It has taken long time but last season Jose’ Mourinho’s Real Madrid have finally dethroned Barcelona after three years of domestic domination. This has instigated a shift in the balance of power in La Liga and bookmakers now believe that Real Madrid can continue their dominance as they are 1.91 favourites to retain the title with Barcelona trading at 2.16.
Barcelona are still considered the best team in the world but it has became apparent that Real Madrid have now closed that gap and the changes in the Catalan’s squad will only give more advantages to Mourinho’s team. Pep Guardiola has gone and has been replaced by inexperienced assistant Tito Vilanova. Barcelona has strengthen their squad in the summer witht he arrival of Jordi Alba from Valencia for £11 million. Even with that I think that Real Madrid are the clear favourites. They were much more impressive domestically last season and were able to finally defeat Guardiola’s men in 90 minutes at the 15th attempt at the Camp Nou. Although punters are showing some distrust towards Villanova domestically they still think that Barcelona have a better pedigree to win the Champions League than Real as the Catalans can be backed at 4.3 to win against a 4.7 for Real.
Even if Real Madrid were defeated at penalties by Bayern Munich, we cannot underestimated what they did in the domestic league. They not only stop an incredible side but also dominated in an unimaginable fashion but finishing a 38-game campaign with 100 points. Many will say that in Spain there are just Real Madrid and Barcelona and the other 18 clubs are rubbish: this clearly is not through if you consider that seventh-placed Athletic Bilbao managed to outclass Manchester United in the Europa League.
Another important thing is that Jose Mourinho’s team are relentlessly pushing when they go in front. The three other sides he guided to titles in different countries they all retain them the following season. The only threat for Real, and I may agree with it, is that the Real Madrid squad don’t feel as deferential to Mourinho as his players at Porto, Inter and Chelsea. If things will start to go wrong than there is always the chance that the dressing room will divide. Although this is possible, don’t bank on it as this year they were able to go through some very challenging times and they still come up on top. Jose Mourinho is more and more respected in Madrid and the likelihood of this happening is decreasing by the minute.
Someone will say that Real Madrid had a huge hand from referees last season. This may be true but can you tell me a team that win a very competitive league without having few decisions going towards them? Ultimately the best squad always win especially in the domestic leagues when there are so many games. Back Madrid to win the title and put a decent amount on it!
John Pentin
Like this:
Tags: barcelona, soccer, sports, Spanish La Liga, Real Madrid, Jose' Mourinho, Tito Vilanova, Pep Guardiola, bayern munich, camp nou, athletic bilbao, undefined