A Survival Guide for Watching La Liga in 14/15

Atletico Madrid are every purist’s new second team. Sadly, they’ve got a far tougher job ahead of them in their bid to replicate last season’s exploits after significant reinforcements were made in the transfer window by both Real Madrid and Barcelona.

Elsewhere, it’s likely that a crop of new talent will emerge from La Liga this year as fans and pundits call for a regeneration of Spanish football after the national team suffered a humiliating meltdown at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

But whether it’s Atleti, Galacticos 2.0 or the new Barca project (under former player Luis Enrique) who scoops the La Liga title this year, there’s one guarantee: it’s likely to be another unmissable season in Spain.

Similar in format to other major European leagues, teams play each other twice - home and away - from August until late May, with a three week winter break between late December and early January.

For the past 5 years, La Liga has been ranked as the best league in Europe according to UEFA’s coefficient. The top three clubs in the table at the end of the season automatically qualify for the Champions League. The 4th place team enters at a qualifying round, while those in 5th and 6th place go to the Europa League (which isn't viewed with the same disdain that it is in English football).

As with the Premier League, the bottom three clubs of the Primera División are relegated, with the top two clubs from the Segunda División replacing them along with the winner of a play-off.

Having won the league last season, SD Eibar won automatic promotion to play their debut season in the Primera División. Although a financially stable club (there aren’t many) the club had to call upon its fans and previous players, including Madridsta Xabi Alonso, to raise €1.7 million to meet the requirements of the league or suffer heartbreaking demotion. And if you thought that was their only struggle, their stadium only has a capacity of 5,250 seats and their three best players last season, including top scorer (11 goals) Jota Peleteiro, are all set to return to their parent club for next season.

You may remember Deportivo de La Coruña as the side that won the La Liga at the turn of the millenium with Noureddine Naybet and Diego Tristán, household names to Spurs and West Ham fans. Times changed for side since then and have struggled to keep themselves in the top tier of Spanish football, bouncing back and forth between the divisions for the past 4 years. This year’s side includes 21-year-old and top scorer (10) Borja who will see out the final year of his two-year-old loan deal from Atlético Madrid and the addition of Barça youth product, Isaac Cuenca, who comes on a free transfer.

After 42 years of waiting, Córdoba CF finally made it to the top tier of Spanish football. By order of goal difference, the side ended up pipping Huelva to the final play-off spot (7th) and went on to scrape past UD Las Palmas after a stoppage time goal, on the away goals rule, sent them up. The scorer of the decisive goal? None other than Chelsea FC attacking midfielder and loanee, Ulises Dávila. Nope, us neither. Another player with links to the Premier League is long out of favour, Xisco, a player who made nine appearances in five years whilst signed to Newcastle United but just so happens to have been Cordoba’s top scorer (10) last season. Hopes will be pinned on 21-year-old Argentine winger, Federico Cartabia, after being loaned in from Valencia.

Inherently based on geographic location, the fervor surrounding the Madrid derby (or El Derbi madrileño) gathered pace whilst Franco was in power. Favoured by the monarchy, Real have long been seen as the club of the establishment, whilst Atlético are distinguished by “a sense of rebellion” – and, rebelled they did last season, after securing a 10th La Liga crown, which slightly took the gloss off of Real’s La Décima. They’ve already renewed their rivalry in this year’s Spanish Super Cup and they face off in La Liga for the first time on September 14th.

Slightly more under the radar is the Basque derby. Contested by Real Sociedad and Athletic Bilbao, who both enjoyed success last season in the top half of the table, the rivalry has been intensified by both team’s desired to poach the best regional talent (at some stages, both teams made it policy to only field local players). This season, the arrival of plucky Basque club SD Eibar introduces a new dimension to the rivalry. The newcomers face Sociedad on August 24th.

Other notable head-to-heads this season include the Galician derby, between Celta Vigo and newly promoted Deportivo La Coruña, the Derby of eastern Andalusia, consisting of Málaga C.F. and Granada C.F., and the Derbi Barceloní, between (naturally) Barcelona and RCD Espanyol.

Oh yeah, there’s the small matter of El Clasico on October 26th.

Current La Liga champions Atlético Madrid did their best to keep pace with Real and Barca, signing ex-Bayern Munich striker Mario Mandzukic for €22 million to replace the outgoing Diego Costa whilst also bringing in the French youngster, Antoine Griezmann, from Real Sociedad for €30 million, bolstering their chances of successfully defending the title for the third time in their history.

Potential replacement for Barcelona's aging Xavi is the Croatian, Ivan Rakitic, who strengthens the side’s attacking midfield after a €19 million move from Sevilla. Barca also looked to solve a long-term problem of theirs by bringing in goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen from Borussia Mönchengladbach for €12 million. Toni Kroos, a player who now proudly sports a World Cup winners medal to his name made a €30 million move from Bayern Munich to Real Madrid.

Liverpool fans will want to keep an eye on this year’s La Liga to keep up to date on the development of two season-long loanees. Iago Aspas joined 5th placed Sevilla in an effort to land himself regular starts and winger, Luis Alberto, headed to Malaga. Star of Mexico’s World Cup squad, Guillermo Ochoa, also signed for last season’s 11th placed Malaga.

With the highest percentage (62%) of homegrown players for any major European league, Spain’s La Liga truly is a breeding ground for the next generation of talent. At the front of the production line is Gerard Deulofeu, who dazzled the blue half of Merseyside with an impressive loan spell from Barca last season. The Catalans still aren’t convinced and he’ll spend the next ten months on loan at Sevilla. The direct forward could be the natural successor to Jesus Navas at Sevilla, who departed for the Premier League twelve months ago. This is the season that Deulofeu proves he can cut it in La Liga.

Many believe Croatian wonderkid Alen Halilovic will be the beneficiary of Deulofeu’s temporary exit. The midfielder scored 7 goals in 44 league games for Dinamo Zagreb and became Croatia’s youngest ever international at just 16-years-old. Barca managed to squeeze through a deal for Halilovic before their half-heartedly enforced transfer ban took effect and while he’ll start the season with Barcelona B, it’s thought that the club won’t hesitate in pulling him up to the first team if circumstances require it.

Outside of Catalonia, another Suarez is expected to make headlines (albeit in a less controversial manner). Spanish youth international Denis Suarez made a two-year loan move to Sevilla as part of the deal that took Ivan Rakitic to Barca and - touted as one of the leading lights for Spain’s next generation - regular football will give him a chance to justify the hype. Sevilla will be relying on Suarez to deliver creativity from advanced midfield positions and his debut against Real Madrid in the European Super Cup left fans excited for the coming campaign.

The bookies have behaved predictably and backed the most expensively assembled squad in history to lift La Liga next May. Real Madrid are priced at 10/11 but Barcelona - facing another transition period - have been given a cautious 11/8. Last season’s winners, Atletico Madrid, are rank outsiders at 16/1. Incredibly, as evidence of the Primera Division’s perceived gulf in class, Sevilla and Valencia are the next best priced at 300/1.

The bookies believe promoted minnows SD Eibar pose the least threat to the Spanish top flight and are favourites for the drop. Teetering on the trap door alongside them are fellow new boys, Cordoba and Deportivo. Rayo Vallecano scouts have been the busiest this summer with 15 signings but amidst fears of new players taking time to settle, they’re a solid outside shout at 9/1.

Finally, despite top scoring with Liverpool in the Premier League last year and sharing Europe’s Golden Boot with Cristiano Ronaldo, Luis Suarez finds himself at long odds of 20/1 to be La Liga’s top scorer. No prizes for guessing who the favourites are.