Star Wars, Spanish Version: The World Champion's League Gets Underway
Barcelona is counting on Rodri and the generation of stars from the World Cup, but is stuck without a striker. Real Madrid has brought back Mourinho to bring order to the locker room and, above all, to turn Mbappe from a goal-scoring machine into a trophy-winning machine. After the national team conquered the world, the two giants of La Liga will not only fight for the crown of Spain — they are coming to topple PSG from the European throne. And as usual, Simeone's Atletico is lurking in the background.
The league of the world champion returns. The players who dominated the World Cup, who demonstrated supreme tactical ability and optimal efficiency — what a celebration to get at the start on Saturday evening with Alaves against Getafe. Barcelona and Real Madrid fans will have to wait another week. That's how it is when squads are full of players who have gone through a busy summer, and the league does everything to please the big ones and gives them a little more air. When they take the field, we will get a very special championship struggle. This summer, more than ever, Barca and Real have committed to the path that distinguishes them, and they are going with it to the end. Possession of the ball in Hansi Flick's fast version against the scouting of young stars and the discipline that will be imposed on the veteran stars by Jose Mourinho. One line of thought will win in the local arena, two lines will try to oust PSG from the European crown.
Expensive bet
Barcelona's preparations for the season were based on three major moves it planned: one that was completed quickly, one that is about to be implemented, and one that failed. It may be that it will pay dearly precisely for the deal that did not succeed for it. First of all, even before the World Cup, Barca surprised when it pulled out 80 million euros to acquire Anthony Gordon from Newcastle for the left wing of the attack. This is a very expensive bet for a team that does not have infinite resources: Gordon showed at the World Cup all his sides on the way to the third place of the Three Lions, from speed and technique that create goals to a tendency to disappear, instability, and problematic decision-making. At the age of 25, he will play for the first time in a club of this scale, and it is not certain that what he did in the seniors in the uniforms of Newcastle and Everton justifies such a price tag. The main point of weakness is the numbers, but he is exactly the profile of player that Flick is looking for.
The truly essential deal is the approaching signing of Rodri. He is awe-inspiring. Brought a treble to Manchester City, was the standout in Spain's Euro 2024 win, was sidelined for eight months due to injury, rehabilitated and returned like new to pick up another MVP title on the way to lifting the World Cup. 30 is not a kid, but his quiet dominance decides competitions. Although he is a product of the youth departments of Villarreal and Atletico Madrid, and Real Madrid was eager to sign him, Rodri is tailor-made for Barca. His combination with team players like Lamine Yamal and Pedri in the national team is organic, and there will be no need to struggle to get him into the mix. Moreover, Rodri has exhausted himself at Manchester City and wants to move to Barcelona. Barca's first offer, 45 million euros, was rejected immediately. The second offer stands at 60 million. In all likelihood, by the end of the transfer window, this will be closed, with the delay mainly related to City's attempts to replace Rodri with Enzo Fernandez from Chelsea (which demands 130 million euros).
But the flagship deal of the summer went down the drain, and this is a blow to Barcelona. As much as it tried, as much as it offered, as much as Julian Alvarez pressured Atletico — in Madrid they were not ready to hear about it at all. This caught Barca by surprise: in the club they were sure that in the end Atletico would fold, but they were forced to come to terms with reality at a late stage and got stuck. Combined with Robert Lewandowski's move to the USA and the expected departure of Ferran Torres to PSG, Barcelona has no striker. There are many fantastic creators, there is no one to finish. Players like Raphinha, Yamal, and the acquisition Karim Adeyemi can try to fill the position, maybe the Spanish classic of a false striker will catch on, but it is hard to step into the shoes of two scorers who together scored 40 goals last season. The options: an improvisation of the last moment, because Alvarez was the only candidate, or hope that Alvarez will manage to force his sale in the next two weeks. The defense is also a problem, mainly on the left and in the position of the center-back next to Pau Cubarsi, but in the league, this weakness can be hidden. The thing is that Barcelona is already hungry for the European championship, 11 years have passed since the last lifting, and without more reinforcement in the right places, the chance is low. So 2011.
Mourinho's return
In the summer of a World Cup, other events in the football world naturally pale — so let's return for a moment to one of them so that we can truly digest: Mourinho is back at Real Madrid after 13 years. This is a sports delusion. His career has been deteriorating since he left the Bernabeu: Chelsea, Manchester United, Tottenham, Roma, Fenerbahce, Benfica, in all places he had very short flashes of success and mainly fights with the media and bad results. But Florentino Perez did not blink and paid Benfica 15 million euros to release the Portuguese from the contract and give him the keys. Does everything stem from the troubles he caused Real in the Champions League last year? It is likely that this has a certain part in the decision, but not a big one. Mourinho in the 63-year-old version is simply the right coach for the type of squad that has been built. Xabi Alonso arrived too arrogant, with new ideas and strict demands that did not go down well with the stars. The inexperienced Alvaro Arbeloa spent a quiet half-season without influence. Mourinho is a figure that inspires awe, and he will receive respect in the locker room. The club does not scare or pressure him, and he can bring order.
Mourinho's initial line is clear: 19-year-old Yan Diomande, the most expensive player in the club's history (140 million euros), joins Vinicius and Jude Bellingham who arrived before him at a young age and received the shell to become mega-stars, but to bring a new member to the trophy cabinet after two years of drought, first of all, stability is needed which experience brings in the back part. Defenders Marc Cucurella and Denzel Dumfries, alongside center-back Ibrahima Konate, upgrade the unit in front of Thibaut Courtois. Who adds seniority in the midfield is Bernardo Silva, who looks like a brilliant reinforcement. But the name we haven't mentioned yet is the most important. Kylian Mbappe arrives after another huge tournament, in which he became the top scorer of the World Cup of all time, and in a strange status. It is hard to ignore the fact that PSG has improved as a team and Real has become destabilized in the same sense since the French striker moved to Madrid, and Mourinho's main task will be translating Mbappe's output into results. In two years at the Bernabeu, Mbappe scored 86 goals, divided almost equally between the seasons — and nothing came of it. He excels on one hand and does not make the team better on the other. The connection is not entirely smooth, as if he is on a different professional plane compared to the rest of the players. Former French player Florentin Malouda told BoyleSports that the match is perfect:
"Mourinho and Mbappe think the same way, always want to prove they are the best, and their goals are identical. Mourinho knows he will have to initiate and maintain a relationship with Mbappe, and I believe he will try to build a system that revolves around him so that he leads the team".
There Real will be tested. No one there has patience for a season of building and rehabilitation, especially Perez, but the titles seem to depend on Mourinho's ability to turn Mbappe into a leader of a winning unit. All the tools for success are at the Bernabeu, but apart from European glory, there is one more thing that Real does better than everyone: self-destruction. Look who's back.
In the center of "all the rest" stands Atletico Madrid as an independent entity, barely tickling the giants and outperforming the rest of the rivals. It holds on to Julian Alvarez with its fingernails, and added three excellent players — midfielders Morten Hjulmand and Lee Kang-in, and above all the set-piece wizard, left-back Alex Grimaldo from Leverkusen. Villarreal and Betis finished last season with tickets to the Champions League, which should burden the short squads and hurt their results in the league. A Coruna returned after eight difficult seasons, in which it was on the verge of relegation to the fourth league, and also renewed itself with a name — A Coruna, in accordance with the local dialect. And the season will be opened by one Israeli, Tai Abed, who after half a year in which he almost did not see grass at Levante, will try to enter its regular rotation.
