La Liga (Spanish League) Prediction Thread 2023/24

[puloweh555]

 This season for Barcelona is not so good, but this season they are in the playoffs of the Champions League, not everything is good in La Liga either, seven points is a big gap, but theoretically they still have a chance. And I think that Xavi will focus on these two tournaments, and the players from the bench will play the cup.
Araujo refused to renew his contract with Barcelona, Bayern are very actively interested in him, and despite the fact that his contract is valid until 2026, Barcelona has already offered him to extend it, but Araujo is in no hurry to do this.
It is worth saying that Barcelona still have financial problems, they have a debt of €207 million, mostly due to their players, so it is not surprising that they want to find more stable teams financially.

With the many problems experienced by Barcelona then yes, of course, it will make Barcelona have great pressure so that it has a bad impact on team performance. After all, on the European stage also the fact that Barcelona has always failed in the last two seasons although indeed, this season Barcelona entered the round of 16 in the Champions League. But ya, I personally still doubt the quality of Barcelona at this moment, because it is very possible for Barcelona to fail again on the European stage.

Therefore, I believe this season there is no trophy for Barcelona, because Barcelona seems to have lost the chance to get it. It is not meant to underestimate Barcelona, but the reality is so, with the many problems experienced by Barcelona this season.

To be honest I don't think Barcelona's performance last season was that good either, it is just that the other teams in the leagues who used to be a threat for them were performing bad. Let's look at Real Madrid, Benezema had left Real Madrid and Real Madrid were looking somewhat clueless most of the matches. Atletico Madrid and Sevilla had a rough season both struggling. But I must give them the credit. I know they were doing better than this season but I don't think performance has drastically downgraded.

Another reason is that the injuries. Every team is hit with it and the worst thing for Barcelona is that their key players are injured. They lack creativity right now and Pedri and Gavi who were the creative midfielders, are injured at the moment.  Lewandowski is not performing like he is supposed to and due to financial problems, they could not even get new signings. I don't think we should blaming Xavi for these performances.

If we want to be realistic, we can see that Barcelona this season is really bad. Barcelona always wins matches with small teams, the wins are not easy, they always almost draw or lose. then I can say that Barcelona is indeed in very big trouble as you mentioned and this is not just Xavi's fault. Apart from the fact that the players don't seem to fit into the team, Barcelona is also unable to recruit the "great" players that it really needs, because Barcelona's current economic situation is very bad.

This victory was still not enough to make them recover, because it could be said that this was a bitter victory over a fourth division team. I don't imagine that if they don't try to improve their game, they won't be able to get past Napoli in the last 16 of the UCL League and in LaLiga.

[MinoRaiola]

Another reason is that the injuries. Every team is hit with it and the worst thing for Barcelona is that their key players are injured. They lack creativity right now and Pedri and Gavi who were the creative midfielders, are injured at the moment.  Lewandowski is not performing like he is supposed to and due to financial problems, they could not even get new signings. I don't think we should blaming Xavi for these performances.

You're absolutely right about Lewandowski. Gavi and Pedri were also better last season, but their poor performance is so bad than the motivation of the whole team...and they are injured. Goals are being scored not so mutch and we can see that is a 7-point deficit to real madrid and first place in the league. The game yesterday against UD Barbastro was also a good example that barcelona is currently not a team that can win the La Liga. And dont forget another player, Marc-Andre ter Stegen is also injured, and Cancelo, Balde, Alonso and Martinez... all players from the defense. It is not an easy time for barcelona.

[AakZaki]

In cup matches, at such early stages, the coach most often gives key players of the main squad a rest and weaker opponents try to take advantage of this. But you are right, considering that Valencia had an advantage throughout the second half, they should have decided the outcome of this match in their favor without extra time.

The match for Barcelona was also not easy, although they did not have to win back, but to prevent this, Xavi used Gundogan and Lewandowski at the end of the match, so cup matches are not always as easy as it seems at first glance.

The problem that always makes the game worse is looking down on your opponent. Barcelona has this problem it seems these days. Even Felix played very badly. Barcelona took the lead first and that made them big-headed and weak. In the second half they were bad. Luckily, Xavi was aware and made several changes to increase the goal difference. The strategy worked and they were able to score additional goals.

[skarais]

~~~

Barcelona doesn't follow in the La Liga race for the competitive run this season, they're fighting for other spots such as been in the top four. Xavi Hernandez have become one of the big problem of Barcelona because he has failed but not completely because he's more focused on becoming a good coach, and have executed his plans without any proper management, rather he will explore more options.

Maybe that's true, but only for you and not in my opinion.
The title race is not over yet and 7 points is not too big a gap for Barcelona. No one among us can guarantee that Real Madrid will not drop points in the next 19 matches of the remaining season, so Barcelona still has a chance to fight for the title. It's just that, if Barcelona is really able to take advantage of its opportunities well when Real Madrid and Girona slip up.

Xavi Hernandez is the main person that would be pointed as the main problem of Barcelona when they're not doing well. The supporters failed to understand the whole situation of the club and the challenges they've faced.

I really have doubts about that, usually the media always exaggerates problems with all kinds of rumors in their fingers.

[Josefjix]

Of course, Barcelona's performance this season is different compared to last season, but they are a team that can still compete for the title until the end of the season. Moreover, being 7 points behind Real Madrid doesn't mean Barcelona has failed this season, but in my opinion they still have a chance to improve it rather than giving up on all their imperfections.

Xavi does not fully deserve the blame for his team's current performance. The injury problems faced by his team have seen the team's performance decline, while several reserve players have not been able to maintain their form enough. It can still be said to be good because Barcelona is in the top 4, but it might be considered very bad if they were out of that zone.

Barcelona have not failed, they're in the race to bring back the hopes of their fans by starting to show evidence, non stop. Xavi Hernandez should lay his eggs in a basket because the major reasons why he's been appointed as headcoach have come and is time to fall into action and swipe the necessary duties. One of the big problem of Barcelona is critical injuries on their players. The injury faced by Barcelona is not good, mostly on their key players. I would choose the Barcelona last season other than this season because this current situation is worsen. Before they will recover, it will take lengthy period of time, they're facing challenges from all rounds, threats rising on daily basis.

[Mame89]

In cup matches, at such early stages, the coach most often gives key players of the main squad a rest and weaker opponents try to take advantage of this. But you are right, considering that Valencia had an advantage throughout the second half, they should have decided the outcome of this match in their favor without extra time.

The match for Barcelona was also not easy, although they did not have to win back, but to prevent this, Xavi used Gundogan and Lewandowski at the end of the match, so cup matches are not always as easy as it seems at first glance.

The problem that always makes the game worse is looking down on your opponent. Barcelona has this problem it seems these days. Even Felix played very badly. Barcelona took the lead first and that made them big-headed and weak. In the second half they were bad. Luckily, Xavi was aware and made several changes to increase the goal difference. The strategy worked and they were able to score additional goals.

For me, this is not because Barcelona looks down on their opponents which makes their game bad, but because the team's self-confidence is decreasing and their internal team is also not in harmony, plus there are several players who are injured. So it's not surprising that in the last few matches Barcelona couldn't win easily because their performance was very bad. It could even be said that winning over a weak team like Barbastro doesn't make sense. Xavi has to rack his brains to think about changes as soon as possible. If they don't make changes in the near future, I doubt they can compete in any competition this season, be it the Copa Del Rey, Laliga or the UCL league.

[BlackBoss_]

Maybe that's true, but only for you and not in my opinion.
The title race is not over yet and 7 points is not too big a gap for Barcelona. No one among us can guarantee that Real Madrid will not drop points in the next 19 matches of the remaining season, so Barcelona still has a chance to fight for the title. It's just that, if Barcelona is really able to take advantage of its opportunities well when Real Madrid and Girona slip up.

None of Real Madrid, Girona or Barcelona will have perfect results in remaining matches of season, they will do drop points, just less or more than their title competitors.

To win this title, a winner must have more points than competitors and because Barcelona currently have less points than Real Madrid and Girona, they will have to play well and hope that two competitors will drop points and get less total points in coming months than Barcelona. Not sure these complex conditions will happen with both competitors of Barcelona.

Barcelona have not failed, they're in the race to bring back the hopes of their fans by starting to show evidence, non stop. Xavi Hernandez should lay his eggs in a basket because the major reasons why he's been appointed as headcoach have come and is time to fall into action and swipe the necessary duties.

Xavi returned to Barcelona as a very young coach with very little experience. He surprisingly managed to help his beloved club to win La Liga and after that, pressure on him is too much. It seems unfair extreme expectation on Xavi with players he has in the squad. Many young players who actually need some more seasons to mature and be ready for tough competitions.

One of the big problem of Barcelona is critical injuries on their players. The injury faced by Barcelona is not good, mostly on their key players. I would choose the Barcelona last season other than this season because this current situation is worsen. Before they will recover, it will take lengthy period of time, they're facing challenges from all rounds, threats rising on daily basis.

Injuries are other problems and very headache for all coaches, not only a young coach like Xavi. Barcelona can aim at a runner up position in this season, that I consider a success for them. They must focus on Champions League, try to go far there because it will help to get more money for their club, somewhat helpful to mitigate their club financial crisis and also increase their confidence in Champions League for coming seasons.

[Phoenix Anka]

Real Madrid are big guns in Europe and they’re also great and top when it comes to their league. It’s quite surprising how they’ve managed to still remain top and unbeaten without having a striker. It shows how good Ancelloti is in managing this boys, he really helped in bringing out their best this currently and currently they're performing beyond expectations,  Madrid would go far in all competitions this season.

 That’s a quality of a good team headed by a quality coach and that makes them a threat both in Europe and in the Spanish League. Don Carlo knows how best to rotate this team and get the best from all the players. For their Spanish Super Cup on Wednesday, I’ll be giving Real Madrid the upper hands against City Rivals, Athletico Madrid. Because ReAl is better in almost everything and Althletico isn’t really much of a match to them.

I looked at the line-up against and I was really surprised by the players Ancelotti chose for that match. This means that they don't field several goal-scoring players but they are able to win the match. Arandina is not a top club but I think Don Carlo is quite smart in setting strategy and rotating players. But still without a pure striker but being able to dominate the league really makes me appreciate what Ancelotti is doing. Although I have doubts about the Champions League because we know that the level of matches there is much more competitive.

Against Arandina yesterday it shouldn't be a problem for Don Carlo, that's why he rotated his second line of players & several Castilla players.
However, this match will be different, because what they are facing are city rivals Atletico Madrid. We know that the tension in the second match is always high. Don Carlo must be smart in rotating players because if not, they will lose several more key players.
Moreover, the current CB position is very worrying because there are only Nacho and Rudiger who really have experience, the rest are filled by the Castilla academy. But in this match of course I will favor Real Madrid to win, no matter what the score is.

Real Madrid played better than expected against Arandina. Most of his players tried to do their best on the field as young people. They could only score 3 goals in the match, I expected them to score more goals. The surprise in the King's Cup matches played yesterday was that Salamanca eliminated Villarreal via penalties. I have to say I'm really surprised by this.

[klidex]

Of course, this is a bit strange about Real Betis because they have dropped a lot of points in their last 5 matches in La Liga. Not only in La Liga, Real Betis was also not in their best form in the Copa Del Rey, recently losing to Alaves. They dominated attacks in several of those matches, but Real Betis had to give up with a draw or defeat to their opponents.

The situation is worrying for Real Betis this season, but they are a solid team and are expected to return to their best. However, in my opinion Real Betis still has many opportunities to develop and fight to finish in the European zone next season considering that La Liga is still very long. I don't know exactly what their problem is, but there are several players who are currently injured and maybe that is one of the causes behind all this besides bad finishing.

In my opinion, Real Betis' performance has relatively declined this season, not only in LaLiga, the Copa Del Rey, but in the European League, Real Betis also didn't make it through, I don't know what made Real Betis become like this, they have lost a lot of points because they achieved a draw and Real Betis became The club with the most draws in La Liga this season, they were able to hold strong clubs like Real Madrid, Girona and Real Sociedad to a draw but they lost to a weak relegation club. Isn't that very surprising? Maybe if Celta didn't add a goal in the final minutes, the match could have ended in a draw, but it turns out that Celta could make a good comeback even though they only played with 10 people.

Real Betis' situation must be immediately improved if they continue like this, it is feared that their ranking will continues to decline because last season Real Betis only achieved 9 draw in 38 matches, whereas this season Real Betis has experienced 10 draws in just 19 match, which means Real Betis exceeded their win limit and Real Betis only got 3 wins so far, indeed a draw is not too bad but losing 20 points is a very big point and Real Betis has lost that many point so far.

[X-ray]

In cup matches, at such early stages, the coach most often gives key players of the main squad a rest and weaker opponents try to take advantage of this. But you are right, considering that Valencia had an advantage throughout the second half, they should have decided the outcome of this match in their favor without extra time.

The match for Barcelona was also not easy, although they did not have to win back, but to prevent this, Xavi used Gundogan and Lewandowski at the end of the match, so cup matches are not always as easy as it seems at first glance.

The problem that always makes the game worse is looking down on your opponent. Barcelona has this problem it seems these days. Even Felix played very badly. Barcelona took the lead first and that made them big-headed and weak. In the second half they were bad. Luckily, Xavi was aware and made several changes to increase the goal difference. The strategy worked and they were able to score additional goals.

For me, this is not because Barcelona looks down on their opponents which makes their game bad, but because the team's self-confidence is decreasing and their internal team is also not in harmony, plus there are several players who are injured. So it's not surprising that in the last few matches Barcelona couldn't win easily because their performance was very bad. It could even be said that winning over a weak team like Barbastro doesn't make sense. Xavi has to rack his brains to think about changes as soon as possible. If they don't make changes in the near future, I doubt they can compete in any competition this season, be it the Copa Del Rey, Laliga or the UCL league.

It seems xavi is still feeling confidence with the current performance of barcelona. No doubt that if the fans are starting to make various complaints regarding the performance from barcelona at this moment. It's caused by barcelona lost its confidence.
It's starting with the financial problem that was disrupting the club caused by we have various news published by various sites said that if xavi would put all of players for sale caused by the club needs to pay the debt.

This may be also affecting the performance from the club caused by we do know that so well how barcelona is always struggling against the weak team and it would always getting lose or draw which was very disappointed result for the club.
The situation will become even worse when Pedri and a few other players leave the club in the near future. Barcelona may be losing some players which will make the situation to be even worst than before.

I would like to see what plan that will be executed by xavi soon. I ahve heard that if xavi was also saying how he was feeling so confuse with so many burden owned by him.

[Zlantann]

Barcelona doesn't follow in the La Liga race for the competitive run this season, they're fighting for other spots such as been in the top four. Xavi Hernandez have become one of the big problem of Barcelona because he has failed but not completely because he's more focused on becoming a good coach, and have executed his plans without any proper management, rather he will explore more options. Xavi Hernandez is the main person that would be pointed as the main problem of Barcelona when they're not doing well. The supporters failed to understand the whole situation of the club and the challenges they've faced.

Xavi Hernandez is still a young coach that needs some level of experience for him to improve in the future. However,  Barcelona are not yet out of the competition for the La Liga title. Seven points below Real Madrid and Girona is not too much to close up. Three straight wins two losses and a draw from the teams above could make Barca top the league.

Xavi's critics will argue that Girona has fewer quality players than Barca, yet they are giving Real Madrid a close chase. But this cannot set aside the fact that Xavi is running Barca on a limited budget. The financial problems of the club have limited Xavi from signing top-class players. The coach is relying more on players that are free agents and this will not bring the right quality. Be as it may, the club has achieved more in the Champions League than last season when they were knocked out at the group stage. Xavi might be part of the problem but he is not the major challenge Barca is having.

[rendravolt]

Starting from the day after tomorrow we will see a tense match for the 4 Spanish teams because they will be fighting for the Supercopa trophy this season. The match schedule will start today and it will go straight to the semifinals between Real Madrid vs Atletico and the next day there will be Barcelona vs Osasuna. Here it is clear that the Real Madrid vs Atletico match is the most exciting because they are not only playing as rivals but this is also included in the Madrid derby. This event will take place in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) at the Al-Awwal Park stadium (Al-Nassr Headquarters) so the organizers chose a neutral place for this competition so that it takes place more calmly and also as entertainment for the surrounding public.

Well, of course the ideal Supercopa final that we are waiting for is the El Classico meeting between Real Madrid vs Barcelona, but before that Real Madrid must get rid of city rivals Atletico if they want to face Barcelona in the Supercopa final.

[HajiBagi]

The fact that a lower division side can score Barcelona not just one goal but multiple goals says alot about the team, Barcelona are very gullible right now and even in their last champions league match a lower side won them.
I don't know if the board of directors at Barcelona are experimenting or don't have any clue on what to do because that would explain why Xavi is still Barcelona's head coach.

I fail to see why we should hold Xavi accountable for every Barcelona game because he always uses the players that are supposed to be playing. Yes, we all know that Barcelona is a formidable team in La Liga, and we hope that they will always remain that way, but we also need to keep in mind that we can't always count on the team to perform well. Real Madrid did not win the league title last season, but they did not blame the coach because they understood that a team should not always be winning a match. Barcelona, on the other hand, won the Liga last season despite their lacklustre performance in the Champions League.

Using Girona as an example, were you able to witness a performance like this during the previous season? Since when did Girona last win a trophy? It's been a while. After they finally calmed down and made sure everything went according to plan, they started playing well. I think Barcelona will perform well, and I also think Xavi can lead the team to as many trophies as they would like.

[Leviathan.007]

Barcelona is in the situation in which they should sell their defender. Eric García had an amazing performance in Girona and he is going to return to Barcelona for the next season. Obviously, Barcelona wants to save a spot for this player, Chadi Riad the player of Betis will also join Barcelona soon and now it seems Barcelona is about to put Andreas Christensen for sale.
The Danish defender of Barcelona, Andreas Christensen should leave and let Barcelona have fewer defenders.

[bering]

Of course, this is a bit strange about Real Betis because they have dropped a lot of points in their last 5 matches in La Liga. Not only in La Liga, Real Betis was also not in their best form in the Copa Del Rey, recently losing to Alaves. They dominated attacks in several of those matches, but Real Betis had to give up with a draw or defeat to their opponents.

The situation is worrying for Real Betis this season, but they are a solid team and are expected to return to their best. However, in my opinion Real Betis still has many opportunities to develop and fight to finish in the European zone next season considering that La Liga is still very long. I don't know exactly what their problem is, but there are several players who are currently injured and maybe that is one of the causes behind all this besides bad finishing.

Betis this season actually only gets 3 loses at Laliga but the most problem is they also as the team with the most draw results in this league with 10 draws and these records also makes Betis lost plenty of points from their previous matches because as a manager Manuel Pellegrini was unable to managed Betis consistency and on Europa League too Betis also have to eliminate early because they were suffering 2 losing streak which makes Betis only finish at 3rd place under Rangers and Sparta Prague

Betis performance was compeletely decline because with the loses from Alaves which mean Betis have already to through an 10 matches in all competitions with only gets 2 wins and now nothing they can do unless focus to Laliga and to improved their position on league standings and next weekend Betis actually will gets easy opponent Granada and if we see based on squad quality i think beating Granada is not hard task for them because this team was displayed poor performance during this season and Granada only can occupy 19th place so let see it later whether Betis can able to bounce back and beat Granada or they will failed to win and resumes their poor results again

[SmartCharpa]

Real Betis' defeat in the previous week was quite surprising because they actually lost against Celta Vigo. Even though they were able to hold Real Madrid, Real Sociedad and Girona to a draw in several previous matches and this means they have not won again in the last 5 matches. The result of 1 loss and 4 draws meant that they failed to secure a perfect 15 points and could only produce 4 points from the match.

Even so, Real Betis still remains in 7th position, but because they lost so many points, the other teams below them are getting closer to them. Like Getafe, Valencia and Las Palmas are starting to threaten them from behind and I think this will be a bad note if they can't maintain their current position or try to win again in the next match in order to shorten the distance from Real Sociedad.

Many people were full of surprise over Real Betis's match against Celta Vigo. After looking at both teams' league positions before the start of the game, I thought Real Betis were going to win the game. However, it remains surprising that Betis lost to a team that is in the relegation zone after draw their previous four games against strong clubs. I was wrong when Betis scored in the first six minutes of the game, i thought Celta Vigo's chances of winning were gone. They still need to improve their performance to avoid falling back from that seventh position, especially with so many teams behind them. The best outcome for Betis in their upcoming game is a three point victory over Granada.

Xavi's job is really difficult this season. In the La Liga they need to fight not only Real Madrid but also Girona for the title. How successful are they about that? Not great honestly. They need to win more games consecutively to prevent the gap from getting bigger at least. Because neither Girona nor Real Madrid lose points easily these days.

It is a shame that Barcelona don't have a stronger team play compared to Girona. There is a big quality gap when it comes to players but we can't see Barcelona showing this clearly. Xavi wouldn't get sacked this season probably but he would be expected to improve to be able stay here a couple of more years.  

Since Real Madrid and Girona have the same number of points in the league, I think it would be best for Barcelona to give up on winning the league title this season. With this point differences, I don't think Barcelona can compete with these two teams at this point, Barcelona should be concentrating on how to qualify to the next champions league, as Atletico Madrid and Athletic Club want to overtake them.

[Belarge]

Barcelona is in the situation in which they should sell their defender. Eric García had an amazing performance in Girona and he is going to return to Barcelona for the next season. Obviously, Barcelona wants to save a spot for this player, Chadi Riad the player of Betis will also join Barcelona soon and now it seems Barcelona is about to put Andreas Christensen for sale.
The Danish defender of Barcelona, Andreas Christensen should leave and let Barcelona have fewer defenders.

Playing for a top team like Barcelona require more than enough than playing for some random mediocre team, I don't know if you understand my point. The players are engaged with good tasks and essential roles in the team. What Barcelona needs are players that will outshine their opponents on the pitch, this is not the time to scout any player but going straight to signing the important and enchanced players. Andreas Christensen will leave afterall he's replaceable. Xavi Hernandez is looking forward to welcome some of his important players, not the injured ones in the team that are unavailable.

[Strongkored]

Since Real Madrid and Girona have the same number of points in the league, I think it would be best for Barcelona to give up on winning the league title this season. With this point differences, I don't think Barcelona can compete with these two teams at this point, Barcelona should be concentrating on how to qualify to the next champions league, as Atletico Madrid and Athletic Club want to overtake them.

In these two competitions Barcelona's chances are equally slim, in Laliga because they are seven points behind and with the conditions of Real Madrid and Girona, which are quite stable in appearance, it can be said that it is impossible for Barcelona to take over the top of the standings, because it means that Real Madrid and Girona must lose at least eight points with Barcelona continuing to perform well by getting three points in all the remaining matches, and this is quite a difficult thing because during the last match against Las Palmas they almost got a draw and finally won after Las Palmas got a red card and Gundogan managed to score through the penalty spot.
Moreover, the champions league where the competition is with strong teams from different leagues and can get to the semifinals is already a pretty good achievement for Barcelona but it's not an easy thing because the opponent will be even harder when it enters the quarterfinals.

[Bitcoin_people]

Xavi's job is really difficult this season. In the La Liga they need to fight not only Real Madrid but also Girona for the title. How successful are they about that? Not great honestly. They need to win more games consecutively to prevent the gap from getting bigger at least. Because neither Girona nor Real Madrid lose points easily these days.

It is a shame that Barcelona don't have a stronger team play compared to Girona. There is a big quality gap when it comes to players but we can't see Barcelona showing this clearly. Xavi wouldn't get sacked this season probably but he would be expected to improve to be able stay here a couple of more years.  

Since Real Madrid and Girona have the same number of points in the league, I think it would be best for Barcelona to give up on winning the league title this season. With this point differences, I don't think Barcelona can compete with these two teams at this point, Barcelona should be concentrating on how to qualify to the next champions league, as Atletico Madrid and Athletic Club want to overtake them.

This season as Girona and Real Madrid have a great rivalry going on in the points table and their points are equal. Accordingly, we can say for sure that Barcelona will never be able to compete with these two teams in the position they are currently in. Barcelona are still 7 points behind Girona and Real Madrid, maybe they will have to fight hard to collect these points which we think is not very possible. That's why it would be better to give up Barcelona's La Liga title dreams this season as the two teams are currently locked in a rivalry on the points table. Furthermore, Athletic Club and Athletic Madrid are currently level on points and will definitely try to overtake Barcelona in the next match. Accordingly, it is better for Barcelona not to dream of winning the title this season, instead they should focus on next season and it is most important to concentrate on qualifying for the Champions League.

[MarjorieZimmermanGinger]

I have to say the performance from Barcelona is definitely not up to the standard. They are not being able to keep a clean sheet against very weak opponents. And that causes a lot of concern. Right now Barcelona is nowhere near the points of the team that is ahead of them. And the team ahead of them is Girona. Barcelona has not been able to keep a clean sheet against Barbastro, Las Palmas, Club America (it was friendly by the way), Almeria, and Valencia. And those which were La Liga matches, none of them were top six teams.

The teams that I have mentioned, people might actually have not heard some of their names, lol. And by the way, Barcelona lost 4- 2 against Girona.  I don't think they are actually going to defend the title successfully. La Liga title is going to some other team this time.

Barcelona is starting to experience setbacks this season and is slowly unable to compete with the three leaders of La Liga this season. The defeat against Girona was quite a blow because in the previous season Girona was not a tough opponent for Barcelona. This season Girona became the best team not because they were able to beat Barcelona but because they managed to become a strong challenger to Real Madrid at the top of the standings and at the same time became a title challenger who was still quite the favourite.

Xavi Hernandez could not run a good situation for the team because of the limited number of players he needed and he always tried to include young players when a number of key players were injured. It looks like the unstable financial conditions will be much more difficult and Xavi Hernandez will be increasingly tested when playing matches in the Champions League.