Barca, Madrid could quite la liga

Barcelona and Real Madrid will
abandon Spain for a European
league if their dominance of La
Liga continues, according to
former Real director general
Jorge Valdano.
The two giants lost just six
games between them last season
and third place Valencia finished
25 points behind champions
Barcelona.
And Valdano, who was ousted in
May after losing a power battle
with Real boss Jose Mourinho,
said the gap between the
wealthy pair and the rest of the
league was likely to get bigger.
“In the future Madrid and
Barcelona will have to look to
teams that are going at the same
speed, and that will lead to a
European league,” he told Cadena
Ser radio.
‘Before I defended Real Madrid’s
interests but now I see things
from a different perspective,’ the
former Real and Argentina player
added.
“The gap between the big two
and the rest is getting ever
larger. If you look to the future
you have the feeling that it will
only get worse.
“Two teams which have the rest
of the world as their market and
the others only their local
community.
“There will come a time when
that won’t be convenient for the
two big clubs either.”
The difference in class and
spending power between Barca
and Real and their domestic
rivals was underlined by their
emphatic wins in their opening
league games of the season.
Barca crushed Villarreal, who are
competing in this season’s
Champions League, 5-0 at the
Nou Camp on Monday, while Real
demolished Real Zaragoza 6-0
away the previous day.
The results prompted the
president of Villarreal to accuse
Barca and Real of killing Spanish
soccer, while the Sevilla president
said La Liga was ‘a load of
rubbish’.
The dominance of Barca and Real
derives in part from their control
of revenue from TV rights, which
gives them a far bigger share of
the pot than rivals in other major
European leagues.
Spain has yet to adopt the system
of collective bargaining and
income sharing used in other
competitions like the Barclays
Premier League.
Javier Faus, a vice president of
Barca, said in February the club
would like to see an expanded
Champions League and floated
the idea of reducing the number
of clubs in top domestic divisions
to free up time for more
continental matches.
However, he said it was unlikely
Barca or Real would ever quit
domestic competition entirely.
“We are going through a period
of transition, it depends what
happens in Spain and other
leagues,” Valdano told Cadena
Ser.
“The problem is that the Premier
League works, Germany works.
There is a lot of passion for
football. I don’t see them being
very enthusiastic about leaving
their national leagues.”
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