Five teams, apart from Real and Barca, to watch out for in La Liga this season
August 12th 2011 18:22
Liga BBVA
For quite a long time now, La Liga has been a two horse race between Real Madrid and Barcelona with Barcelona dominating La Liga - and Europe - for the last three years. This year, though, things might change a little bit as there are 5 teams who could disrupt the rhythm of Real Madrid and/or Barcelona this season. Here is a short look at these 5 teams.
Athletic Bilbao - Bilbao are always a tough opponent. Players like Llorente, Javi Martinez, Iker Muniain et al always make it tough for the opponent. Add to that their new signing, Ander Herrera - the very talented Basque player - and you have a potential game-changer at your disposal. In defense, they have Mikel San Jose and Fernando Amorebieta - two very influential and great defenders. This team, in my opinion, can defeat ANY team in La Liga.
Malaga - Malaga have signed some good players like Cazorla, Van Nistelrooy, Mathijsen, Toulalan, Joaquin, Isco (hailed as the next best thing of Spain), Monreal, Diego Buonanotte et al. They also have players like Demichelis, Julio Baptista and the very promising academy player, Juanmi. There still might be more reinforcements added as Sheikh Mansoor looks to make his Malaga a force to be reckoned with. And their manager, of course, is the astute tactician who is known as Manuel Pellegrini. So we can expect some great things from Malaga this season.
Atletico Madrid - Atleti have sold some key players this season. But I think they will be better off this season as they already have an able replacement for De Gea in Sergio Asenjo (this guy was once called the next Casillas). Atleti have also signed Arda Turan - a very creative attacking midfielder. And if Atleti somehow get Radamel Falcao - who, reportedly, has agreed personal terms with Atleti - they are going to be some force. Atleti have also signed Miranda from Sao Paulo - a World Class defender who can be 'THE WALL' of Atleti's defense which has been blatantly exposed by opposition attackers in the past. If Atleti can lure some good back-ups and perhaps a good deep-midfielder, they are certainly going to be very close to the top 4 spots - or even in it - come May 2012.
Valencia - Valencia are now even stronger than their 2009-10 team which had David Villa and David Silva in it. They now have Soldado, Pablo Hernandez, Aritz Aduriz, Dani Parejo (very under-rated, but a great midfielder), Sergio Canales (on loan from Real Madrid for 2 years), Ever Banega, Adil Rami, Juan Mata, Pablo Piatti (a clone of Messi, and actually can be as good as Messi)... With this team, I think they can even upset Real and Barca for the title.
Villarreal - And, of course, there is Villarreal who also have a great team to make La Liga more exciting than last season. Names like Giuseppe Rossi, Nilmar, Borja Valero, Cani, Mattio Musacchio, new-signing Christian Zapata, Marco Ruben and Camunias prove that. This season, though, they don't Santiago Cazorla - their best player after Rossi last season. But that may not be much of a problem as Cani is more than capable of filling the void left by Santi Cazorla. All in all, this Villarreal team are still capable of winning against big teams - and playing attractive football in the process.
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