The land of sun, flamenco, hot blood and a country in love with football - Spain is finally returning to "normal" life, and as of Friday evening, La Liga is once again among the most important things on the Iberian Peninsula.
On the first day of the new season, Villarreal showed that they will be tricky again, last night champion Barça stormed the Balearics (3:0 yes with two more players, goals Rafinje, Ferran Torres i Jamal), Atletico Madrid will take the field today, and the first round will last until Tuesday when Real plays.
And practically, every year it is expected that the “el clasico” rivals Real and Barça will decide the throne again, that Atletico will be there as someone who could surprise them, while practically no one sees the other teams in the championship stories. After all, the last club to win La Liga without being one of the aforementioned three was Valencia with Rafom Benitez 21 years ago.
Despite all that, the Spanish championship is much more than "el clasico" - a league in which almost every player is a maestro in their own way, a league that lives for beautiful and attacking football, a league with plenty of derbies...
Barca and Real with new tens
After several seasons in which they suffered a lot, Barcelona returned last year, reminding us of the days when the world fell in love with their game - Hansi Flick They won the title back and were close to the Champions League final. Now the main question is whether the Catalan giants can do even better.
- Is the second season always the hardest? I don't know. But what I'm sure of is that we're working very hard. There's a lot of focus. We want to continue what we did last season. We're on the right track, even though our opponents are also extremely good - said Flick, whose preparations have been hampered by rookie registrations, situations with Mark Ande ter Stegen i Injigo Martinez.
However, the most important work is finished - Lamin Jamal, Barca's new sensation from "La Masia", has extended his contract and will wear the number 10 starting this season.
And, the biggest rival Real Madrid also has a new "top ten", which after the departure Luka Modrić belonged Kilijanu MbapeuThere are already those who see in everything a new rivalry similar to that between Lionel Messi i Cristiano Ronaldo, but it is still too early for such comparisons.
In any case, apart from the "ten", it is much more important that Real has a new coach - a legend Carlo Ancelotti he inherited Xabi AlonsoThe expert who won the Bundesliga with Bayer Leverkusen at the start of his career will now primarily have the task of returning Real to the throne in Spain.
How different will Real Madrid be now?
- Will we play attacking? I think the more important question is how we will defend, and when it comes to defense, I want all 11 players on the field to participate. I also mean the importance of Mbappe and Vinicius "They exert constant pressure," the Basque expert explained.
Barça strengthened their goalkeeping this summer with the arrival of Joana Garcia, and he arrived Marcus Rashford, while Real brought Trent Alexander-Arnold, Dina Hausena, River's super talent Frank Mastantuon, he shone at the Club World Championship Gonzalo Garcia.
Ćolo with seven new members, everything starts from Baena
Atletico Madrid will be the underdogs again this season, but both Barca and Real know very well how difficult it will be to knock them down. Diego Simeon, the Argentine legend who has led the team from "Metropolitan" since 2011.
"Kolćoneros" were the leaders last season until New Year's, and then they slowly sank - all of this was a sign for Ćol that he needed to refresh the team. Older players left, such as Rodrigo de Paula, Anhela Koree, Aksela Vitsela, Samuel Lynn, and even seven new ones have arrived - from the Italian master Giacomo Raspadori, across Tijaga Almade, to the guy from whom the most is expected Aleksa Baene.
The diminutive maestro and Spanish international led Villarreal to the Champions League last season, and is now expected to be the driving force behind Atletico.
- It will be important for us to be patient, primarily because we have a lot of new and young players. We want to take it step by step and get better as the season progresses - emphasized Ćolo.
Apart from the aforementioned teams, it will be interesting to see how much Athletic Bilbao can do after retaining Nick Williams, and there are always interesting teams like the two from Seville, Sociedad...
La Liga, Round 1; Sunday: Celta - Getafe (17pm), Atletico B - Sevilla (19.30pm), Espanyol - Atletico M (21.30pm); Monday: Elće - Betis (21); Tuesday: Real Madrid - Osasuna (21). Earlier: Mallorca - Barcelona 0:3, Alaves - Levante 2:1, Valencia - Sociedad 1:1, Villarreal - Oviedo 2:0, Girona - Rayo V 1:3.
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