El Classico matches to be played on Matchday 17 & Matchday 36
Barca have alot of young players who could be there for another good 5 years or more. On top of that Pique, Suarez, Messi, Busquets and Jordi Alba all have plenty more gas left in the tank. It's only really Iniesta and Mascherano who are both 33 who they should be looking to immediately replace and more than likely Neymar (Dybala, Hazard, Couti..)
I think Barcelona's problems are really over exaggerated, maybe it's because they are competing with such an incredible side in Real Madrid that people have such a skewered perception of how good Barca are. Winning is winning afterall but it is worth remembering Barca only finished 3 points behind this great Real side.. Barcelona also scored 116(!) league goals.. that is 10 more than Real Madrid managed, Barcelona also conceeded four less goals than the champions (37 + 41).
You could attribute Barcelona's ultimate la liga 'downfall' to the very start of the season, losing 1-2 at home to newly promoted Alaves at the time was perceived to be a disaster of epic proportions but Alaves did go onto finish 9th and reach the copa del rey final, two weeks later they were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Atleti then at the start of October losing 4-3 away to Celta.
Meaning they were playing constant catch up, this put pressure on everyone from the players to the manager. 3 successive draws to Malaga, Sociedad and Real Madrid in October made it seem all but impossible for them to achieve any league success. But there were some real positives and fighting spirit shown, famously overturning the 4-0 deficit vs PSG and then going to the Bernabeu and reigniting their league campaign after being 1-0 down with a last minute Messi winner.. for me shown they still have almighty quality and self belief.
After the Classico comeback Real Madrid went on a 6 game winning spree until the end of the season to cement the league, in the first Classico of the season in early December Sergio Ramos scored a stoppage time equaliser.. probably the most important goal of their league season in retrospect.
To summarise my ramblings, Barcelona did win a domestic competition after all, they did produce some breathtaking performances against some of Europes top sides (Real Madrid, Atletico, PSG), they did show grit and determination of a side who believes in themselves and they do have a nucleus of young players mixed with seasoned pro's who could well prosper under a new manager with fresh ideas. I fancy them to give Zizou's Real a good run for their money, Messi will be eager to take back his mantle of the world best player by holding the most Ballon dors.
New signings:Though I should comment on Real's 4 acquisitions, all U21 internationals.. Theo Hernandez, Marcos Llorente, Ceballos and Vallejo. In my opinion very clever signings by Zidane, all very talented and capable of making an impression in the first team immediately but also very happy to be part of the set up of Spain and Europe's biggest club.. Last season you got the impression Morata and James were unhappy playing second fiddle to Benzema and Isco, I feel these moves will really eliminate that problem.
Also looking forward to seeing how Luis Muriel + Nolito do at Sevilla, Vitolo at Atleti, Enes Unal the young lad from Man City should partner Bakambu up top for Villarreal, Diego Llorente and Januzaj have joined Real Sociedad, Diego Lopez has made his move to Espanyol permanent after arguably the finest season of his career to date last time out. Betis seem to have made a few astute moves in Andres Guardado from PSV and Camarasa, will be interesting to see how Tello does there also now he is back in La Liga having played for Barca, Porto and Fiorentina it is really time he proves himself as a starter in a team. Former Liverpool man Dani Pacheco has joined Getafe on a permament deal after helping them get promoted last season, will be nice to see how he gets on.
One massive downgrade in my opinion is from Valencia who have replaced the incredible Diego Alves with the imo sub-standard Neto from Juventus.
Newly promoted teams: Levante, Girona and Getafe.
New managers: José Ángel Ziganda joins Bilbao, Valverde to Barca, Manolo Márquez is promoted from Las Palmas B to first team coach, Marcelino leaves Villarreal to join Valencia, Quique Setién the old Las Palmas manager joins Real Betis, Juan Carlos Unzué joins Celta Vigo, departing Celta is Eduardo Berizzo who takes over Sevilla and finally one Argentine replaces another as Luis Zubeldía takes over the reigns at Alaves after Pellegrino impressed massively and earned a move to Southampton.Incase anyone was wondering.. Juan Carlos Unzue was the 2nd hand man to Luis Enrique at Barca and left with him, taking up a very nice job at Celta imo. Who I should also mention was the assistant coach to Enrique at Celta.
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