La Liga season review and awards: Barca take the double
Barcelona won a double, but were overshadowed by Real Madrid’s European success. Here’s a look back at how Spain’s top flight went this season.
Barcelona had a deja vu season. The Catalan club captured La Liga and the Copa del Rey. Just like in 2016, Barca’s achievements could be overshadowed should Real Madrid win the Champions League.
Ernesto Valverde’s side won the title with four matchdays left in the season following a hard-fought 4-2 victory away to Deportivo La Coruna. The game was a microcosm of the season: Barcelona struggled at times, only to show their dominance over the long haul as Lionel Messi’s hat-trick won them the match. It was all part of an effort to become the first La Liga side to complete an unbeaten season, but the club faltered in the end. A 5-4 loss to Levante on the penultimate matchday meant they came up short, ending the unbeaten run at 36 games.
La Liga’s outcome brought to the surface a very important question: Is the Champions League a priority over the domestic league title? Real Madrid’s poor start helped Barcelona take an insurmountable lead by Christmas. For what it’s worth, former Barca manager Pep Guardiola, who had a record-breaking league title run of his own with Manchester City, said: “You can win the Champions League in seven games. The league is 10 months. I’m sorry, the league is much more important.”
While that debate rages, Barcelona’s double also marks the end of an era. Legendary midfielder Andres Iniesta will be gone at the end of this season, leaving a massive hole in the starting lineup come the summer. Valverde’s side will not only need to replace him, but potentially change their tactics in order to move forward without him. That’s an issue that will get settled during the summer transfer window.
For now, let’s look back at some of the best, worst, weird and dubious honors from the season that was in Spain.
Best team: Barcelona
While this side may not be remembered as fondly as those that won the league under Guardiola, they put together a remarkable season, even if they fell short of their goal of going unbeaten, clinching the title with four weeks to spare.
Barca’s quarterfinal exit in the Champions League did little to dispel the argument that this is an average team at best, but the truth is they dominated on the domestic front like no other. It isn’t Barca’s fault if Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid failed to put up a fight when one was expected.
As Barca striker Luis Suarez aptly put it: “It’s normal that the fans were angry. But their response was also a recognition to the league campaign we are realizing, which has great merit … Now it seems as if there is no merit to winning La Liga.”
Best manager: Ernesto Valverde (Barcelona)
The Barcelona manager, heavily criticized at times this season for the way his team played, ultimately proved the naysayers wrong by winning two trophies in a single season. How history will look back on Valverde and his tenure remains to be seen. Nonetheless, he has brought them some measure of success at a time when the team appears to be in transition.
Valverde isn’t Guardiola. Comparisons to that Barcelona side need to end. Measuring oneself against one of the best club teams in history and one of the game’s greatest managers doesn’t help. Valverde, who used a 4-4-2 setup that relied heavily on Messi, isn’t going to let the haters get to him. Instead, he vows to keep winning while enjoying his time at the club.
“Coaches have to try to stay the course and, in the football world, everything keeps moving back and forth because there isn’t a lot of stability,” Valverde told reporters in March. “What I try to do is enjoy the time with the players that I have.”
Best player: Lionel Messi (Barcelona)
What more can be said about the world’s best player? Yes, it is true that Cristiano Ronaldo had a wonderful second half of the season and that Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah is now in the conversation for Player of the Year. Nonetheless, Messi remains the best player of our time.
The Argentine proved it once again with his scoring exploits this season, carrying the team on his shoulders when his teammates often failed to show up for the big games. Messi’s ability to get past defenders and score those impossible goals set him apart once again. His talent is not under debate. Just ask any defender who faced off against him in La Liga this season.
For all of Messi’s accomplishments this season, none of it will matter if he doesn’t have a great World Cup. Messi’s job as a player always seems incomplete, especially every four years when the World Cup rolls around.
Biggest disappointment: Real Madrid
No matter what happens in the Champions League final, there’s no doubt that Real Madrid had a poor Liga campaign. They didn’t find their best form until after Christmas. By then, it was too late to embark on a title run.
Zinedine Zidane’s men played so inconsistently this season that the talents of many of his players came into question. The 1-0 loss to Espanyol this past February, for instance, epitomized Los Blancos’ struggles against mid-table Liga teams. It also highlighted Zidane’s limited roster. Whenever Ronaldo was off his game or the likes of Luka Modric, Toni Kroos, Marcelo or Casemiro were missing, the drop off was striking.
Ronaldo, of course, got hot in the second half of the season and in time for the knockout stages of the Champions League. The Liga disappointment will all but be forgotten should they win the Champions League at the end of the month. What the team do going into next season will be closely watched. Real Madrid can’t afford to be a spectator in what is one of the greatest domestic leagues in the world.
Next: Real Madrid perfect the art of vulnerable dominance
Biggest overachiever: Real Betis
While Real Madrid underachieved, Real Betis had a wonderful season, punching above their weight as they relentlessly pursued a place in next season’s European competitions.
Los Verdiblancos had a great run of form in the spring, especially when it counted most down the stretch, winning seven of eight games across March and April, to lock up a spot in next year’s Europa League. It’s the first time in four years Real Betis have been able to secure a spot in a continental competition.
The team, who finished 15th last season, were led by strikers Sergio Leon and Antonio Sanabria, who may become hot transfer targets this summer after this season’s great feat.
‘Don’t let the door hit you’ award: Vincenzo Montella (Sevilla)
After AC Milan’s poor Serie A start this season, Vincenzo Montella was canned. He found new life at Sevilla. After the team slipped in the standings and were routed 5-0 by Barcelona in the Copa del Rey final, however, he was shown the door for a second time this season.
That dubious distinction goes to a man who was once a wonderful striker, but has faltered as a manager. The 43-year-old Italian was fired after to get a win in nine straight matches across all competitions.
Montella had inspired hope after helping Sevilla reach the last eight of the Champions League for the first time in 60 years by eliminating Manchester United in the round of 16. That wasn’t enough to save his job. In the end, Sevilla appointed Joaquin Caparros, who coached the team in the early 2000s, as coach for the remainder of this season.
Underestimated talent: Iago Aspas (Celta Vigo)
Celta Vigo may be a mid-table club, but they feature one of La Liga’s most prolific scorers not wearing a Barcelona or Real Madrid shirt.
Iago Aspas, a 30-year-old Spanish-born playmaker, began his pro career with Celta in 2008. In that time, he also had spells at Liverpool (playing just 14 games and scoring no goals before plunging again into obscurity) and Sevilla. The Premier League flop returned to Celta Vigo in 2015.
This season, Aspas proved how lethal he can be in the final third. Only Messi, Ronaldo and Suarez scored more than him in the league. Highlights from this season include two hat-tricks and memorable efforts, both at home and away, against Barcelona. For all Aspas’ exploits this season, he could very well be part of Spain’s 23-man roster at the World Cup.