As Real Madrid bolster a winning block, a Barca, boosted by Laporta’s levers, bursts into the market in search of the lost title
The start of the 2022-23 Liga comes with the championship revived by the two Spanish giants. Real Madrid are taking on the defense of last season’s unexpected and sometimes epic Liga-Champions double, bolstering a winning block with the signings of Aurélien Tchouaméni and Antonio Rüdiger. For the first he was able to pay 100 million euros to Monaco (80 fixed), while the second was released from Chelsea at the end of his contract.
The desired Kylian Mbappé may not be there and a certain weakness can be detected in the attacking front of the whites due to a hypothetical absence of Benzema, watchword for goal in Chamartín, but the inexhaustible performance of the old guard, a substitute midfield more blooming that it is already a guarantee for the future, the huge list of resources in the defense, the absolute security with the presence of Courtois and the imbalance of Benzema or Vinicius himself are compelling arguments to take into account the champion.
This time, the mighty Madrid takes on a top-tier Barcelona, aiming to return to everything after two courses to forget at the Camp Nou. The reality of Barça has little or nothing to do with what happened a year ago in Can Barça. And it is that the already famous economic levers of Joan Laporta, which are nothing more than a sale of the club’s assets that allow it to unlock its investment opportunities, have led to the exponential growth of a squad that aspires to everything again , given the broad and suggestive list of footballers commanded by Xavi.
Lewandowski, a period ‘9’; Koundé and Christensen to provide the defensive security that has lately been conspicuous by its absence; Kessié as another option in midfield and continuity of Raphinha and Dembélé, knives on the wings. The feeling in the Barca parish for this competition has little to do with the atmosphere of general depression that reigned in Barca early last year, when Messi’s unexpected departure plunged the Catalan club into utter darkness.
Now, after an investment of more than 150 million euros that seemed impossible before Laporta’s board of directors received the meeting’s approval for the sale of a significant percentage of its television rights (25%) and ‘marketing’ (49.9% ), together with part of the company Barça Studios (49.5%), the Catalans are once again looking face to face with the eternal rival. This competition promises all the struggle and emotion that the latter, dominated by Madrid, did not have.
Between the two giants, Atlético aspires to slip back in after a disappointing attempt to defend the title won in 2021. Diego Simeone has arguments, which above all needs the expected performance jump from two differential footballers, Antoine Griezmann and Joao Félix. The goals of the returned Morata will also be important, who eventually integrated Cholo into his team, aware that the Madrid striker, despite the discrepancies of the past, can offer the marksmanship that the physicist no longer allowed him to Luis Suarez. last campaign.
The three biggest players in Spanish football have been on the Eredivisie podium for a decade and it doesn’t look like this hierarchy will break in the 2022-23 season. Sevilla has been striving to reverse this trend for several years, although it is off to a great start. Lopetegui stands for his fourth project on the bench of Sánchez Pizjuán with two capital losses. Koundé and Diego Carlos, the pair of central defenders on which Sevilla’s most recent victories are based, are no longer in Nervión.
In return, Marcao, with no pre-season continuity due to physical problems, arrived and left-back Alex Telles, so in the absence of more reinforcements in the defensive field, Sevilla’s direct performance is unknown. The signing of Isco brings a smile to Lopetegui, the coach who has relied most on the Malaga man’s talent, for his last chance to revive a career in decline.
The opportunity to compete for fourth place in the Champions League opens up and the candidates are mainly three. Betis, Real Sociedad and Villarreal, three consolidated projects, already installed in European competitions in recent years, but with a firm conviction to go one step further. The consolidated Pellegrini team from Betis maintains its potential with the integration of the promising Brazilian Luiz Henrique, the San Sebastian team has thrown the house out the window with an investment of more than 30 million euros in the purchases of Brais Méndez, Mohamed- Ali Cho and Takefusa Kubo and Villarreal strive for continuity with the added experience provided by the additions of Pepe Reina, José Luis Morales and Kiko Femenía.
From there, equality is the predominant tone of recent years, with templates that, depending on their performance, can perfectly go from dreaming of approaching the nobility zone to peering into the abyss of degradation or vice versa. The classic continuity in Athletic is spiced up by the return of Txingurri Valverde, enough to boost an audience that is always looking up. It’s more complicated to assess the potential of Gattusso’s Valencia, especially after the bad experiences of Javi Gracia and Bordalás, two interesting technicians who encountered the more than dubious management of Asian businessman Peter Lim.
Osasuna’s tranquility with the Arrasate project, Celta’s commitment to delve into less mainstream markets, Espanyol’s ability to produce Raúl de Tomás and Joselu, Getafe’s potential, Rayo Vallecano’s ability to amplify at no cost or the economic potential of the promoted Almería of the Saudi capital to animate the middle zone of the table. In any case, the first goal is to avoid a red zone that will also try to leave out patients from the past year such as Elche, Mallorca or Cádiz, along with returnees to the best such as Valladolid and Girona.
Source: La Verdad
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