Brilliant Barca Overshadow Red-Faced Real

For those who thought Cesc Fabregas would be little more than an expensive addition to the Barcelona bench; how wrong you have been proved.

The ex-Arsenal captain has taken to life at the Nou Camp as if he had never spent all those years in north London. To date, Fabregas has scored four goals in Blaugrana colours in addition to a number of assists and looks to have already established a telepathic relationship with the creative heart of Pep Guardiola's team.

The Catalans' 8-0 thumping of Osasuna at the weekend was a near-perfect exhibition of football with Fabregas and Lionel Messi at the centre of everything good about Barca. Arguably, Fabregas rubber-stamped his intentions to be an integral part of the European champions' first XI when many pundits had questioned his signing and potential role in what can already be considered as one of the best teams to ever play the beautiful game.

It seems as if Guardiola's charges are hungry enough and capable enough of soaring higher than the magnificent achievements of last year. Fabregas it seems, may be a huge part of the plan. While Xavi may be considered as one of the best midfielders in the world, the former Arsenal man may be the perfect 'plan-B' if Xavi is off-form or if Barcelona wish to change the tempo or direction of a game.

While times appear to be getting better in Catalunya, Mourinho's Real Madrid suffered a shock 1-0 defeat at the hands of Levante on Sunday evening. Real president Florentino Perez must be feeling slightly irked by the constant brilliance of his side's biggest rivals while his Los Blancos were left floundering on the east coast. Wednesday sees Real travel to second-bottom Racing Santander and while the game is hardly a must-win tie, one suspects that anything other than three points would be most unsatisfactory.

TV Money Row To Gather Pace

With La Liga now back on an even keel after the recent players' strike, it appears that one chairman could rock the proverbial boat once again after the LFP revealed the distribution of television rights money for the forthcoming season.

Sevilla President Jose Maria Del Nido is due to hold a meeting this week with presidents from a number of different Primera Division clubs regarding what he calls the "unfair distribution of television rights". Indeed, the funds allocated to La Liga clubs seems to be heavily weighted towards both Real Madrid and Barcelona with the two giants receiving a sizeable sum each.

While Del Nido was keen to stress that strike action is not at the forefront of his thinking, one suspects that the issue will drag on into the season. One thing that is for certain is that the way the finances have been distributed resembles the way clubs in Scotland are treated in the shadow of the Glasgow giants Celtic and Rangers.

"We are in a league that is not competitive", Del Nido said. "There are two clubs who are left with the money from the rest." The problem seems to be at the core of a vicious circle that will be impossible to break if it goes too far. Real and Barcelona are the two biggest teams in Spain and therefore attract sizeable national and international audiences. Therefore it makes financial sense for television companies to show both clubs on a regular basis: a simple example of supplying to public demand.

This story could either quietly go away or could cause another rift in the Spanish game. While clubs like Sevilla will never see a downturn in fortunes like most clubs in the SPL, it seems that the never-ending worldwide appeal of the Clasico clubs will doom the rest of La Liga to forever play second-fiddle to both Real and Barcelona.

Spain Seal Euros Spot

After earning a call-up to the Spain squad, Alvaro Negredo of Sevilla made the most of a rare start by bagging a brace of goals shortly before half time to set the home side on their way in Logronos as the Spanish national side booked their trip to Poland and Ukraine in 2012 with a comfortable 6-0 win over lowly Lichtenstein.

Having almost shocked Scotland at Hampden Park earlier on in the campaign, the minnows gave the reigning World and European champions a nervy half-hour before Negredo broke the deadlock. Playing in the northern region of Rioja, you could have forgiven the natives for expecting goals to flow like the wine they are so famous for. Eventually they got what they had wished for: All-time leading goalscorer David Villa edged closer to his 50th goal in Spain colours as he completed the rout with a brace of his own following goals from Sergio Ramos and a Xavi Hernandez free-kick.

This was the sixth win in sixth qualifying games and also included a debut for Barcelona's Thiago Alcantara while Xavi became Spain's most capped outfield player winning his 103rd cap on what appeared to be a perfectly pre-planned night of football. Yet, the most striking aspect of the performance was Del Bosque's almost seamless team selection and substitutions. Negredo is a perfect example of La Roja's astonishing and rich strength in depth: picked on form, the striker did not disappoint. Fellow forwards Pedro and Fernando Llorente were left to warm the bench when arguably either could have started in place of the Sevilla frontman.

Premier League newcomer Juan Mata was also included among the starting 11 while Manchester City's David Silva, after his sparkling start to the new English top-flight campaign had to be content in his role as an unused substitute. Credit must go to the manager for picking a fairly strong side: While many would argue that even a Spanish second string 11 could outplay any nation in Europe, it is refreshing to see an approach from the coaching staff that oozed professionalism and an urge to simply get the job done.

With the greatest of expectation Vincente Del Bosque's side will now head to Eastern Europe in a bid to defend their crown and become the first team ever to win consecutive European Championships. On current form and with such a star-studded pool of players to choose from, bookmakers may already be preparing to pay out on Spain to lift the trophy in Kiev in a little over 10 months' time.

(Picture taken from www.bbc.co.uk/sport)

Negredo Downs Malaga as Mourinho's Madridista's Mark Their Territory

After weeks of uncertainty and a players' strike, Spanish Primera Division football is finally up and running for the 2011/12 season. Boy have we missed it...

Sunday night saw the new-look Malaga kick-off their season with a defeat at Sevilla. The latest club side to become a billionaire's play-thing the men from the south coast were largely disappointing as they lost the Andalucian derby 2-1. Sevilla's Alvaro Negredo celebrated his call-up to the national squad by bagging a first-half brace before contriving to miss a whole host of opportunities to complete his hat-trick. The visitors' summer signing Santi Cazorla's stunning free-kick with ten minutes to play gave those watching nothing more than a glimpse of the talent on show for Malaga this season.

The early-evening kick-off provided Europe with a first look at Jose Mourinho's latest Real Madrid blend and Los Blancos didn't disappoint. A thumping 6-0 win at Real Zaragoza well and truly sent a volley of championship intent across the bows of the good ship FC Barcelona. Hat-trick hero Cristiano Ronaldo's post match prediction that Real would win La Liga at the same canter with which they managed to turn over Zaragoza seems like nothing more than early-season mind games but last season's Pichichi winner may have confirmed a change in attitude at the Santiago Bernabeu.

"We're a proper team", the Portugese declared and it appeared from their performance that Mourinho's inimitable stamp of hunger and desire to win may be rubbing off on his team. Real's dominance in possession, movement when out of possession and the way they pressed their opponents allowed players like Mesut Ozil the creative license to drive the team forward. As a result, Fabio Coentrao enjoyed a relatively comfortable debut in the centre of midfield. Combine this with the goalscoring exploits of Cristiano 'Spain's answer to Dixie Dean' Ronaldo and it produces the type of sparkling performance that could see Real banish last season's shock results (like the defeat at Osasuna) well and truly from supporters' and players' minds.

Over to the Camp Nou on Monday evening then, where the champions Barcelona take on Villarreal no doubt eager to get their title-defence up and running. What are the odds on Pep Guardiola saying to his players pre-match "Anything THEY can do, WE can do better"...?