FCBARCELONA.CAT

27.08.2008 12:48

The start of a new season

Jordi Clos

Pep Guardiola's appointment as coach of FC Barcelona was one of the main stories of the summer in the Spanish league, but now all the talking can stop as the 2008-09 campaign kicks off with Espanyol playing Real Valladolid this weekend.

The first game begins at 8pm in the Easti Olímpic on Montjuïc and will herald the start of a campaign that promises so much at this stage for every club. While there have been some major transfers, one of the biggest changes on the coaching staff has been the arrival of Guardiola at the helm of the Blaugrana and he will lead out his side for the first time at Numancia on Sunday at 7pm.

The contenders

Of all the clubs poised to vie for the title this season, Barcelona's transfer activity has made them one of the favourites to replace Real Madrid as champions in nine months time. The last four championships have been won by Barça and Madrid with two apiece, but every year there have been contenders to the crown with Villarreal, Sevilla and Atlético de Madrid all mounting concerted efforts to finish on top of the pile.

Valencia may have not lived up to expectations last season, but this year Unai Emery will hope to improve things having taken over in the summer and he will oversee his first match in charge against Real Mallorca on Saturday. The following day Villarreal kick off at Osasuna while Sevilla are in El Sardinero to play Racing Santander and Atlético de Madrid play Málaga away. At 9pm on Sunday, Real Madrid face a tricky trip to Riazor to take on Deportivo La Coruña.

Four foreign coaches

There have been few changes at the top with 12 clubs keeping the same coach that they ended last season with. One other fact is that Bernd Schuster at Real Madrid, Manuel Pellegrini at Villarreal, Javier Aguirre at Atlético de Madrid and Sergio Kresic at Numancia are the only foreign trainers in charge of top flight teams in la Primera, the lowest number for six seasons.

Few transfers

With only a few days to go before the close of the summer transfer window, there have been fewer transfers than normal. Barça have bolstered their squad with five new signings after bringing in Dani Alves, Seydou Keita, Martín Cáceres, Aliaksandr Hleb and Gerard Piqué. Málaga and Mallorca have signed the most players with 12 new arrivals each.