The tight competition among several teams in the standings is something we will commonly encounter at the beginning of the season. We will see some teams starting to become consistent and inconsistent by mid-season. Sometimes, we even see at the end of the season, teams that were initially consistent with good results eventually experience a decline in performance.
Madrid is indeed preparing for this season. They do not want to lose to Barcelona again. As for Barcelona, they need to improve their performance, not just in the defense line, but coordination in the attacking line, and finishing is also important. Last season, they performed better.
Last season Barcelona was the winner in La Liga, of course they were the best, and only had a difference of 4 points from Real Madird, of course in tight competition to the end, this rival has always been a big threat in La Liga, consistency is very important to get victory, because after all one step is wrong it will be difficult to pursue, competition is always strong in La Liga, there is no time to relax.
I am not focusing on Barcelona being the best and winning the La Liga title last season with an advantage over Madrid. However, I am looking at their performance at the start of this season, which I think is not as good as it was last season.
The competition with Madrid will continue, and this season the rivalry may be even more interesting. I'm not so sure Madrid will truly dominate throughout the season, but Xabi might try to make that happen.