In Spain they put themselves in first place and Real Madrid defended the title against the stalking of a reinforced Barcelona

Only the most optimistic fans of the other 18 participating teams are thrilled that the 92nd edition of the Spanish League, which kicks off this Friday with the duel between Osasuna and Sevilla in Pamplona (ESPN airs from 3:50 pm), will not be one against. one between Real Madrid and Barcelona. One, with the squad base allowing it sweep in the last campaign; another, reinforced to the teeth, albeit with very complicated financial engineering. Everything indicates that the rest will look from the outside with the cream against the glass.

Why change a successful formula? Carlo Ancelotti did not find too many reasons to make big changes in a squad that since the Italian returned to the club in June last year, he has won four of the five tournaments he has played: To the Champions League, La Liga and the Spanish Super Cup, they added the European Super Cup on Wednesday, which they won with a 2-0 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt in Helsinki. In this period only the Copa del Rey escaped him, in which he fell in the quarter-finals against Athletic Club de Bilbao.

Karim Benzema (candidate for the Ballon d’Or to be awarded on October 17 in Paris), Luka Modric, Toni Kroos, Thibaut Courtois and the young Vinícius Júnior, Federico Valverde, Éder Militão and Rodrygo make up a structure that has already shown signs of their carat. Real’s dream was to add Kylian Mbappé to that constellation, but the Frenchman, after months of flirting with the move to Spain, chose to stay at Paris Saint-Germain.

Frustrated by hiring Mbappé, the Meringue opened his wallet and made the most expensive purchase of this Spanish pass market which will be open until the end of the month: he paid Monaco 80 million euros (the agreement provides for the payment of another 20 million in variables) for the selected midfielder French Aurelien Tchouameni. Also added another man of the national team, the German defender Antonio Rudiger, who was released after five excellent seasons at Chelsea. In return, he let go of three historic players relegated by Ancelotti: the Brazilian Marcelo, the Welsh Gareth Bale and Isco Alarcón.

In a contest that will play its first 14 dates before the interruption that will be imposed by Qatar World Cup (the last will be played on Wednesday 9 November), Real Madrid, the main contender for a title that has already won 35 times, he will make his debut on Sunday at 5 pm as a guest against Almeríachampion of the last edition of the second division tournament, starring the former Vélez midfielder Lucas Robertone.

Why the monarch does not parade as he did last season (he won the championship by 13 points) It will be necessary for Xavi Hernández to shape the new multimillion-dollar experiment for which Barcelona has opted and that put the Catalan club in front of a financial challenge that, a few hours after the first competition, had not yet finished solving.

The symbol of this new era is Robert Lewandowskifor which it was necessary to disburse 50 million euros to accomplish his departure from Bayern Munich, with whom the Pole scored 344 goals and won 16 titles. they arrived too the Brazilian Raphina, Jules Koundé from France, Andreas Christensen from Denmark and Franck Kessie from the Ivory Coast. These investments (160 million euros) have made Barça the second club in the world that has spent the most in this market, surpassed only by Chelsea (186.6 million).

“It’s a new era of splendor”boasted the president Giovanna Laportathe same as last year could not keep Leone Messi from “economic and structural obstacles”. However, his club has not yet managed to sign his five reinforcements nor Ousmane Dembélé and Sergi Roberto, who have signed new contracts, because before it must go along with its numbers to adapt to the budget regulations of the League.

In that melody, has signed a € 465 million sponsorship deal with Spotify, for which the name of the Camp Nou now includes that of the Swedish platform; sold 25% of its broadcasting rights for league matches for the next 25 years to global investor Sixth Street in exchange for € 400 million; sold 24.5% of Barça Studios, its audiovisual production company, to Socios.com for 100 million and is managing the transfer of another 24.5% to the US fund GDA Luma.

Since all of this is not enough, he is negotiating wage cuts with two of the team captains, Sergio Busquets and Gerard Pique, and can still make sales (Memphis Depay, Pierre Emerick Aubameyang and Frenkie de Jong are all wanted by powerful clubs in Europe). With that complexity still unsolved, the Catalan cast his first is scheduled for Saturday at 16:00 against Rayo Vallecano by Oscar Trejo and Esteban Saveljich.

Cholo Simeone’s Atleti seem far from the fight

For Atlético de Madrid it will be difficult to intervene between the two giants as has happened several times in the last decade. Diego Simeone’s team has joined the Argentine national team Nahuel Molina (for him he paid 20 million euros to Udinese) and the Belgian midfielder Axel Witsel (he comes from Borussia Dortmund), and brought back Saúl Ñíguez and Alvaro Morata, who returned after the loans to Chelsea and Juventus. However, the mattress seems to be far from the big battle. His first test will be on Monday at 2.30pm against Getafe.

The challenge for Gonzalo Montiel, Marcos Acuña, Lucas Ocampos, Alejandro Gómez and Erik Lamela will not be easy either. The Andalusian team, fourth in the last championship, lost the French Jules Koundé and the Brazilian Diego Carlos, pillars of the least defeated defense of the last tournament, while incorporating Isco Alarcón (received by 15,000 fans in his presentation) and the Brazilians Marcão (Galatasaray ) and Alex Telles (on loan from Manchester United).

As usual, this edition of the League will have a penetrating Argentine scent: 29 compatriots will play the tournament, the largest number of foreigners in the event (there will be 23 Brazilians, 18 French and 13 Uruguayans). The first experience in Spain will be goalkeeper Agustín Marchesín (Celta), winger Fabrizio Angileri (Getafe) and striker Valentín Castellanos (Girona).