It doesn’t feel like summer today, staring out my bedroom window at a fuzzy wall of rain from my desk. Having enjoyed sun-spoiled weather recently, it was time for Erie (my home city in Pennsylvania, USA) to take on its fair share of the gloom with a miserable day. But like all storms, the thunderhead of bad luck can only hover over one place for so long. Real Madrid will be hoping that logic stands as said after a demoralizing end to a fruitless season. But that bleak, cool downpour that quite literally as much as metaphorically ruined Los Blancos’ parade back on May 17th doesn’t stretch as far as the capital does south. Atlético de Madrid spent the next day basking in the sun with their delighted fans packed densely against the statue Neptuno. Celebrating a Copa del Rey triumph in the boiling blood of their city rivals was the cherry on top of a largely successful season for Atléti, but for how long can they keep up the charade?
It’s no secret that Spain’s La Liga is about ready to tip over from its top-heavy figure. Financially, Real Madrid and Barcelona are very big fish in an evaporating pond. The bookies have hardly bothered to calculate the odds of another club lifting the trophy in the last half-decade, but if this past season has shown us anything, it’s that as untouchable as Messi, Ronaldo, and company seem, they are all mortals. Los Colchoneros held second place out of Real Madrid’s reach until Real Sociedad became the first team to leave the Vincente Calderón with all three points on March 10th, roughly two months shy of the season’s conclusion. And while stocking the topic of Sociedad, the Basque side were undeniably the story of the season. Who had predicted La Real challenging for an outside European Cup birth amongst the usual suspects like Valencia, Sevilla, and Málaga back in August? Very few!
The third and fourth finishing clubs, Atlético de Madrid and Real Sociedad spent the season twisting the plot in a league that lacks the competitive nuances above the frost line of the table. The pair have qualified for Champions League places – Atléti directly into the group stages and La Real into the final qualifying round. Sociedad’s captain, Xabi Prieto, at the age of 29 is the only remaining squad member from the last time his hometown club competed in the Champions League in 2003-2004. According to MARCA, the midfielder was selected in the squad lists but never made an appearance; he watched his teammates fall victim to Lyon 1-0 in both legs of the first knockout stage after solidifying second place in their group behind Juventus. All the same, the team performed so well this season under French coach Philippe Montanier that even the players were surprised by the success. MARCA quoted Xabi Prieto admitting this back on May 5th:
"I honestly don’t think any of us expected to get this close…We won’t be happy if we don’t hold on to fourth place,” he revealed.
The Txuri-urdin, the ‘white-blue’ in the native Basque language, accomplished their refined goal but it certainly came down to a photo finish. On the final match day of the season, Montanier’s men started in 5th position behind Valencia. However, Real Sociedad condemned Deportivo La Coruña to a demising return to the second division with a 1-0 win in Galicia. But it’s Sevilla’s Álvaro Negredo that will be checking his front doorstep for a fruit basket trimmed in blue and white ribbons. The former Real Madrid youth player scored all of Sevilla’s goals in an electric curtain call 4-3 win over visiting Valencia to allow Real Sociedad to leapfrog Los Che in the final table standings. Real’s plucky Antoine Griezmann scored the lone goal for Sociedad that evening and the club’s orange away strip served as party attire to a backdrop silent with melancholy depression at the Riazor.
With a season jammed with stories for los niños in the books, Real Sociedad must be wary of the fourth place curse that haunts La Liga. Only on two occasions in the last 9 seasons has the fourth place-finishing club been able to retain a table position the same or greater the next year (Real Madrid 2004-2005 went 4th to 2nd, while Atlético Madrid retained 4th in 2007-2008). Furthermore, many of the clubs have met shipwreck endings the following campaign. For example, Celta Vigo finished fourth in 2002 but were relegated in 2003 after finishing 19th. The same horrible fate met Villarreal just recently. After a fourth place finish in 2011, the yellow submarine was relegated last season.
Both Atlético Madrid and Real Sociedad have suffered personnel setbacks since the back cover was slammed shut on the domestic campaign. Sociedad’s impressing manager has retreated back to France to join Stade Rennais, while Rojiblancos’ marksman Radamel Falcao has completed a blockbuster move to paper-throwing Monaco. Atlético Madrid found their niche this season with blue-collar performers and a good balance between attack and defense. They didn’t score goals by the boatload, but conceded very few. In fact, Diego Simeone’s backline only watched their goalkeeper get beat 31 times this season, good enough for fewest in La Liga and considerably better than Barcelona’s 40 and Real Madrid’s 42 let in.
Despite Los Colchoneros' toughness in defense, the squad’s equilibrium will suffer without Falcao’s goal haul. The Colombian scored 28 of Atléti’s 65 La Liga tallies this season – that’s 43%. Rayo Vallecano striker Leo Baptistão has been purchased in the last week for an undisclosed fee, but are his feet big enough to fill the shoes left behind? The 20 year-old scored seven goals last season in 28 league appearances and with such youth exercises a promising potential. But surely he can’t be enough to lead the line in the Champions League.
Traditionally, the Calderón has played home to big name strikers that the club cashes in on after a few years. The mold fits for the likes of Fernando Torres, Sergio Agüero, and now Radamel Falcao, but the “noisy neighbors” of Madrid will want to spend some of the fat revenue fresh from the pockets of Monaco to keep the club’s standard where it left off in May. Monaco paid 50 million pounds for El Tigre; that’s over 58 million euros or nearly 75 million dollars. If I were Atlético, I’d be using my notes as bait for an established striker.
On the other hand, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure for Real Sociedad. Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger had decided Carlos Vela wasn’t in his plans after loaning the Mexican striker to several different locations between 2006 and 2012. His final destination was Real Sociedad, and the club made the deal permanent this season. Vela has been sailing with the wind at his back in San Sebastián this year. The Cancún native was the club’s leading scorer in the league, netting 14 goals and contributing 9 assists, also La Real’s highest of the season. He and Imanol Agirretxe did the most damage this year collectively, with Agirritxe nearly matching Vela's tally with 13 goals of his own. But what makes the whole Real Sociedad operation tick? Like many teams, it’s the bodies in center midfield.
Often in football the attackers get all the credit. And a lot of this credit does indeed go to Xabi Prieto. He can provide a spark to make things simple, and proved his quality against Real Madrid this season. Five of his nine goals came against José Mourinho’s team, including his first ever hat trick away in the presence of almost 60,000 fans at the Bernabéu. There was no reward for this accomplishment though, with Madrid winning 4-3. Yet it’s the work of another midfielder that doesn’t grab as many headlines to which Sociedad owe a great deal of thanks. His name is Asier Illarramendi.
La Liga expert Phil Ball brought the 23 year-old to the attention of many in early April in his La Liga ESPN column about possible replacements for Xabi Alonso, a player who seems to be a breed of his own. Illarramendi is the pulse of Real Sociedad. He is true to his defensive responsibilities and ties all the pretty ribbons together with his distribution. The more he flies under the radar, the better it is for Sociedad. That’s the kind of player you want to send two cards to at Christmas if your aim is long-term success.
La Real’s Anoeta Stadium and the Vincente Calderón were two of La Liga’s bulkiest fortresses this season. Like mentioned above, only Real Sociedad were clever enough to take all the points from Atléti in Madrid, other than the big two, but even Real Madrid and Barcelona couldn’t win in San Sebastián. Barcelona suffered their first loss of the league campaign there in January by a score of 3-2. Real Madrid visited Anoeta for their last away trip of the season a few weeks ago and despite leading twice in match, were equalized in stoppage time to end the tie 3-3. It was a crucial goal from the hosts in order to keep the Champions League dream alive. Xabi Prieto was the hero; the captain leading his troops.
Sociedad proved to be one of the best entertainment providers this season and that never-say-die spirit reminded me of a saying made famous where I live. Hopefully this brief closing anecdote can illustrate my message.
A couple weekends back, my hometown put on a bicentennial parade down State Street in honor of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry; the man is sort of legend around these parts. Through blood-soaked waters and near annihilation, the commodore rowed half a mile from his decimated flagship to hoist his battle flag atop the mast of the U.S. Brig Niagara and against all odds defeated the British in the Battle of Lake Erie in The War of 1812. The blue flag displayed a motto in white letters (fitting for Real Sociedad) that everyone in my city knows – “Don’t Give Up The Ship.”
No matter the cost, captain (or shall I say commodore?) Xabi Prieto and co. made it work and reaped in the ultimate reward, a chance to play amongst Europe’s elite. If Real Sociedad and Atlético de Madrid can continue to gain momentum after these historic seasons, then perhaps Spanish football can shed a few pounds and tone it’s figure. But if not, like so many years before, that looming storm cloud will find its way back over San Sebastián and the Vincente Calderón, while we continue to over-apply our focus on the Clasicos. Certaintly without the deep wallets of Real Madrid and Barcelona, accomplishing the feat as an established threat next season would be one of the greatest we've ever seen.