Barcelona have been a ruthless and almost impossible force to stop in Spain’s top flight since the turn of the century. The Catalan side have won the competition a staggering ten times with eternal rivals, Real Madrid with just six wins.
Barcelona have won the last two Primera Division titles with comfortable margins and are gunning to defend the title for the third year on the running. However, it seems an uphill task taking into consideration various factors that everyone has witnessed since the end of last season.
The 4th Official tries to list out three factors which would make winning La Liga for the third time on the bounce extremely difficult for the Cules.
Poor Start to the Season
Barcelona have endured one of their worst starts to a season with only 4 points after three games into the league. In their season opener, they lost to Athletic Bilbao 0-1 at the New San Mames Stadium. Aritz Aduriz scored an astonishing goal in stoppage time much to the joy of the Athletic fans.
The following week, Barcelona hosted the Andalusian side, Real Betis and thrashed them 5-2. It was a goal-fest in which summer recruit, Antoine Griezmann scored two goals. However, Barcelona dropped points once again on Matchday 3 when they made the trip to Osasuna. The hosts managed to hold Barcelona to a 2-2 draw, and Valverde’s men were left with only four points three games into the season.
Poor Tactics and Management
Ernesto Valverde does not seem to be getting things right at Camp Nou. The former Bilbao manager has failed to deliver in Europe’s elite club competition, the UEFA Champions League two years running. The fact that Barcelona were poised to advance into the next rounds of the competition post the first legs against Liverpool and AS Roma and yet managed to be eliminated speaks volumes about Valverde’s calibre to manage a club of Barcelona’s stature.
With a poor start to the season and a lot history to speak for itself, Valverde’s days at the Catalan capital seem limited. It’s high time he steps up his game before he faces the axe from the Barcelona board.
Competition
Barcelona’s poor start to the season is only worsened by the fact that their competition in the league in the form of Atletico de Madrid, Real Madrid & Sevilla have improved drastically over the summer. All the three mentioned sides had worked hard on their squads with several high-quality recruits in the transfer months.
Atletico de Madrid, in particular, look like a side that are determined to lift the La Liga trophy. Los Rojablancos have started their season perfectly with three wins out of three matches and are deservedly sitting on top of the points table.
