Spanish soccer was fine without Cristiano Ronaldo, and it will be fine without Lionel Messi, says a La Liga captain

• Spanish soccer was fine without Cristiano Ronaldo, and it will be fine without Lionel Messi.
• "La Liga is stronger than a single player," Huesca captain Jorge Pulido told Insider.
• Huesca sit 18th in La Liga, but has had a recent surge in form led by top scorer Rafa Mir.

Spanish soccer was fine without Cristiano Ronaldo, and it will be fine without Lionel Messi.

That's according to Jorge Pulido, the captain of La Liga side SD Huesca and a former teammate of Ronaldo's at Real Madrid.

"I think that La Liga is stronger than a single player," Pulido told Insider when asked how Messi's potential departure from FC Barcelona this summer would impact the Spanish top division.

Messi, who is La Liga's all-time top scorer with 467 goals, requested to leave Barca last year and is yet to put pen to paper on a new contract, meaning he is free to leave at the end of the season.

If Messi does leave, it would be the most seismic move in world soccer history, and would only really be comparable to Cristiano Ronaldo's move from Real Madrid to Juventus in 2018.

At the time many speculated that Ronaldo leaving Spain after almost a decade, and thus ending his intense rivalry with Messi, would push La Liga into a downward spiral and lower the league's overall quality.

It didn't materialize then, Pulido said, and it won't happen in 2021 if Messi leaves.

"Cristiano Ronaldo left, and it seemed like it was going to be a complete collapse, but nothing's changed," said Pulido.

"It would be wonderful to have the best players here in Spain, but I think La Liga is over and above any player or any individual."

La Liga has been extremely close this season

Not since 2014 has a club that isn't Barcelona or Real Madrid won the La Liga title.

However, this term, with only eight (or in some cases nine or 10) games left to play, the fate of the championship remains very much up in the air.

Madrid lead the way as it stands, though the side is only ahead of Atletico Madrid on goal difference while also having played one game more.

Sevilla currently sit in third, while Barcelona are in fourth, albeit with two games in hand.

At the bottom, things are equally as tight, with eight clubs all stuck in relegation dog fight. Huesca is among them, currently sitting third bottom.

An awful start to the campaign saw Huesca win just one game until mid-January - form which left the club rock bottom of the table and resulted in the sacking of manager Miguel Angel Sanchez.

Since Sanchez was replaced by Jose Rojo Martin, however, the club's form has improved dramatically. Huesca has now won four and drawn three of the 13 games he has taken charge of.

Pulido says survival for Huesca would have been near impossible had Martin, better known as Pacheta, not taken over.

"We played well but the results weren't that good, and you know when you don't win in football, you have to make changes, and this case we changed the coach," said Pulido.

"Pacheta came along, and that was a breath of fresh air for everybody. A guy that was won many things in the past and is also supported by us players. We've played very well and we've obtained some very good results."

"It seemed that we were going to be relegated," he added. "But we are still alive and kicking."

Huesca's safety could hang on the goals of a Premier League loanee

One of the key players in helping Huesca turn things around this season under Pacheta has been striker Rafa Mir.

The Spaniard, who is on-loan from English Premier League team Wolverhampton Wanderers for a second straight season, has scored 12 goals in La Liga, six of which have come in Huesca's last six games.

"I am very happy, in great physical form, and our new coach is allowing us to believe in ourselves," Mir told Insider.

"We have new ideas, a different system. I think at the end of the day, the club has profited from this and me too, because I have more opportunities to play and score.

"I'm really happy on a personal level, but the most important thing is the squad. I'm really involved in our endeavor and we've all got a common objective, and that motivates me."

Mir has featured a number at international level for Spain's U21s, boasting an impressive five goals in 10 games.

The 23-year-old has yet to feature for the senior side though, a dream he insists he is not currently concerned with - at least until the end of the season.

"I'm not currently thinking about that," he said. "I'm concentrated on keeping my coach happy and my team happy. I'd be delighted if I was called up, but at the moment it's not something I'm really thinking about.

"I'm focusing on everything we have for the rest of the season because we have a lot of matches to go, and after that, then we will see."