The number five and Pep Guardiola have had a special relationship since he took charge of Barcelona in 2008, its not the amount of times that gushing pundits proclaim how "everyone talks about Xavi, but this little fella Andres Iniesta is as good, if not better"...we've all seen him play, we all know that arguably he is the better player of the two, you're not providing the insight you seem to think you are (its like Makelele syndrome all over again!). Nor is it the amount of times in a day he claimed that he didn't believe in talking publicly about other clubs players, whilst then adding that he hoped Cesc would be a Barca player soon.
The number five is in fact one half of the second most common La Liga result...the other half being the '0' scored by the oppo, and this was before having thumped Levante 5-0 last night. On the face of it, this seems like a good thing right? Barcelona are undoubtedly a team packed full of attacking talent, more than capable of creating a hat full of chances almost on demand. This attacking prowess is also their defensive strength, teams are so scared of what can happen to them if they over-commit against Pep's boys that they sit deep and hope that they get lucky on the break...despite what the pundits think, personally I wouldn't rate Valdes as one of the top ten 'keepers in the world, but that's a fight for another day. But what does it say about the rest of the league...
Apart from Real Madrid (and perhaps Valencia this season), how many other Spanish teams are truly capable of mounting a serious title challenge? To highlight the point, Levante currently sit fourth...
A lot of criticism gets leveled at the Premier League for lack of competition owing to there only having been four different winners since its inception, however, on any given weekend, any team is legitimately capable of winning. This sounds like a pretty bold statement, and I'm sure that more than a couple of people will disagree completely...but at the end of the day, the biggest driver in football currently is money. Those clubs with bigger budgets tend to do better because they can afford the biggest wages, but in the Premier League, the gulf between the teams is not insurmountable leaving the league ultimately competitive.
In Spain though, how many supporters would genuinely fancy themselves to come away from the Camp Nou with all three points, or even just the one. The same goes for the Bernabeu, although Real Madrid do have a reputation of being a little bit temperamental every now and then. The difference again is to do with the financial muscle each team has. Whilst in the Premier League the TV money gets split evenly between the teams, the Spanish teams negotiate individual TV rights, understandably this results in Barca and Real Madrid getting the big bucks, whilst other teams are left struggling for the scraps from the top two's table. This then means that Barca and Real can afford the biggest wages and attract the best players.
Obviously there are other factors, the Barca youth development system is second to none, although the Qatari system is closing fast, meaning that they have a ready made supply of Xavi's and Iniesta's ready to step into the breach...but on the face of it, the future does not look good for La Liga. If the current trend is not bucked soon, La Liga could turn into the two horse race that the SPL is (if it hasn't already done so). The two clubs have already been very vocal about the possibility of a Euro Elite League, mainly to avoid this lack of competition in the domestic league, but outside of the ECA, I can't see this being a very popular idea.
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