Barcelona will begin the 2026/27 season as favourites to retain their La Liga crown after lifting the trophy in front of arch-rivals Real Madrid at the end of last season.Few rivalries in world football can match El Clasico, widely regarded as the biggest fixture in the sport.And this season promises the challenge of a fightback. Real Madrid failed to win a single trophy last term and have turned back to legendary boss José Mourinho. They have backed him with new signings, and are determined to reclaim their place at the top of Spanish football.Whether they can overturn Barcelona’s dominance is another question entirely.Barca are the team to beat and boast a core of young, homegrown players that should sustain them for years to come. They are odds-on favourites to retain their La Liga title this coming season, and with good reason. The Catalans finished eight points clear in top spot last season, illustrating just how dominant they were over the course of the campaign.
Barcelona coasted to a third title in four seasons and were the best team in La Liga by almost every metric. They scored the most goals per match (2.5), boasted the highest average possession share per match (68.8 per cent), and kept the most clean sheets (15). For anyone to catch them, those numbers will have to dip.If Barca have a weakness, it’s their high line. This is not to say that the high line itself is a weakness — it is a key component of the way manager Hansi Flick operates, keeping Barcelona high up the pitch so they can counter-press opponents as aggressively as possible. However, the space in behind the high line can be exploited.In the transfer market they have had a focus on attack so far, with €80m spent on the signing of winger Anthony Gordon from Newcastle United and Karim Adeyemi also arriving from Borussia Dortmund to give Flick even more speed to utilise in the final third.This is Flick doubling down on his high-risk approach, although Barcelona’s squad is somewhat incomplete until a new centre forward arrives. Only Ferran Torres and Lamine Yamal scored more league goals than Robert Lewandowski last season, highlighting the need to replace the Polish striker, who joined the Chicago Fire over the summer.
