Although not as good as the Premier League in terms of commercial development, La Liga's European performance is the best of the five major leagues of this century, and Real Madrid has won the Champions League last year, eliminating Paris, Chelsea, Manchester City and Liverpool, becoming the king of the Most Expensive Cup in recent years. In the early hours of this morning, La Liga fought three more matches. I brought you the preview of the third la Liga season yesterday and the fourth today.
Atletico Madrid
Simeone joined Atletico in December 2011 and has been in the blink of an eye for more than 10 years, during which time he led the team to two league titles, twice won the Europa League, and reached the Champions League final twice, allowing the once second-class citizens to rise again and participate in the Champions League every year. When talking about Atletico, the first thing that comes to mind is the team led by Simeone, who has left a deep imprint on the Sheets Army. Because of Simeone's great contribution, it is also reasonable for Atletico to offer him the highest salary of a football coach today.
Simeone failed to lead the team to defend his title last season, but still successfully qualified for the Champions League. Suarez left the team this summer, Griezmann renewed the loan, and the front line did not change much. Atletico brought in the 22-year-old Brazilian Bianrino from the Portuguese Super League's Giverzione, who was extremely fast and technically good, but Atletico quickly changed hands and leased him to Valencia. The Team's biggest addition is Argentina international right-back Molina, who played for Udinese in Serie A last season and atletico paid a €20 million transfer fee. In addition, Witzel joined as a free agent, and in La Liga, which is not so focused on confrontation, the Belgian back has a lot of residual heat to play, and the national team teammate Carrasco can help him integrate into the team faster. In Macca's forecast, Argentine defender Najuan Perez, who returned from Udinese on loan, is expected to be among the starting points.
Overall, atletico's squad this season is still good, after all, Morata and Saul have returned to the team on loan, and the quality and number of midfield players are close to the top. The problem is at the back, and now Atletico's defense is no match for its heyday. Portugal's golden boy Felix performed decently last season, but there is still a lot of room for improvement, and if Simeone can activate him further, Atletico's ceiling will be higher. In addition, according to Barca's loan terms, if Griezmann's appearance at Atletico exceeds 50% this season, Atletico will need to buy out the Frenchman for 40 million euros. Griezmann was in poor form last season, with a long-standing goal drought for both club and national teams. However, atletico's locker room firmly believes: "This will be a year for Griezmann.
Starting lineup predictions for the new season:
Royal Betis
Betis finished with 65 points last season, ranking 5th in the table. In the Copa del Rey in Spain, veteran coach Pellegrini led the team to the final, and in the case of a 1-1 draw in regular time, they won 5-4 in the penalty shootout, which was their first time since the 2004-05 season. At the end of last year, Betis had already renewed his contract with Pellegrini for 2025. "Peggy" has coached big teams such as Real Madrid and Manchester City, and his arrival has allowed Betis to improve every year, ensuring the lower limit of the team.
In this summer's transfer market, Betis has three signings, including 10 million euros to buy out Brazilian center Willem José, who played in the team on loan last season and has performed well enough to start with Iglesias. The other two newcomers are also Brazilians, of which Luis Henrik is a right winger who has transferred from Fluminense for a transfer fee of 8 million euros, Luis Felipe has played for Lazio in Serie A, this summer is a free agent to bet Betis, in a series of warm-up matches, he has become the main center-back. The departed personnel are not very important, the former golden boy Terro has not much surplus value, and the Mexican genius Lemnes has not been able to prove himself, and can only move to the Portuguese Premier League.
With the strength of Betis's squad, there is a chance to impact the Champions League qualification, after all, last season was only 5 points away, but multi-line combat needs to make trade-offs.
Starting lineup predictions for the new season:
Athletic Bilbao
Athletic Bilbao had a mediocre record last season, and it was precisely because it was too mediocre that Marcelino, who led the team to the Spanish Super Cup, received an eviction order. The new manager of the "Basque Lions" is valverde, who is familiar to everyone, and he has been idle at home since leaving Barca, which is also the third time in his career to coach Athletic Bilbao, the previous two periods were 2003-2005 and 2013-2017. In addition, in the latest presidential election, Uriad won, becoming the 35th president in the history of the team in 124 years.
Over the past five seasons, Athletic Bilbao has averaged just 1.08 goals per game, too bland and lacking box office appeal. Valverde's last two games in charge of the Basque Lions are still good, which has left him with a good reputation in Bilbao. Main striker Inaki Williams will represent Ghana at the World Cup in Qatar in November, and he has only been selected for the Spanish national team once, playing a friendly match, so Williams decided to "change the court".
In the transfer market, Athletic Bilbao is also very Buddhist, they only have a new signing from striker Guruzeta, or from La Liga side Amorebieta, joining as a free agent. The departure of Unai López, Vicente, Cordoba and Ezkita had little impact on the team. Whether the Basque team can shine in the new season depends on how Valverde, a vegetable farmer, operates.
Starting lineup predictions for the new season:
Getafe
Getafe's start to a losing streak last season made them favourites for relegation early, and then Real Madrid star Michel was dismissed, and Flores, an old acquaintance of the Chinese Super League, took office, and then he led the team to 39 points, only 1 point higher than the relegation zone, thrilling relegation. Due to his outstanding performances during the second half of last season's loan spell, Getafe bought out homegrown striker Mayoral from Real Madrid for €10 million this summer. Since Getafe is also a team in the Madrid metropolitan area, their relationship with Real Madrid has always been very good, and there is a lot of personnel exchange. In addition, Getafe has also brought in Miria and Duarte from relegated Granada, and loaned winger Porto from Real Sociedad, and the strength of the three lines has improved to a certain extent.
For Flores, he needs to determine the starting lineup as soon as possible, after all, many of the new players have the ability to enter the starting lineup, such as Duarte, Porto, as well as Angelari and Cevane on the left. Compared with last season, Getafe's side attack this season is more worth looking forward to. Turkish striker Yunar scored 16 goals last season, setting a career-best stat. It is worth mentioning that The Alfonso Perez Stadium, the home of Getafe, is the youngest home stadium in La Liga, and it was only completed in 1998. Personnel-wise, Getafe has more relegation capital this season and can even fantasize about reaching the top half of the table, with Flores' use of players becoming key.
Starting lineup predictions for the new season:
Mallorca
Mallorca beat Osasuna in the final round last season to avoid the "one-year tour" like the last promotion, and Mexico's veteran Aguirre took up fire fighting success in the middle. After joining on loan during the winter break, Kosovo centre-forward Mulic scored five goals and assisted three times, making him the team's number one contributor to relegation. This summer, the Island team spent 7.7 million euros to buy the Kosovars out of Lazio. In addition, they have also brought in four new signings, Nameo, Rajkovic, Batalha and Kopet, all of whom are expected to enter the starting line-up, of which Mafio, like Muric, also performed well on loan last season, bought out for 3 million euros this summer.
Mallorca has always had the problem of home strength and weak away from home, they rely too much on home to grab points, if they can not improve their away performance, Mallorca's road to relegation this season is still difficult. It has to be said that Mallorca's home stadium is in a state of transformation, can not sell tickets at 100% capacity, the home atmosphere will be affected to a certain extent. South Korean genius Lee Gang-jin is not young, after the departure of Jiu Jianying, he will get more playing time, if you can control his temper and adjust his mentality, the Performance of the South Korean midfielder in the World Cup year is worth looking forward to.
Elche
Elche was magically promoted through the play-offs as the 6th in La Liga, and as a result, they were able to relegate for two consecutive seasons, which was impressive, and last season the team finally ranked 12th, and head coach Francisco was indispensable. The Elche team has a large number of Argentine players, including famous players such as Pastore. This summer, Elche and Pastore renewed their contracts for a year. At the same time, they also brought in a full-fledged striker Pons from Spartak Moscow in the Russian Premier League for a transfer fee of 4 million euros. Another new signing is full-back Claire, who joined as a free agent from relegated Levante.
After years of hard work in Europe, Argentine winger Piatti returned to the Argentine league to play, leaving this summer with Custol, Barragan, Salinas and Casilla, among which goalkeeper Caliscia, who was once selected for the Spanish national team, was on loan from Leeds United and returned to his home team on loan. One of the hidden dangers of Elche is that the average age of the team is large, and they are tied with Sevilla for the highest of the season (28.6 years). On January 2 next year, Elche will celebrate its centenary, so the performance of this season is very important.