Reigning Primera Liga Champions Real Madrid could not have chosen a worse place to begin their defense of the Spanish soccer title in week one of the new PrimeraLiga season.
Real travel to Deportivo La Coruna's Riazor Stadium, a ground where they have not won since the 1991-92 season, and they will travel without midfielder Rafael Van der Vaart, who was sent off in the final of the Spanish Supercup and is suspended.
Wesley Sneijder is out for three months with a knee injury. Butcoach Bernd Schuster should be able to call on the services of midfielder Fernando Gago, who was at the Olympic Games with gold medal winners Argentina. They will also be boosted by their 5-3 win over Sporting Lisbon in Wednesday's Santiago Bernabeu Trophy.
A new-look Barcelona kick off their season away to newly promoted Numncia and the side coached by Pep Guardiola will be looking to bounce back following their narrow Champions League defeat in Poland.
Leo Messi will be back following his gold medal win with Argentina in Beijing and he will partner Samuel Eto'o and Thierry Henry in a fearsome Barca attack.
Atletico Madrid will be looking to carry on the momentum from their 4-0 European triumph over Schalke 04 when they entertain Malaga in the Vicente Calderon stadium.
Atletico will once again be led by strike partnership of Kun Aguero and Diego Forlan, while new signing Ever Banega will also be available for his home debut.
Villarreal, who finished second last year, kick off their season with a potentially difficult trip to Pamplona, where Osasuna have Santi Ezquerro returning to the club where he began his career.
Elsewhere Espanyol play the first game of the new campaign at home to Valladolid. Espanyol have new first team coach "Tintin" Martinez in the dugout. Martinez has doubts over the availability of winger Albert Riera and defender Pablo Zabaleta, who are being linked with moves to Liverpool and Manchester City.
Valencia hope to recover from their poor showing last campaign when they entertain a Mallorca side, who this week signed striker Aritz Aduriz in an attempt to replace last year's top scorer Dani Guiza.
There is an Andalusia derby between Betis and Recreativo Huelva, two sides who could again struggle this time around, while Sporting Gijon celebrate their return to the Primera Liga at home to Getafe, where Victor Munoz debuts in the dugout.
Finally Athletic Bilbao aim to put an indifferent pre-season behind them at home to Almeria, who have a new coach in Gonzalo Arconada.
Source: Xinhua
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