Barcelona cruised to the title, taking advantage of a ruinous Real Madrid, who went through no less than three head coaches, and an inconsistent Atletico Madrid to win with plenty to spare.
Atletico finished second but never looked likely to usurp Barca as champions, with the Blaugrana once again inspired by the talents of Lionel Messi. Down at the other end of the table, it was despair for Girona, Huesca, and Rayo Vallecano, who suffered relegation…
CHANGES
No less than nine teams had new head coaches in charge for the start of the 2019 season, with every arrival being either Spanish or Argentine. Julen Lopetegui swapped Spain for Real Madrid, while the likes of Pablo Machin, Antonio Mohamed, and Mauricio Pellegrino took over their respective sides. In the transfer market, Madrid were surprisingly quiet in terms of a big name coming in.
A fair amount was spent, but it was Thibaut Courtois from Chelsea who would be the only regular starter, and even he saw regular competition from Keylor Navas. Their failure to replace Juventus-bound Ronaldo would see them suffer. Vinicius Junior did finally arrive from Flamengo, though. Barcelona, meanwhile, brought in the likes of Clement Lenglet, Arthur, Malcom, and Arturo Vidal. The biggest spenders were Atletico, with Diego Simeone splurging on the talents of World Cup winner Thomas Lemar, Rodri, and Gelson Martins. For the new season, the Primera Division welcomed promoted sides, Huesca, Real Valladolid, and Rayo Vallecano.
SUMMARY
In the first third of the season, it looked like Spain would have a fresh championship challenger in the form of Sevilla, who actually led the league into December. After previously losing 4-2 to Barcelona to lose top spot, they did so again six weeks later after consecutive draws with Alaves and Valencia. Machin’s men would later go on a horrendous run of one win in nine at the turn of the year, which ultimately cost him his job.
As Sevilla drew those two crucial fixtures in December, Barcelona…
Source link : https://www.footballcritic.com/season-reviews/messi-inspires-barcelona-to-comfortable-title-defence-la-liga-in-2018-19/23
Author : editors@footballcritic.com (Martin Macdonald)
Publish date : 2024-08-04 12:00:00
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