Spanish league isn’t just about two teams, says ex-Real Madrid star Victor Sanchez

SINGAPORE — Former Real Madrid midfielder Victor Sanchez has rejected the perception that the Spanish league is not as competitive as any of its counterparts in the leading European leagues.

Spain’s domestic game has long been criticised for not being as competitive as the likes of the English Premier League, with Real and Barcelona winning the league a combined 54 times, and finished runners-up on 45 occasions in total since the competition began in 1929.

Atletico Madrid’s league title last season was also the first won by a club other than Real and Barcelona since Valencia lifted the trophy in the 2003-04 season.

Earlier this month, Real star Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 23rd hat-trick in the Spanish Primera to set a record for most number of hat-tricks in the Spanish league, while last month, Barcelona’s Lionel Messi became the Spanish league’s record all-time leading goalscorer with 251 goals — he now has 256. All that have fuelled the perception that the Spanish league is too easy for players of their calibre.

But Sanchez, who was in Singapore over the weekend to conduct coaching clinics at the Real Madrid Foundation Technical Academy, believes the Spanish league is at its strongest in years.

“Spanish teams are leading in Europe. Real Madrid won (a record) 10th Champions League by beating another Spanish team (in Atletico Madrid) in the final and Sevilla also became Europa League champions,” said Sanchez, 38, told TODAY in an e-mail interview.

“In the Spanish La Liga, we are (also) very lucky to have competing the two best players of the world in Messi and Ronaldo, and I think these are strong arguments to position La Liga as the top league in the world in term of quality and performance.

“I think that future is going to be dominated by Real Madrid because the team is very experienced but at the same time very young and they can continue this high performance for years.”

Real currently lead the Spanish Primera standings with 39 points after 15 matches — ahead of Barcelona (35) and third-placed Atletico (32) — and managed to avoid the stronger sides like Manchester City, Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain in the last 16 of the Champions League when they were paired against German side Schalke at the draw in Nyon on Monday.

But speaking before the draw, Sanchez insisted it did not matter who head coach Carlo Ancelotti’s men would face.

He said: “Every team have their own strengths, but the key question is that (the) team can face the round with the same level of performance showed during the qualifying round.”

Sanchez made 65 senior appearances for Real between 1996 and 1998, and was part of the side that won the Champions League in 1998. He later won the Spanish league title with Deportivo La Coruna in 2000, and played for Spain eight times.

Since retiring in 2008, Sanchez has been assistant coach at Getafe, Sevilla and Greek side Olympiakos.

Currently taking his professional coaching licence with UEFA, Sanchez dished out some tips for the Real Madrid Foundation Technical Academy’s players at Nanyang Junior College. While impressed with the players’ enthusiasm and passion, Sanchez noted that technically they were not as developed.

“It is better to open your mind to improve every aspect of the game, but I think players in Singapore start practicing football later than (their peers in) Spain,” he said.

“It impacts on their fitness, especially on everything related with co-ordination and agility. It is very important to have a good level of co-ordination to improve their technical skills as a step to go deeper with the tactical aspect of the game.”