As the Spanish Laliga resumes today with Madrid and Barce are set to rehandle their angery rivalry; write Jonathan Isaiah
The Spanish League resumes with exciting fixtures today and tomorrow
REAL MADRID Vs GETAFE
Real Madrid will play Getafe in Bernabeau today in the Madrid Derby. Real showed they meant business this season when they thrashed Zaragoza 6-0 with Ronaldo scoring a hat-trick, while Getafe was held to a draw at home to Levante. Jose Mourinho has promised to deliver the league to the Madrid faithful this season and is favourite to pick all three points against their neighbours Getafe today. The Merengues had a wonderful preseason, winning all their six games and the strike partnership of Ronaldo and Benzema is definitely clicking .After their first game against Zaragoza,German midfielder Ozil believes Madrid are stronger than last season? following the arrival of new players. Madrid signed Fabio Coentrao, Nuri Sahin, Raphael Varane, Jose Callejon and Hamit Altintop this summer and the German playmaker is happy with the team’s progress.
“We are much stronger. We have taken a step further compared to the previous campaign. Real Madrid has made a lot of signings in the last couple of years, but you can now tell we understand each other on the pitch,” Ozil told Kicker.
“I am very happy with the way things have turned out for me. I feel great at Real Madrid and, obviously, playing in this team. I am in very good form and feel more prepared than ever before. Gonzalo Higuain also believes Madrid is closing the gap on Barcelona, when he said: “Every time we play Barcelona we are always getting closer to their level. We really want to finish the season with many titles in the trophy cabinet.”
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REAL SOCIEDAD Vs BARCELONA
Barcelona showed they are still favourites to retain the league title by beating rivals Madrid in the Supercup and also beating FC Porto in the UEFA Supercup. The Catalans defeated Villareal 5-0 with Messi bagging a brace in their opening game. The defending champions strengthened their squad this summer with the arrival of Alexis Sanchez and Cesc Fabregas from Udinese and Arsenal respectively. The duo were? on the score sheet against Villareal. Real Sociedad won their first game away to Sporting Gijon 2-1 and will be hoping on maintaining their perfect start of the season by beating the champions at home today. For Barcelona, Pique and Puyol are likely to miss the game. In the first game, Pep Guardiola played Mascherano and both midfielders Busquet in defence? and it is likely both will play the same roles today. After the game against Villareal, new signing Alexis Sanches said, “Barcelona have a special way of playing football and nowhere in the world can they play like we do.
“I really wanted to score and I am very happy with my goal, which is important for everyone.
?Guardiola told me to play with freedom and confidence because this is a team which helps you do this.”
VALENCIA Vs ATHLETICO MADRID
Valencia welcomes Athletico Madrid to the Mestella today in the biggest game of match day two. Both teams have played second fiddle to Barcelona and Real Madrid for the past five seasons and are hoping to break the duopoly this season. Valencia lost their star winger Juan Mata to Chelsea, but are still looking like a decent side this season. They started their campaign on a winning note by defeating Racing Satandar 4-3 with Soldado netting a hat-trick. Athletico Madrid on the other hand have lost both of their star strikers this season.Sergio Aguero joined Man City in a big money move, while Diego Forlan joined Inter Milan as a replacement for Samuel Eto’o who joined Anzhi.Athletico bought Europa league winning striker Radamel Falcao from FC Porto.They opened their own league campaign with a goalless draw against Osasuna. Valencia Coach Emery believes the Vicente Calderon outfit should not be taken lightly.
“We are already thinking about the match against Atletico, a team who let go of their two biggest names but who have replaced them with important players,” Emery was quoted by EFE.
“Atletico are still a very dangerous team and today’s match will be the first of an intense series of contests for which we will need the entire squad,” he further stated.
The Valencia boss went on to urge his defence to be more focused after the team leaked three goals in their opening league encounter against Racing Santander.
“We have to play harder in defence and we are working on that,” Emery said.
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