The current La Liga season has shown us the reality of the two biggest Spanish football teams in actuality, Real Madrid and Barcelona.
For the last century, Real Madrid has been one of the biggest, if not THE biggest football team in the world. The past couple of years they have been in some kind of a slump, however it finally looks as if it’s about to end.
As for Barcelona, they can’t call themselves the biggest team in football history but over the past 20-30 years they have been one of the top five teams in Europe.
Now it seems they’ve entered one of the darkest moments in their history.
Contrasting Real Madrid and Barcelona
Let’s start with Real Madrid.
As said above, in the last couple of years, the team hasn’t seen the success they are used to. In the last four years, they’ve only managed to win six trophies. In the previous four years, they won almost double that (11). However, the return of Carlo Ancelotti seems to be the solution to their problem.
Since joining the team, the Italian coach has turned things around. Before Ancelotti, the “Merengues” couldn’t compete against top teams and barely won against lower competition. Now they are the top-seeded team in the league with 50 points (four more than second place Sevilla).
They’re also about to play in the round of 16 of the Champions League against PSG. It’s going to be a hard task to take out the French juggernaut, but if they advance, they might just be the team to beat.
As for other competitions, they just won the Supercopa by defeating Barcelona in the semifinals and Athletic Bilbao in the final. As for the Copa del Rey, they will play against The Lions again in the quarterfinals in their chase for the first Copa triumph since 2014.
From a star stand point, it looks like they have clicked. Vinicius Jr. finally is playing up to expectations. So far this season he has been a difference-maker. In 30 games, he already has 15 goals (he never had more than seven in a season before). The Brazilian forward also has 10 assists which ranks second just behind Benzema.
Meanwhile in Barcelona, chaos is erupting.
True, it’s hard to criticize Xavi’s tenure with the “Cules” as he’s been the head coach for less than half a season. The problem is that Barcelona just hit rock bottom, Messi’s departure left them without a true leader and now we all can agree that the hiring of Ronald Koeman was just a mistake.
The “Blaugranas” are out of the European Cup and out of the Copa del Rey (knocked out by Athletic Club in the Round of 16). They had never been eliminated from both competitions in the same season in such a premature way. As for La Liga, they now rank fifth, 15 points behind the leader Madrid. Everything is heading toward another tittle-less season just as they had in the 2019-20 season.
The bad news doesn’t stop with the titles. Barcelona has an identity crisis.
We all know that Xavi wants to restore the “tiki-taka” style that made them famous, but they lack the talent to do so. The top players have left or are leaving (Griezmann, Coutinho, Dembele). Not only that, their young players keep suffering injuries – Ansu Fati cant stay healthy – which means Xavi has to improvise with his line-ups more often than not.
The hope for all Barcelona fans is that Joan Laporta lets Xavi manage the team for at least a whole season, so we can see if he can deal with the pressure or it’s time to look for a better coach.
Real Madrid keeps getting better with time. As for Barcelona, they are hanging on by a thread trying not to sink any further.