What a wonderful day to be alive. What a wonderful day to be a Madrista.

As it stands right now...

85' Celta Vigo 4 - 1 Barcelona
40' Athletic Bilbao 0 - 1 Real Madrid

discuss.

I won't pretend to be an expert on the Spanish league, but while Barcelona haven't looked great, I'm a little more surprised by where Sevilla are right now.

No words. Celta played insane.

While the front three of Barca have done...ok, there are clearly problems with Barca's D, this is not the first, or even second time they've allowed four goals this season.

Having not seen the games, just highlights, what exactly is the issue there?

SunFlash, I said last season too that this Barca is simply not good enough to be considered as the best team in the World. I honestly think both Bayern and Real are way ahead. Their problem is midfield. With Xavi gone, Iniesta getting old, they are a shadow of what they used to be. All they have is the front three. Aside from that? They're average.

Sevilla and Valencia's recent form has been shocking.

Yes, Not Valencia but Sevilla's form really disappoints me. They are also losing as we speak.

yeahhh Sevilla's form is shocking. Celta is INCREDIBLE, they outclassed Barca in every way, their counters were sick... their ball controls, confident are all in there...

Barca was very wasteful (credit to Celta's goalie)...

And am I the only one think Tergen is sh!t big time? suck at 1 v 1, always thinks he's Neuer?

Btw, not related but great day indeed cuz MU had a wonderful perforamnce and our golden boyz Martialllllll <3

@tuan_jinn
Yes, Ter Stegen maybe a nice goalie but not enough for Barça. I said this last year that Barça should buy Lloris to replace Stegen. I believe Lloris deserves a better team and can play at Barcelona.
About Martial, you have your future and it's in your hands to shape it.

I agree, MATS has been poor in 1v1's whenever I watch him, but he does have good reflexes. He is not a poor GK, just not the right one for Barca because Barca keepers will face a lot of 1v1's due to their possession game. Valdes was really good at 1v1's in this regard, but tended to be poor with handling and concentration.

@amer BUT we won the treble, and some team went trophyless...

Barça may not have the best squad, but the best player is there.

Who needs a midlefield when you have whole midlefield in one player.

Aside of the scoreline, messi was amazing tho. But tiki please no one can play alone, you can't rely on someone no matter how good he is. Just like this match, Messi was actually good, but yet they lose 4-1?

This is the reason why you need pillars to support the bridge. Messi is the bridge, but the pillars were weak and crumbled apart.

^rayrex7 Yep I thought that would be common sense, but I guess it isn't for some ppl >.<

Then how people can say to a team tha won the treble, defeated Atletico away and Juve and City and PSG and all the big teams in Spain that they had a weak midlefield ? Amer logic. The result is there, midfielder were okay this year, defenders and GK were awesome and MSN did the job.

The ban ends in January, Pogba refused all the teams that tried to sign him this summer, Barça already signed Vidal and the Spartan, has an agreement with Nolito including a Barça special clause in his new Vigo contract.
People seems to forget that the real competition starts in February, even start of season winning streak doesnt guarantee your form in February/March, injuries and rotations end up in February.
Barça's starting XI hasnt played yet together and Turan/Nolito addition would be what Barça midlefield needs, Rafinha comming back in March, Vidal/Alba on the wings...

We will see how it will turn this year.

Tiki: I congratulate the fact that Barca have wont the treble, it's definitely not an easy thing to do. However, even though they won the treble, they were not the best team of the year. The best team does not always win, and there have been a lot of examples of this in the past.

Here's a few:
In the '82 World Cup, Brazil was easily the best team of the tournament with some amazing players. Zico, Socrates, Junior, just to mention a few.
One of the more recent example is Euro 2004. Greece and Portugal played the final with Greece winning 1-0. Portugal had arguably one of the best squads they've ever had. Figo, Ronaldo, Deco, Rui Costa just to name a few.

I won't list anymore, but you do see my point. A lot of things can mess with a team. Injuries, bad calls, or just plain bad luck. Real Madrid was the best team of 2014 easily. They had a win streak that stretched to 22 wins across all competitions, even the best ever Barcelona could only go as far as 17 with Messi, Iniesta and Xavi in their peak. Real Madrid had a perfect group stage score, was leading La Liga with 4 points over Barcelona.

Then the injuries started, and it all went to hell. Carlo's stubborn starting 11 fell apart. Modric, James, Sergio Ramos, were all at one point injured at the same time. That was right when we lost 4-0 to Athletico. We had fielded mostly inexperienced Varane and the last choice CB Nacho in the starting 11. That is also around the time Schalke had beaten us in Bernabeu. Had we rotated the players like Banitez is doing now, Barcelona would not have won at least 2 of those 3 trophies. The only reason you guys won the treble is because of Carlo's insistence on not rotating the squad. You guys were not the best team last year, nor are you this year. Your midfield is nowhere near the quality of Xavi and Iniesta days. Your defense is atrocious. How many goals have you conceded so far (including the result at San Memes).

How's this for comparison: You guys conceded 4 at San Memes. We just won 2-1 over there with Sergio Ramos, James, and Bale injured.

Of course, you will again start talking about how you won the treble, and bla bla bla, but you have to be completely biased to think that Barcelona would have won the treble if Real wasn't hit with so many injuries key injuries at the same time, at such an important stage of the season.

With Banitez at the helm of Real Madrid now, I'm almost certain the same won't happen this year due to his rotation policy. Real is the favorite to win both La Liga and CL this year, just as we were last year.

I hear your point Amer, but I would raise the point that as hard as a treble is, it is essentially to impossible to complete if the main in-country rival is at full strength. If it came down to Barca versus full strength RM in every final/semi-final/league last year, of course Barca wouldn't have won all of them. We never have seen a team so good that the strength of other teams was irrelevant and I doubt we ever will.

That doesn't take away from Barcelona's treble in my opinion.

@Amerr30
You can not compare an International Competition with European Leagues (CL,LaLiga,Cup vs.).
Agree about the examples you gave but Barça with the Treble performance can not be compared with Euro or WC.
Portugal maybe deserved the Euro 2004 and they even played in the Final but they lost the last game. Barça played 38 League games 13 CL games and the Copa Del Rey games in this marathon and succeded every one of them.
Yes, Real Madrid would probably stymie Barça for at least one of them if not the injuries. But this also means Real Madrid was not prepared enough for this kind of problems. Injuries could happen anytime. How did Bayern win so many trophies with all those injuries?

The best team of the year is the most consistent one and the one to win in crucial games, if your form collapse in february because you were glory hunting a winning streak and not changing the XI, thats a mistake.
Teams that rotate usually doesnt get in full strenght, and in addition at 2-0 you try to rest players and control the game rather then try to score useless goals to please your forward or to do the show.
Barça managed the most their energy and players rotation in addition into securing the first place...

For Madrid, there was times when they lost 4-0 to Atleti in a derby wich was shocking, then were close to be eleminated by Schalke 04 loosing at home in CL, before hardly qualify vs Atleti thanks to Turan sent off and finally be eleminated to not so impressive Juventus. Before shocking in 3 consecutive games to loose the league, draw in Bernabeu vs Villareal, loss to Atleti and loss in the clasico.

Since January with Suarez back on form and Rakitic adaptation, Barça was simply better. Madrid may got the winning streak due to their team and coach stability, Barça scored much more goals, conceded way less, ended up the season on fire in the money time and won everything...

If you think Barça wasnt the best, then who was better , Seriously...

Madrid at full force was better than Barca at full force last season, but Madrid's team balance was far too delicate. Take out one piece of the puzzle, and the whole system crumbles. Losing three of the key pieces (James, Luka, Ramos) destroyed the system and made the team look like fools who couldn't beat an above average German team. And that's exactly what happened. Madrid lost 3-4 in the Bernabeu, almost getting knocked out by the same team they hammered 9-2 the season before. When in full balance, Madrid's full flowing and individualistic football did wonders, but that harmony was broken on numerous times and Madrid never reached that peak in the most critical of occasions.

Carlo's second season in Madrid saw a team that was far too reliant on the individual and didn't have a system to rely on. A true system in Spain would be Enrique's Atletico, where you can replace Koke, their best player, with Saul, a talented youngster, and still get similar results. In Madrid, replace Kroos with Illarra last season and the team immediately loses fluidity. That was a severe problem, and perhaps one of the only ones, with Madrid in 2014/15. Lack of depth and rotation resulted in unexpected losses and draws. Valencia's physicality, Atletico's space-limiting play, Bilbao's aggressive pressing, Barcelona's long-balls, and Juventus' crowded midfield were all obstacles to Madrid last season - and they shouldn't have been. Madrid should have been able to adapt to different situations, as all great teams can, but they didn't have a system to rely on that they could alter to counter the opponent. They were far too reliant on individual talent, and that's why they didn't win a major trophy last season.

tl;dr Barcelona were the better team throughout the course of the season, but Madrid was the best team last season if both teams were to be compared at their peaks.