Barcelona's 99 Points Prove Nothing More Than La Liga's Mediocrity

On the last day of La Liga, Barcelona won the title against a mediocre Valladolid, and gained 99 points out of 114.

The Barcelona fans, along with all the press kept stating how magnificent Barcelona have been this season, and that this was a remarkable achievement.

And madly enough, all kept stating these comments, and turning the other cheek when ever Barcelona get referring decisions their way, which is more than people have come to expect.

Did Barcelona deserve to win this year's title?

No.

This isn't an article to undermine Barcelona, and it isn't one to trash La Liga. This is an article that simply states one very simple fact.

La Liga is quite possibly the weakest among Europe's elite.

I'm not gonna waste time explaining myself and reasoning with La Liga and Barcelona fans, especially the latter, they've grown accustomed to winning no matter what, turning the other cheek while responding heavily when the same action performed by Barcelona is done to them.

Not all, but the majority of Barcelona fans are too blind or biased to admit the truth.

Over the last few years, La Liga fans have argued that La Liga is the best league, and specifically thrashed the EPL, which is actually miles ahead of La Liga.

I will explain why La Liga has become less respected than it's rivals.

It's dead from day one

Every year it's the same story: you either have Barcelona or Real Madrid competing for it, and you always know what it's gonna be like at the end of the season.

While people kept screaming about how Manchester United have won the title three times in a row in the last few seasons, and not mentioning that it was almost always on the last day, and against a different team each season. They keep mentioning that Manchester United have made a monopoly out of the EPL.

Strangely enough, none of them mentions the monopoly that has been there for decades in La Liga.

Ever since the EPL started, Manchester United might have won it more, but before that, they were a non-existent team who spent 26 years trophy-less.

Madrid and Barcelona have had it for themselves for almost an eternity, with the exception of rare occasions like Deportivo winning it in the 1999-2000 season, and Valencia winning it with Rafa Benetiz twice in three years.

Also, when you look at the teams that challenged Man U over in the EPL for the title, you see Blackburn, Newcastle, Arsenal, Chelsea, and Liverpool.

While all you'll see is Barcelona and Real Madrid in La Liga.

Referees are biased for both Madrid, and especially Barcelona

While the majority of the EPL can agree that Man U usually get it easy, especially with those ridiculous penalties they receive at Old Trafford and Howard Webb and Mike Dean giving them freebies.

But in La Liga, it's a completely different story.

At the end of the EPL season, Man U wins the title with a difference of four points maximum, assuming that it was a bad EPL season.

But this year, Barcelona have gained more than 11 points from referees, simply because they are called Barcelona, a complete disrespect to the lesser teams in the league, and to football in general.

In fact, while Real Madrid have gained four to seven points, one of the major factors contributing to Barcelona winning the title is the abysmal referring.

On the last day of the season, excluding the last game played by both teams, Barcelona had 96 points, and Madrid had 95 points.

When you subtract the points given by referees, you realize that it's actually quite the opposite.

Madrid should've been more than four points ahead of Barcelona.

But for the sake of argument, and for the sake of the Barcelona fanboys not calling me biased in a childish manner, let's forget about all the points I just mentioned.

Let's forget about Messi tackling and getting away with it, and let's forget about Xavi's ridiculous and unprofessional dive against Espanyol.

Let's just focus on one game only.

Barcelona vs Real Madrid at the Nou Camp.

Back to the final day of the season, before the final game of the season, Barcelona 96 points, and Real Madrid 95 points.

Now, as we all know by now, Ibra's goal was offside, as has been proved by replays and analysts world wide.

Had the game ended with a draw, Barcelona would have been 94 points, and Madrid would have been 96 points, giving a completely different end to the season.

Some fans can put on the weak argument of Madrid drawing on the last day of the season, but then again Barcelona already won the league, making the last game irrelevant.

Some might argue that it was a very close call regarding Ibra's offside, and while that maybe true, I doubt that the rest of the points given to Barcelona were close calls.

No competition at all

As has been mentioned before, it's all Real Madrid and Barcelona in La Liga, but how do the other teams fare?

Barcelona ended the season with 99 points, while Real Madrid finished it with 96 points.

Third place Valencia finished with 71 points.

That's almost a difference of 30 points between first and third place, a very saddening fact that proves beyond dispute, that the competition is dead in La Liga.

Arsenal finished with 75 points in third place this season, while Chelsea finished with 86 points, a difference of 11 points, that doesn't even explain the story.

Before Arsnal's collapse, the difference between first and third were three measly points, and in 2008, the season ended with a difference of 4 points between first and third, something that seems impossible in La Liga.

La Liga is much easier than the EPL

Last year, one of La Liga's fans made a very important point that needs to be taken to light.

He stated, and I quote, "You think La Liga is easier than the EPL, Barcelona won the title with 90 points, a new record, and Manchester United won the EPL with 90 points as well, and it wasn't even the record, and they won it a week before the season was over."

Now, where to begin?

First, the reason Man U won the title with ease, was because they were consistent, while Liverpool, Chelsea, and Arsenal weren't.

Second, had Barcelona been more consistent at the end of last season, they would've won the title even three weeks before the season was over.

Last but definitely not least, Barcelona won this season with 99 points, and Real Madrid with 96, those two numbers haven't been reached in the EPL, and not because of the teams weakness, but because quite simple, the competition is harder in the EPL.

Chelsea amassed 95 points (Premier league record) in a league that has Arsenal, Man U and Liverpool, while Arsenal went through the same teams unbeaten for an entire season, something neither Barcelona nor Real Madrid have been able to pull off despite the weakness of La Liga.

Some might argue that Atletico Madrid beating Fulham and Liverpool, and Barcelona beating Arsenal is proof that La Liga teams are superior, but I beg to differ.

Atletico Madrid beating Liverpool, who happens to have been through it's worst season in the last two decades, and barely beating Fulham, who made it to the final of the Europa League, even though they finished 12th in the EPL is no indicator at all.

And Barcelona beating a half missing, half injured Arsenal squad that didn't even have any of it's main players, with the exception of Vermaelen and Nasri proves nothing as well.

Where is the excitement?

Serie A was between Inter and Milan for a good chunk of the season, then it became between Inter and Roma, with Roma even leading the table for a good while.

In the EPL, it was a three horse race for the majority of the season, with all three teams holding to first place for a time.

Even in the Bundesliga, Leverkusen were first for the majority of the first half of the season, and that was a surprise to everyone, not to mention that Wolfsburg won the title for the first time in their history last year.

But in La Liga, it's always the big two teams, at least in England it's called the big four, and even now Liverpool didn't make it to the Champions League, and even finished seventh, proof of how hard the EPL is.

La Liga never had a firm grip on Europe

Harsh? Maybe.

Debatable? Not a chance.

While in the past, Serie A teams were always in the Champions League final, with an Italian Champions League final occurring; and with the EPL teams conquering Europe, with the exception of this year; apart from one Spanish final between Real Madrid and Valencia, the Spanish never dominated the CL.

And by Spanish, I mean Spain as a whole.

Real Madrid won the Champions League nine times, a legendary record, while Barcelona won it three times, but what about the other teams?

Over the past decade, each and every member of the big four made it to the Champions League final, while only Valencia was the outsider that reached the competition in the Spanish teams.

And in the past five years, it has been a tradition to see all the English big four teams in the quarterfinal of the competition, and three teams in the semifinal.

Apart from Real Madrid and Barcelona, no team in Spain made themselves a European powerhouse.

In the last five years, the only team that made it far in the competition was Barcelona, and Villareal made it once to the semifinal, and once to the quarterfinal, while Real Madrid and the rest were eliminated in the first round of the knockout stage, or even in the group stages.

La Liga does NOT have all the big names

The most important point of all.

Real Madrid and Barcelona have had a tradition of taking all the great players from the other teams in the other leagues (and then Barcelona brags about its youth academy).

Real Madrid messed with Ronaldo's head until he wanted out of Manchester United, and Barcelona dumped Eto'o, who was loyal all those years, for underachiever Ibrahimovich.

Madrid dumped Sneijder and Robben, who did nothing wrong and were great throughout, and Barcelona dumped Eto'o after he scored in the CL final against Man U.

But the irony of things, was the fact that all the names mentioned above are now in the Champions League final, and going to play in Madrid of all places, while the likes of Messi, Ronaldo, Xavi, and Kaka are gonna watch from either the stands, or from their TV at home.

La Liga had the players that might have even put Madrid and Barcelona against each other in an all Spanish final, and even eliminating some of the points mentioned in this article, but Perez and Guardiola have proved that they don't know much about talent, especially when they have it amongst their own ranks.

Eto'o, Sneijder, and Robben, who were all mistreated, are having the last laugh—espeially Eto'o, who had revenge by qualifying to the final through the gates of the Nou Camp of all places.

Playing the first leg as a right winger, and the second as a left back, Eto'o has proven to himself that it's not Barcelona who can do better than Eto'o, but it's Eto'o who can do better than Barcelona.

The few points mentioned above are why many people see that La Liga is nothing more than just a two horse race, if the other teams don't do much about it, La Liga will probably remain in a monopoly between two teams for decades to come.

As has been the case in decades passed.