Barcelona made it 3 wins from 3 games with a 2-0 win over Athletic.

Neymar scored both goals which were assisted by Messi.

Atletico have taken an early lead in the Madrid derby thanks to a Tiago header.

Lol Turan score in the Madrid derby, celebrates nonchalantly

Great to see Atletico Madrid continue their success.

7 yellow cards for Atletico, 4 against Real. 😆 Seems to have been a Simeone-style game.

6 days later

Pablo Hernandez with what must surely be one of the goals of the season in Europe for Celta against Atletico.

Barcelona win 5-0 against Levante. Messi with a goal, two assists and one penalty miss. Barcelona still haven't conceded this season.

Atletico have eleven points after five games. They have scored one goal that wasn't from a set piece.

0 shots on target for Barca against Malaga tonight.

Were they that bad or did the strikers just have an off day?

Klaus wrote:

You can sort of understand Milan though. They used to have this team:

Nowadays they have Abate, Mexes, Rami and de Jong.

:drool:

So good, yet also involved in 2 of the most epic collapses in CL history, against Deportivo and Liverpool respectively.

24 days later

Don't know how they do it, but Barcelona still haven't conceded this season. 22-0, Messi and Neymar fit eachother perfectly. Some are doubting how it will work with Suarez, but I think he'll just be a massive upgrade on Pedro.

La Liga is the new Eredivise, that's why.

Ronaldo with 15 goals in 8 matches. That's just insane.

Spanish top teams are better than the English top teams. I'd also bet that the likes of Valencia and Bilbao would beat our lot at least as often as we can beat them.

C.Ronaldo and Messi's record in the CL is just as ridiculous as it is in La Liga. The assertion that the league is weak which is why their records are astonishing really doesn't hold true. C.Ronaldo scored 17 goals in 11 Champions League games last season.

Belittling the Spanish league is a typical narrative from fans of the English league, who can't really come to terms with the Spanish big two being on a level above everyone else. Truth is, our top teams feed off their scraps. We will also get our arses handed back to us on a platter.

😆 Yes, I'm such a fan of the English league. Well done.

No, he's not.

I was referring to the fact that La Liga is more economically imbalanced than any other league on the planet. That's why Barca still haven't conceded a goal and that's why Real Madrid have scored 30 in 8 games. I didn't mention Ronaldo and I didn't mention Messi.

So La Liga only became economically imbalanced this season?

La Liga has been imbalanced for years. It just keeps getting worse.

The issue is it's more logical to attribute Barca's defensive improvement to decent signings and better defensive work by Enrique, and Real's offensive strengths to a player at the peak of his powers who is probably going to end his career as one of the most prolific goal scorers the game has ever seen, than to just dismiss it as due to the financial imbalance which is nothing new.

They've been picking up 95+ points for years now. It is nothing new. You just need to measure any improvement to their respective squad against the rest of the league to see how the distance between the rich and the poor increases at the same alarming rate that inequality does in the US (and for similar reasons). Real and Barca are probably the two best football teams on the planet, all while they are playing in a league where a typical player for a lower half team is earning Championship wages. You do the math.

I still don't think you can say that Ronaldo's form isn't insane at the moment.

I didn't say anything about Ronaldo.

Ronaldo is a great player, but he seems a massive twat.

Klaus wrote:

I didn't say anything about Ronaldo.

No, dules did. You did say he scores that many goals because La Liga is the new Eredivisie, though. He scored 17 goals in 11 CL matches last season, so I'd argue it isn't just that.

la liga keeps winning european trophies (europa and cl), they can't be that weak. i think we overrate the premier league too much. oh we finish 4th because we're in a tough league, bullshit we finish 4th because that's our level. we'd struggle to get 4th place in la liga too. sevilla is a better team than tottenham or everton. maybe the relegation fodder is worse, but they're still 3 easy points for a quality side in either league.

Klaus wrote:

They've been picking up 95+ points for years now. It is nothing new. You just need to measure any improvement to their respective squad against the rest of the league to see how the distance between the rich and the poor increases at the same alarming rate that inequality does in the US (and for similar reasons). Real and Barca are probably the two best football teams on the planet, all while they are playing in a league where a typical player for a lower half team is earning Championship wages. You do the math.

They've been picking up such points because Real have C.Ronaldo and Barcelona have Messi. Without those two, both teams are a good 10-15 points weaker, if not more. Any team with either of those two will rip up the league. I don't know how you can try discredit that. 

I'm not discrediting Ronaldo and Messi. I'm saying that the two best players in the world are playing for the two best teams in the world in a league where the top teams are an absolute world apart from the rest of them. It serves as a way to magnify the difference. How can you still struggle with this point?

Wasn't Falcao keeping up with those two when he was in Spain?

No matter Falcao, Forlan, Aguero, Diego Costa do what to keep up with them statistically, they are still miles away from being anything on their level.

That's kinda my point.

La Liga just seems prone to creating great goalscorers.

ludovic van zis wrote:

Wasn't Falcao keeping up with those two when he was in Spain?

Falcao:
11/12: 24 league goals
12/13: 28 league goals
Total: 52

Messi:
11/12: 50 league goals
12/13: 46 league goals
Total: 96

Much closer to half than keeping up.

Those numbers are just insane. 96 league goals in two seasons, what a fucking record.

So basically, to prove your point that Falcao kept up with Messi and Ronaldo, you:

  1. Just choose to forget about Messi.
  2. Of the two seasons Ronaldo and Falcao played in La Liga, you conveniently choose to compare them the season Ronaldo scored 34 goals, and forget about the one he scored 46.

But I guess "didn't he keep up with those two when he was in Spain?" sounds better than "didn't he almost keep up with Ronaldo one season?"

Well, you've sure convinced me! He really did keep up with them.

Your first post was a suggestive question. After I posted the Messi stats, you wrote something to which I answered.