FC Barcelona: 5 Reasons Why La Blaugrana Are Favorites to Win La Liga Again

Love them or hate them, FC Barcelona are a team to be respected, feared and celebrated.

Coming off their third La Liga championship in a row, Barcelona is once again looking to cement themselves in soccer history and continue their legendary run as one of the greatest sides of all time.

For the third consecutive season, Barcelona has begun its season by winning the Supercopa de España, after defeating arch-rival Real Madrid in a closely contested and extremely exciting game. It was the first time these two clubs faced each other in the Supercopa since 1997, when Real Madrid won. 

With the Supercopa giving Barcelona yet another positive start to their season, the club seems poised to win La Liga yet again.  

1. Pep Guardiola

Every successful team, no matter what sport, always need to be led by a manager or coach who is a proven leader and strives for success. 

Who is more successful than Pep? 

Guardiola is beginning his fourth year at the helm of Barcelona. In each of his first three years, he has ended with a championship in La Liga. However, that isn't all Guardiola can lay claim to. 

Since Guardiola took over the managerial position at Barcelona in 2008, he has also won three Supercopas de España, two UEFA Champions League titles, a Copa del Rey, a UEFA Super Cup and a FIFA Club World Cup.

That's 11 titles in three years. Johan Cruyff, Barcelona manager from 1988-1996, took five years to reach the same amount of titles. 

Simply put, the man just knows how to win. Fast. 

2. This Year's Transfers

The offseason has been very good to Barcelona for two huge reasons.

The first huge acquisition by Barcelona was that of 22-year-old Chilean forward Alexis Sanchez from Italian club Udinese.

Sanchez is coming off the best year of his career. He was the star of the Chilean national squad that reached the round of 16 in the 2010 World Cup. He has 14 goals for Chile in 42 appearances since 2006. Sanchez continued his success for his club team Udinese in the 2010-2011 season with 12 goals, including a four-goal game against Palermo in which he only played the first 52 minutes.

Barcelona continued to improve with the most recent transfer of Cesc Fabregas from Arsenal.

Fabregas is a native of Barcelona and was a part of the the club's youth system from 1997-2003. Arsenal signed Fabregas at the age of 16 and he became the youngest starter and goalscorer in the team's history.

Since 2003, Fabregas has scored 57 goals for Arsenal and has created 466 chances—more than Barcelona's Xavi, Chelsea's Frank Lampard and Liverpool's Steven Gerrard. Since the 2006-2007 season, Fabregas has created more chances than any player in any of Europe's most dominant soccer leagues.

These two new players join an offense which already includes Lionel Messi, David Villa, Andres Iniesta, Xavi, Sergio Busquets and more. Some might feel this is too much for Barcelona, but Real Madrid's bench will this year be among the best in the world, which makes it critical to have options.

A solid center-back should be next on Barcelona's transfer wish list. Madrid made that all too obvious during the Supercopa.  

3. Barcelona Has Only One Legitimate Threat

Since 1985, La Liga has been won by either Barcelona or Real Madrid in 23 out of 27 occasions.

Barcelona or Real Madrid have been the runners-up to those 27 titles on 15 occasions. Twelve times since 1985, Barcelona and Real Madrid have finished first and second in La Liga. 

For better or worse, La Liga is outright dominated by these two clubs.

While it is never fair to write off any team before the season starts, history has a funny way of repeating itself. Unless any of the other 18 clubs make great strides in transfers and performance on the field, it is safe to assume one of these teams will hoist the trophy by season's end.

When both teams begin Liga competition, both will surely display their superiority over the other 18 teams. While games against the likes of Valencia, Villareal and Sevilla will be tough, it's hard to imagine either team will lose many games.

In La Liga play, Real Madrid hasn't beaten Barcelona since 2008. If both teams are to have the same success against the rest of La Liga, Madrid needs to win against Barcelona in head-to-head competition in order to have a chance of unseating the three-peat champs. 

That being said, Barcelona's main threat will once again be Real Madrid.

4. Real Madrid Isn't Mentally Ready to Challenge Barcelona for the Title

Before you go off in the comment thread in response to this fourth reason, know this: Real Madrid has indeed grown since last season. A spectacular preseason and performance in the Supercopa have show as much.  Madrid is out for blood and Barcelona is their target.

Unfortunately for Real Madrid, they cannot contain their blood lust. Even worse, this became evident immediately after proving to the world that they are ready to fully compete with their arch rivals. 

This year's Supercopa ended in disgrace for both teams.

In the final minutes of injury time, a clearly frustrated Real Madrid, down 3-2, displayed some of the most downright immature behavior ever seen at a professional sporting event.

First, Madrid's Marcelo tackled newcomer Cesc Fabregas at midfield in a play which luckily did not seriously injure him. It was clear Marcelo was out to make contact with Fabregas and not the ball.

Both benches immediately cleared and so continued Madrid's display of immaturity. Madrid's manager Jose Mourinho was caught, on camera, seemingly trying to thrust his finger into the eye of Barcelona's assistant manager Tito Vilanova. 

Both teams should be ashamed of the way such an important game ended, especially after both sides played their best soccer. However, Real Madrid, no matter how much Barcelona is also involved, came away as the child of the two. 

Cristiano Ronaldo may also need lessons in finishing plays before they are over. Time and time again, Ronaldo made his way through Barcelona's defense only to have the ball knocked away by Valdes or another defender.

What Ronaldo didn't see after many of those defensive stops, because of his fits on the floor, was that the ball remained in play and he would have otherwise been in position to take another shot. 

Not behavior you want from your top goal scorer or your manager.

5. Camp Nou

Barcelona is the best all-around soccer squad in the world.

It is run by the most successful manager in recent memory and is in the middle of one of the most historical runs in all of soccer history. But what does all of that mean without a great home?

Home-field advantage is never more prominent than it is in soccer. Soccer fans around the world live, eat and breath their home clubs and show their dedication at every single home game. For soccer fans, a home loss is completely unacceptable. 

Camp Nou is the biggest stadium in all of Europe, with a capacity of over 98,000. The seats are all in the traditional colors of Barcelona, with its slogan, "Mes que un club," in yellow on one side of the stadium's seats.

It is one of the most intimidating places in the world to play, especially against the best team in the world.

With such an impressive place to call home and so many fans to experience the pin-point play of Barcelona, it's hard to think any other team can win La Liga with so many aspects of the game in their favor.