I would think that everyone that's been there for 5 years is disappointed. It's not good enough. A Champions League win will go some way to fix that. Which means he will have more CL medals than La Liga medals.
La Liga 2013-2014
- Thread starter jojojo
- Start date
Arsenal needed to win by two goals at Anfield and they did, Michael Thomas scoring the second in injury time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liverpool_0–2_Arsenal_(26_May_1989)
If he'd stayed at United he could have won probably 8 PLs and the CL at least twice. Grass isn't always greener, Ronnie.
In a one or two nil win then you are thinking of 07-08 when Madrid beat Mallorca away to seal the title. In 06/07 he scored the winner in a 4-3 win against espanol in a game where Madrid were 3-1 down at half time. Its unbelievable how that madrid team had much less quality than this Madrid team, but it had more character and that is how it was able to have those comebacks whereas this Madrid team seems to be incapable of getting out of such situations.
True, although in my biased opinion I think winning a la liga atm is more valuable than the premiership with this Barcelona team around and also the rise of atletico.
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Becks gave you the Fergie attitude of never giving up!
Van nistlerooy too
Can't say I agree with that. With the squad Madrid have they should be walking the league, not finishing third. I don't think winning it should be considered exceptional, rather it should be standard. Barcelona have been poor this season, they've been there for the taking. Atletico are doing fantastically well, no doubt, but will they be up there again next season? Or will it be back to the status quo of Barca v Madrid.
In the PL you've got Liverpool 'doing an Atletico', Chelsea managed by Mourino, a strong City team, a perennial Arsenal and tough opponents in Everton, Southampton and, sometimes, Tottenham. Winning the PL is much harder, purely due to the fact that you could drop points against any team. In La Liga Real and Barca have to really try hard not to win against the smaller teams. Between 3rd and 4th in La Liga there are 16 points; between 3rd and 5th there are 24 points. You compare that with the PL where there are 3 pts between 3rd and 4th and only 10 pts between 3rd and 5th. It's much more even and, thus, harder.
You name all the evidence for it not being standard yet you proclaim it to be so. Of course it isn't standard. Why would anyone be watching if it were? It's a 9 month process coupled in with a lot of other shit. There's nothing standard about it. Never has been in the history of the game. It's a team sport. Atlético are playing like a proper team and are reaping the rewards.
This post is so arrogant and twattish towards smaller teams. You give them no respect.
Look inwards. The current champions of England which have been qualifying for Europea and competing for the title in 20 years are nowhere to be seen. Standard practice is it? Or are you going to give it a "new manager" excuse which somehow doesn't apply to Real.
Arsenal-Liverpool 1989.
I do find it somewhat humorous that for all the gushing over Ronaldo and Bale (both in the same side), they could end up finishing 3rd and losing the title to barca with the much criticized Messi (who has scored more liga goals than anyone since the turn of the year). 
I certainly don't agree that Madrid should be walking the league although there is no excuse for not winning it and finishing third. I don't think Liverpool can be compared to atletico because atletico are proven in Europe by getting to the final whereas its unknown how far Liverpool would go with their current team. Atletico won two Europa leagues which Liverpool were in and a Spanish cup also. Atletico also beat Chelsea and I don't agree at all with city being strong. They have not done anything at all in Europe ever. Im surprised you consider barca to be poor and city to be good when barca beat city with out much difficulty really. Im not really getting into the debate of which league has more depth although Valencia, sevilla and athletic bilbaao spring to mind, all teams that have done well in the Europa league whereas their English counterparts have not and they do it too on a small budget. I heard before that the smallest team in the premiership makes more money through tv deals than the majority of Spanish teams. I would much rather have Chelsea, city, Liverpool and arsenal as competition than barcalona if I am being honest and when you throw atletico on their too it makes competing with them sound nicer. Just because the premiership is the most commercial league in the world does not mean it is the best.
What are you on about? Real Madrid are head and shoulders above the other teams in La Liga, including Atletico, due to the inequitable distribution of income in the league. How's that 'twattish'? In theory, Real Madrid should be storming the league, along with Barca. Real winning the league, considering the complete inequality that exists, shouldn't be considered a great achievement. Likewise with Bayern in the Bundesliga. And what about the PL? It's very competitive. I never said United should be winning the league.
Basically, chill the f*** out.
I'm not saying the PL is the best by any means, I'm saying - relative to the teams that are in it - it is the most competitive. City aren't good on a European level, but domestically they've got the strongest squad probably and therefore are a good team in the league. Barcelona have been poor relative to their squad and finances etc., that's not to say they are poor. The dichotomy between the best of La Liga and the others is far more extreme than that of the Premier League.
Ronaldo winning the league with a team that has spent 80m on two players, while teams like Atletico Madrid, Sevilla, Bilbao have to sell their best players to break-even is not that great an achievement. If he were to win the PL with United, say, where you're up against relatively strong teams like Chelsea, City, Arsenal and now Liverpool is more commendable, in my opinion.
True. It was the season I enjoyed the most. especially after going three seasons without winning the league.
Think you're referring to their game v Espanyol on jornada 34 where Higuaín scored the winner in the 89th minute (4-3). They won the next game away to Recreativo courtesy of a Roberto Carlos goal on 90+1' as well. Then of course the Zaragoza game with RVN's 89th minute equaliser.
They had quite a lot of narrow wins with late goals playing a huge part from jornada 30 onwards. That was quite a season really, also had that quite incredible hat-trick from a 19-year old Messi in the clásico (3-3). In hindsight, Barça threw it away on J37 because of the "Tamudazo", but had a similar moment on J34 with RM beating Espanyol in the final minutes (as I mentioned above) and Betis getting a draw at the Camp Nou with an equaliser from Rafael Sóbis on 90' -- the only difference with the shock of J37 was that here the games weren't played simultaneous (different day even).
One of the best La Liga seasons I've watched and that's largely down to Simeone.
Also, Ancelotti has only won three leagues titles in 15 years?!
Ancelotti got his first coaching/manager job nearly 20 years ago and has in that time won 3 league titles. 11 cup titles(2 cl), which is why I have been saying he is a cup manager only until he proves that he can handle leagues in a better way.
One should remember that since taking over Parma at 1996 he has been managing clubs with a great chance or even favorites to win the title.
Rafa Benitez has 2 league titles and also 11 cup titles(1 cl). Of course Rafa Benitez has had 5 years less managing a club which could realistically win.
Not saying they are as good by the way because there are other factors which is the reason Ancelotti is currently coaching RM and Benitez is back with teams who won't/are unlikely win it at Napoli.
I know what you mean but in la liga that pretty much leaves no room for error as if you lose once, you can be sure that barca will have won and that you have a mountain to climb and for me barca still have either the best or second best squad in the world. Its crazy that they have the best Spanish world cup and two time European championship winning players and the best player in the world in their team. I honestly don't think that any amount of money would make our team as good as theirs as I don't think their are many players out their that are good enough for barca. Even someone as good as fabregas is not seen as one of their better players. There is no excuse for one league in six years, we should have won one or two more. There are certainly no excuses for this year. But it is not easy at all to keep up with a team that has so many match winners and that can dominate any team in the world over a full season and the poor running of the club hasn't helped by sacking managers regularly with no real long-term plan. To borrow a phrase from rawk I think next year will be our year in the league with ancelloti like it was with mourinho. but I am being completely honest when I say that I would swap leagues with united as I would rather have Madrid compete in a title race with Liverpool, arsenal, city and Chelsea than Barcelona over the last few years. But like I said there is no excuse for this year, Barcelona weren't so superior to Madrid this year.
Makes sense to me.
When they're playing at home I'd say you're right, but it's the same with every other top team in every other league... Away games to smaller (possibly relegation-threatened) teams are by no means easy.
Dropped points in La Liga this season:
Atlético
- 0-1 away to Espanyol (12th)
- 1-1 away to Villarreal (7th)
- 0-0 home v Barça (2nd)
- 1-1 home v Sevilla (5th)
- 0-2 away to Almería (17th)
- 0-3 away to Osasuna (19th)
- 2-2 home v Real Madrid (3rd)
- 0-2 away to Levante (10th)
Barça
- 0-0 away to Osasuna (19th)
- 0-1 away to Athletic (4th)
- 0-0 away to Atlético (1st)
- 1-1 away to Levante (10th)
- 2-3 home v Valencia (8th)
- 1-3 away to Real Sociedad (6th)
- 0-1 away to Valladolid (16th)
- 0-1 away to Granada (15th)
- 2-2 home v Getafe (18th)
Real Madrid
- 2-2 away to Villarreal (7th)
- 0-1 home v Atlético (1st)
- 1-2 away to Barça (2nd)
- 2-2 away to Osasuna (19th)
- 1-1 away to Athletic (4th)
- 2-2 away to Atlético (1st)
- 3-4 home v Barça (2nd)
- 1-2 away to Sevilla (5th)
- 2-2 home v Valencia (8th)
- 1-1 away to Valladolid (16th)
From these the only real anomaly would be Barça's 2-2 at home with Getafe and Atléti's defeat at Almería. Otherwise, a lot of recurring smaller teams that have taken points off of two or all three, so hardly a case of them "trying really hard to not win".
Osasuna at home: 1 win and 2 draws v the Top-3
Levante at home: 1 win and 1 draw v the Top-3 (their game v RM finished 3-2 courtesy of a 90+4' winner from Cristiano Ronaldo)
Valladolid at home: 1 win and 1 draw v the Top-3 (lost 2-0 v Atlético)
Granada at home: 1 win v the Top-3; and narrow losses to RM (1-0) and Atlético (2-1)
The other recurring ones are top-8 (Athletic, Sevilla, Villarreal, Valencia; weirdly not so much Real Sociedad this season barring 1 home win v Barça).
Yup.
The two goals (Tamudo's and RVN's) happened literally at the same time. The TV channel (which aired the Barca game at the time and had a small window to show the highlights of Madrid's game when they happen) were showing the replay of both goals at exactly the same time. I couldn't believe it.
But would he score 50+ goals a season regularly?
Barca's game against Elche is much much harder than people think. They conceded very few goals lately. Very few. And Barcelona are awful away from home.
Also despite being 14th, they are not safe from relegation, and with only two matches remaining, the other being also a tough one against Seville, they'll give Barca a fight.
Yeah. Elche are unbeaten in their 9 last home gamesonly conceding twice. Over the entire season they have the 2nd least goals conceded at home, after Atlético. In fact, their home games tend to be very "dry" affairs (13 GF, 12 GA in 18 home games). With Barça recently struggling to create and/or convert chances it's not a foregone conclusion that they'll win IMO.
edit: I do believe Elche will be missing one of their best defenders this season (and former Barça player), Botía, through suspension.
So am I right in saying if Atletico lose to Malaga and Barca beat Elche while Madrid win their last two games, then if Atletico beat Barca they will win the league, Barca win means they win the league, but a draw means Madrid win the league? Final day looks set to be insane.
Final day looks set to be insane.That's correct, yeah.
Sums up the madness nicely
Sums up the madness nicely
If Atletico beat Malaga isn't the title all but theirs?
No, if Barca win their last two games, they'd win the league.
In what theory? Your theory? They should be walking the league but they still have to compete with one of the best players in the world who have possibly the greatest footballer ever in their squad and have been winning a lot more than themselves? The team that's winning the league is also in the finals of the Champions League. They lost out in the semi-finals in Copa del Rey.
Your theory is shit. Nothing about it is fact.
How is the Premier League more competitive? It's got the same amount of teams challenging for the title. It already has three relegated teams. The European places have all been sorted. In Spain they're doing a lot better whilst playing in Europe. 3 out of 4 finalists are Spanish. 5 out of 8 semi finalists were Spanish.
How is it twatish? Because you're talking others down with nothing to base it on but your own opinion. That's twatish behavior.
'Kin hell. Stressed out at home? Give me a break, I don't need this shit.
What a constructive argument you've made to try and get your point across. Now everyone probably agrees with you.
That's fair enough. I think the point I'm trying to make is that the disparity between the squads of Barca and Real and the 'others' is so great that they should be beating these other teams fairly comfortably. It seems this season it hasn't been as easy, but haven't, in the last two seasons, the champions both broken the 100pt barrier?
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They did, but no one is getting close to that this season. Seems that la liga teams are tired of bending over for the big two and have decided to do something about it. Actually go out there and put in some effort. I personally feel atletico has made a lot of teams reflect on themseleves. If they despite having the same financial disadvantage as athe others can play well against them, why can't the others?
Its been a great season of football. 3 elite teams fighting it out with the others throwing spanners in the works. Just how titles should be decided.
Btw why is someone still biggging the prem up? Its clear that the league is super competetive atm because there simply aren't any elite teams. Fergie wouldve walked this nonsense again. Lord knows what these teams are playing at. Pool have a horrible defence, even worse team defending, and no capable defensive midfielder to talk about. City have a poor bench, average defence too, and sicknotes for superstars. Chelsea don't have a striker and an average midfield. We are shit. Arsenal have re-written the definition of bottlers, have a poor defence, and countless other issues that I won't get into. You'd think the CL wouldve taught people about just how not so good these teams are. Bring any elite team and they'd walk this league.
Premiership is no match for La Liga, seriously, just look at their record against English teams this season. City losing to Barca easily, Chelsea got beaten up by atletico, 2 teams of theirs went into the finals, whereas Barca only got knocked out by Atletico. Plus both 3 teams have actually lost points in the league against the minors. It's no rock science really.
@TooBias having a shocker in this thread. La Liga is easily the best and strongest league in the world right now.
They've got 3 of the 4 best teams in the world and their smaller sides have been brilliant in the UEFA Cup. Socieded are the only Spanish side to get knocked out of a European tournament by a non Spanish side this year.
They've got 3 of the 4 best teams in the world and their smaller sides have been brilliant in the UEFA Cup. Socieded are the only Spanish side to get knocked out of a European tournament by a non Spanish side this year.
People have been on that for ages though. Before this season it was a two-horse race and the rest of the league was crap with peope saying Everton are better than Atletico.
Aside from their CL exploits they have a team in the Europa League final who got there by knocking out another Spanish side in the semis and their local rivals in one of the previous rounds. Actually the only Spanish side to have been knocked out by a team from outside of Spain this season were Real Sociedad in CL - Barcelona, Betis and Valencia all lost to Spanish teams while Atletico, Real Madrid and Sevilla play on.
Feck's sake.
This isn't about 'best' and 'strongest', it's about which is a more competitive league to win. Read what I'm saying before you try and counter me. Look at the gaps in the league between the top 3 and the rest, and then look at the concentration around the top in the PL. It's so freakin' obvious, I can't believe I have to explain myself to these illiterates.
Grrr.