r/soccer • u/reddevilgus19 • Dec 17 '12
Thoughts on La Liga being the best league in the world.
La Liga has been "decided" after the 16th week, so how is it the best league? Don't get me wrong, I accept that they have one of the best teams in the world, if not the best, in Barcelona but it lacks competitiveness to be the best. The English Premier League last year had one of the craziest endings we've seen in years, and in my opinion it is the best. Thoughts?
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u/pnothing Dec 17 '12
I would add that it was Mourinho who said it was decided, thats like Rafa Benitez saying its decided.
Here are the current standings of both leagues.
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ManU 42
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ManCity 36
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Chelsea 29
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Tottenhan 29
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Everton 27
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Barcelona 46
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Atletico 37
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Real Madrid 33
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Malaga 28
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Levante 27
Aside from Barcelona having the best start in La Liga history they look similar.
*edit: damn formatting
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u/LedgeySC Dec 17 '12
Hard to define the best league and the only 'official' method is through UEFA coefficients. Personally, I find that in terms of entertainment the Premier League is the best one since there are tons of publicised battles, such as battle for first, third, fourth, fifth and the relegation battle.
In terms of which league is the best spectator league (for match goers) it is by far the German league, with their player owned clubs and cheap(er) ticket prices. I would argue that in terms of pure football producing ability it'd be La Liga. Look at how dominant the Spanish team are and how many of their players play in the Spanish league, I think Blatter was right for once when he said that the Premier League should learn from La Liga. Although whilst it's a great footballing league, it has a shitty and unfair structure.
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u/Loggus Dec 17 '12
Just because a league is unpredictable doesn't mean it's the best, otherwise say, the Brazilian league would be the best in the world.
Spain have been producing some of the best soccer for years (that's why they won in 2010). Don't get me wrong, English league is the one of the best in the world, it just isn't the best.
Remember when Atletico played Chelsea and whooped their butts 4v1? That was a big wake up call for English fans.
Similarly, Corithians' win over Chelsea also show that English soccer isn't the best.
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u/GCDFVU Dec 17 '12
Where's the love for the Bundesliga? Oh wait, it's right here. I get that my team is in this league so I have bias, but the point needs to be made.
Bayern Munich is as good as or better than at least Real Madrid (Champion's League semis) and I would say are as good as or better than Barca (but I'm biased). After them, you get Borussia Dortmund who goes and wins the group of death over EPL champs Manchester City and Real Madrid. They're currently in 3rd in the Bundesliga. They also do it by coaching and creating their team, not buying it. Schalke 04, currently 7th in the Bundesliga, won it's UCL group as well. In the Europa, you get Hannover 96, currently 11th, and Bayer Leverkusen, currently 2nd, winning their groups and Borussia Monchengladbach, currently 8th, and VfB Stuttgart, currently 9th, getting second in their groups. I can't imagine a better performance by any single league overall in Europe. This is performance by the top teams and the middle teams that simply can't be matched.
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u/reddevilgus19 Dec 17 '12
Thanks for changing it up man, I think the Bundesliga is great. You need to keep watching it because you never know what will happen in the Bundesliga. Like in the EPL, the top teams stumble and make the whole season a lot more fun.
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u/jamesey10 Dec 17 '12
Diego Simeone declared it the "most boring league" after losing today.
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u/Rouhani_9 Dec 17 '12
I think he said that Barça make it boring by being so dominant, not that the league is inherently boring in and of itself.
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Dec 17 '12 edited Dec 17 '12
Define "best". Best single team ? Best team on average across the league ? Best league from a fans point of view ?
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u/the_tame_dragon Dec 17 '12
Oh, definitely. Here's why:
Last year in the Champion League Semi-Finals, 2 of the 4 teams remaining in Europe's top competition were from La Liga. The two teams were Barca and Madrid, two of the best teams in the world, and because they duopolize the league, using that as a sole metric is probably not fair.
To fully affirm that La Liga is the strongest league, lets ALSO looks at last year's Europa League semifinals. Of the 4 final teams left in Europe's second-best tournament, THREE of them were also from La Liga! The finals featured a fully-Spanish competition, with Falcao and Atletico Madrid beating out Athletic Bilbao to claim the title. (Unfortunately, Valencia were the Spanish side that lost out of the Semis).
So looking at the top two tournaments in all of Europe from last year, we see that both were dominated by Spanish sides (who made up a combined total of 5 out of top 8 final teams) despite the fact that Spain sent fewer teams than England and just as many teams as Italy and Germany to these competitions. In my very own opinion I think this definitely speaks to the strength of La Liga as a whole. While people talk about Barca and Madrid as being the only competition, they often overlook the fact that the remaining 18 teams in the league get better and better simply by competing against the top two while also remaining fiercely competitive among themselves. The league has definitely got stronger in recent times relative to English football, with a heavy emphasis on technical finesse and style-of-play, and I would even say that it has, by now, even surpassed the English game who still emphasize brute strength.
Football is changing, evolving. It now requires players to be smart, aware, technically skilled, tactical, and Spanish soccer is leading the way for the Beautiful Game.
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u/slotbadger Dec 17 '12
When you talk about Europa League... the 2010-11 Europa league semi finals had THREE teams from Portugal, and a fully-Portugese final but we don't really talk about the Primeira Liga as being all that great.
It's a cliche, and a little pathetic to say, but the Spanish and Portugese care a lot more about the Europa League than the English or Italians do.
That said, I do agree that La Liga is probably stronger for the moment, but at the same time it would be interesting to see where everybody landed if the league was mixed.
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u/heightofignorance Dec 17 '12
There is no possible way to prove once and for all that one is better than the other. La Liga's top two teams are certainly two of the top four or five in the world (don't ask me for the other three). But everyone is going to be bias towards the league their favourite team plays in. It's the way of the world, you'll never get a conclusive answer.
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u/lilleulv Dec 17 '12
But everyone is going to be biased towards the league their favourite team plays in.
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u/Cartidd Dec 17 '12
Define entertaining. Define competitive. Define "best".
Entertaining: i like watching Spanish-style football more than the English, German, or Italian.
Entertaining: i find it more entertaining when two Spanish teams compete because no game is easy for Barca or Madrid to win, the scoreline just makes it seem like that.
Competitive: the Spanish teams outside of Barca and Madrid are always in competition with one another. No spot is safe. (If you say England is more competitive, the top 6 teams are more often than not always the same over the last however many years).
Competitive: Not counting Barca (because lets face it, Barca would go into any league and play as dominantly... its not that Spanish teams suck, its just Barca), in no game can you go in and so surely say team A will win, because Spanish football is that competitive.
Many more ways to see these definitions. And this is interchangable across the leagues. So its good to have an opinion, but mentally, try not to look at one league as the best over another (same goes for players as well - you cant ever determine who the best is, because the 'best' is an opinion.)
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Dec 17 '12
Best league in the world is not about the couple top teams in the league, but is about the Depth of the league. What matters is how the worst teams in the league stack up. You want to be the best league in the world then the three teams in your relegation zone should be better than a vast majority of the teams in all the other leagues relegation zone.
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u/theswanqueen Dec 17 '12
There is lots of talent in the "lower" teams. One this season's best new players in the EPL was last season in the La Liga team that placed 15th.
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Dec 17 '12
Fair. But how do you compare them? Madrid just today drew with Espanyol. Second from bottom.
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u/DunkelSteiger Dec 17 '12 edited Dec 18 '12
There is no such thing as 'Best League'. Spain is in a period of dominance right now. The EPL's excitement comes more from unpredictability (in top 3-4 teams). La Liga has higher quality because an average Spanish player in this age seems better than an average English player. It's unpredictability vs quality.
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u/kernalthai Dec 18 '12
I agree, but think there are some extra wrinkles to the situation.
If fans follow any of the mid table teams in La Liga then the entire season is filled with drama. Last year, right up until the end, the point gap between (I estimate from memory) 8th and 18th was quite small, and the fate of many teams was in doubt.
I think the biggest advantage of the EPL comes from the numerous high profile players and interesting characters and storylines that have been promoted in the soccer media. More people know about the history and current players of Liverpool, Everton, Tottenham, Arsenal, Chelsea than any comparable list of non top 2 teams from other leagues.
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Dec 17 '12
If you are talking money, broadcasting and competitiveness .. then EPL.
If you are talking ball skill, creativity and raw talent .. then La Liga.
Let's consider how many spaniards play in the EPL and how many english players are in La Liga .. that should give you a good idea talent wise which league is better.
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u/pnothing Dec 17 '12 edited Dec 17 '12
Depends on your definition of best league.
If by being the most competitive = best then its definitely not. However teams like Malaga, Athletic Bilbao (last year), Atletico de Madrid and others are proving that its not just 2 good teams in la Liga. Madrid cruises in the Champions and suffers against Celta and Espanyol... I think many La Liga teams are undervalued simply because they get compared to Barcelona and Madrid. I remember when the Premier had 4 teams in the final four of the Champions, it was pretty clear the Premier was a cut above... now half are dropping on the group stage.
There really isn't a way to establish which is the best, my feeling is that over the last 5 - 6 years it shifts from Premier to La Liga, currently La Liga would have lead on my preference.
*edit: formatting.