Barca vs. Real Madrid
Venue: 9pm
The new Spanish football season gets up and running on Sunday evening as Copa del Rey holders Barcelona and La Liga champions Real Madrid meet in the first leg of the Supercopa de Espana.
For the first time in five years the El Clasico rivals face off in the curtain-raising fixture, with both aiming to claim first blood ahead of what should be another entertaining season.
After falling short in La Liga and the Champions League last time out, victory over Alaves in the domestic cup final to see out the season was barely enough to salvage the Catalan giants’ underwhelming campaign.
One bad season should not be enough to write Barcelona off completely, though the loss of one of a handful of true superstars in their ranks has certainly rocked them on the eve of the campaign, with Neymar departing for Paris Saint-Germain in a record £198 million transfer.
New signings are unlikely to arrive before this double-header against Madrid, however, meaning that Valverde will have to make do with just the one high-profile signing – Nelson Semedo joining earlier this summer in a £30.5 million deal, while Gerard Deulofeu has rejoined permanently and Marlon Santos is now a first-team fixture after impressing at the tail end of 2016-17.
For all the accusations of Zinedine Zidane simply being in the right place at the right time, the Frenchman – equally as successful during his playing days – achieved something at the Bernabeu last term that no other man has managed since 1958.
It had been almost 60 years since Los Blancos last reigned supreme in both Spain and Europe, withstanding the pressure to hold off Barcelona in La Liga and eventually crushing Juventus 4-1 in the Champions League final to become the first side to retain the trophy in its current guise.
Zidane has, it must be remembered, won two Champions Leagues, one La Liga, a couple of UEFA Super Cups and the FIFA Club World Cup just for good measure. All this and he was only appointed as first-team manager 19 months ago.
Madrid only lost five games throughout the 2016-17 season, culminating in their victory over Juventus in Cardiff to strengthen their tag as the world’s best side at this moment in time.
Barcelona Possible XI: Ter Stegen, Vidal, Pique, Umtiti, Alba, Iniesta, Busquets, Rakitic, Messi, Suarez, Deulofeu.
Real Madrid Possible XI: Navas, Carvajal, Varane, Ramos, Marcelo, Kroos, Casemiro, Isco; Bale, Benzema, Ronaldo.