LaLiga 2025-26 burning questions: Barça, Real Madrid, title race, Mbappé vs. Yamal

It’s just over a month since Real Madrid’s campaign at the FIFA Club World Cup ended, but already the 2025-26 LaLiga season is upon us, and you can stream every game LIVE on ESPN+ (U.S.).

After the season kicks off with two matches Friday, reigning champions Barcelona begin their title defense the following day at Mallorca. Madrid’s reward for reaching the semifinals of the Club World Cup is an extra three days’ respite before they get underway against Osasuna on Tuesday, after their request to have the game postponed was rejected by the Spanish football federation.

It has been a busy summer of ins and out for all three of Spain’s biggest clubs, while Madrid also changed manager when they replaced the legendary Carlo Ancelotti with former Bernabéu midfielder Xabi Alonso. Atlético Madrid meanwhile eclipsed both of their main rivals by signing seven new players in this transfer window.

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But LaLiga is about so much more than only three clubs, and there are plenty of other fascinating storylines to follow, from fallen giants to upwardly mobile sides to aging icons dragging their beloved clubs back into the big time. ESPN’s Spanish football writers Alex Kirkland, Graham Hunter, Sam Marsden and Sid Lowe answer all of the key questions ahead of the new season. — Tony Mabert

What have Barcelona done in the transfer window?

The biggest deal Barça pulled off this summer was committing Lamine Yamal to a long-term contract. The forward, who turned 18 in July, is already the headline act for Hansi Flick’s side and after scoring four goals in preseason, he looks ready to take his game to the next level over the next 10 months.

Elsewhere, there has been a shake-up in goal with Joan García signing from Espanyol for €25 million. García has joined to be No.1, while he will be backed up by Wojciech Szczesny, with Marc-André ter Stegen expected to leave when he recovers from back surgery. After Barça’s top target, Athletic Club forward Nico Williams, chose to remain in Bilbao and sign a 10-year contract, Marcus Rashford has arrived on loan from Manchester United to add depth in attack. He could prove a shrewd addition if he recovers the form he showed earlier in his career.

Other than that, Barça will rely on the spine of the team that exceeded expectations last season, although they have suffered the loss of defender Iñigo Martínez just a week before the season starts. Martínez has moved to Saudi Arabia to help ease the club’s financial issues. His leadership and aggression will be missed in the backline, with Ronald Araújo to step in alongside Pau Cubarsí in his place. — Sam Marsden

After a domestic clean sweep, how can Hansi Flick make Barça even better?

In the past 35 years of LaLiga, only Barcelona have retained the title more than once. That is to say that Valencia, Atlético, Deportivo La Coruña couldn’t do it, and Madrid could win back-to-back leagues only once since 1990 — that happened in 2008. It’s no slight on any of them, just evidence of how hard it is to retain the title in Spain. If Flick can win again while bedding in new signings, promoting more from the academy and dealing with the perpetual chaos around the club then, by definition, that will be a “better” performance.

To achieve that, they need to have a better defensive mentality — all over the pitch. Part of Barça’s appeal to neutrals last season was their barnstorming, never-say-die attitude. Some of their seesaw comeback matches — against Benfica, Inter Milan, Atlético and Celta Vigo, for example — were as thrilling as anything in living memory. But too often they looked naive and overdaring in their decision-making, with the mindset of “we’ll score more than you” overriding “we’re going to stop you from scoring.” It was Flick’s only real bugbear last season. Time to adjust that balance. — Graham Hunter

What have Real Madrid done in the transfer window?

They’ve done a lot this summer, but have they done enough? Aware of the need to improve last season’s vulnerable-looking defense, they’ve signed Dean Huijsen, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Álvaro Carreras. That’s three-quarters of a new back four. Center back Huijsen, 20, already looks worth every penny of the £50 million Madrid paid to sign him from Bournemouth, as he will transform the team’s in-possession play. Alexander-Arnold was a long-term target and it will be fascinating to see what role he plays, given the return to fitness of incumbent right back and club captain Dani Carvajal.

Franco Mastantuono also arrives from River Plate when he turns 18 on Thursday, although it remains to be seen how long the wide forward takes to adapt to Spanish football, and how big of a first-team role he takes on to begin. Gonzalo García’s impact at the Club World Cup — top scoring with four goals and an assist in 450 minutes played — alleviated the need to sign a Plan B center forward. That might become even more telling if the uncertainty over Rodrygo’s future leads to his departure late in the window.

But what about the midfield, where the club has decided no new recruits are needed? And obviously, the biggest signing of the summer is the man in charge of the team: Xabi Alonso. — Alex Kirkland

What must Madrid do to avoid another year in Barça’s shadow?

This is the $64,000 question. But in part — and at the risk of falling into the unfair trap of blaming everything on former boss Ancelotti, who is, you know, the most successful manager there has ever been — that has been at least superficially addressed by the fact that it is Xabi Alonso who must do it. His arrival, in theory at least, brings a change in structure and ideas … and is brought by a change in attitudes. Which means everyone, including the club’s hierarchy.

Failure can help too, as it sharpens minds and increases focus. Shaken out of some of their certainties by defeat, we have already seen a coach being listened to a little more than the previous one and a club acting accordingly in the transfer market (if perhaps not quite as much as Alonso would like). In the short term at least, there are likely to be some changes in attitude within the squad. That’s a bit facile — the easy old lines about just trying a bit harder, having more collective mentality, shedding ego and so on, should be avoided. Even when that might still continue to be an issue with the change, and it might.

So, onto some concrete things to do: it sounds wild, but they genuinely do need to resolve the problem (some problem, huh?) of having Kylian Mbappé and Vinícius Júnior on the same team, finding a way of getting them to both press and to occupy spaces better. The really big hole has not been addressed directly: where is the midfielder, the No. 5, the Toni Kroos figure? There isn’t one, not really. Rarely did a signing seem so obvious as Martín Zubimendi to Madrid this summer, yet it was never really in the cards and he ended up at Arsenal instead.

Which is where maybe we will see the importance of Huijsen stepping out with the ball, and why we are seeing them trying to adapt Arda Güler to a different role. A new formation, in which Alexander-Arnold comes inside more, might help to balance that. There are also early signs that Aurélien Tchouaméni could perform better in this structure.

Another very basic thing that would help them: keep players fit. Jude Bellingham is out until October after a minor surgery, and now Eduardo Camavinga — still in search of a proper place and consistency — is set to sit out the start of the season because of a sprained ankle. — Sid Lowe

Yamal and Mbappé are both the new No. 10s for their club. Is this the start of a rivalry at a Messi vs. Ronaldo level?

Making the Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo comparisons should be done with caution, mainly because of the brutal longevity both showed and are still showing. But in terms of Yamal and Mbappé being the best two players in the world right now, I think you can make a strong argument for that to be the case. The fact they have both inherited the No. 10 shirts at their respective clubs this summer highlights, if there were any doubts, that they are the star men.

There is no one who commands your attention on a football pitch at the moment more than Yamal. That’s not to say he’s necessarily the best in the world yet, but he’s the most entertaining and exciting. An exhilarating energy fills the stadium once the ball is at his feet, you never know what he’s going to do. As for Mbappé, because of a lack of team success, his debut season in Spain was probably underrated. Netting 44 goals was a superb return.

The Clásico fixtures will be about which of them can come out on top. Time will tell if their rivalry can reach a Messi vs. Ronaldo level, but everything is in place for it to be a generation-defining matchup. — Marsden

LaLiga top scorer (via ESPN BET)
Kylian Mbappé; -135
Robert Lewandowski: +150
Alexander Sørloth: +1000
Raphinha: +1000
Ante Budimir: +1500
Julián Álvarez: +1500
Gonzalo García: +2000
Lamine Yamal: +2800
Ferran Torres: +3300
Marcus Rashford: +3300

What have Atlético Madrid been up to? Where do they figure in all of this?

They’ve been busy for the second summer in a row, spending around €175 million on striker Giacomo Raspadori, playmaker Álex Baena, defender Dávid Hancko, midfielders Johnny Cardoso and Thiago Almada, and fullbacks Matteo Ruggeri and Marc Pubill. With nine first-team players departing (Rodrigo De Paul, Ángel Correa, Axel Witsel, César Azpilicueta, Reinildo, Samuel Lino, Rodrigo Riquelme, Saúl Ñíguez and Thomas Lemar), the squad has been significantly overhauled. But how much will change?

Last season ended in disappointment and frustration, dropping out of the title race far too early, having topped the table at Christmas; falling short in the Champions League (round of16) and Copa del Rey (semifinals); being eliminated from the Club World Cup at the group stage. It’s easy to imagine them being better this season: Baena was the best domestic player Atlético could have signed — the league’s most creative talent outside the big two — and United States international Cardoso looks to be a fit for coach Diego Simeone’s style and Almada is an underrated recruit.

To make their 2025-26 a success, Atlético need to improve on last season. That means being within a shout of winning the title in April (at least!) and, ideally, winning a trophy. — Kirkland

Who wins the title?

Lowe: You have to start with what we know … and at the moment that is Barcelona. But it is worth noting that despite the feeling that Real Madrid were miles off last season, they actually weren’t so far behind (only four points.) Plus, they still have the most basic thing of all: lots of very good players. It seems logical to anticipate a better second season from Mbappé, who already scored more than 40 goals in his first campaign.

Kirkland: No team has retained the LaLiga title since Barcelona won their second in a row in 2019. Since then it has been Real Madrid, Atlético, Madrid, Barcelona, Madrid and Barcelona as champions. Can Flick’s Barça break the pattern? They absolutely start as favorites to do so and were clearly the best team last season. But Real Madrid will be better, and it will be tight.

Hunter: Barcelona will repeat. I’m sad that their participation in the Club World Cup is going to cost Madrid so dearly, leaving them having suffered two inhumanely short preseasons, not enough rest and not enough teaching time for Alonso. It’ll be a ripper of a title fight but Barcelona — with their squad, momentum and Yamal — are ahead.

Marsden: Don’t listen to me, I’ve been wrong for the past three years. As detailed by Graham and Alex, there has been a lack of retaining the title in recent seasons, but that hasn’t stopped me from picking Madrid, Barça and then Madrid again last season. So, with that in mind, I am going for Yamal’s Barça just holding off Mbappé’s Madrid.

LaLiga title odds (via ESPN BET)

Real Madrid: -120
Barcelona: +110
Atlético Madrid: +800

Who or what else should we be looking out for?

Lowe: You know that bit where you accuse journalists of bias? Here’s your chance … this time you’re right. Look out for Real Oviedo. No, really. It has been 24 years since they were in the first division, in which time they have twice been on the edge of going out of business and fallen as low as the fourth tier. It’s a miracle that they are around at all let alone back in the Primera División. And when was the last time there was a story as good as Santi Cazorla’s? The former Spain midfielder overcame a succession of career-threatening injuries to help get his hometown back to the summit, even scoring in last season’s promotion playoffs at age 40. So, yes, look out for Oviedo.

There are loads of other things, too. I’m intrigued by Elche’s Eder Sarabia as a coach in the top flight, and how far he can hold onto his very deeply held principles of how to play. I wonder if Sevilla can arrest the decline. And of course — passport bias alert — I would like to see Marcus Rashford do well at Barcelona on loan, on a human as well as football level. And then there’s Rayo Vallecano making it three Madrid teams competing in Europe next season.

Hunter: There haven’t been sufficient mentions of Yamal so far for my taste, and frankly it’s impossible to have too many. We should look out for, by marking big red circles in our calendars, turning off our phones and sitting glued to our screens, every single minute of football that we can watch Yamal playing.

I don’t care what the Ballon d’Or vote will say when it’s revealed next month — the 18-year-old is the most scintillating, magical, uplifting, daring and remarkable footballer on the planet. At a time when Lionel Messi is still an active footballer, we’ve been privileged to be gifted someone else who is potentially of that level of magnificence. It’s a miracle, and you simply need to take advantage of every single second.

I’ll also be paying rapt attention to Alonso either forcing Mbappé to press and to track back — or conjuring up a structure in which only nine outfield players (assuming Vini Jr. behaves) have defensive responsibilities.

Kirkland: Could this be the season Valencia finally are relegated for the first time since 1986? That might sound counterintuitive after a 12th-place finish last season — and a week in which they’ve comfortably beaten Torino 3-0 in a friendly, committed young star Javi Guerra to a new contract and just signed a goal scorer in Arnaut Danjuma. But they came agonizingly close in 2023 — finishing two points above the bottom three — and last season coach Carlos Corberán arrived to save them with a miraculous late run, with only one defeat in 14 games between February and May.

Is that form repeatable? They’ve lost one of their best young players in defender Cristhian Mosquera — who played more LaLiga minutes than anyone for Los Che last season — as well as Liverpool-bound goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili. The good news is that Guerra and César Tárrega have renewed their deals, and another talent, Diego López, is reportedly close to doing so after scoring eight league goals last season. They might be fine, but I’ve just have a suspicion they might struggle, repeating their good year/bad year cycle.

Otherwise, I’m looking forward to seeing if Celta can again prove to be one of the most fun teams to watch, despite losing two of their best young players in Fernando López and Alfon González.

Marsden: I really rate Girona coach Míchel, so I want to see how he bounces back from a difficult season. Preparations for their Champions League campaign were destroyed by player exits and injuries, so it will be interesting to see if he can repeat his feat of two years ago, when Girona finished third after a more stable summer.

As Alex says, Celta Vigo, who have loaned winger Bryan Zaragoza, should be a good watch as well. At the other end of the scale, crisis clubs Valencia and Sevilla, given their standing in the Spanish game, always provide fascinating narratives — just often not the ones they would want.