It was nine rounds before Barcelona and Real Madrid occupied the top two spots in La Liga in 2010/11. It took three days, 11 goals and some scintillating football for the same outcome this year as La Liga made its belated entry into the 2011/12 season.
I’ll start by having a look at the reigning champions, Barcelona, who took part in the last game of the round, at home to fellow Champions League participants Villarreal. Barca boss Pep Guardiola decided to play an entirely new 3-4-3 formation to counteract Villarreal’s extremely narrow system. The Catalan’s had Seydou Keita, who interestingly made more appearances than any other Barca player last year, in a holding role allowing Iniesta and Thiago to occupy a slightly more advanced role behind the homecoming boy Cesc Fabregas. Pedro and Alexis Sanchez provided the width as Fabregas’ surging runs from the midfield gave Barcelona a drive that perhaps they have been missing, and he was instrumental in their 5-0 victory. Villarreal were hardly at the races in truth, and whilst not expecting to win at the Camp Nou, the manner of defeat will be disappointing for Juan Carlos Garrido.
Last year’s runners-up Real Madrid travelled to Javier Aguirre’s Zaragoza on Sunday and continued their fine pre-season goal-scoring form into the league as they were resounding 6-0 winners. Top scorer from last year, Cristiano Ronaldo, got off the mark this year with an outstanding hat-trick, and he now has 14 goals in his last five La Liga games. Mourinho’s men lined-up similarly to last year but with new recruit Fabio Contreao playing in an unfamiliar central midfield role. It was comfortable for Los Blancos against the cash strapped Zaragoza, for whom relegation is a real possibility this season.
Valencia got off to a winning start on Saturday night against Racing Santander, Roberto Soldado scoring a hat-trick and an own goal in a thrilling 4-3 win at the Mestalla. Hector Cuper’s side were winning 3-2 with just minutes left before Soldado completed his hat-trick with strikes in the 88th and 90th minutes to steal the points on what was a fairly frustrating night for Valencia.
Many people were interested in seeing Malaga this year, and they opened with a tough game at Sevilla. Unfortunately for the newly rich side from the Costa del Sol, things did not go their way. The Andalucian derby was decided by two Alvaro Negredo strikes, the ex-Real Madrid man’s goals meant Santi Cazorla’s debut free kick was irrelevant.
Real Betis started with a clash against fellow newcomers Granada, and 1-0 win courtesy of Ruben Castro’s late header gave them the perfect start to life back in the top flight. They’ve also been buoyed by the loan signing of Roque Santa Cruz this week.
Athletic Bilbao are much fancied by a lot of people this year and it was a very disappointing and disjointed performance from Marcelo Bielsa’s side which saw them stutter to a 1-1 draw with newly promoted Rayo. The Basque club have enough quality to be in and about the Champions League spots this year, but they will have to be a lot better than they were this weekend. Rayo will be delighted with a point on one of the toughest away trips of the year.
Atletico Madrid started life without Sergio Aguero and Diego Forlan with a frustrating 0-0 home draw with Osasuna. Atleti were missing a cutting edge and will be hoping the paperwork for €40m striker Falcao will be processed soon.
Mallorca started the campaign with a 1-0 win over Espanyol. Jonathon de Guzman, somehow still at the moneyless club despite interest from Villarreal all summer, got the only goal as his deflected strike beat Cristian Alvarez in between the Espanyol sticks. The Barcelona based club looked a bit toothless in all honesty and will desperately need to replace Pablo Osvaldo, who has signed for Roma.
On the outskirts of Madrid, Getafe played out a 1-1 draw with Levante. Miku, who Getafe did well to keep hold of this summer, opened the scoring before Levante equalised in the 77th minute. There was a huge shout for handball in the build up to the goal, and Getafe have to feel aggrieved that it was only one point on the board after the match.
Finally, Sporting Gijon were beaten at home by Real Sociedad courtesy of an Imanol Agirretxe double. Sporting had plenty of chances to steal something from the match, but it looks as though Manuel Preciado’s team will once again struggle to score goals this season.
Barcelona were outstanding yet again. The movement and execution was as always phenomenal but the most interesting aspect of the performance was the 3-4-3 formation. It was not far off total football at points where Keita would almost seamlessly slot into the back three if either of them advanced. I do wonder whether this could be Pep’s new tactic when playing at home. It will be fascinating to see how it works this season.