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La Liga or LaLiga Santander (officially) is the Spanish national league. Along with, Premier League it is one of the biggest national league in the world. Known for famous rivalries like Barcelona and Real Madrid, the league has been dominated by three or four teams over the years. As. Atletico Madrid won the La Liga 2021, we bring you the list of most La Liga titles in the last 20 years.
Few interesting La Liga stats and facts
- From 1997, 20 teams participate in the top division of the league.
- Till now 62 teams have competed in La Liga from its inception. Only 9 of them have managed to win the title till now.
- La Liga was adjudged as the top league in Europe by UEFA from 2013-2019, a consecutive 7 years.
- Real Madrid is the most successful team in the history of the competition, with 34 La Liga titles.
- Barcelona comes second on the list of most La Liga titles with 26 titles against their name.
- Andoni Zubizarreta has the record for most La Liga appearances (622).
- Lionel Messi has the record for the most number of goals in La Liga with 474 goals (currently).
- Since the inception of the league in 1928, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid have never been relegated from the premier division of La Liga.
- FC Barcelona was the first-ever team to win the La Liga title in 1929.
La Liga: Messi vs Ronaldo stats
Though Cristiano Ronaldo, the all-time goal scorer for Real Madrid is playing professional football in Seria-A, the comparison with Lionel Messi is still on. And why not? Messi and Ronaldo's rivalry made La Liga more famous and them winning more individual trophies than another player in the world, made La Liga more competitive.
Till now Messi has played 309 games for FC Barcelona in La Liga and scored 329 goals in a 1.06 goal ratio per match. Do not forget the little magician's 122 assists and 29 hat-ticks. Meanwhile, before leaving Real Madrid, Ronaldo had played 292 games for them and had scored 311 La Liga goals with an impressive 1.07 goal ratio per match. Ronaldo also scored 34 hat-tricks in La Liga for Real Madrid.
Read Also: Top 10: Most Free-kick Goals In Football History
Most La Liga Titles in last 20 years
The dominance of Real Madrid and FC Barcelona in the La Liga over the last few decades has been impressive. Perhaps, no one has won the La Liga title other than Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Atletico Madrid and Valencia in the last 20 years.
#1 FC Barcelona
The Catalonian club is the most successful club in La Liga in the last two decades. With the brilliance of Ronaldinho, Xavi, Puyol, and Iniesta the team was invincible in the league. Along with all of these senior players in the team, younger players like Messi and Pique started to blossom in the team. FC Barcelona has won 10 La Liga titles in the last two decades, which is by far the most in the last 20 years.
Read Also: Andres Iniesta: Who has won the most trophies for FC Barcelona?
In 2005, Barcelona won their 17th La Liga title and started their domination 2000's era. It was the brilliance of Samuel Eto'o helped them win the glory. He was the highest goal scorer that season with 25 goals. In 2006, Barcelona managed to defend their title. Perhaps, it was Samuel Eto't again with the goals. He again topped the chart with 26 goals against his name.
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After that came the invincible Barcelona era. They made a hat-trick of La Liga title in 2009, 2010, and 2011. The football world saw the rise of a genius in Lionel Messi. However, along with that came a rivalry of a lifetime with Cristiano Ronaldo. Messi top-scored in 2010 with 34 goals in that season.
Lionel Messi again topped the ladder-board as Barcelona won the title in 2013. Messi scored 46 goals that season, the best season of him till then.
They won consecutive La Liga titles in 2015 and 2016 as the famous M-S-N trio of Messi, Suarez and Neymar did all the tricks. Suarez was the highest goal scorer in 2016 with 40 goals. Barcelona won La Liga again in 2018 and 2019 as Messi top-scored in both the season with 34 and 36 goals respectively.
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10 La Liga titles in last 20 years, makes Barcelona the most successful team in La Liga in last two decade.
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#2 Real Madrid
Though Real Madrid is second on this list, they are at the top when it comes to most La Liga titles (overall). Real is one of the richest and successful clubs in the world. In fact, they also have the record for the most European titles in football history.
The 1950s and 1970s were the glory days of Real Madrid. But as they started to have legends like Zinedine Zidane, Figo, and Kaka the trophy cabinet started to fill in again. In 2003 they won their second La Liga of the 21st century and first of the past 20 years. It was their 29the La Liga title overall, leading the chart of most titles in La Liga.
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Real again won the competition in 2007 and 2008. Ruud van Nistelrooy was the highest scorer in the league in 2007 with 25 goals that season. In 2012 they won the title again but Lionel Messi was the highest goal scorer of that season with 50 goals. It was their team effort and Ronaldo at his peak made sure Real was the king of Spain.
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After that, they had to wait for four years to grab the La Liga trophy again. It was the era of Zidane as a manager and Ramos as a captain for Real Madrid which made the team to beat in the "Champions League". In 2020 they won the trophy for the first time past Ronaldo's exclusion from the team. Ramos again was proven to be a world-class leader as he became the highest-scoring defender in La Liga history.
Read Also: Football Facts: Son-Father Football Pair Who Played For Same Club
#3 Atletico Madrid and Valencia
Both Atletico Madrid and Valencia won the La Liga titles twice in the last 20 years. It was the dominance of Barca and Real, that made them suffer in the championship. Valencia had started the 21st century very well as they won the trophy in 2002 and 2004. They were able to beat those big clubs with their consistent performance in the league. Unfortunately, they did not win the trophy again after 2004. Valencia has won 6 La Liga titles till now.
Atletico Madrid also had the play their second fiddle to Barcelona and Real Madrid in the race of La Liga. However, it was Diego Simione who changed the club's fortune as they won the title in 2014. David Villa was released by Barcelona and Simione used that to his advantage. Fernando Torres fulfilled his dream of winning the trophy with his home club.
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After that had to wait for 7 years for another La Liga title. In the 2021 season as the race to the title went to the wire, Atletico holds their nerve to pull their major success of the decade. Fun fact, this time Luis Suarez was sold by Barcelona who went on to win the league with Atletico just like David Villa. Suarez topped the goal-scoring chart for Atletico to help them win the silverware.
