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It’s another year where not a player from the BPL is in the nomination list for the UEFA Best European Player of the year award, but does that necessarily mean the La Liga have overtaken the Premier League as the best league?
I don’t think so.
The Premier League is a league that has so many twists and turns, one of the reasons why the Premier League remains the best league is that really, 6 teams have a shot at winning the title every year, not just two, as seen in Spain all the time.
We got Manchester United, we got Chelsea, we got (my beloved) Liverpool, we got Arsenal, we got Manchester City and we’ve got Tottenham Hotspur. It just makes the game so much more exciting to watch.
In Spain, the result of the La Liga is very predictable given that Barcelona and Real Madrid (although sitting in a lot of debt) have the best players by far in the league (and in Barcelona’s case the world).
The teams in the Premier League are more competitive and the margin between the best team and the worse the in the BPL are significantly smaller than that of the La Liga. This makes the league more exciting, and gives us more reason to tune in to watch our favourite team in action every week.
The fact is that Lionel Messi cannot be considered the World’s Best Player given that he has Iniesta and Xavi to supply for him. His performances for Argentina are testament that even Diego Forlan could be better than him should he be at Barcelona.
Andy Gray a while ago claimed that Leo Messi would struggle with the physical side of the Premier League and he would find it hard to cut it against teams like Stoke City. I absolutely second that statement. First reason: it’s way too easy to score in the La Liga. (Ronaldo’s scoring goals for fun are pretty much evidence of this, he never reached those tallies with Manchester United) Second Reason: Messi’s small. His small figure will struggle the shoves.
Third reason: Lionel Messi (always) tries to weave his way past the opposition and he tries to nutmeg/outpace his marker. It’s hard to do that in the BPL. What he can expect is lots of crunching tackles and lots of grass.
The fact that the Premier League has so many competitive teams suggests that the rivalry is stronger, and that the Premier League is what bonds a lot of us together, socially. What other way to pick up the conversation that asking ‘What team do you support?”. Majority would name a Premier League team.
The Premier League’s history makes it more culturally interesting, you have those that still support even Nottingham Forest without necessarily living in Nottingham.
The Premier League grounds are also really special. The atmosphere week-in, week-out is absolutely electric. I’ve also watched some small Spanish games (games without Barca or Real Madrid) and my, they’ve been quiet. (unless Deportivo-Malaga is supposed to be quiet)
I’d also like to say that Spain’s success in the World Cup 2010 and EURO 2008 has no relevance to this topic, simply because we are talking about the league here, not nationality. The Premier League accepts more International players because of it’s financial muscle and therefore more nations like to tune in to watch their local hero.
Park Ji Sung is an obvious example here. Adored in South Korea, he’s the reason why so many choose to support Manchester United in South Korea and hence that’s another reason why the Premier League is simply the best league in the world.
