NEW DELHI: THE 90th season of La Liga is all set to commence from September 12. Another action-packed season is on the cards with Barcelona looking to usurp Real Madrid from the throne while the other big clubs look to reduce the gap and put up a strong challenge.
However, a discussion with Jose Antonio Cachaza, Managing Director, La Liga India, mostly centred around one man — Lionel Messi and his desire to quit Barcelona and his dramatic U-turn. In a virtual interaction, this newspaper spoke to the La Liga official based out of Madrid on the Messi saga as well as on how the league plans to conduct the season and the young players to watch out for. Excerpts...
How is the mood like surrounding the start of the new season especially after the entire Messi incident?
We always work long-term. Leo Messi is the best player in the world and probably in history. But these are players approaching the end of their careers. Players come and go, sadly. Clubs stay, leagues stay. We are starting the 90th season of La Liga. Real Madrid and Barcelona are clubs with over 100 years of history. We will always remember players like Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo who gave us one of the most exciting competitions ever in team sport. Nothing compares what these two guys gave La Liga. But life will continue and we are planning for the future, knowing that these players will be replaced by other great players.
Did the league and Barcelona deal with the issue in the right way?
First and foremost, it was an issue between club and player. La Liga just gave the legal answer. We made everyone aware of the contract issue. At the end of the day, the way the crisis unfolded and was resolved showed we were correct. After the conclusion of the Champions League, there was no talk regarding football and this made the news all over the world.
Has La Liga planned for the post-Messi world?
There was life before Messi, there will be life after. Unfortunately, things do come to an end. Historically, with the likes of Alfredo Di Stefano, Zinedine Zidane and more recently Cristiano, everyone thought it would be hard to replace these types of players. But the league numbers kept growing. With Messi, even the league’s president says we will take a hit but there are great young players coming up and we will cope for sure. The development for the likes of Ansu Fati, Martin Odegaard and Takefusa Kubo will be interesting to see.
Regarding the schedule, does the league have a back-up plan in case of a rise in cases?
Hopefully, it will never come to that. The situation is on the mend here and we hope it remains the same. We have been working with UEFA and so have the various other leagues. We have a schedule and while all things will be discussed, it will be disastrous if anything was to go wrong, not only in footballing terms but also for the country and the people here.
First game on September 12: Granada vs Athletic Club
Real Madrid’s 1st match is against Real Sociedad on Sep 21
Barcelona open their campaign against Villareal on Sep 27
The first El Clasico will be played on October 25, followed by the return leg on April 11