La Liga Talking Points – Big Boys Presented With Different Opening Tests
By Kevin Kelly
La Liga kicks-off this weekend after a long summer with the millions of fans worldwide anticipating another mouth-watering season of action across Spain’s top division.
Malaga host Sevilla in the season opener on Friday night, while Saturday sees a barrage of mid-ranking games taking place, with Atletico Madrid’s game against the newly promoted Las Palmas the standout fixture.
Sunday meanwhile sees the two big boys play; Barcelona travel to Athletic Bilbao, whom they lost to 5-1 over the two-legged Spanish Supercoppa this week, while Real Madrid are away at Sporting Gijon later that evening.
Here, we hope to bring you some of the most pertinent talking points ahead of game week one’s action.
Season Opener test of Europa Champions Mettle
Friday night sees the Europa League consecutive champions Sevilla host Malaga. Sevilla fought all season for Champions League qualification against the likes of Villareal and Valencia under the tutelage of Unai Emery, but sadly for the fans they tailed off toward the end of the season.
Since then they have once again lost a host of players, including Carlos Bacca and Aleix Vidal, yet acquisitions such as Yevhen Konoplyanka and Steven N’Zonzi look to have assured they will be competitive once again. Having cruelly lost 5-4 to Barcelona in the Super Cup last week, the La Liga opener promises to be a brilliant game, with the hosts likely to shake off their spectacular loss from last week.
Second season syndrome for Moyes?
David Moyes’ Real Sociedad kick off the season away from home on Saturday, wherein they travel to Deportivo La Coruna. La Real ended last season in 12th position, with the Scot comfortably leading them to safety – and notably beating Barcelona 1-0 in December too.
Depor meanwhile stayed afloat in La Liga by tie-breaker after finishing with 35 points, same as Granada and Eibar (though Elche’s drop due to financial issues would have made it a moot point). They hope to stay further ahead of the drop this season, signing experienced players Fernando Navarro (center-back) and Cani (winger) on free transfers.
Fans should expect a tight-encounter here, with one goal being enough for either side to get the win.
Atletico confident of better season
It may seem trite that you would expect more from Atletico Madrid this season, considering they were actually quite good overall last year. Finishing in 3rd Atletico may have relinquished the title to Barcelona, but significantly witnessed the rise of Antoinne Griezmann as one of Europe’s most-courted young attackers.
Fernando Torres’ mid-season return too ended with the Spaniard in the best (but admittedly not as good) form as he’s had since he left Liverpool. Luciano Vietto in particular looks like a steal; the Argentinean striker was signed from Villareal in the summer.
Going out are Arda Turan, Mario Mandzukic, Joao Miranda, and Mario Suarez. Coming in alongside Vietto are are former Porto man Jackson Martinez, and AS Monaco’s Belgian wonderkid Yannick Ferreira-Carrasco.
As ever it seems as if the business carried out by Atletico is brilliant, ensuring another fine season and, given the likelihood of Barcelona not being as good as last season and Rafa Benitez not succeeding at Real Madrid, sights shouldn’t be set lower than another title challenge.
Big boys presented juxtaposing challenges on Sunday
Unsurprisingly the LFP have arranged the fixtures for a double header of Barcelona’s game with Bilbao to be followed by Real Madrid’s game away at the newly-promoted Sporting Gijon. Barcelona have a notoriously suspect record away at Bilbao – not to forget their drubbing in the Supercopa, while Real Madrid are expected to beat Gijon comfortably.
Barcelona have of course not been able to sign anyone this summer. Well, they have actually signed Arda Turan but he cannot play until January (don’t ask!), while they’ve sold the likes of Alex Song and Xavi, who’s contract was up. The question regarding La Blaugrana surrounds whether their record-breaking attacking trident can sustain their levels of potency this season, especially without any new faces until January.
Real Madrid meanwhile will be likely dealing with a rocky season, if new manager Rafa Benitez cannot many a team of such vociferous egos. Sergio Ramos committing his future to the club amidst a summer-long debacle with Manchester United will be pleasing for Benitez. Though, recent public spats with Cristiano Ronaldo seem harrowing for the new man.