Newly crowned Uefa Super Cup winners Real Madrid are favourites to win the 2022/23 Spanish La Liga title ahead of eternal rivals Barcelona. Los Blancos on Wednesday underlined their position as the preeminent Spanish football force by overrunning Europa League winners Eintracht Frankfurt 2-0 in Helsinki, Finland to add to the Champions League and Liga Santander crowns they captured last season.
Real Madrid’s treble winning manager Carlo Ancelotti has showcased his mastery of the beautiful game by overseeing a seamless generational transition. David Alaba’s arrival last summer has been augmented by the recruitment of Antonio Rudiger from Chelsea, allowing the Santiago Bernabeu club to fully replace it’s long standing central defensive partnership of Sergio Ramos and Raphael Varane.
Carletto, as the Italian coach is fondly referred to, has also beefed up central midfield. The ageing triumvirate of Luka Modric, Toni Kroos and Casemiro, which boast a combined age of over one hundred years, has been backed up by two upcoming French starlets. A hefty fee of £85m has been paid to Monaco to recruit rising Les Bleus enforcer Aurelien Tchouameni, who joins the Santiago Bernabeu months after Eduardo Camavinga proved a useful understudy to 37-year-old Modric.
Record La Liga champions Real are in action on Sunday away to newly promoted Almeria, a day after Barcelona host tricky Rayo Vallecano at Camp Nou. Blaugrana boss Xavi Hernandez is overseeing a summer of significant changes with target man Robert Lewandowski recruited from Bayern Munich along with Frank Kessie (AC Milan), Andreas Christensen (Chelsea), Jules Kounde (Sevilla) and Raphinha (Leeds United).
But the club could end up failing to field any of their newcomers, along with free dribbling ambidextrous winger Ousmane Dembele, whose contract has been renewed, for the Saturday fixture unless they meet La Liga’s strict financial fair play regulations. Kessie and Christensen could actually leave for free unless club president Joan Laporta finds an extra ‘financial lever’ to register the players. The club is hoping to sell prized midfielder Frenkie de Jong and Dutch compatriot Memphis Deepay, as well as Pierre Emerick Aubameyang in order to raise much needed funds.
Primera Liga action gets underway on Friday night with Sevilla away to Osasuna. Julien Lopetegui’s visitors are fourth favourites behind Real, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid but are certain to field a new central defensive partnership after losing Kounde and Diego Carlos. Elsewhere, Diego Simeone’s Atleti are not in action until Monday when they make a difficult trip to Getafe. Unai Emery’s former Europa Cup winners Villarreal are meanwhile away to newly promoted Real Valladolid on Saturday.
FRIDAY
Osasuna v Sevilla
SATURDAY
Celta Vigo v Espanyol,
Real Valladolid v Villarreal
Barcelona v Rayo Vallecano
SUNDAY
Cadiz v Real Sociedad,
Valencia v Girona,
Almeria v Real Madrid,
MONDAY
Athletic Bilbao v Mallorca
Getafe v Atletico Madrid
Real Betis v Elche