La Liga’s Winner will be Deeply Flawed | OneFootball

Someone has to win La Liga this season. After 25 Matchdays, Barcelona sit just a point ahead of their eternal rivals in Real Madrid, despite having one more loss this season. Los Blancos entered last weekend on top, but a 3-1 loss to Osasuna and Barcelona’s straightforward 3-0 win over Levante flipped the table back in the favor of the Blaugrana.

The most recent Matchday was a reminder that the team that wins La Liga this season will be deeply flawed. Villarreal and Atlético Madrid are nine points and 13 points off the leaders at the moment, so it’s truly become a two team race.

Barcelona: Held Together by Youth, Tape, and Attacking Football

Barcelona’s flaws this season can be summed up with three words. Luck, health, and loose. The Barça attack has hit the woodwork 33 times this season compared to their opponent’s seven, and it’s hard to imagine they will continue to be that unlucky.

On the health side, the defensive issues of Barcelona show more concern of problems that may not be fixed this season. Against Levante, a natural right-back (João Cancelo) was played at left-back, a natural left-back (Gerard Martín) was played at left centre-back, a natural centre-back (Jules Koundé) was played at right-back, and the utility man Eric García rounded out the back four at centre-back. Hansi Flick is still desperately looking for answers with a defense that has leaked goals on the road this season.

For more on how Hansi Flick can try to fix some of the issues this season, check out The Barcelona Podcast:

The Youth Have It

Fermín López has powered in 11 goals this season and it’s easy to forget that he’s just 22-years-old. Lamine Yamal has continued his ascent to the world’s best at 18, and Pau Cubarsí is the most-played centre-back (Eric has played other positions) under Flick this season at 19.

Alejandro Balde, who has been under criticism this week after Culers watched Cancelo’s MVP performance against Levante, is only 22 himself. Marc Bernal also showed his best against Levante, but Flick can only rely so much on the 18-year-old as he continues to recover from his ACL. There are moments for him and Flick has been very careful with the teenager. Despite the major minutes they’ve already played, it’s easy to forget that some of Barcelona’s most essential players are still in the early parts of their careers.

The biggest question mark for Flick down the stretch of the season is the health of Pedri and Raphinha. Both played against Levante, but this season has been an inconsistent fight of starts and stops for the duo. They have both played close to 1,000 minutes less than they did a season ago, and their absences have been felt in different ways. To simplify it as succinctly as possible, Barcelona’s press suffers greatly without Raphinha and the match control is a shell of itself with Pedri. If those two can stay healthy, Barça has a much better shot at taking home the La Liga trophy.

Real Madrid: Powerhouse Talents with Major Cracks

In a season where Real Madrid was forced to make a manager change midseason, replacing the independent-thinking Xabi Alonso with the company man Álvaro Arbeloa, one would think that things would be worse than they are. But even when he had lost the locker room, Alonso managed to pick up points in the league when Real Madrid may not have deserved them.

Kylian Mbappé has used his goals, 38 in 33 matches, to drag his team over the finish line on a number of occasions this season. Though his goals have almost come at the expense of some of teammates. While Barcelona has six players that have scored double digit goals, only Vinícius Junior has more than 10 alongside Mbappé, getting 12 in 36 matches.

Academy prospect Gonzalo García’s has emerged to grab six goals at the expense of Endrick, who was loaned out to Lyon in January. Endrick hasn’t stopped scoring this arriving in France, but that won’t help Real Madrid this season. The same goes for the likely return of Nico Paz, who has arguably been the best attacking midfielder in Serie A this season with Como 1907.

Nagging injuries to Jude Bellingham, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Rodrygo, and Dean Huijsen have affected continuity this season, but the bigger issues have been in the inability to control matches in front of Thibaut Courtois. Fede Valverde, Eduardo Camavinga, and Aurélien Tchouaméni are all tremendous players in their own right, but none of that trio is built to dictate the ebbs and flows of a match. At the back, Éder Militão and Antonio Rüdiger have been in and out of the line-up themselves, and Raúl Asencio has been exposed for some defensive frailties when games open up.

Champions League or La Liga?

That might not be a question for either team. Real Madrid still need to get past Benfica in the play-offs, while Barcelona could get a strong Newcastle or PSG in the next round. Neither are favorites in the tournament, and quarter-final exits could lead to all the attention turning towards the league.

The winner of La Liga this season will be deeply flawed, but at least they will have earned it. Not through overwhelming dominance, but through sustaining a high enough level in an exhausting season full of adversity.