Real Madrid are Spanish Champions, so what does this Mean for Barcelona?

For the first time in two years, Real Madrid has been crowned champions of Spain for the 34th time in their history. The Blancos were neck and neck with rivals Barcelona in the table until the Catalan club slipped out of contention following losses to Celta Viga and Osasuna. To say that Madrid are happy would be an understatement. During Zidane's tenure as manager of Real, the club has constantly battled Barcelona for trophies, everything from LaLiga to the Champions League; in the UCL, Real Madrid had the honors of three-peating from 2016 to 2019. What makes this league title even more special is that it was done by a Madrid squad a lot of pundits had written off as peaked. In fairness, those pundits were right to be skeptical. Real's best players were well into their 30s and were without Cristiano Ronaldo, but they played almost ageless. Sergio Ramos even netted a free-kick...not too shabby for a 34-year old center-back. Toni Kroos, Luka Modric, and Casemiro locked down midfield, Karim Benzema returned to form as the starting striker, and Gareth Bale...well, he watched and goofed around from the stands as it became even more clear his relationship with Zidane and the Madrid faithful has soured beyond repair. Most likely, we will see Bale in a different uniform in the following months. Hat's off to Madrid for returning to glory as LaLiga champs. This title clinch has significant implications for the other big clubs in Spain, though.

I won't spend too much time dissecting their cross-town rival, Atletico, mostly because Atletico is in good shape. They have a nice mix of veteran players like Diego Costa, Saul, Alvaro Morata, and Jose Maria Jiminez coupled with young talents like Joao Felix and Marcos Llorente. Diego Simeone is a quality manager and he will get the chance to win the Champions League in August. The real focus will be on Barcelona because they are a tire fire in the making...

Messi has made it very clear that he is unhappy with how Barca is operating and the players they are bringing in. They've already tried to patch up the midfield with Miralem Pjanic, but that cost them sending Arthur to Juventus in exchange. I said in an earlier post this was a short-term solution and it really is. Pjanic is already 30, most of his best years were spent in Italy winning Serie A and contending for the Champions League. This is a new environment in Spain and the expectations will be high on Pjanic to perform to the best of his ability. Barca has been trying to win the Champions League; they haven't reached the final since 2015 when they won it all...with Neymar. Neymar's absence is finally being felt, and when PSG wouldn't agree to a deal to send him back to Spain, Barca settled for Antoine Griezmann, a World Cup winner and a seasoned veteran forward in LaLiga. Griezmann has undeservedly become Barca's whipping boy based on that he is being used as a winger when he is really a center-forward/striker/attacking mid so it's understandable his scoring rate has dropped off. Still, Messi's grievances should be taken seriously. Some might say he is whining, but when you look at the state of the Barca squad the age is showing. They have some younger players like Frenkie De Jong and Ousmane Dembele, but Dembele's been sidelined with injuries ever since he arrived at Barca. Ansu Fati also shows real promise but he's only 17 and definitely not a game-changing forward, not yet at least. If Barca wants to become kings of Spain again, they will need to really invest in younger, quality players, ones that can get Messi over their humps. A few rocky seasons and the Liverpool game still haunt Messi and if the club he has played with his entire life doesn't turn it around, he will. Real Madrid is now haunting him; even as a club heading into the twilight of their glory years, they still managed to win a LaLiga trophy. That goes to show when the right group of players and a solid manager work together, even an older team can triumph.