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La Liga has been pretty consistent over the past two decades in terms of who is fighting for the title.
Since 2005, Atlético de Madrid is the only team that has won the title other than Barcelona or Real Madrid, which shows the absolute dominance that these two giants of the game have over the league.
But something is different this season and when you have an online bet, like at Novibet.co.uk, you have undoubtedly noticed some of the surprising results in Spain, and it is likely that at least one has let your accumulator down.
So what is the biggest surprise in La Liga? Here, we will take a look.
The collapse of Barcelona
After a turbulent summer at the Catalan club, in which star player Lionel Messi was strongly linked to a move to Manchester City to meet Pep Guardiola, Barça fired manager Quique Setién and named club legend Ronald Koeman as his successor.
As a result of Messi’s transfer saga and the consequences that followed, Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu resigned, along with the rest of the board, after a vote of no confidence.
Despite voting for a new president and an entirely new board, it appears that Bartomeu’s division hangover still hangs over the Camp Nou.
With players clearly unhappy, and putting this in no uncertain terms in the press, the resignation of the former president does not seem to have completely solved the problem.
What now must concern coach Ronald Koeman is that the hangover appears to be affecting the performance of players on the field.
Messi on the way out?
One of the biggest things that will bother everyone at the club is that it seems incredibly likely that Messi will not end his professional career in
Barcelona, the club that hosted him when he was 13 at their infamous La Masia academy.
At the end of the transfer saga that swept the football world in the summer, Messi announced that he would remain at the club for “one more year” to avoid any kind of legal dispute with Barcelona or La Liga, who had also stepped in to inform Messi and his contacts that a move was not possible in 2020.
It seems that the turmoil at the top of the club and the managerial problems that started with Ernesto Valverde have finally reached the Argentine and, like his closest competitor, Cristiano Ronaldo, he seems to be looking for a challenge abroad.
The most obvious destination for the 33-year-old is Manchester City, where he would rejoin the former Barcelona coach Guardiola, with whom he had his most successful stage between 2008 and 2012.
Pep has never been shy about letting the media know his admiration for the Argentine sensation and it would be arguably the biggest transfer in soccer history if it happens, but let’s not get too far ahead of it, yet.
Finding the right man for the job
Koeman’s appointment to Barcelona came as a huge surprise to many football fans, especially those in the Premier League.
After a decent couple of years at Southampton, for what many attribute to the team Mauricio Pochettino had built prior to his arrival, Koeman had a chance to show what he can do as Everton’s new coach in 2016.
After spending £ 150 million on players who mostly failed and failed to replace top scorer Romelu Lukaku, who had gone to Manchester United, the Dutchman was living on borrowed time and was quickly fired by the Toffees in 2017.
However, Koeman landed on his feet and only a few months later was announced as the new head coach of the Netherlands, replacing Dick Advocaat.
After leading his country to second place in the 2019 UEFA Nations League final and helping them qualify for their first tournament since 2014, he resigned to take his current position at his former club.
However, in the past four years, Koeman hasn’t shown much to suggest he’s capable of taking on a task as big as rebuilding Barcelona’s squad, and if Lionel Messi leaves next summer, his job will become much more difficult.
