Similar to the current season, the last season was also a case of the total domination of Real Madrid and Barcelona. The two teams are considered as the only real competitors for the league title in the La Liga which may be a tad bit too harsh as Valencia, Levante, and Villarreal are all excellent sides and can give a tough time to the two Spanish giants on any day. However, their performances are and have been largely overshadowed by the two giants of La Liga.
It is amusing to see that the more competitive battle in the La Liga is at the other end of the table. The majority of the teams in the league fight hard each season to avoid relegation and this is perhaps the reason that La Liga has gained the reputation of being a duopoly. You can take an idea of this from the fact that Osasuna – the team which finished at the 9th place last season – was not safe from relegation which means that the last 11 teams of the league were contesting to avoid relegation. It can be said that this has gone worse in the current season with the last 13 team currently being apart with only a difference of 9 points.
The last season started off with a lot of hype as Jose Mourinho had become the coach of Real Madrid who had been without a league title for two years. There were many speculations about the great one to lead his side to the league title and put a stop to the ever growing dominance of Barcelona. Jose Mourinho had earlier defeated Barcelona in the Champions League with Inter Milan and the fans of Real Madrid were hopeful that he will humiliate Barcelona again in all the contests against Barcelona.
Both teams prepared well for the highly anticipated contest for the title. Barcelona loaned out Ibrahimovic and signed the top scorer of the 2010 world cup, David Villa where as Real Madrid made two big signings – Sami Khedira and Mesut Ozil. It wasn’t a surprise that the first Clasico was highly anticipated affair with the Barcelona Tickets and Real Madrid Tickets in extreme demand. It can be safely said that the rivalry of Real Madrid and Barcelona can never be underestimated as the game turned out to be an absolute shocker. Barcelona came out with all guns blazing and humiliated Real Madrid to a 5-0 defeat and in the process, Guardiola took his revenge from Jose Mourinho from the earlier defeat in the Champions League.
This had a huge impact on Jose Mourinho as he radically changed the tactics of his team for the rest of the season. Barcelona went on to the win the league comfortably with a margin of three games and Real Madrid managed to regain their glory when they defeated Barcelona to win the Copa Del Ray.
The rest of the battle was amongst Valencia, Villarreal, Athletic Bilbao Sevilla, Atletico de Madrid & Espanyol in the quest of the acquiring a place in the Champions League. Valencia and Villarreal turned out to be the ultimate victors with the former qualifying directly and the latter to the playoff round.