In the 55th minute, Pique was sent off with a straight red card for protesting an uncalled offside by Oscar De Marcos, ending his side’s hopes of mounting a comeback in the 2nd leg of their Spanish Super Cup tie against Athletic Bilbao. In last season’s fixture at San Mames, Barcelona ran out 5-2 winners. “We want to keep giving our fans reasons to celebrate and to continue being the team the world admires”.
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Madrid have also tweaked their squad this summer but the biggest change has been on the bench, with Rafael Benitez replacing Carlo Ancelotti to become the club’s 13th manager in the last 12 years.
Defending La Liga champion Barcelona FC will see action at San Mamés Stadium, home of Athletic Bilbao, in Bilbao – capital of Biscay Province, the center of Spain’s autonomous Basque Country.
Real Madrid begin life under Rafael Benitez away to newly-promoted Sporting Gijon on Sunday. Madrid, however, is entering the season with questions regarding leadership and whether feeding Ronaldo’s insatiable appetite for scoring is the way to topple Barcelona. Behind them, Ivan Rakitic has had a full season at the club and, having becoming increasingly influential following his transfer from Sevilla last summer, should take on even more responsibility in midfield.
“The president and I both know that being No. 1 is the only thing that matters, and being second isn’t worth anything”, Benitez said after stifling tears at his presentation in June.
Atletico Madrid, the surprise 2014 champion, has been the biggest mover in the summer market.
The signings of strikers Jackson Martinez and Luciano Vietto to join forces with Antoine Griezmann and Fernando Torres in attack provide a frontline as deadly as when Radamel Falcao and Diego Costa were paired together in the early stages of Simeone’s reign.
Nolito has said he would not be able to turn down a return to Barcelona. Valencia are also on track for a return to the Champions League after a 3-1 win over Monaco on Wednesday in the first-leg playoff for Europe’s top-tier tournament.
Still, the financial inequality in the league is clearly seen by glancing at the offseason operations conducted by lower and mid-tier teams.
Ten of the last 11 La Liga titles have ended up at either the Nou Camp and Bernabeu, and in that same period only two clubs other than Real and Barca have finished in the top two spots.
However, there have been some exceptions to the rule during that time, and former Spanish champions Betis will certainly be eyeing a finish in the top half of the table on their return to the top flight.
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Sevilla, with back-to-back Europa League titles, are a side capable of upsetting the best but whether they can consistently manage that over the course of a season enough to mount a title challenge seems doubtful.
