But three months later Barca begin the defence of their Spanish title in less fine fettle.
Advertisement
Barcelona have announced that they plan to appeal against the four-match ban handed down from the Spanish FA to Gerard Pique after he was said to have insulted an assistant referee in the second leg of the Spanish Super Cup.
Luis Enrique’s Barca slumped to a 5-1 aggregate loss against Bilbao in the Supercopa, following a 4-0 rout at San Mames last Friday. Barca have bought Atletico winger, Arda Turan and Sevilla wing-back Aleix Vidal, but neither will be able to play until the new year.
Boss Enrique is confident his side will deliver as spectacularly as last season, however, saying: “The team is united and competitive”.
In 10 of the past 11 seasons in Spain’s top flight, the league has been won by either Barcelona (7 titles) or Real Madrid (3 titles). Long-serving captain and goalkeeper Iker Casillas’s exit was also handled badly. Now, Rafa Benitez’s use of the 29-year-old will be under scrutiny, and could make or break the Spaniard’s first season at the Bernabeu.
Marcelo is expected to continue as the first choice left back, while Danilo – a $36 million signing from Porto – should occupy the right back berth ahead of Alvaro Arbeloa and Dani Carvajal. His cautious tactics and famous rotation policy may or may not be accepted by superstars Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale. Messi has had a poor pre season and looks exhausted , he’s been in two global finals in the last two summers and really doesnt get much of a break.
For all the shiny veneer of the new Peter Lim era, Valencia remain a club that, like Sevilla, still has to sell their best players. Pique is a very important player for us we will miss him. Add to that the productive partnership he quickly developed with Suarez and Neymar last season, which led to 122 goals between the three stars.
So far, these legal issues have yet to harm the team’s performance, as seen past year when it cruised to the treble.
We’re the favourites just as Atletico [Madrid] were last season.
Valencia, omnipresent in the league’s upper echelons, will also be unsafe , having made striker Alvaro Negredo’s move permanent from Manchester City.
Real Betis (Segunda Division champions), Sporting Gijon (runners-up) and Las Palmas (play-offs) are the new kids on the block.
David Moyes’ Real Sociedad kick off the season away from home on Saturday, wherein they travel to Deportivo La Coruna. Ex-Premier League players Roberto Soldado [Villarreal], Iago Aspas [Celta Vigo] and Felipe Luis [Atletico] are all returning to Spain with points to prove.
Advertisement
Diego Simone is probably the closest thing in football to Jose Mourinho and did exactly what the Chelsea manager did last season. We’ll start to find out from this weekend.
