By Enitan Abdultawab

Again, Spain will have her streets flooded with football fans and supporters every weekends – and a few weekdays too – and it will not be an overstatement to note that the world’s most populous league will treat her fans to the open, positional, technical and near-slow style of football they are known for.

Also, La Liga’s screenage and coverage is clearly one of the best in the world and this makes it exceptional.

The La Liga campaign will officially start on the 11th of August with Almeria and Rayo Vallecano and Sevilla and Valencia facing off another on Friday.

Las Palmas, after a five-year absence, are back to the league. Granada and Alaves join Las Palmas after both were relegated just a year ago. The atmosphere at Las Palmas after they were cleared to play in La Liga was an evidence of the joy they expressed after a long while.

What might happen this season? Will Barcelona retain the title? Will Madrid fight back the glory? Will Atletico repeat the 2014 success? Will Sevilla improve under their belt?

Preview

Hard as it seems, 20 teams pitting against one another twice – home and away – within a space of the nine months is a long journey within a short time (for teams competing in Europe), who unarguably are usually the favourites.

Let’s take a look at how these teams can take a shot at the top-four spots in table.

Barcelona

Transfer in : Ilkay Gundogan( Manchester City),Inigo Martinez(Athletic Bilbao), Oriol Romeu (Girona) and Vitor Roque ( Athletico Paranthenas, not joining till January)

Transfer out : Ousmane Dembele (Paris Saint-Germain), Sergio Busquets (Inter Miami), Jordi Alba (Inter Miami), Julian Araujo (Las Palmas, loan), Nico Gonzalez (Porto)

Barcelona ended last season as champions after they accumulated a total 88 points. Whether Xavi likes it or not, he can be reminded that huge gaps in the squad are left to be filled after the exit of Busquets and Dembele’s exits. However, it seeems Romeu and Raphinha (or maybe Yamal) can fit in and excel. However, it seems Xavi might not be too interested in the league as their focus is on enjoying a rich berth in Europe once again after almost a decade. They still have a rich squad and only a strong mentality is what they need to their in-field skills.

Players to watch: Ilkay Gundogan, Pedri, Lamine Yamal (doubt)

Real Madrid
Transfer in: Jude Bellingham (Borussia Dortmund), Fran Garcia (Rayo Vallecano), Joselu (Espanyol), Brahim Diaz (AC Milan), Arda Guler (Fenerbahce)

Transfer out: Karim Benzema (Al Ittihad), Eden Hazard (unattached), Marco Asensio (Paris Saint-Germain), Mariano Diaz (unattached), Jesus Vallejo (Granada), Rafa Marin (Alaves), Antonio Blanco (Alaves)

With Real Madrid’s squad, they are still a threat in Europe. Thus, we can infer that Real Madrid are a formidable team that can tear any defence apart. But in La Liga, it seems that head coach Ancelotti had a problem with the defence. Last season, Real Madrid kept a paltry 10 clean sheets, yet they seemed to be reinforcing their attacking department.

However, Madrid will have to do well with the new 4-4-2 formation given the arrival of Bellingham and have been brilliant offensively but sluggish defensively, conceding six goals against Barcelona and Juventus. It might even seem difficult with shot-stopper Thibaut Courtois sustaining an ACL injury that will keep him out of for atleast six months. Still, they are a clear favourite.

Players to watch – Jude Bellingham, Vinicius Junior, Arda Guler (doubt)

Atletico Madrid

Transfer in: Azpilicueta (Chelsea), Santiago Mourino (Racing Club de Montevideo), Caglar Soyuncu (Leicester City), Javi Galan (Celta Vigo)

Transfers out: Matt Doherty (Wolves), Renan Lodi (Marseille), Geoffrey Kondogbia (Marseille), Sergio Reguilon (Tottenham), Giuliano Simeone (Alaves)

It seems Atletico Madrid will keep the momentum they finished with last season once again. Given Diego Simeone’s unswerving attention to consistency, we might yet again see his shaking off the squad and inserting devoted feet – devoted to play the offensive ( literal now) style. If players like Hermoso, Barriol and Griezmann can keep the levels up, they can have a big chance at the trophy come May 2024.

Sevilla

Transfer in: DF Loic Bade (Rennes), DF Adria Pedrosa (Sevilla)
Transfer out: DF Karim Rekik (Al Jazira), DF Jose Angel Carmona (Getafe), FW Rony Lopes (Braga)

Sevilla suffered an enduring start last season as they flirted with relegation. For Jose Luis Mendilibar intervention, maybe Julen Lopetegui and Jorge Sampaoli might have taken them to that zone eventually.

The turnaround was massive and they ended the season placed seventh and won the Europa league once more. In Laliga, they can still pull the strings via the help of experienced Ivan Rakitic, Jesus Navas, Lucas Ocampos and Yousouph En-Nesyri all whom are nearing the end of their career. Louis Bade and Djibril Sow too seem a good fit to the squad.

Players to watch: Lucas Ocampus and Lious Bade.

Other top-four contenders are Osasuna, Real Sociedad, Real Betis and Villareal.

Top-four predictions

Given the nature of each team’s squad and the competitions they will be playing in, the top-four spots at the end of the season might be:

1. Real Madrid
2. Atletico Madrid
3. Barcelona
4. Sevilla