By Tomi Rantanen
The Best of Three
Another intriguing season lies ahead in Spain, with all top three teams arguably only getting stronger during the summer: Real Madrid exchanged Jese for Alvaro Morata, Barcelona acquired some well needed support in defense, especially after the departure of Dani Alves, in form of Samuel Umtiti, Lucas Digne and midfield dynamo Andre Gomes, while Atletico managed to held on to their key players in addition to snatching up Sevilla’s Kevin Gameiro and Nicolas Gaitan from Benfica. It’s hard to imagine an outsider challenging for the title.
That being said, we never say never but put the supercomputer to work. With Accuscore’s season simulation we are able to take a peek into the future and predict if we are in for a surprise – like Valencia winning in 2003/04, the last time a team outside the aforementioned trio won the title.
Here is AccuScore’s final prediction for Spanish La Liga 2016/17 Season:
|
1
|
Real Madrid
|
97
|
|
2
|
Barcelona
|
91
|
|
3
|
Atletico Madrid
|
81
|
|
4
|
Sevilla
|
71
|
|
5
|
Athletic Club Bilbao
|
69
|
|
6
|
Real Sociedad
|
63
|
|
7
|
Malaga
|
55
|
|
8
|
Real Betis
|
51
|
|
9
|
Las Palmas
|
49
|
|
10
|
Valencia
|
48
|
|
11
|
Granada
|
45
|
|
12
|
Villarreal
|
44
|
|
13
|
Eibar
|
41
|
|
14
|
Espanyol
|
40
|
|
15
|
Celta de Vigo
|
39
|
|
16
|
Deportivo La Coruna
|
34
|
|
17
|
Leganes
|
33
|
|
18
|
Sporting Gijon
|
32
|
|
19
|
Osasuna
|
29
|
|
20
|
Deportivo Alaves
|
27
|
The simulations show great predictability this time, as Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid slot nicely into the top three. This season it is the time for Real Madrid to take the crown after four year dry spell, with reigning champion for two seasons Barcelona acting as runner up. Atletico is yet again left to play the second – or third – fiddle, but have a comfortable cushion before Sevilla and Athletic Bilbao.
Sevilla’s new manager Jorge Sampaoli will have his work cut out for him after losing almost half the squad with the departures of Grzegortz Krychowiak, Kevin Gameiro, Ciro Immobile, Fernando Llorente, Coke and Ever Banega. Albeit the players have been replaced, a lot of question marks loom in the horizon, but according to the simulations Sampaoli will be one of the biggest hits next season taking Sevilla to Champions League qualification.
Last season’s qualifiers to Europe, sixth placed Celta Vigo and fourth Villarreal will be in trouble this season with the added strain from continental games. Celta has remained rather quiet in the transfer market, only replacing Manchester-bound Nolito with Midjylland’s phenomenon Pione Sisto, while Villarreal has made some splashes acquiring names like Roberto Soriano, Nicola Sansone and Alexandre Pato. It remains to be seen how far the teams make it in Europe, but in La Liga they’re in for a disappointment.
To finish on a high note, according to the simulations the biggest winner of La Liga 2016/17 season can be found at the 17th place. Club Deportivo Leganes, hailing from outskirts of Madrid and playing in a stadium with maximum capacity of 8138 are able to avoid relegation despite spending all of £850K in the transfer market this summer. Miraculously they beat both of the promoted teams, Alaves and Osasuna, while leaving Sporting Gijon behind as well – if only by one point.
