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In football, comparisons are inevitable. Be it between players, managers or even different leagues. All of us football fans have a compulsive obsession with comparisons. They let us brag about our clubs and stars, and, at a very primal level, please or disturb us. But then football is all about competition and competitions are all about success, and so comparisons are an accepted form of judgement.
A comparison that has been made repeatedly during the last few years has been that between different leagues. In the 90’s, it was generally believed that Serie A was numero uno when it came to the personnel, quality of players and quantity of money. It was then usurped by the Premier League. 2000 onwards, (after United’s treble) more focus came on the BPL and this was enhanced by world class players which then considered England as the first station to showcase their talent. Ronaldo, Henry, Vieira, Pires, Van Nistelrooy, Drogba, Makelele, Vidic, Van Der Sar, Cech and others migrated to the British island and became world famous players. Though the Galacticos did challenge the monopoly of the Premier League, their lack of consistent success quickly focused attention back to England.
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After the emergence of Barcelona as a modern day superpower, Madrid too restarted the Galactico era and brought in men like Ronaldo, Xabi Alonso and Modric from the Premier League. With more and more players vying to join La Liga, the obvious question is whether or not the Spanish League is better than the BPL.
The answer in one word is no. There are a variety of reasons for this. When talking about a league as a whole, we must consider the whole roster of 20 teams. In Spain, they have a league between the ‘Big Two’ and the others compete for third place. During the last ten seasons only in the 2003-04 season did Valencia win the league; the other 9 times the La Liga trophy either went to Camp Nou or the Santiago Bernabeu. In England, we find that 4 different teams have won the league in the last ten seasons.
Coming to the present season it can be seen that except for Manchester United, no one has been able to break free of the pack. Now that can be indicative of two things, either the other teams lack quality or the whole league has, as a cumulative unit, good quality teams. The first argument should wither away by itself; man-to-man perhaps Manchester City are the strongest squad in Europe and Chelsea have an abundance of creative and defensive quality.
The openness of the results and particularly the race for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th spot have again been cited as grounds for lack of quality. Of course, it also means that a league is more competitive, and I think it should be obvious that a league with more competition is better in terms of viewership and overall quality. Spain has only the El Clasico which ignites worldwide passion. Meanwhile in England the United- Liverpool game, the Arsenal- Chelsea London Derby, the United-Chelsea rivalry and even the Merseyside derby ignites worldwide interest.
Many pundits cite the absence of an English team from the quarterfinals of the Champions League as proof of EPL’s decline. The argument could make sense if not for the fact that Chelsea won the UCL last year. Also, during the last 10 seasons English Clubs have won the trophy three times and played in all but two finals. Spain meanwhile only have Barcelona as winners of the continental competition, albeit three times. But Barcelona’s wins can’t be used a barometer of the league’s strength. Even though La Liga has three teams at this year’s quarter final stage, one single season cannot be used to pass the judgement on the quality of a league.
Another argument used mostly by Spanish pundits is that because La Liga has more superstars in the Barcelona and Real Madrid squads, it is by default the superior league. Cast an eye away from these teams and other than Falcao, Navas and Isco, no name jumps out. While teams in England have Van Persie, Rooney, Silva, Cazorla, Mata, Bale, Suarez, Gerrard, Lampard, Cech, Hart, Yaya Toure, Hazard, Tevez, Cole etc. I can with absolute confidence say that the whole Spanish League together cannot boast of such quality.
All this does not mean that La Liga is in any way bad or not worth watching. But to anyone who thinks that it is better than the football in England, I would respectfully agree to disagree.
I am compiling for your benefit a best 11 for both the leagues and you can for yourself see the point I try to make about diversified quality and competitiveness. The condition is that I can pick only a player per club. Both are in the basic 4-2-3-1 form.
Barclays Premier League 11-
Mignolet ; Baines, Shawcross, Hangeland, Johnson; Toure, Mulumbu; Mata, Michu, Cazorla; Van Persie
La Liga 11-
Palop; Navarro, Gonzalez, Rami, F. Navarro; Prieto, Dominguez; Ronaldo, Messi, Isco; Negredo
I think that tells you all you need to know.
