A rough measure one can use to compare clubs playing in the same league is to see how many points separate two clubs. If the points difference between two clubs that have played the same number of games is six points or more, one can claim that the two clubs are involved in different mini-leagues. So even though the team that is ranked seventh is only one place ahead of the one in eighth, the latter might not catch the former for quite some time if they are two wins behind.
One can easily notice two mini-leagues in any league table, oftentimes three. The top three or four clubs race away from the pack; there won’t be much that separates the next six or eight teams, and the rest are fighting to avoid relegation.
This season’s Premier League is remarkable in that when divided broadly, the first six teams, as against the usual Big Four, can be taken as one mini-league. Of course, Man United, potentially on 59 points, are almost 20 points ahead of Everton at sixth. Clearly though, United are battling in a two-team league involving themselves and Liverpool, but there isn’t much daylight between Liverpool and Aston Villa, and Villa and Chelsea. The bottom 14 teams are only separated by 12 points, which makes the dogfight to avoid the drop even more interesting. A couple of wins for West Brom, combined with favorable results, can propel them into the zone of assumed safety.
The Primera Liga though is fascinating in a peculiar way. If one used the metric defined above, one will find three mini-leagues, but then they are: Barcelona (with 59 points) in a league of one, second-placed Real Madrid (with 48 points) in a league of one, and the other 18 teams playing in their own league. Stats don’t lie. Barca’s goal difference of 52 (68F; 16A) is just short of that of the next 5 teams put together, or three times Real’s.
In a way the gulf in class between the teams competing in a league is an indicator of how entertaining it is. Apologists for the Liga do not have much to offer other than the sublime skills of Leo Messi or the occasional great save that Casillas pulls off. While the best of the Premier League compares about the same with the best of the Liga, beyond the top two, the Liga cannot be claimed as engaging when the top two are not playing, and not as competitive even when they are playing one of the bottom-half sides. The same however cannot be said of the Premier League. Which closes shut the argument about the best football league in the world.
(The apologists don’t stop there. They claim that Everton cannot match Sevilla or Valencia in Europe, so the Liga is better. Wake up. You are lumping the top four teams in England together, and your answer for that is only the top two teams in Spain. And given Real’s dismal European exits over the past so many seasons, Spain’s adventures in Europe are limited to those of one club from Catalonia.)
However, one cannot fault Barcelona for the incompetence of the rest. Not even a fool can gainsay that a club that averages three goals every game is ordinary. A couple of years ago, when Roger Federer was the master of all he surveyed, the familiar argument was to decide if he was indeed the greatest tennis player ever. Inconclusive as such arguments always turn out to be, they also generated an important takeaway, namely other comparable greats — Pete Sampras, for example — had to overcome much more formidable opponents.
And so it is, the truth of whether Barcelona are indeed the best team in Europe will only be known when they clash with the Premier League’s heavyweights in the Champions League. Whatever the result of those titanic tussles might be, Barca’s prowess alone does not make the Primera Liga the best. The more competitive English Premier League remains the greatest show on earth.
Related posts:
- El clásico… de la humillaciónEl clásico, the Real Madrid – Barcelona derby turned out to be a total humiliation for Real Madrid today, as...
- Federico MachedaIt has been four years and four weeks since I last let out a sore-throat-inducing “Wow” when watching a goal....
- How Barcelona were beatenManchester United beat Arsenal 1-0 at home tonight in the first leg of their Champions League semifinal courtesy of a...
Tags: Aston Villa, Barcelona, Chelsea, Everton, Iker Casillas, Lionel Messi, Liverpool, Manchester United, mini-leagues, Pete Sampras, Premier League, Primera Liga, Real Madrid, Roger Federer
Srinivas on 
brd on 
March 2nd, 2009 at 3:42 am
What a waste of time. Please let me know your views NOW on league of 1, 2, 3 etc to decide which league is better.
At the moment I agree that EPL top 4 are bossing Europe. But this I think is just a phase as you had the spanish leagues bossing Europe in the begining of the decade.
In terms of which is the best league, please watch yesterday’s Barcelona vs. Atletico Mardid match and only then pass your comments.
Peace.
March 2nd, 2009 at 8:25 pm
Dude, you have totally missed the point of the post.
I did watch Atletico v/s Barca, and was rooting for Atletico. And yes, it was a very good game. But you forget (rather conveniently, perhaps) that it was a game between side #1 and side #5. That such a game should be interesting is a no-brainer. But one swallow does not make a summer. I could use the same logic and claim that the English league is way better because Stoke came back from two goals down to draw at Villa, despite the gulf in class (and points) between the two sides.
(Incidentally, the opening up of the Liga is not because suddenly the other sides have started playing better. It is because Barcelona, who shipped an incredible four goals, have had a slump in form.)
Yes, it is a just a phase, a longish one perhaps. But that is all I have claimed too. If I had hinted at the English league being the greatest ever since Adam was a boy, you are justified in questioning my intelligence or the raison d’etre of this post.
March 3rd, 2009 at 6:12 am
You said that the gulf in class (as indicated by the points differential) is an indicator of how exciting the league is. You just plucked out a point in time (conviniently, may I say) to justify that Spanish league is not as “entertaining” as epl.
My point is may be the quality of 1 to 20 of EPL is higher than the respective ones of spain. May be. But from a entertainment point of view, week in week out Spain is much better. Either way the stat you pulled out just says nothing (and even if it did, look at the league tables now the conclusions can be completely different supporting my stand.)
Also, it rarely works that when top teams meet the football is entertaining. And nothing personal man, I guess we would beg to differ. Thats all from me here.