Real Madrid won. Again. That’s the headline, sure, but if you only look at the final posiciones liga española 2024 and see the "1" next to Carlo Ancelotti’s name, you’re missing the absolute chaos that happened underneath the surface. This wasn't just another year of the heavyweights bullying the small fry. It was the year a team that usually worries about staying in the top flight suddenly decided they were world-class. It was the year Xavi’s "goodbye-but-not-really" tour turned Barcelona into a soap opera.
Football is weird.
People expected the usual three-horse race. Instead, we got a Catalan underdog story that lasted way longer than anyone predicted and a race for Europe that came down to the wire. Let's get into the weeds of what actually happened.
The Girona Earthquake and the Top Four Shakeup
Honestly, for about four months, everyone thought Girona was going to do a Leicester City. Looking at the posiciones liga española 2024 during the winter, seeing them at the top wasn't a fluke. Míchel Sánchez built a machine. They weren't just winning; they were destroying teams with a brand of attacking football that made the "big boys" look stagnant. Savinho was a revelation on the wing, and Artem Dovbyk ended up fighting for the Pichichi until the very last day.
They finished third.
That is massive. For a club of that stature to finish above Atlético Madrid and secure Champions League football is basically a miracle in modern sports economics. While Girona was flying, Barcelona was vibrating with anxiety. Xavi Hernandez announced he was leaving in January after a brutal loss to Villarreal, then the team started winning, then he decided to stay, and then the board fired him anyway. It was exhausting. Despite the off-field circus, they managed to claw back into second place, mostly because Robert Lewandowski found his shooting boots again in the spring and Lamine Yamal—a literal child—started playing like a veteran.
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Real Madrid’s Path to 95 Points
Madrid didn't just win; they cruised. They finished with 95 points, a full ten points ahead of Barcelona. What’s crazy is that they did most of it without a world-class "number 9" after Karim Benzema left for Saudi Arabia. Jude Bellingham basically walked into the Santiago Bernabéu and decided he was a striker, a midfielder, and a leader all at once. His impact on the posiciones liga española 2024 cannot be overstated. He scored late winners in both Clásicos, which, if you flip those results, makes the title race look a whole lot tighter.
Ancelotti is a genius of vibes and tactics. He lost Thibaut Courtois and Éder Militão to ACL injuries before the season even really started. Most teams would fold. Madrid just put Aurelien Tchouaméni at center-back, told Vinícius Júnior to run faster, and kept winning. They only lost one single game in the entire league season. One. That’s not just good; it’s historically dominant.
The Battle for the Europa and Conference League
The middle of the table was a bloodbath.
Athletic Club Bilbao had their best season in decades, led by the Williams brothers. Nico and Iñaki were terrifying on the break. They won the Copa del Rey, which was their main goal, but they stayed consistent enough to lock down fifth place. They play a specific brand of high-intensity football that Ernesto Valverde has perfected.
Real Sociedad and Real Betis were the ones fighting for the scraps. Imanol Alguacil’s Sociedad is always pretty to watch, but they struggle to score goals when it matters. They finished sixth. Betis, under the "Engineer" Manuel Pellegrini, grabbed the Conference League spot in seventh. It felt like a bit of a step back for them, but considering the injuries to Isco—who was arguably the best player in the league for the first half of the season—it was a respectable finish.
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Then you have Villarreal. They were a disaster for the first half of the year. Three different managers. They were sitting near the relegation zone at one point. But Marcelino came back and steered the ship, ending up in eighth. They missed Europe, but the recovery was impressive.
The Relegation Heartbreak
It's easy to focus on the top of the posiciones liga española 2024, but the bottom was just as dramatic, albeit for sadder reasons. Almería was historically bad. They went 28 games without a win. Twenty-eight. It was painful to watch. They were the first to go down, followed shortly by Granada.
The real battle was for the 17th spot.
Celta Vigo, Rayo Vallecano, and Mallorca were all sweating. Celta fired Rafa Benítez because his "defensive masterclasses" were mostly just "defensive disasters," and promoted Claudio Giráldez from the B-team. It worked. They stayed up. Sevilla also had a nightmare year, finishing 14th. For a club that wins Europa Leagues for fun, being that low in the table is an institutional failure. They cycled through managers like they were disposable tissues. Quique Sánchez Flores eventually found enough stability to keep them away from a genuine relegation dogfight, but the fans were furious.
Cádiz was the unlucky third team to drop. They fought hard, drawing games they should have lost, but they just couldn't score. You can't stay in Primera if you can't find the back of the net.
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Why These Results Actually Matter
When you look back at the posiciones liga española 2024, don't just see the numbers. See the shift in power. The "Big Three" hegemony is being tested. Not by a traditional giant like Valencia (who finished 9th and are still struggling under terrible ownership), but by smart, data-driven clubs like Girona.
Also, the league is getting younger. We saw the emergence of Pau Cubarsí at Barça and Arda Güler at Madrid. These aren't just benchwarmers; they are becoming the focal points of their teams.
Actionable Insights for the Next Season
If you're following the league moving forward, there are a few things you should actually do to stay ahead of the curve.
- Watch the Wage Caps: La Liga’s strict financial fair play rules are the real reason teams like Barcelona struggle to sign players. Keep an eye on the "Limit Salarial" announcements in the summer and winter; they dictate the transfer market more than scout reports do.
- Track the "Girona Effect": Look for mid-table teams that have coaching continuity. Clubs like Las Palmas showed flashes of brilliance early on because they had a clear philosophy. Stability is the biggest currency in La Liga right now.
- Don't Ignore the Promoted Sides: The teams coming up from Segunda often have more momentum than the bottom-dwellers who barely survived. Leganés and Valladolid are coming back with chips on their shoulders.
- Monitor Injury Returns: Real Madrid will have a full year of Gavi and Pedri being healthy (hopefully) at Barca, while Madrid adds Kylian Mbappé to a team that already won the league by 10 points.
The 2023-24 season was a bridge between the old guard and a new, more chaotic era. Whether you’re a die-hard Madridista or a neutral who loves an underdog, the final standings proved that while the winner might be predictable, the journey to get there is anything but. Keep your eyes on the tactical shifts in the mid-table; that's where the real evolution of Spanish football is happening.