Real Madrid is the defending champ, but its Clásico counterpart is hogging the spotlight, and not always for the right reasons.
Not since Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo were sharing the Spanish spotlight did La Liga boast the game’s top two goalscorers, one at each of its marquee clubs. Robert Lewandowski’s move to Barcelona from Munich, coupled with Karim Benzema’s sustained prime at Real Madrid as he hits his mid-30s will lend a new layer to El Clásico, create a furious battle for the Pichichi and bring back eyeballs to a league whose stature has slipped some in the struggle for European and global dominance.
In theory, at least.
Barcelona’s season, after a preseason full of fanfare spanning from the United States to the Spotify Camp Nou (yes, that’s right), begins Saturday, a day after Sevilla and Osasuna raise the curtain for Spain’s top flight. And as of now, it’s anybody’s guess as to whether Lewandowski and any of the other club’s summer signings will actually be registered and eligible to play, despite club president Joan Laporta’s repeated public insistence that all is copacetic.
Barcelona’s summer has been akin to an individual posting images of glitz and glam to social media, when the reality is a far bleaker place. All of the shots of new players in Barça kits look great, as do the interviews and cliché statements of living the dream and restoring glory in Catalonia. The reality is that the club is still struggling to make ends meet, mortgaging its future and asking for handouts—again—from veteran players so it can sign new ones, all with the hopes of having its cake and eating it too.
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Barcelona recently sold 25% of its La Liga TV rights for the next 25 years for roughly $682 million and another 25% stake of its in-house production company, “Barça Studios,” for another $102 million. Those “economic levers,” as Laporta has repeatedly referred to them, are helpful for the immediate future, but still evidently not enough to overcome the financial mismanagement that has the club in this position to begin with, especially with La Liga’s strict financial parameters.
“The risk is under control,” Laporta said recently. “We need to save the club and have the possibility of bringing in new players.”
That’s certainly one way of looking at it. Despite boasting a strong young nucleus to build around and a returning group that still managed to finish second in Spain under Xavi last season, Barça overextended itself to add Lewandowski, Raphinha, Jules Koundé, Franck Kessié and Andreas Christensen and appears in line to land Marcos Alonso from Chelsea as well. Evidently that’s not enough, with talk of another expensive swoop—for Man City’s Bernardo Silva—also picking up steam. All of that expenditure, coupled with finding common ground with Ousmane Dembélé on a new deal, and those economic levers—which also included selling the club’s stadium naming rights—aren’t proving to be decisive enough. With days to go until the season, registration doesn’t appear to be as definitive as Laporta is making it seem.
It’s gotten to the point where the legality of some outrageous contracts previously handed out by the club is reportedly being contested. Frenkie de Jong is most prominently caught in the middle of it all. He claims he wants to stay put, and the club claims it wants him to remain as well, but an agreement with Man United for his transfer reached about a month ago would indicate otherwise. Facilitating his sale and clearing others off the books would go a long way, but just because Barça doesn’t like the signed contracts it gave out in the past doesn’t mean it can just make them go away, and just because certain players are vastly out-earning their production or their market value doesn’t mean Barça can jettison them at will. Barcelona may believe it’s too big to fail, but it can’t just punt on accountability for the good and glory of its reputation.
Then again, perhaps it’s just following the lead of its league. La Liga has become a safe haven for outlandish acts and accusations. The league itself wrote to UEFA and reportedly attempted to have PSG’s new contract with Kylian Mbappé annulled after he snubbed a summer move to Real Madrid in order to stay home, claiming financial improprieties that threatened the sustainability of the game. That’s a bit rich, considering what’s happening within the confines of its own constituents.
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And beyond all of this is the fact that no matter who is signed on and eligible to play for Barcelona this season, and at whatever cost, it’s still Madrid’s crown to lose. No, Mbappé didn’t arrive as had been long anticipated. But his countryman, Aurélien Tchouaméni, did, and between the 22-year-old former Monaco star and another rising French star, 19-year-old Eduardo Camavinga, there is a clear succession plan for the domestic and European champion in midfield, where Luka Modrić, Toni Kroos and Casemiro still roam for now. Defender Antonio Rüdiger arrived on a free transfer from Chelsea, and Brazilian wingers Vinícius Júnior and Rodrygo enter the new campaign with more seasoning and Champions League-winning experience under their belts. There’s a conversation to be had whether a Vinícius-Benzema-Rodrygo trio is far superior than a Raphinha-Lewandowski-Dembélé one—as long as the two new Barcelona additions are able to feature—but Carlo Ancelotti’s side should still be considered the team to beat.
Beyond the Clásico rivals, Atlético Madrid has endured a rather bland transfer window—Argentine right back Nahuel Molina is the big addition so far—while Sevilla has profited mightily after selling Koundé and Diego Carlos but could be worse off for it in the near term. Julen Lopetegui’s side turned to Galatasaray’s Marcão as its center back reinforcement, while hoping that a fresh environment will rejuvenate Isco, brought in on a free transfer from Real Madrid. Summer transfers have otherwise been rather unspectacular in Spain. In an outgoing move, Valencia sold Portuguese winger Gonçalo Guedes to Wolves on Monday for a fee reportedly in the $33 million range, but that won’t aid the club in improving its ninth-place finish from last season. It’s difficult to see any of last season’s other chief challengers such as Real Betis and Real Sociedad as having done enough to close the gap at the top.
Despite everything that’s occurred over the last couple of years, it is still very much a Barça/Madrid-dominated league. And while there are very few questions regarding the validity of the reigning champion’s credentials, there are a whole slew regarding its challenger, longtime nemesis and desperate adversary.
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