Henry Winter: the Premier League beware, the Spanish are coming, led by brilliant Barcelona and Real Madrid

by abdo Sun Apr 10, 2011 10:43 am

Henry Winter: the Premier League beware, the Spanish are coming, led by brilliant Barcelona and Real Madrid
The Spanish are coming. The conquistadors from La Liga demonstrate emphatically why they are the ones to watch, the ones to beat, the No 1 league in the world.
Henry Winter: the Premier League beware, the Spanish are coming, led by brilliant Barcelona and Real Madrid
Star quality: the recent PFA Player of the Year list showed that England lacks the star quality of La Liga, who have players such as David Villa and Lionel Messi Photo: ACTION IMAGES
Henry Winter
By Henry Winter 11:00PM BST 09 Apr 2011

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London could belong to Real Madrid or Barcelona next month while Dublin falls to the vibrancy of Villarreal.

However frustrating from a parochial English perspective, the purist should cherish the prolific Spanish, whose teams rattled in 14 goals in European competition last week. Joyfulness pervades Barcelona’s play, seen in the passing between Lionel Messi, Xavi and Andrés Iniesta, disciples of a glorious gospel. Shakhtar Donetsk were elegantly eviscerated.

Glamour suffuses the white shirts of Real Madrid, evinced in the style and heavyweight substance of Cristiano Ronaldo and Xabi Alonso, much-missed alumni of the Premier League.

Tottenham Hotspur, who lost Peter Crouch to two stupid yellows, would have needed 12 to contain Jose Mourinho’s side. Down in the Europa League, a Villarreal side inspired by Borja Valero skewered FC Twente.

In an age when La Liga can boast Messi and Ronaldo, the Premier League stages a show without a real box-office star. The PFA shortlist for Player of the Year reveals as much: Samir Nasri, Gareth Bale, Nemanja Vidic, Charlie Adam, Scott Parker, Carlos Tévez and Rafael van der Vaart are all worthy nominees but lacking the golden allure of a Ronaldo or Messi, Iniesta or David Villa.