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#2 Barca and Atleti wounded
The two other challengers for the title are Barcelona and Atletico Madrid – and both of them are wounded this season.
Atletico Madrid’s transfer ban has tied their hands; they simply can’t register any player this summer. They might have acquired the signature of Vitolo, but he cannot play for them until January. Meanwhile, they have lost Theo Hernandez to Real Madrid, Matias Kranevitter to Zenit and Oliver Torres to Porto – rendering their squad depth to almost nil.
As for Barcelona, their midfield was already miles behind their fiercest rivals, and the departure of Neymar has hurt them even more. The Brazilian was signed as the future successor to Messi’s throne and now they have lost that future, which certainly hurts their morale more than anything.
And it takes time for that to heal.
