Here’s a look into how La Liga transformed into the well-acclaimed league we all know today.
La Liga is one of the most entertaining leagues in the world as it has its fair share of fun and drama. Over the last 20 years, we have seen a whole lot of world-class goals and nail-biting matches take place in La Liga. Clubs like FC Barcelona and Real Madrid have always been two of the best clubs in the history of football by winning an astounding number of trophies between each other. We have also witnessed, arguably the biggest individual rivalry in football, Lionel Messi vs Cristiano Ronaldo unfold through one of world football’s biggest fixtures of El Clasico.
1999-2003
During these five years, we saw four different La Liga winners. These are Barcelona in 1999, Deportivo in 2000, Valencia in 2002 and Real Madrid in both 2001 and 2003. In 1999, Barcelona won under their manager Louis Vann Gal and Real Madrid won both the years in large part of their star player Raul. Both Deportivo and Valencia were teams which had the potential to become a great club. This period of time was dominated by Real Madrid as they won two trophies which were the highest at that time period.
Raul (photo, essentiallysports.com)
2004-2008
This time, Valencia won a trophy and both Barcelona and Real won two each. Blaugrana cruised to win two back to back titles in the year 2005 and 2006 because of their star goal scorer Samuel Eto. Los Blanco’s had two different managers and two different star players in the form of Ruud van Nistelrooy in 2007 and Raul in 2008 during their league champion runs. These years were not dominated by any one team as both Barca and Real share this phase equally.
2009-2013
This is the phase in which Barcelona conquered Real Madrid in La Liga. Barca won the trophy four times, and one trophy went to Real in 2012. During this time, Real had Jose Mourinho as their manager and star player Cristiano Ronaldo. Barca won from 2009-2012. All three La Liga cups were taken under their tactician Pep Guardiola, and Lionel Messi was their star who helped them win. Messi also won four consecutive Ballon d’Or awards during this time.
Messi vs Ronaldo captivated the likes of La Liga fans and helped the league transform into an ultra-competitive organization.
2014-2018
These five years were just like the last phase because Barcelona had dominated once again. The winners of these five years were Atletico Madrid in 2014, Real Madrid in 2017, and Barcelona in the years 2015, 2016 and 2018. Barcelona won three cups because of one-man wrecking crew Lionel Messi and Real won the cup in 2017 because of their man Ronaldo. Meanwhile, this phase was not good for Real Madrid in La Liga, but Ronaldo had a good time as he won four Ballon d’Or awards in this time period.
Conclusion
As we can see, Barcelona has dominated La Liga for the past 20 years by winning ten trophies to their name. Next up is Real Madrid with six trophies to their name, followed by Valencia with two, and both Deportivo along with Atletico Madrid gets one each. As we all know, Ronaldo left for Juventus at this summer which means Real Madrid isn’t the same dominant anymore. Barcelona fans will be happy that Real lost their star striker. Meanwhile, all the football fans will be sad as they cannot see the rivalry between two of the greatest players of all time ‘Messi vs Ronaldo’ and El Clasico would not be the same game anymore. The question is, can Real Madrid cope up with all this and win the league this year? Or, will Barcelona dominate once again?
I say, let’s wait and see.
