The best XI in La Liga versus the Premiership: Read bottom-up

Here's my teams:
La Liga
Canizares
Puyol Ayala Pellegrino Carlos
Joaquin/Figo Valeron/Ronaldinho Baraja/Helguera Zidane (not as a winger but a midfielder who drifts to the left, like he does for Madrid. Roberto Carlos makes the wider runs)
Ronaldo Raul


Premiership
Brad Friedel
Gallas Riise Hyppia Cole
Kewell Vieira Makalele Giggs
Henry Van Nistelrooy

I'd say 4-2 to La Liga.
I also have to say that I think Liga has extraordinary depth. That's why a team like Alaves reaching the UEFA Cup Final or Sociedad coming second on the last day of the season is not such a surprise. The English equivalent would be Birmingham in the UEFA Cup Final in 2 years and Bolton second the league this year.
In fact outside of Man U and Arsenal (and possibly now Chelsea and someday Liverpool and Newcastle), the Premiership cannot have a serious title contender. La Liga on any given year has 4 (Madrid, Valencia, Deportivo and Barcelona) with the possibility of any from Celta Vigo, Real Betis, Athletico Madrid and Sociedad making a strong run.
there's something to be said in how a marginal La Liga player like Geremi is so influential in La Liga. Also, if you look at players like Tristan, Riquelme, palermo, Morientes and Kily Gonzales who all struggled to play last year and are clearly world-beaters.

Here's some of the players who you can choose from for a liga B team:
casillas/Rustu
Reizeger Salgado rafael Marquez Helguera Naybet Romero
Beckham Figo/Joaquin* Guti valeron/Ronaldinho* Aimar Solari Xavi Overmas Luis Enrique De Pedro cambiasso Motta Vicente (with Heguera/baraja being a possibility)
Portillo Kliuvert Saviola Kovacevic Nihat Tristan Pandiani Luque Torres
* One of them will play for the main La Liga team so the other can play for the B team.

I can bet that this Liga B team will beat the Premiership A team. And the awesome array of creative and attacking talent is just further proof of why the Liga is infinitely superior to watch than the Premiership, which for all its speed and directness is as close to footballing Nirvana as a Big Mac (and I like Big macs) is to a meal at a 3-star Michelin restaurant.

The Blah


----- Original Message -----
From: Viswamitra Hariharan
To: 'Raja Balasubramanian' ; 'Ved Bhushan Sen' ; 'Ved (non-work) Sen' ; 'Karthik Mahadevan' ; 'Anirban Blah'
Sent: Tuesday, September 16, 2003 2:43 PM
Subject: RE: La Liga vs. Premiership...


Think 3-1 for La Liga ... but u know whats the funny thing in this
comparision ... beyond this top 11 team the La Liga lacks serious depth
whereas the Premiership can have atleast another team with similar
strength ...

Ved im sure u disagree

Now what do I think about the premiership team -

Campbell ... please ... I have a problem with him in the arsenal team.
Also I think I would prefer the offensive options of a Riise to Cole.

Cudicini ... Im sure the premiership can do better than that. And Stevie
G, duff, veron anyday a better deal than Keane.

Well personally think Michael owen should be there ... but that argument
is equally valid with ruud and henry .... depending on who u support.
Though I think henry is looking a little jaded this year. Also now with
Mutu, Crespo, all in the premiership ... this striker thing will be
difficult.

Hi all ...... Im guessing all of you are this interested in discussing
this .. if not im sorry.

Viswamitra Hariharan


-----Original Message-----
From: Raja Balasubramanian [mailto:rajab700@yahoo.com]
Sent: Tuesday, September 16, 2003 2:18 PM
To: Ved Bhushan Sen; Ved (non-work) Sen; Karthik Mahadevan; Viswamitra
Hariharan; Anirban Blah
Subject: La Liga vs. Premiership...

interesting posting on the BBC messageboards.. the
person who posted this also said that la liga would
win..any opinions guys??

La Liga
Canizares

Puyol Ayala Pellegrino Carlos

Joaquin Zidane Alonso Overmars

Ronaldo Raul


Premiership

Cudicini

Gallas Campbell Hyppia Cole

Kewell Vieira Keane Giggs

Henry Van Nistelrooy