The top of the league proved to be somewhat equal – six clubs competed not for the title, but mostly for bronze and silver, dropping out of race for the first place one after another. There was no real division between the top clubs and the rest of the league in term of points. Las Palmas finished 7th, continuing consistent strong performance – strong, but not great.
A mid-table club really, Las Palmas hardly challenged anything, yet remained solid for quite some time. More or less, the team depended on two Argentinians already under the radar: Brindisi, skilful midfielder and a star just a few years ago, and the long-serving former national team goalkeeper Carnevali. Brindisi kind of disappeared from the big picture, perhaps going to Las Palmas was the reason. Carnevali was a bit of curiousity – one of the first foreign crop imported by the Spanish, he settled in Las Palmas. Strange for a goalkeeper – the general ‘wisdom’ was that the imports were mostly strikers and attacking midfielders. Goalies were not interesting, so the wisdom went – Carnevali contrdicted it. Apart from that, the other novelty was his shorts: narrow and long, excentric in the 1970s , when such shorts were sported generally by Sep Maier and Hugo Gatti.
Atletico Madrid finished 6th, out of the race for medals for a long time.
The familiar successful team of the 1970s, nothing new. The same boys won the title the previous year, but they were never able of coming to the real top, so to say. Consistent, always among the best 6 teams, but not a dynasty. Not able to win two titles in a row or conquer Europe. The team needed rebuilding – Ayala, Luis Pereira, and Leivinha, their key foreign players reached their peak may be two or three years back. Good as they were, they were getting old, not able to improve anymore, and their football was well known to everybody. Atletico was still running, but it was inertia… the club missed the right moment of changing the team.
Fifth was unlikely club, which was ascending at that time – Sporting Gijon. Normally, lower half of the table, flirting with relegation. Quitely, the usually modest club built sturdy team and now was disturbing the peace.
As a whole, not an exceptional team, but they had fantastic striker – Quini. Prolific goal-scorer, strong, physical, hungry, Quini was already one of the best Spanish players. The strength of Gijon was largely based on him, but it was also clear that the club would not be able to keep him and develop greater team around him. Gijon had to enjoy the moment and they did, missing second place by two points – very admirable season.
Valencia finished 4th on goal-difference. Apparently, no better and no worse the rest of the top clubs. May be they should have been stronger, considering their possession of the best player of the world… but such consideration would be faulty, for it was based on performance at the World Cup finals, following the normal season.
Mario Kempes shined in Spain – Valencia’s captain scored plenty of goals, ending not only the top goal-scorer of the season, but leaving pursuers in the dust. Kempes scored 28 goals – the next best, Santillana of Real Madrid, had 24. Only two other players reached 20 goals marker – scoring in Spain was difficult, so Kempes’ achievement was remarkable. But Valencia did not have a team strong enough to compete for the title – Kempes was not enough. May be the best about them was their reserve kit – a bit outlandish, but nice nevertheless.
Athletic Bilbao clinched the bronze, narrowly missing silver in the same time – one point above Gijon and Valencia and one point behind Barcelona. Second-best attack in the league, decent defense, good mixture of old,experienced players and new talent.
To a point, the Basques are eternal enigma – their performance is traditionally strong, they rarely slip outside the top half of the league. But their policy of using only Basques players make them unpredictable – all depends on the team of the moment. The best stars often move to other clubs, so it is hard to maintain consistency. Athletic played well during the 1970s, but so far the teams they had did not match great teams of the past. They were good for occasional cup, more likely just to play at finals, instead of winning them – they reached the UEFA Cup final in 1977 and lost dramatically the cup to Juventus. In Spain, third place was just about the best they were able to do – but the club was really on ascend, preparing their much more successful squad of the early 1980s.
At the end, Barcelona vs Real Madrid… as ever. Well, no. There was no race, Barcelona dropped out and finished 6 points behind. May be the most interesting about Barca was their defensive record – they had the best defense in the league, allowing only 29 goals. Their scoring was also very low, however. Michels, Cruyff, Neeskens represent attacking football, that is why the low numbers were strange. And also not strange – it was the swan song of this squad and of Cruyff in particular.
No goalkeepers? Barcelona posed in team colours before their fans before the season started and hopes were still high. The goalies are in the picture, only dressed in regular jerseys – for the record, Mora and Artola. Familiar squad… familiar for years, getting older and older, and stubbornly postponing the moment of starting a new one. To their peril, for this team won only one title and that was a few years back. Of course, hopes were high in August, 1977. By the end of the season in 1978 there were no hopes, but getting rid of failures. Perhaps it was too late, but getting rid of Cruyff was not an easy thing.
With Barcelona out of the way, there was confident victory for Real Madird. They won easily, finishing with 22 wins – the next best record was 16. Scoring was high – 77 goals. Far better than any other club. Attacking team, then, not concerned with defense , which received 40 goals. A new record for Real – their 18th title. What else could be expected from the legendary club? Quite a lot more, actually – a double did not happened. European triumph was not coming at all. By Madrid’s standards, hardly an exceptional year.
Only one cup on display? Rather modest… may be the reason the name ‘Molowny’ is not very well known. Born in 1925, the former striker-midfielder was already at his second stint with Real. The first was a brief one in 1974. Already Luis Molowny appeared as an emergency coach, filling up until ‘a real coach’ was hired – he was to coach Real on two more occasions, will win more than ‘just’ the Spanish league, will become one of the most successful coaches in the club’s history, and… will remain almost unknown name, never lasting more than 2 years at the helm. The curse of the Spanish coaches, especially in the biggest clubs: reluctantly hired, easily fired – foreigners were preferred, native coaches were heavily scrutinized and criticized, almost never seen as equal, let alone better, than foreigners. Every mistake was amplified; every success was not exactly enough. Molowny won the title confidently, yet… he win only a title. The squad at his disposal was quite good – unlike Barcelona, Real constantly shaped and reshaped the team. In the summer of 1977 Uli Stielike arrived and fitted more than well – a young, vastly talented German star, still far from reaching his peak and entirely modern player. Versatile enough, physically fit, technical, strong in every aspect of the game, Stielike already played in every position for Borussia Moenchengladbach, so far seen as a constructive midfielder, but it was obvious already that he was going to be moved further back and made a libero, like the great Beckenbauer. With him, Real had a key player for many years to come. Of course, Stielike was not alone.
Apart from the mystery who was and who was not foreign player, the team was strong and healthy – the squad above was not even the strongest: Del Bosque and Camacho are absent. Both were key players at their prime, the core of the team. Pirri was getting old, but transition was going on smoothly. Real had many options not only for this particular season, but also for the future – the Argentine defender Enrique Wolff and the Danish centre-forward Henning Jensen most likely were not going to last, Pirri was nearing retirement, but with Stielike, Santillana, Camacho, Del Bosque, Juanito the future was secured. In the case of Real Madrid, the proper question was not who was a national team players, but who was not. Few of those… one thing clearly distinguishing Real from Barcelona of that time was goalkeeping: Barcelona was unable to find strong replacement of Sadurni. Artola and Mora rotated, neither great. Perhaps weak goalkeeping affected negatively Barcelona’s tactics, somewhat restraining the team. Real had two national team goalkeepers – Miguel Angel and Garcia Remonq a luxury. Strong team, no doubt, but still not strong enough to conquer Europe – the European dominance from mid-1950s to 1966 waited heavily, every new team was compared to Di Stefano and Co. But great clubs are like that and Real Madrid was the greatest in the world. Too bad for Molowny… a title in only a number, much more was expected.
Perhaps the last note on Spanish championship will be on kits: ‘modernity’ was not completed yet. Barcelona, Real Madrid, Valencia, Athletic Bilbao were seemingly supplied by Adidas. “Seemingly’, for every club appeared in traditional uniforms without a sign of kit-maker’s logo. Training tops had the famous three-stripes and goalkeeper’s jerseys. Were Spanish clubs using mixed kits? Or were they insisting on plain kits made by Adidas? The big clubs perhaps had the last say. Smaller ones played with ‘normal’ Adidas – or Puma – kits. Yet, it was a bit strange – goalies played with obviously different kits than their teammates. Well, just you wait a few more years. As for 1977-78, the curious question may be only this: who made Cruyff’s kit? Barcelona seemingly was supplied by Adidas. Cruyff had his personal contract with Puma – and played with different kit than the rest of the Dutch national team for years. Was it the same when playing for his club? Or was he quietly ‘compromising’ with his employer? He readily abandoned his famous number 14 when the club gave him number 9 – or ordered him to take it. Food for thought.