Will Barcelona, the defending champions claim the La Liga title once again?

Last season (season 2014/15) is one of the greatest seasonfor Barcelona as they have completed the treble of La Liga Title, Copa del Rey and Champions League. This is the second time for Barcelona to achieve such glory, the first time was in the season 2008/09 under Pep Guardiola six years ago.

Barcelona have completed the treble for the first time in season 2008/09 under Pep Guardiola

Barcelona won their 23^rd La Liga title after defeating defending champions Atletico Madrid at the Vicente Calderon Stadium. Barcelona finishing the season with 94 points, 2 points ahead of Real Madrid and 16 points more than the defending champion Atletico Madrid.

Barcelona players posed with the trophies

The season 2015-16 started on 22^nd of August, to October, all teams have played 10 games. Real Madrid at the top of the chart with 24 points and at the second place is Barcelona, following by Celta Vigo and Atletico Madrid.

Upon the departure of the manager, Gerardo Martino in May 2014, Luis Enrique was hired to take over the role as the new manager of Barcelona. In Enrique’s first year at Camp Nou, Barcelona enjoyed great success with treble winning. With the South American attacking trio of Messi, Suarez and Neymar, Barcelona ended last season with 122 goals, the most in a season for an attacking trio in Spanish football history. Besides, Luis Enrique squad was also ranked number 1 in defense last season. Barcelona enjoys the luxury to have some of the excellent player in the world such as Messi, Suarez, Neymar, Iniesta and etc. However, Messi has been out of action early of the season due to injury, he will not return until the first week of December. Based on the latest La Liga Table, Barcelona manage to earn 24 points, same points as the leader of the chart (Real Madrid) even though Messi was absent. 

With the South American attacking trio of Messi, Suarez and Neymar, Barcelona ended last season with 122 goals

RealMadrid has the history of winning 32 championships, but they just won three titles in the past 10 seasons. The last time they became the champion was in the 2011-12 season. Last season, Real Madrid struggling with inconsistency in the second half of the season, in the end Real Madrid is two points behind Barcelona to win the La Liga title. As a result, Carlo Ancelotti was sacked and Rafael Benitez was appointed to replace Ancelotti. Another major movement in this season is Real Madrid long time goalkeeper Iker Casillas, who is best goalkeeper in the planet is no longer with the squad. On top of that, the deal to hire another great player, David De Gea as the replacement for Casillas was failed.  Although they don’t have Casillas or De Gea in the team, Real Madrid is doing well to this point under the leadership of Ancelotti with 10 unbeaten record.

David De Gea as the replacement for Casillas in Real Madrid was failed

Atletico Madrid surprised everyone by clinching the title ahead of the Barcelona andReal Madrid, the two most dominant sides in 2014-15 season. However, they failed to reproduce the same form last season lead them to lose the battle for La Liga title.  Over the years, talents like Diego Costa, David Villa, David de Gea have left the club. This summer, Atletico Madrid have successfully kept their core players and brought in more great talents. Atletico Madrid is four points away from Real Madrid and Barcelona, they will remain in the title race, if they enhance their winning rate.

Antoine Griezmann in fine form this season

This season, Celta Vigo is playing well. At the third place of the table, they have won six matches. Including the match which they thrashed last season treble winner Barcelona. Despite playing many seasons in La liga, Celta have never won the league title, perhaps they will finally win their first title this season.

Like any other season, La Liga remains tremendously competitive. The title race for this season will be between Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid and Celta Vigo. The current top 4 team have the qualities to win the title, however only one team with the consistent performance will clinch this season’s La Liga title.

Just like any other season, the Barcelona stands a very high chance to win theirsecond straight La Liga as their squad are excellent in both attacking and defending.