La Liga form table since World Cup shows Barcelona's title rivals next season
Another Clasico duopoly was brewing at the top of La Liga, but Real Madrid's faltering form post-Qatar allowed Barcelona to waltz to their first league title since 2019.
Xavi's Blaugrana were the standout outfit in Spain across the entire campaign, although one team's form during the second half of the season may come as a slight worry heading into 2023/24.
For quite some time, it seemed as if 2023 would finally be the year Diego Simeone departed his beloved Atletico. Los Rojiblancos' domestic form before the World Cup was patchy and they were rather embarrassingly knocked out of Europe entirely after finishing fourth in their Champions League group.
Reports intensified on El Cholo's departure, but his Atletico outfit found another gear in the new year and Simeone's stay in the Spanish capital looks set to continue.
La Liga table after the 2022 World Cup
Position | Team | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Goal difference | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. | Atletico Madrid | 24 | 16 | 5 | 3 | 30 | 53 |
2. | Barcelona | 24 | 16 | 3 | 5 | 22 | 51 |
3. | Real Sociedad | 24 | 13 | 6 | 5 | 14 | 45 |
4. | Real Madrid | 24 | 13 | 4 | 7 | 20 | 43 |
5. | Villarreal | 24 | 13 | 4 | 7 | 14 | 43 |
6. | Sevilla | 24 | 11 | 5 | 8 | 2 | 38 |
7. | Real Betis | 24 | 10 | 6 | 8 | 0 | 36 |
8. | Girona | 24 | 9 | 6 | 9 | 5 | 33 |
9. | Celta Vigo | 24 | 8 | 7 | 9 | 2 | 31 |
10. | Mallorca | 24 | 9 | 4 | 11 | -6 | 31 |
11. | Cadiz | 24 | 8 | 7 | 9 | -6 | 31 |
12. | Osasuna | 24 | 8 | 6 | 10 | -7 | 30 |
13. | Getafe | 24 | 7 | 7 | 10 | -3 | 28 |
14. | Athletic Club | 24 | 7 | 6 | 11 | -6 | 27 |
15. | Rayo Vallecano | 24 | 7 | 6 | 11 | -12 | 27 |
16. | Almeria | 24 | 6 | 7 | 11 | -10 | 25 |
17. | Espanyol | 24 | 6 | 7 | 11 | -11 | 25 |
18. | Valencia | 24 | 6 | 5 | 13 | -10 | 23 |
19. | Real Valladolid | 24 | 6 | 5 | 13 | -22 | 23 |
20. | Elche | 24 | 5 | 6 | 13 | -16 | 21 |
No team accumulated more points after the World Cup in La Liga than Simeone's Atleti (53) but they still finished 11 points behind the champions. Simeone's tactical flexibility aided Los Rojiblancos during the second half of the season, with the Argentinian's defence also benefitting from the manager deploying a lower block.
Atletico aren't the rugged, park-the-bus merchants of their apex, but Simeone's more proactive stance simply wasn't working during the first half of the season and his decision to drop deeper facilitated a distinct defensive improvement which brought better results.
Barcelona finished just behind Atletico in the post-World Cup table and it's likely they would've topped the standings had they not won the title so early. Xavi's side lost three of their four games after they wrapped up proceedings against Catalonian rivals Espanyol.
Real Madrid suffered seven defeats in their final 24 games of the season as their focus eventually turned to the Champions League and Copa del Rey. Real Sociedad, meanwhile, finished third in the post-World Cup table and secured a top-four finish.
At the other end of the table, it's no surprise that the two worst-performing teams during the second half of the season, Real Valladolid and Elche, succumbed to the second tier. They've been joined in the Segunda Division by Espanyol, whose late four-game unbeaten run wasn't enough to keep them up.
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Sevilla were the biggest improvers after the World Cup. They were 18th through 14 games this season, but the arrival of José Luis Mendilibar as manager aided their revival. They accumulated the sixth-most points in the division after the World Cup and finished in mid-table, all while adding yet another Europa League title to their cabinet. Cadiz, who also looked in trouble at the break, rallied during the second half of the season to finish 14th.
On the contrary, Athletic Club, who were fourth once the World Cup rolled around, faded considerably in 2023 and finished outside of the European spots. Ernesto Valverde's side picked up just 27 points from their remaining 24 games as they squandered an initially promising position.