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Are Barca and Real killing Spanish football?
In our latest post on Spanish soccer, Mark Elkington in Madrid ponders the opening round of matches in La Liga and what it underlined about the growing domination of the big two.
La Liga had a familiar look to it on Tuesday morning.
Wealthy behemoths Real Madrid and Barcelona top the standings on goal difference after each recorded emphatic wins against opponents who were utterly outclassed.
Villarreal, through to the Champions League group stages after finishing fourth last term, were thrashed 5-0 by Barca at the Nou Camp on Monday night, a day after Real Madrid romped to a 6-0 victory at Real Zaragoza.
Barca’s financial clout was underlined by the fact that coach Pep Guardiola was able to start without Spanish World Cup-winners Xavi and David Villa as new signings Cesc Fabregas and Alexis Sanchez scored on their home debuts in the league.
Villarreal president Fernando Roig said the growing financial disparity between Barca and Real and the rest of La Liga was killing Spanish football.
“If they only want to have two matches (Real v Barca), let them have two matches, but this isn’t good for football,” he told local media on Tuesday.
La Liga’s great divide
The red carpet was out in the VIP lounge at the Bernabeu last week and four immaculately-dressed Emirates air hostesses helped usher in the dignitaries as Real Madrid presented a new sponsorship agreement with the Dubai-based airline.
No financial details were given, but the five-year deal will no doubt further boost the coffers of the world´s richest club by revenue.
The drawing power of Real and Barcelona, who are second in the Deloitte “Rich List” rankings, continues to dwarf that of their La Liga rivals.
The European and Spanish champions, Barca, announced a record five-year shirt sponsorship deal with Qatar Sports Investment worth 30 million euros a season a few weeks ago.
On the same day of the plush Emirates presentation, promoted Rayo Vallecano, who are based five kilometres down the road from Real, received some good news as well.
The debt-ridden club had applied to go into administration before winning promotion from the second division, and administrators finally lifted the embargo that had been placed on all transfer dealings.
Rayo, who can now start planning properly for the new campaign, are one of five La Liga sides in administration along with Real Betis, Granada, Racing Santander and Real Zaragoza.
Future looks bright for ambitious and deep-pocketed Malaga
In our latest post on Spanish soccer, Iain Rogers in Madrid looks at Qatari Sheikh Abdullah al Thani’s ambitious plans for Andalusian club Malaga and an impressive victory for Spain over United States that underlined the world champions’ strength in depth.
Future looks bright for ambitious and deep-pocketed Malaga
It’s been a long road back since they went into voluntary administration in late 2006, but for Malaga the future looks extremely promising.
Sheikh Abdullah al Thani, a member of the Qatari royal family who bought the south-coast club last year, appears genuinely ambitious and looks to have deep enough pockets to turn his plans into reality.
Certainly if his choice of automobiles is anything to go by.
On a visit to the club’s La Rosaleda stadium last week to interview vice-president and CEO Abdullah Ghubn, we passed through the car park where several of the sheikh’s prize possession were being housed — including a Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG and a Pagani Zonda.
We were in Malaga for the inking of an agreement between the club and UNESCO and also happened to be there on the day Ruud van Nistelrooy turned up to put the finishing touches to a deal to join from Hamburg SV.
Soccer Break Thursday – How to stop Barca?
Just another night of footballing action and another trophy for the all-conquering Barcelona, who on Wednesday clinched their third successive La Liga title despite a laboured 1-1 draw away to Levante.
Manchester United will be hoping a similarly weary Barcelona turn up at Wembley for the Champions League final on May 28, hopefully having themselves recently won their top domestic honour, the Premier League.
Now, onto Manchester City, who are in the news for two reasons on Thursday. One, they play Stoke City in the FA Cup final on Saturday. Click on this link for facts and figures about the game. Two, newspaper reports say they are lining up a move for Barca’s Xavi. But then again, it was Cesc Fabregas on Wednesday.
Realistically who do you think they might poach for the new season?
Sadly the news dominating the sport this week has been the FIFA corruption allegations, where president Sepp Blatter is promising a swift enquiry into the accusations. Brazil 2014 World Cup chief organiser Ricardo Teixeira is coming under fire in his home country but he is defiant and says former FA chief David Triesman should prepare for legal action.
This blog says Triesman’s accusations have further harmed English football’s reputation.
Another sour note for the game and another damaged reputation is in Scotland, where the attack on Celtic boss Neil Lennon on Wednesday was the latest blow to Scottish football.
Mourinho begins strengthening for next season
In our latest Monday post on Spanish soccer, Iain Rogers in Madrid looks at Real’s first signing for next season and the return of “The Beast” to save Malaga.
Mourinho begins strengthening for next season
Jose Mourinho has acquired the first new weapon in his arsenal for the 2011/12 campaign as his Real Madrid side seek to loosen Barcelona’s stranglehold over the domestic title and dream of a 10th triumph in Europe’s elite club competition.
Nuri Sahin, the 22-year-old Turkish playmaker who helped Borussia Dortmund to the Bundesliga title this season, signed a six-year deal with the Spanish giants on Monday for a fee of around 10 million euros ($14.3 million).
German-born Sahin set the record as the youngest player to appear in the Bundesliga when he debuted for Dortmund in 2005 and went on to become the youngest scorer in Germany’s top league.
A left-footer, he also became the youngest scorer for his country when he netted the second in a 2-1 win over Germany in Istanbul in 2005.
Here’s what Real said about their new signing on their website: “The German-born Turk has a knack for distributing the ball as well as recovering it. With a powerful left foot and an eye for ball placement, he is also a master at free-kicks.”
Soccer Break Monday – season already over?
Anyone else feel as though all the excitement and potential late drama for this season has disappeared?
Manchester United took less than 40 seconds to score against title rivals Chelsea, all but killing the game and the Londoners’ hopes of retaining their Premier League crown, while in Italy AC Milan made it 18 Serie A trophies with a 0-0 draw at AS Roma. Barcelona took a giant stride towards a third straight La Liga title with a 2-0 win over Espanyol. Click on this link for our European roundup.
Champions League finalists United and Barca both need a point to clinch their respective league titles, though for the Catalans three wins will be their priority. Why? Nine points plus 91 equals 100, which would set a new record for points scored in a La Liga season.
Read here for a look back at the Premier League season and five key moments for United. The first was the signing of Javier Hernandez, who darted through Chelsea’s defence on Sunday to give the home team their explosive start. Another key performer, seemingly in big games, is South Korean Park Ji-sung.
AC Milan’s latest scudetto will come as a relief to their fans but the Italian giants face tough times ahead. Read our analysis on the future for the Rossoneri.
The only league that looks like serving up any kind of late season drama is Ligue 1, where serial past champions Olympique Lyon are making a late title surge. They have the referee to thank mind you. But bring on the drama in France. And the Netherlands, where the Eredivisie will be decided this weekend.
Back to France, and the latest on the racism row. Should coach Laurent Blanc stay or go?
Soccer Break Friday – titles at stake
The week is ending but the drama is just cranking up. Yes, the weekend is almost upon us, and that means loads more football action around Europe where there is still plenty at stake.
European competition is almost over for another season after Braga and Porto booked their places in the Europa League final in Dublin.
Borussia Dortmund became the Bundesliga champions last weekend, and AC Milan need just a point against AS Roma to lift the Serie A title on Saturday.
In Spain, should Real Madrid lose at Sevilla on Saturday and Barcelona grab a point at home to Espanyol on Sunday, the Catalans will be La Liga champions.
Things are a little tighter in the Premier League and Ligue 1, where two or three clubs in each league have a decent shot at glory.
All eyes will be on Old Trafford come Sunday, where leaders Manchester United host Chelsea. A United win, and they would need a mere point from their two remaining fixtures.
A Chelsea win, and both sides will be level on points though the Londoners would hit the top of the table due to a better goal difference. Who would have thought it after Chelsea’s woeful run of form in the middle of the season?
hot tip. Lyon to win French league in shock finish
Soccer Break Tuesday – Bad omens for United
The semi-finals of the Champions League are upon us and the omens are not good for Manchester United ahead of their double-header against Schalke 04.
They might be running away with the Premier League title and facing a side who are 10th in their own table (ok, those portents look pretty rosy), but they have come unstuck the last two times they have lined up against German rivals in the semi-finals.
And these particular German rivals have Raul, the pocket poacher who proved far too wily an opponent when they lost to Real Madrid in the quarter-finals in 2000.
But the motivation is there for manager Alex Ferguson, who after 25 years spent overhauling Liverpool’s domestic record, has admitted he is more than a little envious of their red rivals’ European success.
If this clash doesn’t whet the appetite then you only have 24 hours to wait for Real Madrid’s semi with Barcelona – and if you are not looking forward to that then I’m guessing you’ve clicked this link by mistake.
Real boss Jose Mourinho has a knack of rubbing Barcelona up the wrong way and after last season’s semi-final victory with Inter Milan, he has been struck off many a Catalan’s christmas card list.
And for those of you who don’t know your ‘Cules’ from your ‘Meringues’, we have prepared a little pocket phrasebook to accompany the ‘Clasico’.
Real bristling with confidence before Champions League semi
In our latest Monday Spanish soccer post, Mark Elkington in Madrid looks at the state of play ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League semi-final between arch rivals Real Madrid and Barcelona, Diego Forlan’s relegation to the bench at Atletico Madrid and the curse of the balls on the pitch.
Real bristling with confidence before Champions League semi
Last week’s dramatic King’s Cup final victory over Barca has provided a palpable boost to Real coach Jose Mourinho and his players and they romped to a 6-3 win at third-placed Valencia on Saturday despite resting several key squad members.
Barca, by contrast, laboured to a 2-0 success at home to Osasuna, one that nonetheless preserved their seemingly unassailable eight-point lead over Real at the top of La Liga with five games left.
However, their problems were compounded by injuries to Gabriel Milito and Maxwell. With Carles Puyol, Eric Abidal and Adriano already on the medical list, coach Pep Guardiola has a severe defensive headache.
David Villa provided a bright spot amid the injury gloom by breaking his 11-game goal drought when he opened the scoring with a typically clinical strike at the Nou Camp.
Real’s cup win, their first since 1993, came after the 1-1 draw at home to Barca in La Liga, a result which helped banish memories of their 5-0 drubbing at the hands of the Catalan club in November’s league game in Barcelona.
Re:balls on the pitch
It happened again last night in Zaragoza’s match at home to Almeria.
Balls were thrown on the field of play at La Romareda on two separate occasions, as bottom club Almeria tried to come back from 1-0 down in the closing minutes.
Zaragoza are becoming serial offenders!
Good Soccer Break Friday
It’s Easter weekend but there’s no rest for the world’s football players with another hectic schedule of matches.
To bring you up to date with all of the major European leagues, read our Serie A, Ligue 1, Premier League, La Liga and Bundesliga previews ahead of the next round of matches.
There’s also news about the football rich list, David Beckham topping one magazine’s top earners while his former club Manchester United are apparently the richest club in the world. A Champions League trophy in 2011 would certainly help their cause.
In England, West Ham United’s Scott Parker was voted as the best player by the football writers, a change from Gareth Bale’s win as voted for by the players.
Who would you rate as the Premier League’s best player in 2010/11?
Discuss all these topics and other stories in world soccer on the Reuters Soccer Facebook page. And please feel free to send us recommendations for your pick of the day’s stories.
Picture: David Beckham (R) and Tim Leiweke, President & CEO of AEG, talk as they watch the Los Angeles Lakers play the New Orleans Hornets during Game 2 of their NBA Western Conference first round playoff basketball game in Los Angeles, California April 20, 2011. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson
Gareth is the master no matter what – check this http://www.watcharsenalfc.com/
I think that having both Real Madrid and Barcelona dominate Spanish football (and obviously even more so Barcelona) just shows that there needs to be more outside attention. This may sound hard, but out of the first 9 Premier League titles, 7 of them were won by Manchester United. Now money, outside attention (creating tv revenue), etc. has allowed more money and teams to be a bit more even. Now there is a Man U, Chelsea, Man City, Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham who can challenge for a Champions League spot.
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