Let the La Liga begin: It's Madrid's Ronaldo-James-Bale vs Barca's Neymar-Messi-Suarez

There’ll be mazy runs and tricks and flicks — the blur of fluorescent boots and gelled hair, of Luis Suarez’ teeth and Cristiano Ronaldo’s muscles — one caught amid a haze of bluish purple and the other in immaculate white. It will be Barca’s South American trio — Suarez from the plains of Uruguay to Messi from the pampas of Argentina and Neymar from the favelas of Brazil. It will be Bale roaring down the touchline like a Welsh dragon alongside Iberian superman Ronaldo and dancing Colombian James. There will be goals, dinks, crosses, cards and dives and fouls. There will be Barca. There will be Real. There will be goals. Let the battle for the La Liga crown begin. The first Galacticos era — where the Brazilian Ronaldo, David Beckham, Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo, Raul and Roberto Carlos combined for Real Madrid — would pale in comparison to Galacticos part II. On paper, Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale, James Rodriguez, Toni Kroos, Isco, Luka Modric and Sergio Ramos form a much more formidable, cohesive and star-studded lineup compared to the teams between 2000-2007. In fact, Real are a team synonymous with signing big names. One could also call their 1950s team the real Galacticos — with Alfredo Di Stéfano, Ferenc Puskás, Raymond Kopa, Jose Santamaria and Francisco Gento the core of their team. In Spanish football’s duopoly, assembling a team of prima donnas has always come with the primary motive of beating their bitter rivals Barcelona. And while Real have enjoyed more success in total, Barcelona and their immaculate youth system have pushed the Los Meringues into splashing hundreds of millions of pounds on transfer fees and wages. While Real retain the aura of a royalty thanks to their incredible spending power, Barcelona have produced talent after talent to win almost as many trophies and snicker at their opponents across the Ebro River. This time though, things are slightly different. Barcelona showcased a promising bunch of players in their friendlies — but in spending close to £135 million on Luis Suarez, Ivan Rakitic, Thomas Vermaelen, Jeremy Mathieu and goalkeepers Marc-Andre ter Stegen and Claudio Bravo, they’ve embarked on their own revolution — signalling the dismantling of their golden generation of academy graduates. Add the £55 million Neymar, and it seems this year’s La Liga will have not one, but two teams of assembled superstars. The priceless Lionel Messi (who has a £165 million release clause) will also be part of the grand Blaugrana scheme. [caption id=“attachment_1676957” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Cristiano Ronaldo and James Rodriguez should make a deadly combination. AP[/caption] It’s Galacticos vs Galacticos and the aim is singular – topple cheeky Atletico Madrid as champions and don’t let Pep Guardiola or Jose Mourinho win the Champions League. But it is the battle within the battle that thrills — the £225 million-worth trio of Ronaldo-James-Bale against that of £290 million-worth (considering Messi’s release clause) Neymar-Messi-Suarez that will, in all probability, decide where the trophies end up come May 2015. It’s stunning – six of the world’s best attackers arranged in an equal pack of three each. Barcelona’s trio has an average age of 25.33 – compared to Real Madrid’s 25.66. This is near-perfect balance. You don’t know which to pick, although those playing behind them in midfield may sway your mind either way. If you add up the statistics of the last three years, then Ronaldo, Bale and James have a combined 261 goals and 135 assists. Messi, Suarez and Neymar have a combined 309 goals and 154 assists. There is a considerable difference between the two — but no two players in either trio have played together at a single club for more than a season. But the sheer numbers tell you that they have the ability to destroy defences irrespective of which teams they play for. The thought of seeing them combine will take the La Liga to the next level.