La Liga, Week 1: Real Madrid Draw, Barcelona Crush Real Sociedad

Depor looked fantastic in their Liga BBVA debut, pressuring a tired-looking Osasuna side from the start. While Osasuna, who almost managed to grab the last European spot last season, defended brusquely, Depor showcased a fungible, exciting style, able to attack from any direction at any time.

Valladolid was in complete control of the match, and they found their winner on 45 minutes, when Óscar and Omar combined down the right side, the latter finally smashing in a brilliant cross to the former who slotted it home with ease.

Neither team seemed able to create any real danger on the night, though Atleti seemed to have most of the play--or whatever “play” existed. Levante, as was their wont last season, was more than happy to defend, especially on their home turf. El Zhar edged the locals in front within five minutes on a tricky piece of skill off a corner, but Arda Turan equalized within 15 minutes for Atleti, as he dashed past the Levante defense and unleashed a cannon from outside the area.

That would be pretty much it for both sides for the rest of the game--Levante would hit the post towards the end, but it seemed almost accidental, against the run of “play.”

15th minute? Yeah, another goal and guess who...Messi. After his initial shot was blocked, it bounced to Pedro who re-centered the ball in front of Messi, who’d kept running, and he drilled a shot past Claudio Bravo. It then took an incredible 25 minutes for anyone to score again, I’m being sarcastic of course, but after setting such a high standard you can understand my feelings. Pedro got on the score sheet to give Barca a 4-1 lead at halftime, but the real praise goes to Cristian Tello who had a tremendous first half after getting a bit of a surprise start. Tello, showing some excellent vision, lobbed a perfectly placed pass over the Socieded box to Pedro who had been allowed to walk in on goal completely unmarked.

As for the second half, well it stayed 4-1 until late when David Villa, making his first return after suffering a broken leg last season, scored his first goal of the season off a nice assist from Andres Iniesta. Villa was pretty excited about the goal and was booked right after for excessive celebration. Considering his long road back from injury, we can cut him a little slack.

Betis played an exciting, up-tempo game against Athletic, hitting the Basque side quickly and often on the counter with pace, and through the center for the midfield. Bilbao looked sloppy all evening, and it eventually cost them dearly, when, in the 6th minute Beñat robbed a loose ball in the center of the pitch, and fed Rubén Castro, who slotted it by keeper Iraizoz. The goals would just keep coming for Betis after that, with Jorge Molina netting twenty minutes later--off a fantastic counter attack--and Beñat adding his own after a bad clearance from the Athletic defense.

But the lions would come roaring back in the second half, clearly feeling energized, and with a stronger center of the field. They controlled the tempo early on, and didn’t let Betis through: Bielsa had clearly expressed his desire to keep the center of the midfield tight, and it showed throughout the half. First, Aduriz, immediately upon coming onto the pitch for the second half, found De Marcos in full sprint towards the Andalusian goal. 1-3, but the game still seemed out of reach.

Gonzalo Higuain got the hosts off to a superb start, taking down a great pass over the top from Angel di Maria to go one on one against Diego Alves. To say it wasn’t a clean finish would be an understatement -- a superb stop from the Valencia goalkeeper blocked the Argentinian’s first effort. The rebound went straight back to Higuain, who fired the ball back into Alves’ legs, collecting the rebound again before finally boring of the impromptu tennis game and lashing into the back of the net to make it 1-0.

Indeed, Raul Albiol came on at the break, replacing Pepe*. That substitution didn’t do much to change the home side’s fortunes: Try as they might, Madrid simply couldn’t score. Diego Alves continued making spectacular saves all evening, and the closest that the hosts came to re-breaking the deadlock was when Higuain hit the crossbar from close range just after the hour mark. Indeed, it was Valencia who would next put the ball in the back of the net, although Roberto Soldado had the strike ruled out for offside.

Match Date/Time: Sunday, August 19, 3:00 p.m. ET

Venue: Camp Nou, Barcelona, Spain

“Football doesn’t understand justice,” said Celta coach Paco Herrera after his side’s 1-0 defeat at the hands of not-as-soulless-as-maybe-I-thought Málaga. I don’t know if that’s true--I tend not to think of “football” as an entity that can understand or not understand things, but rather as a wrathful, demon-god intent on destroying the dreams of the faithful (you know, the usual). But I do know that football can be pretty silly sometimes, and, at others, have a well-developed sense of narrative tension. The first games of the 2012-2013 Liga season certainly showcased everything I just described.

This game was over the moment 16 year-old Fabrice took the pitch. He came in thirteen minutes into the second half, taking out Seba Fernández (non-existant), and immediately took hold of the game: he latched onto the ball, running energetically at a Celta defense that was not expecting a youthful explosion. It was exactly what his beaten-down team needed, when, after a strong first 45, they were looking worse and worse as the second half wore on. Celta were growing, stretching the pitch, moving the ball well--like a team that never left Primera. And Málaga were looking like what they are--a soulless shell of the budding superteam of yesteryear.