
Reporter Han Bing reported that there was no C. Ronaldo, Ramos, no Messi, Neymar, the former "wingman" Benzema became the standard-bearer, leading Real Madrid to win the derby in the derby, riding a cliff ... Near the halfway point of La Liga, Ancelotti's side has almost completely killed the championship suspense. It seems that the imperial horse should be celebrated, but in fact, this advantage based on the overall decline of the "Western Super" competitors has highlighted the once indispensable "Western Super League", and now it is depressed and lonely.
In la Liga in 2021/22, the first leg of the Madrid derby, the Bernabeu stadium fluttered snowflakes, more like an elegy of the "Western Super League era". The Madrid derby, once representing the highest level in Europe, is now just a La Liga level match. Barca missed the Champions League after 18 years, and Atletico's last game was reversed by luck to not "relegate" the Europa League with Barca. From starlight to squad strength to off-court influence, the "Western Super League", which won the Champions League for 7 champions leagues in the 10 years from 2009 to 2018, has completely come to an end.
Without the competition between Barca and Atletico Madrid at the level of the "Western Super League", Real Madrid's lack of competitiveness this season is the success of Real Madrid and the failure of the "Western Super League". Barca have begun a Havis-led reconstruction, and Atletico are still hesitating whether to end Simeone's 10-year-long aesthetic fatigue. As for Real Madrid, can Perez's lone courage to be the enemy of the world because of the European Super League really usher in the future for the "Western Super League"?
The "Western Super League" declined, leaving only La Liga
2-0 in the derby light rivals Atletico Madrid, Ancelotti's Real Madrid has led Sevilla 1 game ahead of Sevilla 8 points, Atletico Madrid 13 points, Barca 18 points, basically locked up the half-way championship, and there is almost no suspense in winning the La Liga title this season. But unlike the familiar "Western Super League" in the past 10 years, Real Madrid's title rivals are actually Sevilla duo, not Barca and Atletico Madrid, who once monopolized the Champions League and La Liga. The collective regression of the top three of the "Western Super League" to La Liga level is a cruel reality that everyone has to accept.
The end of the "Western Super League era" is actually not the beginning of this season, but the existence of Messi before can still make the "Western Super League" barely retain face. The COVID-19 pandemic has devastated the entire European football industry, with Barca being the "richest man in the world" being the first to be crushed: saddled with a huge debt of 1.3 billion euros and a loss of 480 million euros last season. Atletico owes €1 billion and loses €76 million. Only Real Madrid were in a slightly better financial position, but their revenues plummeted by 300 million euros.
The top three are no longer rich, and the loss of stars has accelerated the end of the "Western Super League". Today, Real Madrid ranks only 7th in the world, Atletico Madrid is 8th, Barca is 10th, Manchester City and Paris have become super giants worth 1 billion euros, Manchester United and Chelsea are also in the 900 million euro range, and the "Western Super League" top three are only in the 700 million euro range. Although the top three of the "Western Super League" are all trying to sign superstars to maintain "super-first-class", in the past few years, the trades of 3 billion-level superstars of Hazard, Griezmann and Felix have all failed. Correspondingly, La Liga teams have missed the Champions League final for three consecutive years.
This season, Real Madrid can soar in the league, and the background is not the "Western Super League" competition in the Mero era, but the "background" of Barca's full reconstruction of the coach and the decline in the quality of Atletico Madrid's defense. The outbreak of 33-year-old Benzema and 21-year-old Vinicius is enough to allow Real Madrid to establish an unshakable advantage, which shows that the "Western Super League" is as bad as it is. Billionaires Bale, Hazard, Felix and Griezmann have all performed disappointingly, with Barca missing the Champions League knockout rounds after 18 years, with Atletico losing just four games last season and three in just 16 rounds this season. Conceded 18 goals in 16 rounds, three times more than in the same period last season!
The last time the "Western Super League" top three encountered such a strong challenge from the "La Liga" team, it was the distant 2003/04 season, which was also the latest time that the "Western Super League" top three fell to the La Liga championship. Although Real Madrid will most likely win the title easily this season, the reality is too similar to 18 years ago. That was the era of La Liga, not the era of the Western Super League.
The "Western Super League" came to an end, and the epidemic was not the culprit
Without contrast, there is no harm. The Premier League has just signed a six-year, €2.2 billion U.S. broadcast contract, while La Liga has only finalized a domestic broadcast contract totaling €4.95 billion over the next five years, less than €1 billion per season. The Premier League alone will be able to earn nearly 4 billion euros a year in overseas broadcast fees in the next three years, which is 4 times the domestic broadcast fee in La Liga! Starting from C. Ronaldo, in recent years, La Liga has been losing top stars, and the competitiveness of the "Western Super League" top three has been declining. Before the outbreak of the new crown epidemic, the top three of the "Western Super League" had reached the point where they needed to borrow debt to buy superstars, and the new crown epidemic only completely exposed the real financial crisis of the top three.
Without the "Western Super" of C. Ronaldo, Messi and Neymar, can it still be called "Western Super"? Obviously not. What's more, Bale and Hazard are still on the bench, and Griezmann, Felix and Suarez have only played the equivalent of 100. With such a low-quality league, why is it that Real Madrid leads? Atletico had to join the Professional League to lead a loan agreement to mortgage the next 50 years of business income to Citibank to survive. Barca, who at first refused to join like Real Madrid, can now only bow their once invincible heads and try to sign an agreement to solve the urgent need.
Even Real Madrid, which is easily leading the way due to the failure of competitors, dragged down by the renovation of the stadium and the sharp decline in revenue caused by the epidemic, can only wait until next summer to try to sign Mbappe, Pogba, Rudiger for free, and Haaland, whose liquidated damages have dropped to 75 million. Starting from Neymar, the "Western Super League" has been constantly "blood loss", C. Ronaldo, J. Ronaldo, Messi, Ramos, Varane, Artur, Rodri, Lucas, Saúl, Thomas have left, most of which have been poached by the Premier League. In the past three years, the Premier League giants have won the Champions League twice in the past three years, and have reached the final five times in the past four years, completely replacing the previous 10-year span of the "Western Super League" era.
The "European Super League" plan has triggered an earthquake in European football, but this plan is not the result of a "sharp turn" in the brains of Perez and his partners after the arrival of the epidemic. In fact, Perez has long realized that even in the era of "Western Super League", Real Madrid cannot completely overwhelm the world influence of the Super League powers, and perhaps the "European Super League" plan is the way to make Real Madrid and "Western Super" truly integrate with the Premier League.