The start of the 25/26 Spanish La Liga season is only a matter of weeks away, with the first matches scheduled for August 17. As is often the case in the Spanish top flight, the coveted title is most likely to be a two-horse race between Real Madrid and Barcelona, with Atletico Madrid leading the chasing pack behind those frontrunners.
This season will be Real Madrid’s first without Carlo Ancelotti in charge, the club’s most decorated head coach in history. Xabi Alonso has arrived from Bayer Leverkusen with a glowing reputation, but can the Spaniard guide Los Blancos to their 37th La Liga title during his first season at the helm?
The latest 2025-26 La Liga winner odds suggest the answer is a resounding yes because Real are the odds-on favorite to win the title, followed by a short-priced Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, and Athletic Bilbao. However, the latter are predicted to be way off the pace.
Although few Real fans wanted to see the back of Ancelotti, they fully understood why he and the club mutually parted company. Real finished four points behind Barcelona in La Liga, losing to their arch-rivals four times across all competitions. They were also eliminated at the quarter-finals stage of the UEFA Champions League and were runners-up in the Copa del Rey and Spanish Super Cup. Those results would represent a good season for most football clubs, but Real Madrid are not most football clubs, and Ancelotti’s departure was sealed following what the Real Board deemed a disappointing campaign.
4 defeats to Barca in the 24/25 season for Ancelotti’s Real
Xabi Alonso Could Become a Real Madrid All-Time Great
Out went Ancelotti, and in came former Real Madrid midfielder Xabi Alonso. After cutting his managerial chops with Real Sociedad B for almost three years, Alonso became Bayer Leverkusen’s head coach in October 2022. It is fair to say the Spaniard was a revolution in the Bundesliga.
After guiding Leverkusen to their first European semi-final in 21 years in his first season in charge, Alonso’s team went unbeaten in 49 games across all competitions en route to Leverkusen winning their first-ever league title. Alonso left the German outfit as a hero after three seasons in charge.
How Will Alonso Set Up Real Madrid?
Alonso has stressed quick counter-pressing in central areas off the ball throughout his managerial career. Can Real’s attack-minded forward adapt to Alonso’s plan? His teams usually have play dictated by a deep-lying playmaker; Luka Modric would have been perfect, but he left the club as a free agent in the summer.
Like former Real managers, Alonso must quickly figure out how to accommodate the wealth of attacking talent into his starting XI without leaving them vulnerable at the back. If he can do this effectively, and there is nothing to suggest he cannot, Real Madrid will be the team to beat next season and by some margin.
A front three of Vinicius Junior, Rodrygo, and Kylian Mbappe is enough to strike fear into the hearts of the most experienced defenders. Some people asked questions about Mbappe heading to the Santiago Bernabeu, but the Frenchman answered them all and then some. He scored 31 La Liga goals in 34 games and 43 in 56 in all competitions, winning the Pichichi Trophy, the European Golden Shoe, and Real Madrid’s Player of the Season award.
Alonso recognized his new team needed defensive reinforcements, and the club acted quickly, paying AFC Bournemouth €59.5 million for Dutch central defender Dean Huijsen and acquiring the services of Liverpool attacking full-back Trent Alexander-Arnold. Alonso has an incredible squad at his disposal, and a 37th La Liga title looks on the cards for Los Blancos.
Will Barcelona Challenge For the title This Season?
Though most pundits and experts predict Real Madrid will win the league title this season, writing off Barcelona’s chances would be dangerous. The team has transformed under Hansi Flick, scoring goals for fun yet having a resilience about them that previous Barcelona teams may have been accused of lacking.
Flick’s side won the La Liga title, the Copa del Ray, and the Super Cup last season and reached the semi-finals of the Champions League. Under Flick, Brazilian forward Raphinha was a revelation and has rightly been discussed as a Ballon d’Or contender. However, at an elite level, if you don’t strengthen your squad, you go backward, and it is here that Barcelona could struggle.
Barcelona’s financial woes are well-documented, which makes bringing fresh legs into Flick’s squad challenging. The Blaugrana have reportedly agreed on personal terms with Bilbao’s Nico Williams and just need to find a way to trigger the 22-year-old’s €60 million release clause. Williams is close friends with Barca’s Lamine Yamal, and partnering them together could be what the boys from Camp Nou need to halt Real in their tracks.
The Best of the Rest
Fans of Atlético Madrid won’t like to hear this, but Diego Simeone’s team are probably again for third place again this season. It is not that Atlético are not an excellent side, but more that both Real Madrid and Barcelona are a few steps ahead regarding squad depth and strength.
With Antoine Griezmann, Alexander Sorloth, and Julian Alvarez, Atleti has a front three capable of winning a title in any competition other than La Liga. Simeone’s team will win more than 20 La Liga games this season, but they will likely need to win 28 or more, which seems a stretch.
Outside the race for the La Liga title, the top goalscoring chart is probably the most popular leaderboard in Spain. Since the 2009-10 season, only one non-Barcelona or Real Madrid player has finished as the league’s top scorer, and he (Artem Dovbyk of Girona) no longer plays in La Liga. This season should pan out like last, with Mbappe & Robert Lewandowski fighting for the Pichichi Trophy.