LA LIGA vs EUROPA: Mid Season Review

We have come to the end of the first half of the European season. It’s been two different tales in the different competitions. It’s been a huge success in the Champions League, all 3 teams that got into the group stage made it into the knockout stage in comfortable styles. But the Europa league is where performances were kind of disappointing. But there’s still hope for 2 La Liga teams lifting up both trophies come May.

Europa League

We begin in the Europa League, it has been a disappointing campaign of La Liga's representatives, defending champion Atletico Madrid were by far the most disappointing performance, they woke up too late and got knocked out. It’s easy to blame same old problem that has always bugged the Madrid team - inconsistency, but this time I won’t. Going into a season right after a World Cup can be funny and I think Atletico Madrid is one of those teams that suffered a World cup burnout. Forlan looks completely lost and seriously needs a Holiday (he is now hurt), el Kun has been rushed from injury and is simply not back to his best and Simao well he is already moving on to new adventures. But still it’s no excuse for been knocked out in the first round and losing to Aris Salonika. They simply decided that La Liga was going to be the major focus and stuck to it. As for Getafe, they simply were better off getting out of Europa and focusing on La Liga.

Congratulations to Villarreal and Sevilla who made to it to the next round and will be lifting La Ligas Flag high and proud. Villarreal did a good job in qualifying for the next round, but Sevilla kinda makes me think they might be the next ones out of the competition, based on group stage performance. Good thing there is plenty of time until February for the next matches, both teams should be refreshed and good to go. They both have tough draws, last time Sevilla faced a Portuguese team they failed miserably. Now they up against a bigger and stronger squad in FC Porto. I hope they don’t get thrashed by Barcelona anytime before facing Porto. Villarreal take on the last remaining Italian team, Napoli. It's not gonna be easy, but Villarreal has the extra quality to go through and should.

Final note the best La Liga player of the round, I’ll give to Rossi, with 5 goals he is 2 behind Falcao of FC Porto (they’ll be facing Sevilla). Rossi gets my vote cause he is having an awesome season. He has been on fire in La Liga and maintains the and same form in Europe. Consistency deserves recognition. After all the Messi's, Xavi's, CR7's have been getting all the kudos, so I see nothing wrong in recognizing an often underrated player, who gets the job done. To Giuseppe Rossi I say “Bravo”!

Champions League

Now to the Champions League, it's been a great adventure this season, only one defeat (which was a result of scare tactics), La Liga simply blew away most of it's opponents (though I got to hand it to Copenhagen). Los Blanco’s are looking much better and gradually restoring their confidence. The rest of Europe should and will fear them. Barcelona don’t need any more praises and they finally got a win against Rubin Kazan.

My focus would be on Los Che, They are my La Liga team of the UCL. They earned some amazing results and showed that not only Real and Barsa know how to score goals. If Unai Emery had been more adventurous, I believe they could have beaten Manchester United home and away. They scored twice the number of goals than Manchester United and finished second to scored, scored same amount of goals as did Losblanco and one higher Barcelona and conceded only 4. For a team that lost two of its major weapons and going through a financial crisis, I must say they told Europa that they still mean business. Also another reason I declared Los Che as the best team from La liga in Europa is the beauty of the goals scored. That dude Topal scored some blazing, smoking goals. I’m already a fan.

It’s not just all roses for Valencia, of the 3 La liga teams going into the knockout battle, they still have most of the work to be carried out. Their biggest problem is their coach. Emery is a good coach no doubt, but he sometimes plays too conservative. When you can’t venture out and take those risks, well you don’t win trophies or go far doing so. Against Man Utd, he had a great opportunity to make a huge statement but yet he choose safety. He has done an amazing job delivering such a performance with a team many didn’t give a chance, but he needs to step out of that comfort zone every now and then, especially in the big games. Finally Los Che may need an extra central defender. Maybe it’s just me, but I think the combination of Navarro and Costa is not enough.

Los Blanco and Blaugrana Fans, what else do you want me to say about you guys? You're both awesome and doing great. Yes, before I forget the draws for the knockout stages have been made and we have two matches from last season again, I believe both La Liga teams should win and go through against Lyon and Arsenal. Valencia against Schalke should be a special game as the La Liga and Los Blanco modern hero, el Capitan himself Raul Gonzalez Blanco returns to Spain for the first time after leaving Real. Unfortunately I’ll be cheering against him and Schalke.

Feliz Navidad Amigos, see you all in 2011.

Article by: Raphael Harry for Forza Futbol.com