Global notice: League of one?

With the 15th Champions League title still fresh and the 36th League title even less, achieved a month ago, four days before the official closing of the championship, Real Madrid said goodbye to a dominant season domestically and internationally . The 2024-25 League starts on August 16 and, with the baggage of titles, The white club will start with something more than a favorite sign, more so when the arrival of Kylian Mbappé is announced to be imminent.one of the best players in the world. That global feeling, at least, is what emerges from what many of the coaches have been saying in recent months. who taught the crowd of teams in the 2023-24 League. The president of the association, Javier Tebastook advantage of a recent trip to Argentina to anticipate the arrival of Mbappe in Madrid to ensure that “This will give more luster to the League. because Vinicius and Bellingham are also in Realthat will have a good staff…” and, at the same time, try to keep in the same sentence that the product will not lose all its grace first: “…Of course that doesn’t guarantee winning championships.”.

With Real Madrid’s historic rivals in the league record, FC Barcelona, ​​​​​​​​​​​made a worthy harvest of 85 points in the final championship 10 units behind the champion is enough for him and know, four dates before its end, that their only horizon in the League is the battle for second place. There is also the inescapable feeling that with the recent removal of Xavi Hernandez As a coach of Barça, just three weeks after the official announcement of his continuation, the global diagnosis that expected his departure has something to do with it. “The culé, the fan, the member must understand that the situation is very difficult, complicated. Especially on an economic level to compete with the greatest rivals, both Madrid in Spain and in Europe. We have an economic situation with no What to do with 25 years ago when a coach said: I like this one, this one and this one and they brought him to him without a problem. “Our rivals are in better conditions than us in terms of fair-play.”. Xavi made this photo on May 15 in the press conference before the meaningless Almería-Barça and on the 24th he was no longer the coach of Barça.

Throughout the final championship, many of his teammates gave comparable assessments about the loss of suspense in the League. Quique Sánchez Floresin his last press conference as coach of Sevilla FC on May 27, 2024, assured that “Barça’s big problem isn’t Xavi, it’s Real Madrid. “Xavi is an honest man who says what he thinks and what he feels, who has had a very difficult transition period.”

Luis García Plaza, Alavés coachbefore playing against Real Madrid at the Bernabéu in mid-May, was very strong in his prediction: “Real Madrid are building a team to dominate the Liga for years.”. They make a team, an incredible team and if what happens next… He will be the dominator of the League. “I remember the seasons of teams winning five or six.”

Diego Pablo Simeone, coach of Atléticothe League did not miss the day when it said goodbye on May 24. “Madrid is the best team in the world and will continue to be and my club’s goal is to enter the Champions League every year.” and then choose to be champions when Real fail.” This is what the only coach capable of causing the two defeats suffered by Real Madrid in the entire official season said.

Rubén Baraja, coach of Valenciabefore hosting Real Madrid at the Mestalla on March 1, was less categorical but warned that “they are where they are because of the good squad they have.”

Manuel Pellegrini, Betis coachin the Real Madrid-Betis preview that lowered the blinds in the 2023-24 League in a match of little importance, this was said when asked about the possibility of facing a ‘B lineup’ of a team with only the final in mind Champions League: “Considering the level of the Madrid squad, there is not much difference between their starters and their substitutes.”

Pepe Mel, coach of an Almería team condemned to relegation to the Second Division for weeksmade a reading of the situation at the top of the Liga before facing Barça on May 16: “It is complicated when your eternal rival is the winner and the one who is in the finals of the Champions League.”

Marcelino García Toral, coach of Villarrealalmost sarcastically after drawing 4-4 ​​​​with Real Madrid on May 19: “They scored four against us and that’s because they were waiting for the Champions League game.”.

Long before the outcome of the season was known, on January 31st, José Bordalás, Getafe coach, also ventured into his long-term forecast before playing against Real Madrid: “I admire Ancelotti for everything he has achieved and will achieve as the leader of Real Madrid.”

Jagoba Arrasate, Osasuna coachassessed the superiority of Real Madrid in terms of football when they met the white team on March 15: “They can beat you by dominating you, in transitions, in stopping the ball, and then in defense it is a very strong block.”

In a similar vein, he spoke Imanol Alguacil, coach of Real Sociedadbefore playing against Real Madrid on April 25. “This is a champion team, with a brutal team with the best coach in recent years. They have no mental fatigue, this is a team of Champions, and that’s why they give the high level they do.”

Rafa Benítez, coach of Celtabefore playing against Real Madrid on March 9, offered a picture comparable to Pellegrini about the opponent that awaits him that day: “It doesn’t matter, they have very good players on the field or on the bench, put either one or the other”.

Javier Aguirre, coach of the Mallorca team that he will leave in the First Division before returning home, he noted on January 2, before it was known that Real Madrid would only lose two games in the entire official season, that the white team “did not suffer any day, except for a few games in the Champions”.

The general challenge of facing a competition that is real competition is there. Before, however, the competitors and the organizers must believe that there is a League.

The exception

For Michel, “all teams have grown”

Michel Sánchez, coach of the best Girona of all time through its qualification for the next Champions League, left a more positive opinion about the general competition of the League in an interview for Marca on May 25. “The League has grown with the game. I read that the League has improved playing time and has had more goals than in the last six seasons. culmination of the game. All the teams took a step forward and in that step we, as an entity and style of play, claimed offensive football,” he analyzed. He further pointed out that “Xavi’s Barça, with its ups and downs, also had very good moments and I say this from the point of view of the game.” Of course, on the day he visited the Bernabéu, February 2, under the impact of Girona’s clear defeat (4-0), Michel admitted that “they painted their face.” “When they are at their maximum performance… we don’t get there, I can’t blame my players for anything because they are simply not ‘at that level,'” he added.

The striking message of the white icons

Del Bosque, Camacho and Valdano

Even among some iconic figures of Real Madrid there is a certain desire for competition in the League. The most recent public statements by Vicente del Bosque, José Antonio Camacho and Jorge Valdano confirm that sentiment. “I, as a Real Madrid fan, want Madrid to always be at the top, but then I am friends with Laporta, with his son, with Deco, with many people from Barça and with me, if Madrid does not win and they win, nothing happens to me” said Camacho in SER on May 29. The former merengue player and coach also pointed out that “Xavi said that Real Madrid is very strong and they punished him there… if I was with him I would not told him,” he admitted. In the same interview, Del Bosque expressed himself in a similar sense about Xavi’s loyalty. “If anything, it’s too blunt; if you talk too much you mess up,” he said. “We are football people and we want the result to be uncertain because that is good for the Spanish League and for the teams to be competitive,” said Del Bosque, League and European Cup champion as Merengue coach. Valdano was very categorical on May 29: “Madrid is too big a passenger for such a small Barça and for the League it is important that it is strong, even for Madrid.”