Table of Contents
With the exception of two matches to be played later tonight (Granada vs Getafe and Sevilla vs Alaves) the 2020/21 season of Spanish football’s top-flight league has come to an end.
This has been one of the most bizarre seasons of La Liga in recent memory with all of the top three sides- Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid, and Barcelona hesitating to force their hand in order to take commanding position in the league on multiple occasions! Diego Simeone’s side however, survived several scares throughout the season and managed to lift their second La Liga title in eight years after a 2-1 win over Real Valladolid!
Down at the bottom, the battle for survival also became a tight contest which was decided on the final matchday last night. With 30 points, Eibar were the first to be set for the drop while Valladolid battled against Atletico in order to survive in La Liga. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be and along with Huesca, Real Valladolid have also been relegated this season.
The strange battle for La Liga
By early December 2020, Atletico had opened up a huge gap over Barcelona and Real on top of the table. However, staying true to their nature, Diego Simeone’s side ran out of steam from the onset of 2021 and started slipping up. That gave their rivals the chance to cut the deficit to Los Rojilancos at the top and they managed to do exactly that.
By April, both Real and Barcelona had a chance to go on top of the table and take matters of the league in their own hands but time and time again, both the Spanish giants squandered their chances. That is especially true in the case of Barcelona, who had the opportunity to recover from a disastrous start to the season and take the lead in La Liga after an excellent run of form in 2021, but losses against Granada and Celta Vigo damaged their chances.
Barcelona’s controversial summer sale of Luis Suarez to Atletico also proved to be the story of the season. A reinvigorated Suarez, with a point to prove, scored several decisive goals for Simeone’s side and he also netted the title-winning goal against Real Valladolid yesterday.
Real Madrid were involved in the title race until the last matchday recording a 2-1 win over Emery’s Villarreal thanks to a very late Luka Modric goal but in the end, Atletico held on to their 2-1 lead over Valladolid to lift the 11th league title in their history.
Race for the European places
While Atletico, Real, Barcelona, and Sevilla firmly held their stronghold over the Champions League spots, the race for Europa League places turned out to be an extremely interesting affair. Real Sociedad, Real Betis, Villarreal and Celta Vigo all contested for the two spots that would help them play in Europe next season.
In the end, Sociedad and Betis emerged as the winners in that contest with 62 points and 61 points respectively. It has been a wonderful season for Imanol Alguacil’s Real Sociedad who topped the La Liga table at one point early on. Sociedad also ended up winning their postponed Copa del Rey final against Athletic Bilbao.
Real Betis remained undefeated in their last five matches to maintain their desire to play in the Europa League next season, thwarting advances from Villarreal and Celta Vigo. Unai Emery’s Villarreal, who have qualified for the Europa League final this season needed a victory against Real Madrid in the final game to keep them in the hunt but failed to do so even after opening the scoring in that tie.
Notable mention
After a major slump at the beginning of the season, Lionel Messi roared back to life in 2021 and ended up scoring the most goals in La Liga this season. He found the back of the net on 30 occasions to win the eighth Pichichi trophy in his career, awarded to the highest individual scorer in a La Liga season. Messi had overtaken Telmo Zarra’s six Pichichi Trophy haul last season.
Meanwhile, Atletico’s wall Jan Oblak, who was seen celebrating with the fans after the game against Valladolid, added the fifth Ricardo Zamora trophy to his collection, an award presented to La Liga’s best goalkeeper. Having won the award in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and now in 2021, Oblak became the first non-Spanish player to win the trophy five times. Only Barca’s former goalkeepers Victor Valdes and Antoni Ramallets have won the award as many times as Oblak.
As the record goal-scorer in La Liga continues to shine, one can only hope that he extends his stay at Barcelona next season and continues to treat us with his magic!
