Barcelona Rising
Barcelona surged to the La Liga title in club legend Xavi’s first full season at the helm as they finished well clear of defending champions and favourites Real Madrid. Ian Waterhouse analyses their success and paints the picture of 2022-23.
Real Madrid’s romp to the 2021-22 La Liga title coupled with a Barcelona financial crisis had many people predicting more of the same for the 2022-23 campaign. However, a clean sheet masterclass from Marc-Andre ter Stegen between the sticks for the Blaugrana, plenty of gifts from Antoine Greizmann for Atletico, the coming of age of Vinicius Junior for Real Madrid and a tense relegation fight that went to the last day meant most people’s pre-season predictions went a little wide of the mark. That is even before we have touched on two giants in Sevilla and Valencia falling from grace.
Chuck in a World Cup midway through the season and while we knew things were going to be a little chaotic, La Liga did not disappoint and as ever, all the drama began before a ball was even kicked.
Yes, the summer transfer window is a time for extravagance and none more so than for Barcelona, who despite hitting a financial mess which threatened their very existence, still managed to bring in the likes of Raphinha, Andreas Christensen, Franck Kessie, and Robert Lewandowski. The latter would unsurprisingly go on to end up with La Liga’s Golden Boot. And so, the season got underway without too many shocks as the trio of Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid resumed their usual positions in the top three. In the opening few months none gave much quarter in the battle at the summit until the first El Clasico of the season at the Santiago Bernabeu in October.
After 90 minutes of explosive action, it was the home side who emerged victorious to deliver the first real punch in the title fight. Karim Benzema, Federico Valverde, and a late Rodrygo penalty gave the hosts a 3-1 victory that many thought would prove to be the catalyst for a successful title defence. And so it looked for the next few games too, until Carlo Ancelotti’s men came up against a plucky Girona side who held them to a draw, before a trip to Rayo Vallecano, where they were stunned into a 3-2 defeat despite holding a 2-1 lead just minutes before the break.
This left a gap that Barcelona were determined to exploit, and manager Xavi would not allow his side to waste that opportunity. After that defeat to their great rivals in October, Barcelona would not go on to lose another league game until February 26 and a 1-0 defeat at Almeria. During that 13-game period, they picked up a remarkable 37 points out of a possible 39 and conceded only three goals as La Liga’s meanest defence proved almost impossible to break down.
Meanwhile, a disastrous run of three games prior to the World Cup followed by an equally poor three games just after the global showpiece for Atletico Madrid – in which they won just one game in six including a significant 1-0 home loss to Barcelona – saw Diego Simeone’s men in serious danger of slipping out of contention.
Atletico needed to do something special to make up ground and they delivered their own 13-game unbeaten run to remind everyone they were still a viable threat to the crown. Antoine Griezmann proved the assist king with a total of 16 – the highest of anyone in La Liga – and also proved he hasn’t lost his touch in front of goal either ending the campaign as Atletico’s top scorer with 15. However, that threat was finally extinguished by Barcelona on April 23 at the Camp Nou as a 44th minute Ferran Torres goal set the La Liga trophy on a trip to Catalonia.
Real Madrid’s stuttering form post World Cup only strengthened Barca’s claim on the title. Seven defeats in the 24 league matches after the resumption was not the kind of run any team can expect to endure and still have a realistic chance of winning one of Europe’s top leagues, and when you consider Ancelotti’s men only lost four times in their victorious 2021-22 campaign and once before the World Cup break this time around, suddenly, Los Blancos’ 2023 form has made for less than impressive reading.
After Barcelona triumphed 2-1 in the second Classico on March 19 with a dramatic Franck Kessie goal in stoppage time, it was clear that the title race was all but over. Such was their consistency, they were now able to simply ease their way to the crown and could afford to lose three of their last four matches, finishing with a 10-point cushion which could have been even more.
For Xavi, it capped a magnificent achievement to go with all the silverware he won with the club as a player. A veteran of over 700 games in the famous Barca strip, he has grasped the role of manager with both hands and taken his side to a first league title since 2019. Hero status was already assured for the 43-year-old but now his management exploits leave him veritably immortalised with the Catalan faithful.
The standout performer on the pitch was goalkeeper ter Stegen, who had a career best season, playing a major role in the club’s 26 clean sheets throughout the campaign. At the other end of the pitch, Robert Lewandowski wasn’t quite as free-scoring as he was accustomed to in the Bundesliga, but he was still the only man to net over 20 goals in La Liga in 2022-23, and received the Golden Boot with a personal haul of 23 – four clear of Benzema.
The young stars also continued to impress, with Pedri and Gavi gliding effortlessly through midfield on their way to the first league title of their careers, while Alejandro Balde made the left-back position his own as he was often preferred to the experience of Jordi Alba.
With the title sewn up, there was still a battle to join Barcelona, and the two Madrid giants at Europe’s top table next season with fourth spot literally worth its weight in gold, with clubs earning a startling fee of €15.64m for qualifying for the Champions League group stage.
The previous season it was European regulars Sevilla who ended in fourth, but this time they were nowhere to be seen. However, one side who appear to be on a continuous upward curve and took advantage of Sevilla’s and Valencia’s vanishing act is Real Sociedad.
After finishing sixth in 2021-22, the White and Blues went two better and a secured a top four finish by the comfortable margin of seven points from nearest rivals Villarreal. Just one defeat in their last nine La Liga matches saw Imanol Alguacil’s men sweep the opposition away, and all this was helped by a defensive record that was better than Real Madrid’s over the course of the season despite scoring just 51 goals across the 38 games.
Villarreal’s fifth place earned the Yellow Submarine a spot in next season’s Europa League along with Real Betis, while there was wild celebration for Osasuna on the final day of the season after beating Girona 2-1 at home, which meant they would finish seventh at the expense of Athletic Bilbao and earn themselves a European berth in the Conference League for next season. The surprise packages were newly promoted Girona, who faded after an outstanding start but still finished an impressive 10th.
As for Sevilla, there was still plenty to cheer, as despite battling relegation at one stage and ending a lowly 12th place, went on to win a record seventh Europa League title with a penalty shootout victory over Roma.
Even with Sevilla’s resurgence under coach José Luis Mendilibar, 2022-23 produced an extraordinary battle to stay in La Liga and it went right to the wire, with no fewer than six clubs – including a desperately struggling Valencia side – separated by just two points on the last day of the season and in danger of filling the final relegation place. In the end, Real Valladolid couldn’t get the win they needed and so went down to Segunda Division despite finishing with 40 points and a three-match unbeaten run that included a famous 3-1 victory over champions Barcelona.
Valencia’s fall from grace has been dramatic, as the former European heavyweights regularly found themselves in the drop zone during the season, only to find some elusive form during the run-in with only two defeats in the final nine games including a 1-1 draw with Real Betis which was enough for them to survive. Along with Ruben Baraja’s side, the likes of Almeria, Getafe, Cadiz, and Celta Vigo were all mighty relieved to stay up.
Valladolid, who are majority owned by former Brazil star Ronaldo, were joined by Espanyol and rock-bottom Elche in suffering relegation. The team from Alicante had an especially abysmal season which contained four separate head coaches as they won just five of their 38 La Liga fixtures and dropped out of the top-flight after three years.
