Looking at the top of the La Liga table it would be easy to fall into the same trap that so many casual observers of Spanish football do. That apart from Real Madrid and Barcelona there is little else of substance to get excited about in Spain and that in the words of one TalkSport presenter Danny Kelly, Spanish football is simply "Scottish football but with better weather". I would imagine that Kelly may have been sitting rather uncomfortably as five Spanish teams awaited their fate in the Champions League and Europa League draws whilst Chelsea traveled to Nyon as England's sole representatives. Now before people start preparing their counter arguments and responses, this article does not seek to compare and rank the two leagues or their differing approaches to football but more to argue that there is more to Spanish football than many would have you believe.
First and foremost the Europa League/Uefa Cup has always been treated as Europe's ugly duckling and unsurprisingly so. However regardless of the disinterest shown towards the competition over the years there is no doubting that in comparison the lesser teams of Spain have shown a far greater level of consistency in the competition and consequently have far more impressive results to show for it. In the last 10 seasons no English club has won the competition whilst a Spanish team has triumphed on 4 occasions, with Valencia, Sevilla twice and Athletico Madrid all tasting success. In comparison the poor performance of teams such as Tottenham, Liverpool and Manchester City to name a few surely must surely provide some evidence of the Spanish league possessing strength in depth that at least rivals, or surpasses, England.
If we now move to the Champions League there is no question that in terms of consistency English teams have led the way in recent years as demonstrated by the fact that even with this seasons poor performance, England's UEFA co-efficient ranking is still significantly ahead of other nations. The term dominance is often used to describe the English teams in the Champions League over the years however this term is highly subjective as people will disagree on what they class as dominance in the sphere of European football.
In terms of actual champions league wins in the last 10 seasons England for all its dominance has only 2 victories to its name with Liverpool in 2005 and Manchester United's win in Moscow in 2008, this in comparison to Italy's 3 (Milan in 03' and 07' and Inter in 2011) and Spain's 4 (Real Madrid 02' Barcelona 06' 09' 2011'). However one is right to argue that the seasons of 06/07, 07/08 and 08'09 saw 3 English teams in the semi-finals. At this time you had Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool at probably their strongest levels in the last 10 years. Since then there has been a fairly rapid decline in Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool whilst Manchester United have been in transition the last couple of seasons although still managed to reach 3 of the past 4 finals. As stated whether one classes any of these statistics as evidence for dominance is entirely up to them but the breakdown of recent champions certainly provides food for thought over whether any one nation can truly proclaim to be the true power of Champions League football.
One of the most fundamental differences between the Spanish and English football systems is how television money is distributed throughout the 20 top flight teams and there is possibly no single factor that is more contributory to the growing gap between Spain's top two than this critical difference in television earnings. Unlike England where the majority of the television money is split evenly (there are additional bonuses for final league placing and the number of television appearances over the season) in Madrid and Barcelona are free to negotiate their own deal and subsequently last season they made €159m and €178m respectively whilst the next highest earning Spanish team was Athletico Madrid earning €68m. As a result this huge financial gap has undoubtedly impacted on the other teams in La Liga ability to compete with the top teams over the course over a whole season however performances like Athletic Bilbao's against Manchester United and Barcelona this season demonstrates that on their day they can challenge the best but the lesser teams in La Liga will always struggle to build a squad to last the course of a European season.
The most common piece of evidence used to prove that La Liga is wholly uncompetitive is the gap in points between Real and Barcelona and the rest of the teams. Last season the gap between second placed Real and third placed Valencia was a whopping 21 points whilst the gap between 2nd and 3rd in the premier league was decided on goal difference whilst Arsenal in 4th where only 3 points further back. There is no hiding from the fact this is a disappointing statistic for the league as a whole but as has already been discussed the financial gap between the two is a hugely debilitating factor for other teams in the league however there is another point to be made also. Many argue that this Barcelona side is one of, if not the best, club side ever and as such maybe it is not entirely surprising that they are so far ahead of many of their rivals. Equally if Barcelona are being hailed as the greatest side of this generation then Real Madrid must also be a truly exceptional team to compete with them and at the time of writing hold a six point lead over the men from Catalonia.
In contrast to the big two in Spain, it is consistently being stated that this is supposedly one of the poorest Manchester United teams in history and yet the fact that they are favorites to win their 20th title at the very least indicates that the Premier League is maybe not quite as strong as many would suggest.
Whilst it can be argued that the battle for the league in England is more open than it is Spain, although for all the times that it has been either Real Madrid or Barcelona it has been United and Chelsea, the battle for Champions League places in Spain is arguably even more competitive than in England. In the past 10 season England's representatives in the Champions League have been Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City, Liverpool, Tottenham, Newcastle and Everton whilst in Spain; Real Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Villarreal, Athletico Madrid, Osasuna, Real Betis and Deportivo and Celta Vigo. This works out as 8 different English representatives against 10 from Spain.
Furthermore the battle for fourth place in Spain this season has at anyone time involved 6 or 7 sides. At the moment there is the realistic prospect of Levante and Malaga becoming the latest two sides from La Liga to enter into the Champions league whilst the battle for Champions League places in England has involved the usual suspects with Arsenal and Tottenham currently in the third and fourth spots.
Moving away from the hard facts and figures there is the issue of the way the Spanish league is often portrayed by English public and media and how certain elements of hypocrisy exist when people attempt to make comparisons between the two leagues. Namely the fact that the Spanish League is inherently more dishonest and cheating is rife whilst the English league remains somewhat a bastion of honesty and honor.
Take for instance the issue over the waving of imaginary cards by players and managers. This is universally condemned by all and when it occurs (which I freely admit that it does in all nations) it is seen as the worst form of cheating and unsportsmanlike behavior. I have never understood why the action of waving a card at the referee is such an enraging action to fans, managers and the media. If this is such an aggravating action then surely actions like that of the Liverpool players in this clip are just as reprehensible? Yet actions such as this are regular occurrences in English football yet it is never remarked upon except in highly exceptional circumstances (see Roy Keane and Co chasing Andy Durso around Old Trafford) whilst the waving of a card is immediately scrutinised and criticised as Roberto Mancini has discovered this year.
Equally take the manner in which Mario Balotelli's stamp on Scott Parker or the Luis Suarez racism case or the regular occurrences of simulation in this country have been dealt with in the media and amongst fans. The general opinion is that these incidents are reflections of an individual failings, their own background and personal history whilst in Spain the appalling behavior during El Clasico is seen as a symptomatic of the country as a whole and the method of viewing incidents through the lens of individualism is not applied. Guillem Ballague has written about this issue and there is certainly an argument to be made that a charge of double standards is applicable. The classic example for me is that when Wayne Rooney stamps on Ricardo Carvalho or elbows James McCarthy or lashes out against Miodrag Dzudovic we are constantly told is that this "passion" is what makes Rooney the player he is and that take that away he is half the player. Yet if for example Pedro goes to ground with little or no contact it is symptomatic of a malaise that plagues Spanish football.
Another facet of this whole issue is the idea of "cheating" and "gamesmanship" and yet there has never been a clear differential between the two. One event that resonated with me recently was the penalty that Scott Sinclair had saved by Joe Hart. In the lead up to the penalty Hart was seen shouting at Sinclair and attempting to put him off and unsettle him in the hope of Sinclair missing the penalty and thus increasing the chances of Manchester City winning the game.
What is the difference in this and for example a player from Barcelona or Malaga exaggerating the pain of a poor tackle in the hope of the player responsible being yellow or red carded and thus increasing that sides chances of winning the game? What is the difference in Sergio Ramos brandishing an imaginary card at a referee than Charlie Adam or Mikel Arteta remonstrating in a referee's face asking for an opponent being punished?
Overall what I hope this article has achieved is that it has encouraged those who view Spanish football as nothing more than Barcelona and Real Madrid and that Liga is plagued by cheating to maybe think twice about their views. The aim of the article, as stated at the outset, was not to argue that one league or footballing culture is superior or morally defective but merely to argue that; A, La Liga is an excellent product from top to bottom and not just the powerful duo at its summit and B that Spanish footballing culture is not necessarily good or bad but just different in many aspects.
One of the major reasons why people travel is to experience and enjoy different cultures, not so they can rank each country in terms of how it compares to their own. Why should football, and sport in general be any different?
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