La Liga: A Two Horse Race?

FC Barcelona were crowned champions of Spain for the 3rd consecutive year and in the same span Real Madrid finished 2nd. What's alarming is that no other club has come realistically close to challenging these 2 clubs and the last time a club other then FC Barcelona or Real Madrid won the league was back in 2004. 

Has La Liga effectively become a 2-horse race? Can other clubs still compete?

FC Barcelona and Real Madrid are perhaps the 2 biggest clubs in the world today; many will argue that despite Barcelona's dominance this season that Real Madrid were the only club that challenged them although like everyone else they failed to come away with the win. However, with all the talk of how FC Barcelona is such a great side or how much better they are compared to their rivals from Madrid, they only came away with the league by 4 points. Don't get me wrong, those 4 points are probably the largest 4 you'll see given Barcelona's form this season, but what happens when we look at those below them?

At 71 points, Valencia finished 3rd in La Liga which is an admirable finish guaranteeing them UEFA Champions League football and refreshing despite finishing 21 points behind Real Madrid and 25 behind Barcelona. Villarreal had a great UEFA Europa League campaign losing out to the eventual winners FC Porto and for their work this season they earned a UEFA Champions League qualifying spot; although the final table shows them at 62 points, 30 behind Real Madrid and 34 behind Barcelona. So that's what we get when looking at La Liga's top 4.

This didn't happen overnight; rather, it has been formed over the past decade. Last season, we basically saw the same finish in the table with both Barcelona and Real Madrid taking the top 2 pole positions and Valencia once again in distant 3rd. Valencia definitely didn't get better and although they lost their top star David Villa to Barcelona, they were still able to secure 3rd. In fact, we'd have to go back over 10 La Liga seasons to see a final table where neither Barcelona or Real Madrid were not in the top 2. 

Valencia CF: 3rd fiddle yet again.

FC Barcelona have amassed an incredible side over the past decade which some are hailing as one of the best all-time. They constructed this side with a mix of purchases and home-grown talent. The Catalans 3 most popular players are products of their football school and these 3 represent FIFA's Balon d'or top 3 this past season as Lionel Messi took the prize with Iniesta and Xavi finishing 2nd and 3rd respectively. Then we have purchases like David Villa, Javier Mascherano and Dani Alves who have added more world class quality to a team already full of it. 

Meanwhile, we have Real Madrid who tell a bit of a different story. A side once comprised of players like Raul, Zidane, Figo, and Ronaldo; they were known as "Los Galaticos". Since then, they've been attempting to recapture that image which led to several big purchases over the past decade and ultimately to the buy of Cristiano Ronaldo for a world record fee. He was accompanied by Kaká and Xabi Alonso in an effort to push the balance towards Madrid. Now in their second season with Ronaldo, they've splashed more cash in an effort to keep up with their Catalan rivals by bringing along manager José Mourinho and then purchasing German phenom Ozil along with Argentine winger di Maria. 

Real Madrid will continue spending as they have the resources to do so until they reach their goal of toppling Barcelona. However, the rest of La Liga seems to remain where they are with very little chance of challenging these two. In recent weeks, there has been talk that the highly rated striker Sergio Aguero wants a move out of Atletico Madrid and wishes to remain in Spain all but indicating that his destination will be either Barcelona or Real Madrid. As I mentioned earlier, David Villa came to Barcelona from Valencia, where he was the team's best player. Villarreal are on the verge of losing one of their top players in Giuseppe Rossi to Barcelona as club officials on both sides are hinting towards a deal. 

Real Madrid brought in Cristiano Ronaldo, Ozil and di Maria in an effort to shift power towards them once again.

The point here is that things only seem to be getting worse in La Liga as those clubs who are position below Barcelona and Real Madrid in the 3-6 slots are letting their best players go and they're going to either Barcelona or Real Madrid. Although, these clubs are receiving a sufficient amount in return, thus far their efforts aren't showing in the table. Perhaps the cash received is going towards settling long-term debts held by those clubs. The debt situation amongst the clubs in La Liga is also a very sticky situation but that is a story for another time. 

With the way it stands now, we'll be watching FC Barcelona and Real Madrid in the top 2 without much resistance from the rest. Over the past 2 seasons, these 2 clubs have combined to score nearly 200 goals in league play; meanwhile, in order to amass such a tally within the rest of the league, you'd have to combine nearly 4 clubs to do so. Perhaps I was wrong to ask if La Liga is a 2-horse race as it appears it's a race with 18 horses and 2 locomotives every season.