{"id":39169,"date":"2018-04-30T15:31:57","date_gmt":"2018-04-30T13:31:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theworldwidejournal.com\/2018\/04\/30\/brilliant-barcelonas-low-key-la-liga-title-should-not-be-underestimated-sid-lowe\/"},"modified":"2018-04-30T15:31:57","modified_gmt":"2018-04-30T13:31:57","slug":"brilliant-barcelonas-low-key-la-liga-title-should-not-be-underestimated-sid-lowe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theworldwidejournal.com\/?p=39169","title":{"rendered":"Brilliant Barcelona&#039;s low-key La Liga title should not be underestimated | Sid Lowe"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Perhaps with time, Ernesto Valverde and his team sealing a first unbeaten Spanish league title since 1932 will be more valuedThe league came to a close at both ends of Riazor, two human circles forming. Deportivo de La Coru\u00f1a\u2019s players joined together, arms around each other, for a few final words offered quietly and sadly in the rain. As they broke, there were some whistles and they walked slowly towards the tunnel and the second division, relegated again. The manager, their third this season, told them to go with their heads held high, insisting \u201cwe\u2019re not angry, we\u2019re unhappy\u201d, but most looked down as they left, eyes lost. In the stands above, there were tears and reproach. Do you understand that, Celso Borges was asked, stopping briefly before departing. \u201cYes, of course,\u201d he said. \u201cWe shouldn\u2019t feel ashamed, but these are difficult moments and it\u2019s hard to digest.\u201dAs he talked, or tried to, behind him another circle had formed: bigger, looser and louder. FC Barcelona\u2019s squad and staff were dancing a sardana, going round and round holding hands. Both clubs had known it was coming but it came together, still in April. A 4-2 victory, secured with a Leo Messi hat-trick, meant the final relegation place was confirmed and so was the league title. Deportivo are down with Las Palmas and M\u00e1laga; Barcelona are champions again. That\u2019s seven of the last 10. \u201cUna barbariedad,\u201d Sergio Busquets called it: amazing, incredible, madness, barbaric. They\u2019re champions four games early and unbeaten, cup winners as well. \u201cThat\u2019s a barbariedad too,\u201d he said. \u201cAlmost perfect.\u201d Continue reading&#8230;<br \/>\nVia: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/football\/blog\/2018\/apr\/30\/brilliant-barcelonas-low-key-la-liga-title-should-not-be-underestimated\" target=\"_blank\">Brilliant Barcelona&#039;s low-key La Liga title should not be underestimated | Sid Lowe<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Perhaps with time, Ernesto Valverde and his team sealing a first unbeaten Spanish league title since 1932 will be more valuedThe league came to a close at both ends of Riazor, two human circles forming. Deportivo de La Coru\u00f1a\u2019s players joined together, arms around each other, for a few final [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theworldwidejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theworldwidejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theworldwidejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theworldwidejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theworldwidejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theworldwidejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39169\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theworldwidejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theworldwidejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theworldwidejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}