It's coming. The return of the best futból the world has to offer is set for August 29th, 2010. That's when the first round (jornada) of the Spanish League or LigaBBVA is played. And, with the return leg of the Supercopa scheduled for Saturday the 21st, you have less than a week to wait to see the exquisite ball-control passing that makes Spanish soccer so special.
The Supercopa's opening leg saw early dominance by Barcelona erased in favor of the swift attacks of Sevilla's classy veteran forwards, Luis Fabiano and Kanouté. The Blaugrana enjoyed an overwhelming advantage of possession and scored off an acrobatic strike by Zlatan Ibrahimovic but were undone by their understrength team. The Barça squad counted with only 3 or 4 likely starters because of the date's coincidence with international friendlies.
The return leg promises to be an interesting game as Barcelona will be playing at home and can count on the return of their international stars. Xavi, Villa, Pique and Messi should all start feature prominently for a goal-hungry side.
I hope that the game is broadcast on U.S. cable.
The primera jornada of the Liga BBVA should be interesting.
The most interesting game could easily be the Mallorca - Real Madrid matchup. Madrid is now coached by football genius and journalist favorite Jose Mourinho, who brings his huge ego, expectations and results to the table. His team features the star power of Christiano Ronaldo, always-on-form Gonzalo Higuain and newly signed Mesut Ozil. This squad should be impressive.
Despite Madrid's payroll advantage, spunky Mallorca has been a regular thorn in their side. Eliminating them from the Copa del Rey and providing stiff competition in La Liga. The fans from the Balearic Islands speak Catalan and have little love for the team from the capital. Now coached by Michael Laudrup, the men in red should come out with something to prove.
I'll post about a few of the other games and some of the off-season's major transfer news soon.
Hasta Pronto!
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