First Division – Primera Division. 20 teams in the league, the last 2 directly relegated, the 16th & 17th going to promotion/relegation play-offs against the 3rd &4th in Segunda Division. The season was entirely dominated by Real Madrid.
Rayo Vallecano (Madrid) quite predictably finished last with 19 points and was relegated.
Celta (Vigo) was also relegated – 19th with 22 points.
Tenerife finished 18th with 26 points and went to promotion/relegation play-offs. Luckily, they prevailed over Deprotivo (La Coruna) after 0-0 at home and 1-0 crucial away victory and kept their place in the top league.
CD Malaga was 17th with 28 points and going to promotion/relegation play-offs. No luck there – they met the 5th in Segunda Division, Espanol (Barcelona), and lost dramatically the shoot-out 5-6, after the games ended 0-1 and 1-0. Malaga was relegated.
Real Valladolid survived – 16th with 30 points.
Cadiz – 15th with 30 points.
Castellon – 14th with 32 points. Top row from left: Alejandro, Manchado, Romo, Bonhoff, Martínez Puig, Alfredo, Emilio, José, Fernández. Middle row: Antonio, Ugbade, Víctor, Luiche, Domingo Tárrega, Heredia, Octavio, Moisés, Ibeas, Felices. Front row: Pelletti, Raúl, Cabrera, Escobar, Javi, Ximet, Ayúcar, Trigos, Alcañiz.
Sporting (Gijon) – 13th with 34 points.
Weak season for Athletic (Bilbao) – 12th with 37 points.
Real Oviedo – 11th with 39 points.
Mallorca – 10th with 39 points.
Real Zaragoza – 9th with 40 points. Chilavert was with the club as well, but the Paraguayan goalkeeper was neither the famous star yet, nor he impressed – Cedrun was the principle first choice. There was another misfortune – the newly bought Bulgarian star striker and great scorer Nasko Sirakov got an injury so heavy, he practically did not play for the club, leading to something like demanding compensation from his former club and getting another player, who also failed to satisfy.
Osasuna (Pamplona) – 8th with 40 points.
Logrones – 7th with 41 points.
Sevilla – 6th with 43 points and homesick Rinat Dassaev, unable to get in terms with professional life in the West.
Real Sociedad – 5th with 44 points.
Atletico (Madrid) – 4th with 50 points.
Barcelona – 3rd with 51 points.
Valencia – looked like comeback: 2nd with 53 points. Strong, but not strong enough to challenge the dominant leader. In passing, the club benefited by the changes in Eastern Europe – they acquired the young Bulgarian scorer Lyuboslav Penev, something impossible only a year ago, because of age restrictions in his home country. Eastern European was hot market and came in flocks to Western clubs, but sometimes the relatively cheap to buy players were not a great enforcement: Penev’s countryman Nasko Sirakov suffered heavy injury and Real Zaragoza was practically unable to use him, Rinat Dassaev had great difficulties adjusting to new life and was not great in Sevilla – Valencia, however, was lucky with Penev.
Real Madrid had no rival this season – they finished 9 points ahead of Valencia. They scored over 100 goals, the team was flying under the guidance of John Toshack. 26 wins, 10 ties, only 2 lost games, 107-38, and 62 points. A nice 25th title. There was no problem with Bernd Schuster, who was Barcelona’s star for years before joining Real. Hugo Sanchez was at his best, a genuine scoring machine, complimented by Butragueno. World Cup champion with Argentina Ruggeri was not disappointment either, commanding strong defensive line with rapidly ascending to stardom Fernando Hierro. Talented Martin Vazquez played along with Schuster in midfield – the squad was well balanced, well coached, ambitious, playing entertaining attacking football and scoring tons of goals, thus delighting the demanding fans. Perhaps goalkeeping was not equal to the rest of team, but it was no major problem – Real not only had very strong defensive line, but lethal strikers always capable to outscore any opposition, at least in Spain. Dominant season, one more title, high expectations for the future… the usual kings of Spain.