Many football fans point to La Liga as the number 1 league in the world because of the technically superior aspects of the Spanish game. Some look to Germany’s Bundesliga for the overall package ( Fantastic fans, marketing of brand, precision based football)
Some fans strangely, even look to Serie A and Ligue 1 for it’s “entertainment value.” But the English Premier league is way ahead of all mentioned because it is a league where anything can happen, and, probably will.
Pep Guardiola ruled La Liga and Bundesliga with ease, yet, here he sits with head in hands after losing to Leicester City. Apologies, he didn’t just lose, that’s putting it rather mildly- he GOT THUMPED By Claudi Ranieri. Outfoxed by the Fox Boss. That’s another boon for the English League, that the best minds in the modern game stand as foes on British soil, the top of the football crop now test their mettle in weekly mental battle. Now even more so with each passing season, there’s no such a thing as two horse race – “Everyone is fighting to take 3 points and that makes us angry” – Jurgen Klopp’s words could never have been any truer.
OK OK! Yes some teams fall out of the title challenge earlier than others but that still doesn’t stop the team rock bottom beating the team that is 1st on the log. Amazingly, this is not a rare occurrence but rather something that happens with growing regularity.
Then there’s also the stepping stone factor. Many of the South American / global talent that end up in England make no secrets about their ambition to one day play for either Barcelona or Real Madrid. But this is not a bad thing. So while they are actually aiming to reach their dream teams who play in boring two horse race leagues, they play their best football in efforts to catch the eyes of the world/ scouts of their preferred destination. We only have to look at the contributions of the likes of Luis Suarez for Liverpool and Cristiano Ronaldo for Manchester United. They were superb for their English clubs and gave much to the English game but they now play against Each other in El Clasico. Now detractors & critics of my claim of the EPL being the best and most entertaining league will point to the previous sentence as evidence to bolster their counter case. You have to remember that the El Clasico clash buildup is so intense and over-hyped because other games don’t have that same bite. In fact, the Clasico itself has seen some boring “clashes” in recent times.
“Expect the unexpected” best describes the weekly match day situation. Some teams have gone a whole season living up to this mantra.Leicester City winning the league last season despite being surrounded by big spending Chelsea, Man City, Man United only added further credibility to an already competitive err competition.
Bournemouth have beaten Liverpool this season. Hull City have beaten Champions Leicester City. It’s anyone game, every game.
Pep Guardiola’s Man City getting thrashed by Leicester City can be likened to prisoners winning a football match against the guards, playing bare-feet. “The Special One” Jose Mourinho can be made to look like David Moyes by Watford ( with all due respect to Watford). Liverpool losing against Bournemouth despite being 3-1 would simply not happen in Spain. The only bit of excitement in La Liga nowadays is a pigeon chested striker named Iago Aspas, famous for superb corners that lead to immediate counter attacks & who failed at Liverpool, now scores against the big teams. That’s it. Meanwhile, David-vs-Goliath type matches every week in England.
And the small guy ROCKS.
