La Liga News: Can Any Team Beat the Top Two of Spain?

Hello, Bleachers!

I have to make one thing clear; this is not a rant against rich clubs. Anyone who is even remotely interested in the Spanish League would know that no team can surpass Barcelona or Real Madrid.

The last time a club other than Real or Barca won the league was in 2004. That team was Rafael Benitez’s Valencia. Since then the league has been won the top two.

What worries me and a lot of other football enthusiasts is the fact none of the teams look close to matching or beating the top two. It is almost as if there is a separate league for the remaining 18 teams in the league.

Hold on now before you start criticizing me for saying that the other teams in Spain have no quality. I agree that there are quite a few good teams in the league, but I don’t think they have enough in them to break the hegemony.

But, there is some hope for the other teams. If they are not lured by money and sell their best players they can hope to challenge.

The main challengers and the most obvious ones are Valencia, Atletico Madrid, Villareal and Sevilla. The new kid on the block is Malaga; backed by billionaire owners a la Manchester City, they are seriously flexing their financial muscle this season by making a number of signings.

But they may not have an immediate impact. If you look at the major leagues around Europe, you will notice that in most of them only a few teams are at the top. While this is not a bad thing, it also not necessarily a good thing, either.

Quite possibly the most exciting league in Europe is the Bundesliga in Germany, where it is not guaranteed that only a certain number of clubs will challenge for the title.

For any team to challenge for La Liga they would first have to challenge Real and Barca. I would personally like this season to be a four-horse race for the league.

It is a long shot, but I have my hopes. In the end, it all comes how Real and Barca play, but all I can say is that I hope for an exciting season of Spanish football.

Thanks for reading, even though the article was very short. All your thoughts are welcome.