La Liga, Week 1: Barcelona Obliterate Villarreal 5-0

For more on the two teams, check out FC Barcelona blog Barca Blaugranes and Villarreal blog Villarreal USA.

Unless Juan Carlos Garrido has a magical masterplan to beat a system he and no one else has ever seen before, Villarreal are not going to be back into this match.

For more on the two teams, check out FC Barcelona blog Barca Blaugranes and Villarreal blog Villarreal USA.

The young midfielder has been spectacular throughout the preseason for Barcelona and he’s picked up in La Liga just where he left off there. The defense of the Yellow Submarine certainly could have defended a bit better, but there’s no taking away from the finish. Dribbling through a crowd as Villarreal failed to close him down, Thiago got himself into shooting position and hit a great left-footed shot low and to the far post from the edge of the 18 yard area, placing it perfectly into the back of the net.

For more on the two teams, check out FC Barcelona blog Barca Blaugranes and Villarreal blog Villarreal USA.

Substitutions: Jose Manuel Pinto, Marc Bartra, Andreu Fontas, Jonathan Dos Santos, Xavi, Sergi Roberto, David Villa

The second goal came about a bit less straightforwardly: Sevilla launched a counter attack after significant pressure from Málaga, and Negredo collected a bouncing ball from Perotti in the before hammering home the 2-0. Unfortunately, the counter attack came after a particularly strong Málaga attack that culminated in a possible penalty against Sevilla’s Escudé, who hit a Joaquín cross with his arm in the penalty box. Referee Delgado Ferreiro waved play on as almost every player on Málaga raised their arms in protest.

While Sevilla are dominating on the scoreboard, Málaga will be happy with their offensive game for the most part: they created a few chances that they should have put away, but the over-riding feeling that they must have is that they don’t know each other well yet. Players seem out of sync, missing each other in space, and miss-timing their runs: this is a phenomenon that is very common with teams who have just been put together, and it’ll get better with time.

Nouveau-riche Málaga take on Sevilla in the Sánchez Pizjuán in Sevilla; this Andalusian derby should make a more interesting matchup than yesterday’s Betos-Granada, mainly because both teams are aiming for Europe rather than aiming to stay in the first division.

I’m a big believer in Málaga this season, though it could take a while to get everything sorted out on both ends. What we can definitely be sure of is that they’ll score tons of goals—with Ruud van Nistelrooy as your striker, that’s the one certain prediction I can make.

Madrid sustained pressure from the opening whistle to the halftime whistle, creating chance after chance. Their opening goal came in the 24th minute, and it was an absolutely fantastic team move. Benzema started it with his hard work tracking back on defense, Özil provided the assist with a spectacular pass into the box, and Ronaldo finished it off with his first touch from 12 yards out, cutting in from the left.

Zaragoza were always going to struggle to get points off of Madrid, but Javier Aguirre’s boys look pretty helpless. A game against Madrid is an unfair sample to judge Aguirre’s team and his managerial competency, but this looks very much like a team that will be in a relegation battle this season. Hopefully, for the sake of the neutrals, the Blanquillos can put up more of a fight in the second half.

Real Madrid begin their two horse race against Barcelona today in Zaragoza, where they’ll have to deal with a very amped up Javier Aguirre. Managing Madrid, our SBNation Real Madrid blog previewed the match:

It’s always interesting when a fanbase is more scared of a team in second division than of the team that they’re about to play in the first division. In Madrid’s case, though it’s sort of warranted: they’ve always had an impossible time beating Depor away from home, and were very happy to see them drop down to Segunda.

36 year-old José María Movilla became the oldest person to play for Rayo Vallecano in Primera on Sunday, and he marked the occasion by netting the game-trying goal against Athletic Bilbao in San Mamés, Bilbao.

Both teams came into the match with something to prove: Athletic Bilbao was looking to make a mark with their new coach Marcelo Bielsa, and Rayo was looking to prove that they belong in la Liga. Both teams more or less managed to accomplish their objectives, though Bielsa will rue various missed opportunities both before and after Iturraspe’s 55th minute strike.

While Atlético’s midfield trio of Suárez, Tiago and Gabi kept Osasuna under pressure for most of the match, they couldn’t seem to get the ball up to their offensive trident in a position to make a play on goal. But I still think that will come with time: new signing, and probably center forward Falcao didn’t make his debut, while Diego Forlán stayed on the bench waiting for news of his transfer (with his ear pressed to the ground I’m sure). The team lacked punch offensively, but that makes sense when both of their main goal scoring threats didn’t see a minute of game time. I’m all in on the Atleti boat this season (even though I shouldn’t be).

0-1 Agirretxe Min. 34

0-2 Agirretxe Min 65

August 26, 2010: Well, it finally happened. After a couple weeks of uncertainty (and a seemingly endless supply of strike- and lockout-themed jokes), the Spanish Liga BBVA season is set to begin on Saturday. Did anything actually change after all that? Probably not! But who cares? We have the Liga to look forward to!

18:00 CET (12:00 PM EST) El Molinón, Gigón