Spanish teams may have been knocking English teams out of Europe this season but challenging the Premier League in Asia is a much tougher prospect. La Liga has talked before of making inroads in the east and, like a young Rocky Balboa, it is ready to do whatever it takes to knock the grizzled No 1 off its perch.
Despite the PR overdrive it will be tough for a league that has always appealed more in the Americas than Asia but, with varied strategies that do not depend on the tired route‑one tactic of sending glamour teams east every other summer, La Liga’s approach is almost tiki-taka‑esque.
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Barça and Madrid are perhaps the two biggest clubs in the world but are seen almost as separate from La Liga itself
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