FC Barcelona will set out with their eyes set on becoming the first club in five years to retain the Spanish title.
As the 2023/24 LaLiga EA Sports season kicks off, Xavi Hernández will be well aware of just how competitive Spanish football is and of just how difficult it is to retain the league title.
After Barça finished top last term, they’ll now aim to become the first team in five years to win back-to-back championships, something that no club has done since they themselves did so in 2017/18 and 2018/19.
Since then, the title has been won by Real Madrid, then Atlético de Madrid, then Real Madrid and then Xavi’s squad, making LaLiga the only one of Europe’s five major leagues not to have a repeat winner since 2019.
Although FC Barcelona boasted the best goalkeeper of last term in Zamora winner Marc-André ter Stegen and the best goalscorer in Pichichi winner Robert Lewandowski, and although they added experience and quality in Iñigo Martínez, Ilkay Gündogan and Oriol Romeu, their title rivals in the capital have strengthened significantly.
Real Madrid have reloaded significantly and are ready to challenge on all fronts once more, especially after signing the young but already world class Jude Bellingham, who plays with a maturity beyond his years and who was just named the Bundesliga Player of the Season.
They’ve added another rising star in Arda Güler, while Fran García adds depth at left-back and new striker Joselu just scored 16 goals for RCD Espanyol last term and is the reigning Zarra Trophy holder as the competition’s top-scoring Spaniard.
As for Atlético de Madrid, Diego Simeone’s side come into this new season brimming with confidence following a super end to last season. Atleti had the most points of any Spanish side across the second half of 2022/23, and have significantly reinforced their defence by acquiring Javi Galán, Caglar Söyüncü, Santiago Mouriño and former Chelsea captain César Azpilicueta. The excellent Reinildo will return from injury too, making Los Rojiblancos clear contenders once more.
REAL SOCIEDAD AND SEVILLA FACE COMPETITION
Besides a title race which promises to be tight all the way to the end of the season, the race for fourth will also be fascinating, as it always is in LaLiga.
Besides FC Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atlético de Madrid, there are five different clubs who have joined them in securing a top-four finish across the past decade, with Real Sociedad doing so most recently.
Sevilla FC will also play Champions League football in 2023/24, courtesy of their Europa League win, and the Andalusian outfit will be a contender to return to Uefa’s premier club competition via the league this campaign.
Sevilla FC enter this new season full of confidence after José Luis Mendilibar joined in March to engineer a mid-season turnaround, and new sporting director Víctor Orta has been working hard, retaining players such as Loïc Badé and bringing in fresh talent like Adrià Pedrosa too.
While there hasn’t been much turnover in San Sebastián, where Real Sociedad’s priority has been keeping the core of Imanol Alguacil’s squad together, there are equally high expectations as Mikel Oyarzabal should be further down the line in his recovery process and Umar Sadiq is set to make his own comeback from a long-term injury – essentially two ‘new’ summer signings.
While many will have Real Sociedad and Sevilla FC as the favourites for fourth place this term, there are several other contenders also looking to break into the elite.
Real Betis are certainly one of them, in what will be Manuel Pellegrini’s fourth season in the Estadio Benito Villamarín dugout.
He has secured Europa League qualification in his three previous campaigns, which is already a record for the club, and now has a refreshed squad after Los Verdiblancos signed stars such as Isco and Marc Roca, as well as bringing Marc Bartra and Héctor Bellerín back to the club.
Villarreal CF are another team to look out for, especially given that the coach of El Submarino Amarillo, Quique Setién, will have a full pre-season to work with his squad.
The tactician already did well after taking over mid-way through last season, moving the team up from seventh to fifth, and now he’ll look to go a step further with a squad that includes some very intriguing summer signings, including Norway international Alexander Sørloth and the English-born Chile international Ben Brereton Díaz.
CA Osasuna will also strive to remain in the European conversation after finishing seventh against all the odds last term to earn a ticket to the Conference League, while Athletic Club will also hope to make a push under Ernesto Valverde after missing out on that final European spot on the final day of last season.
NEW COACHES IN VIGO AND VALLECAS AS CELTA AND RAYO TURN 100
Besides the various sporting objectives, there are other reasons why 2023/24 will be a special season for certain clubs. Both RC Celta and Rayo Vallecano, for example, will celebrate their centenaries this upcoming campaign, Celta in August and Rayo in May.
In the case of RC Celta, they’ll do so with a new coach as Rafa Benítez has returned to LaLiga, a competition he previously won with Valencia CF in 2001/02 and 2003/04. His arrival in Vigo has brought great optimism, with the fans also looking ahead to the centenary festivities planned for August 23rd.
Rayo Vallecano’s centenary comes towards the end of the season, as the capital city club was founded on May 29th 1924, and the crowd in Vallecas will produce even more of a party atmosphere than usual that week. Those supporters will be hoping the team enjoys another successful season before then, with Francisco having replaced the much-loved Andoni Iraola over the summer months.
The only other coaching change to have taken place in the off-season has been at the Power Horse Stadium, where Vicente Moreno has taken over from Rubi with the mission of keeping UD Almería in the top division. Moreno and Francisco will square off in the first match of the new season, when UD Almería host Rayo Vallecano on Friday, August 11th.
STAYING UP A PRIORITY FOR GRANADA, LAS PALMAS AND ALAVES
Three other clubs whose primary objective will be to secure survival are the newly promoted sides, namely Granada CF, UD Las Palmas and Deportivo Alavés.
In the case of Granada CF and Deportivo Alavés, they have bounced back up after just one year away and will aim to reconsolidate their position in Spanish football’s top flight, aware that they’ll have the backing of their passionate fanbases at the Nuevo Estadio de Los Cármenes and Mendizorrotza.
UD Las Palmas, meanwhile, are back at LaLiga level for the first time since 2018.
They will be a fun team to watch after securing promotion under García Pimienta, the highly respected former La Masia coach, and playing an attractive brand of football at the same time. With the Estadio Gran Canaria sitting on the same latitude as the Sahara Desert, UD Las Palmas’ return stretches out the map of LaLiga clubs, as Los Amarillos are by far the most southern club of the major European leagues.
The Estadio Gran Canaria isn’t the only stadium that LaLiga is returning to after a lengthy absence, however. The Estadio Olímpico Lluís Companys in the beautiful Montjuic gardens of Barcelona will host top-flight Spanish football again for the first time since 2009, with Barça temporarily moving home while the club carries out redevelopment work on the Spotify Camp Nou.
To see the Spanish champions playing at the home of the 1992 Olympic Games will be a special sight to see, and it’s there that Xavi and his squad will seek to collect as many points as possible to attempt a league title retention, which is far from the norm in LaLiga.
