La Liga 2026/27 Preview: Spain is now the home of World Champions, bringing more attention to one of the top leagues in the world. Last season, Barcelona marched to the La Liga title as their arch-rivals Real Madrid faltered at various points. This led to a summer of change in Madrid, with manager Xabi Alonso shown the exit door.
There were some other standout performances in the league. Villarreal played some sublime football to finish third and secure Champions League football. Rayo Vallecano continued to punch above their weight to end up in eighth spot, and Celta Vigo impressed on their way to Europa League qualification.
The new season promises to bring more drama, and fans will have a lot to look forward to up and down the league. Curva Global assesses the five major storylines to watch out for in La Liga this season.
The Special One hoping to revive Real Madrid
Two seasons without a single trophy is a disappointing return for any major club. It becomes a much bigger issue when your club is named Real Madrid. After years of success at home and abroad, Los Blancos are going through a dry spell. When Carlo Ancelotti went trophyless in his final season at the club, it was hoped that this would be a minor blip.
Xabi Alonso was brought in to usher in a new era of success, but he lasted six months before being replaced by Alvaro Arbeloa as another season without silverware went by. Dressing room unrest and lack of cohesiveness on the pitch cost Alonso his job. So what does Florentino Perez do? He turned to Jose Mourinho to restore order to his club and get them winning again.
The Special One was previously in charge of the Bernabéu side from 2010 to 2013 and delivered a Copa Del Rey and a historic La Liga title. He was brought in to halt the domination of Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona and delivered exactly that. Now, 13 years later, he faces a similar challenge.
Hansi Flick’s Barcelona seem to grow every season and are starting to play with a confidence that will make it hard for anyone to take away their league crown. Mourinho, the master manipulator, will try his best to disrupt the calm that Flick exudes, and on the pitch he will hope his side can take advantage.
The 14-time Champions League winners have bolstered their defensive options with the signings of Marc Cucurella, Ibrahima Konate, and Denzel Dumfries. There have been other additions across the pitch, but the future of star forward Vinícius Jr. remains uncertain, with Arsenal rumoured to be interested in signing the Brazilian.
Mourinho will command respect from the players, and at Madrid, where the egos are as big as the trophy cabinet, it carries great value. He has managed bigger players in his career and will sort the issues of dissent that affected the club last term. The bigger challenge is whether the 63-year-old still has what it takes to win and win consistently at the top level.
Since winning the Europa League with Manchester United in 2017, his only trophy has been a Conference League title with AS Roma in 2022 across spells at four different clubs.
Barcelona eye next step under Hansi Flick
Since his appointment in 2024, Hansi Flick has transformed Barcelona, and they have begun imposing themselves. He has restored a fear factor within the club, and last season’s romp to a second successive La Liga title underlines the progress.
The German coach has brought in a sense of calmness and assurance at the helm, and it has allowed the players to express themselves on the pitch. He does face some challenges this season. Veteran striker Robert Lewandowski has left, and his absence creates a vacuum for an out-and-out forward.
The club is pursuing Julian Alvarez, but that transfer saga doesn’t look like it’s wrapping up anytime soon. The club has made notable additions up front with Anthony Gordon signed from Newcastle United and Karim Adeyemi brought in from Borussia Dortmund. So far, Flick is replacing Lewandowski’s poaching ability with raw pace and swift movement, and it is a scary proposition for the opponents.
The team already has Raphinha and Lamine Yamal in their ranks, while World Cup final goal-scoring hero Ferran Torres will finally have the chance to become the focal point of attack. Barca will make it difficult for teams to get out of their own box for most of the time, and against higher quality opposition the speed on the counter will be frightening.
Pace, flair and creativity mean this could be the best Barcelona frontline since the glory days of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, and Neymar. The challenge for the team would be to unlock stubborn defences, with some games last season proving to be frustrating for the Catalan giants.
You would believe that the addition of a high-quality midfielder could be their priority, but for now the onus at the centre of the pitch will remain with Pedri, Gavi and the 18-year-old Marc Bernal. Domestic success will be seen as continuation of their recent domination, but it is in Europe where Hansi Flick’s progress will be judged. His squad’s resolve will also be tested if Real Madrid find their groove under Jose Mourinho.
Expect fireworks if the title race is on a knife’s edge heading into the business end of the season.
Can Villarreal succeed without Marcelino?
Villarreal enjoyed the most successful seasons in their modern history under Marcelino. The Spanish coach took over the team in November 2023 for the second time in his coaching career. The club had already gone through two coaches, and Marcelino brought stability, leading them to an eighth-place finish.
This was followed by him taking the club to the Champions League in two successive seasons. After finishing fifth in 2025, he led the team to a third-place finish last season, with 72 points to their name, the second-highest tally in the club’s history. However, he left the Castellon-based team shortly afterwards.
As such, new Villarreal boss Inigo Perez has a tough act to follow. After years of instability, the club has found consistency on the pitch and has settled on a system and style of play that works for them. Replicating last season’s third-place finish will be tough, but Perez can be expected to give it a good go.
He joined Rayo Vallecano as an assistant manager under new Liverpool head coach Andoni Iraola. When Iraola left for Bournemouth in 2023, he was expected to join, but a work permit issue prevented him from going to England. He was then appointed Vallecano’s coach in February 2024 and was able to keep the club in La Liga.
He delivered an eighth-place finish and a Conference League spot in his first full season in charge. Another top eight finish followed last season, with the team losing the Conference League final to Crystal Palace. Inigo Perez knows the league and will be an ideal fit for what Villarreal fans want.
Under Marcelino, the Yellow Submarine played mostly a mid-block at the centre, and their average possession of 44% was ranked 17th in the league. Compared to this, Perez’s Vallecano averaged 53.7% possession per game, the fourth highest in the league. He likes to play a direct, high-press style combined with dynamic positioning. If Perez is able to implement his ideas on the pitch, it could be an exciting season for La Cerámica faithful.
The club has a good mix of attacking and defensive players like George Mikautadze, Ayoze Pérez, Sergi Cardona and Alex Freeman that could allow Perez to impose his philosophy at the club. The task of following in Marcelino’s footsteps is hard, but the belief is that Villarreal have the right man for the job.
Edin Terzic’s new chapter with Athletic Bilbao
Just like Villarreal, Athletic Bolbo will also begin the new season after seeing their successful manager leave the club. Ernesto Valverde, who had been in charge of the Basque club since 2022, left after his contract came to an end. During his four-year tenure, he led the club to its first major trophy in 40 years with a Copa del Rey win in 2024.
He also led the club to back-to-back Champions League campaigns before last season’s 12th-place finish. The challenge to take the San Mames outfit into a new era now rests with German coach Edin Terzic. The appointment of Terzic came as a surprise to many Bilbao fans and Spanish football experts.
But Terzic has proven what it takes to manage at the top level. After being named Borussia Dortmund’s coach in 2022, he impressed in his first season in charge. Dortmund needed to beat Mainz at home on the final day of the season to win the Bundesliga, but a draw saw them lose the title on goal difference to Bayern Munich.
Next season, he led the team to the Champions League, beating Paris St. Germain in the semis. However, they ended up losing 2-0 to Real Madrid in the title clash. As such, Terzic brings in experience in high-profile situations, and his playing style is something that Bilbao fans will be excited to see.
He is fluid in his tactics and mostly plays a 4-3-3, which can switch to a 4-2-3-1 with a focus on keeping possession. In the season, they lost the Bundesliga on the final day; Dortmund averaged the second-highest possession in the league behind Bayern Munich. Terzic tries to bring the full-backs into the game, and with his number 8, he looks to dominate the final third. The wingers are often given freedom to bombard forward and beat defenders for quality and pace.
But he can also be pragmatic when needed against higher quality sides. In the Champions League final campaign, he was ready to go long and rely on counter-attacks to hurt the opposition.
Bilbao haven’t made many additions to the team in the summer transfer window yet. Terzic will have to get the best out of his current bunch, and there is a feeling he might be able to do that. At Dortmund, he was lauded for bringing a sense of unity and connection within the club and community, and these are the ethos that will strike a chord with Bilbao fans. Will he be able to turn that sentiment into results on the pitch? That is the big question.
Will Valencia progress under Carlos Corberan?
Last season was a tale of two halves for Valencia. The team struggled for the first half with some tepid results on the pitch, and it looked like they might be involved in a relegation battle again. But Carlos Corberan, who had guided the team to safety a season prior, improved his team steadily, and the club finished in a respectable ninth place.
Still, this is far from the heady days for the club that once challenged the might of Barcelona and Real Madrid. Despite being one of Spain’s traditional big clubs, the Mestalla outfit has seen a steady decline in its stature over the season. Controversial Singapore businessman Peter Lim remains the target of fan anger, as many have questioned his ambition with the La Liga club.
Things started off well for Lim, who took over the club in 2014. Champions League football was secured under Nuno Espirito Santo before he stepped down. This was followed by the disastrous appointment of Gary Neville. Still, Valencia finished fourth in three of the first five seasons under Lim’s ownership.
In 2019, Copa del Rey success came, but since then the club has seen a period of struggle. Lim has been accused of exerting his influence in footballing matters, and the club has gained a reputation for selling its best players and, in turn, signing players of low quality.
Carlos Corberan stepped into this cauldron in 2024, arriving from West Bromwich Albion. Valencia is his boyhood club and his hometown. This has allowed him to forge a relationship with the fans from the start and taken some attention away from the toxic air around Mestalla.
Corberan has made Los Che hard to beat, and it helped them to finish the season on a strong note last time out. The challenge is to carry the momentum into the new season. They have signed exciting 19-year-old winger Ryunosuke Sato from FC Tokyo while centre-back Justin de Haas arrives from Famalicão and Aliou Dieng enters the fray from Al Ahly, with both signings made on free transfers.
As such, Corberan will have to work largely with what he had last season. Things won’t be easy with clubs around them strengthening, and the coach would be eager for a good start to the season, which could set them up nicely for the remainder of the campaign. Valencia fans will hope that they won’t have to see their team mired in another relegation battle by December.
