MADRID, May 19 (Xinhua) -- The Spanish Liga Santander came to an end this weekend with Barcelona becoming champions for the second successive season, while Valencia and Espanyol assured places in the Europa League and Girona were relegated.
Here are some things we have learned this season.
1 Credit to Valverde.
Although he could still pay for Barca's failure to qualify for the Champions league final with his job, Barca coach Ernesto Valverde deserves to be cut some slack. His side retained the title they won last season at a canter, finishing 11 points ahead of second place Atletico Madrid and 19 above Real Madrid.
Barca may have been more pragmatic than some fans would like, but they would do well to remember that Xavi and Iniesta are history, while Sergio Busquets, Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba and Leo Messi are all into their 30's and the coach has to work with what he has.
Bearing that in mind, Valverde has done a fine job, which could be confirmed if Barca win next weekend's Cup final.
2 Same top four as last season
It could well be no coincidence that the big-five leagues in Europe were all win this season by the teams which won them last season, as the economic differences between the continent's biggest teams separates them from the 'also rans'.
In Spain not only did Barcelona defend their title, but Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid and Valencia all finished in the same positions as the 2017-18 season, while there was an important gap separating Sevilla in sixth place from seventh placed Espanyol.
Credit to Getafe for their brave campaign, which saw them finish fifth, but the feeling is that with Barca and the two Madrid sides having so much more money than anyone else, unless Sevilla can improve next season, the top four isn't going to look very different in 2020.
3 The effect a good signing can have
When Wu Lei arrived at Espanyol in January, the club was stuck in a run of form which threatened to see the Barcelona based outfit drop into the relegation zone.
The season ended with Espanyol qualifying for a place in the Europa League thanks to a run of four successive wins capped by a 2-0 victory over Real Sociedad.
It's maybe going too far to give Wu Lei all of the credit for his side's turnaround in fortunes, he certainly did help spark a reaction in the club, although the Chinese forward would probably be the first to say that much of the credit has to go to fellow striker Borja 'the Panda' Iglesias, whose 17 goals were vital to the cause.
4 It's tough staying up
It says a lot about the gap between the Liga Santander and the Spanish second division (Liga 123) that two of the three teams relegated this campaign only won promotion to the top flight a year ago, while Girona came up a year earlier.
Huesca became tough to beat, but never recovered from a difficult first couple of months and lacked the overall quality to survive, even if they gave everything in every game.
Meanwhile Rayo Vallecano played some nice attacking football, but shipped too many goals to survive.
Girona meanwhile paid the price for changing style under coach Eusebio Sacristan, playing more open football than in their first season in Primera but also being picked apart more often. Where an average of around a point a game will keep you up, the secret to survival is being hard to beat.
