Inside Spain is a weekly segment brought to you by Football España, offering an insight into all the key stories emerging from the rich and intense atmosphere in La Liga and beyond.
While this season looked like it would be easy for Real Madrid after the arrival of Kylian Mbappe. It's shaping up to be one of the most interesting title races in recent memory. Barcelona quickly emerged from the slump, but after just one win in five games, the top three are now separated by just three points.
Atletico Madrid rallied after a slow start and recorded 10 straight wins. With the club rumored to be considering replacements for Diego Simeone, Spain's best team will travel to Montjuïc to face Barcelona in their final match of 2024.
That match will be played in Montjuïc and not in Miami, but as it stands, it could also be Dani Olmo's last game of the season for Barcelona. The Blaugrana used the emergency injury rule in August to sign Olmo, essentially using the space in their salary cap that Andreas Christensen took to sign him. With Christensen recovered, Barcelona have until the end of December to register Olmo naturally, and since players cannot register for the same team twice in one season, if they cannot do so, their star player will not be able to play.
To make matters worse, Olmo has a clause in the contract that allows him to leave for free If it is not registered. Sporting director Deco was optimistic about getting the job done, but it's a risky situation. Deco is already looking for players next summer, but Jonathan David looks unlikely to arrive, with Bayern Munich and Tottenham Hotspur ahead of him in the race.
At Real Madrid, things have improved and calmed down, but it is not perfect. After Kylian Mbappe missed a double penalty in the space of eight days, the pressure was high in the Spanish capital. He looked like he was finally back to being himself again after a blitz against Atalanta, but he was taken off injured after just half an hour.
But that half hour was painful for Rodrigo Goes. The Brazilian striker looked strange when Mbappe arrived, and that is his situation now. He has always been the golden child of President Florentino Pérez, and now he is He lost his favor Having only contributed four goals so far this season, it's worth noting that Manchester City and Liverpool were credited with taking an interest in him last summer.
It looked as if Bayern Munich left-back Alphonso Davies was certain to come in, while Real Madrid were gunning for Liverpool's Trent Alexander-Arnold. The position in the capital now is that Alexander-Arnold is likely to arrive next summer on a free, with Davies close to renewing his contract with Bayern. He didn't feel enough love from Spain, and they were tired of the lack of progress. If Bayern makes a mistake Barcelona, Manchester United and Liverpool are all lurking.
