Inside Spain is a weekly installment brought to you by Football España, giving you an insight into all the top stories coming out of the rich and intense climates of La Liga and beyond.
Although this season looked like it was going to be a piece of cake for Real Madrid after the arrival of Kylian Mbappe. It’s shaping up to be one of the most interesting title races in recent memory. Barcelona came out of the blocks quickly, but after one win in five games, the top three are separated by just three points.
Atlético Madrid have rallied from a slow start and have bounced back with 10 wins. With the club rumored to be considering alternatives to Diego Simeone, they have been the best team in Spain, and will travel to Montjuïc to face Barcelona in their final game of 2024.
It will be played in Montjuic and not in Miami, but as things stand, it could also be Dani Olmo’s last game of the season with Barcelona. Barcelona used an emergency injury rule in August to sign Olmo, essentially using the salary cap space taken up by Andreas Christensen to sign him. With Christensen’s recovery, however, Barcelona have until the end of December to register Olmo as normal, and as players cannot be registered with the same team twice in a season, if they can’t, their star signing he won’t be able to play.
To make matters worse, Olmo has a clause in his contract that allows him to leave for free if not registered. Sporting director Deco was optimistic they would get the job done, but it’s a precarious position. Deco are already on the lookout for players for next summer, but Jonathan David looks unlikely to arrive, with Bayern Munich and Tottenham Hotspur in the running.
Things have improved and calmed down at Real Madrid, but they are not perfect. After Kylian Mbappé’s double penalty miss in the space of eight days, the pressure was on in the Spanish capital. He looked to finally be himself again, but with a lightning strike against Atalanta, but he went off injured after just half an hour.
However, that half hour was damning for Rodrygo Goes. The Brazilian forward looked the odd one out when Mbappé arrived, and that’s the position he’s in now. Always the golden son of President Florentino Pérez, now he has it lost favor after just 4 goals so far this season, it’s worth remembering that Manchester City and Liverpool were interested in him last summer.
Bayern Munich left-back Alphonso Davies appeared to be a certainty to come in as Real Madrid chase Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold. The attitude in the capital is now that Alexander-Arnold is more likely to arrive on a free next summer, with Davies closer to renewing his contract at Bayern. He hasn’t felt enough love from Spain and they are getting tired of the lack of progress. If Bayern make a mistake, Barcelona, Manchester United and Liverpool are waiting.
