Luis Figo Warns: La Liga Might Be Decided Early
Real Madrid are six points off the pace, stuck in one of their most sluggish starts in recent memory. Barcelona, meanwhile, are tearing through the league. And when even Luis Figo – the man who once crossed the Clasico divide in an explosion of controversy – steps up to admit it, Madrid listen.
The Portuguese icon, now a UEFA adviser and still very much a Madridista at heart, did not sugar-coat what he is seeing.
“Barcelona are winning, playing well and scoring goals”
Speaking to Spanish radio station Marca, Figo openly admired Barcelona’s blistering opening to the campaign. Seven games, seven wins. Twenty-one points from 21. Thirty-one goals scored.
“They have started very strongly. They are winning, playing well and scoring goals. For Spanish football, this is of course a good thing,” he said.
Then came the warning. Not dressed up, not wrapped in nostalgia. Just blunt reality. If this continues, he suggested, La Liga might be effectively decided long before spring.
Yet Figo refused to declare the race over. “We have to wait and see how the season develops, because it is very long,” he added, clinging to the one truth every champion knows: titles are not handed out in September.
Faith in Madrid’s response
Six points is a gap. For Figo, it is not a sentence.
“I am sure Real Madrid will compete until the end,” he insisted, backing the club he joined in the summer of 2000 to find a response.
“This is a competition that requires consistency until the month of May. There will be ups and downs during the season, and when they happen the team must show the maturity and quality to overcome them.”
It was less a defence and more a challenge to the dressing room. Barcelona have set the standard. Madrid, in his eyes, still have the tools to reach it.
Derby defeat and Mourinho’s fury
Madrid’s latest stumble came in the capital derby, a 2-0 defeat to Atletico that deepened the early-season gloom. Figo, however, did not watch it live. He was in Zurich and made that clear.
That distance extended to the storm around Jose Mourinho’s comments on the refereeing. His compatriot lit up the press conference room; Figo wanted no part of the fallout.
“He did what he thought he would do at that moment. I do not have to comment on it. I think these are personal acts, and if he did it, it was because he felt that way,” he said, stepping neatly away from the fire.
No defence. No criticism. Just a firm line that Mourinho answers for Mourinho.
Ballon d’Or and a nod to Mbappé
When the subject switched to the Ballon d’Or, with voting set to close next Monday, Figo moved out of the spotlight.
“I do not vote, so this is not on my mind. Those who make the decision are the ones who vote and we have to wait,” he said, refusing to be dragged into a favourites debate.
There was one name he was happy to linger on, though: Kylian Mbappe.
“He is always at a very high level. He has got us used to being one of the best players in the world and to scoring goals,” Figo concluded.
Barcelona flying, Madrid stumbling, Mbappe still defining standards. Figo has seen enough football to know seasons twist and turn, but his message was clear: if Madrid do not react fast, they might be chasing shadows long before May arrives.
