Last season was an exciting one for La Liga, with plenty going on below the top of the table. The race for the top four and Champions League football remained tight until the final weeks of the season and the relegation battle still had three different teams playing for their survival on the final day. Yet in terms of the title race itself, there was always one clear favourite.
This time, things looks quite different. Many had banked on Real Madrid securing the signature of Kylian Mbappe this summer, but his decision to stay at Paris Saint-Germain left Los Blancos without a star addition to their front line.
On the other hand, Barcelona have been arguably the most active side in Europe in the transfer market. Bringing in five new faces, the likes of Raphinha, Robert Lewandowski and Jules Kounde have reset expectations both internally and externally at the club. They also managed to retain Ousmane Dembele, whose contract expired but eventually re-signed with the Blaugrana.
The sale of their assets in order to fund those deals has been controversial to say the least, but on the pitch, it has made matters all the more entertaining.
Some even have Barcelona as favourites to usurp Real Madrid and win the La Liga title. If you choose to bet on La Liga with bitcoin, Barcelona are a slightly shorter price at 2.13 to Real Madrid’s 2.14. The bookmakers are confident that both will finish within the top four, pricing the two at 1.07 for Real Madrid and Barcelona at 1.10. The fact that Barcelona are longer odds for the top four perhaps shows the potential for things to blow up in their face, following a summer of such upheaval.
Atletico Madrid should make the top four (priced at 1.34), but are not fancied to push for the title this season, coming in a distant third for many (7.15). As ever, they start as outsiders, but manager Diego Simeone will be content with that.
Two seasons back they won the La Liga title without much expectation and it is fair to say that they have a better squad now than they did at the time. Whether they can forge a similar partnership between Marcos Llorente and Nahuel Molina as had previously existed between the former and Kieran Trippier will play a large role in their hopes. Molina was Atleti’s major recruitment in the summer along with Axel Witsel and it appears Los Rojiblancos are trusting Simeone to correct the mistakes of last season.
Either way, things are aligning nicely for viewers to enjoy perhaps the best La Liga title race in several years. A rebuilt Barcelona side taking on European Champions Real Madrid, with Atletico lurking behind them recalls some of La Liga’s glory years of the mid-2010s.
