La Liga midseason review: Barcelona lead open title race

La Liga has entered the Christmas break, so here’s a look at the main stories from the season so far.

This has been one of the strangest La Liga seasons in recent memory with all the top teams starting slowly and teams such as Sevilla and Espanyol making early title challenges. Only 16 points separate first and 14th place, so the league is still quite tight even though 17 matchdays have gone by. Barcelona have dominated the big matches with a 5-1 in El Clasico and a 4-2 win over Sevilla as well as drawing away at Atletico Madrid, but they also lost to Leganes and Real Betis.

Best Player: Lionel Messi

The Argentine is still the best player in the division if anyone was in any doubt. He has 15 goals and 10 assists in just 15 games, which is a ridiculous tally. This is an oversimplification of his genius, though. He does so much more than scoring and creating goals because he also participates in buildup play and helps destabilize defenses through his dribbling. Messi is the hub through which the team’s attacking play goes and he’s integral to any success they’ll have this season.

He recently picked up his fifth Golden Shoe and he’s definitely on track to do that once again with his fast start. The 31-year-old even missed two league matches due to injury yet he is still top of the goalscorer standings. He continues to make a mockery of his fifth-place position in this year’s Ballon d’Or.

Best Manager: Pablo Machin

Sevilla currently sit in third place just five points Barcelona. This is a testament to the work of Machin who has successfully implemented his 3-5-2 system, which he used to keep Girona up last season, although he has made some innovative changes such as using Pablo Sarabia as a central midfielder with license to be a third runner during attacking transitions.

Los Hispalenses are continuing to improve as well, particularly in defense. Machin has certainly been the best manager in the league up until this point, although Quique Setien, Abelardo Fernandez and Jose Bordalas all deserve credit as well because they are all over-performing with their respective teams.

Biggest Surprise: Alaves

Alaves currently sit in fifth place and they could be even higher if it wasn’t for a dip in form earler in the month. Abelardo joined the club in December 2017 when they were at the bottom of the table and the turnaround he’s sparked since then has been quite remarkable. They were expected to be relegation candidates yet they find themselves competing for European places.

The recent results are a potential sign that their early season success wasn’t sustainable. What they have done so far is still an impressive achievement nonetheless. There is a huge difference between their budget and the teams above them, which is near enough impossible to bridge over a full league season.

Biggest disappointment: Villarreal

Villarreal finished fifth last season — a huge contrast from their current position of 17th. Javier Calleja ended up losing his job because of that and it was deserved based on their performances as he certainly wasn’t getting enough out of a talented attack. However, Luis Garcia’s first match in charge saw them draw 2-2 with bottom side Huesca so there are certainly some big issues for the new manager to work out.

The congested nature of the league means that they’re only 10 points off the European places, so they can certainly make a push for that during the second half of the season. Anything less than a European place should be seen as a big failure for this team.

Biggest question: Barcelona’s defense

Barcelona have started to build a lead at the top of the table which has become a common occurrence in recent seasons, but their defense has rarely looked this shaky. There’s been some improvement recently, but it’s hard to say whether that will last.

Gerard Pique’s return to form has certainly played a large part in this and Nelson Semedo provides more defensive solidity than Sergi Roberto in the right-back role, so it could be sustainable. Fatigue is usually an issue for Barcelona in the second half due to their heavy reliance on Messi and Sergio Busquets, among others, so the lack of a large gap between them and the challengers may prove to be a problem if this issue rears its head.