Barcelona’s
loss to Valencia on the weekend in La Liga is a great thing for Spanish
football.
For anyone
who thinks this post is just to run Barcelona down for the sake of it, it is
not. That can be left to internet trolls, or more specifically, Madridistas.
Barca’s 3-2
defeat at home to Los Che has also
given Atletico Madrid the lead outright on the Spanish league table. Los Colchoneros have 57 points now and
Barca is on 54.
This
Barcelona defeat is important for two reasons: like in the 7-0 aggregate loss
to Bayern Munich in the UEFA Champions League semi-finals last season, it shows
that Barca has flaws, and a result like this will help keep the concept of a
three-horse race for the title in Spain alive.
For the last
25 years or so, La Liga has been dominated by Barcelona and Real Madrid and
only Atletico Madrid in 1995-96, Deportivo La Coruna in 1999-2000 and Valencia
in 2003-04 have broken the hegemony.
The
Barcelona side of recent years has been a great side and it has been very
influential too. Barca players have formed the nucleus of the Spanish national
team and now there are many teams around the world trying in vain to copy the tiki-taka.
Barcelona
still has some great players and perhaps Lionel Messi’s injury troubles have
halted its progress this season. Let’s not forget that Xavi is in the twilight
of his career. Despite the arrival coach Gerardo Martino and Brazilian
superstar Neymar, this might be another sign of Barca declining.
That call
can’t be based on one result but if Atletico maintains its momentum, Diego
Simeone’s side would be a worthy winner of La Liga.
Los Colchoneros defeated Real Sociedad 4-0
in the latest round of La Liga action and despite not having the big names like
Barca and their city rivals Real Madrid, Simeone has an excellent team at his
disposal.
Stars such
as Sergio Aguero, Diego Forlan and Radamel Falcao have come and gone but
players such as Thibalt Courtois, Arda Turan, Diego Costa and David Villa have
arrived and Atletico is now a title contender.
Barcelona
lost on the weekend but anyone who wants to see another side win La Liga would
jubilant now.
Comments
Post a Comment