La Liga Season Preview
The 2017/2018 La Liga season is just around the corner. Neymar-less Barcelona aim to regain the trophy, Real Madrid are determined to defend their title, whilst dark horse Atletico Madrid will be looking to close the gap between the two Spanish giants.
For this special season preview, we teamed up with Daniel Gonzalez from FootballPredictions.com. According to Daniel, Barcelona failed to impress in the 2016/2017 season, with the team finishing the La Liga campaign in second place in the standings, while suffering elimination to Juventus in the Champions League quarter-finals. The Catalan titans are eager to make amends for the unsuccessful campaign, but they will be without star player Neymar in the 2017/2018 season as he joined big-spending Paris Saint-Germain earlier this summer. The club chiefs are determined to bring Liverpool ace Philippe Coutinho to Camp Nou and there is every chance the Brazilian footballer will join Barca before the transfer window closes. Anyhow, Neymar will be sorely missed in the upcoming season and I do not believe that Luis Enrique’s troops are going to regain the domestic trophy.
Over the years Real Madrid have established themselves as the dominant force in the world football. Los Blancos did well to defend their Champions League title last term, with the team winning the national championship as well. To make things even better for the fans, Real Madrid outplayed Manchester United in the European Super Cup and, no doubt, yet another successful season is ahead of the capital club. Real Madrid chiefs did not make too many changes to the squad in the summer transfer window, key players Luka Modric, Tony Kroos, Cristiano Ronaldo, Sergio Ramos and Marcelo are still part of the team, whilst the likes of Alvaro Morata, James Rodriguez and Danilo left the club. Zinedine Zidane’s men proved their worth in a 3-1 win over Barcelona at Camp Nou in the Spanish Super Cup and, taking everything into account, I predict that los Blancos are going to defend their La Liga title without any difficulties.
Atletico Madrid finished the 2016/2017 La Liga campaign in third place in the standings, 15 points behind champions Real Madrid, whilst making it to the Champions League semis. Los Rojiblancos have big ambitions for the upcoming season and it has to be noted that the club chiefs managed to keep hold of key players in the summer transfer window. Atletico Madrid did well to sign Sevilla superstar Vitolo, but the pacey midfielder will play for Las Palmas on loan in the first half of the season. Antoine Griezmann has extended his contract with the capital club and the French attacker is likely to play the key role in Diego Simeone’s team in the 2017/2018 La Liga campaign. Taking everything into account, Atletico Madrid are likely to secure yet another top-three finish.
Sevilla reinforce the squad in the summer, with the likes of Even Banega, Nolito, Simon Kjaer, Jesus Navas and Luis Muriel joining the squad, but many people believe that Vitolo is going to be sorely missed in the 2017/2018 season. New coach Eduardo Berizzo, though, is definitely capable of helping los Sevillanos improve their game and the Andalusian side are widely expected to finish the season in top four.
The likes of Athletic Bilbao and Villarreal, who head into the new season with (almost) unchanged squads, are likely to book their places in European competitions, whilst Valencia could have yet another season to forget as the club owners failed to reinforce the squad in the summer transfer window.
Speaking of the relegation battle, Leganes, Girona and Getafe are seen as main favourites to drop to the Segunda Division at the end of the season. Taking everything into account, it will be a real pleasure watching La Liga games in the 2017/2018 season as Spanish clubs have been making progress year by year. If you are looking for more predictions on La Liga/Primera Division you should check out FootballPredictions.com’s Primera Division section.