La Liga 2022-23

CharltonMadrid

Thought I'd set up the annual thread for this as there's normally a decent amount of interest on here. 

Started last night with a surprising win for Osasuna over Sevilla and the rest of the matches are on this weekend and Monday.

Predictions/who are you rooting for?

ricky_otto

Always Valencia for me - have been to the Mestalla 5 times.  Unfortunately their squad is looking very weak. Don’t think they will make top 10 again, and maybe not even improve on the 13th place finish last season. 

sam3110

With the squad they've amassed, if they're actually allowed to play, Barca should win the league at a relative canter 

CharltonMadrid

Hoping that Atletico Madrid can put up another challenge to the big two. Their football has been pretty poor in the last years but their fans are amazing. Other than them I always like to see Real Betis do well as they are another team with brilliant fans and atmosphere at their games.

Chris_from_Sidcup

Barcelona should get the title back this year, their squad and strength in depth is ridiculous now.

Chris_from_Sidcup

Arnau, Pique, Sergi Roberto, de Jong, Kessie, Pjanic, Ansu Fati, Ferran Torres, Depay, Aubameyang.

That's their BENCH for tonights game.

CharltonMadrid

Barcelona couldn't beat Rayo Vallecano tonight, who are run on a total shoestring and all their summer signings were free transfers. 

Chris_from_Sidcup

CharltonMadrid said:

Barcelona couldn't beat Rayo Vallecano tonight, who are run on a total shoestring and all their summer signings were free transfers. 

Amazing how a team can look so good in pre-season then play like total strangers once the season starts. First Man Utd then Barcelona. Very disjointed performance from them and they could even have lost at the end but the Rayo goal was just offside.

I still think they win the league though, purely because it's a long season and they have the squad depth. Once they hit their stride they'll be tough to beat.

ken_shabby

Sod Barcelona. Desperately trying to push players out the door as they won't take a pay cut, at the same time Barça spend on a new squad. No cost cutting on the budget. De Jong being told his transfer 'may be illegal' and should renounce the money the club owe him.
If what I am hearing about all this is true. Barça should go straight to tier 4 as Rangers did. But the Spanish FA won't have the cojones to do that so Barça continue to behave as they want.

Chris_from_Sidcup

So as we know Barcelona couldn't register Jules Kounde for the weekend and need to either ship someone out or reduce the salaries of existing players. Wasn't a major issue as Kounde wasn't match fit and likely wouldn't have played anyway.

However it turns out they've asked Gerard Pique to agree to a reduction of his wages, so that will help them to register Kounde.........who once registered will probably then play in Pique's place. Over to you Gerard!

cafctom

Saw a tweet earlier that said that the 18 La Liga clubs besides Barca/Real Madrid have spent a combined amount of 4.7m EUR in the window.

Nottingham Forest alone have spent £112m

CharltonMadrid

Two wins out of two for Real Betis, and it would be great to see them have another good season after finishing fifth last year.

ken_shabby

I'm not a huge Betis fan, although in the town I live in, they are the big choice after the two Catalans, Barça and Espanyol. They seem to capture the Andaluz exiles much more than Sevilla. But La Liga badly needs some competition to chase down the two millionaire clubs, so I hope they can mingle with the big guns this year.

Chaz Hill

ken_shabby said:

I'm not a huge Betis fan, although in the town I live in, they are the big choice after the two Catalans, Barça and Espanyol. They seem to capture the Andaluz exiles much more than Sevilla. But La Liga badly needs some competition to chase down the two millionaire clubs, so I hope they can mingle with the big guns this year.

Talking of Andalusian teams, sad to see my local team Granada relegated last year. Mind you a couple of local derby matches with Malaga coming up.

CharltonMadrid

Atletico Madrid lost at home to Villarreal last night - Real Madrid and Barcelona aren't going to drop many points so this result will probably be costly in their challenge for the title even though it's so early in the season. 

After two games the teams with a 100% record are Real Madrid, Villarreal, Real Betis and Osasuna.

Hoping to get to a few games this season of the Madrid teams including the ones in the lower leagues

CharltonMadrid

Betis beat Osasuna last night - three wins out of three for them.

CharltonMadrid

Horrific start for Cadiz: lost again last night so it's now four games, four losses, goals scored 0, conceded 10. One of my neighbours is a Cadiz fan and he said he's certain they'll go down this year. Shame, as they're a likeable club from one of the great cities of Spain.

stackitsteve

Madrid derby live on ITV4 in 40 minutes

Chris_from_Sidcup

Laughable really. Couldn't pay their players about a month ago and now........

Barcelona recorded a profit of £86m for the last financial year and expect to make a £240m profit next year, the club has announced.

This summer the Spanish club were unable to register new players because of La Liga financial regulations having made a loss of £422m in the previous year.

However, they freed up funding with several 'economic levers' and closed the 2021-22 financial year with a turnover of £890m.

The 'levers' have involved selling shares of their future television rights and their media production unit Barca Studios.

Chris_from_Sidcup

Last night for the first time in their 121 year history Real Madrid played without a single Spaniard in the starting lineup. And they lost.

Covered End

Athletico Madrid v Barcelona 8pm ITV4

Chris_from_Sidcup

What were you doing at the age of 15?

Lamine Yamal last night became the youngest player ever to appear for Barcelona, aged 15 years and 290 days.