La Liga Season Preview: Will it be Barcelona or Real Madrid for the Spanish title this term?

It's our La Liga Season Preview, with Spanish football raring to go for another wild few months of excitement.

Last time around, it was Barcelona who stole the crown back from Real Madrid and both sides look poised for another big year again. But of course, that's just the tip of the iceberg with several other strong Spanish giants ready to rip up the script this time around. 

What can we expect? Michael Yokin takes a closer look at what's shaping up to be a thrilling ride in Spanish football. 

So, what’s new in La Liga?

Well, Barcelona are the new reigning champions and now the team to beat.

Just when it looked like Real Madrid would dominate for a few years at least, after winning the Liga title and Champions League in 2022, the financially-stricken Catalans roared back to win the league by a margin of 10 points, conceding just 20 goals – a club record for a 38-game season. Barça are the third different champions in three years, after Atletico Madrid’s triumph in 2021. Such unpredictability has made La Liga intriguing, even if the standard of play isn’t quite what it used to be. 

Meanwhile, Granada, Las Palmas and Alaves have been promoted from the second tier – the latter thanks to a 129th-minute penalty, awarded after a VAR check in the second leg of their play-off final against Levante. Eesh.

Major storylines

The older generation continues to leave the league – both Clasico rivals lost major stars who seemed to be eternal. Gerard Pique retired in November, before Barcelona also bid goodbye to Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba in May. Karim Benzema surprisingly left Real Madrid for Saudi Arabia a year before his contract was due to expire this summer, while hopes of Lionel Messi’s return didn’t happen either – the Argentine has joined Inter Miami, unable to return to Barça because of their financial restrictions. 

All that means few of the previous decade’s heroes remain – and how each club adjusts will be crucial. Alejandro Balde has already displaced Alba at the Camp Nou, while Vinicius has become the main star at the Bernabeu after Benzema’s exit. Los Blancos also made a swift move to recruit 33-year-old Joselu on loan from Espanyol – once a fairly underwhelming forward for Stoke and Newcastle (with 10 goals in 68 Premier League appearances), now a Spain regular who’s netted three times in four games since his international debut in March. 

If last season’s top two falter, Atletico Madrid could pounce: Antoine Griezmann was arguably the best player in the league in 2022/23, with 15 goals and 16 assists. Remarkably, the Frenchman has never won the league title – could he lead Diego Simeone’s troops to another sensational triumph? At the other end, Valencia will hope for a season of improvement – they survived a mad six-way fight to avoid relegation on the final day of last season, as did Celta Vigo, who’ve recruited Rafa Benitez as boss following the summer exit of Carlos Carvalhal.

Star arrivals

Jude Bellingham looks set to be La Liga’s most important signing this summer, after Real Madrid fought off extensive competition for the 20-year-old midfielder who could become a leader for Los Blancos almost instantly. Barcelona’s new midfield star is much older, but 32-year-old Ilkay Gundogan could prove just as key. Few players opt to leave Manchester City when they’re still wanted by Pep Guardiola – will his move pay off?

Surprise potential

Villarreal finished last season brightly, winning 10 of their last 16 fixtures under the astute guidance of attack-minded coach Quique Setien, formerly of Barcelona. The Yellow Submarine have two magnificent local academy prodigies in the form of 22-year-old Alex Baena and 20-year-old Yeremy Pino – the sky’s the limit for Villarreal’s potential... if they can manage to prevent Spain’s richer clubs from dismantling their squad

Look out for…

Caglar Soyuncu was once considered one of the top young centre-backs in Europe at Freiburg and then Leicester, but his reputation has taken a hit in a trying couple of years. After the Foxes’ relegation, though, the 27-year-old Turk joined Atletico Madrid on a free transfer this summer, aiming for redemption.

More Season Previews

FourFourTwo have season previews for plenty of other leagues too, including the Premier League, where we rate each of England's top 20 clubs in detail.

Our Ligue 1 Season Preview looks at whether Paris Saint-Germain's stranglehold on French football will continue, while our Bundesliga Season Preview poses a similar question of Bayern Munich and German football. In Italy, it’s a wide-open race between the top teams as we delve deep with our Serie A Season Preview and in Spain, we assess whether Barcelona or Real Madrid will come out on top in our La Liga Season Preview.

We also have the Championship season preview, the League One season Preview and the League Two Season Preview for you to get stuck into.