In the final of my individual looks at European Leagues and how their teams results are affected by UEFA competition, I travel to the victors of the two competitions this year; Barcelona and Sevilla.
Now, once again, it is the middle line that is the one that we’re really measuring. When that is considerably lower than the two surrounding it, it means that teams often failed to replicate their usual league form after weeks that involved European football (hello, Atletico).
Then there’s the two league tables. First the normal one.
There’s a big gap between the top two – Barcelona weren’t really bothered by their Champions League involvement (though did lose one Clasico after a European game – obviously Madrid won that one) while Madrid seemed to prioritise the league, as their form was far better after weeks away.
In the Euro-adjusted one, the gap at the top is a lot closer, and Athletic have dropped a place. Not huge differences compared to some to be honest, but interesting if just from the point of view of how many Spanish teams went far into competitions.
Oh, and I didn’t include Real Sociedad on the graph as, like Hull, they only played twice in Europe.
There’ll be more (and more worthwhile) analysis of these figures to come when I get chance. Maybe TdF weeks.