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"...?
