title this season, including their sponsors online bookmakers and poker room Bwin who currently make them 11/21. … [Read more...]
Four things you need to get a result at the Nou Camp
The other month we wrote a comprehensive guide on how any team could shape their bunch of prima donna no-hopers into a force to be reckoned with by replicating Barcelona's sexy style of attacking football. After reading this guide and taking everything we've said on board, your team no matter what level should be ready to take on the world destroying every team in their wake with fluidity and over-whelming finesse. However, should your transformation fail despite your best efforts, what's the best thing to do when you find yourself on the next plane to Barcelona knowing you face … [Read more...]
La Liga: The New SPL?
Okay. It took Revista de La Liga just thirty minutes on Tuesday to mention a topic that has very much become the elephant in the room of Spanish football recently - the domination of Barcelona and Real Madrid and the ever-growing gap between them and their fellow La Liga competitors in terms of finance, performance and control. … [Read more...]
La Liga weekend previews and predictions
The La Liga season will finally get under way this weekend after an agreement was reached between the Spanish football league and the players’ union over unpaid wages which saw the original planned start to the La Liga season delayed. With plenty of highly-anticipated matches to get our teeth into including an Andalucian derby between Seville and Malaga, here's our previews and predictions to the weekend's matches. … [Read more...]
Life after Aguero and De Gea for Atletico
Lighting up Manchester with a scintillating performance on Monday night reminded all at the Vicente Calderon what they have to be prepared not to witness this season. Kun Aguero and his new Manchester City teammates can bask in their cash spewed paradise (until United once again come to town and teach them a lesson) following a routine 4-0 demolition of newly promoted Swansea City while Los Rojiblancos stare into a rather different oblique subsequent to the sale of their star men as former keeper David De Gea also settles into life in the same city. … [Read more...]