Spain – La Liga Season Preview 2010/11 – Part 1

The Estádio Anoeta – Real Sociedad’s stadium – will host top division Spanish football again in 2010/11.

The Spanish Primera División restarts this week, and after an eventful and successful summer in South Africa for Spain, it’s time for everyone to re-focus on the league again. With the Super Cup out of the way, Just Football’s Spanish correspondent Luke Colbourne previews the teams, transfers and prospects ahead of a new season.

In this part of the preview we’re going to take a look at the bottom half of the league first. As you have probably noticed, the lower half tends to be a lot more evenly matched compared to the top, as demonstrated last season; from 11th to 16th there was just a point between each team. Also, in recent years even some of Spain’s bigger clubs have fallen down. Teams like Real Betis (who narrowly missed out on promotion last year) and Real Sociedad have had to compete in the Segunda División recently.

Newcomers and the battle for relegation

With it being so close at the bottom it’s hard to predict who will go down, but as expected the favourites to do so will be the three teams newly promoted from the Segunda División. They are Real Sociedad, Hércules and Levante.

Of the newcomers, it’s Real Sociedad who look the strongest and most likely to stay up. They have good quality throughout the side starting at the back with Claudio Bravo in goal, to the front with new boys Raúl Tamudo and Joseba Llorente leading the line. One man to look out for is 19-year-old Antoine Griezmann, an exciting winger who has drawn interest from some of the biggest clubs in Europe with his recent performances.

Onto Hércules and Levante. This will be Hércules’ first appearance in La Liga since 1997, so it’s set to be a tough task for Esteban Vigo in keeping them up. They’ve made a number of signings, including Olivier Thomert, David Cortés, Abel Aguilar, and their highest profile addition Nelson Haedo Valdez.

Levante are back after spending two years down in Segunda. Again, it’s also set to be a tough season for them, but they have brought in a couple of decent young players in Xavi Torres and Miguel Pallardó. Another who will strengthen the midfield is former Deportivo man Sergio González. Finally, they’ll be hoping Christian Stuani, who racked up 22 goals last season for Albacete, will be able to provide them with enough firepower upfront.

It’s all change at Málaga. The club was recently taken over by Qatari royal Sheikh Abdullah Ben Nasser Al-Thani, who has said that he wants to see the club amongst the top ten teams in the league. To help achieve this, they have appointed ex-Porto manager Jesualdo Ferreira who has already made six signings since arriving. Most notably, Sebastián Fernández who signed from Banfield in Argentina for a club record fee of around €4m. 20-year-old Venezuelan international Salomón Rondón will also add to the attack.

A team who’ve been sliding downwards recently are Racing Santander. Just three years ago they came 6th in La Liga and qualified for Europe under manager Marcelino. But since he left the club in 2008, the best they could manage was 12th. The loss of Ezequiel Garay last season and Sergio Canales this season has left them with a problem, as they aren’t players who can easily be replaced. Still, they had to move on, and they extended the loan of defender Henrique from Barcelona and added Kennedy Bakircioglü from Ajax.

Sporting Gijón, managed by Manuel Preciado finished 15th last time round, just above Racing and Málaga (who escaped the drop by just one point). Preciado has made some good signings already, securing a permanent deal for 21-year-old Alberto Botía from Barcelona. A highly-rated young defender who has played for the Spanish youth teams, he will be an important player again in keeping his team in the top-flight. Their other notable signing is Sebastián Eguren, the experienced Uruguayan midfielder and former Villarreal player who returned to Spain after a brief spell in Sweden with AIK.

Real Zaragoza are heading into their second season in a row in the top-flight after their brief visit to the second division. They’ll be looking to push on from last year’s 14th place finish and keeping hold of players like Ander Herrera will be key to that. The 20-year-old playmaker has been a solid performer and a regular starter for them in midfield. Their problem has been in defence, conceding a total of 64 goals last season; the third worst in the league.

They have signed experienced Italian defender Matteo Contini  on a permanent deal and brought in two new goalkeepers, Leo Franco and Toni Doblas, after Roberto Jiménez went back to his contracted club Atlético (and has since moved on to Benfica).

Osasuna have lost a good player with great potential in César Azpilicueta; the Spanish under 21 international has joined French giants Marseille and will be a big loss for them. They have however brought in Damià and big Serbian striker Dejan Lekić.

Almería have been a steady team since their promotion from Segunda in 2006/07, but have been slipping slightly since young and talented manager Unai Emery left for Valencia. It’s a huge task for Juan Manuel Lillo in trying to repeat their best finish of 8th in the 2007/08 season, but he’s made a few smart signings in Diego Valeri from Porto and Danish full-back Michael Jakobsen. As ever, Brazilian goalkeeper Diego Alves will be a key man for them at the back.

When talking about Espanyol, you tend to think about Raúl Tamudo. Their captain and talisman has moved on fourteen years after joining the Barcelona based club. Their attack has been bolstered by the return of Pablo Osvaldo, who spent the second half of last season on loan from Bologna, and Sergio García from Real Betis. Another big loss for them will be Nicolás Pareja; the Argentine defender was recently sold to Spartak Moscow. But as one South American leaves, two come in; namely full-back Felipe Mattioni and Argentinean international Jesus Dátolo.

Finally, we have Deportivo La Coruña, who have fallen into mid-table mediocrity over the years. The Champions League semi-final days of 2004 seem a distant memory for Deportivo, as does the departure of names like Fran and Mauro Silva. They have lost Filipe Luis and gained Rubén Pérez as part of that deal. Also coming in are two new faces from Portugal, 20-year-old Urreta on loan from Benfica and the more experienced Yves Desmarets from Vitória. It’s looking like a long way back to the top, especially with their reported financial difficulties.

How will these teams fare in La Liga 2010/2011? Predictions, thoughts and comments welcome below.

For part two, the big guns of the Primera Liga, click here.

(pic via oeiharry on Flickr)

Almeria, Deportivo la Coruña, Espanyol, Hercules, Levante, Malaga, Osasuna, Racing Santander, Real Sociedad, Real Zaragoza, Spain, Spanish Primera Division, Sporting Gijon