The wait is over, La Liga is back

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I mean those who love the beautiful game, the wait is finally over, the Spanish La Liga is back, and with Jose Mourinho in the equation, lets enjoy the footie from the world’s most entertaining league. Regardless of what the English wish the world to believe in regard to their league (the English Premier League) being the best (in the world), La Liga is second to none in terms of entertainment. It may have only the ‘Big Two’ and not the ‘Big Four’ like in England to fight for the title but overall, games involving the former are more entertaining than the latter. But most of all, with the ‘Special One’ pitching his camp in the Spanish capital, the eyes of the world’s footie lovers will be on La Liga this season more than ever before, not least that he will aim to frustrate and also to get under Pep Guardiola’s skin, his main rival. And most importantly, the world will be eager to see how the Barcelona boss responds. The man they call Pep may have been a no-nonsense player in his days, but can he handle the mind games of his Portuguese rival, the man who has mastered the skill of using the media to pile pressure on his rivals? Barcelona and Real Madrid kick off their campaign with away games at Racing Santander and Real Mallorca respectively on Sunday; fixtures which should in theory generate maximum points for the two favourites. It definitely will not be this weekend when the qualities of La Liga’s perpetual two top teams can be compared closely. But again, the wait won’t be too long until first game of the season’s ‘El Clasico’, with the Nou Camp playing host on November 18. This is one I’m keeping my eyes on as it will show the true colors of both coaches and their intention for the whole season. I bet the ‘Special One’ will come to pack his bus as always done with all his teams against presumed better opponents, but Pep might just be too clever for such tactics, especially at Camp Nou. Pep is still hurting from the fact that it was at the hands of Mourinho’s negative but effective tactics that his team failed to become the first team to successfully defend the European crown last season, so a good beating of his traditional rivals under the Portuguese could just erase the bad memories. Rea Madrid lured Mourinho from Inter Milan and, in top of availing him with cash to spend on his targets; he was made the most expensive coach in the world on a salary believed to be about £10.6m per year, which means he and his team won’t have much room for error. However, as if to cool down the fans’ expectations just a little bit, Mourinho has already come up what should sound like an excuse if his team fails to compete with Barcelona, saying he needs time to build his side, because it’s “still not ready.” The former Chelsea manager admitted that, “They (Barcelona) can come back from the summer holidays and after three days they’re already playing well. They could play blind.” “We can’t do that. We still need to build an identity.” Which I find very true, if Madrid is to once again become a team to send shivers through their opponents, the way Barcelona does even before a ball is kicked. In the two years since Pep took the reigns at Barca, Madrid have gone trophyless, while their rivals have won everything. Pep will be striving to complete a hat-trick of league titles, but now Mourinho has arrived and the self anointed ‘Special One’ doesn’t do losing. Never before has there been so much at stake between the great rivals of club footie, and with that expect tempers to fray and explosions to go off as we enter one of the most intense Spanish league title races in recent years. nku78@yahoo.com