La Liga: Tough at the top

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  • Misery for Sevilla and Villarreal as Real Madrid and Atletico won in style.

    Various Spanish journalists concurred at the beginning of the season that this campaign would see the top sides more challenged, and less likely to run away with the league. In recent years, they have scored freely and strolled through routine games until the more serious business arose of having to occasionally play each other. The three teams referred to are of course Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atlético Madrid, with sporadic appearances from Sevilla and Villarreal.  Let’s look at how well the theory is standing up, after ten games. 

    The five sides cited above occupy the first five positions, with the usual culprits, Real Madrid, Atlético and Barcelona in the first three places, in that order. No surprises there then, except that Sevilla and Villarreal (in 4th and 5th) are well within shirt-tugging distance. Sevilla, particularly, are only 3 points behind leaders Real Madrid and would be sitting in second place now had they not slipped up at Sporting. Luciano Vietto (on loan from Atlético) set them up nicely with a 4th minute goal, but Moi Gomez equalised 15 minutes later, and the score stayed the same. Sporting looked a poor side at Granada last weekend, but were still good enough to hold their guests to a draw, and looking at Sevilla’s recent record you can’t help but notice that a draw at Eibar and a defeat at Bilbao are not the kind of results that elevate you to the status of title contenders.  It seems a tough verdict, but that’s the way it goes in La Liga, unless of course you subscribe to the theory that Sevilla, as marginal contenders, are themselves being held back by the general quality that stalks the places below them.    

    We might say the same of Villarreal, a team capable of excellent football almost every season, but who lost 2-1 at Eibar on Sunday in perhaps the weekend’s surprise result. Since Eibar’s creditable draw at the Bernabéu, things haven’t been going too well, both on and off the pitch. Villarreal probably fancied their chances of moving into the top three, but like Sevilla, after taking the initiative and opening the score, they were pegged back later on. 

    Next week, the side in 6th place, Real Sociedad, play Atlético Madrid in Anoeta, and in a sense the fixture plays host to the confirmation or negation of the theory. Sociedad began a little inconsistently, but are beginning to look as though they might be in for a decent season. Atlético have a good record in Anoeta, but they’ll need to have the dagger between their teeth (quote Simeone) and be rested from this Tuesday’s Champions League game at home to Rostov if they don’t want their challenge to stutter. 

    You have to say that of the five alleged title contenders, they still look the scariest, the side least likely to falter. As Zinedine Zidane said of his own side on Saturday ‘To win the league you have to suffer’ and Atlético do have the occasional wobble – but again you could argue that Saturday’s hard-fought 4-2 home win over Málaga was further evidence of the democracy theory of this season, that La Liga is genuinely more competitive.   The home cause wasn’t helped by Savic’s sending-off after the hour mark, a circumstance which enabled Málaga to bring the score back to 3-2 and threaten an upset, but Yannick Carrasco put paid to that with a fine individual goal in the 86th  minute. 

    Talking of Carrasco, the balance has shifted in the Atlético paradigm.  Since Diego Simeone took over, the team has characterised its approach by focusing on steely defence and efficient if rather sparse attacking ideas.  However, whereas this season the defence remains the best in the league (only 6 conceded), the attacking options have suddenly multiplied. Carrasco is now the club’s top scorer with seven in all competitions, and Kevin Gameiro is beginning to add some flint to the gunpowder. He managed two against Málaga and if he gets to anything like his form when with Sevilla, the new combi at Atlético with Antoine Griezmann (who continues to assist even if he doesn’t score) is suddenly looking lethal. This season, at last, Atlético may not need to rely on the old warhorse Fernando Torres, although he’s always a useful enough guy to have on the bench.

    Carrasco’s second and Atlético’s fourth is clear evidence of a player on a confidence high, starting his run from well within his own half and then outpacing the retreating Málaga defenders before placing a low and precise shot past Kameni’s right hand. The Belgian has been looking a decent player for a while now, but without the appearance of a real game-changer, of a player who takes a side to another level. Griezmann has become the club’s iconic player, but last season he lacked a consistent accomplice. Now he might have two. If the trident is institutionalised, no doubt they will become the GGC.

    In a fortnight, on November 19th, Atlético entertain their neighbours Real Madrid in the Calderón. If they can get a result in Anoeta, the game will be the first major event of the league season, surpassing Atlético’s visit to the Camo Nou in late September. This game will have a greater psychological charge to it, and will force the loser (if there is one) to be even more cautious of the ‘normal’ games to follow.

    Indeed, Real Madrid’s 4-1 victory at new boys Alavés  in Vitoria was hardly a vintage display, although it could have been down to pre-Europe caution, with a trip to Warsaw on Wednesday night. Alavés played much better than the score suggests, and Madrid only got ahead with a questionable penalty, the ball seeming to hit Deyverson’s head rather than his arm, from Gareth Bale’s free-kick. Madrid’s many apologists in the press were quick to point out that this was the first penalty awarded to them in 28 games, but that still doesn’t mean it was a hand ball. The referee gave them another penalty later on, which Cristiano Ronaldo missed. 

    However, he was looking happy again, scoring a hat-trick and generally romping about with goal-scoring intent.  His goal addiction, however, is not the main debating point regarding Madrid’s chances of silverware this season but rather the issue of when Alvaro Morata will finally confine Karim Benzema to the bench. Benzema is trying, but the triple whammy of the legal case in France, the cold-shoulder he has received from the national side and a general malaise in his play is making Morata’s take-over inevitable. Morata keeps scoring too, which rather strengthens his case. He’s actually the club’s top scorer now, in all competitions, and yet the BBC has not yet become the MBC. 

    Barcelona, last but not least, were handed a comfy-looking game at home to bottom club Granada, whose general poverty I witnessed in the Andaluz drizzle last weekend.  It looked like a potentially embarrassing scoreline, but in fact ended a mere 1-0, with Barcelona again less than impressive. Manchester City await them on Tuesday night, and although the side included Lucas Digne and Denis Suárez, it was hardly a reserve outfit. With Andres Iniesta out for a  couple of months, there are plenty of players who can step in (Tiago, Arda Turan), but the balance and the zip sometimes goes, in the great one’s absence.

    Whatever, the score cautiously endorses the theory that the big three will not have it all their own way this season, and that La Liga will continue to be more open than in recent seasons. A glance at the English Premier, with one point separating the top four sides, and you can’t help but think that this is what La Liga also needs. It’s always entertaining over here, but a bit of democracy can go a long way.

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