Real Madrid And Barca To Fight It Out In Biggest Pressure Cooker Yet!

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After Atletico Madrid’s famous, yet unexpected title triumph last season both Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona are determined to once again reach the Spanish summit and become La Liga champions. That’s why both sides have thrown a lot of money at the transfer market hoping to out do each other!

That means that 2014-15 could be one of the biggest and highly anticipated seasons in Spain ever.

At the Nou Camp, Barca have dumped coach Gerardo Martino (now Argentina’s head coach) and brought in club legend Luis Enrique. The new head coach had a so-so season at Roma and helped Celta Vigo attain a respectable ninth spot in La Liga last term. The huge bonus about bringing in Enrique is his knowledge of the Barca way. He played for the team for eight seasons making 3oo appearances. He has also managed the Barca B side and knows a lot of the existing squad. He knows what is expected and how to win and keep the Los Cules happy.

The Catalan giants spent around £75m on Liverpool’s Luis Suarez. That means Barca will have a front three of Suarez, Neymar and Lionel Messi. Neymar has made great progress in his rehab, from his broken back injury suffered at the World Cup, and should be fit for the start of the season. Messi had a fine World Cup but he always seems to do even better for his club side. Plus lets not forget he’ll want to take the Ballon d’Or away from Real’s Cristiano Ronaldo. Suarez can help his new employers as long as he produces the performances that saw him win the Player of the Year awards in England last season and stay away from biting folk!

Another huge plus has been that the new manager has managed to persuade Xavi to stay on for another year. The Nou Camp lost a big leader when Carles Puyol retired in the summer and with midfielder Cesc Fabregas departing for Chelsea, the squad needed Xavi and his experience to hang around for a bit longer. The thirty-four year old club captain can also help take pressure off of the shoulders of new recruit Ivan Ratkitic. The Croatian had a terrific campaign last year with Sevilla but can learn a lot from both Xavi and Andres Iniesta.

Another long-term star that decided to leave is keeper Victor Valdes. Barcelona have brought in two very capable goalies to fight it out for that top spot. I’m a big believer in competition making players better and that includes those in between the sticks. Youngster Marc-Andre ter Stegen comes in from Borussia Monchengladbach. The German internationalist will be viewed as a long term number one. But first he has to fight off Chile’s Claudio Bravo for the gloves. Bravo had a fine World Cup and also has eight years of La Liga experience to call upon. It’ll be interesting to see how Enrique deals with his goalkeepers and if he can keep them both happy.

One of Barca’s problems as of late has been dealing in new defenders that strengthens the pool. As I’ve already pointed out the departure of Puyol has left a big hole in the squad. None more so than in defence. But President Josep Maria Bartomeu has responded by bringing in Jeremy Mathieu and Thomas Vermaelen. Both are experienced, dependable and versatile (left-back or centre-back) defenders. All in all they add numbers to a position that needed them. That said I hope Marc Bartra doesn’t get lost in these numbers and manages to get some game time.

I think Barcelona have bought well and offset that with the sales of Cesc Fabregas, Bojan and Alexis Sanchez. With Puyol and Valdes going it will be interesting to see how the squad copes without their presence on the pitch and training field. I wonder how much the suspended transfer ban played on their minds when the decided to spend big on these six new arrivals.

Over at the Bernabeu, Real Madrid have been busy too.

They’ve also decided to bring in a new guard of the goals, with Keylor Navas coming in from Levante for a fee of £8.8m. The Costa Rican, in my opinion, was the best performing goalkeeper at the World Cup. The twenty-seven year old will believe he is the man to finally dispose Real legend Iker Casillas from his throne. The arrival of Navas has also meant that Diego Lopez was no longer needed and he has left for Milan.

Toni Kroos could be an inspired signing for the European champs. The German World Cup winner is extremely dependable. He manages to keep the ball moving and had an impressive 90%+ passing success rate last season with Bayern Munich. Kroos is the man who will help start everything off for Los Merengues. He should prove to be a bargain at €25m.

President Florentino Perez always loves a ‘Galactico’ marquee signing. That usually means buying the best player at a World Cup. This summer has been no different for señor Perez as he’s managed to capture James Rodriguez for a reported £63m. The Colombian managed to light up the World Cup in Brazil with scintillating performances and scored some fantastic goals too (winning the golden boot). Coming in to Madrid the gifted attack minded star has to compete with Ronaldo and Gareth Bale for some time with the ball but he’s usually clever enough to find space. If he can develop an understanding with Ronaldo then the Portuguese superstar can look forward to scoring even more in a Madrid jersey as Rodriguez has an eye for a killer pass!

I think that between the three new boys in Madrid, the most expensive signing James could take more time to settle in. He has that big price tag to weigh him down and it took the twenty-three year old a few months to settle in at Monaco last term.

Another thing Real have struggled to do is balance the squad, they probably need to sell one or two more faces. In central midfield they have Sami Khedira, Toni Kroos, Luka Modric Xabi Alonso and Asier Illaramendi all fighting it out for two starting berths. Whilst in the creative roles they have Ronaldo, Bale, Rodriguez, Angel Di Maria, Isco and Jese.

But I’m sure boss Carlo Ancelotti will have plans in place to sort all those issues out. I’d imagine they’d sell at least one more before deadline day, but would they then go out and sign Radamel Falcao?

Both clubs look strong and capable of doing well both domestically and in Europe. It could be a tense season in Spain as the big two have spent huge sums and one of them at least will come away without the main trophy and that could be seen as a disaster. Because in Spain send place means nothing.

Both sides will also have to keep an eye on Diego Simeone’s men at Atletico Madrid. They were last seasons worthy champions and the Argentine boss will expect his troops to defend that title with honour and belief.

Whatever happens, it looks like we are all in for an exciting ride in Espana.

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